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Canbada’s national security could be at risk in extending life of Pickering nuclear station

safety-symbol-Smflag-canadaDecisions at nuclear plant could compromise national security: safety commission, Global News, 20 Jan 16 By  and 

Canada’s nuclear regulator says the operators of an Ontario nuclear power plant failed to comply with certain licensing conditions, behaviour that could produce “unreasonable risks to national security.”

Ontario Power Generation Inc. was slapped with a $31,690 fine in a notice of violation issued on Jan. 12. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission states that on two occasions, the company “made unilateral decisions to cease corrective actions necessary for compliance with conditions of their Power Reactor Operating Licence” at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.

“If not corrected, this behavior could in the future result in unreasonable risks to national security, the health and safety of persons and the environment,” the notice says. “This (penalty) is issued to (Ontario Power Generation) to promote compliance with conditions of their licence and to deter reoccurrence.”……..

Nuclear power plants have always represented a potential security risk given the materials they contain, but in recent years it’s the risk of cyber-attacks that has governments concerned. Nuclear facilities are increasingly reliant on digital systems, which could potentially be hacked and – in a worst-case scenario – trigger a disaster……..

The notice was issued just one day after Ontario’s Liberal government announced that it wants to squeeze four more years of life out of the Pickering nuclear station. It will also start a $12.8 billion refurbishment of the Darlington power station this fall to extend that plant’s life by about 30 years.

Nuclear reactors at the stations were originally scheduled to be decommissioned in 2020. http://globalnews.ca/news/2466527/decisions-at-nuclear-plant-could-compromise-national-security-safety-commission/

January 22, 2016 Posted by | Canada, safety | Leave a comment

Nuclear hazards extend beyond a nation’s borders: Belgium a case in point

safety-symbol-Smflag-EUBelgium’s neighbors concerned about nuclear safety, DW 18 Jan 16  Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are all concerned about the re-starting of Belgian nuclear reactors. The government there promises better communication, but seems to feel little urgency to act.

One and a half hours by car – that’s how long it takes to drive from the site of Belgium’s nuclear reactors at Tihange to neighboring Luxembourg. One and a half hours, or 160 kilometers (100 miles), that’s not enough to put the mind of Luxembourg’s state secretary for infrastructure at ease. Which is why Camille Gira, together with parliamentarians and nuclear safety and health experts, came to Brussels on Monday, to meet Belgium’s interior minister, Jan Jambon, for an “exchange of views.”

“We had a couple of questions concerning the safety of Tihange 2,” spokesman Olaf Münichsdorfer told DW, “and we wanted to remind our Belgian counterparts that our citizens are also at risk should there be a nuclear accident there.”

Cracks prompted temporary shut-down

The Tihange 2 reactor had been shut down since March, 2014, following the discovery of tiny cracks in the reactor’s pressure vessel. But in November 2015, the Belgian nuclear authority saw “no obstacle” to restarting the reactor, which became operational again at the end of December 2015.

A recent study commissioned by the Green party group in the European parliament, on the other hand, said the steel used in the pressure vessels was of such poor quality that – had this been known at the time of licensing- the reactor would never have been allowed to start operations. “How is it then possible to license the continuation of the power plants now that we are aware of all these problems,” wondered the Greens EU parliament co-president Rebecca Harms……….

Aside from raising worries in Luxembourg, re-starting the Tihange 2 reactor has sparked great concern in neighboring Germany. With the city of Aachen a mere 70 kilometers from Tihange, some 100,000 citizens in the region had signed a petition initiated by anti-nuclear activists to stop the reactor from going on the grid again – to no avail. Aachen’s authorities are set to brief the public about the current situation, as well as about emergency plans, later this month………

For their part, citizens in neighboring Netherlands are also worried about another nuclear site called Doel. Same as at the Tihange 2 reactor, tiny cracks have also been found at the Doel 3 reactor’s pressure vessel, causing it to be taken off the grid until its restart shortly before the end of the year.

Only a short while later, the plant was closed again for a few days, after a water leak.

The Doel site is also home to Belgium’s oldest reactor, Doel 1, which had been shut down in February 2015, following its 40th anniversary. But the government then decided to extend the lives of Doel 1 and Doel 2 by another 10 years.

Widespread concern has prompted the Dutch minister for infrastructure, Melanie Schultz, to schedule a visit to Doel this Wednesday, together with Belgian Interior Minister Jambon, accompanied by inspectors from the Dutch nuclear authority……….

