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Holtec nuclear waste casks at San Onofre are too thin-walled and must be replaced

San Onofre Safety 11/29/2018: NRC admits San Onofre Holtec nuclear waste canisters are all damaged, November 29, 2018 by Donna Gilmore

The Holtec nuclear waste storage canisters at San Onofre are lemons and must be replaced with thick-wall casks.

 Oceanside:   The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) admits in their November 28, 2018 NRC Inspection Report and Notice of Violation, ML18332A357 (page 8 and 9) every Holtec canister downloaded into the storage holes is damaged due to inadequate clearance between the canister and the divider shell in the storage hole (vault).  The NRC states canister walls are already “worn”.  This results in cracks. Once cracks start, they continue to grow through the wall.

The NRC stated Southern California Edison (and Holtec) knew about this since January 2018, but continued to load 29 canisters anyway.  Edison’s August 24, 2018 press release states they plan to finish loading mid 2019.

The NRC states Edison must stop loading canisters until this issue is resolved.  However, there is no method to inspect or repair cracking canisters and the NRC knows this.

Instead, the NRC should admit the Holtec system is a lemon — a significant defective engineering design — and revoke both San Onofre and Holtec dry storage system licenses.

The NRC should require all San Onofre thin-wall canisters be replaced with thick-wall transportable storage casks.  These are the only proven dry storage systems that can be inspected, maintained, repaired and monitored in a manner to prevent major radiological releases and explosions.

California state agencies should revoke San Onofre permits and withhold Decommissioning Trust Funds until these issues are resolved.

The Navy should consider revoking the San Onofre Camp Pendleton lease until Edison agrees to replace thin-wall canisters with proven thick-wall transportable storage casks.  This is a national security issue. If the NRC cannot do their job, maybe it’s time to bring in the Marines. The Navy has nuclear experts.

Sign petition to recall and replace San Onofre defective thin-wall canisters with proven thick-wall casks     https://sanonofresafety.org/2018/11/29/11-29-2018-nrc-admits-san-onofre-holtec-nuclear-waste-canisters-are-all-damaged/

December 1, 2018 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Revisiting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

December 1, 2018 Posted by | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Owner of failed nuclear plant might use golden parachute fund in settlement 

Agreement contingent on Dominion Energy purchasing the South Carolina energy company, Ars Technica , MEGAN GEUSS – 11/27/2018,
Today, South Carolina energy company SCANA and its potential purchaser Dominion Energy reached a settlement with class-action litigants to offer a significant energy bill rate cut in exchange for the litigants dropping a lawsuit over $2 billion in energy bill fees. Attorneys for the class-action members told The Post and Courier that they will accept the deal if it’s approA class-action lawsuit representing these customers argued that they should not have to pay for an unfinished nuclear plant. Interestingly, the deal calls for SCANA to partially pay the settlement with its $115 million “golden parachute” fund, usually reserved to give high-level executives generous severance payments on their way out.

The deal must be approved by a judge, and it’s also contingent on SCANA being purchased by Virginia company Dominion Energy. Dominion appears motivated to purchase SCANA, and as part of today’s proposed settlement, Dominion would offer SCG&E customers a 15-percent customer rate cut that Utility Dive says could cut bills by more than $22 per month. Dominion’s acquisition of SCANA has secured approval from six state and federal regulatory agencies, and now the company is only waiting on approval from South Carolina’s Public Services Commission. South Carolina PSC says it wants to see a 33-percent rate cut for customers.

Even if this settlement is approved, SCANA still faces a shareholder lawsuit saying it misled investors on the progress of Summer’s reactor construction. Additionally, the $2 billion settlement would still leave customers on the hook for an additional “$2.3 billion for two unfinished reactors over the next two decades,” according to The Post and Courier.

