South Texas nuclear reactors – fire on Jan 8, relicensing hearing on Jan 15
Fire at South Texas Project Nuclear Reactor Site – Just Before Re-licensing Hearing, Herald Online, January 11, 2013 By Sustainable Energy & Economic Development Coalition AUSTIN, TEXAS, JAN. 11, 2013 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –– A fire that shot 50 foot flames into the air erupted January 8th in the main transformer at the South Texas Project site near Bay City, Texas, about 90 miles southwest of Houston. Reactor 2, which was out of commission for five winter months in 2011-2012, has not been operating since the fire.
The fire occurred just one week prior to a hearing on re-licensing the two South Texas Project reactors, which will be held January 15th from 2-5 pm and 7-10 pm at the Bay City Civic Center, 201 Seventh St…… “Any nuclear reactor is at risk from fires, explosions, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, lack of cooling water and terrorist attacks, as well as accidents due to human error and mechanical failure,” said Karen Hadden, Director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition.
“This is like a used car deal – made fourteen years in advance. Why not wait until 2025 to see what shape the reactors are in before even considering re-licensing? The reactors, now 24 and 25 years old, are licensed to run 40 years – until 2027 and 2028. It’s time to plan for their replacement, not court disaster by giving aging reactors twenty additional years.”
The NRC Event report and hearing information are online at www.NukeFreeTexas.org.
Japan’s new government hand in glove with the old “nuclear village”
the public
remains sceptical about industry promises to mend its ways after
decades of collusion with regulators and pro-nuclear politicians.
But those concerns are unlikely to hold much sway with the LDP, which
helped develop Japan’s “nuclear village” – the web of power utilities,
bureaucrats and MPs who peddled the nuclear dream and shunned rigorous
regulation…..
Japan seeks to reverse commitment to phase out nuclear power, Justin
McCurry in Tokyo guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 January 2013 The Fukushima
Daiich meltdown prompted the previous government to pledge a phaseout
of all 50 reactors in Japan Almost two years after the triple meltdown
at Fukushima Daiichi power plant sent shockwaves around the world,
Japan’s government is attempting to resell the nuclear dream to a
traumatised public. Continue reading
Wheeling and dealing as China, France, try to sell nuclear reactors to UK
EDF, China firm held British nuclear talks
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/15816531/edf-china-
firm-held-british-nuclear-talks/,
Reporting by Dominique Vidalon in Paris, Karolin Schaps, Sophie
Sassard and Sarah Young in London, additional reporting by David
Standway in Beijing; editing by Jason Neely
January 12, 2013 PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) – France’s EDF remains in the
hunt for a partner to build four nuclear reactors in Britain after
talks were halted with China’s Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation
Holding (CGNPC) , sources close to the talks said on Friday.
“They have talked. EDF and CGNPC have a relationship going back many
years,” one source said. But two other sources close to the
discussions confirmed negotiations regarding a British partnership are
no longer ongoing.
The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported on Friday that the talks
had focused on the state-owned Chinese firm taking over a 20 percent
stake in EDF’s nuclear new build programme owned by UK firm Centrica .
A spokesman for Centrica said the company continued to be involved in
the project.
EDF declined to comment and CGNPC was not available for immediate comment.
CGNPC and EDF along with French reactor maker Areva signed an
agreement in November to jointly develop a new type of reactor.
The French government later said it had opened an investigation into a
partnership deal which EDF had signed with a Chinese nuclear utility
in order to verify whether France’s strategic interests were
respected.
China has most Tungsten for green ammo -USA has to continue with depleted uranium?
