USA’s nuclear waste storage raises safety dangers
in light of the overheating of spent fuel at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, some elected officials have renewed calls to remove waste from nuclear plants, many of which are near heavily populated areas…..the nuclear industry has raised the risk of a fire by reconfiguring its pools over the years to squeeze in more fuel.
Storage of Nuclear Waste Gets New Scrutiny. WSJ.com, 24 March 11, By STEPHEN POWER The nuclear crisis in Japan is reviving a battle over what should be done with the spent nuclear fuel that has been piling up around the U.S. for decades. Continue reading
Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports gaps in USA nuclear reactors’ safety
US watchdog sees gaps in reactor safety, FT.com , By Shannon Bond New York March 24 2011 Defects in components of US nuclear plants are going unreported because of “contradictory and unclear” regulations, according to a report from the federal nuclear regulator’s watchdog.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector general’s report, released on Thursday, is based on a review conducted in January, before the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant and the ensuing concern over the safety of nuclear sites in the US. The inspector general’s findings, however, raise questions about risks at the 104 operating reactors across the country. Nuclear plants provide 20 per cent of US electricity, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s lobbying organisation……FT.com / US & Canada – US watchdog sees gaps in reactor safety
Iowa residents will pay up in advance for nuclear reactor build
“Advanced cost recovery is nothing more or less than a tax on ratepayers to fund nuclear reactors that the capital market won’t touch,”
Possible nuclear expansion costs to Iowans: $50 a month, Des Moines Register, 25 March 11, Iowa’s average MidAmerican customer could see their monthly bills spike by $50 or more a month under a proposal being considered by the state’s legislature, according to a report released today Continue reading
The first manufacturing victims of ionising radiation
Until, one by one, the dial painters began, mysteriously, to fall ill. Their teeth fell out, their mouths filled with sores, their jaws rotted, they wasted away, weakened by an apparently unstoppable anemia. By 1924, nine of the dial painters were dead
The Radium Girls | Speakeasy Science, By Deborah Blum March 24, 2011 “……Radon (Rn) is an element found in the earth’s crust as a radioactive “daughter” of uranium. ……….After American troops joined the war in Europe, (1916) the factory in Orange, New Jersey won a contract to supply radium-dial instruments to the military. By the time the war ended, wristwatches with their glowing dials and handy wristbands were all the style. So were luminous-faced clocks, nicely dressed up in gold and ebony for elegant homes. The corporation’s business was as healthy as ever, as healthy, you might say, as radium itself.There was not a thought worth mentioning that radium might not really be the golden child of the elements. Continue reading
Oyster Creek nuclear reactor – the oldest and most dangerous?
Oyster Creek has been dogged by problems including a corroding liner in the carbon steel containment unit; leaks that allow radioactive tritium to seep into drinking water; and huge volumes of stocked spent fuel rods.
“We have 40 years of radiation on site — two-and-a-half to three times more than in Japan,”
Oldest US nuclear reactor: a ‘disaster’ in waiting?, Google news, By Karin Zeitvogel (AFP) –25 March 11, LACEY, New Jersey — A sleepy New Jersey town has popped onto people’s radar screens because it has the oldest running nuclear power plant in the United States — and, some say, the most dangerous.
Vermont the only US State that can say No to nuclear plants
“It puzzles me that more states don’t take control into their own hands about aging nuclear power plants,”
Vermont’s unique nuclear-power veto – Boston.com, By Alan Wirzbicki 23 march 11, Who has the final word on regulating nuclear power plants?In 49 states, it’s the federal government, acting through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. At the moment, Vermont is the lone exception.
As the result of a deal in 2002 and subsequent legislation in 2006, the state Legislature has the authority to block the Vermont Yankee plant from staying in operation past 2012, when its license runs out. Continue reading
US senator calls for a stop to re-licensing nuclear power plants
US Sen. Sanders: Slow down on nuclear relicensing Bloomberg, BusinessWeek 21 march11, MONTPELIER, Vt.U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is calling for a moratorium on the licensing of new nuclear plants and relicensing of existing ones, as well as other steps that would put the brakes on what’s been touted as a nuclear renaissance in the United States…. US Sen. Sanders: Slow down on nuclear relicensing – BusinessWeek
Questions over the safety of USA’s spent nuclear fuel cooling ponds
President Barack Obama has ordered a comprehensive review of U.S. nuclear plant safety.
Martha Coakley asks feds to re-examine nuclear storage – BostonHerald.com, March 21, 2011 BOSTON – Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is urging federal energy officials to re-examine the safety of the wet storage of spent fuel at nuclear power plants, including the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth.In a letter sent Monday to Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko, Coakley said federal regulators need to take another look at the wet storage protocol, which is also used at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant near the Massachusetts border.
It was also used at the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi plan in Japan…….. Continue reading
China, Germany, now USA, put the brakes on nuclear development
corporations are bracing for a potential U.S. regulatory backlash that will elevate costs. Governments from China to Germany moved swiftly last week to brake further nuclear development,
UPDATE 3-NRG, eyeing Japan, first to slow US nuclear plant work | Reuters, 22 March 11, NRG pull-back is first sign of U.S. impact from quake * US nuclear builders face uncertainty amid NRC review, By Eileen O’Grady, HOUSTON, March 21 (Reuters) – U.S. nuclear power developer. NRG Energy Inc has all but stopped work on a majo project in Texas, the first U.S. company to slow down ambitious growth plans in the wake of the crisis in Japan.
