2022 October 28 « nuclear-news

Cracks found in all four Olkiluoto Nuclear 3 feedwater pumps

WNN, 28 October 2022, Cracks of a few centimetres have been identified in all four of the feedwater pumps of the Olkiluoto 3 EPR in Finland. Operator Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) said it does not yet know the impact this will have on the schedule for the plant’s commissioning.

On 18 October, TVO announced that damage had been discovered in the internals of the feedwater pumps located in the plant’s turbine island during maintenance and inspection work.

The feedwater pumps are Olkiluoto 3’s largest pumps and are used to pump water from the feedwater tank into the steam generators. TVO said the cracks detected in the pumps have no impact on nuclear safety.

The company noted the structure of the feedwater pumps located in Olkiluoto 3’s turbine island is commonly used in power plants. However, the pumps at OL3 have been designed for the plant unit’s operations and are larger in size.

“The investigation is currently ongoing in several laboratories,” TVO has now said. “The root cause of the cracks found in the pump impellers is still unknown.”……………………………. more https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Cracks-found-in-all-four-OL3-feedwater-pumps

October 28, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Finland, safety | Leave a comment

Ukraine’s Biggest Nuclear Plant Needs a Safety Zone

Atomic energy experts are calling for protections for the Zaporizhzhya plant, which has become a pawn in the war, thanks to power outages and nearby shelling.

Wired, Ramin Skibba, 28 Oct 22,

EUROPE’S LARGEST NUCLEAR power plant lies in the middle of a war zone, posing an ever-present risk of radiation leaks as the conflict following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on. The most immediate dangers include the possibility of an errant missile or shell blowing up waste containers, or a protracted power outage that would prevent workers from keeping spent fuel rods cool, a situation that could eventually lead to a radioactive release……………………………….

To reduce tensions and safety risks at Zaporizhzhya, Grossi and the IAEA are calling for a “nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the plant, including its reactors, nuclear waste, spent fuel pools, and energy and cooling systems. Establishing this zone would mandate an end to shelling near the plant, and to military activities that can affect power supply systems. It also calls for the removal of military vehicles from areas where they could affect safety and security systems, and reestablishing an appropriate work environment for operating staff, with clear lines of responsibilities, so that the workers continue reporting to Ukrainian government officials, not Russian ones.

Earlier this month, Grossi met with Putin in St. Petersburg, and with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, to make the case. “It is imperative to agree to this as soon as possible,” he said, according to an IAEA statement on October 18. Both leaders have signaled some interest in the plan: Zelensky has said he would back such a zone if it were aimed at demilitarizing the plant, while Putin told the state Tass news agency that Russia is open to dialog about all issues involving the plant’s operations.

Yet Ukraine’s push for a “demilitarized” zone would go further than the IAEA’s proposal by requiring Russia to completely withdraw its forces and effectively abandon the plant to Ukraine, which Russia is unlikely to do, says George Moore, a nuclear scientist at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.

Negotiating a ceasefire within a well-defined perimeter would be more politically achievable, he thinks. That would mean taking care to avoid firing mortars, missiles, or drone weapons anywhere in the area. “Hopefully good sense would prevail, but it hasn’t seemed to,” Moore says.

Until Ukraine and Russia reach an agreement, the plant remains in danger. “There’s no question: There should not be any military operations at the plant or in the vicinity of the plant,” says Ed Lyman, senior global security scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists and coauthor of the book Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster. But, he continues, while neither military’s soldiers have deliberately fired on the plant, anything can happen in the fog of war. A misfired weapon or a missile shot down in the wrong place could exacerbate an already dangerous situation. ………………………………………. more https://www.wired.com/story/zaporizhzhya-ukraines-biggest-nuclear-plant-needs-a-safety-zone/

October 28, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

NATO could deploy nuclear warheads to Poland: official — Anti-bellum

Polish RadioOctober 28, 2022 Poland interested in joining NATO’s nuclear sharing program: official Poland is interested in joining NATO’s nuclear sharing program, a Polish presidential aide has said. …according to the Polish president’s top foreign policy aide, Jakub Kumoch, Moscow “rendered invalid” a 1997 NATO-Russia agreement prohibiting the deployment of permanent NATO forces in Eastern […]
NATO could deploy nuclear warheads to Poland: official — Anti-bellum

October 28, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Bring voices from the coast into the Fukushima treated water debate

PNAS Leslie Mabon and Midori Kawabe 28 Oct 22, More than a decade has passed since the accident at the Fukushima Dai’ichi nuclear power plant in Japan—but the most contentious aspect of bringing the site under control is only just beginning. The Japanese Government has approved plant operator TEPCO’s plan to release treated water into the Pacific Ocean. That water is currently being stored onsite and retains some radioactive substances after treatment. The decision to release this water has provoked political contention and societal concern. South Korea, China, and Taiwan, as well as international environmental nongovernmental organizations, have expressed strong concern; and fisheries cooperatives in Japan remain opposed to the releases for fear of possible reputational impacts on Fukushima seafood.

