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Dover scare as recovering cancer patient checks out
UK Border Agency officials told him it was the first time they'd stopped anyone under such circumstances. He was given 2.8 gigabecquerels of radioisotope at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. The safe limit to be allowed back into the community is 800 megabecquerels, and he was down to 400 when he left hospital. Vehicles, freight and passengers entering the UK are all screened. The equipment is designed to detect radiological emissions, and can be triggered by legitimate sources of radiation. This could include items like ceramics, cement or fertiliser which contain naturally occurring radiological materials or, as in this case, certain medical treatments.(19/7/10) Images: John McLellan (Daily Mail) / French Duck511 inspection failures? Not good, Chugoku...
The
agency has already released its evaluations on all but the two Chugoku Electric
reactors that were found in March to have 511 inspection failures or devices
that needed to be replaced. Agency inspectors also found more than 1,000 cases
where results did not meet the levels set out in inspection plans. The
agency assigned the lowest grade of 1 only to the two reactors at Chugoku
Electric's Shimane plant as they have "greatly ruined trust in nuclear
power generation." Finding "unacceptable" problems at the
reactors, the agency also concluded that their maintenance and management
system has "grave defects," the sources said. How can you misidentify a town with a 'fish advisory' during safety test...?
The
state misidentified a town in a public announcement during a drill at the Salem
nuclear power plant, the Office of Emergency Management said Thursday. The
mistake and a delay in getting instructions out to the public mean the state
will have to conduct a second drill in July. The drill tested the state's
response to a nuclear disaster May 18. In a mock public notice, the state
misidentified a town that was subject to a fish advisory, officials said. The
state also took 62 minutes to make all the necessary preparations to direct the
public to evacuate, take shelter or consume potassium iodide pills in response
to the nuclear accident. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said the
directions should have been issued within 45 to 50 minutes. Everything else in the biannual drill went smoothly, state officials said.(28/6/10) Nuclear navy argy-bargy down Argentinia way
The Ministry of Defence in Argentina has said it is
reviewing the idea of using nuclear
reactors to power some of its naval vessels. Minister
Nilda Garre announced the possibility, saying that the country wants to
maintain its level of scientific, industrial and technological skills. She said
that Argentina did not want to be left out of nuclear propulsion technology. As
well as four diesel-electric submarines, the larger ships of the Argentine navy
include a command vessel with power needs of about 40 MW, a large destroyer
with about 37 MW and four smaller destroyers with needs of about 27 MW
each. One potential supplier of reactors to meet these kinds of requirements would be the nuclear technology firm Invap, which has exported several research reactors and developed the Carem power plant design. The company confirmed to World Nuclear News that the Ministry of Defense is evaluating whether the technical resources are available for Argentina to develop its own nuclear propulsion units, adding that references to any Invap involvement were speculative.(25/6/10) U$28m on way to Brookhaven for dismantling graphite reactor
The
remaining steps include the removal of a 300-foot stack at the site and a
concrete shield that once surrounded the reactor's core, already removed. Also
to be dismantled are concrete air ducts, equipment from an associated
ventilation building and exhaust filters, and other contaminated pipes and
structures. The
reactor, which was in use from 1950 to 1968, was "the world's first
reactor designed and built solely for peaceful uses of atoms," according
to BNL, After 18 years of service, the reactor was shut down because it
"no longer provided the high neutron flux levels preferred by
researchers." Today, we're accelerating a significant milestone in the environmental restoration of Brookhaven National Laboratory," said Daniel Poneman, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday. "Thanks to Recovery Act funding designated for the Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor decommissioning, the Department of Energy and BNL were able to accelerate and complete the most difficult part of the decommissioning process." (11/6/10) Now this screen here is for all your on-line shopping...
According to the Ministry of Education
and Training plan, seven universities and institutes will do this job,
including Hanoi University of Technology, Da Lat University, Electricity
University, Institute for Atomic Energy of Vietnam (under the Ministry of
Science and Technology), Physics Institute (under the National Institute for
Science and Technology), Hanoi and HCM City University for Natural Sciences. Other universities like Hanoi
Industry University, HCM City Industry University and HCM City University of
Technology also asked to offer nuclear technology training, added Tan. The
Russian partner will assist Vietnam to train employees for the nuclear power
plants. Forty people have been sent to Russia for training and others will be
trained in France, the US and Japan.
Vietnam will need an estimated 2400 staff who are university graduates to operate the Ninh Thuan 1 and 2 plants. Meanwhile, MoET’s survey in 2008 showed that Vietnam had only 505 experts of nuclear technology, who worked at the Vietnam Institute for Atomic Energy, the Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Hanoi University of Technology, Da Lat University, Electricity University and Hanoi and HCM City Universities for Natural Sciences.(4/6/10)
It's looking a little damp at Prairie Island - best put your wellies on!
Prairie Island
Nuclear plant operators knew of the potential for flooding in the
plant's Unit 1 and Unit 2 turbine buildings, but failed to understand the
implications on important safety-related equipment, according to a preliminary
finding submitted to the plant Thursday by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. The
failure to identify and correct the potential safety issues in a timely manner
is a significant human performance issue and cause for further review by the
agency, according to NRC inspectors. Plant officials have 10 days to respond to
the findings before the NRC decides whether to take enforcement action The
agency's preliminary findings are tied to a 2009 violation of low to moderate
safety significance - called a "White finding" - involving the
facility's failure to provide adequate protection of piping against natural
events such as tornadoes and earthquakes. Later, when plant operators were
evaluating piping in the turbine building for similar issues, they found that a
rupture of piping caused by a natural event could result in the flooding of the
building. Once it receives a response, the NRC will conduct a final evaluation of the issue; at that point the agency will determine whether to flag the plant with a violation of "greater than very low safety significance," and what enforcement actions, if any, to take.(31/5/10) Be there,or be square...
Port Clinton, Ohio: A June 3 meeting has been set for the
public to hear what federal regulators have learned about the premature aging
of Davis-Besse’s nuclear reactor head, a massive device which had flaws
detected in 24 of the 69 metal nozzles after only six years of operation.
Reactor heads are expected to last decades. You missed how many items in this inspection? 506 items missed in Chugoku check
Chugoku
Electric, one of Japan's 10 regional power utility firms, filed an interim
report that revealed the updated extent of the negligence with the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Matsue municipal and Shimane prefectural
governments the same day. The company initially announced in March that the
number of such items was 123. Chugoku
Electric President Takashi Yamashita handed the report to Senior Vice Minister
of Economy, Trade and Industry Teruhiko Mashiko and offered an apology for
seriously damaging public trust in nuclear power generation. Following
an instruction from the economy ministry and the ministry's Nuclear and
Industrial Safety Agency in late March, Chugoku Electric conducted full checks
on about 35,000 pieces of equipment at each of the two reactors, the report
said. The checks found that the company has neglected to regularly inspect 347 items at the No. 1 reactor and 159 at the No. 2 reactor at the plant located along the Sea of Japan coast. On Friday, Chugoku Electric revised the initially reported figure of 123 to 122, which is included in the latest total of 506. In addition, the company has found 1,159 other items that would not have been properly checked had the situation about its inspection program not been improved by the time the checking deadlines elapse for these items.(5/5/10) Images: Industcards / LifeGeorgia accuses Russia in bid to crack down on uranium smuggling
Georgia's
president Mikhail Saakashvili said his country had seized a shipment of highly
enriched uranium, blaming Russia for creating the instability that
allows nuclear smugglers to operate in the region. Russia dismissed the claims
Thursday and said Georgian President’s comments were
"unsubstantiated" and amounted to propaganda. Saakashvili
gave few details of the seizure during an interview Wednesday with The
Associated Press, saying only that the uranium was intercepted last month
coming into his country in the Caucasus region of southeast Europe. The
Georgian Interior Ministry said a group of foreign nationals had been detained,
and the uranium was in a secure location. The head of Georgia's nuclear safety
agency, Zaal Lomatadze, said that the "organized group of people tried to
smuggle in a small amount of enriched uranium with the purpose of selling it to
a would-be buyer." He
said Georgia had registered such smuggling "attempts" involving
Russian citizens as well as people from the breakaway Georgian territories of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia's Foreign Ministry rejected the Georgian
claims outright. "It's
not serious to make such unsubstantiated statements," ministry spokesman
Igor Lyakin-Frolov told The Associated Press in Moscow. "(Saakashvili)
must be fully honest in saying where and when it happened, instead of using it
for political purposes and propaganda."(26/4/10) Victims of radioactive exposure still critical
Deepak Jain, who is admitted to Indraprashtha Apollo
Hospital, is reported to be “very critical” and his treatment is being managed
in consultation with senior Bhabha Atomic Research Centre officials. “Deepak is being treated for severe burns
and his bone marrow is significantly suppressed. His condition is being closely
monitored by a multi-disciplinary team of doctors,'' said a statement issued by
the hospital. “Deepak's body had turned black after he worked with the
radioactive scrap. He lost time in having failed to identify the symptoms and take
precautionary measures,'' said Dr. Kiran Walia. The police here are yet to
ascertain the origin of the metal scrap containing radioactive
cobalt-60 isotope that exposed at least six persons to radiation
injuries. The police are waiting to record the statement of the scrap shop owner, Deepak Jain, to find out the origin of the scrap consignment. They are also questioning other scrap dealers in Mayapuri.(12/4/10) Bill's plan for small scale reactors revealed
Gates
and TerraPower have been working on this idea for a while. But the start-up
needs a commercial nuclear energy company to push its concept forward. The
joint venture, if it materializes, will accelerate TerraPower’s plans to build
the small-scale reactor. The reactor uses a small amount of enriched uranium to kick off a chain reaction that moves slowly through a core of depleted uranium - i.e., waste from today’s nuclear plants - converting that spent fuel into plutonium that then sustains the reaction. In other words, once the reaction begins, it makes and consumes its own fuel; theoretically for as long as 100 years, although no one’s likely to keep one on for that long. (29/3/10)
If you're going to Portland, Bill, just remember your pills Laura Kitching and the Dorset Echo start taking the tablets... A major nuclear disaster emergency plan is to be undertaken on Portland. Emergency planners will distribute specialist tablets to people that need to be taken in the event of a leak from a visiting nuclear submarine. On Wednesday teams from the Royal Navy and Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) will exercise the distribution of potassium iodate tablets (PITs) to premises in the area around Portland Port. It is part of the Nuclear Accident Emergency Plan which is in place to react in the highly unlikely event of a nuclear accident occurring during the visit of a nuclear powered warship to the port. Rubert
Best, a former nuclear submarine captain who is a director of Portland Port,
said: “It’s routine practice. There’s a system that needs to be exercised
periodically and it’s perfectly normal, standard practice. The rules for these
are all laid down by the nuclear safety committee – all ports have to be
cleared for nuclear submarines. This process will have been cleared with Dorset
County Council’s emergency planning officer.” One
important aspect of the plan is the delivery of PITs to members of the public
who are within 1.5 kilometres of the port. Mr Best added: “These tablets basically
give protection against one of the most common elements that sould be released
in the event of a serious nuclear accident – which has never happened on any
Royal Navy submarine.”(8/3/10) What am I bid for this des res in Derbyshire?
