Call to stop construction at Hinkley C nuclear project, due to coronavirus risk
Allan Jeffrey of Stop Hinkley talks to the Extinction Rebellion Radio Show. Rebel Radio 7th April 2020
https://www.mixcloud.com/XR_RebelRadio/rebel-despatches-hinkley-point-07042020/
BBC Points West 8th April 2020, Bus drivers carrying workers to Hinkley Point C construction site are
worried their lives are being put at risk. Every day a fleet of vehicles drops of and picks up hundreds of staff. The bus company says its putting in screens to protect the drivers, but work hasn’t been complete yet.
Bus drivers are calling for construction to stop. For the safety of everybody it makes more sense to close the site down. They are showing no regard for human life and potentially putting everyone in a situation where people
could die. Drivers are expressing their concern on social media and sending pictures which seems to show lack of social distancing. There are concerns too about the movement of workers who come from outside the area.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000h59p/points-west-late-news-08042020
Gamma radiation found ineffective in sterilizing N95 masks
Gamma radiation found ineffective in sterilizing N95 masks
Nuclear scientists and biomedical researchers team up to investigate whether treatment with gamma radiation could make N95 masks more reusable. MIT News, Leda Zimmerman | Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, April 10, 2020“………….“The sterilized masks lost two-thirds of their filtering efficiency, essentially turning N95 into N30 masks,” says Cramer. But why the deterioration?
“Our hypothesis is that ionizing radiation of whatever kind likely decharges the electrostatic filtration of the mask,” says Gupta. “The mechanical filtration of gauze can trap some particles, but radiation interferes with the electrostatic filter’s ability to repel or capture particles of 0.3 microns.”……” http://news.mit.edu/2020/gamma-radiation-found-ineffective-in-sterilizing-n95-masks-0410
Refuelling continues at Limerick nuclear plant, but three more workers test positive for Covid19
 More Limerick nuclear plant workers test positive for coronavirus; refueling to continue
by Andrew Maykuth, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 8, 2020 Exelon Generation said Wednesday that three nuclear plant workers have now been diagnosed with COVID-19 since it took the Limerick Generating Station out of service for refueling on March 27 — two since Friday — but the giant power plant is still on track to complete its maintenance turnaround early next week.
Of more than 1,000 workers involved with the refueling outage at Limerick’s Unit 1 reactor, 44 were quarantined because they may have come into contact with one of the infected workers or with infected people outside the plant, the company said in a statement Wednesday. About 23 of the quarantined workers show symptoms, said Val Arkoosh, the chair of the Montgomery County Commission. Of the three people who have tested positive since the project began, one was a regular employee and two were contractors, she said. “As the outage winds down, the number of workers onsite will continue to decrease significantly and we will remain overly cautious in our criteria for quarantining, including all workers — symptomatic or not — who have had potential exposure at work or at home,” Exelon said in a statement. The company announced on Friday that one worker had tested positive, and said that two more were flagged this week. The workers were sent home to recover. Since the illness takes several days to incubate before a patient displays symptoms, it’s uncertain if the workers were infected on site or had come into contact with somebody before the outage began. About half the contracted workers are local and half come from out of state; specialists typically move like nomads between plants during the spring and autumn nuclear refueling seasons. Limerick is one of more than 30 reactors nationwide that are scheduled for refueling and maintenance outages this spring, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. Anti-nuclear activists have protested the influx of so many workers during a public health crisis, and Montgomery County officials have raised concerns about Exelon’s decision to proceed with the refueling…… https://www.inquirer.com/business/limerick-nuclear-plant-refueling-coronavirus-workers-infected-20200408.html |
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Coronavirus complicates refuelling of nuclear reactors, Fermi 2 has undisclosed number of Covid19 workers
Coronavirus strikes Fermi 2 nuclear plant during refueling; utility keeps working,TOM HENRY, The Blade, thenry@theblade.
9 Apr 20, NEWPORT, Mich. — An undisclosed number of coronavirus cases have been documented inside Fermi 2 during the nuclear plant’s latest refueling outage.
But owner-operator DTE Energy said it believes it has enough precautions in place now to complete the work and get the plant restarted in the coming weeks.
In a statement, DTE spokesman Stephen R. Tait said the company “can confirm that we have had employees test positive, but are not giving out numbers, locations or names at this time.”
Media reports showed the first worker tested positive about the same time the refueling outage began on March 21. A Detroit television station reported at least two more positive cases were documented within days of that.
DTE won’t say for the record when it expects to complete Fermi 2’s outage.
But many similar operations — which once took six weeks or longer — have been shortened to about a month in recent years. Utilities lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential electricity sales each day nuclear plants sit idle.
