TEPCO released images this week of what appeared to be a fox that had entered the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 reactor. The animal pokes his head around and explores the contaminated structure. The images demonstrate how hard it is to keep animals out of sites like Fukushima Daiichi and Chernobyl. In September, I was at […]
Nearly an additional ton of weapons-grade plutonium will be shipped to the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina from Europe, the Pacific Rim (including from Japan), and North America. The material would be stored at SRS until the federal government determines a final disposition for it. US government officials say it is necessary to […]
Officials from the Kyushu Electric Power Company in Japan announced that it will file decommissioning plans with the Nuclear Regulation Authority in Japan for the Genkai Unit 1 reactor in Saga Prefecture. The Unit 1 reactor is a first-generation pressurized water reactor (PWR) was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and put online in October 1975. […]
The following is the third installment of a new series of editorials which will communicate portions of my recent trip to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (Read the first installment here, the second installment here, the third installment here, the fourth installment here, and a bonus installment about the animals at Fukushima Daiichi and Chernobyl here). When […]
Two contractors at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina have been indicted this week on charges of defrauding the federal government. Prosecutors indicted Phillip Thompson and Aaron Vennefron on 15 counts – fraud by wire, radio or television; conspiracy to commit mail fraud; and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Phillip Thompson is […]
Many people know of my interest in the release of information through the Freedom of Information Act by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In October 2014, I participated in a meeting with Dave Lochbaum of Union of Concerned Scientists, Lawrence Criscione (who works for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but was participating in the meeting as a […]
Residents of Fukui Prefecture in Japan have announced that they will file a lawsuit with the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) to permanently shutdown the Monju fast breeder reactor. A breeder reactor generates more fuel than it consumes. The Monju reactor was not only supposed to process the nuclear waste generated at the operating nuclear reactors, […]
We’ve had solar power energizing our house in Sag Harbor on Long Island in New York for six years now—and it’s a bonanza! Once the photovoltaic panels are up on your roof, nothing more needs to be done. They harvest electricity from the sun even on cloudy days. Never in the half-dozen years have the […]