nuclear-news

Fireproofing ‘inadequate’ at Japan nuclear reactors

By Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, January 1, 2013 8:01 EST

Image courtesy of http://www.dianuke.org

Japanese regulators have found inadequate fireproofing at more than one fifth of the nuclear reactors that went offline after the 2011 Fukushima crisis, a major daily said on Tuesday.

The finding could delay their restart by several years in some cases, the Mainichi Shimbun said.

More than 10 of Japan’s 50 reactors, excluding those at Fukushima, have flaws in fireproofing, the paper quoted sources at the industry ministry and the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) as saying.

The Mainichi said these include the use of combustible electrical cables and equipment and machines sited too close together, potentially allowing a fire to spread even though the equipment is indispensable for maintaining safety.

The industry ministry has been investigating the issue while the NRA will soon conduct hearings with power companies, it said.

At some reactors the work to replace cables and renovate facilities could mean a delay of several years in restarting them, it quoted industry

If renovation is too costly, the reactors could be decommissioned, the sources said.

All but two of the nation’s reactors remain offline after they were shut for safety checks in the wake of the March 2011 Fukushima meltdowns, sparked by a quake and tsunami.

The pro-business Liberal Democratic Party-led government said last week it would give the green light to restarting any reactors deemed safe by regulators.

New prime minister Shinzo Abe has also voiced his willingness to build new reactors.
Raw Story (http://s.tt/1xQ44)

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January 1, 2013 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

ONE FOOT MORE TO MELTDOWN – A nuclear “near miss” USA

Posted on 31st December 2012

The burning Platform Blog

It seems we came within 1 foot of our very own Fukishima during Hurricane Sandy. If the sea level had been 1.2 feet higher it would have breached the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant’s flood defenses and shut down their diesel powered generators that were required to cool the plant. This is exactly what happened at Fukushima. Oyster Creek is an identical design to Fukushima. How come we haven’t heard about this in the MSM? I’m no expert, but when a category 1 hurricane surge can come within 1 or 2 feet of breaching a nuclear power plant, someone should be worried. Are you?

Nuclear Power Plant Flood Risk: Sandy Was Just a Warm-Up

By Heather Rogers, Remapping Debate

As Hurricane Sandy approached the East Coast late last October, more than a dozen nuclear power plants from North Carolina stretching up to New England were in its wide-ranging path. On Oct. 29, the night that the eye of the storm made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey, five nuclear plants were forced to either reduce power or make emergency shutdowns.

The most serious event was at the Oyster Creek Generating Station located in Lacey Township, near Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, about 40 miles north of Atlantic City. Amid 75-mile-an-hour winds, power to the region was knocked out, including at the Oyster Creek plant, just before 7 p.m. The plant’s backup diesel generators kicked on to keep its crucial cooling equipment functioning. Nevertheless, by 9 p.m. the plant’s pumps were facing another danger: rising floodwaters. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) spokesperson Neil Sheehan said that Sandy brought a surge of 7.4 feet to Oyster Creek. The plant is obligated to prepare for the consequences of flooding at 8.5 feet, he said, and, at 9.0 or 9.5 feet — Sheehan wasn’t sure — the plant’s pump motors would begin to be flooded.

The storm surge led the plant to declare an “Alert” — the second step in theNRC’s four-tiered emergency action system.

David Tillman, spokesperson for Exelon, the utility company that owns Oyster Creek, would not answer specific questions about the evening Sandy hit the plant (such as the height to which the water level rose, the height of the pump motors, or the actions taken by the plant in response to the alert).  Characteristically for the industry, he insisted that everything worked perfectly and that there were no problems.

The buffer that existed this time may be of little comfort in the future. For all the damage it caused, Sandy was only a Category 1 hurricane — Hurricane Katrina, by comparison, was a Category 3.  Given the challenges even Sandy brought to the Northeast’s nuclear power plants, Remapping Debate decided to investigate the extent to which these facilities are prepared to deal with the flood risks widely expected to increase as a result of global warming.

What would be the consequences were a nuclear power plant to flood?

To grasp what a flood at a coastal nuclear power plant such as Oyster Creek would mean, Dave Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union for Concerned Scientists, told Remapping Debate it is worth reflecting on Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant disaster in 2011. First, the plant — which ran on General Electric Mark I reactors, the same design as at Oyster Creek and 22 other nuclear plants in the U.S.— lost outside power due to the earthquake. Its backup generators switched on, and “the plant weathered [the earthquake] pretty well,” Lochbaum said. But then the floodwaters arrived, exceeding the facility’s sea wall. “That plant wasn’t unaware of the flooding potential, but the magnitude of the challenge they faced was just more than they could handle,” he said. Because the backup generators and pumps were flooded, there was no means by which to keep the reactors and spent fuel pools cooled.