The
bunker was built as a master monitoring post by the Royal Observer Corps (ROC),
amid the threat of nuclear attack, but decommissioned after the collapse of the
Soviet Union. It is accessed via a metal hatch and shaft, and a 15ft (4.57m) ladder leads to two rooms - one for a chemical toilet and the other, of 15ft x 7ft 6in (4.57m x 2.28m), for the monitoring equipment. Two ventilation shafts are built in and much of the original equipment is still in place. The seller added: "The bunker can continue to be used as limited living accommodation for short periods or adventure holidays. "ROC posts rarely come on to the market, especially in such well preserved condition." The auction ends on 7 March.(1/3/10) UAE encourages students to join new nuclear programmes
An
increasing demand for electricity in the UAE has sparked government plans to
expand into the nuclear
energy field. With the first of four nuclear power plants in the
country set to come online in 2017, the drive to educate a new generation of
Emiratis in the nuclear field is well under way. The
Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), which is developing the country's
nuclear energy programme, has set up full scholarship programmes. It has also
partnered with the Khalifa University of Science Technology and Research
(KUSTAR), the Institute of Applied Technology (IAT) and the UAE's Federal
Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) to educate, train and recruit students
of the finest calibre who will go on to drive this emerging industry forward. Given
the rapid growth of the UAE, and electricity demands set to increase by 9%, the
UAE Government is looking into sources of clean energy to sustain the growth.
The nuclear power plants are set to create jobs for engineers, technicians,
operators and administrators, among others. The target is to have a workforce
constituted of 60 per cent Emiratis by 2020. "Renewable energy (wind and solar energy) will make up to 7% of UAE's energy production by 2020, while nuclear energy production will make up to 25 per cent by 2020," said a spokesman. “When the four nuclear power plants are completed they will provide up to 2,300 jobs," he added. (17/2/10) Tritium found in groundwater in Vermont - you might want to fix that..
Possible 8 new reactors for West Bengal
RosAtom
is currently building two nuclear power units at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu with
the total capacity of 2000 MWe and is to build four more VVER-1000 reactor
units under an agreement signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Moscow
visit in December last. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources How can you lose a nuclear gauge? Just ask the folks in Pennsylvania
Jeff
Zell Consultants Inc. has informed the state Department of Environmental
Protection's Bureau of Radiation Protection that a nuclear density gauge is
unaccounted for at its site in Coraopolis. The
nuclear gauge has a radioactive symbol on it. According to the DEP, any attempt
to tamper with the device could subject the handler to potentially harmful
levels of radiation exposure. The company that owns the gauge is offering a
$1,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to its immediate return. State
police and authorities with DEP are searching for the gauge, which is about the
size of a shoe box, with electronic controls and a metal rod extending from the
top surface. It is a Humboldt Model 5001 EZ122 with the serial number 5375.
Normally, the gauge is stored in a locked yellow transportation container when
not in use at construction sites. DEP
investigators are inspecting the facility where it is usually stored and
interviewing management and employees.(22/1/10) Armed hunters shut-down Pantex Plant - don't worry, they are just after some ducks
Officials
at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, which maintains the safety, security and
reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons
stockpile, ordered a lock-down at about 8 a.m. CST, plant
officials said in a statement. The
plant is operated by Babcock and Wilcox for the U.S. Department of Energy,
which oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Its nuclear stockpile was in
no danger and the lock-down was purely precautionary, a state safety official
said. "There
was not a threat to the Pantex plant assets, workers, or the public, and the
plant is now returning to normal operations," the company said in a
statement. According
to Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry, the plant was locked down because armed
hunters were spotted on property adjacent to it." Somebody saw some armed
individuals dressed in camouflage clothing exiting the vicinity of the plant.” Sheriffs found a pair of hunters setting out duck decoys and building a blind on property near the plant, Terry said."They were very cooperative and compliant: We identified them. We checked their criminal history."(18/1/10) Turn on and tune in for some official waffle from Vermont
(Host) A problem cropping up at nuclear plants
around the country has occurred at Vermont Yankee. Plant technicians have
discovered a radioactive isotope called tritium in a monitoring well on the
Vernon reactor site. Yankee
spokesman Robert Williams says the plant is taking part in an industry-wide
program to check for the isotope of hydrogen. Williams says the level is about
half the amount that would be required to be reported to federal authorities.
He says officials do not yet know where the radioactive isotope came from. (Williams) This is an extremely low-level amount of tritium but since it's on our plant site we have established a technical team to identify the source of it. I don't have a timetable on that. But certainly the levels we're looking at are in no way a cause for concern for the health and safety of the public. (15/1/10) Official notification concerning 'hot' money This
is from the official website of the US NRC and came to us via a roundabout
route, so we pass this on to you in its entirity. OFFSITE
NOTIFICATION DUE TO THE DISCOVERY OF CONTAMINATED DOLLAR BILLS You're going to have to save up your cash for this to happen!
Indian Point and federal regulators have reached an
agreement that will allow a reactor
to sit dormant - under monitoring - for as long as 50 years
while its parent company accrues enough money to safely tear it down. The agreement comes eight months after the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission discovered a $38.6 million shortfall in the
decommissioning trust fund for Indian Point's Unit 2. Federal laws require Entergy, Indian Point's parent company,
to show it would have enough money to shut down and dismantle the unit by the
end of its life. Unit 2 is licensed until 2013, but Entergy is seeking a
20-year renewal. Entergy's investment fund for decommissioning had fallen
behind because of the slumping economy, company spokesman Jerry Nappi said.
"Like any long-term investment, over the last year or 18 months the fund
took a significant hit," Nappi said. He noted that the fund has rebounded
over the past few months as the economy improves. On Monday, the NRC announced it will allow Entergy to put Unit 2 in "safe storage" mode until 2063 while the company accumulates more money to safely tear it down, remove any contaminants and reclaim the land.(6/1/10) Blame for leaked documents ranges far and wide
Five
government agencies, the National Security Council and two congressional
offices all share blame for the inadvertent publication of sensitive
information regarding hundreds of civilian nuclear sites, government watchdogs
concluded Wednesday. Though
the release of the information does not appear to have jeopardized national
security, government officials agree that it should not have been published in
June on the Web site of the Government Printing Office, the Government
Accountability Office reported. The
draft declaration of U.S. nuclear facilities (which included locations for
those that store enriched uranium and other materials for use in nuclear
weapons) was meant to be seen by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
only, but it appeared for about a day on the GPO Web site. Reporters' inquiries
prompted its removal, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered the Government
Accountability Office to investigate. The GAO report lays out in detail the mistakes made by the
departments of Commerce, Energy and State, the GPO, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, the National Security Council, and the House of Representatives'
parliamentarian and clerk's office. Mandy sites South Yorkshire as new nuke site for Rolls Royce
He also announced an additional £8 million to upgrade
nuclear laboratories at Manchester University's Dalton Nuclear Institute as
well as the creation of a nuclear low carbon economic area in the North West
and Yorkshire. He went on: "We know that we have to make the
transition to a low carbon future, and the Government is determined to ensure
that British businesses get the support they need to seize the business
opportunities that transition creates. The civil nuclear sector is one of the
key low carbon industries where the UK has the potential for job creation,
economic growth and engineering and manufacturing excellence.” The minister said the creation of a low carbon economic area
would give a focus to investment, developments and skills support he believed
would benefit companies across the UK. Tom Riordan, chief executive of
Yorkshire Forward said: "The UK's nuclear programme is expected to create
over 4,500 engineering jobs over the next 25 years and more than a £1bn a year
to the industry. Geiger Counter for your pillow, sir?
“Welcome to the Dounreay hotel, madam. You are booked
into the Fast Breeder suite and breakfast will be served in the Radioactive
Room." An unlikely vision for an "atomic
chic" hotel on the northern shores of Scotland? Probably. But it
is one of a number of suggestions from the public about how the former atomic
research station at Dounreay could be used. Others include a recreation centre
and a tourist attraction although the company that runs it believes it might
just end up as a heritage site. "This has been such a major part of life for
people in this part of the community that we have gone out to consultation to
hear what locals might like to see happen here," said a spokeswoman for
Dounreay Site Restoration, which is charged with dismantling it on behalf of
the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. "I cannot see Hilton hotels
knocking on our door because much of the ground is contaminated and low level
waste will be stored here in vaults." The current management reports that further amounts of uranium have recently been found in "nooks and crannies" of inaccessible pipe-work. Any hotelier might need to leave a geiger counter on the pillow next to the chocolate. Oz misses opportunity to sell uranium to India
Back
from India, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd faced flak from the opposition
which said not selling uranium
to New Delhi was a "colossal missed opportunity." Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources Vegas visitors authority not happy with planned nuke simulation
The
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is urging federal homeland security
officials to scrap plans to simulate a nuclear
explosion in Las Vegas next May. Authority President and Chief
Executive Officer Rossi Ralenkotter said the premise of an upcoming emergency
preparedness drill would generate undue anxiety about visiting or conducting
business in Las Vegas. FEMA
has been planning its 2010 “national level exercise” since last year. The
simulation, which is designed to test the capabilities of first responders to
catastrophic events, involves the response to a mock nuclear blast in Clark
County. Nearly 10,000 local, state, and federal agents are expected to
participate in the exercise. “Our
destination already receives a disproportionate amount of attention when the
Department of Homeland Security releases even the most routine bulletin,”
Ralenkotter said. “This exercise has the potential to escalate that attention
and potentially harm our economy.” Caithness workers could help out with new nuclear builds in UK
Ed Miliband, the energy and climate secretary, announced the plan last week and described nuclear energy as a "proven, reliable source of low-carbon energy". Up to 40 per cent of new energy provision could come from nuclear by 2025. He also reaffirmed the Government's target of 30 per cent of electricity generation from renewables by 2020. How long did you say that fence will be? Don't tell me you can't see 12,000 feet of fence...
