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Nuclear lobby “kills” nomination of regulator who cares too much about safety

“We killed this nomination,” said Ted Nordhaus, executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, a California-based climate think tank that advocates for more nuclear energy.

Biden Drops Nuclear Regulator Nominee After Senate Backlash

Alexander C. Kaufman, Tue, 23 January 2024  https://au.news.yahoo.com/biden-drops-nuclear-regulator-nominee-190521226.html

President Joe Biden is dropping his pick to fill the open seat on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after a handful of Democrats joined Senate Republicans to block the nomination last year, HuffPost has learned. 

Jeff Baran had held a seat on the five-person federal panel overseeing atomic energy and radiation safety since former President Barack Obama first named to the position in 2014. The Democratic commissioner easily won Senate approval when former President Donald Trump renominated him in 2018. 

But pro-nuclear advocates angry over what they saw as Baran’s unwillingness to overhaul the regulatory process in favor of building new types of reactor technologies launched a campaign against the commissioner last year. With Republicans opposed to the nomination, the Biden administration needed almost every Democrat in the Senate to vote for Baran ― or leave the NRC without a tie-breaker for party-line votes between the four current commissioners. 

The White House had wanted the Senate’s narrow Democratic majority to reconfirm Baran before his term ended last July. But as many as four senators on the Democratic side, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), either planned to come out against Baran or refused to pledge their votes, according to a source with knowledge of the process. Neither senator’s office immediately responded to emails requesting comment on Monday.

When the Senate ended 2023 last month without a vote, the nomination automatically went back to the White House. 

The NRC directed HuffPost’s questions about when the administration would name its nominee for the open commission seat to the White House, which did not respond to a request for comment.

But three sources with knowledge of the plans confirmed to HuffPost that the Biden administration does not plan to nominate Baran again. Two spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The third claimed Baran’s loss as a victory. 

“We killed this nomination,” said Ted Nordhaus, executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, a California-based climate think tank that advocates for more nuclear energy.

He was among the most vocal opponents of Baran’s nomination, and helped drum up votes against the Democratic commissioner. Nordhaus had cast Baran as a holdover from an earlier era of liberal regulators who saw their job primarily as safeguarding the public against the atomic energy industry. 

“It is my job to focus on nuclear safety and security,” Baran said in 2017 at his reconfirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works committee. “It is not my job to weigh in on the pros and cons of the merits of nuclear power.”

That view, Nordhaus said, was common among Democrats for decades. But a modern outlook on nuclear safety has to consider not only the threats of using atomic energy, but the risks that not doing so increases pollution from fossil fuels that damages lungs and traps heat in the planet’s atmosphere.

“Everyone went into this just assuming everybody would line up behind Baran, that this is just the kind of guy Democrats put on the commission,” Nordhaus said. 

“The fact that enough Democratic senators were willing to say we’re not going to vote for this guy,” he added, “it’s pretty clear that for the first time in maybe ever a bunch of Democrats now recognize that we need reform at the NRC, that something has to change, that the technology can’t succeed if the NRC continues to approach this in the way it historically has.” 

But Baran had defenders. The progressive pro-nuclear group Good Energy Collective previously told HuffPost Baran had a strong record of fighting for environmental justice and building relationships with communities saddled with radioactive pollution from the past. 

January 23, 2024 Posted by | politics, safety, USA | Leave a comment

Top Nuclear Regulator Faces Tough Reconfirmation Battle In The Senate

Biden wants to keep Jeff Baran on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but the GOP and pro-nuclear activists say he’s holding back an atomic renaissance.

Huff Post, By Alexander C. Kaufman, Jun 27, 2023

When President Barack Obama first named Jeff Baran to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2014, the Democratic majority in the Senate confirmed the former congressional staffer in a 52-40 vote. When President Donald Trump renominated the Democrat for another five-year term in 2018, the GOP-led Senate approved Baran by a simple voice tally.

