Russia’s ambitious, but dangerous floating nuclear power plants
Russia’s floating nuclear plants to power remote Arctic regions, The Conversation, Tony Roulstone, 12 Nov 13 “…..Russia is embarking on an ambitious and somewhat imaginative programme of building floating nuclear power stations…… These reactors, mounted on huge, 140m by 30m barges, are being built in the Baltic shipyard in St Petersburg and will be floated through the Norwegian and Barents Seas to where they will generate heat and electrical power in the Arctic.
The first, Academician Lomonosov, has been built and its two 35MWe KLT-40S reactors are now being installed. Lomonosovis destined for Vilyuchinsk, on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East where she will be operating by 2016. Up to ten similar plants are destined for similarly remote and unpopulated areas……. The KLT-40S reactor is fuelled by 30-40% enriched uranium, which falls outside what would be allowed for civil use (concern about weapons proliferation limits enrichment to very low levels). The reactors are built in factories and assembled in shipyards, where productivity is much higher and quality standards easier to police than on construction sites. But military reactors are designed with little thought for costs and because of their small power output it’s very likely that their lifetime generating costs will be several times that of large, grid-connected reactors, and many more times higher that of a gas power station…….
Just how safe Russian military reactors are is clouded in secrecy; we just don’t know how safe the KLT-40S is. Russia has successfully operated nine nuclear icebreakers over the past 50 years. On the other hand we know that seven Russian nuclear submarines have sunk, some due to reactor problems and others due to weapons explosion onboard, and a further ten reported reactor accidents. So this reactor’s pedigree is not unblemished.
Cooling systems for civil reactors have become very complex and this is a prime cause of soaring construction costs. It is difficult to install in a naval vessel the number of systems and separate them so that they provide redundancy should one fail. …..
As with many other aspects, we do not know whether the containment structure of the Russian reactors will be effective. Though the Russians are being imaginative in developing barge-mounted reactors to address a problem specific to their geography and their needs, the lack of openness makes it hard to see how useful their nuclear technology can be in the West……. http://theconversation.com/russias-floating-nuclear-plants-to-power-remote-arctic-regions-19994
Department of Environmental Protection to focus on radiation involved in gas drillig
DEP Secretary: regulating radiation may be “next frontier” of drilling oversight http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/11/11/dep-secretary-regulating-radiation-may-be-next-frontier-of-drilling-oversight/ BY MARIE CUSICK 11 Nov 13 The state Department of Environmental Protection’s acting Secretary Chris Abruzzo says regulating the radioactive materials associated with gas drilling could be the “next frontier” of the agency’s oversight of the industry.
In an interview with the Scranton Times-Tribune, Abruzzo says the DEP is still in the midst of its year-long study into naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced material (TENORM).
“It will depend largely on what the results [of the study] show us,” Abruzzo told the newspaper. “It certainly has the potential to be the next frontier in terms of regulations coming out.” Although the DEP says it’s unlikely there is a threat to public health, concerns about radioactivity associated with oil and gas development persist.
A study published last month in the journal of Environmental Science and Technology found high levels of radiation and salinity in a creek near a drilling wastewater treatment facility in western Pennsylvania.
After submitting a lengthy criticism about the DEP’s radiation study, two organizations representing the state’s oil and gas industryannounced last week they will launch their own review of radioactive materials associated with their work.
Fukushima evacuees returning to areas of high level radiation
TV: “It’s a crime what’s happening at Fukushima” — People resettling areas 10 to 15 km from plant with “radiation levels still very, very high and even lethal in some cases” — Hotspots 60 to 70 km away same level as ghost towns in Chernobyl (VIDEOS) http://enenews.com/tv-its-a-crime-whats-happening-at-fukushima-people-resettling-areas-10-to-15-km-from-plant-with-radiation-levels-still-very-very-high-and-even-lethal-in-some-cases-ho
RT,, Nov. 7, 2013 — Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear: Well, that’s a great tragedy that the Japanese government is allowing this [resettling near Fukushima] to happen. To within the closest 12.4 miles of the devastated nuclear power plant obviously the landscape is contaminated, the food supplies are contaminated. As your reporter said, it’s up to individual private citizens to try to figure out how bad the contamination is. The environmental groups are trying to help them. So, it’s beyond tragic, it’s a crime what’s happening at Fukushima Daiichi.
