Earth Changes and the Pole Shift
Nuclear Facility dangers abound during severe Earth Changes
Nuclear plant in Taiwan catches fire
A loud noise was heard at midnight around the plant as the turbine released steam into the sky during the process, Taipower said. (Representative Photo)
BEIJING: Taiwan has shut down two reactors after a fire broke out at a nuclear power station in southern Taiwan shortly before midnight on Sunday.
The incident has caused no radioactive leak and no personnel have needed to be evacuated, Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) said in a statement on its website.
The fire began inside an auxiliary electrical transformer at the Third Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County, setting off an alarm at 11:58pm, Taipower said. It was put out by the plant's own firefighters within 17 minutes of its occurance, it said.
A loud noise was heard at midnight around the plant as the turbine released steam into the sky during the process, Taipower said.
Taipower said preliminary investigations suggest that it will take two weeks to get the second reactor operational again. The transformer, which was one of a number of devices supplying electricity to the plant, has been damaged due to short circuit.
The accident is expected to affect China's ambitious plans that include launching eight new nuclear power plants this year besides granting approvals for another set of six new plants. The government aims to build capabilities for producing 30,000 megawatts by 2020.
Chinese nuclear experts have argued that the country has the best safety standards in place after the government recently lifted the ban on new plants, which was imposed after Japan's Fukushima accident in 2011.
Giving details of the accident, Taipower said that another reactor in the affected plant, the No. 1 reactor is unaffected.
The second reactor, which has a electricity generating capacity of 951 megawatts, has been in operation since May 1985.
Taiwan has three nuclear power plants in operation and another one under construction. There has been much public debate about whether the island should become a nuclear power-free society, particularly in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
The incident has caused no radioactive leak and no personnel have needed to be evacuated, Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) said in a statement on its website.
The fire began inside an auxiliary electrical transformer at the Third Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County, setting off an alarm at 11:58pm, Taipower said. It was put out by the plant's own firefighters within 17 minutes of its occurance, it said.
A loud noise was heard at midnight around the plant as the turbine released steam into the sky during the process, Taipower said.
Taipower said preliminary investigations suggest that it will take two weeks to get the second reactor operational again. The transformer, which was one of a number of devices supplying electricity to the plant, has been damaged due to short circuit.
The accident is expected to affect China's ambitious plans that include launching eight new nuclear power plants this year besides granting approvals for another set of six new plants. The government aims to build capabilities for producing 30,000 megawatts by 2020.
Chinese nuclear experts have argued that the country has the best safety standards in place after the government recently lifted the ban on new plants, which was imposed after Japan's Fukushima accident in 2011.
Giving details of the accident, Taipower said that another reactor in the affected plant, the No. 1 reactor is unaffected.
The second reactor, which has a electricity generating capacity of 951 megawatts, has been in operation since May 1985.
Taiwan has three nuclear power plants in operation and another one under construction. There has been much public debate about whether the island should become a nuclear power-free society, particularly in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
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Egypt nuclear reactor in Cairo to begin June 21st and is already having problems, leaking radiocative materials. Employees were forbidden to speak of the problems the facility is having. It's a go.......... to open.views
Starr DiGiacomo
https://tlarremore.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/nuclear-event-potential...
Nuclear Event – Potential Uncontrolled Radiation Release: Millstone Nuclear Power Plant, Connecticut
North America – USA | State of Connecticut, Millstone Nuclear Power Plant [Unit 3]
Location: 41°18’43.0″N 72°10’07.0″W
Present Operational Age: ~30 years
Event: POT UNCNTRL RAD REL/ACCIDENT MITIGATION
Nuclear Event in USA on Saturday, 09 April, 2016 at 15:23 [EDT].
SECONDARY CONTAINMENT DETERMINED TO BE INOPERABLE DURING SURVEILLANCE TESTING
Source: NRC Event Number: 51860Apr 11, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/04/zaporizhia-nuclear-power-plant.html
Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant Experiences Release of Radioactivity
Apr 12, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
https://tlarremore.wordpress.com/2016/06/02/nuclear-event-manual-re...
Nuclear Event – Manual Reactor Shutdown, Equipment Failure: Limerick Nuclear Power Plant, Pennsylvania
North America – USA | State of Pennsylvania, Montgomery County, Limerick Nuclear Plant
Location: 40°13’36.0″N 75°35’14.0″W
Present Operational Age: ~30 years
Event: RPS ACTUATION – CRITICAL
MANUAL REACTOR SCRAM DUE TO UNEXPECTED CORE FLOW CHANGE
Source: NRC Event Number: 51968
Jun 3, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/database/index.php?pageid=event_summar...
Environment Pollution in USA on April 19 2016 06:35 PM (UTC)
Washington State, Hanford Nuclear Reservation incident labeled "catastrophic"
Base data
Hight
Geographic information
Number of affected people / Humanities loss
Thousands of gallons of radioactive waste are estimated to have leaked at a Manhattan Project-era nuclear storage tank in Washington State over the weekend, triggering an alarm and causing one former worker to label it as "catastrophic."The expanded leak was first detected after an alarm went off at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation on Sunday, and on Monday workers were preparing to pump the waste out of the troubled area, AP reported. They were also trying to determine why the leak became worse. It's unclear exactly how much waste spilled out, but estimates place the amount at somewhere between 3,000 and 3,500 gallons, according to the Tri-City Herald. "There is no indication of waste leaking into the environment or risk to the public at this time," the Washington Department of Ecology said in a statement. The problem occurred at the double-wall storage tank AY-102, which has actually been leaking since 2011. At the time, the leak was extremely small, and the waste would dry up almost right after spilling out between the inner and outer walls, leaving a salt-like substance behind. In March, the US Department of Energy began pumping what was left in the storage tank, which originally held some 800,000 gallons of waste. However, during this process - and after the alarms at Hanford went off - workers discovered that the leaked waste between the storage walls had reached a depth of 8.4 inches. Pumping work on the tank has been halted as officials reevaluate the situation and figure out how to get to the leaked radioactive waste.
It's possible that the leak was made worse when the pumping began, but that has not been confirmed. While the Department of Energy called the leak "anticipated" and the state Ecology Department said there was no danger to the public, the former Hanford worker who first discovered the leak had a different analysis. "This is catastrophic," Mike Geffre told King5 News. "This is probably the biggest event to ever happen in tank farm history. The double shell tanks were supposed to be the saviors of all saviors (to hold waste safely from people and the environment)." After Geffre first discovered the leak, the government contractor managing the tanks, Washington River Protection Solutions, did not acknowledge the problem until 2012. The state has been pushing the federal government to remove the remaining waste since then, but work didn't start on the project until last month. According to the state Ecology Department, there are roughly 20,000 gallons of waste left inside the AY-102 tank. "It makes me sad that they didn't believe me that there was a problem in 2011," said Geffre. "I wish they would have listened to me and reacted faster. Maybe none of this would be happening now. It's an example of a culture at Hanford of 'We don't have problems here. We're doing just fine.' Which is a total lie." Fortunately, there has been no indication that waste has made its way into a leak detection pit outside of the tank itself, the Seattle Times reported. The Hanford Nuclear Reservation was originally constructed in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project. After decades of producing plutonium for weapons, including the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, millions of gallons of radioactive waste was generated by the time production stopped at the end of the Cold War. It is expected to cost billions of dollars to clean up the site over the course of decades.
Jun 5, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/how-much-radiation...
How much radiation is OK in an emergency?
Posted: Saturday, June 18, 2016 11:00 pm | Updated: 11:11 pm, Sat Jun 18, 2016
New guidelines proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would significantly increase the amount of radiation that people can ingest in the days and years following a radiological accident — levels far higher than existing limits set by the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974.
Watchdog groups, academics and even some EPA officials worry the change could severely compromise public health.
The agency’s proposal, released in early June and open for public comment until July 25, suggests a two-tiered system to advise the public when water is too dangerous for consumption after a radiological release — an event ranging from an accident at a nuclear power plant, such as the 1979 reactor meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, to a roadside spill of Cold War-era transuranic waste from Los Alamos to a deliberate act of terrorism. The agency has capped the proposed limits at 500 millirems per year for people over 15, and no more than 100 millirems for younger children, the elderly, and pregnant or nursing women.
The new emergency guidelines are at least 25 times higher than the current guidelines, which cap public consumption of radiation at 4 millirems per year. Opponents of the proposal say it will allow radiation exposure equivalent to 250 chest X-rays each year without medical need or consent. Others, however, say the limits are conservative and far more restrictive than international standards.
The EPA says the limits won’t nullify those set under the Safe Drinking Water Act, but are only intended to help guide local communities and state and federal officials in the event of a disaster, citing the 2011 reactor meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan following a massive tsunami caused by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake. Elevated radiation levels from the Fukushima disaster reached as far as Massachusetts.
The EPA proposal has significant ramifications for New Mexico, home to two nuclear weapons research laboratories and the nation’s only permanent underground repository for radioactive waste, all of which were built near underground aquifers.
Los Alamos National Laboratory is now required to monitor chemical and radiological levels in groundwater on a monthly basis to determine any changes that could compromise public health or the environment. This monitoring system may become more important as the lab’s role in maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile increases over the coming decades. This year, the lab restarted the work of building plutonium pits, or nuclear warhead triggers. Each softball-size pit can create a blast with the same force as the “fat man” atomic bomb that was dropped on the city of Nagasaki in 1945, killing tens of thousands of civilians and leaving a legacy of cancer and other health ailments for those who survived.
The National Nuclear Security Administration aims for production of at least 10 plutonium pits per year at Los Alamos by 2024 and expects that number to expand to between 50 and 80 pits per year by 2030.
Between the late 1950s and the 1980s, the bulk of this work was done in Hanford, Wash., and Rocky Flats, Colo., where it led to significant levels of radioactive contamination in the air, water and soil. Billions of dollars have been spent on cleanup work, with the efforts still unfinished. In mid-May, 15,000 homeowners living downwind of the Rocky Flats Plant received a combined $375 million settlement, after 26 years of litigation, for their health ramifications.
New Mexico’s highways pose concerns under the new EPA proposal because truck transportation of nuclear waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad will resume if the now-shuttered underground storage facility reopens, as planned, by the year’s end. When operations restart at the waste site, which has been closed since a radiation leak in February 2014, U.S. 62-180, Interstate 25, Interstate 40 and U.S. 285 would once again be used to transport nuclear waste to WIPP from Los Alamos, as well as from out-of-state defense sites.
In the first decade of the waste plant’s opening, at least 900 trucks carrying transuranic waste traveled those roads to reach the Carlsbad facility. The New Mexico Environment Department documented 29 accidents between 2002 and 2013, though none led to a spill.
Proposals by the U.S. Energy Department show the federal government also plans to store some foreign plutonium at WIPP, after the material has been processed at a facility in South Carolina.
Other hot spots in New Mexico include the vast nuclear weapons storage facility at Kirtland Air Force Base and the Annular Core Research Reactor Facility at Sandia National Laboratories, which processes radioactive materials.
Critics of the EPA proposal worry it would allow such facilities to delay cleanup of waste and contamination, which would lead to larger amounts of contamination in drinking water in the event of a radiological accident.
“The science of radioactivity continuously demonstrates that radiation is more dangerous than we knew before,” said Daniel Hirsch, director of the Environmental and Nuclear Policy program at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Despite this, he said, “The actions they are proposing are in the opposite direction, to relax the standards.”
The proposed doses are based on maximum radiation exposure over a one-year period, in contrast to a 70-year lifetime exposure calculation for the Safe Drinking Water Act, and are based on exposure to a single radioactive element, though it’s possible that several different types of harmful substances could be present in drinking water following an incident.
The new emergency guidelines would not apply to the immediate hours and days after a disaster but to the months and years it takes to fully clean up the contamination, leaving the public to consume and bathe in highly contaminated water without violating EPA standards, Hirsch said.
“Most of this is designed so officials could tell you, ‘Don’t worry,’ ” he said. “The authorities would want to reassure people, and tell you that the levels are a fraction [of the EPA limits], but the question is, are those levels offensive? If someone told you it is the level that would be the equivalent of 250 X-rays a year, you might not be so reassured.”
