International Nuclear Watch & Discussion

[Gerard]

The Ally From Hell

Nuclear-weapons components are sometimes moved by helicopter and sometimes moved over roads. And instead of moving nuclear material in armored, well-defended convoys, the SPD prefers to move material by subterfuge, in civilian-style vehicles without noticeable defenses, in the regular flow of traffic. According to both Pakistani and American sources, vans with a modest security profile are sometimes the preferred conveyance. And according to a senior U.S. intelligence official, the Pakistanis have begun using this low-security method to transfer not merely the “de-mated” component nuclear parts but “mated” nuclear weapons. Western nuclear experts have feared that Pakistan is building small, “tactical” nuclear weapons for quick deployment on the battlefield. In fact, not only is Pakistan building these devices, it is also now moving them over roads.

[Gerard]

British nuclear forces, 2011

[Gerard]

Chinese nuclear forces, 2011

[Gerard]

IAEA report on Iran set to raise Middle East tension

[RamaY]

Nuclear fuel recycling costs

Japan's Atomic Energy Commission says it may cost twice as much to recycle nuclear fuel for power generation as it would to discard the spent fuel as waste.
At a meeting on Tuesday, the commission calculated the cost of recycling spent nuclear fuel and extracting plutonium. The cost was estimated at 1.98 to 2.14 yen per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated.
The cost of discarding the spent fuel as waste was about 1 to 1.35 yen per kilowatt-hour.

Nuclear power is apparently cheaper, but only apparently.

brother,
$1=~¥100. 1yen = 50paise. So the entire recycling cost is less than 2-3Rs. per KWH. Current going rates in india is Rs5-15 per KWH. The current solar initiative is offering Rs 8-13 per KWH.

[chaanakya]

Nuclear fuel recycling costs

Japan's Atomic Energy Commission says it may cost twice as much to recycle nuclear fuel for power generation as it would to discard the spent fuel as waste.
At a meeting on Tuesday, the commission calculated the cost of recycling spent nuclear fuel and extracting plutonium. The cost was estimated at 1.98 to 2.14 yen per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated.
The cost of discarding the spent fuel as waste was about 1 to 1.35 yen per kilowatt-hour.

Nuclear power is apparently cheaper, but only apparently.

brother,
$1=~¥100. 1yen = 50paise. So the entire recycling cost is less than 2-3Rs. per KWH. Current going rates in india is Rs5-15 per KWH. The current solar initiative is offering Rs 8-13 per KWH.

Its compared with Coal and Hydro. For coal it is Rs 1.2 per unit. TEPCO has just sought one trillion yen to pay compensation So the cost for Japan can be now worked out besides cost to the prefectures affected due to FUK-D , still not over..

Solar and other renewable forms (except hydro)are decidedly costlier as of now. Hydro potential is estimated at 150 GW. RE with no future consequence except exploding solar panels yet to see.

[RamaY]

^ did any one estimate the environmental costs of dams on rivers - I do not mean the flooding but the larger Eco system such as fisheries and river beds etc.,

No disagreement on solar power. To be realistic, we need to take the environmental costs associated with solar panel production process though...

[chaanakya]

^ did any one estimate the environmental costs of dams on rivers - I do not mean the flooding but the larger Eco system such as fisheries and river beds etc., ..

Do you mean to say that Nuclear is competing with Hydro on environmental costs?

I thought that argument was for Coal.

Anyway, dams are there for 100s of years and Environmental impacts are fairly known. Costs are also fairly estimated and included in per unit. Hydro power generally cheaper the older they get with more offsetting of carbon and less capex and no raw material cost. In fact global warming is one of the argument in their favour with no associated radiation damages. Resettlement issues may be there in the beginning but then all major civilisation grew up near large fresh water bodies or river systems. So cost is very positive I would say depending on viewpoint.

On the other hand there is a large body of arguments in Large vs small dams or the need for dams at all.. I am sure you do not mean to go into that as it may not have much to do with Nuclear choice.

