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

Nuclear board warns of Washington tank explosion risk

YAKIMA, Wash. – Underground tanks that hold a stew of toxic, radioactive waste at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site pose a possible risk of explosion, a nuclear safety board said in advance of confirmation hearings for the next leader of the Energy Department.

State and federal officials have long known that hydrogen gas could build up inside the tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, leading to an explosion that would release radioactive material. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommended additional monitoring and ventilation of the tanks last fall, and federal officials were working to develop a plan to implement the recommendation.

Federal officials have said six underground tanks at the site are leaking into the soil, threatening the groundwater, and technical problems have delayed construction of a plant to treat the waste for long-term safe disposal.

In addition to the leaks, the board noted concerns about the potential for hydrogen gas buildup within a tank, in particular those with a double wall, which contain deadly waste that was previously pumped out of the leaking single-shell tanks.

"All the double-shell tanks contain waste that continuously generates some flammable gas," the board said. "This gas will eventually reach flammable conditions if adequate ventilation is not provided."

All of the tanks are actively ventilated, which means they have blowers and fans to prevent a buildup of hydrogen gas, and those systems are monitored to ensure they are operating as intended, Energy Department spokeswoman Carrie Meyer said.

For even greater safety, she said, the agency implemented an improved monitoring system in February.

"DOE is absolutely committed to ensuring the safety of Hanford's underground tanks," Meyer said.

The problems identified by the board show that the plant schedule will be delayed further and the cost will keep rising, Wyden said, adding: "There is a real question as to whether the plant, as currently designed, will work at all."
[link to www.nucpros.com]
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MHI, Areva to Win $22 Bln Turkish Nuclear Deal, Nikkei Says

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (7011) of Japan and Areva SA (AREVA) of France are set to win a $22 billion project to build an atomic power plant in Turkey, the Nikkei newspaper said.

The group will build four reactors with combined capacity of about 4,500 megawatts in Sinop on the Black Sea coast, the Nikkei said, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. The first unit is scheduled to begin operations by 2023 following the start of construction in 2017, the Nikkei said.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, speaking in an interview with CNBC-e television today from Ankara, said Turkey had not yet reached the final phase of talks. South Korea and Canada were dropped from competition, leaving China and Japan in contention, he said.
[link to www.bloomberg.com]
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may lead members of the public to the misunderstanding that following the guidelines ensures the safety of nuclear power plants


Well... we don't want the public thinking that...

More to come...

Australia approves uranium mining project

The Australian government has granted environmental approval for Toro Energy Ltd.'s $280 million Wiluna uranium mining project in Western Australia.

The approval comes with 36 conditions to guard against negative effects from radiation and other factors.

Wiluna would become Australia's sixth uranium project but the first in Western Australia. While Australia's uranium output represents just more than 10 percent of global production, the country has the world's largest uranium inventory with one-third of known recoverable resources.
[link to www.nuclearpowerdaily.com]
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< quitely weeps......

Edison Seeks June 1 Nuke Plant Restart, NRC Says Not so Fast
[link to lakeforest-ca.patch.com]

[snip]

Edison officials told the NRC they would make the decision on whether to submit their license amendment within a week. No official decisions were made at the meeting.

Opponents of the restart urged NRC officials to reject a license amendment and criticized the hearing process.

Unexpected gas releases from Hanford tank
[link to www.nwcn.com]

[snip]

Confidential sources say it began on March 16 and lasted for several days, much longer than usual, and they worry a single spark could have set off an explosive release of radioactivity.

This comes two days after a report by a government panel expressing concerns about the release of flammable gasses at Hanford and the government's inability to respond to them.

Workers who toil above the buried Hanford tank farms constantly monitor the tanks for gas build-ups and will conduct controlled releases to reduce pressure. We're told this was a spontaenous release, not controlled.

Broken Arrow Nuclear Weapon Accidents
[link to www.aerospaceweb.org]

[snip]

Accidents involving nuclear weapons have occurred almost since such devices were first developed, and these events were a common occurrence during the Cold War. However, the US and other countries possessing nuclear arms developed various safety systems to prevent accidental thermonuclear reactions within these weapons even under the most extreme circumstances in order to avoid potential catastrophes.

Even so, non-thermonuclear detonations of the conventional high explosives carried within nuclear weapons still pose a serious threat since they can spread dangerous radioactive contamination much like a so-called "dirty bomb." This scenario has occurred several times during aircraft accidents when high speed impacts or burning fuel caused the high explosive charges on nuclear weapons to ignite.

