French regulators allow oldest nuclear reactor to keep going
French nuclear watchdog allows Fessenheim to continue, PARIS, July 4 (Reuters) – France’s nuclear watchdog on Monday gave its go-ahead for France’s oldest operating nuclear reactor in eastern France to continue working for another 10 years, a move that will anger ecologists.
But the government could still decide to shut the plant, commissioned in 1978, permanently after results of post-Fukushima stress tests are made public around mid-November.
There has been mounting pressure from ecologists over the last few years to permanently shut the plant because of its age, location in a seismic area and its proximity to the German border.
Fessenheim’s opponents stepped up their pressure after Japan’s nuclear disaster in March and after Germany decided last month to pull out of nuclear energy by 2022, arguing the plant would not resist an earthquake…….http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFWEB831820110704
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Nuclear Regulatory Commission rubber stamps Salem Nuclear plants’ license renewal
Salem Nuclear Power Plants Sail Through Relicensing Process, NJSP Spotlight, By Tom Johnson, July 1 The federal government yesterday approved a 20-year extension of the operating licenses for the two Salem nuclear power plants in Lower Alloways Creek Township in South Jersey. The extension from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was not unexpected, since the its staff had signed off on the extension earlier this month and the regulatory agency has never failed to approve a relicensing request…….
Safety Concerns, Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, expressed disappointment in the decision. “The NRC believes in license first, inspect and regulate later. They have it backward,” Tittel said. “We believe outside independent experts need to review the plants and their different design features to ensure safety.”
In the relicensing process, the NRC failed to address sizable tritium leaks causing contamination of groundwater near the plant, Tittel said. He also argued that the Salem plant is old, saying the federal agency failed to look at metal fatigue and other issues that come up as these facilities age……http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/11/0701/0058/
Six people arrested in Moldova for smuggling Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU)
A New Nuclear Scare Rocks Eastern Europe , The Daily Beast, 30 June 11 Wednesday’s arrest of six suspected nuclear smugglers in Moldova followed a four-month, multination investigation. It also offers a chilling reminder that dangerous material may be loose. June 30, 2011 , Police in the former Soviet republic of Moldova have arrested six people for allegedly trying to sell at least a kilo of weapons-grade uranium to undercover officers. Four of the suspects detained are Moldovans, and two are Russian passport holders from the neighboring republic of Transnistria. According to Moldova’s Interior Ministry spokesman Vitalie Briceag, the material on sale was Uranium 235, the weapons-grade isotope of uranium, which in high concentrations is known as highly enriched uranium, or HEU. If that proves true, Wednesday’s arrests would mark one of the biggest nuclear security breaches of the last decade…… Continue reading
Fort Calhoun Nuclear Reactor is Safe, well Sort Of
The plant faces two other challenges, however. One is that the flowing water, four feet deep in some spots around the plant, may have undermined some structures. Already, plant workers have stopped moving heavy vehicles over paved surfaces because they may have been weakened, the managers say….
A Long Road Ahead for a Flooded Reactor, NYT, By MATTHEW L. WALD, 28 June 11, Federal officials say that the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant, which is surrounded by floodwaters from the Missouri River, is safe for now, as I wrote in Tuesday’s Times. But it may be a very long way from reopening. Continue reading
Evacuation not really practical in the case of nuclear meltdown
What Would It Take To Evacuate A Nuclear Meltdown? Gizmodo By Kwame Opam on June 28, 201 1 Nuclear plants in the US are getting older and becoming more unstable with age, even as we demand more power of them. Meanwhile, population growth around these powerhouses has skyrocketed, by as much as a factor of four in some places. Say you live in one of these cities. In the event of an emergency, how likely is it that you’ll get out in time? Continue reading
Nuclear weapons goal of new al-Qaeda leader
New al-Qaeda Chief Zawahiri Has Strong Nuclear Intent, Forbes, 29 Jule 11“………We should be especially worried about the threat of nuclear terrorism under Zawahiri’s leadership. In a recent report titled “Islam and the Bomb: Religious Justification For and Against Nuclear Weapons”, which I researched for and contributed to, lead author Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, former director of intelligence and counterintelligence at the U.S. Department of Energy, argues that al-Qaeda’s WMD ambitions are stronger than ever. And that “this intent no longer feels theoretical, but operational.”……
Los Alamos nuclear facility threatened by wildfires
Bushfire reaches Los Alamos nuke lab
ABC News, Jun 28, 2011
- Video: Fire threatens US nuclear lab (ABC News) A raging bushfire has briefly entered the property of the pre-eminent US nuclear facility, Los Alamos National Laboratory, a vast complex that houses research laboratories and a plutonium facility.A mandatory evacuation was ordered for the town of Los Alamos, which has a population of about 12,000. The speed at which the fire has grown surprised fire officials.
