After the world witnessed a widespread radioactive disaster following the Tsunami that took down power systems at the Fukushima nuclear facility in Japan you would think that nuclear regulators and operators would have taken the threat of unforeseen accidents seriously.
Nearly the exact same scenario played out in the Devonport Dockyard last summer, when the primary and secondary power sources for nuclear cooling fuel became inexplicably inoperable.
It was a situation kept secret because the implications were so serious that the entire country of Britain could have been turned to a radioactive wasteland overnight.
A major nuclear incident was narrowly averted at the heart of Britain’s Royal Navy submarine fleet, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. The failure of both the primary and secondary power sources of coolant for nuclear reactors at the Devonport dockyard in Plymouth on 29 July last year followed warnings in previous years of just such a situation.
Experts yesterday compared the crisis at the naval base, operated by the Ministry of Defence and government engineering contractors Babcock Marine, with the Fukushima Daiichi power-station meltdown in Japan in 2011.
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But last July a series of what were described as “unidentified defects” triggered the failures which meant that for more than 90 minutes, submarines were left without their main sources of coolant.
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John Large, an independent nuclear adviser who led the team that conducted radiation analysis on the Russian Kursk submarine which sank in the Barents Sea in 2000, said:
“It is unbelievable that this happened. It could have been very serious. Things like this shouldn’t happen. It is a fundamental that these fail-safe requirements work. It had all the seriousness of a major meltdown – a major radioactive release.”
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Among a number of “areas of concern” uncovered by the Babcock investigation was what was described as an “inability to learn from previous incidents and to implement the recommendations from previous event reports”.
A subsequent review from the Base Nuclear Safety Organisation revealed the “unsuccessful connection of diesel generators” and questioned the “effectiveness of the maintenance methodology and its management”, while advising Babcock to “address the shortfalls in their current maintenance regime”.
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Its own “stress test” on Devonport safety, launched after the Fukushima disaster, said that in the event of the failure of both power supplies, heat levels in reactors could be controlled by emergency portable water pumps, and added that such a failure had occurred a “number of times” previously.
If you think nuclear facilities in the United States and other Western nations are any safer than Fukushima or Devonport, you’d be mistaken.
Because these facilities often operate under the cloak of secrecy, it is impossible for us to know how many times such incidents have occurred in the United States. What we do know is that on March 28, 1979 the 3-Mile Island nuclear facility in Pennsylvania experienced the worst nuclear power plant accident in American history when a meltdown occurred in one of the facility’s two reactors. Thus, accidents at these facilities are not unprecedented.
The UN atomic agency on Wednesday praised Britain’s improvements to its regulatory framework for nuclear safety but said more needed to be done!!
Following a 10-day visit, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in preliminary findings Britain had made “considerable progress since reviews in 2006 and 2009”.
“Recommendations and suggestions” were however made, “aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of the country’s regulatory framework and functions in line with IAEA Safety Standards, the control of radioactive discharges and environmental monitoring”.
Britain has 16 operating nuclear power reactors at nine sites, producing some 16 percent of its electricity, and 27 units either in permanent shutdown or being decommissioned.
A final report will be published in three months, the IAEA said.
[I may have got the title wrong there,, Arclight2011]
Uranium fuel from 20,000 disarmed Russian warheads is now generating about half of U.S. nuclear power in a spinoff from a landmark disarmament accord, a top U.S. official said Wednesday.
Rose Gottemoeller, U.S. under-secretary of state for arms control, told a UN committee a 1993 accord between the two former Cold War rivals was one of a growing list of disarmament successes.
The final uranium delivery that the United States is buying from Russia is due to leave St. Petersburg in November, Gottemoeller told the UN disarmament committee.
She hailed the accord as a “significant non-proliferation accomplishment” and said 500 tonnes of weapons-grade uranium has now been processed in Russia.
Low-enriched uranium left from the downgrading “is delivered to the United States, fabricated into nuclear fuel and used by nearly all U.S. nuclear power plants to generate half of the nuclear energy in the United States,” she said.
“Approximately 20,000 nuclear warheads have been eliminated under this unique government-industry partnership,” Gottemoeller told the UN committee.