But President Joe Biden’s plan to give Baran a third stint on the federal body responsible for the world’s largest fleet of commercial reactors has already hit the rocks, as Republicans move to block a commissioner critics paint as an “obstructionist” with a record of voting for policies nuclear advocates say make it harder to keep existing plants open and more expensive, if not impossible, to deploy advanced next-generation atomic technologies.

Last Friday, the Senate went on break for the next two weeks, all but guaranteeing that Baran’s current term ends on June 30 without a decision on whether he will rejoin the five-member board, creating a vacancy that could cause gridlock on some decisions and mark a return to the partisan feuds of a decade ago…………

The White House and the Democrats who control the Senate hope to reinstate Baran in a vote next month, casting the regulator as a sober-minded professional with an ear to the woes of those living in polluted or impoverished communities. The battle highlights growing tensions over nuclear energy in the United States, the country that built the world’s first full-scale fission power plant nearly seven decades ago but all but ceased expanding atomic energy in the 30 years since the Cold War ended…………………………………………………………….

“His voting record shows he’s been a consistent obstructionist, a defender of a regulatory system that has basically presided over the long-term decline of the nuclear sector in the U.S.,” said Ted Nordhaus, executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, a California-based environmental think tank that advocates for nuclear energy. “There’s a broad view at a pretty bipartisan level that we need nuclear energy. If Democrats are serious about it, they have to stop putting a guy like Jeff Baran at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”

The Breakthrough Institute was among five pro-nuclear groups that signed on to a June 12 letter urging the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to reject the White House’s nomination of Baran for a third term.

The NRC declined HuffPost’s request to interview Baran…………………………………………………

The Case Against Baran

Baran came to power right as the last attempt at a “nuclear renaissance” fizzled…………………

As governments scrambled to keep operating reactors from going out of business, Baran voted last July to increase the frequency of federal safety inspections on existing nuclear plants, arguing that it would allow for “more focused inspections” that would “provide the staff flexibility to take a deeper dive into different areas of high safety importance” as the reactor fleet ages.

Baran also came out against measures that supporters of new reactor designs say would have helped tailor the regulatory process to the specific needs of novel technologies…………………

Baran issued the NRC’s sole vote against three recent proposals to make it easier to build an SMR at a former coal- or gas-fired plant, to tailor the size of the emergency preparedness zone to the size of the reactor, and to update the environmental permitting requirements for new reactors to account for the dramatic difference in water use between traditional and new designs…………..

While outnumbered by the other four commissioners, Baran’s hard-line view against easing regulations mirrors the Fukushima era in which he came to power, when Democrats Gregory Jaczko and Allison Macfarlane chaired the NRC and delivered on Reid’s efforts to block key nuclear projects. Nordhaus described Baran as a holdover from that period…………………..

The Case For Baran

Baran is not without his defenders among atomic energy advocates.

“It’s not as though he’s anti-nuclear,” said Jackie Toth, the Washington-based deputy director of the Good Energy Collective, a progressive pro-nuclear group headquartered in California. She noted that Baran’s critics often paint him as having the same views as Jaczko and Macfarlane. “To pool them together without looking at the full breadth of his record and what he’s done is unfair.”

“He prioritizes safety and not simply taking industry at its word,” Toth said. “It’s critical to have on the commission someone who understands both the need for increased nuclear capacity on our grid for climate, communities and energy security, but still wants to make sure the industry is putting its best foot forward.”

In particular, she said, Baran has been a crucial supporter of efforts to make it easier for poor and polluted communities — which, thanks to the U.S. history of racist legal and cultural norms, tend to be populated by Black, Latino or Native Americans — to participate in the public regulatory process. While she said she “did not have concerns regarding” the other commissioners’ dedication to environmental justice, Baran’s focus on the issue served to “complement” the other four regulators.

“We feel it’s an asset to have someone like him at the NRC who gets the climate imperative for new reactors but also upholds the agency’s mission to be a trusted regulator that prioritizes public health and safety,” Toth said.

‘Rolling The Dice’

But as Congress presses ahead with legislation to boost nuclear power, Baran’s opponents see him as a potential hurdle to implementing the laws.