For some substances, the new limits are even higher. The cap for iodine-131 — small amounts of which have been found to degrade the thyroid gland — increases from 3 picocuries per liter to 10,350 pCi/L, and for strontium-90, which has been linked to leukemia, the EPA has proposed raising the cap from 8 pCi/L to 7,400 pCi/L, according to data compiled by Food and Water Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based consumer rights nonprofit.
When new standards were proposed by the EPA under the George W. Bush administration, experts at the agency expressed concern that they were dangerously high. The levels proposed under the Obama administration are even higher.
“There is nothing to prevent those levels from being the final cleanup achieved,” Susan Stahle, general counsel for the EPA, wrote in 2009 in an internal document acquired under the Freedom of Information Act by the Food and Water Watch, referring to the lower caps in the Bush administration proposal.
“The approach in this guidance is not confined to just short-term emergencies,” Stahle said, raising concerns that the proposal could “undermine” EPA Superfund cleanup objectives, “especially federal facility ones involving the DOE.”
She said the document could easily be used as a “legal weapon” by the Department of Energy and other agencies.
EPA employee Stuart Walker wrote in a 2007 memo to agency officials, “Concentrations are hundreds, even thousands of times higher than the MCLs [maximum contamination levels].”
Standards suggested at the time for radioactive isotopes tellurium 129 and 127 “may lead to sub-chronic [acute] effects following exposures of a day or a week … that is, vomiting, fever, etc.,” he said.
“The [Protective Action Guidelines] would allow the public to drink water at concentrations 200 times greater than EPA’s guidance for emergency removals,” he said, adding that the standards were even higher for some radionuclides.
Walker notes that exposure to radiation could extend to food, and shipments of contaminated produce “could greatly expand the population” affected by a radiological incident and could damage the agriculture industry in unaffected areas “if the public becomes alarmed that radioactive food is being shipped around the country.”
Hirsh said the more lax standards could be intended to benefit the nuclear industry, which could use them to postpone or avoid cleanup requirements. Relaxing regulations speaks to the desperation of the industry, he said.
The nuclear power industry, which for years has been lauded as the future of zero-emissions energy production, has seen 19 plants decommissioned in the past decade, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
But Jerry Hiatt, a senior project manager and health physicist with the Nuclear Energy Institute, an organization that promotes nuclear energy, said the industry in no way seeks to shirk its safety obligations.
“There is no wiggle room when it comes to health and safety — we comply,” he said. “The folks around the plants are our neighbors.”
Hiatt said the EPA regulations are much more stringent than those set by the International Atomic Energy Agency and would protect the public from the greater hazards of drinking untreated or muddied water after a disaster. Bacteria and contaminants such as E. coli in untreated water would be far more toxic than the doses of radiation proposed by the EPA, he said.
“If the draft guidelines are published as is, I would see no issues with those limits,” Hiatt said. “They are lower than what the rest of the world would be going by.”
A 2013 reported compiled by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation examined the effects of the Fukushima disaster and found, a year after the event, that “to date, there have been no health effects attributed to radiation exposure observed among workers, the people with the highest radiation exposures.”
It said the dose the workforce was exposed to was between 10,000 and 679,000 millirems.
James Conca, a consultant for the Department of Energy and the EPA, writing about the U.N. report for Forbes in 2013, said it “concluded what we in nuclear science have been saying for decades — radiation doses less than about 10 rem [10,000 millirems] are no big deal.”
As of this year, at least 131 cases of thyroid cancer have been reported in people, predominantly children, present at the Fukushima disaster. The event forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate and more than 760,000 tons of water contaminated with radiation to leak into the soil and the ocean. Multibillion-dollar decommissioning work at the facility could take several more decades to complete.
“During the Fukushima nuclear power plant incident, the [EPA] had to develop drinking water guidance for U.S. citizens who might have been exposed to contamination from the incident,” Melissa Harrison, a spokeswoman with the EPA, told The New Mexican when asked about the timing of the latest proposal.
Despite this justification for the emergency guidelines, documents show attempts also were made years earlier to ease radiation limits in food and drinking water.
The EPA says the new guidelines are “not intended for long-term or everyday use,” but they do not put limits on how long a state could choose to apply them. The proposal only says that water systems should return to compliance with the Safe Water Drinking Act “as soon as practicable.”
The agency said the proposal is nonregulatory and is intended “to protect residents from experiencing the harmful effects from radiation in drinking water following an emergency.”
Allison Scott Majure, a spokeswoman for the New Mexico Environment Department, agreed that the EPA’s guidelines are considered “a point of reference for emergency response managers.”
Jennifer Talhelm, a spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said the senator is reviewing the proposal. So far, she said, his office hasn’t heard any criticisms of the plan. But Udall hopes the proposal will draw public input, she said.
“He certainly encourages experts and anyone with concerns to weigh in during the comment period to help the EPA write the best standards possible to protect public health,” she said.
Hirsh maintains that more lax standards and the open-ended nature of the EPA proposal are alarming.
“I know how dangerous radioactivity is,” he said, “so when I see these numbers, my eyes widen. To me, I started thinking about Nuremberg, and how ethically a government official can possibly do this.”
In the Nuremberg trials, which took place from 1945-49, teams from the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union prosecuted Nazi leaders for crimes committed by Germans during World War II. The litigation established guidelines for what constitutes a war crime and defined ethics principles for experimentation on humans.
Jun 19, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://news.newsdirectory2.com/pump-on-grounds-of-the-nuclear-power...
Pump on grounds of the nuclear power plant Brokdorf in fire
June 21, 2016 11:41 am
A fire has broken out in the night of Tuesday on the grounds of the nuclear energy plant Brokdorf. A gasoline-powered mobile fire pump is outside – outdoors the management – catch fire, informed the Division of Energy accountable for nuclear security in Kiel and the operators, the power company Eon, in Hanover
Jun 21, 2016
M. Difato
Shutdown triggered at Indian Point Reactor 2
July 6, 2016 http://westchester.news12.com/news/shutdown-triggered-at-indian-poi...
BUCHANAN - Safety systems triggered an automatic shutdown of Reactor 2 at the Indian Point nuclear power facility in Buchanan Wednesday morning, officials said.
Technicians were testing electrical systems designed to halt the reactor if needed around 9:30 a.m., they said,
but the shutdown wasn't intentional.
Officials also said there was no radioactivity released or any threat to the health or safety of the public or any employees. The automated response went smoothly.
But critics insisted afterward that the occurrence is evidence the nuclear plant should be closed permanently.
"This is the ninth unplanned shutdown in a year," said Cliff Weathers, a spokesman for Riverkeeper. "We did not have nine unplanned shutdowns 15 years ago. You didn't have that many seven years ago. This is happening because the plant is old and becoming more unreliable."
Reactor 2 will remain offline until technicians determine the cause of the shutdown.
Jul 7, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.powermag.com/expansion-joint-bellows-rupture-forces-d-c-...
Expansion Joint Bellows Rupture Forces D.C. Cook Nuclear Plant Offline
07/07/2016
Indiana Michigan Power—a subsidiary of American Electric Power (AEP)—reported that Unit 2 of its Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman, Mich., was forced offline on July 6 due to an expansion joint bellows rupture on the unit’s moisture separator reheater.
Although no one was in the area at the time and there were no injuries, an adjacent turbine building exterior wall was damaged when the roughly 48-inch-diameter bellows burst. The component is part of the plant’s secondary steam system, providing nonradioactive steam to the low-pressure turbine.
An Unusual Event, the lowest level alert on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) emergency response scale, was declared at 12:50 a.m. due to the unanticipated incident. The event was terminated at 2:07 a.m. The company said all appropriate notifications to local, state, and federal officials were made.
Unit 2 was shut down manually, with no impact to public health and safety. Unit 1 was not involved in the event and remains in operation at full power.
The NRC resident inspector for the site responded to the plant immediately after being notified. The site inspector and NRC Region III office are independently evaluating the company’s response to the situation and the plant’s assessment of what caused the rupture.
The two units at the D.C. Cook facility (Figure 1) have a combined capacity of 2,155 MW. Unit 1 began commercial operation in August 1975 and Unit 2 in July 1978.
Indiana Michigan Power said causal analysis and repair estimates are under development. AEP does not release return-to-service information for generation units, so no estimate was offered on how long the unit will be out of service for repairs.
Jul 8, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/business/federal-lawfuit-filed-...
Federal lawfuit filed against FPL over nuclear plant discharges
Saying Florida regulators have failed to protect the state’s waters, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Tropical Audubon Society have filed a federal lawsuit against Florida Power & Light Co. over alleged violations of the Clean Water Act related to contaminated water discharges from its Turkey Point Power Plant.
The plant near Homestead includes two nuclear reactors that are cooled by a canal system that is polluting the Biscayne Aquifer as well as the surface waters of Biscayne Bay, the lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Miami states. The aquifer supplies drinking water to more than 3 million South Floridians as far north as Boca Raton.
“We feel it is imperative that we pull the trigger on this Clean Water Act lawsuit as a vote of no confidence about what is happening in the state,” SACE executive director Stephen Smith said Wednesday.
Calling the 2-mile-by-5 mile unlined cooling canal system an “open industrial sewer like nothing else in the world,” Smith said the remedies proposed in a June 20 consent order signed by FPL and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection won’t solve the problem and could worsen the situation.
Smith referred to the order as a “deal” that reads as though it were written by FPL for FPL.
FPL has been working with local and state agencies, scientists and other experts to improve the long-term health of the canal system and the groundwater, FPL spokeswoman Alys Daly said.
“The fact is this is the same lawsuit that SACE announced in March. It’s just another publicity stunt from an anti-utility group with a long history of spreading false information and pursuing wasteful legal action,” Daly said in an email.
On average about 600,000 pounds of salt seep from the canals into the groundwater every day and the salty plume has migrated underground at least 4 miles west, Smith said. Nitrogen, phosphorus, ammonia and radioactive tritium are among the pollutants being discharged.
“It’s failing as we speak,” Smith said. “This is not the best technology available for cooling water. Every other utility in the world has cooling towers.”
Alan Farago, conservation chair for Friends of the Everglades, which plans to join the lawsuit, said, “Friends of the Everglades has viewed the Turkey Point failure with alarm for many years.”
Laura Reynolds, a former Tropical Audubon director who now works as a SACE consultant, said the consent order issued last month was a recycled version of an earlier Miami-Dade County consent order.
“Any time you have a cleanup scenario, you have to stop the source. They haven’t even proposed that,” Reynolds said. “We are stepping in the regulators’ shoes and saying, ‘We can do better. We want to enforce the laws and protect the people and the environment.’
Jul 14, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.hungarianambiance.com/2016/07/hungary-shuts-down-nuclear...
Hungary shuts down nuclear plant reactor due to equipment malfunction
Thursday, July 14, 2016
A general view of the turbine hall of reactor unit number four of the Paks nuclear power plant in Paks © Laszlo Balogh / Reuters
Hungary has shut down a reactor at the Paks nuclear plant due to a malfunction in control equipment, according to national news agency MTI.
Operations were shut down in the first block of the plant.
The malfunction does not pose any safety threats and the security system was not enacted, according to the National Nuclear Energy Office (HAEA).
Once the error is detected and corrected, operations will resume under the official supervision of the HAEA.
Anthony Smith, the nuclear plant's director of communications, said the reactor is expected to reconnect to the network as early as Friday at noon, MTI reported.
The remaining three units at the plant are continuing to operate as usual.
It comes just one week after a separate generator malfunction forced the plant to scale back its output.
The plant suffered a "serious incident" in 2003 due to the inadequate heating of fuel elements, causing a reactor to be out of service for a year.
Located 5km (3.1 miles) from the city of Paks, central Hungary, and 100km (62 miles) from Budapest, the plant is the nation's only operating nuclear power station. Its four reactors produce more than 50 percent of the electrical power generated in the country.
Built in 1982, the plant was developed by Soviet designers.
and another:
http://www.4-traders.com/DUKE-ENERGY-CORP-11076385/news/Duke-Energy...
Duke Energy : Alert Issued at Brunswick Nuclear Plant; No Threat to Public
All units at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant are now fully functional after an alert was issued Tuesday night.
Officials declared the alert after a pump motor was damaged at theSouthport plant.
