USA taxpayers up for huge costs as NRC approves 2 new and unsafe nuclear reactors
The safety of the reactor design has been challenged over many years. An engineering study commissioned by Friends of the Earth and other groups opposed to the project identified seven key safety areas, including failure risks for the reactor containment, cooling functions and spent fuel pool integrity
Feds Approve Unsafe New Nuclear Reactors Requiring Billions Of Taxpayer Dollars ENews Park Forest, Washington, D.C.—(ENEWSPF)—February 14, 2012. Despite the opposition of its chair, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last Thursday approved the first new construction of a new design of nuclear reactor since the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in 1979. Friends of the Earth stated today that the decision to give the green light to building two nuclear reactors at Vogtle, Georgia raises fundamental safety and economic 
concerns.
The NRC ruling, the first such approval in the U.S. in more than 30 years, will saddle Georgians with higher electricity rates and leave American taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars — all for a dangerous energy source with a long history of construction delays, cost overruns and safety lapses. Continue reading
Palisades and Browns Ferry nuclear reactors rated at the bottom for safety
Michigan Nuclear Plant Downgraded Over Safety, WSJ, FEBRUARY 14, 2012, COVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich.—Federal regulators said Tuesday that safety violations at the Palisades nuclear-power plant in southwestern Michigan had led them to downgrade the plant to a status held by just two others in the U.S.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission assigns the more than 100 nuclear reactors in the U.S. to one of five categories based on their safety performance. Most are in the top-performing group. Palisades was bumped to the No. 2 category last month and now will join two others
in the third category: the Perry Nuclear Power Plant’s Unit 1 generator near Cleveland and the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant’s Unit 1 generator in Berwick, Pa.
The only reactor that ranks lower is Browns Ferry Unit 1 near Athens, Ala., which is in the fourth category….. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204883304577223561511417868.html
15 tonnes of water hourly, as Fukushima nuclear reactor hots up again
Fukushima reactor heats up again, ABC News, By Mark Willacy in Fukushima The operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant has begun injecting more water into one of the reactors, after the core temperature rose above Japan’s safety limit.
A gauge inside Fukushima’s reactor number two showed the temperature rising to 82 degrees Celsius over the weekend, its highest level since the reactor was put into a state of cold shutdown two months ago. Operator TEPCO insists there has been no nuclear reaction and that the reactor can be controlled.
Responding to the increase, the operator began injecting 15 tonnes of water an hour into the reactor in a bid to get the temperature down. TEPCO says it has not detected any xenon gas, which is created when a
nuclear reaction has been triggered.
The company suspects that cooling water has not been flowing freely into the the number two reactor, causing the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s poor oversight of safety enforcement
US nuclear watchdog questions oversight of safety enforcement, msnbc.com, By M. Alex Johnson 13 Feb 12, The federal government’s nuclear watchdog has faulted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for failing to follow through on safety agreements with nuclear facilities, saying its system for tracking corrective action raises questions about its oversight of nuclear safety and security. Continue reading
Thorium nuclear reactors – not all they’re cracked up to be
What you then get, as well as heat energy, radiation, and fission products from the Plutonium and Uranium, is U232. U232 (and its decay products) emit very hard gamma radiation.
will anyone really trust the nuclear lobby when it says ‘we have the answer’, as so often before?
Nuclear Problems, Environmental Research Web, 12 Feb 12,”……With uranium fired reactors out of favour after Fukushima, for the longer term, some in the nuclear lobby have been promoting thorium as an allegedly safer fuel- looking at molten flouride salt systems.
The Weinberg Foundation was launched last year to promote the Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) Continue reading
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman warns on safety factors for Vogtle new nuclear plant
Southern’s `Monumental Accomplishment’ Tempered by Fukushima, Bloomberg, By Brian Wingfield – Feb 9, 2012 The chief regulator’s dissent in a vote that approved the first U.S. permit in 34 years to build a nuclear reactor is fueling a debate over safety as the first anniversary of Japan’s nuclear disaster nears.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 yesterday to award Southern Co. (SO) of Atlanta a license to build two reactors at its Vogtle plant near Augusta, Georgia. The agency should have required the company to implement lessons from Japan’s nuclear crisis last year, said Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who opposed the license.
