Top 9 Worst Nuclear Disasters of All Time
KnownInsiders Rosemary November 11, 2023
Ukraine was devastated by Chernobyl, the world’s worst nuclear accident. There have been numerous nuclear disasters that have caused havoc throughout world history.
How are nuclear accidents measured?
9 Worst Nuclear Disasters In the World History
2. Mihama Nuclear Power Plant – Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (Level 7)
3. Windscale on October 10, 1957 (Level 6)
4. Kyshtym, Russia in 1957 (Level 6)
5. Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania in 1979 (Level 5)
6. Goiania Accident, Brazil in 1987 (Level 5)
7. Reactor Accidents at Chalk River (Level 5)
8. Tokaimura, Japan 1999 (Level 4)
9. Saint Laurent Nuclear Accidents on March 19, 2017 (Level 4)
more https://knowinsiders.com/top-9-worst-nuclear-disasters-of-all-time-35950.html
At SpaceX, worker injuries soar in Elon Musk’s rush to Mars
Reuters documented at least 600 previously unreported workplace injuries at Musk’s rocket company: crushed limbs, amputations, electrocutions, head and eye wounds and one death. SpaceX employees say they’re paying the price for the billionaire’s push to colonize space at breakneck speed.
A REUTERS INVESTIGATION, By MARISA TAYLOR , Nov. 10, 2023,
One windy night at Elon Musk’s SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas, Lonnie LeBlanc and his co-workers realized they had a problem.
They needed to transport foam insulation to the rocket company’s main hangar but had no straps to secure the cargo. LeBlanc, a relatively new employee, offered a solution to hold down the load: He sat on it.
After the truck drove away, a gust blew LeBlanc and the insulation off the trailer, slamming him headfirst into the pavement. LeBlanc, 38, had retired nine months earlier from the U.S. Marine Corps. He was pronounced dead from head trauma at the scene.
Federal inspectors with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) later determined that SpaceX had failed to protect LeBlanc from a clear hazard, noting the gravity and severity of the violation. LeBlanc’s co-workers told OSHA that SpaceX had no convenient access to tie-downs and no process or oversight for handling such loads. SpaceX acknowledged the problems, and the agency instructed the company to make seven specific safety improvements, including more training and equipment, according to the inspection report.
It was hardly the last serious accident at SpaceX. Since LeBlanc’s death in June 2014, which hasn’t been previously reported, Musk’s rocket company has disregarded worker-safety regulations and standard practices at its inherently dangerous rocket and satellite facilities nationwide, with workers paying a heavy price, a Reuters investigation found. Through interviews and government records, the news organization documented at least 600 injuries of SpaceX workers since 2014.
Many were serious or disabling. The records included reports of more than 100 workers suffering cuts or lacerations, 29 with broken bones or dislocations, 17 whose hands or fingers were “crushed,” and nine with head injuries, including one skull fracture, four concussions and one traumatic brain injury. The cases also included five burns, five electrocutions, eight accidents that led to amputations, 12 injuries involving multiple unspecified body parts, and seven workers with eye injuries. Others were relatively minor, including more than 170 reports of strains or sprains.
Current and former employees said such injuries reflect a chaotic workplace where often under-trained and overtired staff routinely skipped basic safety procedures as they raced to meet Musk’s aggressive deadlines for space missions. SpaceX, founded by Musk more than two decades ago, takes the stance that workers are responsible for protecting themselves, according to more than a dozen current and former employees, including a former senior executive.
Musk himself at times appeared cavalier about safety on visits to SpaceX sites: Four employees said he sometimes played with a novelty flamethrower and discouraged workers from wearing safety yellow because he dislikes bright colors.
The lax safety culture, more than a dozen current and former employees said, stems in part from Musk’s disdain for perceived bureaucracy and a belief inside SpaceX that it’s leading an urgent quest to create a refuge in space from a dying Earth.
“Elon’s concept that SpaceX is on this mission to go to Mars as fast as possible and save humanity permeates every part of the company,” said Tom Moline, a former SpaceX senior avionics engineer who was among a group of employees fired after raising workplace complaints. “The company justifies casting aside anything that could stand in the way of accomplishing that goal, including worker safety.”