In 2018, Congress passed the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, which directed the NRC to establish a novel regulatory framework for new technologies that takes into account the differences between advanced reactors and traditional ones. Baran consistently voted against adjusting the size of a new nuclear plant’s emergency planning zone to align with the size of the reactor, or insisted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should decide even though the NRC is the regulator with the technical expertise to make the final call.

Over the past two years, Congress earmarked billions of dollars for new reactors in the landmark infrastructure laws Biden signed. And the same Senate committee that narrowly voted along party lines to confirm Baran’s renomination for another term overwhelmingly passed a new bill known as the ADVANCE Act to speed up deployment of new reactor technologies earlier this month………………………..

January 23, 2024 Posted by | politics, safety | Leave a comment

Ontario is about to decide whether to overhaul Canada’s oldest nuclear power plant. Does it deserve a second life?

All of these are Candu reactors – Canada’s homegrown reactor design. They deteriorate with age. Inside their cores, pressure tubes (which contain the uranium fuel) grow longer, thinner and weaker. They begin to sag and corrode, increasing the risk of ruptures. Feeder pipes, which supply water to the pressure tubes, also corrode and thin.

Globe and Mail,   MATTHEW MCCLEARN, 21 Jan 24

The Pickering Nuclear Generating Station’s dull, mottled-grey concrete domes testify to its more than half a century of faithful service. Lately, its six operating reactors have produced enough electricity to supply 1.5 million people, about one-tenth of Ontario’s total population.

In the coming weeks, Ontario Energy Minister Todd Smith is expected to reveal whether the province will extend the plant’s life. A study last summer from Ontario Power Generation, the station’s owner, examined the feasibility of refurbishing Pickering’s four “B” reactors, commissioned between 1983 and 1986. OPG has said there’s no technical reason the work can’t proceed. If approved, it would begin in 2028, with the aim of returning the reactors to service in the mid-2030s.

The real question is whether it’s worth it.

A firm cost estimate for extending the reactors’ lifespan has not been finalized. Refurbishments under way at OPG’s Darlington nuclear plant in Clarington and Bruce Power’s station in Tiverton have cost between $2-billion and more than $3-billion per reactor. The reactors at Pickering, Canada’s oldest nuclear plant, could cost even more, though their output is relatively small by modern standards.

Ontario’s government has said little about how it is weighing this decision, and it’s unclear what other options, if any, the province is considering. OPG has said its feasibility study would compare the refurbishment’s economic viability to “potential alternatives,” but the finished report has not been released publicly.

The Globe and Mail made a freedom of information request for a copy of the study. But Sean Keelor, chief administrative officer at Ontario’s Ministry of Energy, withheld the document in its entirety. He cited exemptions within the province’s Freedom of Information Act for “advice to government” and for information that could damage the “economic or other interests of Ontario.”

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which regulates the industry, allows utilitiesto perform upgrades thateffectively double reactors’ lives, as long as “all practicable safety improvements to bring the facility up to modern standards” have been identified. Upgrading Pickering would be no small undertaking.

“They are very old reactors, and the equipment is out of date,” said Ibrahim Attieh, a reactor physicist who worked on Candu designs. “It’s going to be a lot more costly to retrofit new equipment in.”

The Pickering station, situated on the shore of Lake Ontario about 30 kilometres east of downtown Toronto, also includes the four 1970s-era Pickering “A” reactors, which are not under consideration for refurbishment.

Two have been dormant for decades after an aborted refurbishment, and the remaining two are scheduled to shut down permanently this year.

All of these are Candu reactors – Canada’s homegrown reactor design. They deteriorate with age. Inside their cores, pressure tubes (which contain the uranium fuel) grow longer, thinner and weaker. They begin to sag and corrode, increasing the risk of ruptures. Feeder pipes, which supply water to the pressure tubes, also corrode and thin.

Candus were originally expected to operate for about 30 years. The industry has said decisions on whether to refurbish should be made after a quarter century – a milestone Pickering B has already passed.