The cause of the damage has not been released but power was reduced to 70 percent because of the damage.
Officials say there was no impact to the health of the public or employees at the plant.
Duke Energy said the facility was the first nuclear power plant built inNorth Carolina. It began operation in 1975.
Jul 15, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
https://agrdailynews.com/2016/07/21/serious-nuclear-accident-with-l...
Serious Nuclear Accident with leakage of nuclear fuel was recorded at Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant NPP
July 21, 2016
MP Andriy Artemenko (Radical Party) has said that on July 16 a serious accident with leakage of nuclear fuel was recorded at Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant (NPP
Source: RSOE – Emergency and Disaster Information Service
Lots of denials, nothing happened.http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/358976.html
Jul 22, 2016
M. Difato
S. Korea shuts Wolsong No.1 nuclear reactor; five plants offline Fri Jul 22, 2016 http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL4N1A81ZO
SEOUL, July 22 (Reuters) - South Korea's Wolsong No.1 nuclear power reactor shut down on Friday after its safety system detected a technical problem, the country's nuclear reactor operator said.
That puts the number of South Korean reactors offline at five out of a total of 25, including the Shin Kori No.3 reactor, which is in a test run, a spokeswoman at the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd (KHNP) said.
"We are looking into the exact cause of the shutdown," the spokeswoman said, adding it was not clear when the 679-megawatt Wolsong No.1 reactor would be restarted.
An official at power market operator Korea Power Exchange said the shutdown of the Wolsong No.1 reactor would not have an impact on the country's power supply. Nuclear power provides about a third of the South Korea's electricity.
The KHNP spokeswoman said there has been no radiation leak at Wolsong and the reactor's power generating station is in a stable condition. The Wolsong reactor is located in the city of Gyeongju, over 300 km (186 miles), southeast of the capital, Seoul.
Last week, South Korea's energy ministry said its power supply would be enough to meet peak summer demand thanks to an addition of new power plants.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, owned by state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO), operates the nuclear reactors in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Jul 22, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2016/08/24/possible-fire-at-v...
Possible Fire at Vogtle Nuclear Power Station on the Savannah River in Georgia, USA (23 Aug. 2016)
24WednesdayAug 2016
Posted by miningawareness in Uncategorized
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dangers of nuclear,environment, fire, fire at nuclear power station,Georgia, NRC, nuclear,nuclear accident,nuclear disaster,nuclear industry,nuclear power, nuclear power plant, nuclear reactors, nuclear safety,radioactive waste, risk management, Savannah River, South Carolina,US, US NRC, USA, Vogtle nuclear Power Station
Possible fire at Vogtle Nuclear Power Station, which is located in Georgia, on the Savannah River, just across from South Carolina.
Latitude: 33.14 Longitude: -81.764
Detection Date: 23 Aug 2016 Detection Time: 16:30 UTC
Confidence: 36 Sensor: Terra MODIS Source: GSFC
Orange box-spot fire data exported from USDA Forest Service:http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/index.php
Vogtle Location exported from:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogtle_Electric_Generating_Plant
Though a fire at Vogtle Nuclear Power Station remains unconfirmed, and fire locations may not be exact, it looks logical. One might speculate a spent nuclear fuel fire? Will we ever know? It is not listed yet as a US NRC “event”.
Forest Service: http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/index.php
NASA issues disclaimer: https://earthdata.nasa.gov/earth-observation-data/near-real-time/fi...
and another in Florida
http://wfla.com/2016/08/23/video-fire-leaves-florida-customers-with...
Fire temporarily leaves Florida customers without power
MIAMI SPRINGS, Fla. (WFLA) – A fire temporarily left about 10,000 South Florida customers without power Tuesday. A Florida Power and Light Company spokesperson confirmed a fire occurred at a Miami Springs substation.
“We have crews on scene working to restore service safely and as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said.
Power was restored Tuesday evening.
Witnesses told NBC Miami they heard two explosions. Justin Sabljak told NBC Miami the explosions were loud and occurred back-to-back. He then lost power.
Aug 24, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://newschannel9.com/news/local/significant-fire-reported-at-wat...
Significant fire reported at Watts Bar nuclear plant
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Multiple crews responded to a fire at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant.
VA public relations manager Jim Hopson tells Newschannel 9 the fire started around 9:30 Tuesday night in the switchyard.
Hopson says it appears a transformer failed, however they are still investigating the exact cause.
No injuries were reported and Hopson says there is no danger to the public
We have a crew en route to the scene.
Aug 31, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.nj.com/salem/index.ssf/2016/09/pump_woes_cause_shutdown_...
Pump woes cause shutdown of 1 N.J. nuclear reactor, power cut at another
LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK TWP. — Pump problems have caused the shutdown of one of PSEG Nuclear's reactors and a cut in electrical production at another, an official says.
Both of the reactors are located at PSEG Nuclear's generating complex on Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek Township.
Salem 2 automatically shut down Wednesday at 3:13 p.m. after one of the reactor coolant pumps tripped offline according to Joe Delmar, spokesman for PSEG Nuclear.
The reactor has four of the pumps which circulate water to cool the nuclear reactor. All four must be in service for the reactor to run.
Officials from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the operations of the nation's nuclear reactors, are monitoring the situation according to NRC Spokesman Neil Sheehan.
He said it appears that the pump shutdown may have been caused by water leaking onto the pump's electrical system from a cooling unit inside the reactor containment building.
The Salem 2 reactor is already under heightened NRC scrutiny because of a number of unplanned shutdowns in the past year.
Meanwhile, the neighboring Salem 1 reactor was operating at around 47 percent power Thursday because of an issue with one of the feed pumps on the unit's steam generator.
The unit has two feed pumps which pump water from the condenser back to the steam generator. The plant can continue to operate with just one of those pumps in service.
Delmar said technicians were working to determine the cause of the problem and fix it.
He said there was no estimate when Salem 1 could be ramped back up to full power.
A third reactor operated by PSEG Nuclear at Artificial Island, Hope Creek, remains at full power Thursday, Delmar said.
Sep 2, 2016
M. Difato
4 South Korea nuclear reactors suspended due to earthquakes
September 13, 2016, http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201609130014.html
SEOUL--South Korea's nuclear operator said early on Tuesday it suspended operation of four reactors at a nuclear power complex as a precaution late on Monday after two earthquakes struck the country's southeast.
The earthquakes, of magnitude 5.1 and 5.8, occurred on Monday night near the city of Gyeongju, according to South Korea's meteorological agency.
The 5.8 magnitude earthquake was the strongest recorded in South Korea, an official at the meteorological agency said.
Two injuries had been reported as a result of the quake, but no serious damage had been immediately reported, the agency said.
State-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. shut down the Wolsong No. 1, Wolsong No. 2, Wolsong No. 3 and Wolsong No. 4 reactors, with a combined capacity of 2,779 megawatts, an official with the operator said.
It was not immediately clear when the four reactors would restart.
The shutdown of the four takes the number of reactors offline in the country to seven, according to KHNP website.
KHNP, owned by state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), operates 25 nuclear reactors in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Sep 14, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/radioactive-leak-nor...
Radioactive leak reported at Norwegian nuclear reactor
Authorites investigate why the facility did not report the incident until the next day
A radioactive leak has occurred at a nuclear reactor in Norway, authorities have said.
The reactor at the Institute for Energy Technology in Halden, southern Norway, spilled radioactive iodine isotopes on Monday, according to the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NPRA).
"The radioactive leak was due to a technical failure during treatment of the fuel in the reactor hall. Emissions are low,” the NRPA said.
Staff at the facility were evacuated immediately after the incident but the NPRA was not informed until the following day.
The leak has now been contained and is not thought to pose a health risk to anyone outside the facility. Staff working on the reactor did not receive “any radioactive doses of significance”, the Institute said.
The Halden Reactor, which was built in a mountain cave in the 1950s, was closed for maintenance at the time of the accident.
"We will investigate how this could happen and why we were not warned until the following day," the NPRA said in a statement.
Its head of safety, Per Strand, added: "We need to gather more information ... But we are not happy with the situation, that we were not warned immediately. We will investigate further”.
Oct 26, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.wtvy.com/content/news/Alert-declared-at-Farley-Nuclear-P...
Alert declared at Farley Nuclear Plant
DOTHAN, AL (WTVY) An alert was issued late Tuesday at the Farley Nuclear Plant.
A company press release said an ammonia leak was detected in an area of the Unit One reactor.
The alert is the second least serious and Alabama Power spokesperson Linda Brannon said there is no threat to the public.
Farley spokesperson Inice Tarrant said employees were removed from the affected area and none were injured.
She also confirmed the Dothan Fire Department has dispatched ammonia monitoring to the plant.
Unit One, where the ammonia was detected, is now non-operational during previously scheduled re-fueling.
Unit Two continues to operate normally.
A special response center in Dothan was activated as a matter of regulatory procedure.
While some responders are on standby they will only be dispatched if needed and Brannon says there is no need for them at this time.
Again -- Farley stresses there is no danger to the public.
Nov 2, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.aikenstandard.com/news/wipp-collapse-initiates-mine-evac...
WIPP collapse initiates mine evacuation
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, has suffered another collapse - this time outside of the closed southern section, prompting an evacuation of workers in the underground facility in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
The fourth collapse this year is the first since early October. According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Energy, workers in the facility heard a loud noise and observed salt dust.
When the indications of the fall were reported, a mandatory evacuation was ordered for the entire facility.
WIPP is an underground facility that serves as a repository for transuranic, or TRU, waste. The site accepts waste from nuclear facilities around the U.S., including Los Alomos National Lab in New Mexico, Hanford site in Washington and Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
The facility has been closed for operations since 2014 after a nuclear materials release and a salt truck fire caused safety concerns. The site is scheduled to reopen by the end of 2016 and begin accepting waste shipments after July 31, 2017. While the cave-ins have prompted concerns about those dates, DOE officials said they are committed to opening the facility safely and on time.
The workers who alerted to the collapse were in an area identified by the press release as “Panel 7.” According to a facility map provided by DOE in a previous release, Panel 7 is outside of the closed-off southern section of the underground plant.
That section contained both the previous nuclear material release and the three other collapses. According to officials and previous DOE releases, those events prompted the closure of the far southern section.
Officials then said the closure would not impact storage volume for future shipments but have not made it clear whether the Panel 7 collapse will impact the waste disposal volume of the facility.
Potential impacts of WIPP issues include programs at Savannah River Site. Aside from other TRU waste, which primarily consists of gloves, rags and other contaminated materials involved in operations, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions plans to send downblended plutonium to WIPP from
K-Area.
The capability of K-Area to downblend, or dilute and dispose of, the plutonium is an element in the DOE decision to move away from the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, or MOX.
Nov 5, 2016
M. Difato
FUKUSHIMA REACTOR COOLING SYSTEM STOPS FOLLOWING QUAKE & TSUNAMI
http://thewashingtonstandard.com/fukushima-cooling-system-fails-tsu...
One of the worst case scenarios is happening again.
According to reports, Fukushima is being struck again by a tsunami after a large 7.4 earthquake – just updated from reports of a 7.3 earthquake – struck off the main island directly in front of the Fukushima Prefecture where the beleaguered TEPCO nuclear plant is situated.
via CNN:
A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR JAPAN’S FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE AFTER A 7.3-MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE STRUCK OFF HONSHU AT 5:59 A.M. TUESDAY (3:59 P.M. MONDAY ET), ACCORDING TO THE JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY.A TSUNAMI WAVE OF 1-3 METERS (3-10 FEET) IS POSSIBLE, ACCORDING TO THE AGENCY.
Numerous aftershocks, somewhere in the range of 5.0 to 5.4 are being widely reported as well.
According to RT, that tsunami has advanced and has now affected the cooling system at Fukushima. Seriously – this is reportedly happening!
Nov 22, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3986750/Former-nuclear-site...
Former nuclear site in Washington state is 'causing workers to develop terminal illnesses' - and it won't be cleaned up for another 50 more years
PUBLISHED: 12:35 EST, 30 November 2016 | UPDATED: 13:28 EST, 30 November 2016
A former nuclear site in Washington state is poisoning workers and threatening the health of those who live around it, according to a new investigation.