One severe injury in January 2022 resulted from a series of safety failures that illustrate systemic problems at SpaceX, according to eight former SpaceX employees familiar with the accident. In that case, a part flew off during pressure testing of a Raptor V2 rocket engine – fracturing the skull of employee Francisco Cabada and putting him in a coma.
The sources told Reuters that senior managers at the Hawthorne, California site were repeatedly warned about the dangers of rushing the engine’s development, along with inadequate training of staff and testing of components. The part that failed and struck the worker had a flaw that was discovered, but not fixed, before the testing, two of the employees said……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
NASA said it has paid SpaceX $11.8 billion to date as a private space contractor. The agency did not comment on the company’s safety record but said it has the option of enforcing contract provisions that require SpaceX to “have a robust and effective safety program and culture.”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Shortcutting safety
On Jan. 18 of last year, part of a Raptor V2 engine broke away during pressure testing at the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, California. The part, a fuel-controller assembly cover, careened into the head of Cabada, a SpaceX technician. Nearly two years later, the father of three young children remains in a coma with a hole in his skull, family members said.
The accident generated news last year but little has emerged until now about the causes. The incident stemmed from several safety lapses at the Hawthorne site, according to Reuters interviews with eight former SpaceX employees familiar with the incident and the testing preparations…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
SpaceX’s rejection of a more rigorous training program, its moves to limit testing, and the discovery of the cover’s defect before the accident haven’t been previously reported……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Flamethrowers and safety yellow
Musk is well-known as a hands-on manager. He was directly involved in handing down sometimes unrealistic deadlines, said current and former employees. Musk’s heavy involvement in scheduling resulted in “significantly more unsafe working conditions than would have existed otherwise,” said Moline, the engineer.
One former SpaceX executive defended Musk, saying he would listen to employees who were willing to go “toe-to-toe” with him on safety issues and took them seriously.
Another former executive said Musk cared about his workers and was bothered when they got hurt, but that safety was not one of Musk’s priorities. Musk, the ex-manager said, thought that “workers take care of their safety themselves.”
This former executive said that top company officials knew its injury rates ran high but attributed the problem to employing a largely young workforce in a dangerous industry. SpaceX leaders also believed the company shouldn’t be held to the same standard as competitors because SpaceX oversees more missions and manufacturing, the two former executives said.
That attitude is a red flag that a company is rationalizing a fundamentally unsafe environment, according to four worker-safety experts interviewed by Reuters, including Barab, the former OSHA deputy assistant secretary.
“SpaceX shouldn’t be exempt from protecting workers from being injured or killed,” Barab said, “just because they’re doing innovative work.
A video posted widely online shows Elon Musk playing with a novelty flamethrower produced by his tunneling firm, the Boring Company.
Four SpaceX employees told Reuters they were disturbed by Musk’s habit of playing with a flamethrower when he visited the SpaceX site in Hawthorne. The device was marketed to the public in 2018 as a $500 novelty item by Musk’s tunnel-building firm, the Boring Company. Videos posted online show it can shoot a thick flame more than five feet long. Boring later renamed the device the “Not-A-Flamethrower” amid reports of confiscations by authorities.
For years, Musk and his deputies found it “hilarious” to wave the flamethrower around, firing it near other people and giggling “like they were in middle school,” one engineer said. Musk tweeted in 2018 that the flamethrower was “guaranteed to liven up any party!” At SpaceX, Musk played with the device in close-quarters office settings, said the engineer, who at one point feared Musk would set someone’s hair on fire……………………………………………………………………………………………..
A death and a $7,000 fine
SpaceX has faced few consequences from safety regulators for its failure to report annual safety data and to protect workers in incidents reviewed by federal and state inspectors, agency records show.
OSHA and CalOSHA have fined the billionaire’s rocket company a total of $50,836 for violations stemming from one worker’s death and seven serious safety incidents, regulatory records show.
OSHA did not comment on the modest penalties that resulted from inspections of SpaceX.