Abby Martin’s ‘Breaking the Set‘ with RT reporter Alexey Yaroshevsky, Nov. 8, 2013 (at 26:30 in): What struck me the most, and I’m saying that as a person who’s been in the Chernobyl exclusion zone […] The cities and towns which are located just 10-15 km from the nuclear power station where obviously radiation levels are still very, very high and even lethal in some cases. So those town have been reopened for settlers, we literally saw people rebuilding their houses in these areas and this is creating a huge concern in Japan […] In some other areas 60-70km from the nuclear power station, the areas which have never been included into an exclusion zone, which have never been under lockdown, raditional levels, the ones we’ve encountered, some hotbeds, hotspots of radiation we encountered have 3 microsieverts per hour. And this is the same level as the ghost town of Pripyat in the exclusion zone in the Ukraine, the level which would not allow humans to live in this area. Watch the report here
Eyes of the world on Fukushima, as critical nuclear fuel rods cleanup to begin
“They have to remove the fuel as early as possible – the risk from major structural failure leading to pool collapse is a greater threat than leaving the fuel in situ.”.
Radiation levels in those reactors are still too high for humans to enter, and attempts to use robots to determine the exact location of the melted fuel have failed. Instead, officials are placing their faith in the law of gravity, assuming only that the highly hazardous material lies somewhere deep inside the reactor basements.
Fukushima nuclear cleanup enters critical phase Tokyo Electric Power to begin removing more than 1,500 fuel assemblies from spent fuel pool in unprecedented operation Justin McCurry in Fukushima The Guardian, Friday 8 November 2013 Gazing down at the glassy surface of the spent fuel pool inside the No 4 reactor building at Fukushima Daiichi, it is easy to underestimate the danger posed by the highly toxic contents of its murky depths.
But this lofty, isolated corner of the wrecked nuclear power plant is now the focus of global attention as Japan enters the most critical stage yet in its attempt to clean up after the worst nuclear accident in the country’s history.
Later this month the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), will begin removing more than 1,500 fuel assemblies from the pool, the first step in a decommissioning process expected to last at least three decades.
On Thursday, the Guardian witnessed Tepco’s preparations for an unprecedented operation that the utility’s critics claim has the potential to end in disaster.
The risk posed to the reactor by earthquakes and other natural catastrophes has made removal of the fuel – 1,331 spent assemblies and 202 fresh ones – a matter of urgency. Continue reading
Soon to begin – the dangerous process of removing nuclear fuel rods from Fukushima Unit no. 4
Unit 4 presented particular dangers because its entire stock of fuel rods was in the pool at the time of the accident.
If the operation goes as planned, attention will then focus on the massive challenges posed by Units 1, 2 and 3.
Tepco will not confirm the precise timing of the fuel rod operation but after so much public outrage at the company’s handling of the crisis so far, scrutiny of this latest episode will be intense.
Fukushima nuclear plant set for risky operation http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24843657 7 Nov 13 David Shukman A task of extraordinary delicacy and danger is about to begin at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power station.
Engineers are preparing to extract the first of more than 1,000 nuclear fuel rods from one of the wrecked reactor buildings. This is seen as an essential but risky step on the long road towards stabilising the site.
The fuel rods are currently in a precarious state in a storage pool in Unit 4. This building was badly damaged by an explosion in March 2011 following the Great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Moving the rods to safety is a high priority but has only become possible after months of repair work and planning.
One senior official told me: “It’s going to be very difficult but it has to happen.” Continue reading
UN inspectors in Japan to monitor Fukushima radiation leaks
UN nuclear inspectors in Japan as China demands ‘accurate’ information on radiation Voice of Russia, 6 November 2013, Inspectors from the UN’s nuclear watchdog arrived in Tokyo Wednesday to monitor marine pollution near Fukushima as China demanded Japan provide “accurate” information on how it is handling the crisis.
China told the UN General Assembly it was worried about radioactive water leaks from the Japanese plant, which went into meltdown after being hit by a tsunami in March 2011.
“China follows closely the countermeasures to be adopted by Japan,” China’s deputy UN ambassador Wang Min told a debate on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“We urge the Japanese side to spare no effort in minimising the subsequent impact of the accident and provide timely, comprehensive and accurate information to the international community,” Wang added……..
Fukushima “continues to be a source of serious concern, especially to adjacent countries, because of the spillage of contaminated water into the sea,” said South Korea’s deputy UN ambassador Sul Kyung-Hoon………
The first batch of IAEA experts arrived in Japan on Wednesday at the invitation of the Japanese government as it looks to bolster its credibility.
