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Desperate efforts to cool stricken nuclear plant, and stem radioactive leak

Government sources and TEPCO say that the water in the pit almost certainly came from the reactor core in Unit 2 where the fuel rods have apparently melted down, at least in part.

A Sense of Desperation as Nuclear Workers Fight to Plug Radioactive Leak, Forbes, Osha Gray Davidson , Apr. 4 2011 “……The water being dumped comes from different sources, including runoff from water sprayed on the reactors to cool fuel rods, newly-found contaminated groundwater near the turbine building at Unit No. 1, and runoff from Units No. 5 and 6 (two units that had previously been termed “safe”). Continue reading →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Years to deal with damage and radioactivity at Fukushima nuclear plant

The task at Fukushima Daiichi is especially complicated because it involves at least three damaged reactors and apparent damage to nuclear waste pools……the situation will become much more complicated if workers find fuel melted in the reactor core.

Nuclear Plant Cleanup Will Take Years, Not Months – WSJ.com, 1 April 11, By REBECCA SMITH As Japanese officials struggle to stabilize damaged reactors at Fukushima Daiichi complex, an international team already is assembling to help them tackle the next big task: the cleanup…… Continue reading →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

What lovely optimism – nuclear powered spacecraft for USA, Russia

Russia, U.S. to cooperate on nuclear-powered spacecrafts MOSCOW, April 4 (Xinhua) –– The Russian Federal Space Agency ( Roscosmos) and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have agreed to cooperate in developing nuclear engines for spacecrafts, local media reported on Monday.Citing Roscosmos’ head Anatoly Perminov in Kazakh Baikonur space center, reports said Russia has initiated to jointly build nuclear-powered engines with NASA by 2019 and use these engines for flights to Mars.

Such an engine will make the flight to Mars 20 times faster, Perminov said, adding that the meeting between he and his NASA counterpart Charles Bolden was scheduled on April 1

Russia, U.S. to cooperate on nuclear-powered spacecrafts

April 5, 2011 Posted by | Russia, technology, USA | Leave a comment

11,500 metric tonnes of radioactive water to be dumped into the sea

Japan to dump 11,500 metric tonnes of radioactive water (Reuters) 5 April 11, – Japan needs to discharge a total of 11,500 metric tons of low-contaminated water into the ocean from a stricken nuclear power plant, a Japanese official said on Monday.Koichiro Nakamura, a deputy director general of Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said the measure was needed to “avoid a more serious risk,” without elaborating. Continue reading →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Only AREVA to benefit from dangerous plutonium reprocessing plant?

A mixed-oxide, or MOX, plutonium reprocessing plant that is being built in South Carolina has become “an expensive effort that enriches contractors, led by the French government-owned company Areva,”

US anti-nuclear activists slam reprocessing plan, Google news, (AFP) –  5 April 11, WASHINGTON — US anti-nuclear groups Monday condemned a project to build a plant where plutonium from weapons would be reprocessed into fuel for nuclear power plants, saying the plan was costly, dangerous and would benefit mainly the French group, Areva.

A mixed-oxide, or MOX, plutonium reprocessing plant that is being built in South Carolina has become “an expensive effort that enriches contractors, led by the French government-owned company Areva,” Tom Clements of Friends of the Earth said at the launch of a report by an anti-nuclear alliance.”In my opinion, it is primarily because of Areva’s influence inside the Department of Energy that the US is pursuing a plutonium fuel program and it’s because of Areva’s influence that there’s a push for the US to also reprocess commercial spent fuel to remove plutonium, like France does,” he said…….

The plant, on the Department of Energy’s Savannah River site, is roughly one-third finished and three times over budget, with a price tag so far of $4.9 billion dollars, Clements maintained.

But even as the nuclear disaster in Japan highlights the dangers of MOX fuel — which the ANA report says was used in one of the reactors at Japan’s crippled Fukushima power plant — the US government is failing to rethink construction of the South Carolina facility, Clements told reporters.