In Belgium itself, the scientific council of the nuclear authority – known by the initials of its Flemish name, ‘FANC’ – last Friday issued a report proposing to revise existing nuclear emergency plans.

potassium-iodate-pillsOne recommendation is to distribute iodine pills to the entire Belgian population. Current plans limit the distribution of such pills to people living within a 20-kilometer-radius of nuclear sites.

The scientific body also recommends extending the safety zone around nuclear sites. Then, people living within 20 instead of 10 kilometers from a nuclear site would have to remain in their homes for 24 hours, with doors and windows closed.Already in March, 2015, Belgium’s National Health Council (CSS) had recommended distributing at no cost iodine pills to people living within a radius of 100 kilometers of nuclear plants………

on the whole, the Belgian government seems rather unfazed by the security concerns raised by its neighbors.

According to Jan Vande Putte of Greenpeace Belgium, that has to do with the fact that Belgium’s main utilities provider, Electrabel, still has a strong influence over politicians, especially in the country’s French speaking region of Wallonia – an influence dating back to the times when the state-owned utilities provider was the only player in the country’s energy market.

“This influence has declined over the past years, but it’s still there,” says Vande Putte. And, he adds, there is another interdependency to take into account: that between the nuclear authority and the nuclear sector………http://www.dw.com/en/belgiums-neighbors-concerned-about-nuclear-safety/a-18987796

January 19, 2016 Posted by | EUROPE, safety | Leave a comment

Stanford experts warn on the nuclear risks for Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico.

“These accidents during the first 15 years of operation really illustrate the challenge of predicting the behavior of the repository over 10,000 years,”

The Stanford experts also suggest more attention to how the buried materials may interact with each other, particularly with salty brine, over centuries.


Buried nuclear waste risky, say Stanford experts http://news.independence-card.com/buried-nuclear-waste-risky-say-stanford-experts/  Stanford Report, January 15, 2016 Radioactive material from the laboratories that design America’s nuclear weapons will have to be buried and kept away from humans for at least 10,000 years. But three Stanford experts say the safety analysis of this project needs to be revised to reflect new strategies that aim to substantially increase the amounts of plutonium to be disposed of. By Dan Stober

The Department of Energy’s long-term plan for dealing with material contaminated with plutonium and heavier elements from the U.S. weapons program is to bury it underground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico.

The Energy Department’s plan aims to safeguard nuclear material for the next 10,000 years. But three Stanford nuclear scientists point out in a new commentary article in the journal Nature that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) was not designed to hold as much plutonium as is now being considered for disposal there. And, in fact, the site has seen two accidents in recent years.

“These accidents during the first 15 years of operation really illustrate the challenge of predicting the behavior of the repository over 10,000 years,” said Rod Ewing, the Frank Stanton Professor in Nuclear Security at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation.

What’s more, there’s more plutonium proposed for disposal at WIPP in the future, a result of treaties with the former Soviet Union and now Russia to decrease the number of nuclear weapons by dismantling them.

A recent assessment of what to do with the plutonium from dismantled weapons has proposed that the material be diluted and disposed of at WIPP. But this analysis does not include a revision of the safety analysis for the site, wrote Ewing and his two Stanford co-authors in the Department of Geological Sciences, postdoctoral scholar Cameron Tracy and graduate student Megan Dustin.

They call on the U.S. Department of Energy, which operates WIPP, to take another look at the safety assessment of the site. Particular emphasis should be on the estimates of drilling activity in the oil-rich Permian Basin, where WIPP is located, and on the effects of such a huge increase in the plutonium inventory for the pilot plant.

“The current regulatory period of 10,000 years is short relative to the 24,100-year half-life of plutonium-239, let alone that of its decay product, uranium-235, which has a half-life of 700 million years,” the researchers wrote.

“We cannot be certain that future inhabitants of the area will even know WIPP is there,” they added. As a result, it is important to understand the impact of future drilling in the area.

The waste is stored 2,150 feet below the surface in hundreds of thousands of plastic-lined steel drums in rooms carved out of a 250-million-year-old salt bed. The repository is at about half of its planned capacity and slated to be sealed in 2033.

The researchers question some of the assumptions used in the safety studies. For example, to determine the odds of oil drilling in the future, the study uses a 100-year historical average drill rate, even though drilling has intensified in recent decades, throwing this assumption into question.

The Stanford experts also suggest more attention to how the buried materials may interact with each other, particularly with salty brine, over centuries. A single storage drum may contain a variety of materials, such as lab coats, gloves and laboratory instruments; thus, the chemistry is complex.

Ewing said that the complacency that led to the accidents at WIPP can also occur in the safety analysis. Therefore, he advises, it is important to carefully review the safety analysis as new strategies for more plutonium disposal are considered.

