*** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and links

Corruption in the Russian State Nuclear Corporation Rosatom may cause new nuclear accidents in Russia, experts say. The ecological group Ecodefense! believes the risks are high enough to result in another Fukushima, while the National Anti-Corruption Committee (NAC) has urged Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to initiate investigations into the broadly reported violations and abuses in the nuclear industry, including at new nuclear power plant (NPP) construction sites.

[link to www.bellona.org]

Wondering that myself. It would certainly be bad for japan but maybe better for the rest of us.

Size of nuke soil contamination assessed

The nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture may have contaminated as much as 36 million cubic yards of soil with radioactive substances, Japanese officials said.

Read more: [link to www.upi.com]

- wonder how much they underestimated this time?

Southern Gambles on First U.S. Nuclear Reactors in 30 Years

Southern Co. is poised to end a three-decade freeze on nuclear development as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers granting it the first license to build new reactors since the Three Mile Island accident.

At stake for Atlanta-based Southern is more than its bottom line and reputation, Chief Executive Officer Thomas Fanning said during two interviews. If there is to be a nuclear revival in the U.S., Southern, the largest U.S. power company, must deliver the $14 billion project on-time and on-budget, he said.

[link to www.businessweek.com]


- Yeah. That is the priority. Not to make damned sure it is safe, but to get it done quickly and under budget.

Anyone else have a problem with this?

Permits OKd for 3rd reactor at North Anna

NEWPORT NEWS —— Weeks after a rare earthquake forced the shutdown of North Anna nuclear power plant, state regulators approved a permit enabling a proposed third reactor to inch forward.

[link to www.dailypress.com]

Yankee pump fails, forced to cut power

According to Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates, a nuclear consulting firm in Burlington, because the fuel in the reactor core is close to the end of its useful life as currently configured, the control rods are pulled out and that power is being controlled by varying the speed of the recirculation pumps.He said that normally the rods absorb neutrons, but at an end-of-life period, steam bubbles are what controls the power output.

“The faster the pumps go, the fewer steam bubbles and the more power can be produced,” Gundersen said.
But if the pumps slow down, there are more steam bubbles and the reactor slows down, he said.

“Control of the reactor late in its fuel cycle is done entirely with the recirc pumps,” he said, noting that the motor controllers are under “high use conditions” at this time.

“It looks like one of the motor controllers is showing its age and has failed; end-of-life conditions are the likely culprit,” he added.

[link to www.rutlandherald.com]


- control rods removed, control of reactor with 2 recirc. pumps, one pump down.

Disturbing.

Employee of Tucker firm charged with falsifying TVA nuclear documents

John E. Delk is the second employee of TVA subcontractor Williams Specialty Services charged with falsifying records at Watts Bar. TVA said in a statement that the discovery shows its safeguards are working as designed.

Court records show that Delk was charged with the felony offense of knowingly and willfully certifying work that he knew had not been completed at the nation's only current nuclear reactor construction project.

[link to www.ajc.com]

TEPCO under fire over nuclear compensation

The Japanese government has ordered the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to show the victims of the disaster more compassion.

The government is angry that the Tokyo Electric Power Company - or TEPCO - is forcing victims to wade through compensation forms that run to more than 200 pages long.

North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy reports from Tokyo.

[link to www.abc.net.au]


- good 'ole Tepco. Always leaves you wanting more.

Statement by H.E. Mr. Sergey V. LAVROV, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, at the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly, September 27, 2011


It is of primary importance for us to prevent the undermining of the non-proliferation regime. We call for universalization of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, strengthening of the IAEA safeguards system, and entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Russia has been one of the main initiators of the proposal to convene in 2012 a conference on establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction and means of its delivery in the Middle East, and is now intensively working together with its partners on the preparation of this important forum.

The early resolution to the nuclear problems of Iran and the Korean Peninsula would contribute to the strengthening of the non-proliferation regime. We see no alternative to their political and diplomatic settlement and take concrete steps to create conditions for the resumption of negotiations. We call on all the partners to address these tasks with utmost responsibility.

