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Salp invasion cuts nuclear power output

Jellyfish-like creatures force California nuclear power plant to curtail operations By Steve Chawkins / Los Angeles Times, April 26, 2012 LOS ANGELES — Strange, jellyfish-like creatures swarming a coastal nuclear power plant: It might sound like the premise of a cult horror flick, but the invasion has prompted officials at the Diablo Canyon facility in San Luis Obispo, Calif., to curtail operations for at least a few days.

The plant’s operator, Pacific Gas & Electric, cut power generation from one of the plant’s two reactors to 25 percent of its capacity, spokesman Tom Cuddy said Wednesday. The other reactor was shut down this week for what PG&E described as routine refueling and
maintenance, a procedure that could take about a month.

Workers on Monday discovered an influx of the creatures, called salp, clogging screens that are used to keep marine life out of the sea water used as a coolant, Cuddy said. Often thronging many square miles of ocean in huge, gelatinous masses, salp are tubular, transparent organisms that can be roughly the size of a human thumb. No one knows how many are at the Avila Beach plant or how long they will remain…

.. Jellyfish swarmed Diablo Canyon in 2008, triggering a steep, sudden decrease in power generation. Over the years, they have been a problem at nuclear plants in the U.S., Japan, Israel andScotland. …. http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/west/view/20120426jellyfish-like_creatures_force_california_nuclear_power_plant_to_curtail_operations/srvc=home&position=recent

April 27, 2012 Posted by | incidents, oceans, USA | Leave a comment

Fire at Idaho nuclear research laboratory

Fire prompts evacuation at nuclear research lab in Idaho  SALMON, Idaho, April 16 (Reuters) – A welder’s torch ignited a small fire on the roof of a building at a nuclear research laboratory in Idaho on Monday, prompting an evacuation, but no one was hurt and no radioactive material was involved, lab officials said.

Nearly 100 employees were cleared from the building, part of a complex that includes facilities housing spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory, the U.S. Energy Department’s leading facility for nuclear reactor technology. Continue reading →

April 18, 2012 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

30 years later, today’s road workers affected by radioactive spill

 Workers sick amid highway radiation scare http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-18/radioactive-discovery-halts-pacific-hwy-upgrade/3957168 April 18, 2012   Road workers were sent for medical treatment after vomiting when suspected nuclear material was unearthed during work on an upgrade to the Pacific Highway on the mid-north coast of New South Wales The materials, which include caesium, were buried north of Port Macquarie after a truck carrying radioactive isotopes from Sydney’s Lucas Heights nuclear reactor crashed in the area in 1980.

The isotopes were being taken to Brisbane, before being shipped to the United States. The upgrade’s project manager, Bob Higgins, says road workers fell ill after unearthing a strange clay-like material.

“As we’ve taken down the cutting there we exposed the face of the existing material (and) came across a clay material that when it’s exposed to air it gets an orange streak through it,” he said. ”There were a number of workers that felt a little bit of nausea and there was a bit of vomiting when they were in close proximity. ”[They went] off to the doctor, but obviously we need to be extremely careful here.”

The Environmental Impact Statement for the highway upgrade had noted some uncertainty about where exactly the containers were buried. Specialists are in the area assessing what to do with the radioactive materials, and if they pose any risk.

Let the Facts Speak: 1980, December 4 PORT MACQUARIE, AUSTRALIA Continue reading →

April 18, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, incidents | Leave a comment

Thousands of gallons of radioactive water into the river

NRC reveals radioactive water spill at Limerick nuke plant, The Mercury, By Evan Brandt 04/12/12 LIMERICK — “Several thousand gallons” of water containing as much as five-times the government’s “safe” level of radioactive tritium was accidentally released at Exelon Nuclear’s Limerick Generating Station last month and then flushed into the Schuylkill River, The Mercury learned Thursday….. http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120412/NEWS01/120419797/nrc-reveals-radioactive-water-spill-at-limerick-nuke-plant&pager=full_story

April 16, 2012 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Fukushima nuclear plant not ‘under control’ as radioactive water spills

Tons of radioactive water spill from Fukushima nuclear plant http://rt.com/news/fukushima-nuclear-water-leak-378/  05 April, 2012, Officials at the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which acts as the operator of the crippled nuclear
facility, say there is reason to believe some of the 12 tons of radioactive water has flowed into the Pacific Ocean.
A leak was found in a pipe attached to a temporary decontamination system. The water, once it has been used to cool the reactors, contains massive amounts of radioactive substances and is put into the water-processing facility so it can be recycled for use as a coolant.
“Our officials confirmed that cooling water leaked at a joint in the pipes,” a TEPCO spokesman told reporters, adding that “it is possible that some of the water may have flowed outside the facility and pouredinto the ocean.”

