Hackers may be able to attack US nuclear power plants
US Nuclear Power Plants May Be Totally Vulnerable To Hackers Jim Finkle , Reuters | Aug. 22, 2012 BOSTON – The U.S. government is looking into claims by a cyber security researcher that flaws in software for specialized networking equipment from Siemens could enable hackers to attack power plants and other critical systems.
Justin W. Clarke, an expert in securing industrial control systems, disclosed at a conference in Los Angeles on Friday that he had figured out a way to spy on traffic moving through networking equipment manufactured by Siemens’ RuggedCom division.
The Department of Homeland Security said in an alert released on Tuesday that it had asked RuggedCom to confirm the vulnerability that Clarke, a 30-year-old security expert who has long worked in theelectric utility field, had identified and identify steps to mitigate its impact…… http://www.businessinsider.com/flaw-in-us-computer-software-may-allow-hackers-to-control-nuclear-power-plants-2012-8#ixzz24Lul43tb
Hanford nuclear waste tank – a new radioactive leak?
Big, radioactive lump in Hanford nuclear-waste tank: Is it leaking? Seattle Times, 21 Aug 12, A discovery at the Hanford nuclear reservation throws into question the integrity of the double-walled steel tanks where radioactive waste is being temporarily stored. Continue reading
USA lucky it was a nun, not a terrorist, breaking into nuke site
“We were lucky in that regard that it was the nun and her cohorts, rather than a serious terrorist outfit,”
Intrusion embarrasses ‘Fort Knox of uranium’, Google News, By ERIK SCHELZIG, Associated Press – 19 Aug OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) — Officials like to refer to the Y-12 National Security Complex as the Fort Knox for highly enriched uranium, which is why an unprecedented incursion by an 82-year-old nun and two fellow protesters has critics mocking the notion that the weapons plant is secure…..
Y-12 makes uranium parts for every warhead in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, dismantles old weapons and is the nation’s primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium…. Continue reading
10 incidents at nuclear power plants within 10 days
Nuclear power: Ten incidents worldwide in ten days http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/331111 By Tim Sandle Aug 19, 2012 – Over a ten days period, between August 8 and August 18, ten nuclear incidents were recorded worldwide. These included events in the USA, UK and Japan. the world’s news has seen ten nuclear power related incidents occur over a ten day period during August 2012.
The first incident occurred on August 8 and continued until August 18. The events were compiled by the website The Watchers . Continue reading
China to be in charge of Britain’s new nuclear power?
The potential for political conflict has been highlighted … “They [the Chinese] will be inside the system, with access to the intricate architecture of the UK’s National Grid and the processes through which electricity supply is controlled, as well as to the UK’s nuclear technology.”
Security fears shelved amid China nuclear bid FT.com By Jim Pickard, Anousha Sakoui and Rebecca Bream, 19 Aug 12
“……..the attempt [China’s} to buy into Britain’s nuclear programme marks a significant change of gear. Not only will this be the first investment into new build projects in the UK – as opposed to takeovers of existing assets – it is also in a controversial sector.
For China, the project provides an opportunity to showcase its expertise in an OECD country. “If you can be at the top table in the UK, that’s a great selling point around the world,” said one of the people close to the Horizon project……. Continue reading
How Safe Is Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal? Radio free Europe By Abubakar Siddique August 19, 2012 Militants’ storming of a Pakistani Air Force base where some nuclear warheads are reportedly stored has once again sounded the alarms about the security of the country’s atomic weapons. Continue reading
Brutal murder of Ukrainian anti nuclear leader
Goncharenko EJOLT (Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities and Trade) reports the horrific news that, four days after conducting a press conference to warn that 180 tons of dangerous chemical and radioactive industrial waste had arrived at the city of Kryvyi Rih (in the Dnipropetrovsk area of Ukraine), which was likely to be “recycled” into the consumer product stream, 57 year old Volodymyr Goncharenko (photo, left) was brutally beaten to death.Pavlo Khazan of the Ukrainian Green Party stated: “We collaborated with Volodymyr for 15 years in professional and public areas. The Ukrainian Green Party has no doubt that the murder was linked to his professional activities.” Although the Ukrainian police have opened an investigation into Goncharenko’s murder, Khazan feels that to deliver justice in this case, international attention and pressure will be needed.
Please contact the Embassy of Ukraine, urging a thorough investigation of Goncharenko’s murder, as well as for an end to the “recycling” of radioactive metals and other materials into the consumer product stream. In the U.S., the Embassy of Ukraine can be written at 3350 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007, faxed at (202) 333-0817, or phoned at (202) 349-2920.Embassies and Consulates of Ukraine elsewhere in the U.S., or in other countries, can also be contacted.
