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

22 units of nuclear fuel moved to container

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has transferred a 22nd unit of nuclear fuel in a storage pool into a container at a damaged reactor building.

Tokyo Electric Power Company workers moved 18 unused nuclear fuel units into the container submerged in the pool at the Number 4 reactor building on Tuesday. 4 units had been put into the container on Monday.

The firm plans to lift the container with maximum storage capacity of 22 units out of the pool using a large crane on Wednesday.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Safety screening meeting for TEPCO's Kashiwazaki plant set for Thurs.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority plans to convene its first formal safety screening meeting Thursday for the idled Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, which plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. hopes to restart.

TEPCO applied for the state safety inspections of its Nos. 6 and 7 units at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture in late September, joining moves by other utilities seeking to reactivate their nuclear reactors.

But the NRA has not held an open safety screening meeting for the plant amid concerns over the utility's poor handling of the accident-stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
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Reviving Yucca Mountain

The US nuclear regulator has directed its staff to complete work on the safety evaluation report (SER) for the Yucca Mountain geologic repository. Meanwhile, a court has awarded over $235 million of damages to three utilities affected by federal failure to fulfil used fuel disposal commitments.

As well as instructing its own staff to complete work on the SER, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has requested the Department of Energy (DoE) to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) to enable the completion of the environmental review of the application to build the Nevada facility.
[link to www.world-nuclear-news.org]
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Hanford Nuclear Site Clean-Up: The Mess Gets Worse

NBCNEWS.COM - The government's multi-billion-dollar effort to clean up the nation's largest nuclear dump has become its own dysfunctional mess.

For more than two decades, the government has worked to dispose of 56 million gallons of nuclear and chemical waste in underground, leak-prone tanks at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington State.

But progress has been slow, the project's budget is rising by billions of dollars, and a long-running technical dispute has sown ill will between the project's senior engineering staff, the Energy Department, and its lead contractors.

The waste is a legacy of the Cold War, when the site housed nuclear reactors churning out radioactive plutonium for thousands of atomic bombs. To clean up the mess, the Department of Energy (DOE) started building a factory 12 years ago to encase the nuclear leftovers in stable glass for long-term storage.

But today, construction of the factory is only two-thirds complete after billions of dollars in spending, leaving partially constructed buildings and heavy machinery scattered across the 65-acre site, a short distance from the Columbia River.

Technical personnel have expressed concerns about the plant's ability to operate safely, and say the government and its contractor have tried to discredit them, and in some cases harassed and punished them. Experts also say that some of the tanks have already leaked radioactive waste into the groundwater below, and worry that the contamination is now making its way to the river, a major regional source of drinking water.
[link to www.khq.com]
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MCGUIRE: Dropped Control Rods (Ten)

McGuire updated the NRC from the 11/14/13 reactor trip caused by dropped control rods.

On November 14, 2013, at 1313 Eastern Standard Time, Unit 1 was manually tripped from 100% power due to indications of [four] dropped control rods. This manual reactor protection system actuation is reportable per 10 CFR 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B). The cause of the dropped rods is not confirmed at this time, but may be related to maintenance in a Rod Control Power Cabinet ongoing at the time of the event.

Update: A subsequent licensee evaluation determined that there were ten dropped control rods.
[link to www.nucpros.com]
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Fukushima Caused Infant Deaths Confirmed US and Canada

[link to www.youtube.com]

we need Yucca Mountain. stop quashing it.

just read that today... but we already knew.....

:(

grrrrrrr

One day people will realize all this and all hell is going to break loose.

I just did a 2 1/2 hour interview with the guy who worked on the fukushima parent/children documentary and is still in Tokyo... doco was great, the guy is a champion, and your comment is absolutely correct.....

Right now people are realizing things individually. When they get together and compare notes it will be a whole new ball game. Imagine the grieving parents realizing this was why they lost their child. Too hard to imagine. When is the documentary going to come out?

I'll let you know, they are seeking funding for the next one.

