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A 2 $billion stop gap measure- Chernobyl’s new tomb

Chernobyl’s Steel Radiation Shield Is the Biggest Moving Structure Ever, Gizmodo Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan 29 April 14   (Terrific photos) In the normal world, it’s what you’d call a bad investment: Spending $2 billion to build the largest moveable structure ever—and knowing that it won’t work for longer than 100 years. But in Chernobyl, it’s the best available option for protecting a whole continent from the worst nuclear disaster in history.

Today is the 28th anniversary of the disaster, which killed 31 and subjects hundreds of others to extreme suffering, and left 200 tons of radioactive corium and 16 tons of uranium and plutonium exposed inside the smoking remains of Reactor 4. At the time, heroic workers quickly constructed an ad hoc shelter over the reactor to stop the spew of radioactive material across Ukraine and Western Europe, using 7,000 metric tons of metal and many more tons of concrete. But that shelter—known as the Sarcophagus—was never meant to last. And now, it’s in danger of collapsing.

Enter New Safe Confinement, a project that’s nearly as old as the meltdown it’s designed to contain. It’s a two-pronged plan: First, thousands of workers are constructing a 300-foot-tall steel arch that weighs more than 32,000-tons. Though it’s being built a few hundred meters away from Reactor 4, it’s eventually going to cover it, creating a thick steel cage around the reactor in case it collapses.

Chernobyl-tomb-14

But because the area near it is too radioactive for workers to stay there for longer than a few minutes, this huge structure is being built next door—then, very very slowly, it will be slid on teflon-coated tracks to cover the

April 29, 2014 Posted by | Belarus, Reference, safety | 5 Comments

European Union nuclear trash now to be stored in Ukraine

exclamation-Smflag-UkraineNuclear Energy Reactors: U.S. to Turn Ukraine into a “Second Chernobyl”? The Role of Westinghouse http://www.globalresearch.ca/nuclear-energy-reactors-u-s-to-turn-ukraine-into-a-second-chernobyl-the-role-of-westinghouse/5379390 By Leonid Savin Global Research, April 27, 2014 The use of US-produced fuel for Soviet reactors is not compatible with their design and violates the security requirements. It could lead to disasters comparable with what happened in Chernobyl. The International Union of Veterans of Nuclear Energy and Industry (IUVNEI) issued the following statement on April 25,

“Nuclear fuel produced by the US firm Westinghouse does not meet the technical requirements of Soviet-era reactors, and using it could cause an accident on the scale of the Chernobyl disaster, which took place on the 26th April 1986.”

The IUVNEI brings together more than 15,000 nuclear industry veterans from Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Finland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine. It was founded in 2010 and headquartered in Moscow.

The Ukrainian state enterprise Energoatom and the Westinghouse Company previously agreed to extend the contract for the supply of US nuclear fuel for Ukrainian nuclear power plants until 2020.

Two years ago, there was a near-miss in Ukraine, when TVS-W with damaged distancing armatures risked substantial uncontrolled releases of dangerous radiation. Only by a miracle was there no disaster at the South Ukrainian nuclear power plant.   But it did not prevent the signing of the agreement. A Czech nuclear power plant faced depressurization of the fuel elements produced by Westinghouse in 2006, followed by the Czech government abandoning the company as a fuel supplier. According to Yuri Nedashkovsky, the president of the country’s state-owned nuclear utility Energoatom, on April 23, 2014 the Ukraine’s interim government ordered   to allocate 45, 2 hectares of land for the construction of a nuclear waste storage site within the depopulated exclusion area around the plant of Chernobyl between villages Staraya Krasnitsa, Buryakovka, Chistogalovka and Stechanka in Kiev Region (the Central Spent Fuel Storage Project for Ukraine’s VVER reactors). The fuel is to come from Khmelnitsky, Rovno and South Ukraine nuclear power plants.

At present used fuel is mostly transported to new dry-storage facility at the Zheleznogorsk Mining and Chemical Factory in the Krasnoyarsk region and storage and reprocessing plant Mayak in the Chelyabinsk region, the both facilities are situated on the territory of Russian Federation.In 2003 Ukraine started to look for alternatives to the Russian storages. In December 2005, Energoatom signed a 127, 75 million euro agreement with the US-based Holtec International to implement the Central Spent Fuel Storage Project for Ukraine’s VVER reactors. Holtec’s work involved design, licensing, construction, commissioning of the facility, and the supply of transport and vertical ventilated dry storage systems for used VVER nuclear fuel. By the end of 2011 Holtec International had to close its office in Kiev  as it had come under harsh criticism worldwide. It is widely believed that the company has lost licenses in several countries because of poor quality of its containers resulting in radiation leaks. Westinghouse and Holtec are members of U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC).