SpaceX’s history of injuries and regulatory run-ins in California underscores the limits of worker-safety regulation. Fines are capped by law and pose little deterrent for major companies, experts in U.S. worker safety regulation said. Federal and state regulators also suffer from chronic understaffing of inspectors, they said. OSHA did not address questions about staffing levels but said it “focuses its resources on hazardous workplaces.”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Safety at SpaceX: How Reuters analyzed workplace injuries
Reuters documented at least 600 injuries at SpaceX through a variety of public records, including the company’s own injury logs at three facilities that were inspected by regulators…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. more https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/spacex-musk-safety/—
Disputes over safety, cost swirl a year after California OK’d plan to keep last nuke plant running
Disputes over safety, cost swirl a year after California OK’d plan to keep
last nuke plant running. More than a year after California endorsed a
proposal to extend the lifespan of its last nuclear power plant, disputes
continue to swirl about the safety of its decades-old reactors, whether
more than $1 billion in public financing for the extension could be in
jeopardy and even if the electricity is needed in the dawning age of
renewables.
Daily Mail 10th Nov 2023
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-12733339/Disputes-safety-cost-swirl-year-California-OKd-plan-nuke-plant-running.html #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
How well protected are Ukraine’s nuclear power plants?
“This incident again underlines the extremely precarious nuclear safety situation in Ukraine, which will continue as long as this tragic war goes on,” Grossi said. “The fact that numerous windows at the site were destroyed shows just how close it was. Next time, we may not be so fortunate.”
DW, Lilia Rzheutska, 1 Nov 23
Ukrainian air defense systems recently downed Russian attack drones near the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant. But falling debris still damaged the site. Are power plants in danger?
On the night of October 25, Ukrainian authorities reported downing Russian Shahed kamikaze drones near the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant, in the country’s west. Falling debris and a wave of detonations caused significant damage to the town of Netishyn, where power plant employees live. The nearby town of Slavuta was also affected. Some buildings belonging to the nuclear facility itself were also damaged. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the drones were likely sent to attack the power plant.
Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who are at the nuclear plant confirmed two loud explosions had occurred near the plant. They were later informed that two drones had been shot down at a distance of five and 20 kilometers, respectively.
AEA director General Rafael Grossi later stated on the organization’s website that powerful explosions near the power plant that night had temporarily cut off power to two radiation monitoring stations. According to Grossi, the detonations did not, however, disrupt the plant’s operations, nor did they affect the power grid. The explosion did, meanwhile, shatter several windows at the plant. “This incident again underlines the extremely precarious nuclear safety situation in Ukraine, which will continue as long as this tragic war goes on,” Grossi said. “The fact that numerous windows at the site were destroyed shows just how close it was. Next time, we may not be so fortunate.”
……………………………… A nuclear power plant is more than just a reactor, says Dmytro Humenyuk, who heads the safety and analysis unit of Ukraine’s scientific and technical center on nuclear and radiation safety. It is a complex facility that consists of safety systems that provides electricity for the plant itself, and transports power generated by the plant. Falling debris or shelling powerlines and substations could lead to a power outage at the nuclear power plant and trigger a dangerous situation, Humenjuk says.
High-voltage substations, through which electricity produced at the nuclear power plant is fed into the power grid and without which the facility cannot function safely, must be well protected from missile and drone attacks well as falling debris. “When substations come under fire, the nuclear power plant’s emergency protection is activated,” says nuclear energy expert Olha Kozharna. “Such an emergency stop is very dangerous for the power plants.”…………………………………………………………… https://www.dw.com/en/how-well-protected-are-ukraines-nuclear-power-plants/a-67271615 #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
2
Two more Japanese nuclear reactors granted 20-year extensions
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20231101_21/
Japan’s nuclear watchdog has approved extending the operation of two aging nuclear reactors in southwestern Japan for another 20 years.
The operational lifespan of Japanese reactors has been limited to 40 years in principle since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident in 2011. But it can be extended by up to 20 years if the reactors pass screening by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.
At a meeting on Wednesday, the NRA granted extension approval to the No.1 and 2 reactors at the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, which is operated by the Kyushu Electric Power Company.
The No.1 reactor will turn 40 next July and the No.2 will reach that age in November 2025.
Discussed at the meeting were the results of special inspections of the reactors conducted by Kyushu Electric and an assessment that showed the reactors can be used for another 20 years.
The members of the meeting unanimously approved the extensions.
This decision brings the number of Japanese reactors whose operations have been extended beyond 40 years to six. The other four are the No.1 and No.2 reactors at the Takahama nuclear power plant and the No.3 reactor at the Mihama plant — all in Fukui Prefecture — as well as the Tokai No.2 plant’s reactor in Ibaraki Prefecture. #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
Nuclear plant problems have happened across the planet, and aging facilities across USA still pose a major threat
Before we allow very expensive investment in a new generation of nuclear reactors, it is well-advised to consider the long-term impact on the environment from all phases in the nuclear fuel cycle.