“Right now we know there are things that need to be fixed, things that need to be changed, or at least things that need to be analyzed,” Jaczko said yesterday in an interview at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. “For us to issue this license, and say ‘we’ll deal with them later,’ to me is kind of putting the cart before the horse.” Continue reading
Fukushima nuclear disaster is an ongoing emeergency
Harvey Wasserman, 10 Feb 12, … the biggest shock waves this week were caused by Tama University Professor Hiroshi Tasaka, a key advisor to Prime Minister Naoto Kan during the Fukushima disaster.
Warning that Fukushima is “far from over,” Tasaka said official assurances of the complex’s alleged safety were based on “groundless
optimism.” Tasaka cited more than 1500 fuel rods dangerously exposed to the open atmosphere at Unit Four alone. The waste problem has gone nationwide, he said in a newly published book, as “the storage capacities of the spent fuel pools at the nation’s nuclear power
plants are reaching their limits,”
Tasaka’s statements came as a new temperature spike unexpectedly stuck Fukushina Unit Two. For reasons not yet clear, heat releases in excess of 158 degrees Farenheit spewed from the core, prompting Tokyo Electric to pump in more water and boric acid meant to damp down an apparently on-going chain reaction. Prof. Tasaka and others warn that this in turn will contribute to spreading still more radiation into the water table and oceans.
With bitter debate raging in Japan, the US and elsewhere over the killing power of Fukushima’s emissions, the certification of a new US
reactor design may someday be remembered as a bizarre epitaph for the 20th century’s most expensive failed technology.
Without state ratepayers and federal taxpayers being forced to foot the bill, new reactor construction in the US is going nowhere.
And without a final resolution to the on-going horrors at Fukushima, the entire planet, from Tokyo to Alaska to Georgia and beyond, remains at serious radioactive risk.
Secrecy over possible plutonium from Felon 22 air crash
The list of witnesses who were interviewed and their statements were withheld, as were the findings of the investigators and the health reports on the victims of the crash.
Radiation fears still cloud the crash of Felon 22, by Lee Bennett, Feb 08, 2012 | San Juan Record – From the time Felon 22 tore apart in the skies over Monticello, UT, in January, 1961, there were fears that atomic bombs on board the plane might have spilled radioactive debris.
………a Pentagon report listed the crash “among 29 documented nuclear accidents that have occurred since 1950.” Continue reading
13.5 tons of water hourly in effort to cool Fukushima nuclear reactor No. 2
Boric acid to prevent recriticality, Japan Times,8 Feb 12, Reactor No. 2 heats up, gets more water Kyodo Workers at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant increased the amount of water injected into reactor 2 on Tuesday to the highest level since the plant achieved cold shutdown in December as concerns grew over rising temperatures at the bottom of the pressure vessel….
Tepco said it increased the amount of injected water, some of which contained boric acid, at 4:24 a.m. Tuesday. Reactor 2 is now being cooled with 13.5 tons of water per hour, up from 10.5 tons. The boric acid is being used to prevent a sustained nuclear chain reaction, or recriticality.
Nuclear disaster minister Goshi Hosono told reporters that Tepco is
making every effort to lower the temperature…. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120207x1.html
It’s getting hotter in Fukushima’s supposedly “cold shutdown” nuclear plant
Rising temperatures trigger concern at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant Telegraph UK 7 Feb 12, Water temperatures at Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant have risen more than 20 degrees Celsius over the past week. By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo 07 Feb 2012 Concerns are growing in relation to conditions at the plant, in northeast Japan, which was declared in a state of cold shutdown in December last year. Continue reading
Level 2 nuclear incidents in France
France declares level 2 nuclear event at Cattenom Feb 6, 2012
* Reactors not shut down after the fault was found
* EDF given 10 days on Jan. 24 to make repairs
* There were four level two events in 2011
PARIS, Feb 6 (Reuters) – France’s nuclear safety authority (ASN) said on Monday it had identified a problem with water pipes at one of EDF’s nuclear plants and rated it a level two event out of a maximum seven on the international nuclear event scale (INES).