All refurbishments involve sending workers into a reactor’s radioactive core, to replace major components such as pressure tubes and feeder pipes. But the scope of work varies considerably, depending on the age, design and condition of components, as well as other factors. A utility might also improve other infrastructure at a nuclear plant, such as turbines and control room equipment.

Subo Sinnathamby, OPG’s chief projects officer, said that among the components that would need to be replaced at Pickering B are the steam generators, which use heat produced inside the core to boil water, creating steam that drives turbine blades.

Ms. Sinnathamby said these components are too large to be removed through the reactor’s airlocks.

“We will have to cut a hole in the dome to remove it,” she said.

Pickering B’s control room is straight out of the Cold War and would also require modernization.

Continue reading →

January 22, 2024 Posted by | Canada, safety | Leave a comment

Hinkley C site fire safety fears trigger enforcement notices


By Phil Hill, @GazettePHill,  https://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/24055739.hinkley-c-site-fire-safety-fears-trigger-enforcement-notices/ 17 Jan 24

Pre-planned inspections in November at the Unit 1 HR Building on the site led to ONR identifying the breaches and issuing the notices.

These have been served on licensee NNB Generation Company (HPC) Ltd, contractors Bouygues Travaux Publics SAS and Laing O’Rourke Construction Limited, who are the joint venture partners in BYLOR JV, and REEL UK.

The enforcement notices require improvements to be made to address the shortfalls and prevent re-occurrence.

There were no consequences to employees, the public or the environment as a result of the shortfalls.

However, ONR identified the potential for harm and risk of serious injury, which required regulatory action.

Shane Turner, superintending inspector and head of safety regulation at Hinkley Point C, said: “The enforcement notices require these four organisations to make improvements in fire safety arrangements at the Hinkley Point C site.

We will engage with each of them during the period of the enforcement notice to ensure positive progress is made.”

The notices require necessary improvements are made by March 31.

The enforcement action relates to contraventions under the requirements of Article 22 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

1

January 21, 2024 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Limping along: EDF Energy looking to extend operational life of aging reactors AGAIN.

Nuclear Free Local Authorities, 18 Jan 24

The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities are concerned that EDF Energy, the arm of French state-owned Électricité de France which operates the UK nuclear fleet, has just announced its intention to further extend operations at its four remaining aging Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor plants.

Hartlepool, Heysham-1, Heysham-2, and Torness first began generating in either 1983 or 1988, with an estimated operational life of 30 years. In 2023, the operating lives of Hartlepool and Heysham-1 were extended by two years from 2024 to March 2026, however the closure of Heysham-2 and Torness had previously been brought forward from 2030 to March 2028 because of ‘impacts on the graphite cores’.

The aging AGR plants will have been operating for at least 40 years by 2028, and the NFLAs’ core concerns revolve around the safety risk posed by the degradation of the graphite neutron moderators in each reactor.

NFLA Scotland Policy Advisor Pete Roche finds the rethink of the situation at Torness and Heysham 2 totally inexplicable: “In May 2020 we learnt that the cores of the four reactors at Torness and Heysham 2 were predicted to start cracking in 2022, six years earlier than previously thought. These last two AGRs have a significant design difference, compared to other AGRs which could make the cracking problem worse. Several commentators, at the time, questioned whether the two stations would make it even as far as 2028.

In 2020 the Office for Nuclear Regulation said the design difference at Torness and Heysham 2 could lead to graphite debris challenging the reactors’ ability to move or adequately cool fuel. And if the Regulators modelling predictions on the graphite core cracking were realised, then the reactors would not be safe to operate for another ten years. Heysham-1 and Hartlepool face similar operational challenges.

Yet in the ‘UK Nuclear Free Stakeholder Update’ published earlier this month, EDF company bosses state: ‘The prospect of further AGR lifetime extensions ([of] four power stations) will be reviewed again by the end [of] 2024 and the ambition is to generate beyond these dates, subject to plant inspections and regulatory approvals.’[1]

To support this ‘ambition’, EDF Energy also pledges to: ‘invest a further £1.3 billion over the next three years (2024-26) to help sustain current levels of generation’ within the company’s Nuclear Operations Division.

