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

NRC Begins Special Inspection at Columbia Generating Station

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has begun a week-long special inspection at the Columbia Generating Station, near Richland, Washington. NRC inspectors are reviewing a problem with a piece of equipment used to cool a room housing important emergency electrical equipment.

"During a recent inspection, the licensee discovered a large heat exchanger that provides cool air for a room housing electrical circuit breakers and safety-related batteries had not been properly maintained, reducing its capability," NRC said in a statement.
[link to www.neimagazine.com]
.

Here we go again...

Licensed worker at Grand Gulf nuclear power plant tests positive for illegal drugs

During a random fitness-for-duty test on July 22nd, a licensed employee confirmed positive for illegal drugs.  The employee has had access to the nuclear power plant revoked.
[link to enformable.com]
.

TEPCO releases infrared images of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3

TEPCO workers used an infrared-thermographic camera over the weekend to capture images of the top floor of the Unit 3 reactor building where steam was observed last week.  The camera was positioned between 15 and 40 meters above the reactor suspended by a crane.  TEPCO released its results of the measurement but was unable to determine the source of the steam.
[link to enformable.com]
.

YOKOGAWA: PART 21 FIRMWARE NOTICE FOR USERS OF YOKOGAWA DX1000N AND DX2000 MODEL RECORDERS

This letter is to inform you of a potential Yokogawa data recorder lock-up condition that under specific circumstances may occur on Yokogawa DX Advanced DX1000N and DX2000 models equipped with firmware versions 3.01 through 4.14. These recorders were bought commercially from Yokogawa by National Technical Systems (NTS) and dedicated as basic components for nuclear safety related service.

The attached list contains the nuclear power plants which have been provided DX Advanced safety related Yokogawa recorders with firmware versions 3.01 and above by NTS. NTS has notified these utilities of the above condition via e-mail on July 16, 2013.

CENG - Nine Mile
Dominion - Surry Station
Dominion - North Anna
Entergy - Arkansas Nuclear One
Entergy - Fitzpatrick
Entergy - Pilgrim Nuclear Station
Entergy - River Bend
Exelon - Braidwood Warehouse
Exelon - Byron
Exelon - Dresden Station
Exelon - Limerick Generating Station
Exelon - Quad Cities
First Energy - Perry Plant
Florida Power & Light - St. Lucie
Georgia Power - Vogtle Plant
AEP - DC Cook
Nebraska Public Power - Cooper
NextEra Energy - Duane Arnold
Omaha PPD - Fort Calhoun
Entergy - Palisades
Progress Energy - H.B. Robinson Plant
PSE&G - Salem/Hope Creek
Edison - San Onofre
STP Nuclear Operating Company
TVA - Sequoyah Station
Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp.
Xcel Energy - Prairie Island Nuclear"
[link to www.nucpros.com]
.

Layoffs seen likely at Entergy's Vt. Yankee

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) — Entergy Corp. says it expects workforce reductions at its Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

Chanel LaGarde, spokesman for New Orleans-based Entergy, said in an email that "we do expect workforce reductions" will be part of an effort to cut costs company-wide.

The comment comes as the nuclear industry has been under increasing pressure lately, particularly from competition from electrical generators fueled by cheap and abundant natural gas.
[link to www.businessweek.com]
.

[link to fukushimaemergencywhatcanwedo.blogspot.com.au]

[snip]

POSTCARDS FROM THE SEA!
"CHECK US OUT BEFORE EATING!"
THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (AMA)
Responds to Radiation in Seafood!
FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT AWARENESS NETWORK (FFAN)
Urges FDA Action Now! Read Urgent Press Release: here: [link to ffan.us]


PRESS RELEASE (pdf version: [link to ffan.us]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 23, 2013 ~ Washington DC

CONTACT: Cindy Folkers, Radiation and Health Specialist at Beyond Nuclear ~ 240-354-4314 • Sean Witzling, Esq. Swankin and Turner ~ 202-462-8800

Food Safety Group Applauds Recent American Medical Association's (AMA) Recommendation to Test U.S. Seafood for Radiation

FFAN urges responsible, transparent testing guidelines and national database for seafood radiation. Wants results to be made public.

Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN) today applauded the recent American Medical Association (AMA) "resolution" ( [link to www.cmanet.org] that calls on the U.S. government to test all U.S. seafood for radiation and fully report the results to the public. The AMA joins FFAN in demanding the public’s ‘Right to Know’ regarding radiation levels in food. The California Medical Association (CMA) initiated the resolution.

In March of 2013, in response to the worst ongoing nuclear disaster in history at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, FFAN coalition member groups Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Health and Ecological Options Network filed a legal Citizen Petition through the official process of the United States Department of Health Services Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FFAN Citizen Petition points out that the U.S. currently has the highest allowable limits for radioactive Cesium 134 and 137 in the world, 12 times higher in fact than Japan’s. “Food and beverages that are considered far too dangerous for consumption in Japan can be exported to U.S. citizens, including vulnerable children and pregnant women. This is an outrageous radioactive loophole that our lawmakers and FDA must address immediately,” states Kimberly Roberson, FFAN Director and author of “Silence Deafening, Fukushima Fallout.” Roberson continues, “We appreciate the AMA’s call for testing and encourage all to speak out for the additional steps required to protect our children as the current U.S. limits are still dangerously high.”

To that end, FFAN has petitioned the FDA to accept their petition into official process and lower the amount of man-made radiation currently allowed in U.S. food, nutritional supplements and pharmaceuticals.

After the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded, children in Belarus were found to have heart and hormonal problems with approximately 1% of the current U.S. limit for radioactive Cesium in their bodies.

[end snip]

Good news^^^^^^ ...maybe.

i know, the AMA?.. i'm in shock and having a wine to settle my nerves.....

Foreign visitors to Japan hit record high

The Japan National Tourism Organization says the number of foreign visitors to the country in the first half of this year marked a record high.

The organization says about 4.955 million foreign tourists and business travelers visited Japan from January to June. The figure is up 22.8 percent from last year and is the highest for the first half of any year.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
.

Regulators to hold open session on Tsuruga reactor

Japan's nuclear regulators plan to hold an open-door meeting to discuss the results of an additional survey by a nuclear power plant operator. The results run counter to their assessment that one of its reactors sits on an active fault.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority determined in May that an active fault runs under the Number 2 reactor of the Tsuruga nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture.

The reactor may have to be scrapped because the government bans building nuclear reactors on or above active faults.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
.

Radioactive material may have leaked from tunnel

Japan's nuclear regulators suspect that contaminated wastewater may be seeping into the sea from an underground utility tunnel at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Highly radioactive substances have been detected in coastal observation wells on the plant's premises, and in nearby seawater, since May this year.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, admitted for the first time on Monday that wastewater is leaking into the sea.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
.

Radioactive materials found near Fukushima Daiichi

Highly radioactive materials have been found in a town near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The plant operator says they are likely to have been contaminated in the March 2011 nuclear accident.

Four radioactive objects were found last month and this month on the riverbed of the Ide River that runs through Naraha Town in Fukushima Prefecture.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
.

Fukushima steps up children's thyroid recheck

Fukushima Prefecture has taken steps to facilitate the re-examination of children found with lumps in their thyroid glands following the 2011 nuclear crisis.

Only one hospital had been conducting the re-examination in the prefecture in northeastern Japan.

The prefectural government has added 2 more hospitals to carry out the examinations. One started work on Wednesday and examined 5 children. The other is to follow on Friday.

Prefectural officials took the step because only one-third of the children requiring re-examination have been able to undergo the procedure.

Fukushima is conducting regular checks of the thyroid glands of 360,000 people who were 18 or younger when the nuclear crisis began.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
.

They should be doing thyroid checks on everyone from the west coast. Babies in the state of Washington are being born with non-functional or NO thyroid glands at all. Nearly every adult I spoke with had a thyroid condition.

Hypothyroid, hyperthyroid, thyroid cancer... and the doctors shrug it off like Fukushima never happened. They (appear) to not be making a connection between the two.

nice....