Level two ratings occur relatively rarely, but the watchdog said there was no impact on plant workers or the environment from the event. In 2011, the ASN gave four incidents a level two rating. Japan’s Fukushima disaster was rated a level seven event.
Pipes used to pump water into fuel rod cooling pools at reactors 2 and 3 at EDF’s Cattenom nuclear plant were not equipped with a mechanism to prevent them from accidentally pumping water out of the basins.
In case water levels fall in rod cooling pools, the exposed fuel would heat up and release dangerous radioactive material. “Due to the potential consequences, this event was placed on a level 2 of the INES scale,” the watchdog said in a statement….. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/06/france-nuclear-ines-idUSL5E8D63C120120206
Close to Iran’s nuclear reactor – an earthquake strikes
Earthquake strikes near Iranian nuclear power plant, February 5, 2012. PennEnergy, By Brien Southward An earthquake, measured at 5 on the Richter scale by the US Geological Survey, was felt only 70km from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, which is expected to go online on March 20. As of 9:46am CST on February 5, 2012, there has been no report yet of casualties or damage at the reactor facility. If damage did occur, it could have consequences for the future of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The quake strikes as Iran is mired in a diplomatic crisis with the West overthe ambitions of its nuclear energy program. Iran claims that their research is only for the sake of producing nuclear power to meet the growing energy needs of the developing country of some 74 million people, but numerous world leaders and global organizations such as theUN-affiliated International Atomic Energy Agency are concerned that they could be secretly using nuclear enrichment technology to develop nuclear weapons….. The most recent earthquake, measured at 5.5 on the Richter scale, was felt on January 19 near the city of Neyshabour in northeast Iran, injuring 100 people and causing some structural damage. Iran’s deadliest earthquake struck the northern provinces of Gilan and Zanjan, killing around 37,000 people and injuring more than 100,000. http://www.pennenergy.com/index/power/display/8633237470/articles/pennenergy/power/nuclear/2012/february/quake-strikes_near.html
Spain wants USA to clean up plutonium pollution B-52 bomber accident
two of the bombs that hit the ground detonated, spreading seven pounds of plutonium over a 200 hectares (490 acres).
US and Spain discuss cleanup of nuclear radiation, PhysOrg.com, February 5, 2012 The United States is offering technical assistance to Spain to clean up land contaminated by radiation from undetonated nuclear bombs that accidentally fell on the area in 1966, Continue reading
Safety concerns about Russia’s nukes – highlighted by recent fire at nuclear institute
Fire at Moscow nuclear institute, Russia says no risk (Reuters) – Jan 29 2012 There was no risk of a radiation leak after a fire broke out at a Moscow nuclear research centre housing a non-operational 60-year-old atomic reactor on Sunday, said officials, but Greenpeace Russia expressed serious concern about the incident. Continue reading
Nuclear Regulatory Commission orders reassessment of earthquake and flood risks
Nuclear plants told to reassess earthquake risks, Feb 05, 2012 WRCB TV, By Pam Sohn, Chattanooga Times Free Press , The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week told TVA and other nuclear plant operators to reassess the earthquake risks at each of their reactors.
Initial reviews by NRC and the nuclear industry indicate there are increased risks at some plants, including Sequoyah near Soddy-Daisy and 17 miles north of Chattanooga.
The news comes during the same week NRC told the Tennessee Valley Authority that the sand baskets on three dams above Sequoyah could fail during a massive flood, putting the nuclear plant and its diesel generators at risk.
The baskets were placed along the top and side edges of Cherokee, Fort Loudon, Tellico and Watts Bar dams in 2008 when TVA discovered problems with flood calculations. The data TVA used for its calculations was decades old and outdated, agency officials said.
Read more about this story from our news partners at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/16680116/nuclear-plants-told-to-reassess-earthquake-risks
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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