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Radioactive danger in flooding – report on uranium proposal for Pittsylvania County

flooding increases the risk of radioactive contamination, whether it’s a catastrophic event or long-term “chronic” release of contaminants into the water,

Report highlights flooding at proposed uranium site, News Advance 29 Sept 11 An environmental group is calling for more water studies of a proposed uranium site before legislators debate whether to lift the state moratorium on uranium mining. Continue reading →

September 30, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Assassination of Syrian nuclear engineer

Nuclear engineer assassinated in central Syria, Google News, By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press –28 Sept BEIRUT  — A Syrian nuclear engineer was assassinated in a hail of bullets in central Syria Wednesday, the latest casualty in a string of murders this week of academics and scientists, Syria’s state-run news agency and activists said…. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jnOHsAhVxsnDJ9jEIZD61VPys3nw?docId=ec1618918d8744d5aa3c247c0ba32580

September 30, 2011 Posted by | safety, Syria | Leave a comment

Unguarded uranium – yellowcake for the taking, in Libya

post-Gaddafi Libya affords little or no protection to this vast haul of material which, if refined, is the essential element of a nuclear bomb.


‘Uranium’ stockpile uncovered in Libya, SMH, Richard Spencer, September 27, 2011 SABHA: International atomic agencies and Libya’s rebels say it will take weeks to safeguard at least 10,000 abandoned drums thought to contain uranium. Continue reading →

September 27, 2011 Posted by | Libya, safety, Uranium | Leave a comment

New York Governor confident that nuclear reactor can be closed

“The replacement power issue is not a justification to keep Indian Point operating. And my point has always been safety first and the reward doesn’t justify the risk,” Cuomo said….

New York can replace Indian Point reactors: Governor Cuomo, by Scott DiSavino, 26 Sept 11, (Reuters) – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is confident the state can replace the power generated by the giant Indian Point nuclear plant, Continue reading →

September 27, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Palisades Nuclear Power Plant – concerns about earthquakes

An Associated Press analysis of pre-quake data shows the risk that an earthquake would cause a severe accident at a U.S. nuclear plant is greater than previously thought.

Quake prompts questions, testing at Palisades Nuclear Power Plant, By JIM HAYDEN, The Holland Sentinel, Sep 25, 2011  The rare earthquake in Virginia last month rattled more than nerves along the East Coast. The temblor touched off a lowest-level emergency warning at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant along the shores of Lake Michigan. Continue reading →

September 26, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Toothless Nuclear Safety Plan adopted by IAEA

151-nation meeting endorses post-Fukushima nuclear safety plan, Washington Post    September 22  VIENNA — Members of the 151-nation International Atomic Energy Agency have endorsed a post-Fukushima nuclear safety plan but the IAEA chief says it will only be as good as the will of individual countries to enact it.

“It is time for action,” says IAEA head Yukiya Amano, asking nations for “sustained commitment and full involvement.”

Before Thursday’s endorsement, the plan was approved last week by the agency’s policy making 35-nation board despite gripes by influential member nations that it was too timid.

Drawn up in response to Japan’s March 11 reactor disaster, the plan outlines steps to be taken by states to pinpoint weaknesses and remedy them. But these measures can only be carried out “upon request” of the nation involved.

States are “strongly encouraged to voluntarily” open their nuclear facilities to outside checks of potential weak links. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/151-nation-meeting-endorses-post-fukushima-nuclear-safety-plan/2011/09/22/gIQAJJMwnK_story.html

September 23, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Nigeria’s Atomic Energy Commission’s dream – a nightmare for the country

OIL POLITICS: Nigeria’s Nuclear Nightmare , NEXT, By Nnimmo Bassey, September 22, 2011, The Nigerian government appears to be scheming to get deeper into the nuclear mire at a time when the world is inching, albeit slowly, from dirty and dangerous energy sources. The fact that Nigeria has one of the worst electricity supplies in the world, with only about 40% of the population having access to public power supply does not justify toeing the nuclear path. It calls for investing in safe forms of renewable energy production. It also calls for the wastage in the gas and oil fields. Following the Fukushima incident earlier this year the dangers associated with nuclear power generation have again been brought to the front burners. With heightened concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants, it is shocking to see the Nigerian President pushing Nigeria unto the nuclear path. This may appear like a dream come true for the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, but this has all the potential of turning into a nightmare for the country. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | Nigeria, safety | Leave a comment

Russian nuclear submarine collides with fishing boat

Nuclear submarine collides with fishing boat ABC News, 23 Sept 11, A Russian nuclear submarine collided with a fishing boat off the country’s Pacific coast, damaging the outer shell of the naval vessel but causing no radiation leak, Russian news agencies reported overnight. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | Russia, safety | Leave a comment

Doubts on safety of Koodankulam nuclear project, and of others too

 “there should be a moratorium on all further nuclear activity, and revocation of recent clearances for nuclear projects”, given without regard to India’s ramshackle infrastructure and largely untested emergency procedures…

The issue is far larger than just Koodankulam. There are lingering doubts about the safety measures being reliable, workable and effective….

