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
Japan’s only two operating nuclear reactors to be shut for maintenance in 2013
Japan faces nuclear shutdown for 2nd time since Fukushima — Expert: They’re trying to protect their nation from diseases, death http://enenews.com/reuters-japan-faces-nuclear-shutdown-for-2nd-time-since-fukushima-expert-trying-to-protect-their-nation-from-diseases-and-death-audio
January 24th, 2013
Title: Japan faces nuclear shutdown for second time since Fukushima
Source: Reuters
Author: Aaron Sheldrick
Date: Jan 24, 2013
Japan may face a total nuclear shutdown in the summer for the second time since the March 2011 Fukushima disaster as the country’s two operating reactors close for maintenance and tough new safety checks keep the rest of the fleet offline. […]
The only two of Japan’s 50 nuclear plants operating are both at Kansai Electric Power’s Ohi plant in western Japan, and must be for shut for maintenance [in mid-September 2013] 13 months after resuming commercial operations, according to Japanese law. […]
Title: Japan Contemplates Complete Nuclear Shutdown
Source: Voice of Russia American Edition
Date: Jan 24, 2013
Full broadcast here
New Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision” (NWCD) designed to let nuclear power continue?
the fact that their best scenario now projects a repository to be ready by about 2050 is a story in itself.
Seventy Years of Nuclear Fission, Thousands of Centuries of Nuclear Waste ,25 January 2013 By Gregg Levine, Truthout “…….Confidence Game
Two months after the Appeals Court found fault with the NRC’s imaginary waste mitigation scenario, the agency announced it would suspend the issuing of new reactor operating licenses, license renewals and construction licenses until the agency could craft a new plan for dealing with the nation’s growing spent nuclear fuel crisis. In drafting its new nuclear “Waste Confidence Decision” (NWCD) – the methodology used to assess the hazards of nuclear waste storage – the Commission said it would evaluate all possible options for resolving the issue.
At first, the NRC said this could include both generic and site-specific actions (remember, the court criticized the NRC’s generic appraisals of pool safety), but as the prescribed process now progresses, it appears any new rule will be designed to give the agency, and so, the industry, as much wiggle room as possible. Continue reading
Explosion at Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment site. Is this report true?
So far, I have not been able to find corroborating information on this. Please check out the comments below this item – some good points to alert us to the possibility that this is a hoax. And note the video below the blogs – reminder of the effect of the radio program “War of the Worlds” – which panicked people many decades ago. – C.M.
Report: Explosion Destroys Key Iran Nuclear Site http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/122646/report-explosion-destroys-key-iran-nuclear-site A source is reporting much of the underground Fordo site has been hit By Adam Chandler|January 25, 2013 A few major sites that linked to WND story have removed it. I take that as a pretty good indication that this story cannot be confirmed.
According to World News Daily, a massive explosion is said to have destroyed most of Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordo.
An explosion deep within Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility has destroyed much of the installation and trapped about 240 personnel deep underground, according to a former intelligence officer of the Islamic regime.
The previously secret nuclear site has become a center for Iran’s nuclear activity because of the 2,700 centrifuges enriching uranium to the 20-percent level. A further enrichment to weapons grade would take only weeks, experts say.
The explosion is said to have taken place on Monday. The nuclear site is a high profile target given that it’s completely underground and recently reached nuclear capacity. Just earlier today, it was reported that the Iran could quadruple enrichment at the Fordo site.
While I am extremely skeptical of this report’s veracity until I hear more, this is potentially a massive development. More to come.
Safety fears: UK’s secret uranium enrichment plant closed for 2013
Secret UK uranium enrichment plant closed over safety 
fears regulators report steel corrosion at Aldermaston plant, which helps enrich uranium for nuclear warheads, Guardian UK , Rob Edwards, 24 Jan 13, A top-secret plant at Aldermaston that helps to enrich uranium for Britain’s nuclear warheads and fuel for the Royal Navy‘s submarines has been shut down because corrosion has been discovered in its “structural steelwork”, the Guardian can reveal.
The closure has been endorsed by safety regulators who feared the building did not conform to the appropriate standards. The nuclear safety watchdog demands such critical buildings are capable of withstanding “extreme weather and seismic events”, and the plant at Aldermaston failed this test.
They have set a deadline of the end of the year for the problems to be fixed.
Although the closed plant has not been officially named for national security reasons, the Guardian understands it is known as A45. It enriches uranium components for Trident nuclear warheads, and has recently been helping to make the uranium fuel for the Astute generation of nuclear-powered submarines.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) insisted it had contingency plans to cover the loss of the enrichment plant, but a prolonged closure could force the government to buy in materials from the US to ensure there is no disruption to Britain’s nuclear weapons programme.