Rev Environ Health 2007 Jan-Mar (1): 75-89.Full Request
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, 8901 Wisconsin Avenue, Building 42, Bethesda, MD 20889-5603, USA. Millera@afrri.usuhs.mil
Abstract
The use of depleted uranium in armor-penetrating munitions remains a source of controversy because of the numerous unanswered questions about its long-term health effects. Although no conclusive epidemiologic data have correlated DU exposure to specific health effects, studies using cultured cells and laboratory rodents continue to suggest the possibility of leukemogenic, genetic, reproductive, and neurological effects from chronic exposure. Until issues of concern are resolved with further research, the use of depleted uranium by the military will continue to be controversial.
PMID: 17508699 [Pubmed – MEDLINE]
Green Ammo
Article by The Gun Zone
Taiwan nuclear power plant (2 reactors) inoperable to 2016
| By: | SpiderX22 @ 2013-01-11 09:49:31
map #158095
|
| Description: | The Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant (formerly Gongliao Nuclear Power Plant and Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, often abbreviated as: Chinese: 核四; pinyin: Hésì; Taiwanese: Hu̍t-sù or He̍k-sù; “Nuke 4”), located in Gongliao Township, is Taiwan’s fourth nuclear power plant, consisting of two ABWRs each of 1,350 MWe. Operation may not begin until 2016. |
| More Info: | en.wikipedia.org |
| Location: | Lungmen, Taiwan (TW) @ 25.03702400, 121.92708600 |
http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/lungmen-nuclear-power-plant-1/
NRC Reports on Oyster Creek Hurricane Performance
“..At the same time, the inspectors did observe several areas where performance could be improved. Some examples included heightened awareness of emergency declaration thresholds, clearer documentation in control room records and ensuring reliable back-up power for the plant’s emergency operations facility.
The report also contains a company-identified violation determined to be of very low safety significance related to the use of incorrect meteorological tower data…”
Posted by Moderator on January 11, 2013
Neil Sheehan
Public Affairs Officer
Region I
The NRC staff has issued the findings of the Special Inspection it conducted at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant to review events related to “Superstorm” Sandy. The inspection was launched on Nov. 13.
Our three-member team’s primary focus was the timing of the emergency declarations at the Lacey Township (Ocean County), N.J. facility during the storm. Sandy-generated high water levels at the plant’s water intake structure, prompting first an “Unusual Event” declaration and later an “Alert” declaration.
The inspectors also reviewed preparations by Exelon, the plant’s owner, prior to the storm’s arrival; equipment performance; and overall command and control from an emergency preparedness perspective.
The inspectors’ report is now available on the NRC website. The team has concluded that the declarations were timely and accurate and that plant personnel appropriately carried out their duties during the storm.
Billion-dollar US nuclear sub comes off worst in Strait of Hormuz collision with ‘fishing boat’
Published: 11 January, 2013,
RT
The USS Jacksonville, a large nuclear submarine, has broken its periscope after colliding with a vessel which escaped unscathed. This is the latest collision to involve a US vessel in the busy and tense oil chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz.
The American sub was performing a routine pre-dawn patrol when seamen heard a “thump”, according to a Navy source who spoke to several news agencies. The crew tried to ascertain the damage by looking into its periscope, only to realize it was no longer working. The other periscope on the submarine revealed that the first one had been “sheared off”.
It appears the ‘fishing trawler’ that collided with the 7,000-tonne submarine was not only undamaged, but barely noticed the accident.
“The vessel continued on a consistent course and speed, offering no indication of distress or acknowledgement of a collision,” says an official statement published on the US Navy website.
Authorities insist that USS Jacksonville is in no immediate danger.
“The reactor remains in a safe condition, there was no damage to the propulsion plant systems and there is no concern regarding watertight integrity,” they said.
The cost of repairing the damaged periscope are as yet unclear, but the discontinued Los Angeles-class submarines, to which USS Jacksonville belongs, would cost over $1 billion to build in today’s money (the sub was launched in 1978).
USS Jacksonville has now returned to Bahrain, where its damage will be assessed.