Jay Davis, https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/nuclear-plant-problems-have-happened-across-the-planet-and-aging-facilities-across-usa-still-pose-a-major-threat 30 Oct 23
Remember the catastrophic nuclear meltdown in March 2011 at Fukushima, Japan, after an earthquake and tsunami?
Along with similar disasters at nuclear power plants at Chernobyl, Ukraine, and Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the destruction of reactors at Fukushima continues to threaten the environment. For more than 12 years, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has continuously poured cold water onto melted uranium and plutonium to keep those elements from overheating. That water, and the groundwater that runs through the reactor’s ruined foundation, poses an ongoing threat to surrounding communities and to fisheries.
In August, TEPCO began dumping millions of gallons of this radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. When that began, Robert Richmond, a marine biologist at the University of Hawaii, told the BBC that he is “very concerned that Japan would not only be unable to detect what’s getting into the water, sediment and organisms, but if it does, there is no recourse to remove it.”
In other words, the ongoing contamination of the Pacific will be irreversible.
Perhaps the wastewater from Fukushima is of little immediate concern to Americans unless they live in Hawaii or possibly Alaska. Hopefully, the radioactive tritium will be diluted long before any currents reach our West Coast. Meanwhile, the decommissioned Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., was blocked from dumping radioactive waste into Cape Cod Bay by state environmental protection regulators in July. The Pilgrim reactor is the same General Electric design as Fukushima, and has been an ongoing environmental threat to Boston and much of densely populated New England for decades.
Much closer to home is the aging nuclear reactor (seen above in a public domain U.S. Government photo posted in wikimedia commons) which is operated by Xcel along the Mississippi River near Monticello, Minn. Xcel, an electric utility which was formerly known as Northern States Power, serves the Sioux Falls area as well as much of Minnesota.
This reactor, which is also the identical General Electric design, has been in operation since 1971, so it is overdue for decommissioning. Its corroded pipes are buried underground, and have never been inspected. However, Xcel detected radioactive tritium in November 2022 in monitoring wells, a leak into surrounding groundwater that was 250 times the legal concentration for safe drinking water.
Unfortunately, Xcel neglected to inform the sometimes toothless Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of this leak until March of this year. There is no suggestion that the reactor will be shut down soon, but it poses an ongoing threat to the Mississippi, which provides drinking water to millions of Americans.
Nuclear energy is still promoted as a climate-friendly alternative to fossil fuels. Before we allow very expensive investment in a new generation of nuclear reactors, it is well-advised to consider the long-term impact on the environment from all phases in the nuclear fuel cycle.
Here in South Dakota, old uranium mining sites near Edgemont and near Buffalo are still contaminated. America has yet to find a safe and appropriate place or method for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste that has been generated by our power plants.
Proposed sites in the Nevada desert and in the Permian Basin of west Texas have met with local opposition, for good reason. In the meantime, we hope and pray that nuclear power plants in Massachusetts, Minnesota and elsewhere will not experience meltdowns like Fukushima and Chernobyl. #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
3-day evacuation drill at Niigata nuclear plant called ‘useless’
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, October 30, 2023
Residents said their safety concerns have still not been addressed following a three-day government-led drill simulating a serious accident at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture.
They said the drill, which concluded on Oct. 29, showed that there are no measures in place to ensure a smooth evacuation in heavy snow or to prevent traffic congestion caused by radiation checks.
Around 1,400 residents joined the drill, which assumed a magnitude-7.6 earthquake off the prefecture caused a loss of cooling functions at reactors of the plant, which is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.
This was the first government-run drill at the seven-reactor Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant since the 2011 disaster at TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
At the end of last year, main evacuation routes, including in Kashiwazaki, where the plant is located, were closed for up to 52 hours due to heavy snowfall…………………………………………………………….. more https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15042691— #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
Switzerland continues its nuclear safety awareness with iodine pills distributed to the population
Bloomberg, By Paula Doenecke and Kevin Whitelaw, October 28, 2023
ZURICH — Switzerland is in the middle of a ritual it performs once a decade: distributing a fresh round of iodine pills to protect its people should something go wrong with one of its nuclear power plants.
