A nuclear plant in a volcano zone? What could possibly go wrong, Mr Gates?
A nuclear power plant, built in partnership with two of the world’s most notorious egoists with funding from questionable sources, using technology developed in tandem with the Chinese, and sited on one of the most active seismic systems on the planet. What could possibly go wrong?
A nuclear plant in a volcano zone? What could possibly go wrong, Mr Gates? ht tps://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/a-nuclear-plant-in-a-volcano-zone-what-could-possibly-go-wrong-mr-gates/ By Kate Dunlop June 11, 2021 NOT content with being the biggest private landowner in the US, blotting out the sun and jabbing the world, Bill Gates is getting over his divorce by building a ‘next-generation’ nuclear power plant in Wyoming.
The Republican state’s governor Mark Gordon announced the deal between Gates’s TerraPower Company, PacifiCorp owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, and the US government on June 2.
He said the multi-billion-dollar project, called ‘Natrium’, is to be constructed on the site of a ‘soon-to-be-retired coal-fired plant over the next several years’. TerraPower President Chris Levesque said costs would be split evenly between government and the two billionaires.
No information has been published about the contractual elements of the deal or the likely rate of return to Messrs Gates and Buffett but this is a ‘commercial not a charitable’ effort.
According to the press release, the nuclear plant will feature a 345-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system, which will produce enough power for 250,000 homes. New storage technology will be able to boost output to 500 megawatts of power for about five and a half hours, equivalent to the energy needed to power 400,000 homes.
Wyoming is both a leading coal mining and uranium mining state, and Governor Gordon promised that the development did not signal any lack of commitment to fossil fuels or to making the state ‘carbon negative’.
He said, ‘I am not going to abandon any of our fossil fuel industry – it is absolutely essential to our state and one of the things that we believe very strongly is our fastest and clearest course to being carbon negative. Nuclear power is clearly a part of my all-of-the-above strategy for energy.’
Last month Gates’s TerraPower signed a ‘memorandum of understanding’ with the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) which they called ‘the next step towards developing a prototype’.
Wyoming is a glorious, sparsely populated state of 97,000 square miles and 580,000 people. It is also home to a ‘hyperactive volcanic region’, the 3,472-square-mile Yellowstone National Park.
At the park’s centre lies a bubbling caldera that is the scar of a supervolcano eruption 640,000 years ago. The Norris Geyser Basin to the northwest of the caldera has more than 500 hydrothermal features, with dynamic geysers and pools that often change from day to day, but a much larger transformation has been taking place as well. For more than two decades, an area larger than Chicago centred near the basin has been inflating and deflating by several inches in erratic bursts.
Daniel Dzurisin, a research geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory, and a co-author of new research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, explains why the land is so unstable.
To be clear, the research does not indicate that the supervolcano that created Yellowstone’s caldera is any more likely to erupt now. Instead, researchers speculate that the changes below Norris may mean an increased chance of hydrothermal explosions taking place throughout the basin.
In March 2014, a magnitude 4.9 earthquake rocked Norris Geyser Basin. The ground fluctuated between sinking and rising until early in 2019, when it began to subside. The basin today is five inches higher than it was in 2000.
Researchers suspect that magma-derived fluids are sitting just beneath the entire surface of the region. Hydrothermal craters caused by geologic pressure cookers of boiling water may violently explode on to the surface, an event that is all but impossible to forecast.
In the Northwest, on the borders of Yellowstone, the Teton Mountain Range rises along the Teton Fault Line which forms part of one of the most seismically active areas in the Intermountain US. The entire area is prone to storms and considerable earthquakes.
These facts will increase the many challenges of delivering a safe nuclear power plant, as well as protecting it from hackers, ‘green activists’, and domestic or foreign terrorists.
An example that Gates and Buffett could learn from happened in Japan on March 11, 2011, when an earthquake and tsunami caused a severe nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The risk of tsunami had been engineered into the plant design but underestimated the potential flood risk. Three of the six reactors sustained severe core damage and released hydrogen and radioactive materials. Explosion of the released hydrogen damaged the reactor buildings and impeded onsite emergency response efforts.