Some experts have called the former Hanford nuclear plant 'the most toxic place in America' and 'an underground Chernobyl waiting to happen'.
The site, located in a rural area along the Columbia River, was commissioned by the Manhattan Project to produce plutonium for the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.
It remained an active nuclear site until the end of the Cold War, when it was decommissioned and the Department of Energy subcontracted Washington River Protection Solutions to start the clean-up.
But current and former workers at the site have told NBC that the underground containers holding the site's nuclear waste are leaking, and that they have been exposed to the toxic fumes because the company has not given them the right safety equipment.
A former nuclear site in Washington state has been labeled 'the most toxic place in America'
Their health issues include dementia, nerve damage, memory loss and respiratory problems.
Watchdog group Hanford Challenge says that at least three workers' deaths have been linked to exposure at the site, but officials with Washington River Protection Solutions have refused to admit they are putting their workers in danger. Those workers are Gary Sall, Deb Fish and Dan Golden.
But several studies show that's not the case and just this year, 61 workers have allegedly been exposed to toxic materials.
For their story, NBC spoke to DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Whitney, who said that all workers who have been evaluated for possible exposure have been cleared to return to work.
As for the workers who claimed that they have become seriously or terminally ill because of their work at the site, Whitney says they believe these illness were not caused by the job.
'I wish we had a more complete understanding of those circumstances,' Whitney said. 'A lot of effort the last couple years has gone into strengthening our efforts to deal with the potential vapor exposure issue.'
NBC pushed Whitney on one specific case, involving a worker named Diana Gegg who says she now has dementia because of exposure on the job.
When confronted with Gegg's medical assessment, showing doctors believe her possibly terminal illness is a direct result of her exposure at Hanford, Whitney refused to comment.
'I'm not a medical professional and can't provide a qualified medical opinion,' he said.
The state Attorney General Bob Ferguson is taking action against the situation at Hanford, by suing the federal government for their 'unforgivable' lack of action in protecting workers.
'They've known for decades. It's been going on year after year, report after report,' Ferguson said.
He added: 'And to be candid, they have to live with themselves on that. I ask the question all the time, 'How many more workers have to get sick at Hanford before they do something about it? How many?' Please ask them. I really want to know.'
The DOE issued a statement saying their primary concern is worker's safety.
And there is hope since $50million was invested this year in improving air monitoring at the site. The government contractor has also reached an agreement with its workers' union to provide air tanks to all workers, something experts say could lessen the chance of exposure.
Dec 1, 2016
Stanislav
Fukushima radiation has reached U.S. shores
9 December, 2016. For the first time, seaborne radiation from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster has been detected on the West Coast of the United States. Cesium-134, the so-called fingerprint of Fukushima, was measured in seawater samples taken from Tillamook Bay and Gold Beach in Oregon, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are reporting.
Because of its short half-life, cesium-134 can only have come from Fukushima. Also for the first time, cesium-134 has been detected in a Canadian salmon, the Fukushima InFORM project, led by University of Victoria chemical oceanographer Jay Cullen, is reporting. In both cases, levels are extremely low, the researchers said, and don’t pose a danger to humans or the environment.
Massive amounts of contaminated water were released from the crippled nuclear plant following a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. More radiation was released to the air, then fell to the sea.
Woods Hole chemical oceanographer Ken Buesseler runs a crowd-funded, citizen science seawater sampling project that has tracked the radiation plume as it slowly makes its way across the Pacific Ocean.
The Oregon samples, marking the first time cesium-134 has been detected on U.S. shores, were taken in January and February of 2016 and later analyzed. They each measured 0.3 becquerels per cubic meter of cesium-134.
Buesseler’s team previously had found the isotope in a sample of seawater taken from a dock on Vancouver Island, B.C., marking its landfall in North America.
Meanwhile, in Canada, Cullen leads the InFORM project to assess radiological risks to that country’s oceans following the nuclear disaster. It is a partnership of a dozen academic, government and non-profit organizations, including Woods Hole.
Last month, the group reported that a single sockeye salmon, sampled from Okanagan Lake in the summer of 2015, had tested positive for cesium-134.
The level was more than 1,000 times lower than the action level set by Health Canada, and is no significant risk to consumers, Cullen said. Buesseler’s most recent samples off the West Coast also are showing higher-than background levels of cesium-137, another Fukushima isotope that already is present in the world's oceans because of nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s.
Those results will become more important in tracking the radiation plume, Buesseler said, because the short half-life of cesium-134 makes it harder to detect as time goes on. Cesium-134 has a half-life of two years, meaning it’s down to a fraction of what it was five years ago, he said. Cesium-137 has a 30-year half-life.
A recent InFORM analysis of Buesseler’s data concluded that concentrations of cesium-137 have increased considerably in the central northeast Pacific, although they still are at levels that pose no concern.
“It appears that the plume has spread throughout this vast area from Alaska to California,” the scientists wrote.
They estimated that the plume is moving toward the coast at roughly twice the speed of a garden snail. Radiation levels have not yet peaked. “As the contamination plume progresses towards our coast we expect levels closer to shore to increase over the coming year,” Cullen said. Even that peak won’t be a health concern, Buesseler said. But the models will help scientists model ocean currents in the future. That could prove important if there is another disaster or accident at the Fukushima plant, which houses more than a thousand huge steel tanks of contaminated water and where hundreds of tons of molten fuel remain inside the reactors.
In a worst-case scenario, the fuel would melt through steel-reinforced concrete containment vessels into the ground, uncontrollably spreading radiation into the surrounding soil and groundwater and eventually into the sea.
“That’s the type of thing where people are still concerned, as am I, about what could happen,” Buesseler said.
Scientists now know it would take four to five years for any further contamination from the plant to reach the West Coast.
Tracking the plume
Scientists are beginning to use an increase in cesium-137 instead of the presence of cesium-134 to track the plume of radioactive contamination from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster. These figures show the increase in cesium-137 near the West Coast between 2014 and 2015. Source: statesmanjournal.com
Dec 9, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.wtae.com/article/crews-battle-atomic-plant-fire/8490239
Fire breaks out at Bettis Atomic lab in West Mifflin
Officials say fire posed no danger to the public
A small fire at an atomic power laboratory near Pittsburgh has been extinguished without incident or injury by the building's sprinkler system.
Officials at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory say there was no threat to the public from Sunday night's fire in West Mifflin.
The government-owned facility is operated for the Department of Energy and the U.S. Navy by Bechtel Bettis, Inc.
The technology developed there is used to power U.S. nuclear-powered warships.
The cause of the fire was still being investigated Monday. It occurred in an area that contains low-level radioactive material, none of which was released as a result of the fire.
Dec 12, 2016
Starr DiGiacomo
http://defconwarningsystem.com/2017/02/08/japanese-nuclear-plant-ju...
Japanese nuclear plant just recorded an astronomical radiation level. Should we be worried?
Japanese nuclear plant just recorded an astronomical radiation level. Should we be worried?
NUCLEAR February 8, 2017The utility company that operated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan — the one that went into triple meltdown after the enormous 2011 earthquake and tsunami — has released some jaw-dropping figures.
The radiation level in the containment vessel of reactor 2 has reached as high as 530 sieverts per hour, Tokyo Electric Power Co. — or Tepco, as it’s known — said last week. This far exceeds the previous high of 73 sieverts per hour recorded at the reactor following the March 2011 disaster.
That was the world’s worst nuclear disaster since the one at Chernobyl, in Ukraine, in 1986. Almost 16,000 people were killed along Japan’s northeastern coast in the tsunami, and 160,000 more lost their homes and livelihoods. The cleanup is taking much longer than expected.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/08/japane...
TOKYO — The utility company that operated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan — the one that went into triple meltdown after the enormous 2011 earthquake and tsunami — has released some jaw-dropping figures.
The radiation level in the containment vessel of reactor 2 has reached as high as 530 sieverts per hour, Tokyo Electric Power Co. — or Tepco, as it’s known — said last week. This far exceeds the previous high of 73 sieverts per hour recorded at the reactor following the March 2011 disaster.
That was the world’s worst nuclear disaster since the one at Chernobyl, in Ukraine, in 1986. Almost 16,000 people were killed along Japan’s northeastern coast in the tsunami, and 160,000 more lost their homes and livelihoods. The cleanup is taking much longer than expected.
At this level of radioactivity, a person could die from the briefest of exposures.
Tepco recorded the radiation near the reactor core, suggesting that some melted fuel had escaped, using a long, remote-controlled camera and radiation measurement device. It was the first time this kind of device has been able to get into this part of the reactor. There it found a three-foot-wide hole in a metal grate in the reactor’s primary containment vessel.
So, how dangerous is this?
At this level of radiation, a robot would be able to operate for less than two hours before it was destroyed, Tepco said.
And Japan’s National Institute of Radiological Sciences said medical professionals had never even thought about encountering this level of radiation in their work.
According to the Kyodo news agency, the institute estimates that exposure to one sievert of radiation could lead to infertility, loss of hair and cataracts, while four sieverts would kill half the people exposed to it.
This measuring device hasn’t even gone into reactors 1 and 3 yet — that’s still in the works.
Robot explores damaged nuclear plant reactor in Japan
So should the people who live in Japan, who live on the Pacific basin be freaking out?
Not yet, some analysts say.
Although the radiation level is “astoundingly high,” says Azby Brown of Safecast, a citizen science organization that monitors radiation levels, it doesn’t necessarily signify any alarming change in radiation levels at Fukushima. It’s simply the first time they have been measured that far inside the reactor.
Here’s what Brown wrote on Safecast’s website:
Hiroshi Miyano, a nuclear expert and visiting professor at Hosei University, also warned against overreacting. He said the radiation reading might not be particularly reliable since it was only an estimation based on the image analysis. (Tepco said there was a margin of error of 30 percent.)
“It’s not something new to worry about,” he said, although he added that it underscored how difficult the next steps would be.
But some think there is cause for concern.
Fumiya Tanabe, a nuclear safety expert and former chief research scientist at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, said while experts expected the radiation reading inside the Daiichi reactors to be high, it was still “shocking” to learn how high it was six years on.
“It will be very difficult to operate robots in there for a long time to come, and to remove the melted fuel. So the finding might greatly affect the decommissioning time schedule,” he said.
Tepco had been hoping to start taking the fuel out in 2021.
Could the radiation level be even higher?
Possibly. The 530 sievert reading was recorded some distance from the melted fuel, so in reality it could be 10 times higher than recorded, said Hideyuki Ban, co-director of Citizens' Nuclear Information Center.
He agreed with Tanabe, saying that the findings underscore how difficult the decommissioning process will be.
“It definitely shows the path towards decommissioning will be very difficult, and the time frame to start taking out the fuel in 2021 will most likely be delayed as more investigations will be necessary,” Ban said.
Still, he cautioned against overreacting, saying, like Brown, that Tepco had simply not been able to measure this close to the fuel before.
So what does this news portend?
Tanabe said that the level of the reading should give pause to proponents of nuclear power in Japan, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has been pushing to restart reactors shut down after the 2011 disaster.
“It’s unbelievable that anyone would want to restart nuclear plants when Japan hasn't learned how and why the Fukushima Daiichi accident happened, or learned lessons from it,” he said.
Indeed, Ai Kashiwagi, an energy campaigner at Greenpeace Japan, said the findings showed how little the government and Tepco knew about what was happening inside the reaction.
“The prime minister said everything was under control and has been pushing to restart nuclear plants, but no one knew the actual state of the plant and more serious facts could come out in the future,” she said. “It’s important to keep an eye on radiation-monitoring data and how Tepco's investigations go.”
Feb 8, 2017
M. Difato
Fire causes blast at nuclear plant in Normandy (Feb 9)
A fire led to a blast in the machine room of a nuclear power plant on France's north-west coast but there was no radiation leak or casualties, operator EDF has said.
A fire led to a blast in the machine room of a nuclear power plant on France's north-west coast but there was no radiation leak or casualties, operator EDF has said.
Staff at the Flamanville plant in Normandy immediately brought the fire under control, EDF said.
The cause of the fire, in the number one reactor building, was not immediately clear.
The machine room housing turbines that produce electricity is a non-nuclear area of the plant.
