http://anti-atom.ru/en/node/4188
Huffingtonpost.com, 28.08.2012 –
[…]
The operator of the San Onofre nuclear power plant is preparing to empty the radioactive fuel from one of its twin reactors, a federal official said Monday, another sign the plant won’t be operating at full capacity anytime soon, if ever.
Tons of fuel inside the disabled Unit 3 reactor will be moved into storage in mid-September, Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector Gregory Warnick told The Associated Press on Monday.
The plant located between Los Angeles and San Diego has been shut down since January, after a break in a tube that carries radioactive water. Investigators later found unusual wear on scores of tubes inside the plant’s four steam generators, and Southern California Edison has been trying for months to determine how to fix it.
Edison has previously said it’s focusing on repairing the Unit 2 reactor, which had been taken offline earlier in January for maintenance, and that “the Unit 3 reactor will not be operating for some time.”
Damage to the tubes in Unit 2 is less widespread, but there’s no timetable for its possible restart.
Unit 3 “is clearly not the focus right now in terms of correcting the steam generator issues,” said Warnick, the NRC’s senior resident inspector at San Onofre. “Unit 3 is going to take more work.”
Dave Lochbaum, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ nuclear safety project, said placing the radioactive fuel in storage puts the reactor in a condition “requiring the least amount of safety equipment to be operable, and therefore the fewest number of tests and inspections to be performed.”
Coming shortly after Edison announced plans to cut its workforce, “reducing the scope of required work at the jobsite is a good thing to do before discharging workers,” Lochbaum said.
Edison spokeswoman Jennifer Manfre said in a statement that removing fuel from the unit “will best allow us to maintain the unit as testing, analysis and repair planningcontinue.”
Traces of radiation escaped at the time of Unit 3’s tube break, but officials said there was no danger to workers or neighbors. A three-month federal probe blamed a botchedcomputer analysis for generator design flaws that ultimately resulted in excessive wear to alloy tubes.
About 7.4 million Californians live within 50 miles of San Onofre, which can power 1.4 million homes.
[…]
August 29, 2012
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BURLINGTON, Kan. — The continuing drought is causing concern about operating the Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant.
Officials say the dwindling water levels of a reservoir used to cool the plant near Burlington do not pose any safety risk.
The Kansas Water Office projects the John Redmond Reservoir will be almost dry by Nov. 1, if current weather patterns persist.
Wolf Creek officials say it would be difficult to operate the plant if the drought continues for the next several months.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports (http://bit.ly/PoF9zd ) the water office says the reservoir was about 75 percent full on Aug. 1. But the office projects the lake will be at only 5 percent capacity by Nov. 1.
[…]
August 29, 2012
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http://anti-atom.ru/en/node/4202
[…]
Ajw.asahi.com, 28.08.2012 – The governor of Shizuoka Prefecture said he will support holding a local referendum on restarting the Hamaoka nuclear power plant, which is regarded as a ticking time bomb.
“I will respect the will of residents and (make efforts) to realize a referendum,” Heita Kawakatsu said Aug. 27 after a citizens group delivered a petition calling for a plebiscite.
The petition carries the signatures of 165,000 people. A minimum of 62,000 signatures is required for calling for an ordinance.
A draft ordinance for a referendum, to which Kawakatsu’s opinion will be attached, is expected to be submitted to the prefectural assembly session that opens in September.
“We expect the prefectural assembly to accept the governor’s decision, which is significant,” said Nozomu Suzuki, co-head of the citizens group. “We want to see Shizuoka (become the first local government to) hold a referendum (on this issue).”
Draft ordinances for local referendums on nuclear energy were voted down at the Tokyo metropolitan assembly and the Osaka municipal assembly after the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant last year.
Both Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto expressed opposition to the ordinances submitted to their assemblies.
Kawakatsu is the first governor to support a referendum on the reactivation of a nuclear power plant after the Fukushima crisis.
Kawakatsu, explaining the demand for a referendum, cited a loss in public trust towardDiet members and other politicians elected through indirect democracy.
“There is no reason to reject this opinion,” he said.
Kawakatsu had not made clear how he would respond to a petition calling for a referendum.
The Hamaoka plant in Omaezaki is considered particularly dangerous because it sits on the projected epicenter area of a long-predicted earthquake that could devastate the Tokai region.
The government has estimated there is an 88-percent chance of a magnitude-8.0 earthquake striking the region within the next 30 years.
Chubu Electric Power Co. shut down the plant two months after the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, at the urging of Naoto Kan, prime minister at the time.
[…]
August 29, 2012
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http://www.dianuke.org/the-upas-love-for-nuclear-suppliers-a-liability-on-the-indian-people/
“If there was really a “0% chance” of an accident, why would nuclear vendors work so hard to indemnify themselves?…….. When nuclear companies are unwilling to stake their financial health on these claims of “100% safety,” how can the government ask local residents to risk their lives?”
29 August 2012
The parliament’s Committee’s report on the nuclear liability rules, along with the CAG’s report on nuclear safety in India and the Madras High Court’s observations on Koodankulam are the voices of our collective conscience against leaving Indian people’s safety and future hostage to nuclear predators. It will be suicidal to ignore them.