At least three dozen serious accidents and incidents involving atomic or nuclear weapons have occurred since 1950. Many of these cases cost the lives of military personnel, led to the release of radioactive material, or resulted in the loss of the weapon itself. Most of these weapons fell into the ocean where the nuclear material could not be recovered given the limits of current technology. It is estimated that over 50 nuclear warheads have been lost in the world's oceans following aircraft or naval accidents. Another 26 nuclear reactors from ships and submarines have also been lost or deliberately dumped at sea.

Podcast.

Nuclear Power and Earthquakes
[link to www.fairewinds.com]

Rat Chase Again Bedevils Fukushima Nuclear Plant
[link to www.nytimes.com]

[snip]

The debris-strewn plant still relies on makeshift cooling systems, some of which were hastily put together in the accident’s frantic aftermath. The spent fuel pools, which hold far more radioactive material than the reactor cores, have been a particular source of concern.

A blackout disabled cooling at four fuel pools last month, an incident the company blamed on a rat that may have gnawed on power cables and triggered a short circuit. The rat died, and engineers later found its scorched body in a damaged switchboard.

But Friday afternoon, four workers using wire meshing to seal a space around electric cables triggered a ground fault, or the accidental flow of current to the ground. None of the workers were injured, but the ground fault shut off electricity to the cooling system at the No. 3 reactor fuel pool.

TVA Applies For License Renewal of Sequoyah Nuclear Plant
[link to www.tva.gov]

Monster copperhead at ORNL
[link to blogs.knoxnews.com]

[snip]

They grow 'em big at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In the photograph above, ORNL Wildlife Coordinator Neil Giffen holds a 45-inch copperhead that was killed earlier this week just outside the lab's East Portal on Bethel Valley Road. (Near the station where deer hunters bring their deer to be checked for radioactivity.)

Iran nuclear talks start in Kazakhstan

Representatives of 6 world powers and Iran have begun talks in Kazakhstan on the Iranian nuclear program. The world powers are urging Iran to respond positively to their compromise proposal.

Negotiators from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are meeting with their Iranian counterparts on Friday and Saturday in the city of Almaty.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and top Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili are also participating in the meeting.

Western nations are demanding that Iran halt its program to enrich uranium to 20-percent purity. Experts say uranium at this level can easily be converted to nuclear weapons.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Cooling of Fukushima plant's No. 3 spent fuel pool stops for 3 hours

The cooling system for one of the spent fuel pools at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant halted temporarily Friday while workers were taking steps to protect related electricity equipment, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

TEPCO confirmed that the cooling system for the pool at the top of the No. 3 reactor building stopped at 2:27 p.m. With no signs of water leaks or other irregularities, the utility resumed cooling the water inside the pool at 5:20 p.m.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
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Fukushima reactor cooling system restarted

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it has restarted a fuel pool cooling system at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after several hours of suspension.

TEPCO says an alarm went off at around 2:30 PM on Friday, signaling electric trouble at the plant's Number 3 reactor fuel pool. Officials confirmed the failure.

The pool contains 514 units of spent fuel rods and 52 units of unused rods.

The utility says the pool's temperature was 15 degrees Celsius at 2 PM and that it would take about 2 weeks to reach the in-house safety threshold of 65 degrees.

The utility says radiation levels at monitoring posts near the plant did not changed during the suspension.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Spent fuel cooling system back up at Fukushima No. 3 reactor

TOKYO — One of the systems keeping spent nuclear fuel cool at the Fukushima nuclear plant temporarily failed on Friday, the second outage in a matter of weeks, underlining the precarious fix at the plant.

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said an alarm sounded at the facility at 2:27 p.m., and technicians soon confirmed that the cooling system for the pool attached to the No. 3 reactor was not working.

Nuclear fuel, even after use, has to be kept cool to prevent it from overheating and beginning a self-sustaining atomic reaction that could lead to meltdown.

The problem, which was fixed in about three hours, occurred as work crew placed a metal mesh around a switchboard in a bid to prevent small animals from touching it, a TEPCO spokesman told a press conference.

The TEPCO spokesman said a wire or the mesh might have touched the ground while crews put the mesh in place, unintentionally grounding the equipment and knocking it offline.

