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

TEPCO makes progress toward restarting idled reactors in Niigata

Niigata Gov. Hirohiko Izumida said Thursday that he basically approves Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s plan to apply for a safety assessment of its two idled reactors in Niigata Prefecture, a key step toward resuming their operation.

The announcement came a day after TEPCO President Naomi Hirose met Izumida and promised to install at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant reactors additional safety equipment to deal with severe nuclear accidents.

The approval from Izumida is expected to pave the way for the utility to apply to the Nuclear Regulation Authority for the safety assessment of the Nos. 6 and 7 units at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. Only reactors that satisfy a set of new safety requirements introduced in July will be allowed to restart.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
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Fukushima plant's undersea radiation-containment curtain ripped

Damage was found Thursday on one of the undersea curtains installed near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to help contain radiation contamination, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The curtain, called a "silt fence," is placed around an adjoining pair of water intakes of the plant's Nos. 5 and 6 reactors, which did not suffer meltdowns during the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

A worker found a cut in the fence at about 10:40 a.m., TEPCO said without elaborating, adding it is studying the damage and its impact. A cut had also been found in April.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
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FirstEnergy plans major overhaul of Beaver Valley nuclear power plant

FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. plans to replace the steam generator and reactor vessel head at its Beaver Valley Unit 2 nuclear reactor in 2017, according to Paul Harden, company senior vice president in charge of fleet engineering.

Eric Larson, FirstEnergy vice president at Beaver Valley, said the project costs will be "several hundred million dollars."

The major component replacements at Beaver Valley were discussed Tuesday at an informational meeting of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Moon, where FirstEnergy executives presented performance reviews and answered questions about its Beaver Valley reactors in Shippingport, Beaver County, its Davis-Besse nuclear plant near Toledo, Ohio, and its Perry power plant in Perry, Ohio.

Mr. Harden said the company will also begin a major project to replace the two steam generators at its Davis-Besse plant in February, during a longer-than-normal power outage to refuel the plant. Generator parts, made by Babcock & Wilcox of Canada, will begin arriving at the Davis-Besse site next month.

Both Beaver Valley units have been granted 20-year license extensions. The extension for Unit 1 runs until 2036, for Unit 2 until 2047. Together the pressurized water reactors produce more than 1,800 megawatts of power.
[link to www.post-gazette.com]
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Report: S.C. nuclear reactors at risk from dam failure

Several U.S. nuclear power plants, including one in Oconee County, could face major problems, including public exposure, if a nearby dam were to fail, according to a newly released report.

The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility released documents Monday that it had received from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, including a July 2011 report on flooding at power plant sites after upstream dam failures.

The report looked at 32 reactors at 20 sites across the country and found the flooding danger largely ignored by federal regulators.

Another document that the NRC gave PEER was a Sept. 18, 2012 letter from NRC Reliability and Risk Engineer Lawrence Criscione to the Commission Chair outlining detailed concerns about the vulnerability of the three-reactor Oconee nuclear complex.

The letter said in the event of dam failure, Oconee’s 5-foot floodwall could be swamped by more than 16 feet of water.

There are two dams near the Oconee Nuclear Station, including an adjacent dam for Lake Keowee, whose full pond level is about the same as the station’s. Eleven miles upstream is a dam for Lake Jocassee, which is 300 feet higher than Lake Keowee.

PEER Counsel Kathryn Douglass said federal regulators are not doing enough to address such risks.

“By postponing corrective action, the NRC is playing Russian roulette with public safety and the American economy, merely hoping the right disastrous combination of credible events does not line up,” she said, adding noting that the NRC is still withholding portions of other documents on the issue.

The report also mentioned the H.B. Robinson Nuclear Site in Hartsville, but not South Carolina’s other nuclear site, the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station in Jenkinsville.

Other southern nuclear sites included in the report were those in Athens, Ala.; London, Ark.; Killona, La.; Huntersville, N.C.; Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.; Spring City, Tenn.; and Surry, Va.,
[link to www.nucpros.com]
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So far we are hanging strong - hard to do much else when we are healthy and they have such a battle ahead. The average lifespan after diagnosis is 3 - 5 years. His case is advanced so we are thinking it may be less than that. Anything we can do to lessen the burden is what we WILL do. This weekend is some catch up on seasonal chores at their house and thinking about doing a ramp up to the front door just in case it's needed later.

Thread: WTF? FISH CAUGHT OFFSHORE FROM FUKUSHIMA HIT MARKETS IN JAPAN TODAY
Thread: Dear god..... please watch this trailer.. it's only short... the lies from Japan to their own people
Thread: Within as few as 60 days, Tepco will begin trying to remove more than 1500 spent fuel rods from a badly damaged area of the nuclear reactor.

i appologise for threads going everywhere today, am a bit gnarly with this giving up smoke thing......

oooohhh... their new under water robot...