[Gerard]

Iran nuclear report: IAEA claims Tehran working on advanced warhead

The central evidence for the research is a five-page document outlining experiments with the device, codenamed the R265 because it has a 265mm radius, but the UN inspectors are said to have gathered other corroborating evidence.
...
"It is a hemispherical aluminium shell system that contains a distributed array of explosive filled channels which terminate in explosive pellets," Albright told the Guardian.

"The pellets simultaneously explode to initiate the entire outer surface of a high explosive component in hemispherical form under the shell. These explosive would compress the core. The whole hemispherical system is initiated by one initial point of detonation, or two points for an entire device of two hemispheres."

[Gerard]

Halfbright, the fake nookular inspector, at it again?

'Soviet nuclear scientist' a rough diamond

In fact, Danilenko, a Ukrainian, has worked solely on nanodiamonds from the beginning of his research career and is considered one of the pioneers in the development of nanodiamond technology, as published scientific papers confirm. It now appears that the IAEA and David Albright, the director of the International Institute for Science and Security in Washington, who was the source of the news reports about Danilenko, never bothered to check the accuracy of the original claim by an unnamed "Member State" on which the IAEA based its assertion about his nuclear weapons background.

[chaanakya]

Tepco allows media to visit No. 1 plant site for first time

[Gerard]

Nuke agency reports unusual radiation in Europe

[Sanatanan]

EON profits plunge on nuclear pull-out

EON, Germany's biggest power supplier, said Wednesday its profits fell sharply in the first nine months owing to the shutdown of power plants as part of Germany's policy to abandon nuclear energy.
. . .
EON blamed the drop in nine-month earnings to "adverse factors including the early shutdown of several of our nuclear power stations in Germany, Germany's nuclear-fuel tax, and continued margin pressure in our gas wholesale business."
The German government is phasing out nuclear power, forcing energy supplies to shutdown their profitable large-scale power plants and also levying a tax on the reactors' fuel for their remaining lifespan
. . .

[Gerard]

Report: 3 Swiss to avoid trial in nuclear case

The Federal Prosecutors Office in Bern was quoted as saying it plans to use a shortened procedure to require a penalty but no trial if the nation’s top criminal court doesn’t object and the men plead guilty, the Zurich weekly newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported.

[JE Menon]

neat sidestep

[Theo_Fidel]

Meanwhile FKD rumbles on...
There was much speculation why this had not been tried at the time. It appears it was and failed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/world ... japan.html

Another power company tried to help. It rushed a mobile electrical generator to the site to power the crucial water pumps that cool the reactor. But connecting it required pulling a thick electrical cable across about 650 feet of ground strewn with debris from the tsunami and made more treacherous by open holes left when manhole covers were washed away.

The cable, four inches in diameter, weighed approximately one ton, and 40 workers were needed to maneuver it into position. Their urgent efforts were interrupted by aftershocks and alarms about possible new tsunamis.

By 3:30 in the afternoon, the workers had managed what many consider a heroic feat: they had hooked up the cable. Six minutes later, a hydrogen explosion ripped through the reactor building, showering the area with radioactive debris and damaging the cable, rendering it useless.

It appears the lesson nuclear industry is coming away with is that uncontrolled release of radiation is acceptable in an emergency.

One aspect of the disaster that American companies are likely to focus on is Fukushima’s troubles with its venting system, meant to reduce pressure and avert explosions when crucial cooling systems fail. Another focus is likely to be the extreme difficulty workers had in getting emergency equipment to the reactors where they were needed.

The report is likely to reinforce the conviction of American companies that operate reactors of the design used at Fukushima that venting from the containment vessels around reactors early in an accident is better than waiting, even though radioactive material will be released. The delays in Japan appear to have contributed to explosions that damaged the vessels and ultimately led to larger releases of contaminants.

It has been clear for months that Fukushima operators delayed venting for hours, even after the government ordered that the action be taken. The chronology, however, suggests for the first time that some delays were because plant executives believed that they were required to wait for evacuation of surrounding areas.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2 ... ma-plants/

Small traces of radioactive gas associated with nuclear fission have been detected at the troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi Power Plant, reigniting concerns about the stability of its reactors.

Xenon 133 and Xenon 135, both substances that are produced during nuclear fission of uranium, were first detected inside the containment vessel of reactor number 2 Tuesday. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, began injecting water and boric acid overnight to prevent a chain reaction.

