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Fort Calhoun nuclear plant to stay closed, as new problems found

Regulators up scrutiny of Fort Calhoun nuclear plant after finding more problems Washington Post, 13 Dec OMAHA, Neb. — Several new problems have been found at a Nebraska power plant that suffered flood damage earlier this year, federal regulators said Tuesday, so inspectors will be watching the plant north of Omaha even more closely as repairs from flooding are made.

The tougher oversight for the Omaha Public Power District plant in Fort Calhoun will likely further delay its restart from early next year until sometime in the spring as it makes repairs from the summer flooding. Continue reading →

December 15, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Security breaches, costs, politics – France’s nuclear industry in trouble

activists remained inside the Cruas site for 14 hours before being caught

Electricite de France (EDF) shares have slumped (EDF) 37 percent since the Fukushima disaster, on concern about the amount of investment needed to keep French reactors running safely in the coming years. 

At the same time, the opposition Socialist and Green parties are campaigning to close 24 reactors by 2025 to cut dependence on atomic power.

France’s Biggest Nuclear Breach Raises Alarm as Support for Reactors Wanes Bloomberg By Tara Patel – Dec 13, 2011 Just after 6 a.m. on Dec. 5,under cover of darkness, nine Greenpeace  activists cut through a fence at the Nogent-sur-Seine atomic plant 95 kilometers (59 miles) southeast of Paris and headed for a domed reactor building.
They scaled the roof and unfurled a “Safe Nuclear Doesn’t Exist” banner before attracting the attention of security guards. Two remained at large for four hours.

On the same day, two more campaigners breached the perimeter of the Cruas-Meysse plant on the Rhone, escaping detection for more than 14 hours while posting videos of their sit-in on the Internet. Continue reading →

December 14, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, France, safety | Leave a comment

Nuclear terrorism risk for European soccer championships

UN agency tackles potential nuclear threat at European soccer championships UN News Centre 13 Dec 11, 13 December 2011 – When the 2012 European soccer championships kick off in Poland and Ukraine next June, the United Nations atomic energy will be centrefield offering its expertise to guarantee the safety of the tournament’s spectators and participants.
With over one million fans expected to descend on the two countries during the tournament, the Vienna-based UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA ) will provide first-hand experience in training authorities in Poland and Ukraine to quickly detect, identify, and
deal with a potential atomic threat…..
“We have around 200 events per year in our illicit trafficking database showing that nuclear material can be used for malicious acts,” said Khammar Mrabit, Director of the IAEA’s Office of Nuclear Security, “Therefore we’re trying everything together with the Member
States to prevent and reduce these threats and these
risks.”…http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40712&Cr=nuclear&Cr1=

December 14, 2011 Posted by | EUROPE, safety, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Radioactive spill adds to the problems of Point Lepreau nuclear power plan

Radioactive water spilled at Point Lepreau nuclear power plant in New Brunswick The Canadian Press  12/13/2011 LEPREAU, N.B. – Radioactive heavy water spilled Tuesday evening at the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant in New Brunswick.
Kathleen Duguay, a spokeswoman for NB Power, said the spill occurred in the reactor building…..The cause of the accident wasn’t known.
Lepreau was taken offline in March 2008 for an overhaul that was supposed to take 18 months. But the project has been plagued by cost overruns and delays and is now not expected to return to service until the fall of 2012.
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. is overseeing the refurbishment. The province has pegged the total cost overruns, including replacement power while the nuclear reactor is offline, at about $2.4 billion..http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/radioactive-water-spilled-at-point-lepreau-nuclear-power-plant-in-new-brunswick-135542773.htm

December 14, 2011 Posted by | incidents | Leave a comment

Nuclear terrorism is likely within the next few years

“  it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013,” concluded The Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism

Security and Defense: Preparing for nuclear terrorism, Jerusalem Post, By YAAKOV LAPPIN  12/08/2011 Israel will hold a civil defense drill that for the first time will simulate the response to an attack by a dirty bomb. In January, a “Dark Cloud” will descend on northern Israel. The name for a civil defense exercise, Dark Cloud will be Israel’s first simulated response to a radioactive dispersal device attack, the official term for what is more commonly known as a “dirty bomb.”….

 Barak has said, the possibility that cargo ship carrying a dirty bomb inside ashipping container will sail into Haifa Port and explode is far more concerning.

Already in the early 2000s, Western intelligence agencies began to warn of nuclear terrorism. Continue reading →

December 9, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Terrorists getting into USA armed forces?