Thanks to Nuclear Energy Information Service in Illinois for alerting us to this story.
Click here to learn more about anti-nuclear resistance to attempts at “radioactive recycling” in North America.
Belgian reactor likely to have 1000s of cracks
Nuclear chief says Belgium reactor could have ‘thousands of cracks’ 17/08/2012
By Diarmaid Williams International Digital Editor Belgium’s Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) held an international meeting of nuclear experts on Thursday as nuclear safety chief, Willy De Roovere, confirmed that there could be thousands of cracks in the reactor vessel of the Doel 3 nuclear reactor near Antwerp, on the Dutch border….
http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/2012/08/nuclear-chief-says-belgium-reactor-could-have-thousands-of-cracks.html
Dubious ‘safety culture’ at Tennessee Nuclear Weapons Facility
Workers at Tennessee Nuclear Facility Say Safety Takes Backseat to Deadlines Project on Government Oversight (POGO) By MIA STEINLE, 17 Aug 12 Some workers who are designing and building a major nuclear weapons facility for the government say they feel pressure to put deadlines ahead of safety, according to a recent Department of Energy report
“Interviewees indicated that schedule pressures can inhibit reporting of concerns,” the report said. “The heavy emphasis on performance metrics and cost, often at the perceived expense of understanding and developing the right technology, has created issues for the completion of the project,” the report said.
The June report focused on part of the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., that is intended to consolidate operations involving bomb-grade uranium for the nation’s nuclear arsenal. When completed, the Uranium Processing Facility will be used for the assembly, disassembly and storage of bomb components and of bomb-grade uranium, according to its website.
The report was posted on a government web site just days after a major security breach at Y-12 last month, when three protesters, including an 82-year-old nun, broke into a high-security area of Y-12. The anti-nuclear activists bypassed security guards and several fences to enter the complex, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported. The new uranium facility is being built in the same high-security area.
A team of external safety culture experts evaluating the ongoing design and construction work for the Department of Energy interviewed and surveyed more than 800 people involved in the project. Those interviewed are employed by the government or by private companies under contract to the government……
The report said there are “negative perceptions around feeling free to challenge management decisions” at the site. It added that there is “a lack of ownership and accountability for safety” among contractors on the project.
“There is the expectation [among the contractors] that someone else or something else will take care of accountability,” the report said. http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/08/workers-at-tennessee-nuclear-facility-say-safety-takes-backseat-to-deadlines.html
State regulator: Vermont Yankee nuclear plant needs more NRC scrutiny
The Republic By DAVE GRAM Associated Press August 17, 2012 MONTPELIER, Vt. — A top Vermont utility regulator is renewing her push for stepped-up scrutiny by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after a series of problems at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. Continue reading
Secrecy and un-safety in nuclear reactor designs – a first hand report
Fukushima They Knew, Nation of Change, Greg Palast
http://www.nationofchange.org/fukushima-they-knew-1345037631 16 Aug 12
I’ve seen a lot of sick stuff in my career, but this was sick on a new level. Here was the handwritten log kept by a senior engineer at the nuclear power plant:
Wiesel was very upset. He seemed very nervous. Very agitated. . . . In fact, the plant was riddled with problems that, no way on earth, could stand an earth- quake. The team of engineers sent in to inspect found that most of these components could “completely and utterly fail” during an earthquake.
“Utterly fail during an earthquake.” And here in Japan was the quake and here is the utter failure.
The warning was in what the investigations team called The Notebook, which I’m not supposed to have. Good thing I’ve kept a copy anyway, because the file cabinets went down with my office building ….
WORLD TRADE CENTER TOWER 1, FIFTY-SECOND FLOORNEW YORK, 1986
Two senior nuclear plant engineers were spilling out their souls and files on our huge conference table, blowing away my government investigations team with the inside stuff about the construction of the Shoreham, New York, power station.