Morgan Williams, President/CEO of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, works in Ukraine since the 1990s said at the ceremony devoted to  Westinghouse Electric Company and Holtec International signing contracts with Ukraine in 2008:

“Today is one of the most important days since Ukraine’s independence as the efforts of these two internationally known companies will go a long way to assuring that Ukraine has greater energy independence. This is made more important by the fact that for Ukraine, energy and political independence are closely interdependent. I join all of the USUBC members in toasting the success of these two great member companies, as we all work to assist Ukraine on its path to Euro-Atlantic integration and a strong democratic, private market driven nationhood.”

Morgan Williams is known as a lobbyist representing the interests of Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobil in Ukraine. He has close ties with Freedom House involved in staging “color revolutions” in Eurasia, North Africa and Latin America.

wastes-1 One more interesting detail is to be mentioned here.  Some time ago it was reported that according to covert agreements reached between the Ukraine’s interim government and its European partners, the nuclear waste coming from the EU member states will be stored in Ukraine. 

Being in violation of law the deal is kept secret.

Leonid Savin is an Russian expert on international conflicts, editor-in-chief of Geopolitica.ru news, analysis and forecast online journal.

April 28, 2014 Posted by | safety, Ukraine, wastes | Leave a comment

Antiquated computer systems at USA’s nuclear missile facilities

America’s feared nuclear missile facilities are still controlled by computers from the 1960s and floppy disks

  • 60 Minutes received a tour of the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the storage facility of 450 nuclear warheads and a Minuteman III missile
  • The facility was built in the 1960s to withstand a nuclear attack and alot of its equipment dates back to that time
  • The floppy disks that contain the missile launch codes are safe and effective because it allows center to stay disconnected from the internet and prevent cyber terrorism, the military claims
  • Tour comes in the wake of a major cheating scandal that has implicated 91 Air Force nuclear missile officers, nine of which were fired

Mail Online, By JOEL CHRISTIE, 27 April 2014 The isolated U.S. military silo that contains one of deadliest nuclear arsenals in the world – some 450 warheads that are each 20 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima – is being controlled by computers dating back to 1960s and a launch system that relies on floppy disks.

But security officials maintain their methods are not only functional but hack-free, with the underground control room in Wyoming not connected to the internet, stopping any cyber terrorists gaining control over the weapons.

60 Minutes gained access to the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne and will broadcast its full report from the facility tonight.

CBS Correspondent Lesley Stahl said she believed the unprecedented invitation to take a look inside was part of a move by the military to show the public their system was safe in the wake of a widespread cheating scandal among their ranks.

Four Air Force nuclear missile officers were found to be at the center of the still-unfolding scandal, with nine officers were fired at the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, and 82 others facing disciplinary action after being caught cheating on proficiency tests.

The officers need to get 100 percent on the exams in order to work at facilities, such as the one in Cheyenne.

The four ‘librarians’, as they have been dubbed, allegedly faciliated the cheating, in part by transmitting test answers via text message. ….. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614323/Americas-feared-nuclear-missile-facilities-controlled-computers-1960s-floppy-disks.html#ixzz30DZNgbTC

April 28, 2014 Posted by | safety, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear power plants and the danger from within

safety-symbol-SmWhen it comes to security at nuclear facilities, danger likely lurks from within, Stanford scholar says The greatest dangers to nuclear facilities are sabotage and theft from insiders, according Flag-USAto political scientist Scott Sagan. Analysis of past incidents can help boost safeguards at these sites.
BY CLIFTON B. PARKER 23 April 14 
Insider threats are the most serious challenge confronting nuclear facilities in today’s world, a Stanford political scientist says.

In every case of theft of nuclear materials where the circumstances of the theft are known, the perpetrators were either insiders or had help from insiders, according to Scott Sagan and his co-author, Matthew Bunn of Harvard University, in aresearch paper published this month by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

“Given that the other cases involve bulk material stolen covertly without anyone being aware the material was missing, there is every reason to believe that they were perpetrated by insiders as well,” they wrote.

