Los Alamos nuclear facility threatened by wildfires

Bushfire reaches Los Alamos nuke lab

ABC News, Jun 28, 2011

Video: Fire threatens US nuclear lab (ABC News) A raging bushfire has briefly entered the property of the pre-eminent US nuclear facility, Los Alamos National Laboratory, a vast complex that houses research laboratories and a plutonium facility.A mandatory evacuation was ordered for the town of Los Alamos, which has a population of about 12,000. The speed at which the fire has grown surprised fire officials.

The laboratory, which ensures the safety and reliability of the US nuclear stockpile, is a national security research facility located in the Jemez mountains of northern New Mexico. It was set up in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project to create the first atomic bomb and still maintains the nation’s largest nuclear weapons arsenal.

Firefighters were able to douse flames on a 4,000-square-metre “spot fire” just inside the south-western boundary of the lab site, about 40km outside Santa Fe, authorities said….

“This fire is going to be with us for a while. It has the potential to double and triple in size,” Los Alamos fire chief Doug Tucker said.

Nuclear watchdog groups are keeping a close eye on the fire, said Jay Coughlin, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico…….

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2

June 29, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | Leave a comment

US govt part of the system that rubber stamps nuclear plant relicensing

AP IMPACT: NRC and industry rewrite nuke history

By JEFF DONN, AJC NewsThe Associated Press, 29 June 11 ROCKVILLE, Md. — When commercial nuclear power was getting its start in the 1960s and 1970s, industry and regulators stated unequivocally that reactors were designed only to operate for 40 years. Now they tell another story — insisting that the units were built with no inherent life span, and can run for up to a century, an Associated Press investigation shows.

By rewriting history, plant owners are making it easier to extend the lives of dozens of reactors in a relicensing process that resembles nothing more than an elaborate rubber stamp.

As part of a yearlong investigation of aging issues at the nation’s nuclear power plants, the AP found that the relicensing process often lacks fully independent safety reviews. Records show that paperwork of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sometimes matches word-for-word the language used in a plant operator’s application.

Also, the relicensing process relies heavily on such paperwork, with very little onsite inspection and verification.

And under relicensing rules, tighter standards are not required to compensate for decades of wear and tear.

So far, 66 of 104 reactors have been granted license renewals. Most of the 20-year extensions have been granted with scant public attention. And the NRC has yet to reject a single application to extend an original license. The process has been so routine that many in the industry are already planning for additional license extensions, which could push the plants to operate for 80 years, and then 100………………………………NUCLEAR LIFE RENEWED

Relicensing is a lucrative deal for operators. By the end of their original licenses, reactors are largely paid for. When they’re operating, they’re producing profits. They generate a fifth of the country’s electricity.

…..INDUSTRY, GOVERNMENT AS PARTNERS

Despite the aging problems, relicensing rules prohibits any overall safety review of the entire operation. More conservative safety margins are not required in anticipation of higher failure rates in old plants, regulators acknowledge.

The approach has turned relicensing reviews into routine approvals……..

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/ap-impact-nrc-and-990073.html

June 28, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear plants at risk if flooding in Nebraska gets worse

Any new rain episode could worst the flooding, especially in Nebraska, …..

Fort Calhoun is not the only power plant that is threatened by the flooding. Cooper Nuclear Station is in a similar position, but the risk is higher if the water’s level is rising. In the worst case, the Fukushima’s situation could repeat here.

Nuclear danger in Nebraska because of the flooding News In A Box by Kelley Jeanie , 22 June 11 On Tuesday, June 21st 2011 A power plant from Nebraska, Fort Calhoun, was threatened to become a new Fukushima after several dams from around it broke because of the flooding on the Missouri River. The power plant was close to be under the water after the Missouri River got at 45 centimeters around it, according to dailymail.co.uk. If the water’s level got at 274,9 meters above the sea’s level in Brownville, the officials would have been forced to close the nuclear plant that is situated at 275,2 meters. Continue reading →

June 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | Leave a comment

30 years radiation health monitoring for 2 million Fukushima residents

Residents in the Fukushima region have expressed growing concern surrounding the possible longterm health risks, in particular for children, triggered by the on-going nuclear power plant crisis.

Two million Fukushima residents to undergo radiation health checks Telegraph By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo, 21 June 11 More than two million residents living in the region surrounding Japan’s damaged nuclear power plant will undergo longterm health checks starting from this month. 20 Jun 2011 The health of residents in Fukushima prefecture in northeast Japan will be monitored over the next 30 years in order to ease growing concerns surrounding radiation contamination. Continue reading →

June 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011, health, Japan | 1 Comment

UK government held gravest fears about Fukushima crisis

A substantial number of documents were withheld on grounds that they contained “information which, if disclosed, would adversely affect international relations,” the government’s civil contingencies team said…….

