In secret project Oak Ridge nuclear workers exposed to radiation
Oak Ridge workers exposed to radiation during secret project, The Tennessean Associated Press OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — A top official at Oak Ridge National Laboratory says at least eight workers received internal radiation while carrying out a classified project earlier this year at the facility.
The Knoxville News Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1xdVbpH) reports that ORNL Deputy Director Jeff Smith confirmed the Aug. 25 incident, which involved an unexpected airborne release of radioactive material…………Smith said some employees at ORNL have jobs in which it’s anticipated they’ll receive some low-level radiation exposures. The lab tries not to have any unplanned radiation exposures, but it’s not unusual for there to be one or maybe two per year, he said.http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2014/12/14/oak-ridge-workers-exposed-radiation-secret-project/20400333/
Record breaking Radiation detection in Texas Panhandle!
A repost from NukePro:
“Breaking …
Quote: “Update: 12/14/14, 8:06 A.M. – Record breaking Radiation detection in Texas Panhandle!
On the late afternoon of December 4th, a long time running station located in Bolger, Texas, northeast of Amarillo, set off our Alert system, recording readings as high as 25,000 CPM!!! In fact, the radiation levels were well into the 000’s for so many minutes that the software almost could not keep up. ( graph ). For context, he is operating the pancake-tubed Inspector Alert indoors from the second story of his home. His normal baseline background is about 40 CPM.
A storm was rolling through at the time, accompanied by rain, and the Jet Stream map shows its active precipitating fringe directly over the panhandle at the time of the alert – see map below. Wind was from the south. The fact that it was raining set up an opportunity to collect a water sample to confirm that the radiation was related to the storm. So the operator did successive 10 minute average scans of the exact same sample of rainwater to first confirm its radioactive nature, then secondly to measure its radiation level, and thirdly (and of critical importance) to measure the decay rate to to the end of ruling in or out various isotopes of known half life. i.e. the “Poor Man’s Isotope Identifying Test”, using a Geiger counter.
Results: The rainwater was in fact radioactive, starting out around 300 CPM, and its radioactive constituent decayed very rapidly, indicating a half life of a few hours, such that by the following morning, the same rainwater sample measured no more than background.
Conclusions: Because of the short half life, many fission by-products can be ruled out, and so the initial tendency would be to implicate naturally occurring Radon washout. However, we have never seen raw environmental readings of Radon daughters this high – yes, commonly in the 00’s of CPM, even over 1,000 CPM, but never to our knowledge averaging well into the 000’s and in this case, as high as 25,000 CPM.
So the working theory we have now, (if not Radon washout), among the station operator and a few of our members involved in the analysis that evening, is a possible detection of some sort of radioactive release from the Pantex plant located only 25 miles to the southwest. Pantex is involved in the disassembly of nuclear weapons at that site. Interestingly, this same Texas monitoring station recorded a possible radiation detection from Pantex on a couple of previous occasions – search the Archives for the Updates of 4/15/13 and 11/24/12″
Quoted from: http://www.radiationnetwork.com/Message.htm
Credit for my relay: http://optimalprediction.com/wp/recent-health-issues/comment-page-8/#comment-56455
Quote of Bobby1: “I am having a severe relapse of ME. It is possible this is being triggered by radiation. But it’s hard to tell with this damned disease.”
He could probably use some friendly visitors to his site to warm his heart.”
Radioactive waste storage ponds in a shocking state of neglect at the UK’s Sellafield
One of the main ways of covering up the true cost to society of nuclear power has been downplaying the difficulty, danger and cost of nuclear reprocessing and safe storage of the unwanted byproducts. In Britain, this was made the responsibility of private companies with a strong motivation to cut corners in order to maximize profits.
The results of such behind-the-scenes agreements between governments and private companies are now visible in these photographs. Far from having a coherent plan for dealing with the medium-and high-level radioactive waste, the authorities have allowed the site to become a ticking time bomb.
