Files released show orders to shoot nuclear intruders at Faslane in 1990
Cabinet files reveal plan to shoot nuclear intruders
PM Margaret Thatcher, who was told of the order, said she was “horrified” that the intrusion had succeeded.
The papers are among records filed in 1989 and 1990 and released on Friday……..
‘Grave danger’ at Faslane
Three anti-nuclear demonstrators successfully cut through the perimeter fence at Faslane, on the Clyde, in the early hours of 10 October 1988. The demonstrators went through an open submarine hatch to reach the control room of HMS Repulse, a ballistic missile submarine, where they sprayed anti-nuclear slogans before being arrested.
A fourth demonstrator attempted to swim into the base, but was caught…….
Since the Eighties, anti-nuclear protesters have peacefully camped outsideFaslane, which is now the home of Trident nuclear weapons…….http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38369742
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission blasts General Atomics on inadequate safety features
General Atomics has some explaining to do http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/dec/28/radar-general-atomics-hot-potato/# GA’s hot potato By Matt Potter, Dec. 28, 2016 La Jolla–based military contractor General Atomics, maker of the Predator drone and other lucrative pieces of battle-ready hardware, also provides radiation monitoring systems for atomic reactors. The company’s latest installation came in July of this year at Watts Bar Unit 2 in Tennessee, “the first new U.S. nuclear power plant scheduled to be put into operation since 1996,” says a news release by the firm. “Since 1965, we’ve maintained a solid reputation for designing and manufacturing the highest quality, most reliable safety-related products, and for continually supporting our products and our customers throughout a plant’s lifecycle,” executive Scott Forney was quoted as saying.
Per the report, “staff were unaware of the amount of scattered radiation in the area, and the effect of adding and removing lead from the cart on the amount of scattered radiation.” Said the notice, “verification of the material-critical characteristics specified [for use] in safety-related applications was not performed and the connector was not adequately dedicated for operation in harsh environments.”
Concludes the document, “Please provide a written statement or explanation within 30 days from the date of this letter in accordance with the instructions specified in the enclosed Notice of Nonconformance. The NRC will consider extending the response time if you show good cause for the agency to do so.”
“No danger” – when Torpedo fired at Plymouth nuclear submarine dock?
Torpedo fired at Plymouth nuclear submarine dock ‘posed no danger’ Plymouth Herald, December 27, 2016 A torpedo was inadvertently fired at the nuclear submarine dock in Plymouth.
And, in a separate incident, a dockyard worker in the city breathed in radioactive material, an investigation of incidents involving the nuclear industry has found.
But in both cases, The Times reports, the nuclear safety regulator deemed the incidents as being of no nuclear safety significance.
The decision that these and dozens more apparent safety breaches at nuclear installations around the country pose no danger has alarmed some scientists, who told the newspaper they should have been taken much more seriously.
Among the other incidents reported to the Office for Nuclear Regulation but dismissed as no more than ‘anomalies’ were three road accidents involving vehicles carrying nuclear material, the discovery of radioactive hydrogen in groundwater around the Dungeness nuclear power station in Kent and at least 70 safety incidents on the UK’s main nuclear warhead base at Aldermaston in Berkshire.
The Times reports that brief accounts of all the incidents were quietly published earlier this year.
They record events in the three years up to March 15 in what is said to be the first report of its kind.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation has defended its classification of the incidents, including the accidental firing of the torpedo at a nuclear submarine in dock in Plymouth and the ingestion of potentially deadly isotope of cobalt 13, breathed in by a Devonport Dockyard worker……..http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/torpedo-fired-at-plymouth-nuclear-submarine-dock-posed-no-danger/story-30013772-detail/story.html
Australia’s Lucas Height’s nuclear reactor security boss arrested for unauthorised documents and illegal gun
SMH, 24 Dec 16, Eamon Duff. A security consultant who held a “top secret” government clearance inside Australia’s only nuclear facility has been arrested and charged with the
illegal possession of “official secrets” and an unauthorised weapon.