January 18, 2016 Posted by | safety, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Major disaster: radioactive material constantly being emitted from LA gas blowout

exclamation-SmFlag-USAExperts: Multiple types of radioactive material constantly being emitted from LA gas blowout — “I’d be running like hell” — “We are getting higher and higher levels…it’s accumulating” — “Poisons spreading through entire San Fernando Valley” home to 2 million people — “Thousands getting sick… it really is a major, major disaster” (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/experts-multiple-types-radioactive-material-being-continuously-emitted-la-gas-blowout-accumulating-getting-higher-higher-levels-poisons-all-moving-down-spreading-entire-san-fernando-valley-th?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29Follow up to: Radioactive material reportedly now being released from massive gas blowout in LA — Byproduct of Uranium — Expert: “A lot” has been detected… Very dangerous (VIDEO)

Interviews from Nuclear Hotseat hosted by Libbe HaLevy, Jan 13, 2016 (emphasis added):

Kevin Kamps,  Beyond Nuclear’s nuclear waste watchdog (8:30 in): “Another important thing that is very significant is that the radon is continually resupplied… Radon is going to beconstantly generated by the uranium contained in the methane… So really you’ve got achronic constant supply of hazardous radon gas coming out of this breach in California.”

Cindy Folkers, Beyond Nuclear‘s expert on ionizing radiation (16:00 in): “I’m absolutely astounded that they are not measuring for radon that I know of… I can’t believe that they’re not measuring for radon… [Radon] also decays to a number of what are called radon progeny which includes a number of short-lived radioactive substances, some of which are lead and polonium. Both of those can be very biologically damaging… There is question as to the kind of doses that they would be getting of radon, but it still is really very much a worry… I feel like — doing the research that I’ve done — that we are not getting the full story of what’s happening there.”

Richard Mathews, candidate for California State Senate who studied physics & astronomy at CALTECH (32:00 in): “People are really concerned about this, people are seriously getting sick… Thousands of people are getting sick from this — and it really is a major, major disaster… Methane floats away and spreads around the whole world… All the contaminants that are in with the methane are heavier than the air and that includes… benzene and toluene, hydrogen sulfide — all of those are heavier than air — they tend to stay close to the ground and move downhill. This is happening in the hills above the San Fernando Valley [home to nearly 2 million people] and so the poisons are all moving down into the San Fernando Valley and spreading through the entire San Fernando Valley… As the radon and other substances flow around, they are accumulating. They are not easily blown out of the valley, and we are getting higher and higher levels… The lead is going to be around for decades… The initiallead that you get is radioactive. This will be a continuing problem… It could spread through the entire San Fernando Valley… The damage that the radon does stays in your body… andshows up as cancer a decade after, maybe even 80 years later. So we really need to follow through.”

Terry Lodge, attorney (50:00 in): “You have a massive release, probably, of radon going on — and there may actually also be radium particulate… I’d be taking very rapid steps [if I lived in the area], I’d be running like hell. And the reason is, I suspect that there’s little by way of emergency anticipation — what could possibly go wrong? We have this vast underground storage facility… There are not radiation monitors… the problem is sort of the Three Mile Island problem… the radiation emission went way off the meter… there were no redundant rings, there was no monitoring certain distances outside the plant boundary. You don’t even have that at Porter [Ranch]… They don’t know how much radon is being dispersed… [Radon] can be concentrated by rainfall, concentrated by humidity, and inversions… There needs to be some type of soil sampling… air, and all that… So the problem is that radon is around in the Porter Ranch situation — nobody’s prepared for it. They’re not talking about it now — this may months into the crisis.”

Full interviews available here

January 15, 2016 Posted by | incidents, USA | 1 Comment

Cyber attack: Nuclear Threat Initiative finds 20 countries vulnerable

cyber-attack20 Nations’ Nuclear Facilities Said to Be Vulnerable to Cyberattack, NYT By  JAN. 14, 2016 WASHINGTON — Twenty nations with significant atomic stockpiles or nuclear power plants have no government regulations requiring minimal protection of those facilities against cyberattacks, according to a study by the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

The findings build on growing concerns that a cyberattack could be the easiest and most effective way to take over a nuclear power plant and sabotage it, or to disable defenses that are used to protect nuclear material from theft. The countries on the list include Argentina, China, Egypt, Israel, Mexico and North Korea.

The survey, by one of the nation’s leading nuclear nonproliferation watchdogs, was based on a nation-by-nation review of basic, publicly available data, and some of the countries may claim they have classified protections in place.