Terrorists said to be infiltrating military By Shaun Waterman The Washington Times, 7 Dec 11,  Al Qaeda and other terrorists are trying to infiltrate the U.S. armed forces, which makes military facilities in the U.S. dangerous for American troops, lawmakers said Wednesday. Continue reading →

December 9, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

France needs to boost nuclear security, following Greenpeace’s infiltration of nuke plant

EDF to boost security at nuclear power plants-CEO  Dec 8, 2011 Dec 8 (Reuters) – EDF will reinforce security at its nuclear power plants, its chief executive said on Thursday, after Greenpeace activists succeeded in entering two of them this week to alert the public on their lack of security.

Greenpeace activists entered the Nogent plant near Paris early on Monday and climbed onto one of the domes that houses a reactor, while others went into the Cruas nuclear power site in southeastern France.

“Measures have already been decided which will make this kind of intrusion even more difficult and probably more painful,” Proglio said on the margins of a partnership announcement with GE Energy. He declined to give details on those measures….

France’s dependence on nuclear energy, more than any other country, has been much debated ahead of the presidential election in April. The Socialist Party and the Greens struck a deal last month to shut France’s 24 oldest reactors by 2025 and not to build any more reactors if they come to power, marking a U-turn by the Socialists who had supported nuclear power in the 1980s and the 1990s.

After Japan’s Fukushima disaster in March 2011, France decided to carry out safety tests on its 58 nuclear reactors to check their capacity to resist flooding, earthquakes, power outages and failure of the cooling systems as well as operational management of accidents.

The tests did not include terrorist attacks or the possibility of a plane crash. (Reporting By Muriel Boselli, editing by Jane Baird)

December 9, 2011 Posted by | Finland, safety | Leave a comment

Japan’s Mihama nuclear reactor to shut down following leak

Kansai Electric to manually shut Mihama nuclear unit   Mihama 500 MW unit one of only nine reactors still running in Japan TOKYO, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Kansai Electric Power Co will manually halt its Mihama No. 2 nuclear reactor as a safety precaution after it
discovered unusual levels of coolant leaking from a valve inside the containment vessel, Continue reading →

December 8, 2011 Posted by | incidents, Japan | Leave a comment

Anti nuclear activists break into two French nuclear power plants

Greenpeace said the incidents proved the sites aren’t safe. “With this nonviolent action, Greenpeace shows that French nuclear installations are vulnerable,” Greenpeace France activist Sophia Majnoni d’Intignano said. “It’s the patent proof that existing security systems aren’t sufficient.”…..
The opposition Green party, which wants France to completely exit nuclear power, said the incident proved again that nuclear energy was inherently unsafe.

Activists Enter French Nuclear Facilities WSJ, By GÉRALDINE AMIEL And INTI LANDAURO, 5 Dec 11   PARIS—French police on Monday arrested eleven activists with environmental group Greenpeace who broke into two French nuclear-power plants in an attempt to raise questions about reactor security.

Nine people broke into the compound of the Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear plant, south of Paris, at about 6 a.m. on Monday. Two of the protesters climbed onto the roof of one the two reactors before they were apprehended by police, said the plant’s owner, state-controlled power behemoth Électricité de France SA. All nine were arrested.

Late Monday, the police arrested two men who had hidden all day at EDF’s Cruas plant, in southern France, EDF said. Continue reading →

December 6, 2011 Posted by | France, opposition to nuclear, safety | Leave a comment

Canadian authorities intercept radioactive goods at seaports

The CBSA Keeps Radioactive Goods From Entering Canada, OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Market Watch, Dec 05, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced the interception and detention of 19 marine containers testing positive for low levels of man made radiation. The CBSA identified the source of the radiation as Cobalt-60. Since early October, marine containers contaminated with Cobalt-60 have been intercepted and detained at both the Port of Vancouver and Prince Rupert…..http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-cbsa-keeps-radioactive-goods-from-entering-canada-2011-12-05

December 6, 2011 Posted by | Canada, safety | Leave a comment

Criticism of NRC’s decision to reopen Davis Besse nuclear plant, despite the cracks

