tagged w/ Nuclear power plant
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CNN...
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Radioactive water leaks in Japan nuclear plant
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 8:02 AM EST, Sat December 10, 2011
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
No radioactive materials leaked outside of the facility
The plant is in Japan's Saga Prefecture
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(CNN) -- Radioactive water leaked inside a nuclear power plant in southwestern Japan, but there was no impact on the surrounding area, a spokesman for the plant operator said Saturday.
A warning alarm sounded Friday because of a problem with a pump used for primary cooling water at the Genkai Nuclear plant, which is in Saga Prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu, said Koji Ikegami, a spokesman for the Kyushu Electric company.
Officials stopped the pump, but at the same time they found radioactive water leaking from the bearing of the stand holding the pump, Ikegami said. A total of 1.8 tons of the water leaked inside the building, but there was no impact to the outside area, he said.
The cause of the leak is under investigation, Ikegami said.
The plant resumed power generation in November after a nearly month-long stoppage, the Kyodo News Agency reported. Operation at the No. 3 reactor, where the leak happened, had been suspended since December 2010, Ikegami said.
Japan's new energy reality
The electric company made public the problem with the pump but said nothing about the leak. Ikegami said that was because the leak wasn't significant.
"We didn't cover it up. The amount was not big and water was kept in the inside of the building," he said, saying the water did not reach the level required to report it.
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CNN's Junko Ogura contributed to this report.CNN...
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Radioactive water leaks in Japan nuclear plant
By the CNN Wire Staff... more
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8pmKsYhqH8&feature=player_embedded
Nuclear accidents - like oil spills and financial meltdowns - happen because big companies push to make more money by cutting every safety measure in the books.
The accident at Fukushima was predictable.
Likewise, the potential problem at the Fort Calhoun reactor in Nebraska was predictable. (For background, see this and this.)
As Ketv reported in March:
Fort Calhoun's nuclear power plant is one of three reactors across the country that federal regulators said they are most concerned about.
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Last year, federal regulators questioned the station's flood protection protocol. NRC officials said they felt the Omaha Public Power District should do more than sandbagging in the event of major flooding along the Missouri river.
OPPD officials said they have already made amends and added new flood gates.
"We updated our flood protection strategy and have tested and re-tested our new strategy. The issue is operationally resolved, and at no time was there a threat to public safety or was public health at risk," OPPD President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Gates said.
The New York Times noted yesterday:
Last year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission cited the Fort Calhoun plant for not being adequately prepared for floods and rated the safety violation in the “yellow” category, the second most serious. The agency ordered changes because it said that under the plan in place at the time ...
After initially contesting the findings, the plant’s operators, Omaha Public Power District, said that the problems had been resolved.
The Daily Mail writes today:
A nuclear plant was inches away from being engulfed by the bloated Missouri River after several levees in the area failed to hold back its surging waters, raising fears it could become America's Fukushima.
Dramatic pictures show the moment the plant was threatened with being shut down today, as water levels rose ominously to within 18 inches of its walls.
The river has to hit 902 feet above sea level at Brownville before officials will shut down the Cooper Nuclear Plant, which sits at 903 feet. It stopped and ebbed slightly yesterday, a reprieve caused by levee breaches in northwest Missouri - for now.
Flooding is a major concern all along the river because of the massive amounts of water that the Army Corps of Engineers has released from six dams. Any significant rain could worsen the flooding especially if it falls in Nebraska, Iowa or Missouri, which are downstream of the dams.
The river is expected to rise as much as five to seven feet above the official 'flood stage' in much of Nebraska and Iowa and as much as 10 feet over in parts of Missouri. The corps predicts the river will remain that high until at least August.
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The river has risen at least 1.5 feet higher than Fort Calhoun's 1,004-foot elevation above sea level. The plant can handle water up to 1,014 feet, according to OPPD. The water is being held back by a series of protective barriers, including an 8-foot rubber wall outside the reactor building.