Residents who live within 50 kilometers of one of the nation’s three nuclear power plants will find an orange package with a dozen tablets in their mailbox by next April. The delivery replaces the lilac box of thyroid cancer prevention medication that the government handed out 10 years ago.
The campaign may seem like a Cold War relic to some — newly arrived expatriates are often startled to be handed a voucher for their pills when they first register at the town hall. But the idea is that sirens would sound in the event of a nuclear accident so that people could take a dose before any fallout reaches them.
The pills containing the compound potassium iodide are distributed free of charge, including in the financial and industrial centers of Zurich and Basel. People living within the 50-kilometer radius, but on the German side of the border, are left to fend for themselves.
The logistical effort costs 34 million Swiss francs (€35.9 million) — a third of which is financed by the nuclear power plant operators. Beyond protecting the health of the Swiss people, the strategy is part of the country’s long-standing identity of neutrality, dubbed Reduit Switzerland, or Swiss Fortress. That pride of self-defense still manifests today in a multitude of well-maintained tank stoppers and bunkers spread throughout the Swiss Alps.
While Germany and France are battling these days over the role of nuclear power in Europe’s energy transition, Switzerland is proceeding on its path of risk mitigation — keeping its remaining three atomic plants running as long as they are functioning, as decided by a public vote in 2017. It retired a fourth in Muehlenberg in 2019…….. more https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-10-28/switzerland-s-once-a-decade-nuclear-ritual #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara have decamped to a luxury mansion with a deep nuclear bunker
Daily Mail, By MELANIE SWAN, 29 October 2023
- Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara are hiding in a luxury mansion
- It is owned by US billionaire Simon Falic, and comes with high security
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara have decamped to the luxury mansion with a deep nuclear bunker, amid growing public anger towards the country’s leaders.
The gated mansion in a Jerusalem mansion, owned by US billionaire Simon Falic, comes with high-level security.
He said the staff are being moved there, including their personal chef, with the preparations suggesting future meetings with world leaders will also be relocated there.
The decision to move into a residence with a deep nuclear bunker is not a common one in Israel, even among the super-rich.
But with the looming threat from Iran, a handful of the PM’s inner circle have built them……………………………………….
Prior to the Hamas atrocities, hundreds of thousands of Israelis had been protesting against the premier and his right-wing coalition over plans to reform the judicial system, allegations of cronyism and allowing Jewish settlers to expand into more areas that were supposed to be occupied by Palestinians. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12684385/Israeli-prime-minister-Benjamin-Netanyahu-wife-Sara-decamped-luxury-mansion-deep-nuclear-bunker.html #nuclear #antinuclear #NoNukes
War Against Renewables Takes Terrifying Turn in Newsom’s Nuke-Powered California
Embrittlement transforms a metallic reactor pressure vessel (RPV) as heat, pressure and radiation rob it of resilience. An embrittled reactor pressure vessel can shatter when coolant water is poured in during an emergency, causing massive steam, hydrogen and fission explosions.
HARVEY WASSERMAN, TRUTHOUT
PG&E now says it won’t test its reactor in Diablo Canyon for deadly embrittlement this year as planned.
The nuclear industry’s war against renewable energy has taken center stage in California under Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, with a terrifying new development now threatening the state and nation with increased risk of intense radioactive fallout.
This week on October 24 — despite earlier assurances — Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) revealed that it will not test its 38-year-old atomic reactor in California’s Diablo Canyon for embrittlement during the current refueling outage, but instead plans to wait until the next outage in 2025 before conducting the crucial safety tests.
Embrittlement transforms a metallic reactor pressure vessel (RPV) as heat, pressure and radiation rob it of resilience. An embrittled reactor pressure vessel can shatter when coolant water is poured in during an emergency, causing massive steam, hydrogen and fission explosions.
The reactor in Diablo Canyon showed dangerous embrittlement during the last inspections of it, which took place between 2003 and 2005, and it has not been tested since. PG&E now wants the 38-year-old atomic reactor, which is known as Unit One, to operate years longer without examining this core safety feature, arguing that it is not able to remove a component needed for testing until 2025.
This terrifying decision epitomizes the all-out war occurring between nuclear power and renewable energy in California.
On the grid, against rooftop solar panels, in batteries in basements, at the marketplace and regulatory agencies, in the banks and the legislatures – the zero-sum confrontation between green power and the “Peaceful Atom” stands to define the human future.
