7/9/2011 Japan says Fukushima clean-up to take 20 years

Source: RT News
Date: 7/9/2011


Japan's Prime Minister has announced that it will take up to 20 years to clean up after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. It's the first time the government has attempted to indicate how long the operation may take. Emergency measures are already underway to shut down the reactors to prevent further radiation leaks. The Fukushima plant was ruined when it was hit by the earthquake and tsunami in March. Thousands of people have left the area around the facility over safety fears.

7/8/2011 Request to Shut Earthquake Zone Nuclear Plants

Source: CRYPTOME
Date: 7/8/2011

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 131 (Friday, July 8, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 40406]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-17163]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 [NRC-2011-0147]


Receipt of Request for Action

    Notice is hereby given that by petition dated March 12, 2011, 
Thomas Saporito (petitioner) has requested that the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) take action to order shutdown of all ``nuclear power 
reactors in the USA [United States of America] which are known to be 
located on or near an earthquake fault-line.''
    As the basis for this request, the petitioner states that following 
an 8.9 magnitude earthquake on March 11, 2011, in Fukushima, Japan, one 
or more nuclear power reactors there sustained significant damage which 
resulted in the release of radioactive particles into the environment, 
and that the Japanese authorities ordered a ``General Emergency 
Evacuation,'' but many Japanese citizens were not able to timely leave 
the affected area and were subject to radioactive contamination at this 
time. The petitioner further stated that many of NRC's licensees 
operate nuclear power reactors on or near earthquake fault lines and 
could, therefore, be subject to significant earthquake damage and loss-
of-coolant accidents similar to that experienced by those in Japan for 
which an on-going state of emergency continued to unfold.
    The request is being treated pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations Section 2.206 of the Commission's regulations. The 
request has been referred to the Director of the Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation (NRR). As provided by Section 2.206, appropriate 
action will be taken on this petition within a reasonable time. The NRR 
Petition Review Board (PRB) held two recorded teleconferences on April 
14 and May 25, 2011, with the petitioner, during which the petitioner 
supplemented and clarified the petition. The results of those 
discussions were considered in the PRB's determination regarding the 
petitioner's request for immediate action and in establishing the 
schedule for the review of the petition. As a result, the PRB 
acknowledged the petitioner's concern about the impact of a Fukushima-
type earthquake and tsunami on U.S. nuclear plants, noting that this 
concern is consistent with the NRC's mission of protecting public 
health and safety. Currently, the NRC's monitoring of the events that 
unfolded at Fukushima has resulted in the Commission establishing a 
senior-level task force to conduct a methodical and systematic review 
to evaluate currently available technical and operational information 
from the Fukushima events. This will allow the NRC to determine whether 
it should take certain near-term operational or regulatory actions 
potentially affecting all 104 operating reactors in the United States. 
In as much as this task force charge encompasses the petitioner's 
request, which has been interpreted by the PRB to be a determination if 
additional regulatory action is needed to protect public health and 
safety in the event of earthquake damage and loss-of-coolant accidents 
similar to those experienced by the nuclear power reactors in Japan 
resulting in dire consequences, the NRC is accepting the petition in 
part, and as described in this paragraph.
    A copy of the petition, and the transcripts of the April 14 and May 
25, 2011, teleconferences are available for inspection at the 
Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint 
North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), 
Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available documents created or received 
at the NRC are accessible electronically through the Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) in the NRC Library at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have 
access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents 
located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by 
telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to 
PDR.Resource@nrc.gov.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of June, 2011.
Eric J. Leeds,
Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2011-17163 Filed 7-7-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

7/8/2011 Nuclear technology is Russian priority

Source: World Nuclear News
Date: 08 July 2011

Nuclear energy has been formally recognised as a critical technology in a decree that makes nuclear development a priority for Russia. President Dmitry Medvedev signed off a list of 27 technologies as critical to Russia, including nuclear energy, the nuclear fuel cycle, safety of radioactive waste and used nuclear fuel. Nuclear power, along with energy efficiency and energy conservation, appears in a list of eight priority areas for science, technology and engineering. Russian science, technology and engineering priorities must be reviewed every four years under the terms of a 2003 presidential instruction. According to RIA Novosti, Russia will allocate a budget of about 700 billion rubles (around $25 billion) for high-tech industries over the next three years.