The
new fences are a requirement of the NRC and will replace concrete blocks
located about midway between the site boundary fence and a fence that surrounds
the reactor building itself. The
new fence line will consist of an outer fence, an inner fence and a "dead
man’s zone" in between the two. "The fences won’t be visible to our
neighbours," said Larry Smith, Yankee’s director of communications. Last
week Vermont’s Public Service Board issued a CPG approving the new fences. The
PSB concluded that the fence installation should not adversely affect river
corridors, scenic highways and roads, scenic views or other scenic resources;
although a number of trees will need to be cut down to make room for the
new fences. In
2000, Yankee received a yellow finding for a security problem: an anonymous
source told the Reformer that Yankee received the finding because the
concrete security barrier wasn’t adequate. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources US military uranium pollution makes Saudi nuke waste disposal difficult
As Saudi Arabia moves ahead with
its civilian nuclear plan, concerns are rising in the Saudi parliament, the
Shoura Council, over the ability of the country to dispose
of nuclear waste: a recent report showed that up to 600 locations might
already be polluted by depleted uranium used by the US military. 30 per cent of the 600 possibly US-polluted locations have been deemed polluted and the remainder still need to be surveyed. The US military disposed of nuclear waste in these locations during the Gulf War in 1990, the governmental report says. It also called for allocation of more funds to build a large fence to quarantine the polluted areas and to block off those parts of the kingdom where US forces were present and which still need to be surveyed – this survey would cost around 2.5 billion riyals (Dh2.45bn). 19 months with two mis-aligned switches? Okay, own up, who can't see straight??
Two switches had been misaligned for 19 months at
the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, tests revealed last week. The error
could have made it difficult for operators to cool the reactor had there had
been a reactor
emergency, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission official said. Workers would have been forced to switch on the pump
manually, a step that would have delayed the operation of the cooling pump
during an emergency. The misaligned switches could have diminished the ability
of the critical backup cooling system to replace coolant during a breach of the
reactor vessel. Emily Christensen Archer, plant spokesperson, said: “We take
this issue very seriously and are currently working to determine the exact
cause, as well as evaluate whether there are other issues associated with this
incident.” Officials say there are five other pumps available to cool the reactor during an emergency. Nuclear reactors must have a fully working coolant system to operate. If coolant lost during a reactor breach isn’t replaced, the radioactive core would overheat and melt down. Rogue decorator at Seabrook causes level 4 violation alert - yes, really
The
Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a Severity
Level IV violation to the owners of the Seabrook nuclear power plant
(NH) because a contract employee deliberately failed to report an arrest to his
employer, violating the plant's physical security plan requirements. According to NRC Public Affairs Officer Neil Sheehan, the
individual in question was a painter with unescorted access privileges at the
plant while working for Williams Plant Services, which is under contract with
NextEra Energy Seabrook nuclear power plant. Williams is a general labour
contractor, providing the plant with craftsmen. The NRC Enforcement Policy describes a Severity Level IV
violation as one that involves non-compliance with NRC requirements that are
not considered significant based on risk. The NRC's violation scale goes from
Level I through IV, with IV being the lowest level. The NRC considers the event
one of low significance since the employee was not a supervisor, and the
violation appears to be an isolated incident. "This didn't compromise plant security," Sheehan
said. "But NextEra bears ultimate responsibility for the operation of its
plant and all employees there, whether they're contracted or directly employed
by NextEra. That's why we issued the violation." Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources New sirens? Great - just remember to buy the batteries!!
If you're going to scan for radiation, at least use a bigger geiger counter!
They
were simulating attempts by small boats to smuggle nuclear
weapons into the area, particularly Elliott Bay and the Canadian Border
because of it being a possible target during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. A
serious game of cat and mouse played out. The small vessels, those under 300
gross tons, were loaded with safe, low-level radioactive materials. Law
enforcement craft were armed with radiation detectors at lines drawn in the
water, or “choke points” set up at Admiralty Inlet, Bellingham Bay and North
Skagit Bay. The
boats carrying radiation attempted to breach the choke points. Four on-shore
back-up, three temporary shore-based hazmet centres, in La Conner, Bellingham
and Port Townsend were operated by members of the Washington State Patrol bomb
squad, the Federal Bureau of Investigation bomb technicians, and the 10th Civil
Support Team, a National Guard Unit. Law enforcement representatives announced the exercise was a success at a press conference and harbour tour at the Seattle Coast Guard facility across Elliot Bay from Alki Thursday, Sept. 24. The exercise was part of a pilot demonstration funded by the Department of Homeland Security Domestic Nuclear Detection Office to evaluate radiation detector sensors and operational protocols for the small vessels. UN security group to keep an eye on nuclear testing
The
monitoring network has not been widely reported nor have its participants,
including Iran, which the West believes is pursuing nuclear weapons, and
Israel, which is widely believed to possess a nuclear arsenal but won't say as
much. Tibor
Toth told a news conference that a system to verify atomic blasts that was
started in 2000 now has 270 monitoring facilities and expects to increase the
number to 340. He called the verification system an important step to address
concerns of nuclear and non-nuclear states, and noted that it monitored North
Korea's nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 "very well." Toth spoke to reporters ahead of a high-level meeting on Sept. 24-25 on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting to press North Korea, India and Pakistan to first sign and then ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and to press the other six countries that have signed it to ratify it. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources Mafia scuttles nuke waste ships - barrels at the bottom of Italian sea
The
sunken vessel has been found 30km (18 miles) off the south-west coast of Italy.
The informant said it contained "nuclear" material. Officials said it
would be tested for radioactivity. Murky pictures taken by a robot camera show
the vessel intact and alongside it are a number of yellow barrels. Labels on
them say the contents are toxic. The
informant said the mafia had muscled in on the lucrative business of
radioactive waste disposal. But he said that instead of getting rid of the
material safely, he blew up the vessel out at sea, off the Calabrian coast. He
also says he was responsible for sinking two other ships containing toxic
waste. Experts are now examining samples taken from the wreck. Church leader speaks out against Nigeria's nuclear plans We found this little article on the pages of 234Next, based in Timbuktu, Malia. A Christian cleric, Olugbenga Olu, has advised the
Federal Government against embracing nuclear energy to solve the nation's
energy crisis.
Mr. Olu, the Bishop of the newly created Remo Central
Diocese of the Methodist Church of Nigeria in Ogun State, said that the cost
implication of such a venture would be too much on the nation, aside from the
dearth of nuclear expertise in the country.
He said he feared for nuclear accidents that could
lead to serious radiation effects, which the nation was not yet disposed to
handle effectively. According to him, "the harmful effect of radioactive elements on the human, among several other negative tendencies, are better imagined than experienced" . The cleric said the church favoured the option of exploiting wind, coal, gas and hydro resources, as sources of power, adding that they were ``better alternatives to nuclear energy and its attendant risks." Palisades staff seek out suspect Tritium leaks in K-a-l-a-m-a-z-o-o (gedditt?)
A
second radioactive leak at the Palisades
nuclear plant in Michigan has been fixed. "I'm happy to say we
have found the source of the leak," said Mark Savage, the public-affairs
and communications director for Palisades, "and have repaired that." The
new leak was at a turn in a pipe and was because of the failure of a weld,
Savage said. The pipes and welds are stainless steel. "We think it was
during original construction," Savage said. In
June, Savage told the Van Buren County Board of Commissioners that tritium
levels were rising in monitoring wells. Last year the company found a leak in
one of the pipes feeding the storage tanks. It was drained and fixed. Tritium
levels diminished after those repairs. In
2007, Palisades found a level of 22,000 picoCuries per litre of water, 2,000
above the reportable level for drinking water, although none of the monitoring
wells are used for drinking water. At 22,000 picoCuries, Palisades had not been
required to report the tritium to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission but
did so anyway. Is nuclear power Vietnam's solution for achieving energy security goal? (Answers on a postcard, to..)