The Post and Courier also notes that the settlement and Dominion’s acquisition deal don’t help out customers of Santee Cooper, which was another major owner of the Summer reactor expansion. Additionally, the settlement does not relieve the costs borne by the state’s 20 electric cooperatives, which also shared ownership in the project. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/11/2-billion-class-action-lawsuit-over-failed-nuclear-plant-sees-settlement-offer/ved

December 1, 2018 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

China and USA competing to market technology to Argentina

China, vying with U.S. in Latin America, eyes Argentina nuclear deal, Cassandra GarrisonMatt Spetalnick, BUENOS AIRES/WASHINGTON (Reuters) 29 Nov 18 Argentina and China are aiming to close a deal within days for the construction of the South American nation’s fourth nuclear power plant, a multi-billion dollar project that would cement Beijing’s deepening influence in a key regional U.S. ally.

Argentina hopes to announce an agreement on the Chinese-financed construction of the Atucha III nuclear power plant during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit on Sunday following the summit of leaders of G20 industrialized nations in Buenos Aires, Juan Pablo Tripodi, head of Argentina’s national investment agency, told Reuters in an interview.

The potential deal, reportedly worth up to $8 billion, is emblematic of China’s strengthening of economic, diplomatic and cultural ties with Argentina. It is part of a wider push by Beijing into Latin America that has alarmed the United States, which views the region as its backyard and is suspicious of China’s motives.

………. The negotiations on Chinese financing of the Atucha III nuclear power plant are a key cause for concern for the U.S. government, a senior Trump administration official told Reuters.

Atucha III would be one of the biggest projects financed by China in Argentina, according to the Reuters review of Chinese state funding data…….. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-china-insight/china-vying-with-u-s-in-latin-america-eyes-argentina-nuclear-deal-idUSKCN1NX0FE

December 1, 2018 Posted by | China, marketing, SOUTH AMERICA, USA | Leave a comment

Groups want U.S. Congress to strengthen community protection with Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).

Watchdog groups call for Congress to protect nuclear weapons communities, Huntington News, Watchdog groups from across the country are insisting the Department of Energy withdraw DOE Order 140.1, a controversial order that would compromise safety at dozens of facilities in the US nuclear weapons complex, and are asking key Congressional committees to annul the revised order and preserve the critically important prerogatives of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).

The order, first announced by DOE in April, 2018, has drawn scrutiny from members of Congressional committees with oversight over the Energy Department. DOE Order 140.1 seeks to limit access to information and personnel by the Safety Board .

Kathy Crandall Robinson will speak at a November 28 hearing in Washington, DC, at which DNFSB is soliciting comments from Department officials and members of the public. “Order 140.1, with its degradation of DNFSB’s role and authority, threatens to send us on a glide path back to a careless era as if this were a time when safety concerns and dangers at nuclear weapons facilities are shrinking.

They are not,” Robinson says. “Instead, there are aging facilities, facilities operating where serious safety concerns have been raised, and some facilities where plans for increased production of nuclear weapons components could lead to novel dangers.

For example, the President’s Nuclear Posture Review calls for production of 80 plutonium pits per year by 2030 and plans are being laid for increased pit production at Los Alamos as well as new capabilities at Savannah River Site.”

Members of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, a national network of organizations that addresses nuclear weapons production and waste cleanup issues, hail the work of the DNFSB as a critical guard against DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration efforts to cut corners on safety. “The Safety Board works outside of the media spotlight,” said Tom Clements, Director of Savannah River Site Watch in Columbia, South Carolina. “Its value to the public is immeasurable. DNFSB frequently provides information about SRS operations which DOE fails to communicate.

The role of the Safety Board should be expanded, not curtailed.” Marylia Kelley, Executive Director of Tri-Valley CAREs in Livermore, California, said, “The DNFSB is absolutely vital to worker and public safety. I have spent 35 years monitoring Livermore Lab. I can tell you that workers and community members rely on the Safety Board to do its job ­every day!”