And theft is not the only danger facing facility operators; sabotage is a risk as well, said Sagan, who is a senior fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and the Caroline S.G. Munro Professor in Political Science……..http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/april/nuclear-security-risks-042414.html

April 25, 2014 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear reactors are a military TARGET, as Ukraine crisis shows

flag-UkraineWhy Ukraine’s nuclear power plant crisis has far-reaching ramifications, Adelaide Advertiser, Jim Green , 22 April 14  IT seems likely that Ukraine’s 15 nuclear power reactors will continue operating throughout the unfolding political crisis, and that there will be no attacks on Ukraine’s nuclear plants despite reported threats. Nonetheless the crisis has wideranging nuclear dimensions and ramifications.

Perhaps the most important is that the nuclear security threats draw attention to a question that may, sooner or later, seal the fate of nuclear power: what happens when nuclear-powered nations go to war? Continue operating power reactors and hope that they will not be attacked?

It’s a huge dilemma. There’s no dispute that most nation-states have the military wherewithal to destroy reactors, resulting in widespread radioactive fallout. But for countries such as Ukraine, with a heavy reliance on nuclear power for electricity supply, shutting down reactors would also be highly problematic.

There is a history of nation-states attacking ostensibly peaceful nuclear facilities, such as the destruction of research reactors in Iraq by Israel and the US.

Ukraine’s 15 power reactors are spread across four sites. Nuclear power supplied 44 per cent of Ukraine’s electricity last year – that heavy dependence presumably explains the decision to continue operating reactors despite security concerns.

Protesters seized the headquarters of Ukraine’s energy ministry on January 25, but left hours later. Eduard Stavitskiy, Ukraine’s then energy minister, reportedly said all the country’s nuclear power facilities were put on high alert after the seizure.

In late January, Ukraine’s Security Service reported “anonymous threats to blow up hydropower and nuclear power plants, damage to which may have unforeseen and extremely serious consequences for the population of Ukraine and neighbouring states.” On March 2, Ukraine’s parliament called for international assistance to protect its nuclear power plants……..http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/why-ukraines-nuclear-power-plant-crisis-has-farreaching-ramifications/story-fni6unxq-1226891431319

April 23, 2014 Posted by | safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Pennsylvania nuclear reactors at higher risk of earthquakes

nuke-earthquakeNuclear reactor owners asked to reassess quake resistanceApril 21, 2014 By Don Hopey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Due to higher earthquake risk in the region, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is requiring three Pennsylvania nuclear reactors to conduct in-depth reassessments of their ability to withstand larger earth tremors.

FirstEnergy’s Beaver Valley Units 1 and 2, in Shippingport, Beaver County, and Exelon’s Three Mile Island Unit 1, south of Harrisburg in Dauphin County, are among nine commercial nuclear reactors in the eastern U.S. and two dozen nationwide that must conduct the re-evaluations and issue reports to the NRC by the end of the year.

“Based on the latest seismic data, the risk of earth movement is higher in the region, and more testing and analysis is warranted,” said Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman……..

Mark Petersen, USGS project chief of the 2008 National Seismic Hazard Maps in Golden, Co., said new ground motion records and additional geological studies of the New Madrid fault show higher recurrence rates than previously thought.

“Because of what happened with the New Madrid in 1811-1812,” he said, “we’re more worried about big earthquakes in those areas in the future.” http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2014/04/22/Nuclear-reactor-owners-asked-to-reassess-quake-resistance/stories/201404220095#ixzz2zkRw3KQj

 

April 23, 2014 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Greater earthquake risks recognised now for New England nuclear reactors

nuke-earthquakeQuake risks at New England nuclear plants cited http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/18/markey-and-warren-urge-improved-earthquake-safety-measures-pilgrim-seabrook-nuclear-plants/1EgTQZCDmgeT2wRmxwDnkJ/story.html Warren, Markey urge upgrades at Pilgrim, Seabrook By Jennifer Smith GLOBE CORRESPONDENT   APRIL 18, 2014 US Senators Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren are calling for increased safety measures at two area nuclear power plants after a Nuclear Regulatory Commission report found potential vulnerabilities to earthquakes.

In a letter to NRC chairwoman Allison Macfarlane on Friday, Markey and Warren asked the commission to require that Pilgrim Power Station in Plymouth and Seabrook Station in Seabrook, N.H., “implement mitigation measures against seismic risks that were previously unknown.”

 Following the 2011 meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, which was sparked by an earthquake and tsunami, the NRC established a task force to evaluate possible vulnerabilities at US nuclear facilities and the need for enhanced regulatory oversight, according to the NRC report released Thursday.

Markey and Warren were “alarmed” by the newly evaluated seismic risks at the two area facilities, which are greater than they were originally licensed to withstand, the senators said in the letter.