Ohio congressman criticizes decision allowing nuclear plant to reopen after concrete cracks, By Associated Press,Washington Post, December 5 TOLEDO, Ohio — A nuclear plant where cracks were found in protective concrete is being allowed to reopen despite unanswered questions about what happened, a congressman said Monday.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and operators of the Davis-Besse plant near Toledo don’t know what caused the cracks or whether it’s a bigger problem, said U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat who has been a longtime critic of the plant and its
owner…..
Since the discovery of the cracks, anti-nuclear activists have stepped up their opposition to renewing the plant’s license.
Davis-Besse’s license is set to expire in six years, and FirstEnergy has an application pending before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the operating license until 2037….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/ohio-congressman-criticizes-decision-allowing-nuclear-plant-to-reopen-after-concrete-cracks/2011/12/05/gIQAdElRXO_story.html

December 6, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

New radioactive leak belies TEPCO’s claims of Fukushima cleanup success

More Radioactive Water Leaks From Japanese Nuclear Plant, By HIROKO TABUCHI, NYT December 4, 2011 TOKYO — At least 45 tons of highly radioactive water has leaked from a purification facility at the Fukushima Daiichi buclear power station, and some of it may have reached the Pacific Ocean, the plant’s operator said on Sunday…..

the plant continues to pose a major environmental threat. Before the latest leak, the Fukushima accident had been responsible for the largest single release of radioactivity into the ocean, threatening wildlife and fisheries in the region, experts have said.

The new radioactive water leak called into question the progress that the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, appeared to have made in bringing its reactors under control…. Continue reading →

December 5, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Will Los Alamos plutonium nuclear lab be USA’s Fukushima?

Questions swirl around $6 billion US nuclear lab Canadian Business, By AP  | December 04, 2011 SANTA FE, New Mexico (AP) — At Los Alamos National Laboratory, scientists and engineers refer to their planned new $6 billion nuclear lab by its clunky acronym, CMRR, short for Chemistry Metallurgy Research Replacement Facility. But as a work in progress for three decades and with hundreds of millions of dollars already spent, nomenclature is among the minor issues.

 Questions continue to swirl about exactly what kind of nuclear and plutonium research will be done there, whether the lab is really necessary, and — perhaps most important — will it be safe, or could it become New Mexico’s equivalent of Japan’s Fukushima? Continue reading →

December 5, 2011 Posted by | - plutonium, safety, USA | Leave a comment

Move to legislate for safety regulation regarding Indian Point nuclear plant

REP. NADLER SEEKS TO PROTECT NEW YORKERS FROM DISASTER AT INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR POWER PLANT    Power Engineering, WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 — Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. (8th CD), issued the following press release: Today on the House Floor, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the senior Northeastern Member of the Judiciary and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees, offered an amendment to help prevent a potential catastrophic meltdown at Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant in Upstate New York or other nuclear reactors. His amendment to H.R. 3010, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2011, would exempt from this counter-productive legislation any proposed regulations made by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). With the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in Japan fresh on our minds, it is critical to preempt regulatory failure when it comes to ensuring the safe operation of nuclear reactors.

“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must have the ability and flexibility to quickly impose new regulations to safeguard the health and well-being of all Americans,” said Nadler. “Impeding the NRC’s ability to regulate will not save one job but might cost millions of lives….Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant lies less than 40 miles away from my New York City district, and there are 20 million people living within a 50-mile radius of the plant – the same radius used by the NRC as the basis for the evacuation zone recommended after the Fukushima disaster. Indian Point also sits near two fault lines and, according to the NRC, is the most likely nuclear power plant in the country to experience core damage due to an earthquake.”…. http://www.power-eng.com/news/2011/12/1554779024/rep-nadler-seeks-to-protect-new-yorkers-from-disaster-at-indian-point-nuclear-power-plant.html

December 5, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

All Japan’s nuclear reactors could be shut down by May 2012

Shutdown schedule for 9 active nuclear reactors, Reuters, 1 Dec 11“……..Kyushu Electric Power Co, one of the country’s most highly nuclear reliant regional power firms, on Thursday started regular maintenance on the No.1 unit at its sole Genkai nuclear plant, as planned, leaving only nine reactors online.

A total of 54 nuclear reactors had been available for commercial use before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disabled cooling systems at Fukushima Daiichi, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co, triggering meltdowns and causing the world’s worst radioactive material leakage in 25 years.

No reactor shut for regular maintenance has restarted since the March 11 disaster amid public concerns over atomic energy and the government’s reassessment of safety regulations…… Without approval for restarts, all of Japan’s reactors could be shut by next May, …..

Following are the locations of nuclear power plants still in operation and the companies’ schedules for shutdowns. If the utility has not given a schedule, the dates by which each reactor has to be taken offline for maintenance are listed, according to Reuters calculations.:……. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/02/us-nuclear-japan-active-idUSTRE7B104B20111202

December 3, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

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