SimplyInfo » Entries tagged with "Safety"
EPA Employees Balk At Proposed Nuclear Industry Authored Public Safety Guidelines
[Translate] High ranking EPA officials are calling foul on a new set of public safety guidelines that would dictate how the government would respond to a nuclear disaster. What has caused the extreme concern among EPA officials is within the proposed report that was authored by the NCRP. We previously documented that the NCRP is a private company funded by the nuclear industry. These new guidelines would drastically lower the level of public safety and give it a back seat to nuclear industry financial interests to pretend that nothing happened. Paul Kudarauskas, of the EPA Consequence Management Advisory Team when talking about the industry written rules and a potential nuclear disaster in the US said “U.S. residents are used to having “cleanup to perfection,” but will have to abandon their “not in my … Read entire article »
Filed under: The Latest
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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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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Japan’s New Nuclear Safety Challenges Utilities & Municipalities
[Translate] Japan’s new nuclear regulator has given more information about what will be expected from power companies if they intend to possibly restart a nuclear reactor in Japan. Among the new safety measures are filtered vents, additional control rooms sited at a distance from the reactors and high output water pumps housed away from the reactors. It was not clear yet what urgency the regulator will put on these changes. These measures would cost the utilities money but none so far involve challenging modifications. It isn’t just the power utilities that are being required to improve safety measures. Municipalities are also required to develop plans to evacuate 30km zones around any nuclear plant in Japan. So far 70% of the towns have not accomplished this task. The plans include evacuation strategies and … Read entire article »
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Staffing Issues & Future Plans Dog TEPCO & Fukushima Daiichi
[Translate] A number of recent reports show the manpower problems at Fukushima Daiichi. There have been problems all along with trying to secure qualified workers to do work at the plant. There have been problems with the Yakuza sending in unskilled workers, workers who owed them debts and skimming off of workers pay. Multiple layers of sub contractors further complicate responsibility an communication. This week a worker attempted to cut a plastic conduit pipe with a hand saw assuming it was empty. To his surprise (and luckily not his shock) the conduit contained a live high power electric line. Miss-communication from management to workers and insufficient pre-work inspection lead to the worker being told to cut the conduit with the active line. A system with lights indicates where power lines are activated. … Read entire article »
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10 Things To Know About The EU Nuclear Stress Tests
[Translate] Ten Things You Should Know About The EU Stress Tests 1. Aircraft crashes were not considered in the EU nuclear stress tests. 2. Reactors were missing hydrogen valves at Tschechia, Bulgarien, Rumania, Slowakia, Slowenia, Schweden, Spain and Great Britain. 3. Battery capacity and recharging was considered inadequate at all nuclear plants. 4. There is no on-site seismic instrumentation yet in Dukovany NPP (CZ), Brokdorf, Brunsbuettel, Emsland, Grohnde, Kruemmel and Unterweser NPPs (D), Borssele NPP (NL), Oskarshamn NPP (SE) and in all Ukrainian NPPs. 5. Severe weather early warning systems and relevant operating procedures were not in place in Sweden and some other locations. 6. In France, no probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) is used except for 3 plants (Saint-Alban, Flamanville and Civaux). 7. Facilities in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Netherlands lacked reinforcement of buildings that housed … Read entire article »
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No Way To Evacuate Near Oi Nuclear Plant! Tsunami Risks Higher Than Told.
[Translate] The Japan Times ran a very disturbing story today. As they were covering the protests at Oi over the weekend they looked at the ability to evacuate the population around Oi in the event of an accident. We have pointed out in our analysis of the safety at Oi that there is one road to the plant that sits on a peninsula. Protesters took advantage of this flaw and were able to blockade all entry into or out of the plant with a few vehicles and some log chain. The terrain and natural conditions in that area of Fukui make most travel challenging. “ Based on a simulation it ran last week of what would happen if people panicked and fled by car, Fukui Prefecture estimates it could take over eight hours to … Read entire article »
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The Real Risks At Oi
[Translate] The SimplyInfo.org research team has been busy looking into the newly claimed safety efforts at the Oi nuclear plant in Japan. The Prime Minister and Fukui governor have given their approval to restart units 3 & 4 at Oi, ending Japan’s days of being nuclear free. Though Japan has been largely nuclear free for months as most reactors have been offline for an extended period of time. The reactors at Oi have been offline between 6 months to 1 year. KEPCO is now trying to rush the restart of unit 3 to a short few weeks. The longer a reactor is offline the more work is involved in restarting it. Oi has a number of known issues and past safety problems that have not been resolved. The plant’s siting and design … Read entire article »
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Tsruga Impossible To Restart, Issues At Kashiwazaki Raise Concerns
[Translate] Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission stated it would be impossible to restart the units at Tsruga nuclear plant. Multiple fault lines run under or near the plant with evidence they have acted together in the past. This raised the earthquake risks at the plant beyond the safety margins allowed to operate. It is very unlikely the reactors at Tsruga will ever be restarted. This week NISA raised the ground motion projections for Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant. These new ground motion projections use multiple faults acting at once where TEPCO’s previous assumptions only used one fault line. TEPCO says they will add reinforcement as needed to the plant and intend to restart the reactors. There has been no word yet if NISA considered the risk at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa to be as severe as Tsruga or … Read entire article »
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Japan’s Political Sideshow
[Translate] We have been following the recent political games surrounding the restart of the Oi reactors. The government disconnect with reality or the people continues on. This week the ministry in charge of food safety instructed grocery stores and other companies testing food for radiation to end their food testing standards and use the much higher government standards. Various grocery stores, food coops and food producers began their own testing due to lack of comprehensive testing by the government over the last year or more. The government safety standards of 500 bq/kg and the new lower 100 bq/kg are unacceptable to many consumers. Food retailers and producers did what consumers wanted, food that is assured to be safe beyond the government’s high “safety” threshold. The government early on had declared foods to … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Review Causes Industry Initiated Meltdown At The NRC
[Translate] Since the Fukushima nuclear accident, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has had a task force reviewing the safety risks at US nuclear facilities. This review initially met with resistance by the some NRC commissioners who wanted to considerably delay any review or action. With decisions on what safety changes to make coming due, the nuclear industry staged a coup. With a couple of nuclear industry friendly Senators and former TEPCO consultant turned NRC commissioner, William Magwood they turned attention to a manufactured drama. Magwood lead the other commissioners to write a letter to the White House accusing Chairman Jaczko of bullying behavior and bad management. They also accused him of taking authority he did not have during the Fukushima disaster in March. An inspector general’s investigation found no wrongdoing on Jaczko’s … Read entire article »
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Public Action Against Nuclear Power And Safety Promotion Grows Exponentially
[Translate] Efforts in Japan started out slow but have gained speed recently as groups get organized to help people be safe, find safe food and resist commercial nuclear power. Cities throughout Shizuoka prefecture are passing resolutions demanded Hamaoka nuclear power plant be permanently shut down and decommissioned. Hamaoka has been declared one of the most dangerous nuclear plants on earth as it sits on multiple fault lines at a low elevation near the sea. The Hakodate City mayor has asked that construction on the Oma nuclear plant by permanently stopped. Even government officials have begun to crack. A high ranking official at the Ministry of the Environment admitted people do not trust the government’s radiation readings. NISA officials are admitting that the RPV (reactor vessel) at one of the reactors cracked in the earthquake. … Read entire article »
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Mom Starts “OK Food” Website
[Translate] A mother in Japan has started an interesting website geared at buying safe foods. The site doesn’t do any testing themselves but instead focuses on directing consumers to safer options. They feature produce and domestic food from Rakuten, Yahoo and Amazon sourced from regions of Japan far from the plant. They also find imported food products readily available in Japan to aid in substituting for domestic products that still have an unreliable safety status. Also mentioned was Dominos pizza, claiming the chain sources their supplies from outside of the country. Read more at OK Food 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 … Read entire article »