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

7/6/2011 Japan Sets Radiation Limits For Infant Drinks And Food More Than Twice The International Limits For Nuclear Waste

Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: 7/6/2011
;
Calls grow for the resignation of a Japanese official caught lying to the public about the safety of radiation limits that have been “temporarily” increased to shockingly high levels.
...
Read full article here

7/7/2011 Kyushu Electric president to resign over pro-nuke e-mails

Source: Asahi.com
Date: 7/8/2011 JST

Toshio Manabe, president of Kyushu  Electric Power Co., talks to reporters at a news conference July 6. (Wataru Sekita)

Toshio Manabe, president of Kyushu Electric Power Co., said July 7 that he intends to resign after the utility was found to have instructed employees to manipulate public opinion on nuclear power. Manabe said he will take responsibility for instructing employees to send "pro-nuclear power" e-mails to organizers of a public hearing broadcast on television in late June. The program was sponsored by the central government to solicit opinions from residents of Saga Prefecture on a proposal to restart two reactors at Kyushu Electric's Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture. According to Kyushu Electric, a senior company official on June 22 sent e-mails to employees and employees of subsidiaries instructing them to send messages to the program with a "pro-restarting" point of view. The e-mails were sent under the company name.

An e-mail instructing Kyushu Electric Co. and its subsidiary employees to send pro-nuclear reactor opinions to a television program (The Asahi Shimbun)

The e-mailed instructions also stated that e-mails to the program should be sent from personal accounts, not the company's, apparently to hide the fact that the senders were connected to Kyushu Electric. Manabe said he will make a final decision next week after discussing the matter with Shingo Matsuo, company chairman. ... Read full article here

7/7/2011 (Map) 5.6 Magnitude Japan Honshu Earthquake

Date: 7/7/2011 7:18 PM CST

Earthquake of 5.6 magnitude off Honshu, Japan (orange dot in map below) strikes, 14.5 miles from Fukushima II (Daini) and 21 miles from Fukushima I (Daiichi) nuclear power plants.

USGS Shake Map

According to the earthquake shake map above from the USGS the earthquake was not very serious and the AP confirms, there was no reported damage done:

...
No immediate damage or casualties were reported from the quake that struck at 3:35 a.m. Friday (1835 GMT Thursday), the USGS said. No tsunami watch was immediately issued.

The epicenter of the quake was some 51 miles (83 kilometers) southeast of Fukushima, in Honshu, Japan, the USGS said. The quake was centered some 28 miles (45 kilometers deep, the agency said.
...

7/7/2011 Tepco temporarily halts cooling at Fukushima Daini

Source: MarketWatch
Date: July 7, 2011, 11:11 a.m. EDT

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO) said Thursday that it stopped the cooling system for a reactor at the Fukushima Daini power plant in Fukushima Prefecture for three and a half hours due to an electrical system problem, Kyodo News reported.

Cooling operations were suspended for the No. 1 reactor and an adjacent pool for spent nuclear fuel from around 5:30 p.m. to shortly past 9 p.m. while the operator, known as TEPCO, looked into why sparks came from a power panel at a building adjacent to that housing the reactor.

Temperatures for the reactor and the fuel storage pool are believed to have risen slightly from about 25 C to 35 C and from 26 C to 27 C, respectively, during the suspension.

The reactor and the pool must be kept cooled because nuclear fuel inside them emits heat as it decays, even though the reactor has gone offline and has been brought into a stable condition called 'cold shutdown' following the March earthquake and tsunami.

The other three reactors at the Fukushima Daini plant, located to the south of the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, have also been in cold shutdown-mode since the disasters.