There was no radiation leak as a result of the fire or blast, EDF said.
The firm said the plant's number one reactor was subsequently disconnected from the grid - normal operating procedure in such circumstances.
Flamanville has two 1,300 megawatt reactors, the first in operation since 1985, and the second since 1986.
Source: AP, http://home.bt.com/news/world-news/fire-causes-blast-at-nuclear-pla...
Feb 9, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
Three explosions in 10 days
https://agrdailynews.com/2017/02/10/massive-blast-rips-through-nucl...
“Massive blast” rips through nuclear plant — “Smoke billowed from building as explosion led to massive fire” — Expert: Incident “very serious” — “Number of people have been left feeling unwell” (VIDEOS)
February 10, 2017
via “Massive blast” rips through nuclear plant — “Smoke billowed from b...
Feb 11, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/03/02/sulfuric-...
Sulfuric acid found leaking from Michigan nuclear plant
BRIDGMAN, Mich. — More than 1,000 gallons of sulfuric acid has leaked into a containment area outside a nuclear plant in southwestern Michigan.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports on its website today that cleanup is ongoing at the Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman, southwest of Grand Rapids.
The agency says none of the acid was released into the environment or nearby drains. The leak was discovered Wednesday.Related:
Nuke plant reports 2-month oil leak into Lake Michigan
Plant spokesman Bill Schalk says a faulty gasket may be the cause and that a flange on a sulfuric acid tank’s discharge valve was found leaking during a routine inspection.
The tank was holding 3,800 gallons of acid before the leak. The containment area is called a berm and has a reinforced concrete floor and concrete walls.
Mar 3, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
https://nuclear-news.net/2017/03/05/the-secret-meltdown-in-norway-i...
The secret meltdown in Norway is stepping in Fukushima footsteps! Iodine 131 in Europe again! #IAEA #UNSCEAR
Just a quick forward to this article from Bellona.org. Bellona is a Norwegian based NGO specialists in nuclear waste cleanup and safety. Both Nils Bohmer and Charles William Digges were in Tokyo within the first days of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown and offered their services and high specification radiation detection equipment to the Japanese government to measure the all important first days releases from the nuclear disaster of 2011.
These early measurements would have been crucial and also a requirement of the IAEA`s safety protocols (post Chernobyl) to ascertain the likely heath impacts to the surrounding areas to the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown disaster. The Japanese government refused their kind offer and it was another 2 years before Nils and Charles could get to the Fukushima disaster site.
This lack of nuclear safety culture and cover up was mentioned in the official IAEA Fukushima accident report and it seems also ignored by the Halden management.
So, this couldnt happen again could it? Well it has no only happened again but there was no media reporting of the October 2016 meltdown (ongoing) that is producing iodine 131 and hydrogen to either the Norwegian public nor Bellona (that is based in Oslo Norway just north of the Halden Thorium Research reactor) until Bellona were contacted by myself (Shaun McGee arclight2011 the blogger) only a week ago asking for clarification of the safety of the melted fuel rods and radiation emission status.
Nils has seen fit to make a report on the few facts he could glean. No early radiation measurements to this disaster have been released except that EURDEP has some gaps in its radiation data from the Halden and Oslo radiation monitors even from as late as February 2017 (Screenshots from EURDEP radiation mapping EU below);
And Sweden ;
Here is a statement from Nils Bohmer from Bellona on this nuclear situation and some of the history and facts he has been able to get an update on;
Norway’s Halden Reactor: A poor safety culture and a history of near misses
before the meltdown. (Photo: Wikipedia)
Are those who operate Norway’s only nuclear research reactor taking its safety seriously? A new report raises concerns.
October 25th brought reports that there was a release of radioactive iodine from the Halden Reactor. The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority subsequently withdrew the reactor’s operating license from the Institute for Energy Technology. The NRPA has pointed out several issues the institute must resolve before the reactor goes back online.
It’s not the first time the NRPA has had to issue an order to the IFE. The NRPA had been supervising the IFE since 2014 over its lack of safety culture. The incident in October shows this frame of mind persists.
Reactor cooling blocked
So what happened in October? The iodine emission began when the IFE should have dealt with damaged fuel in the reactor hall. This led to a release of radioactive substances via the ventilation system. The release began on Monday, October 24 at 1:45 pm, but was first reported to the NRPA the next morning.
The next day, the NRPA conducted an unannounced inspection of the IFE. The situation was still unresolved and radioactive released were still ongoing from the reactor hall. The ventilation system was then shut off to limit further releases into the environment.
This, in turn, created more serious problems. When the ventilation system was closed down, the air coming from the process should also have been turned off. Pressurize air kept the valves in the reactor’s cooling system open, which in turn stopped the circulation of cooling water.
‘A very special condition’
In the following days, the NRPA continued to monitor the reactor’s safety, and many repeated questions about the closure of the primary cooling circuit. The IFE initially reported that the situation at the reactor was not “abnormal.” By November 1, the NRPA requested written documentation from the responsible operating and safety managers. A few hours later, the NRPA received notice from the IFE that the reactor was in “a very special condition.”
What that meant was that the IFE had discovered temperature fluctuations in the reactor vessel indicating an increased neutron flux in the core, and with that the danger of hydrogen formation. Bellona would like to note that it was hydrogen formation in the reactor core that led to a series of explosions at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011.
The IFE therefore had to ask the NRPA for permission to open the valves again, even if that meant releasing radiation to the public. The release that followed was, according to the NRPA, within the emission limit values specified in the operating permit.
In Summary
The IFE has been under special supervision by the NRPA, but it doesn’t seem to Bellona that the IFE has taken the requirement for increased reporting nearly seriously enough. It seems they further didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation that arose in October. The IFE either neglected procedures it’s obligated to follow, made insufficient measurements, or failed to report the results satisfactorily.
Bellona is concerned that the reactor core may become unstable by just closing the vents. Hydrogen formation in the reactor core is very serious, as Fukushima showed. The IFE has previously stopped circulation in the primary cooling circuit for, among other things, maintenance while the reactor has been shut down.
Those who live around Halden had previously been satisfied with guarantees that the ravine in which the reactor could hermetically seal it off. As the incident in October shows, this guarantee no longer applies.
Nils Bøhmer is Bellona’s general director.
http://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2017-03-norways-halden-react...
Mar 6, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
http://thedailycoin.org/2017/03/23/tv-explosion-hits-us-nuclear-plant/
TV: Explosion hits US nuclear plant
by ENE News · March 23, 2017
TV: Explosion hits US nuclear plant — Officials declare emergency alert — “Fire shuts down reactor” — Gov’t conducting special investigation, possible “serious safety consequences” — “Atmospheric steam dumps” required
WSVN, Mar 22, 2017 (emphasis added): Officials looking into explosion at Turkey Point that hurt 1… an alert was issued following the “arc flash” explosion… A plant worker was hurt in the explosion and treated at a local hospital…
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mar 20, 2017: Facility: TURKEY POINT… Emergency Class: ALERT… EMERGENCY DECLARED… ALERT DECLARED FOR INDICATIONS OF FIRE IN SAFETY RELATED SWITCHGEAR… “Alert declared at 1119 EDT 3/18/17 based on… Fire or Explosion affecting plant safety systems. Fire alarms in the Unit 3 4kV switchgear rooms resulting in a loss of the 3A 4kV bus and trip of all three Reactor Coolant Pumps… Decay heat is being removed using feedwater and steam generator atmospheric steam dumps. One person was injured with a minor burn and possible sprained ankle and was taken to a local hospital… Notified DHS SWO, DOE, FEMA, HHS, NICC, USDA, EPA, FDA (e-mail), NWC (e-mail), NNSA (e-mail), and NRCC SASC (e-mail)… [UPDATE] Emergency Plan personnel at the Technical Support Center and Emergency Operations Facility were no longer required for support, the Operations Support Center was staffed for recovery efforts, and plant personnel were sufficient and capable for continuing mitigation efforts.
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mar 22, 2017: NRC To Conduct Special Inspection at Turkey Point Nuclear Plant… [A]n arc flash, or small explosion, also damaged a nearby fire door, which may have left other safety systems vulnerable had there been a fire. A plant worker who was in the room was injured and was treated at a local hospital. “This was an event that could have had serious safety consequences and we need to know more about what happened and why,” said NRC Region II Administrator Cathy Haney…
The Citizen (Florida Keys), Mar 22, 2017: Turkey Point fire shuts down reactor…
ABC 10 News, Mar 18, 2017: Firefighters respond to electrical fire at Turkey Point — Firefighters responded to reports of a fire inside the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station… according to the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. Florida Power & Light reported there was an electrical fire… The incident didn’t… pose an immediate danger to the facility
Mar 24, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
https://tlarremore.wordpress.com/2017/04/21/nuclear-event-emergency...
Nuclear Event – Emergency Declared (High Hydrazine Level in Containment Atmosphere): Salem Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 2, New Jersey
North America – USA | State of New Jersey, Lower Alloways Creek Township, Salem Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 2
Location: 39°27’46.0″N 75°32’08.0″W
Present Operational Age: ~32 years
Event: UNUSUAL EVENT – HYDRAZINE IN CONTAINMENT
Emergency Class: UNUSUAL EVENT
10 CFR Section: 50.72(a) (1) (i) – EMERGENCY DECLARED
Nuclear Event in USA on Thursday, 20 April, 2017 at 21:10 [EDT].
UNUSUAL EVENT DECLARED DUE TO HYDRAZINE IN CONTAINMENT
Source: NRC Event Number: 52699Apr 22, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/washington-nuclear...
Hanford nuclear emergency: Workers take cover at 'most toxic place in America' after tunnel collapse
The site was previously described by nuclear experts as 'an underground Chernobyl waiting to happen'
Hundreds of workers have been forced to "take cover" after a tunnel in a nuclear finishing plant collapsed in Washington state.
Following the incident Tuesday morning, which a spokesperson told the Independent is still being investigated, a manager sent a message to workers telling them to “secure ventilation in your building” and to “refrain from eating or drinking.” The US Department of Energy activated its Emergency Operations Center Tuesday following the collapse. Some workers were reportedly told to evacuate while others were told to shelter-in-place as officials investigated the severity of the situation.
"The Department of Energy informed us this morning that a tunnel was breached that was used to bury radioactive waste from the production of plutonium at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation," Governor Jay Inslee said in a statement. He said that the White House had reached out to his office as well.
Hanford nuclear site emergency: All you need to know
"This is a serious situation, and ensuring the safety of the workers and the community is the top priority," Mr Inslee said. "Our understanding is that the site went into immediate lock down, in which workers were told to seek shelter, and all access to the area has been closed."
A spokesperson for the Hanford site said during a live broadcast that the tunnel collapse was discovered by workers on patrol in the area.
"Crews noticed that a portion of that tunnel had fallen," Destry Henderson, the spokesperson, said, emphasizing that researchers had not found spilled or leaked radioactive materials. "The roof had caved in about a 20 foot section of that tunnel."
The tunnel reportedly contained highly contaminated materials including nuclear waste trains that are used to transport radioactive fuel rods. A spokesperson said that there was no evidence to suggest that radioactive materials had been released and that all of the workers in the area were accounted for. An official tally of those with orders to shelter-in-place was not immediately available, a spokesperson said but there were no reported injuries.
“The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Richland Operations Office activated the Hanford Emergency Operations Center at 8:26 a.m,” the Department of Energy said in an earlier statement. “There are concerns about subsidence in the soil covering railroad tunnels near a former chemical processing facility. The tunnels contain contaminated materials.”
The nuclear site, located in the city of Hanford, is a former plutonium production site that was used to help develop the American nuclear arsenal 70 years ago. More recently, however, a private contractor hired by the Department of Energy is working on a $110 billion project to clean up 56 million gallons of chemical and nuclear waste stored in as many as 177 underground tanks there.
Before the Tuesday collapse, those tanks were reportedly leaking toxic and radioactive vapours and chemicals that have been linked to cancer, brain damage, and lung damage. There were at least 61 workers exposed to those deadly vapours last year. Experts have called the location "the most toxic place in America" and "an underground Chernobyl waiting to happen."
Cleaning up the Hanford nuclear site has been a priority for the Energy Department for years. The site hasn't produced plutonium since 1980 and a cleanup program was started there in 1989.