None of this data prevents the building of a nuclear power plant in Wyoming but it highlights the requirement for authentic public consultation, absolute transparency, and perhaps, humility in the face of nature – behaviours that have not hitherto been associated with the global activities of either Gates or Buffett.
A nuclear power plant, built in partnership with two of the world’s most notorious egoists with funding from questionable sources, using technology developed in tandem with the Chinese, and sited on one of the most active seismic systems on the planet. What could possibly go wrong?
Explosion forced Indian Navy to return nuclear submarine to Russia?
Explosion forced Indian Navy to return nuclear submarine to Russia?
Explosion forced Indian Navy to return nuclear submarine to Russia? The INS Chakra was inducted into the Indian Navy in 2012 on a ten-year lease The Week, Web Desk June 09, 2021 On June 4, Twitter was abuzz after photographs from Singapore showed the Indian Navy’s nuclear-powered submarine INS Chakra transiting through the Malacca Straits.
Later in the day, reports emerged that the warship was on its way back to Russia. India agreed to lease the INS Chakra from Russia nearly two decades ago and inducted it into the Indian Navy in 2012 on a ten-year lease. The Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) bans the sale of nuclear-powered vessels, but is silent on leasing of such ships. This was the second Indian Navy submarine to have the name Chakra.
The ‘early’ return of the INS Chakra had triggered a buzz as she was the only nuclear-powered attack submarine in the Indian Navy. Attack submarines are meant primarily to destroy enemy surface ships and submarines. The Chakra was from a Russian class of submarines that NATO codenamed the Akula (shark in Russian). Before being handed over to the Indian Navy, the Chakra was known as the Nerpa in Russian service….
On Wednesday, Russian state news agency TASS reported the early return of the INS Chakra was necessitated due to an explosion on board the vessel in the spring of 2020, which damaged both its hulls. The Chakra, like many other Russian-designed submarines of its era, is a ‘double-hulled’ submarine, with a pressure inner hull and a lighter outer hull to allow for more buoyancy and capacity to absorb damage in the event of being hit by a torpedo or mine.
The Russian language website of TASS quoted a source in the Russian “military-industrial complex” as saying, “The explosion of a high-pressure air cylinder on the Chakra submarine… occurred in the spring of 2020.” The report claimed the high-pressure air cylinder was located between the two hulls. In addition to damage to the hulls, the explosion also damaged “electronic weapons and hydro-acoustic equipment”.
Previous accidents………. https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2021/06/09/explosion-forced-indian-navy-to-return-nuclear-submarine-to-russia.html
‘Koeberg Nuclear Plant is like an old car that simply can’t be kept on the road’
Cape Talk, 7 June 2021, by Barbara Friedman Refilwe Moloto speaks to Hilton Trollip, a research fellow in energy at UCT’s Global Risk Governance Programme.
- Koeberg GM suspended but energy expert says the nuclear power station is past its sell-by date
- Researcher Hilton Trollip is skeptical about refurbishing Koeberg
- All coal-firing and nuclear plants need to end and move over to renewable sources, says Trollip
On Friday the general manager of Koeberg Nuclear Power Station was replaced by Eskom’s Chief Nuclear Officer. Velaphi Ntuli has been suspended for operational reasons.
RELATED: Eskom suspends Koeberg Power Station GM for ‘performance-related issues’
One of those being that one of Eskom’s biggest generating units with a capacity of 900MW, Koeberg Unit 1 has been on an outage since January 2021.
Just how concerned should we be as we head into winter, and at the same time, try to revive our economy?
We don’t know what’s happening inside Koeberg because we have no information on that, but what we do know is that Eskom is sitting with a power station fleet that is 30, 40, and 50 years old.
Hilton Trollip, Research Fellow – Global Risk Governance Programme UCT
Koeberg was built in 1985 and reaches the end of its design life in 2024, he notes.
