UK -Nuclear test veteran who flew through a mushroom cloud
By Keith Moore
BBC History
[…]
As soon as the doors on RAF flight navigator Joe Pasquini’s plane opened on 28 April 1958 he got out and ran away from the aircraft as quickly as he could.
It was the first time he had ever had to do so. But then, it hadn’t exactly been a typical flight.
That morning he and his crew had watched Britain’s biggest nuclear bomb explosion. They had then deliberately flown their plane through the radioactive mushroom cloud it created.
Their job was to measure how successful the explosion had been.
When they got back, they were taken to a decontamination area, where they stripped off, handed in their radioactivity recording equipment and scrubbed themselves in the shower for half an hour.
[…]
The hydrogen bomb that Pasquini and his crew saw that day was Grapple Y which – at three megatons – is still the most powerful nuclear bomb ever tested by the British.
Near disaster aboard Norwegian oil rig as anchor swings loose, puncturing ballast tanks
More disturbing still, reported Teknisk Ukeblad, was that the Norwegian Maritime Authority revealed that 19 serious deficiencies aboard the Floatel Superior platform were allowed to slide when the platform was approved for drilling Norway’s continental shelf.
Bellona President Frederic Hauge called this a “disturbing revelation.”
“Bellona now believes that it is time for investigators to investigate,” said Hauge. “The Petroleum Authority is simply not functioning well enough.”
The Norwegian operated Floatel Superior housing oil platform was damaged in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a storm during which a loose anchor punched holes in the platform’s ballast tank, causing it to list.
Charles Digges, Magnus Borgen,
08/11-2012
Statoil, the platform’s operator, evacuated 336 people by helicopter from the platform in the Norwegian Sea in rough weather with gale force winds, snow and 10-meter waves, the second time since September that offshore oil workers in Norway faced serious safety problems.
The Norwegian newspaper Teknisk Ukeblad reported that the rig was further known to be defective by the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority, but was allowed to operate on the Norwegian shelf anyway.
The Floatel Superior housing platform tilted up to four degrees during the night after the ballast tank was punctured by the anchor. There was no danger of oil or gas leaks due to the incident at the Njord A field, and the floating hotel was stabilized, but Statoil decided to evacuate a significant number of people.
Bellona President Frederic Hauge said the incident was attributable to a culture of neglect and offering exceptions to rigs within the inspection system of the PSA.
Housing platforms, or so-called “floatels”, offer temporary accommodationto offshore workers involved in significant upgrade work and are sailed out to where they are needed on floating legs. Oil and gas production rigs, by contrast, have sufficient beds only for those tasked with operating them on a daily basis.
Second stability incident in a year
The incident aboard Floatel Superior highlighted the dangers of offshore oil and gas operations in rough conditions. The PSA said in a statement it would now investigate the “serious stability incident.” It is already investigating a September incident when a drilling rig operated by Saipem SpA tilted sharply in the Barents Sea after a ballast tank was filled unintentionally.
Enenews -Gov’t: UK nuclear facility is ‘intolerable risk’ — Radioactive waste poses significant risks to people and environment
Published: November 7th, 2012 at 1:41 pm ET
By ENENews
Title:Sellafield nuclear waste storage is ‘intolerable risk’
Source: BBC News
Date: 7 November 2012
h/t Anonymous tip
An “intolerable risk” is being posed by hazardous waste stored in run-down buildings at Sellafield nuclear plant, a watchdog has found.
The National Audit Office (NAO) […] concluded that over the five decades it was open, operators failed to plan how to dispose of the radioactive waste and some of the older facilities have “deteriorated so much that their contents pose significant risks to people and the environment”. […]
Margaret Hodge, who chairs the public accounts committee, said: […] “Hazardous radioactive waste is housed in buildings which pose ‘intolerable risks to people and the environment’. […]
Dr Ruth Balogh, of West Cumbria and North Lakes Friends of the Earth [said] “We shouldn’t build any new nuclear reactors if we can’t deal with the radioactive mess that’s already been created.”
The comments on this article are interesting..
Hammerfest LNG set sails for Japan via Arctic route with 2 nuclear ice breakers
“This voyage is interesting because it shows how the shale gas has turned the gas market upside down,” says Senior Researcher Gunnar Sander. He coordinates a project aimed at studying how climate changes impact economic activity that may take place in the Arctic Ocean.
The tanker “Ob River” has loaded LNG from Statoil’s gas plant on the Barents Sea coast for the last few days. The plant, opened in 2007, was believed to ship major part of its LNG to the North American market. With commercial exploration of domestic shale gas, the US hunger for LNG disappeared. Hammerfest gas plant had to search for new markets.