Leaked Photos Show UK Nuclear Plant Poses Public Safety Threat By Trevor Johnson Global Research, December 10, 2014 World Socialist Web Site Photos of radioactive waste storage ponds in a shocking state of neglect at the UK’s Sellafield (previously Windscale) nuclear reprocessing plant reveal that they have been severely neglected for decades.
Cracked concrete tanks—the largest measuring 20m by 150m with a depth of 6m—have been left open to the elements since the mid-1970s despite high levels of radioactivity.
After being left derelict for nearly 40 years, the radioactive material from hundreds of tons of spent fuel rods left in the ponds is now in danger of being exposed to the air, which could set off a nuclear explosion. This poses a major threat to public safety at the plant in Cumbria, northwest England.
The photos were published on the web site of the Ecologist magazine. Continue reading
USA resists tightening international safety rules on nuclear reactors
Russian Nuclear Safety Proposal Put Focus on U.S. Reactors Bloomberg, By Jonathan Tirone Dec 10, 2014 Russia scaled back opposition to European proposals to improve the safety of nuclear power, leaving the U.S. as the main dissenter to new rules intended to avoid a repeat of Japan’s 2011 meltdown in Fukushima.Russia changed its stance at a Dec. 4 meeting of nuclear diplomats, setting out the Moscow government’s view of new rules to limit radioactive contamination in the event of a nuclear accident, according to a copy of the 13-page presentation seen by Bloomberg. The move raised the chances of a deal to strengthen the Convention on Nuclear Safety, according to three Western diplomats present at the meeting, who asked not to be identified because the talks were private.
The European Union is trying to find a path to tighter safety rules for the world’s aging nuclear reactors with its relationship with Russia overshadowed by the conflict in Ukraine. Yet it’s the U.S., the world’s biggest nuclear-power generator, that is proving the biggest obstacle, the diplomats said, as company investments in reactor safety lag those of European peers.
U.S. resistance to the European safety proposals is a “serious concern,” Senators Barbara Boxerand Edward Markey said in a Dec. 1 letter to Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Allison Macfarlane. The Democrats urged U.S. diplomats to work with “international partners” to amend safety flaws exposed by the 2011 Fukushima Dai-Ichi meltdowns.
Two Proposals
Russia abandoned its opposition to tightening international rules on reactor safety the day after reports of a nuclear accident in Ukraine. The reported mishap — which ultimately proved to be false — roiled markets and sent Ukrainian bond yields to a record high. The 1986 meltdown of a Soviet-built reactor in Chernobyl, about 80 miles north of the capital Kiev, weighed on Ukraine’s budget for decades and resulted in a 2,600 square kilometer (1,000 square miles) exclusion zone.
The European proposal would compel nuclear operators to both prevent accidents and, should they occur, mitigate the effects of radioactive contamination. Most controversially, the treaty change would also force potentially costly upgrades at existing plants.
More than half of the world’s 438 reactors were built at least 30 years ago and are nearing the age when they’ll need special attention, according to International Atomic Energy Agency statistics………
“People in the U.S. don’t realize that in many ways our nuclear safety standards lag behind those inEurope,” former NRC commissioner Victor Gilinsky said in a written reply to questions. “The German and French containment structures are generally more formidable than ours and those reactors generally have more protection systems.”……
Regulators worldwide have tried to boost safety standards in response to the Fukushima meltdown, which forced 160,000 people to flee radioactive contamination after a tsunami flooded safety back-up systems.
The NRC is still working out the parameters on how it values human lives at risk from a nuclear accident, spokesman Scott Burnell said. The value helps determine how much nuclear-plant operators need to spend on backfitting reactors with new safety gear. The NRC was criticized Dec. 3 by Boxer, chairman of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works committee, for being slow to ensure plant safety improvements.
