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 Minnesota  State records highlight lack of coordination in nuclear leak response

Ben Henry KSTP, October 4, 2023 #nuclear #anti-nuclear #nuclear-free #NoNukes

Internal communication within state agencies highlights what appears to be a lack of coordination in responding to a radioactive leak at a nuclear power plant.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS obtained hundreds of records in a public data request surrounding communication about Xcel Energy’s Monticello nuclear power plant leak from late last year.

According to Xcel, it detected the leak on Nov. 22, 2022. The 400,000-gallon spill was contaminated with tritium, which, according to the power company, is a compound that emits low levels of radiation.

From the start, Xcel says the leak posed no health or safety risk.

While the leak was detected in November, it wasn’t until mid-March this year that the public was informed. Now, after analyzing state data, we’re getting a better idea of how the months of communication, before informing the public, within state agencies went.

In an email between two Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) officials on Feb. 22 — three months after the leak was detected — one official wrote in part, “there’s a lot to say about this situation. It’s not helped by the fact that no state or federal agency has really stepped up to the plate and taken complete charge of the situation.”

That email goes on to say that in a meeting with Xcel, the MPCA official “told them we were concerned about Tritium getting into the Miss. River and that everything should be done to prevent that from happening,” eventually adding, “Xcel has not informed local Emergency Response authorities or legislators (something I told them to do).”

Then on March 2 — two weeks before Xcel publicly announced the leak — the same MPCA official informed colleagues that they would be the lead agency but that they’re still working out how other state agencies will respond – writing, “A “kickoff” meeting for involved staff is being scheduled. To be clear, there’s no new information prompting this action but rather a growing need for better coordination.”……………………  https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/state-records-highlight-lack-of-coordination-in-nuclear-leak-response/

October 6, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | Leave a comment

A nuclear bomb is still missing after it was dropped off the Georgia coastline 65 years ago

Since 1950, the US military has been involved in 32 “broken arrow” incidents, where they lost or dropped nuclear weapons or other issues, like fires, were involved.

In his book “Command and Control,” Eric Schlosser wrote that in 1957 Air Force planes unintentionally dropped a nuclear weapon once every 320 flights. Coupled with the high rate of B-52 bomber crashes, there was the potential for about 19 incidents involving nuclear weapons each year.

Jenny McGrath Sep 16, 2023, Business Insider

• In 1958, two Air Force jets collided over Georgia, and one was carrying a nuclear weapon.
• The plane dropped the bomb off the coast of Tybee Island and landed safely.
• Several searches have failed to find the weapon in the decades since.

Every once in a while, a high reading of radioactivity off the coast of Tybee Island, Georgia, sends the US government scrambling to look for a nuclear weapon that’s likely hidden 13 to 55 feet below the ocean and sand, buried in the seafloor.

On February 5, 1958, two Air Force jets collided in mid-air during a training mission. The B-47 strategic bomber carried a Mark 15 thermonuclear bomb.

For over two months, the Air Force and Navy divers searched a 24-square-mile area in the Wassaw Sound, a bay of the Atlantic Ocean near Savannah. They never found the nuclear bomb.

Forty years later, a retired Air Force officer who remembered newspaper stories about the lost bomb from his childhood started a search for it.

“It’s this legacy of the Cold War,” said Stephen Schwartz, author of “Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of US Nuclear Weapons Since 1940.” “This is kind of hanging out there as a reminder of how untidy things were and how dangerous things were.”

But some experts say that even if someone finds the bomb, it may be better to leave it buried.

An armed training mission

At the time of the collision, it was “common practice” for the Air Force pilots on training missions to carry bombs on board, according to a 2001 report about the Tybee accident.

The purpose of the training mission was to simulate a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. They practiced flying over different US cities and towns to see whether the electronic beam would reach its target…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

In 2004, Richardson told CBS News he regretted dropping the bomb because of all the trouble it caused.

“What I should be remembered for is landing that plane safely,” he said. “I guess this bomb is what I’m going to be remembered for.”

The question of the plutonium capsule………………………………………………………………

The US government and military have repeatedly said the Tybee weapon didn’t contain a plutonium capsule when Richardson jettisoned it. A receipt for the bomb that Richardson signed at the time said he wouldn’t allow the insertion of an “active capsule” into the weapon.

A 1966 letter declassified in 1994 complicated the picture. It referred to then-Assistant Defense Secretary Jack Howard’s testimony before a congressional committee calling the Tybee bomb a complete nuclear weapon, with plutonium included. In 2001, a military spokesman told The Atlantic that they had recently spoken with Howard, and “he agreed that his memo was in error.”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

One mishap among many

Less than a month after Richardson jettisoned the Tybee bomb, another B-47 accidentally dropped a nuclear weapon on South Carolina. It didn’t contain plutonium but left a 50-foot crater in a family’s yard. A few family members had minor injuries but everyone survived.