It begins on the wires.
Since 1985, the two big light-water reactors at the state’s last remaining nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon, have regularly poured more than a thousand megawatts each of “baseload energy” into the grid.
But the value of that energy has been upended by a spectacular influx of renewable green power. With nearly 1.8 million rooftop installations, California now gets far more juice from solar panels — more than a quarter of the state’s electricity — than from Diablo.
Since 1985, the two big light-water reactors at the state’s last remaining nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon, have regularly poured more than a thousand megawatts each of “baseload energy” into the grid.
But the value of that energy has been upended by a spectacular influx of renewable green power. With nearly 1.8 million rooftop installations, California now gets far more juice from solar panels — more than a quarter of the state’s electricity — than from Diablo………………………….
Overall, batteries have now become such a dependable, fast-growing piece of the energy supply that a Vermont utility is proposing to install them in their customers’ basements rather than extending new power lines. In a state whose single atomic reactor has recently shut, the battery-based system will be cheaper and more reliable than depending on power wired in from distant generators.
Likewise, Diablo’s inflexible feed has become an unsustainable dinosaur. Atomic reactors are neither cheap nor easy to manipulate. They function primarily in a straight-line paradigm (except when refueling or being repaired) with the same high-priced power flowing into the grid in a steady stream.
By contrast, decentralized renewables like solar and wind are quick to ramp up or down. With batteries now in millions of basements, inflexible baseboard power becomes a burden, clogging up the grid when cheaper, quicker-to-deploy renewables could flow to meet peak demands while scaling back at times of lower usage. In essence, Diablo’s power has become the electric equivalent of a debilitating blood clot.
Ironically, earlier this year a forced slowdown hit Finland’s new Olkiluoto reactor. Opened in May, after long delays and huge cost overruns, Olkiluoto had to slow down production within weeks to clear the grid for a massive influx of far cheaper wind and hydro power.
Partly due to this extremely expensive market disconnect, Pacific Gas and Electric in 2016 agreed to phase out the two Diablo reactors in 2024 and 2025, when their Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) operating licenses would expire as they reached 39 and 40 years old respectively. Facing a wide range of additional repairs and regulatory mandates, PG&E joined with then-Gov. Jerry Brown to chart orderly shutdowns in sync with the transition toward a renewable-based grid.
After months of tense high-level negotiations, the agreement was also signed by then-Lieutenant Gov. Gavin Newsom, the state legislature and key regulatory agencies, local governments, major labor unions, environmental groups, and others. The landmark agreement included union-endorsed compensation and retraining for the plant’s labor force, environmental concessions, tax subsidies for local governments, and more. As a whole, it created a crucial template for phasing out old atomic reactors amidst the global tsunami of new renewables………………………………………
But in 2022, Newsom suddenly trashed the shutdown deal he’d signed six years before. Warning of potential shortfalls during very narrow theoretical windows of potential peak demand, he strong-armed the legislature and the Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) into a bailout plan with more than $1.4 billion in state funds for PG&E to keep Diablo running, along with another $1.1 billion from the federal government.
The move has shocked and infuriated the state’s anti-nuclear and renewable energy movement. Its extremely complicated ramifications are now being challenged throughout the regulatory and court systems.
The Mothers for Peace has taken the NRC to federal court, arguing that PG&E’s relicensing plans fall short of the agency’s own long-standing requirements.
In league with Friends of the Earth, Mothers for Peace has also filed a petition with the NRC to warn that the elderly Unit One of the Diablo plant is deeply — possibly fatally — embrittled.
Embrittlement occurs as a reactor pressure vessel is subjected to extreme heat, pressure and radiation over decades of operation. In response, the RPV’s metals lose their resiliency. In an emergency situation, with a rapid influx of cold water, the RPV could shatter, leading to steam, hydrogen and radiation explosions involving massive releases of apocalyptic fallout.
Among much more, NRC tests conducted in 2003-2005 showed that Unit One was already dangerously embrittled. Unique amalgams used in its formative welds have since been abandoned for safety reasons.
Embrittlement tests are required by NRC regulations to be done every 10 years. Failure to check for embrittlement at Massachusetts’s Yankee Rowe reactor in 1992 resulted in an NRC-ordered permanent shutdown.
