Uranium is France’s major strategic economic interest in the Sahel,
How long before the bombings hit Paris?
Niger’s Uranium Facilities Under Assault Oil Price, By John Daly, 03 June 2013 One of the scariest scenarios for Western intelligence analysts is the possible nexus between terrorism and nuclear materials Recent events in Africa have heightened these scenarios. Continue reading
USA’s Dept of Energy’s plans for allowing recycling of radioactive metals
Nuclear site scrap metal could be headed to recyclers June 2, 2013 By Len Boselovic / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette A U.S. Department of Energy proposal to recycle scrap metal from its nuclear facilities has set off the radiation detectors of environmental groups, some in the metals industry and one member of Congress.
But the industry group representing metals recyclers says current safeguards will prevent any radioactive scrap from getting into jewelry, knives and forks and other common goods consumers use every day.
The DOE’s draft proposal, issued in December, comes 13 years after then Energy Secretary Bill Richardson suspended shipments of metal scrap from the agency’s sites because of public safety concerns.
“This involves risk. Radiation causes cancer,” said Daniel Hirsch, president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap. “The U.S. population should not be used as a disposal facility.”
Mr. Hirsch — whose nonprofit examines nuclear safety, waste disposal and related issues — said rescinding the scrap recycling moratorium that has been in place since 2000 demonstrates the Energy Department’s “callous disregard for the public.”……
Despite radiation detectors at scrap yards and metals plants, there have been cases of radioactive metals making it into mills as well as onto store shelves.
Last year, Bed, Bath and Beyond pulled metal tissue boxes out of about 200 stores after it was discovered that the household items emitted low levels of radiation…….http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/nuclear-site-scrap-metal-could-be-headed-to-recyclers-690043/#ixzz2VBlSDy22
Desperate radioactive water problem at Fukushima – attempt to freeze surrounding soil
Soil around Fukushima to be frozen to stop groundwater leaking in http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-31/operator-ordered-to-freeze-soil-around-crippled-nuclear-plant/4724554 By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy, The Japanese government has ordered the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant to freeze the soil around its crippled reactor buildings to stop groundwater seeping in and becoming contaminated.
Every day another 400 tonnes of groundwater forces its way into the plant, becomes contaminated with radioactivity and needs to be stored onsite. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) already has a quarter of a million tonnes of radioactive water stored in tanks at Fukushima. (below Fukushinma Daichi reactor No 6)
Fearing the nuclear plant is running out of space to store contaminated water, the Japanese government has ordered TEPCO to take the drastic step. The government hopes these frozen walls of soil will stop huge amounts of groundwater leaking into the buildings and it wants the system to be in place within two years.
According to a report compiled by a government panel on Thursday, there are no previous examples of using walls created from frozen soil to isolate groundwater being used for longer than a few years.
This means the project at the Fukushima plant poses “an unprecedented challenge in the world”.
Landfill on fire a threat to nearby nuclear waste
“The bottom line is it’s very serious,” “What’s happening up here is not something that has ever been encountered before. They’ve had landfill fires and nuclear waste, but never in such close proximity.
Smoldering Landfill Could Threaten Nuclear Waste, abc News, By JIM SALTER Associated Press BRIDGETON, Mo. May 29, 2013 Dawn Chapman can put up with the noxious smell caused by smoldering trash in a landfill near her suburban St. Louis home. But if the burning creeps close to buried nuclear waste, she’s ready to get out.
It’s a problem that worries many people in this densely populated area near Lambert Airport, where the trash burns just 1,200 feet from another landfill that holds radioactive waste dating back to the Manhattan Project, which created the first atomic bomb in the 1940s. Continue reading
Serious safety concerns about Pickering, Canada’s oldest nuclear reactor
The lack of comparable plants means safety and accident statistics for the industry are based on much newer plants. As a result, he said, it’s questionable whether they should be used to predict events at Pickering.
Gunderson also said that Pickering’s vacuum building, which is designed to suck in radioactive steam and air in case of an accident, can handle only one reactor failure. Pickering has six operating reactors.
Aging Pickering nuclear plant seeks five more years, The Star, Canada’s oldest nuclear power plant is seeking to renew its operating license for five years. Critics say it should be closed By: John Spears Business reporter, May 29 2013 Ontario Power Generation is confident it can safely operate its 40-year-old Pickering nuclear generating station 18 per cent longer than originally planned, OPG officials told Canada’s nuclear regulator Wednesday.
But members of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission still peppered emergency planners with questions about what happens if a nuclear accident does occur at the station, located in Canada’s largest urban area.
