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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 →

February 9, 2012 Posted by | EUROPE, safety, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

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

February 8, 2012 Posted by | Japan, safety, water | Leave a comment

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 →

February 8, 2012 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, Japan, safety | Leave a comment

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

February 7, 2012 Posted by | France, incidents | Leave a comment

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

February 7, 2012 Posted by | Iran, safety | Leave a comment

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 →

February 7, 2012 Posted by | environment, history, incidents, Spain | Leave a comment

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 →

February 7, 2012 Posted by | incidents, Russia | Leave a comment

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

February 7, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Wear and tear problem on tubes carrying radioactive water

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, more than a third of the wall had been worn away in two tubes at Unit 2, which will require them to be plugged and taken out of service. At least 20 percent of the tube wall was worn away in 69 other tubes, and in more than 800, the thinning was at least 10 percent.

Inspectors find ‘unusual’ wear on new tubes carrying radioactive water at Calif. nuclear plant  Washington Post, By Associated Press, : February 2 LOS ANGELES — Unusual wear has been found on hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water at Southern California’s San Onofre Unit 2 nuclear plant, raising questions about the integrity of equipment the company installed in a multimillion-dollar makeover in 2009.

The disclosure came two days after a tube leak at the plant’s other unit prompted operators to shut down the reactor as a precaution. The problems at Unit 2 were discovered during inspections of a steam generator, after the plant 45 miles north of San Diego was taken off-line for maintenance and refueling. The two huge steam generators at Unit 2, each containing 9,700 tubes, were replaced in fall 2009, and a year later in its twin plant, Unit 3, as part of a $670 million overhaul. Continue reading →

February 3, 2012 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Indian Point nuclear plant was refused exemptions from fire safety regulations

NRC won’t grant exemptions to nuclear plant, Legal News Line BY BRYAN COHEN, 2 Feb 12, NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Wednesday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sided with his office by rejecting Indian Point’s request for more than 100 exemptions from major fire safety requirements.

Schneiderman filed a petition in March over what he says is Indian Point’s continual failure to comply with federal regulations for fire safety that were established to keep nuclear plants safe in an emergency. Continue reading →

February 3, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

USA radioactive leaks from nuclear reactors

 the regulations in place for American facilities are actually more lax than one would expect.

the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has repeatedly weakened safety requirements for facilities, regularly allowing antiquated plants to continue operating by making it easier to pass
tests in lieu of actually upgrading the facility.

California nuclear plant shut down over radioactive leaks, RT Question More,  01 February, 2012,  A leak at a Southern California nuclear facility that regularly provides power to roughly 1.4 million households has caused the plant to shut down a reactor.
Despite officials insisting that everything will be perfectly alright at the San Onofre nuclear site, this is not the first time as of late that power plants have raised serious questions about their safety in America. Continue reading →

February 2, 2012 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

New study on earthquake risks near USA nuclear plants

Quakes and U.S. Reactors: An Analytic Tool, NYT. By MATTHEW L. WALD  With the release of a computer model of all known geologic faults east of Denver, nearly all of the nuclear power plants in the United States are about to embark on a broad re-evaluation of their vulnerability to earthquakes. The new mapping is the first major update of the fault situation for plants since 1989.

The map has been in preparation since 2008, well before the earthquake and tsunami that caused three meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan last March or the quake near Mineral, Va., last summer that shook a twin-reactor plant beyond the degree expected. Still, those events have lent urgency to the effort to assess the American plants’ ability to withstand quakes.

The new study does not calculate the risk of damage from an earthquake or even specify how much ground motion is likely at the reactor sites. That work is left to the plants’ owners, supervised by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The industry began to realize after the Fukushima disaster that engineers do not have a strong understanding of which structures and systems at the plants are most vulnerable…..

Not everyone is pleased with the route that the commission is taking when it comes to future construction. David Lochbaum, a reactor expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that the agency had already approved sites for new reactors and designs for new reactors based on computer analyses of earthquake hazards.

If considerable study is needed on the quake vulnerability of existing reactors, he argues, the uncertainty surrounding the soundness of future plants must be even greater. “How can we know more about the reactors that haven’t been built than the ones that have been built?’’ he said.     http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/quakes-and-u-s-reactors-an-analytic-tool/

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

New costly earthquake security could close some US nuclear plants

New Quake Risks Seen for Nuclear Plants WSJ, By REBECCA SMITH, JANUARY 31, 2012,   Nuclear reactors in the central and eastern U.S. face previously unrecognized threats from big earthquakes, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday. Experts said upgrading the plants to withstand more substantial earth movements would be costly and could
force some to close. Continue reading →

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

Illinois nuclear reactor shut down

Reactor shuts down, releases steam at Illinois nuclear plant after losing outside power  Washington Post, Associated Press,   January 30 BYRON, Ill. — A nuclear reactor at a northern Illinois plant shut down Monday after losing power, and steam was being vented to reduce pressure, according to officials from Exelon Nuclear and federal regulators.

Unit 2 at Byron Generating Station shut down around 10:18 a.m., after losing power from an off-site source, Exelon officials said. Diesel generators began supplying power to the plant equipment and operators began releasing steam from the non-nuclear side of the plant to help
cool the reactor, officials said.

Even though the turbine is not turning to produce electricity, “you still need to cool the equipment.” said U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng. Releasing steam helps “take away some of that energy still being produced by nuclear reaction but that doesn’t have anywhere to go now.”

The steam contains low levels of radioactive tritium, but the levels are safe for workers and the public, federal and plant officials said….. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/reactor-shuts-down-releases-steam-at-illinois-nuclear-plant-after-losing-outside-power/2012/01/30/gIQALf13cQ_story.html

February 1, 2012 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Problems in assessing radiation in Fukushima school lunches

Radiation testing on school lunches differs, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 30 Jan 12, FUKUSHIMA-–Municipalities are carrying out tests for radioactive substances on ingredients used in school lunches, but parents are worried whether their children are adequately protected as the testsare conducted in various ways. Continue reading →

January 29, 2012 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

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