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European Union bans X-ray airport body scanners

EU bans airport body scanners over cancer fears Zee News, 18 Nov 11 London: The European Union has banned the controversial airport body scanners over fears the X-ray technology could cause cancer, a media report said.  Continue reading →

November 19, 2011 Posted by | EUROPE, safety | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear watchdog warns of safety flaws in reactors

France must tighten nuclear security after Fukushima, watchdog says, By RFI 17 November 2011 France must urgently improve safety in its 58 nuclear reactors in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster, an official report published Thursday said. The head of the French nuclear watchdog warned of “small faults that could have serious consequences”. Continue reading →

November 19, 2011 Posted by | France, safety | Leave a comment

Nuclear fuel company fined for safety breach

Global Nuclear Fuel Fined for Near-Critical Amount of Uranium in Air Filters Nuclear Street, 16 Nov 11, Enough uranium accumulated in air filters at a North Carolina nuclear fuel plant earlier this year to pose a risk of criticality, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined…. http://nuclearstreet.com/nuclear_power_industry_news/b/nuclear_power_news/archive/2011/11/16/global-nuclear-fuel-fined-for-near_2d00_critical-amount-of-uranium-in-air-filters-111601.aspx

November 17, 2011 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Guilty plea in nuclear materials trafficking

Woman pleads guilty in US on Pakistan reactor deal Google News, 16 Nov 11 WASHINGTON — The former boss of a US company’s Chinese subsidiary pleaded guilty to illegally supplying material to Pakistan for use in a nuclear reactor and is now cooperating with US investigators…. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jpFZDocKmk3MLn9RQXrDUsmItKMQ?docId=CNG.fca116c64091d56b372d5ceeb38eb

November 16, 2011 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Endangering, sorry, I mean protecting, London’s Olympic Games

Opening ceremony ticket holder Sharon James was delighted at the announcement, telling us, “If I’m going to be vapourised in an instant, I sure as hell want it to be at the hands of my own government, not because of some Johnny Foreigner on the look out for some after-life poontang.”

Nuclear warheads to protect Olympic village, claims Hammond, News Thump  (satire) 14 November 2011,  Defence Secretary Philip Hammond this afternoon confirmed that the Olympic games in London next summer will be protected from terrorist attack by a series of strategically placed nuclear devices.

In his first appearance at Defence Questions since taking over from Liam Fox, Hammond told MPs that the use of nuclear weapons in London would be a last resort in the face of a terrorist threat.

“We are prepared for every eventuality, and I want to make it clear that we would only destroy everything in and around London when all other options had been exhausted.” Continue reading →

November 15, 2011 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

“Duqu” new virus hits Iran’s nuclear programme

Iran claims defence computer systems hit by another ‘supervirus’, Telegraph UK Iran says its defence computer systems have been infected with another “supervirus” known to be similar to one which severely damaged its nuclear programme last year. By , Middle East Correspondent 14 Nov 2011 Anti-virus experts last month identified a virus called “Duqu” that they said shared properties with the now famous “Stuxnet” worm, which spread across the world but is thought to have been successfully targeted at the nuclear programme’s centrifuges, the devices that enrich uranium to create nuclear fuel.

It was not clear on Monday from the Iranian statement whether Duqu had also struck nuclear facilities, but it was the first admission of damage.

“We are in the initial phase of fighting the Duqu virus,” Gholamreza Jalali, the head of Iran’s civil defence programme, said. “The final report which says which organisations the virus has spread to and what its impacts are has not been completed yet….. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8888967/Iran-claims-defence-computer-systems-hit-by-another-supervirus.html

November 15, 2011 Posted by | Iran, safety | Leave a comment

Radiation checks being done in Tokyo schools

Tokyo schools checked for radiation, ABC News, By North Asia correspondent,  November 14, 2011 Fears of nuclear fallout from the Fukushima disaster are increasing in
Japan, where local councils in Tokyo have begun checking schools and parks for radioactive contamination.