Hanford is a small agricultural community in south-central Washington about 200 miles from Seattle.
May 9, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
Another incident at Hanford Nuclear in less than two weeks
http://www.king5.com/news/local/hanford/radioactive-contamination-f...
Another Hanford emergency: Signs of another leaking tank
8:49 PM. PDT May 19, 2017
For the second time in less than two weeks, there's been a major incident at the Hanford nuclear site.
Hanford’s owner, The U.S. Department of Energy, is scrambling to deal with the second emergency at the nuclear site in 10 days’ time.
Signs have emerged that a massive underground double shell nuclear waste holding tank may be leaking.
The tank is known as AZ 101 and was put into service in 1976. The tank’s life was expected to be 20 years. Now it has been holding hot, boiling radioactive and chemically contaminated waste for 41 years.
https://twitter.com/SFrameK5/status/865654277724708864/photo/1?ref_...
A seven-person crew was undertaking a routine job around 7 p.m. Thursday night. They had deployed a remote controlled devise into the safety space of what is known as a double shell tank. The device is used to evaluate structural integrity of the aging tanks. Normally, equipment lowered in this two-foot wide outer shell of the tank comes up clean. But not this time. A radiation specialist on the crew detected higher than expected readings.
“Radiological monitoring showed contamination on the unit that was three times the planned limit. Workers immediately stopped working and exited the area according to procedure,” said Rob Roxburgh, deputy manager of WRPS Communications & Public Relations, the government contractor in charge of all 177 underground storage tanks at the nuclear site.
Detection equipment was then used to check for contamination that might have become airborne and adhered to the workers. They found radioactive material on one worker in three spots: on one shoe, on his shirt, and on his pants in the knee area. According to workers in the field, the contaminated items were removed, bagged and appropriately disposed of.
“Everybody was freaked, shocked, surprised,” said a veteran worker, who is in direct contact with crew members. “(The contamination) was not expected. They’re not supposed to find contamination in the annulus (safety perimeter) of the double shell tanks.”
Of Hanford’s 177 underground tanks, 28 of them are double-shells. They were built to withstand the test of time – a more robust model that was supposed to hold the worst nuclear waste on the reservation until a permanent solution for disposal is developed. But Thursday night’s incident means this could be the second double shell tank to fail.
"We are of course concerned it might be a leak," a Washington state Department of Ecology spokesperson said.
In 2013 the KING 5 Investigators exposed how the federal government and its contractor misled the public and lawmakers about the first double shell tank to leak – AY 102. The series, “Hanford’s Dirty Secrets,” showed how Hanford managers ignored major red flags that AY 102 was leaking, and instead insisted “rainwater” had seeped into the safety space. AY 102 is located about 100 feet from AZ 101.
The AZ 101 contamination event comes just 10 days after a tunnel collapse at Hanford that caused a site wide emergency. On May 9, workers found a 20 by 20 foot cave in of a tunnel used to store highly radioactive and chemically contaminated equipment from the Cold War-era. That event could have spewed radioactive particles across the site and beyond, but due to stagnant air at the time, monitoring has shown no contamination blew out of the huge hole, according to Hanford officials.
Governor Jay Inslee called on the federal government to investigate after the contamination was discovered.
"Today's alarming incident at Hanford elevates the urgency of the federal government to prioritize and fund all critical cleanup at this aging nuclear reservation," Inslee said in a statement. "We are not aware of any nuclear waste leaking outside the AZ-101 double-shelled tank, but we expect the U.S. Department of Energy to immediately investigate and report on the source of contamination.
"This comes on the heels of last week's tunnel collapse. It is another urgent reminder that Congress needs to act, and they need to act quickly."
Attorney General Bob Ferguson sent out a statement on the potential leak as well.
“Today’s news of another potential leak in a tank at Hanford only strengthens my resolve to hold the Department of Energy accountable for its responsibility to clean up this contaminated site,” Ferguson said. “This isn’t the first potential leak, and it won’t be the last. The risks at Hanford to workers and the environment are all too real, and today’s news is just another illustration of how tenuous the situation is.”
May 20, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/08/japan-nuclear-workers...
Japan nuclear workers inhale plutonium after bag breaks
Safety and security concerns raised after equipment inspection at research facility just north of Tokyo goes wrong
Associated Press
Wednesday 7 June 2017 22.16 EDT Last modified on Thursday 8 June 2017 08.24 EDT
Five workers at a Japanese nuclear facility have been exposed to high levels of radiation after a bag containing plutonium apparently broke during an equipment inspection.
Contamination was found inside the nostrils of three of the five men, a sign they had inhaled radioactive dust, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) said on Wednesday. All five also had radioactive material on their limbs after removing protective gear and taking a shower.
Agency spokesman Masataka Tanimoto said one of the men had high levels of plutonium exposure in his lungs. The worker, in his 50s, had opened the lid of the container when some of the 300g of plutonium and uranium in the broken bag flew out.
The incident occurred on Tuesday at the agency’s Oarai research and development centre, a facility for nuclear fuel study that uses plutonium. It lies in Ibaraki prefecture, just north of Tokyo.
The cause of the accident is under investigation, the state-run agency said. It raised nuclear security concerns as well as questions about whether the workers were adequately protected.
Internal exposure creates the greatest concern because of the risk of cancer. The man’s exposure, 22,000 Becquerels, could mean the effect on his lungs may not be immediately life-threatening but would add up over time, and he would need to be regularly monitored, said Makoto Akashi, a doctor at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences, where the workers are being treated.
Shunichi Tanaka, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, blamed work routine complacency as a possible cause. Regulators have started investigating possible violations of safety standards at the facility.
JAEA has a poor safety record at another site – Monju, a plutonium-burning fast breeder reactor that it oversees. There was a major accident there in 1995 and has since hardly operated. The government recently decided to close the facility.
Japan’s possession of large plutonium stockpiles, from the country’s spent-fuel recycling program, has faced international criticism. Critics say Japan should stop extracting plutonium, which could be used to develop nuclear weapons.
To reduce the stockpile, Japan plans to burn plutonium in the form of Mox fuel – a mixture of plutonium and uranium – in conventional reactors. But the restarting of halted nuclear plants has proceeded slowly amid persistent anti-nuclear sentiment since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
Jun 11, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/hanford-radiation-alarm-pr...
Hanford radiation alarm prompts order for workers to seek cover
Originally published June 8, 2017 at 1:43 pm
The order was lifted about four hours later after low levels of radiation were detected at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the site of a massive cleanup.
SPOKANE — Radiation warning alarms sounded Thursday at a former plutonium-production plant in Washington state, prompting a take-cover order that sent about 350 workers seeking cover indoors during the demolition of a plant that for decades had helped make nuclear weapons.
The order was lifted about four hours later after low levels of radiation were detected at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the site of a massive cleanup.
The Energy Department said no injuries were reported, and workers had applied an adhesive product to the contamination to prevent it from spreading from locations on sidewalks and near a vehicle access gate at the Plutonium Finishing Plant.
Workers were continuing to monitor the air for any further contamination. No other details were provided about the incident.
“Air monitoring alarms during demolition are not unexpected,” the Energy Department said in a news release, noting the alarms are used to ensure demolition of the plant proceeds safely.
The incident followed the collapse last month of a tunnel at the facility that contained nuclear waste, prompting another evacuation. The Energy Department has said no injuries or contamination was reported as a result of the collapse.
The alarm Thursday rang as crews were removing outdoor equipment at the highly contaminated 580-square-mile (1,502 square kilometer) facility near Richland, Washington.
Hanford made about two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear arsenal, and now is engaged in cleaning up the huge volume of resulting radioactive waste at the site established by the Manhattan Project during World War II.
The tunnel collapse occurred on May 9 in a 360-foot long (110-meter) rail tunnel built in 1956 from timber, concrete and steel. Radioactive waste was stored inside, and the entrance was sealed in 1965.
The tunnel contains a mixture of radioactive and chemical waste and irradiated equipment, including eight contaminated rail cars.
The ground above the collapse has been entirely covered by a huge tarp and will be filled with a cement-like grout to prevent future problems.
The cleanup at Hanford is expected to last until 2060 and cost $100 billion more than the $19 billion already spent.
Jun 11, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
https://nsnbc.me/2017/06/11/seventy-new-cracks-discovered-at-belgiu...
Seventy “new cracks” discovered at Belgium’s ageing Tihange nuclear power plant
Seventy “new cracks” discovered at Belgium’s ageing Tihange nuclear power plant
Published On: Sun, Jun 11th, 2017
nsnbc : Experts discovered new, additional cracks in reactor 2 at the Tihange nuclear power plant, located near the city of Liege, said Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon. The discovery of some 70 new cracks contradicts claims by some experts who said previously discovered cracks had been there since the reactor was built and irrelevant for the reactors operational safety. The reactor’s designed lifespan has been substantially extended despite warnings from experts and protests by neighboring communities in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
Responding to an inquiry from the parliamentary group of Belgium’s Green Party, Interior Minister Jan Jambon admitted that experts discovered 70 more cracks in the pressure vessel of reactor two at the Tihange nuclear power plant (NPP) than during a previous inspection in 2014. However, Jambon claimed that the discovery of these additional cracks had no impact on the operational safety of the reactor at all.
Jambon stated that the additional 70 cracks had been discovered because the ultra-sound probes used to inspect the reactor vesselhad been placed at different locations than during inspections in 2014. Previously discovered cracks were no longer considered as damage or as posing a risk to operational security — The results of the latest inspection, in their entirety, prompted Belgium’s nuclear safety agency to state that it has no reason to oppose the operation of the reactor, said Interior Minister Jambon.
In 2015 Belgium’s Federal Nuclear Agency (FANC) registered a total of 3,149 reports about damages and incidents at reactor 2 at the Tihange NPP. This number had risen by 2.2 percent to 3,219 after the latest inspection, noted the NGO Nucléaire Stop. The NGO as well as experts from neighboring municipalities stress that it is no longer safe to operate the aging reactor.
Neighboring communities in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have long criticized the Belgian government for extending the life-span of the reactors at Tihange and Doel beyond their design limits. On June 25 concerned citizens and grassroots movements from Germany will travel to Tihange to create a human-chain around the Tihange NPP. Activists and critics have begun describing the Tihange NPP as “The Mummy”, stressing that a disaster that could force Belgium to build a Chernobyl-style “Sarcophagus” could happen any time. Continues.......
Jun 11, 2017
M. Difato
Exelon Corporation: Nine Mile Point Unit 1 Offline
https://www.twst.com/update/exelon-corporation-nine-mile-point-unit...
OSWEGO, N.Y. - Nine Mile Point Unit 1 automatically shut down at 11:58 a.m. Wednesday when a component failed in the system that regulates water level during normal operation. Operators responded and all safety systems functioned as designed.
Technicians will repair and fully test the system before returning Unit 1 to service. Nine Mile Point Unit 2 remains online. The Unit 1 outage will not impact electrical service to customers..."
Sep 7, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
http://progressive.org/dispatches/nuclear-plants-plus-hurricanes-di...
Nuclear Plants Plus Hurricanes: Disasters Waiting to Happen
September 21, 2017
St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant at Port St. Lucie, Florida
Although the mainstream media said next to nothing about it, independent experts have made it clear that Hurricanes Harvey and Irma threatened six U.S. nuclear plants with major destruction, and therefore all of us with apocalyptic disaster. It is a danger that remains for the inevitable hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters yet to come.
During Harvey and Irma, six holdovers from a dying reactor industry—two on the Gulf Coast at South Texas, two at Key Largo and two more north of Miami at Port St. Lucie—were under severe threat of catastrophic failure. All of them rely on off-site power systems that were extremely vulnerable throughout the storms. At St. Lucie Unit One, an NRC official reported a salt buildup on electrical equipment requiring a power downgrade in the midst of the storm.
Loss of backup electricity was at the core of the 2011 catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan when the tsunami there and ensuing flood shorted out critical systems. The reactor cores could not be cooled. Three melted. Their cores have yet to be found. Water pouring over them flooded into the Pacific, carrying away unprecedented quantities of cesium and other radioactive isotopes. In 2015, scientists detected radioactive contamination from Fukushima along the coast near British Columbia and California.