Since 1950, the US military has been involved in 32 “broken arrow” incidents, where they lost or dropped nuclear weapons or other issues, like fires, were involved.

In his book “Command and Control,” Eric Schlosser wrote that in 1957 Air Force planes unintentionally dropped a nuclear weapon once every 320 flights. Coupled with the high rate of B-52 bomber crashes, there was the potential for about 19 incidents involving nuclear weapons each year.

Between 1960 and 1968, the US military kept jets armed with nuclear weapons at the ready in case of a surprise nuclear attack. A series of near misses and serious accidents with nuclear weapons caused the Air Force to end the program.

“I don’t think we’re going to go back to the bad old days of putting our nuclear weapons on aircraft,” Schwartz said…………………………. https://www.businessinsider.com/missing-nuclear-bomb-georgia-coast-still-not-found-2023-9
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September 18, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Cracks at V.C. Summer nuclear plant raise concern from federal regulators

A pattern of cracks and leaks, some dating back two decades, has recently come to light, prompting concerns over the safety of the 40-year-old facility.

News 19 Becky Budds, September 15, 2023

JENKINSVILLE, S.C. — Federal regulators have raised alarms about the integrity of the emergency backup systems at the V.C. Summer nuclear plant. 

A pattern of cracks and leaks, some dating back two decades, has recently come to light, prompting concerns over the safety of the 40-year-old facility.

During a routine equipment test last year, plant workers discovered a minor oil leak in a critical section of the piping connected to the diesel generator system. 

Subsequently, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspected the plant, uncovering a disconcerting series of cracks and leaks in the emergency generator system dating back twenty years.

Emergency diesel generators are an essential safety component at nuclear power plants, serving as a backup power source for the nuclear reactor. The NRC cautions that these cracks could potentially hinder the generator’s functionality………………………………………………..more https://www.wltx.com/article/news/local/nuclear-regulatory-comission-concerns-cracks-vc-summer-nuclear-plant/101-1e4f01d0-c8a0-4386-886e-24fc13f5877a

September 17, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Environmental groups urge regulators to shut down California reactor over safety, testing concerns.

Daily Mail, By ASSOCIATED PRESS, 15 September 2023

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Environmental groups called on federal regulators Thursday to immediately shut down one of two reactors at California´s last nuclear power plant until tests can be conducted on critical machinery they believe could fail and cause a catastrophe.

Friends of the Earth and Mothers for Peace said in a petition filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that tests and inspections have been delayed for nearly 20 years on the pressure vessel in the Unit 1 reactor at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Instead, the groups argue, operator Pacific Gas & Electric has relied on data from similar reactor vessels to justify continued operations at Diablo Canyon, while dismissing indications that the steel wall in Unit 1 might be deteriorating from sustained exposure to radiation and is becoming susceptible to cracking, a condition technically known as embrittlement.

“We will not sit idly by while PG&E cuts corners on Unit 1´s safety,” Hallie Templeton, legal director for Friends of the Earth, said in a statement.

The vessels are thick steel containers that hold nuclear fuel and cooling water in the reactors.

The statement from the anti-nuclear groups contended that PG&E “has repeatedly postponed essential metallurgical tests and ultrasound inspections over the past two decades” on the vessel…………………………………..

The petition, filed Thursday in Washington, was accompanied by a 46-page report by Digby Macdonald, a University of California, Berkeley, professor in nuclear engineering and materials science, who wrote that continued operation of the Unit 1 reactor “poses an unreasonable risk to public health and safety due to serious indications of an unacceptable degree of embrittlement.”

“The reactor should be closed until PG&E obtains and analyzes additional data regarding its condition,” wrote Macdonald, who was retained by the environmental groups.

The petition asks the NRC to convene a hearing to review a 2003 decision by agency staff to extend the testing schedule for the Unit 1 pressure vessel until 2025. According to the groups, the last inspections on the vessel took place between 2003 and 2005. The utility postponed further testing in favor of using results from similar reactors to justify continued operations, they said.

In his report, Macdonald concludes PG&E should have accelerated its testing schedule, not delayed it, to assess possible defects. He noted that unlike most other reactor safety components, the pressure vessel has no independent backup system that can be called upon if it should crack or fracture and lose essential cooling water.

He added that obtaining more testing data on Unit 1 is especially important because its steel has excessive copper and nickel content “that render it more vulnerable to embrittlement.”

The “NRC currently lacks an adequate basis to conclude that Diablo Canyon Unit 1 can be operated safely,” Macdonald said.

Construction at Diablo Canyon began in the 1960s. Critics have long argued that potential shaking from nearby earthquake faults not recognized when the design was approved could damage equipment and release radiation. One nearby fault was not discovered until 2008. The groups argue that the embrittlement assessment is even more critical, given the plant’s seismic vulnerabilities…………  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-12519587/Environmental-groups-urge-regulators-shut-California-reactor-safety-testing-concerns.html

September 16, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | Leave a comment