Until February last year, Anthony Rami Haddad was manager of security and operations at the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, safeguarding the site against theft, diversion and sabotage.
However, following a stint in the Middle easrt where he worked on another nuclear security project, he returned hom eto Sydney, and last month became entangled in an unrelated investigation being run by the Australian Federal Police’s fraud and anti-corruption team.
A fortnight ago, Haddad appeared before Sydney’s Downi8ng Centre Local court, where he pleaded guilty to unauthorised receipt of official secrets under the Commonwealth crimes Act.
He has yet to enter a plea for a second charge, ppossessing an unauthorised prohibited firearm. His barrister, Nikolaos Siafakas, will apply to have the outstanding matter dealt with under section 32 of teh Mental Health Act……..
According to ANSTO documents, Haddad’s many responsibilities at Lucas Heights included the “mamagement of security operations” at the onsite Little Forest radioactive waste dump and its “seamless integration” into the facility’s “wider” protective security systems.
Haddad will reappear in court on February 7 http://www.smh.com.au/national/lucas-heights-security-boss-anthony-haddad-charged-over-official-secrets-gun-20161223-gthdwv.html
Cyber hacking turning its focus on power plants
Why are power plants the new targets of cyber attacks? http://asian-power.com/people/exclusive/why-are-power-plants-new-targets-cyber-attacks, 16 Dec 15
When electric utilies in Ukraine were hacked in December 2015, the industry was shaken. Two large power distribution companies were the targets of the cyber attack and the power of more than 80,000 people were cut. Even operation workstations were sabotaged by the hackers, making it harder to restore electricity to customers. It took hours to recuperate the grid, and workers even travelled to substations to manually close breakers the hackers had remotely opened.
“The energy industry has become one of the most highly targeted industries when it comes to cyber attacks,” says Dieter Klein, managing director of KEYMILE Asia.
According to Aon’s Global State of Information Security Survey, the number of cyber incidents reported globally in power & utilities industries increased from 1,179 in 2013 to 7,391 in 2014. A recent survey of 625 IT executives in the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany also revealed that 48 percent think it is likely that there will be a cyber attack on critical infrastructure in the next three years. “These alarming statistics highlight the urgent need to ensure our utility operations are well secured,” Klein adds.
The sector has become a vulnerable victim despite energy suppliers and utilities being well-protected against cyber attacks. This is because of one simple reason: cyber attacks could cause large damages. The consequences of cyber attacks in the power sector range from the disruption of public and industrial power provision to business disruptions, information loss, revenue loss or damage to assets.
“Sophisticated attackers have the skills to manipulate equipment, destroy important data, and steal sensitive information from networks, plants and infrastructure. It can even cause the failure of plants and consecutive physical damage. The critical networks within the power sector are of national interest and attacks can have an effect on a country’s prosperity, public safety and national defence,” Klein says.
He adds that the infrastructure of energy suppliers has been secure and enclosed on the outside. Yet, the integration of new applications and the development and decentralization of networks is making the infrastructure more susceptible. New packet-based devices in the networks for remote monitoring are more vulnerable for cyber attacks because they are connected through the internet. “These IP-based applications are selectable through their IP addresses and are potentially unsecured at a point of attack. Attackers can hack the packet-based data transmission between the applications and steal and manipulate data,” Klein explains.
Aging Belgian nuclear reactors causing safety worries for neighbouring Germany
Dangerous neighbors: German-Belgian nuclear agreement doesn’t fix problem, DW 20 Dec 16
Can an agreement allay fears of a looming nuclear accident in Belgium? Two of its power stations, situated very close to Germany, are causing considerable alarm. Doel 3 and Tihange 2 are the names of the nuclear power stations that have got many people living along Germany’s border with Belgium very worried indeed. These reactor blocks belong to power stations that were first connected to the grid more than 40 years ago.
Over the years, the reactor pressure vessels have sustained damage. Germany’s environment minister, Barbara Hendricks (SPD), gives a forthright response when asked about the two reactors. “We know that there are a lot of hairline cracks in the reactor pressure vessels,” she says. It sounds very alarming.
