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Fukushima Daiichi – a global disaster still only in its infancy

There is every reason to suspect that the vital information about the full extent of the nuclear disaster in Japan is still being kept from the public; that the life-threatening damage to Japan’s nuclear infrastructure does not end with Fukushima #1. 

The Fukushima Debacle is Only in Its Infancy     The growing realization that the worst of the Fukushima debacle lies in the future rather than in the past puts in sharp relief the pertinence of Einstein’s observation.

Fukushima Daiichi: From Nuclear Power Plant to Nuclear Weapon Global Research, by Prof. Anthony Hall , 13 June 12, “Our world is faced with a crisis that has never before been envisaged in its whole existence… The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophe.” Albert Einstein, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May, 1946

Albert Einstein’s Warning and the Ominous Fate of Fukushima Daiichi
As the bad news gradually spreads that the debacle at Fukushima nuclear power plant #1 is becoming more perilous rather than less so, the words of Albert Einstein come to mind. Recall that the legendary physicist, Einstein, helped to set in motion the Manhattan Project whose personnel designed and built the first atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945…..
Albert Einstein worried that human ways of thinking could not be made to adapt to the changes brought to the world by the tapping the enormous energy sources emanating from the molecular constitution of inner space.

Japan as Laboratory Continue reading →

June 14, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Proposed nuclear reactor restarts in Japan – ‘woefully unprepared for accidents’

critics say the offsite center in Oi is woefully unprepared for a severe accident on the scale of Fukushima. 

Fukushima Watch: Japan Gets ‘Feudal’ on Reactor Restarts  By Chester Dawson and Mitsuru Obe, WSJ, June 12, 2012  As the Japanese government moves full steam ahead with plans to bring back online the first nuclear reactors since last year’s crisis in Fukushima, the town of Oi is preparing to roll out the futons for a pair of long-term visiting V.I.P.s from Tokyo. The two high-ranking government officials are being sent to the rural seaside town as part of a promise made last month by nuclear disaster minister Goshi Hosono, in order to pave the way for restarts of Oi’s No. 3 and No. 4 reactors—a controversial decision amid widespread public anxiety about nuclear safety. Continue reading →

June 13, 2012 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Comparing USA nuclear reactors with Fukushima reactors

nuclear reactors in the United States were built during the same time period as the Fukushima reactor, before 1980. These reactors were all built using the same 80-year-old technology, which is to say they’re all just as outdated as Fukushima and the materials and equipment used are all beginning to show the same signs of wear and tear. 

What makes this scenario even more alarming is that Gundersen says the reactors in the United States hold 4-5 times more nuclear waste than the Fukushima reactor. 

Fukushima forum: Arnie Gundersen compares U.S. and Japanese nuclear reactors http://www.examiner.com/article/fukushima-forum-arnie-gundersen-compares-u-s-and-japanese-nuclear-reactors by Donna Anderson, 10 June 12  John B. Wells was at the helm for the Fukushima forum on the Saturday, June 9, 2012 edition of Coast to Coast AM . The first guest was Arnie Gundersen   who appeared on the show to share his expertise in the area of nuclear engineering and to make the American public more aware of the potential danger hiding in their own backyard.
Gundersen, who holds a master’s degree in nuclear engineering, has manged and coordinated design efforts for 70 nuclear reactors in the United States and has more than 40 years experience in nuclear power engineering. He’s currently working on the AP1000 nuclear power generator being built in South Carolina.

