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

Skeptics challenge San Onofre nuclear-plant crisis planners

Five-hour meeting about lessons learned from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear-plant emergency is occasionally interrupted by critics who don’t believe the speakers’ claims that a similar event is unlikely here and that local plans are adequate.

[link to www.ocregister.com]

Regulators to discuss Browns Ferry findings

Nuclear regulators have called a public meeting Monday with TVA at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant to discuss the results of the first wave of "red" inspection findings there.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in early May gave the Tennessee Valley Authority a "red" or "high safety significance" rating in connection with last fall's failure of a cooling-water injection valve at Browns Ferry on the Tennessee River near Athens, Ala.

The NRC said the valve may have been inoperable for more than 18 months at TVA's oldest nuclear plant. The valve is part of a system that would be used for core cooling during certain accident scenarios, and its inoperable state could have led to core damage had a series of unlikely events occurred. The valve has been replaced.

"Red" is the worst level given by the NRC before a plant is shut down, something the agency has never done.

[link to www.timesfreepress.com]

Syrian nuclear engineer assassinated
[link to www.nydailynews.com]

Saudi Arabia targets first nuclear plant by 2020

[link to www.ft.com]

Density of hydrogen at No.1 reactor over 60%

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says that high densities of hydrogen have built up in pipes connected to the No. 1 reactor.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says that an explosion is unlikely as there is no oxygen in the pipes, but that it will begin work to drain the gas starting on Thursday.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]

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Japan to postpone test to restart Menu reactor

The Japanese government is postponing a test-run of an experimental fast-breeder nuclear reactor due to uncertainty over the future of the country's nuclear energy policy.

The Monju fast-breeder reactor uses plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel to generate power. It is seen as a prototype for Japan's next-generation nuclear power plant.

Monju has been suspended for more than 2 years due to a technical problem. The trouble occurred only 3 months after it resumed operation following a 14-year shutdown caused by a leakage of sodium coolant in 1995.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]

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3 Fukushima reactors cooled below 100 degrees

The temperature of another troubled reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has fallen below 100 degrees Celsius for the first time since the nuclear disaster in March.

Tokyo Electric Power Company or TEPCO says the temperature in the lower area of the Number 2 reactor stood at 99.4 degrees at 5 PM on Wednesday.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]

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Facilites to store irradiated soil to be built

The environment ministry says it will build facilities to temporarily store radioactive contaminated soil in Tokyo and 7 prefectures in eastern and northern Japan.

Local governments have been trying to remove radioactive materials since the crisis began at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. But they are struggling to find places to store mud and sludge generated by the decontamination.

According to the plan, the facilities will be built in Tokyo and 4 other prefectures in Kanto and 3 prefectures in the Tohoku region.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]

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Tokyo Nuclear Firms Sign Deal With Vietnam

In Japan's most aggressive move to promote exports of nuclear technology since the Fukushima Daiichi accident in March, a Tokyo-based utility consortium signed a deal with Vietnam on Wednesday to conduct a feasibility study for two new reactors.

The agreement comes as a lifeline to Japan's nuclear industry, which harbors ambitions of expanding abroad, even as its future is in doubt at home. Amid a post-disaster reassessment of energy policy, the government has vowed to reduce dependence on nuclear power for domestic electricity generation. But it has continued to push nuclear technology in overseas markets.

[link to online.wsj.com]

Diet to set up panel on Fukushima accident

Japan's governing and opposition parties have agreed to set up an investigative panel on the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The 3 parties plus the Communist Party and the main governing Democratic Party agreed on Wednesday to set up a 10-member body in the Diet with the authority to summon witnesses and to demand the submission of documents.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]

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Argentina Cuts Ribbon On Its Third Nuclear Power Plant

[link to online.wsj.com]

US nuclear-security lab supercomputer to use NetApp storage

NetApp has sold its storage systems to the US government's laboratory in California charged with ensuring safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons without underground testing.

The US Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will deploy NetApp systems to store data for its Sequoia supercomputer, due to come online in 2012 and expected to be one of the world's most powerful computing machines.

[link to www.datacenterdynamics.com]

Westinghouse Electric Company Awarded Replacement Steam Generator Contract by EDF

Westinghouse Electric Company in France today announced that it has been awarded a contract for the supply of 12 replacement steam generators for EDF's French nuclear fleet.

The world's leading provider of steam generators, Westinghouse has supplied more than 80 steam generators globally since 1987.