I also lined up an interview (waiting for translator), with the obe-one-kenobe of animal rescue INSIDE the no-go zone.. she's a legend..... soon....

interesting side note: the person i interviewed is also close to msmilky and radchick, and the guy from enformable.. seperation by 5% much?!... we joked about that.....

Doco as mentioned preview?
[link to fukushimaemergencywhatcanwedo.blogspot.com.au]

Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 11/19/2013 10:41 PM

Who is this saint? Is there anywhere I can read about her? I wasn't just being facetious when I asked about the kitty cats; I really need to know how they're doing. Animal rescuers are the best of the best, the kind of people I want to know.

i'd love to share, but being that they are involved as they are? i can't divulge names, at their imperilment as to their activities... even the interview is a hard hook up, as i have to leave the participants anonymous, and only divulge the photos i am given...

truly though, they are epic humans....

i'll pass on your support, she will apreciate hearing from abroad, which is what they need.....

"gai atsu"



Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 11/19/2013 10:52 PM

Citizen, I'm getting senile now so I may have asked this before. I don't understand these endless tanks they keep filling. Surely before all this happened they had a way of treating it and disposing of it. Why aren't they doing this now? Did they treat it and then reuse it? And now its because of ground water contamination they have too much to handle?

I can't watch that documentary. It's infuriating!

OH, the Ariva treated water?... hmmmmm.....

no, i haven't found anything yet, but there is a group of people trying to map together all of the hoses and tanks to work out the exact purpose of all......

Last Edited by CitizenPerth™ on 11/20/2013 01:50 AM

2 more Fukushima reactors to be decommissioned

Tokyo Electric Power Company is planning to decommission the 2 reactors at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that were not seriously damaged in the March 2011 disaster.

TEPCO officials said they will first consult with officials in Fukushima Prefecture and in the towns of Futaba and Okuma. An official decision to decommission the Number 5 and 6 reactors could come next month.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Kashiwazaki is the world’s largest nuclear power plant by capacity... 7 reactors...

TEPCO aims to restart Kashiwazaki plant next July

NHK has learned that Tokyo Electric Power Company aims to restart some of the reactors at its nuclear plant in central Japan next July.

TEPCO is drawing up a 10-year business plan. Restarting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture will help to revive the firm's business after the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi.

The No.6 and 7 reactors are to undergo safety checks by the government's Nuclear Regulation Authority as part of the procedures for restarting nuclear plants.

TEPCO has set the target date for next July because the checks will take at least 6 months and the utility needs to negotiate with the plant's host communities.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Court orders halt to nuclear waste fees

A US Court of Appeal has ruled that the Department of Energy (DOE) must stop collecting nuclear waste fees from utilities until it decides how used fuel is to be disposed of.

American utilities and regulators - through the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) - filed a lawsuit in March 2011 against the DOE for continuing to charge for the halted Yucca Mountain project.

Funding for Yucca Mountain has come from a levy of 0.1 cents per kWh of nuclear power, which currently adds up to about $750 million per year. Nuclear utilities - and therefore their customers - have now paid a total of over $31 billion into the Nuclear Waste Fund.
[link to www.world-nuclear-news.org]
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Bolivia says it's on track to develop nuclear power

Bolivia is on track to develop a national nuclear power program for peaceful civilian purposes that include building electricity export capacity in the country, official media reported.

Ever since Bolivian President Evo Morales outlined plans in October for a long-delayed nuclear power generation program, officials in La Paz have been pursuing follow-up discussions with Argentina, a future partner and experienced nuclear power producer, Bolivian news reports said.
[link to www.nuclearpowerdaily.com]
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Seems no one wants a nuclear waste repository in their backyard. Can't say I blame them, but it has to go somewhere.

Last Edited by Southern OR on 11/20/2013 10:42 PM

It's a mess. I don't think any amount of money will fix it.

"Cask" containing fuel moved into safer pool

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant says it has removed the first batch of nuclear fuel from the reactor 4 building to a safer storage pool.

Footage released by Tokyo Electric Power Company on Thursday shows workers lowering a steel cask containing 22 unused fuel assemblies from the 5th floor of the reactor building. Engineers used a huge crane to lower the cask, 5.5 meters long and two meters across, onto a trailer on the ground.