P K Sundaram
The Indian nuclear establishment’s best attempts at circumventing the democratically mandated legislation to safeguard people’s interests in the event of a nuclear accident have met yet another roadblock: the Indian parliament’s Committee on Subordinate Legislation.
In its report on the draft Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Rules 2011 to support the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010, the Committee headed by Mr. P Karunakaran, a senior member of the Indian parliament, has criticised the Department of Atomic Energy(DAE) for diluting and contradicting the spirit of the Act itself.
Liability Rules: Delayed and Still Incomplete?
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August 29, 2012
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-29/india-may-auction-1-gigawatt-to-double-solar-capacity.html
By Natalie Obiko Pearson – Aug 29, 2012
[…]
India may auction a third of the solar projects planned by 2017 in the current financial year to double the nation’s sun-powered capacity as it seeks additional clean-energy investments to combat power shortages.
Of the 3,000 megawatts of solar plants proposed to be built starting in 2013, contracts for “1,000 megawatts or a little less” may be tendered in the first batch, Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said yesterday in a phone interview from New Delhi.
The plan provides some guidance to solar utilities and manufacturers, which have said India must demonstrate a reliable pipeline of projects to draw the investment needed to meet its targets. India is aiming for 20,000 megawatts of solar power by 2022 and most of the country’s existing capacity of 1,040 megawatts was built in the past year.
“Predictable demand is probably the most important factor for us in the creation of additional manufacturing capacity,” Sujoy Ghosh, country head of First Solar Inc. (FSLR), the world’s biggest thin-film panel maker, said in an interview this month.
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August 29, 2012
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http://enenews.com/mother-5-hospitals-refuse-provide-medical-care-children-be-doctor-when-be-doctor-will-be-confusing-result-different-fukushima-medical-university
Published: August 28th, 2012 at 6:54 pm ET
By ENENews
[FRCSR (Fukushima Radiation Contamination Symptoms Research) Newsletter
August 28, 2012…]
[…]
The family received the prefectural examination result from FukushimaMedical University in February. All it said was, “There are small nodules and cysts (fluid-filled sacs), but there is no need for secondary examination.” They grew anxious about having to wait until the next examination two years later. They were upset when multiple cysts were confirmed at the Akita hospital. The doctor recommended a follow-up examination six months later and told them, “Now that there is a diagnosis, you will be able to use insurance next time.”
[…]
However, there are quite a few cases of people traveling far for the examination after being denied medical care in Fukushima Prefecture. A 38-year-old mother of two who evacuated to Aizu wakamatsu-city called five hospitals in the city, yet nobody agreed to examine them. She resented that “It is just not right that we can’t be seen by a doctor when we want to be seen.”
We asked physicians the reason for refusal to provide medical care and received the following responses.
A pediatrician in Fukushima-city: “It will be confusing if our result is different from the result by Fukushima Medical University.”
A hospital in Aizu district: “It’s not a duty of a private hospital to relieve the anxiety of parents/guardians.”
[…]
August 29, 2012
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Published: August 28th, 2012 at 2:19 pm ET
By ENENews
[…]
Reporter: What do you think about the effect of radiation?
Yamashita: We might find small cancer, but thyroid cancer can occur at a certain frequency under normal circumstances. We won’t know the conclusive trend until over 10 years later. We cannot get into oppositional relationships with the prefectural residents. I would like to guide them so that Japan as a country will not fall apart. After the Chernobyl accident, many lawsuits happened regarding health effects, with compensatory expenses cut into the national budget. When that happens, the ultimate victims are people of the country.
[…]
Fukushima children forced to drink radioactive milk at school
Published on May 22, 2012 by tokyobrowntabby2
This is a mirrored video from pejorativeglut’s channel:
September 29th 2011
A discussion in the Upper House Budget Committee, Akiru Matsu challenges the fact that a family had all tested positive for cesium contamination….. the video is short but to the point
(english subtitles)
August 29, 2012
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http://anti-atom.ru/en/node/4102
[…]
Bellona.org, 02.08.2012 –
Swelling and cracking of the graphite moderator of the No 1 reactor at Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant (LNPP) has led to its indefinite shutdown in order to avert coolant cutoffs and uncontrolled chain reactions, Heikki Reponen head of the Finnish Nuclear Regulatory and Safety Authority(Stuk) told Bellona in a telephone interview Thursday.
Charles Digges, 02/08-2012
The reactor is of the fatally flawed Soviet era RMBK-1000 series – one of which exploded at Chernobyl in 1986 – and is one of 11 such reactors still in service in Russia.
RBMKs are moderated by graphite rather than water, which is used in more contemporary designs. RBMKs from the outset, then, pose a far more severe risk during operation as graphite is flammable.
The public relations department of LNPP meanwhile has said the reactor is on the mend.
According to Reponen, who maintains close relations with Russia’s nuclear authorities, LNPP reactor No 1 has been in cold shutdown since May 6, when it was switched off for routine maintenance.
It was then that the cracking and swelling of the graphite moderator was discovered, said Reponen, although reports about it in the Russian media began to appear only this week.
