|
Aging Tokai nuclear plant outside Tokyo cleared to restart, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, November 7, 2018 The nation’s nuclear watchdog on Nov. 7 formally approved a 20-year extension of the only nuclear reactor in the Tokyo metropolitan area, although local communities will have the final say on the restart.Operator Japan Atomic Power Co. will need the consent of the Ibaraki prefectural government, as well as six local municipalities, including the village of Tokai, where its aging Tokai No. 2 nuclear plant is located.
The company faced having to prepare to decommission the plant’s 40-year-old reactor if it failed to meet a Nov. 27 deadline on revised and more stringent safety standards implemented by the Nuclear Regulation Authority in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture.
After the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the operational life of nuclear reactors was set at up to 40 years in principle. But power companies can continue to operate their facilities for an additional 20 years if their reactors pass the NRA screening.
So far, all requests to the NRA to extend the operating life of old reactors have been approved.
The reactor at the Tokai No. 2 plant is the fourth to clear the NRA for extended operations since the Fukushima disaster. It is located about 120 kilometers from the heart of Tokyo.
The 1.1-gigawatt boiling water reactor is the only unit at the Tokai No. 2 plant and is of the same design as the crippled reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
The Tokai No. 2 plant was also affected by the tsunami generated by the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. It is the first time for a reactor affected by the tsunami to be approved for an operational extension. It is also the first boiling water reactor to gain such approval.
The NRA examined the reactor’s pressure vessel and other equipment, and concluded that the unit could operate safely until November 2038.
But it remains unclear if Japan Atomic Power can restart the plant under its earliest time frame of 2021, due to local opposition.
In October, Mayor Toru Umino of Naka, one of the six municipalities around the plant, announced his opposition to the extension. The city assembly of Mito, another municipality, adopted a resolution against the extension in June.
About 960,000 people live within a 30-km radius of the plant, making it the most densely populated site among the nation’s nuclear facilities.
After the Fukushima disaster, municipalities in close proximity to a nuclear plant were required to craft an evacuation plan to respond to a nuclear emergency.
But only three of the 14 municipalities around the Tokai No. 2 nuclear plant within that range have done so due to the difficulty of arranging transportation for such a large number of people.
Bringing the reactor back online is expected to cost Japan Atomic Power at least 174 billion yen ($1.54 billion), a sum that includes construction of a seawall and other safeguard measures.
The company hopes to have those measures in place by the end of March 2021.
It may well also have to spend tens of billions of yen in the future to meet a new requirement that nuclear facilities are able to contain damage from a terrorist attack.
TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS …….http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201811070061.html
|
|
November 8, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Japan, politics, safety |
Leave a comment
US Navy investigates sailors working in nuclear department of USS Ronald Reagan for taking LSD, Telegraph Harriet Alexander, new york, 7 NOVEMBER 2018 The US Navy has confirmed it is investigating 15 sailors working mainly in the nuclear reactor department of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan for allegations of LSD abuse.Lt. Joe Keiley, spokesman for the Seventh Fleet, based in Japan, said that two sailors are already heading to court-martial accused of using, possessing and distributing the hallucinogenic drug, while three are waiting to see whether they will be charged as well.
Another 10 sailors were administratively disciplined. Of the 15, 14 worked in the nuclear department.
News of the LSD ring was first reported by The Wall Street Journal in February, but Lt Keiley confirmed that the initial investigation had resulted in charges.
When the allegations were first reported, the Seventh Fleet – beset by a series of problems – issued a statement saying that “the Navy has zero tolerance for drug abuse and takes all allegations involving misconduct of our sailors, Navy civilians and family members very seriously.”……..
The Seventh Fleet has been plagued by problems over the past year.
In 2017, two ships – the USS John S. McCain and the USS Fitzgerald – were involved in separate collisions with commercial vessels, killing 17 sailors.
In August 2017 Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, commander of all US naval forces in the eastern Pacific, was fired as the result of a “loss of confidence in his ability to command,” the Navy said.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/07/us-navy-investigates-sailors-working-nuclear-department-uss/
|
|
|
November 8, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
incidents, USA |
Leave a comment
GDF Watch 4th Nov 2018 , The company responsible for delivering Sweden’s deep geological repository, SKB, is planning to subject their research into copper
corrosion to international peer review in the new year. SKB believe this is
the most transparent and open way in which to address concerns about the
contentious issue, which has held up final decision-making on the Swedish
national repository for higher activity radioactive waste.