Nuclear plants are refueled every 18 to 24 months, depending on the type of uranium used in their reactor cores.
Fermi 2, located along western Lake Erie in northern Monroe County’s Frenchtown Township, is one of many nuclear plants across the United States scheduled to be refueled during the spring or fall of 2020, the two seasons when demand for electricity is lowest.
Energy Harbor’s Davis-Besse nuclear plant along the Lake Erie shoreline in rural Ottawa County recently completed its latest refueling.
Both plants are about 30 miles from downtown Toledo.
The coronavirus pandemic has, of course, complicated those efforts this year.
To help keep refuelings on schedule, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last month allowed for an exemption from rules which limit the number of consecutive hours workers are allowed to be inside the plant at a time. The agency said in a March 28 letter to the Washington-based Nuclear Energy Institute that it will consider such requests on a case-by-case basis, and that exemptions will be limited to 60 days. …..
In nearly all refuelings, including at those at Fermi 2 and Davis-Besse, hundreds of specialized, out-of-state contractors augment the regular plant workforces, often resulting in 1,000 or more workers assigned to any given site at a time. Work is usually divided into eight-hour shifts, with activity occurring 24 hours a day.
Officials have noted those contractors move throughout the country from job to job, bringing with them the potential of carrying viruses outside of the sites they last worked. …….. https://www.toledoblade.com/business/energy/2020/04/08/coronavirus-strikes-Fermi-2-nuclear-plant-during-refueling-utility-keeps-working-to-get-it-restarted/stories/20200408092
Who has the UK nuclear button while Johnson is ill? No comment
Who has the UK nuclear button while Johnson is ill? No comment, LONDON (Reuters) 7 April, – The British government declined on Tuesday to say who had responsibility for the United Kingdom’s nuclear codes while Prime Minister Boris Johnson is treated in intensive care for COVID-19 complications.
Russia evacuates some employees from Bangladesh nuclear site
Rosatom evacuates some employees from Bangladesh nuclear site, https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsrosatom-evaucates-some-employees-from-bangladesh-nuclear-site-7864853 8 April 2020 Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom has repatriated 178 employees from the Rooppur nuclear power plant construction site in Bangladesh.Rosatom had to obtain government permission to evacuate its employees. Russia temporarily suspended all international flights on 3 April in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The first 178 employees arrived on a flight from Dhaka, which landed at the Nizhny Novgorod international airport in Russia on Monday.
Almost all of the workers were from Rosatom’s Engineering Division or were subcontractors working at the Rooppur site, where Rosatom is building two VVER-1200 reactors.
Rosatom said passengers on the flight would be tested for Covid-19, and will need to spend two weeks in isolation, under medical supervision.
More than 4000 people are involved in the construction of Rooppur NPP, so the temporary relocation of 178 employees will not affect the project schedule, Rosatom said.
Rosatom said it is taking steps to combat the spread of Covid-19 by monitoring employee temperatures at various locations on-site, issuing masks to workers and increasing disinfection of all office space.
Rooppur 1 is currently scheduled to start operating 2023, followed by Rooppur 2 a year later.
Georgia’s Vogtle nuclear project way over budget, way behind time, and now Coronavirus hits
First coronavirus case reported at Georgia nuclear plant project, William Freebairn Editor, Richard Rubin 6 Apr 20,
- Too early to say if completion delayed: Southern Company
- Additional worker test results pending
Washington — The first coronavirus infection has been confirmed at Georgia Power’s Vogtle nuclear plant construction site, the utility said Monday.There was one confirmed positive test result out of 69 people at the site tested, the company said in a statement. There were 54 negative test results, with 14 results still pending, it added.
Georgia Power and three partners are completing two 1,150-MW nuclear units at Vogtle, near Augusta, with the first new unit scheduled to enter commercial operation in November 2021. The project is the largest industrial construction site
in Georgia, with 9,000 workers, most of them contractors, at the plant, trade union officials have said.
There is a risk the coronavirus pandemic could delay the completion and testing of the two new reactors, although it is too soon to tell for certain, Southern Co., Georgia Power’s parent company, said in a financial filing April 1, before the positive test result.
Construction of the project is about five years behind schedule and has exceeded the initial budget by more than $10 billion as the result of first-of-a-kind design, licensing and construction issues.
The company notified and sent home those who worked with the person who tested positive, Georgia Power said.
“Construction work continues at the site under continuing enhanced protocols designed to reduce worker-to-worker contact and keep areas that workers frequent cleaned and sanitized,” the company said.