It’s like a 20 or 30-year-old car. There comes a stage when it simply can’t be kept on the road, or to keep it on the road is too expensive or you are going to have regular breakdowns.
…………….Should the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station be given a longer lease on life?
There are plans to refurbish it, but I am skeptical about the wisdom of that. I am an engineer and everybody knows, things wear out, including power stations. Hilton Trollip, Research Fellow – Global Risk Governance Programme UCT
He says the government as a whole has not taken on board the fact that this energy era has to come to an end and be replaced with renawables……….. https://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/418543/koeberg-nuclear-plant-is-like-an-old-car-that-simply-can-t-be-kept-on-the-road
Austria and other European countries concerned about safety aspects of Hungary’s nuclear power plant expansion.
Hungary’s nuclear power plant expansion unnerves Austria, euobserver, By ESZTER ZALAN 7 June 21, BRUSSELS,
Austria’s Federal Environmental Agency has raised concerns over Hungary’s planned Russian-built Paks II nuclear power station, saying it lies on an active seismological fault line.
The report adds to existing concerns over safety issues surrounding the expansion of the Paks nuclear plant, a project pushed by the government of prime minister Viktor Orbán.
The potential occurrence of a permanent surface displacement on the site cannot be reliably excluded by scientific evidences. The Paks II site should therefore be deemed unsuitable,” the report, published last month, said.
The report also raises concerns over the authorisation-process for the site, saying the study compiled by the company behind the project, Paks II Ltd., which underpins the site-licensing, “omits relevant data”.
The report also notes that Hungarian legislation requires that “permanent surface replacement” needs to be “reliably excluded by scientific evidences” before a site can be deemed suitable.
The report stated that the Hungarian Atomic Energy Agency (HAEA) granted the site licence for the Paks nuclear plant II in 2017 in spite of the “potential conflict” with Hungarian regulations and the safety issues…………….
MEPs concern
The safety issue was also raised recently by a group of six Green MEPs, in a question to the EU Commission.
They say that “significant discrepancy has emerged from the location approval process for the Paks II nuclear plant between the results obtained by baseline studies on the earthquake risk of the site and the official application submitted by the MVM II company for site approval by the Hungarian nuclear supervisory authority”……….
”This nuclear power plant should never have been approved for many reasons. There is proof now that the site of Paks is at high risk of earthquakes. This applies not only to the new expansion, but also to the four existing power units. Any further expansion must be stopped immediately. The EU Commission must not be blinded by Orbán’s charade and must act immediately,” said Austrian Green MEP Thomas Waitz………. https://euobserver.com/climate/152035
European Commission worried that Belarus will start the Astravets nuclear power plant without the recommended EU safety guidelines
The safety of nuclear power plants is a topic very closely followed by the
Commission, Member States and the EU public. The situation in Astravets has
been a source of heightened concern in the EU.
It is regrettable that Belarus has decided to start the commercial operation of the Astravets
nuclear power plant, without addressing all the safety recommendations
contained in the 2018 EU stress test report. As the Commission has
repeatedly stated, all peer review recommendations should be implemented by
Belarus without delay.
European Commission 2nd June 2021
UK’s Sizewell B nuclear complex continues to be offline for safety reasons
East Anglian Daily Times 29th May 2021 , Sizewell B will not generate electricity for three months to enable
essential repairs – and EDF will have to submit a “robust safety case” to
regulators before it is switched back on. The nuclear power station – which
supplies electricity for 2.5million homes and businesses – has already been
offline for six weeks for regular maintenance and refuelling and it was
hoped it would be working again next week.
However, signs of wear have been
found on a thermal sleeve – and the repairs needed will mean keeping the
complex offline until August 30. The problem was anticipated and EDF
engineers worked with specialists to assess the issue.
