Anxiety in France about its nuclear reactors
French atomic security unready for repeat disasters: agency Expatica France, 30 march 11, French nuclear security has not yet taken into account the kind of accumulation of natural catastrophes that led to Japan’s atomic disaster, the head of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) said Wednesday.”How do we deal with an accumulation of assaults? This is something that we have not yet taken into account,” ASN head Andre-Claude Lacoste said when asked about lessons to be learnt from the unfolding nuclear accident at Fukushima……
“We cannot live on quiet certainties, in fact who can after what’s just happened?” he said, adding that the ASN’s position remained that “no one can ever say that there will never be a nuclear accident in France.”
The French government last week told the ASN to carry out a security audit at France’s 58 active atomic reactors. France is proportionally the world’s largest user of nuclear power…..French atomic security unready for repeat disasters: agency < French news | Expatica France
New York nuclear plants do not comply with fire safety rules
NY official knocks fire safety at nuke plant – WSJ.com MARCH 28, 2011, NY official knocks fire safety at nuke plant WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The state attorney general says federal regulators should take action against nuclear plants in the New York suburbs for what he called failure to comply with fire safety regulations.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has granted Indian Point several exemptions involving fire safety……NY official knocks fire safety at nuke plant – WSJ.com
87 percent chance of big earthquake near Hamaoka nuclear plant
The possibility of an imminent magnitude 8-plus earthquake in the Tokai region near the Hamaoka plant was brought to the public’s attention by geologist Ishibashi Katsuhiko in the 1970s and a government report has estimated there is an 87 percent chance of such an earthquake within the next 30 years……
Japan activist warns another ‘nuclear quake’ looms | Reuters, 27 march 11,“ “……….except for the location -Hirose had predicted an imminent megaquake and nuclear accident at the Hamaoka plant 200 km southwest of Tokyo, not the Fukushima Daiichi plant 240 km northeast — the scenario depicted in his first book on nuclear power in 15 years has proved eerily prescient. Continue reading
EU to test nuclear reactor threats from earthquakes, floods, terrorism
The tests should assess threats from earthquakes, floods, airplane crashes and terrorists and examine the robustness of backup cooling systems, according to Günther Oettinger, the bloc’s energy commissioner. The tests should also assess the security of ponds where highly radioactive spent fuel is stored, Luis Echávarri, director general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency, said
Europe to Test Safety of Nuclear Reactors NYTimes.com By JAMES KANTER March 25, 2011 BRUSSELS — After a week of bickering over the future of nuclear power, European Union leaders reached one point of agreement Friday as they decided that reactors across all 27 member nations should undergo safety tests in response to the continuing radiation leaks from a beleaguered plant in Japan… Continue reading
Questions about safety of Illinois’ old nuclear reactors
Nuclear watchdogs and environmental groups have been critical because the reactors got 20-year license extensions after surpassing their original 40-year lifespans…Kirk and Durbin peppered officials with questions about the safety of the storage of spent fuel rods, some of which are near populated areas and key waterways in the state……
Kirk, Durbin quiz nuclear experts – Chicago Sun-Times, 26 March 11, In light of the crisis in Japan, Illinois needs to review the size of evacuation zones around its six nuclear power plants Continue reading
USA nuclear plants have limited backup power for emergencies
there are different threats that could cause similar problems with reactors in the United States, ….“Many of our reactors are in situations where earthquakes or hurricanes in the Gulf or ice storms in the Northeast or a tree in Cleveland can cause an extensive blackout that puts us in a very similar situation,….
Japan Disaster Raises Questions About Backup Power at U.S. Nuclear Plants, NYTimes.com, By MIKE SORAGHAN March 24, 2011 The batteries that back up power at most U.S. nuclear plants are required to last about as long as the average cellphone battery — four hours.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says that’s enough. The agency’s critics say it’s not. And those critics are pointing to the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, which is teetering on the brink of meltdown because it lost power. Continue reading
Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports gaps in USA nuclear reactors’ safety
US watchdog sees gaps in reactor safety, FT.com , By Shannon Bond New York March 24 2011 Defects in components of US nuclear plants are going unreported because of “contradictory and unclear” regulations, according to a report from the federal nuclear regulator’s watchdog.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector general’s report, released on Thursday, is based on a review conducted in January, before the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant and the ensuing concern over the safety of nuclear sites in the US. The inspector general’s findings, however, raise questions about risks at the 104 operating reactors across the country. Nuclear plants provide 20 per cent of US electricity, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s lobbying organisation……FT.com / US & Canada – US watchdog sees gaps in reactor safety
Oyster Creek nuclear reactor – the oldest and most dangerous?
Oyster Creek has been dogged by problems including a corroding liner in the carbon steel containment unit; leaks that allow radioactive tritium to seep into drinking water; and huge volumes of stocked spent fuel rods.
“We have 40 years of radiation on site — two-and-a-half to three times more than in Japan,”
Oldest US nuclear reactor: a ‘disaster’ in waiting?, Google news, By Karin Zeitvogel (AFP) –25 March 11, LACEY, New Jersey — A sleepy New Jersey town has popped onto people’s radar screens because it has the oldest running nuclear power plant in the United States — and, some say, the most dangerous.