The function of the graphite core and the impact of aging is detailed by the Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) on its website:

https://www.onr.org.uk/civil-nuclear-reactors/graphite-core-ageing.htm

‘As well as moderation, the fundamental safety requirements of an AGR core include allowing free movement of control rods, free movement of fuel and directing the flow of coolant gas to ensure adequate cooling of the fuel and core structure.  Essentially, significant weight-loss and cracking may compromise these safety requirements.
‘During operation, the graphite slowly loses weight due to oxidation caused by the reactor’s carbon dioxide coolant gas.  Loss of weight affects both the mechanical properties of the graphite brick, and reduces its effectiveness as a moderator.’

We raised our concerns that graphite core cracking could over time seriously compromise safety as far back as 2014 and most recently in correspondence, and in meetings, with officials from the ONR.

Our concerns and activities on this issue were outlined in our briefing No 250 ‘Update on the AGR closure programme’, dated 17 October 2022:……………………………………………………

Three AGRs at Dungeness-B, Hinkley Point-B and Hunterston-B have already closed, and are in the process of defueling, but those that remain continue to experience defects during their end-of-life cycle in addition to any cracking of the graphite core moderator.

Dr Paul Dorfman, Chair of the Nuclear Consulting Group, who is often called upon to comment on nuclear power and renewable energy issues by media outlets worldwide, is clear that closure of the AGRs is long overdue:

“All the UK nuclear reactors that EDF want to ‘life extend’ have histories of technical problems – by far the most significant is the cracking of the graphite bricks in the core moderator. The role of the graphite moderator is to slow down the fast neutrons to allow the chain reaction.


“Due to irradiation damage over time, the bricks crack and reactor core distorts. Channels run through the bricks, allowing control rods to shut-down the reactor in an emergency. Because the graphite core can’t be repaired or replaced, this means that core damage is a life-limiting condition.
This is why these reactor’s original operating design life was just 30 years.

“All things considered, much better to be safe than sorry. Shut them down.”

The status and operating history of the AGRs does indeed belie the claim of government ministers and industry supremos that nuclear is a reliable source of electricity generation; indeed, generation at the plants can best be described as ‘intermittent’, a term commonly used by detractors of renewable energy technologies……………………………………………..

There will doubtless be a point where it will simply be uneconomic for EDF Energy to continue generating electricity at these elderly plants, but Councillor Lawrence O’Neill, Chair of the NFLAs, wonders if EDF Energy’s motivation is in part driven by the need to generate extra income in the medium term given the significant delays in delivering Hinkley Point C:

“Frankly EDF Energy could do with the money from continuing operations at the four AGR plants. Hinkley Point C is being built at EDF’s risk and EDF’s cost. It is massively over budget and hugely behind schedule. It may well not be generating by 2028 or even by 2030, and broadsheet newspapers like The Telegraph and Guardian have recently speculated that the plant may even not be online before 2032. In the meantime, EDF Energy will be haemorrhaging cash”…………………………………… https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/limping-along-edf-energy-looking-to-extend-operational-life-of-aging-reactors-again/

January 20, 2024 Posted by | safety | Leave a comment

Fresh Trident safety fears as submarines’ ‘life expectancy’ extended repeatedly

NEW concerns have been raised about the safety of Britain’s nuclear
fleet – with two submarines still in action previously predicted to have
been out of commission by this year. Former top government adviser Dominic
Cummings (below) sparked interest in the state of Britain’s nuclear fleet
at the beginning of this month when he revealed he had attempted to secure
assurances the Government would address the “horror show” of the
arsenal in return for his help in Rishi Sunak’s election campaign.

 The National 14th Jan 2024

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24046989.fresh-trident-safety-fears-submarines-life-expectancy-extended-repeatedly/

January 15, 2024 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Nuclear convoys: Blacked-out lorries carry ‘deadly cargo’ through the village

 A TINY English village could be top of Putin’s nuclear hitlist, locals
fear. Brize Norton is only a stone’s throw away from the largest station in
the Royal Air Force.