Over the past 15 years the Russian uranium fuel has accounted for about 10 percent of electricity produced in United States, she added.
U.S. officials will go to St Petersburg in November to mark the loading of the final containers which should arrive in the United States in December, Gottemoeller said.
“We look forward to celebrating this historic achievement,” she said.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) made the following statement in reaction to the Obama Administration’s instructions for Pantex to temporarily shut down operations:
“Pantex has been instructed by the Obama Administration to begin preparing for a temporary shutdown of plant operations. The specifics are still being determined, but plant security will obviously remain in place to ensure nuclear materials remain secure.
There is no reason whatsoever to instruct people who are essential to the security of our country, like workers at Pantex, not to show up to work. On Friday, the House is expected to vote on a targeted funding bill for Pantex and the rest of the nuclear weapons complex. It is one of nine separate spendingill and the other targeted funding bills, and the Presid bills — including measures to pay troops, the National Guard, and Reserves and to fund veterans benefits — the House has passed. The Senate should take up the Pantex bent should sign them.”
Canada’s nuclear industry faces a “critical decade” in which it will have to prove that big projects can be brought in on time and on budget, says the chief executive of Ontario Power Generation.
Tom Mitchell said many of Ontario’s nuclear reactors are reaching the stage when they need mid-life refurbishment – a complex and expensive process.
That’s certainly the case at OPG’s big Darlington nuclear station, which supplies about 20 per cent of Ontario’s power, and where a multi-year overhaul of all four reactors is due to start in 2016.
OPG also hopes to build two new reactors at its Darlington station – a project that’s likely to be confirmed or quashed when the government releases the review of its long-term energy plan in the next month.
“That decade is upon us – that decade of being able to conduct a major, major amount of work,” Mitchell said in a speech at the Future of Nuclear conference at the MaRS Centre.
“We’re acutely aware at OPG that falling short in this area has been a recurring issue, and quite frankly it’s hurt our credibility. That’s why it’s a major priority.”
Refurbishment of the Pickering A nuclear station a decade ago was supposed to cost $1.3 billion, but ended up costing twice that, with two of the four reactors put in mothballs instead of being overhauled.
Privately owned Bruce Power also came in late and far over budget when it overhauled the Bruce A nuclear station.
“Our challenge and opportunity in this industry comes down to just one word: Execution,” Mitchell said.
“We now know that our biggest test is facing us, which is the refurbishment of Darlington.”
“We feel the eyes on us, and we know we must execute the project on time and on budget. If we don’t, we think the whole industry in Canada will be affected.”
What’s the budget for Darlington?
OPG is still keeping that number close to the vest, as it scopes out the work and carries out meticulous planning. It’s even building a mock-up of a reactor face for crews to train on.
A firm cost and schedule for Darlington won’t be in hand until October, 2015, Mitchell said.
Mitchell argued that nuclear energy still has many virtues. It has low greenhouse gas emissions; it has low operating costs; and the long term costs are more predictable than power from natural gas, where the fuel costs can be volatile.
Mitchell also noted that gas-fired generators – which have blossomed with low natural gas prices – will look less financially attractive if they have to start paying for carbon emissions.
If the cost of nuclear power is compared with the cost of gas-fired electricity, Mitchell argued that it should be carried out with gas plants that capture their carbon emissions before they’re released into the atmosphere.
If OPG gets clearance to build two new reactors at Darlington, it could build Canadian-designed Candu reactors – the latest version of the technology OPG has always used. The company could also build the AP 1000 pressurized reactor designed by Westinghouse.
Mitchell said he’s confident that Canadian nuclear operators and industry suppliers can work with either technology.
That was good news for A. Ron Lewis, vice president of Westinghouse Electric Company, who attended the conference at the MaRS Centre.
Lewis said in an interview that building a pressurized water reactor in Canada would give Canadian companies who supply equipment and services to the nuclear industry exposure to more markets.
“We’re being deployed across the globe, and we think teaming with us will give the industry here more access to global opportunity.”
Reactors being built worldwide are predominantly light-water reactors rather than the heavy water reactors used in Canada, Lewis said.
Six workers at Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant have been accidentally doused with highly radioactive water adding to a growing list of mishaps that are shaking confidence in its ability to handle the crisis.