Rising violence in nuclear armed Pakistan
Fears for nuclear-armed Pakistan as blasts kill 125 ahead of
elections, news.com.au, Maaz Khan AFP January 11, 2013 EXTREMIST bomb
attacks killed 125 people in one of Pakistan’s deadliest days for
years, raising concerns about rising violence in the nuclear-armed
country ahead of general elections……
http://www.news.com.au/world/at-least-81-killed-as-suicide-bombers-target-snooker-hall-in-quetta-pakistan/story-fndir2ev-1226551761961
A new strategy is needed, as Asian and Middle Eastern countries join the nuclear weapons club
the most urgent problem stems from the breakdown of major countries’
one-time nuclear monopoly and the empowerment of smaller countries
like North Korea, Pakistan, Israel, and, quite possibly, Iran. A new
set of rules for diplomacy, military strategy, and arms control is
needed to stabilise this emerging nuclear order. Pretending that it
does not exist is not a strategy.
The second nuclear age BY PAUL BRACKEN, JANUARY 11 2013 BD
Live“……The contours of the second nuclear age are still taking
shape. But the next few years will be especially perilous, because
newness itself creates dangers as rules and red lines are redefined.
This took at least ten years in the first nuclear age, and this time
may be no different.
In the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia, old rivalries now
unfold in a nuclear context. This has already changed military
postures across the Middle East. Continue reading
Nuclear weapons makers excluded from Norway Oil Fund
Norway Oil Fund Excludes Nuclear Weapon Producers, Reverses
Exclusions, WSJ, 11 Jan 13
Norway’s Ministry of Finance found Babcock & Wilcox operates
facilities producing fissile material for nuclear warheads, while
Jacobs Engineering Group is part of a company developing, producing
and maintaining nuclear weapons… (subscribers only)
http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2013/01/11/norway-oil-fund-excludes-nuclear-weapon-producers-reverses-exclusions/
NASA’s drones will explore climate change effects below the tropsphere
NASA To Use Drone For Climate Research, Information Week Government, Patience Wait, 11 Jan 13, NASA this month will begin using a drone capable of flying 12 miles above the Earth’s surface in an effort to understand how atmospheric changes affect climate…… NASA’s new project is called the Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment, or ATTREX. The tropopause is the atmospheric layer between the troposphere, which is the lowest portion of the atmosphere, and the stratosphere. “There are vortices in the atmosphere that spin off the North Pole over the Pacific,” said Don Sullivan, a NASA employee working on the IT portion of ATTREX. “A lot of stuff that originates in Asia winds up in North America. We don’t know if it’s original material” or chemically compounded in the atmosphere.
The Global Hawk is capable of flying at 65,000 feet and staying aloft for 30 hours, allowing for air sampling over an extended period. It has been outfitted with about a dozen scientific instruments and sensors to measure trace gases, temperature, water vapor, radiation and other cloud properties…..
Six ATTREX flights are scheduled to take place between mid-January and mid-March. Those will be followed by flights over Guam and Australia next year.
Drones are a cheaper way for NASA to pursue some aspects of its mission, compared to rocket launches. ATTREX is an example of the agency’s Venture-class projects, which are designed to be implemented rapidly and at lower costs…. http://www.informationweek.com/government/information-management/nasa-to-use-drone-for-climate-research/240146117
Reviewing latest book on the state of the nuclear world
Book Review Podcast: The State of the Nuclear World, January 11, 2013, Arts Beat, By JOHN WILLIAMS This week in The New York Times Book Review, Bill Keller reviews three new books that address the current thinking about nuclear weapons. Mr. Keller writes:
Fear of nuclear weapons spiked for a time after 9/11, when we confronted the possibility of fissile material in the hands of stateless enemies, and you can find a reservoir of existential fear today in Israel, as it contemplates a nuclear Iran. The nuclear weapons of fragile Pakistan and inscrutable North Korea preoccupy large sectors of our intelligence community. But for most of us anxiety has given way to a kind of complacency. The longer we have gone without seeing nuclear weapons used, the more we assume they will not be used. Three new books challenge that complacency, from three different directions.