(See the Daily Mail article for photos.)
Likewise, the Cooper nuclear reactor - also in Nebraska - is threatened by the flooding as well.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports that flooding has already caused oil to spill: (read the remainder at Washington's Blog)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8pmKsYhqH8&feature=player_embedded
Nuclear... more
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PART ONE...
The New York Times
Photo: India's Konkan coastline, near the site of a proposed nuclear power plant, has been hit by earthquakes in recent years
April 13, 2011
Resistance to Jaitapur Nuclear Plant Grows in India
By VIKAS BAJAJ
MADBAN, India — When a farmer named Praveen Gawankar and two neighbors began a protest four years ago against a proposed nuclear power plant here in this coastal town, they were against it mainly for not-in-my-backyard reasons.
They stood to lose mango orchards, cashew trees and rice fields, as the government forcibly acquired 2,300 acres to build six nuclear reactors — the biggest nuclear power plant ever proposed anywhere.
But now, as a nuclear disaster unfolds in distant Japan, the lonely group of farmers has seen support for their protest swell to include a growing number of Indian scientists, academics and former government officials. “We are getting ready for bigger protests,” Mr. Gawanker said.
While the government vows to push ahead — citing India’s energy needs — Indian newspapers recently reported that the environment minister wrote Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to question the wisdom of large nuclear installations. And a group of 50 Indian scientists, academics and activists has called for a moratorium on new projects. “The Japanese nuclear crisis is a wake-up call for India,” they wrote in an open letter.
Opponents note that the area was hit by 95 earthquakes from 1985 to 2005, although Indian officials counter that most were minor and that the plant’s location on a high cliff would offer protection against tsunamis.
The heated debate shows how the politics of nuclear energy may be changing, not only in the United States and Europe but in developing countries whose economies desperately need cheap power to continue growing rapidly.
For Indian officials intent on promoting nuclear energy, the partial meltdowns and radiation leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan could not have come at a worse time. Currently, India gets about 3 percent of its electricity from the 20 relatively small nuclear reactors in the country. But it is building five new reactors and has proposed 39 more, including the ones here in Madban, to help meet the voracious energy needs of India’s fast-growing economy.
Only China, the other emerging-economy giant with a ravenous energy appetite, is planning a more rapid expansion of nuclear power. Beijing has indicated that it, too, plans to proceed cautiously with its nuclear rollout.
CONTINUED...PART ONE...
The New York Times
Photo: India's Konkan coastline, near the... more
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Columbia University says the risk of an earthquake as large as 7.0 on the Richter scale is possible at Indian Point. Entergy admits it can’t handle an earthquake of this magnitude and that at best the plant could withstand a magnitude 6.1 earthquake. This is highly significant because the energy released in a 7.0 level earthquake is roughly 30 times more powerful than a 6.1. Please join us in our effort to shut down Indian Point!
link: http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-nrc-to-close-indian-point-nuclear-power-plant-stop-putting-new-yorkers-at-riskColumbia University says the risk of an earthquake as large as 7.0 on the Richter... more
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eva2
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10 months ago
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A large explosion at Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiich nuclear power plant reveals that a meltdown is now underway following the exposure of the core following an 9.1-magnitude earthquake.
The media in Japan is not reporting this fact in order to prevent mass hysteria.
Prior to the explosion today, the media reported the radiation level was 1000 times higher than the permissible level.
Kyodo News agency said radioactive cesium had been detected near the 40 year old facility, citing the nuclear safety agency.
Government spokesman Yukio Edano said radiation levels around the Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan had not risen after the explosion, despite earlier press reports it had.
It is obvious the Japanese are attempting to cover up the deadly seriousness of events unfolding in their country.
The white smoke emitted from the Fukushima plant resembles the smoke emitted at Chernobyl after the Ukrainian nuclear plant blew up and caught fire on April 26, 1986. Here is a documentary on the events at Chernobyl.