They removed the wrong pipe from equipment at the plant, sending toxic water spilling onto them and the entire floor of the facility housing a set of three units designed for primary, partial water treatment, said a spokesman for Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco).
Exposure to the workers, who were wearing face masks with filters, protective hazmat suits and raingear, is believed minor but still under investigation. The six were part of an 11-member team, and the remaining five were not affected. The workers managed to reattach the pipe.
The accident is the latest in a spate of leaks and other problems caused by human error that have added to public criticism of Tepco’s handling of the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi, which is still in precarious condition since its triple meltdowns following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
To keep the melted reactors cool, they must be continuously doused with water that then becomes contaminated with radiation and must be pumped out and stored in tanks at the site.
Last week, workers overfilled a storage tank without fully checking water levels, causing a leak, possibly to the sea.
In August a 300-ton leak seeped from another storage tank. That came after the company and the government acknowledged that contaminated groundwater was seeping into ocean at a rate of 300 tons a day for some time.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said repeated mishaps could be a sign of the harsh work environment.
“Careless mistakes are often linked to (declining) morale,” he said. “People usually don’t make silly, careless mistakes when working in positive environment and motivated. The lack of it, I think, may be related to the recent problems.”
The NDA has today published a Credible Options Paper on Radiation Epidemiology and Radiobiology Research. The paper presents our initial assessment of the options for managing our radiation epidemiology and radiobiology research and associated research assets.
To further evaluate these options and determine a Preferred Option we would like to understand the views of stakeholders on the identified options, the criteria for selecting between them and the results of our initial assessment. If you have any comments on the paper, please email your comments to strategy@nda.gov.uk by 15 November 2013.
RESPITE VISIT: Northallerton car dealership boss and Friends of Chernobyl’s Children supporter Simon Bailes with children from Belarus this summer.
A CHARITY dedicated to providing an annual four-week respite holiday for children severely affected by a nuclear disaster is appealing for help to support the visits.
The Friends of Chernobyl’s Children said an open evening at Northallerton Town Hall, had been successful in attracting new families to host about 12 children and two interpreters from Belarus next summer, but it would need more support for its fundraising activities.
The Northallerton branch of the charity, which was established in the 1990s, organises a range of activities for the vulnerable youngsters from Mogilev, the area most severely affected by the 1987 disaster.
Mogilev will continue to be blighted by unsafe levels of radiation for the next 24,000 years leading to increased risk of thyroid cancer and other diseases.
Linda Spence, the charity’s co-ordinator, said a number of local businesses and organisations, including Bettys, had pledged to continue supporting the charity.
Its chairman, Suzanne Firth, said: “The charity has always been lucky to get such fantastic support from the Northallerton community and this is what makes the visits possible.
“But we are always on the look-out for more local people to get involved, particularly in our fundraising activities.”
For details, visit facebook.com/FOCCNorthallerton or call 01609-773708
Britain’s plans to use public money to subsidise a new generation of nuclear power suffered a setback on Tuesday when EU policy-makers decided to exclude atomic electricity from a list of funding guidelines.
An early draft raised expectations the Commission was preparing to sanction public support for nuclear power and whipped up a storm of protest, especially in the biggest EU economyGermany.
Germany is phasing out nuclear power and replacing it with renewable sources, such as wind and solar, whereas Britain wants to build new nuclear plants with the help of public funds.
Commission spokesman Antoine Colombani said EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia proposed that guidelines, expected to be published in November, should not include specific criteria on nuclear power. The other commissioners agreed with him at an internal meeting on Tuesday, he said.
(Reuters) – Its stock price has nearly trebled this year, its near-term debt trades at par, banks have extended credit, and an enterprise value of $83 billion – a rough guide to how much it could cost to buy – makes it Asia’s biggest listed electricity utility.
Yet Tokyo Electric Power (9501.T), or Tepco, has lost $27 billion since the 2011 disaster at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and faces massive liabilities as it decommissions the facility, compensates tens of thousands of residents forced to evacuate, and pays for decontamination of an area nearly the size of Connecticut.
