SimplyInfo » Entries tagged with "NRA"
Why Is KEPCO Getting A Free Pass From The NRA?
[Translate] Japan’s KEPCO power company, owners of the Oi nuclear plant and also Mihama and Takahama nuclear plants seems to be getting some preferential treatment from the country’s nuclear regulator. Oi had already been the only operating nuclear plant in the country when it was allowed to restart units 3 and 4 amid massive public protests in 2012. The claim at the time was the dire need for power over the summer. KEPCO insisted there would be blackouts in Osaka if they couldn’t restart these reactors. Many studies doubted that claim. After KEPCO restarted the units at Oi, they shut down 9 thermal plants raising even more doubts about their claims. The issue appears to be more about profits at KEPCO and favors to industrial clients in the region. The NRA did their … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Caught Unable To Do Radioactive Analysis Properly
[Translate] This ads another big hit to TEPCO’s credibility or any notion they can handle the Fukushima disaster on their own. TEPCO has been telling the public there is no cesium in the bypass well water as part of their effort to convince fishing groups and others that they should be allowed to dump about 200 tons per day of groundwater from the plant. Officials from the NRA noticed an error in the way TEPCO has been processing samples at Fukushima Daiichi. In the process they need to take into account the high background radiation at the plant but have failed to do this properly. This appears to not be an isolated incident but an ongoing problem. Radiation testing being done since 2011 could all be underestimating the levels of contamination. TEPCO apparently … Read entire article »
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Fukushima & Nuclear News Roundup; Friday May 31st
[Translate] TEPCO asks for more money, fishermen still can’t fish in today’s news roundup. (graphic by 281_antinuke) TEPCO asks for another $5.9 billion dollars in government cash. They claim it is needed for the ongoing compensation payments to people and businesses evacuated from the region. Full compensation payouts have yet to begin and the various lawsuits against TEPCO are in the early stages indicating the financial issues may get worse. Fukushima Fishermen find themselves still unable to return to work. Some catch fish in the area for radiation monitoring but they wonder how long this can go on. Most worry that TEPCO’s plan to dump more contaminated water into the sea will be a further hit to their ability to return to work. Japan has been experiencing something of a clandestine solar boom. … Read entire article »
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Accident At Tokai Lab Shows JAEA Systemic Failures
[Translate] More information is coming out about the accident late last week at the Tokaimura nuclear lab. As of the 26th 26 people in total have found to have internal exposure, 2 of them women. 49 of the 55 people have now been scanned for internal exposure. Six of the researchers received internal doses of up to 1.6 mSv. The NRA provisionally declared the incident to be an INES 1, the international scale of 1-9 to rate nuclear disasters. The failures occurred at the Hadron Experimental Facility in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, run by JAEA at the Tokaimura nuclear facility. The problems began Thursday around noon when an alarm sounded. The alarm caused the equipment being used in the experiment to stop. Researchers disregarded the alarm and continued with the experiment without … Read entire article »
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Two Reactors In Japan May Be Shut By NRA Actions
[Translate] Unit 2 at the Tsuruga nuclear plant was officially determined to be over an active fault, making it ineligible to operate. Japan’s nuclear regulator made the declaration at their recent meeting. The declaration would be impossible to overcome as Japan’s current laws forbid the operation of a reactor over an active fault line. The NRA also ordered the Monju fast breeder reactor to stay shut down for an indefinite period of time to deal with massive safety issues. More than 9800 safety violations were found at the plant and what the NRA determined to be a major lapse in safety culture. In a recent editorial Asahi Shimbun pointed out the long history and current cluelessness of the management at Monju. They seemed to have no plan to actually prepare for the restart … Read entire article »
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NRA To Give Monju Fast Breeder Reactor Order To Stop Operations
[Translate] Japan’s NRA is expected to order the operators of the Monju Fast Breeder Reactor to stop operations. The reactor has been plagued with problems including a sodium fire, a coverup scandal and getting the fuel handling machine stuck in the reactor. Recent reviews of the plant discovered more than 9000 skipped safety inspections and this continued after the admission of the initial 9000 violations. The NRA will likely order Monju to stop operations until significant changes are made to assure proper safety procedures are adhered to. Sources: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130513_24.html http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/05/224488.html This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was reproduced here with limited permission. While we welcome the … Read entire article »
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NRA To Investigate Fukushima Disaster