Pickering’s operating license expires June 30, and original plans called for it to be wound down in the next few years. Continue reading
South Korea Shuts 2 Reactors Over Faked Certificates http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/world/asia/south-korea-turns-off-nuclear-reactors.html?_r=0 By CHOE SANG-HUN May 28, 2013 SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said on Tuesday that it was turning off two nuclear power reactors and delaying the scheduled start of operations at another two after its inspectors discovered that the reactors used components whose safety certificates had been fabricated.
South Korea’s nuclear power industry has been plagued by a series of forced shutdowns, corruption scandals and mechanical failures in recent years, undermining public confidence in atomic energy even as the country’s dependence on it for electricity is expected to grow. Continue reading
Russia’s unsafe new nuclear reactors, the Baltic NPP and others
GAZETA.RU: Nuclear failure Gazeta.ru, May 24, 2013 “……..In fact, Kaliningrad Region’s neighbor Lithuania has been vigorously protesting the construction, voicing not just political complaints but also concerns regarding the future station’s safety. For instance, the Lithuanian government has charged that the VVER-1200 reactors that Rosatom planned to build at the site have never been subjected to safety tests in accordance with the criteria adopted in the European Union. And safety concerns are far from frivolous or irrelevant here. Let’s take a moment to look at the technology improvements that we are told have been implemented in the design.
The VVER-1200 reactor, on which the project of the Baltic NPP was based, includes a novelty called a “core catcher.” This contraption is meant to mitigate the consequences of an accident that evolves according to a Chernobyl or Fukushima scenario – namely, leads to a core meltdown. For one thing, the very presence of a core catcher would imply that such an accident is possible in principle. For another, all a core catcher can do is simply “catch” the highly radioactive mass of a molten reactor core as it burns through the bottom of the reactor vessel. What it cannot do is help contain the accompanying massive release of radioactivity of the kind that poisoned the environment far and wide during the catastrophe at Chernobyl. So what would be the meaning of this expensive new enhancement? Put a tick next to a budget item called “That new fancy gizmo we have – our reactors are the best!”?
It would be funny if it weren’t so sad: VVER-1200s are being built at the second Leningrad nuclear station, near St. Petersburg, and at the new Novovoronezh site, in Central European Russia, and are being planned for a number of other sites across the country – not to mention the export reactor projects in Belarus, Vietnam, Turkey, and other foreign states.
There are other problems with the Baltic NPP. Its price tag was estimated at around EUR 6 billion, and that’s not counting the very costly transmission networks that the plant would badly need. The very electricity export idea was not duly thought through: Kaliningrad Region lacks the modern and reliable transmission and distribution networks that would be required to carry the station’s electricity to consumers either inside the region or abroad. New power lines could – according to a 2009 estimate by the Russian electricity generation and foreign and domestic power trading company Inter RAO – set Rosatom back by an additional nearly EUR 3 billion, driving the station’s cost up by another 50 percent………http://anti-atom.ru/en/node/5185
Strict safety measures would mean Japan’s nukes are uneconomic
Is it safe? Ruling party pushes nuclear village agenda BY JEFF KINGSTON JAPAN TIMES, 26 May 13, “………the NRA has signaled its intention to not approve restarting a reactor at the Tsuruga plant in Fukui, and there are several other candidates for closure; Tepco’s Kashiwazaki plant with six reactors is sited near an active fault line as proven in the 2007 earthquake there, but the utility’s business plan depends on restarting this facility. There are some tough calls ahead.
There has also been no conclusion declared as to whether or not seismic damage compromised cooling-system pipes at the Fukushima plant in the interval before the tsunami hit. This is an important issue because if the earthquake caused the meltdowns, all Japan’s reactors would require extensive safety upgrades that would further undermine their financial viability. In any event, The Economist magazine has concluded that nuclear power is simply not economically feasible.
The NRA is set to adopt stricter safety regulations in July, but the key will be the implementation and monitoring of compliance. Problematically, there are only nine inspectors overseeing the 3,000 workers engaged in decontamination and decommissioning efforts at Fukushima, a bungled operation that has been left to the discretion of Tepco.
The utility decided against bringing in outside experts and failed to anticipate the problem of what to do with massive volumes of radioactive waste water that are accumulating at the plant. The improvised responses have proved inadequate, while the touted “solution” involves dumping the toxic water into the ocean. The Tokyo-based New York Times reporter Martin Fackler concludes that Tepco is “lurching from one problem to the next without a coherent strategy … a cautionary tale about the continued dangers of leaving decisions about nuclear safety to industry insiders” (NYT 4/29/2013).