This accident is the latest of several leaks of radioactive water at the plant, undermining the government’s claim that the shuttered  reactors were now under control.

Just last month, about 120 tons of radioactive water leaked at the plant’s water decontamination system and about 80 liters (21 gallons) seeped into the ocean, according to TEPCO. The plant, which is just north-east of Tokyo, was crippled by
meltdowns and explosions caused by Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami

April 6, 2012 Posted by | incidents, Japan | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear plant leaks after 2 small fires

Leak Found in French Nuclear Plant http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304072004577326322716346232.html?mod=googlenews_wsj By NADYA MASIDLOVER WSJ, 6 April 12, PARIS—French state-controlled utility Electricité de France SA said late Thursday that a leak was detected at one of its nuclear reactors in northwestern France, after two small fires were extinguished at the site earlier in the day.

France’s nuclear regulator said it had provisionally ranked the leak as a low-level incident and had returned to normal management of the situation after shifting to crisis mode earlier in the day. In a statement, EDF said that a faulty joint on a pump used to cool the reactor had caused a leak inside the reactor building of its nuclear power station in Penly, Normandy. The water from the leak is currently collected in circuits which exist for this use, the company said.

The reactor, which automatically halted after the fire, continues to be cooled normally and the plant teams are working to reduce the pressure and the temperature of the water in the circuit, according to EDF.

Even after a reactor is halted, the nuclear fuel continues to generate heat and must be cooled continuously.

French nuclear safety body, Autorité de Sureté Nucléaire, said it continues to analyze the situation and follow its evolution. The regulator said the incidents had no consequence on the environment.

Earlier in the evening, a spokeswoman for EDF said that lubricant from one of the reactor’s cooling pumps had leaked on the floor, generating smoke and small flames inside the reactor building. The two small fires were extinguished Thursday afternoon.

April 6, 2012 Posted by | France, incidents | Leave a comment

Santa Susanna’ s radiation pollution from 1959 nuclear accident

Santa Susanna pollution data raises more questions about long term radiation than it answers, 89.3 KPCC, March 6, 2012 | By Molly Peterson  I did a short story today about the former Santa Susanna Field Laboratory site, where Rocketdyne and others once had operations, and where in 1959 a nuclear accident released far more radioactive material than Three Mile Island. I don’t just hang out on the EPA’s website, or at the gates of that property. Instead, I heard about the data release from State Senator Julia Brownley’s release yesterday :

“This confirms what we were worried about,” said Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Oak Park, a long-time leader in the fight for a complete and thorough cleanup of this former Rocketdyne rocket engine testing laboratory. “This begins to answer critical questions about what’s still up there, where, how much, and how bad?”

Brownley’s release asserts that the new samples collected are up to 1000 times higher than the “radiation trigger levels” approved by state and federal officials in 2010, when state officials reached agreements deemed, at the time, “historic,”  with NASA and the Department of Energy for cleanups.  Continue reading →

March 8, 2012 Posted by | environment, incidents, USA | 1 Comment

Nuclear plants in South Carolina and Virginia had “near misses”

Nuclear watchdog group says Duke Energy plant among 2011 “near misses” Observer.com  by johnmurawski on 02/28/2012   “……According to UCS, the situation at Duke Energy’s Oconee nuclear plant in South Carolina involved a glitch in the backup reactor core cooling system that would have rendered the system useless during an accident.

The backup system was installed in 1983 and the plant’s workers didn’t discover the problem until 2011.

Another plant mentioned in the UCS report was the North Anna plant in Virginia which lost offsite power after experiencing an earthquake which was more severe than the plant was designed for……” http://blogs.newsobserver.com/business/nuclear-watchdog-group-says-duke-energy-plant-among-2011-near-misses

February 29, 2012 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Exposure to radiation by workers in Finalnd

Outokumpu workers exposed to radiation   http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFL5E8DO6SX20120224

 * Four Outokumpu workers exposed to radiation

* One worker’s exposure “material safety risk”

* Radiation should not have adverse health effects

* Recycled steel had contained americium (Adds detail) Continue reading →

February 25, 2012 Posted by | Finland, incidents | Leave a comment

15 tonnes of water hourly, as Fukushima nuclear reactor hots up again

Fukushima reactor heats up again, ABC News, By Mark Willacy in Fukushima The operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant has begun injecting more water into one of the reactors, after the core temperature rose above Japan’s safety limit.