This week, Mr. Keller discusses those books…. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/book-review-podcast-the-state-of-the-nuclear-world/
Full radiation decontamination of Fukushima region an impossible task
Asahi: We are reminded anew of the huge scale of contamination released from Fukushima plant — Impossible to recover pre-disaster environment — Radiation levels not dropping in certain areas http://enenews.com/asahi-reminded-anew-huge-scale-contamination-released-fukushima-plant-impossible-recover-pre-disaster-environment-radiation-levels-dropping-areas
(Subscription Only) Title: EDITORIAL: More data needed to make decontamination work effective
Source: Asahi
Date: January 09, 2013
Decontamination work is in progress in areas affected by the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, but cases have been uncovered of workers dumping contaminated soil, vegetation and water into nearby rivers or other places without properly collecting them.
[…] One problem is that radiation levels are not dropping in certain areas. Another problem is that additional manpower is required, but hiring more workers isn’t financially viable.
Thinking about those problems, we are reminded anew of the huge scale of contamination caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
It is impossible to recover the pre-disaster environment, and it is unrealistic to think that all affected areas can be decontaminated. […]
Poor conditions, poor morale of Fukushima radiation clean-up workforce
Fukushima ‘decontamination’ workers threatened — We were punished if we tried to resist http://enenews.com/fukushima-decontamination-workers-threatened-we-were-punished-if-we-tried-to-resist
January 9th, 2013
(Subscription Only) Title: CROOKED CLEANUP: Decontamination workers say cutting corners came naturally
Source: THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Author: Compiled from reports by Tamiyuki Kihara and Toshio Tada
Date: January 09, 2013
[… Workers] cited a lack of training, unreasonable deadlines, threats of isolation, and persistent feelings that their efforts were pointless. […]
Asahi Shimbun reporters and the company have received more than 100 e-mails and phone calls from people involved in the decontamination project in Fukushima Prefecture. […]
50-year-old worker involved in decontaminating Tamura between Nov. 5 and Dec. 28 who was born in Fukushima Prefecture and graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo
“We were pressed to finish the work as quickly as possible”
“If we tried to resist, we would become isolated from other workers, although it did not reach the extent of losing the job”
“With sub-zero temperatures in the mountains, being placed in such circumstances would have led to feelings of loneliness among many people”
“Radiation levels returned even after we completed the work, so there was a sense that what we were doing was worthless”
“There will be no end to the shoddy work even if oversight is strengthened”
Japan’s nuclear phase-out has already happened:will it really phase-in again?
several fundamental nuclear-policy questions await answers—answers that could have significant consequences for the communities hosting Japan’s nuclear facilities, broader Japanese society and, to some extent, the global nuclear order. Beyond Japan’s two operating reactors, how many more of Japan’s fifty viable reactors will be allowed to restart? Will Japan continue its current effort to close the nuclear fuel cycle? What is the future for the industry’s fuel-cycle facilities in Aomori Prefecture and the nuclear materials currently stored there and at reactor sites around the country?
nuclear energy continues to be deeply unpopular in Japan, with opposition remaining well above 70 percent
the phase-out has already happened. The prescient concern would be a nuclear phase-in,
Japan’s Nuclear Muddle, The National Interest Ryan Shaffer | January 10, 2013 Japan’s December election put an end to the brief rule of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). It also handed an overwhelming victory and lower house majority to Japan’s traditional political leaders, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). However, still lacking a majority in the upper house, the LDP’s ability to push through legislation is dependent on its alliance with New Komeito, a party with significant policy differences on some of the immediate questions facing the LDP.
Between now and the next scheduled elections for Japan’s upper house in July 2013, the LDP’s first priority will be posturing for an upper house majority in the next election, not taking hard stands on controversial policy issues. One such issue concerns the country’s heated debate on nuclear energy. Continue reading
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