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Changes needed in USA nuclear reactors, says govt panel

Govt panel: Changes needed at U.S. nuclear plants. Salon.com, BY DINA CAPPIELLO, 14 July 11 Calling the Japan nuclear disaster “unacceptable,” an expert task force convened by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has concluded that nuclear power plants in the U.S. need better protections for rare, catastrophic events.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommends 12 changes at domestic reactors to help prevent Fukushima repeat

The series of recommendations, included in portions of a 90-page report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, will reset the level of protection at the nation’s 104 nuclear reactors after the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl by making them better prepared for incidents that they were not initially designed to handle.

The report will be formally presented to the full commission next week. NRC staff will continue to examine the safety of nuclear power in the U.S. as part of a six-month investigation.

The panel will tell the commission that nuclear plant operators should be ordered to re-evaluate their earthquake and flood risk, add equipment to address simultaneous damage to multiple reactors and make sure electrical power and instruments are in place to monitor and cool spent fuel pools after a disaster……http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/07/14/us_japan_nuclear_safety_report

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July 14, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Investigations continue into radioactive leak from nuclear plant

Radioactive waste leaks at nuclear plant, Officials say no threat posed, but federal safety team continues to investigate, The State, South Carolina, By SAMMY FRETWELL , 12 July 11,

Federal nuclear safety inspectors are investigating a radioactive waste leak at SCE&G’s atomic power plant in Fairfield County.

An estimated 100 gallons of liquid waste spilled at the utility’s V.C. Summer plant, apparently from a pipe that leaked, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The discovery was made late last week.

State, federal and SCE&G officials say they have found no signs the material left the SCE&G nuclear plant or posed any threat to the public, but they are continuing to investigate….Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2011/07/12/1894714/radioactive-waste-leaks-at-nuclear.html#ixzz1RtIakhMk

 

July 12, 2011 Posted by | safety | Leave a comment

Taiwanese government not taking nuclear risks seriously

Nuclear safety inaction panned, By Lee I-chia  Taipei Times   Staff Reporte, 12 July 11, Four months after a powerful earthquake and tsunami sparked a crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan, environmental protection activists yesterday said the Taiwanese government remained flippant about nuclear safety.

RISKS:The former head of an anti-nuclear group said problems could occur at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant given a lack of experienced engineers working there.

During a press conference at the legislature, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said that if an earthquake of similar magnitude occurred in Taiwan, the operating power plants might be unable to withstand the impact and catastrophe might ensue at tremendous cost to society.

There are 108 schools located within a 20km radius of the Jinshan, Guosheng and Fourth Nuclear Power Plants in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Shihmen (石門), Wanli (萬里) and Gongliao (貢寮) districts respectively, Tien said.

“If something goes wrong at any one of the three plants, many schools will face total evacuation,” she said…..http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/07/12/2003508030

July 12, 2011 Posted by | safety, Taiwan | Leave a comment

USA’s new nuclear regulations will take years to be developed

Analysis: After Fukushima, glacial change seen for U.S. nuclear, (Reuters) 11 July 11, – The U.S. nuclear industry this week gets its first peek at a roadmap for new regulations that ultimately could cost it billions in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi disaster.

But the bottom-line impact of Fukushima on the U.S. fleet of 104 reactors could take most of the next decade to calculate.

Most expect Tuesday’s report from a task force of senior staff members at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to be just the first step in years of deliberations and rule-makings…….

The last time the NRC did this kind of regulatory soul-search — after the September 11, 2001, attacks — it took a decade to get the entire plan in place. Continue reading →

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

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

Japan May Have No Nukes Operating By 2012, Says Bloomberg, Barron’s, July 8 2011, By Tiernan Ray, Interesting article by Bloomberg’s Tsuyoshi Inajima and Chisaki Watanabe this morning about Japan perhaps dumping all nukes by May of next year.

Two thirds of Japan’s nuclear reactors have been shut down since the earthquake and resultant tsunami in March, the authors write. Now, stress tests ordered by the government this week on various reactors are causing delays to the resumption of operations at plants.

“The remaining operating units in Japan, the world’s third- biggest user of nuclear power, must be idled by May next year, according to schedules provided to Bloomberg by Kyushu Electric, Shikoku Electric, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co. and the other power companies,” write Inajima and Watanabe….http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2011/07/08/japan-may-have-no-nukes-operating-by-2012-says-bloomberg/?mod=google_news_blog

July 9, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

$1 Billion emergency response plan for USA nuclear industry ?

Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, has faulted U.S. oversight of reactor safety. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both California Democrats, have called on the NRC to examine nuclear power plants located in areas of seismic activity. In June, rising waters of the Missouri River in Nebraska threatened to breach flood walls protecting two nuclear plants.

Nuke industry weighing $1B emergency response plan, Fuel Fix, By Brian Wingfield, 8 July 11 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. nuclear-power industry is considering a $1 billion plan that would create regional centers to store equipment for delivery to reactors within 24 hours of an emergency.  Continue reading →

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

Perry Nuclear Plant may not be operating safely

Perry Nuclear Plant facing possible safety violations, The investigation into an April incident at Perry Nuclear Power Plant in North Perry Village has the plant facing a possible safety violation., News Herald,  July 09, 2011, 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng said preliminary findings indicate numerous missteps were taken on April 21 when workers removed a neuron monitor from a reactor………Mitlyng said the potential violation follows a series of indications that the plant may not be operating as safely as possible.

“Perry has had issues with human performance which for 31⁄2 years they have not been able to resolve.”…http://news-herald.com/articles/2011/07/09/news/nh4230128.txt?viewmode=2

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

Training US nuclear staff for nuclear calamities

At U.S. Nuclear Reactors, Crews Train For The Worst, 5 July 11NPR, by RICHARD HARRIS..…..”…….— Berry says reactor operators in these training scenarios can respond to some pretty intense crises, on the scale even of Fukushima. But David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer at a watchdog group called the Union of Concerned Scientists, says he’s skeptical that the mess in Japan could have been prevented, given the real-world conditions there….

He adds that you can’t truly simulate the kind of crisis response we saw at Fukushima, where a lot of the action took place outside the control rooms. Workers scrambled around to try to read dials, fix electrical circuits and struggle with stalled pumps. And he adds training might not be enough when a crew is confronting not only severe conditions but simultaneous crises at multiple reactors.

“Fukushima showed us that we could have an across-the-board situation where all the reactors are in jeopardy and there’s no on-site cavalry that can come running to the aid of the accident unit,” Lochbaum says.

He adds that overall, the U.S. training system is an important element of emergency preparedness. But it’s no guarantee that crews here can handle anything and everything thrown their way.http://www.npr.org/2011/07/06/137633351/at-u-s-nuclear-reactors-crews-train-for-the-worst

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

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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July 6, 2011 Posted by | France, safety | Leave a comment

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/

July 3, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

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 →

July 2, 2011 Posted by | EUROPE, safety | Leave a comment

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 →

July 2, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

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 →

July 2, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

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.”……

Among several important findings, Zawahiri sophisticatedly weaves identical passages, sources and religious justifications for a nuclear terrorist attack against the United States previously penned by radical Saudi cleric Nasir al Fahd. Indeed, the language used, research cited, and arguments put forth are nothing short of detailed and deliberate……
http://blogs.forbes.com/rahimkanani/2011/06/29/new-al-qaeda-chief-zawahiri-has-strong-nuclear-intent/

 

July 2, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

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

 

 

June 29, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

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