Earlier this year the Swedish Environmental Court largely approved SKB’s plans for a
geological disposal facility in Osthammar. However, the Court had concerns
about the speed at which copper canisters corrode and the potential
consequential environmental impact. Conflicting scientific evidence was
presented to the Court. The Court decided that this was something the
Swedish Government needed to consider further before any approval was given
to the planned radioactive waste disposal facility. The Swedish Government
asked SKB to provide additional information by 31 March 2019.
http://www.gdfwatch.org.uk/2018/11/04/sweden-copper-corrosion-update/
November 5, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, Sweden, wastes |
Leave a comment
|
 Nuclear facilities as potential targets in China and UK https://nuclearexhaust.wordpress.com/2018/10/27/nuclear-facilities-as-potential-targets-in-china-and-uk/
Nuclear reactors as potential targets in UK
Wales
Trawsfynydd (not operating)
Latitude: 52° 55′ 30.06″ N (52.92502°)
Longitude: 3° 56′ 57.23″ W (-3.94923°
Wylfa (not operating)
Latitude: 53° 24′ 59.95″ N (53.41666°)
Longitude: 4° 28′ 59.24″ W (-4.48312°)
Scotland
Chapelcross nuclear power station (not operating)
Latitude: 55° 0′ 56.29″ N (55.01562°)
Longitude: 3° 13′ 33.78″ W (-3.22650°)
Dounreay – Dounreay Fast Reactor (not operating)
Latitude: 58° 34′ 49.94″ N (58.58054°)
Longitude: 3° 44′ 42.83″ W (-3.74521°)
Dounreay – Prototype Fast Reactor (not operating)
Latitude: 58° 34′ 41.48″ N (58.57819°)
Longitude: 3° 45′ 07.60″ W (-3.75211°)
Hunterston A nuclear power station (not operating)
Latitude: 55° 43′ 11.48″ N (55.71986°)
Longitude: 4° 53′ 47.82″ W (-4.89662°)
Hunterston B nuclear power station
Latitude: 55° 43′ 19.51″ N (55.72209°)
Longitude: 4° 53′ 24.31″ W (-4.89009°)
Torness nuclear power station
Latitude: 55° 58′ 04.77″ N (55.96799°)
Longitude: 2° 24′ 32.68″ W (-2.40908°)
England
Berkeley nuclear power station (not operating)
Latitude: 51° 41′ 33″ N 51.6925°
Longitude: 2° 29′ 37″ W -2.493611°
Bradwell Power Station (not operating)
Latitude: 51° 44′ 28.56″ N 51.741266°
Longitude: 0° 53′ 48.76″ E 0.896879°
Culham (JET)
Latitude: 51° 39′ 13″ N (51.634°)
Longitude: 1° 13′ 37″ W (-1.227°)
Dungeness A Power Station (not operating)
Latitude: 50° 54′ 50″ N 50.913889°
Longitude: 0° 57′ 50″ E 0.963889°
Dungeness B Power Station
Latitude: 50° 54′ 50″ N 50.913889°
Longitude: 0° 57′ 50″ E 0.963889°
Hartlepool nuclear power station
Latitude: 54° 38′ 6.12″ N 54.635034°
Longitude: 1° 10′ 51.02″ W -1.18084°
Harwell (decommissioned)
Latitude: 51° 34′ 32″ N (51.576°)
Longitude: 1° 18′ 49″ W (-1.314°)
Heysham 1 Power Station
Latitude: 54° 2′ 0″ N 54.033333°
Longitude: 2° 54′ 0″ W -2.9°
Heysham 2 Power Station
Latitude: 54° 2′ 0″ N 54.033333°
Longitude: 2° 54′ 0″ W -2.9°
Hinkley Point A nuclear power station (not operating)
Latitude: 51° 12′ 30.81″ N 51.208559°
Longitude: 3° 7′ 49.52″ W -3.130424°
Hinkley Point B nuclear power station
Latitude: 51° 12′ 30.81″ N 51.208559°
Longitude: 3° 7′ 49.52″ W -3.130424°
Hinkley Point C nuclear power station
Latitude: 51° 12′ 30.81″ N 51.208559°
Longitude: 3° 7′ 49.52″ W -3.130424°
Oldbury nuclear power station (decommissioned)
Latitude: 51° 38′ 56″ N 51.648889°
Longitude: 2° 34′ 15″ W -2.570833°
Sellafield (decommissioning)
Latitude: 54° 25′ 12″ N 54.42°
Longitude: 3° 30′ 0″ W -3.5°
Sizewell A nuclear power station (not operating)
Latitude: 52° 12′ 49″ N 52.213611°
Longitude: 1° 37′ 6″ E 1.618333°
Sizewell B nuclear power station
Latitude: 52° 12′ 49″ N 52.213611°
Longitude: 1° 37′ 6″ E 1.618333°
Winfrith (decommissioned)
Latitude: 50° 41′ 05.37″ N (50.68483°)