Reponen also said it was unclear if the reactor would be allowed to go back onlineafter investigations into the malformations of the graphite moderator were complete.
“If it does go back online it could be only for a short period of time” said Reponen, citing the 38-year-old age of the reactor. RBMK’s were initially designed to operate for only 30 years.
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August 29, 2012
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http://anti-atom.ru/en/node/4139
Bellona.org, 13.08.2012 –
Norway has given the cold shoulder to plans to buy energy from the Murmansk region to power gas recovery operations at the northerly Melkøya field until the two oldest reactors at the Kola Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) are taken out of service in 2018 or 2019.
Anna Kireeva, Charles Digges, 13/08-2012
Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy sent an official letter to Norwegian grid operator Statnett in which it said that planned imports of electricity via links between Norwegian and Russian energy networks were not to proceed until Kola NPPs reactor Nos 1 and 2 are taken offline.
The letter is a matter of public record, Statnett spokesman Kristian Pladsen told Bellona over the phone. It was first published in this week edition of Norway’s Teknisk Ukeblad.
“The Department assumes that the two oldest reactors on the Kola Peninsula will be closed as planned before a possible connection to the Russian power system can occur,” the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy wrote
As such, Stanett will have to change its plans for supplying extra power to the Melkøya field. According to Audun Hustoft, a director at Statnett’s, there is no sense in building an extra interface to the Russian power grid until 2018 or 2019 when the reactors are switched off, the paper reported.
“It is a good thing that the Norwegian government has banned imports of electricity from the oldest reactors, which are inherently more dangerous and problematic,” said Nils Bøhmer, Bellona’s general director and nuclear physicist. “But the biggest problem that Russia has is a lack of an independent oversight body for nuclear power, which is as big a problem as the condition of the old reactors.”
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August 29, 2012
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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/08/29/uk-japan-nuclear-idUKBRE87S09E20120829
TOKYO | Wed Aug 29, 2012 9:31am BST
(Reuters) – Japan‘s government, wary of public opinion ahead of an election, is leaning toward setting a target to eliminate atomic power by 2030 – a major policy shift for an economy that had planned to boost the role of nuclear energy before the Fukushima crisis.
Such a decision would fly in the face of objections from big business lobbies, which say an aggressive programme to exit nuclear power will boost electricity rates and force companies to move production – and jobs – overseas.
Feldman rejected suggestions that an abrupt policy change would prompt firms to move overseas “because it takes a static view of technology. Why would technology stop in its tracks?”
But Noda’s party is split and the prime minister seems reluctant to wean Japan from nuclear power too soon. “There are many people who say different things and no one can say whether the government will choose zero or 15 percent at this point,” said a source with knowledge of the debate.
Some experts still expect the government to pick the 15 percent scenario, the logical outcome if reactors are shut after 40 years as required “in principle” by law, and no new reactors are built.
Arai, who favours the 15 percent solution, echoed the concerns. “If we move faster, technological and system development and huge changes in society will be needed,” he said.
“I don’t think that is possible in 15-20 years.”
Germany Hits Brakes on Race to Renewable Energy Future
08/28/2012
[…]
Many scoffed at the initial target that Chancellor Angela Merkel set last June, when she announced that Germany was turning away from nuclear power and toward renewable energies. Her government decided that by 2020 renewables would make up a 35 percent share of the energy mix. It was, said many experts at the time, an impossible goal.
[…]
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August 29, 2012
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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/08/28/us-utilities-exelon-texas-idUKBRE87R1AD20120828
Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:55pm BST
[…]
(Reuters) – Exelon Corp will halt efforts to gain regulatory approval to build a new nuclear plant in southeast Texas, the company said on Tuesday.
Chicago-based Exelon, the nation’s largest nuclear operator, said it notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it will withdraw itsapplication for an early site permit for land near Victoria in southeast Texas.
“The action is in response to low natural gas prices and economic and market conditions that have made construction of new merchant nuclear power plants in competitive markets uneconomical now and for the foreseeable future,” said Charles Pardee, Exelon Generation’s chief operating officer.
[…]
In 2008, Exelon announced a plan to develop two new reactors at the Texas site, becoming the 12th applicant to seek a combined construction and operating license (COL) from nuclear regulators as power companies rushed to qualify for financial incentives offered under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
By 2010, however, industry enthusiasm for new nuclear plants began to wane as the recession cut into electric demand, costs for nuclear construction soared, carbon legislation was delayed and natural gas supplies began to rise, making nuclear plants less competitive.
[…]
After the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan, NRG Energy said it would stop investing in development of two new reactors at the existing South Texas Project station 90 miles southwest of Houston, but partner Toshiba continued with the project.
Late last year, the NRC said it would not issue a license to build the new STP reactors because current project ownership does not meet foreign ownership restrictions.
Dallas-based Luminant, a unit of Energy Future Holdings, has delayed the completion schedule for its proposed two-unit expansion at the Comanche Peak nuclear station in north Texas until 2021 and 2022.
Earlier this month, the NRC said it would suspend issuing final decisions on nuclear licenses until the agency resolves the complicated issue of spent nuclear fuel.
[..]
August 29, 2012
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nuclear-news 