DOE has been  unresponsive to public concerns……..http://www.huntingtonnews.net/160792

December 1, 2018 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Santee Cooper asks judge to weigh in on legal settlement of SC nuclear lawsuit

 By Andrew Brown abrown@postandcourier.com,   Nov 28, 2018   COLUMBIA — Santee Cooper wants to weigh in before South Carolina Electric & Gas settles a lawsuit with its customers over the utilities’ shared nuclear project, arguing a rushed deal could harm the state-run power company and its ratepayers.

·         Attorneys for Santee Cooper, South Carolina’s only public electric utility, filed a motion in court Wednesday that could disrupt a proposed legal settlement between SCE&G and several law firms that represent the utility’s customers in ongoing class-action lawsuits.

·         That deal would allow SCE&G’s parent company, SCANA Corp., to do away with the risky litigation and help seal Dominion Energy’s proposed takeover of the Cacye-based company.

·         n return, the law firms that pushed the class-action lawsuit would pocket a portion of the settlement, which requires the utility to turn over $115 million that was previously set aside for the company’s executives and the proceeds from the sale of several properties including a plantation near Georgetown and an office in downtown Charleston.

·         Santee Cooper, which owns just under half of the failed V.C. Summer nuclear project, said SCE&G and the law firms involved in the case “attempted to stage a hurried settlement.”

·         The state-run utility has an interest in the outcome of the lawsuit because it is still considering suing SCANA, its project partner, over the unfinished nuclear reactors located just north of Columbia. SCANA was responsible for overseeing the multibillion dollar reactors for both utilities and reigning in the nuclear contactors on the project.

……… https://www.postandcourier.com/business/santee-cooper-asks-judge-to-block-settlement-of-sc-nuclear/article_ffc26b1c-f346-11e8-a5de-cbddd0454e55.html

December 1, 2018 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

In an 18-Year-Old Program to Help Ill Nuclear Workers, a Petition Has Lingered for 10 Years

 https://www.propublica.org/article/los-alamos-ill-nuclear-workers-petition-has-lingered-for-ten-years

A security guard at Los Alamos National Laboratory has been seeking compensation for fellow lab workers who’ve become ill, but the government has repeatedly denied the petition and he’s still waiting for a final answer. by Rebecca MossSanta Fe New Mexican Nov. 30 Ten years ago, a Los Alamos National Laboratory security guard named Andrew Evaskovich submitted a petition seeking compensation for fellow nuclear lab workers diagnosed with cancer linked to radiation. The government has repeatedly recommended denying the petition, despite evidence of continuing safety and recordkeeping problems at Los Alamos. And today, Evaskovich is still waiting for an answer. (Read our investigation.)

October 2000: Congress creates a program to compensate nuclear workers who’ve become sick after being exposed to hazardous levels of radiation or toxic chemicals. The law allows groups of workers to petition the government for easier access to compensation if their worksite has not kept adequate worker health records. The process has yet to help workers who started after 1996, when labs had to begin meeting higher safety standards.

2000 to 2004: Government inspectors find continuing worker safety problems at Los Alamos. A top official writes that Los Alamos labs’ “corrective actions have not been effective in preventing the recurrence of the radiological and safety basis violations.”

March 2006: Internal government memos are revealed showing a plan to deny petitions seeking special compensation for workers whose exposure records are missing or were destroyed, as a way to keep the costs down.

January 2008: A government watchdog report finds numerous incidents of “unusually high, unexplained dosage readings for workers” at Los Alamos.

April 2008: Evaskovich files a petition seeking compensation for ill Los Alamos workers employed between 1976 and 2005 who may not have adequate records of radiation exposure, based on his research showing problems with lab safety and recordkeeping.

January 2009: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, recommends for the first time that Evaskovich’s petition be denied, saying Los Alamos records’ show the lab had a health and safety program and was monitoring workers.

February 2009: A government advisory board disagrees and tells NIOSH to continue studying the petition.

