9/2/2013 Insulation fire reported at Palo Verde Nuclear Plant

Source: Associated Press via azfamily.com
Date: September 2, 2013 at 10:25 PM

Aeriel view of Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Credit: Wikipedia

WINTERSBURG, Ariz -- The operator of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona declared an unusual event late Monday when insulation behind a pump caught fire.
...
Read the rest here.

Editor's Note:  For further details, see the NRC Event Notification Report 49317.  

5/18/2013 Hamburg ‘avoids radiation disaster’ as ship loaded with fissile material, explosives burns (VIDEO)

Source: Russia Today
Date: 5/18/2013

Image from youtube.com @DTV German

The German city of Hamburg likely avoided a major technological disaster on May 1, when a freighter ship caught fire. It had several tons of radioactive material and explosives among its cargo, it was revealed.

It took 200 firefighters working for several hours to douse the fires on the Atlantic Cartier. The ship’s most visible cargo was some 70 cars, 30 of which were damaged in the incident. But now it was revealed that the vessel also had highly dangerous substances on board as well, which posed the threat of radioactive contamination to the area.

...
Read the rest of this article here

5/10/2013 St. Louis Is Burning

Source: Rolling Stone
Date: 5/10/2013
by: Steven Hsieh

A bulldozer pushes trash in a landfill.

There's a fire burning in Bridgeton, Missouri. It's invisible to area residents, buried deep beneath the ground in a North St. Louis County landfill. But the smoldering waste is an unavoidable presence in town, giving off a putrid odor that clouds the air miles away – an overwhelming stench described by one area woman as "rotten eggs mixed with skunk and fertilizer." Residents report smelling it at K-12 school buses, a TGI Fridays and even the operating room of a local hospital. "It smells like dead bodies," observes another local.
...
Read the rest here

8/19/2012 Can Spent Fuel Pools Catch Fire?

Source: Fairewinds Associates
Date: 8/19/2012
by: Arnie Gundersen

About this video
In this Fairewinds’ feature, Fairewinds Associates Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen analyzes a US government national laboratory simulation video that shows nuclear spent fuel rods do catch fire when exposed to air. This simulation video proves Fairewinds’ assertions that nuclear fuel rods can catch fire when exposed to air, and Arnie discusses the ramifications of this phenomena if the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent fuel pool were to lose cooling water.

...

Visit Fairewinds Associates for other links, the text transcript of the video and other great resources

5/23/2012 Fukushima Day 439 - US Nuclear Sub Fire & Radiation Doomsday Date...start packing!

Source: connectingdots2
Date: 5/23/2012

Video Description

In addition, Fukushima's Unit 3 reactor also used MOX [mixed oxide], a plutonium-uranium fuel mixture that is deadly. A single milligram of MOX is 2-million times more deadly than enriched uranium.

*Note: Single radiation dose of 2,000 millisieverts (200,000 millirems) and above causes serious illness. See also exposure list below.
Half-life of some radioactive elements

[NOTE: Half-life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to decay by half.]

* Cesium-134 ~ 2 years
* Cesium-137 ~ 30 years
* Iodine-131 ~ 8 days
* Plutonium-239 ~ 24,200 years
* Ruthenium-103 ~ 39 days [Ruthenium is a fission product of uranium-235.]
* Ruthenium-106 ~ 374 days

* Strontium-90 ~ 28.85 years [Strontium-90 is a product of nuclear fission and is found in large amounts in spent nuclear fuel and in radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.]

* Uranium-234 ~ 246,000 years
* Uranium-235 ~ 703.8 million years
* Uranium-238 ~ 4.468 billion years

The End of Cancer. DCA makes its world debut. Researchers at the University of Alberta's Department of Medicine have discovered Dichloroacetate (DCA), a simple and inexpensive drug that cures Cancer..
http://www.arbitragemagazine.com/topics/science-technology/cancer-3dca-4world...

Fukushima Reactor 4 poses massive global risk:

" Worst-case scenario

There are a couple of possible outcomes, Gundersen said.