Vietnam
plans to start building its first nuclear
power plant in five years and plug it into the grid by 2020 as demand
for power continues to grow at a rate of about 15 percent per year, the
country's top atomic official said. After
that initial step, planned for Ninh Thuan province, some 250 kilometres (155
miles) northeast of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam wants to expand to 15,000
megawatts of nuclear power by 2030, or 10 percent of total electricity
capacity, said Vuong Huu Tan, chairman of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission,
recently. "Nuclear power is a solution for the country to achieve its
energy security goal." At present, about 60 percent of Vietnam's energy comes from coal and gas-fired plants and 40 percent from hydropower turbines, but demand outstrips supply and blackouts are common. Demand for power will remain robust with growth seen at 14-15 percent per year. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources To nuclear, or not to nuclear - Canada re-thinks expansion
The
world's relationship with nuclear has long been unstable, but the quest to
quash climate change coupled with a hunger for energy security, have helped resuscitate
nuclear power. The industry built better, more reliable reactors, and
governments gave nuclear a starring role in their long-term energy plans. Recent
events, however, have put nuclear back on the defensive, bringing into question
the future of the industry in Canada and beyond. Onlookers
from both camps are keeping a close eye on Ontario after it recently suspended
plans for two nuclear reactors at its Darlington station, citing the reported
C$26-billion cost and the murky outlook of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. The
Point Lepreau station in New Brunswick - Atlantic Canada's only nuclear facility
and the first CANDU-6 reactor to undergo a complete rebuild - has been under
refurbishment since March 2008 and is now seven months behind schedule. The
province is on the hook for roughly C$150-million in additional replacement
fuel costs, and will rack up another C$20 million for every month the project
is delayed. $10,000 for a radiation meter? We could have sold them one for much less than that.. Kevin
Walters, writing for The Tennessean’s web pages, brings us
this. The
discovery of radioactive
material in a Franklin trash truck is prompting city staff to buy the
city’s first-ever radiation meter. Aldermen will vote on spending $10,680 to
buy a radiation detector to check Franklin’s trucks for any possible future
radiation. Recently,
“a high radiation reading” was detected on a Franklin trash truck at the Middle
Point Landfill in Murfreesboro, according to a memo to city aldermen about the
purchase. "The
elevated reading indicated a type of radiation used post-chemotherapy or
radiation treatment for cancer," said Milissa Reierson, city spokeswoman
in a prepared statement. "However we’ve learned this type of radiation can
also be found in decaying wood or old electronics." Low-level radioactive
materials had been disposed at the landfill until the site’s owner, Allied
Waste Services, formerly BFI, agreed to stop dumping radiation in the landfill. Apparently this is the first time an incident like this has occurred. Denver's most toxic site could soon be redeveloped into a hospital, houses and businesses
It
is home to Colorado's only Nuclear reactor, radioactive waste was buried there,
the groundwater is toxic, and the soil is contaminated with Arsenic, Uranium,
Beryllium, Asbestos and explosives. But the Denver
Federal Centre site won't be fenced off for long. It will soon be
heavily used by the public. Leaks, breakdowns and 'other events' - what next for UK's nuke palnts? Terry Macalister and Rob
Edwards, writing for The Observer recently, bring us this. The scale
of safety problems inside Britain's nuclear power stations has been revealed
for the first time in a secret report obtained by the Observer that shows more
than 1,750
leaks, breakdowns or other "events" over the past seven
years. The document, written by the government's chief nuclear inspector, Mike
Weightman, and released under the Freedom of Information Act, raises serious
questions about the dangers of expanding the industry with a new generation of
atomic plants. And it came as the managers of the UK's biggest plant,
Sellafield, admitted they had finally halted a radioactive leak many believe
has been going on for 50 years. The report discloses that between
2001-08 there were 1,767 safety incidents across Britain's nuclear plants.
About half were subsequently judged by inspectors as serious enough "to
have had the potential to challenge a nuclear safety system". They were
"across all areas of existing nuclear plant", including Sellafield in
Cumbria and Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire, says Weightman, chief
inspector of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII). In May 2007 a manhole at Dounreay
in northern Scotland was found to be contaminated with plutonium. A series of
other incidents occurred at Sellafield, including a fault with a trap door
meant to provide protection from highly radioactive waste in September 2008,
and the contamination of five workers at a plutonium fuel plant in January
2007. A spokesman for Sellafield confirmed it had successfully halted the seeping of liquid from a crack in one of four waste tanks that used to process effluent before it was discharged into the Irish Sea. Some local residents say it started half a century ago.
Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources Palm Springs residents get twitchy over reactor lid
A 150-ton piece of equipment that
will cap off a nuclear reactor is on its way to Palm Springs this evening,
California Highway Patrol officials said. The
large load left Banning just before 8 p.m., the agency reported. The estimate
is that it will pass through the area in the early Wednesday morning hours. The
load is only transported at night, Perez said. "The
driver can only drive 4-5 mph for a maximum of 10 hours," CHP public
information officer Ramon Perez said Tuesday. "I'd say by the end of his
shift, he'll be parking it somewhere north of Palm Springs," said Perez. The load will leave the Palm Springs area and continue on its journey to Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, 50 miles west of Phoenix. The
equipment (similar to that shown) which was made in South Korea, is 19 feet tall, said Andrew Wierda,
spokesman for Bigge Crane and Rigging, the company in charge of transporting
it. It will be used as a lid for one of three nuclear reactors at the Palo
Verde power plant about 50 miles west of Phoenix, said Betty Dayyo, spokeswoman
for Arizona Public Service, one of seven co-owners of the plant. Dayyo said the piece of metal equipment is neither radioactive nor harmful. Belgium bans all things Uranium
The
historic and courageous decision by Belgium’s Parliament to lead on this issue
came after its members unanimously accepted that a growing body of evidence
linking Uranium with potential health problems supported a precautionary
approach to the use of such weapons. Depleted
Uranium (DU) is waste from production of “enriched” natural Uranium used in
nuclear weapons or fuelling of nuclear reactors. It is an extremely heavy and
makes very effective armour-piercing munitions. On impact DU ignites, burning
at a very high temperature, forming Uranium Oxide, and creating a fume of fine
dust like smoke which can pass through gas masks and into the body. This dust
causes both heavy-metal and radiation poisoning. In February last year, when the NZ Government hosted an international conference in Wellington to finalise a treaty banning cluster bombs, DUET launched a petition asking the NZ Parliament to “emulate the Belgian Parliament’s decision of 22 March 2007 by prohibiting in New Zealand the manufacture, use, storage, sale, acquisition, supply and transit of inert munitions and armour that contain depleted uranium [DU] or any other industrially manufactured uranium.” Manhattan, you have a problem - FBI & NYPD test city's attack readiness
As
chilling as that sounded, the situation wasn't real. But authorities say it
could be, and what followed over the next two days was an ambitious stress test
of the city's line of defence against a radiological or nuclear
terrorist attack. The
exercise involved hundreds of New York Police Department officers and FBI
agents trained at detecting threats, along with an elite unit of federal
weapons experts expected (with the approval of the U.S. attorney general) to
swoop in by plane and defuse them. There
have been no specific threats against New York City. But since the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks, law enforcement officials have repeatedly warned that
the city remains atop terrorists' hit lists — and that a radiological or
nuclear device could be in their arsenal. "It's something we're very
concerned about," said Joseph Demarest, head of the FBI's New York office. Authorities
say a small nuclear bomb could cause widespread devastation. Failing to
intercept it before it's detonated is not an option. "Hopefully, we'll
never have to do this," Don Alway, an FBI counter-terrorism supervisor,
said of the deployment. "But if we do, we have to do it right the first
time." Much of the drill played out behind the scenes and only select specifics were made public. Whadya mean we're down to 6?? US Military are running out of refurbished warheads
A
decade-long effort to refurbish thousands of aging
nuclear warheads has run into serious technical problems that have
forced delays and exacerbated concerns about the Energy Department's ability to
maintain the United States' strategic deterrent. But no delivery was ever made. The warhead is now in pieces inside a production cell at the Energy Department's Pantex plant in Amarillo, Texas, according to an engineer at the facility.
Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources North a bit, west a bit, east a bit - oops!: SWAT officers hit Calvert Cliffs plant
A
state-wide SWAT team exercise at a firing range on the secured grounds of a
nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland was halted this month after stray
bullets shattered glass and struck a command centre near the plant's reactors,
officials said. Reactor
safety at the Calvert
Cliffs plant in Lusby was never compromised, according to the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Constellation Energy Group, which operates
the facility. But Constellation closed the range, a popular training site for
local law enforcement agencies, pending investigations by plant security and
the Calvert County Sheriff's Office, which hosted the exercise. At
least five bullets escaped the firing range and travelled more than a half-mile
before striking buildings and a vehicle near the reactors. One struck the
plant's "outage control centre," which is used as a command area to
orchestrate refuelling efforts. Another hit an employee's sport-utility vehicle
in the parking lot. Three others struck an office facility: Two of them hit the
roof, and one shattered the outer pane of a first-floor window. Typically,
officers shoot southward, away from the plant, while on the firing range, but
during the exercise, officers somehow fired eastward. The rounds cleared an
almost 30-foot-high berm and flew about 3,400 feet before striking the two
office buildings and the door of the parked SUV. Concerns that new Oak Ridge Command Centre won't be built
The
challenges were just beginning. The Knoxville developer still has to arrange
private financing for the U$50 million project, which would never be an easy
task but is doubly difficult in the current economic climate. He also has to
hope the project survives the scrutiny of federal officials in Washington and
doesn't get stretched out or scrapped entirely by the debate about the future
size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The company needs to construct the facility on time and within budget in order to collect its development fee and set the stage for a long-term leasing arrangement with Y-12's federal contractor. "We're optimistic, but we're not naive," Wayne Roquemore, president of Lawler-Wood, said in a telephone interview last week. Areva's gone 'fission' in France
Visitors
to the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing facility at La Hague in France are
likely to see a ballet of industrial-strength robots. Old nuclear
fuel assemblies - highly radioactive, elongated packages of metal rods
that once energized some of France's 58 nuclear power plants - are hoisted by cranes
and placed on belts while the machinery works to prepare the assemblies to be
lowered into four giant pools. There
they will sit, with about 13 feet of demineralised water above them for about
three years. Then more machines will lift them out, chop them up and put the
pieces to be dissolved in vats of nitric acid. The fissioning of the fuel in
the power plant (or the splitting of uranium atoms to release energy) has
created a large family of elements, called fission products. The goal of this
process is to find and recycle the ones that still contain more energy - the
plutonium and uranium This facility is part of France's answer to the question pressing nuclear power plant owners in nearly every part of the world: What do you do with spent nuclear fuel? Areva regard this plant as the "crown jewel" of its technology.
Obama proposes deep cuts in nuke stockpiles: Pantex on stand-by
Speaking
in Prague recently, U.S. President Barack Obama called the thousands of nuclear
weapons sitting in world arsenals "the most dangerous legacy of the Cold
War." He proposed deep cuts in U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles. But
when policymakers talk about nuclear reductions, what do they mean in practice?
