At last, Nuclear Regulatory Commission is asking hard questions, about San Onofre nuclear plant
“Edison’s design errors have led to the multi-hundred million-dollar
failure of brand new equipment which has in turn endangered the lives
and livelihoods of millions of people in Southern California,”
the NRC is asking hard questions
Feds do not consider San Onofre nuclear powerplant safe
http://rt.com/usa/news/san-plant-power-tubes-959/
27 December, 2012 Federal regulators have expressed
significant concern about the safety of the San Onofre nuclear power
plant, asking for more analysis on its damaged steam generators and
requesting the plant to be able to run safely at full capacity.
The power plant has been inactive since January, when a radiation leak
led to the discovery of significant damage on many of its generator
tubes. Many worried that the dangerous conditions at the plant could
lead to California’s own Fukushima-like meltdown.
Southern California
Edison, which runs the plant, has since asked for permission to
restart one of its twin reactors, Unit 2, at 70 percent power, Continue reading
An overview of the Fukushima nuclear plant situation
Two high school girls that were affected by the disaster are launching a peace discussion forum devoted to expanding the dialogue about nuclear power and weapons. One of the young women said, “My parents’ and grandparents’ generations may be to blame for allowing the nuclear power plants, but both adults and children are responsible for thinking together about the problem.”
Japan Continues Struggle with Aftermath from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster http://blog.cleanenergy.org/2012/12/26/japan-continues-fukushima-struggle/
December 26th, 2012 › As 2012 draws to a close, evaluating the ongoing effects of the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on the people of Japan is a difficult and depressing task. After having fled their homes due to the tsunami and resulting triple nuclear meltdown, 21 months later an estimated160,000 citizens still have not returned home.
Reports of illness in humans and livestock continue to underscore the far reaching and difficult to predict impacts that a nuclear accident can cause. In July, 36% of Japanese children screened were found to have abnormal thyroid growths. This fall, an illness dubbed the “Fukushima syndrome” was reported to be killing cattle near the Fukushima prefecture. Mutations are already observed inbutterflies and other insects, whose shorter life cycles allow genetic disruptions to display more quickly than in mammals or humans.
Fukushima type accident risk at Indian Point and Oconee nuclear plants
Engineers warn: Two US nuclear plants may cause new Fukushima
http://rt.com/usa/news/two-nuclear-nrc-facilities-604/
21 December, 2012, Nuclear engineers have warned the
Senate of the threats facing two US nuclear power facilities, which
could result in enormous explosions or a Fukushima-like meltdown if
natural phenomena or weather conditions cause the facilities to fail.
Senator Joe Lieberman is the current chairman of the Senate Committee
on Homeland Security & Government Affairs, but will retire in 2013.
Two nuclear engineers have asked him to spend his last days in
Congress investigating the threats posed by two nuclear power
facilities. Continue reading
What would be the consequences of a flooded nuclear power plant?
What would be the consequences were a nuclear power plant to flood?
In the case of a natural disaster like a hurricane, the direct impact on a single nuclear power station would likely be exacerbated by a cascade of indirect effects: a range of emergencies and failures unfolding throughout the surrounding area. As during Sandy, transportation would be radically curtailed with roads, bridges, tunnels, trains, and airports shut, as well as some roads blocked by floodwaters, felled trees, and large-scale debris. There could also be widespread power and water outages, fuel shortages, and downed communication lines..
Nuclear power plant flood risk: Sandy was just a warm-up Remapping Debate, By Heather Rogers Dec. 20, 2012 — As Hurricane Sandy approached the East Coast late last October, more than a dozen nuclear power plants from North Carolina stretching up to New England were in its wide-ranging path. On Oct. 29, the night that the eye of the storm made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey, five nuclear plants were forced to either reduce power or make emergency shutdowns.
