International Nuclear Watch & Discussion

member_27444 · Post by **member_27444** » 30 Jul 2013 01:11

yes adiabatic
typing in flight on iphone, shaky business

read here

http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/06/soluti ... amics.html

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 06 Aug 2013 04:17

Another one bites the dust after spending $1 Billion of OPiuM.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... mers-money

Duke Kills Florida Nuclear Project, Keeps Customers' Money

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 22 Aug 2013 19:32

New high-radiation spots found at quake-hit Fukushima plant
Reuters | Aug 22, 2013, 05.38 PM IST

Fukushima leak worse than thought, Japan says
Japan upgrades Fukushima leak to "serious incident"
Japan's Fukushima operator admits culpability in farmer's suicide
New leak from storage tank at Japan nuke plant
Fukushima water leak warning hiked to Level 3, as govt scrambles to p...

TOKYO: The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said on Thursday new spots of high radiation had been found near storage tanks holding highly contaminated water, raising fear of fresh leaks as the disaster goes from bad to worse.

The announcement comes after Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said this week contaminated water with dangerously high levels of radiation was leaking from a storage tank.

A tsunami crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi power plant north of Tokyo on March 11, 2011, causing fuel-rod meltdowns at three reactors, radioactive contamination of air, sea and food and triggering the evacuation of 160,000 people.

It was the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986 and no one seems to know how to bring the crisis to an end.

In an inspection carried out following the revelation of the leakage, high radiation readings - 100 millisieverts per hour and 70 millisieverts per hour - were recorded at the bottom of two tanks in a different part of the plant, Tepco said.

Although no puddles were found nearby and there were no noticeable changes in water levels in the tanks, the possibility of stored water having leaked out cannot be ruled out, a Tokyo Electric spokesman said.

The confirmed leakage prompted Japan's nuclear watchdog to say it feared the disaster was "in some respect" beyond Tepco's ability to cope.

The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Wednesday it viewed the situation at Fukushima "seriously" and was ready to help if called upon.

China said it was "shocked" to hear contaminated water was still leaking from the plant, and urged Japan to provide information "in a timely, thorough and accurate way".

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 03 Sep 2013 05:02

Vermont Yankee shuts down. Economics don't makes sense at 14 cents per kw retail.
This makes 5 just this year. Reports say 38 more are vulnerable as economics, maintenance cost and aging equipment cause problems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/28/scien ... plant.html

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 03 Sep 2013 20:51

Whatever happened to Nuclear Power Juggernaut rolling down to save the world from Energy Crisis post Fuk-D. Well Amirkhans are more interested in selling their wares and China and India are most probably their only hope. With India facing spectre of recession , not sure if India would go ahead with its planned expansion. That all would depend on OmBaba Singh meeting later this year and the liability clause.

Sanku · Post by **Sanku** » 03 Sep 2013 22:26

Chaanakya-san; the Fuk-D issue is growing more (and not less) serious by the day --

Japan to fund ice wall to stop reactor leaks

TOKYO: The Japanese government announced on Tuesday that it will spend $470 million on a subterranean ice wall and other steps in a desperate bid to stop leaks of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear station after repeated failures by the plant's operator.
......................
"Instead of leaving this up to TEPCO, the government will step forward and take charge," said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said after adopting the outline. "The world is watching if we can properly handle the contaminated water but also the entire decommissioning of the plant."
........................
The government plans to spend an estimated 47 billion yen ($470 million) through the end of March 2015 on two projects - 32 billion yen ($320 million) on the ice wall and 15 billion yen ($150 million) on upgraded water treatment units that is supposed to remove all radioactive elements but water-soluble tritium - according to energy agency official Tatsuya Shinkawa.

TEPCO has been pumping water into the wrecked reactors to keep cool nuclear fuel that melted when the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami knocked out the plant's power and cooling system. The utility has built more than 1,000 tanks holding 335,000 tons of contaminated water at the plant, and the amount grows by 400 tons daily. Some tanks have sprung leaks, spilling contaminated water onto the ground.