The
first answer is, nothing much. Retiring a weapon is accomplished through
paperwork. If the weapon is in storage, it continues to sit there. Eventually,
small steps begin to indicate its fate on the nuclear weapons equivalent of
death row. Workers come along to remove the batteries and other so-called
"limited-life components" that have to be regularly changed in active
nuclear weapons. At some point - perhaps years later - the Energy Department ships the weapon to Pantex, the central U.S. nuclear weapons factory near Amarillo, Texas. The warheads now undergoing dismantlement were not designed to come apart (other than very rapidly, over the Soviet Union). Because nuclear weapons contain explosives and other hazardous materials, workers must take care to minimize health risks. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources Mysteries of Area 51: former employees speak out
The problem is the myths of Area
51 are hard to dispute if no one can speak on the record about what actually
happened there. Well, now, for the first time, someone is ready to talk - in
fact, five men are, and their stories rival the most outrageous of rumours.
Colonel Hugh "Slip" Slater, 87, was commander of the Area 51 base in
the 1960s. Edward Lovick, 90, spent three decades radar testing some of the
world's most famous aircraft (including the U-2, the A-12 OXCART and the
F-117). Kenneth Collins, 80, a CIA experimental test pilot, was given the
Silver Star. Thornton "T.D." Barnes, 72, was an Area 51
special-projects engineer. And Harry Martin, 77, was one of the men in charge
of the base's half-million-gallon monthly supply of spy-plane fuels. US Government finally pays atomic veterans David Clouston, reporting
for the Salina Journal in Kansas, brings us this. The cheque stub and a
notification letter rest in a file stuffed with Salina resident James Trepoy's
military paperwork. The sum (a whopping U$75,000) initially made Trepoy afraid
to cash the cheque. The letter accompanying the cheque
looked official enough, on letterhead from the U.S. Department of Justice,
Civil Division, in Washington, D.C. "This is to inform you that your claim
for compensation under the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Program has been approved," the letter read.
Trepoy, 88, is among an estimated
group of more than 200,000 former soldiers who witnessed above-ground and
undersea atomic tests conducted between 1945 and 1963. Nicknamed "atomic
veterans," the soldiers were part of the testing because various
governments wanted to see whether troops could operate on battlefields
contaminated by radiation from nuclear bombs.
Retired veterans Larry Halloran of Mulvane and Gary Thornton of Leon have made it a mission to track down atomic veterans in Kansas (particularly older vets such as Trepoy ) to make them aware of their eligibility for financial compensation from the government. In 1990, Congress passed the Act, offering veterans who took part in the tests a payment of U$75,000 each. There's a shed-load of uranium in Ireland
A
lead box containing a compound of radioactive
uranium, and nuclear material stored in a garden shed in Co Meath, are
among a number of radioactive finds in Ireland in recent years, the
Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland has said. Responding
to EU concerns at more than 1,300 finds of radioactive material worldwide since
1993 – 16 of which constituted weapons grade nuclear material – the institute
said finds in the Republic have tended to be “orphan sources”, mislaid or
inadvertently dumped by industry and hospitals. It
said such finds amount to less than one per year, but it has repeatedly
expressed concern that Ireland has no centralised storage facilities for waste
or unwanted equipment from the 1,600 licensed users of radioactive substances.
Unwanted or “orphan source” radioactive materials are held at 80 locations. In its 2007 annual report the institute said the legal responsibility for industrial radioactive materials rested with the owners but such storage represented “an accident waiting to happen”. The institute was critical of successive governments’ failure to provide a central, secure storage facility for nuclear waste. We're not going to mention 'Duck & Cover': safety exercise due Wednesday
The
Daily Journal, based in Kankakee, Illinois, brings us this public
announcement. An exercise to test emergency response plans for the region
surrounding Dresden Nuclear Power Station will be conducted 9 a.m. to 1
p.m. Wednesday by personnel from the state, the counties of Will, Grundy and
Kendall and the plant's owner, Exelon. State
and local organizations will conduct a reception centre demonstration at 9 a.m.
Thursday at Kankakee Community College to demonstrate their ability to
register, monitor, decontaminate and provide mass care for "mock
evacuees." The Federal Emergency Management Agency will evaluate the exercise and reception center demonstration at 2 p.m. Friday at the Grundy County Emergency Operations Centre, 1320 Union St., Morris. The evaluation is open to the public. The exercise for Braidwood station was held about six months ago. Another will be held in about 18 months. Russian K3's sad anniversary
The first Soviet nuclear powered submarine, the
“K-3”, later named “Leninsky Komsomol”, was delivered to the Soviet navy
December 17 1958. Building
of the first soviet nuclear submarine started at the Sevmash shipyard in
Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk, in 1955. It was put on water in August 1957 and the
nuclear reactor was launched in 1957. The submarine was taken into service in
the Northern Fleet in March 1959, and in 1962 she got the name “Leninski
Komsomol”, Sevmash Shipyard said in a recent press release. Leninski
Komsomol played a crucial role in the peace keeping process, General Director
at Sevmash, Nikolay Kalistratov, said to Pravda Severa. “The USA already had
nuclear powered submarines, and K-3 made the two superpowers’ chances more
even.” 39 of the crew were killed in a fire aboard Leninsky Komsomol in the Norwegian Sea in September 1967. The submarine was taken out of duty in 1991, and is waiting to be made into a museum. In order to build K-3, a new department had to be opened at Sevmash and was, until recently, one of the most secret departments in the Soviet Union. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources Recent plutonium find at Hanford has half-life of 24,110 years (who counts this?)
A
team from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory used nuclear forensic
techniques to date the sample and track down its origins. The researchers have
described their study as "nuclear archaeology". The
type of plutonium in the bottle - known as Pu-239 - is a
so-called alpha emitter. These alpha particles are too bulky to penetrate skin
or paper, but they can cause poisoning if swallowed or inhaled. It has a
half-life (the time it takes for half the radioactive nuclei in a sample to
decay) of 24,110 years. Hope for new jobs in Tennessee. In
the worst economic slump in decades, manufacturers of nuclear power equipment
gathered in Chattanooga last week to talk about how to expand their production
and hire more workers to supply an expected revival
in nuclear power. The
Nuclear Energy Institute estimates at least 20,000 construction jobs will be
added to eight plants the industry expects will begin construction by 2011. If
all 26 of the reactors proposed to be built in the United States move forward,
NEI projects at least 62,000 construction jobs will be created in the next
decade, including several thousand by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Chattanooga
Mayor Ron Littlefield told industry leaders that Chattanooga is ready to answer
the call and could be at the centre of the industry revival. “This is a nuclear-friendly city,” Mr. Littlefield said. “We are a city that has an industrial past and a manufacturing future which, to a great extent, will be built on energy.” Diablo Canyon waits for controversial delivery
The first transfer of spent
radioactive fuel rods into dry-cask containers at Diablo
Canyon Power Plant is set to begin in June. During this summer’s
planned transfer, eight dry-cask canisters will be loaded with spent fuel rods
from one of two nuclear reactors at Diablo Canyon. Each cask is expected to
take 10 days to load, according to a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spokeswoman. Canadian bio-solids are "not radioactive" Here’s an environmental tale, courtesy of Michael
Peeling, reporting for the Standard Freeholder, based in Cornwall,
Ontario. The general
manager of a Canadian farm fertilizer distributor in South Dundas said
residents living nearby need not worry about the so-called "radioactive
waste" being stored there. Dean Swerdfeger of Third High
Farms Ltd. in Iroquois, Ont. said two loads of waste shipped from the R. O.
Pickard Environmental Centre (ROPEC) in Ottawa currently being stored at the
facility he manages is "absolutely not radioactive waste." U. S. officials denied two out of
three loads from ROPEC passage across the Canada-U. S. border on Jan. 29 when
they tested positive for radioactive material.
"They are just loads of bio-solids that registered a very low
reading of radioactivity at the border," Swerdfeger said. Swerdfeger also said the cause of
the low reading is still unknown, but added that it no longer registered on
follow-up tests. "The bio-solids in question are not an environmental
issue or a health and safety issue." Two more loads from ROPEC tested
positive, but City of Ottawa deputy manager Nancy Schepers said the material
was sent back to the centre for further testing. A hazardous materials team was
"not able to detect radiation above background levels in the two loads of
biosolids quarantined at the Pickard Centre." We don't want foreign nuke waste - we have enough of our own, thank you..
Two
US politicians, Bart Gordon (Democrat) and Lamar Alexander (Republican) have
teamed on legislation that would ban foreign nuclear waste. The legislation
follows efforts by a Utah company, Energy
Solutions, to import up to 20,000 tons of nuclear waste from Italy that
would go through ports at Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans, and through
Tennessee on its way to the Energy Solutions site in Utah. Gordon
and Alexander emphasize the need for the U.S. to handle its own waste before
taking on the responsibility of handling that of other countries. In the
current anti-coal political climate, authorities are pushing harder and harder
for more nuclear power generation. One of the greatest challenges of nuclear
power is how to handle nuclear waste. The fact is no one is in position to guarantee the safety of domestic nuclear energy, and no amount of trouble from coal-fired power plants completely erases nuclear concerns. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources
Christmas Island tests compensation row continues
George Harrison, 73, (like many veterans) isn't well enough to travel to London to
fight his legal battle against the Ministry of Defence in person but he hopes
the case – part of one of largest compensation claims against the MoD from
hundreds of servicemen – will reach a positive conclusion after more than half
a century. London-based solicitors Rosenblatt
will argue that the government was aware of health risks at the time of the
tests. However, the MoD refuses to accept any liability or that there is a link
between the veterans' health and their atomic experiments. Plymouth's new warning system: 'alert' texts via mobile phones This came to us in a round about way from a chap called Fred
Dawson and is very similar to a recent American report we featured as one of
our Nuclear Nuggets.
