9/15/2011 Iranian Bushehr Nuclear Plant Comes Online - World Survives

Source: OilPrice.com via ZeroHedge
Date: Thursday, 15 September 2011 02:38
by: John Daly

On 12 September Iran brought its first nuclear power plant in Bushehr online, connecting it to the country's electrical grid. Iranian officials at the opening ceremony said that the 1,000 megawatt plant has begun generating electricity at 40 percent of its capacity and will reach full capacity by the year’s end following further testing.
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9/12/2011 The Bomb Plant

Source: DC Bureau
Date: 9/12/2011
by: Joseph Trento

The P Reactor at the Savannah River Site

Thanks to funding from the Colombe Foundation, the Educational Foundation of America and an anonymous donor, National Security News Service reporters spent the last two years investigating the most secretive institution in the federal government: the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its radioactive weapons facility – the Savannah River Site (SRS).
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9/14/2011 Massive New Radiation Releases Possible from Fukushima … Especially If Melted Core Materials Hit Water

Source: Washington's Blog
Date: 9/14/2011

Governments Underreported Severity of Fukushima

As I’ve noted for 6 months, the Japanese and U.S. governments have continually under-reported the severity of the nuclear crisis at Fukushima.
The Wall Street Journal points out:

The Japanese government initially underestimated radiation releases from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, in part because of untimely rain, and so exposed people unnecessarily, a report released this week by a government research institute says.

PhysOrg writes:

The amount of radiation released during the Fukushima nuclear disaster was so great that the level of atmospheric radioactive aerosols in Washington state was 10,000 to 100,000 times greater than normal levels in the week following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the disaster.
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[A] study [by University of Texas engineering professor Steven Biegalski and researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory] reports that more radioxenon was released from the Fukushima facilities than in the 1979 meltdown at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania and in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Ukraine.
Biegalski said the reason for the large release in Fukushima, when compared to the others, is that there were three nuclear reactors at the Japan facilities rather than just one.

Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen notes:

New TEPCO data measured on August 19 & 20 shows severe damage to the spent fuel in Fukushima Daiichi Units 1, 2, and 3…. This TEPCO data clearly contradicts and refutes the July assertion by the NRC the Fukushima Daiichi spent fuel pools were not damaged in this tragic accident.

There are also several unconfirmed reports that the Japanese government is trying to keep people from buying geiger counters to measure radiation.

New, Large Radiation Releases Are Possible

Mainichi Dailly News notes:

As a radiation meteorology and nuclear safety expert at Kyoto University’s Research Reactor Institute, Hiroaki Koide [says]:
The nuclear disaster is ongoing.
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At present, I believe that there is a possibility that massive amounts of radioactive materials will be released into the environment again.
At the No. 1 reactor, there’s a chance that melted fuel has burned through the bottom of the pressure vessel, the containment vessel and the floor of the reactor building, and has sunk into the ground. From there, radioactive materials may be seeping into the ocean and groundwater.
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The government and plant operator TEPCO are trumpeting the operation of the circulation cooling system, as if it marks a successful resolution to the disaster. However, radiation continues to leak from the reactors. The longer the circulation cooling system keeps running, the more radioactive waste it will accumulate. It isn’t really leading us in the direction we need to go.
It’s doubtful that there’s even a need to keep pouring water into the No.1 reactor, where nuclear fuel is suspected to have burned through the pressure vessel. Meanwhile, it is necessary to keep cooling the No. 2 and 3 reactors, which are believed to still contain some fuel, but the cooling system itself is unstable. If the fuel were to become overheated again and melt, coming into contact with water and trigger a steam explosion, more radioactive materials will be released.
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We are now head to head with a situation that mankind has never faced before.

Mainichi also reports:

The Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) and residents of the zone between 20 and 30 kilometers from the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant held an emergency evacuation drill on Sept. 12 … in preparation for any further large-scale emission of radioactive materials from the plant.
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The scenario for the drill presupposed further meltdown of the Fukushima plant’s No. 3 reactor core, and a local accumulation of radioactive materials emitting 20 millisieverts of radiation within the next four days. …

And nuclear expert Paul Gunter says that we face a “China Syndrome”, where the fuel from the reactor cores at Fukushima have melted through the container vessels, into the ground, and are hitting groundwater and creating highly-radioactive steam:

9/15/2011 Second Fukushima plant unlikely to reopen: Japan minister

Source: AFP
Date: 9/15/2011

TOKYO — Japan's new industry minister has acknowledged it will be difficult to restart the companion nuclear plant to the one at the heart of the country's atomic crisis, media reports said.
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9/15/2011 Areva suspends some uranium production after Japan quake

Source: AFP
Date: 9/15/2011

PARIS — French nuclear giant Areva is suspending uranium production at two plants because of low demand from Japanese power stations in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, a spokeswoman said Thursday.
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9/11/2011 (Video) 6 Month Anniversary Coverage of Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

Source: NHK World via MsMilkyTheClown
Date: 9/11/2011

9/13/2011 Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station Update

Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station is the nuclear power plant run by the OPPD (Omaha Public Power District) which was very close to being overwhelmed by a flooding Missouri river.  Water levels have since subsided but the nuclear power plant has been downgraded by the NRC (Nuclear Regular Commission) and inspectors are investigating the fire which occurred at the facility back in in June, 2011.  According to the Omaha World Herald article "June fire at nuke plant probed":

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a special team of inspectors to Nebraska to learn more about a fire that disrupted power to the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station's spent fuel pool in June.

The pool was without electricity for about 90 minutes, which halted active cooling of the pool. According to federal regulators and the Omaha Public Power District, the fuel wasn't in danger of overheating, because the pool retained more than 80 hours of residual cooling ability.

[...]

The NRC has said the plant will not be allowed to resume operations until it's known what caused the fire.

OPPD has estimated that equipment replacement related to the fire could cost $1 million.The plant has been downgraded and is under intense review by regulators for two other problems, one having to do with flood preparations and the other having to do with a bad electrical connector. Dricks said this special team is unrelated to those problems.

9/14/2011 Entergy nuke plant trial in Vermont wraps up

Source: Associated Press
Date: 9/14/2011
by: Dave Gram


BRATTLEBORO, Vt.—An Entergy Corp. lawyer argued Wednesday in the court battle over Vermont's refusal to extend the life of a nuclear power plant that state lawmakers wrongly considered safety in blocking an extension.
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Editor's Note:  This is the nuclear plant which the state of Vermont wanted to block from license renewal but Entergy, the utility that runs the plant, challenged the state's veto law in federal court.  Bernie Sanders is one of the outspoken Vermont senators who opposes this plant due to safety issues.  See "Leas: Entergy’s case to keep operating Vermont Yankee falls of its own weight" for a good summary of the court case and its implications/importance.
 
View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

9/14/2011 Entergy nuke plant trial in Vermont wraps up

Source: Associated Press
Date: 9/14/2011
by: Dave Gram


BRATTLEBORO, Vt.—An Entergy Corp. lawyer argued Wednesday in the court battle over Vermont's refusal to extend the life of a nuclear power plant that state lawmakers wrongly considered safety in blocking an extension.
...
Read full article here

Editor's Note:  This is the nuclear plant which the state of Vermont wanted to block from license renewal but Entergy, the utility that runs the plant, challenged the state's veto law in federal court.  Bernie Sanders is one of the outspoken Vermont senators who opposes this plant due to safety issues.  See "Leas: Entergy’s case to keep operating Vermont Yankee falls of its own weight" for a good summary of the court case and its implications/importance.
 
View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map