The laboratory, which ensures the safety and reliability of the US nuclear stockpile, is a national security research facility located in the Jemez mountains of northern New Mexico. It was set up in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project to create the first atomic bomb and still maintains the nation’s largest nuclear weapons arsenal.
Firefighters were able to douse flames on a 4,000-square-metre “spot fire” just inside the south-western boundary of the lab site, about 40km outside Santa Fe, authorities said….
“This fire is going to be with us for a while. It has the potential to double and triple in size,” Los Alamos fire chief Doug Tucker said.
Nuclear watchdog groups are keeping a close eye on the fire, said Jay Coughlin, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico…….
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2
Nuclear plants at risk if flooding in Nebraska gets worse
Any new rain episode could worst the flooding, especially in Nebraska, …..
Fort Calhoun is not the only power plant that is threatened by the flooding. Cooper Nuclear Station is in a similar position, but the risk is higher if the water’s level is rising. In the worst case, the Fukushima’s situation could repeat here.
Nuclear danger in Nebraska because of the flooding News In A Box by Kelley Jeanie , 22 June 11 On Tuesday, June 21st 2011 A power plant from Nebraska, Fort Calhoun, was threatened to become a new Fukushima after several dams from around it broke because of the flooding on the Missouri River. The power plant was close to be under the water after the Missouri River got at 45 centimeters around it, according to dailymail.co.uk. If the water’s level got at 274,9 meters above the sea’s level in Brownville, the officials would have been forced to close the nuclear plant that is situated at 275,2 meters. Continue reading
Near disaster of U.S. nuclear submarine
Nuclear sub came close to disaster off Devon The Independent By David Wilcock 22 June 11 A US nuclear submarine nearly ran aground, following an incident in which two of its crewmen died near Plymouth, a report has revealed.
The attack submarine the USS Minneapolis-St Paul was trying to leave Plymouth Sound after a visit to Devonport naval base in 2006 when it hit rocks and became stuck with consequences that could have been “catastrophic”, the Royal Navy report, released through the Freedom of Information Act, said.
Two US sailors, Senior Chief Petty Officer Thomas Higgins and Petty Officer Michael Holtz, died while three others were swept into the rough seas before being rescued by nearby boats. The report said the incident was largely the fault of the vessel’s commanding officer, Commander Edwin Ruff, who was later relieved of his post.
It also criticised a lax safety culture at the naval base, the largest in western Europe, including a failure to heed warnings after a similar but non-fatal accident involving the British submarine HMS Sovereign the previous February.
“This was a severe incident with multiple loss of life. There was a very real possibility of the boat grounding in very rough seas and on an ebb tide 500 yards south of Plymouth breakwater,” the report said.
“Tragic as the loss of the lives of Holtz and Higgins was, the outcome could have been so much more catastrophic and thus must be regarded as at the less serious end of the potential spectrum of consequences….http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nuclear-sub-came-close-to-disaster-off-devon-2300623.html
Problems at Dominion Virginia nuclear power units
Flood crisis at Nebraska nuclear plant
12 Significant Events That the Mockingbird Media is Currently Ignoring, Benzinga, By Truth is Treason, June 20, 2011 ”…The crisis at the Fort Calhoun nuclear facility in Nebraska has received almost no attention in the national mainstream media. Back on June 7th, there was a fire at Fort Calhoun. The official story is that the fire was in an electrical switchgear room at the plant. The facility lost power to a pump that cools the spent fuel pool for approximately 90 minutes. According to the Omaha Public Power District, the fire was quickly extinguished and no radioactive material was released. …….
But the crisis at Fort Calhoun is not over. Right now, the nuclear facility at Fort Calhoun is essentially an island. It is surrounded by rising flood waters from the Missouri River. (photo from Washington Post 20 June 11)
Officials claim that there is no danger and that they are prepared for the river to rise another ten feet.The Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, Nebraska is also being threatened by rising flood waters. A “Notification of Unusual Event” was declared at Cooper Nuclear Station this morning at 4:02. This notification was issued because the Missouri River’s water level reached 42.5 feet…….
Right now the facility is operating normally and officials don’t expect a crisis.But considering what has been going on at Fukushima, it would be nice if we could have gotten a lot more coverage of these events by the mainstream media… http://www.benzinga.com/11/06/1183421/12-significant-events-that-the-mockingbird-media-is-currently-ignoring#ixzz1PrRYnCv0
How USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission repeatedly weakens safety rules
the AP investigation found that with billions of dollars and 19 percent of America’s electricity supply at stake, a cozy relationship prevails between the industry and its regulator, the NRC.
All the while the NRC keeps extending licenses of dozens of reactors….
Fukushima USA? Dangerous radioactive leaks and cracked foundations go unpunished at American nuclear power plants By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 20 June 11 Safety has taken a back seat to cost-cutting at most of the nation’s nuclear power plants, sparking fears that America could be facing its own Fukushima disaster.
An investigation by the Associated Press has revealed federal regulators are repeatedly weakening – or simply failing to impose – strict rules. The constant danger of aging reactors operating without the highest standards has resulted in rising fears the NRC is significantly undermining safety. Continue reading
IAEA Fukushima Report highlights the unsafety and diseconomics of nuclear power
To sum up, when you build a reactor you are committing to controlling the nuclear fury at its heart for half a century or more, and controlling the waste produced for many thousands of years (using methods no-one has yet developed)……
But the real lesson is that it is impossible to cover all eventualities. That means nuclear power is not safe or, given the colossal clean-up costs, cheap. Regretfully, I believe it is an illusory answer to the problem of rising greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
Fukushima report shows nuclear power can never be safe and cheap, by Damian Carrington 20 June 2011 guardian.co.uk The first “independent” review of the safety failures during Japan’s nuclear disaster reveals some chillingly obvious “lessons” to be learned
..The first “independent” review of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was published today and it does not make reassuring reading.
Japan is perhaps the most technologically advanced nation on Earth and yet, time after time, the report finds missing measures that I would have expected to already be in place. It highlights the fundamental inability for anyone to anticipate all future events and so deeply undermines the claims of the nuclear industry and its supporters that this time, with the new generation of reactors, things will be different.
I used quote marks on the word “independent” because the report comes from the International Atomic Energy Association (pdf) (IAEA) which, while independent of Japan, is far from independent from the nuclear industry it was founded to promote. But this conflict of interest only makes the findings of the IEAE’s experts more startling. Continue reading
USA nuclear regulators undermining public safety?
Are federal regulators undermining safety at nuclear reactors? America Blog, by Chris in Paris on 6/20/2011 Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation’s aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.
The result? Rising fears that these accommodations by the NRC are significantly undermining safety — and inching the reactors closer to an accident that could harm the public and jeopardize the future of nuclear power in the United States…
Radiation – the big safety hazard for nuclear reactors themselves
Radiation bombards reactors, make them brittle, Google News By JEFF DONN, AP National Writer –20 June 11 No aging problem has been more vexing or dangerous in nuclear power plants than the tendency of reactors to grow brittle. This stubborn problem threatens the main radiation barrier at the plants: the garage-size steel vessels that cradle tons of radioactive fuel.In certain emergencies, these vessels would flood with cooling water. If the vessel walls are too brittle, they could shatter and spew their radioactive contents into the environment. Continue reading
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of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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