Being the world’s northernmost LNG plant, its remote location could have been a disadvantage when searching for new customers. Not so for this week’s cargo. With rapid melting sea ice, Hammerfest LNG is located at the entrance gate for a possible new shipping route near the top of the globe to the energy hungry markets in Asia. The distance to Japan is nearly half via the north compared with sailing the more traditional Suez Canal route. The Northern Sea Route is estimated to save up to 20 days for the distance Hammerfest to Japan.
“Ob River” will first sail north-eastbound the Barents Sea towards Novaya Zemlya before her voyage enters the waters north of Siberia. Only a few years ago, the Arctic waters up here towards the Bering Streight were nearly impossible to sail in mid-November due to the freezing ice
“Ob River” has a capacity to carry 3.1 Bcf of gas equivalent, or 63,668 mt of LNG.
When the tanker makes port call in Japan in less than two weeks’ time, her LNG cargo is highly appreciated by energy companies. In the wake of the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, Japan is in nearly desperate need for energy sources to replace nuclear power. So far, only two reactors have been restarted after all of Japan’s plants were shut down for stress tests after Fukushima. Anti-nuclear movements have good times in Japan.
EDF’s Penly 1 nuclear reactor in unplanned outage- No cause or a restart date given?
Published: Wednesday, 7 Nov 2012 | 10:02 AM ET
PARIS, Nov 7 (Reuters) – EDF’s 1,300-MW Penly 1 nuclear reactor stopped in an unplanned outage at 1450 GMT on Wednesday, France’s power grid RTE said on its website.
RTE did not give a cause or a restart date.
(Reporting by Axelle du Crest)
http://www.cnbc.com/id/49726543
SOME HISTORY
Radioactive leak at France’s Penly plant after fires break out
A nuclear reactor at France’s Penly plant on the English Channel near Dieppe was shut down automatically after two small fires broke out causing a joint to leak radioactive water into collection tanks inside the reactor building.
Britain’s nuclear push may stall as risks mount -Reuters
“To put money into UK nuclear would be crazy,” said Dominic Nash, a utilities analysts at London-based investment bank Liberum Capital.
Energy Fair, a research group of energy economists opposed to nuclear, said in a report last month that the true cost of nuclear could even be over 200 pounds per MWh once “hidden subsidies” are taken into account.
By John McGarrity
LONDON | Wed Nov 7, 2012 3:23pm GMT
(Reuters) – Britain’s nuclear power generation future may be at risk as the list of potential operators shrinks due to concerns about the high costs of entry.
The British government wants to build around 10 nuclear power stations by 2025, which it says are necessary to keep the lights on in future decades, reduce dependence on foreign gas and meet tougher carbon targets.
But persuading potential operators to invest in nuclear generation could involve guaranteeing minimum power prices far above what cash-strapped government departments and households would be willing to pay, analysts said.
“The rewards from nuclear are likely to be far below what companies would require to justify this level of investment. The risks are enormous,” said Tom Burke, a consultant with environment and energy advisory E3G and former adviser to the British government on energy policy.
Nicki Minaj goes from Hawaii beach to Dungeness nuclear power station – and Cornelia Hesse-Honegger
Nicki Minaj’s last video saw her bikini-clad bod sprawled across a tropical island.
Her latest sees her on a shingle beach. In Dungeness. In November.
The American star, 29, has spent the past four days prancing around the frozen headland on the coast of Kent, shooting her new no expense spared video.
The sunshine-heavy clip for her hit Starships was filmed on Hawaii’s Oahu island.
That was very much a one-take number – but her new video will have to be heavily air-brushed because of Dungeness’ unsightly nuclear power plant.
[…]
“As well as clever editing to remove the power station from certain beach shots, Dungeness has no luxury hotels, beach bars or casinos so the special effects team are having to pool all their resources.
[…]
“It wasn’t glamorous, or pretty.”
[…]
Whereas Nicki’s seven-day stint in Hawaii saw her snorkel and sunbathe when off duty, Dungeness has afforded her no such opportunity.
Waste hot water and sewage from the nuclear power stations are pumped into the sea through two pipes, meaning it is not the ideal swimming destination.
IAEA to offer nuclear oversight assurance for India/Canada nuclear deal ..no real oversight?
“”It defies logic that the Nuclear Suppliers Group would provide an exemption for nuclear trade with India, thereby ‘rewarding’ a country that is neither a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty nor a signatory of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty — and continues to produce fissile material,” Jaramillo wrote.”
“”We don’t oversee, we’ll be receiving those assurances from the IAEA,” Aurele Gervais, a spokesman with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, told The Canadian Press.