TEPCO are confirming specific details of the release process, and an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) task force has made multiple visits to the Fukushima Dai’ichi site at the behest of the Japanese Government and TEPCO. The releases are scheduled to start in 2023 and run for many years………………………………………

Even if TEPCO and the government minimize environmental impacts through careful management of the process, as some international experts believe possible (3), the indirect socioeconomic impacts of the treated water releases on Fukushima’s coastal fishing communities are likely to be experienced over the long term. Proposals made by the community of researchers and institutions working at the science–policy interface for Fukushima treated water must be informed by a deep understanding of the local community context—and they must be responsive to the concerns of local stakeholders. We believe local community concerns can be more fully incorporated into decision making for treated water at Fukushima Dai’ichi………………….

Local Influence

Within Japan, the government expert committees advising the management of treated water are dominated largely—albeit not exclusively—by engineering and physical science expertise (4). Despite fisheries cooperatives’ long-standing and vocal opposition to the releases, plant operator TEPCO explained in August 2021 that they had not at that point had direct consultations with fisheries representatives regarding the discharges (5). Formal dialogue between the operator and the fisheries sector in Fukushima on the topic of releases did not start until TEPCO and the Japanese Government had determined most of the technical details. This left little room for the plans to be adjusted in response to any concerns from Fukushima’s fishers or coastal residents…………………………

Both within Japan and internationally, Fukushima’s fishers and coastal residents, although not completely absent, have received limited consideration as stakeholders. Fishers and residents tend to be caricatured as being concerned over rumors and reputational damage to Fukushima seafood owing to the treated water releases (9, 10)—or as harboring “irrational” safety fears over the relatively small amounts of radioactivity from pollutants such as tritium that are contained in the tanks currently storing treated water onsite (e.g., 3)………….

Missing Local Context

The Japanese Government is unlikely to reverse their decision to release treated water. Even so, it’s important to recognize that fishing is both an economic activity and the subject of deep emotional investment on the Fukushima coast. ……………………………….more https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2205431119

October 28, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Fukushima continuing | Leave a comment

NATO adds to warplane, missile defense assets in Baltic Sea — Anti-bellum

NATOAllied Air CommandOctober 24, 2022 German and Belgian fighters on NATO mission in Estonia Both Germany and Belgium have been long-standing supporters of NATO’s mission…at Ämari. While German Eurofighters are flying enhanced Air Policing missions, six Belgian F-16s are deployed in Estonia supporting NATO’s Air Shielding mission. At the end of February 2022, NATO’s commitment […]
NATO adds to warplane, missile defense assets in Baltic Sea — Anti-bellum

October 28, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Rocket Report: Norway’s nuclear rocket concerns.

Ars Technica 28 Oct 22

Norway has nuclear concerns about rocket launches? In what can charitably be described as an “odd take” on its local spaceport, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation has published an article asking whether the Andøya spaceport could trigger a nuclear war. The concern appears to be that the launch of Isar Aerospace’s new Spectrum rocket, probably next year, will trigger Russia into believing it is about to be attacked by nuclear warheads.

There is some historical precedent … In January 1995, Norwegian and US scientists launched a Black Brant-sounding rocket from Andøya. This alarmed Russian observers, who feared a high-altitude nuclear attack that could blind Russian radar, and accordingly the “nuclear briefcase” was brought to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Fortunately, before he had to decide whether to order a retaliatory strike, Russian observers determined that there was no nuclear attack. Presumably, communications about forthcoming rocket launches will be better a quarter of a century later. (submitted by SvenErik1968)……… more https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/10/rocket-report-amazon-may-consider-launching-on-spacex-a-canadian-space-race/

October 28, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

About 100 Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant employees, including senior managers, agree to collaborate with Russian occupiers

Ukrainska Pravda ANASTASIIA ZHARYKOVA – FRIDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2022,

Out of the 6,700 Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) employees who continue working at the plant since its occupation by Russian forces, about 100 workers have signed contracts with Rosatom [Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation] under pressure from the Russians. Several senior managers are among those who had agreed to work for Russia, too…………………. more https://news.yahoo.com/100-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant-145214038.html

October 28, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | employment, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Global heating levels threaten to destroy economies

Levels of warming threaten to ‘destroy economies’, says UN. The world
is already seeing increasing floods, storms, heatwaves and wildfires as a
result of climate change. The planet is heading for “climate
catastrophe”, with countries significantly behind in cutting global
warming pollution, the UN has warned. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres
said countries are bracing for “economy-destroying levels of global
heating”.

Express 27th Oct 2022

https://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/1688646/climate-change-warming-environment-un-UNEP-CAP26

October 28, 2022 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

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