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
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
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
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.
Problems at Dominion Virginia nuclear power units
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….
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
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
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
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
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
USA nuclear regulators undermining public safety?
Are federal regulators undermining safety at nuclear reactors? America Blog, by Chris in Paris on 6/20/2011 Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation’s aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.
The result? Rising fears that these accommodations by the NRC are significantly undermining safety — and inching the reactors closer to an accident that could harm the public and jeopardize the future of nuclear power in the United States…
IAEA likely to rubber stamp Australian company’s plan for dumping radioactive waste in Malaysia
“How can we monitor daily? The risks of human error are too high,” she said, pointing out that the half-life of thorium was 14 billion years…..Fuziah promised that if the report from the panel, which includes members of the IAEA, was as she anticipated, she will continue to bring the issue to a higher level and exert pressure on authorities.
No confidence in Lynas safety review’, Free Malaysia Today Tashny Sukumaran, June 20, 2011, The IAEA report on the Lynas Corp is bound to be slanted and the human factor will not be taken into account, says Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh. KUALA LUMPUR: Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh is already second guessing the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) report on the Lynas Corp’s rare earth refinery in Gebeng, Pahang.
She said she has no confidence in the independent panel’s safety review of the RM300 million Lynas Corp rare earth refinery . “I can imagine the outcome will contain acknowledgement of safety concerns, but also on how this refinery can be made safe,” said Fuziah. Continue reading
Giant cover for No 1 nuclear reactor to stop Fukushima radiation to atmosphere
N-bldg cover to be built, unbuilt, rebuilt, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 21 June 11 IWAKI, Fukushima–-Work to assemble parts of a giant cover for the No. 1 nuclear reactor building at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is proceeding at a fever pitch at Onahama Port in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
The giant cover is designed to prevent most radioactive substances from dispersing into the atmosphere from the No. 1 reactor, which was damaged by a hydrogen explosion on March 12.
It will enclose an area of 42 meters by 47 meters and will stand 54 meters high.
To limit workers’ exposure to radiation and shorten the construction period, 62 parts, including pillars, beams and polyester-sheeted panels, are being assembled at the port into a unified structure. After it is confirmed that the parts fit together properly, the cover will be disassembled and transported to the nuclear power plant by ship.
On-site assembly of the components is scheduled to start next Monday. TEPCO plans to complete the work in late September. Final construction of the cover will be carried out by two giant cranes, which will be remote-controlled.A traditional Japanese insertion-only joint method, which does not employ welding or bolts for joining materials, is being used to assemble the cover… http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110620004790.htm
At last, Grand Canyon to be protected from uranium mining
The moratorium will “reverse a century-long history of damage to the Grand Canyon from uranium mining,”
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO BAN URANIUM MINING AT GRAND CANYON, FORBES, OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON Standing at the south rim of the Grand Canyon this morning, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the Obama administration will enact a 20-year ban on new uranium mining in the last remaining unprotected lands surrounding the place President Theodore Roosevelt called “the one great sight which every American should see.”
Mining companies had filed thousands of claims in recent years, but it is unlikely that any of the 3,500 mining claims in the area will receive federal permits when the 20-year ban goes into effect. In March, Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) issued permits to three uranium mines on the land – provoking an outcry by native peoples, hunters, hikers, tourism groups and environmental organizations. Continue reading
Radiation – the big safety hazard for nuclear reactors themselves
Radiation bombards reactors, make them brittle, Google News By JEFF DONN, AP National Writer –20 June 11 No aging problem has been more vexing or dangerous in nuclear power plants than the tendency of reactors to grow brittle. This stubborn problem threatens the main radiation barrier at the plants: the garage-size steel vessels that cradle tons of radioactive fuel.In certain emergencies, these vessels would flood with cooling water. If the vessel walls are too brittle, they could shatter and spew their radioactive contents into the environment. Continue reading
1 This Month
of the week – Shut Down Drone Warfare!
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
Petition to revoke the licensing of the Near Surface Nuclear Disposal Facility (NSDF) at Chalk River. https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7247
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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