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21 Mar 2011 14:53

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World: Smoke and steam cause day-long delay at Fukushima Daiichi

  • The hope for Fukushima The prognosis for Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been thought to be improving in recent days, as efforts to install new power lines to the facilities, and thereby restart the cooling pumps, have been going well. Reactors 5 and 6 now both have cooling (those units are storing already spent fuel rods, not active ones).
  • Today’s smoke-fueled Delay A plume of dark smoke was recently seen rising from Reactor 3, over a pool of spent fuel rods. Reactor 2 also seemed to have white steam rising. While the cause of the plumes is not known, officials say they see no spike in radiation, though workers have been evacuated and work halted until tomorrow. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Mar 2011 13:47

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U.S.: Diablo Canyon nuclear plant called a “near-miss”

  • 18 months until staff found a safety flaw in a CA nuclear plant source
  • » So, here’s the deal: The Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor in California is situated in what’s widely known as a rather earthquake prone area (as we illustrated a few days ago — Diablo Canyon is the reactor closest to the edge of the Pacific Ocean). Which is why it comes as such an unwelcome surprise that their emergency valves, designed to automatically pump water into the reactor core if systems fail, were flawed and would have done no such thing in such a crisis. This deficiency went undetected for eighteen months before being discovered, a lapse in the plant’s emergency response capabilities that, we imagine, the people of the surrounding area are none too pleased with.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Mar 2011 16:32

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World: Britain follows U.S. on Fukushima evacuation advisement

  • A bit of a contradiction: “We advise British nationals to follow all relevant advice from the Japanese authorities, and as an additional precautionary measure, not to go within eighty kilometers of the site.” It seems that the British have assessed the situation in Fukushima, and have come to the same conclusion the Americans have. While it’s impossible to say at this juncture what is and isn’t the proper advice, this much seems clear; that both the U.S. and Britain would publicly refute Japan’s own evacuation plan, however politely, makes the Japanese look pretty bad, and implies some degree of turmoil in diplomatic communication and coordination. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Mar 2011 14:41

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World: Some uninspiring anecdotes on Japan’s nuclear record

  • one A Japanese nuclear plant had its workers mix uranium by hand in buckets, instead of using machines as it was supposed to. This somewhat predictably exposed hundreds to increased radiation, and two later died.
  • two Kei Sugaoka, now in California, used to be a plant engineer. He recalls being told to cut out video of the plant’s steam-leaking pipes before sending it for review. He told this to TEPCO, but no action was taken until he went public. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Mar 2011 14:11

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World: Wikileaks sheds light on longtime concern over Japanese nuclear safety

  • Taniguchi has been a weak manager and advocate, particularly with respect to confronting Japan’s own safety practices, and he is a particular disappointment to the United States for his unloved-step-child treatment of the Office of Nuclear Security.
  • A U.S. diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks • On Tomohiro Tanaguchi, the man who was the IAEA’s (International Atomic Energy Agency) Deputy Director General for the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security from 2001 to 2009. While another cable reveals that Tanaguchi urged fellow officials to focus more on nuclear power safety in 2008 (which seems like the sort of thing you shouldn’t need to tell the IAEA), it seems that this plea late in his career was not enough to salvage the opinion of American diplomats, who express a great degree of angst over the state of Japan’s nuclear earthquake preparedness. Tomohiro departed his position in 2009, leaving the position to another Japanese member, Yukiya Amano, who currently holds the post. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Mar 2011 23:39

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World: Fukushima update: Radiation briefly reaches one sievert an hour

  • 1,000 the level the radioactivity reached near the Fukushima reactor, in milli-sieverts per hour – which is a new high, by far
  • 800-600 the level the radioactivity fell to not much longer after that, in milli-sieverts per hour; this is still far more than average source
  • » For context: Please check out our various updates here, here, here, and here.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Mar 2011 14:25

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World: Subsequent quakes, aftershocks are keeping Japan understandably nervous

  • 2 more earthquakes struck throughout Japan on Tuesday source
  • » Obviously, they’re softer than the big one. That said, two more earthquakes (there have reportedly been dozens of lesser quakes and aftershocks since the 9.0 cataclysm last week) shook Japan Tuesday, clocking in at 6.1 and 6.2 on the Richter scale. The latter quake struck an area roughly seventy miles south of Tokyo, while the former hit about sixty miles from the Hamaoka Nuclear Plant, which as you might expect made people a little nervous. Hamaoka has, thankfully, been functioning properly and without incident since the quake, but with the myriad of tragedies and fears the Japanese people presently have, we somehow doubt any rumble has the capacity to feel minor anymore. Here’s hoping the ground will stay still for a while.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

21 Nov 2010 11:55

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World: North Korea invents new way to piss off world leaders

So yeah, As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, apparently North Korea has a new, highly sophisticated nuclear facility. Are they using it for leverage? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2010 12:06

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World: Iran’s getting a new nuclear site all gussied up today

  • That’s what state-run Press TV is saying. Because Iran loves annoying the U.S. and doing what they want, the country has a new nuclear site ready for construction. The country previously announced they would build two sites starting in 2011, but now one’s in the hopper as soon as Ahmadinejad gives the go-ahead. This comes in the wake of a nuclear summit the country put on to compete with the one the U.S. had last week. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Feb 2010 12:54

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U.S.: Obama loans lots of money to a couple of nuclear reactors

  • $8.3 billion goes to two reactors in Burke County, Georgia source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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