Chernobyl has been blamed for thousands of deaths due to radiation-linked illness.
“If the pressure vessel, which is the thing that actually holds all the nuclear fuel … if that was to explode — that’s basically what happened at Chernobyl — you get an enormous release of radioactive material,” said Prof. Paddy Regan, nuclear physicist from Britain’s Surrey University.
Reuters reports this morning that experts examining pictures of “mist above the plant suggested only small amounts of radiation had been expelled as part of measures to ensure its stability, far from the radioactive clouds that Chernobyl spewed out when it exploded in 1986.”
This characterization is at odds with video of the explosion showing large plumes rising high above the crippled plant.
Even though 210,000 people were evacuated from the region, Japanese authorities and the corporate media insist the situation is not serious. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has said that only a small amount of radiation has been released from one of the reactors.
Wind charts reveal that radiation released from the plant will adversely impact nations surrounding Japan.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/media-coverup-of-massive-chernobyl-event-underway-in-japan.htmlA large explosion at Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiich nuclear power plant... more
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[3:08 a.m. ET, 5:08 p.m. Tokyo]
An explosion has been reported near a nuclear plant in northeastern Japan's Fukushima prefecture, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported, citing the country's nuclear and industrial safety agency.
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[SCROLL DOWN FOR MARCH 12 UPDATES]
.[3:08 a.m. ET, 5:08 p.m. Tokyo]
An explosion has been reported near a nuclear... more
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Abnormal radiation detected near Korean border
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press Writer
updated 27 minutes ago
SEOUL, South Korea - Abnormal radiation was detected near the inter-Korean border days after North Korea claimed last month to have achieved a nuclear technology breakthrough, South Korea's Science Ministry said Monday.
The ministry said it failed to find the cause of the radiation but ruled out a possible underground nuclear test by North Korea. It cited no evidence of a strong earthquake that must follow an atomic explosion.
On May 12, North Korea claimed its scientists succeeded in creating a nuclear fusion reaction — a technology necessary to manufacture a hydrogen bomb. The technology also one day could provide limitless clean energy because it produces little radioactive waste, unlike fission, which powers conventional nuclear power reactors.
South Korean experts doubted the North actually made such a breakthrough. Scientists around the world have been experimenting with fusion for decades, but it has yet to be developed into a viable energy alternative.
On May 15, however, the atmospheric concentration of xenon — an inert gas released after a nuclear explosion or radioactive leakage from a nuclear power plant — on the South Korean side of the inter-Korean border was found to be eight times higher than normal, according to South Korea's Science Ministry.
South Korea subsequently looked for signs of a powerful, artificially induced earthquake — something that should have been detected if North Korea had conducted a nuclear test. Experts, however, found no signs of a such a quake in North Korea, a ministry statement said.
"We determined that there was no possibility of an underground nuclear test," it said. The ministry did not mention any possible health hazard from the release.
Earlier Monday, South Korea's mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that North Korea may have conducted a small-sized nuclear test, citing the abnormal radioactivity. The paper cited an atomic expert it did not identify.
North Korea — which is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least a half-dozen nuclear weapons, conducted two underground nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, drawing international condemnation and U.N. sanctions.
The news of the detected radiation comes as tension is running high on the Korean peninsula over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack. North Korea flatly denies the allegation and has warned any punishment would trigger war, with the U.N. Security Council reviewing Seoul's request to punish Pyongyang over the sinking.
A Science Ministry official said the wind was blowing from north to south when the xenon was detected.
But the official — speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department policy — said xenon could have come from Russia or China, not necessarily from North Korea, as South Korea was unable to find the reason for the high-level of the gas.
The official also said that there was no possibility that the xenon could have originated from any nuclear power plants in South Korea.Abnormal radiation detected near Korean border
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press... more
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Oyster Creek Generating Station, the nation's oldest nuclear power plant, refuses to install state mandated cooling towers. It threatens to shut down instead.