UK government’s Fukushima crisis plan based on bigger leak than Chernobyl As Japan’s nuclear emergency unfolded, scientists devised a worst case scenario involving issuing iodine pills to Briton. Ian Sample, science correspondent. guardian.co.uk, 20 June 2011

The British government made contingency plans at the height of the Fukushima nuclear crisis which anticipated a “reasonable worst case scenario” of the plant releasing more radiation than Chernobyl, new documents released to the Guardian show. Continue reading →

June 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Radioactive tritium leaking from 75% of USA’s nuclear plants

The leaks sometimes go undiscovered for years, the AP found. Many of the pipes or tanks have been patched, and contaminated soil and water have been removed in some places. But leaks are often discovered later from other nearby piping, tanks or vaults. Mistakes and defective material have contributed to some leaks. However, corrosion – from decades of use and deterioration – is the main cause. And, safety engineers say, the rash of leaks suggest nuclear operators are hard put to maintain the decades-old systems.

Nearly 50 US Nuclear Power Plants Are Leaking Tritium, Somewhere around 75 per cent of US nuclear power plants have been found leaking the radioactive element Tritium into the ground to various extents. Corroded piping buried underground seems to be the main problem, and a problem that can affect groundwater if ignored., GIZMODO y Adrian Covert on June 22, 2011 Continue reading →

June 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, USA | Leave a comment

TEPCO’s sloppy care of 3700 nuclear clean-up workers

Whereabouts of 30 nuclear power plant subcontractors unknown: Health Ministry Mainichi Daily News 21 June 11 The whereabouts of about 30 subcontractors who helped deal with the crisis at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is unknown, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said on June 20.

The workers are among some 3,700 who worked to control the disaster in March, the month the plant was struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

The workers’ names were listed in records showing that they had been loaned dosimeters, but when the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), contacted the companies they were associated with, the companies replied that there was no record of those workers.

The ministry has branded TEPCO’s administration of workers “sloppy” and ordered the company to conduct an investigation to identify the workers.

“We don’t know why there is no record of the workers. The records and dosimeters were managed by TEPCO and its administration can only be described as sloppy,” a representative of the ministry’s Labor Standards Bureau said…..http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110621p2a00m0na005000c.html

June 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Near disaster of U.S. nuclear submarine

Nuclear sub came close to disaster off Devon The Independent By David Wilcock 22 June 11 A US nuclear submarine nearly ran aground, following an incident in which two of its crewmen died near Plymouth, a report has revealed.

The attack submarine the USS Minneapolis-St Paul was trying to leave Plymouth Sound after a visit to Devonport naval base in 2006 when it hit rocks and became stuck with consequences that could have been “catastrophic”, the Royal Navy report, released through the Freedom of Information Act, said.

Two US sailors, Senior Chief Petty Officer Thomas Higgins and Petty Officer Michael Holtz, died while three others were swept into the rough seas before being rescued by nearby boats. The report said the incident was largely the fault of the vessel’s commanding officer, Commander Edwin Ruff, who was later relieved of his post.

It also criticised a lax safety culture at the naval base, the largest in western Europe, including a failure to heed warnings after a similar but non-fatal accident involving the British submarine HMS Sovereign the previous February.

“This was a severe incident with multiple loss of life. There was a very real possibility of the boat grounding in very rough seas and on an ebb tide 500 yards south of Plymouth breakwater,” the report said.

“Tragic as the loss of the lives of Holtz and Higgins was, the outcome could have been so much more catastrophic and thus must be regarded as at the less serious end of the potential spectrum of consequences….http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nuclear-sub-came-close-to-disaster-off-devon-2300623.html

June 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety | Leave a comment

Another failure in Fukushima water treatment system

Decontamination system fails again at Japan nuclear plant THE HINDU 22 June 11The operator of a damaged Japanese nuclear plant suspended another test run of a newly installed water-treatment system after its pump stopped on Tuesday.

Tokyo Electric Power Co said the pump was overburdened by excessive liquid flow, Kyodo News reported.

The system designed to decontaminate highly radioactive water stopped only five hours into full operation on Friday at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, 250 kilometres north-east of Tokyo.

The operator concluded on Monday that absorbent materials inside the decontamination equipment needed changing more frequently than previously estimated, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The company is trying to reduce radioactivity in water that has accumulated around the plant as a result of emergency measures to cool the reactor cores. Storage facilities for contaminated water were reaching capacity.

June 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Problems at Dominion Virginia nuclear power units

Dominion Virginia Power shuts down one of the nuclear units at Surry Power Station, Virginia Business June 21, 2011, by Paula C. Squires Dominion Virginia Power shut down one of two nuclear reactors at Surry Power Station on Monday after cooling ducts showed indications of overheating. The ducts, said company spokesman Rick Zuercher, cool electrical conductors that provide power to the station’s main transformers. Continue reading →

June 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Oceans give a warning of the planet’s ecology in danger

These symptoms, moreover, could be the harbinger of wider disruptions in the interlocking web of biological and chemical interactions that scientists now call the Earth system….

we are also probably the last generation that has enough time to deal with the problems,

Oceans in distress, mass extinctions. The Age, Marlowe Hood , June 21, 2011 Pollution and global warming are pushing the world’s oceans to the brink of a mass extinction of marine life unseen for tens of millions of years, a consortium of scientists warn.