TEPCO maintains there has been no change to the reactor’s temperature, pressure or radiation levels.

And..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15786289

Japan has banned shipments of rice from an area near the nuclear power station at Fukushima after high levels of radioactive caesium were detected.

The sample came from a Fukushima city farm about 60km from the plant.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was damaged by the earthquake and tsunami in March, resulting in radiation leaks.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the material was detected during pre-shipment tests and the contaminated rice had not been sold to consumers.

"I have told the governor of Fukushima prefecture to restrict shipments of rice harvested this year in the Onami district of Fukushima city," said Mr Fujimura.

The sample that was tested contained 630 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive caesium, more than the central government's safety limit of 500 becquerels.

[Theo_Fidel]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/world ... ought.html

In the No. 1 reactor, the overheated fuel may have eroded the primary containment vessel’s thick concrete floor, and it may have gotten almost within a foot of a crucial steel barrier, the utility said the new simulation suggested. Beneath that steel layer is a concrete basement, which is the last barrier before the fuel would have begun to penetrate the earth.

Some nuclear experts have warned that water from a makeshift cooling system now in place at the plant may not be able to properly cool any nuclear fuel that may have seeped into the concrete. The new simulation may call into question the efforts to cool and stabilize the reactor, but the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, says it is not worried more than eight months after the accident.

The findings are the latest in a series of increasingly grave scenarios presented by Tepco about the state of the reactors. The company initially insisted that there was no breach at any of the three most-damaged reactors; it later said that there might have been a breach, but that most of the nuclear fuel had remained within the containment vessels.

“This is still an overly optimistic simulation,” said Hiroaki Koide, an assistant professor of physics at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, who has been a vocal critic of Tepco’s lack of disclosure of details of the disaster. Tepco would very much like to say that the outermost containment is not completely compromised and that the meltdown stopped before the outer steel barrier, he said, “but even by their own simulation, it’s very borderline.”

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/fr ... 12011.html

France's Election Heats Up over Nuclear Power

A pledge from the Socialists and Greens to cut the number of plants has refocused the presidential race

On Nov. 15 the opposition Socialist and Green parties issued a joint pledge to close 24 reactors by 2025. The statement was a compromise between the Socialists, who seek to boost use of renewable energy, and the Greens, who want to ban nukes. Under the proposal, the country’s oldest plant, 33-year-old Fessenheim near the Swiss border, would be shut down immediately if the Socialists win the presidential election next spring. The plan is “about moving progressively away from all-oil for transport and all-nuclear for electricity,” Socialist leader François Hollande wrote in an opinion piece in Le Monde.

[Sanku]

Brahma Chellany tweets

Japan to nationalize Tepco utility to help make compensation payments over Fukushima, while India directly saddles taxpayers with liability.

[Theo_Fidel]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/eur ... story.html

Russia says nuclear submarine fire has been doused, no radiation leak

The fire broke out Thursday at an Arctic shipyard outside the northwestern Russian city of Murmansk where the submarine Yekaterinburg was in dry-dock. The blaze, which shot orange flames high into the air through the night, was put out Friday afternoon and firefighters continued to spray the vessel with water to cool it down, Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article ... nuke-plant

APNewsBreak: More issues found at Neb. nuke plant

At the height of the summer flooding, the Missouri River rose about 2 feet above the elevation of the base of the plant. The utility erected a network of barriers and set up an assortment of pumps to help protect its buildings. The plant remained dry inside, and officials said Fort Calhoun could withstand flooding up to 7 or 8 feet higher.

Two of the new violations are related to a small fire at Fort Calhoun that briefly knocked out the cooling system for used fuel in June. Temperatures at the plant never exceeded safe levels and power was quickly restored.

[Gerard]

Westinghouse secures AP1000 approval

American nuclear safety regulators have approved an amendment to the AP1000 reactor design, in a major step towards US deployment of the model. Construction on new reactors could begin very soon. The issuance of the final ruling was the major outstanding prerequisite before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will be able to grant licenses to construct and operate AP1000 power plants.