Once that happens, explained Michael J. Reilly, director of the Division of Planning and Response at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, “it’s just a matter of time before the heat and the pressure build up and then you have a reactor accident.”

In the worst-case scenario, overheating in the reactor can trigger a hydrogen explosion, which can in turn lead to a breach of the containment structure, the reinforced building in which the reactor core is housed. This would lead to an uncontrolled release of radiation into the atmosphere.

Continue reading →

January 1, 2013 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Activists plan three-day cultural fest at Kudankulam

TNN | Jan 1, 2013, 05.41 AM IST

Image courtesy of http://www.demotix.com/news/1546945/london-protest-calls-end-indian-nuclear-power/all-media

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Activists of over 70 groups involved in various struggles across India will express solidarity with theKudankulam anti-nuclear plant protest by spending the New Year in Idithankara and other coastal hamlets in the region. A three-day cultural festival has been organized in this connection.

These activitists include those involved in the anti-Posco movement, Plachimada, Bhopal gas tragedy, Jaitapur and the like. The victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 and the water contamination by Dow Chemicals in Bhopal will be the special guests . They will be joined by adivasi groups and cultural teams from across India.

Shankar Mahanand, award winning playwright and convener of Sanskrutik Andolan, Odisha who was instrumental in leading a cultural yatra for peace and harmony after the Kandhamal riots in the state and Jharkhand mines area coordination committee general secretary Surinder Tirkey will also take part in the programme.

This was announced by Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, member of national co-ordination committee, Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), while speaking at a seminar organized by CNDP here on Sunday. He said the government was unnecessarily exposing the coastline and its people to nuclear hazards. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan, Ninan Koshy and R V G Menon also took part in the seminar.

Leader of opposition, VS Achuthanandan, who participated in the seminar titled – ‘Nuclear Power Vs People’s Power’ said, “It has been 500 days since the struggle started. The central government has no clue as what to do with the nuclear waste. They speak of disposing it like garbage, like how the state government said it would dispose of Vilappilsala waste in a quarry,” he said.

Prof Ninan Koshy was a lot more critical of the government and said the Indian government led by a blind believer in nuclear energy was insensitive to the ramifications of Fukushima. “They have slapped sedition cases on the activists. This was the same law that was invoked against Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi by the British. Disloyalty to the government is not disloyalty to the Indian state. When such agitations are termed anti-national and anti-state, it is time to question who forms the state and who forms the nation,” he said.

Speaking at the seminar Prof RVG Menon said “Nuclear energy has peaked out. It has been around since the 1940; an advanced nation like Germany is beginning to invest heavily on alternative energy. But India believes that nuclear energy is the highest blessing of science. The only reason that nuclear power will be cheaper is because it has a lot of hidden social costs.”

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/Activists-plan-three-day-cultural-fest-at-Kudankulam/articleshow/17838518.cms

January 1, 2013 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Emperor hopes everyone will support Tohoku disaster victims -JT

JAN. 01, 2013

Japan Today

TOKYO —

Image coutesy of http://www.houseofjapan.com

Emperor Akihito on Tuesday urged the nation not to forget the victims of the March 11, 2011 disaster.

In his New Year’s message released by the Imperial Household Agency, the 79-year-old emperor said: “At the dawn of the new year, my heart goes out to the afflicted people, those who cannot return to the places they used to live because of radioactive contamination and those who have to spend the cold harsh winter in temporary housing. I sincerely hope that, in the future, the experience of the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami will be fully utilized in disaster prevention education and town planning so that the country moves toward assuring safety and security in the lives of the people.

“Our country is now going through difficult times because of the earthquake and other factors, but it is my wish that the people’s hearts will always be with the afflicted, and that everyone will support one another to overcome the various challenges. It is my hope that the new year will be better, even a little, for the people of Japan and the people of the world.”

The emperor and other members of the imperial family will make five appearances before the public at the imperial palace on Wednesday. The times are 10:10 a.m., 11 a.m., 11;50 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:20 p.m.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/emperor-says-he-hopes-everyone-will-support-tohoku-disaster-victims?utm_campaign=jt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jt_newsletter_2013-01-01_PM

January 1, 2013 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment