SimplyInfo » Entries tagged with "NRC"
US Nuclear Waste Plan May Be Illegal
[Translate] The GAO has determined that aspects of the planned nuclear waste disposal program are likely illegal. The GAO says the Dept. of Energy lacks the authority to create new interim storage facilities. Any authority they did have was tied to milestones or timelines not achieved. There is some suspicion the entire idea of interim storage facilities is just a stalling tactic to fend off lawsuits and delay the entire issue in the hopes of better technology being developed. The Forbes article that outlines the problems also mentions the logistics with moving all of the spent fuel twice and that a transportation plan could take a decade to get that alone approved. They also note that much of the cask stored fuel at nuclear plants is currently “too hot” to transport. The GAO review also … Read entire article »
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Omaha Power Company Charges $5000 To Answer Question
[Translate] The Omaha Public Power District is demanding $5000 to answer a question from their customers. OPPD owns and runs the Ft. Calhoun nuclear plant made famous after it sat surrounded by flood waters in the spring of 2011. The plant is still out of operation as a mountain of failures found by the NRC are being worked through. OPPD claims they can repair all of the problem including a structural failure found inside the reactor containment structure. OPPD recently requested a rate increase from consumers to pay for a $143 million dollar contract with Exelon to help them try to fix the plant. A slew of new problems have been found since the last OPPD request for more money including the containment failure. These new costs caused some concerned consumers to ask … Read entire article »
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US Petition To Revoke BWR Reactor Licenses
[Translate] Beyond Nuclear filed a petition in March 2013 requesting the NRC revoke the operating licenses of the GE BWR reactors in the US, these are the Fukushima type reactors. With the NRC voting to delay pretty much forever any meaningful regulatory action on the post Fukushima safety upgrades recommended by the Blue Ribbon Panel on Fukushima, it is clear the NRC has no intention of doing anything to deal with the safety risks posed by these units. Beyond Nuclear’s official petition to the NRC explains in detail the grounds for their case. You can read it and sign on to the petition filed with the NRC here. The former head of the NRC, Gregory Jaczko has admitted the US reactor fleet including these BWR reactors are too dangerous to continue operating. He … Read entire article »
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Nuclear Workers Union Paid Members With Costco Gift Cards To Attend San Onofre Meeting
[Translate] The union that covers nuclear workers was caught busing in workers and paying them with Costco gift cards to attend a public meeting with the NRC on San Onofre. This is just the latest event in a string of strange confrontations between the public, the NRC, workers and whistleblowers at the plant. The idea of stacking public meetings with paid advocates is nothing new. The union that arranged the workers to show up at the meeting would not say who paid for the Costco gift cards, how much they were for or any other details about this incident. 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 … Read entire article »
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Citizen Uses SimplyInfo Research To Take On Omaha Power Board
[Translate] Local resident LaVerne Thraen cited a report by SimplyInfo.org when he confronted the Omaha Public Power District regarding multiple failures at Ft. Calhoun Nuclear Station. Our report, based off of a December 2012 NRC Investigation found multiple new problems at the plant. Many of these issues pointed back to management and the upper management at OPPD. Some of these ongoing failures and mismanagement went back decades. The response by OPPD board members to Mr. Thraen’s questions is worth watching! Mr. Thraen has been attending and documenting OPPD board meetings and NRC meetings throughout the issues with Ft. Calhoun after the massive 2011 flood. All of his documented videos can be found here. 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 … Read entire article »
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Ft. Calhoun Geo-Testing Shows A Dangerous Potential
[Translate] Public records requests by Clean Nebraska were able to obtain portions of the initial geologic testing report for Ft. Calhoun. The report itself was large, what it contained has mostly not been part of the public discussion about Ft. Calhoun from either OPPD or the NRC. The review here is quite long but it has been broken into sections to facilitate reading. The short of this is there are problems or potential problems, some of them with the ability to be major and they reside under the containment, spent fuel pool, auxiliary building and turbine building. Erosion issues Ft. Calhoun was “significantly challenged” by the 2011 record flood according to plant owner OPPD. The post flood reviews initiated by the NRC included a request for geologic testing at the site. OPPD has … Read entire article »
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What Really Happened At Oyster Creek, Report Released
[Translate] The US NRC has finally issued an inspection report on Oyster Creek and the events during hurricane Sandy. During the storm the public was left with many unanswered questions and a considerable lack of information about what was going on at Oyster Creek nuclear plant. On October 31st Reuters reported a 6.8 feet water level. The NRC official event report is more vague, only citing “over 6 feet“. A few reports admitted the full 7.4 feet of flooding but this didn’t get widely distributed via the press or the NRC’s public website. The full flooding height at Oyster Creek was 7.4 feet. The concrete deck at the intake structure sits at 6 feet. Existing documents at the plant stated that the bottom of needed intake pumping equipment was 7 feet. Water … Read entire article »
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TEPCO To Install Filtered Vents Next Week, US Power Co’s Refuse To
[Translate] TEPCO announced they will begin installation of a filtered emergency vent system at the number seven unit at Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant. Concerns were raised after the Fukushima meltdowns as venting needed to prevent a catastrophic containment failure released large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. The system TEPCO plans to use involves an 8 meter by 4 meter water tank to filter any venting releases. The current venting systems assume the suppression chamber (torus) will filter venting gasses by being partially filled with water. What was found during the Fukushima meltdowns was that the suppression chamber can be drained of water through a number of processes leaving no water to filter the venting. Venting the drywell directly, releases radiation directly to the environment. Units 1 and 2 at Fukushima Daiichi … Read entire article »
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NRA Has More Bad News For Japan’s Nuclear Industry
[Translate] The NRA announced that they considered it “difficult” to complete checks on all of Japan’s nuclear plants within 3 years. The 3 year time frame is the goal of the current government to determine their nuclear energy policy. The process would include any needed construction to bring a plant up to the new standards that still need to be written, adding to delays. The NRA also announced that all reprocessing facilities would be subject to the same safety standards as nuclear power plants. This would require facilities such as Rokkasho to have to meet these standards in order to be allowed to operate. There have been concerns that the area the Rokkasho reprocessing facility sits on is near some major faults. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of … Read entire article »
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New Ft. Calhoun Nuclear Plant Report Shows More Safety Violations
[Translate] The NRC has issued yet another report on Ft. Calhoun’s ongoing safety failures. The December 31st report outlines a number of critical violations at the plant. December31stReport_ML12366A158 The violations include failures to keep important design basis documents. These are used to prove and also understand the systems of the plant. These documents confirm that the plant matches the approved conditions of the license and are also used as reference documents for any work or emergency situations at the plant. These have been wrong since the plant’s construction & approval. This was discovered in the 1980′s and a full reconstitution of the design documents was started in 1987. As of December 2012 this work has still not been completed even though there are repeated references to the deficiency and need to complete this … Read entire article »
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Fire Risk At Older Japan Reactors Shows Potential Worldwide Problem
[Translate] The NRA announced recently that reactors built before 1975 likely have sub standard fire protection designs. This includes having important cables coated in fire resistant insulation, isolating and protecting cables and creating barriers to prevent fires from spreading to other areas of critical equipment. NRA announced that about 10 reactors in Japan likely have these outdated unsafe systems. The 1975 changes in Japan were only mandatory on new reactors being built, any retrofit of old units was voluntary by the reactor owners. Mainichi found that 13 nuclear plants in Japan have these unsafe cables. Some operators coated these vinyl or polyethylene cables with a resin to give them some fire resistance. NRA claims the resin doesn’t prevent the coating underneath from melting and the resin will degrade with age. Mainichi also … Read entire article »
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SimplyInfo Work Used As Evidence In Sierra Club Federal Petition
[Translate] A recent report by SimplyInfo.org on the problems at Ft. Calhoun nuclear station involving the containment building were added as evidence in an expanding legal petition brought by the Sierra Club. We reported on December 13th, findings from an NRC meeting held between OPPD, NRC and multiple engineering firms hired by OPPD. What we found in that NRC meeting was quite concerning as they outlined multiple failed concrete beams in their containment structure. OPPD also admitted there were multiple omissions and errors in the building design documents. Our report has been added to the federal communication on the case with the NRC. http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1235/ML12352A240.pdf 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 … Read entire article »
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US Nuclear “Expert” Suggests Japan’s Failed Regulatory Habits As Solution
[Translate] US nuclear advocate Richard Meserve, who also happens to be a nuclear power company executive is advising Japan’s new nuclear regulatory agency. In a recent NHK report Meserve gives advice on how he thinks the new Japanese agency should operate. “staff members must have technical expertise if they are to effectively enforce regulations. He said it is necessary to continuously assess their levels of expertise, and hire foreign staff if necessary.” Meserve’s slightly vague labeling doesn’t invalidate the intention of his nicely worded statement. In short, more nuclear insiders should be added to the new NRA, just like how the predecessor NISA used to be. French advisor Andre-Claude Lacoste contributes the other quote. “He said it is important to establish a system under which plant operators are encouraged to voluntarily enhance safety.” Just like NISA used to … Read entire article »
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Ft. Calhoun Containment Structure Failures Admitted
[Translate] Representatives from Ft. Calhoun’s operator OPPD, hired engineering firms, and the NRC held a meeting Wesnesday to discuss details of what has been described as issues with containment structures. The portion of the containment structure that is being investigated was described as a portion that supports plant equipment including air handling, steam generators and class 1 piping. A number of concrete beams within this structure were found to be “failed” as part of a plan to obtain a power uprate for the plant. Babcock & Wilcox were to begin engineering work for the uprate during the spring 2011 refueling outage that turned into the massive spring 2011 flood. Calculation work for the uprate was stopped after the first 6 beams investigated were considered failed. The problems go back to the original design … Read entire article »
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Oyster Creek Under Special Inspection By The NRC
[Translate] The NRC announced they are doing a special inspection of Oyster Creek today, after incidents that arose during Hurricane Sandy. The NRC didn’t elaborate about specifics but gave a somewhat vague statement via email. “The team of three NRC inspectors is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the company’s event declaration activities related to water level increases at the plant’s water intake structure during the storm” “Nevertheless, there are certain observations involving procedures and on-site activities that surfaced during the event warranting a closer look. This Special Inspection will focus on those areas to gain a better understanding of how the intake water level information was monitored and communicated during the event.” It is unclear exactly what the NRC is referring to but will issue a report within 45 days. Hopefully this tells the public what the problems actually were. … Read entire article »
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NRC Provides Some Answers On Sandy Aftermath
[Translate] Communications staff over at the NRC blog have provided a bit more information on what happened at two plants after and during hurricane Sandy. The NRC posted this in the comments: “Here is updated information on what happened to the circulating-water pumps at the Salem Unit 1 nuclear power plant during Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 29: The Salem Unit 1 plant is equipped with six circulating-water pumps, which supply cooling water to the plant’s condenser from the Delaware River. At the plant’s water intake structure, there are screens to strain out debris and keep such extraneous material from entering the plant. After the storm passed, the screens had to be inspected. Damage was identified to two of six screens. Divers recovered grating that was displaced by wave action and fell into the water … Read entire article »
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Another Media Outlet Confirms Salem Intake Pumps Damaged
[Translate] Local media outlet NewJerseyNewsroom cites additiional information about what transpired at Salem nuclear plant though they do not cite where they obtained this detailed information from. “But just after 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, while Sandy’s eye was barreling down on the Jersey Shore, the high waves in the river swamped four of the six massive pumps in a building along the river’s edge which pull in the water through a 40-foot wide conduit jutting into the river. The loss of these pumps caused a chain reaction of events: The loss of river water meant the steam in the secondary loop was no longer being condensed, sending hot steam back into the carefully calibrated system. The added work load, coupled with accumulating junk clogging Salem’s underwater intake pipe, caused the two remaining pumps to … Read entire article »
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The Media Takes On The Nuclear Industry After Sandy Failures
[Translate] A long list of media outlets are criticizing the nuclear industry and the safety lapses exposed by hurricane Sandy. While the nuclear industry talking heads have bragged up Sandy as a “success” because there were no major nuclear disasters, it has been pointed out everywhere that this is a public relations deception. Multiple plants lost grid power, had to shutdown, lower power or had failures that challenged critical reactor systems. Questions remain about Oyster Creek’s specific systems through the alert and information on the intake pump damage at Salem has been slim. United Press International said nuclear plant safety was questioned by Sandy. Washington Post highlighted how little is known about the real natural risks in the US and how dangerously close these plants are to major population centers. The New York Times points out … Read entire article »
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NRC Corruption Mounts As New Documents Released
[Translate] Greenpeace recently released an unedited copy of an NRC flood report that showed the NRC had been routinely lying to the public. While the NRC has been telling the public that nuclear plants in the US are completely safe they knew of credible catastrophic flood risks at four US nuclear plants. In 2009 the NRC privately told Duke Energy that a dam failure caused catastrophic flood was a credible event. The NRC’s own calculations showed a catastrophic dam failure at the Oconee nuclear plant was more likely to happen than the quake-tsunami induced disaster at Fukushima Daiichi. This credible flood risk was also known for the Ft. Calhoun nuclear plant. For years the only flood plan at the plant was to purchase sand and sandbags. In October of 2010 the NRC … Read entire article »
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NRC Public Meeting On Economic Consequences Of Reactor Accidents
[Translate] The NRC is holding a public meeting September 11th at 9am to discuss the economic consequences of reactor accidents. The topic is curious as is their timing for a meeting during the typical US observance of the 9-11 terror attack anniversary. Anyone who wishes to watch the meeting can do so via the link below. http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/webcast-live.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 sharing of information or promoting our work, please do so with respect to the large amount of effort and time that goes into our research and analysis. Referring to something or a … Read entire article »
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