Dying coral reefs, biodiversity ravaged by invasive species, expanding open-water “dead zones,” toxic algae blooms, the massive depletion of big fish stocks — all are accellerating, they said on Monday in a report compiled during an April meeting in Oxford of 27 of the world’s top ocean experts. Continue reading →

June 21, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, oceans | Leave a comment

Urgency to protect Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant from rising waters

Nebraska Nuke Plant Owners Tell Management To Buy Anything They Need To Ward Off Rising Floodwaters, Business Insider, Ricky Kreitner| Jun. 20, 2011 But just to be sure, they are allowing the plant’s management to skip the normal procurement process and buy anything it might need to protect Fort Calhoun from the still-rising waters of the flooded Missouri River.

World Nuclear News today reports that the Omaha Public Power District, which owns and operates the Fort Calhoun plant, issued that directive June 16. In a statement, the public utility said that high volumes of water released from up-river by the Army Corps of Engineers “continue to pose a threat to the electric system and generation facilities along the river.”

Yesterday, a second Nebraska nuclear plant facing rising floodwaters was put under a “notification of unusual event,” (as the Fort Calhoun plant was on June 6th). The second plant, the Cooper Nuclear Station, is located south of Omaha and owned by the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD). A “notification of unusual event” is the least urgent of four classifications that can be declared in a nuclear emergency.

Rain is forecast for the Greater Omaha area for the next three days……http://www.businessinsider.com/nebraska-nuke-plant-owners-tell-management-to-buy-anything-they-need-to-ward-off-rising-floodwaters-2011-6

June 21, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Flood crisis at Nebraska nuclear plant

12 Significant Events That the Mockingbird Media is Currently Ignoring, Benzinga, By Truth is Treason, June 20, 2011 ”…The crisis at the Fort Calhoun nuclear facility in Nebraska has received almost no attention in the national mainstream media. Back on June 7th, there was a fire at Fort Calhoun. The official story is that the fire was in an electrical switchgear room at the plant. The facility lost power to a pump that cools the spent fuel pool for approximately 90 minutes. According to the Omaha Public Power District, the fire was quickly extinguished and no radioactive material was released. …….

But the crisis at Fort Calhoun is not over. Right now, the nuclear facility at Fort Calhoun is essentially an island. It is surrounded by rising flood waters from the Missouri River. (photo from Washington Post 20 June 11)

Officials claim that there is no danger and that they are prepared for the river to rise another ten feet.The Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, Nebraska is also being threatened by rising flood waters. A “Notification of Unusual Event” was declared at Cooper Nuclear Station this morning at 4:02. This notification was issued because the Missouri River’s water level reached 42.5 feet…….

Right now the facility is operating normally and officials don’t expect a crisis.But considering what has been going on at Fukushima, it would be nice if we could have gotten a lot more coverage of these events by the mainstream media… http://www.benzinga.com/11/06/1183421/12-significant-events-that-the-mockingbird-media-is-currently-ignoring#ixzz1PrRYnCv0

June 21, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | Leave a comment

How USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission repeatedly weakens safety rules

the AP investigation found that with billions of dollars and 19 percent of America’s electricity supply at stake, a cozy relationship prevails between the industry and its regulator, the NRC.

All the while the NRC keeps extending licenses of dozens of reactors….

Fukushima USA? Dangerous radioactive leaks and cracked foundations go unpunished at American nuclear power plants By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 20 June 11 Safety has taken a back seat to cost-cutting at most of the nation’s nuclear power plants, sparking fears that America could be facing its own Fukushima disaster.

An investigation by the Associated Press has revealed federal regulators are repeatedly weakening – or simply failing to impose – strict rules. The constant danger of aging reactors operating without the highest standards has resulted in rising fears the NRC is significantly undermining safety. Continue reading →

June 21, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | Leave a comment

IAEA Fukushima Report highlights the unsafety and diseconomics of nuclear power

To sum up, when you build a reactor you are committing to controlling the nuclear fury at its heart for half a century or more, and controlling the waste produced for many thousands of years (using methods no-one has yet developed)……

But the real lesson is that it is impossible to cover all eventualities. That means nuclear power is not safe or, given the colossal clean-up costs, cheap. Regretfully, I believe it is an illusory answer to the problem of rising greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

Fukushima report shows nuclear power can never be safe and cheap, by Damian Carrington 20 June 2011 guardian.co.uk The first “independent” review of the safety failures during Japan’s nuclear disaster reveals some chillingly obvious “lessons” to be learned

..The first “independent” review of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was published today and it does not make reassuring reading.

Japan is perhaps the most technologically advanced nation on Earth and yet, time after time, the report finds missing measures that I would have expected to already be in place. It highlights the fundamental inability for anyone to anticipate all future events and so deeply undermines the claims of the nuclear industry and its supporters that this time, with the new generation of reactors, things will be different.

I used quote marks on the word “independent” because the report comes from the International Atomic Energy Association (pdf) (IAEA) which, while independent of Japan, is far from independent from the nuclear industry it was founded to promote. But this conflict of interest only makes the findings of the IEAE’s experts more startling. Continue reading →

June 21, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

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