But the list is damning. The group looked, for example, at whether any cyberprotections are required by law or regulation at nuclear facilities, and whether cyberattacks are included in the assessments of potential threats to the security of those installations. One question asked whether there were mandated drills and tests to assess responses to a cyberassault, rather than just a physical attack on the facilities.

“Twenty countries failed on all the indicators,” said Page Stoutland, one of the authors of the report. Because of the secrecy surrounding military nuclear facilities, it was impossible to determine the levels of cyberprotection used to protect nuclear weapons in the nine countries known to possess them.

The report also concludes that President Obama’s global initiative to sweep up loose nuclear material, which will be the subject of his third and final nuclear security summit meeting this March, has slowed substantially…….

The Nuclear Threat Initiative, which publishes an annual index of nuclear security around the world, notes that a dozen countries have eliminated all weapons-usable nuclear materials since the summit meetings began. Many more have greatly improved the security surrounding lightly guarded materials, which are stored every place from hospitals to research reactors on university campuses.

But at the very moment that the black market in nuclear materials remains active, the report found that 24 nations still have more than 2.2 pounds of weapons-usable nuclear material, “much of it still too vulnerable to theft,” and many have just begun to think about their vulnerability to cyberthreats that could enable an attacker to sabotage a site without breaking through fences or risk setting off perimeter alarms.

The most famous cyberattack on a nuclear facility was done by the United States and Israel: the effort to destroy and disable nuclear centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear enrichment plant in Iran. That program, code-named Olympic Games, used a worm that was later named Stuxnet to knock the centrifuges out of operation. It did not release radioactive material into the atmosphere, but it was a vivid demonstration of the vulnerability of nuclear facilities to cyberattack. Iran had completely isolated the Natanz facility from the Internet, but the originators of the program found ways to insert it.

The lesson of Stuxnet, however, has apparently been lost on many nations that have yet to develop requirements that nuclear facilities have cyber protections in place before they can operate.

“Too many states require virtually no effective security measures at nuclear facilities to address the threat posed by hackers,” the study, in which the Economist Intelligence Unit also participated, concluded. Of the two dozen nations with weapons-usable material, nine got the maximum score for cyberindicators, and seven got a score of zero.

In 23 nations that possessed no weapons-usable materials, but had nuclear power plants or other nuclear facilities that contain fuel that could be converted to weapons use, 13 got a zero score.

More than 80 percent of all nuclear stockpiles are classified as military material, meaning they are largely used in weapons programs, and all of those are outside international security review, including the guidelines issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency for the protection of civilian nuclear stocks. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/15/world/nuclear-threat-initiative-cyberattack-study.html?_r=0

January 15, 2016 Posted by | 2 WORLD, Reference, safety | Leave a comment

Global nuclear security system has major gaps – Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) Nuclear Security Index

safety-symbol1As Final Head-of-State Nuclear Security Summit Approaches, Nunn and NTI Warn of Slowing Progress on Preventing Nuclear Terrorism 2016  http://news.sys-con.com/node/3634523   NTI Nuclear Security Index finds countries unprepared for cyber attacks on nuclear facilities; introduces new “sabotage ranking”  JANUARY 14, 2016 WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –– At a time of escalating threats and as world leaders prepare to gather for the final Nuclear Security Summit, the third edition of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) Nuclear Security Index finds that progress on reducing the threat of catastrophic nuclear terrorism has slowed and major gaps remain in the global nuclear security system. The 2016 NTI Index, which has become a critical resource and tool for assessing the security of the world’s deadliest materials, also finds troubling shortfalls in areas assessed for the first time: how well countries are protecting nuclear facilities against sabotage, as well as the emerging threat of cyber attacks. Continue reading →

January 15, 2016 Posted by | 2 WORLD, Reference, safety | Leave a comment

USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission at risk of being hacked

cyber-attackNuclear commission risks being hacked because of organizational issues: watchdog report  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/13/nuclear-commission-risks-being-hacked-because-of-o/ By Andrew Blake – The Washington Times – Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Computer networks used by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissionpose a real possibility of being exploited by hackers as a result of inadequate organization among security personnel, a federal report found this week.

The NRC’s inspector general said in a 18-page assessment released on Tuesday that its Security Operations Center, or SOC, isn’t “optimized to protect the agency’s network in the current cyber threat environment.”

Weeks after new reports revealed that hackers had successfully compromised a hydroelectric dam in New York City in 2013, the government watchdog said the NRC’s unclassified computer networks risk being breached because the agency has failed to structure itself in a way that would ensure any unauthorized intrusions are handled appropriately.

