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Japanese nuclear corporations clean up financially from radiation clean-up

Even more disturbing to critics of the decontamination program is the fact that the government awarded the first contracts to three giant construction companies — corporations that have no more expertise in radiation cleanup than anyone else does, but that profited hugely from Japan’s previous embrace of nuclear power.

Japan Starts Nuclear Cleanup, With Little Idea of How By HIROKO TABUCHI, NYT February 10, 2012 IITATE, Japan — As 500 workers in hazmat suits and respirator masks fanned out to decontaminate this village 20 miles from the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, their confusion was apparent. “Dig five centimeters or 10 centimeters deep here?” a site supervisor asked his colleagues, pointing to a patch of radioactive topsoil to be removed. He then gestured across the village square toward the community center. “Isn’t that going to be demolished? Shall we decontaminate it or not?”

A day laborer wiping down windows at an abandoned school nearby shrugged at the work crew’s haphazard approach. “We are all amateurs,” he said. “Nobody really knows how to clean up radiation.” Continue reading →

February 11, 2012 Posted by | Japan, wastes | Leave a comment

Japanese monks store radioactive waste near their temple

Abe said he and the other monks are storing the soil on a hill behind the temple as neither the government nor the nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) are helping with the clean-up.

“No-one else would take the soil. If there’s nobody to take care of it, the decontamination can’t get going because there’s nowhere to get rid of it,” Abe said.

Japan priest fights invisible demon: radiation Feb 10 (Reuters) – On the snowy fringes of Japan’s Fukushima city, now notorious as a byword for nuclear crisis, Zen monk Koyu Abe offers prayers for the souls of thousands left dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami nearly one year ago.

But away from the ceremonial drums and the incense swirling around the Joenji temple altar, Abe has undertaken another task, no less
harrowing — to search out radioactive “hot spots” and clean them up, storing irradiated earth on temple grounds….

Radiation, carried on winds and by snow, spread far beyond the 20 km (12 miles) evacuation zone around the plant, nestling in hot spots across the region and contaminating the ground in what remains a largely agricultural region. Continue reading →

February 11, 2012 Posted by | Japan, Religion and ethics, wastes | Leave a comment

Process for terminating Cotter company’s radioactive license in Colorado

The majority of the documents being reviewed currently concern characterization of the soil and groundwater contamination on site and cleanup criteria.

Cotter documents under review, Company in process to terminate radioactive materials license, Canon City Daily Record, By RACHEL ALEXANDER    02/10/2012  A public meeting was held Thursday with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Cotter Corp. to discuss three upcoming department decisions.

The documents currently under review by CDPHE, the Environmental Protection agency and the public are the New Evaporation Pond
Conceptual Design; the Onsite Soil Excavation and Groundwater Characterization Process Plan; and the Soil Remediation Criteria
Selection.

This is the first round of documents that are being developed by Cotter as part of the process to terminate its radioactive materials
license and the deletion of the site from the Superfund list. Continue reading →

February 11, 2012 Posted by | Uranium, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Multi $billion radioactive cleanup at Hanford not going well

Problems plague cleanup at Hanford nuclear waste site, By Peter Eisler, USA TODAY HANFORD SITE, Wash. – Seven decades after scientists came here during World War IIto create plutonium for the first atomic bomb, a new generation is struggling with an even more daunting task: cleaning up the radioactive mess. The U.S. government is building a treatment plant to stabilize and contain 56 million gallons of waste left from a half-century of nuclear weapons production. The radioactive sludge is so dangerous that a few hours of exposure could be fatal. A major leak could contaminate water supplies serving millions across the Northwest. The cleanup is the most complex and costly environmental restoration ever attempted.

And the project is not going well. Continue reading →

February 10, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Effort to clean up Hanford radioactive spill

Plan developed to clean up highly radioactive Hanford spill BY ANNETTE CARY, TRI-CITY HERALD 02/06/12 Hanford officials have settled on a plan to clean up what may be the most highly radioactive spill at the nuclear reservation.

It depends on calling back into service the 47-year-old, oversized hot cell where the spill occurred to protect workers from the radioactive cesium and strontium that leaked through the hot cell to the soil below.

Radioactivity in the contaminated soil, which is about 1,000 feet from the Columbia River, has been measured at 8,900 rad per hour. Direct exposure for a few minutes would be fatal, according to Washington Closure. Continue reading →

February 10, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Taipei insists that its many thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods are safe

Atomic body dismisses report on nuclear safety Taipei Times Staff Writer, with CNA , 9 Feb 12, The Atomic Energy Council yesterday dismissed a French newspaper’s report that raised doubts about the security of facilities storing spent reactor fuel, saying that spent fuel has always been kept under safe storage and strict management.