UAE looks to Japan for nuclear development ideas
Japan,
the world’s third-biggest atomic generator, may help the U.A.E. by offering
services to develop legal frameworks and educate workers on atomic power, said
government officials who declined to be named as negotiations haven’t been
completed. A
delegation headed by Mohammed al-Hammadi, president of Emirates Nuclear Energy
Corp., arrived for a week- long visit to hold talks with government officials
on areas of cooperation. The U.A.E., holder of almost 8 percent of the world’s
crude reserves, wants to develop nuclear energy as an alternative source of
electricity. Japan is poised to become the fourth country to sign atomic- power pacts with the emirates after France, the U.S. and the U.K. inked agreements this year. You want another 20 years on your nuke licence? Just ask in Iowa
Tennessee builds second reactor at Watts Bar
Bechtel Corp. and its subcontractors have hired 1,425 workers in East Tennessee this year to resume construction of what is expected to be the first new nuclear reactor completed in America in more than 15 years. Nuclear
proponents in Chattanooga said those hired to work on a second reactor at the
Watts Bar Nuclear Plant could represent the first of thousands of new jobs
created in the Tennessee Valley from a renaissance of nuclear power. “I believe that East Tennessee has a historic opportunity to play a major role in the resurgence of nuclear power,” said Sherrell R. Greene, director of nuclear technology programs at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Mr. Greene also said rising energy demand and concerns over global warming could create a need for the United States to triple the number of nuclear plants by 2050 at a cost of more than $900 billion. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources Things that go bang in the night (or not) back in May...
The
May 23 fire burned itself out after an hour or two, and multiple safety systems
prevented any threat of an accidental launch of the Minuteman III missile. Maj.
Laurie Arellano said she was not allowed to say whether the missile was armed
with a nuclear warhead at the time of the fire. Arellano
also said the Air Force didn't know a fire had occurred until May 28, when a
repair crew went to the launch site because a trouble signal indicated a wiring
problem. She said the flames never entered the launch tube where the missile
stood and there was no danger of a radiation release. Cheyenne Mayor Jack Spiker, who said he learned of the incident when contacted by a reporter said the fire doesn't undermine his confidence in the safety of the missile operations. "It's rare that they have an accident, and the accidents have never really, that I know of, amounted to much because of the safety devices that are built into the system.” Chances of planes crashing into Dungeness - 1 : 689,229
After
reviewing Lydd Airport’s second round of environmental information Lydd Airport
Action Group’s (LAAG’s) nuclear safety advisor still thinks the risk is
substantial. John Large of consulting engineers Large and Associates found no
reason to change his conclusion the proposed expansion of Lydd Airport means a
risk of an aircraft crashing into Dungeness stands at one in 689,229 each year. His
findings were initially set out in his report in March last year and based on
the proposed expansion to 500,000 per year. Should Lydd Airport expand to two
million passengers a year then the risk increases to odds of one in 409,691 in
each year. Mr
Large said: "There is nothing in the new supplementary information which
could change my mind. I consider the risk to have increased if anything because
the airport seems to be committed to increasing the aircraft levels at a time
when there are firm proposals to develop the nuclear power plant.” Aging administration's last - ditch chance at US nuclear weapons policy update
That
is the conclusion of a nuclear policy paper released quietly last month by
Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates and Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman. The
secretaries warn that without the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program,
which Congress has delayed, the United States will have to keep an inventory of
older, non-deployed nuclear warheads. That would be in addition to the 1,700 to
2,200 Cold War-era warheads -- many whose useful life has been extended 20
years under the stockpile stewardship program. The Gates-Bodman paper (a last attempt by the Bush administration to have an impact on future US nuclear weapons policy) warns, in the strongest terms yet, that the stockpile stewardship program will soon have to modernize so many components and materials that the weapons may no longer be reliable. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources
Sirens? What sirens? Seabrook nuke plant to run siren test Oct 25th
On Saturday, Oct. 25, at 12:30 p.m., all 121 Seabrook
nuclear power plant emergency sirens will sound in an audible
demonstration of the system. The local authorities ask that people don’t call
the local police when this happens. A spokesman said: You’re not supposed to
call 911, you’re supposed to turn your radio on." FPL Energy Seabrook Station, in conjunction with the state
Division of Homeland Security and Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency,
are setting off the sirens so people will know what they sound like and what to
do when they hear them. What people should do when they hear the siren is to tune to
their local emergency radio station. In New Hampshire, this is WOKQ at 97.5 FM.
In Massachusetts, it’s WBZ at 1030 AM, 1450 AM, 93.7 FM and 92.5 FM. The 121 sirens are located within a ten-mile radius of the nuclear power plant. There are 94 sirens in 17 towns in New Hampshire, including Portsmouth and 27 are within 6 towns in Massachusetts. China needs to come clean over nuke capability
China
continues to resist disclosing details of its strategic nuclear weapons
programs despite exchanges and discussions with the US during the past two
years, defence officials say. One
indicator of the problems has been that Gen. Jing Zhiyan, commander of China's
nuclear forces, has not visited the U.S. Strategic Command or the United States
despite a promise in 2006 from Chinese President Hu Jintao to President Bush
that the general would lead a delegation for talks. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said, however, that though the nuclear discussions are going slowly, they are making progress. So, no worries there, then… Rumours of ZZ Top sighting at Sellafield denied
Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. is looking to
commercialise small, nuclear reactors for remote locations as soon as 2013. The
reactors, developed at the reputable Los
Alamos National Laboratory, are the size of a hot tub and buried under
ground; it is impossible for them to melt down or be broken down into weapons.
Furthermore, the amount of nuclear waste one of these reactors produces after
about 5 years is so small it could be reprocessed for more energy. These
‘hot tubs’ pump out enough electricity to power around 20,000 average – sized
homes. Toshiba
has some stake in this game, as well. They’ve been working on a 20 feet by 6
feet reactor that would produce electricity at about half the price of regular
grid electricity. Ohio waste recycling centre 'on hold' but not off list
The federal government's plans to bring a so-called nuclear
waste recycling facility to the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion
Plant in Piketon, Ohio, appear to be put on hold, possibly for good. Last month the US
department of energy announced it would not select a site for the planned
reprocessing facility, as expected. In a notice published July 10, the
department said it had received 14,000 comments on the controversial Global
Nuclear Energy Partnership, called GNEP, a Bush administration plan to deal
with the nation's spent nuclear power plant fuel. Angela Hill, a spokeswoman for DOE, said the change of course doesn't mean Piketon is off the list of 11 possible locations for the GNEP project, it just means that the list has been set aside. "What we're looking at is the larger, broader picture," she said. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources
'Houston', we have a leak: Japanese concerns over US submarine 'La Jolla' visit
A U.S. nuclear-powered
submarine arrived at the U.S. naval base in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture
on Monday. The submarine "La Jolla", with a displacement of 6,080
tons, came amid widespread concerns in Japan over radioactive leakage by
another Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine "Houston" when it
called at the port in March. Dozens of local people rallied near the base,
demanding that the nuclear submarine should not be allowed into the port until
its safety was confirmed. "La Jolla, go away," they chorused. On Saturday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a press interview that they were informed that Houston began leaking radioactive substances when it travelled to Sasebo in March during its tour around the Pacific. The interview came after a CNN report, which had been confirmed by the U.S. Navy, revealed Friday that Houston was found leaking traces with radioactivity during a regular check up in Hawaii in July.
Who threw away those uranium hexaflouride cannisters?
Plant workers discovered in
February that 16 sample vials containing a total of 4½ ounces of uranium hexafluoride
were missing. The vials with the gel-like material are shipped inside
cushioned, six-gallon steel containers. Lab technicians then remove the vials
from the canisters to test the uranium. An employee threw away the
canisters, believing they were empty, said Jackie McCoy, spokeswoman for the
plant, which annually produces enough nuclear fuel to provide 10% of the USA’s
electricity. Company officials using radiation detectors searched the plant, a scrap metal recycling facility, a metal shredding facility in Spartanburg and a landfill in Elgin. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission also searched, but nothing was found.
Barnwell (SC) closes doors to out of state nuke waste
Currently
there are three disposal facilities in America for low-level radioactive waste,
but one site is open only to a coalition of 11 western states. A second in Utah
accepts only the lowest level of waste. The third (Barnwell) accepted the other
two levels of low-level waste, but now does so only from the states in its
coalition – Connecticut, New Jersey and South Carolina. That leaves the 36 states with no place to send their B- and C-level wastes, which include medical wastes, certain material from nuclear reactors, both research and commercial, and some sensing equipment that includes radioactive components.
US military misplaces nuke missile components
The
US military cannot locate hundreds of sensitive nuclear
missile components, according to government officials familiar with a
Pentagon report on nuclear safeguards. One official said the number of missing
components was more than 1,000. Robert
Gates, US defence secretary, recently fired both the chief of staff and
secretary after an investigation blamed the Air Force for the inadvertent
shipment of nuclear missile nose cones to Taiwan. Mr Gates added that the
Pentagon was evaluating the results of an inventory of all nuclear-related
materials that had been conducted to re-establish "positive control"
of such components. This incident has raised concerns about US nuclear safeguards as Washington presses other countries to bolster counter-proliferation measures.
Atel puts in application for Swiss nuclear power plant
The Niederamt plant would be built
alongside the Gösgen nuclear power plant, in which Atel owns a 40% stake, but
would be independent of the existing plant. No reactor design is specified in
the application, other than a "third generation light water reactor"
that would use a virtually vapour-free "hybrid" cooling tower. Kernkraftwerk Niederamt AG (KKN), a 100% Atel-owned subsidiary, has been set up with responsibility for planning, building and operating the new and for obtaining the necessary approvals. Atel says it is looking for partners in the project and is currently talking to "various interested parties," including the operators of Switzerland's nuclear power plants. KKN envisages that the new plant could start up in 2021-2023.
Arnie's state aims for 30 new nuke plants by 2015
Mike
Rogers, a Brighton Republican whose district includes much of northern Oakland
County, California, aims to have 30
new nuclear plants online as part of his energy independence plan for
the United States to attain energy independence by July 4, 2015. He says that
will save 150,000 barrels of oil per day. The
climate-change movement is helping to fuel what amounts to a renaissance for
nuclear power. Fossil fuels such as coal are considered harmful to the
environment. A spokesman was quoted as saying that nuclear power "is a great carbon footprint solution. Nuclear is a really good fit with the environmental climate."
Titanic search cover-up for nuke sub inspection
Both
of the United States Navy vessels sank during the 1960s, killing more than 200
men and giving rise to fears that at least one of them, Scorpion, had
been sunk by the USSR. He was told that the military were not willing to spend a fortune on locating the Titanic, but they did want to know what had happened to their submarines. The military were anxious to know how the nuclear reactors had been affected by being submerged for so long.