NRC staffers told the inspector general that the SOC “does not meet agency needs” and singled out a lack of proactive analyses and timely, detailed reports that could otherwise provide the information necessary to keep its networks properly protected.

“There are no performance goals,” the watchdog found, meaning the NRCcannot possibly assess “whether agency needs are being met.”

More specifically, the report faulted “generic” contracts that have yielded “differing expectations” with respect to roles and responsibilities, as well as “inadequate definitions in agency policies and undifferentiated functional descriptions between different entities responsible for securing NRC’s network.”

“This occurs because although the contract performance criteria are aligned with National Institute of Standards and Technology and NRCinternal guidance, the contract does not clearly define SOC performance goals and metrics that can be used to determine whether agency needs are being met,” the inspector general concluded following a five-month audit of the NRC’s headquarters in Rockville, Maryland.

To keep the NRC’s unclassified networks safe from hackers, the agency must ensure that organizational roles and responsibilities are more clearly defined, the watchdog said.

In the meantime, the inspector general acknowledged in a footnote that the nuclear sector has not been spared from cyberattacks: While federal data has suggested a 9.7 percent surge between 2013 and 2014 with regards to computer security incidents across the board, the NRCexperienced an 18 percent increase in hack attacks during that same span, including instances in which hackers had attempted to gain unauthorized access through malicious code injections, social engineering, policy violations or other attempts.

“A dynamic cyber threat environment demands a high-performing SOC,” the inspector general wrote. “The sophistication and frequency of malicious activity targeting NRC has increased. These forces, combined with the need for NRC users to stay connected with stakeholders and partners through the Internet, make effective information security a critical capability.”

January 15, 2016 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Dangers in transporting nuclear weapons through residential areas

radiation-truckflag-UKFears voiced as nuclear weapons are transported through the Vale of Leven (incl video)  Daily Record, 12 JAN 2016 BY MARTIN LAING  A CONCERNED resident says movement of warheads in difficult driving conditions put lives at risk

CONCERN has been expressed for public safety after a nuclear convoy was filmed rumbling through residential areas of West Dunbartonshire.

Renton man Les Robertson shot video of the mult-vehicle convoy as it moved past the Co-Op store in Balloch and through the Vale of Leven on Saturday at tea time.

However, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence denied there was any threat to public safety and said the police had been involved in helping to organise the movement of materials to the Clyde naval base at Faslane and Couplort.

Mr Robertson wrote to the Lennox Herald this week to highlight his fears that the transportation of live nuclear warheads through the area put lives at risk.

He said: “On Saturday, January 9, a nuclear warhead convoy, consisting of four warhead carriers and support vehicles, travelled through West Dunbartonshire on route to Coulport.

“Trident warheads are carried in large crates inside the large green trucks. They are fully assembled and complete. The core of the warhead is a ball of plutonium and uranium. This is surrounded by specially developed conventional high explosives which would be ignited to create the critical mass necessary for a nuclear detonation when launched and targeted.

“The Ministry of Defence says there is little risk of a nuclear detonation during transport but, in an accident, the highly volatile conventional explosive could be set off, causing the warhead to jet plutonium. It estimates that in a serious accident a circle some 550 metres in radius would be affected by blast and fragments of explosive.

“Given the terrible driving conditions on Saturday evening, the risk of an accident was heightened yet a convoy carrying its deadly cargo was allowed to travel close to a busy supermarket in Balloch and heavily populated housing schemes including the Haldane and Dalvait.”……… To view the video, go to www.lennoxherald.co.uk.

January 13, 2016 Posted by | safety, UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

St Louis residents have no faith in Planned Barrier Between Fire, Nuclear Waste Dump

landfill West Lake St LouisResidents Frustrated With Planned Barrier Between Fire, Nuclear Waste Dump In St. Louis http://www.ibtimes.com/residents-frustrated-planned-barrier-between-fire-nuclear-waste-dump-st-louis-2258034  BY  @ADAMLIDGETT ON 01/09/16 While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to go ahead with the building of a firebreak between an underground fire and a nuclear-waste site in suburban St. Louis, area residents indicated they are frustrated by the situation, Al Jazeera reported Saturday. A number of them said the plan to construct the wall is not enough and that there should be a more-permanent solution to the problem.

“It’s looking more and more like removal is the only way to guarantee [a safe solution],” Dawn Chapman, who lives close to the waste site, told Al Jazeera. “Life’s over for [people] in this community. They can’t live where they are. They can’t enjoy it.’”