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/sizewell-nuclear-power-station-switched-off-for-repairs-8013660
Further outages at UK’s Dungeness nuclear power plant: its future in doubt
Nasdaq 28th May 2021, EDF Energy has extended outages at the two nuclear reactors at its
Dungeness B nuclear power plant in Britain to next year, company data
showed. The Dungeness B-21 reactor is expected to restart on June 6, 2022
instead of Aug. 2 this year and the Dungeness B-22 reactor is expected to
restart on May 27, 2022 instead of July 23 this year. The reactors have
been offline since 2018. The company previously said Dungeness B has a
number of unique, significant and ongoing technical challenges that
continue to make the future both difficult and uncertain.
Fission reactions have been spiking in an inaccessible Chernobyl chamber since 2016 – possibility of a runaway nuclear reaction
Chernobyl Alert and The Doomsday Clock The Conversation, BY ROBERT HUNZIKER 21 May 21, Like the mythical Phoenix, Chernobyl rises from the ashes.
A recent… “Surge in fission reactions in an inaccessible chamber within the complex” is alarming scientists that monitor the ruins of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. (Source: Nuclear Reactions at Chernobyl are Spiking in an Inaccessible Chamber, NewScientist, May 11, 2021).
It is known that this significant renewal of fission activity is located in Sub-Reactor Room 305/2, which contains large amounts of fissile material from the initial meltdown. The explosion brought down walls of the facility amongst tons of fissile material within the reactor as extreme heat melted reactor wall concrete and steel combined with sand used to control the explosion to form a lava-like intensely radioactive substance that oozed into lower floors, e.g., Room 305/2. That room is so deadly radioactive that it is inaccessible by humans or robots for the past 35 years.
Since 2016, neutron emissions from Room 305/2 have been spiking and increased by 40% over the past 5 years. It signals a growing nuclear fission reaction in the room. According to Neil Hyatt/University of Sheffield-UK: “Our estimation of fissile material in that room means that we can be fairly confident that you’re not going to get such rapid release of nuclear energy that you have an explosion. But we don’t know for sure… it’s cause for concern but not alarm,” Ibid.
If it is deemed necessary to intervene, it’ll require robotically drilling into Room 305/2 and spraying the highly radioactive blob with a fluid that contains gadolinium nitrate, which is supposed to soak up excess neutrons and choke the fission reaction. Meanwhile, time will tell whether the monster of the deep in Room 305/2 settles down on its own or requires human interaction via the eyes and arms of a robot, which may not survive the intense radioactivity. Then what?
Meanwhile, an enormous steel sarcophagus, a $1.8bn protective confinement shelter, the New Safe Confinement (NCS) was built in 2019 to hopefully prevent the release of radioactive contamination. NCS is the largest land-based object ever moved, nine years construction in Italy delivered via 2,500 trucks and 18 ships. It is expected to last for 100 years. Thenceforth, who knows?
Nevertheless, according to nuclear professionals, the question arises whether this recent fission activity will stabilize or will it necessitate a dangerously difficult intervention to somehow stop a runaway nuclear reaction.
Inescapably, the bane of nuclear power, once dangerously out of control, remains dangerously out of control, forever and on it goes, beyond human time. Unfortunately, one nuclear accident is equivalent to untold numbers, likely thousands, of non-nuclear accidents.
“We thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” (Albert Einstein) https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/05/21/chernobyl-alert-and-the-doomsday-clock/
EDF’s report on silo collapse at Hinkley Point C nuclear construction raises more questions than answers
Stop Hinkley 24th May 2021, EDF Energy has published its report on the Ground Granulated Blast-furnace Slag (GGBS) silo collapse which took place on the Hinkley Point C construction site on 10th June last year. The report’s headline conclusion on the sudden silo collapse – that it was caused by the overloading of a bolted joint due to inadequate design, raises more questions than it answers.
Corrosion in the fuel cladding at France’s Chooz and Civaux nuclear stations
An investigation is underway at the Chooz and Civaux nuclear power plants
(6 GW) following the discovery of corrosion on the fuel cladding, in order
to prevent any radioactive leakage, announced EDF and the Nuclear Safety
Authority (ASN).