Tokyo’s metropolitan government has also announced spot checks of fresh and processed foods. In the playground of the Meguro Honcho Nursery School, young children
play in the dirt as officials test it for radiation from Fukushima. “There is no solution here,” said principal Michiko Ikeda, who has been hovering over a Geiger counter writing down readings. “We cannot say this is absolutely safe. Parents are worried about radiation, our staff too. “By taking these radiation measurements, we want to show that we care
for the children.”
Hiroshi Sato, from the local Meguro council, is also at the school to help test for radiation.
“Recently it became clear that radiation came further south than we thought, all the way to Tokyo,” he said. “So we are now checking dozens of schools in the Meguro area.”
In Tokyo, protesters marched past the offices of Fukushima’s owners TEPCO to demand protection for their children…. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-14/tokyo-schools-checked-for-radiation/3664228/?site=newcastle

November 15, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Terrorist act kills Iran’s nuclear missile chief: Israel responsible?

Israel reported ‘behind blast’ that killed Iran’s missile chief, by   14 November 2011   guardian.co.uk Time magazine quotes ‘western inteligencel source’ as saying Mossad carried out blast at missile base near Tehran

Time’s correspondent in Jerusalem, Karl Vick, is reporting that Israel was responsible for the huge blast on Saturday at a Revolutionary Guard missile base, about 35 km west of Tehran. Vick quotes a western intelligence source as saying that Mossad carried out the sabotage attack, adding that more such attacks are to be expected – “There are more bullets in the magazine.”

If true, it would be the most damaging blow to date in the covert waragainst Iran‘s nuclear weapons programme. It killed 17 Iranian revolutionary guardsmen, including the head of the missile programme, General Hasan Moghaddam, decribed in the Iranian press as “a pioneer” of Iran’s missile project [Farsi]. His official job description was head of the ‘self-sufficiency department” for munitions. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was at the funeral today…. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/julian-borger-global-security-blog/2011/nov/14/iran-nuclear-weapons?newsfeed=true

November 15, 2011 Posted by | Iran, Israel, safety | Leave a comment

Scene inside wrecked nuclear reactor in Japan

Scene of devastation inside Japan reactor SMH, 12 Nov 11Media allowed into Japan’s tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant for the first time on Saturday saw a striking scene of devastation: twisted and overturned trucks, crumbling reactor buildings and piles of rubble virtually untouched since the wave struck more than eight months ago.

Representatives of the Japanese and international media, including The Associated Press, were allowed into the plant with the government’s chief official in charge of the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. The tour was intended to demonstrate how much the situation at the plant has stabilised since the March 11 tsunami, though reporters had to wear full-body protective gear and submit to radiation scans afterward.

Mangled trucks, flipped over by the wave, remain along the roads inside the complex. Piles of rubble stand where the walls of the plant’s reactor structures crumbled, and large pools of water still cover parts of the sprawling campus…….

the government has predicted that it will take another 30 years at least to safely remove the nuclear fuel and decommission the plant. It could also be decades before tens of thousands of residents forced to flee the 20km exclusion zone around the plant will be able to return. Some experts say even that estimate is optimistic….   –http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/scene-of-devastation-inside-japan-reactor-20111112-1ncx4.html

November 13, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | 1 Comment

Fire at Idaho National Nuclear Laboratory

Fire reported at nuclear research lab in Idaho, SALMON, Idaho Nov 12, 2011  (Reuters) – A sodium fire was reported on Friday at a U.S. nuclear research laboratory in Idaho but all workers had been moved to safety and there was no risk to the public, the lab said.

The fire was reported at the Materials and Fuels Complex at the Idaho National Laboratory, a sprawling Department of Energy site in the high desert of eastern Idaho about 40 miles from Idaho Falls…. The lab said fire crews had responded to the building, which is owned and operated by the private Idaho Cleanup Project, and that state, county and tribal officials had been notified.

