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French nuclear power plant explosion heightens safety fears
Blast at EDF's Tricastin power station in Drôme comes days after nuclear authorities found 32 safety concerns at plant

An explosion sparked a fire at a French nuclear power station on Saturday, just two days after the authorities found 32 safety concerns at the plant.

The blaze at the Tricastin plant in Drôme in the Rhône valley sent a thick cloud of black smoke into the sky. A mistral wind sent it south over a nearby motorway on one of the busiest travel days of the year as the French left for their summer holidays.

EDF, which runs the power station, said the incident took place in an electric transformer situated in the non-nuclear part of the plant and had not resulted in any radiation leak or any other contamination. A statement issued by the energy giant raised further concerns as it omitted to mention the explosion – only a fire – and did not give the cause of the blaze.

"This event happened in the non-nuclear part of the installation and had no radiological consequence on the environment and the population. The fire brigade was immediately called and the fire was rapidly brought under control. Nobody was hurt," it said.

More: www.guardian.co.uk

@Edano , nice little factoid in this context: the RPV of unit 1 at Fukushima can hold 500 tons of water.

Date City to decontaminate entire area

The city of Date in Fukushima Prefecture says it will take steps to reduce radiation contamination in its entire area.

The city is located about 50 kilometers northwest of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, outside the government-set evacuation zone. But high levels of radiation have been found in 4 districts. Last Friday, the government recommended 113 households to evacuate.

The city said on Monday that it will decontaminate residential areas, schools, roads and mountains in an attempt to reduce residents' exposure to radioactive substances as much as possible.

The city plans to set up a project team to sort out details on the decontamination process.

Officials say the city will shoulder the cost for the time being, but will ask the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company and the central government to cover follow-up expenses.

Monday, July 04, 2011 16:13 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

Conditions must be met to lift evacuation advisory

Members of Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission say the government must do more before it lifts an evacuation advisory for areas near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

During a news conference on Monday, the members referred to comments by the minister in charge of the nuclear disaster that the government could lift an evacuation advisory for areas 20 to 30 kilometers from the plant by around July 17th.

The members say a safety assessment must first be carried out to fully understand the situation inside the damaged reactors. They say the government must also confirm that another hydrogen explosion will not occur.

Residents in the evacuation advisory zone are required to remain indoors and must be prepared to evacuate in the event of an emergency. Some residents have already left for safer areas.

For those who have left, the members say the evacuation advisory zone must be thoroughly monitored for radiation contamination before residents are allowed to return to their homes.

Tokyo Electric Power Company has set July 17th as the date for finally getting the nuclear crisis under control. By that day, the utility hopes to have achieved stable cooling of the reactors and implemented measures to prevent a hydrogen explosion.

Monday, July 04, 2011 20:11 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

wow, i caught a heavy sunburn yesterday ..... outch :(

@Edano did you once say something about lupus? I know sunburns are very bad for that

@Panserbjorne9 yes, true, but my lupus type is in my inner organs, not in my skin.

Twitter realtime search via Google is dead. selnd.com

@Edano ok good (well not good that you have lupus, but good that it won't be worsened). I was worried

Edano we are all in deep shit if they build reactors in third and second world countries.This is not said with any type of prejudice, just a knowledge of how things are there.