Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has announced that it plans to install water gauges in the basement of the reactor buildings of Unit 1, Unit 2, and Unit 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex.  Workers at the crippled nuclear facility will start installation of the water gauges in Unit 1 and Unit 2 in mid-June.

Currently, TEPCO estimates some 400 tons of groundwater flow into each reactor building per day and the accumulating highly contaminated water that is produced by the inflow requires additional storage and processing.

Source: JiJi Press

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A supervisory employee at the Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant confirmed positive for alcohol during a random fitness for duty test on Wednesday.  The employee’s access to the plant has been terminated.

Source: NRC Event Notifications

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/2013/20130524en.html#en49065

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A contract supervisor at the Fort Calhoun nuclear generating station owned by the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) failed a random fitness for duty test on Tuesday.  The employee’s access to the plant has been revoked.

The Fort Calhoun nuclear generating station has been shut down since April 2011 due to repeated problems and regulatory findings.  In August 2012, the licensee contracted a deal with Exelon Nuclear Partners to manage the operations of the plant and allow OPPD to retain ownership.

Source: NRC Event Notifications

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The residents from Hippo district have demanded that Tokyo Electric Power Co., pay them an additional 70 million yen ($690,000) in damages stemming from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Source: JiJi Press

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On Sunday, tens of thousands of Taiwanese marched through the capital city, chanting slogans urging the government to cease the construction of the nuclear power project.  Organizers said over 30,000 people took part in the demonstration.

For over thirty years nuclear power has polarized life in Taiwan, but today many people in Taiwan are so concerned about the safety of a nuclear power plant under construction near the capital, Taipei, that the government is being forced to hold a referendum on nuclear power by the end of the year.  Taiwan, like Japan, has been called unsuited for nuclear power plants as active seismic faults are known to run across the island.  In 2011, a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council evaluated the seismic hazard to nuclear reactors around the world and placed all of Taiwan’s nuclear reactors in the highest risk group along with some of Japan’s reactors.

Even though the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou is promoting nuclear power, the latest polls conducted show that some 70% of the surveyed responders oppose the completion of the construction of the Lungmen nuclear power plant in Taiwan, which would be the fourth nuclear facility.  The construction work began in 1999, but has grown to be one of the most expensive and divisive projects in national history.

Source: NHK

Source: Straits Times

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Michael Buhrman, the infamous former licensed senior nuclear reactor operator turned fugitive who is believed to have fled the country to evade capture by authorities, was convicted last month of aggravated vehicular hijacking and vehicular hijacking and sentenced to 40 years in prison.  It took the DuPage County jury less than an hour to reach a guilty felony verdict.

“Nearly one year ago, Michael Buhrman pointed a loaded weapon at an innocent woman’s head and stole her car just for the thrill of it,” State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said after the verdict.

Late on the night of May 9th, 2012, Buhrman, then a supervisor at the Dresden nuclear power plant in Morris, Illinois, donned a very lifelike mask and approached his innocent victim as she sat in her parked car during a break in a Kohl’s parking lot in Woodridge, Illinois.  He ambushed her and pointed a loaded semi-automatic .45-caliber handgun at the victim’s head, cocked back the hammer on the gun, and ordered the young woman out of the 2000 Pontiac Grand Am before taking off in the car.  “I looked down at his hands and he had a gun,” Carrie Bradley said, describing the carjacking. “He told me to give him my keys and walk away.”

The crime was captured by a video camera at Kohls and was witnessed by at least one bystander who notified authorities and followed Buhrman from the scene of the crime until he was stopped and arrested by police a short distance from the scene.  When arrested, the then-employee of Exelon was still armed and still wearing the mask.  He would later tell investigators he had only been “thrill-seeking.”

