Iran nuclear explosion Jan 21 – radiation now leaking
RADIATION LEAKING FROM IRAN’S NUKE EXPLOSION, WND, by REZA KAHLILI, 25 FEB 13, Islamic regime fears poisonous fallout clouds could hit cities Radiation is leaking from Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordow, which suffered devastating explosions on Jan. 21, WND has learned, and the regime has ordered millions of antidote iodine pills from Russia and Ukraine amid fears the radioactivity will spread.
Many of the personnel, who arrived after the explosion to assist with the cleanup at the site, have been taken to a military hospital suffering from headache, nausea and vomiting, according to a source in the security forces protecting Fordow.
A special team of nuclear experts was ordered to the site days ago, the source said, and detected high levels of radiation. The number of confirmed dead from the explosions has risen to 76, said the source, who provided exclusively to WND the names of 14 Iranian scientists and one North Korean who died in the blasts.
Security forces have arrested 17 high-ranking officers, including majors and colonels, over the incident and summarily executed Maj. Ali Montazernia, a member of the security forces in charge at Fordow.
The Islamic regime has put up a wall of silence surrounding the explosions, but with the possibility of radioactive fallout creating grave health and environmental disasters in the nearby holy city of Qom and other surrounding cities, it may not be able to maintain the secret, the source suggested. Continue reading
UK nuclear submarine leaked radiation in Scottish waters
Radiation leak on nuclear sub off Scots coast Express UK , February 17, 2013 BRITAIN’S?nuclear?fleet?suffered?a?dangerous setback after a submarine was docked for emergency repairs following a radiation leak off Scotland. By: Marco Giannangeli HMS Tireless was taking part in a training exercise for new officers off the west coast 10 days ago when a problem developed in its ageing 30-year-old reactor system. Continue reading
Cyber terrorism dangers for USA nuclear weapons laboratory
NUCLEAR LAB REMAINS VULNERABLE TO CYBERSTRIKES, ENERGY IG SAYS, Nextgov, 15 Feb 13, A leading U.S. nuclear arms site has taken significant steps in recent years to defend against strikes on its computer systems, but key weaknesses remain to be fixed, the Energy Department’s inspector general said this week.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico uses a host of information systems and networks to carry out its duties, which include research and production programs in support of maintaining the nation’s nuclear arsenal, Inspector General Gregory Friedman said in a memorandum attached to a cybersecurity report. Continue reading
Savannah Rivers Site’s aging cracked spent nuclear fuel containers
KEY FINDINGS
Here are some key findings from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s report on older spent nuclear fuel assemblies:
• Oxide formation can cause handling problems due to sludge formation.
• Hydrogen gas accumulation can form “hydrides” that can spontaneously ignite in air.
• Cladding has ruptured, is missing, or was breached – allowing direct contact with water.
• Sealed cans that hold fuel initially packaged dry have leaked, allowing water inside.
• Fuel is stored in cans whose designs are vulnerable to developing leaks.
NRC plans for San Onofre nuclear safety report be made public
San Onofre: Mitsubishi told to hand over nuclear plant report LA Times, February 14, 2013 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has asked Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to hand over a redacted version of a proprietary report on equipment issues at the now-shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant.
The commission, which has already reviewed the full report, said it intends to make the redacted version public. Continue reading
What if India had a nuclear disaster?
Tamil terrorists from Sri Lanka are now in India. They are highly resourceful and fully cognizant of the spectacular impact they can create. A terrorist attack on an Indian nuclear plant will dwarf the Chernobyl disaster
A Nuclear Disaster Will Trigger Disintegration of India Lanjaweb, February 10th, 2013 Dilrook Kannangara According to Gorbachev, the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster has a lot to do in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. He revealed this in a book he wrote. Previously his Glasnost program was blamed in most part for the fall. But the veteran explains how people demanded more transparency from the government following the disaster which forced the government to come up with the Glasnost program. Obviously economic woes and inevitable change took over the momentum but the trigger could well be the Chernobyl (in the Republic of Ukraine) disaster in April 1986. It highlighted the fallibility of the Union that won most of its wars and its leaders projected to be in total charge.
Triggers Within and Without….. Though India boasts to be the world’s largest democracy, its people hardly enjoy democratic rights. Freedom of expression has been severely curtailed through state controlled or influenced media entities. Dissent on national issues is not tolerated. Old friends including Russia have been marginalised with France and USA emerging as India’s new bedfellows.
A Nuclear Disaster Continue reading
Major nuclear accident in France – unlikely, but would be catastrophic
A “major” accident, rated 7 on the INES scale and similar to the 1986
Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine and Japan’s Fukushima, however, would be
a “catastrophe,” that would “strongly and durably traumatize the
country,” it said.