Huge convoys of blacked-out lorries, police riot vans,
ambulances and other trucks regularly rumble through, clogging up the
village’s narrow main road. Locals claim they’ve had guns pointed at them
by cops, and even been forced to pull over to make room for the fleet of
“deadly cargo”.

One video shows parents and kids on the school run having
to stand aside as a convoy with blue flashing lights thunders through,
shaking the walls of surrounding buildings and towering over homes just
metres away. The cargo, widely believed to contain “nuclear material”, is a
key part of Britain’s Trident weapons programme.

 The Sun 13th Jan 2024

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/25310004/brize-norton-nuclear-weapons-putin-oxfordshire-cotswolds/

January 15, 2024 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Japanese nuclear plant admits 20,000 litres of oil leaked when it was hit by 10ft tsunami sparked by New Year’s Day earthquake – as officials call for drones to monitor radiation levels

  • Hokuriku Electric Power reported second oil leak at Shika nuclear power station

Daily Mail, By JAMES CALLERY, 12 January 2024

A Japanese nuclear power station has admitted that 20,000 litres of oil leaked when 10ft tsunami waves slammed into the plant after the 7.6-magnitude New Year’s Day earthquake.

Shika nuclear power plant, which contains two reactors, was hit by the huge waves shortly after the powerful earthquake struck the central Ishikawa region on January 1.

Around 19,900 litres of insulating oil leaked after the transformers in the two nuclear reactors were damaged in the quake, Hokurika Electric Power, which runs the facility, said. A second oil leak was reported yesterday, raising yet more safety fears.

Water used to cool spent fuel rods was spilt and the plant’s electricity power was temporarily knocked out as a result of the 7.6-magnitude quake, which killed more than 200 people.

Though Hokuriku Electric claims that no that radiation leaked from the plant, a small number of nearby monitoring stations were taken offline by the earthquake, raising fears that there could in fact be more damage.

Nobuhiko Ban, a safety panel member at Japan’s nuclear watchdog NRA, said this is a ‘huge problem’ and proposed utilising drones and aircraft to measure radiation levels until the operator’s monitoring stations could be repaired………………………………………………………………………. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12951991/Japanese-nuclear-power-station-admits-10ft-tsunami-waves-slammed-plant-7-6-magnitude-New-Years-Day-earthquake-facility-battles-contain-oil-leaks-amid-fears-safety.html

January 14, 2024 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Japan’s NRA orders probe on quake damage at Shika nuclear power plant

Japan Times, 11 Jan 24

The Nuclear Regulation Authority has ordered its secretariat to thoroughly investigate the cause of damage to a nuclear power plant from the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1.

The regulatory watchdog gave the order at a regular meeting on Wednesday.

According to Hokuriku Electric Power, the quake measured an upper 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale at the basement of the No. 1 reactor building of its Shika nuclear power plant in Ishikawa Prefecture.

The temblor caused oil to leak from two transformers. The company also could no longer measure radiation levels at up to 18 of its 116 monitoring posts around the plant after the earthquake.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the NRA secretariat presented data from Hokuriku Electric showing ground movements resulting from the quake at the plant’s two reactors had experienced sharper accelerations than the maximum levels expected for the facilities, although it did not find any immediate threats to safety.

Both reactors have been idled since 2011, the company said, adding that the quake did not cause any radiation leaks or have any effect on cooling operations in their spent fuel pools……………………………………………………………. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/01/11/japan/science-health/japan-regulator-probe-on-nuke-plant/

January 12, 2024 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Japan’s Hokuriku Elec reports second oil leak from Shika nuclear plant

Reuters, January 11, 2024

TOKYO, – Japan’s Hokuriku Electric Power (9505.T) on Wednesday reported a second oil leak at its Shika nuclear power station which was shaken by a powerful earthquake on New Year’s Day.

External radiation levels were not affected, the company said.

The magnitude 7.6 quake, which killed more than 200 people in the Hokuriku region, shook the idled Shika power station, which is located around 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the quake’s epicentre.

