Taiwan nuclear reactor shut down by typhoon
Typhoon Soulik causes nuclear reactor shutdown By John Liu, The China Post July 15, 2013, TAIPEI, Taiwan — Typhoon Soulik’s strong winds caused one of the reactors at Taiwan’s First Nuclear Power Plant to automatically shut down as part of precautionary measures twice on Saturday. At 2:50 a.m. on July 13, strong winds knocked out systems designed to reduce the likelihood of direct lighting strikes on the facility at the plant’s number two reactor unit, resulting in an automatic shutdown. While repairs were carried out on the system, the reading for the number of neutrons became exceedingly high, once again leading to an emergency shutdown as part of protection measures.
Taiwan Power Co. (台電) nuclear energy spokesman Tsai Fu-feng (蔡豐富) said both shutdowns are part of protection measures and “there are no safety concerns.” Tsai said however that there is room for improvement in the handling of the power plant………
The typhoon also led to a significant amount of detritus blocking the water inlet. The company will not only need to acquire approval from the AEC but also fix the blockage before the power plant resumes normal function……
The AEC said similar incidents have happened at the country’s nuclear power plants, and is still waiting on Taipower’s report for a detailed explanation of the cause and description of the accompanying procedures for handling the accident……http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2013/07/15/383773/Typhoon-Soulik.htm
Climate change increases Chernobyl’s risk of radioactive wildfires
Women in their 20s living just outside the zone face the highest risk from exposure to radioactive smoke, the 2011 study found: 170 in 100,000 would have an increased chance of dying of cancer. Among men farther away in Kiev, 18 in 100,000 20 year olds would be at increased risk of dying of cancer.
the greatest danger from forest fire for most people would be consuming foods exposed to smoke. Milk, meat and other products would exceed safe levels, the 2011 study predicts. The Ukrainian government would almost certainly have to ban consumption of foodstuffs produced as far as 150 kilometres from the fire
Watching for a radioactive forest fire JANE BRAXTON LITTLE, ABC Environment 8 JUL 2013 Tinder dry and radioactive: the forests around Chernobyl are an accident waiting to happen. For 27 years, forests around Chernobyl have been absorbing radioactive elements. A fire would send them skyward again – a growing concern as summers grow longer, hotter and drier. “…….Nikolay Ossienko patrols the forests surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,,,,,,, “Our number one job is to save the forest from fire,”…… It’s a job with international consequences.
For almost three decades the forests around the shuttered nuclear power plant have been absorbing contamination left from the 1986 reactor explosion. Now climate change and lack of management present a troubling predicament: If these forests burn, strontium 90, cesium 137, plutonium 238 and other radioactive elements would be released, according to an analysis of the human health impacts of wildfire in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone conducted by scientists in Germany, Scotland, Ukraine and the United States. Continue reading
New guidelines allow far greater radiation exposure to the public
For Future Reactor Meltdowns, EPA Means “Extra Pollution Allowed” by JOHN LaFORGE Cutting Corners, Cutting Costs, Creating Cancer
As the nuclear power industry struggles against collapse from skyrocketing costs, bankrupting repair bills and investor flight (four operating reactors were permanently closed this year, more than in any previous 12 month period), the government seems to have capitulated to political pressure to weaken radiation exposure standards and save nuclear utilities billions.
On April 15, the EPA issued new Protective Action Guides (PAGs) for dealing with large scale radiation releases — like the catastrophic triple reactor meltdowns at Fukushima, Japan that spread cesium and radio-iodine worldwide. The new PAGs are like a government bailout, saving reactor owners the gargantuan costs of comprehensive cleanup. And eerily, the new PAGs seem to presume the inevitability of radiation disasters that the industry — with its fleet of 100 rickety 40-year-old units — can’t currently afford to withstand.
According to Daniel Hirsch, President of Committee to Bridge the Gap, the latest PAGs took effect in April but can be amended — and EPA is taking comments. Hirsch says that the National Council on Radiation Protection’s plans for implementing the new PAGs “would allow the public to be exposed to extraordinarily higher levels of radiation than previously permitted” during reactor accident emergencies.