The government’s safety watchdog, the Office for Nuclear Regulation(ONR), has taken legal enforcement action against AWE, the private consortium that runs the nuclear weapons complex at Aldermaston in Berkshire for the MoD, ordering that the corroded steel be repaired. Continue reading
Narrow escape – nuclear satellite mishap in 1982
Thirty Years Ago, Everyone Thought A Nuclear Satellite Was Going To Fall From Space And Spread Destruction http://www.businessinsider.com/flashback-how-a-tumbling-nuclear-russian-satellite-held-the-world-in-fear-for-a-month-2013-1#ixzz2J0sLfzPZ Dina Spector | Jan. 24, 2013 Thirty years ago, the world was held hostage by a nuclear-powered Soviet spy satellite tumbling out of control in an orbit close to Earth.
The spiraling spacecraft, named Cosmos 1402, was launched into low-Earth orbit on Aug. 20, 1982.
What made Cosmos particularly scary is that it carried a nuclear reactor with about 100 pounds of enriched uranium. The reactor was used to power a radar system for tracking ships.
To compare, it takes as little as 35 pounds of uranium to make a nuclear bomb. Once the satellite completed its mission, the plan was to boost the 1,000-pound reactor section, including the fuel core, into higher orbit, where it would linger at a safe distance from Earth for many hundreds of years.
But that failed. Continue reading
A little shark could beat a nuclear submarine
This Tiny Shark Can Take Out Nuclear Submarines Jennifer Welsh | Jan. 23, 2013,
The Cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis).
The cat-sized shark in the picture to the right doesn’t look that intimidating, but it has the power to take down an entire nuclear submarine. The fish’s strange bite can get at the softer areas of the submarines, National Geographic’s Ed Yong reports: The fearless cookie-cutters have even disabled the most dangerous ocean creature of all—the nuclear submarine. They attacked exposed soft areas including electrical cables and rubber sonar domes. In several cases, the attacks effectively blinded the subs, forcing them back to base for repairs. They later returned, fitted with fibreglass coverings.
The attacks happened in the 1970s and the problem seems to have been taken care of, though in several cases the sharks did enough damage to the vessel’s sonar equpiment that the oils inside that transmit sound would leak out of the ship and break the equipment — the subs could no longer see what was around them, according to the ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research.
Nuclear subs obviously aren’t all that tasty, but they seem to bite just about anything — even research equipment in the ocean. The distinctive bites have been found in all kinds of fish and other sharks, and even a human has been attacked by the little guys.
See the rest of Yong’s blog post for more fascinating facts about the cookiecutter shark and the analysis of a new paper out in Pacific Science this month, detailing cookiecutter bites on a great white shark. Here are some more images:……
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-tiny-shark-can-take-out-nuclear-submarines-2013-1#ixzz2IuvjPEFc
USA’s Dept of Energy’s plan for radioactive scrap metal into consumer goods
the DOE wants to deregulate and actually sell 14,000 tons of radioactive scrap metal (both volumetrically and topically contaminated) from the nuclear war system — uranium enrichment, plutonium extraction, etc. — and “recycle” the waste to the commercial clean scrap metal industry. From there, according to the watchdog group Nuclear Information and Resource Service, the radioactive stuff “could be turned into anything from your next pants zipper to baby toys.”
The DOE has never officially acknowledged — in spite of the National Academy of Sciences’ 2006 findings — that the same radiation dose does far more harm to women than to men. The drastically increased vulnerability of fetuses and infants is well known, but the whole population is nevertheless treated as the same big, young, Caucasian male (“reference man”) in most radiation risk assessments.
You can tell the DOE to continue to keep its radioactive metal out of the commercial metal supply, commerce, and our personal items. You can demand a full environmental impact statement. Comment deadline is Feb. 9, 2013. Email to: scrap_PEAcomments@hq.doe.gov (with an underscore after “scrap_”). Snail mail to: Jane Summerson / DOE NNSA / PO Box 5400, Bldg. 401K. AFB East / Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185
The Energy Department’s Crazy Plan for Radioactive Scrap Nuclear Weapons Waste in Your Water Bottle, Hip Replacement, Baby’s Toys, Jungle Gym? http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/23/nuclear-weapons-waste-in-your-water-bottle-hip-replacement-babys-toys-jungle-gym/ by JOHN LaFORGE
Even the deregulation-happy Wall St. Journal sounded shocked: “The Department of Energy is proposing to allow the sale of tons of scrap metal from government nuclear sites — an attempt to reduce waste that critics say could lead to radiation-tainted belt buckles, surgical implants and other consumer products.” Continue reading
1 This Month
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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