“As plutonium leaks from the damaged reactors in Japan, the US Department of Energy (DoE) continues planning for the use of dangerous mixed-oxide fuel in US nuclear reactors of the same design as the Fukushima reactors in Japan,” Clements said.

MOX fuel pellets “make reactors harder to control and, in the case of a severe accident, the radiation plutonium releases will be worse than uranium fuel,” said Clements……

Anti-nuclear activists would prefer encasing the plutonium left over from dismantled US nuclear weapons in glass, and then storing it as high-level waste.

That method, called vitrification, is “cheaper, quicker and safer” than converting plutonium into MOX fuel, says the report released Monday by ANA, a network of three dozen organizations…..
AFP: US anti-nuclear activists slam reprocessing plan

April 5, 2011 Posted by | reprocessing, USA | Leave a comment

Huge civil damages claims looming from Fukushima disaster

“If the government nationalises TEPCO then they take on TEPCO’s debts, and if TEPCO remains private it will probably need government support for its obligations to pay damages, so whichever way you look at it the government will be taking on responsibility

Japan nuclear crisis to trigger huge civil damages claims | Reuters, Mon Apr 4, 2011 * TEPCO and government to handle claims* Hundreds of thousands of claims expected* Claims could top $130 bln in worst case – BofA-ML* Government likely to set up central compensation fund By Rachel Armstrong – Japan’s nuclear crisis is likely to lead to one of the country’s largest and most complex ever set of claims for civil damages, handing a huge bill to the fiscally strained government and debt-laden plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co . Continue reading →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | Japan, Legal | Leave a comment

New damage at Progress Energy’s nuclear plant in Florida

Progress Fla. nuclear restart delayed indefinitely | Reuters, 5 April 11, – New damage discovered last month at Progress Energy Inc’s troubled Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida will keep the unit shut indefinitely, the company told state and federal regulators on Monday……

Indications of a new gap in the containment building wall found in March forced Progress to suspend work to tighten the tendons, one of the the final tasks needed to before testing to end an 18-month outage.

The plant shut in September 2009 and its restart has now been delayed four times.….Progress Fla. nuclear restart delayed indefinitely | Reuters

April 5, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Investigation of cooling system flaw at Browns Ferry nuclear plant

Nuclear regulators probe fault at Alabama reactor |  Reuters Apr 4, 2011 Browns Ferry plant has same design as Japan’s Fukushima* Regulators issue apparent violation order over failure By Matthew BiggATLANTA, Tennessee Valley Authority officials met nuclear regulators on Monday to explain the failure last year of a key valve used to operate a reactor cooling system at a nuclear plant in Alabama.

Word of the malfunction, which occurred last October at the Browns Ferry plant in northern Alabama, comes amid public demand for reassurance over the safety of U.S. nuclear reactors after an earthquake and tsunami last month caused a crisis at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant.

Browns Ferry and the crippled Fukushima plant both have Mark 1 boiling water reactors made by General Electric ……Nuclear regulators probe fault at Alabama reactor | Energy & Oil | Reuters

April 5, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Fukushima will become a radioactive no man’s land

Even after a cold shutdown, scrapping the plant will likely take decades, and the site will become a no-man’s land.

Tonnes of nuclear waste sit at the site of the nuclear reactors, and enclosing the reactors by injecting lead and encasing them in concrete would make it safe to work and live a few kilometres away from the site, but is not a long-term solution for the disposal of spent fuel, which will decay and emit fission fragments over tens of thousands of years.