Creditors, led by Japan’s top banks, have agreed to provide Tepco with $5.9 billion – rolling over existing loans and putting in new financing [ID:nT9N0GD01Q] – and the company has applied to restart its 7-reactor Kashiwazaki Kariwa facility, the world’s biggest nuclear plant, saying a restart would save it $1 billion a month in fuel costs.
All of which has prompted Tepco, which supplies electricity to 29 million homes and businesses in and around Tokyo, to say it could make a profit this financial year.
“It’s all kabuki,” said Tom O’Sullivan, founder of independent energy consultancy Mathyos Japan, using a Japanese term to portray political posturing. “Tepco still faces significant problems.”
“You have the trade minister … saying the utility is fine. You have Tepco’s president … applying for restarts, and you have banks falling in line to roll over loans. It’s very much an orchestrated presentation.”
A delegation of Japanese hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and several others affected by the more recent events at Fukushima from the World Friendship Center visited the Bainbridge Japanese American Exclusion Memorial on Saturday, Sept. 28, as part of a larger visit to the country including stops in Portland, Seattle and New Mexico.
— image credit: Luciano Marano | Bainbridge Island Review
….When at the end of the list, a moment of silence was called for, and the birds suddenly and uniformly became quiet. For the entire minute they did not make a sound. When the ceremony began again, they flew away……
These are the words on the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial. They echo the thoughts and memories of the citizens who were forced from their homes in 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 and Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1, and the regretful nation that let such a thing happen.
However, these words could just as easily apply to yet another historic tragedy of World War II: the only two nuclear attacks in the history of the world.
The stories of both regrettable episodes came together Saturday, Sept. 28, when a delegation of Japanese hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and several others affected by the more recent events at Fukushima from the World Friendship Center came to visit the Bainbridge memorial and met with local citizens who lived through the displacement. Though it is a unique group of representatives within the delegation, this is not the organization’s first such visit to the island.
“This is the third Peace Ambassador trip so far,” said Carol Stern, visit coordinator and delegation host. “It’s a unique group of people who have been involved with peace work for a long time.”
TEPCO must not only compensate the loss of its domestic victims, but also provide the international community with a clear commitment.
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The Pacific Ocean doesn’t belong to Japan, but is commonly owned by the international community, the environmental protection of which is fundamental to the safety and reproduction of human beings.
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radioactive sewage discharge results must be published. China and the international community should demand that Japan reveal the results of objective scientific monitoring of the 11,500 tons of radioactive discharge over the past two years, and publish its scale, damage level, as well as a prevention and cure strategy.
The devastating earthquake in northeastern Japan two years ago caused a nuclear leak at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. In July 2012, Alaskan seals exhibited inexplicable hemorrhage phenomena and signs of immunity deficiency. Scientists suspected the condition had something to do with Japan’s discharge of nuclear sewage, or radioactive water, into the Pacific Ocean. However, no evidence has yet confirmed that suspicion. The Japanese government has proposed to take measures to clean up the post-disaster nuclear waste by the end of March 2014. To this point, they have been simply dumping it into the sea.
On Aug 7, 2013, Japan’s Nuclear Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters said the daily discharge into the sea was nearly 300 tons. Research analysis shows that underground water is polluted and therefore radioactive discharge cannot be avoided. Currently, the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) are considering pumping underground water into the area to reduce the discharge. By September 2014, the volume of pumped sewage will be 40,000 tons.
Estimates show that the daily outflow of underground water around Fukushima’s four nuclear units is 1,000 tons, of which 400 tons flows under the reactors. Of the other 600 tons, 300 tons flows through tunnels between the plants, polluted by the highly concentrated sewage, and then flows into the sea. The remaining 300 tons runs into the sea without pollution. TEPCO is trying to prevent more polluted water reaching the sea, via a new relief project, to reduce daily discharge to 60 tons.
Since the severity of the issue continues, China, along with the international community, must propose the strongest opposition to the Japanese government’s irresponsible activities. At the same time, they must take positive measures to prevent pollution. Here are three suggestions.
(JTA) — Moshe Dayan urged Golda Meir to prepare to launch a nuclear strike during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, according to a former Israeli official’s longtime aide and confidant.
