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

so, what was the point of any one saying anything was ok?

safe?
well?
fixed?
under control?
managed?




fuck.......................................

eat words and die dipshits..... murderers......

bit too late now............

Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 12/05/2012 04:00 AM

Exhibition on latest photovoltaic power generation

An exhibition of the latest in photovoltaic power generation is underway in Chiba, near Tokyo.

About 200 companies and organizations are taking part in the event.

Japanese electronic component maker Kyocera is introducing a so-called mega solar plant. Such facilities can generate at least 1,000 kilowatts of electricity. The company is building a mega solar plant in Kagoshima City, southwestern Japan. It's also showing solar panels that it says have the world's best power generation efficiency.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
.

NRA may assess Tsuruga plant fissures

The chairman of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority says it may determine whether a nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture is vulnerable to earthquakes even if experts fail to make a scientific judgment on the matter.

Shun-ichi Tanaka made the remark at a news conference on Wednesday before a meeting in Tokyo next week to evaluate results of a survey of fissures beneath the Tsuruga plant on the Sea of Japan coast.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
.

Govt. to integrate nuclear waste storage sites

Talks between the government and municipalities to find storage sites for soil contaminated with nuclear radiation are tense.

On Wednesday, Environment Ministry officials met with the mayor of Okuma town, Toshitsuna Watanabe, after the municipality agreed last month to accept the government's survey to find candidate storage sites.

Nine of 12 government-planned sites are in Okuma Town, which hosts the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
.

Smart move...

Japan's nuclear regulatory body decides to have 3 foreign advisers

Japan's nuclear regulation authority decided Wednesday during its regular meeting to appoint three prominent experts from the United States, Britain and France as external members to seek advice over its activities.

The experts are Richard Meserve, former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Andre-Claude Lacoste, former chairman of the French nuclear safety authority, and Mike Weightman, the head of Britain's nuclear regulation office.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
.

EDF Falls on Rising Costs for Normandy Nuclear Reactor

Electricite de France SA declined in Paris as the biggest nuclear operator raised the estimated cost of developing its EPR reactor in Normandy to 8.5 billion euros ($11 billion), more than double the initial estimate.
The utility, which retained its 2016 target for starting up the reactor, said the plant’s costs grew because of changes to its engineering and design, and lessons learned from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster. The figure includes 2 billion euros of higher costs on a constant currency basis, plus an additional increase to take inflation into account, an EDF official said yesterday.
[link to www.bloomberg.com]
.

B&W reactor control room simulator operational

The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) (NYSE: BWC) is pleased to announce that the production-standard control room prototype for its B&W mPower™ small modular reactor (SMR) is now operational. This engineering simulator is a key milestone in the B&W mPower development program.
[link to www.nucpros.com]
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South Korea uncovers new fake documents at nuclear plants

SEOUL - South Korean officials said on Wednesday they had uncovered new instances of fake certificates being supplied for parts operating in nuclear power plants, but a source indicated that the revelations would cause no further reactor shutdowns.

Authorities shut two of the country's 23 reactors last month after a nuclear safety commission found fake certificates supplied by eight firms. With nuclear power providing a third of electricity, that raised the prospect of winter shortages.
[link to www.nucpros.com]
.

Of course... no further shutdowns.
No biggie.. gotta have heat, don't we..?

We'll find those inferior parts through attrition...

??????////////////%%%555555555#########3

NRC accused of negligence, excessive secrecy over nuclear power plant flood risk
[link to www.power-eng.com]

[snip]

According to The Huffington Post, Criscinoe first raised his concerns in a lengthy letter to the head of the NRC, which he later sent to several members of Congress. Perkins, who led the study that produced the report, wrote a letter to the NRC’s office of the inspector general, in which he alleged “that

the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has intentionally mischaracterized relevant and noteworthy safety information as sensitive, security information in an effort to conceal the information from the public.”

[link to pbadupws.nrc.gov]

Supreme Court Asked To Order VY Shutdown
[link to www.vpr.net]

[snip]

The New England Coalition points to a state Public Service Board
order last week saying the Vernon reactor's owners agreed in 2002
to shut down if they didn't have a new state certificate of public good by this past March.
It's operating in apparent violation of that 2002 agreement.

Japan remains popular destination among Asians

A survey shows that Japan remains a popular holiday destination for Asian tourists other than Chinese.

The study, conducted in October by the Development Bank of Japan, covered 4,000 people living in 7 Asian countries and territories who had ever taken an overseas trip.

Japan was top of the list of desired countries to visit for 63 percent of respondents from Taiwan, 52 percent from Malaysia and 48 percent from Thailand.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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US report: Shale gas exports benefit US economy

A report sponsored by the US government says shipping surplus shale gas overseas will benefit the country's economy. This could pave the way for getting government permission to export the commodity.

The export plans include business with Japan's electric and gas utilities.

Japanese energy firms have had to increase their use of thermal power plants since the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant last year. The firms are keen to buy cheaper US gas.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Sweden forced to shut down nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor in southern Sweden was forced to shut down on Thursday after officials found the plant had failed to meet safety requirements.

"We decided that Oskarshamn nuclear power plant (OKG) should take nuclear reactor O2 offline immediately," the Radiation Safety Authority (Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten) said in a statement.
[link to www.thelocal.se]
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French Reactor Cost Rises Dramatically, Wind Energy Now Cheaper than New Nuclear

Liberation reports that for the second time in a little more than a year the cost of a new reactor under construction at Flamanville, France has risen dramatically.

Originally scheduled to be completed this year for a cost of €3.3 billion, the cost of the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) doubled in 2011 to €6 billion and completion was delayed until 2016.