Highly radioactive cesium and strontium isotopes would likely go airborne and "volatilize" -- turning into a vapour that could move with the wind, potentially travelling thousands of kilometres from the source.

The size of those particles would determine whether they remained in Japan, or made their way to the rest of Asia and other continents.(notice how he avoids mentioning the North America!)
(yet "traveling thousands of kilometres" means North America)

"And here's where there's no science because no one's ever dared to attempt the experiment," Gundersen said. "If it flies far enough it goes around the world, if the particles stay a little bigger, they settle in Japan. Either is awful."

Essentially, he said, Japan is sitting on a ticking time bomb. "

connectingdots2: ...again Arnie Gunderson is minimizing the outcome as we already know that since March last year the entire world as been getting dosed with Fukushima radiation fallout.
Something that Canadian nuclear expert Dr Gordon Edwards made sure to mention during his interview on CTVnews.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20120518/fukushima-dai-ichi-risk-reactor-4-12...

Sodium Dichloroacetate (DCA) - The Cancer Cure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSCxVtePTh8

Dichloroacetic Acid (DCA) for Cancer treatment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHKiayPdiNE

Fire reported on nuclear submarine in Maine http://www.wmur.com/news/nh-news/Fire-reported-on-nuclear-submarine-in-Maine/...
USS Miami SSN 755 nuclear reactor compartment http://books.google.ca/books?id=aw4PwvuZ1SMC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&d...

USS Miami (SSN-755) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Miami_%28SSN-755%29

Reactor 4 pictures
http://cdn.dipity.com/uploads/events/ac3d11fef6688934cdf82b2bbe0e55a3_1M.png

http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Exposed-radioactive-f...

http://fukushima-diary.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/fig9.jpg

http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/images/4/2011/03/reactor4-water.jpg

Read more about the submarine fire from RT News.

2/5/2012 Russia Nuclear Institute Fire: 'No Threat' Says Government

Source: Reuters via Huffington Post
First Posted: 02/ 5/2012 8:47 am Updated: 02/ 5/2012 3:34 pm 



MOSCOW, Feb 5 (Reuters) - A fire broke out on Sunday at a Moscow nuclear research centre that houses a non-operational 60-year-old atomic reactor, an emergency official said, and Russia's nuclear agency said there were no open flames and no threat of a radiation leak.
...
Read full article here

12/30/2011 Russian nuke sub fire: Video of firefighters putting out blaze

Source: RT News
Date: 12/30/2011


The blaze on the strategic nuclear submarine Yekaterinburg started when a fire broke out in a dockyard in northern Russia. Eleven fire crews, a helicopter and a boat managed to localize the fire. Seven servicemen and two emergency workers were hospitalized with smoke inhalation. The reactor on the submarine, which is in the dock of the shipyard in Roslyakovo, Murmansk Region, has been halted and no radiation contamination was reported. Several crewmen remain on board the nuclear submarine.

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.

7/8/2011 Company Finally Admits 765 KG of Uranium Burned In March 11 Oil Refinery Fire Following Japan Quake

Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: July 8, 2011 at 6:58 pm

Cosmo Oil Refinery in Japan finally admits, 4 months later, that 765 KG of Uranium was burned into the atmosphere at the oil refinery fire in Japan following the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

Almost 4 months after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami the Cosmo Oil Refinery finally admits that 765 KG of Uranium was burned into the atmosphere when the oil refinery caught fire.
...
Read full article here

7/2/2011 Los Alamos lab prepares to reopen as fire threat eases

Source: Reuters
Date: Sat Jul 2, 2011 5:42pm EDT

(Reuters) - The Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory has ended a state of emergency and was taking small steps on Saturday toward reopening as the threat from a record New Mexico wildfire subsided.

But highlighting the need for continued vigilance, a squirrel sparked a small blaze on lab property on Saturday when it touched a transformer. That fire, which measured about an acre, was quickly extinguished, the lab said in a statement.
...
Read full article here

Editor's Note: TA-53 (Technical Area 53) is where the squirrel mentioned above blew out the transformer, causing an electrical fire.  TA-53 is outside any of the affected areas as shown in the MODIS or GOES fire detection maps provided by the USDA Forest Service.