“Some reactor operators are still not in compliance with the safety requirements that were in place before the Fukushima disaster,” Boxer said. “This is unacceptable.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Tirone in Vienna at jtirone@bloomberg.net http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-10/russian-concessions-on-nuclear-safety-put-focus-on-u-s-reactors.html
Palisades Nuclear Plant safety violation
NRC finds Palisades Nuclear Plant safety violation involving monitoring workers for radiation By Emily Monacelli | emonacel@mlive.com COVERT TOWNSHIP, MI, 11 Dec 14 — Federal regulators found a safety violation involving monitoring of workers for radiation exposure at the Palisades nuclear power plant inCovert Township early this year, according to a report……. David Lochbaum, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Nuclear Safety Project, expressed concern Thursday about a report recently released that showed NRC inspectors examined 20 components at Palisades and found 10 low-level safety violations. Lochbaum said it is alarming that the problems were found by NRC inspectors and not first by Entergy workers.
“You have to do more than fix these violations,” Lochbaum said, adding that to prevent recurrences requires that Palisades operators get to the root of the problems. http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/12/palisades_safety_violation.html
Potential for drones to carry explosive devices over nuclear reactors
With concerns about terrorism ever-present, the fear that drones carrying explosive devices could potentially fly over such sites looms large.
Drones Flying Over Nuclear Power Stations in France Raise Concerns Global Voices, byAbdoulaye Bah Translated byDanielle Martineau 9 December 2014
With 58 nuclear reactors spread out over 19 plants, France is the highest user of nuclear energy in Europe, and the second highest in the world, after the United States.
In a blog post published on the website Géneration NT, Jérôme G. gives some insight into the matter:…….
Drones have successfully evaded all the power stations’ defenses. EDF also reports a number of drone overflights that differs from Greenpeace’s count. Pascal Riché, co-founder of rue89.nouvelobs.com, notes: Continue reading
France’s nuclear security problem: no way to detect small drones at low altitudes
France Backs Anti-Drone Research After Mystery Nuclear Flights, Bloomberg, By Tara Patel tpatel2@bloomberg.net Dec 9, 2014, Paris France is backing research on how to track and destroy drones as the mystery of who is behind a series of illegal flights over atomic sites remains unsolved.
The French National Research Agency will start a tender later this month for systems to “detect and even neutralize” drones, according to a statement from the Secretariat for Defense and National Security, which advises the president and prime minister.
Areva SA (AREVA), Electricite de France SA and Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives confirmed some 20 incidents since the middle of September of remote-controlled drone-like objects violating protected zones around their nuclear installations. The government vowed to put an end to the flights, which haven’t inflicted damage. No one has publicly claimed responsibility.
“The use of drones is bringing progress but with it new risks,” the national security committee said in yesterday’s statement.
The flights exposed a security weakness described by speakers at a parliamentary hearing last month in Paris. Top military and police officials joined experts from the nuclear industry and research organizations to testify before lawmakers on the kinds of drone technology that may be at work and the risks they pose. French radar systems aren’t adapted to detect so-called mini-drones weighing a few kilograms and flying at low altitudes, Denis Mercier, Chief of Staff of the French Air Force, told the hearing.
Drone industry representatives gave evidence on the sector’s exponential growth and lack of adequate supervision……http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-09/france-backs-anti-drone-research-after-mystery-nuclear-flights.html
Uranium smuggling gang arrested in Moldova
Moldova police arrest ‘uranium-smuggling gang’ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30402104
Moldovan police say they have arrested seven people suspected of smuggling uranium from Russia to sell it on.About 200g (7oz) of the material was seized in a raid last week, with a black market value of about $2.1m (£1.3m; €1.7m).It was allegedly smuggled into Moldova in a special container on a train.
Those arrested had experience of handling radioactive substances, and have admitted their guilt, Moldovan police added.A kilogram of another hazardous material, mercury, was also seized.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation aided the police in their investigation, the Associated Press news agency reports.In 2011, Moldovan police arrested six people trying to sell a kilogram of uranium to buyers in Africa.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission reveals that workers inhaled uranium during spill at an in-situ mine
Nuclear regulatory agency: 6 workers inhaled uranium at Wyoming mine after yellowcake spill, Star Tribune by: MEAD GRUVER , Associated Press : December 5, 2014 CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Six workers at a Wyoming uranium mine inhaled the radioactive element while cleaning up a spill inside a processing building just days before the mine delivered its first shipment last year, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The workers’ urine tested positive for uranium at close to seven times the federal agency’s permissible level, the federal agency alleges in a Nov. 14 violation notice against Lost Creek LLC ISR, a subsidiary of Littleton, Colorado-based Ur-Energy.