‘No safe levels’ of radiation in Japan,  Al Jazeera 5 April 11“……Japanese officials conceded to the public on March 31 that the battle to save four crippled nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been lost. On March 29 a US engineer who helped install the reactors at the plant said he believed the radioactive core in unit No. 2 may have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor. Continue reading →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, Japan | 1 Comment

World must “embrace nuclear power” says AREVA

“Nuclear is the cheapest” power source, Besnainou said


Areva Executive Praises Nuclear Power, Urges Loan Guarantees – WSJ.comBy Yuliya Chernova Of DOW JONES  VENTUREWIRE NEW YORK 4 April 11, –-Jacques Besnainou, chief executive of the U.S. arm of nuclear giant Areva SA (CEI.FR, ARVCY), said that the world must embrace nuclear power and advocated the continuation of U.S. federal loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants. Continue reading →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | France, marketing | Leave a comment

China detects radioactive cesium 137 from Fukushima

Radioactive cesium detected in more Chinese regions amid Japan nuclear crisis BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) — Trace levels of radioactive isotope cesium-137 and -134 were detected in the air of 13 of the Chinese mainland’s 31 provincial-level regions on Monday, up from eight regions on Sunday.Cesium-137 and -134 were detected in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Inner Mongolia, Jiangshu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Ningxia on Monday….Radioactive cesium detected in more Chinese regions amid Japan nuclear crisis

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, China | Leave a comment

Anxiety growing in China over poor nuclear safety

Chinese environmental campaigners, citizens on microblogs and even the normally pliant state-run media are questioning why China has no obvious emergency preparedness plan, even though many people here live less than a quarter mile from nuclear facilities….people here were already suffering health problems associated with living close to a nuclear facility and that the cancer rate in the area has increased.

China expanding nuclear power but lacks emergency planning   The Washington PostBy Keith B. Richburg,   April 2, SHANGHAI — The Chinese government repeatedly offers assurances that the nuclear crisis in Japan poses no radiation risk in China. Officials monitor radiation levels in the air over coastal cities daily now. And planes and ships bringing cargo and passengers from Japan are closely scanned.

But the Chinese government has not told citizens living near nuclear facilities what to do in case of a similar disaster here. Continue reading →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | China, safety | Leave a comment

Ontario Power Generation’s flawed statement on nuclear power

the province has never completed an integrated power system plan that would establish the need for new generators…… The environmental impact statement submitted by OPG also fails to consider alternatives to a major nuclear project,

Law association argues nuclear approval process flawed – thestar.com, 4 April 11, John Spears Ontario Power Generation has failed to consider alternatives to building new nuclear reactors at Darlington, the Canadian Environmental Law Association argued Monday.That means it hasn’t submitted an adequate environmental impact statement under federal law, the association told a panel reviewing the proposal for new reactors.And that in turn means the panel isn’t in a position to recommend giving the go-ahead for OPG to proceed with preparing the site for construction, Continue reading →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | Canada, Legal | Leave a comment

Nuclear Regulatory Commission relicensed Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, despite safety problems

Safety of Vt. nuclear plant cables questioned, Google News, (AP) –  5 April 11, MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Documents show the Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant a new license last month knowing that electrical cables to key safety systems had been submerged in water for long periods of time.A nuclear watchdog group, the New England Coalition, says the issue has new urgency since the nuclear disaster in Japan was caused by tsunami flooding that knocked cooling systems out of service at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.NRC documents show the agency has been concerned about submerged electrical cables at U.S. nuclear plants for years…… The Associated Press: Safety of Vt. nuclear plant cables questioned

April 5, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Comparing Fukushima’s radiation to Chernobyl’s

The Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics of Vienna told New Scientist on March 24: “Japan’s damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima has been emitting radioactive iodine and caesium at levels approaching those seen in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986…..The daily amount of caesium-137 released from Fukushima Daiichi is around 60 per cent of the amount released from Chernobyl.”….According to a report from the New York Academy of Sciences, due to the Chernobyl disaster, 985,000 people have died, mainly from cancer, between 1986-2004.

‘No safe levels’ of radiation in Japan,  Al Jazeera 5 April 11“………Fukushima as ChernobylThis month marks the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.“There are still no-go areas there, and the workers town has long since been abandoned, and we are seeing radioactive refugees from there, like we are now seeing generated in Japan,” Continue reading →

April 5, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

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