The two researchers from the Environment Laboratories in Monaco are planning to analyse sea water near Fukushima, the agency said.
Their analysis will contribute to the IAEA-led international peer review of Tokyo’s roadmap towards decommissioning the destroyed reactors, it said.
“One of the focuses of the mission is the contaminated water issue,” the agency said.
The experts are David Osborn, director of Environment Laboratories in Monaco, and Hartmut Nies, head of the Radiometrics Laboratory, it said…..: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_11_06/UN-nuclear-inspectors-in-Japan-as-China-demands-accurate-information-on-radiation-0357/
Japan postpones the perilous start to removing nuclear fuel rods from Fukushima reactor no.4
Postponed: Fuel removal attempt at Fukushima Unit 4 delayed, possibly for weeks — Gov’t safety agency wants tests conducted, as another ~M5 quake hits Eastern Japan http://enenews.com/postponed-fuel-removal-attempt-at-fukushima-unit-4-delayed-possibly-for-weeks-govt-safety-agency-wants-tests-conducted
The Japan Times, Nov 4, 2013: Tepco to conduct fuel removal test at reactor 4 […] Tokyo Electric Power Co. will conduct a fuel removal test at the No. 4 reactor building of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 power plant, delaying the start of the actual operation by up to two weeks, sources close to the matter said Monday. […]
The test was requested by the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization. […] It has also urged Tepco to have its work evaluated by a group of Japanese and overseas experts formed by the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning, a Tokyo-based organization founded by Japanese government agencies, nuclear facility manufacturers and electric power companies.
Kyodo News,, Nov. 4, 2013: TEPCO to conduct test for Fukushima No. 4 unit fuel removal […] The operator of the plant, crippled in the March 2011 quake and tsunami disaster, planned to start removing nuclear fuel from a cooling pool at the reactor building as early as next Friday. The decision comes after a government-affiliated nuclear safety agency called for an initial test operation, including transporting a protective fuel cask from the storage pool to another pool in a different building about 100 meters away for more stable conditions for cooling spent fuel, the sources said. The administrative agency, the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization, has already inspected equipment to be used in the fuel removal work […]
From last Friday: Removal of Fukushima’s spent fuel on target: U.S. Energy Secretary -Reuters
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will probably need a concrete tomb
Japan Nuclear Engineer: I don’t think they’ll ever get Fukushima’s melted cores; Will probably start covering reactors in concrete — German Expert: May encase areas in sarcophagus http://enenews.com/japan-nuclear-engineer-dont
November 4th, 2013
Helmholtz Special, 2012: Dr Walter Tromm is Spokesperson of the […] Nuclear Energy and Safety at the Karlsruhe Insititue of Technology, collaborates on international expert committees on the safety of nuclear reactors: “Debris and scrap metal are to be removed from the plant bit by bit in order to finally dismantle it and/or encase the areas with the highest degree of radioactivity in a sarcophagus.”
‘Fukushima‘ by Mark Willacy, book published July 1, 2013 (Excerpt): […] there was much -expert scepticism about whether the government’s 40-year road map would be achievable. ‘I also hope decommissioning can be completed in 40 years,’ said [nuclear-reactor engineer] Hiroaki Koide. ‘But I do not think it is possible.’ […] In an interview with me 20 months after the meltdowns, TEPCO also appeared to be backing away from its four-decade decommissioning road map, admitting that the task in front of the company was unprecedented. ‘We hope to accomplish it in 40 years as per our engineering schedule,’ said Junichi Matsumoto. ‘But we will need to develop manipulators and other jigs and containers to put the bits in.’ […] the gravest challenge would be locating and removing the melted cores inside reactors 1, 2 and 3. ‘I don’t think they can pick up the melted nuclear cores,’ said Koide.
‘Instead, they’ll probably start work to cover the reactors in a concrete sarcophagus. It will take them more than ten years to even begin this work. And then it will take decades to finish each sarcophagus.’
Mandatory disaster insurance for nuclear power, proposed at European Union
EU seeks nuclear power disaster insurance plan http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/05/3732827/eu-seeks-nuclear-power-disaster.htmlTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS 5 NOV 13 BRUSSELS – The European Commission’s energy chief says the bloc’s executive arm will present a proposal on mandatory disaster insurance for nuclear power plants in coming weeks.
Guenther Oettinger said Tuesday the proposal should be one of the first items on the European Parliament’s agenda following elections in May. He declined to elaborate.