The spill happened Nov. 28, 2013, at the Lost Creek in-situ uranium mine in south-central Wyoming. In-situ mining involves pumping fluids underground to release uranium into a solution that is pumped to the surface. No shafts or tunnels are dug.
Some 1,500 pounds of yellowcake, a precursor of enriched uranium, surged onto the floor of a processing building while a worker was filling a 55-gallon drum with the dry, powdery substance, according to the notice…….http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/284909581.html
Disturbing information about Rosatom’s nuclear reactors – a warning to Finland
Writer warns MPs about nuclear contractor Rosatom, YLE UUTISET, 5 DEc 14, Finnish author Risto Isomäki issued a warning letter about the Russian nuclear contractor Rosatom to MPs as they prepared to vote on granting a new permit for a nuclear power project in the country’s northwest. The missive paints a disturbing picture about a nuclear plant constructed by Rosatom in India. Environmentalist and science fiction writer Risto Isomäki’s letter to MPs centres on Rosatom’s turnkey nuclear power plant project in India and has been reproduced in the Social Democratic Party organ, Demari, as well as in social media.
According to Isomäki the first reactor of a nuclear power facility constructed by Rosatom in Kudankulam in India has suffered 14 spontaneous power outages in the year since it has been completed. It has also been taken offline five times for repair and maintenance work in the same one-year period, he writes. The author claimed that according to his information the reactor has now been shut down because it has not passed final commissioning tests.
One of the recipients of the letter was National Coalition Party MP, Harri Jaskari, who also sits on the Parliament’s Finance Committee. Jaskari said that the claims made by Isomäki about the Indian facility were not previously known to committee members……..http://yle.fi/uutiset/writer_warns_mps_about_nuclear_contractor_rosatom/7673069
Ukraine government had to admit to nuclear accident at Zaporizhzhya power plant
Nuclear Accident In Ukraine: Largest Nuke Plant In Europe Shut Down, But ‘No Threat,’ Gov’t Claims, INQUISITR, 3 Dec 14 A nuclear accident at a power plant in Ukraine, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, shut the plant down last Friday, but the Ukraine government did not reveal the alarming mishap until Wednesday, claiming that the accident posed “no threat” to the public from radiation.
The nuclear plant is located just 120 miles from the war-torn eastern Ukraine region of Donetsk, a stronghold of pro-Russian separatist rebels who have battled the Ukraine government in heavy fighting for much of 2014.
Donetsk is the region where on July 17, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down by, it is widely believed, a rebel anti-aircraft missile, killing all 298 people on board.
Nuclear experts have raised the alarm that the power plant could be vulnerable to artillery fire from the war zone nearby………http://www.inquisitr.com/1652271/nuclear-accident-in-ukraine/
Japan’s political gamble; they cannot be sure that nuclear restart will be safe
Japan’s nuclear dilemma 03 December 2014 by Robert J. Geller Some Japanese nuclear reactors, mothballed since the 2011 Tohoku quake, may soon restart. But nature can outpace new safety precautions, warns a geophysicist “………The Sendai plant faces some specific risks. The site is about 50 kilometres from a large active volcano, Sakurajima, and there are several other active volcanoes on Kyushu. A large eruption would pose obvious safety issues for the plant, but its operator has said that advance warnings of an impending eruption would allow them to take appropriate measures. Doubts about this sanguine view were reinforced by the eruption of Mount Ontake on Honshu, without warning, in September. It killed more than 50 climbers out for a weekend stroll.
A variety of natural hazards, including earthquakes and subsequent tsunamis, pose risks to reactors throughout Japan. I have written extensively about the lack of success of both short and long-term earthquake prediction (Nature, vol 472, p 407). It is well known that accurate predictions of fracture and failure phenomena such as earthquakes are, in general, impossible. Intellectually honest discussions of nuclear safety with regard to earthquakes must start by acknowledging this.