The situation around Japan's Fukushima-1 Nuclear Power Plant has highlighted the need to improve the international legal framework in order to ensure safety of nuclear power facilities. The Russian Federation has made proposals to enhance the mechanisms of Conventions on Nuclear Safety and the Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident, as well as to strengthen the relevant IAEA norms. We urge support for these initiatives.

[link to www.ln.mid.ru]

Russia to Iran: Stop Building Enrichment Systems

The U.N. Security Council has adopted four sanctions resolutions aimed at pressuring Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program, which can generate fuel for civilian applications as well as material for weapons. Tehran, which long limited the refinement operation to a single known facility, has since June deployed uranium enrichment centrifuges at a separate hardened underground site and informed international auditors of plans to extend the effort to a third location (see GSN, Sept. 12). The government insists its atomic ambitions are purely peaceful.

[link to www.globalsecuritynewswire.org]

NRC to host public meetings to discuss long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel

Source: Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will conduct three public meetings in Rockville, Md., Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., and San Luis Obispo, Calif., to discuss issues relating to the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power reactors.

The meetings are intended to inform and engage the public on the NRC’s plans to tackle technical and regulatory issues related to extended storage of spent fuel, and on plans to develop a draft environmental impact statement for an update of the NRC’s waste confidence decision and rule.

[link to www.pennenergy.com]

- long overdue.

Hunt on for Russian nuclear smuggler: US report

WASHINGTON — Authorities in the ex-Soviet republic of Moldova are hunting the alleged Russian mastermind of a failed plan to sell weapons-grade uranium on the black market, a new US Senate report said Tuesday.

AFP reported in June that Moldova police had arrested six suspects and seized a sample of Uranium-235 in a sting that thwarted a potential customer, described by a top official as "a citizen of a Muslim country in Africa."

But the report by staff for Senator Richard Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, includes the alarming charge that the group also claimed to possess plutonium, far less of which is needed to make a bomb.

[link to www.google.com]

- getting real.

Officials say crime ring has uranium

Investigators following up on a nuclear sting in eastern Europe suspect that a crime syndicate was trying to sell weapons-grade uranium to buyers in North Africa.

Officials in Moldova, a former Soviet republic, told The Associated Press that 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of highly enriched uranium remains in criminal hands and is probably in another country.

[link to www.cbsnews.com]

Im sure I read recently that around 8000 kilometers squared were now contaminated? I just know I read that recently. Also they just announced that they were LIFTING the restrictions to the "voluntary" exclusion zone, which I read into meaning outside the twenty kilometer zone. I personally feel that in around six months time or perhaps even less, Japan will collapse economically, the costs involved with radiation testing absolutely everything meant for export, and the fact that countries are simply just not going to import anything anymore, is where my thinkings going. I said this right from the getgo, the nuclear disaster is more than just nuclear in scope, its economical as well.

I truly see japan collapsing economically. I am really starting to think that with all this hydrogen we are going to see "maybe" a big bang or three. I was initially supposing steam "geysers" but hadnt thought (face palm)
about the radiation "heat" dispersing water into its hydrogen/oxygen parts.The possiblilty of large explosions is now very real.

And with any large bangs, well, I think we can safely call it game over, when taking in to account the spent fuel pools being suspended high off the ground, within rapidly disintergrating blown up, almost ready to collapse buildings.

This shits starting to get real, well, real..........

Real doom for Japan.

Megadeath Weapons Tritium Production to Increase

"DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

National Nuclear Security Administration

Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement (SEIS) for the Production of Tritium in a Commercial Light
Water Reactor"
[link to cryptome.org]
.

San Onofre beach reopens, but with warning

"September 23, 2011|By FRED SWEGLES
San Onofre State Beach reopened the gate to popular Surf Beach on Friday afternoon but is advising visitors against entering the water until San Diego County health officials declare the water safe after a sewage spill from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

The power plant reported that a blocked sewage line within the plant led to a 7,000-gallon spill into the ocean a mile offshore about 4 p.m. Thursday."
[link to articles.ocregister.com]

Giant radioactive sharks lurking in the depth...
.