[Translate] The NRA has announced they will officially start an investigation into the technical issues of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The investigation of two issues begin immediately. Those are: 1. Unit 1′s isolation condensers and if they were damaged by the earthquake 2. The cause of the hydrogen explosion at unit 4 Both issues have been highly controversial. TEPCO and the national government have dismissed both issues in their reports but questions remain. The other issues to be investigated by the NRA are: 3. Did the earthquake damage the plant and how 4. The meltdown events for the three units and the current status and location of the melted fuel. The NRA has so far appeared to be fairly independent and focused on facts rather than politics. This investigation will test that assumption. If the investigation is conducted well … Read entire article »
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NRA Sets Rules For Japan’s Nuclear Future
[Translate] Japan’s NRA has begun the process to establish new rules (or guidelines) for reactor restarts. The rules are open for commentary for the next 30 days. Some of the things being considered are a process to give exceptions to allow reactors to run beyond their 40 year designed lifespan. Filtered vents will also be required before a restart could be considered, something the US has failed to due over industry pressure. Higher standards to determine if a reactor is over an active fault will be used and no reactor will be allowed to operate if it sits over an active fault. There are also countermeasures to deal with volcanic eruption but details of this were not made clear to the public. Local governments are also involved in the process and will be … Read entire article »
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NRA To Give 5 Year Waiver On Nuclear Safety Facility At Plants
[Translate] NRA has announced they will give a five year waiver for certain safety buildings at nuclear plants in Japan. The quake proof building at Fukushima Daiichi, similar to these safety buildings, played a vital role in being able to prevent the disaster from spiraling further out of control. The new rules slated for July are said to mandate temporary equipment at each nuclear plant and according to Mainichi some of the more permanent upgrades will continue to be mandatory without a time waiver. “Nevertheless, it still seems difficult for plant operators to restart nuclear plants anytime soon because the new safety standards will also require them in July to reinforce fire, earthquake and tsunami prevention measures.“ This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at … Read entire article »
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NRA Renames Standards, Did This Change Regulation?
[Translate] NRA announced that they are changing their “safety standards” to “guidelines”. The reason given by NRA for this is potential public confusion over the terminology used. “A regulatory committee member voiced the concern that calling the guidelines the “New Safety Standards” may lead members of the public to the misunderstanding that following the guidelines ensures the safety of nuclear power plants.” A guideline usually implies something discretionary and not a mandatory thing in the way a standard is. More on the differences here. Exactly what NRA is attempting to do with this word change is concerning and not clear. Have they changed the mandatory nature of safety standards to be applied at nuclear plants? The day before the NRA mentioned they want to make the goal for a nuclear disaster resulting in large releases … Read entire article »
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New Fukushima Investigation To Look Deeper Into Technical Disaster
[Translate] The recently announced NRA investigation of the Fukushima nuclear disaster will look deeper into the technical details of the disaster. As many doubts remain about the idea that the tsunami was the root cause of the disaster, NRA will look into the technical details of what happened. They plan to look into the containment failures, radiation leak routes and hands on inspection of equipment inside the reactor buildings to look for failure evidence. Read more at the Japan Times This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was reproduced here with limited permission. While we welcome the sharing of information or promoting our work, … Read entire article »
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Oi Nuclear Plant To Get Interim Safety Check, Japan Power Co’s Denied Full Rate Hike
[Translate] Oi will receive an interim safety check by the NRA as part of a plan to allow them to operate until September 2013. The NRA thought the plant should pass most of the required safety items but did not make any guarantee it could pass all of them. KEPCO threatened power black outs last summer as part of an effort to gain government approval to restart two units at Oi. Those black outs never happened. The Japan power industry admitted in an internal document that there is no power shortage in the country. A recent analysis of the state of the power industry in Japan showed it may actually be more expensive per kilowatt hour to operate a nuclear plant currently, leaving fossil fuel a cheaper option. While the sudden changes to … Read entire article »
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Japan Unlikely To Restart Nuclear Plants This Year
[Translate] The combination of new safety rules being implemented this July and the need to upgrade plants has caused all of Japan’s power companies to say they would not be able to restart any of their reactors within 2013. The high costs of meeting safety requirements is also playing a role in delaying any restarts. Earlier Japan PM, Abe stated Japan would begin restarting nuclear reactors as soon as safety guidelines are in place. This claim flies in the face of the current structure where the NRA would ultimately decide if a plant meets the basic safety that would allow it to restart. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other … Read entire article »
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NRA New Nuclear Safety Rules Challenge Power Companies