The meeting was secret. Very secret. Their courage could destroy their careers: No engineering firm wants to hire a snitch, even one who has saved thousands of lives. They could lose their jobs; they could lose everything. They did. That’s what happens. Continue reading
USA govt permits dumping of radioactive wastes into salt caverns
US Gov’t: EPA specifically allows radioactive waste to be dumped in salt caverns — Exempted from hazardous waste requirements http://enenews.com/us-govt-epa-specifically-allows-radioactive-waste-to-be-dumped-in-salt-caverns-exempted-from-hazardous-waste-requirements
August 13th, 2012 ENENews itle: Giant Sinkhole May Be Radioactive
Source: Courthouse News Service
Author: SABRINA CANFIELD
Date: August 13, 2012
[…]
A U.S. Department of Energy document on storage of naturally occurring radioactive material in salt caverns states that oil field wastes – but not other industrial wastes – are exempted from the hazardous waste requirements of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Continue reading
Fracture danger in Belgian and USA nuclear plants
“Emergency situation” as fractures suspected at nuclear reactor http://enenews.com/official-emergency-situation-as-fractures-suspected-at-reactor-10-u-s-nuclear-plants-may-use-same-component— Ten U.S. plants may use same component — “Likely to reignite a debate over the risks of nuclear energy” -Financial Times
August 10th, 2012 By ENENews
Follow-up to: FOX: Nuclear reactor halted on “suspicion of cracks”; “We have found anomalies,” says Belgium official — AFP: Possible cracks in reactor vessel?
Title: Belgium shuts down nuclear power plant
Source: Financial Times
Author: James Fontanella-Khan
Date: August 9, 2012 5:47 pm
Emphasis Added
Belgium has temporarily shut down one of its seven nuclear power plants after the country’s atomic energy regulator discovered “several anomalies”, including possible cracks, in the tank containing the reactor’s core. […] suspected fractures at the Doel 3 reactor […]
Several other nuclear sites around the world – including the US, Germany and Spain – use tanks produced by the same company, according a nuclear energy expert who asked not to be named. Continue reading
Former head of Fukushima nuclear plant says plant is not safe
‘Fukushima reactors not stable’ – plant ex-boss RT.com. 13 August, 2012, The reactors at crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant are not stable, says its former head. He urged for international expertise to be called in to make the site of one of world’s worst nuclear disasters safe.
“People won’t come back to Fukushima until the plant is stabilized and we still need to find a way to do that,” Masao Yoshida said as cited by The Australian newspaper. “We have to bring people in from around the world. It will require people, technology and wisdom from all corners.”
Yoshida, 57, was speaking on Saturday after a 17-month silence in a video message, in which he described his experience of leading a desperate drive to tame the disabled plant. He and his men, dubbed the Fukushima 50 in Japan, were working to hold down melting down reactors at the facility hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
He said he had no right to go public with his warning until four investigations into the disaster were concluded. Yoshida, who is currently in hospital suffering cancer of the esophagus, said he and his workers cooperated with the probes, but since their human stories did not enter the official reports, he agreed to an interview.
“It was clear from the beginning that we couldn’t run,” Yoshida said. “Reactors five and six would have also melted down without people staying on site.
“My colleagues went out there again and again. The level of radiation on the ground was terrible, yet they gave everything that they had.”
The former Fukushima manager said he feared for his life three times in the first days of the disaster. Three huge explosions of hydrogen released from water injected into reactors rocked the facility, ripping through the roof and sending debris flying.
“At the time we didn’t know they were hydrogen explosions,” he said. “When that first explosion occurred, I really felt we might die.”…..
Some in Japan hold Yoshida as a hero for refusing orders to stop the injection of seawater into one of the damaged reactors, thus preventing the disaster from becoming even worse. There is also a video shot in the command bunker that TEPCO recently released showing Yoshida suggesting he lead a suicide mission to restore the cooling of the reactors if the situation deteriorated.
Yoshida did not touch on either of those episodes in the interview.
The Fukushima plant is currently in cold shutdown, with no nuclear reactions happening inside the reactors. There are fears that the site could be further damaged by a new earthquake, should one occur. http://www.rt.com/news/fukushima-plant-yoshida-stabilize-505/
For the third time this month, Calvert Cliffs nuclear reactor shut down
Calvert Cliffs nuclear reactor shut down, Control rod malfunction reduces power By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun, August 13, 2012 Operators of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland have shut down one of the two reactors there because a control rod unexpectedly dropped into the reactor core, causing a reduction in power generation, a plant spokesman said Monday.
The incident happened Sunday afternoon, prompting the plant’s staff to shut the reactor down to find and fix the cause of the malfunction, according to Kory Raftery, spokesman for Constellation Energy Nuclear Group. Control rods are used in a reactor to limit the fission taking place among the reactor’s enriched-uranium fuel rods.
An unplanned insertion of a control rod into a reactor core can “create an imbalance in the fissioning and pose challenges for reactor operators,” according to Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He described it as an infrequent occurrence
among U.S. nuclear plants…… It’s the third unplanned shutdown of Unit 1 in the past month; the reactor was taken out of service twice in July to fix a pair of leaks, ..
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/blog/bs-gr-calvert-nuclear-shutdown-20120813,0,4708290.story
1 This Month
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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