The health impact from the release of radioactive material would be
severe, the contamination of land would be long-lasting and
neighboring countries would be affected.
Major nuclear accident would cost France $580 billion: study By
Michel Rose SAINT-PAUL-LES-DURANCE, France Feb 6, 2013 (Reuters)
“……The IRSN and former World Bank economist unveiled two disaster
scenarios prompting a core meltdown at a typical 900-megawatt (MW)
French nuclear reactor.
A “serious” accident, rated 6 on the one-to-seven INES scale used by
the International Atomic Energy Agency and one notch higher than the
Three Mile Island accident of 1979 in the United States, would cost
France about 120 billion euros ($162 billion), or 6 percent of its
gross domestic product (GDP).
The consequences – with up to 10,000 people ousted from contaminated
zones – would be “manageable”, the IRSN said. Continue reading
Curiouser and curiouser- it’s now assumed that there was no explosion at Iran nuclear site
The IAEA Says It Has Inspectors At Iran’s Fordo Nuclear Site And There Has Been No Explosionhttp://www.businessinsider.com/massive-explosion-reported-at-irans-fordow-nuclear-facility-2013-1 Robert Johnson | Jan. 30, 2013,Conflicting reports of a recent explosion at Iran’s Fordo nuclear facility appear to have been put to rest.
(This is an updated post)
Reza Kahlili originally reported for WND on the “blast”: “The blast shook facilities within a radius of three miles. Security forces have enforced a no-traffic radius of 15 miles, and the Tehran- Qom highway was shut down for several hours after the blast.”
Kahlili’s report said the Fordo nuclear facility was severely damaged in an explosion and up to 240 workers trapped inside.
Jay Carney then told reporters in a press conference, that the White House had no information on the report: “We [the U.S.] have no information to confirm the allegations in the report and we do not believe the report is credible. We don’t believe those are credible reports.”
Iran’s official news agency, said the same thing, with the IRNA, promptly denying the explosion, claiming the news was simply the result of the Western media-fueled “propoganda machine.”
That might have ended the story there, but The Times of London’s Israel correspondent Sheera Frenkel also confirmed the incident through her own independent sources: Continue reading
Japan’s Nuclear Board sets out safety regulations: nuclear industry working to weaken these
The power industry, which has a more supportive government potentially on its side, has been lobbying heavily against some of the regulations.
During the process, the requirements can be watered down.”
Japan Nuclear Board Offers New Safety Plans, WSJ, By MARI IWATA , January 31, 2013, TOKYO—Japan’s revamped nuclear-safety regulator issued its first proposed safety guidelines, telling utilities they need to 
plan for “unthinkable incidents,” such as the mammoth earthquake and tsunami that caused the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster.
Under the new rules, power plants will need to have more than a single access to the external grid power and to install enhanced filters to prevent contamination from being released if the reactors need to be vented due to a dangerous buildup of pressure.U.S. regulators, for example, require nuclear plants to have at least two connections to the external power grid. They require filters on some, but not all, venting valves and are weighing whether to adopt rules that would require expensive new filtering systems at 31 U.S. reactors with designs similar to Fukushima Daiichi.
The utilities also will have to plan how to deal with other types of risks previously not considered, such as a terrorist attack or a plane crash, proposing measures such as stronger buildings surrounding the reactor units and having critical backup systems at greater distance.
The new measures, which are subject to public comment, were issued Thursday by the new Nuclear Regulation Authority, set up in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident. The new body was created following criticism that the previous regulator, part of the energy ministry, was too close to the industry. Nuclear-power opponents say the agency’s work so far has shown that the previous cozy relationships, dubbed the “nuclear village,” are still in place.
Some experts said the new regulations sidestep many of the most important questions that will likely determine whether Japan will again have a heavy dependence on nuclear-generated electricity.
One key issue not yet addressed is how to determine whether a plant should be shut down because it sits on an “active” earthquake fault…..Another critical question for the utilities is whether additional equipment must all be installed immediately or over time, a question that could prompt some utilities to close older plants.
Antinuclear activist Takeshi Sakagami, who has been a regular attendee at NRA events and related expert-panel meetings since the agency began in July 2011, says the agency has been largely taken over by bureaucrats who want to restart Japan’s reactors. “Bureaucrats have been drafting the proposed rules and answering questions in the panel meetings,” he said. “It’s already back to the hands of the nuclear village members.”
He pointed out that the authority has held two sessions with power utilities in its discussions about reactor safety regulations, but so far none with residents from around Fukushima nor with antinuclear groups……
The power industry, which has a more supportive government potentially on its side, has been lobbying heavily against some of the regulations. One utility posted a profit and the other, Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.,9501.TO +0.94% has yet to report.