The world’s nuclear power plants have hardly any coverage. Governments implicitly guarantee they’ll pay for the bulk of a disaster.
In several EU nations, required insurance only covers liabilities of a few hundred million dollars, while a worst-case scenario accident is estimated to cost up to hundreds of billions. In the U.S., the necessary insurance for nuclear operators is capped at just $375 million per plant, with further claims funded by utilities up to a maximum of $12.6 billion.
Russia raises awareness of Libya’s unguarded yellowcake uranium
Russia implores UN to take control of Libya’s ‘unguarded’ yellowcake uranium, Rt.com. November 05, 2013 Russia has asked the UN Security Council to look into the dangers posed by a badly-guarded stockpile of yellowcake uranium in the Libyan Desert. Recent reports have said that Al-Qaeda is interested in the supply as a potential nuclear weapon component. Continue reading
With Fukushima’s emergency cleanup – it’s no time to be advocating new nuclear power!
nothing short of a full-on global presence will do. The bring-down of the fuel rods from Unit Four is a terrifying unknown. There’s no precedent for an operation of this scope, precision or potential fallout.
At very least it demands fullest possible attention from all the world’s best scientists and engineers. The global media must power through the Abe Administration’s crack-down on the flow of information. And we must all direct our full awareness to what is about to happen at Fukushima.
before anyone advocates MORE nuclear power, they should take a good long look at what’s going at Fukushima. And if they are claiming atomic expertise, maybe they should jump in to help.
Global Warming vs Global Nuclear Radiation: Climate Scientists Dismiss Fukushima, Lobby for Nuclear Energy Global Research 4 Nov 13 Four climate scientists have made a public statement claiming nuclear power is an answer to global warming. Before they proceed, they should visit Fukushima, where the Tokyo Electric Power Company has moved definitively toward bringing down the some 1300 hot fuel rods from a pool at Unit Four.
Which makes this a time of global terror.
In response more than 150,000 petition signatures from www.nukefree.org and others will be delivered at the United Nations this Thursday, November 7, asking for a global response to this disaster.
Since March 11, 2011, fuel assemblies weighing some 400 tons, containing more than 1500 extremely radioactive fuel rods, have been suspended 100 feet in the air above Fukushima Daiichi’s Unit Four. “If you calculate the amount of cesium 137 in the pool, the amount is equivalent to 14,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs,” says Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute. Former US Department of Energy official Robert Alvarez, an expert on fuel pool fires, calculates potential fallout from Unit Four at ten times greater than what came from Chernobyl.
Tokyo Electric Power says it may start moving these fuel rods as early as November 8. Continue reading
Fukushima clean-up an “unprecedented challenge” says shocked USA Energy Secretary Moniz
US Energy Secretary “shocked” and “stunned” after being at Fukushima plant — “Unprecedented” and “daunting” task ahead for Japan — America has “direct interest” in Tepco doing things safely (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/energy-secretary-shocked-stunned-after-being-fukushima-plant-unprecedented-daunting-task-ahead-japan-america-direct-interest-tepco-doing-safely-video
Statement from U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz Regarding Fukushima, Nov. 1, 2013 “On Friday, I made my first visit to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. It is stunning that one can see firsthand the destructive force of the tsunami even more than two and a half years after the tragic events.[…] TEPCO President Hirose, and his dedicated staff […] face a dauntingtask in the cleanup and decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi, one that will take decades and is being carried out under very challenging conditions. The TEPCO workforce is facing unprecedented challenges and is clearly focused on devising and implementing solutions. […] It appears that spent nuclear fuel will begin to be removed from Unit 4 as scheduled in mid-November. […] As Japan continues […] the cleanup at the Fukushima site […] the United States stands ready to continue assisting our partners in this daunting yet indispensable task […]“
NHK WORLD, (removed from Internet) Oct. 31, 2013: Ernest Moniz […] in his speech in Tokyo on Thursday […] said the success of the cleanup of areas around the Fukushima plant and decommissioning of reactors have global significance. Moniz said the US has a direct interest in seeing the next steps are done efficiently and safely.
Fukushima to Remove Tritium, IAEA To Send “Help” Update 11/2/13
AP, Nov. 2, 2013: In a speech Thursday in Tokyo, [Moniz] said “the success of the cleanup also has global significance. So we all have a direct interest in seeing that the next steps are taken well, efficiently and safely.”