Doel 3 and Tihange 2 are very close to the German-Belgian border. Doel, near Antwerp, is just 150 kilometers (93 miles) away; it’s only 60 kilometers to Tihange, near Liege. This is why Hendricks called on Belgium as early as last April to shut down both reactor blocks until they had been made safe. The Belgian government refused. It doesn’t deem its nuclear power plants to be a risk. This attitude has a lot to do with the fact that more than half of Belgium’s power is supplied by nuclear energy.
‘We can’t change that’
At least an agreement has been reached. Environment minister Hendricks and Belgium’s minister of the interior, Jan Jambon, have signed a new German-Belgian agreement to cooperate on nuclear safety. But what is it worth? The agreement is a compromise. The German side would have much preferred Belgium to shut down the damaged nuclear reactors immediately, but Brussels had little sympathy with Germany’s efforts to intervene. Whether or not reactors are shut down, and how long for, remains a national issue. “We can’t change that,” said Barbara Hendricks – and this was the German government’s dilemma before the agreement was even signed…….
Neubronner says the situation at both nuclear sites in Belgium is extremely alarming. “The number of incidents reported at the plants has risen dramatically. Stresses, such as a thermal shock, could enlarge the cracks in the reactor pressure vessels, which would drastically increase the danger of the pressure vessel bursting,” she says. “This would lead to a reactor core meltdown. There’s a risk of an MCA [maximum credible accident].”
North Rhine-Westphalia would be ‘more or less’ affected
A study has shown that, in the event of a nuclear accident in Tihange, the city of Aachen and the surrounding region could be severely irradiated. Just a few weeks ago, Professor Wolfgang Renneberg from the Institute of Safety and Risk Sciences at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna calculated that “if an accident were to happen, there is a 10 percent likelihood that Aachen would become uninhabitable.” The whole of North Rhine-Westphalia would be “more or less” affected……….http://www.dw.com/en/dangerous-neighbors-german-belgian-nuclear-agreement-doesnt-fix-problem/a-36840437
Highland airport runway – unsafe for planes carrying radioactive trash?
Calls to ban ‘unsafe’ nuclear flights from Highland airport Sunday Herald, Rob Edwards, 18 Dec 16 FLIGHTS loaded with weapons-grade uranium that are being launched from a Highland airport are in dangerous breach of runway safety limits, according to documents released under Freedom of Information (FoI) law.
The revelations have led to angry accusations from politicians and environmental groups that a “horrific gamble” is being taken on these flights and calls for the nuclear transports to be banned immediately.
Bombs-grade uranium from Dounreay nuclear plant in Caithness is being flown from Wick John O’Groats Airport to America aboard 130-tonne C-17 US Air Force planes, which according to the documents, are too heavy for most of the runway.
The company that runs the airport denies these accusations and says the runway complies with current industry standards.
A deal to fly 700 kilograms of highly-enriched uranium waste from Dounreay to the US was announced by former UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, at a nuclear security summit in Washington DC in March. The first flight took place from Wick airport under armed guard on September 17 – and more are expected next year.
There were earlier reports that Wick’s runway was too short for C-17 aircraft and that the airport’s rescue and firefighting capability was inadequate. The flight from the US in September landed at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, which experts say could have been to minimise the weight of fuel it was carrying for its short hop to and from Wick.
Now detailed technical reports obtained by the Sunday Herald disclose that the runway may not be strong enough to withstand the flights. Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) had commissioned the US engineering firm AECOM to examine the structural suitability of Wick’s runway for C-17s, and it produced a 46-page report in October 2015.
Under safety standards used by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the report found that most of the runway was deficient. “The movements of the C-17 will not meet the necessary criteria for normal overloading operations as stated in the guidance and thus should only be allowed in emergency situations,” it said……….
John Finnie MSP, transport spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, called for the flights to be suspended pending a safety review. “The public will rightly be alarmed by this disclosure,” he said.
“It clearly suggests that no legitimate risk assessment has been undertaken and a lower standard is being applied simply because of what the cargo is. I intend raising this matter in the Scottish Parliament.”