Makoto Yagi, president of Kansai Electric Power Co., 9503.TO 0.00% Japan’s second-largest power utility and previously heavily dependent on nuclear power, said on Jan. 25 that the company will need at least ¥285 billion ($3.15 billion) in additional capital investment to equip its 11 reactors with safety measures required by the new guidelines.
The draft rules are still open to public comment. “It’s not as simple as you might think to evaluate the guidelines at this point,” said Hiromitsu Ino, emeritus professor of the Tokyo University and an expert of raw materials used in reactors. “During the process, the requirements can be watered down.”
The utilities have been hit by higher costs of oil- and gas-fired power plants. Of the nation’s nine utilities that own and operate nuclear-power plants, seven have so far reported losses for the nine months to December…… http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324156204578275690031511384.html
Times of London says there was explosion at Iran nuclear site
Top British Paper: Massive explosion believed to have damaged nuclear facility in Iran -Sources http://enenews.com/top-uk-paper-massive-explosion-believed-damaged-nuclear-facility-iran-sources
January 28th, 2013
Title: ‘Blast’ at Iranian nuclear facility
Source: The Times of London* (via The Australian)
Author: Sheera Frenkel
Date: January 29, 2013
h/t pcjensen
A MASSIVE explosion is believed to have damaged Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility, which is being used to enrich uranium, Israeli intelligence officials say.
Sources in Tel Aviv said yesterday they thought the explosion happened last week. The Israeli government is investigating reports that it led to extensive structural damage and that 200 workers had been trapped inside.
Israel believes the Iranians have not evacuated the surrounding area. It is unclear whether that is because no harmful substances have been released, or because Tehran is trying to avoid sparking panic among residents. […]
One Israeli official said: “We are still in the preliminary stages of understanding what happened and how significant it is.” He did not know, he added, whether the explosion was “sabotage or accident”, and refused to comment on reports Israeli aircraft were seen near the facility at the time of the explosion. […]
*Wikipedia: By June 2012 The Times’ average daily circulation had fallen to 400,120 copies, compared to The Daily Telegraph’s 573,674, with the two retaining respectively the second-highest and highest circulations among British “quality” newspapers.
More Reports:
- Bloomberg: Iran Rejects Report of Blast at Nuclear Site as Propaganda
- Telegraph: Mystery over ‘explosion’ at Iran’s Fordow nuclear site
See also: Report of huge explosion at nuclear facility in Iran — Major news networks dismiss claim
International Atomic Energy Agency says “no explosion at Iran nuclear site”
IAEA says no indications of blast at Iran nuclear site, SMH, 31 Jan 13, The UN atomic agency said on Wednesday that it had no indications that an explosion took place at an Iranian nuclear facility, as reported by Israeli and US media.
“We understand that Iran has denied that there has been an incident at Fordo. This is consistent with our observations,” said Gill Tudor, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The reports cited the conservative American news website WND, which said an explosion at the Fordo facility on January 21 had caused major damage and trapped workers.
Iran denied any such blast took place, with a senior lawmaker calling the rumours “Western propaganda” aimed at influencing upcoming talks with world powers on Iran’s nuclear programme…….http://www.smh.com.au/world/iaea-says-no-indications-of-blast-at-iran-nuclear-site-20130130-2dle8.html#ixzz2JbPAQz5z
USA’s nuclear waste dumpsters need high level guarding
America’s Nuclear Dumpsters After Yucca Mountain, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is stocking up on guns and ammo. Slate, By Geoffrey Brumfiel| , Jan. 30, 2013, While the rest of America spent January debating new gun control laws, one government agency announced its plans to expand the use of high-capacity magazines, assault weapons, and even fully automatic machine guns. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the nation’s nuclear plants, is seeking the firepower not for securing the plants themselves, but to defend their nuclear waste.
Since America’s commercial reactors started opening in the 1960s and ’70s, nuclear waste has been piling up. At first, it was stored in spent fuel pools—swimming pools you’d never, ever want to swim in. That was fine for a time, but by the 1980s, the pools started to get crowded. So the utilities began putting old fuel rods in something they call dry cask storage, and I’ll call nuclear dumpsters.
They’re big, they’re white, and they’re literally kept out back like the rest of the trash. Continue reading
Nuclear re-licensing to go ahead, even though no new Waste Confidence Rule yet?
The court disapproved of the NRC’s continued relicensing of nuclear facilities based on the assumption of a long-term geologic repository that in reality did not exist – and the NRC said it was suspending licensing pending a new rule – but now regulators say they don’t anticipate the denial or even the delay of any reactor license application while they await the new waste confidence decision [PDF, pp. 49-50].