“The agreement that was successfully negotiated and will be signed in the near future will ensure that Canada receives the necessary assurances from India and from the International Atomic Energy Agency that the materials will be peacefully used.”
India hasn’t signed the non-proliferation or test-ban treaties but in February 2009 it agreed to begin reporting to the UN-based IAEA on its civilian nuclear plants.”
Harper’s civilian nuclear trade deal ends Canada’s long freeze on armed India
NEW DELHI – A long-delayed nuclear co-operation deal that will see Canadian uranium shipped to nuclear-armed India has been negotiated to “achieve all of our objectives in terms of non-proliferation,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday.
Harper and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh announced the completion of negotiations on the technical details that will permit a nuclear co-operation agreement to be ratified.
[…]
Nuclear trade talks between India and Canada began in January 2009 but progressed slowly, blowing past Harper’s November 2009 visit to the South Asia giant.
[…]
India used a Canadian-supplied reactor to create the plutonium for its “Smiling Buddha” nuclear test blast in 1974.
The detonation harmed bilateral relations for two decades. It also sparked a nuclear sales moratorium and helped boost the global non-proliferation movement.
India has never signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons or the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty.
Sellafield nuclear waste storage poses ‘intolerable risk’ -Hitachi to burn plutonium
“It also concluded that over the five decades it was open, operators failed to plan how to dispose of the radioactive waste and some of the older facilities have “deteriorated so much that their contents pose significant risks to people and the environment”.”
Sellafield audit shows safety costs spiralling
- Rajeev Syal and Fiona Harvey
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 7 November 2012
The projected cost of safely storing radioactive material at Britain’s largest nuclear site in Sellafield has increased by more than £900m in 10 months, the National Audit Office says in a report released on Wednesday.
Plans to replace the ageing nuclear waste facilities in Cumbria have suffered severe delays, auditors said. Twelve out of 14 of the major projects launched last year to build facilities to store material safely are over budget, they have concluded.
The findings have been described as “dire” by MPs. It is the first official audit of the Cumbrian site since a consortium of private companies was brought in to oversee safety in 2008.
Margaret Hodge, who chairs parliament’s public accounts committee, urged the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to “get a grip” on the spiralling costs. “My concern is that unless the authority holds Sellafield Limited [the company responsible for the site] to a clear and rigorously benchmarked plan, timetables will continue to slip and costs spiral.
“It is totally unacceptable to allow today’s poor management to shift the burden and expense of Sellafield to future generations of taxpayers and their families,” she said.
In 2008, the authority appointed a consortium of private sector companies – URS, AMEC and Areva – as a parent body of the site to bring in outside expertise. The authority plans to clear up the site over the next 108 years.
South Korea shuts down 2 nuclear reactors for substandard parts -more to come?
Speaking at a press briefing, Knowledge Economy Minister Hong Suk-woo said eight part suppliers have faked 60 warranties for 234 parts since 2003 and so supplied 7,682 unqualified items worth 820 million won (S$920,000) to the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., KHNP, the state-run operator of the nation’s 23 nuclear reactors nationwide.
Of the total substandard items, 5,233 have actually been installed in five nuclear reactors and about 99 per cent of them were used in unit 5 and unit 6 of the nuclear power plant in Yeonggwang, which is located some 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul
Tuesday, Nov 06, 2012
SOUTH KOREA – The government shut down unit 5 and unit 6 of the nuclear power plant in Yeonggwang County, South Jeolla Province, on Monday, after finding a number of “substandard” components in the two nuclear reactors.
The government’s announcement of the use of unapproved parts in the nuclear power plants shocked the public, raising concerns over safety and power shortages during the upcoming winter.
Speaking at a press briefing, Knowledge Economy Minister Hong Suk-woo said eight part suppliers have faked 60 warranties for 234 parts since 2003 and so supplied 7,682 unqualified items worth 820 million won (S$920,000) to the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., KHNP, the state-run operator of the nation’s 23 nuclear reactors nationwide.
Of the total substandard items, 5,233 have actually been installed in five nuclear reactors and about 99 per cent of them were used in unit 5 and unit 6 of the nuclear power plant in Yeonggwang, which is located some 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul.
Australia -NLC IN TALKS ABOUT ALTERNATE NUCLEAR WASTE SITE
The Northern Land Council (NLC) doesn’t seem to care about the Aboriginal Traditional 
Owners, whose land s being threatened by a proposed nuclera waste dump. They didn’t even bother to consult them
Seems like the NLC is happy to go along with Australian govt’s determination to put nuclearwaste on to Aborignal land – they suggest another site in the same area – Christina Macpherson
By Michael Coggan, ABCNovember 6, 2012,
The Northern Land Council has confirmed it is about to start formal talks about a new site for a proposed nuclear waste facility in the Northern Territory.