April 21, 2014 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

3 French nuclear plants fail safety test

safety-symbol-Smflag-franceFrench nuclear watchdog singles out 3 plants for safety shortfall   By Michel Rose PARIS, April 16 (Reuters) – France’s nuclear watchdog singled out three of EDF’s 19 nuclear power stations for having a below-average safety performance in its annual safety report, which also asked for more enforcement powers such as the ability to impose fines….. There were 127 level-1 incidents on the 7-level International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) in France in 2013, ASN said, and two level-2 incidents.

Level-1 incidents are minor procedural infringements and level-2 incidents can refer to cases of minor exposure to radiation…….

The watchdog also mentioned shortfalls in terms of radiation protection at Cattenom near the German border and in terms of impact on the environment at Belleville in the Loire valley, Chooz near Belgium, and Chinon.

Chevet said the ASN needed a more graduated array of sanction powers on operators such as EDF.

The watchdog can at anytime stop operations at a nuclear plant if it considers it presents a danger for the public and can also issue public warnings, but Chevet said an ability to impose fines for each day of safety breaches would be useful.

“We clearly lack intermediary sanction tools, for when shortfalls last for one, two, three years, but don’t require a shutdown of the plant,” he said.

The presentation to parliament of a much-delayed energy transition bill planned in July could be the opportunity to introduce such powers, he added. (Reporting by Michel Rose. Editing by Jane Merriman) http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/04/16/france-nuclear-safety-idINL6N0N74K120140416

April 17, 2014 Posted by | France, safety | Leave a comment

Fire on ship carrying uranium – news covered up

exclamation-SmThere is new information about what the Atlantic Cartier had on board when it caught fire in Hamburg last year. http://atlanticcartier.info/  April 10, 2014 by 

A news report in the HAMBURG taz dated April 3rd states: –

‘The Atlantic Cartier that caught fire May 1st, close to the opening of the 34th EvangelicalChurch Day, which had attracted thousands of people. (The first report said ‘onethousand’.)

Only two weeks later was the true situation revealed. It contained 3.8 tonnes ofammunition, 180 tons of explosive ethanol, as well as 8.9 tons of uranium hexafloride andeleven tons of unused, fresh uranium fuel rods.’

This is the first report which we have seen which mentions that the ship was carrying fresh uranium fuel rods.

In the middle of March another Atlantic Container Line (ACL) ship, the Atlantic Companion, was involved in an ‘accident’ at the Halifax, Nova Scotia, north-end Ceres terminal.  On this occasion four containers of uranium hexafluoride were dropped while being loaded aboard the ship.

Bibby Reply

In reply to our recent open letter to Bibby Ship Management we received the following from the company:-

‘ It is Bibby Ship Management’s policy not to discuss individual vessels or cargo detailshowever all of our vessels are managed and operated in line with the highest internationally agreed standards of vessel safety and pollution prevention.’

This is the full extent of the companies willingness to answer any of the many questionswhich we would like to put to them.

April 11, 2014 Posted by | incidents | Leave a comment

Anxiety over potential radiation risks in North Korea’s nuclear site

flag-N-KoreaU.S. think tank says North Korea is having radiation issues at primary nuclear site Raw Story, By Agence France-Presse Monday, April 7, 2014 The United States and its allies warned North Korea against provocations as researchers reported potential radiation risks due to problems at the regime’s main nuclear complex…….

A U.S. think tank, reviewing recent satellite images, said Monday that North Korea’s main Yongbyon nuclear site appeared to have suffered water supply problems due to heavy rain and floods last summer. An unstable supply could pose radiation risks, especially at North Korea’s first light water reactor, which is near completion, according to the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University. The regime does not have experience operating the light water reactor and “the rapid loss of water used to cool the reactor could result in a serious safety problem,” analyst Nick Hansen wrote on the institute’s blog, 38 North. North Korea has more experience with its restarted plutonium production reactor at Yongbyon but its “lack of airtight containment could lead to the escape of some radioactivity even in small accidents.” The published analysis comes after South Korean President Park Geun-Hye warned that Yongbyon could witness a Chernobyl-style disaster, one of a series of comments that enraged North Korea, whose official media accused her of speaking “nonsense gibberish.” The 38 North analysis downplayed the risks of a Chernobyl-scale disaster, saying Yongbyon was smaller than the Soviet-built station in Ukraine where a 1986 accident killed 30 people in an explosion and another 2,500 afterward in related illnesses. “However, a radioactive release into the atmosphere or river would cause an expanded local area of contamination,” the analysis said. “Also, Pyongyang’s likely lack of transparency could create a regional crisis, panicking the public in surrounding countries and raising tensions with governments anxious for further information.”….http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/07/u-s-think-tank-says-north-korea-is-having-radiation-issues-at-primary-nuclear-site/