Fuk-D is a unmitigated disaster of proportions that make Chernobyl look like a walk in the park.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 03 Sep 2013 22:57

Well Sanku San While I am following Fuk-D , not much posting here as it might be sensitive topic for few. and raise the heat signature of the thread. Japan is truly paying the price of that Disaster and will continue to pay for generations. Less said the better.

member_27444 · Post by **member_27444** » 03 Sep 2013 23:22

Can they not pour graphite powder around the reactor while collecting radioactive water which I believe are doing.

Even lead walls like a fortress and a moat the outer lining of moat is lead walled the moat collects the radio active water which is pumped out while fresh sea water is poured to cool it

Is the temp so high that cooling water turns steam?

If so can it be used to gen electric power?

Some stupid ideas I guess

Sanku · Post by **Sanku** » 04 Sep 2013 14:08

chaanakya wrote:Well Sanku San While I am following Fuk-D , not much posting here as it might be sensitive topic for few. and raise the heat signature of the thread.

Ditto

Japan is truly paying the price of that Disaster and will continue to pay for generations. Less said the better.

I could not agree more.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 04 Sep 2013 22:49

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium

Tritium has leaked from 48 of 65 nuclear sites in the US. In one case it was detected in groundwater at levels exceeding the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standards by up to 375 times.[22]

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission states that in normal operation in 2003, 56 pressurized water reactors released 40,600 curies (1.50 PBq) of tritium (maximum: 2,080; minimum: 0.1; average: 725) and 24 boiling water reactors released 665 curies (24.6 TBq) (maximum: 174; minimum: 0; average: 27.7), in liquid effluents.[23]

Now a dumb question..

Tritium has its own uses. Why can't Japan use/export this 400 tons of water/day worldwide?

Sanku · Post by **Sanku** » 06 Sep 2013 13:50

There is a new joke/hoax doing rounds after the news of the extent of disaster at Fuk-D

BREAKING… Fukushima Disaster Leaves Hundreds of Whales Radiated to Death

If we remember people were joking about bananas and other juvenile stuff during the accident and its aftermath -- I wonder what they feel about loss and destruction at these scales ? Something to be made fun of ?

Kind of sad, isn't it.

member_27444 · Post by **member_27444** » 09 Sep 2013 10:49

Sanku wrote:There is a new joke/hoax doing rounds after the news of the extent of disaster at Fuk-D

BREAKING… Fukushima Disaster Leaves Hundreds of Whales Radiated to Death

If we remember people were joking about bananas and other juvenile stuff during the accident and its aftermath -- I wonder what they feel about loss and destruction at these scales ? Something to be made fun of ?

Kind of sad, isn't it.

The discussion veered around K in bananas and eating so many bananas would. Stave off radiation.

Hundreds of whales are becoming deaf and are unable to call partners to mate with in oceans.

Why because use of ULF radio communication with Subs especially by USN

Read here

http://www.whale.to/b/rifat.html

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Sep 2013 04:27

Why are the goras intent on selling us such white elephants?

Is this what MMS staked his government on to get for India??

Who is doing the actual selling, MMS or the goras??

Nuclear Power is on Life Support in U.S.

This was supposed to be a time for a nuclear revival in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Energy has a loan guarantee program with tens of billions of dollars that were earmarked to bring costs down for billions of dollars in debt to build new reactors. But the construction boom as stalled out before it ever got started. Now, the boom in nuclear construction appears all but dead.

Nuclear plant expansions and newbuilds have barely gotten off the drawing board, older plants are closing, and the worst part is that ratepayers across the country are going to foot most of the bill for the nuclear industry's demise.

Promising pojects that never got off the ground
Duke Energy's (NYSE: DUK ) gave up on a $24 billion nuclear project in Levy County, Florida in early August because of delays and doubts it could recover costs.

NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG ) gave up on expanding its South Texas Project in 2011, costing the company $481 million in a writedown. The project was to add two reactors to two existing reactors but cost overruns and low natural gas costs made it les economical than originally planned.