Before Tohoku, the Japanese government’s seismic hazard map assumed that earthquakes off that coast would not exceed magnitude 7.5 to 8.0. The most authoritative estimate for the size of the Tohoku quake is magnitude 9.1. Given that the energy released by an earthquake increases 30-fold for every 1.0 increase in magnitude, this is a huge discrepancy………
- And although advice from specialists is necessary, it is Japan’s political leaders, as well as the voters who elect them, who must take ultimate responsibility for the decision to restart its nuclear plants.Robert J. Geller is professor of geophysics at the University of Tokyo http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429972.800-total-safety-an-illusion-for-japans-nuclear-restart.html#.VIJRwNLF8nn
Britain’s aging nuclear reactors getting near to closing time
The coming nuclear crisis: All but one of Britain’s ageing reactors ‘will need to close in 15 years’ , The Independent, 5 Dec 14 All but one of Britain’s ageing fleet of nuclear reactors will have to be closed down within 15 years due to concerns over their economic viability or safety, a panel of experts has warned…….. Professor Williams warned that there will be a point when either it will be uneconomic to continue operating a given nuclear reactor, due to the additional maintenance work needed, or if it becomes too unsafe……http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-coming-nuclear-crisis-all-but-one-of-britains-ageing-reactors-will-need-to-close-in-15-years-9896597.html
Ineffective parts in 14 South Korean nuclear reactors
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’14 reactors have ineffective parts’ http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2014/12/116_169248.html
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USA’s Nuclear Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) has now its ‘Worst Case Scenario’
‘Worst Case Scenario’ has happened at US nuclear site — Robert Redford film predicted 2014 WIPP disaster: Plutonium release due to chemical reaction in burst nuclear drum is ultimate catastrophe… Most significant issue is combustible waste exposed to high heat, everyone understands that (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/worst-case-scenario-nuclear-site-1989-robert-redford-film-predicted-2014-disaster-wipp-plutonium-release-due-chemical-reaction-burst-nuclear-drum-ultimate-disaster-significant-issue-combustible-was?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Sante Fe New Mexican, Nov 30, 2014: [D]ocuments obtained by The New Mexican… raise questions about the stability of dozens of other nuclear waste drums that were in the same chamber as the drum that ruptured [after a] chemical reaction… Radiation leaked into the air, and temperatures in the underground chamber peaked at nearly 1,600 degrees… One internal lab report described the [contents] as similar to plastic explosives… Investigators believe the organic material may be one reason temperatures in the chamber rose so high… Internal emails… detail concerns about the stability of drums… exposed to the extreme temperatures… June 17 draft of a LANL report… suggested the high temperatures may have made other nuclear waste drums in the chamber more unstable than ever…
Albuquerque Journal, guest column by Harish C. Sharma, retired engineer, Nov 30, 2014: Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General… report mentions that the use of “kitty litter/Zeolite clay”… may have been the cause of the fire and release of radiation… What is the real cause of the incident? No one is sure… What if the real reason for the fire and release of radiation was not the “kitty litter”?… Without finding the real cause, DOE and LANL’s actions only assure that this incident will occur again.
The WIPP Trail, narrated by Robert Redford, 1989 (at 17:00 in):
- Robert Redford: We now know that 40% of the [WIPP] hazardous waste is combustible, thus posing a more serious and immediate threat.
- Bruce Throne, New Mexico State Attorney: I think the combustible waste is perhaps the most significant because even a layman can understand that when combustible waste is exposed to high levels of heat, there may be some effectinside the TRUPAC [containers].
- Redford: Wind is a critical factor that must be considered. The worst case scenario would be if a fire occurs within a breach of a container. The wind could then carry plutonium particles through the atmosphere, traveling considerable distances.
- Oxford Dictionary’s definition of fire: “Combustion or burning, in which substances combine chemically with oxygen from the air and typically give out bright light, heat, and smoke”
1 This Month
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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