7/18/2011 Did you hear about the alert at Illinois' Dresden Nuclear Plant?

Source: examiner.com (Chicago, IL)
Date: 7/18/2011
by: Cynthia Hodges

Dresden Nuclear Plant in Illinois Credits: Google Images

July 18, 2011   On Friday, the Dresden Nuclear Power Plant located 60 miles southwest of Chicago declared an Alert at 10:16 a.m after a chemical leak restricted access to a vital area that houses plant cooling water pumps. The material leaked was sodium hypochlorite, a chemical similar to bleach which is routinely used in plants to treat water.

According to the few mentions of the incident, there was no known impact to the public health and safety and the environment.

Dresden Nuclear Power Plant in Morris, Illinios is owned and operated by Exelon Corp. located in Chicago.
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Read full article here

Editor's Note: The emergency was cleared on the same day it was issued. Per the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) event notification report:

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* * * UPDATE AT 1626 EDT ON 7/15/11 FROM MIROCHNA TO HUFFMAN * * *

"The alert has been terminated on 7/15/11 at 1520 CDT. The conditions which caused the alert no longer exist. A press release was made for the event. Two employees were sent for offsite medical attention as a precautionary measure; neither employee was contaminated."

The licensee stated that the sodium hypochlorite had leaked from a pipe into a sump under the storage trailer near the cribhouse. The sodium hypochlorite that leaked into the sump has been pumped out. Access to the cribhouse has been restored and there are no other access restrictions at the site. Both units continue to operate at full power.
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Below is a map of Dresden Nuclear Generating Station. Note that not all U.S. nuclear power plants appear on this map, only ones with unusual recent activity or known safety issues (that the editor knows about).

View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

7/16/2011 'Unusual Event' Reported At San Onofre Plant

Source: Associated Press via San Franciso Chronicle
Date: 7/16/2011 16:31 PDT

(07-16) 16:31 PDT SAN ONOFRE, Calif. (AP) --

Utility officials say one of several redundant security systems used to monitor the grounds of Southern California's San Onofre nuclear plant stopped working for 45 minutes, triggering a declaration of the lowest level of emergency.

Gil Alexander, a spokesman for the plant's operator, Southern California Edison, said an "unusual event" was declared at 6:12 a.m.

Although the security system was restored within 45 minutes, the Orange County plant remained on unusual event status until 9:50 a.m.

Alexander said the failure was not related to nuclear operations and no part of the plant's perimeter was left unguarded.

Edison did not release details of the incident or say what kind of equipment was involved.

Officials were still trying to determine the cause of the failure Saturday afternoon.

Alexander said the unusual event declaration required immediate notification of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Editor's Note: The emergency has been cleared and the nuclear power plant is back in a non-emergency condition. Quoting the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) event notification report:

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* * * UPDATE FROM DANIEL CRUZ TO DONALD NORWOOD AT 1255 EDT ON 7/16/11 * * *

The licensee exited the Unusual Event at 0950 PDT. The plant security safeguards systems have been returned to normal. Contact the Headquarters Operations Officer for details.

The licensee notified State and local authorities and the NRC Resident Inspector.
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Map of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, not all nuclear power plants in the U.S. are included, only ones with known safety issues or recent unusual activity (that the editor knows about).

View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

7/17/2011 Residents of Fukushima trapped in dangerous radiation contaminated areas due to lack of government evacuation order/aid

Date: 7/17/2011

Last month, the parents of 14 students sued the Koriyama Municipal Government in order to get their schools moved to safe areas. This is the first of its kind lawsuit brought against the Japanese government. Quoting from the article Radiation scare prompts lawsuit to move Fukushima schools from Majorix News:

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In a suit filed at the Koriyama Branch of the Fukushima District Court, parents of 14 pupils attending either elementary or junior high schools in the city sued the Koriyama government, demanding schools be moved as blocs into safe areas.


“Our aim is to make sure all children in Fukushima Prefecture can take classes in safety,” Kenichi Ido, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said.


Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they had calculated that of the 266 elementary or junior high schools located within cities in Fukushima Prefecture, merely five recorded radiation levels below the safe average annual radiation exposure level of 1 millisievert as outlined by the International Committee on Radiological Protection (ICRP). In nearby Aizu, where radiation exposure is comparatively low, only one school falls below the ICRP guideline.[1]
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Back in May MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) announced it would increase the safe exposure limit by 20 times from 1 millisievert per year to 20 millisieverts per year but parents pushed back and now MEXT said it would abide by the old safe exposure limit as specified by the ICRP (International Commission on Radiological Protection).[1] Thanks to whomever signed the petition from Green Action Japan, apparently you did help make a difference!

Putting public pressure on politicians can be effective. Residents in Fukushima City are calling out for the world's assistance in persuading the Japanese government to issue an official evacuation order for them so that they can evacuate themselves and their children from dangerous radiation contaminated areas. Following is a video translated from Japanese to English (and French):


The video was made by representatives of Moms To Save Children from Radiation. You can show your support by sending an e-mail to mscrjp@gmail.com or passing on the video or this article.

A recent saddening development is that the Japanese government is actually thinking about lessening its evacuation zone and sending residents back in to previously evacuated areas. According to yesterday's AFP article Japan PM visits Fukushima amid talk of cut in zone:

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The government is now looking at resettling people in evacuated areas outside the plant's 20-kilometre (12-mile) no-go zone, although it has declined to give a specific timeframe.

The mass-circulation Asahi Shimbun on Saturday said the situation has improved enough for the government to consider narrowing an emergency evacuation zone, imposed between 20 and 30 kilometres from the plant, in August.[2]

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This is quite bad news, because it means that financial assistance to help people evacuate will be lessened as well.[2]

Presently financial assistance is only available to evacuees who were living within a certain radius (20 km) of the Fukushima I nuclear power plant when the accident occurred. This is already keeping people from leaving contaminated areas who might otherwise be able to evacuate (if given an official order by the Japanese government along with financial assistance), as per the plea from Moms to Save Children from Radiation above.

I thought the following video by political activist and talk show host Alex Jones summarized the plight of those living in radiation contaminated areas quite well.


This is an impromptu video made by Mr. Jones before he went in for an interview with RT News concerning the topic of Bohemian Grove. The Bohemian Club includes several thousand of the Western power elite and they meet once a year in Bohemian Grove to engage in ritual sacrifice (to the ancient Babylonian god Moloch via the Cremation of Care ceremony), cavorting/debauchery and, some would argue, plotting world domination.

Sources:
[1] Radiation scare prompts lawsuit to move Fukushima schools, Majorix News
[2] Japan PM visits Fukushima amid talk of cut in zone, AFP