Friends of the Earth Scotland described the released documents as damning. “It is almost beyond belief that these flights are using a runway that is not fit for purpose,” said the environmental group’s director, Dr Richard Dixon.
“Gambling against the horrific consequences of one of these flights crashing is bad enough but vastly increasing the risk of a crash by using an unsuitable airport is almost too stupid to believe. Whoever thought this was an acceptable plan should lose their job and these flights should be banned immediately.”
Tor Justad, chairperson of the campaign group Highlands Against Nuclear Transport, demanded an “absolute assurance” that the C-17 aircraft would not damage the runway or suffer an accident. “Safety standards are being compromised to allow the uranium flights to go ahead,” he said………….. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14973582.Calls_to_ban___39_unsafe__39__nuclear_flights_from_Highland_airport/?ref=rss
Cheap and dangerous nuclear cleanup in Winnipeg?
Cheap nuclear ‘cleanup’ dangerous http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/cheap-nuclear-cleanup-dangerous-406711405.html By: Dave Taylor 12/15/2016 Just as Manitobans were beginning to think the toxic mess at Whiteshell Laboratories in Pinawa would soon be moved off-site and the lands returned to their natural state, we now learn the federal government has given the Canadian Nuclear Labs (CNL) free rein to cheap out on the cleanup.
The most striking part of the plan to entomb the defunct WR1 reactor is that the cement or grout they are developing to seal it will break down well before the rotting hulk is safe. According to CNL officials who have relied on international research findings, “initial chemical degradation of grout is modelled to begin around 350 years,” well short of the thousands of years for which this sarcophagus will be toxic to all living things.
Since CNL are just the contractors responsible for the immediate decommissioning, long-term monitoring is beyond the scope of their work and it will ultimately be left to future Manitobans. Sure, it would cost the federal government four times as much to dismantle it now, but imagine the costs for our distant descendants who will have to deal with radioactive groundwater leaking into the Winnipeg River from a crumbling block of poisonous concrete several generations in the future.
Due to a very serious accident at the reactor in 1978, it is likely far more radioactive than it would normally be. The radiological report on that accident has not been made public, but when a pump failed, the geiger counters were going off at 3 million counts-per-minute, and a worker in protective clothing using a safety rope had to descend through a hatch to close valves with a hand-wheel as the fuel rods in the core of the reactor became damaged. It is an accident that remains shrouded in secrecy. This has become part of the unsustainable 50-year legacy that the nuclear industry has left us.
Two decades ago, Canada’s nuclear crown corporation, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., conducted similar “grout” research for the purpose of disposing of high-level radioactive waste in the Canadian Shield and started building a “test facility” at Lac du Bonnet called the Underground Research Lab. The objective of this plan was to seal off huge mine shafts with “bentonite grout” and entomb high-level radioactive waste from reactors across Canada and potentially from around the world. The lab leaked like a sieve as groundwater poured into the shaft, confirming that groundwater is almost unstoppable. Manitobans realized the folly in this idea and lobbied for the enactment of the High Level Radioactive Waste Act, which is still the law in our province.
And just where does our provincial government sit on this ill-conceived plan? Local politicians have remained incredibly silent on this issue, yet the act clearly states that any radioactive waste with levels comparable to spent fuel cannot be disposed of in this province, period. It also states clearly that in the case of a corporation, “a fine of not more than $1,000,000 for each day that the offence continues” will be levied.
Cathy Cox, our minister of sustainable development, has a responsibility to get the straight goods on how tainted this reactor is and to enforce the laws of our land, because, as the saying goes, “we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”
Dave Taylor is an instructor at the University of Winnipeg, and has been a watchdog of the nuclear industry for over 40 years.
Proposal to remove handguns from nuclear security guards
Duke Energy may take handguns from security at nuclear plants, wsoctv.com by: Paul Boyd Dec 18, 2016 CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Two Duke Energy insiders said they’re risking their jobs to speak out about a proposal aimed at taking handguns away from nuclear security officers.