Located in Forked River, New Jersey, on the Oyster Creek, the power plant supplies enough energy to power about 600,000 NJ homes. The plant also employs 700 employees in the area. It's cooling system, dating back to 1969, kills 2 billion shrimp, tens of thousands of fish, crabs and clams each year. Oyster Creek is a tributary of the Barnegat Bay, the body of water separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Jersey shore's beloved barrier islands. The director of the NJ Sierra Club said that "the plant is the biggest source of thermal pollution on the bay", which disrupts the temperature of the ecosystem.
The cost of a closed-cycle cooling system (which would call for cooling towers with water vapor coming from them like in many other power plants) is very high. It would cost $700-800 million and take seven years to build, but the plant's license ends in 2029 so the cooling towers would only be in use for 12 years.
I live in this town.. So I don't know. It would be bad if the plant shut down. Not only would the state lose all kinds of money, their would be huge initial fish kills at the change in temperature! I'm not an advocate of the power plant, but if it's going to be so stubborn. Won't building cooling towers make even more jobs, for 7 years? The Barnegat Bay ecosystem deserves more than excuses from Exelon.
Article at link:
http://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/top_three/article_a74b51ba-31e4-11df-bc15-001cc4c002e0.htmlOyster Creek Generating Station, the nation's oldest nuclear power plant, refuses... more
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The Iran Attack Plan
By ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN
When the Israeli army's then-Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Halutz was asked in 2004 how far Israel would go to stop Iran's nuclear program, he replied: "2,000 kilometers," roughly the distance been the two countries.
Israel's political and military leaders have long made it clear that they are considering taking decisive military action if Iran continues to develop its nuclear program. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned at the United Nations this week that "the most urgent challenge facing this body is to prevent the tyrants of Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons."
Reporting by the International Atomic Energy Agency and other sources has made it clear that whether or not Iran ties all of its efforts into a formal nuclear weapons program, it has acquired all of the elements necessary to make and deliver such weapons. Just Friday, Iran confirmed that it has been developing a second uranium-enrichment facility on a military base near Qom, doing little to dispel the long-standing concerns of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the U.S. that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
Bryan Christie
Iran has acquired North Korean and other nuclear weapons design data through sources like the sales network once led by the former head of Pakistan's nuclear program, A. Q. Khan. Iran has all of the technology and production and manufacturing capabilities needed for fission weapons. It has acquired the technology to make the explosives needed for a gun or implosion device, the triggering components, and the neutron initiator and reflectors. It has experimented with machine uranium and plutonium processing. It has put massive resources into a medium-range missile program that has the range payload to carry nuclear weapons and that makes no sense with conventional warheads. It has also worked on nuclear weapons designs for missile warheads. These capabilities are dispersed in many facilities in many cities and remote areas, and often into many buildings in each facility—each of which would have to be a target in an Israeli military strike.
It is far from certain that such action would be met with success.The Iran Attack Plan
By ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN
When the Israeli army's... more
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Gordon Brown has given all but an official announcement that he plans to give the go-ahead in January for a major expansion of Britain's nuclear power output. He's outlined four sites for a new generation of nuclear power stations. Do you think nuclear power is the answer to the nation's increasing need for low-emissions energy? I don't. Gordon Brown has given all but an official announcement that he plans to give the... more
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Evacuations in effect, but officials say the event is not a serious emergency
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A powerful earthquake shook Japan's northwestern coast flattening hundreds of buildings and causing a fire and leak at the world's largest nuclear power plant.A powerful earthquake shook Japan's northwestern coast flattening hundreds of... more
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Jet and concrete wall meet at 500 mph to the detriment of the jet. This test was to see what would happen if a jet hit the concrete retaining wall of a nuclear power plant. Given the size of the wall, I don't think the results would be the same if this ever did really happen.Jet and concrete wall meet at 500 mph to the detriment of the jet. This test was to... more
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cwhite
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4 years ago
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