But allegedly no such tests have been comprehensively conducted at Diablo One for 20 years. The reactor is currently offline for a refueling expected to last about 50 days. A wide range of experts is calling for detailed inspections of the plant’s internals to be conducted immediately. Thus far there’s been no response from the NRC, but, as explained above, PG&E now says it won’t inspect Unit One for embrittlement at least until 2025, with results not likely to come until 18 months later. Yet the utility expects to operate the plant until then without having inspected this crucial safety feature.
While gliding toward a permanent shutdown since 2016, PG&E also let slide a series of routine maintenance requirements that have alarmed technical observers. Expert observers worry that if the plant’s allowed back online without a thorough public inspection, California’s downwind safety could be deeply compromised. Seeing as Diablo is located on the central California coast, fallout from an explosion there could carry all the way across the continental United States.
he deepening doubts surrounding Diablo Canyon — especially in the wake of the 2016 decision to shut it — have aroused serous grassroots anger against Newsom.
But it doesn’t stop with just nuclear power……………………………………….
n 2021, Newsom’s handpicked CPUC launched a devastating anti-solar attack. ……………………………
……………as atomic energy falls deeper into an economic pit, the push to sustain it with massive subsidies could only be coming from the nuclear weapons industry, whose infrastructure, fuel supply and core of trained personnel may be essential to the continued supply of atomic bombs.
………………………….. Whatever the case, these coming months of California’s energy war — tested safe versus dangerously embrittled, green versus nuclear, flexible versus baseload, old reactors versus new panels, wind turbines and batteries — will go a long way toward defining the nature of our nation’s future power supply. https://truthout.org/articles/war-against-renewables-takes-terrifying-turn-in-newsoms-nuke-powered-california/?utm_source=Truthout&utm_campaign=19c5e52962-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_3_20_2023_13_41_COPY_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbb541a1db-19c5e52962-649984717&mc_cid=19c5e52962&mc_eid=082a9d17c9 #nuclear #antinuclear #NoNukes
IAEA warning after explosions heard near Khmelnitsky nuclear power stations
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warns that nearby explosions which shattered windows at Ukraine’s Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant “show just how close it was – and underlines the extremely precarious nuclear safety situation … which will continue as long as this tragic war goes on”.
WNN 27 Oct 23
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts stationed at the plant in western Ukraine said air raid sirens sounded at 01:26 local time on Wednesday followed by two loud explosions which they were later told were two drones being shot down 5 kilometres and 20 kilometres from the site.
Although the site was not hit or have its operations affected, the IAEA reported that “shockwaves damaged the windows of several buildings at the site, including the passageway to the reactor buildings, an integrated auxiliary building, a special equipment building, the training centre, as well as other facilities, the plant said. The seismic monitoring stations installed in the vicinity of Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant also recorded the seismic impacts of the blasts”………
Grossi said: “Next time, we may not be so fortunate. Hitting a nuclear power plant must be avoided at all costs.”
Khmelnitsky’s first reactor was connected to the grid in 1987, but work on three other reactors was halted in 1990. Work on the second reactor restarted and it was connected to the grid in 2004 but units 3 and 4 remain uncompleted.
The primary focus of safety concerns for the IAEA since the outbreak of the war has been on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which has been under Russian military control since early March 2022. It is located on the frontline between the forces, and although it has not been reported to have been hit by shelling in recent months, military activity nearby has continued. In its update on the situation at the weekend, the IAEA said its experts at the site “have continued to hear explosions almost every day and they have also heard occasional machine gun fire”. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/IAEA-warning-after-explosions-heard-near-Khmelnits #nuclear #antinuclear #NoNukes #radiation
Nuclear regulator raps EDF over cyber compliance
The Office for Nuclear Regulation says EDF has come up short on needed measures to improve cyber security standards at several critical UK nuclear facilities
France-headquartered energy giant EDF has been singled out by the UK’s
Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and placed under significantly enhanced
regulatory attention for cyber security – the highest possible level of
scrutiny – after the critical national infrastructure (CNI) operator failed
to comply with previously made commitments to enhance its cyber security
posture.