Constructors Areva and Electricité de France (EDF) have announced the cost has again risen, now to €8.5 billion ($10.6 billion) for the 1,650-MW reactor.

Similar cost overruns and completion delays have plagued Areva's EPR reactor under construction in Finland. Originally planned for operation in 2009, the Finnish reactor's start date has been extended to 2015, six years behind schedule.

With capital costs now more than €5,000 per kW ($6,400 per kW), EDF's announcement doesn't bode well for reactor proposals in Ontario, Canada, the US, and in Great Britain.
[link to www.renewableenergyworld.com]
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Team creates fabric that can absorb 99% of radioactive cesium

apanese researchers said they have developed a fabric that can efficiently absorb radioactive cesium, a potential weapon in the battle to clean up areas contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The fabric, which can absorb more than 99 percent of cesium under certain conditions, can be mass-produced at a cost of about 1,000 yen ($12) per square meter, or about one-fifth of existing products, according to the researchers at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science and Ozu Corp., a Tokyo-based nonwoven fabric manufacturer.
[link to www.nucpros.com]
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Russia, China Ink Deal to Build 2 New Nuclear Reactors

MOSCOW, December 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will build two new reactors at China’s Tianwan nuclear power plant under an inter-governmental agreement signed on Thursday.

The bilateral protocol on the construction of Tainwan’s third and fourth reactors was signed in the presence of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao.

Construction work will begin in December this year, Rosatom civilian nuclear power corporation head Sergei Kiriyenko said.
[link to www.nucpros.com]
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Last 24 hours have ‘killed’ French nuclear – analyst
[link to enformable.com]

The sordid tale continues to unfold...err... unravel.... errr... undulate...


Japan scientists took utility money
[link to ajw.asahi.com]

[snip]

Influential Japanese scientists who help set national radiation exposure limits have for years had trips paid for by the country's nuclear plant operators to attend overseas meetings of the world's top academic group on radiation safety.

The potential conflict of interest is revealed in one sentence buried in a 600-page parliamentary investigation into last year's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant disaster and pointed out to The Associated Press by a medical doctor on the 10-person investigation panel.

Ugly..


Nuclear scientists found to have accepted travel money from Japan’s utilities
[link to japandailypress.com]

[snip]

The true questionable nature is revealed in that
these scientists were directly involved in setting
safety policies after the March 2011 nuclear
meltdown...
guidelines that decided whether children would
play outside or indoors, and if families would evacuate
or stay in their homes within radiation exposure areas.

[link to www.youtube.com]
.

I guess we'll find out where the californians stand, soon enough..

Edison aims to reinstate reactors at nuclear plant
[link to www.dailytitan.com]

[snip]

Each reactor unit has two steam generators. Both units have been shut down since the worn tubing was discovered in January earlier this year. The wearing was particularly bad in Unit 3, which resulted in a minor radioactive gas leak.

Both units have been shut down since the problem was uncovered. Unit 1, the only other reactor ever at the plant, was permanently shut down and dismantled in 1992.

Nearly a year after the shutdown, Edison has attempted to make a case that Unit 2 is now safe to operate once again.

Doubtful, very muchi!

Citizen activist makes his case about San Onofre to Nuclear Regulatory Commission
[link to www.scpr.org]

[snip]

Activist Ray Lutz said amendments to San Onofre’s license would allow Edison to change the frequency of hundreds of critical inspections, hiding them in documents controlled by the utility company.

Edison attorneys insisted changes in surveillance frequency would still be subject to oversight. But Alex Karlin, an administrative law judge on the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, pointed out to Edison attorney Steven Frantz that under the amended operating license, the utility would no longer be required to report changes to the NRC.

Karlin kept asking whether that results in a relaxation of oversight. "Yes or no?" he asked several times.

Frantz said the change was meant to give a licensee more flexibility: "That’s the whole purpose."

Karlin kept pushing. Finally, Frantz agreed, saying, "Yeah, we are no longer required to get NRC approval."

70 years after first atomic reaction, anti-nuclear movement presses on
[link to www.midwestenergynews.com]

[snip]

Unsafe and inefficient?

Engineer Arnie Gunderson had worked as a nuclear plant operator and became senior vice president of Nuclear Energy Services, a Connecticut consulting firm. He grew concerned about unaddressed safety violations he observed in the course of his work and in 1990 became an industry whistleblower, airing his concerns to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and later testifying before Congress with the backing of Ohio Sen. John Glenn.

Now he and his wife run the non-profit Fairewinds Energy Education Corp., which raises awareness of nuclear and other energy issues. He said that five things which were troubling in the early days of the nuclear industry have not changed: “Secrecy, subsidies, waste heat, decay heat, and the piles of waste.”

Decay heat refers to the fact that nuclear reactor waste continues to emit heat for years as it breaks down, necessitating ongoing cooling and creating long-term risks.

Waste heat highlights the inefficiencies of nuclear power, which Gunderson said turns about 33 percent of the available energy into actual electricity. Coal plants hover around 40 to 42 percent, he said, and modern natural gas-fired plants are even more efficient than that.

“Nuclear power is like cutting butter with a chain saw,” said Gunter.

Gunderson said he’s observed first-hand a cozy relationship between federal regulators and companies that run nuclear plants, and he thinks such “secretive” relationships have translated to government support for nuclear energy that would be more wisely focused on renewables and energy efficiency.

“What we’re seeing is that the cost of solar is plummeting while nuclear is rising,” he said. Skeptics note that the sun “doesn’t shine day and night,” he continued.

“But if you believe man can build a repository to store nuclear waste for a quarter-million years, surely those same people can find a way to store electricity [from solar panels] overnight.”