Arnon Azaryahu, who was an aide to Israel Galili, a Cabinet minister during the war, said in an interview that Dayan, the defense minister at the time, suggested that Meir, then the prime minister, order to begin preparations to enable a nuclear option on Oct. 8, 1973 — the second day of the war.
The Yom Kippur War broke out when Syria and Egypt simultaneously mounted a surprise attack against Israel.
Dayan, Azaryahu said, told Meir that “since the situation is very bad, it would be worthwhile, since we don’t have a lot of time and a lot of options, that we prepare to show the nuclear option.” Meir declined, Azaryahu said.
Azaryahu recounted the incident during a filmed interview published Thursday for the first time on the website of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Wilson center called Azaryahu a “long-term Israeli government insider.”
Egyptian and Syrian forces made initial territorial gains in the early stages of the war of three weeks, but the Israeli army repelled the advancing Arab troops and penetrated deep into Syrian and Egyptian territory before an armistice was brokered later in the month. Some 2,000 Israeli troops died in the war.
The interview with Azaryahu was conducted several years ago by Avner Cohen, a historian who specializes in Israel’s presumed nuclear arms program — a capability that Israel has neither confirmed nor denied.
Azaryahu said he was not in the room when the Dayan-Meir exchange reportedly took place, but learned about it later that day from Galili, who was present.
Dayan had invited Shalhevet Freir, the director general of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, to Meir’s chambers to begin preparations in case she allowed the request, Azaryahu said. But Meir “told Dayan to forget it,” Azaryahu said.
Freir did not meet Meir but waited outside with Azaryahu, according to the account.
LONDON (Jiji Press)—A Japanese group has promoted the safety of agricultural products grown in Fukushima Prefecture at an annual cultural event at Trafalgar Square in London.
The group, comprising people from Fukushima Prefecture living in London, set up a booth at the event, Japan Matsuri, and sold products from the prefecture such as rice, peaches, apple juice and Kitakata Ramen noodles in cooperation with Japan’s National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations on Saturday.
The project was intended to dispel concerns about Fukushima farm products after the nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March 2011 and to issue a message to the international community about the safety of foods from the area.
Yoshio Mitsuyama, head of the group, said: “Trafalgar Square attracts tourists from around the world. We want to emphasize to the world from this place that agricultural products from Fukushima are safe.”
The booth drew the attention of many people including tourists. A 32-year-old Russian student said there seems to be no safety problem with Fukushima foods as they are tested for radiation.
Revenue from the farm product sales will be donated to a charity fund for Fukushima children affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The annual festival, organized by Japanese living in Britain, started in 2009 to introduce Japanese culture to British people.
Last year’s festival attracted about 80,000 visitors.
With the future of the domestic nuclear industry uncertain, Toshiba Corp. is looking to bolster its overseas business with the acquisition of a company planning a nuclear plant in Britain for upward of 10 billion yen ($100 million), sources said.
Toshiba is in the final stage of negotiations for purchasing more than 50 percent of NuGeneration Ltd. through subsidiary Westinghouse Electric Co., a U.S. nuclear reactor builder.
Toshiba, which holds a leading 30 percent share of the global market of nuclear reactor construction with Westinghouse, hopes to close the deal by year-end, the sources said.
NuGeneration, based in Britain, is owned equally by two major electric utilities, France’s GDF Suez SA and Spain’s Iberdrola SA.
The joint venture hopes to open a 3.6-gigawatt nuclear power facility, about the capacity of two to three large reactors, in central Britain by 2023.
It will be the first time that Toshiba has acquired a nuclear plant operator overseas. Operation of the British plant will be commissioned to other companies.
Toshiba plans to reinforce its nuclear power business in Europe, Asia and elsewhere because construction of new reactors will be difficult in Japan given the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and mounting public opposition.
The company is bidding for two reactor construction projects in Finland and also aims to win contracts in the Middle East and India. Europe is a powerful domain of France’s Areva SA, the world’s second-largest reactor builder after Toshiba.
Toshiba plans to increase sales from its nuclear power business, including construction and maintenance of reactors, to 800 billion yen in fiscal 2017 from 500 billion yen, or slightly less than 10 percent of its group revenue, in fiscal 2012.
Domestic rival Hitachi Ltd. acquired a British nuclear plant operator for 85 billion yen last year.
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