nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Book Review: A Timely History of Nuclear Catastrophes

In “Atoms and Ashes,” Serhii Plokhy offers a harrowing account of the world’s six major accidents and their aftershocks.

Top: Three Mile Island photographed in 1999, 20 years after the Unit 2 reactor failed. 

RUSSIA’S INVASION OF Ukraine not only reminded the world of all the usual horrors of modern warfare, but also stirred the long-slumbering spectre of nuclear catastrophe, both in the form of nuclear war à la “Dr. Strangelove” and of civilian disaster à la Chernobyl. When Russian forces occupied the Chernobyl nuclear plant and held its workers hostage, some worried about a new nuclear disaster in the making if the plant was damaged or if decommissioning operations were severely disrupted. Other nuclear plants in Ukraine, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station — the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, with six reactors — were threatened by invading forces. The dangers were severe enough that the International Atomic Energy Agency sent safety staff and continues to monitor the unfolding situation to ensure that things don’t get out of control.

At the moment, Ukraine’s nuclear plants seem to be safe, but fear and anxiety persist. As Serhii Plokhy details in “Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters,” the memories of past catastrophes continue to haunt the idea of nuclear power, including any plans or hopes for a nuclear power renaissance in a world of worsening climate change.

Each of the book’s six chapters focuses on an individual nuclear accident, some famous, others more obscure, including relevant background information and historical context. ………………………………  https://undark.org/2022/05/27/book-review-a-timely-history-of-nuclear-catastrophes/

May 28, 2022 Posted by | 2 WORLD, incidents | Leave a comment

Another university infiltrated by the nuclear industry – University of Derby and Rolls Royce

 Rolls-Royce Submarines announced plans recently to open a new academy
dedicated to nuclear training within the city. The academy forms part of
their Rolls-Royce Submarines’ plans to boost nuclear capability in the UK
and create a pipeline for nurturing talent.

In partnership with the
University of Derby, the site will create 200 new apprenticeships every
year for at least the next 10 years. The academy is set to open in
September 2022. The Council’s iHub – managed by Connect Derby – will
become the home of the new academy, taking centre-stage at the
manufacturing-focused innovation and technology site, Infinity Park. Derby City Council

26th May 2022 https://www.derby.gov.uk/news/2022/may/ihub-rolls-royce-nuclear-skills-academy/

May 28, 2022 Posted by | Education, UK | Leave a comment

France is offering 6 new nuclear reactors to India, even though India’s nukes are not within the IAEA safety regulatory framework.

AMAZINGLY, despite the fact that at a time when India’s eight nuclear
reactors already remain out of the IAEA safety regulatory framework,
Electrrice de France (EDF) has offered India to get six evolutionary
pressurised water nuclear reactors (EPRs) from France. While looking into
the evolution of the Indian nuclear program, one gets a clear picture that
since Pokhran-1-11 1974 , 1998, New Delhi has been unduly favoured by the
foreign powers to enhance its soft power and hard power nuclear assets.

 Pakistan Observer 26th May 2022

Foreign powers’ role behind India’s nuclear programme? | By Syed Qamar Afzal Rizvi

May 28, 2022 Posted by | India, safety | Leave a comment

For the first time in history, nuclear sites have been caught up in the middle of warfare

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nuclear facilities have been caught
up in the midst of conventional warfare for the first time in history. That
nightmare scenario is one that few of the industry’s players had
anticipated. In Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia, Russian forces represent a
lingering threat to the most basic rules of nuclear security.

On the way to
Chernobyl along the Dnipro River, a two-hour drive from Kyiv, the imprint
left by Russia’s occupation remains, two months after an ordeal that
lasted from the February 24 invasion until March 31. Most bridges have been
destroyed and our driver warns us to stay on the pavement as landmines lurk
beyond. After the invasion, the exclusion zone around Chernobyl – a
30-kilometre radius around the notorious nuclear plant near Ukraine’s
border with Belarus – made global headlines once again.

For some 35 days,
Chernobyl personnel had to abide the Russian soldiers who seemed oblivious
to the dangers inherent in a nuclear site. Those in the civil nuclear
industry believe it is vital to deliberate on the issue of nuclear security
in wartime. Terrorist attack scenarios had been considered in the past. But
in light of the Russian invasion, the matter of adopting international
rules is now on the table. Over the past three months, Ukrainian
authorities have been calling – so far without success – for the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to commit its members to
respecting a five-kilometre perimeter around nuclear facilities inside of
which no military forces can be permitted to penetrate.

 France24 26th May 2022

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220526-should-the-war-in-ukraine-spur-a-nuclear-security-rethink

May 28, 2022 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Chinese involvement is entrenched in Britain’s nuclear power plans

  In this week’s Gossage Gossip, our columnist discusses whether the
UK’s recent ban on China’s involvement in nuclear power came a little
too late. It has become clear that, for national security reasons
safeguarding the electricity system, the Government has decided to minimise
the amount of direct Chinese involvement in new nuclear construction. While
China was originally welcomed with open arms, the idea now is to kick the
Chinese out from their projected 40% funding of Sizewell C, and block
entirely the concept of a 100% Chinese reactor at Bradwell B.

But might this be a case of shutting the stable doors well after the horses have
bolted? For instance, it seems that the special constabulary force who
police Britain’s 10 civil nuclear sites do so using surveillance cameras
produced by a Chinese state-backed firm called Hikvision. This firm has
been sanctioned under export and investment restrictions by the US
government and is implicated in human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Due to the
sensitivity of their work, unlike regular British police forces, frontline
officers may be routinely armed. But it won’t stop their every move being
monitored by the camera manufacturers.

A major worry regarding Sizewell C
is reliable accessibility to copious amounts of cooling water, a growing
problem in dry East Anglia. The local supplier, Essex and Suffolk Water,
are statutorily bound to provide water on demand to all households – but
has no such obligations for non-residential establishments. All they can
offer is ‘best endeavours’ to supply. And who owns this water company?
Step forward Li-Ka Shing. His company, CK Group, also owns UK Power
Networks, just about the largest electricity distribution company in
Britain. Li-Ka Shing happens to be not just one of the richest men in
China, but also an industrialist known to be very close to President Xi.
Prospective constructor Electricité de France has been instructed to cost
out just how much more heavy dependence upon desalination of North Sea
water will add to their overheads, already upwards of £21 billion.

 

 Electrical Review 26th May 2022

Is a China ban from UK nuclear power too little, too late?

May 28, 2022 Posted by | politics international, UK | Leave a comment

Security issues at UK’s civil nuclear facilities have reached highest level in 14 years

The number of formal reports documenting security issues at the UK’s
civil nuclear facilities has hit its highest level in at least 12 years
amid a decline in inspections, the Guardian can reveal. Experts said the
news raised concerns about the regulator’s capacity to cope with a
planned expansion in the sector. A total of 456 incident notification forms
documenting security issues at UK nuclear facilities were submitted to the
Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) over 2021, according to information
obtained by the Guardian and the investigative journalism organisation
Point Source. This is 30% higher than the 320 reports filed during the
whole of 2020 and more than double the 213 reports that were filed in 2018.

 Guardian 26th May 2022

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/26/security-warnings-at-uk-nuclear-energy-facilities-hit-12-year-high

May 28, 2022 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

    Next Entries »