After a first oil leak detected on Sunday, a film of oil was detected on Wednesday in several gutters surrounding the main transformer of the No.2 reactor, the company said.

Also, an oil slick measuring about 100 meters by 30 meters was found floating on the sea in front of the power station, near the area where the first slick was observed.

Hokuriku Electric said it had placed oil absorption mats in the gutters and on oil fences in the coastal areas, and closed the drainage gate for rainwater after the latest leak.

The gate was opened on Tuesday because no additional oil was detected during monitoring patrols conducted three times a day.

“We regret that we should have been more careful in our decision,” Masayuki Nunotani, general manager of Hokuriku Electric’s nuclear energy division, told reporters.

The utility believes the second oil leak originated from a transformer during the Jan. 1 quake, but said it was still analysing further details…………………….. more https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japans-hokuriku-elec-reports-second-oil-leak-shika-nuclear-plant-2024-01-10/

January 12, 2024 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

UK’s dwindling nuclear fleet – four ageing reactors to be kept going beyond their planned closure date.

EDF looks to delay closure of four UK nuclear power plants

 Four of Britain’s dwindling fleet of nuclear power plants look set to
remain on stream for at least a further two years, EDF Energy announced on
Tuesday, as the French state-owned operator said it aimed to halt seven
years of declining output.

The UK’s nuclear generating capacity has
fallen rapidly since the start of the decade as three of the country’s
eight ageing power stations closed. But EDF, which owns the country’s
nuclear fleet via a joint venture with Centrica, said it now planned to
explore keeping two of the power stations — Heysham 2 and Torness —
open beyond their planned closure date of 2028.

This follows an
announcement last year by the company of similar plans to keep the two
other power stations that use the same reactor design — Hartlepool and
Heysham 1 — open for at least two years beyond their scheduled closure
date of 2024. The company said a decision on the planned extensions for
Heysham 2 and Torness power stations, which have a joint generating
capacity of 2.4GW, will be taken by the end of the year, subject to plant
inspections and regulatory approvals.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation
said in a statement: “Several safety cases for the stations are likely to
require updating to achieve EDF’s stated ambitions, together with
investment in plant to sustain equipment reliability, all while ensuring
that the necessary people and skills are on site.” Other nuclear power
plants based on the same design as Hartlepool and Heysham have been forced
to close earlier than planned because cracks were found in the reactors’
graphite cores. But EDF said in 2022 that the graphite at both Hartlepool
and Heysham 1 remained intact, and regular inspections have continued since
then.

 FT 9th Jan 2024

https://www.ft.com/content/06f524ac-2515-432c-97a1-e71aa25189e6

January 12, 2024 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

EDF Energy plans to extend life of four UK nuclear power plants

 EDF Energy is planning to extend the life of four nuclear power stations
in the UK and step up investment in its British nuclear fleet. The French
energy company said it would make a decision on whether to extend the life
of the four UK plants with advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) – Torness,
Heysham 1 and 2, and Hartlepool – by the end of the year.

This would require regulatory approval. A spokesperson for the company said it would
depend on inspections, adding there would not be long lifetime extensions
but “incremental”. Last March, EDF extended lifetimes at Hartlepool and
Heysham 1 by a further two years to March 2026. Heysham 2 and Torness power
stations are now due to stay operational until March 2028.

 Guardian 9th Jan 2024

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/09/edf-energy-uk-nuclear-power-plants

January 12, 2024 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Japan quake stressed nuclear plant beyond design limit: panel

KYODO NEWS KYODO NEWS, 11 Jan 24

Last week’s powerful earthquake in central Japan inflicted stress on parts of a local nuclear power plant that exceeded the limit anticipated in the facility’s design, according to a report shared in a safety panel meeting on Wednesday.

The report, discussed at a regular session of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, indicated the potentially alarming readings of ground acceleration did not appear to pose an immediate safety threat to the facility in Shika on the Noto Peninsula……………………………………………………………..