Duke Energy operates six nuclear power plants in the Carolinas. They’re among the most highly secured and fortified facilities in the country.
Terrorist groups consider nuclear power plants high-value targets.
“We’re only there for one reason. To stop a breach into that plant,” one of the nuclear security officers said.We’ve hidden the faces and altered the voices of the security officers in our report.
They agreed to speak to Whistleblower 9 because of what they feel is an imminent safety threat — a Duke Energy proposal to take away their handguns.”If they take these weapons away, they’re not providing what we need to protect these plants,” one officer said.
“Taking away the handgun would provide us with zero backup. It’s a safety issue. It’s an officer safety issue,” the other officer said. Rifles are the nuclear security officer’s primary weapon but they say their handguns are a crucial backup weapon if a rifle jams or fails.”In this day and time with the terrorist activity escalating, taking away half of our weapons platform — that is ludicrous,” one officer said.
Channel 9 confirmed a proposal is in place to take away the security guard’s handguns. We obtained an internal document from Duke Energy that reads “efficiency bulletin” and “handgun elimination” for nuclear security officers.
The document says it is Duke Energy’s “intent” to move forward with the plan……..http://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/duke-energy-may-take-handguns-from-security-at-nuke-plants/476623922
Increasing threat of computer hacking on nuclear plants
Threat rises of hacking on nuclear plants http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/threat-rises-of-hacking-on-nuclear-plants/news-story/b339bce09319bb03647838d8eacaa9f4.16 Dec 16 The “nightmare scenario” is rising for a hacking attack on a nuclear power plant’s computer system that causes the uncontrolled release of radiation, the United Nations’ deputy chief has warned.
Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told a Security Council meeting on Thursday that extremists and “vicious non-state groups” are actively seeking weapons of mass destruction “and these weapons are increasingly accessible”.
Non-state actors can already create mass disruption using cyber technologies – and hacking a nuclear plant would be a “nightmare scenario,” he said.
The open council meeting focused on ways to stop the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons by extremist groups and criminals.
Members unanimously approved a resolution to strengthen the work of the council committee monitoring what countries are doing to prevent “non-state actors” from acquiring or using weapons of mass destruction, known as WMDs.
Eliasson said there are legitimate concerns about the security of stockpiles of radioactive material suitable for making nuclear weapons but that are outside international regulation.
In addition, he said, “scientific advances have lowered barriers to the production of biological weapons.”
“And emerging technologies, such as 3D printing and unmanned aerial vehicles, are adding to threats of an attack using a WMD,” Eliasson said.
He said the international community needs robust defences to stay ahead of this technological curve.
B-52 nuclear bomber disasters
In 1968, a B-52 Bomber Crashed (With 4 Super Lethal Nuclear Weapons Onboard That ‘Exploded’) The National Interest, Matthew Gault December 15, 2016 Throughout the 1950s and ’60s American bombers carrying nuclear weapons crisscrossed the globe, ready at a moment’s notice to fly into the heart of Russia and bomb it back to the stone age. Strategic Air Command — a now defunct branch of the U.S. Air Force — commanded this airborne alert force.
It was once the pride of the American military. For more than a decade, SAC bombers were no more than 15 minutes from nuking Russia. But the shifts on the bombers were long — sometimes more than 24 hours — and keeping such an alert force ready was taxing on pilots and crew.
There were many accidents.
In 1958, a B-47 carrying a nuke collided with an F-86 Sabre in the skies above Savannah, Georgia. The B-47 jettisoned its nuclear payload into the Atlantic Ocean. Authorities never recovered the bomb.
Months later, another B-47 dropped its nuke over South Carolina when a bomb technician aboard accidentally activated the emergency release. The bomb’s conventional explosives detonated and destroyed a nearby house.
Those were bad, but SAC and its airborne alert survived them. Then, in 1968, a B-52 crashed near Thule Monitoring Station in Greenland and spilled its payload all over the ice. It was one disaster too many, and it signaled the end of America’s airborne alert program … and Strategic Air Command’s prestige……..