Despite this and other red flags on nuclear safety, the political pressures on the NRA to resume business as usual are intensifying……. .http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2013/05/26/commentary/is-it-safe-ruling-party-pushes-nuclear-village-agenda/#.UaPpE9JwpLs
Niger uranium mine struck by suicide bombers
Suicide bombers strike African uranium mine http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/suicide-bombers-strike-african-uranium-mine 24 May, 2013 Alex Heber Suicide bombers have killed at least 20 people in a French-run uranium mine in northern Niger.
About 50 people were injured at the mine when a suicide bomber drove into the front of the plant and blew up his vehicle, ABC reports.
The mine, located in the remote town of Arlit, has also reported key infrastructure has been badly damaged.
Islamist militants MUJWA are claiming responsibility for the attack.
The group which is also known as Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa is an offshoot of terrorist group Al Qaeda. MUJWA says the attack was at act of revenge for Niger’s involvement in the French-led intervention in Mali.
Niger’s president, Mahamadou Issoufou, has also confirmed French Special Forces have now moved in to protect the plant.
If you don’t test for alpha and beta radiation, does that prove they are not there?
DNR Won’t Test For Most Radiation at Bridgeton Landfill http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/05/23/dnr-wont-test-for-most-radiation-at-bridgeton-landfill/ May 23, 2013 BRIDGETON, MO (KMOX) – A court-approved plan to dig up parts of a burning Bridgeton landfill and cap it with plastic continues Thursday.
Bridgeton resident and mother of three young children Dawn Chapman says the Missouri Department of Natural Resources told her by telephone no testing is being done for “alpha and beta radiation,” despite the fire’s proximity to buried nuclear waste.
“I don’t want my children exposed to any of this radiation,” she said. “You know, you can say it may or may not be above the ground but the point is it’s not supposed to be there. Children are not supposed to be inhaling radiation coming out of the landfill fire.”
State officials confirm to KMOX they are only testing for “gamma” radiation, not alpha and beta. The reason given is that alpha and beta monitoring requires different equipment and lab work which lasts weeks.
Radiation incident at Japanese Atomic Energy Lab
Radiation leak reported day after incident at Ibaraki laboratory, Global Post, 24 May 13Radioactive substances were released into the atmosphere Thursday outside the controlled area at one of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s nuclear physics laboratories in Ibaraki Prefecture, the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s secretariat said early Saturday morning.
Fifty-five researchers and others who were engaged in experiments and other work at the laboratory may have been exposed to radiation as a result of inhaling the substances, but none were taken to hospital, the government body said. Four have so far undergone checkups and the highest radiation dose detected was 1.7 millisievert.
No impact from the radiation is expected beyond the premises of the accelerator laboratory in Tokaimura….. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/130524/radiation-leak-reported-day-after-incident-at-ibaraki-
Japan’s Tsuruga nuclear reactor ruled unsafe, for permanent closure
JAPAN NUCLEAR REACTOR ATOP ACTIVE FAULT: REGULATOR, Yahoo 7 News, May 23, 2013TOKYO (AFP) – Japan’s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that one reactor was sitting directly above an active tectonic fault, effectively ruling out a restart forever.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said it had approved a report from experts which found a crack in the Earth’s crust lying underneath the reactor at a plant in Tsuruga, western Japan, was active. ”There is a need for us to take the report seriously,” NRA chairman
Shunichi Tanaka said.
It is the first time the newly-minted NRA has made such a ruling. It is still investigating possibly-active faults under five other
reactors. A second reactor at Tsuruga, which sits 300 metres (328 yards) away, is not one of this number.
The final decision on a restart rests with the government, who are expected to be asked by plant operator Japan Atomic Power to overrule
the watchdog.
Observers say despite its pro-nuclear stance, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration is unlikely to risk public ire by backing the
operator, meaning the reactor would become the first to be permanently shuttered since the Fukushima disaster……
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/17290072/japan-nuclear-reactor-atop-active-fault-regulator/
Palisades Nuclear Power Plant needs new tank bottom
(includes slideshow) Palisades Nuclear Power Plant will remain closed until ‘early summer’ to replace bottom of leaking tank M Live Michigan Yvonne Zipp 21 May 13 Fifteen days after it shut down to find and fix a leak in its safety injection refueling water tank (SIRWT), Palisades Nuclear Power Plant announced Monday that it would replace the bottom of the tank and totally reconstitute its subflooring.
The repairs are likely to keep the Covert Township facility, which is owned by New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. offline until at least early summer, said Lindsay Rose, spokeswoman for Palisades in an email. While some Southwest Michigan residents and antinuclear activists had called for a complete replacement of the tank, David Lochbaum, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ nuclear safety project, said that replacement vs. repair “is not a black and white call.”