Four of six Fukushima Daichi reactors suffered hydrogen explosions, releasing radioactive fallout far in excess of what came down after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Extreme danger still surrounds Fukushima’s highly radioactive fuel pools, which are in varied stages of ruin.
“In addition to reactors, which at least are within containment structures, high-level radioactive waste storage pools are not within containment, and are also mega-catastrophes waiting to happen, as in the event of a natural disaster like a hurricane,” says Kevin Kamps of the activist group Beyond Nuclear.
In 1992 Hurricane Andrew paralyzed fire protection systems at Florida’s Turkey Point and so severely damaged a 350-foot-high tower it had to be demolished. The eye of that storm went directly over the reactor, sweeping away support buildings valued at $100 million or more.
There’s no reason to rule out a future storm negating fire protection systems, flinging airborne debris into critical support buildings, killing off-site backup power, and more.
As during Andrew, the owners of the nuclear plants under assault from Harvey and Irma had an interest in dragging their feet on timely shut-downs. Because they are not liable for downwind damage done in a major disaster, the utilities can profit by keeping the reactors operating as long as they can, despite the obvious public danger.
Viable evacuation plans are a legal requirement for continued reactor operation. But such planning has been a major bone of contention, prompting prolonged court battles at Seabrook, New Hampshire, and playing a critical role in the shutdown of the Shoreham reactor on Long Island. After a 1986 earthquake damaged the Perry reactor in Ohio, then-Governor Richard Celeste sued to delay issuance of the plant’s operating license. A state commission later concluded evacuation during a disaster there was not possible. After Andrew, nuclear opponents like Greenpeace questioned the right of the plant to continue operating in light of what could occur during a hurricane.
Throughout the world, some 430 reactors are in various stages of vulnerability to natural disaster, including ninety-nine in the United States. Numerous nuclear plants have already been damaged by earthquakes, storms, tsunamis, and floods. The complete blackout of any serious discussion of what Harvey and Irma threatened to do to these six Texas and Florida reactors is cause for deep concern.
Harvey Wasserman’s California Solartopia show airs at KPFK-FM in Los Angeles; his Green Power & Wellness Show is podcast at prn.fm. He is the author of Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth and co-author of Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America’s Experience with Atomic Radiation.
Sep 22, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.1011now.com/content/news/Unusual-event-declared-at-NPPDs...
Unusual event declared at NPPD’s Cooper Nuclear Station
AUBURN, Neb. – Nebraska Public Power District is responding to an unusual event at its Cooper Nuclear Station due to a hydrogen leak into a main plant area.
The utility declared a “Notification of Unusual Event” (NOUE) today at 11:18 a.m. due to a hydrogen leak into a main plant area. The leak was discovered by a maintenance crew working on the non-nuclear system, and repairs to fix the leak are in progress.
The plant is stable and continues to operate at this time. There is no threat to the public. NPPD has notified the appropriate local, county, state, and federal agencies.
A NOUE is defined as unusual events, minor in nature, which have occurred or are in progress which indicate a potential degradation in the level of safety at the station. If placed on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being the least serious level of an emergency and 4 being the most serious level of an emergency, a NOUE would equal a 1.
Cooper Nuclear Station is located three miles southeast of Brownville near the Missouri River. It is owned and operated by the Nebraska Public Power District, with headquarters in Columbus. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
Nov 14, 2017
Stanislav
Russia confirms 'extremely high' readings of radioactive pollution
A map provided by the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety shows the detection of ruthenium-106 in France and Europe. (INRS via AP) Image source: newser.com
20 November, 2017. "Russia's meteorological service confirmed on Monday "extremely high" concentrations of the radioactive isotope ruthenium-106 in parts of the country in late September, following European reports about the contamination this month.
"Probes of radioactive aerosols from monitoring stations Argayash and Novogorny were found to contain radioisotope Ru-106" between September 25 and October 1, the Rosgidromet service said.
The highest concentration was registered at the station in Argayash, a village in the Chelyabinsk region in the southern Urals, which had "extremely high pollution" of Ru-106, exceeding natural background pollution by 986 times, the service said.
It did not point to any specific source of the pollution, but the Argayash station is about 30 kilometres from the Mayak nuclear facility, which in 1957 was the site of one of the worst nuclear disasters in history.
Today Mayak is a reprocessing site for spent nuclear fuel.
On November 9, France's Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety issued a report saying Ruthenium-106 had been detected in France between September 27 and October 13.
It said that the source of the pollution was probably an accident somewhere between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains, adding that the concentrations measured in Europe were not a danger to public health.
Ruthenium-106 is a product of splitting atoms in a reactor and does not occur naturally.
Russia's nuclear corporation Rosatom said at the time that "radiation around all objects of Russian nuclear infrastructure are within the norm and are at the level of background radiation.""
Russia confirms 'extremely high' readings of radioactive pollution. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from https://phys.org/news/2017-11-russia-extremely-high-radioactive-pol...
Nov 21, 2017
Starr DiGiacomo
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/2018/02/16/indian-point-reactor-au...
Indian Point reactor automatically shuts down again, feds investigating
Published 3:08 p.m. ET Feb. 16, 2018
Unit 3 shut down after a generator failed on the non-nuclear side of the power plant.
One of Indian Point’s two nuclear reactors automatically shut down early Friday when a generator failed, prompting an inquiry by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
This is the second time in four months that Indian Point’s Unit 3 shut down after an issue with a generator on the non-nuclear side of the pressurized water reactor.
A spokesman for Indian Point's owner, Entergy, said no radiation was released during the shutdown. “Engineers are investigating to more fully understand the cause of the shutdown before the unit is returned to service,” spokesman Jerry Nappi said.
SHUTDOWN: Indian Point reactor back up and running after six-day sh...
LEAKS: Nuclear Regulatory Commission says Indian Point must resolve...
WASTE: Nuclear waste stranded at Indian Point
In both shutdowns, a component in the electrical generator system failed.
Indian Point’s second reactor, Unit 2, was functioning at 100 percent of its capacity.
NRC’s resident inspector for Indian Point visited the plant shortly after being notified of the shutdown, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.
“He traveled to the control room, where he observed shutdown activities and independently verified plant safety conditions,” Sheehan said “No immediate safety concerns were identified.”
The NRC will continue monitoring repairs and plans to restart the unit. It took six days to restore power following the November shutdown.
Nappi said officials will try to determine whether there are any common issues between the two shutdowns.
During a test of Indian Point's emergency warning system Wednesday, two of 172 sirens -- one in Putnam County, the other in Rockland County -- failed to sound. Both sirens have since been repaired.
Entergy has plans to shut down Indian Point by 2021.
Feb 16, 2018
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/radioactive-contamination-fo...
Radioactive contamination found in ‘clean’ cars, says Hanford watchdog
Feb 21, 2018
A small amount of radioactive contamination has been found in the air filters of two vehicles parked at the Plutonium Finishing Plant at the Hanford nuclear reservation, according to a Seattle-based Hanford watchdog group.
Hanford Challenge took five filters from four vehicles in Richland and Pasco that Hanford workers parked at the plant. The cars previously were checked at Hanford and declared clean of contamination, according to Hanford Challenge.
The filters included a mix of cabin and engine filters, with the contamination found in two of the engine filters.
In response, an employee issued a stop-work order Tuesday on the use of government vehicles at the plant until more checks for radioactive contamination could be done. Any worker who believes conditions are unsafe can halt work.
The filters collected off Hanford were sent to Marco Kaltofen, who is president of Boston Chemical Data Corp. and an affiliated research engineer at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Nuclear Science and Engineering Program in Massachusetts, for analysis for radioactive contamination.
These vehicles were used by their families to carry groceries and to go to and from work.
They contained americium, a radioactive material associated with the past production of plutonium at Hanford for the nation’s nuclear weapons program, according to the analysis.
Americium also is used in home smoke detectors, with a smoke detector containing up to about about 1 million picocuries of americium, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The amount measured per gram of material tested from worker cars was about 1 picocurie.
However, the americium in smoke detectors is contained in ceramic and foil to prevent it from becoming airborne like the contamination at the Plutonium Finishing Plant, and the Environmental Protection Agency warns against tampering with it.
The bottom line is that Hanford officials should be controlling plutonium and americium, and americium should not be found in worker cars, said Tom Carpenter, Hanford Challenge executive director.
“The owners of these vehicles are devastated and scared about the health of their families,” he said. “These vehicles were used by their families, to carry groceries and to go to and from work.”
Carpenter had expected that no contamination would be found, considering the filters from just four cars were checked. But after finding two of four cars with contamination, Hanford Challenge and Kaltofen are checking filters from more vehicles.
The fact that vehicles were checked and released to these workers, only to find that they were still contaminated, raises disturbing questions about the credibility of Hanford’s program.
After a spread of radioactive contamination was discovered in mid December at the Plutonium Finishing Plant, the Department of Energy said seven cars employees had parked at the plant while they were working had specks of radioactive contamination.
The contamination was on the exterior of the vehicles. Hanford officials say the contamination was removed and workers were free to drive those and other cars home.
“The fact that vehicles were checked and released to these workers, only to find that they were still contaminated, raises disturbing questions about the credibility of Hanford’s program,” Carpenter said.
DOE said in its daily report Tuesday afternoon that filters in some private vehicles had been surveyed for radiation and found no contamination in the filters.
The checks would have been done with hand-held detection instruments that likely would not have found amounts as small as a single picocurie, which could be detected in a laboratory analysis.
Survey equipment and processes are designed to detect contamination at levels well below regulatory and worker-protection requirements, according to DOE.
Neither DOE nor its contractor were given the opportunity to split samples to allow Hanford officials to analyze them, the daily report said.
The Washington State Department of Health received the information from Hanford Challenge and was evaluating the data, said John Martell, manager of the Radioactive Air Emissions Section of the department’s Office of Radiation Protection.
It has been doing its own monitoring for the spread of airborne contamination at Hanford, finding very low levels of contamination that might be linked to demolition of the plant miles away.
There have been no levels of radioactive contamination detected off Hanford by the Department of Health that indicate a risk to public health, according to department officials.
But the Department of Health continues to be concerned, Martell said. It sent a letter to the Department of Energy late in January formally listing its concerns and asking for more information.
Finding some contamination in vehicle air filters is not entirely surprising, given that the Department of Health has found contamination in the air at Hanford where the cars would have driven, Martell said.
Tuesday, Hanford crews were surveying the 44 government vehicles used at the Plutonium Finishing Plant in response to the stop-work order.
Plant workers are using offices and parking lots well away from the plant and are shuttled to the plant in government vehicles, as needed, as part of the response to the radioactive contamination spread.
As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, crews had surveyed inside 23 of the government vehicles, finding no contamination.
The filters of two government and one private vehicle that had the greatest exterior contamination after the December contamination spread was discovered have been checked for contamination, with none found, according to DOE.
After an airborne spread of contamination in July at the Plutonium Finishing Plant, 31 workers tested positive for inhaling or ingesting contamination.
Since mid-December 282 central Hanford workers have requested checks for internal contamination.
With some results still pending, 229 workers have been found to have no contamination. Eight workers have small amounts of contamination, with the highest verified dose of radiation from contamination within their body figured at up to 10 millirem per year over 50 years.
In comparison, the average U.S. resident is exposed to about 300 millirem a year from background and naturally occurring radiation.
Feb 22, 2018
Starr DiGiacomo
https://nuclear-news.net/2018/03/09/radioactive-leaks-from-bugey-nu...
Radioactive leaks from Bugey nuclear power plant, near Lyon, France
power plant, 35 km from Lyon. Four associations complain and call for the
immediate shutdown of the plant, which combines risks of all kinds.
On December 20, 2017, EDF detected an abnormal concentration of tritium in a
piezometer (tube allowing access to the water table) on the site of the
Bugey nuclear power station. The concentration of this radioactive
substance, which can cause serious damage to the DNA, reached 670
Becquerels per liter.
Larger concentration peaks (up to 1600 Bq / l) were
detected on subsequent days and at other locations on the site. This
presence of tritium in the Rhône water table suggests the release into the
environment of other radioelements and probably chemical elements.