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AP Investigative Report Finds Dangerous Problems With NRC’s Slipping Oversight
[Translate] You need to read the entire report by AP. You need to read the entire report by AP. The findings of this investigative report that has been ongoing for the last year are not just disturbing, they are frightening. The NRC has been actively lowering safety requirements and stretching safety margins as much as 78% beyond their original limits. With an ageing reactor fleet the NRC has been lowering the standards to allow these falling apart nuclear reactors to continue to operate. Instead of demanding safety compliance the NRC has worked in favor of operators and fudged the numbers on paper to allow they to then legally continue to operate in clearly unsafe states. To put all of this in an even more concerning context remember that by the NRC’s own testing … Read entire article »
Filed under: The Latest, US Nuclear News
Thousands Sign NRC Petition To Suspend Fukushima Style Design Nuclear Reactors
[Translate] A widespread petition has been filed with the NRC asking them to suspend the GE Mark 1 BWR reactors in the US due to having the same design as Fukushima Daiichi’s reactors. The GE Mark 1 has been plagued with critical design flaws that showed up even in the early 1970′s as these reactors were being built. As the Fukushima disaster has unfolded more and more critical systems of the design have come into question. Beyond Nuclear and a large group of co-petitioners are asking the NRC to suspend these dangerous reactors. People can still sign on as co-petitioners by going here and filling out the form. 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 … Read entire article »
Filed under: The Latest, US Nuclear News
Finding Radiation Free Food In Japan
[Translate] Ex-SKF has a guest post on how one family has figured out how to find safe food for their children in Japan. Certain food coop distributors are taking the extra effort to test the food they source or to find sources known to be outside the contamination areas. This is some valuable information for anyone worried about their food safety. William Marcus, the guest blogger who wrote the article also observed that using some of these safer food options comes at a premium. The cost of buying from one of these coops that is testing is 10-20% higher than normal grocery stores. He also noted that people have observed that many from the Tohoku and Kanto regions with resources are leaving. “I was in Kyushu for a week last week, visiting in-laws and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Protect Yourself, The Latest
EPR Reactor Design Plagued By Design And Technical Failures
[Translate] The EPR reactor design created by Areva and Seimens and hailed as the next generation “safe” nuclear reactor is failing to meet expectations. The first EPR to be built at Flamanville has been plagued with failure after failure. The concrete construction was recently discovered to be full of holes, debris and major flaws. The substandard construction as described to the public “adversely affect the final quality of structures”: “concrete piers drilled like Swiss cheese or many hailed ‘nests of stones “,” errors of reinforcement “or” lack of funds for cleaning formwork, cluttered with a mas of ligatures and other unidentified objects. “ Major defects and 13 other weaknesses were found by France’s nuclear safety authority, including not being up to seismic standards. French, British and Finnish regulators also requested design changes to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Nuclear Safety, The Latest
Idled Nuclear Reactors, Safety And Japan Politics.
[Translate] Reuters has published a Japan nuclear plant status table showing what plants are shut down for planned or unplanned outages. Meanwhile Kyodo states that 13 reactors are to start stress test phase 1 New Prime Minister Noda wants to restart idled reactors after tests according to the METI chief, Yoshio Hachiro. How all of this will come out in the end and the public reaction remains to be seen. 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 … Read entire article »
Filed under: METI, The Latest
Citizen Food Testing Laboratory To Open In Chiba In October
[Translate] The “Becquerel Center” opens in October in Chiba, near Tokyo. Their detecting equipment from Germany can test for cesium and iodine in food products the public can bring in and pay a small fee to have tested. From the Nikkei Shimbun article about the new testing center. “Those who wish to bring a certain amount of food and soil samples. To measure yourself while you operate the unit under the guidance of Becquerel Center. One measurement time is 15 minutes. 1,000 yen fee is 20 becquerel types lowest detectable amount. Same type of 1 Becquerel is scheduled to around ¥ 3500.” The center has more information at SaveChild.net and a new website at http://bq-center.com/ The center is also hiring 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 »
Filed under: Citizen Reporting, Protect Yourself
US Quake Revealed Widespread Problems And Internal NRC Concerns At Nuclear Plants
[Translate] The NRC has admitted that 27 nuclear power plants may need upgrades to make them better able to handle earthquakes. North Anna nuclear plant in Virginia is on that list. The review was kicked off by the Great East Earthquake and Fukushima disaster in Japan. While the NRC is putting on an “everything is safe” face for the public, the communication inside showed something quite different. The AP obtained NRC emails discussing the current state of safety at some of the US reactors. The NRC data shows N. Anna to be 38% more likely to suffer core damage from a quake. An augmented inspection team was sent out last week something done when the risk of reactor core damage rises by 100. Only two of the US’s reactors are required to … Read entire article »
Filed under: The Latest, US Nuclear News
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