In 2010, an underground fire was detected in a landfill near St. Louis. It posed a pretty big problem in and of itself, but it was compounded by its proximity to another landfill containing Cold War-era nuclear material. The fire at the Bridgeton Landfill is smoldering only about 1,000 feet from tons of radioactive material in the West Lake Landfill, St. Louis Public Radio reported. A firebreak was proposed in 2013, but the EPA wanted then to conduct more tests to determine the amount of radioactive material at the site.

“The only way to guarantee the radioactive content will never come in contact with the subsurface fire in the future is to remove the radioactive material,” Ed Smith, a representative of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, told Al Jazeera. “We’ve watched the EPA work on the barrier plan now for almost two years whereas they could have been planning for the removal of the radioactive waste.”

It’s unknown how much radioactive waste — dumped there in 1973 as residue of the Manhattan Project — is at the site. Some experts said the contamination could be unprecedented. “We are now working through the highly complex details of implementing our decision and the associated legal steps,” EPA Acting Regional Administrator Mark Hague said in a statement cited by St. Louis Public Radio. “Once the plan is finalized, we are committed to providing this information to the public. EPA will use all available enforcement authorities to ensure implementation of this work.”

January 12, 2016 Posted by | safety, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Experts warn of terrorist drone attacks on nuclear facilities

Terrorists could use drone bombs to attack nuclear power stations, experts warn http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/terrorists-could-use-drone-bombs-to-attack-nuclear-power-stations-experts-warn-a6805316.html, Ian Johnston 11 Jan 16 

 

drone-1

Report recommends a licensing system for drones, using lasers and radio jammers to defend potential targets Drones that can be bought in High Street shops could be used by terrorists to attack nuclear power stations, major events like the G7 summit or even the Prime Minister’s car, according to a report.

The Oxford Research Group looked at more than 200 drones and concluded they “will be used as simple, affordable and effective airborne improvised explosive devices”, the Guardian reported.

“The UK government, police, military and security services will need to introduce countermeasures to reduce or mitigate the risk of commercially available drones being used for attack,” the security think tank warned. “Islamic State [Isis] is reportedly obsessed with launching a synchronised multi-drone attack on large numbers of people in order to recreate the horrors of 9/11.”

The report recommends a licensing system for drones, using lasers and radio jammers to defend potential targets and issuing guidelines to the security forces on when to shoot down drones.

It pointed to a number of incidents where drones were used by protesters, including when a football match between Albania and Serbia was interrupted by a drone flying an Albanian flag.

January 12, 2016 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Call to stop dangerous trucking of radioactive trash from Canada to South Carolina.

flag-canadaFlag-USAStop Canada from trucking nuclear waste through area http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/letter-stop-canada-from-trucking-nuclear-waste-through-area-20160111 Susan Kims, 10 Jan 16

We’ve recently seen News articles highlighting the need for tighter regulations on shipping thousands of gallons of highly enriched liquid uranium from Canada to South Carolina.

radiation-truck

The approved travel route uses the Peace Bridge, south on Niagara Thruway, then west on the mainline Thruway for shipments that started Jan. 1 and run through May 31, 2018. These materials will pass dangerously close, within hundreds of yards, to densely populated residential neighborhoods, with the only barrier being a guardrail or chain-link fence.

Congressman Brian Higgins has recently expressed concern, because terrorist and militant groups are interested in using highly dangerous weapons, especially those utilizing chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials. I have an additional concern – the amount of contamination and carnage that could occur if a vehicular accident resulted in a spill. Such a spill in close proximity to dense populations would be devastating.

As a nation, we are concerned that a pipeline transporting oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico might produce a spill. Yet we show little concern regarding the possibility of spills of highly hazardous liquid nuclear materials along roadways that abut our neighborhoods. Do we not foresee the possibility of the same impending dangers from transport of nuclear waste on our roads?

Canadian authorities approve nuclear facilities to operate within their borders and should take responsibility for the hazardous waste produced within their borders. Our citizens should not be exposed to possible harm as a result of their decisions.

This should be stopped before tragedy occurs!

January 12, 2016 Posted by | Canada, safety, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear reactors are most dangerous when very new or very old: a concern regarding China

safety-symbol-Smflag-ChinaRadiation fears in Hong Kong from China’s unproven and possibly faulty nuclear reactors nearby, Post Magazine, Stuart Heaver, 10 Jan 16  “……Age is a concern in China because nuclear plants are most dangerous at the beginning as well as at the end of their life cycles. The 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the US occurred in a reactor that had started operation only three months earlier, and the accident at Chernobyl occurred after only two years of operation. A serious loss of coolant occurred at the French Civaux-1 reactor in 1998, less than five months after start-up.