Discordant voices on safety of nuclear power, THE HINDU, B.S.RAGHAVAN, 22 SEPT 11, Following the agitation, including mass fasting, by the people of Idinthakarai, the village adjacent to the Koodankulam atomic power project, who are in panic over the possibility of the occurrence of a disaster similar to the one at Fukushima and consequent dangers from radiation, there has been a cacophony of voices over the pros and cons of nuclear power. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | India, safety | Leave a comment

Flaws, construction errors in Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant

Insider cites sloppy work at Iranian nuclear plant, SMH, DOUGLAS BIRCH and GARY PEACH, September 23, 2011 A Russian engineer who worked on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant during the final stages of construction says inexperienced workers, poor oversight and layers of bureaucracy contributed to a rash of equipment failures that delayed the reactor’s startup for almost a year. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | Russia, safety | Leave a comment

Nuclear radioactive leaks in the UK

Nuclear leaks in the UK

Windscale, Cumbria, 1957: Fire at a military plutonium reactor spread radioactive contamination over large parts of England and Europe

Dounreay, Caithness, 1963-84: Tens of thousands of radioactive particles from old reactors contaminated the shoreline and the seabed

Sellafield, Cumbria, 1983: The government advised people not to swim or use beaches along 10 miles of coastline after a radioactive leak from a reprocessing plant

Chapelcross, Dumfriesshire, 2000-05: 126 radioactive particles from defunct reactors found on the shore of the Solway Firth

Sellafield, Cumbria, 2006-11: 1,233 radioactive particles and pebbles contaminated by historic leaks found and removed from nearby beaches

Dalgety Bay, Fife, 1990-2011: Hundreds of radioactive remnants from the luminous dials of second world war aircraft removed from foreshore

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/21/scottish-nuclear-leak-clean-up?newsfeed=true

September 23, 2011 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Nuclear terrorism threat highlighted by 9/11 and Fukushima

The U.S.-Russia Joint Threat Assessment notes that “One important lesson of the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents is that what can happen as a result of an accident can also happen as a result of a premeditated action.”

They explain that terrorists will be searching for the “weakest link”, observing that “the dramatic developments associated with the Fukushima disaster might awaken terrorist interest in this path to nuclear terrorism.”

The 9/11-3/11 connection, By TILMAN RUFF, 21 Sept 11,  Special to The Japan Times MELBOURNE — ”……..Where was the fourth airliner on Sept. 11, 2001, headed? It crashed in a Pennsylvania field as passengers and crew fought the hijackers, but what was its target? The White House or Capitol Hill is generally thought most likely, though some scholars have concluded that when it crashed, flight UA93 was heading for the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Continue reading →

September 22, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | 1 Comment

Nuclear power plant company a victim of cyber attacks

Japanese defence contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which builds submarines, missiles and nuclear power plants, is the first publicly named victim….

Nuclear plant and missile maker Mitsubishi breached in latest cyber attacks, Security Watchdog, 21 Sept 11, Security experts at Trend Micro have uncovered another large-scale, co-ordinated campaign of targeted attacks, this time focused on compromising data at a series of defence industry companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan. Continue reading →

September 21, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Murder and mayhem aboard nuclear submarine

Sailor jailed for nuclear submarine murder, Google News, (AFP) 20 Sept 11,    LONDON — A sailor was jailed for 25 years on Monday for shooting dead an officer in a rampage on a nuclear-powered submarine that only came to an end when council officials overpowered him.

Able Seaman Ryan Samuel Donovan, 23, pleaded guilty to killing Lieutenant Commander Ian Molyneux, 36, with an assault rifle when the HMS Astute was docked in Southampton on April 8.

Donovan also admitted the attempted murders of Petty Officer Christopher Brown, 36, Chief Petty Officer David McCoy, 37, and Lieutenant Commander Christopher Hodge, 45….

Prosecutor Nigel Lickley told the court Donovan had told a colleague more than a year earlier that he was planning a “massacre” in the submarine’s control room…..

HMS Astute made headlines in October when it ran aground off the coast of Scotland and had to be towed home….
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jHeQNnZN70p9-pbvv8z_tNljkXbw?docId=CNG.c9efc9bacaca268a95e91a3cec35f36e.381

September 21, 2011 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

North Anna nuclear plant – a test case for USA nuclear regulators

North Anna, 90 miles southwest of the White House, is emerging as a test case for the nuclear industry as it faces increased scrutiny. A presidential task force recommended stricter quake-readiness standards after a quake and tsunami caused meltdowns at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in March.

It’s also challenging federal regulators as they ponder what to review before they allow the plant to restart. ….

the [earthquake] hazards could be greater than was known when many of the plants were designed.

Weeks after quake, town near nuclear plant remains rattled, By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY, 18 Sept 11,  MINERAL, VA. – At the Sweet Delights Bakery, amid the aroma of fresh biscuits, talk turns to an unprecedented U.S. nuclear event that happened near its doorstep.

“You can’t not think about it,” says customer Roger Tignor, about the recent magnitude-5.8 quake that jolted the North Anna Power Station 11 miles away. Continue reading →

September 19, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

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