NRG, which has worked closely with Tokyo Electric Power Co to develop the Texas reactors, said there was too much regulatory uncertainty to continue pouring cash into the project.NRG’s move is the first sign that
as regulators sought time to apply any lessons learned from the crisis on Japan’s east coast.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s order for a review of all plants raises uncertainty about potential design changes and timing of new license approvals, NRG Chief Executive David Crane said. He also noted that low natural gas prices are challenging the economics of new nuclear power plants.
“The economics related to the capital budget are right on the edge of viability,” Crane told Reuters in an interview.
NRG and its partner Toshiba Corp (6502.T) will reduce the scope of development work at Nuclear Innovation North America, which has been working to build new units at the South Texas Project nuclear station in Matagorda County, 90 miles (145 km)southwest of Houston.
UPDATE 3-NRG, eyeing Japan, first to slow US nuclear plant work | Reuters
Viability of USA’s nuclear power now called into question
“Today everybody is worried about the spent fuel pools………..New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is seeking a review of the Indian Point power plant, about 40 miles north of New York City. More than 21 million people live within 50 miles of the plant……
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said the crisis called into question the viability of nuclear power in the United States.
Nuclear crisis may affect placement of US reactors, Google News 21 march 11, “………The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said his agency will again review how U.S. nuclear plants store spent-fuel from nuclear reactors. Continue reading
Five close shaves at USA nuclear reactor cores
Nuclear safety: Five recent ‘near miss’ incidents at US nuclear power plants, Christian Science Monitor, 18 March 11, Fourteen safety-related events at nuclear power plants required follow-up inspections from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the NRC reported in 2010. These “near-miss” events “raised the risk of damage to the reactor core – and thus to the safety of workers and the public,” concluded a new report, “The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2010,” by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Here are five of these 14 “near miss” examples:……
US Senator Graham has touching faith in nuclear industry
“I have a lot of faith in the nuclear industry, and I feel safe living five miles away from a nuclear power plant,”…Graham said, adding that the nuclear industry needs to do a better job explaining itself…….
US Sen. Graham: I have faith in nuclear power – BusinessWeek, 18 March COLUMBIA, S.C.U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Thursday that Japan’s nuclear crisis shouldn’t cause a halt in the construction of new nuclear power plants in this country. Continue reading
Potential for disaster in USA’s nuclear reactors and cooling systems
It would not even require a quake or tsunami, only a moderately ingenious terrorist, to breach Shearon Harris’s puny defences and sabotage the cooling systems. A study by the Brookhaven Labs estimates that a pool fire there could cause 140,000 cancers, and contaminate thousands of square miles of land.
Another Fukushima meltdown? In America? Not if, but when | The First Post, Alexander Cockburn, 18 March 11, “…….. President Obama for example, who took plenty of money from this industry for his presidential campaign and used his State of the Union address last January to reaffirm his commitment to “clean, safe” nuclear power. This week, Obama’s press spokesman confirmed that nuclear energy “remains a part of the President’s overall energy plan”. Continue reading
In nuclear accident, evacuation from Indian Point area would be impossible
Citing plants like the Indian Point nuclear site north of New York City, Mr. Lyman, a physicist and member of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, called it “utterly unrealistic” to expect that an effective evacuation could be undertaken should a disaster like the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last week occur in this country.
Citing Near Misses, Report Faults Both Nuclear Regulators and Operators, – NYTimes.com,By TOM ZELLER JR. March 17, 2011,The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the nuclear power industry in the United States, came under fire from critics on Thursday for recommending that Americans in Japan remain at least 50 miles away from the ailing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant there. Continue reading
Ever increasing hidden subsidies to nuclear lobby in USA
U.S. Nuclear Subsidies Mask Real ‘Costs and Risks,’ Scientists Say, Sunshine State News, Kenric Ward’ March 17, 2011 A report issued just days before Japan’s nuclear-reactor crisis warned that U.S. government subsidies to the industry inject financial instability.”Government subsidies to the nuclear power industry over the past 50 years have been so large in proportion to the value of the energy produced that in some cases it would have cost taxpayers less to simply buy kilowatts on the open market and give them away,” stated the study by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The report — “Nuclear Power: Still Not Viable without Subsidies” — argues that tax breaks and other government-engineered deals fuel a continued rise in costs as the nuclear power lobby demands evermore support from taxpayers.
“Piling new subsidies on top of existing ones will provide the industry with little incentive to rework its business model to internalize its considerable costs and risks,” concluded the Cambridge, Mass.-based Union.
Alternatively, the UCS report recommended adopting market-oriented approaches to uranium mining royalties and waste- management financing, and incorporating the costs of preventing nuclear proliferation and terrorism into economic assessments of new reactors.
The Obama administration is currently proposing $54 billion in new government-backed loan guarantees to facilitate the construction of new nuclear power plants.
U.S. Nuclear Subsidies Mask Real ‘Costs and Risks,’ Scientists Say | Sunshine State News
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Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
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Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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