With regard to external threats, one of the Guangdong plants on the drawing board is proposed for Huizhou, which, it is envisioned, will have two AP1000 reactors up and running by 2025. Earthquaketrack.com reports that no less than 16 earthquakes have shaken Huizhou in the past 30 years, the most recent, on August 31, 2012, having a magnitude of 4.4.

Nature explains that the “culture of safety” is an intangible value but extends beyond legislation and regulation to an innate appreciation of risk. Recent industrial accidents, such as the explosion at the port of Tianjin last August and the mudslide at a construction-waste site in Shenzhen last month, suggest such a culture isn’t particularly strong in China.

“We are very worried about Taishan and the design flaws in the reactor vessel and we would like to know what CGN are doing,” says Frances Yeung Hoi-shan, energy group leader for Greenpeace Asia. “We simply don’t know. Investors were informed that the plant would not open until 2017 but there was little detail.”

It comes as no surprise that Greenpeace Asia has consistently rejected nuclear power as part of Hong Kong’s energy mix – the parent group was initially set up to protest nuclear weapons testing, after all – but it has a separate concern about the proliferation of nuclear plants in Guangdong and how transparent the safety processes will be. In April, the environmental group wrote to the Hong Kong government requesting information about Taishan 1&2 and Yeeng was not impressed with the reply, which only reaffirmed that any major incidents would be reported as an extension of the protocol set up for Daya Bay and that “tests” were being carried out…….http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1898583/hong-kong-fallout-chinas-reckless-nuclear-ambitions-feared

January 12, 2016 Posted by | China, safety | Leave a comment

Massive gas blowout in Los Angeles now releasing radioactive material

text ionisingFlag-USATV: Radioactive material reportedly now being released from massive gas blowout in LA — Byproduct of Uranium — Expert: “A lot” has been detected in area… Very dangerous… May be coming up from ground into people’s homes — Official: Levels can cause “significant long-term health effects” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-reports-radioactive-material-being-released-massive-gas-blowout-la-byproduct-uranium-expert-lot-being-measured-area-very-dangerous-be-coming-ground-peoples-living-rooms-bedrooms-nurseries?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jan 8, 2016: Their animals are dying… their fish are dying in their fish bowls, their dogs are dying, their cats are getting sick. And their children are getting sick — they’re suffering nose bleeds, they’re suffering terrible debilitating migraine headaches, asthma attacks, respiratory infections, eye infections, ear infections, stomach ailments… The health impact — it’s not just methane coming out of that hole… This is global crisis, more importantly this is a local crisis. Because not only do you have methane — you have benzene, toluene, xylene, which are carcinogenic. You have hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide — which are neurotoxic, which can injure your brain, affect memory, injure your kidneys, your liver, your other bodily organs. There’s also a lot of radon gas being measured in the area. People believe — we don’t know if this is true — the gas that is leaking at 2 miles deep is now coming out and pushing that radon up into people’s living rooms, their bedrooms, their nurseries.

Lawyers and Settlements, Jan 7, 2016: The leak has caused a continuous flow of gases and fluids. Methane alone is leaking 100,000 pounds per hour, according to Los Angeles city attorney Mike Feuer. Along with that greenhouse gas is methyl mercaptans (odorants added to gas to aid in leak detection) and aromatic hydrocarbons. More concernedly, health officials have identified benzene and radon, both known carcinogens.

CBS LA, Dec 11, 2015: Dr. Cyrus Rangan, the Director of Toxicology and Assessment for the county, came to CBS2/KCAL9 to answer questions…. It’s been reported that radon is being released…  “This is a theoretical possibility,” Dr. Rangan said, “and when you’re addressing a problem that might be several hundred or even several thousand feet deep, you might generate what are called preferential pathways for something like radon, beneath the Earth’s surface, to make its way up to the surface. So primarily our concern about radon is from the worker’s exposure, for the people actually doing the repair job. If we find radon there, we can address the situation. And if radon does exist in the work site then we may need to have to look at the residential community and monitor for it.”

Lawyers and Settlements, Dec 12, 2015: There is the issue of radon, a naturally occurringbyproduct of uranium… as SoCalGas and its partners bore into the ground in an attempt to stem a leak that is unleashing a constant cloud of gas into the atmosphere, radon has crept into the conversation.

Robert Kennedy Jr, Dec 17, 2015: Public officials and the gas industry have a tricky and deceptive way of saying things. Methane itself is not dangerous… methane is an indicator that other gases are involved, including radon and benzene, both carcinogenic and very dangerous… gas can escape through any perforation in the earth and on the way up to the surface, it can encounter the aquifers underground, where it will leave behind chemicals, including benzene and radon.