July 2009: Workers are exposed to radioactive arsenic-74 at two areas of the lab, violating radiation safety practices in part because personnel “did not recognize the extremely high beta radiation dose rate associated with the arsenic.” Los Alamos is later fined for the incident.

July 2010: In response to a different petition, the government provides easier access to benefits for workers employed at Los Alamos prior to 1975.

August 2012: NIOSH reverses course and says that workers employed prior to 1996 should be eligible for compensation as a group since they “may have accumulated substantial chronic exposures through intakes of inadequately monitored radionuclides.” It also says it needs to continue studying those who started work in subsequent years.

February 2014: Lab workers improperly pack nuclear waste, which causes a drum to burst at an underground nuclear waste facility in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The accident exposes more than 20 workers to radiation and is one of the costliest nuclear accidents in Department of Energy history.

August 2015: The DOE cites Los Alamos for six violations, with issues going back a decade, including a near-runaway chain reaction.

April 2017: NIOSH once again recommends denying Evaskovich’s petition for Los Alamos workers, saying the stricter rules implemented in 1996 meant the lab didn’t have systemic problems after that.

July 2017: Independent consultants disagree. The lab “did not magically” have the ability to follow the rules in 1996 just because the government said it had to, said one of the consultants who had been hired to provide technical advice to the government’s advisory board.

October 2018: NIOSH again recommends that Evaskovich’s petition be denied, saying it has plenty of documents to estimate workers’ radiation exposure, even if they weren’t individually monitored by the lab.

November 2018: Independent consultants again disagree.

The Department of Energy and NIOSH both say that nuclear sites are safer and have done a better job monitoring workers since the new rules were implemented in 1996. Los Alamos spokesman Kevin Roark said that workers are closely monitored for radiation exposure and that the lab complies with all federal requirements.

December 1, 2018 Posted by | employment, health, USA | Leave a comment

San Onofre plant aims to resume transfers of nuclear waste in January 

 San Diego Tribune,  Rob NikolewskiContact Reporter, 30 Nov 18

The restart would mark the first transfers since a “near-miss” incident in August in which a 50-ton canister containing nuclear waste was accidentally left suspended on a metal flange, nearly 20 feet from the floor of a storage cavity for as much as one hour.

A specific date for the restart has not been set, and Edison officials emphasized it will only begin after roughly 60 workers have gone through “more detailed and improved training” that includes practice runs and employing an independent assessment team.

“We have not rushed to resume this,” said Tom Palmisano, vice president of external engagement at the plant, or SONGS. “We’re going to be very slow and deliberate so that we fully understand this and fully correct the underlying deficiencies that got us here.”

The company also said transfers will resume only after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed on-site inspections next month.

All canister transfers have been suspended since the Aug. 3 incident came to light………

“The NRC is concerned about apparent weaknesses in management oversight” of the operations connected to the transfers, the agency’s report said.

Holtec International is the contractor responsible for transferring the canisters at SONGS, with Edison providing oversight. Based in New Jersey, Holtec also designed the canisters and the new storage facility where they are placed……….

San Onofre has not produced electricity since the plant shut down following a leak in a steam generator tube in 2012. The following year the plant officially closed. It is now in the process of being decommissioned.

SONGS is located on an 85-acre chunk of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, owned by the Department of the Navy. The plant sits between the Pacific and one of the busiest freeways in the country — Interstate 5. About 8.4 million people live in a 50-mile radius of the plant in an area with a history of seismic activity.

The dry cask storage facilities are about 100 feet from the ocean, protected by a seawall 28 feet high.https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/energy-green/sd-fi-nrc-songs-inspection-20181129-story.html

December 1, 2018 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Nuclear waste finally removed from Sequoyah Fuels site

Nuclear waste removed from Sequoyah Fuels site   Cherokee Nation, GORE, Okla. 30 Nov 18— A semitrailer quietly left the former Sequoyah Fuels Corporation site near Gore this week, hauling away the last of 511 loads of nuclear waste that has plagued Sequoyah County and its citizens for decades.