April 9, 2014 Posted by | North Korea, safety | Leave a comment

Safety requirements are making USA’s nuclear reactors even more expensive

safety-symbol-SmUnder Revised Quake Estimates, Dozens of Nuclear Reactors Face Costly Safety Analyses By MATTHEW L. WALD NYT, APRIL 5, 2014 WASHINGTON — Owners of at least two dozen nuclear reactors Flag-USAacross the United States, including the operator of Indian Point 2, in Buchanan, N.Y., have told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that they cannot show that their reactors would withstand the most severe earthquake that revised estimates say they might face, according to industry experts.

As a result, the reactors’ owners will be required to undertake extensive analyses of their structures and components. Those are generally sturdier than assumed in licensing documents, but owners of some plants may be forced to make physical changes, and are likely to spend about $5 million each just for the analysis…….

he Nuclear Regulatory Commission is presuming, for the time being at least, that plants built to the old standard do not present any immediate risk. But critics say that contradicts one of the recommendations made by a task force of commission senior staff members after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan three years ago, which caused three reactors to melt down at Fukushima Daiichi.

One recommendation was that the commission “re-evaluate and upgrade” the original design requirements.

Senator Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, a longtime critic of the commission, said in a statement: “The N.R.C. should be demanding implementation of seismic safety upgrades it called for following the Fukushima meltdowns, not merely more study of nuclear reactors that it knows are clearly at higher risk than was previously believed. What is needed is action to secure at-risk nuclear reactors, not merely more reports.”……..

Two industry experts said that across the central and eastern United States, plants at 24 sites reported that the new earthquake threat was larger than what they were designed to face. The commission has not released a total yet.

But Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the commission, said many reactors fell into that category, so many that there were not enough engineers to analyze them all simultaneously. The commission will group them in priority, he said…….http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/nyregion/dozens-of-nuclear-reactors-must-prove-safety-under-revised-quake-estimates.html?hpw&rref=science&_r=0

April 7, 2014 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Inadequate safeguards at New Mexico Nuclear Weapons Labs,

safety-symbol-SmFlag-USAAudit Cites Deficiencies in New Mexico Labs, abc news,  SANTA FE, N.M. April 7, 2014 (AP) A new federal audit has found Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories failed to monitor nuclear weapons designs as well as the reliability of parts being used to build them, the Albuquerque Journal reported Sunday.

The U.S. Department of Energy Inspector General’s report states both sites could not consistently locate drawings for nuclear weapons and components in official repositories, according to the Journal (http://bit.ly/1lJ0E1C).

In the March 26 report, officials said they were concerned about incorrect parts being used for nuclear weapons.

Without safeguard and proper information, the National Nuclear Security Administration “loses confidence in its nuclear weapons stockpile,” officials said…….. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/audit-cites-deficiencies-mexico-labs-23215616

April 7, 2014 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Prepare for the next nuclear power plant accident

safety-symbol1World Needs to Get Ready for Next Nuclear Power Plant Accident Bloomberg business Week, By Yuriy Humber April 03, 2014 Three major atomic accidents in 35 years are forcing the world’s nuclear industry to stop imagining it can prevent more catastrophes and to focus instead on how to contain them.

Of the 176 new reactors planned across the globe, half will be in nations that had no nuclear plants when disaster crippled the U.S. Three Mile Island reactor in 1979 and the Chernobyl reactor blew up in present day Ukraine in 1986.

As countries such as China and India embrace atomic power even after the Fukushima reactor meltdowns in 2011 caused mass evacuations because of radiation fallout, scientists warn the next nuclear accident is waiting to happen and could be in a country with little experience to deal with it.

“The cold truth is that, no matter what you do on the technological improvements side, accidents will occur — somewhere, someplace,” said Joonhong Ahn, a professor at the Department of Nuclear Engineering of University of California, Berkeley. The consequences of radiation release, contamination and evacuation of people is “clear and obvious,” Ahn said. That means governments and citizens should be prepared, not just nuclear utilities, he said……..

Still, the association defends the global safety record of nuclear power, ……

The problem is that the causes of the three events followed no pattern, and the inability to immediately contain them escalated the episodes into global disasters with huge economic, environmental and political consequences. Even if no deaths have yet been officially linked to Fukushima radiation, for example, cleanup costs have soared to an estimated $196 billion and could take more than four decades to complete.