The new PAGs also allow extremely high contamination of food, he says. “In essence,” Hirsch reports, the PAGs say “nuclear power accidents could be so widespread and produce such immense radiation levels that the government would abandon cleanup obligations” forcing people to absorb and live with far more cancers.
To cut costs, industry has long pushed for weakening radiation exposure rules. In 2002, Roger Clarke president of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) warned in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, “Some people think that too much money is being spent to achieve low levels of residual contamination.” The ICRP recommends exposure standards to governments for nuclear industry workers and the public…….http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/07/09/for-future-reactor-meltdowns-epa-means-extra-pollution-allowed/
Global maritime environment threatened by Russia’s floating nuclear plants
Tow cables snap, Arctic conditions can be unpredictable, ships sink. As the ocean is the common heritage of humanity, perhaps the international community might evince a tad more interest in this project.
Chernobyl At Sea? Russia Building Floating Nuclear Power Plants http://www.zerohedge.com/node/476304 submitted by Tyler Durden 07/11/2013 by John Daly via OilPrice.com,So much for the lessons of Fukushima. Never mind oil spills, the Russian Federation is preparing an energy initiative that, if it has problems, will inject nuclear material into the maritime environment.
Speaking to reporters at the 6th International Naval Show in St. Petersburg, Baltiskii Zavod shipyard general director Aleksandr Voznesenskii said that the Russian Federation’s first floating nuclear power plant “should be operational by 2016.” Continue reading
Macau worried about proposed uranium processing plant
Macau asks questions about proposed uranium processing plant, South China Morning Post, Thursday, 11 July, 2013 Phila Siu Macau has made an official inquiry to the Guangdong government about a proposal to build a uranium processing plant near Jiangmen , but the Hong Kong government would not say yesterday whether it had also done so.
The approach by Macau follows an announcement that the 230-hectare plant was planned for an industrial zone in an area governed by Jiangmen, which is about 100 kilometres from Hong Kong.
Macau’s chief executive, Fernando Chui Sai-on, said in a statement yesterday: “The SAR government has officially enquired about this through the communication mechanism between Guangdong and Macau.”….. Worries have been expressed that contamination from the plant could find its way into Hong Kong’s food supply…..http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1279838/macau-asks-questions-about-proposed-uranium-processing-plant
Unsafety at Brown’s Ferry nuclear plant, and a whistleblower’s case
For Johnson, speaking out has had consequences, as she said she ran up substantial legal bills without expectation of a resolution with TVA. But she became more concerned about the costs of not speaking out.
“I found myself in the position of becoming a whistleblower when TVA management altered root cause reports I authored to subdue their findings,” she said last week. “I hope that bringing this story to public light will force TVA to address the safety significance of altering the findings of teams of engineers and experts for the sake of protecting production and their own bonuses.”
Browns Ferry: Shrinking the safety margin at Alabama’s largest nuclear plant By Challen Stephens and Brian Lawson, All Alabama 7 July 13
What federal regulators have said in recent years:
• Browns Ferry received a red finding, the federal government’s most serious warning 
before shutdown.
• Browns Ferry failed to notice a blocked low-pressure cooling line.
• Inspectors discovered wider problems with safety culture at Browns Ferry.
What a search of TVA and Nuclear Regulatory Commission documents also shows:
• The backup low-pressure line also malfunctioned.
• The high-pressure core spray was installed incorrectly.
• The Unit 1 reactor operated for years with overlapping, malfunctioning emergency cooling systems.
What a whistleblower alleges, and paperwork supports:
• TVA ignored or obscured failing safety tests for malfunctioning equipment.
• TVA hurried to install equipment based on managerial bonuses.
What TVA acknowledges in their own paperwork:
• The plant operated for years with a bias toward power production over safety. Continue reading
Japan’s nuclear industry has poor safety culture
Japan: Building Nuclear Safety Culture Will Take ‘Long Time’ VOA, Reuters July 04, 2013 TOKYO — Japan’s nuclear regulator said on Thursday that elevating safety culture to international standards will “take a long time.” That assessment came days before new rules take effect that aim to avoid a repeat of the Fukushima nuclear disaster that occurred in March 2011………..