Shinsuke Yamanaka, chief of the authority, told reporters that such seismic research by experts may take years, and that the activity in undersea faults which triggered the latest quake “must be factored in as new knowledge” in updating safety standards.

Yamanaka, an expert on nuclear power engineering, also urged the operator to get to the bottom of a breakdown of electric transformers installed at its Nos. 1 and 2 reactors that has partially prevented the Shika plant from receiving power supplied from outside………………….

Nobuhiko Ban, another panel member and expert on protection from radiation exposure, called it “a huge problem” that real-time radiation levels have not been monitored at some locations near the Shika plant after the quake, and proposed using aircraft and drones for the purpose………… https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/01/79c47d437001-japan-quake-stressed-nuclear-plant-beyond-design-limit-panel.html

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Sellafield nuclear safety and security director to leave.

Multiple safety and cybersecurity failings at nuclear waste site were revealed by Guardian last month

Guardian,   Anna Isaac and Alex LawsonTue 9 Jan 2024

The top director responsible for safety and security at Sellafield is to leave the vast nuclear waste dump in north-west England, it has emerged.

Mark Neate, the Sellafield environment, safety and security director, is to leave the organisation later this year.

Neate reports directly to Euan Hutton, the interim chief executive of Sellafield, the nuclear waste and decommissioning site in Cumbria, which is also the world’s largest store of plutonium.

Multiple safety and cybersecurity failings, as well as claims of a “toxic” working culture, were revealed in Nuclear Leaks, a year-long Guardian investigation into Sellafield, last month.

The energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, said the reports were “deeply concerning” and wrote to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the state-owned body which ultimately runs Sellafield, demanding a “full explanation”.

In his response last month, the NDA chief executive, David Peattie, said there had been “necessary changes to the leadership, governance, and risk management of cyber” and responsibility for its cyber function had been moved. A new head of cybersecurity was due to take up the role this month, which Peattie said would ensure “sustained focus and leadership on this matter”.

Sellafield said Neate had responsibility for cybersecurity operations until January 2023, when control was shifted to report to its chief information officer.

It declined to say whether Neate’s departure was related to cybersecurity and safety failings at the site and said that he made the decision to leave last autumn……………………………………………………………….

Sellafield has “more work to do” to reduce safety incidents, according to its annual accounts for the year to March 2023 which were published in late December. The accounts showed that annual operating costs at the taxpayer-funded site climbed by £170m to £2.5bn.

Last financial year the company pleaded guilty to a prosecution brought by the Office for Nuclear Regulation under health and safety regulations after an employee was injured falling from a scaffold ladder while carrying out repair work. The company was fined £400,000 and ordered to pay £29,210 in costs as well as a surcharge of £190.  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/08/sellafield-nuclear-safety-and-security-director-to-leave

January 11, 2024 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Diablo Canyon nuclear plant must be shut down

Santa Cruz Sentinel, January 7, 2024 Ron Pomerantz and Jane Weed-Pomerantz, Santa Cruz,  https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2024/01/07/letter-diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant-must-be-shut-down

Recently the Sentinel reported that the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) approved extending operation of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant (Diablo) from a 2025 shutdown until 2030.

This is frightening and intolerable news allowing the continued Russian roulette operation of Diablo and confirming the CPUC a “captured agency.”

Many are outraged of the rate increases that PG&E is now allowed, costing ratepayers $8+billion dollars. Conservatively if spent on wind turbines and solar systems, 2-4 times electrical energy of Diablo could be produced! All with 100 percent renewable fuels and without public and environmental risk.

Diablo is old, embrittled, centered onshore near San Luis Obispo with numerous active earthquake faults. No solution exists for the storage of radioactive waste now on site.

Operation also furthers dependence on finite foreign sources of uranium with unstable and dangerous governments.

The reality is the nuclear fuel-cycle demands fossil fuels to process and distribute – hardly a green technology. Please contact the governor and state elected officials to set them straight by shutting-down Diablo and stop endangering lives and property..

January 8, 2024 Posted by | safety | Leave a comment

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