In a filing with the Georgia Public Service Commission April 1, Georgia Power officials said the construction site had established an expanded on-site medical clinic and put in place “aggressive” measures to keep workers in the field further apart.
Warship crews—from nuclear aircraft carriers to submarines—are falling victim to COVID-19.
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Some Nuclear Submarine Crews May Not Even Know About the Pandemic, Meanwhile, ship crews face a menace that has ravaged navies for centuries. Popular Mechanics, BY KYLE MIZOKAMI, MAR 31, 2020,
Warship crews—from aircraft carriers to submarines—are falling victim to COVID-19.
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EDF’s hypocrisy -Hinkley C nuclear construction continued, despite pandemic, as “essential” work
Bridgwater Mercury 4th April 2020 Roy Pumfrey: WHILE EDF has gone halfway by reducing the number of workers on the Hinkley C (HPC) site, the company seems reluctant to shut HPC down completely (‘HPC construction continues’, Mercury, March 24) due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
An EDF statement talked about reducing worker numbers ‘further as work already in progress is completed’, but was not specific about which work was so critical that it couldn’t be terminated now and how much longer it would carry on.
This is in stark contrast to the situation at Flamanville in France (HPC’s sister station) where EDF has stopped all but essential tasks. EDF hides behind the fig leaf of HPC being ‘a project of critical national importance’.
This is simply no longer justified. If it was okay to stop work for three weeks
over Christmas and the New Year, it must be done now when the stakes are
much higher than a holiday. At the same time, EDF promised to take more
effective measures on social distancing. Photographs of workers grouped in
bus queues and using the canteen but clearly less than 2m apart show that
this is all but impossible.
https://www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk/news/18351121.letter-shut-hinkley-c-now/
Workers at Limerick nuclear station in fear of getting coronavirus
Workers ‘terrified’ at Limerick nuclear plant amid coronavirus, The Mercury, By Carl Hessler Jr. chessler@21st-centurymedia.com @MontcoCourtNews on Twitter nnLIMERICK — Contractors working during a refueling project at the Limerick Generating Station are “terrified” they’re working in a “breeding ground” for COVID-19 and expressed concerns about the company’s safety practices during the pandemic.“I’m in a constant state of paranoia. In my opinion, it’s just a complete breeding ground, a cesspool for this,” said one man, who spoke on condition of anonymity to MediaNews Group out of fear of losing his job.
The contractor said supplemental workers began showing up at the plant days before a Unit 1 refueling outage began on March 27. Montgomery County officials have said they were informed that up to 1,400 contractors may have been summoned to work on the project as a coronavirus outbreak was taking shape in the county.
The workers interviewed claimed that social distancing measures of standing at least six feet apart, which have repeatedly been recommended by health officials during the outbreak, were not in place at the plant as they initially reported for their jobs.
From the first day I got there, there were no less than 100 people in the training room being processed. I have pictures from that day of people literally sitting on top of each other, no one enforcing social distancing,” the man said on Friday. “There were computer labs for people to take the tests they need to get into the plant, people sitting at every computer elbow to elbow. So, I’ve been concerned since the minute I walked in there.”
During shift changes, he said, people from both shifts congregated in the break room “standing room only, just packed in there.”
“They did not enforce any social distancing whatsoever until this past Wednesday (April 1) when the news got to the media. That’s when they started enforcing some social distancing,” the man claimed. “Being put at risk like this makes us mad.”…… https://www.pottsmerc.com/news/workers-terrified-at-limerick-nuclear-plant-amid-coronavirus/article_934efb34-76a4-11ea-afbe-17495d88f209.html
Limerick nuclear station worker tests positive for coronavirus
Exelon notified county health officials that a contract worker at the Limerick Generating Station tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday night. The worker, who is from central Pennsylvania, was last on site on Monday. The areas that the worker used have been decontaminated and plant employees were notified, the company said in a statement.
Two other full-time Limerick workers were diagnosed recently with COVID-19 at the plant, but they have not been on site since March 20, Lacy Dean, director of communications for Exelon Generation, said in a statement.
Cook nuclear station employees prepared to camp at the plant
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Cook Nuclear Plant ready if critical employees can’t go home, Herald Palladium, By ALEXANDRA NEWMAN HP Staff Writer, Apr 3, 2020, BRIDGMAN — Most people don’t imagine camping in the shadow of a nuclear power plant, but that’s what some workers at Cook Nuclear Plant are preparing to do.