“These facilities need to be hardened more because if they were faced with a Category 2 or a Category 3 [hurricane], it makes me concerned about whether or not they’d be able to safely shut down.” — Michael J. Reilly, National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University Continue reading
Trouble with nuclear fuel rods in Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant
Kyodo: Level 1 incident at Japan nuclear plant — Deformed fuel rods stuck together in pool http://enenews.com/kyodo-level-1-incident-at-japan-nuclear-plant-deformed-fuel-rods-stuck-together-in-pool
December 19th, 2012
Regulators confirm ‘level 1’ incident (on 7 level scale) at TEPCO nuclear plant in west Japan. Deformed fuel rods stuck together in pool
18 Dec 12
Title: Regulators confirm level 1 incident at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant
Source: Kyodo
Date: Dec. 19, 2012
Japan’s nuclear regulatory authority said Wednesday that recently confirmed trouble with fuel rods stored in a spent nuclear fuel pool at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is a level 1 incident on a 7-point international scale.
A pair of fuel rods was touching as a result of deformation in the bundle of fuel rods, leading the Nuclear Regulation Authority to determine that the fuel had likely been loaded to the reactor core “in an abnormal situation.” The NRA’s assessment of the incident is provisional. […]
also: Nuclear fuel rods touching — “Serious fuel failure accident” risked at Japan plant
South Korea’s nuclear power bungles
A Year Of Nuclear Bungles, New Matilda, By Jim Green, 19 Dec 12,“……In South Korea, five engineers were charged with covering up a potentially dangerous power failure at the Kori-I reactor in May. The accident occurred because of a failure to follow safety procedures. The manager of the reactor decided to conceal the incident and to delete records, despite a legal obligation to notify the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.
In early November, the South Korean government shut down two reactors at Yeonggwang to replace thousands of parts that had been supplied with forged quality and safety warranties. Plant owner Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) has acknowledged possible bribery and collusion by KHNP officials as well as corruption by firms supplying reactor parts. In late November there were further revelations and the current total stands at 8601 reactor parts, 10 firms and six reactors. Inadequate and compromised regulation has been a key contributor to the problems in South Korea’s nuclear industry — just as it was a key factor behind the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
South Korea wants to develop uranium enrichment technology (a direct route to nuclear weapons material) in violation of its commitments under the 1992 Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula……. http://newmatilda.com/2012/12/19/year-nuclear-bungles
Fukushima nuclear situation still critical, with “makeshift” cooling system
Fukushima plant situation ‘volatile,’ a year after cold shutdown declared, Asahi Shimbun December 18, 2012 By NAOYA KON/ Staff Writer Workers are nowhere close to determining the state of melted fuel at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, a year after the government declared the damaged reactors were in a “cold shutdown” state.
Storage tanks at the site are nearing capacity for radioactive water. A makeshift system is still being used to cool the nuclear fuel. And leaks of contaminated water and quake-induced collapses of plant facilities remain a threat. Continue reading
Sweden: 2 aging nuclear reactors shutdown after failing safety tests
Backup power problems put two Swedish reactors on ice – and cast an unpleasant light on age, Bellona, 18 Dec 12 Safety concerns over backup diesel power generators have forced the closure of two of the three reactors in operation at Sweden’s Oskarshamn nuclear power plant after safety tests revealed problems with one of the generators, which failed to start within specified time parameters. Charles Digges, 17/12-2012
Diesel generators are a critical failsafe against loss of coolant during a catastrophic reactor accident, as bitterly illustrated by Fukushima, where a tsunami knocked out back-up and diesel generators, resulting in a triple meltdown.
The shutdown of the reactors comes as unwelcome news to OKG, the utility that runs the plant as Sweden marshals its energy resources with the onset of the Scandinavian country’s coldest months yet to come.
Bellona general manager and nuclear physicist Nils Bøhmer said the discoveries “show that Sweden’s ageing nuclear industry is coming to a point where it can no longer reliably supply power.”….. http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2012/oskar_1_2
Mitsubishi faulted by nuclear watchdog, over San Onofre equipment tests
Nuclear watchdog faults Mitsubishi over San Onofre equipment tests
LA Times, December 17, 2012 Federal regulators found flaws in the process followed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in building and testing mock-up replacement parts for the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant.