Longitude: 2° 15′ 43.51″ W (-2.26209°)
|
|
October 29, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, UK |
Leave a comment
Japan earthquake: Fukushima rocked by 5.0 magnitude quake off coast, JAPAN has been struck by an earthquake with a 5.0 magnitude off the east coast of the country, close to Fukushima. Express UK, By LAURA MOWAT, Oct 22, 2018 The earthquake had a depth of 46.6km and hit at 10:47am universal time (11.47am BST).
There has been an increase in seismic activity in the last 24 hours along the Ring of Fire – the Pacific plate which sees the most earthquakes and most active volcanoes.
An earthquake also struck Japan’s north island last night at a depth of 67km and a magnitude of 4.4.
Japan lies in the Ring of Fire, which is a major area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanoes are common……….
Earthquakes are common in Japan as the country is located in an area where several continental and oceanic plates meet.
Japan is hit by about 1,500 earthquakes each year, which includes daily tremors that are rarely felt.
An earthquake with a magnitude of five on the Richter Scale is usually felt, but normally only causes minor damage. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1034816/japan-earthquake-fukushima-tsunami-warning-center-USGS
October 27, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Japan, safety |
Leave a comment
Hanford nuclear plant employees told to ‘take cover’ over incident, Rt.com : 26 Oct, 2018 Employees at the Hanford Vit Plant – one of the US’ largest nuclear waste processing facilities – have been told to “take cover.” The alert was issued as a precaution, the company operating the facility said.
The employees at the waste treatment plant were allegedly told to “go to the closest Take Cover facility” and avoid “eating or drinking until further notice,” according to the text message published by the people on social media.
The warning to the employees was issued because steam was coming out from one of the tunnels at the waste treatment plant construction site, Bechtel, the company in charge of the construction works said, adding that it was made out of “precaution.”
1:10 AM – Oct 27, 2018
“There is no indication of a release of hazardous material,” a Bechtel statement said. However, the workers were still said to stay in cover until further notice………https://www.rt.com/usa/442365-hanford-nuclear-plant-employees-cover/
October 27, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
incidents, USA |
Leave a comment
October 26, 2018
The High Flux nuclear reactor in Petten in the province of Noord Holland was shut down on Thursday because radioactively contaminated water had leaked into the crawl space of the building, owners Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group NGR said in a statement…….https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/10/leak-shuts-down-nuclear-reactor-in-petten/
October 27, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
incidents |
Leave a comment
|
 IAEA Launches International Training Course on Protecting Nuclear Facilities from Cyber-Attacks IAEA
Vienna, Austria The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has introduced a new international training course (ITC) on protecting nuclear facilities from cyber-attacks, highlighting the Agency’s role in supporting national efforts to strengthen nuclear security.
The inaugural course, Protecting Computer-Based Systems in Nuclear Security Regimes, was held earlier this month. It brought together 37 participants from 13 countries for two weeks of immersive training on best practices in computer security.