The Cherokee Nation and Oklahoma attorney general’s office worked for 18 months to ensure the off-site disposal of 10,000 tons of radioactive material were removed from the Sequoyah Fuels site. The waste was transported to a disposal site in Utah where the uranium will be recycled and reused, leaving the area near the Arkansas River free of this nuclear waste for the first time in nearly 50 years.

“It is a historic day for the Cherokee Nation and the state of Oklahoma. Our lands are safe again, now that we have removed a risk that would have threatened our communities forever,” Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “This would not have been possible if the tribe and state had not worked tirelessly together in court to ensure removal of this material.”

The uranium processing plant was opened by Kerr-McGee in 1970. It converted yellowcake uranium into fuel for nuclear reactors. The plant changed ownership more than once and was eventually sold to General Atomics under the name Sequoyah Fuels Corporation.

An accident at the plant killed one worker and injured dozens of others in 1986. Another accident in 1992 injured about three dozen workers. Following that accident and years of violating numerous environmental rules and nuclear safety standards, the plant was closed in 1993.

Tons of radioactive waste remained at the facility when it closed, so in 2004 the Cherokee Nation and state of Oklahoma entered into a settlement agreement that required the highest-risk waste be removed from the site. The owners of Sequoyah Fuels Corporation announced in 2016 their intention to bury the waste on site, but a judge forced the company to comply with the original agreement. Removal of the material is now complete.
“The Cherokee Nation has been in and out of court with Sequoyah Fuels since 2004, and now this material is no longer a ticking time bomb on the banks of the Arkansas River, one of our most precious natural resources,” Cherokee Nation Secretary of Natural Resources Sara Hill said. “Decommissioning this plant was never enough to satisfy our goals for a clean and safe environment. Removal of this highly contaminated waste was our goal, and we’re pleased that goal has finally been achieved.”

The plant is located where the Arkansas River and Illinois River meet.

“Today’s announcement is another example of the strength behind the continued partnership between the state of Oklahoma and the Cherokee Nation,” said Attorney General Mike Hunter. “The successful outcome is also affirmation of my office’s commitment to finding avenues of collaboration with tribal governments to ensure our state’s natural resources remain protected and our citizens and communities remain safe.”

Sequoyah County is home to 41,000 residents. Many of those residents are Cherokee and were once employed at the plant, where dozens of workers were injured over the years…….http://webtest2.cherokee.org/News/Stories/20181130_Cherokee-Nation-state-of-Oklahoma-city-of-Gore-announce-nuclear-waste-removed-from-Sequoyah-Fuels-site

December 1, 2018 Posted by | indigenous issues, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Chernobyl – tourism in a radioactive land

Guardian 28th Nov 2018 , Grab your Geiger counter: a trip to Chernobyl’s first rave. The nuclear
disaster site is being marketed as a tourist destination with novelty gas
masks, radioactive ice cream and – now – a multimedia art show with the
military. It is a two-hour drive from the centre of Kiev, following the
banks of the Dnieper river into the woods. It is minus six degrees outside.
Wild dogs scavenge at the side of the road. Our bus comes to a stop and
military men in uniform tell us to disembark and ready our passports.
We’re at the main check point of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. From here,
signs warn us, everything is contaminated.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/nov/28/chernobyl-art-party-nuclear-pripyat-ukraine-artefact-valery-korshunov

December 1, 2018 Posted by | environment | Leave a comment

Manipulations suggested to keep up tax-payer funding for EDF’s nuclear business

L’usine Nouvelle 28th Nov 2018 Ongoing reflection on EDF’s structure could lead to the creation of a
public holding company at the head of two major subsidiaries, with the
group’s nuclear fleet on one side and the sale of its production on the
other a group of activities that are most concerned by the energy
transition.