The Idaho Cleanup Project is a private company contracted with the Department of Energy to clean up waste at the site  On Tuesday, at least six workers were contaminated by low-level plutonium radiation and 11 others were exposed following a mishap at the lab, the lab has said.

Some 6,000 employees and contractors work at the Idaho National Laboratory, the Energy Department’s leading facility for nuclear reactor technology. It opened in 1949 as a national reactor testing station… http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/11/11/idINIndia-60481720111111

November 13, 2011 Posted by | incidents | Leave a comment

New safety worries about Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear plant design

 

 

The public interest groups maintain that the NRC has given priority to the construction schedules of these corporations instead of resolving the continuously emerging problems with the design.   

Nuclear Expert Cites New Concerns About Westinghouse Reactor Design Based On Fukushima Disaster ENews Park Forest 10 Nov 11 Groups say design approval can’t legally be finalized until Fukushima lessons are incorporated, and that NRC plans to shove costly design corrections onto Georgia, South Carolina customers   DURHAM, N.C.  – Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen has documented at least six areas of unreviewed safety concern involving the Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear plant design based on the ongoing Fukushima disaster, and he says these problems require full technical review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission before the plant design can be “certified.”  Today public interest groups filed his report – which expands on problems identified by a federal task force – with NRC commissioners who are considering a final vote on the plant design without responding to a long list of problems raised earlier by experts within and outside the industry.

The Fairewinds report and the legal motion can be found at www.ncwarn.org.  A video presentation by engineer Gundersen will be posted today both at www.ncwarn.org and at www.fairewinds.com Continue reading →

November 11, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

In closed meeting of nuclear trade group, NRC warns on safety issues

NRC chair warns nuclear industry against complacency, says it must resolve long-running issues Washington Post, By Ray Henry, Associated Press,  November 10 ATLANTA — The country’s top nuclear safety regulator warned power companies against complacency Thursday and said the agency must push ahead with new rules prompted by a nuclear crisis in Japan while also resolving long-running issues involving fire protection and a new analysis of earthquake risks. Continue reading →

November 11, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear waste laboratory workers found to have plutonium in their lungs

Further lung examinations were ordered for two workers whose body scans tested positive for radiation in their lungs and for a third worker whose lungs showed an “anomaly,” 

More tests ordered for plutonium-exposed Idaho lab workers, By Laura Zuckerman, SALMON, Idaho   Nov 9, 2011  (Reuters) – Doctors at a nuclear research lab in Idaho on Wednesday ordered further medical tests of 16 workers accidentally exposed to low-levels of radiation from plutonium fuel in a decommissioned reactor. Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | incidents, USA | Leave a comment

Tokyo now testing radiation in fresh and processed food

Tokyo city starts radiation tests on food in shops Google News, (AFP) – 8 Nov 11 TOKYO — Tokyo city government on Tuesday began radiation tests on samples of food bought in shops to reassure residents amid a contamination scare after a major nuclear accident in northeast Japan.
It is rare that authorities check on products at the point of sale and the the inspection includes processed food as well as fresh produce. The metropolitan government is measuring radiation on vegetables and other fresh food to complement pre-shipment tests at places of
production. Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Alarm about cracks in Davis Besse nuclear plant

Ohio: Scientists Sound Alarm on Nuclear Plant, NYT By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS November 8, 2011 A watchdog group is questioning the soundness of a nuclear plant where a 30-foot hairline crack was recently discovered. The crack was found in the thick concrete on the outside of the reactor containment building at the Davis-Besse plant outside Toledo. Further inspections found numerous, tiny cracks on the building’s facade. The Union of Concerned Scientists has written the Nuclear Regulatory Commission asking whether the concrete walls were built to adequate engineering specifications. The plant’s owner, the FirstEnergy Corporation, says that the walls were designed properly and that the building has been inspected thoroughly. The plant has been shut down for installation of a new 82-ton reactor head, replacing one that cracked… http://www.nytimes.co/2011/11/09/us/ohio-scientists-sound-alarm-on-nuclear-plant.html

November 10, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

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