The container was transferred slowly to a separate pool in a building 100 meters away, and lowered into water to store the fuel more safely.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Trial run of last ALPS line at Fukushima resumed

The operator of Japan's damaged nuclear plant has resumed trial operation of the last of 3 lines of a key water decontamination system.

Officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company restarted the 3rd line of the Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS, at the Fukushima Daiichi plant on Thursday.

The system is designed to remove from contaminated water 62 kinds of radioactive substances, excluding tritium.

But its test operation was suspended in June following leaks of unprocessed water from a tank due to corrosion.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Volcanic eruption confirmed in Ogasawara Islands

Japan's Meteorological Agency is warning vessels in the Pacific to take caution after a volcanic eruption was confirmed near one of the Ogasawara Islands, about 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo.

The agency says the Japan Coast Guard on Wednesday confirmed black smoke spewing out of a new land mass about 500 meters southeast of Nishinoshima island.

Photo analysis shows that the mass measures about 200 meters across. Black and white smoke was rising from its center to a height of about 600 meters.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]
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Unit 4 nuclear island basemat placed at Vogtle expansion

Construction progressing well at Units 3 and 4

ATLANTA, Nov. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power announced today the successful placement of the basemat structural concrete for the nuclear island at the Vogtle Unit 4 nuclear expansion site near Waynesboro, Ga. Unit 4 is the second of two units currently under construction at Plant Vogtle. This latest milestone marks a significant accomplishment in the construction of the project, among the first new nuclear units to be built in the United States in three decades. When complete, Plant Vogtle will be the only four unit nuclear facility in the country.

While maintaining focus on safety, quality and compliance, the basemat concrete placement was completed in just under 41 hours. The efficiency of this placement matches the best time achieved worldwide for this AP1000 activity. The Unit 4 placement encompassed approximately 7,000 cubic yards of concrete, which will serve as the foundation for all of the nuclear island structures, including the containment vessel and the shield building. It covered an area approximately 250 feet long and 160 feet wide at its widest point, and the concrete measured six feet in thickness.
[link to www.nuclearpowerdaily.com]
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Largest Solar Power Station In Japan Opened By Kyocera

The president of Kyocera Corporation, Goro Yamaguchi, has announced the launch of a 70 MW solar power plant in the Kagoshima Prefecture of Southern Japan. According to the Kyocera press release, it is the largest in Japan.

It is called the Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar Power Plant, and it can generate enough electricity to power approximately 22,000 average households. The plant went online on November 1, 2013.
[link to cleantechnica.com]
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Public meeting tonight in St. Louis to discuss radioactive waste at public landfill

Today I am in St. Louis, Missouri, with Bob Alvarez from the Institute for Policy Studies. We will be presenting a study of the nuclear waste from the nuclear weapons program which was illegally dumped in an unregulated landfill.

Most people in and around the St. Louis area live without the knowledge of the unique history of uranium processing and seventy-plus year legacy of radioactive waste in their own backyard, which was inherited from the race to produce the atomic bomb and will remain contaminated for billions of years.

During World War II, Mallinckrodt Chemical Company in St. Louis, Missouri, was one of three major sites where uranium was commercially refined and enormous quantities of radioactive waste were generated. By July 1942, Mallinckrodt was producing more than a ton of pure uranium oxide per day, but the process was extremely dangerous.

The first ore that Mallinckrodt processed from the Belgian Congo was extremely rich, the hottest to ever be processed in the United States, as high as 70% uranium, but also contained large amounts of thorium and radium. Later, ore would be shipped to St. Louis from Utah, Colorado, and even Canada. The Mallinckrodt plant in downtown St. Louis produced uranium between 1942 and 1957, when they moved the production to the site of a former United States Army TNT production facility at Weldon Spring in St. Charles County, Missouri, which operated until 1966.

A public meeting in which Bob Alvarez will present the study and the history of the West Lake Landfill will be livestreamed tonight at 7:00 CST (8:00 EST), and can be viewed here:
[link to www.ustream.tv]

[link to enformable.com]
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"Radiation expert admits giving bad info on Fukushima"