“The new regulations include extremely stringent requirements that the operators would not be able to endure if they don’t change their culture,” authority chairman Shunichi Tanaka told reporters. “We will need a long time to change this culture, but day-to-day efforts to meet those tough standards will in the end lead to the improvement in the safety culture.”Trying to restart
Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the Fukushima plant that had three meltdowns, Kansai Electric Power Co., and three other listed nuclear operators have said they will apply for restarts after the rules go into effect.
Tanaka declined to comment on whether he considered Tokyo Electric – still struggling to contain leaks and power cuts at its ravaged plant – fit to operate nuclear facilities. He added that whether the company will be given a green light would depend on the contents of its application…….
Tanaka stressed that the new regulator had what it took to impose the new regulations. “We have large authority and powers. If the operator does not comply with our regulations, they won’t be able to operate, let alone restart their reactors,” he said.http://www.voanews.com/content/japan-says-building-nuclear-safety-culture-will-take-long-time/1695038.html
Unsafe levels of ionising radiation at firm in Mersey, England
Workers at Mersey firm exposed to potentially unsafe levels of radiation, Liverpool Echo, By Gary Stewart, 4 July 13, Staff at firm couldn’t understand machine instructions because they were in Chinese Workers at a Wirral company were accidentally exposed to potentially unsafe levels of radiation because the instructions for the machine they were using were in Chinese
Two members of staff at Meyer Group Ltd, Bromborough, were put in charge of a “low intensity x-ray scope” which they used to check the inside of kettles sent back as faulty.
The machine, which was brought from China, was used for four months between 2002 and 2003 and again for nineteen months between 2007 and 2009 during a second product recall.
But unknown to the workers they were using the scope, which emitted “ionising radiation” for twice the recommended daily limit, because they couldn’t understand the instructions.
Nigel Lawrence, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court one of the workers was assured the machine was safe by a Chinese colleague who told him how to use it.
But it wasn’t until he asked for the instructions to be translated years later he realised he was in danger……..
Mr Lawrence said: “Any adverse health effects may not be known for many many years.”
The company later pleaded guilty to failing to ensure safety of workers and breaching regulations relating to working with radiation……
Judge Graham Morrow said that anyone who ever had an x-ray would know that radiation was potentially hazardous.
He will deliver his sentence this afternoon and is expected to fine the company tens of thousands of pounds.http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/mersey-meyer-group-ltd-workers-4870083
Hospital workers expose to too much ionising radiation
Hospital workers say error led to higher levels of radiation exposure inforum, 4 July 13 HUDSON, Wis. – Claiming they have been exposed to excess radiation, four Hudson Hospital & Clinics technologists have filed a lawsuit against the architectural firm that designed the hospital and the construction company that built it 10 years ago.
By: Forum News Service, INFORUM HUDSON, Wis. – Claiming they have been exposed to excess radiation, four Hudson Hospital & Clinics technologists have filed a lawsuit against the architectural firm that designed the hospital and the construction company that built it 10 years ago.