The Arctic’s climate is harsh and the radar station was fragile. Outages were frequent, and SAC needed redundancy to ensure that it didn’t attack Moscow just because it lost contact with Thule.
So SAC did what it always did. It strapped some nukes on a bomber. The air command sent one of its airborne alert bombers — complete with live nukes — to fly above the Thule monitoring station 24 hours a day … forever.
It seemed silly to keep live nukes in the air above the world’s head all day, every day. It was a sword of Damocles and it dropped in 1968.
On Jan. 21, 1968, fire swept through the cabin of the airborne B-52 watching Thule station. Smoke and flames consumed the plane and the seven crew members ejected. Six survived. The bomber crashed into an ice cap in the bay near the base.
The conventional explosives in the plane’s four hydrogen bombs exploded and cracked their nuclear payloads. Radioactive elements slid out of the bombs and onto the ice.
SAC’s Operation Chrome Dome was already on its last legs. The Thule accident just confirmed what many politicians and military leader already thought — keeping a fleet of nuclear-armed bombers in the air at all times was dangerous and insane……….
Only one of the B-52’s crew died during the Thule disaster, but his death wasn’t the end of the tragedy. The hydrogen bombs spread jet fuel and radioactive materials across the ice cap. It busted up the flow of the sea, blackened the ice and spread plutonium, uranium, americium and tritium into the ice and water……..
the Danish workers who helped clean up the site are dying of cancer. Crested Ice was a rush job done under pressure from the international community, and its leadership cut corners. American and Danish workers didn’t have the protective gear they needed to work with the radioactive materials.
The Danes tried to sue the United States for compensation and 1987, but failed. In 1995, Copenhagen paid a settlement to 1,700 members of the crew. Crested Ice, the plight of its workers and the possibility that America left contaminated material behind is a recurring story in the Danish press to this day……..This first appeared in WarIsBoring here. http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/1968-b-52-bomber-crashed-4-super-lethal-nuclear-weapons-18746
USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission gives 30 yr old Fermi 2 nuclear plant 20-year operating license renewal
Fermi 2 nuclear plant gets 20-year operating license renewal http://www.wtol.com/story/34074155/fermi-2-nuclear-plant-gets-20-year-operating-license-renewal FRENCHTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – The operating license for the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant in southeastern Michigan has been renewed.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says Friday that the renewal is through March 20, 2045.
Fermi 2 is in Frenchtown Township, southwest of Detroit. The power plant’s license was issued in 1985 and was valid through March 20, 2025.
DTE Energy submitted the renewal application in 2014.
The extension approval was put on hold late last month after an activist group encouraged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to look more closely into how potassium iodide pills would be given to area residents if the plant ever has a major release of radioactive steam.
USA nuclear regulators investigating potential risks linked to falsified French nuclear documents
U.S. looks for potential issues linked to falsified French nuclear documents Reuters, 14 Dec 16 U.S. nuclear regulators are investigating whether the suspected falsification of documents at French nuclear power company Areva SA, which supplies components for reactors globally, poses any problems at U.S. nuclear plants……..
France’s Nuclear Safety Authority, or ASN, requested a probe of Le Creusot in early May after a flaw was discovered in the vessel of a reactor under construction in Flamanville in France.
Areva checked the records of Le Creusot and found anomalies associated with about 400 parts manufactured there since the plant opened in 1965. Areva purchased the forge in 2006.
One U.S. plant with parts from Le Creusot is Dominion Resource Inc’s Millstone station in Connecticut, which has had a pressurizer from the French forge in service in Unit 2 since 2006.
Dominion spokesman Ken Holt said that when Areva manufactured the pressurizer for Millstone they performed some additional heat treatment, but did not tell Dominion……
Another plant that may be affected is FirstEnergy Corp’s Beaver Valley station in Pennsylvania. Beaver Valley has steam generators and reactor vessel heads manufactured by Spain’s Equipos Nucleares SA, or ENSA, which FirstEnergy said may contain some subcomponents from Le Creusot.