[link to www.prnewswire.com]

EDF To Invest In 44 Steam Generators For Its Nuclear Power Plants


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

Hey Waterbug Solar seems the only way to go, do you agree?

Hi Waterbug! This is off topic of nuclear but on topic of the solar flares. We have been having power outages lately that come with loud booming noises that would normally be associated with transformers blowing, but none have blown in the neighborhood. Anyway, about 3am Tuesday morning we had one so I looked out to see if I could spy a flaming transformer...no luck. BUT - I saw aurora borealis! No shit, here in Southern Oregon. It was cool!!!! Vertical blue green shimmers up in the eastern sky. Now I find myself waking up in the middle of the night to check the sky!

Japan Officials Failed to Hand Out Radiation Pills in Quake's Aftermath

Government officials failed to distribute to thousands of people pills that could have minimized radiation risks from the March nuclear accident, government documents show.

The disclosure is the latest evidence of government neglect of emergency procedures in the chaotic days after the disaster, in which an earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

[link to online.wsj.com]

Yea, their gov't are shits, that's for sure.

For real.

Best to leave that one shut down for good.

Unfortunately there are radiation risks in the manufacture and disposal of solar panels. Not on a great scale. Much, much better than boiling water with nuclear heat.

Stay safe up there. I have been reading the CME threads. Sounds like bad news. Also keep mentally referring to the article concerning the loss of the grid and nuke plants.

Northern Lights are awesome in cold air areas.

While I think of it, I should mention the fact that in some cities transformers are under sidewalks. They are usually covered by a sheet of steel plate. A power spike could cause an explosion as happened in Nashville a few years ago. A couple of tourists were injured, one badly, requiring several weeks of hospitalization.

Be safe.

I called Pacific Power because I have a transformer box in my front yard. It's one of those boxes that's like 3ft square and then the rest goes underground. It's only 10 feet or so from my daughters bedroom so I asked them to check it out. We have been in this house for 16 years and they have never opened it. The power outage and boom have happened 2 times this week and they don't know what caused it.

Fukushima's Population Exodus Continues.TOKYO (Nikkei)--

Fukushima Prefecture, one of the areas hit hardest by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the focus of the subsequent nuclear disaster, saw a net outflow of 7,828 residents in the June-August period, the Internal Affairs Ministry reported Thursday.

[link to e.nikkei.com]

This is bad news for nuclear advocates:

Nuclear power turns out even more expensive than we thought. According to a study by Arthur D. Little, the four German nuclear utilities (E.ON, RWE, EnBW, Vattenfall) face costs of at least $25 billion for decommissioning their reactors.
After the Fukushima disaster, Germany decided to say goodbye to nuclear by switching off eight reactors immediately while the remaining nine are scheduled for a gradual phaseout by 2022.

[link to www.grist.org]

New device keeps nuclear plants safe amid blackout

Korea has developed the world`s first passive auxiliary feedwater system that automatically feeds cooling water in the event of a blackout at nuclear power plants.

If the system is installed at a nuclear power generator, it can cool the power plant and nuclear fuel in case of a shutdown of electricity that occurred in Fukushima, Japan.

“We completed the first performance test on PASF. We can export this device that dramatically increases safety at nuclear plants,” said Baek Won-pil, head of the nuclear energy research division at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, on Thursday.

[link to english.donga.com]

Japan’s alcoholic drinks to be tested for radiation

The tax agency said these beverages include beer, wine, and sake which are produced in factories and breweries within the 150 kilometers of the nuclear plant. Those outside of this set radius will still be tested randomly.

[link to www.tokyotimes.jp]

Bedford company to test nuclear reactor
[link to www2.wsls.com]

Green groups seek ban on new Ontario nuclear reactors

Greenpeace Canada and three other environmental groups say they intend to go to court to try to stop the construction of new nuclear reactors in Ontario.

Lawyers with Ecojustice and the Canadian Environmental Law Association — on behalf of the law association, Greenpeace Canada, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, and Northwatch — have filed an application for judicial review in Federal Court.

The province plans to build two new nuclear reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Clarington, Ont., about 70 kilometres east of Toronto.

[link to www.cbc.ca]

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Vatican official told members of the International Atomic Energy Agency that this year’s nuclear disaster in Japan has raised new concerns about the safety of nuclear plants around the world.
In a speech at the agency’s headquarters in Vienna Sept. 20, Msgr. Michael Banach, a priest of the Worcester Diocese, questioned whether nuclear power plants should be built and operated in areas prone to earthquakes and whether plants that already exist in such areas should be shut down.
[link to www.catholicfreepress.org]