Developed together with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and hosted by the Idaho National Laboratory in the United States, it was the first in what will be a series of IAEA information and computer security ITCs focusing on raising awareness of the threat posed by cyber-attacks, and their potential impact on nuclear facilities……https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/iaea-launches-international-training-course-on-protecting-nuclear-facilities-from-cyber-attacks-0
|
|
October 25, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
2 WORLD, safety |
Leave a comment
Telegraph 20th Oct 2018 Counter-terrorism officers are to be equipped with a new fleet of high-tech
nuclear and radiological detection vehicles to trace weapons-grade materials in the UK. The Home Office is planning to buy up to 10 mobile gamma and neutron radiation detection systems to bolster its defences against them being used in a terror attack.
Ports and airports across the country already have screening systems in place to spot anyone smuggling nuclear or radiological materials into the UK as part of the Border Force’s Cyclamen monitoring system. Similar equipment was used at the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/20/nuclear-counter-terror-detection-systems-bolstered-high-tech/
October 22, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, UK |
Leave a comment
60,000 tons of dangerous radioactive waste sits on Great Lakes shores Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press Oct. 19, 2018 “……… Fukushima and ‘The Devil’s Scenario’
On March 11, 2011, following a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and an ensuing, 50-foot tsunami, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan lost cooling capabilities for four of its six reactors. The cores became damaged and radiation was released into the atmosphere, making it the world’s second-worst nuclear power industry accident after Chernobyl.
But it’s what happened — or almost happened — at the plant’s Unit 4 spent-fuel pool that gives nuclear watchdogs nightmares.
A hydrogen explosion four days into the disaster left the building housing the Unit 4 spent-fuel pool in ruins. The pool was seven stories up in a crumbling, inaccessible building.
It “was so radioactive, you couldn’t put people up there,” von Hippel said. “For about a month after Fukushima, people didn’t know how much water was in the pool. They were shooting water up there haphazardly with a hose, trying to drop it by helicopter.”
Two weeks after the earthquake and tsunami, the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission secretly conducted a worst-case scenario study of the ongoing disaster. The biggest fear that emerged: that a self-sustaining fire would start in the Unit 4 spent fuel pool, spreading to the nearby, damaged reactors. That, they found, would release radiation requiring evacuations as far away as 150 miles, to the outskirts of Tokyo and its more than 13.4 million residents.
“That was the devil’s scenario that was on my mind,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said during a special commission’s 2014 investigation of the accident.
“Common sense dictated that, if that came to pass, then it was the end of Tokyo.”
The worst-case-scenario report was not released for nearly a year. “The content was so shocking that we decided to treat it as if it didn’t exist,” the Japan Times quoted a senior Japanese government official as saying in January 2012.
What kept the spent fuel rods covered with water in Unit 4 was a miraculous twist of fate: The explosion had jarred open a gate that typically separated the Unit 4 spent fuel pool from an adjacent reactor pool.
“Leakage through the gate seals was essential for keeping the fuel in the Unit 4 pool covered with water,” a 2016 report on the Fukushima accident by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine concluded.
“Had there been no water in the reactor well, there could well have been severe damage to the stored fuel and substantial releases of radioactive material to the environment.”
It’s a startling “very near-miss,” said Gordon Thompson, executive director of the Institute for Resource and Security Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“Given wind directions that are common in Japan, they could have been looking at removing the population of Tokyo for decades, or centuries,” he said. “You’re talking tens of millions of people that would have to relocate. That’s the bullet that Japan dodged.”……..https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/10/19/nuclear-waste-great-lakes/1417767002/
October 20, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
incidents, Japan |
3 Comments
|
60,000 tons of dangerous radioactive waste sits on Great Lakes shores, Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press
Oct. 19, 2018 “………The original 9/11 idea
In August 2002, al-Jazeera reporter Yosri Fouda got an anonymous call offering him an incredible interview with two of the biggest fugitives from justice on the globe: al-Qaida leaders Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the so-called mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh.
Wrote London’s The Guardian about Fouda’s account at the time: “After two days in a run-down hotel (in Karachi, Pakistan), he was passed through a chain of people before being blindfolded, put in a car (trunk) and driven to an apartment building. He was taken to a flat strewn with laptop computers and mobile phones and occupied by two men whom he recognized as Bin al-Shibh and Mohammed.
