As many of the readers are aware, I travelled back to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant again in November, 2016. This year was even more powerful than our program in 2015. I am working on putting together a new series of editorials documenting the continuing remediation activities taking place in Chernobyl. I am focusing this […]
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine is entering a new period in the decommissioning and mitigation stage of the response to the 1986 nuclear disaster at the Unit 4 reactor. During the last week of November, 2016, just before a fresh blanket of snow covered the plant, workers moved the new confinement structure in […]
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) admitted last week that they should have declared a meltdown within days of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, instead of delaying the public announcement for months. “We apologize for the great inconvenience and worry the delay caused”, a representative for TEPCO […]
The following is the fourth 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, and a bonus installment about the animals at Fukushima Daiichi and Chernobyl here.). After we visited the […]
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 […]
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 […]
The following is the second installment of a new series of editorials which will communicate portions of my recent trip to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The first editorial focused on what it was like to experience the plant, this article is focused on different areas we visited at the Chernobyl plant (outside of Unit 4 – […]
The following is the first installment of a new series of editorials which will communicate portions of my recent trip to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (Read 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.). As we approach the […]
In 2010, workers began working on a new containment shield to cover the Number 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to prevent further leakage of radioactive materials from the crippled reactor. The project was estimated to cost €1.5 billion and to be completed by October 2015q. The current unrest in Ukraine could potentially […]
The International Atomic Energy Agency has dispatched a delegation of experts to inspect the work at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the partial collapse of ceiling and wall constructions in the turbine room of the Number 4 reactor on February 12th, 2013. The delegation will assess the status of cleanup operations, the supervision of […]
MALE PARTICIPANT: Yes, Mike, the last thing I heard was the Russians showed up a week ago but then they left. MR. FRANOVITCH: Wow. That’s interesting. DR. SHERON: And their President gave them good advice. He said don’t build nuclear plants in highly seismic areas. Thank you very much. Pages from ML13008A115 – March 26th, […]
This week a 20-year study was published which tracked over 110,645 workers who helped clean up after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the former Soviet territory of Ukraine shows that the workers share a significant increased risk of developing leukemia. The new research is the largest and longest study to date involving […]
The citizens of Lithuania have sent a message to government leaders after having passed a referendum which rejects a €5 billion plan to construct a new nuclear power plant. The public support for the nuclear new build fell off sharply after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Nearly two-thirds (62.7 percent) of the nation of […]
From: Fleger, Stephen Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 6:09 PM To: Barnes, Valerie; Peters, Sean; Desaulniers, David; Boggi, Michael; Martin, Kamishan; Marble, Julie; Xing, Jing; D’Agostino, Amy; Morrow, Stephanie; Lapinsky, George Subject: RE: CONSIDERATIONS OF WGHOF WITH RESPECT TO FUKUSHIMA EVENT Hey Val – I just returned from briefing the ACRS on our updated Advanced […]
Based on the operating hours of all civil nuclear reactors and the number of nuclear meltdowns that have occurred, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz have calculated that catastrophic nuclear accidents may occur once every 10 to 20 years (based on the current number of reactors) — some 200 times more […]
From: RST09 Hoc Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 12:33 AM To: Lee, Richard Cc: RST01 Hoc Subject: TASKING FROM RST Richard, Please find attached two documents from the site team in Japan. Tepco is planning to use a chemical “fix-it” to various surfaces at the site(building walls, ground, etc.) to prevent dispersion of contamination. The site […]
From: Scott, Michael Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2011 2:15 AM To: LIA02 Hoc Cc: LIA03 Hoc; Casto, Chuck; Monninger, John; Dorman, Dan Subject: RE: ACTION – Decommissioning,/Type Information for Ops Center I think this is more what they were looking for, rather than the licensing discussion previously sent. Please advise me when this is fully […]
One of the major assumptions made by the nuclear industry is, that there are no significant indicators of health or environmental consequences associated with “low doses” of radiation, or the ingestion of small amounts of radionuclides. The impacts of releases of radionuclides from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster remain unclear. Extreme caution is required to […]
Since the Fukushima disaster, Japan has been working to set up nuclear cooperation agreements with many international governments to promote the export of Japanese nuclear technology, and share lessons learned after nuclear disasters. Ukraine has agreed to chare experiences and lessons learned from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster with Japan as they attempt to control the […]
As the first anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster arrives, the cover-up involving nuclear power is more extensive than ever. The Big Lie was integral to the nuclear push from its start. Promoters of nuclear power discounted the seriousness of nuclear plant accidents, although government documents acknowledged the […]