According to Gundersen the nuclear reactors in the United States were built during the same time period as the Fukushima reactor, before 1980. These reactors were all built using the same 80-year-old technology, which is to say they’re all just as outdated as Fukushima and the materials and equipment used are all beginning to show the same signs of wear and tear. Continue reading →

June 11, 2012 Posted by | Reference, safety, USA | Leave a comment

Japan’s re-opened nuclear plants will not be safe until after 2015

Filtered vents that could substantially reduce radiation leaks in case of an accident ; a radiation-free crisis management building; and fences to block debris washed up by a tsunami won’t be ready until 2015. This means the plant, as well as plant workers and residents, won’t be fully protected from radiation leaks in case of a Fukushima-class crisis…

Japan readies for reopening of nuclear reactors amid safety concerns, guardian.co.uk,   8 June 2012 Prime minister Yoshihiko Noda assures citizens’ safety and says reactors must be restarted to boost economy… Prime minister Yoshihiko Noda said the government has taken ample safety measures to ensure the two reactors in western Japan would not leak radiation ifan earthquake or tsunami as severe as last year’s should strike them. Continue reading →

June 9, 2012 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Fukushima nuclear disaster remains a problem for the whole world

324 Civic organizations from all over the world have submitted a petition called “An Urgent Request for UN Intervention to Stabilize the Fukushima Unit 4 Spent Nuclear Fuel”, Mr. Murata said noting that those organizations are also demanding a moratorium on Japan’s nuclear reactors.

 ”the nuclear village and nuclear dictatorship is exposed, and public opinion and their movements are strong.”Nuclear village is a term for the Japanese distorted social structure in which the pronuclear politicians, scholars and companies have more power than those who are skeptical of nuclear energy. Anti-nuclear protests have been ignored for more than 40 years.

Fukushima Reactor Global Security Issue: Japanese Former Diplomat http://www.panorientnews.com/en/news.php?k=1784, June 7, 2012 Tokyo- (PanOrient News)The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant Number 4 reactor presents a security problem for the entire world, Mitsuhei Murata, Japan’s former ambassador to Switzerland said.

Fukushima Daiichi plants are “not under control at all… and the situation with nuclear reactors in Japan is like vehicles being driven without a license,” Mr. Murata told a news conference at the foreign correspondents’ club of Japan on June 5. Continue reading →

June 8, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, safety | Leave a comment

Increasing global danger from nuclear weapons and nuclear power

the calculations used to assess risks posed by nuclear weapons and nuclear power are “fallible.”….  the risks posed by nuclear accidents, regional war, and nuclear terrorism are increasing….  “no nation is immune from risks involving nuclear weapons and nuclear power.” 

Risks from nuclear power and weapons are on the rise, Even established power faces a riskier nuclear environment. ArsTechnica, by James Holloway – June 7 2012, The risks posed by both nuclear weapons and nuclear energy are increasing. Nowhere is immune from these risks, and the methods used to assess them are imperfect. Continue reading →

June 8, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Anti nuclear Pilgrim Watch in hearing by Atomic Safety and Licensing Board

Anti-nuclear activists in Mass. seek hearing, Boston Herald, By Associated Press, June 7, 2012 –   Activists who say federal regulators haven’t done enough to fix nuclear power plant flaws exposed by last year’s accident in Japan are arguing a nuclear safety board should hear their case.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board met in Boston today to hear from attorneys for Pilgrim Watch, which opposes the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth. The board was trying to determine if it should hold a broader evidentiary hearing about Pilgrim Watch’s claims….. A Pilgrim Watch attorney said even if the fixes make plants marginally
safer, they still don’t adequately protect the public, and that gives Pilgrim Watch standing to try to overturn them. ww.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/20120607anti-nuclear_activists_in_mass_seek_hearing/

June 8, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

80 year plan for old nuclear reactors – invites catastrophe

Nuclear regulators know that embrittlement of the reactor vessels limits nuclear plant life but are willing to expose the public to greater risks from decrepit, old and leaking reactors. As we learned from Fukushima, the nuclear industry is willing to expose the public to catastrophic risks

Getting operating license extensions “is a lucrative deal for operators,” 

a concern by the nuclear industry that “they’re not going to build any new reactors anytime soon”–thus the push to keep existing plants running.