[snip]

Underwater robot developed for work at Fukushima nuclear plant

A robot capable of operating underwater and lifting heavy objects is expected to work in areas of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant that are still too dangerous for humans to enter.

The robot, Sakura No. 2, was developed and produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) and the Chiba Institute of Technology (CIT) under a cooperation agreement announced on Sept. 25.

Sakura No. 2 is 51 centimeters wide, 18 cm high and 104 cm long. It weighs about 48 kilograms, can carry equipment up to 50 kilograms, and its battery life is eight hours.

“(This is) the world’s one and only robot that can move freely in a nuclear reactor building and even work in water,” Takayuki Furuta, director of the CIT’s Future Robotics Technology Center, said.

Although no schedule has been announced, Furuta said Sakura No. 2 will likely be used in places of the wrecked nuclear reactor buildings at the Fukushima plant that are inaccessible to workers due to water leaks and high radiation levels.

CIT independently developed the robot. Under the agreement, MHI manufactures and markets Sakura No. 2.

The institute has provided unmanned robots, including Sakura, Rosemary and Quince No. 1 to 3, for reconstruction work since nuclear disaster started in March 2011.

The earlier models were capable of going up and down stairs, and their cameras helped plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. learn what was happening inside a five-story nuclear reactor building.

However, TEPCO also asked CIT if it could develop a robot that can be used in water and carry a heavy measuring device. The developer spent about a year to create Sakura No. 2.

[end snip]

[link to ajw.asahi.com]

not sure if this info is of any use to any cancer sufferers, but ppl have been put in prison for trying promote it i believe.

"Apricot Seeds Kill Cancer Cells without Side Effects"

[link to www.naturalnews.com]

rgds, rp : )

TEPCO admits to putting shield walls on hold

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant says it has had to delay constructing underground walls to block the leakage of contaminated water because other work was more urgent.

Tokyo Electric Power Company President Naomi Hirose testified on Friday at a Lower House committee meeting.
The committee was convened to discuss the massive groundwater contamination at the plant.

Hirose admitted that TEPCO was aware of the possible leakage of radioactive water into the sea at an early stage.

Three months after the nuclear accident, the utility decided to build underground walls around the reactor buildings.

Asked why TEPCO did not pursue the plan, Hirose said it had to deal with many "hot spots" of radiation, as well as contaminated debris.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Niigata governor reverses course; OKs reactor screening

TOKYO — Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on Friday filed an application with the Nuclear Regulation Authority to seek permission for safety screening tests with the aim of restarting two of seven reactors at Kashiwazaki Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture.

TEPCO filed the application after winning approval from previously reluctant Niigata Gov Hirohiko Izumida to apply to restart the plant.

Izumida, in a statement issued Thursday, a day after a highly publicized appeal from TEPCO’s president, said he was allowing the utility to apply for safety approval. But he was withholding final judgment on restarting the plant.
[link to www.japantoday.com]
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Construction begins on Tianwan 4

The pouring of first concrete today for another Russian-supplied reactor at the Tianwan site in China's Jiangsu province brings the total number of power reactors currently under construction in the country to 30.

Tianwan 4 will be an AES-91 VVER-1000 unit designed by Gidropress and supplied by Russian state firm Rosatom. Two similar units began operating at the site in 2007, while construction of a third began in December 2012. Each of the VVERs is rated to produce 1060 MWe, while up to four further potential units of similar size are foreseen at Tianwan by Chinese planners.
[link to www.world-nuclear-news.org]
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IAEA: Nuclear power to grow by at least 17% by 2030

The world's nuclear power generating capacity is expected to grow from 373 GWe today to at least 435 GWe in 2030, according to the latest low-case projection from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In the high case, installed capacity could almost double by 2030, reaching 722GW.
[link to www.neimagazine.com]

Energy, Electricity and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050 can be downloaded here:
[link to www.iaea.org]
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Japan to accept help from France at Fukushima Daiichi

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster Japan thought TEPCO would be able to manage the problem, but earlier this year the government was forced to step in and play a bigger role. Now, two and a half years after the onset of the March 11th nuclear disaster, Japan has officially finally accepted international help with the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant from France, who will help decommission and dismantle the crippled reactors.

The move signals how little progress has been made by the Japanese on their forty-plus year decommissioning project, and also casts doubt on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s statement to the Olympic committee that the crisis at Fukushima Daiichi is under control.
[link to enformable.com]
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PRAIRIE ISLAND, MN

FITNESS FOR DUTY PROGRAM MEMBER IN VIOLATION OF POLICY

A Fitness For Duty (FFD) program member was in violation of the Northern States Power Company - Minnesota Nuclear FFD policy. The program member's access has been suspended pending assessment and management review.

The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector.
[link to www.nrc.gov]
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I'm tired of waiting.

Don't forget to read the comments... lol...

Thorium and inefficient solar power? That's good enough for me
I'm talking technology, not politics

So we're all back from our hols, noses down to the grindstone for the run into Crimble: time for some idle speculation on the future of our energy production systems. Or if we're to be purist about it, our energy production/transformation systems.