Computer Weekly 19th Oct 2023
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366556335/Nuclear-regulator-raps-EDF-over-cyber-compliance #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
Risk of total shutdown of Eskom’s Koeberg nuclear power station continues to increase
The risk of both nuclear reactors at Eskom’s Koeberg nuclear power station in Cape Town being shut down simultaneously for life extension continues to increase…………………………………… (Subscribers only) https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-10-20-koeberg-nuclear-power-station-rising-risk-of-total-shutdown/ #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
Crackdown on nuclear firm after cyber security ‘shortfalls’
“Cyber attacks threaten the security of nuclear facilities by compromising command and control systems and damaging safety, security and emergency responses.”
“Rapidly spreading computer viruses and worms can infect instrument systems and corrupt files.
The Ferret Rob Edwards, October 18, 2023
A multinational nuclear power company has been hit by an official crackdown because of cyber security failures that critics warned were a “very real and present danger”.
Oversight of EDF Energy by the UK Government’s safety watchdog, the Office for Nuclear Regulation, has been “significantly enhanced” to combat “shortfalls” in defences against digital attacks. This means more inspections and increased scrutiny of EDF’s cyber security.
EDF is a French government company that runs one nuclear power station in Scotland, at Torness in East Lothian, and four in England. It is also building a new nuclear station at Hinkley Point in Somerset.
Campaigners described EDF’s failure to properly protect its nuclear operations from “potentially dangerous cyber attacks” as “incomprehensible”. Nuclear plants were “vulnerable” to computer viruses that could threaten safety, they said……….
No details of EDF’s cyber security failings have been released for fear of helping would-be hackers. Cyber attacks are on the increase, with many organisations – such as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency – severely impacted.
The Times reported in 2017 that insecure passwords used by EDF nuclear managers had been found in two lists of stolen credentials traded on Russian hacking sites. According to The Telegraph in 2019, UK government intelligence experts had been called in after a cyber attack on an unnamed nuclear power company, suspected to be EDF.
The Ferret revealed in March 2023 that the police force tasked with guarding UK nuclear plants reported 37 security breaches in 2021-22, the highest for eight years. In August we reported that the Ministry of Defence’s nuclear managers had recorded 113 “security concerns” since 2017-18………………………………………………..
Nuclear plants ‘vulnerable’ to cyber attack
Dr Paul Dorfman, a nuclear critic and visiting fellow at the science policy research unit in the University of Sussex, highlighted concerns expressed by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about the growing threats posed by cyber attacks.
Nuclear power plants are “vulnerable,” Dorfman said. “Cyber attacks threaten the security of nuclear facilities by compromising command and control systems and damaging safety, security and emergency responses.”
He added: “Rapidly spreading computer viruses and worms can infect instrument systems and corrupt files. EDF’s persisting failure to prepare for the very real and present danger of cyber attack on nuclear facilities is, quite simply, incomprehensible.”
Pete Roche, a consultant and anti-nuclear campaigner based in Edinburgh, pointed out that the Torness nuclear station was due to keep operating until 2028 despite cracks spreading in its graphite core.
“We need an operating company which can give meticulous attention to detail,” he said. “These revelations about cyber security seem to indicate that EDF is not capable of doing that.” …………………………………………………………………more https://theferret.scot/cyber-security-nuclear-security-crackdown/ #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes
IAEA: Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to move second reactor into hot shutdown
Y! News, Abbey Fenbert, Sat, October 14, 2023
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) intends to transition a second reactor into hot shutdown, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on Oct. 13.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said authorities at the plant informed the agency they were beginning to move reactor 5 from cold to hot shutdown in order to provide warm water and heating for Enerhodar ahead of the winter season.
Previously, only one unit, reactor 4, was in hot shutdown mode. The IAEA has said that for safety purposes, all units at the nuclear plant should be kept in cold shutdown.
The agency has strongly recommended that the ZNPP find an external source of steam generation. The IAEA experts were told that the plant is looking into purchasing an external steam generator, but that “installation of this equipment is not expected until the first part of 2024, possibly not until after the end of the heating season.”
Occupying authorities at the plant did not tell IAEA inspectors how long unit 5 would remain in hot shutdown. They also said there were no plans to transfer addition units from cold to hot shutdown…………………….. https://news.yahoo.com/iaea-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-move-010453561.html #nuclear #antinuclear #NuclearFree #NoNukes #NuclearPlants
1 This Month
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10 June – Assessing Canada’s Investments in Small Modular Nuclear Reactors – https://zoom.us/meeting/register/IiqHA5feRhaEBycOLNTJlA#/registration
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
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