Inviting Atomic Catastrophe OPEd News 4 June 12By Karl Grossman The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be holding a meeting this week to consider having nuclear power plants run 80 years–although they were never seen as running for more than 40 years because of radioactivity embrittling metal parts and otherwise causing safety problems. Continue reading →

June 6, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Need for probe on Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s dubious safety culture

U.S. Nuclear Agency Needs Independent Probe, Markey Says Bloomberg News, By Katarzyna Klimasinska  June 04, 2012 An independent investigation is needed of alleged lapses in the safety culture at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Representative Edward Markey said, citing worker concerns about a lack of management support. Continue reading →

June 6, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | 1 Comment

Seabrook nuclear power plant fails safety test

NRC reports Seabrook nuclear plant failures in emergency test, SeaCoast online, By Shir Haberman, June 05, 2012 SEABROOK — The operators of the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant failed to properly detect a simulated radiological release and also failed to advise state emergency planning officials during a test of the emergency preparedness process held in April.

Plant staff also failed to detect the lapse until Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors pointed it out, an NRC report dated May 29 indicated.

“The finding (by NRC inspectors) is more than minor because it … affected the … objective to ensure that the licensee is capable of implementing adequate measures to protect the health and safety of the public in the event of a radiological emergency,” the report reads.

Multiple errors occurred during the full-scale, biennial emergency planning exercise conducted April 16-17 at the Seabrook plant, according to the NRC report. The test assigned to the plant’s emergency staff was a large-break loss of reactor coolant…..
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20120605-NEWS-120609849

June 6, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Indian Point still USA’s most dangerous nuclear plant

There is no protection for those fuel pools…You couldn’t see the fuel rods in fuel pool 2 because the water was so murky… it is so densely crowded with fuel rods, you can’t even get equipment in to fully inspect it …”

“There’s enough surplus power in this region to turn off Indian Point tomorrow and we won’t have any kind of shortage if we don’t do another thing until 2020,”  “In the meantime, you can build two Indian Point’s worth of replacement power. You can save 30 percent of our power needs just by energy efficiency… We do not need the power —
they want to fool you into believing we do.”

Why the “Shut It Down” Crowd Won’t be Silenced Indian Point: Still America’s Most Dangerous Nuclear Plant? Counter Punch, by JOHN RAYMOND, 31 May 12 “Shut it down! Shut it down! Shut it down!” rang through the cavernous grand ballroom of the Doubletree Hotel in Tarrytown, NY, last week when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staged an Orwellian charade promoted as an “open house” held to reassure the public that the Indian Point nuclear power plant was, as the New York Post headlined the following day, “Still Safe!”
The NRC’s annual “safety assessment” of the plant, which sits on the Hudson River 30 miles north of New York City, was based on 11,000 hours of ”inspection activities.”  It found that Indian Point performed “within expected regulatory bounds” and the 25 matters that do require attention but “no additional NRC oversight,” are ‘low risk’, or have “very low safety significance.”

“So,” the Post mused, “will this finally silence the ‘shut it down’
crowd? …Don’t hold your breath.”

But do keep your fingers crossed…if you’re one of the 17.5 million
people living within 50 miles of the plant… Continue reading →

June 2, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | 1 Comment

USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s real role is to PROMOTE nuclear power

Nuclear Rubberstamp Commission HUFFINGTON POST,  Karl Grossman, 05/30/2012“…  The resignation last week of the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is another demonstration of the bankrupt basis of the NRC. Gregory Jaczko repeatedly called for the NRC to apply “lessons learned” from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster in Japan. And, for that, the nuclear industry — quite successfully — went after him fiercely.

The New York Times, in an editorial over the weekend , said that President Obama’s choice to replace Jaczko, Allison Macfarlane, “will need to be as independent and aggressive as Dr. Jaczko.”

That misses the institutional point.

The NRC was created in 1974 when Congress abolished the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission after deciding that the AEC’s dual missions of promoting and at the same time regulating nuclear power were deemed a conflict of interest. The AEC was replaced by the NRC, which was to regulate nuclear power, and a Department of Energy was later formed to advocate for it.