We will, thankfully, leave entirely aside the complete dog's dinner that our current Lords and Masters are making of it all and try to look at technological trends rather than political actions.

The most cheering thing I've heard recently on this subject is that the price of thorium is now positive. That might not mean much without explanation, so here goes: There's thorium in all sorts of minerals from which we already extract interesting metals. The tantalite and columbite that we make our capacitors from for example: there's enough in the wastes from their processing that old factories that used to do this are now Super Fund sites in the US.

Vast sums of money being spent carting off the lightly radioactive wastes into secure storage (actually, just to piles by uranium mills). And if you actually happen to have any thorium around, as I do, getting rid of it is a very expensive proposition.

The usual solution to this sort of problem is that you refine whatever it is up to a useful commercial purity then sell it. But there's almost no one out there still using thorium: thus the price of thorium, given the disposal costs, is actually negative. Until just recently, that is.
[link to www.theregister.co.uk]
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i'm not sure this is such a good idea.

the French built a Radioactive Cooling Water Treatment facility
at the south end of the Daiichi grounds, and it obviously didn't do a damn thing to help the situation.

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Nuke Fukushima Daiichi Now!

a Hydrogen Bomb (clean energy) will incinerate all of the radiation and fix everything!

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well, i think France needs to explain to the world
why their Radioactive Water Purification System failed so miserably,
before we allow them to go back in there and do any more damage.

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Yep, the ALPS system is so far a big disappointment...

Waste water decontamination suspended

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says it has suspended the process of decontaminating radioactive wastewater with a new filtration system. The move came less than one day after it resumed a test-run.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it detected a decline in the flow of radioactive wastewater in a pipe that carries the water to a storage tank at about 10:30 PM on Friday.

TEPCO officials say they are checking what caused the problem. They say they do not know when the decontaminating operation will resume.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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right. well, ALPS is a U.S. boondoggle.

i was referring to the French "AREVA" system that was
inaugurated in April of 2011.

"Fukushima Japan - Areva (France) to decontaminate Daiichi water"

[link to www.nextlevelofnews.com]

the contaminated radioactive cooling water has been
an ongoing disaster since March of 2011. (they just
haven't been telling us.)

they must constantly put massive amounts of water on
all of the corium so that it won't go super-critical and kahblewwwie!

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my contact that i sent the testing equipment to in tokyo has a meeting with the olympic testing team that are testing the olympic sites... it is on the ## of october..... will keep you informed as always :)

Plastic pad clogs up Fukushima water cleaning system

TOKYO — A piece of plastic padding which clogged up a drain is thought to have caused the breakdown of a decontamination system at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the operator said Sunday.

The Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), designed to remove radioactive material from contaminated water, is expected to play a crucial role in treating huge amounts of toxic water accumulating at the plant.

But it was halted due to a defect only hours after starting operations.

Workers found that a plastic pad, which fixed a ladder in the system, had worked loose and got stuck in a drain, probably causing the defect, said operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.

The ALPS system was switched on early Friday but was stopped late evening the same day when it was found not to be properly flushing fluid used to remove radioactive particles, TEPCO said in a statement.

There are three ALPS systems at the plant, hit by reactor meltdowns sparked by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
[link to www.japantoday.com]
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lucky they are fucking experts with this shit then...........

Okay, this is almost becoming funny.

[link to sccc.org.au]


SOR and CP have you seen the work these people are quietly doing on the Sunshine Coast? They are carrying out testing regularly. Maybe you could make contact?

From their latest report....


This theory has been put forward by a contact in New Zealand. The Radon-220 decay daughter isotope detection here, is an indication that one or more of the underground coriums at Fukushima undergoing fast neutron fission. One or more coriums are possibly purifying, and operating in a mode of unmoderated fission. This would increase the yields of Thorium daughters.

Thankyou for that :)

Yes I am in contact with them since 2012... they are one of trhe first 2 Australian monitoring sites ( the second is Nimbin, NSW).. I am seconded to radnet, waiting on more volunteers; like everywhere in the Southern Hemisphere, response is slow.....

12,000 plus 2,000 new items checked in Monju

The operator of a trouble-hit prototype reactor has completed safety checks on about 14,000 pieces of equipment that should have been inspected earlier.
The checks included about 2,000 items the operator recently discovered hadn't been inspected.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency presented its report on the Monju fast-breeder reactor to the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Monday.

Monju, located on the Sea of Japan coast, had been cited for more than 12,000 safety lapses, including some involving equipment that is crucial to safe operation of the reactor. In May, the nuclear regulator ordered the operator to halt preparations for resuming test-runs until it has dealt with the safety issues. The operator subsequently found additional equipment that had not been checked.
The Monju reactor in Fukui Prefecture uses plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel to generate power. The reactor has been mostly offline since a coolant leak accident in 1995 and the fall of a fuel exchange device into the reactor in 2010.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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