Montel 25th May 2021
The dark legacy of a nuclear meltdown – The Santa Susana Field Laboratory.
Newsletter: The dark legacy of a nuclear meltdown, and what it means for climate change L.A. Times, By SAMMY ROTH. STAFF WRITER MAY 20, 2021
”………………The Santa Susana Field Laboratory.
Despite growing up in Los Angeles, until recently I knew next to nothing about Santa Susana, which is nestled in the Simi Hills west of the San Fernando Valley. As my L.A. Times colleagues have chronicled, it was a nuclear reactor and rocket engine test facility for decades, and the site of a partial nuclear meltdown in 1959. Today more than 700,000 people live within 10 miles.
Santa Susana is an incredibly toxic site.
And the parties responsible for the long legacy of radioactive waste and other contaminants — namely Boeing, NASA and the federal Department of Energy — have done hardly anything to clean it up.
“That work was supposed to be completed by 2017. Yet much of it has not even started,” columnist Michael Hiltzik wrote last year.
Santa Susana is also the subject of a new documentary, “In the Dark of the Valley,” which is making the rounds on the film festival circuit. It’s a gut-wrenching story about children living near the field lab who have been diagnosed with cancer, and whose mothers have banded together to demand a full cleanup, in hopes that other families won’t suffer like theirs have.
The film focuses on Melissa Bumstead, whose daughter Grace Ellen was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of leukemia at age 4. Bumstead started a Change.org petition that has garnered more than 700,000 signatures, calling on politicians including Gov. Gavin Newsom to compel Boeing and the federal agencies to live up to their long-unfulfilled promises.
“I’m not going to stop. So we’ll just have to find out who has more endurance, me or them,” she says in the film’s closing moments. “The thing that’s heartbreaking is that it’s just going to continue. But it’s the kids who have to suffer, and it’s the parents who have to bury them.”
…. there’s been research suggesting that Santa Susana may pose a serious health risk to people nearby.
In 1997, UCLA scientists reported that field lab workers exposed to higher doses of radiation from 1950 through 1993 were more likely to die of cancer. A decade later, University of Michigan researchers found that people living within two miles of the site had been diagnosed with thyroid, bladder and other cancers at a 60% higher rate than people living more than five miles away.
The scope of the contamination far exceeds a single meltdown more than 60 years ago.
Daniel Hirsch — a retired UCLA and UC Santa Cruz lecturer whose students originally uncovered the meltdown, which was hidden from public view for two decades — says there were several accidents at the field lab, worsened by a lack of containment domes for the nuclear reactors. There were shockingly unsafe waste disposal practices too. For years, workers used rifles to shoot barrels of toxic chemicals to make them ignite or explode. Radioactive waste was also routinely burned in open-air pits, Hirsch said.
This was completely illegal. They weren’t supposed to be doing it,” he said
Hirsch runs the anti-nuclear group Committee to Bridge the Gap, and he’s been trying to get Santa Susana cleaned up for more than 40 years. His concerns include the continued presence of cancer-causing chemicals that can seep into groundwater, or be flushed down into the San Fernando and Simi valleys during rainstorms — or become airborne during a wind-driven wildfire.
That was a major worry during the 2018 Woolsey fire, which was ignited by a Southern California Edison electrical line at the field lab. State officials said the wildfire smoke wasn’t any more dangerous to breathe than usual, but Hirsch had a hard time believing that.
“They set up the air monitor two days after the fire,” he said.
……….. Hirsch and many local residents say Boeing and the federal government have repeatedly tried to weasel out of their commitments. And the Department of Toxic Substances Control hasn’t put up much of a fight, critics say. In January, for instance, the agency agreed to confidential talks with Boeing to resolve a dispute over the extent of the cleanup.
Another wrinkle is NASA’s recent decision to nominate the entire field lab for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, citing its Native American cave drawings and archaeological relics. Critics fear the historic designation is a thinly veiled attempt by NASA to shirk some of its cleanup obligations, a charge the space agency denies, as my colleague Louis Sahagún reported.