The French newspaper Le Monde reported on Tuesday that spent fuel pools at the Jinshan (金山) Nuclear Power Plant in Shimen District (石門), New Taipei City (新北市) and Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Wanli District (萬里), New Taipei City, have become saturated and could therefore be severely hazardous in the event of an accident. Continue reading →

February 10, 2012 Posted by | Taiwan, wastes | Leave a comment

Polynesia’s radioactive pollution from France’s nuclear bomb tests

France’s upper chamber approved a motion that provides for Mururoa and Fangataufa, currently under the control of the defence ministry, to be restored to the Polynesian public domain, though the bill stands little chance of becoming law. “We realise that they are the two largest nuclear dumps in an ocean environment. But in Oceania you cannot separate human beings from their ecosystem,” says the author of the bill, Senator Richard Tuheiva. “Restitution [of the atolls] is a way of soothing the psychological wounds [caused by the nuclear era].”

about 5kg of plutonium is trapped in the sediment at the bottom of the Mururoa and Fangataufa lagoons, ……. There is no question of them returning to “normal” use.

 

France urged to clean up deadly waste from its nuclear tests in Polynesia, Guardian UK,  7 Feb 2012, 193 nuclear tests carried out on the Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls between 1966 and 1996 have left a dangerous legacy. Continue reading →

February 8, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, environment, OCEANIA | Leave a comment

USA’s failed plutonium plant and the USA insider deals with AREVA

But the good news for Areva is the tax paid contract is still bringing in the big bucks with no end in sight.

 the waste from these processes all add to the huge amount of waste already stored in leaking tanks at SRS.

Abraham, like so many others in Washington, sells his influence…. And Abraham does not sell influence only in the United States. He sells himself to the entire world.

When is enough, enough? How much money do former government officials have to make before they go home and give back to their communities rather than take money to influence their friends in Washington? 

Spencer Abraham Cashes In, DC Bureau,  By ,  February 2nd, 2012   In  January 30 was former U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham’s last day as the non-executive chairman of Areva Enterprises Inc, the French atomic power firm’s American operation. This marked the end of a very lucrative arrangement for both Abraham and the French government own nuclear company – mostly at U.S. taxpayers’ expense.

It all began in the 1990s when the United States’ response to disposing of 34 metric tons of plutonium from shuttered nuclear weapons programs was a proposed mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina. When Abraham became Energy Secretary in 2001, Areva was a key contractor for the MOX plant. According to his DOE calendars, among his first trips were to France to visit their nuclear officials and operations. Abraham maintained a close relationship with the then head of Areva, Anne Lauvergeon. In turn, not long after he left the Energy Department, Abraham cashed in and went to work for Areva and “Atomic Annie,” as she was known. In 2007, DOE broke ground on the MOX plant.
Today, the DOE’s MOX fuel plant is still under construction. It has cost billions of dollars, is over budget and behind schedule. But Spencer Abraham will never be held responsible for the cost overruns and delays. In fact, he has been handsomely rewarded.

Despite spending billions of dollars on the MOX plant, DOE has yet to line up a single customer even with massive government subsidies being offered to buy the fuel. No utility will touch it. Continue reading →

February 3, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, Reference, reprocessing, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Malaysia facing radioactive threat from Australian rare earths company Lynas

Malaysian group to file suit to challenge approval for Aussie rare earth plant  Washington Post, : February 2 LAWSUIT PLANNED: A Malaysian group representing villagers and civil groups will file a legal challenge to the government’s decision to approve a $230 million rare earths plant by Australian miner Lynas Corp., a lawmaker said Thursday. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/malaysian-group-to-file-suit-to-challenge-approval-for-aussie-rare-earth-plant/2012/02/02/gIQAmIwDlQ_story.html

Key victory, but battle is not over yet BY: ROWAN CALLICK,  : The Australian February03, 2012  ”….Environmental concerns have been driving greater political involvement in Malaysia as the population becomes better educated.

Growing ecological awareness has provided a common cause for middle-class activists of the three races — Malays, Chinese and Indians — who have tended otherwise to be divided by the country’s political parties…. The plant approval intensifies the need for Lynas to operate it impeccably and to build its community relations, because an election is almost certain to be called in Malaysia later this year.    Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has already warned that his three-party coalition would scrap the plant if it wins the election.

Fuziah says Lynas plant will scare off other investors, The Malaysian Insider, By Shannon Teoh January 31, 2012 KUALA LUMPUR,  — Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh has hit back at Lynas Corp, insisting that the presence of the Australian miner’s RM2.5 billion rare earth plant would deter investors from Pahang.

 Earlier today, Lynas executive chairman Nicholas Curtis warned against any move by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to shut the company’s refinery, which has raised fears of radiation pollution, saying such action would deter foreign investors.

Fuziah, who has led protests by locals and environmentalists against the plant, said yesterday the federal opposition would shut down the plant if it won a general election that must be called by May next year.

“Would any foreign investor want to site their operations right beside a rare earth plant? Would companies like Siemens want to set up near Lynas?

“This is not a strategic investment in terms of risk versus benefit. We don’t need rare earth to be high-tech. Germany doesn’t have rare earth,” she told The Malaysian Insider……

“(PAS spiritual leader) Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat has said if you want to close down Lynas, vote for Pakatan. (Opposition Leader) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has also said the same.

“I am not just anybody. I am PKR vice president and a member of the Pakatan leadership council,” she said.

The Australian miner said last week it expects the start of operations to be delayed to the second quarter from the first quarter of this year.