The plant has been out of service for more than 10 months because of excessive wear on tubes carrying radioactive water, one of which leaked a small amount of radioactive steam in January, prompting the plant’s shutdown.
The tubes are part of the four massive replacement steam generator assemblies manufactured by Mitsubishi for plant operator Southern California Edison.
The replacement project cost Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, which co-owns the plant, a combined $771 million, a cost passed on to ratepayers. A warranty on the equipment is capped at $137 million. Continue reading
Japan admits to errors in radiation data for every nuclear power plant in the country
Japan’s ‘nuclear radiation projection’ had errors http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/japans-nuclear-radiation-projection-had-errors_816717.html, December 14, 2012, Washington: The Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan said a thorough review of its mistake-plagued projections for the spread of radiation, in a case of possible meltdown like the Fukushima crisis, turned up errors in the data for every atomic power plant in the country. Continue reading
USA’s inadequate radiation detection in overseas megaports
NUCLEAR SMUGGLING MONITORS CUT BACK Program intended to detect potential threats aimed at U.S. WND, by F. MICHAEL MALOOF WASHINGTON 14 Dec 12– The federal government is dramatically cutting back on funds to install nuclear and radiation detection equipment in overseas megaports to scan the contents of shipping containers destined for the United States, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin. Continue reading
Tsuruga nuclear plant not safe to restart: how many others are the same?
EDITORIAL: Why flirt with disaster? Decommission Tsuruga nuclear reactor Asahi Shimbun December 12, 2012 Breaking away from the “safety myth” that surrounded nuclear energy, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has changed the way Japan judges the safety of nuclear power plants.
The new industry watchdog said Dec. 10 there is a high possibility that a fault line running directly beneath a reactor at Japan Atomic Power Co.’s Tsuruga nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture is active. “Under the current circumstances, there is no way we can carry out the
safety assessments (that are required) for a restart (of the reactor),” NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said.
This signals a major turning point in the nation’s nuclear regulation administration. Continue reading
South Korea’s and Japan’s nuclear operators – not to be trusted
Now, South Korea wants to develop uranium enrichment technology in violation of its commitments under the 1992 Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea has no legitimate need for enrichment technology (there is ample global enrichment capacity) and there are serious proliferation concerns as enrichment provides a direct route to nuclear weapons material in the form of highly-enriched uranium…..
Japan’s plutonium program demonstrably fans regional proliferation tensions.
How can we trust nuclear, if we can’t trust its operators? The Punch, by Jim Green 13 DEC “……Widespread safety breaches and proliferation concerns in North Asia are recent manifestations of the problem. In May, fiveengineers were charged with covering up a potentially dangerous power failure at South Korea’s Kori-I reactor which led to a rapid rise in the reactor core temperature. The accident occurred because of a failure to follow safety procedures. A manager decided to conceal theincident and to delete records, despite a legal obligation to notify the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.
In October, authorities temporarily shut down two reactors at separateSouth Korean nuclear plants after system malfunctions. Continue reading
UK navy man tried to sell nuclear secrets to Russia
Nuclear submariner tried to pass secrets to Russians to ‘hurt’ Royal Navy A disillusioned Royal Navy submariner betrayed his country by trying to pass nuclear sub secrets to Russian agents because he wanted to “hurt” the Navy. Telegraph UK, By Tom Whitehead, 12 Dec 2012
Petty Officer Edward Devenney was jailed for eight years yesterday for breaching the official secrets act after being caught in an elaborate MI5 sting operation. Continue reading
Sweden’s nuclear waste pools found to have cracks
Cracks found in Swedish nuclear waste pools The Local, 12 Dec 12 The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten) has asked nuclear waste contractors at the Oskarshamn nuclear plant to review their security requirements after cracks were found in the pools where nuclear waste is temporarily stored on site. Continue reading
1 This Month
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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