The computed tomography, or CT, technicians say quarter-inch plate glass rather than lead-shielded glass was installed in the windows between the scanning and control rooms, thus exposing the workers to more than 20 times the usual radiation…. http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/405121/group/News/
Plutonium storage activities halted at Los Alamos
All work halted at U.S. plutonium facility — Concern about ‘inadvertent chain reactions’ (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/all-work-halted-at-u-s-plutonium-facility-concern-about-inadvertent-chain-reactions
Title: LANL puts nuke work on hold over safety concerns
Source: Santa Fe New Mexican
Author: Roger Snodgrass
Date: June 28, 2013
Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charles McMillan has halted a number of activities at PF-4, the lab’s main plutonium facility, pending a thorough verification of safety procedures. All areas of PF-4 involved in processing nuclear materials and production have been placed on hold. […]
Last month, a safety review by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board identified several problems during an inspection of safeguards against inadvertent chain reactions in the handling and storage of nuclear materials. In one instance, safety board staff identified a prohibited material in a work station. In another situation, workers at the facility identified two containers in a vault that exceeded prescribed limits for the mass and class of materials they contained. During the same period, a worker was found to have been contaminated by a leak from a faulty plug during a pressure test of a glovebox, which is supposed to be a tightly sealed workspace for handling radiological materials. “Multiple infractions” were reported in one particular room from recent months, where operations were already suspended. […]
Watch KRQE’s broadcast here
Drunk on duty – police officers guarding UK nuclear sites
Safety fears over elite police officers drunk on duty at UK’s nuclear sites, The Independent ANDY ROWELL 26 June 13 Police officers with the elite force that guards Britain’s nuclear power stations have been caught drunk, using drugs, misusing firearms and also accused of sexual harassment and assault.
The offences by officers with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), released under the Freedom of Information Act, have raised concerns about the safety of the UK’s nuclear plants and radioactive material.
The CNC recently stepped up the number of officers guarding the Sellafield plant in Cumbria. The 1,000 officers in its workforce also protect highly radioactive material as it travels across the country. In one case, a police constable allegedly tested positive for cannabis at work. The matter was deemed so sensitive that the CNC refused to disclose the location or year the offence occurred, in case the identity of the officer could be traced.
Even after an internal review of the case, the date the officer resigned was deemed to constitute “personal data”, so it could not be released under the Freedom of Information Act…….
such is the array of serious misdemeanours by the CNC officers– who are funded directly by the energy companies – that it raises grave concerns about the safety of the UK’S nuclear power plants. Paul Flynn MP said: “The UK sent 441 of our soldiers to die in Afghanistan to protect us from alleged terrorist threats to the UK, Nuclear installation are the prime nightmare targets that could create mass devastation. This evidence suggests sacrifices abroad but woefully weak protection standards at home.”
Robin Oakley, Campaigns Director for Greenpeace UK, said: “This deeply worrying catalogue of misdemeanours is a reminder that nuclear reactors will always be vulnerable to human mistakes and irresponsibility. If the people supposed to protect us from probably the highest level of nuclear risk don’t take safety seriously, what confidence can we have in the rest of the nuclear industry’s operations?”
Off duty offences ranged from being drunk and disorderly in a public place to minor public order offences and common assault. The incidents listed also included those which occurred on duty, as well as on and off site. Those on site were dealt with by the CNC, who either dismissed the officers for serious offences or gave warnings. Off-site offences led to police cautions. The CNC was unavailable for comment. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/safety-fears-over-elite-police-officers-drunk-on-duty-at-uks-nuclear-sites-8675660.html
Radiation death ray plot to kill President Obama
Obama is death ray target of Ku Klux Klan nut http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4978215/Obama-target-of-KKK-nuts-radiation-weapon.html#ixzz2XAvBNDjL By PETE SAMSON, US Editor 21st June 2013 TWO men have been arrested over a plot to kill US President Barack Obama with a home-made DEATH RAY.
Fanatics Glendon Scott Crawford, 49, and Eric Feight, 54, were nicked after a six-month FBI undercover operation. Mr Obama was among those said to have been targeted by the futuristic device that would have fired lethal doses of radiation.
Engineer Crawford, a member of the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan, told undercover agents his design was “Hiroshima on a light switch”. He said his plan was to hide the death ray inside a van and park it
near to a target. The device would be activated from a safe distance and according to an
arrest affidavit would “kill human targets silently and from a distance with lethal doses of radiation”.
He said whoever had the device could kill with little chance of being caught, according to the criminal complaint.
Crawford, of Schenectady, New York, said President Obama was on their hit-list because he had let Muslims into the US.
On the day after the Boston Marathon bombing in April he allegedly sent a text message saying: “Obama’s policies caused this.” The two men were investigated after trying to get funding for their plan. Last year Crawford walked into a synagogue and allegedly inquired about technology that could kill “Israel’s enemies while they slept”.