A plant worker found sparks coming out of a power panel in the basement of the No. 1 reactor's adjoining facility shortly after 2 p.m., prompting the company to cut power to the facility so that it could be inspected, TEPCO said.

The reactor has two sets of cooling systems for sustaining cold shutdown, but one of them has remained crippled since the tsunami in March.

7/7/2011 Can a weakened nuclear industry survive its deadly repeating history?

Source: Japan Today
Date: Jul. 07, 2011 - 06:58AM JST
by: Lucas Whitefield Hixson

The nuclear industry is a global affair, especially when something goes wrong, requiring transparency to ensure the safety of children and families around the world. History has shown that significant releases of radiation that effect the environment and population can be released long before any hope of containment or control can be expected. Nuclear disasters can not only threaten the health of first responders, but also cripple critical systems that allow complex situations to be analyzed and reported effectively.
...
Read full article here

7/6/2011 (Video) Jellyfish invade Israeli power plant

Source: Reuters
Date: 7/6/2011 upload date

July 6 - Israel's Electric Corp say that the swarms of jellyfish coming from the Mediterranean Sea could cause the electric plant to shut down. Elly Park reports.

Other jellyfish stories:
Attack of the jellyfish: Sea creatures shut down ANOTHER power station amid claims population surge is due to climate change, UK Daily Mail
(Photos) Jellyfish can cause a nuclear power plant meltdown, International Business Times
(Video) Jellyfish force Torness nuclear power station closure, BBC News (Scotland)

7/6/2011 How the first 24 hours shaped Fukushima nuclear crisis

Source: AP via The Japan Times
Date: Thursday, July 7, 2011 JST

Devastated: An aerial photo taken March 20 by an unmanned drone shows the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture. From left are reactor buildings 1 (partially seen), 2, 3 and 4. AIR PHOTO SERVICE/AP

Chaos, inadequate preparation, indecision, lack of forthrightness
AP

Fukushima — When unit 2 began to shake, Hiroyuki Kohno's first hunch was that something was wrong with the turbines. He paused for a moment, then went back to logging the day's radioactivity readings.
...
Read full article here

7/6/2011 Waste catches fire at Tokai No 2 Power Station disposal facility

Date: 7/6/2011

The following quote from the sourced Monsters & Critics article is really a side note to the main topic of the article which is stress tests to be performed on the nuclear power plants in Japan:

...
Also Wednesday, a fire broke out briefly at a waste disposal facility of the Tokai No 2 Power Station in Ibaraki prefecture, 120 kilometres north-east of Tokyo. No radiation was been released, the government said.

At the plant, run by the Japan Atomic Power Co, waste materials caught fire when workers tried to drop them into a melting furnace. They extinguished the blaze with water and reported the incident to a local fire department, Kyodo News reported citing local officials.[1]
...

As the financial bank stress tests Timothy Geithner is famous for touting were designed to reassure the financial markets, the nuclear power plant stress tests are designed to reassure the Japanese public so that nuclear power plants can be restarted, which were shut down due to the earthquake/tsunami.

I really would have liked to see more detail on this fire at the Tokai No 2 Power Station, such as the nature of the materials which caught on fire. Were the materials which caught on fire radioactive?  If you burn radioactive stuff doesn't it release radiation in to the environment?

The only other article I could find on the fire was this two-liner by AGI News:

09:23 06 LUG 2011

(AGI) Tokyo - Almost four months after the Fukushima disaster, a fire started in the nuclear waste disposal plant near reactor No. 2 in Tokai, in the East of Japan. Official sources reported that the blaze is now under control and that no radiocative material leak occurred. The power plant is run by the Japan Atomic Power and is situated in the Ibaraki province, North of Tokyo. . .[2]

Sources:
[1] Japan to stress-test nuclear plants to reassure public, M & C (Monsters and Critics)
[2] BLAZE IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN TOKAI, JAPAN, AGI News