The Federal Government is planning to build a national nuclear waste dump in the Territory.
The only site nominated is on Aboriginal land at Muckaty Station, about 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek.
That nomination is being challenged in the Federal Court by local land owners opposed to the dump.
NLC chairman Wali Wunungmurra has confirmed that formal consultations will begin this week about a proposed second site on a different section of land on Muckaty Station.
The consultation process is expected to continue into next year.
South Africa signs agreement on sharing nuclear knowledge in africa -safe?
“ The criminals may have been part of a terrorist gang, the FSKN added.“
“The agreement co-ordinates the “work we want to do with the rest of the continent”, Dr Mjwara said. “How can we use our facilities to provide the training, knowhow and use of nuclearrelated technology for peaceful use in the broad areas?“”
BDFM Publishers
BY SARAH WILD, 06 NOVEMBER 2012, 05:15
South Africa is key to passing on knowledge in nuclear technology to the rest of Africa, International Atomic Energy Agency deputy director-general Kwaku Aning said on Monday, noting that the country would be pivotal in enabling African countries to develop nuclear power programmes.
South Africa is home to the only nuclear power plant in Africa. Although other countries such as Algeria, Egypt and Libya have research reactors, they are not as technologically advanced as South Africa.
However, several African countries, including Nigeria, have shown interest in nuclear power stations.
Fukushima Mothers: Daughter has so many thyroid cysts doctor can’t count them all — Hospital told not to test kids
Published: November 5th, 2012 at 7:44 pm ET
By ENENews
Source: Ian Thomas Ash
Date: November 05, 2012
h/t Fukushima Diary
[…] Last night, I had dinner with the Shibuya family, whom I had met last month. […]
When we met last month, Mr. and Mrs. Shibuya had just received the test results showing that both Ayumu and Mutsuki have thyroid cysts. […]
This morning I met Mrs. Shima. She had invited several other mothers over to her home to share with me their situations and the thyroid test results for their children. Mrs. Shima showed me the thyroid ultrasound for her daughter Shuri, 11. The government-sponsored test revealed her daughter had NO thyroid cysts, but she went to a private hospital to seek a second opinion. She was told her daughter in fact DOES have thyroid cysts[Emphasis Added]. In both tests, it was discovered that her son Kaito, 13, also has thyroid cysts.
[…] Mrs. Oyama worries for her son Yoshihiki, 11. Her daughter Nozomi, 17, has been found to have thyroid cysts.
Mrs. Kanno’s two children, daughter Yuika, 10, and son Naoki, 11, were both found to have no thyroid cysts in the government-sponsored test. When she went to the private hospital Mrs. Shima recommended for a second opinion, she was told that the hospital had received a directive from the national government to stop providing tests for children it had deemed had no thyroid cysts. Mrs. Kanno was refused a second thyroid test for her children. […]
Mrs. Tsuda’s son Naoki, 11, has thyroid cysts. Her daughter Yuika, 10, has so many thyroid cysts the doctor could not count them all (!).
Video on enenews link
Breaking! UN endorses recommendations for Japan to improve human rights record – Cites nuclear contamination
Other recommendations include the safeguarding of Japanese citizens’ right to lead a healthy life, in light of the enormous amount of radioactive fallout spewed over a vast area by the March 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, the report said.
Geneva, Nov. 4 (ANI): A panel under the United Nations Human Rights Council has endorsed some 170 recommendations for Japan to improve its human rights record, including Tokyo’s handling of the so-called comfort women issue and the euphemism for the Imperial army’s wartime sex slaves.
The Universal Periodic Review’s working group, which is tasked with examining the human rights records of all U.N. member states, compiled 174 proposals for Japan in a report summarizing the findings from a session held last week.
Greenpeace UK sell out to Nuclear cabal -Claim green future?
“Significantly, the joint approach has won the backing of the environmental group Greenpeace – despite its long-standing opposition to nuclear power”“Welcoming the letter John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace, said: “This letter shows that whilst different industries will have differing preferences for the exact mix of energy technologies, there is unity from across huge swathes of the business community….”
MONDAY 05 NOVEMBER 2012
With the Government badly split over green energy, the heads of organisations representing more than 1,000 nuclear and renewables companies have written to David Cameron, George Osborne and Ed Davey calling on them to agree a legally binding decarbonisation target for electricity generation.
It also reveals their fears that climate change sceptics in Government who are pushing for a new “dash for gas” may be winning the internal arguments in Whitehall.
[…]
Significantly, the joint approach has won the backing of the environmental group Greenpeace – despite its long-standing opposition to nuclear power.
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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