[SaiK]

security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/03/irans-new-show-of-force-as-stand-off-with-u-s-grinds-forward/
The New Year has dawned with new saber-rattling from Iranian leaders, new displays of its military hardware and new claims of progress in its nuclear program.

half bright: Iran has been cutting corners to make progress in its nuclear enrichment program, says Albright, and any shortcuts raise safety questions, especially with the research reactor located in highly populated Tehran.

"But there is a concern that the hardliners in Tehran will try to provoke some type of military attack on themselves for domestic political expediency. And that is trap that the United States and Israel should be careful about walking into."


now, that is a super weakness!

[Theo_Fidel]

Finland's Olkiluoto 3 reactor delayed to Aug '14

[Gerard]

Satellite Snaps Show North Korea’s Nuclear Progress

[Sanatanan]

First images from Japanese reactor show radiation

[NRao]

This as India's first PFBR is near criticality:

Jan 26, 2012 :: Japan losing hope for its pricey “dream reactor”

[NRao]

Deputy PM: Japan failed to keep records of key nuclear crisis meetings

After earthquake, Japan can’t agree on the future of nuclear power

[Theo_Fidel]

http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/09/news/ec ... _reactors/

First new nuclear reactors OK'd in over 30 years

The new reactors are a Westinghouse design called the AP 1000. Together they are expected to cost $14 billion and provide 2200 megawatts of power, according to a spokesman for Southern Co.

[Kailash]

Uranium Deal with China to Increase Canada’s Exports

China’s Interest in Extract Resources

Extract was offered $2.2 billion by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPC) for its Husab uranium project with conditions that were met on Friday. The Husab project is well-known by many uranium industry stakeholders as the largest in situ, highest grade, granite-hosted uranium deposit in Namibia. It is also the fourth largest uranium-only deposit in the world.

[Gerard]

Nuclear pursuits, 2012

Russian nuclear forces, 2012

[Gerard]

World's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, 'the Big E' makes final voyage

[nawabs]

Life after Fukushima
Nuclear power remains the best bet for Asia's growing energy demand

http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... ma/468539/

One year on, the Japanese can’t still get over the nightmare of meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, triggered by a catastrophic tsunami, that has left all but two of the country’s 54 nuclear power plants idled for rigorous stress tests. Some people near the disaster area still can’t sleep at night, 22.5 million tonnes of tsunami debris are still on the ground since other areas won’t accept them for disposal fearing radiation contamination, and calls for moving away from nuclear power that supplies 30 per cent of Japan’s electricity needs continue to grow.

But Fukushima hasn’t dampened the spirits of two Asian countries, Vietnam and Bangladesh, who want to press ahead with their plans to join the nuclear power game. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the two are among five countries – the others are United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Belarus – likely to start work this year on their first nuclear reactors. Five other Asian countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore – touched base with IAEA in the past year but, as of this moment, Vietnam and Bangladesh are the eager beavers.

Vietnam, currently a hydro-centric country, believes the nuclear option is its best bet for a secure energy future in the face of rapidly rising demand. In October 2010, it signed an agreement with the Russian atomic energy company, Rusatom, for two 1,000-Mw nuclear power plants in the southern Ninh Thuan province. Last October, another agreement was signed with a Japanese consortium for two more reactors, also in Ninh Thuan. Reports say South Korea could emerge as Vietnam’s third nuclear supplier.

Hanoi plans to build a total of eight nuclear plants producing 15,000 Mw of electricity by 2030, and Le Dinh Tien, Vietnam’s deputy minister of science and technology, thinks Fukushima is actually a blessing in disguise. “Assessment of the blasts at the Fukushima plant will help us develop an appropriate nuclear programme,” he recently said. A similar sentiment was expressed by Lady Barbara Judge, chairperson emeritus of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, at the World Nuclear Power Briefing 2012 in Hanoi last January. “I think Vietnam is in a good position because it’s doing this after Fukushima,” she said, adding, “it’s not wavering.”