TEPCO apologized for the problem, but stressed that it had not posed any immediate danger.
[link to www.japantoday.com]
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Yeah... we need more drunks at nuclear plants...

Nine Mile Point nuclear supervisor fails random alcohol check
[link to www.syracuse.com]

More contraband discovered concealed above ceilings at Braidwood nuclear power plant
[link to enformable.com]

Do they sponsor AA meetings....?


Inspector General Report Presents Results of the NRC 2012 Safety Culture and Climate Survey
[link to public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov]

[snip]

The results of the survey of the agency workforce were significantly more favorable than comparable national and industry norms.

TV: Hanford nuclear waste tanks could explode — Continuously generating flammable gas (VIDEO)
[link to enenews.com]

[snip]

Underground tanks that hold a stew of toxic, radioactive waste at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site pose a possible risk of explosion, [the congressionally appointed Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB)] said [...] State and federal officials have long known that hydrogen gas could build up inside the tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, leading to an explosion that would release radioactive material. [...] In addition to the leaks, the board noted concerns about the potential for hydrogen gas buildup within a tank, in particular those with a double wall, which contain deadly waste that was previously pumped out of the leaking single-shell tanks. [...]

Secret nuclear cargo shipped around Norway

The small vessel “Mikhail Dudin” set sail Wednesday evening on her return voyage from Murmansk after the vessel over the last 48 hours has unloaded the potentially deadly cargo at Atomflot. 
[link to barentsobserver.com]
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US helped Czech Republic remove nuclear material

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has helped the Czech Republic become the 10th country to remove stocks of highly enriched uranium.

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden says the United States and international partners removed 68 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, enough for two nuclear weapons, from the Czech Republic.
[link to www.boston.com]
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Alstom to renew 3,512MW Darlington nuclear plant in Canada

France-based Alstom has secured a contract from Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to refurbish and renew the 3,512MW Darlington nuclear plant, located in Darlington, Ontario.

Under the long-term contract, valued at EUR265m, Alstom will renovate four units each with a capacity of 900MW at the facility and increase the lifespan of the plant by another 25 to 30 years.
[link to nuclear.energy-business-review.com]
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United States: A New Step Forward in Reactor Safety and Performance

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved AREVA's new ARCADIA core simulator system used for core performance analysis in pressurized water reactor plants in the United States. This major step forward will enable AREVA to offer a broader portfolio of products for the U.S. nuclear power generation market.
[link to www.nuclearpowerdaily.com]
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Maybe the expansion of the gasses is part of what makes the tanks leak? I know the material inside is corrosive, but they don't seem to last near as long as the design life. Seems like a good theory to me.

Can't be helping.
Seems as though the gas occasionally builds up faster than they can relieve the pressure.
This would make the most sense to me, if they monitor them 24/7.
I'm going to guess and say the original calculations didn't take this into account.
The size of the pressure relief system may have been adequate at one time, now.. not so much.

So far, they aren't letting us know much about the process.

Fukushima operators fear radioactive water leak
[link to www.ctvnews.ca]

[snip]

The plant is being decommissioned but continues to experience glitches. A fuel storage pool temporarily lost its cooling system Friday, less than a month after the plant suffered a more extensive outage.

The underground tank, several times the size of an Olympic-size swimming pool and similar to an industrial waste dump, is dug directly into the ground and protected by two layers of polyethylene linings inside the outermost clay-based lining, with a felt padding in between each layer.

cool, we keep highly nuke waste in garden wrap... sophisticated.....

Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 04/06/2013 07:44 AM

TEPCO removing radioactive water

Tokyo Electric Power Company has begun transferring radioactive water from a leaking storage tank at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The company says radioactive strontium and other substances were detected on the ground around a storage tank from Wednesday to Friday.

TEPCO estimates that 120 tons leaked so far based on the change in the level of water in the tank.

The work began on Saturday morning.

Workers are using 4 pumps to transfer radioactive water in the tank to an adjacent tank.

The utility says the leaked water has not flowed into the ocean because there is no ditch around the tank, and the sea is some 800 meters away.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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well that makes PERFECT SENSE!.. thank god for tepco.....

(like they have spare tanks whilst they release radionucliotides into the ocean with governmental blessings)

thank god for AB for clarification when you bring non-fact that he can debunk with a resounding non-sensical statement... phewww...... there i was thinking it was bad.....



Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 04/06/2013 07:52 AM