A gauge inside Fukushima’s reactor number two showed the temperature rising to 82 degrees Celsius over the weekend, its highest level since the reactor was put into a state of cold shutdown two months ago. Operator TEPCO insists there has been no nuclear reaction and that the reactor can be controlled.

Responding to the increase, the operator began injecting 15 tonnes of water an hour into the reactor in a bid to get the temperature down. TEPCO says it has not detected any xenon gas, which is created when a
nuclear reaction has been triggered.

The company suspects that cooling water has not been flowing freely into the the number two reactor, causing the

February 14, 2012 Posted by | incidents, Japan | Leave a comment

Level 2 nuclear incidents in France

France declares level 2 nuclear event at Cattenom Feb 6, 2012
* Reactors not shut down after the fault was found

* EDF given 10 days on Jan. 24 to make repairs

* There were four level two events in 2011

PARIS, Feb 6 (Reuters) – France’s nuclear safety authority (ASN) said on Monday it had identified a problem with water pipes at one of EDF’s nuclear plants and rated it a level two event out of a maximum seven on the international nuclear event scale (INES).

Level two ratings occur relatively rarely, but the watchdog said there was no impact on plant workers or the environment from the event. In 2011, the ASN gave four incidents a level two rating. Japan’s Fukushima disaster was rated a level seven event.

Pipes used to pump water into fuel rod cooling pools at reactors 2 and 3 at EDF’s Cattenom nuclear plant were not equipped with a mechanism to prevent them from accidentally pumping water out of the basins.

In case water levels fall in rod cooling pools, the exposed fuel would heat up and release dangerous radioactive material. “Due to the potential consequences, this event was placed on a level 2 of the INES scale,” the watchdog said in a statement….. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/06/france-nuclear-ines-idUSL5E8D63C120120206

February 7, 2012 Posted by | France, incidents | Leave a comment

Spain wants USA to clean up plutonium pollution B-52 bomber accident

two of the bombs that hit the ground detonated, spreading seven pounds of plutonium over a 200 hectares (490 acres). 

US and Spain discuss cleanup of nuclear radiation, PhysOrg.com, February 5, 2012 The United States is offering technical assistance to Spain to clean up land contaminated by radiation from undetonated nuclear bombs that accidentally fell on the area in 1966, Continue reading →

February 7, 2012 Posted by | environment, history, incidents, Spain | Leave a comment

Safety concerns about Russia’s nukes – highlighted by recent fire at nuclear institute

Fire at Moscow nuclear institute, Russia says no risk (Reuters) – Jan 29 2012 There was no risk of a radiation leak after a fire broke out at a Moscow nuclear research centre housing a non-operational 60-year-old atomic reactor on Sunday, said officials, but Greenpeace Russia expressed serious concern about the incident. Continue reading →

February 7, 2012 Posted by | incidents, Russia | Leave a comment

Wear and tear problem on tubes carrying radioactive water

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, more than a third of the wall had been worn away in two tubes at Unit 2, which will require them to be plugged and taken out of service. At least 20 percent of the tube wall was worn away in 69 other tubes, and in more than 800, the thinning was at least 10 percent.

Inspectors find ‘unusual’ wear on new tubes carrying radioactive water at Calif. nuclear plant  Washington Post, By Associated Press, : February 2 LOS ANGELES — Unusual wear has been found on hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water at Southern California’s San Onofre Unit 2 nuclear plant, raising questions about the integrity of equipment the company installed in a multimillion-dollar makeover in 2009.

The disclosure came two days after a tube leak at the plant’s other unit prompted operators to shut down the reactor as a precaution. The problems at Unit 2 were discovered during inspections of a steam generator, after the plant 45 miles north of San Diego was taken off-line for maintenance and refueling. The two huge steam generators at Unit 2, each containing 9,700 tubes, were replaced in fall 2009, and a year later in its twin plant, Unit 3, as part of a $670 million overhaul. Continue reading →

February 3, 2012 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

USA radioactive leaks from nuclear reactors

 the regulations in place for American facilities are actually more lax than one would expect.

the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has repeatedly weakened safety requirements for facilities, regularly allowing antiquated plants to continue operating by making it easier to pass
tests in lieu of actually upgrading the facility.

California nuclear plant shut down over radioactive leaks, RT Question More,  01 February, 2012,  A leak at a Southern California nuclear facility that regularly provides power to roughly 1.4 million households has caused the plant to shut down a reactor.
Despite officials insisting that everything will be perfectly alright at the San Onofre nuclear site, this is not the first time as of late that power plants have raised serious questions about their safety in America. Continue reading →

February 2, 2012 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

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