“Being part of the nuclear industry, we have to be prepared for everything,” plant spokesman Bill Downey said. “We have to protect the plant and keep the power running. To do that, we’ve got to have some critical employees that are here and available in a moments notice.” Cook employees with access to travel trailers have toted them over to the parking lot at the plant in case the need should arise for them to be sequestered in place on site during the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re ready should things get bad. If we lose employees or if we get surrounded and the governor comes down that we need to protect the plant,” Downey said. “We have pretty high bar guidelines to follow.” Nuclear plants have pandemic plans in addition to their natural disaster plans.,,,,,,, https://www.heraldpalladium.com/news/cook-nuclear-plant-ready-if-critical-employees-cant-go-home/article_5af88489-29c1-5f8e-9666-035eff63bfbe.html |
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Cordova Exelon nuclear plant has worker with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis
Cordova Exelon nuclear plant has worker with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, Robert Connelly, Apr 3, 2020
KEVIN E. SCHMIDT CORDOVA, Ill. — A worker at Exelon Generation’s Quad-Cities Nuclear Power Plant has a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.
That worker is receiving, care and any employees who came into contact with that worker or work where that affected worker is employed have been notified, said Bill Stoermer, spokesman for the Quad-Cities Station……. https://qctimes.com/business/cordova-exelon-nuclear-plant-has-worker-with-confirmed-covid-19-diagnosis/article_d665fe44-6d12-5d26-925f-497afc2e1db7.html
Sailors on nuclear aircraft carrier cheer their captain who put their health above his career
any information about their nuclear-powered ships to get out. And even when such news does get out, the word “NUCLEAR” is dropped from the media coverage.The Navy Fired the Captain of the Theodore Roosevelt. See How the Crew Responded. The rousing show of support provided another gripping scene to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic: the rank and file cheering a boss they viewed as putting their safety ahead of his career. By Helene Cooper, Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Eric Schmitt
- April 3, 2020 WASHINGTON — It was a send-off for the ages, with hundreds of sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt cheering Capt. Brett E. Crozier, the commander who sacrificed his naval career by writing a letter to his superiors demanding more help as the novel coronavirus spread through the ship.
- The rousing show of support provided the latest gripping scene to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic: the rank and file shouting their admiration for a boss they viewed as putting their safety ahead of his career.
…….. in removing Captain Crozier from command, senior Navy officials said they were protecting the historic practice that complaints and requests have to go up a formal chain of command. They argued that by sending his concerns to 20 or 30 people in a message that eventually leaked to news organizations, Captain Crozier showed he was no longer fit to lead the fast-moving effort to treat the crew and clean the ship.
Russia’s response to coronavirus risk for nuclear stations – isolate the nuclear workforce
Russia’s nuclear workers isolated onsite as coronavirus spreads, Bellona, April 3, 2020 by Charles Digges, charles@bellona.no
Workers at Russia’s nuclear power plants will be isolated from the general public and required to live in onsite clinics at their respective stations as nuclear authorities tighten their response to the coronavirus after a number of industry infections.
The order came Tuesday from Rosenergoatom, Russia’s nuclear utility, and specified that both primary and back up crews of nuclear technicians, who “facilitate process continuity” would now be required check in to dispensaries at their plants, where they would be provided with daily living essentials and isolated from outside contact.
Rosenergoatom, which is a subsidiary of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, is responding to a Tuesday video address by Andrei Likhachev, the corporation’s CEO, which outlined the isolation measures.
Earlier this week, Likhachev confirmed that four Rosatom employees had tested positive for the coronavirus, the spread of which has all but ground the world economy to a halt as the number of those infected worldwide surpasses 1 million.
Russians have been told to stay home through next week on a government ordered holiday. There have been 4,149 cases of coronavirus reported by Moscow as of Friday, 34 of which have resulted in death. In his address, Likhachev asked all Rosatom employees who could feasibly work remotely had been asked to do so, though he said the corporation’s overseas reactor building projects would continue.
Rosenergoatom’s unprecedented steps to protect highly skilled nuclear specialists from falling ill from the virus mirror measures other countries are taking for their own workers to avoid power interruptions or outright plant shutdowns.
In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering isolating its own workers from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, while France – the world’s most nuclear-dependent nation – is weighing staff cuts of its own. Both France and the United Kingdom have shut down a number of their nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities in response to a spike in local infections
Rosenergoatom didn’t make clear precisely how many of Russia’s nuclear workers have been put in isolation, but its parent company Rosatom controls a sprawling network of reactors, laboratories, commercial structures and fuel fabrication facilities that employ some 250,000 people…….
Workers at the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant, 1,800 kilometers to Moscow’s east, have already been working in isolation for more than a week, after the wife of one of the plant’s technicians tested positive for the virus. https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2020-04-russias-nuclear-workers-isolated-onsite-as-coronavirus-spreads
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