…… I was definitely jarred by Hirsch’s response when I told him I had hiked in the Simi Hills, within a few miles of the Santa Susana Field Lab, and asked whether he would feel safe doing the same. He didn’t hedge. He told me he would not.
“Every area around the site has been found to have contamination,” he said. https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-05-20/long-legacy-nuclear-meltdown-climate-change-boiling-point
Flaws found in anti-terror measures at Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant
Flaws found in anti-terror measures at Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant, Japan Times, 19 May 21,
Anti-terrorism measures implemented at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant, which is set to be decommissioned, have been found to be flawed, it was learned Wednesday.
It was discovered that doors leading to the nuclear materials protection areas at the plant, which are under heavy entry-exit surveillance as part of anti-terrorism measures, were not properly managed.
Some security checks conducted when people leave or enter such areas were also neglected.
The flaws were reported to a meeting of the Nuclear Regulation Authority on the same day.
According to the NRA, the flaws have been fixed and there are no signs of intrusion.
The NRA said that a worker at the nuclear plant found a door with inadequate access control measures to the area at the plant’s No. 4 reactor on March 19.
On the following day, a door with a similar flaw was found at the plant’s No. 1 reactor. Plant operator Tepco reported the flaws to the NRA.
The company also found that necessary checks, such as those involving metal detectors, were skipped at some doors to the nuclear materials protection areas.
While the doors in question at the No. 1 and No. 4 reactors were not used on a day-to-day basis and were locked, Tepco said that it was unaware that the doors were on the boundaries…….. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/05/19/national/fukushima-antiterror-flaws/
Early atomic bomb research – the ‘demon core’ that killed physicist Harry Daghlian
The Demon Core: How One Man Intervened With His Bare Hands During A Nuclear Accident https://www.iflscience.com/physics/the-demon-core-accident-how-one-man-stopped-a-nuclear-detonation-with-his-bare-hands/ 17 May 21,
Following the end of World War 2 and the devastating impacts of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings, the Cold War was looming. The immense destruction and power promised by atomic bombs pushed world superpowers into a nuclear research frenzy, with the USA preparing to drop a third on Japan , and the remaining nations creating their own arsenal as a deterrent or defense.
Enter the ‘demon core’. Sitting at a sizeable 6.2 kilograms (13.7 pounds) and 3.5 inches in diameter, this spherical mass of radioactive plutonium (at the time named ‘Rhufus’) was designed in nuclear research to be a fissile core for early iterations of the atomic bomb. Throughout 1945 and 1946, the demon core was experimented on ……
As expected from its’ ominous title, the demon core was not kind to the nuclear physicists involved. Designed as a bomb core, it had just a tiny margin before it would increase radioactivity and become supercritical (once the fission reaction has begun, it increases in rate). Therefore, any external factors that could increase reactivity, for example, compression of the core (which is how the fission bomb detonates), must be carefully monitored around the demon core.
Despite the danger, researchers used the core as an experimental piece on supercriticality, using neutron reflectors to push it to its’ limits. Neutron reflectors are used to surround the core, and as the nuclear fission reaction occurs, they reflect neutrons back at the nuclear material to increase the amount of fission taking place.
In 1945, alone in his laboratory, physicist Harry Daghlian was performing a neutron reflector experiment on the demon core when he mistakenly dropped a brick of reflective tungsten carbide onto the core, pushing it into supercriticality and releasing a deadly burst of neutron radiation. After a 3-week battle with acute radiation sickness, Daghlian succumbed to his wounds, leading to tighter legislation around nuclear research in the Manhattan Project – although it would not be strict enough.
Despite the danger, researchers used the core as an experimental piece on supercriticality, using neutron reflectors to push it to its’ limits. Neutron reflectors are used to surround the core, and as the nuclear fission reaction occurs, they reflect neutrons back at the nuclear material to increase the amount of fission taking place.