[Translate] The NRA is closer to finalizing new nuclear safety rules in Japan. These new rules would be legally binding, not voluntary as they have been in the past. Currently no reactors in Japan meet the new standards. Some newer pressurized water reactors may be able to more easily meet the standards while older boiling water reactors may find it impossible to do all the safety upgrades and still remain profitable. All of these new safety measures are dependent on the reactor not being found to be sited over an active fault line. So far units at the Tsuruga and Higishidori nuclear plants have been declared to be over active fault lines and will not qualify for a restart. Kashiwazaki Kariwa is currently under investigation for the same. The NRA’s new … Read entire article »
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NRA Declares Another Active Fault & Discusses New Rules, TEPCO To Investigate Themselves
[Translate] The NRA has declared the fault running under the Higashidori nuclear plant owned by Tohoku Electric to be an active fault. The fault does not run directly under the reactor. This will force the power company to look at new quake risks and significantly change safety measures and reinforcements before a restart would even be considered. The power company report found no active faults. The NRA called the power company report inadequate and that a more extensive inspection was needed. The NRA team found volcanic ash around two faults, indicating they have been active in the past. The NRA also discussed new rules in a recent symposium. The NRA recently produced an outline of what will be their eventual safety rules for reactor operation. The draft rules are now open to public input. At … Read entire article »
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Japan’s NRA To Digitize & Release 900,000 Pages Of Fukushima Disaster Documents
[Translate] Japan Daily Press is reporting that the NRA has announced a project to scan and post online 900,000 pages of documents from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The documents cover the first 12 months and include a variety of aspects of the disaster. These will come from various government agencies but currently won’t include any private TEPCO documents. The publicly available information will be searchable online when finally made available within two years. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was reproduced here with limited permission. While we welcome the sharing of information or promoting our work, please do so with respect to the … Read entire article »
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Oi Nuclear Plant May Be Shut Down In July
[Translate] Oi nuclear plant will need to shut down for refueling in July of this year. It may take a considerable amount of time or may be impossible to restart depending on new safety rules being put in place by Japan’s NRA. The operator has a plan for upgrades, some may take time to install. Tokyo Web is raising doubts about the restart of Oi. We previously investigated Oi and found many high risks at the plant that are outside the scope of NRA’s safety plans that could contribute to a Fukushima type accident. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was reproduced here with … Read entire article »
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NRA Subtly Dooms Tsuruga Nuclear Plant
[Translate] Japan’s NRA declared a fault under the Tsuruga nuclear plant to be active recently. Since Japan’s laws prohibit a nuclear reactor from being sited over an active fault these geologic inspections have been an important part of any restart considerations. What is mentioned in the Japan Times version of the story explains clearly how the NRA intends to shut down an unsafe reactor. It had not been clear what the NRA would actually do if an active fault was found as they had not ordered any official shut downs or decommissioning orders to date. One speculation was that this could be to avoid lawsuits with the power company that owns the reactor. “NRA chief Shunichi Tanaka has said the Tsuruga plant’s No. 2 reactor will not undergo the safety exam required to … Read entire article »
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TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Plant May Be Over Active Faults
[Translate] Japan’s nuclear regulator says the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant may be sited over active faults. If the faults are found to be under the reactor buildings the plant could be barred from restarting any impacted units. If faults are found to be active within the plant grounds they could require extensive retrofit to attempt to prevent damage at the plant. TEPCO and the Japanese government have been putting considerable effort into restarting this nuclear plant with 7 reactors in the hopes it would generate enough money to help pay for TEPCO’s disaster at Fukushima. TEPCO has also been throwing considerable money into the restart efforts at Kashiwazaki. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may … Read entire article »
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Issues At Fukushima Daiichi And More Nuclear Changes In Japan
[Translate] Denki Shimbun raises concerns about the delays in the new ALPS water decontamination system to be used at Fukushima Daiichi. The NRA has asked for further safety standards for the system before they give operation approval. This has added to the growing list of delays for the new system. Not mentioned in the Denki Shimbun article is the extensive delay after TEPCO discovered the sludge storage containers would catastrophically fail if dropped. The water problem at Fukushima Daiichi continues to grow. The current delay puts full decontamination of the current water on site at 1.5 years. The additional delays could make it take another 5 years to clean the water on site. Japan’s NRA has put the issue of operating extensions for aging nuclear reactors on hold. The issue of new … Read entire article »
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