Contaminated water has also certainly reached the Rhône.
http://www.sortirdunucleaire.org/Fuite-radioactive-a-la-centrale-nu...
Mar 10, 2018
Starr DiGiacomo
https://www.romania-insider.com/technical-problems-cernavoda-plant/
New technical problems at Romania’s Cernavoda power plant
March 30 2018
This is the third technical incident at Cernavoda in less than a week. On March 25, the first unit of the power plant was disconnected from the national energy system also due to a malfunction at the classical part of the plant, which took about 48 hours to fix. On the same day, the company also announced that the second unit would function at reduced power due to a technical issue that needed fixing.
“There is no connection between the power reduction of Unit 2 from March 25 2018 and the automated disconnection of the reactor from today, March 29 2018,” the company announced on Thursday, local Mediafax reported.
The company’s management also explained that the technical problems appear at the classical part of the power plant, while the nuclear reactors function without problems. They also pointed out that these unplanned shutdowns are normal and that the period of these shutdowns at the Cernavoda power plant has been lower than at other similar plants worldwide.
However, prime minister Viordica Dancila decided on Thursday to send her Control Body at Cernavoda to investigate the recent incidents.
The Cernavoda nuclear power plant has two functioning units with a combined capacity of 1,400 MW, which cover about 18-20% of Romania’s electricity consumption.
Apr 1, 2018
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20180419/news01/658566/fermi-2...
Fermi 2 nuclear plant is down after transformer problem
A nuclear power plant in Newport remains shut down after a transformer malfunctioned last weekend.
Detroit-based DTE Energy Co. said Fermi 2 on the shore of Lake Erie is in a "safe, stable condition." Spokesman John Austerberry said the public nor the 950 workers at the plant were at risk when the nuclear plant automatically shut down Saturday.
The shutdown has not affected the workforce. Austerberry said the staff will handle other maintenance issues that cannot be addressed while the plant is running.
Austerberry said Wednesday that employees were investigating the cause of the transformer problem, which is being overseen by two on-site representatives of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Mid Continent Independent System Operator and Michigan Public Service Commission were also notified about the shutdown, he said.
Apr 19, 2018
Starr DiGiacomo
In Belgium urgently stopped nuclear reactor
April 28, 2018
В Бельгии экстренно остановили реактор АЭС
Atomic electrotrance Blew
In Belgium urgently stopped the first reactor of the nuclear station Blew because of a leak in the cooling system, according to RTBF.
The incident occurred this week, but only on Saturday, April 28, the representative of the company opreator NPP confirmed that the leak occurred in the nuclear section. She assured that it’s a leak, not threatening the security station. Nevertheless, the rector will run until the end of October.
Monday, April 30, held an emergency meeting of nuclear safety Committee, which will determine how serious the situation is, it is Noted that the concern of the authorities was the fact that the accident occurred in the nuclear reactor core.
The Belgian green party, said that nuclear power plant Blew outdated in 2015 and becoming more dangerous.
Among all European nuclear power plants this plant is located in the most densely populated area with 9 million inhabitants within a radius of 75 kilometers.
Last summer, thousands of people came out to campaign for the closure of the Belgian nuclear power plants.
Apr 30, 2018
Starr DiGiacomo
http://www.anews.com.tr/world/2018/06/10/technical-issue-causes-out...
Technical issue causes outage at Belgian nuclear reactor
Belgium's Doel 4 nuclear plant went offline late Saturday due to a technical fault, a spokeswoman for the operator Engie Electrabel said Sunday.
Technical problems with Belgium's ageing nuclear plants have created tensions with neighbouring Germany, which is moving toward clean and sustainable energy sources and has passed legislation that requires the closure of all its commercial nuclear reactors by 2022.
The outage was triggered late Saturday by a technical fault in the turbine operating system in the non-nuclear part of the reactor, Engie Electrabel spokeswoman Anne-Sophie Hugé told dpa.
Operations are expected to restart late on Sunday, she added.
More than half of Belgium's electricity is generated by the four-reactor Doel plant in northern Belgium and a three-reactor plant at Tihange in the east, near the German border.
Jun 11, 2018
Starr DiGiacomo
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/database/?pageid=event_desc&edis_i...
Nuclear Event in Belgium on July 24 2018 04:49 AM (UTC).
At a nuclear power plant Project in southern Belgium due to Electromechanical failure has occurred emergency stop of the second reactor. "The automatic shutdown of the reactor occurred as a result of a failure in the activation of high voltage transmission lines. The failure took place outside the nuclear zone of the station and poses no threat to people or the environment," said the company. It is noted that the power outages in the southern part of Belgium will not happen, despite increased consumption in connection with an abnormal heat and widespread air conditioning. "The company has reserves to compensate for the generation of electricity, in particular solar and gas generators", - assured Electrabel.
Jul 25, 2018
M. Difato
Japan nuclear plant's power restored after quake triggers Hokkaido blackout
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-quake-nuclear/japan-nuclea...
TOKYO (Reuters) - Power was restored to a nuclear energy plant in Hokkaido, northern Japan on Thursday after a strong earthquake left it relying on emergency generators for 10 nervous hours, but it may be a week before lights are back on all over the major island.
FILE PHOTO: Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari nuclear power plant is seen in Tomari town on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, in this picture taken by Kyodo May 5, 2012. MANDATORY CREDIT REUTERS/Kyodo
Triggering a blackout just after 3 a.m. local time, the magnitude 6.7 quake left at least seven people dead, more than 100 injured and dozens missing on Hokkaido, an island of about 5.3 million people whose capital is Sapporo. A major coal-fired power station was also damaged in the temblor that shut down the grid.
The situation at utility Hokkaido Electric Power’s (9509.T) three-reactor Tomari nuclear plant provided an uncomfortable, if comparatively brief, echo of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011. Reactors there melted down after a massive tsunami knocked out back-up generators, designed to maintain power to cool reactors in emergencies.
Though Tomari was shut down after the Fukushima disaster in 2011, it needs electricity to keep fuel rods cool, and had to rely on back-up diesel generators that kicked in after the quake until power was restored to all three reactors by 1 p.m. local time.
Sep 6, 2018
Starr DiGiacomo
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/dukes-brunswick-nuclear-plant-decl...
Duke's Brunswick nuclear plant declares low-level emergency as floodwaters block access
Sept.18 2018
Dive Brief:
Duke Energy's Brunswick nuclear plant in North Carolina declared a low-level state of emergency on Monday due to floodwaters caused by Hurricane Florence, but regulatory officials said public safety was never at risk.
Brunswick declared an "unusual event," the lowest-level of emergency notice, when high water blocked access to the nuclear plant, a spokesperson from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said. The plant was shut down ahead of the storm and remains stable.
NRC rules require a utility to declare an unusual event when access to a nuclear facility is impeded, and Duke cannot restart the plant until access to the facility is regained. Nearly 327,000 people remain without power in North Carolina due to the hurricane, according to PowerOutage.US.
Dive Insight:
Brunswick's low-level emergency declaration on Monday is a reminder of the risks of siting nuclear generation close to ocean coasts. In 2011, three reactors at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushimia Daiichi nuclear plant melted down after an earthquake and ensuing tsunami, killing one person and releasing radioactive material into the air and water around the plant.
The Fukushima disaster prompted reforms of nuclear safety codes around the world, and NRC officials said the emergency event declared by the Brunswick plant on Monday is a far cry from that event.
"Both of the units [at Brunswick] safely shut down well in advance of the storm," NRC spokesperson Joey Langford told Utility Dive. "They remain safely shut down. No plant equipment or safety equipment was damaged in the storm or since."
Brunswick remained in "hot shutdown" mode during the event, Langford said, and still had grid power to cool the reactors. The facility has backup generators in the event that grid power is lost.
With access to Brunswick blocked by floodwaters, essential plant employees slept on cots at the facility and received supplies from Duke by helicopter, the News and Observer reported.
Record-breaking rains also caused a coal ash spill at Duke's Sutton power plant in North Carolina over the weekend, releasing enough of the harmful waste product to fill two-thirds of an Olympic sized swimming pool, according to the utility.
The Environmental Protection Agency told reporters Monday they were investigating a second ash release at the Sutton plant, which Duke said was part of the first spill. EPA referred questions about the event to Duke, and late Monday a spokesperson for the utility said it and the agency "have connected and all agree there was one event at Sutton."
"The releases of water and ash from the Sutton landfill have stopped, and repairs are already underway," Duke spokesperson Paige Sheehan said via email. "The public and environment remain well protected."
Over the weekend, Duke said weather conditions made it difficult to ascertain whether coal ash from the Sutton plant had entered an adjacent cooling pond at the facility or the nearby Cape Fear River.
Inspections on Sunday revealed that ash itself had not entered the waterways, the utility said, but rainwater that came into contact with the waste product did, and some ash leaked into a nearby industrial facility.
"This 1,100-acre cooling pond was constructed by Duke Energy to receive treated water from plant operations, including water from coal ash basins when they were operating," Sheehan wrote. "At that time the lake would further process that wastewater — it is performing the same function today with this release."
Duke says coal ash is not hazardous, a label based on the EPA's decision in 2014 to classify the substance as "solid waste," rather than "hazardous waste" under federal disposal laws. It does, however, contain heavy metals and other substances known to cause health problems in humans, such as mercury and lead.
In addition to monitoring ash spills and its nuclear plants, Duke is also working to restore the millions of customers who lost power as part of the Category 1 hurricane. Utilities in the region have already restored power to 1.4 million customers affected by the storm, the Edison Electric Institute said Tuesday morning, but some of the toughest work remains in areas that are "inaccessible and that experienced massive flooding and structural damage."
Sep 19, 2018
Starr DiGiacomo
https://taosnews.com/stories/explosive-accidentally-detonates-at-la...
Explosive accidentally detonates at LANL
Blast injures one employee, prompts request to safely detonate two compromised vessels
Tuesday, September 25, 2018 7:24 pm
An explosion in a densely staffed sector of Los Alamos National Laboratory on Sept. 14 left one employee with multiple cuts and prompted lab officials to request emergency approval from the New Mexico Environment Department to safely detonate two compromised vessels containing highly explosive hazardous waste.
Both of the approximately 1.7-ounce containers were "unstable due to heat exposure and the presence of etching on the vessel exterior," an incident report said.
"This condition posed an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment," the report reads.
No radioactive material was involved in the incident, a lab spokesman said.
The detonation occurred during synthesis of a type of powerful non-nuclear explosive in development at LANL.
The injured worker, who sustained cuts to his or her hands caused by broken glassware, was treated at both Los Alamos Medical Center and University of New Mexico Hospital, the spokesman said. The employee has since been released and is back at work.
The cause of the explosion is under review.
The blast detonated some time before 11:30 a.m., in Technical Area 35, Building 85. The area flanks Pecos Road on the southeast side of Los Alamos.
"It's a very highly populated part of the lab," said Greg Mello, director of the Albuquerque-based Los Alamos Study Group, a watchdog agency that tracks safety issues at the laboratory.
By midday, John Kieling, chief of state's Hazardous Waste Bureau, had authorized detonation of the unstable chemicals in a contained vessel.
Destruction of the chemicals went off without a hitch at 1:15 p.m., according to the report.
Mello said developing stronger explosives has been a LANL aim for decades.
This is the latest in a series of safety mishaps at the labs. In May, a crew of pipe fitters underwent decontamination after radioactive materials were discovered on a worker's hands, on the crew's protective clothing and in the work area. In March, all work with special nuclear materials was put on hold at the lab's plutonium facility following violations of two safety mandates meant to prevent a nuclear chain reaction.
According to the follow-up report detailing the Sept. 14 incident, the pair of unstable containers were discovered during an assessment of the chemical hood (a kind of secure, vented workspace) in which the explosion took place.
The lab spokesman declined to say whether the vessels were actually in the hood at the time of the explosion, but Richard Holder, a retired UNM organic chemistry professor who specializes in chemical syntheses and reactions, said it's not uncommon for chemists to keep other compounds in their workspace.
It's not best practices to do so, he said. "I don't condone it, but it's common, and I've done it myself," Holder said.
Having other compounds in the space poses hazards in the event or a fire, during which intense heat could set off additional chemical reactions.
Oct 4, 2018