One could say the same thing of Bangladesh that, according to IAEA, has made “notable” progress in developing infrastructure for nuclear power. As things now stand, construction of the first of two 1,000-Mw units is due to start later this year at Rooppur, in Pabna district, some 200 km west of Dhaka, with Russia agreeing in principle to finance up to 85 per cent of the cost. Under a recently signed inter-governmental agreement, Russia will supply fuel for the two units, take back spent fuel and provide all necessary training. The draft of an atomic energy regulatory Act is now being vetted and will be presented in Parliament soon.

Rooppur is actually an old story going back to 1961, when Bangladesh was East Pakistan and 292 acres of land were acquired for the project by the then government. The sights were modest back then – 70 Mw to 200 Mw – but the plan foundered on the question of financing. After the 1971 liberation war, the project slipped out of focus as national reconstruction became the immediate priority. The idea was retrieved in 1997, a site safety report was finalised in 2002 and IAEA formally committed its support in 2007. The years since then have been spent in drawing up legal and support systems and agreeing on safety protocols.

Bangladesh’s Science and Technology Minister Yeafesh Osman says the Rooppur plant will have a five-layer safety shield to prevent meltdown and radiation leak. Even a big aircraft crashing on the reactor building won’t be able to crack it apart, he claims.

That Fukushima won’t wean the world away from nuclear energy is clear. There’s caution, of course, but also the realisation that Fukushima was no Chernobyl and radiation fallout isn’t something that can’t be contained by technology. In fact, because of Fukushima, people expect even higher safety levels in future. This will precisely be the focus of the Nuclear Safety Summit in Seoul later this month, where about 40 heads of state will discuss how to strengthen global atomic safety against natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

As the Fukushima trauma wears off, countries like China and India that are already established as nuclear power producers will be encouraged to stay their course, and new aspirants like Malaysia and Thailand will keep doing their homework. Even in Japan, unless the current run of stress tests comes out highly negative, public opinion isn’t expected to turn back on nuclear power altogether, although the government has temporarily shelved a 2010 plan that would have boosted the share of nuclear power to more than 50 per cent of demand by 2030.

[Amber G.]

Major news iterm
SC plant readies nuclear fuel for China's first AP1000 reactor

[Amber G.]

UK and France sign nuclear energy agreement

[Theo_Fidel]

ntsf! Quite Graphic.

Fukushima residents report various illnesses

[Sanku]

Mods considering that shallow data points (and possibly out right lies) are being peddled about Fukushima in media once again and some well meaning (but perhaps not very knowledgeable) posters are bringing it once again on Indian nuclear thread, is it now allowed to lift the moratorium on the discussion so that the same loud mouth commercial interests masquerading under the guise of science can be countered?

[Theo_Fidel]

Meanwhile....

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... d14afd70a9

Another Japanese nuclear reactor was taken off line for maintenance on Monday, leaving the country with only one of its 54 reactors operational following last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

[Sanku]

^^^
Interestingly, right now Japan is NOT EVEN LOOKING at a plan on when the reactors which have been shut down, will be reopened.

For all practical purposes, the NPPs in Japan are all but shut down for all foreseeable future.

[Sanku]

And yes by the way, regarding the point about Hollande closing French nuclear power plants, one needs to understand that in order to defeat Sarkosy, he has to go to bed with the Green party which is being given 15 seats. The nuclear bladder dash is a result of this.

Well the Nuclear paid lobby can present its case any which way. However the overall point is that the Greens are able to persuade the public opinion in one way or the other.

Unfortunately the people strutting around that "I know more, I am scientist" (actually neither is true, nor do they know more, nor are the really scientists, merely paid advocates of a commercial enterprise trying to use a reference to their "degree" which is not same as knowledge to brow beat people and say that earth is flat) are only pissing off any number of lay people.

The nuclear industry "scientists" in the West are increasingly coming across has Church clergy intellectuals.

Unfortunately for the the stuck up high brow folks, they cant run over people and take away their free will because people are morons and others know more.

(Also the fact that there are any number of real scientists debating on facts and putting them out in the public sphere helps, just like during rebirth period)

However I just dont understand why people keep trolling the Indian nuclear thread with discussion on Western establishment.

[Gerard]

A power plant, cancer and a small town's fears

[Gerard]

An elemental force: Uranium production in Africa, and what it means to be nuclear