Security breakdown at 3 Mile Island 'not serious'
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will increase inspections at the plant for at least a year to ensure that corrections have been made, said Neil Sheehan, agency spokesman. Beyond that, the NRC is saying little about the incident, except that it did not involve inattentive or sleeping security officers. Now, where have we heard that before I wonder? The NRC rates such incidents by colour coding ranging from green to red: apparently, in this case, it rated ‘greater than green…’ well no worries there then.
Raccoon causes stoppage at Mississippi plant With
grateful thanks to those nice people at Reuters for the following. Entergy Corp's 1,266-megawatt Grand Gulf
nuclear power station in Mississippi returned to full power yesterday
(Thursday) after having reduced the unit to 48% on Wednesday. Power was lost after a raccoon
crawled into one of the switchgears at the plant! Only in America, people… The
Grand Gulf station, which entered service in 1985, is located in Port Gibson in
Claiborne County, about 130 miles north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. On
a more serious note: In February 2007, Entergy filed with the NRC through
NuStart Energy Development LLC for permission to build one of General Electric
Hitachi's 1,550 MW Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactors (ESBWR) at Grand
Gulf. The company however has not yet decided whether it will build the new
reactor. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources
Opponents want cost details from Duke Energy
Nuclear
opponents are trying to force Duke Energy of Charlotte to disclose the
projected cost of a proposed nuclear plant
in Cherokee County, S.C., that would serve the Carolinas. The groups have asked
officials in both states to require that Duke disclose the estimate. Regulators
for both South and North Carolina are expected to rule on the request soon –
although by the time you read this, they may have done so already. Duke
Energy will have to reveal the project cost when it seeks a permit in South
Carolina, but such a disclosure may be a year away. Nuclear opponents say the
public shouldn't have to wait that long for vital information about such an
important decision. Cost
estimates are available to state regulators, public officials and lawyers who
sign confidentiality agreements. North Carolina's Public Staff agrees with Duke
that the cost estimate qualifies as a trade secret under N.C. law.
North East could become major force in nuke power industry
He
said it was "inevitable" that nuclear power would become a major
source of the UK's energy and that the North East could become a key hub. In
January, British Energy, owners of Hartlepool
power station, revealed plans to build a replacement reactor that would
safeguard 700 jobs. The announcement followed the Government's support for a
new generation of nuclear power plants. Mr Haynes later said: "Nuclear
power could provide us with the opportunity to develop a nuclear supply
industry that could position an area as a keen contributor to the world market.
I think there is a real opportunity for the North-East to step in and fill that
vacuum."
Iodine 129 found in cow's milk
Milk on a local farm in the Sellafield area has been
contaminated by higher levels of radioactivity which has entered the food
chain. Abnormal concentrations of iodine-129 have
been detected and sampling is taking place at other farms in the area to see if
there are any traces of the same contamination. The
Environment Agency has given an assurance that there has been no health risk
from the radioactive iodine but how the increased amounts have got into the
milk is still a mystery. Iodine 129 is said to be present already in local milk
but in very low concentrations, sometimes undetectable. The higher levels have
since gone down on the farm concerned. The contamination was picked up by Sellafield’s own monitoring team, which routinely samples milk around local farms.
Californians against new weapons complex
During the first informal hour, people had a chance to check out booths set up by the U.S. Department of Energy and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and hear the opposing perspective from Tri-Valley C.A.R.E.s, an anti-nuclear Lab watchdog. Afterward, each person who signed was allowed to speak for less than five minutes during the public comment portion. Ted Wykadocument manager for the nuclear weapons complex’s
environmental impact statement, was due
to give a half-hour presentation on the administration’s plans to modernize the
nuclear weapons complex. Lauren
Martinez, spokeswoman for NASA’s Livermore site office, added: “This is
important for the public to know how we want to achieve a smaller, safer, more
secure and less expensive nuclear weapons complex.”
Arnie thinks nuclear power has great future
That
was the message from the nuclear industry at the same conference, grappling
with a question beguiling policy makers—and plenty of Environmental Capital
readers: If coal is out of the question, and renewables are too small, how will
America get its power if it keeps ignoring the nuclear elephant? “The U.S. is far behind the rest of the world,” said Tom Christopher, a top executive at France’s Areva, which builds nuclear reactors. He chalks that up to bad nuclear economics a generation ago, a dwindling of home-grown tech, and a “dysfunctional licensing process” in the U.S.
Russia wants to build nuke power station in Armenia
Armenia,
which imports most of its energy, has said it will close down its Soviet-built
Metzamor nuclear reactor only when it can add new generating capacity. The
government said last year it would hold a tender to build a new 1,000 megawatt
reactor at the site near Yerevan, which could be ready by 2016. "The Armenian government will hold a tender for a new atomic station," Sergei Kiriyenko, the general director of Russia's Rosatom state nuclear holding company, said on a visit to Yerevan. "We will take part and we have good chances of winning."
St Lucie files lowest-level incident report
The incident at the
St. Lucie Plant was the last of three unrelated leaks of different sorts there
since August of last year, but none resulted in injuries or contamination
outside the plant, federal and FPL officials said. Director of nuclear
communications, April Schilpp, said, "None presented any danger to the
public." Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources Areva & Total want to build in Abu Dhabi
French President Nicolas Sarkozy went on a three-nation tour of Gulf Arab states, having offered to share France's expertise in civilian nuclear technology with the Islamic world. France
and the United Arab Emirates are to sign a
framework accord for cooperation in developing civilian nuclear energy, a
source close to talks between the two governments said earlier. Amid
concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions, the six Arab monarchies of the Gulf
decided to develop a joint nuclear technology programme for peaceful uses.
British wanted to build reactors in Tehran in '77 The
following item comes to light, thanks to the ’30 year rule’ regarding the UK
Government’s wheeling and dealing in the past and, of course, Iran’s Press
TV web pages. The 1977 British
government records show London was secretly negotiating with Tehran
to build 20 nuclear reactors for the Shah of Iran.
Russia looks for Uruguay cooperation in nuclear energy field Russia is looking for cooperation with Uruguay in the field of nuclear energy, Sergei Koshkin (the Russian ambassador to the Latin American state) said recently. 'Our countries could maintain cooperation in the sphere of nuclear energy although Uruguay's legislation bans the use of nuclear energy.' The
diplomat said Uruguayan officials had also shown interest in a floating nuclear
power plant. As we mentioned last year, Russia is currently building the
world’s first floating nuclear power plant which should be ready to roll in
2011. Koshkin said Uruguay's legislation would not have to be amended as Russian specialists could tow a plant to its coast and build a power line so that Uruguay could buy electricity. Russia could also undertake to provide maintenance of the plant and its subsequent disposal, he added
Turkey plans first nuclear plant by 2012
The
Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK) has presented a report on nuclear power
plants which includes appropriate locations for constructing nuclear plants in
Turkey. The years-long search has shown that the Sinop Inceburun Peninsula is a
prime spot, far from the seismic belt and devoid of the problem of cooling
water. The peninsula is located outside of settled areas, and the Black Sea
would provide the necessary cooling, the report suggests. Global giants of the nuclear sector, such as Westinghouse and Mitsubishi, began keeping their eye on Turkey following the government's announcement that it would launch bids for nuclear power plants in 2008
Possible expansion at Yucca Mountain
Nevadans and environmental groups believe that Yucca would not be able to store waste there safely for 1,000 years.
Bush approves significant weapon reduction This little gem was found on the web pages of the International
Herald Tribune. President
Bush has approved "a significant
reduction" in the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, cutting it to less than
one-quarter its size at the end of the Cold War, the White House said recently.
At the same time, the Energy Department announced plans to consolidate the
nuclear weapons complex that maintains warheads and dismantle those no longer
needed.
White
House press secretary Dana Perino said: ‘We are reducing our nuclear weapons
stockpile to the lowest level consistent with America's national security and
our commitments to friends and allies. A credible deterrent remains an
essential part of U.S. national security, and nuclear forces remain key to
meeting emerging security challenges.’ For you number - crunchers out there: there are believed to be nearly 6,000 warheads that either are deployed or in reserve and, under terms of a 2002 arms control treaty with Russia, the U.S. is committed to reducing the number of deployed warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 by 2012. Well, no worries there, then
Sleeping guard found at White Plains site The
following nugget is the kind of thing that makes my job worthwhile, thanks to
the First Coast News web site: White Plains, N.Y.
A federal inspector found an armed guard asleep at a gate inside the
Indian Point nuclear power plants but officials said there was no security
breach. US State Port Authority:'We don't handle nuclear waste'
A spokesperson for Energy Solutions said that it is a leader in the safe handling and disposal of radioactive solutions. However, there is a stumbling block to overcome: Byron Miller, spokesman for the State Ports Authority said: ‘We don’t handle any radioactive materials.
Train carrying waste jumps tracks Found recently on the pages of The Charlotte
Observer: Two cars on a train carrying spent radioactive
nuclear fuel jumped the tracks at the Shearon Harris nuclear plant about 25 miles southwest of Raleigh, North Carolina,
Progress Energy said recently. No one was injured in the
accident, and the waste -- transported in 75-ton reinforced concrete casks --
was undamaged. Human error has been cited as the cause of the accident; a
spokesman for the nuclear plant said: "It was a miscommunication about
whether or not the preparations on the actual track had been made in order to
move the train."
In case you were wondering, the train remained upright as it was only travelling at around 4 mph
More inspections due at Peach Bottom
Nuclear
Regulatory Commission inspectors will visit the nuclear power plant over the
coming year to ensure that operator Exelon Nuclear has taken adequate steps to
deal with the sleeping guards and the supervisors who never reported them. One guard at the plant secretly videotaped others sleeping on the job last summer after his complaints to supervisors went unheeded, then released the tapes to a New York TV station.