He later asked KKK leaders in North Carolina for money for his machine. Both the KKK and Jewish leaders tipped off the FBI.
Crawford was arrested as he tried to connect a remote activation device to an X-ray machine that undercover agents had given him after making it useless.
Prosecutor John Duncan said: “From our investigation, the device would have been able to emit X-ray radiation that would cause death.”
Pakistan’s 25,000 to protect its nuclear arsenal
Pakistan deploys 25,000-strong force to protect nuclear arsenal, Times of India PTI Jun 22, 2013, ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has raised a 25,000-strong special force and put in place extensive measures to protect and manage its strategic assets, including its nuclear arsenal, finance minister Ishaq Dar said on Saturday.
“A special security force of 25,000 personnel, who have been specially trained and provided sophisticated weapons, has been deployed to protect (the nuclear assets),” Dar said, while winding up the debate on the 2013-14 budget in the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament……. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-22/pakistan/40133480_1_security-force-nuclear-arsenal-strategic-plans-division
Two plead guilty to espionage of US nuclear weapons
Scientist and wife plead guilty to espionage involving nuclear weapons, Examiner, CRIME & COURTS JUNE 23, 2013 BY: JIM KOURI
Two contract workers for a U.S. nuclear facility pleaded guilty in
U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico on Friday to
espionage charges involving classified nuclear weapons information,
according to Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security
John Carlin.
Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina,
and Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to
charges under the Atomic Energy Act and other charges related to their
communication of classified nuclear weapons data to a person they
thought was a representative of the Venezuelan government under
then-President Hugo Chavez……..
Both husband and wife were indicted in September 2010 and they were
charged with conspiracy to communicate and communicating Restricted
Data to an individual with the intent to secure to an advantage to a
foreign nation.
The indictment also charged the couple with conspiracy to convey and
conveying classified Restricted Data. The indictment also charged
Mascheroni with concealing and retaining U.S. records with the intent
to convert them to his own use and gain, and both defendants with
making false statements…..
http://www.examiner.com/article/scientist-and-wife-plead-guilty-to-espionage-involving-nuclear-weapons
Ki Klux Klansmen’s plan to kill Muslims by radiation
Behind A Klansman’s Plan To Kill Muslims With A Radiation Death Beam TPMMuckraker ERIC LACH JUNE 20, 2013, On April 11, 2012, Glendon Crawford — who went by his middle name, Scott — walked into an Albany, N.Y., synagogue and asked if there was anyone around to talk to him about a technology that could be used by Israel to defeat its enemies.
According to a federal court document, Crawford was “denied assistance” at the synagogue. But he was not deterred. That same day, he called up a different Jewish organization — the document does not specify which one beyond saying that it has a facility in Albany — and made a similar overture. Crawford also asked for financial help with his project. The person who took Crawford’s call later told the FBI that they spoke with Crawford for about 10 minutes. On the call, Crawford allegedly said the technology he was talking about could kill Israel’s enemies in their sleep. He also said the technology could be purchased for a significant amount of money.
You may have already heard how this story ended. Crawford, 49, and an associate, Eric Feight, 54, were arrested by the FBI on Tuesday, and both charged with conspiracy to “provide material support, or resources, intending that they be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, a violation of Title 18, U.S.C. § 2332a (use of a weapon of mass destruction).” In layman’s terms, Crawford and Feight were allegedly trying to create a truck-mounted, remote controlled, radiation death beam. According to an FBI affidavit written in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrants for Crawford and Feight, Crawford specifically identified “Muslims and several other individuals/groups as targets.”
The 65-page affidavit, filed in federal court in Albany on Tuesday, provides numerous details about Crawford and Feight’s activities over the past 14 months…………….. Crawford and Feight both made initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Albany on Wednesday. U.S. Magistrate Christian Hummel told Crawford he would be assigned an attorney, according to The Albany Times-Union.
“Is it going to be the right kind of attorney for this?” Crawford asked the judge. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/06/kkk_radiation_gun.php
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