“The audit is still underway but at this point in time there have not been any identified issues with quality or safety of any components at our plants,” FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young said.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Tom Brown) http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-france-nuclear-idUSKBN1432XY
Global review of nuclear reactors, following news of cover-up of AREVA’s manufacturing flaws
Coverup at French Nuclear Supplier Sparks Global Review Inspectors say Areva unit’s files suggest manufacturing flaws in critical parts were covered up for decades, WSJ, By MATTHEW DALTON and INTI LANDAURO in Paris and REBECCA SMITH in San Francisco, Dec. 13, 2016
Inspectors from the U.S. and other countries are investigating a decadeslong coverup of manufacturing problems at a key supplier to the nuclear power industry, probing whether flaws introduced in a French factory represent a safety threat to reactors world-wide.
Inspectors from the U.S., China and four other nations visited ArevaSA’s Le Creusot Forge in central France earlier this month to examine the plant’s quality controls and comb through its internal records.
A string of discoveries triggered the newly expanded review: First, French investigators said they found steel components made at Le Creusot and used in nuclear-power plants across France had excess carbon levels, making them more vulnerable to rupture. Then, the investigators discovered files suggesting Le Creusot employees for decades had concealed manufacturing problems involving hundreds of components sold to customers around the world.
The disclosure of flaws covered up by Le Creusot led to two reactor shutdowns this summer in France, and in September authorities ordered Areva to check 6,000 manufacturing files by hand, covering every nuclear part made at Le Creusot since the 1960s.
“I’m concerned that there keep being more and more problems unveiled,” said Kerri Kavanagh, who leads the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s unit inspecting Le Creusot. Regulators are considering returning to Le Creusot or inspecting Areva’s Lynchburg, Va., offices to deepen their probe of the plant, a U.S. official said.
On Wednesday, Paris prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into whether Le Creusot’s activities were fraudulent and dangerous, according to a spokeswoman for prosecutors.
“What we see now at Le Creusot is clearly unacceptable,” said Julien Collet, assistant general manager at France’s Nuclear Safety Authority.
Areva executives have acknowledged the records falsifications and blamed them on a breakdown of manufacturing controls spanning many decades at Le Creusot. Areva has since tightened its controls and is cooperating with the regulators’ reviews, company officials said…….
Beyond France, regulators are trying to determine whether other nuclear facilities that relied on components from Le Creusot are safe. Finnish inspectors visiting the forge last week said they learned of potential flaws in a component slated for a reactor in the southwestern island of Olkiluoto. In the U.S., the NRC has identified at least nine nuclear plants that use large components from Le Creusot……..
Last week’s inspection has turned up a concern with one of Areva’s next-generation reactors, the European Pressurized Reactor under construction in Finland, versions of which are also planned for plants in China, France and the U.K…….http://www.wsj.com/articles/problems-at-nuclear-components-supplier-spark-global-reviews-1481625005
Switzerland concerned over possible abnormalities in AREVA-supplied nuclear reactor components
Two Swiss nuclear plants to be checked for irregularities, SwissInfo, 13 Dec 16, The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (IFSN) has confirmed that steam generators at the Beznau and Gösgen nuclear plants must be checked for possible anomalies.
In a statement on Tuesday, IFSN said it had asked the operators of the Beznau and Gösgen nuclear plants to check the quality of steel components used in the steam generators.
Plant operators must scrutinize documents relating to the components and report to IFSN by April. They should then carry out any physical checks on materials.
The news follows reports that the French nuclear safety authority (ASN) discovered in June that certain steam generator channel heads made by two different manufacturers – Areva’s Creusot plant and Japan Casting & Forging Corp (JCFC) – could contain a zone comprising a high carbon concentration. That could weaken the mechanical resilience of the steel and its ability to resist the spreading of cracks.
“This pushed us to check the steam generators at the Beznau and Gösgen plants,” said IFSN interim director, Georg Schwarz……http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/nuclear-power_two-swiss-nuclear-plants-to-be-checked-for-irregularities/42759794
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