However, the same extreme pro-nuclear culture of the AEC continued on at the NRC. It has partnered with the DOE in promoting nuclear power.

Indeed, neither the AEC, in its more than 25 years, nor the NRC, in its nearly 30 years, ever denied an application for a construction or operating license for a nuclear power plant anywhere, anytime in the United States.

The NRC is a rubberstamp for the nuclear industry. “NRC stands for Nuclear Rubberstamp Commission,” says Kevin Kamps of the organization Beyond Nuclear. And it isn’t that Jaczko opposed nuclear power. “Greg is not anti-nuclear, but he’s pro-nuclear in a smart and considered way,” says Christopher Paine , director of the nuclear program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Continue reading →

June 1, 2012 Posted by | Reference, safety, spinbuster, USA | Leave a comment

New NRC chair Allison Macfarlane likely to be ‘crucified’ if she pursues nuclear safety

Nuclear Rubberstamp Commission HUFFINGTON POST,  Karl Grossman, 05/30/2012“… “……..A “Petition for Rulemaking to Improve Emergency Planning Regulations ” was brought to the NRC in February by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service and 37 safe-energy and environmental groups. It declared that “the real-world experience of the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters … were more severe and affected a much larger geographical area than provided for in NRC regulations” and asked, among other things, for the NRC to expand its current 10-mile evacuation planning zone around nuclear plants. “Waiting to see how bad an emergency gets before expanding evacuation … is not a plan of action, it is a recipe for disaster and an abdication of responsibility.” The likely NRC response? No.

On that issue, the nuclear industry was extremely upset that Jaczko, after the Fukushima accident began, advised U.S. citizens within 50 miles of the exploding nuclear complex to evacuate. It sought to continue the myth that 10 miles were fine.

As for the proposed new chair of the NRC, Allison Macfarlane, if she seeks to push safety, as theNew York Times thinks she can, she would be crucified — just like Jaczko.

The solution? Abolish the Nuclear Rubberstamp Commission — and shut down every nuclear power plant in the U.S. They provide just 20 percent of our electricity and this could be substituted for with electricity generated by safe, clean, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind — without the loss of lives. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karl-grossman/nuclear-regulatory-commission-chairman_b_1549012.html

June 1, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission weakening the rules on nuclear safety

“successful implementation of existing mitigation measures can prevent reactor core damage or delay or reduce offsite releases of radioactive material.”    Tell that to the people impacted by Chernobyl and Fukushima.

 the NRC is holding a meeting with DOE and the industry’s Electric Power Research Institute on extending licenses to 80 years. Consider the reliability of an 80-year-old car….

Nuclear Rubberstamp Commission HUFFINGTON POST,  Karl Grossman, 05/30/2012“……..At the NRC in recent months a move has begun to negate what has been its benchmark analysis on the impacts of nuclear plant accidents. “Calculation Reactor Accident Consequences 2,” referred to as the CRAC-2 report. Issued in 1982, it projects the impacts from a meltdown with a breach of containment at every nuclear plant in the U.S. Continue reading →

June 1, 2012 Posted by | Reference, safety, USA | Leave a comment

USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission in crisis

Exit Jackzo: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Free Fall
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-brodsky/nuclear-regulatory-commission_b_1539797.html by Richard Brodsky, 25 May 12,  The resignation of NRC Chairman Gregory Jackzo puts the issue of nuclear safety smack on the middle of Obama’s desk, and then into the presidential race.

That’s a good thing.  The NRC is not doing the job that the law and common sense require it to do.  It is a captive of the nuclear industry, operates in secret and without due regard for the public health and safety. The NRC’s relationship to the nuclear industry today is just what the SEC’s relationship was to Wall Street four years ago.  We are skating on very thin ice. Continue reading →

May 26, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

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