Lochbaum cited as a recent example the San Onofre nuclear plant in California, whose owner paid $780 million to replace two aging steam generators on each of two reactors — one of which failed in January 2012, less than a year after installation. Workers found significant degradation on all of the replacement steam generators, caused by unexpected vibration.
Both reactors are still shut down and a restart date has not yet been set, said Lochbaum.
“Thus, Entergy’s choice on the SIRWT is to either repair an aging component that is heading towards if not already within the wearout zone or to replace it with a brand spanking new tank that inherently has a relatively high chance of failure, too,” wrote Lochbaum…… http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2013/05/palisades_nuclear_plant_announ.html
Fire alert at Pilgrim nuke plant – “further details not available”
Firefighters called in to U.S. nuclear plant after alert — Overheating in turbine room — “Further details not immediately available”http://enenews.com/developing-firefighters-called-in-to-u-s-nuclear-plant-overheating-in-turbine-room-further-details-not-immediately-available
WXTK,, May 20th, 2013: Firefighters called to Pilgrim nuke plant […] after 4 a.m. According to reports, a motor overheated in the turbine room. That is in a non-nuclear section of the plant. Further details were not immediately available.
The Patriot Ledger: Twelve hours after the protest, at 4:20 a.m. Monday, Plymouth firefighters went inside the plant to check an overheated turbine lubrication pump. Fire Chief Edward Bradley said an electrical overload tripped a plant circuit breaker, automatically sending an alert to the fire department. Bradley said the pump is one of a number of pumps that keep turbine bearings lubricated during production. The pumps are located in a building adjacent to the reactor building.
Excerpt from anonymous tip: “fire in turbine bldg of pilgrim nuclear plant….4 fire trucks respond”
Japan readying to gamble with safety, in restarting nuclear reactors
Crushed By Soaring Energy Costs, Japan Prepares To Reactivate Its Nuclear Power Plants Zero Hedge, by Tyler Durden on 05/19/2013 “….First it was Japan’s economy minister chiming in with his views on the fair value of the USDJPY (apparently, now it is too high), who also made it clear that Japan has no choice but to restart the same nuclear power plants that two years resulted in the biggest nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl.
And now, proving that Japan has learned absolutely nothing from its recent past, it is now preparing to risk yet another Fukushima, just to make sure that Goldman’s partners have a fresh year of record bonuses, driven by the BOJ’s monetary insanity. Yomiuri Shumbun reports, that just two years after a wholesale shutdown of Japan’s nuclear power plants demanded by the people, Japan is once again going to reactivate its nuclear power plants, much to the chagrin of the already massively irradiated local population.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. has decided to apply to the nuclear regulating body to restart two reactors at its nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture by the end of July, after revised safety standards are implemented earlier that month, it has been learned.
Reactivation of the two reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant could help stabilize the power supply situation for eastern Japan, including the Kanto region, which is part of TEPCO’s service areas; and the Tohoku region, Tohoku Electric Power Co.’s service area for which TEPCO provides electricity. In doing so, the company could prevent electricity fees from rising further.
Reactivation of the reactors could also help TEPCO’s management reconstruction drive, as the utility faces additional fuel costs for thermal power generation to make up for power shortfalls due to the suspension of nuclear power reactors.
The application to the Nuclear Regulation Authority will be made for the Nos. 1 and 7 reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture. The move is expected to coincide with similar applications to be filed by four other operators for reactors at their five plants, according to officials.
So which nukes are set to go live?….
The reactors could be reactivated after passing the NRA’s safety inspections and obtaining consent from local governments. The reactors that the four utilities are applying to restart are at:
- Hokkaido Electric Power Co.’s Tomari nuclear power plant in Tomari, Hokkaido.
- Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Takahama nuclear power plant in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture.
- Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s Ikata nuclear power plant in Ikata, Ehime Prefecture.
- Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai nuclear power plant in Satsuma-Sendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, and Genkai nuclear power plant in Genkai, Saga Prefecture.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant has boiling water reactors–the same type as those at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which suffered meltdowns following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami…….
Although we doubt it: it is only a matter of time before some Japanese central planner takes the mic, and reads the Goldman script, promising all disastrous future earthquakes and tsunamis have been henceforth banned and made illegal, and the BOJ will guarantee nothing bad can ever happen to the earthquake prone nation, located along one of the most active seismic faultlines in the world. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-19/crushed-soaring-energy-costs-japan-prepares-reactivate-its-nuclear-power-plants
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14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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