Official surveys by the Japanese government have detected levels of cesium over 150,000 bq/kg of radioactive cesium in the soil of Iitate, a town near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The highest soil samples were collected from the banks of the Niida River, inside of the evacuation zone. Radioactive materials over 100,000 bq/kg cannot […]
Japan’s nuclear safety watchdog Monday said a leakage of about 1.5 tonnes of low-level radioactive water occurred at a plant ofJapan Atomic Power Co. in the village of Tokai inIbaraki Prefecture. The water was used to decontaminate radiation protection suits and other items and was contaminated to an extent of 33 becquerels per gram, Kyodo News said, adding that […]
Who is NISA anymore? The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency concluded in a report on Monday that the results of Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s stress test on a nuclear reactor in western Japan meet the safety requirements. However in the wake of the Fukushima Disaster which has destroyed the trust in nuclear safety, and brought to […]
The Unit 2 nuclear reactor at Bruce Power which has been out of service since 1995, was shut down over the weekend because of a leak as it was being restarted after a refurbishment. On March 16th, TransCanada announced that Bruce Power had received authorization from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to power up the […]
One of the most serious threats facing the United States and other countries is the possibility that other nations or terrorist organizations could steal a nuclear warhead or nuclear weapon-usable materials from poorly secured stockpiles around the world, or that nations could divert nuclear material intended for peaceful purposes to the development of nuclear weapons. […]
Throughout the past year, international government and state utility officials have said what happened in Fukushima, Japan, could never occur at any other nuclear power station in the world. In Osaka Japan, a joint prefectural committee has recommended that the city issue a demand to Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) to shut down its nuclear […]
Although the Fukushima disaster has likely ended the risk of Australia going down the uranium-brick road called Nuclear Energy for a while longer, former government minister Andrew Thomson has started a new nuclear-waste debate by arguing that Australia should accept radioactive debris from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, stating that the move would help break a deadlock […]
Cesium which is believed to have been released from the Fukushima Daiichi reators has been found in plankton over 600 km east of the facility. Follow -up studies will be necessary because the radioactive cesium is likely to have accumulated in fish that eat plankton, according to a Japan-U.S. joint research team. The research team […]
Today I watched the CSPAN livestream of the NRC’s commission members before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, all about how very much safer and better our U.S. nukes are than Japanese nukes. In the closing statements of the hearing I was not very surprised to hear Commissioner Apostolakis state his high regard […]
Recyclable-Fuel Storage Co., a company set up by Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Japan Atomic Power Co., said Friday it has resumed constructing a facility to temporarily store spent nuclear fuel in Japan. Construction of the Tokyo Electric storage site in Mutsu city, about 40 kilometers north of Rokkasho, has been suspended since the Fukushima disaster. […]
The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is operating at reduced power due to problems with the condenser tubes, which are reported to be leaking. Most nuclear power plants replace their condenser at between 20 and 30 years of continued operation, while Vermont Yankee’s condenser been in operation over 39-years. Condenser leaks adversely affect reliability and […]
Yesterday the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced it will send an Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to review the circumstances that led to three tubes failing a pressure test at Unit 3. On March 14, 2012, at approximately 1120 PDT, Unit 3 Steam Generator (SG) E088 Tube R106 C78 did […]
The Mainichi reports that based on new underwater surveys, TEPCO says that the spent fuel in Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 4 may have undergone further damage since it was last inspected in April 2011. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that visibility in the pool is only about 1 meter, far less than the approximately 5 meters […]
2012.3.16 Preliminary survey in Torus Room of Units 2 and 3, Fukushima Daiichi NPS (2) Unit2 NW (1) (pictured on March 14, 2012) Unit2 NW (2) (pictured on March 14, 2012) Unit2 NW (3) (pictured on March 14, 2012) Unit2 NW (4) (pictured on March 14, 2012) Unit2 NW (5) (pictured on March 14, 2012) Unit2 NE (1) (pictured on March […]
On March 11, 2012, at approximately 12:20 p.m. CDT, Byron Station Unit 1 was shut down due to the identification of a leaking valve inside containment. The purpose of this valve is to isolate the pressure equalization line for the reactor coolant system loop stop valves. The valve is only used when the steam generator […]
Things are getting very interesting around the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will send an Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to review the circumstances that led to three tubes failing a pressure test at Unit 3 yesterday. This brings scrutiny to San Onofres May 2011 […]
On Wednesday TEPCO sent 6 workers into Fukushima Daiichi Units 2 and 3 to inspect the areas around the suppression chamber for the first time. Pipes littered the ground, and workers were careful to measure the radiation levels prior to entering a new area inside the wrecked building. The lower levels were confirmed to still […]
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was turned upside down after the traumatic events last March, communication between the on-site emergency control center and each control room was limited to a single wired telephone line. The off-site nuclear emergency response headquarters had to be evacuated because it was so under-prepared. Of the 3 fire engines […]
Radioactive materials from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant were found 5 cm beneath the ground three months after the crisis started and now are believed to have penetrated between 5 and 25 cm deeper, according to the Japan Times report on researchers with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The hazardous materials likely seeped into […]
TEPCO sent workers into the basements of Fukushima Daiichi Units 2 and 3 for the first time after the accident on Wednesday to investigate the pressure suppression chamber near the bottom of the containment vessel Upon opening the suppression chamber entrance door in Unit 2, workers measured over 160 mSV/hr. In Unit 3, the suppression […]