EDF could be reorganized into three blocks, with a central
public holding company controlling two major subsidiaries, one dedicated to
nuclear power and the other to energy transition. The aim would be to
secure the financing and operation of the group’s power stations by
protecting them from the vagaries of the market, which would amount to
making nuclear power an “essential asset” for France, in particular to
justify the operation. to the European Commission.

December 1, 2018 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

France will face a massive task when, inevitably, it must close and clean up its old nuclear reactors

FT 28th Nov 2018, If you think Britain has a tough job replacing its ageing fleet of nuclear
reactors, spare a thought for France. The world champion of atomic energy
is approaching a cliff edge in its electricity production.
The bulk of its fleet of 58 nuclear reactors was built in a remarkable 15-year burst of
construction in the 1980s and 1990s. France has not brought on stream a new
reactor for 20 years. Even if the lives of its plants were extended from 40
to 60 years, in itself an expensive proposition, 75 per cent of its nuclear
generating capacity would be gone by 2050.
The French government’s 10-year energy plan unveiled on Tuesday by President Emmanuel Macron was supposed
to set a clear framework allowing EDF, the monopoly nuclear operator, to modernise its fleet and for renewables to take a bigger slice of electricity production.
In the end, Mr Macron deferred many of the hard choices – but it was still a good result for EDF. One of the big choices was how quickly to scale back nuclear, which accounted for 71 per cent of electricity generation last year.
Environmentalists want faster decommissioning of older plants to encourage renewables. Some experts say
plants should be taken offline sooner rather than later, to avoid leaving EDF with the monumental task of decommissioning scores of them at the same time.
https://www.ft.com/content/c7421fbe-f326-11e8-9623-d7f9881e729f

December 1, 2018 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

Hungary plans for 100% renewable energy, phasing out coal

Open Access Government 28th Nov 2018 , Following yet another hike in the European Union’s emissions trading
system (ETS) in its fight against climate change, Hungary has announced
that it aims to phase out its use of coal and be fully reliant on renewable
energy sources by 2030.
https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/hungary-plans-to-ditch-coal-by-2030-and-become-fully-reliant-on-renewable-energy/55057/

December 1, 2018 Posted by | EUROPE, renewable | Leave a comment

Manchester City support’s for the U.N Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty is welcomed by Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA)

NFLA 28th Nov 2018 , The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) welcomes the unanimous decision
made today by Manchester City Council to formally support the International
Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). NFLA calls on the UK
Government to engage with the majority will of United Nations (UN) member
states by engaging in a process they have currently boycotted. The TPNW was
agreed at the UN by 122 countries (including the Republic of Ireland) in
July 2017 and is currently being ratified, a process that is expected to
conclude in 2019. The Treaty is a concerted attempt to move forward with
multilateral nuclear disarmament, but it has been opposed at every stage by
the nuclear weapon states, including the United Kingdom. NATO members, and
states like Australia and Japan who are linked to American security
policies, have also opposed this process.
http://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/nfla-welcomes-manchester-city-council-becoming-first-european-city-formally-support-treaty-prohibition-nuclear-weapons/

December 1, 2018 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Finland’s super-expensive Olkiluoto nuclear project delayed yet again

World Nuclear News 29th Nov 2018, The start of regular electricity generation at the Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) EPR has been pushed back by a further four months and is now expected to begin
in January 2020, Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) announced
today.

Last month, the plant’s supplier – the Areva-Siemens consortium –
announced it wanted to update the schedule for completing the unit as
commissioning tests were taking longer than planned. TVO said it has been
informed by the Areva-Siemens consortium that fuel will now be loaded into
the reactor core in June 2019, with grid connection to take place next
October, and the start of regular electricity generation scheduled for
January 2020.

Under the previous schedule provided by the plant supplier in
June this year, fuel loading was expected in January 2019, grid connection
in May and the start of regular electricity production in September.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/New-delay-in-start-up-of-Finnish-EPR

December 1, 2018 Posted by | business and costs, Finland, politics | 1 Comment