Within a few days of being charged, the Navy veteran was freed on $20,000 cash bail despite the warnings from prosecutors that he was a flight risk.  In July, Judge Kathryn Creswell place Buhrman on home confinement equipped with a GPS monitor after his former girlfriend notified authorities that Buhrman had been plotting to escape prosecution by running to Chile before the trial and had boasted of accumulating more than $100,000 in gold.  He soon disappeared on September 28^thof 2012, the GPS ankle monitor issued an alert that it had been tampered with but by the time police arrived Burhman was gone and they found the GPS device cut off, so his trial continued absentia.  It would later be revealed that three days prior to his disappearance he withdrew $14,000 which had been deposited into his checking account from a foreign source.

During the trial, Melissa Gates, Buhrman’s former wife, testified that her ex-husband was controlling, abusive, and detailed how Buhrman used steroids as a part of his bodybuilding regimen.  Gates said she now lives in fear thinking about what could happen if Buhrman comes back to get their 6-year-old son. “I don’t know what he would do with me,” she said.

Woodridge police Detective Jody Porras testified that Buhrman, had attempted to recruit at least one other reactor operator to join him in committing more ambitious criminal plans than stealing a car.  Apparently, multiple times in the year and a half leading up to the carjacking, Buhrman had conversations with another Navy veteran plant operator about planning to commit bank robberies and armored car heists.  Buhrman asked if he had ever seen “The Town” and mentioned that it would be cool to do something like that if he could put together a team.  Prosecutors say that Buhrman has not been seen since his September disappearing act and another long-time friend of his has also dropped from sight around the same time.

Assistant State’s Attorney Demetri Demopoulos asked for a maximum sentence of 45 years, calling Buhrman “a dangerous and evil man who cares nothing for society and the laws the rest of us live by.”  “He’s a coward,” Demopoulos added in court. “When he faces something unpleasant, he takes off.”

Prosecutor David Friedland repeatedly pointed to an empty chair which is generally reserved for defendants during the closing arguments.  “There is your defendant, ladies and gentleman, right there,” Friedland told jurors. “He knows what he did, and he’s not willing to be here to take responsibility for his actions.”

Judge Kathryn Creswell said she has “absolutely no doubt” Buhrman fled to avoid prosecution. “Once the defendant is caught,” Creswell said, “a lengthy sentence is required to protect the public.”

These serious events cast a dark shadow of doubt on process Exelon uses to screen persons of high responsibility which may have an adverse effect on the health and safety of the public.  Each reactor operator is given a battery of psychological tests and screened by a psychologist prior to enrollment in supervisory programs.  There are also multiple continuing behavior programs, on-going screenings, and tests which maybe should have caught these aberrant behaviors prior to the crimes actually taking place.  The worry escalates when one considers that it is purported that Buhrman also plotted crimes with a co-worker, while working inside a nuclear power plant, instead of watching reactor.  As told by one former senior licensed reactor operator in response to this story, there are so many moving pieces during normal operations of a nuclear power reactor.  The operators have to keep track of multiple overlapping tasks and processes which require constant vigil to ensure that no vital safety components are compromised.  These responsibilities weigh heavy during normal operations and it is difficult to understand how an appreciable lack of performance could not be noted when supervising operators are so caught up in other affairs.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Source: The Daily Herald

Source: Sun Times

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After 6 months of investigation, Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority released a final report on Wednesday which officially concludes that the Unit 2 reactor of the Tsuruga nuclear power plant in central Japan rests upon an active fault.  The fault, known as the D-1 fault, runs directly underneath the Unit 2 reactor building and is located near another active fault, the Urasko fault which extends some 35 kilometers under and around the site.

“Safety levels (at Tsuruga) have been low and it is really just a matter of luck that there hasn’t been an accident,” said Kunihiko Shimazaki, the head of the panel and a commissioner of the NRA. “We are taking the first steps to correct the situation.”

The conclusion means that Japan Atomic Power, the utility which operates the plant will be unable to put the reactor back into operation, as government safety guidelines prohibit the construction or operation of reactors above faults.

Source: NHK

Source: Wall Street Journal

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A licensed reactor operator at the Grand Gulf nuclear power plant confirmed positive for alcohol during a for cause fitness for duty test.  The employee’s access to the plant has been terminated.