Halt on food imports to Australia from Japan
Tests have revealed vastly elevated levels of radioactive iodine and caesium.
Imports of Japanese food halted, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 march 11, Australia’s food standards regulator has ordered a halt to Japanese food imports, such as sauces and seaweed, amid rising radiation concerns. Continue reading
Questions over the safety of USA’s spent nuclear fuel cooling ponds
President Barack Obama has ordered a comprehensive review of U.S. nuclear plant safety.
Martha Coakley asks feds to re-examine nuclear storage – BostonHerald.com, March 21, 2011 BOSTON – Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is urging federal energy officials to re-examine the safety of the wet storage of spent fuel at nuclear power plants, including the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth.In a letter sent Monday to Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko, Coakley said federal regulators need to take another look at the wet storage protocol, which is also used at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant near the Massachusetts border.
It was also used at the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi plan in Japan…….. Continue reading
Design flaw in General Electric Mark 1 Boiling Water Nuclear Reactors
a design flaw that does appear to be at the heart of the crisis at Fukushima – the extraordinary practice of putting the pool where the highly radioactive used fuel is stored on an upper floor of the reactor building,
Nuclear accidents will happen: human error can’t ever be eliminated, Telegraph UK, By Geoffrey Lean, March 21st, 2011,Thirty-nine years ago, one of the most senior nuclear safety officials in the United States penned a stark memorandum to colleagues. It warned that a key bulwark against a catastrophic accident in the kind of reactors now in meltdown at Fukushima was so flawed it should be banned.
He got a reaction within a week. The idea of a ban was “attractive”, wrote an even more senior official, who went on to head the main US nuclear safety agency. But implementing it “could well be the end of nuclear power”. Continue reading
As nuclear plants become more complex, human error becomes more likely
“Plants grow more complex,” said one leading nuclear engineer after Three Mile Island. “Safety hangs increasingly on the human error factor, and we can’t eliminate it. Many of our operators have seen emergencies only on a simulator. The real thing can look quite different, and they may have just 60 terrified seconds to act.”
Nuclear future – proceed with caution, Telegraph UK, 21 March, New reactors have been designed to be much safer, with the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) – planned to be built here over the next few years – especially so. But official documents show that the EPR will produce several times more of the radioactive iodine and caesium that would be rapidly released in an accident than do present-day reactors.
The trouble is that human beings have a way of overriding safety systems. The 1957 Windscale fire occurred when a physicist threw a switch too soon when carrying out a routine operation. The Three Mile Island accident was caused by a whole series of human errors, while at Chernobyl, operators under pressure to complete a test deliberately and progressively switched off every one of its safety systems until, in the words of the chief investigator into the catastrophe, the reactor “was free to do as it wished”.”Plants grow more complex,” said one leading nuclear engineer after Three Mile Island. “Safety hangs increasingly on the human error factor, and we can’t eliminate it. Many of our operators have seen emergencies only on a simulator. The real thing can look quite different, and they may have just 60 terrified seconds to act.”
Many nuclear plants in earthquake zones: scientists underestimated risks
scientists sometimes have underestimated how powerful quakes can be. The temblor that struck Japan was more than 10 times bigger than the Daiichi plant had been tested to withstand. In 2007, the world’s biggest nuclear plant, Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, was damaged after it was hit by a quake far stronger than its designers anticipated.
Dozens of Reactors in Quake Zones, WSJ.com, 18 March 11, Japan, Taiwan Account for Most Sites in High-Activity Areas; ‘Large Margins of Safety’ Factored In at U.S. Plants By MAURICE TAMMAN, BEN CASSELMAN and PAUL MOZUR Dozens of nuclear reactors operate in earthquake-prone regions around the world, including at least 14 in high-hazard areas, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows. Continue reading
Five close shaves at USA nuclear reactor cores
Nuclear safety: Five recent ‘near miss’ incidents at US nuclear power plants, Christian Science Monitor, 18 March 11, Fourteen safety-related events at nuclear power plants required follow-up inspections from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the NRC reported in 2010. These “near-miss” events “raised the risk of damage to the reactor core – and thus to the safety of workers and the public,” concluded a new report, “The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2010,” by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Here are five of these 14 “near miss” examples:……
Potential for disaster in USA’s nuclear reactors and cooling systems
It would not even require a quake or tsunami, only a moderately ingenious terrorist, to breach Shearon Harris’s puny defences and sabotage the cooling systems. A study by the Brookhaven Labs estimates that a pool fire there could cause 140,000 cancers, and contaminate thousands of square miles of land.
Another Fukushima meltdown? In America? Not if, but when | The First Post, Alexander Cockburn, 18 March 11, “…….. President Obama for example, who took plenty of money from this industry for his presidential campaign and used his State of the Union address last January to reaffirm his commitment to “clean, safe” nuclear power. This week, Obama’s press spokesman confirmed that nuclear energy “remains a part of the President’s overall energy plan”. Continue reading
1 This Month
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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