Erin Brockovich, Dec 22, 2015: [B]enzene and radon [are] the carcinogens that are commonly found in natural gas.

Los Angeles Daily News, Dec 2, 2015: [R]adon gas, which may potentially be released during repair operations, is also a concern [L.A. County Department of Public Health Interim Director Cynthia Harding] said.

Los Angeles Times, Dec 2, 2015: Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said a new report by county public health officials had concluded that since the gas leak has continued for so long, emissions levels could produce “significant long-term health effects, including cancer.” Antonovich said the report had identified benzene as the “chemical of greatest concern,” because it is known to cause cancer. It also cited concerns about radon, another known carcinogen.

KPCC, Dec 9, 2015: Public Health Director Cynthia Harding told members of the Board of Supervisors in a Dec. 1 letter [that radon] could also be released as the leak is repaired.

Los Angeles Times, Dec 20, 2015: Health officials are also concerned that the company’s attempt to fix the leak by drilling into the ground to construct a relief well could release radon, a radioactive, naturally occurring and odorless gas that is found in geologic formations and causes lung cancer.

Watch an interview with Robert Kennedy here

January 12, 2016 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Hong Kong: lack of confidence in China’s nuclear safety system

“In Daya Bay, we adopted French technology, but we now have multiple technologies and much of it is unproven,” says Lai, echoing the official findings reported to China’s State Council in 2012 as part of a nuclear safety review in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster: “China has multiple types of nuclear reactors, multiple technologies and multiple standards of safety”.

Radiation fears in Hong Kong from China’s unproven and possibly faulty nuclear reactors nearby, Post Magazine, Stuart Heaver, 10 Jan 16  Unproven and possibly faulty nuclear reactors are being built on Hong Kong’s doorstep and throughout China, a country not known for its transparency or industrial safety, writes Stuart Heaver

Scientists and conservationists fear the ever-increasing commercial and environmental pressure to expand the nuclear power sector means not enough attention is being paid to safety. Within a couple of decades, Hong Kong could be in close proximity to as many as 39 reactors, spread across Guangdong province. Two of them are nearing completion just 140km west of Hong Kong, in Taishan, in what has been labelled by green groups as the “most dangerous nuclear power plant in the world”.

We are very worried about Taishan and the design flaws in the reactor vessel and we would like to know what [China General Nuclear Power Group] are doing
FRANCES YEUNG, GREENPEACE ASIA

“China is developing its nuclear capability too fast; they just don’t have enough trained staff or adequate independent safety infrastructure,” says civil engineer Albert Lai Kwong-tak, convenor of Hong Kong think tank the Professional Commons and a long-standing opponent of nuclear energy. Yet, despite the reservations of campaigners, China is not only the world’s biggest market for nuclear technology but, according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA), it is set to “go global”.

“The only country that is building plants to a significant degree is China,” says nuclear industry analyst Mycle Schneider……..

there are still no proven safe means of disposing of radioactive waste and, despite pledges to build a dedicated facility, all of Daya Bay’s spent fuel rods are still in a temporary facility about 5km from the main plant. Continue reading →

January 12, 2016 Posted by | China, safety | Leave a comment

How safe is Scotland’s nuclear submarine graveyard ?

Questions raised over safety regime at Scotland’s nuclear submarine graveyard, HeraldScotland, Rob Edwards / 11:13 Sunday 10 January 2016 The safety regime at the Rosyth naval dockyard, home to seven defunct nuclear submarines, has been called into question after an emergency exercise failed to demonstrate adequate arrangements for rescuing casualties from an accident.

The UK government’s nuclear safety watchdog has ordered Babcock, the multinational company that runs the Fife dockyard for the Royal Navy, to rerun the exercise, codenamed Nightstar, in March because of mistakes made last September.

An inspection by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) concluded that there were flaws in the way that staff looked after injured people during the exercise at the base known as ‘Scotland’s nuclear graveyard’. There were also communication and command problems in dealing with the imagined accident.

 The revelation has prompted “unease” about safety at the naval base, according to the local MP. Anti-nuclear campaigners have highlighted the serious risks of accidents, and demanded higher standards.

The problems with the Nightstar exercise on September 30 2015 were disclosed in the ONR’s latest three-monthly report on Rosyth. Though inspectors thought that some of the exercise procedures were adequate, others were not……..

Looking after the submarines to ensure that radioactivity doesn’t leak and contaminate the environment has cost the MoD £13.5 million over the last five years. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14194001.Questions_raised_over_safety_regime_at_Scotland_s_nuclear_submarine_graveyard/

January 11, 2016 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

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