It's a beautiful and at the same time strange country... I was there twice in the 80s and it was a strange mixture of modern and ancient things... maybe it has changed by now... to be honest I didn't have much free time there... work, work and work... one day off in Tokyo and one day off in Shizuoka...
.

Slow response to toxic water leak fuels distrust of TEPCO

Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s admission Monday that contaminated water containing radioactive substances has seeped from under the premises of its disaster-struck Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean came about a month after the problem surfaced.

The company's slow action, coupled with an apparent lack of coordination within the company in sharing crucial data about the case, is making local fishermen increasingly distrustful of the utility.

At a briefing for local fishermen in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture on Tuesday, the day after the revelation of the leak, participants expressed anger at the utility, with one calling for someone to take responsibility.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
.

Ex-supervisor at Indian Point nuclear plant charged with fabricating fuel tests 

An ex-supervisor at the Indian Point nuclear plant was arrested Tuesday on charges he fabricated fuel tests on backup generators to prevent the facility from being shut down.

Daniel Wilson, 57, the Westchester County plant’s chemistry manager from 2007 to 2012, was charged in Federal Court in White Plains with two counts of violating rules of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
[link to www.nydailynews.com]
.

The Hanford Sh!thole?... it's in Benton county... with Yakima county to the west and Franklin county to the east... what a coincidence...

Washington State Health Officials Stumped by High Rate of Birth Defects

A high rate of birth defects has confounded Washington health officials, who have been unable to identify a cause.

A report released Tuesday by the Washington State Department of Health said that, since 2010, the neighboring counties of Yakima, Benton and Franklin have an unusually high number pregnancies affected by the birth defect anencephaly, which results in a newborns' brains being severely underdeveloped.
[link to abcnews.go.com]
.

Are they truly stumped.. or under gag order..?

waiting for Godzilla to surface?.. sigh*... they think we are stupid...

I don't know... either they are really stupid or under a gag order or it's as simple as it's impossible to to verify a connection to the Hanford Sh!thole even if it looks very suspicious... wait another 10 to 20 years and maybe we'll have the answer...
.

sigh.. i would help but i an m under the fucken 'non-disclosure'. but i can say say you are both right....

Fukushima Unit 3 steaming again, third time in a week — Asahi: High radiation levels detected near where it was observed — Tepco does not know where it’s coming from (PHOTOS)

[link to enenews.com]



High radiation levels found near area where steam spotted at Fukushima plant

...

TEPCO gave a measurement of 562 millisieverts per hour.

...

In the latest incident, TEPCO measured radiation levels in 24 other locations around the fifth floor of the reactor building. The maximum dose was 2,170 millisieverts per hour, while the minimum was 137 millisieverts per hour.

[link to ajw.asahi.com]

OF COURSE THEY FUCKING DONT... THEY DON'T KNWO SHIT FROM CLAY THE LAZY MOTHER FUCKERS... KILL EVERYTHING IN THE MEANTIME.....

Details released on burned INL researcher
[link to www.kivitv.com]

Considering the admission that radiological releases are commonplace and necessary at nuclear plants..
This could be interesting.





Nuclear plants, including Oyster Creek, to soon be studied for cancer rates
[link to www.app.com]

TOMS RIVER An impending National Academy of Sciences study into cancer rates near nuclear plants may finally resolve activists’ contention that higher cancer rates are happening around older plants with environmental problems, a husband and wife activist team says.

“I think we have a window of opportunity with this NAS study,” said Cynthia Sauer, who with her husband Dr. Joseph Sauer pushed for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency to call for the study. The Sauers used to live near the troubled Dresden nuclear plant in Illinois and their daughter Sarah, now 19, was diagnosed at age 7 with a rare form of brain cancer.

We used to refer to that as "fogium".

It seems that we have a culture of substance and alcohol abuse, and now include criminality, running our nuke plants.
Peachy.


Indian Point supervisor arrested for deliberately falsifying critical safety records
[link to enformable.com]