Three hospitalised in Bahrain Airport scare Officials
recently scrutinised the handling of a radiation scare at Bahrain
International Airport, which put three men in hospital, according to a
recent report in the Gulf Daily News. Three Nepalese porters were
transferring radioactive material from one Gulf Air flight to another when it
was thought one of the containers had leaked. They
were taken to Salmaniya Medical Complex (via a Bahrain Airport Services
vehicle!) and were isolated until tests showed them free from any radioactive
contamination. Authorities said later that wetness on one of the containers of
radioactive medical waste turned out to be harmless condensation and that
taking the men to hospital was just a precaution. Interior Ministry officials said they had not been informed about the incident by airport authorities and that the first they heard of it was from the SMC Accident and Emergency Department doctors Mafia trafficks illegal nuclear waste This
little gem may have passed you by, so here’s a report filed by Richard Owen
on the Times online web pages. Anti-Mafia police in
Italy are investigating eight former directors of the country’s energy agency
for alleged illegal trafficking in nuclear waste and “clandestine production of
plutonium”. Francesco Basentini, head of anti-Mafia police at Potenza, in southern Italy, said that the former managers in the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment were accused of connivance with the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia, and the ’Ndrangheta, the Calabrian Mafia. The accusation came after a 12-year inquiry into Mafia involvement in nuclear waste disposal.
Australia in path of Indonesia's proposed nuke station
The
Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said a university study 13 years ago -
when Indonesia last raised the prospect of a nuclear power station - found the
north of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland "would
be at substantial risk of receiving radioactive fallout" in the event of a
major reactor failure. Indonesia's government is expected to make a final decision soon on whether it will pursue nuclear energy, as it grapples with surging energy needs and is looking at building up to 4 power plants on Central Java’s Muria Peninsular.
Toyota & EdF to co-operate on new hybrid car Electricite
de France (EdF), the world's biggest nuclear power generator has joined with Toyota,
the world's biggest car company, to advance plug-in hybrid vehicle technology. Home Geiger Counter Accessories Geiger Counters UV Torches & Marbles Nuclear Novelties Science Signs & Labels Nibbles Sources
UK must keep ageing power stations Found
on the Reuters UK site with thanks to Pete Harrison. Britain must keep its ageing
nuclear power stations running as long as possible if it is to avoid a
damaging shortage of power in five to seven years' time, British Energy Chief
Executive Bill Coley said recently. The
nuclear power firm is assessing the economics of extending the lives of its
Hinkley Point plant in southwest England and Hunterston plant in Scotland, both
due to close in 2011. Mr.
Coley told Reuters: "What is critically important for the country is to
operate all these units as long as we can.”
"When I take the company view of long-term power prices ... prices
would support life extensions." Britain is close to deciding whether to back a new generation of nuclear plants, which would boost the global industry as it recovers from the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl. Deep in the woods with 'son of star wars'
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This made us smile today, thanks
to The Daily Mail’s web pages. A cancer patient recovering from 
Found
on the pages of the Japan Times. 
Michael Miller
Our good friends at World Nuclear News are all
at sea in Argentina for this one.
Jennifer
Gustavson
Eric
Ludy
The
Manichi Daily Times
Desmond Butler
The Hindu
Kirsten Korosec
Fancy
a bit of bidding on eBay? Best be quick, though!
Rania
Moussly
Anika
Clark
This comes from the pages of ZeeNews
in India.
The
Post-Gazette
Chris
Baltimore
This
was picked up by John Dillon and heard on Vermont Public Radio
last week.
Adam Bosch
Back in the summer we ran a nugget concerning the 
Thanks to the Yorkshire Post for this one. South
Yorkshire will be the site of a new Rolls-Royce civil nuclear factory, the government
announced recently in a move expected to generate significant numbers of new
jobs.
Our thanks to Terry Macalister and The
Guardian for this little gem that made us smile here at
anythingradioactive.
This
may have passed you by last week, so thanks to the Press Trust of India News
site for this.
Alan Maimon,
Thanks
to the John O’Groat Journal for this. Caithness workers could benefit
from the UK Government's plan to build 10 new
Do
you fancy putting up a bit of fence? Before you answer that, perhaps you should
read the following brought to us by Bob Audette and the Reformer.
To further protect the reactor at 
Wael Mahdi,
Robert
McDonald,
Evan
Brandt,
Our
thanks to Steve Shay and the West Seattle Herald for this. More than 300
maritime law enforcement and first responder personnel from 23 federal, state,
local and tribal agencies participated in an operational maritime exercise in
Puget Sound last week.
Edith
Lederer, writing for the Associated Press reports from the UN. Iran, Israel and
the five permanent Security Council members that have 
Thanks goes to Duncan Kennedy and the BBC for
this little gem. A shipwreck apparently containing 
Rod
Smith
John
Ruwitch
We
travel to Canada today thanks to this report from 
Heidi
Hemmat,
Denise
Goolsby,
Here is part of a press release
courtesy of the
Our
thanks to Tom Hays and the Associated Press for this little
gem.
Just
when you think that it’s all a bit too quiet out there, something comes along that
makes it all worthwhile. So grateful thanks to Aaron C. Davis and Matt
Zapotosky, reporting for the Washington Post
Thanks
to Frank Munger, writing for the Knox News web site for
this.
Katherine
Ling
Jeffrey
Lewis
Tim
O’Brien
It’s
a slow news day, so we thought we’d be public-spirited and bring you the
following.
Paul Rincon,
April
Charlton
The
following is taken from an online blog featured on the pages of the Tennessean
newspaper.
The
following comes courtesy of Bloomberg and Megumi Yamanaka. The 
Today we travel to Iowa with this report from Dave
Dewitte, reporting for the pages of The Cedar Rapids Gazette.
Dave
Flessner
Just
to prove that we are definitely on the ball here, we found this little gem. Our
thanks go to Dan Elliott, reporting for the Associated Press. A
fire caused U$1 million worth of damage at an unmanned underground 
Our
thanks goes to Chris Price, reporting for Kent Online for this
environmental tale. The risk of a nuclear disaster is still as high as
initially predicted should an aircraft from Lydd Airport crash into the 
Thanks
to Walter Pincus for this little gem, found on the Washington Post
web pages. Continued study and development of a 
We thought we’d do a public service today for the people on
America’s eastern seaboard, especially those living in New Hampshire and
Massachusetts. Thanks goes to Susan Morse for her article on the Seacoastline
web pages.
With
the media spotlight leaving 
As we disappear off
on our annual hols (and not a moment too soon, apparently !) we thought we’d leave you with
this little gem sent to us recently. 
The
following could bring a whole new meaning to the “Not in My Back Yard”
argument, according to Nick Loris writing on the Heritage
Foundation’s blog pages recently.
The following was found on the pages of the Chillicothe
Gazette’s web pages and filed by Malia Rulon.
Here’s something that passed us all by
(probably) thanks to the English pages of China View.
Here’s a cautionary tale about the
importance of looking what you’re doing (especially when working with uranium)
from South Carolina brought to you by Andrew Shain writing for The
State web pages. Westinghouse’s nuclear fuel plant in Columbia could face
nearly U$100,000 in fines from federal regulators because a worker accidentally
threw away vials of low-grade uranium.
With thanks to Rory Sweeney,
reporting for North Eastern Pennsylvania’s Times Leader web pages for
this information. The only facility available for disposing certain levels of 
Here’s
a tale of military incompetence, brought to you by Demetri Sevastopulo,
reporting for the FT’s web pages.
Thanks to World Nuclear News
for this one. Swiss energy company Atel has submitted an application for
framework approval of a
Our
thanks to Glenn Gilbert, reporting for the Oakland Press. It has
taken $4-per-gallon gasoline to get to this point, but the issue appears headed
for some serious debate.
Seeing
as there has been quite a few stories about submarines doing the rounds lately,
here’s a very interesting story for you and one that made us think ‘Hello….’
thanks to Lewis Smith writing for the Times On-Line pages. Bob
Ballard, the man who located the wreck of the 
This
typical American non-story comes to you thanks to Garry Lenton,
reporting for the Patriot News web pages. A breakdown in security
procedures at 
With
thanks to John Murawski, writing for The Charlotte Observer’s web
pages for this one.
Thanks
goes to Owen McAteer, writing in the Northern Echo. The North
East could become a major force in the nuclear power industry, the way it was
for coal, the former head of British Nuclear Group believes. Lawrie Haynes
put the case in favour of nuclear power at a debate in Yarm, near
Stockton, organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).
The
following comes under the ‘We don’t want to worry you, but…’ category found
thanks to the Whitehaven news web pages, courtesy of Alan Irving.
This was filed by Danielle MacMurchy for the Tracey Press
web site. The public was invited to speak out for or against a new 
With
thanks to Keith Johnson writing for the Wall Street Journal. “I
think 
Russia
has indicated that it will bid in a tender to build a nuclear power station in 
Here
is an almost non-story from the pages of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel,
filed by Gabriel Margasak. The St. Lucie nuclear power plant on 
The
following was found thanks to AFP & 
Due to a projected lack of balance
between supply and demand in energy production in 2008, 
The Bush administration has asked Congress for
permission to expand the nuclear facility at 
Found
on the Tennessean web pages: An American company that disposes of
radioactive nuclear waste by burying it wants to ship 20,000 tons of the
material from overseas through ports in Charleston and New Orleans. Energy
Solutions Inc. wants to ship about 200,000 cubic feet of waste into the United
States, process it in Tennessee before burying it at a site in Clive, Utah,
where the company is based. 
This
tale comes with thanks to Matthew Santoni writing for the Examiner web pages:
Federal investigators plan more inspections at 
Found
on the Sydney Morning Herald website: 
Picked up from the Sky news site: A
former nuclear weapons base deep in a 
The
following comes thanks to Elizabeth Souder’s article on the Dallas Morning News
web site: Support for new 
The five established nuclear powers - the
United States, Russia, China, France and Britain - possess enough 
Sweden:
Olkiluoto units 1 and 2 will receive new low-pressure 
Due to the US government’s refusal to reprocess 
Two
With
radiating waves, a 
Algeria,
Argentina, Australia, Canada, India and Russia were among countries who flagged
up the role of nuclear in 
From the
Baltimore Sun
The 