Among the things Fouda said he learned in his interview: That the initial targets for what became the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks included two, unspecified U.S. nuclear power plants.
“It was decided to abandon nuclear targets for the moment,” Fouda said Mohammed explained to him. “I mean for the moment,” Mohammed added.
Al-Qaida leaders feared an attack on U.S. nuclear facilities “might get out of hand,” Fouda said he was told.
Noted Kamps of the nonprofit Beyond Nuclear, “We’re relying on the moral restraint of a terrorist organization not to attack nuclear plants.”
That startling revelation was later amplified in the 9/11 Commission’s report, which not only noted Mohammed’s account, but that 9/11 ringleader and hijacker Mohammed Atta, in July 2001 meetings with Bin al-Shibh in Spain, “mentioned he had considered targeting a nuclear facility he had seen during familiarization flights near New York.”
The plan was ultimately scuttled because Atta “thought a nuclear target would be difficult because the airspace around it was restricted, making reconnaissance flights impossible and increasing the likelihood that any plane would be shot down before impact,” the 9/11 Commission report states.
Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists said the nuclear facility in question was probably Indian Point in New York, about 25 miles north of New York City. In an ironic twist, the supposed heightened security measures that discouraged Atta from a nuclear plant strike don’t exist, Lyman said.
“In fact, there was no such protection,” he said. “There is no no-fly-zone around nuclear plants.”
It’s still not an outright prohibition. After 9/11, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a “notice-to-airmen” stating: “In the interest of national security and to the extent practicable, pilots are strongly advised to avoid the airspace above, or in proximity to such sites as power plants (nuclear, hydro-electric, or coal), dams, refineries, industrial complexes, military facilities and other similar facilities. Pilots should not circle as to loiter in the vicinity over these types of facilities.”
Personnel at nuclear plants “voluntarily report to us and to local law enforcement whenever they see a plane loitering in the vicinity,” NRC spokesman David McIntyre told the Free Press. “Such pilots may be greeted by local law enforcement upon landing and further advised not to fly over or loiter over a plant.”
The policy also applies for remote-controlled drones, McIntyre said……. https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/10/19/nuclear-waste-great-lakes/1417767002/
|
|
October 20, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, USA |
Leave a comment
Le Monde 18th Oct 2018 The Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) fears that the site of the EPR nuclear
reactor in Flamanville (Channel) has other problems “very difficult” , in
addition to that of welds, said Thursday, October 18 the head of the EPR
pole of the ASN of Normandy. “I do not hide from you that ( … ) we can
imagine that there may indeed be other difficulties elsewhere.
We are looking at whether the welds will remain, or not, the only very difficult
topic ” of this project, said Eric Zelnio at a meeting of the Local
Information Committee (CLI) on the Flamanville nuclear site. This is the
reason why the ASN “is about to formulate to EDF a request to extend to
other equipment on the reactor” the requested quality review of the weld
problem.
October 20, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
France, safety |
Leave a comment
https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/essex-county-residents-can-obtain-pills-to-protect-against-radiation-in-nuclear-disaster
Every resident in Essex County can now obtain potentially life-saving pills to protect them from radiation in case of an accident at one of the nearby U.S. nuclear power plants.
Every resident in Essex County can now obtain potentially life-saving pills to protect them from radiation in case of an accident at one of the nearby U.S. nuclear power plants.
The potassium iodide (KI) pills are available to people in Essex County and part of Chatham-Kent who live within range of Michigan’s Enrico Fermi 2 Nuclear Generating Station or the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Ohio. Dr. Wajid Ahmed, the acting medical officer of health for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, said taking the tablets in the wake of a nuclear accident can help prevent thyroid cancer.
“The most common thing that is released in the event of a nuclear emergency is the radioactive iodine,” he said. “Anyone who gets exposed to the radioactive iodine, it tends to get absorbed in the thyroid gland, and then potentially someone can develop thyroid cancer after some time.”
The health unit launched the potassium iodide distribution plan for the “primary zone” in April for households within 16.1 km of the nuclear power plants. Ahmed said Essex County’s primary zone included about 400 Amherstburg and Boblo Island home
October 18, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, USA |
Leave a comment
nuclear-news 