NHK,, Nov. 2, 2013: Ernest Moniz spoke to NHK on Saturday in Tokyo, one day after visiting the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Moniz said he was shocked to see the scale of the damage that remains more than 2 and half years after the tsunami disaster and the nuclear accident. He said he also sensed how difficult work at the plant is with workers required to wear full face masks and other protective gear.
Watch the NHK interview here (removed from Internet
Fukushima area gets another earthquake
Another earthquake: New 4.9 tremor near Fukushima Rt.com : November 04, 2013 A 4.9 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter close to Fukushima Prefecture has struck the eastern coast of Japan, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The tremor was registered at a depth of 20 km. There have not been immediate reports of damage or injuries. No tsunami warning has been issued.
It is the second earthquake to hit Fukushima neighboring prefecture in the past two days. A 5.0earthquake was registered on Japan’s east coast, with Sunday’s tremors felt as far away as Tokyo.
The news comes amid preparations for a tough and dangerous cleanup operation to remove fuel rods from Unit 4 at Fukushima Daiichi plant. ……http://rt.com/news/fukushima-japan-earthquake-nuclear-194/
India’s nuclear industry not really safe – new book
In recent years, some of the crucial Russian suppliers of components to the plant have been detained in Russia and indicted for shoddy business practices.
A new book, The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India by Princeton University physicist M.V. Ramana, takes a sober—and sobering—look at the fantasies and perils attached to this mirage, and finds the promise of nuclear energy empty in every way: environmental, economic and technological.
The more disturbing parts of Ramana’s book deal with the neglect of safety by the nuclear establishment. Recounting various alarming “incidents” in recent decades, he inspires little confidence in India’s ability to avoid a major disaster such as Chernobyl or Fukushima.
India shouldn’t buy what Japan is selling, Live Mint, 4 Nov 13, Materials of substandard quality have already been installed in Kudankulam plant, says former chairman of AERB Pankaj Mishra 
An obsession with nuclear power makes many political elites secretive, ruthless and delusional, even as their cherished projects threaten millions of people with disaster. But the egregious examples I have in mind here aren’t Iran, Pakistan and North Korea. They are Japan and India, two countries with democratic institutions.
Certainty of nuclear disaster in Europe within next 30 years
Study on IAEA website: Core meltdown risk now around 1,000% higher because of Fukushima — Engineer: Nuclear disaster “a certainty” over next 30 years in Europe http://enenews.com/study-iaea-website-core-meltdown-risk-around-1000-higher-because-fukushima-engineer-nuclear-disaster-certainty-next-30-years-europe
Title: How did Fukushima-Dai-ichi core meltdown change the probability of nuclear accidents?Title: How did Fukushima-Dai-ichi core meltdown change the probability of nuclear accidents?
Source: Available from the INIS Liaison Officer for France
Authors: Escobar Rangel, Lina; Leveque, Francois
Date: October 2012
How to predict the probability of a nuclear accident using past observations? What increase in probability the Fukushima Dai-ichi event does entail? […] We find an increase in the risk of a core meltdown accident for the next year in the world by a factor of ten owing to the new major accident that took place in Japan in 2011. […]
Two months after the fukushima Dai ichi meltdown, a French newspaper published an article coauthored by a French engineer and an economist1. They both argued that the risk of a nuclear accident in Europe in the next thirty years is not unlikely but on the contrary, it is a certainty. They claimed that in France the risk is near to 50% and more than 100% in Europe. […]
The Fukushima Dai-ichi results in a huge increase in the probability of an accident. […]
The Fukushima Dai-ichi effect of [delta] 43 could appear as not realistic. In fact, at first glance the triple meltdown seems very specific and caused by a series of exceptional events. For most observers, however, the Fuskushima Dai-ichi accident is not a black swan. […] It has also been ignored by the nuclear safety agency NISA because as well-demonstrated now the Nippon agency was captured by the nuclear operators (Gundersen (2012)). [Gundersen, A. (2012), The echo chamber: Regulatory capture and the fukushima daiichi disaster, Technical report]
[…] Unfortunately, it is likely that several NPPs in the world have been built in hazardous areas, have not been retrofitted to take into account better information on natural risks collected after their construction, and are under-regulated by a non-independent and poorly equipped safety agency as NISA. […] a massive release of radioactive elements from a nuclear power plant into the environment is no longer a risk limited to a few unstable countries where scientific knowledge and technological capabilities are still scarce. […] View the study here
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