Glowing turds??

Yep, with a GE logo on the back... can be used as a portable 500W amplifier with built in disco lights... soon in a Walmart near you... lol...

Coast to coast!


NY beaches full of Shit

Thread: NY beaches full of Shit!

Can Japan's Anti-Nuclear Protesters Keep the Reactors Shut Down?


Read more: [link to www.time.com]

Japan reveals huge size of Fukushima clean-up area

Removing topsoil containing caesium and other contaminants is likely to leave a pile of nuclear waste almost 29 million cubic metres high – enough to fill one of the city’s largest stadiums 80 times, says a government report released this week.

Decontamination work from the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years could extend to a 2,400sq km (930sq miles) zone across the four worst affected prefectures, according to the environment ministry report, the first official assessment.

[link to www.irishtimes.com]

Japanese rice contaminated with radioactive waves

As the news breaks around the country, Japan's rice-growing regions are rushing to test their production to make sure it's clear of radiation. The Japanese public is now worried about their diet, which consists largely of rice.

[link to www.thesimmonsvoice.com]

Fukushima’s Contamination Produces Some Surprises at Sea

Off the coast, the early results indicate that very large amounts of radioactive materials were released, and may still be leaking, and that rather than being spread through the whole ocean, currents are keeping a lot of the material concentrated.
Most of that contamination came from attempts to cool the reactors and spent fuel pools, which flushed material from the plant into the ocean, and from direct leaks from the damaged facilities.

Japanese government and utility industry scientists estimated this month that 3,500 terabecquerels of cesium 137 was released directly into the sea from March 11, the date of the earthquake and tsunami, to late May. Another 10,000 terabecquerels of cesium 137 made it into the ocean after escaping from the plant as steam.

[link to green.blogs.nytimes.com]

~snip~

Chernobyl-induced radiation in the Black Sea peaked in 1986 at about 1,000 becquerels per cubic meter, he said in an interview at his office in Woods Hole, Mass. By contrast, the radiation level off the coast near the Fukushima Daiichi plant peaked at more than 100,000 becquerels per cubic meter in early April.

Before Fukushima, in 2010, the Japanese coast measured about 1.5 becquerel per cubic meter, he said.

‘‘Chernobyl might have been five times bigger, over all, but the ocean impact was much smaller,’’ Mr. Buesseler said.

Reality check shows nuclear energy is the wrong path

The main attraction of the nuclear option seems to be the 'status' and prestige associated with mastering nuclear technologies.

In developing countries, nuclear technology has often been viewed as a passport to the first world and to the bureaucratic self aggrandizement of the nuclear establishment.

And since there is no clear distinction between the technologies needed for peaceful uses of nuclear energy and manufacturing nuclear weapons, there are also concerns that new nuclear reactors increase the danger of nuclear weapons proliferation.

Whatever countries' true motivation, under current conditions, and if the question is how to secure energy supplies for future generations in the developing world, nuclear power is not part of the answer.

José Goldemberg is a physicist and Professor Emeritus of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He has served as Brazil's Secretary of State for Science and Technology and Minister of State for Education.

[link to www.environmental-expert.com]

Don't belittle individual efforts

Like most people living in Japan these days, I am disappointed by the failure of the national government to adequately collect and disseminate necessary information regarding radiation levels to the public. True, high-level information such as the maps produced by the education and science ministry have been released, but such broad-based assessments are not granular enough to pick up local hot spots. Without this level of detail, it is very difficult for people living in areas outside the mandatory evacuation zone who are still exposed to elevated radiation levels to make daily decisions about their lives. It is for that reason that many of them have taken matters into their own hands and purchased Geiger counters to take their own measurements of their surroundings.

[link to search.japantimes.co.jp]

Swiss parliament approves nuclear plant phase out

[link to www.google.com]

Worried crowd at San Onofre nuclear plant meeting


Read more: [link to www.sacbee.com]

YAY.