In 1945, alone in his laboratory, physicist Harry Daghlian was performing a neutron reflector experiment on the demon core when he mistakenly dropped a brick of reflective tungsten carbide onto the core, pushing it into supercriticality and releasing a deadly burst of neutron radiation. After a 3-week battle with acute radiation sickness, Daghlian succumbed to his wounds, leading to tighter legislation around nuclear research in the Manhattan Project – although it would not be strict enough.
That burst of radiation would kill Slotin within 9 days of exposure. Stood right beside him during the accident, Alvin Graves would also receive a huge dose of radiation but would survive the ordeal and live for another 20 years before death. Owing to Slotin’s quick thinking and body position, which absorbed most of the radiation, the remaining onlookers were shielded from the blast and survived to tell the tale.
Following the accidents, the core would finally gain its name as the demon core, before being recycled down into other fissile cores.
OVER 440 safety incidents have been recorded at Scotland’s nuclear bases over the last three years,
The National 16th May 2021, Faslane and Coulport** OVER 440 safety incidents have been recorded at Scotland’s nuclear bases over the last three years, with events becoming increasingly more frequent.
More than 80% of the incidents occurred at HM Naval Base Clyde at Faslane,
where most of the UK’s nuclear submarine fleet is located. A number of
safety incidents were also recorded at the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at
Coulport, home to the nuclear warheads. SNP MP Deirdre Brock, who obtained
the figures, told The Scotsman: “This is an appalling safety record and
it just should not be tolerated. Scotland has an arsenal of weapons of mass
destruction sitting just a few miles from our biggest city.
EDF’s Sizewell B nuclear station: steel components wearing out. EDf to close Hinkley Point B in Somerset and Hunterston B in Scotland early.
Times 17th May 2021, Steel components in the heart of Britain’s most modern nuclear power
station are wearing out more quickly than expected, forcing EDF to carry
out lengthy unscheduled repairs.
The French energy giant is having to keep
Sizewell B in Suffolk offline for three months longer than planned to deal
with the safety issues. …
EDF said it had found wear to some of Sizewell’s stainless steel “thermal sleeves”, which form part of
the mechanisms that insert control rods into the reactor core to shut it
down. Experience at a reactor in France has shown that extreme wear could
eventually result in parts of the thermal sleeves coming loose and
obstructing the control rods. EDF is assessing the cause and extent of the
wear at Sizewell and how many components need to be replaced before it
seeks permission to restart the plant. It insisted the damage was
“nowhere near” the stage where it would prevent control rods
functioning, and that in any event the reactor could still be shut down
safely.
EDF has said it will close Hinkley Point B in Somerset and
Hunterston B in Scotland permanently by next year, earlier than planned,
because of cracks in their graphite cores. It is also considering closing
Dungeness B in Kent as soon as this year. The plant was not scheduled to
close until 2028 but has been offline since 2018 because of corrosion.
1 This Month
22 June – Virtual Event –Climate Change: New Data, New Debate
Monday, June 22, 2026 2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. CT
YouTube. Register here
25 June- THE PUKE ON NUKES
Thursday, June 25, 2026
7pm Central Time (8pm ET, 6pm MT, 5pm PT) UTC – 5
From NRC & DOE Deregulation to Techno-Fascist Billionaires Going Nuclear, Plus a Few Songs from Atomic Cabaret REGISTER
26 June – Radiation Trainwreck at the NRC / Join the Protect Better Campaign – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4ZlZ5_qLSHGiLSCg8FF6Bg#/registration
1st July – Webinar Waste of Space: The Environmental Harm of Military and Civil Space Activity st July, 7 pm
Report Launch Online: We are seeing an increasing exploitation of space for military and commercial purposes. This must change.
Protect Sazan Island from the Trump family! https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/protect_sazan_island_from_the_trump_family_loc/?bqFCVab&v=174511&cl=22707147157&_checksum=5e9dde668860e8231c33699735e16a1fbf22ab2cb01da50c999fe8732b9775ef&utm_source=email&utm_medium=blast_email&utm_campaign=174511
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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