Below is a map showing the Technical Areas and Material Disposal Areas together:

7/2/2011 Transformer explodes at Tricastin nuclear power plant in Southern France

Date: 7/2/2011

I could not find any English reports on the fire so I piped some German and French articles through Google Translate. Following are the results.

From Der Standard:

France
Explosion in Atomkraftwerk Tricastin
02. July 2011 19:20

Fire brought under control

Paris - In the southern French nuclear plant Tricastin it came to French media reports of an explosion. A fire had broken out, but this has been brought under control in the afternoon, it said on the website of the newspaper "Dauphine Libere." People were not injured. The explosion is said to have occurred in a transformer outside the nuclear zone. (APA)

From BFMTV.com:

A fire hit on Saturday afternoon, the transformer unit to stop the nuclear Tricastin in the Drôme. Large plumes of black smoke escaped but according to EDF, there will be consequences on the environment.
Posted July 2, 2011 at 21:23

From leJDD.fr:

An explosion at the plant Tricastin

A transformer of the power plant Tricastin, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (Drôme), exploded Saturday afternoon. The fire was quickly brought under control and the damage appears to no effect on the operation of the site.

"The fire was quickly extinguished." The prefecture of the Drôme, interviewed by leJDD.fr , has sought to reassure about an explosion on Saturday at the site of the nuclear plant Tricastin, in the commune of Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux. According to EDF, also contacted, an electrical transformer outside the nuclear zone, exploded around 15:30, causing the temporary shutdown of the plant. Material was then caught fire, releasing a large black smoke, which was witnessed by many residents and road. "The wind has not pressed the smoke on the ground and no motorist was annoyed," assures the prefecture.

Internal services of EDF responded immediately, locking the access to the site. Firefighters responded just minutes later to control the fire, confined at 15:55. "No one was hurt and there was no damage to the environment," says the prefecture.

Tricastin plant is subject to careful monitoring of the nuclear safety authority (ASN). The latter, in a 2007 report, stated that "the site had yet to make progress on the management of training, development permits and fire response times in case of fire that remain too long." A year later, the release of carbon, in June and September, and a leak of uranium in July, had caused great concern. ASN also announced last Thursday, have imposed new security requirements concerning the EDF reactor No. 1 of the plant. Commissioned in 1980, it might work for another ten years if the EDF gives the standards. The explosion took place Saturday in the Unit 1 power plant, fueled by the reactor 1.

Simplified map of the site of Tricastin (credit: Roulex_45/Wikipedia Commons).

GV - leJDD.fr

Saturday, July 2, 2011

There have in the past been safety concerns and incidents at this particular nuclear power plant, as per Reuters and Wikipedia. A recent Bloomberg article dated 7/1/2011 details that EDF (Electricite de France SA) France's largest operator of nuclear power plants was ordered to improve the Tricastin nuclear power plant's defense against natural disasters (floods, earthquakes and fires):

...
EDF must reinforce the earthquake buffers at the Tricastin reactor as well as improve anti-flooding measures, according to a report released yesterday by the national atomic watchdog. Nobody from EDF could be reached for comment today.
...

6/15/2011 | Ft Calhoun Spent Fuel In Ground Pools, Flooded Already?

Source: rense.com
Date: 6/15/2011

Jeff -

Ft. Calhoun is the designated spent fuel storage facility for the entire state of Nebraska...and maybe for more than one state.*
...
Read full article here

6/7/2011 | Fire at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant in Nebraska Temporarily Disables Spent Fuel Pool Cooling

Date: Published 6/11/2011
by: Jason Chan


View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

The Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant, which is near the Missouri river has been shut down since April 9th, for refueling and due to Missouri river flooding concerns.  There has been flooding reported at the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant parking lots but not within the facility itself.  Quoting the Omaha World Herald:

...
Nuke plant: No floodwater has breached the nuclear power plant at Fort Calhoun, say officials from both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Omaha Public Power District. NRC spokeswoman Lara Uselding and OPPD spokesman Mike Jones said Thursday that some floodwater is pooling in some of the plant's parking lots, but there had been no confirmed reports of floodwater entering the currently idle plant, they said.
... [1]

At nuclear power plants, spent fuel is often stored on site in large pools of water which have pumps which circulate the water in order to keep the temperature down so that the spent fuel rods do not heat up and catch on fire or melt down. The spent fuel rod pool cooling was temporarily lost resulting from a fire affecting some of the safety systems. On June 7, 2011 9:30 AM a fire alarm sounded and non-essential workers were evacuated. At 9:40 AM an alert was raised with the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) regarding a fire starting in a room containing electrical equipment. Per the NRC's own Preliminary Notification of Event or Unusual Occurence report PNO-IV-004:

...
DESCRIPTION: At approximately 9:40 a.m., Tuesday, June 7, 2011, the Fort Calhoun Station
(FCS) declared an ALERT due to a fire in an electrical switchgear room. Automatic fire
suppression systems operated as expected. Licensee fire brigade personnel, the Blair Fire
Department, and the Fort Calhoun Fire Department responded to the fire. The fire was
confirmed extinguished at 10:20 a.m. The plant was already in a cold shutdown condition following completion of a planned refueling outage and was maintained safely in cold shutdown. [2]
...

At 1:15 PM the alert was terminated and the evacuated workers returned. [3]  No alerts of this seriousness have been issued by the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant since 1992 when electrical problems and a faulty valve resulted in 20,000 gallons of reactor coolant being dumped in to the basement of the containment building. [3]

According to Pro Publica the nuclear power plant did have a backup spent fuel pool pump which was not needed in this case:

...
Mike Jones, a spokesman for the plant's owner, the Omaha Public Power District, said Fort Calhoun has a backup pump to provide water to the spent fuel in case the main system is lost. That pump, which runs on a separate power supply from the rest of the plant, was inspected and standing by on Tuesday, but plant operators restored main power to the pool before the emergency pump was needed, he said. [4]
...

Although the fire was quickly extinguished within an hour of the initial fire alarm, two fire departments were called in which indicates external help was needed to get the fire under control.  Nuclear engineer and industry expert Arnie Gundersen in a recent interview with Robert Knight of the a-Infos Radio Project said that he felt it was fortunate that a full scale disaster was averted, but that this was mostly due to luck rather than good planning.  The situation could have gotten much worse according to Mr. Gundersen, who stated that had all cooling systems failed it would have taken about 80 hours for the water to evaporate and put the spent fuel rods in jeopardy. [5]

Sources:
[1] Omaha World Herald: The latest on flooding
[2] NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) PN (Preliminary Notification)  Report:

PNO-IV-11-004

06/07/2011

Fort Calhoun Station: Fort Calhoun Station Declaration of an ALERT Due to Fire Affecting Plant Safety Systems

[3] Omaha World Herald: Rare alert triggered at nuclear plant
[4] Pro Publica: Electrical Fire Knocks Out Spent Fuel Cooling at Nebraska Nuke Plant
[5] Radio4all.net: NEBRASKA NUKE DISASTER - Flood, Fire and Heat

Note: I am including a link to the NRC Preliminary Notification Reports in the left sidebar which should ideally be scanned on a daily basis considering the flooding going on does place many nuclear power plants in harm's way.

5/27/2011 | Fire at another TEPCO nuclear plant in NE Japan

Source: AP
Date: 5/27/2011

TOKYO - THE operator of Japan's tsunami-stricken nuclear power complex says a fire broke out at another of its plants, but that it was quickly extinguished and there were no fears of a radiation leak.


Mr Takeo Iwamoto, a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co, said a fire broke out Friday at a building at the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant. The complex is located about 12kme south of Tepco's tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.

Mr Iwamoto said the fire was extinguished within minutes, and that the company was investigating the cause. No one was injured.


Tepco spokesman Naoyuki Matsumoto says there was no fear of a radiation leak due to the fire.
March's massive earthquake and tsunami crippled Fukushima Daiichi and caused the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.