In fact, the NRC has continued the review process on pending applications, even though there is now no working Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision (NWCD) – something deemed essential by the courts – against which to evaluate new licenses.
The NRC is looking for a way to permit the continued operation of the US nuclear fleet – and so, the continued manufacture of nuclear waste – without an answer to the bigger, pressing question
Seventy Years of Nuclear Fission, Thousands of Centuries of Nuclear Waste ,25 January 2013 By Gregg Levine, Truthout Lack of Permanent Spent Fuel Storage Looms Large
“……….When a US Court of Appeals ruled in June that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) acted improperly when it failed to consider all the risks of storing spent radioactive fuel onsite at the nation’s nuclear power facilities, it made specific reference to the lack of any real answers to the generations-old question of waste storage:
[The Nuclear Regulatory Commission] apparently has no long-term plan other than hoping for a geologic repository…. If the government continues to fail in its quest to establish one, then SNF (spent nuclear fuel) will seemingly be stored on site at nuclear plants on a permanent basis. The Commission can and must assess the potential environmental effects of such a failure.
The court concluded the current situation – in which spent fuel is stored across the country in what were supposed to be temporary configurations-”poses a dangerous long-term health and environmental risk.”
The decision also harshly criticized regulators for evaluating plant relicensing with the assumption that spent nuclear fuel would be moved to a central long-term waste repository.
A Mountain of Risks Continue reading
Nuclear plant operators, not taxpayers, should pay for safety upgrades, says EU Parliament
“Nuclear operators should bear €25 billion cost of making Europe’s reactors safer“http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/content/20130121STO05427/html/Nuclear-operators-should-bear-%E2%82%AC25-billion-cost-of-making-EU-reactors-safer 25-01-2013 Nuclear operators, 
not taxpayers, should cover the costs of necessary safety upgrades as well as pay for everything they are liable for in the event of a nuclear accident, according to a resolution approved by the EP’s energy committee on 24 January. Improving Europe’s nuclear power plants so that they can withstand a natural disaster is estimated to cost up to €25 billion.
Threat to the public
Nuclear energy accidents, whether caused by human error or an earthquake, pose a severe risk to public health. The consequences from the explosion in the Chernobyl plant in 1986, the world’s worst nuclear disaster, are still being felt today as discussed in the EuroparlTV video above.
The aftermath of Fukushima
After the Fukushima accident in Japan in March 2011, 145 reactors in 15 EU member states were tested to assess whether nuclear power plants here could withstand a natural disasters. The checks showed that nearly all nuclear power plants need safety improvements. Continue reading
Safety concerns may shut world’s largest nuclear plant, Kashiwarazaki-Kariwa
The Kashiwarazaki-Kariwa plant may be susceptible the same type of
cataclysmic event which led to Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, as
the plant itself is situated in an active fault zone.
Japan may shutter world’s largest nuclear plant over earthquake
threat, RT.com 26 January, 2013, The world’s largest nuclear power
plant may be forced to shut down under stricter rules proposed by
Japan’s new nuclear watchdog. The measures are intended to safeguard
against future natural disasters following the 2011 tsunami.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in the heart of Japan is
now facing permanent closure following a move by the country’s Nuclear
Regulation Authority (NRA) to expand the definition of an active fault
– a crack in the earth’s crust. The operators of the plant, Tokyo
Electric Power are the same company which powered the stricken
Fukishima plant. Continue reading
1 This Month
22 June – Virtual Event –Climate Change: New Data, New Debate
Monday, June 22, 2026 2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. CT
YouTube. Register here
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Thursday, June 25, 2026
7pm Central Time (8pm ET, 6pm MT, 5pm PT) UTC – 5
From NRC & DOE Deregulation to Techno-Fascist Billionaires Going Nuclear, Plus a Few Songs from Atomic Cabaret REGISTER
26 June – Radiation Trainwreck at the NRC / Join the Protect Better Campaign – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4ZlZ5_qLSHGiLSCg8FF6Bg#/registration
1st July – Webinar Waste of Space: The Environmental Harm of Military and Civil Space Activity st July, 7 pm
Report Launch Online: We are seeing an increasing exploitation of space for military and commercial purposes. This must change.
Protect Sazan Island from the Trump family! https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/protect_sazan_island_from_the_trump_family_loc/?bqFCVab&v=174511&cl=22707147157&_checksum=5e9dde668860e8231c33699735e16a1fbf22ab2cb01da50c999fe8732b9775ef&utm_source=email&utm_medium=blast_email&utm_campaign=174511
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
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