If nuclear is to remain a part of the world’s energy supply, the industry must come up with solutions to make sure contamination — and all other consequences — do not spread beyond station grounds, Gregory Jaczko, ex-chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in an interview in Tokyo.

“We have this accident and people will say, you know, it was caused by this and that,” Jaczko said. “But the next accident is going to be something different. Nobody can tell you where or when or what exactly it is going to be. You really need to do more on the consequence side.”……..

Real Consequences

The usefulness of the math after the world’s three major civilian accidents is academic, according to Jaczko.

“Once you have an accident, a low-probability and high consequence event, you can no longer call it a low probability event,” Jaczko said. “It is an event that’s happened and you cannot ignore the consequences simply because it was never supposed to happen. The consequences are real. Probabilities are always hypothetical.”

It was not until the late 1970s that analysis and large-scale testing began of what could happen in case of an atomic accident, according to the London-based WNA. The WNA says that testing — and the Fukushima disaster in March 2011 — show that “even the worst possible accident in a conventional western nuclear power plant or its fuel would not likely cause dramatic public harm.” http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-03/world-needs-to-get-ready-for-next-nuclear-power-plant-accident

April 5, 2014 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | 1 Comment

Highly radioactive Hanford waste site at risk from earthquakes

America’s Most Contaminated Nuclear Site Is Vulnerable To Earthquakes http://io9.com/americas-most-contaminated-nuclear-site-is-vulnerable-1558490796 Mark Strauss 4 April 14 Nearly 2,000 capsules containing radioactive waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation need to be relocated. That’s because the site was built in an area that’s prone to earthquakes. How could this happen?

Hanford 2011

The facility, located in in southeastern Washington State, was the world’s largest producer of plutonium during the Cold War. Today, it is America’s most contaminated nuclear site, and the focus of an ongoing cleanup that is costing taxpayers some $2 billion per year.

The 1,936 capsules contain radioactive cesium and strontium that was previously buried in underground tanks, and then later moved into “wet storage”—a 13-foot-deep pool of water that helps cool the corrosive-proof containers, which account for 32 percent of the radioactivity at Hanford.

And, now, according to this Inspector General report from the US Department of Energy, the capsules in the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility (WESF) need to be moved yet again:

The March 2011 tsunami and subsequent events at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma and Futaba, Japan highlighted the vulnerabilities to nuclear facilities from possible seismic and natural disasters that are more severe than the facilities’ original design, or “beyond design threats.” One possible threat is a severe earthquake that may result in loss of power and/or loss of water in the WESF pool.

 

Making matters worse—yes, as usual, there’s a “worse”— the report notes that the storage facility has been in service for nine years beyond its design life. The age is beginning to show: the concrete in the WESF pool cells has begun to deteriorate due to years of radiation exposure.

So, it’s now incumbent upon the Energy Department to find a new temporary storage facility. I say “temporary” because we still don’t have a permanent nuclear waste repository. But, no worries, the government has set a goal to open such a facility…in 2048.

April 5, 2014 Posted by | safety, USA, wastes | 1 Comment

Is this a target for terrorists? Oh no, it’s just a nuclear waste ship

wastes-1Nuclear waste ship in Tasman sea http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9896660/Nuclear-waste-ship-in-Tasman-sea TIM DONOGHUE 2 April 14 The nuclear waste carrier Pacific Grebe is currently making its way through the northern mid-Tasman sea bound for Japan with canisters of high level reprocessed nuclear waste from Britain on board.

The 6,840 tonne British registered ship, owned by Warrington, UK based Pacific Nuclear Transport, sailed from Barrow-in-Furness, north of Liverpool, bound for Japan on 14 February 2014

The Japan Times reported in January, 2014 that  28 canisters of high-level radioactive waste, produced through the reprocessing of spent Japanese nuclear fuel in Britain, would be transported to the Aomori Prefecture on board Pacific Grebe.

The 28 canisters of vitrified radioactive waste included 14 for Kansai Electric Power Co and seven each for Chubu Electric Power Co. and Chugoku Electric Power Co.

The paper also reported in January that the shipment was the third involving vitrified radioactive waste to be brought to Japan from Britain.

Japan has received 104 canisters of such waste from Britain and plans to receive around 800 more. The 104 canisters have been stored at a facility in the village of Rokkasho, The Japan Times reported.

April 2, 2014 Posted by | oceans, safety, wastes | Leave a comment