While random fitness-for-duty tests are administered in a lottery-style system and “winners” report to the medical office for testing, for cause tests are administered after supervisors note aberrant behaviors in workers and orders follow-up testing to ensure compliance.  Aberrant behaviors cover a wide range of actions from staggering, making simple mistakes (such as turning the wrong switch), acting belligerent or out of character, among a multitude of overall deviations from normal behavior for the individual.

Source: Nuclear Regulatory Commission

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A non-licensed supervisor at the Limerick nuclear power plant confirmed positive for alcohol during a random fitness-for-duty test.  The employee has had access to the plant removed.

Source: NRC Event Notifications

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Workers at the Monticello nuclear power plant in Minnesota discovered a small bottle of alcohol within the Protected Area.  The seal ring on the bottle was broken and it was approximately 2/3 full.  The bottle was discovered beneath a deck structure to a temporary trailer that was being demolished by workers.

Source: NRC Event Notifications

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Investigators from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are still unable to explain why a crane accident at the Arkansas Nuclear One nuclear power plant which killed one twenty-four year old employee and injured eight others happened.  On Thursday night a meeting was held at the nuclear power plant in Russellville, Arkansas to discuss the findings where about 90 people showed up.

Workers were attempting to move a generator stator, which weighs some 525 tons, when the crane failed and dropped the stator.  An investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is
still underway.

Source: Westport News

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Congressman Fred Upton is demanding accountability and a permanent fix to the leaking tank at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant on Lake Michigan, and says that he is “outraged” by the announced leak that escaped into the Great Lake over the weekend.  “This situation is not acceptable and demands full accountability,” Upton said in a Tuesday news release.

Upton, who chairs the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over domestic nuclear regulatory activities, further commented on the situation adding, “It is my understanding that the water tank will be emptied by the end of the week with the hope that the cause of the leak can be identified shortly thereafter.  Every option must be on the table – including a full replacement of the tank – to ensure that the continuing leak will not occur again.” Upton has announced plans to visit the plant with a board member from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the near future.

The NRC is investigating why the leak rake suddenly increased from 5 gallons per day to over 90 gallons per day in the course of one 24-hour period, but the leaking tank cannot be fully inspected until all of the remaining water is drained.

While the only permanent and reliable fix is to replace the leaking tank, the utility, Entergy requests an alternative fix for the tank “that would add a fiberglass-reinforced vinyl ester liner to the tank bottom and to a portion of the tank wall in lieu of identifying the location of the thru-wallleak(s) and performing code compliant repairs.”

The proposed liner would be applied the bottom of the tank and two feet up the interior walls. The utility says it plans to install the liner in the fall during a scheduled refueling outage. “(The liner) will eliminate tank bottom leakage by forming a leak tight membrane on the tank bottom, isolating leak pathways. It will provide the required containment of the tank contents in lieu of relying on the existing aluminum tank bottom for this function. Further degradation of the welds in the current aluminum boundary is not expected based on ENO’s understanding of the cause of the leakage and the repairs that have been performed. If any further weld degradation were to occur, the degradation will not affect the lining since the lining will be a distinct and independent material. While bonded to the surface of the existing tank, the physical properties of the liner will prevent potential future weld degradation, if it were to occur, from propagating into and through the liner.”

Source: Michigan Radio

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The debris, which is approximately 1 cubic meter in size, was transferred to a building on the south side of the Fukushima Daiichi complex for temporary storage, until it can be transferred to a solid waste storage site in the future.

Source: JiJi Press

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The work is being monitored by on-site inspectors from the NRC, but thus far the workers have been unable to locate the source of the leak.  The utility has not indicated if it will attempt to repair the leaking tank or if it has committed to the replacement of the tank, which would require a longer shutdown.

The Palisades plant, operated by Entergy Corp. has been facing additional oversight from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after repeated safety issues, plant shutdowns, and indications that the plant has not even been meeting its own standards.

Source: NRC Event Notifications

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An employee supervisor at the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant in South Carolina tested positive for alcohol during a random fitness for duty test.  The individual has had site access terminated.

Source: NRC Event Notifications

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