The plant was due to start operations in September last year but Putrajaya bowed to public pressure last April after sustained opposition from local residents and environmentalists and put the project on ice pending the review by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In July 2011, the government agency adopted 11 recommendations set out by the review of the refinery and said it would not allow Lynas to begin operations or import rare earth ore until all conditions, which include a comprehensive, long-term and detailed plan for managing radioactive waste, are met.

However, AELB has said Lynas Corp failed to meet any of the conditions in its first proposals…. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/fuziah-says-lynas-plant-will-scare-off-other-investors

February 3, 2012 Posted by | Malaysia, politics, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

65,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel, and still adding more: no solution in sight!

Nuclear-Waste Overhaul by U.S. Will Take Years, Panel Chief Says February 01, 2012, By Brian Wingfield Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. will need more than a year to create an organization that will oversee federal nuclear- waste policies, according to a co-chairman of the panel that studied the issue for President Barack Obama.

“You’re at least talking a year, maybe two years, maybe more,” to set up the entity, Lee Hamilton, a co-chairman of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, said today at a House subcommittee hearing in Washington.

Lawmakers are studying a recommendation by the commission to create a government-chartered corporation to oversee nuclear- waste management, taking over from the Energy Department. The corporation would license, build and operate storage and disposal sites, according to the Jan. 26 report..

.. More than 65,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel are stored at about 75 operating and closed U.S. reactor sites, and about 2,000 tons are added a year, according to the commission….
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-01/nuclear-waste-overhaul-by-u-s-will-take-years-panel-chief-says.html

February 2, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | 1 Comment

End of the line for Japan’s dangerous, super expensive fast breeder nuclear reactor

Japanese parliamentarian and a critic of nuclear power Taro Kono said: ”We spend billions of yen every year just to maintain Monju. It’s crazy. We spend so much money just to keep things not running.”…
critics and nuclear watchdog groups call Monju Japan’s most dangerous reactor, because it uses plutonium fuel and cools its reactor with sodium, which can explode if it comes into contact with water.

Fast-breeder reactor faces closure, The Age, February 2, 2012 TSURUGA: Japan’s long and expensive pursuit of a super-efficient nuclear reactor is on the brink of failure amid new government concerns about its runaway costs.

The four-decade project to develop a so-called fast-breeder reactor has consumed more than $13 billion in funding, so far producing onlyaccidents, controversies and a single hour of electricity. Continue reading →

February 2, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, Japan, reprocessing | Leave a comment

USA Dept of Energy’s poor record on nuclear waste management

Nuclear waste management needs new agency, says commission   http://www.fiercehomelandsecurity.com/story/nuclear-waste-management-needs-new-agency-says-commission/2012-01-30  Fierce Homeland Security January 30, 2012 —   By David Perera The Energy Department’s poor record on nuclear waste management means the federal government should set up a new, congressionally chartered federal corporation to take over dedicated responsibility for the matter, says a final set of recommendations from a blue ribbon commission chartered by President Obama in 2010.

The panel’s report, released Jan. 26, characterizes the overall record of U.S. nuclear waste management as one of “broken promises and unmet commitments.” Continue reading →

February 1, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

“Decommissioning” Fukushima nukes to take a very long time

Freezing Fukushima Nuclear Plant Leaks Water TOKYO, Japan, January 30, 2012 (ENS)“…..Decommissioning is expected to take 40 years and require the use of robots and new technologies to remove the melted nuclear fuel, the Japanese government said in December. Continue reading →

February 1, 2012 Posted by | decommission reactor, Japan | 1 Comment

12 $billion new Hanford nuclear waste facility has safety flaws

Safety at Wash. Nuclear-Waste Site Scrutinized, SciTech Today, By Peter Eisler January 27,  A new plant meant to stabilize and contain 56 million gallons of radioactive waste is coming under fire by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. A chief concern is that abrasive and corrosive particles in the waste could erode pipes and mixing vessels used to pretreat the material for vitrification, ultimately causing leaks. A federal oversight panel is raising new concerns to the Department of Energy about potentially serious flaws in the design of a first-of-its-kind, $12 billion waste treatment plant that is being built for the nation’s largest radioactive cleanup. Continue reading →

January 28, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

UK’s Dounreay nuclear site still radioactive

Contamination found at nuclear site, Google News, (UKPA) 27 Jan 12, Traces of radioactive contamination have been found on the shoes of workers demolishing a former nuclear power station. It was detected on around a dozen people on Thursday as they prepared to leave a building which they were preparing for demolition.
Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL), which is overseeing the decommissioning of the site in Caithness, has launched an investigation.
It said that the building is in a “controlled” area, where contamination is possible, and controls are in place to manage it.

Dounreay’s nuclear reactor was shut down in 1994 and work to decommission the site has been under way since then as part of a £2.6 billion project. It was the only plant in Britain to use liquid metal instead of gas or water in the cooling circuits.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gVcbsn-jVhJMOoqqQOYXqz-NAfaA?docId=N0166121327661398947A

January 28, 2012 Posted by | decommission reactor, UK | Leave a comment

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