Electricite de France just reached a deal to potentially sell its nuclear operations to Exelon (NYSE: EXC ) after the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant expansion stalled and costs skyrocketed. The reactors that are currently operating are even running into trouble with one reactor shut down after a control rod dropped into the reactor . Oops!

There were also expansion projects in Prairie Island in Minnesota , LaSalle in Illinois, and Limerick in Pennsylvania that never got off the ground because of low cost natural gas and wind generation.

These new projects were the foundation of an industry revival but natural gas, wind, and solar have gotten in the way.

The old guard of nuclear is fading
It's also important to note that existing capacity is also being shut down, a sign that even older plants can't operate safely or cost efficiently. Entergy (NYSE: ETR ) decided to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant last month, a decision that was cheered by local residents who have argued for years that the plant is unsafe. But in the end it was costs that caused Vermont Yankee to be shut down, with Entergy CEO Leo Denault saying "The plant was no longer financially viable."

Edison International's San Onofre Nuclear Plant in California was shut down for a year due to a radioactive leak before the company decided to shut it down altogether . A Kewaunee nuclear power plant in Wisconsin was shut down earlier this year and will be decommissioned by Dominion, the first time a non-regulated power provider will shut down such a project. Duke also announced the closure of its Crystal River nuclear plant earlier this year .

Since the last new nuclear plant built in the U.S. broke ground in 1977 it's easy to see that more closures will be coming. Nuclear plants aren't expected to last forever and slowly the aging fleet will shut down like the plants above have.

New reactors are costing a fortune
One project that is going forward is Southern Company's (NYSE: SO ) Vogtle 3 & 4 expansion. The project got a conditional $8.33 billion loan guarantee from the Department of Energy in 2010 but since then has been a disaster of delays and cost overruns.

Georgia Power, Southern Company's subsidiary, is building the project and originally was budgeted for $14 billion. But it has run into delays and lawsuits as designs have changed and last month asked for another $737 million in overrun budget that could be passed on to ratepayers.

The great thing about building nuclear power in many states is that you can pass project costs on to ratepayers years before a power plant generates any power. If the plant is never finished it's no skin off the utility's back and ratepayers have hundreds of million of costs that went nowhere. That's exactly what Georgia Power is doing to its customers and with Wall Street downgrading Southern Company's debt and stock, the loan guarantee's final agreement at an impasse, and realistic expectations now for a $20 billion budget I doubt the project will ever be completed.

What if it is completed? A standard 10% return on capital of $20 billion would yield costs of $0.104 per kW-hr before buying fuel or paying a penny to operate the plant. Just capital costs alone are not competitive with natural gas or even large-scale solar plants at today's costs. Nuclear power has proven to be uneconomical today in energy. That's why it will continue to die here in the U.S.

Natural gas, not nuclear is the future
Nuclear power was a key for energy in the 20th century but the future in the U.S. lies with natural gas

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 15 Sep 2013 12:28

Japan to be nuclear free as last reactor switched off

TOKYO: Japan is to start the process of switching off its last working nuclear reactor on Sunday for a scheduled inspection with no restart in sight due to public hostility towards atomic power.

The move will leave the world's third largest economy without atomic energy for the second time since the Fukushima crisis erupted in March 2011.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has openly supported the use of nuclear energy, but the public has remained largely opposed to it for fears of possible serious accidents following the world's worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Kansai Electric Power will gradually take offline the No. 4 reactor at its Oi nuclear plant in Fukui prefecture in western Japan.

The work is scheduled to start Sunday evening, with the reactor expected to stop power generation after several hours before coming to a complete stop early Monday, according to the utility.

Japan previously was without any nuclear energy in May 2012, when all of the country's 50 commercial reactors had stopped for scheduled checkups, with utilities unable to restart them due to public opposition.

It was the first time in more than four decades that Japan was without nuclear power.

Last year, government officials and utilities voiced concerns that Japan could experience major blackouts without nuclear power, particularly in the western region that relied heavily on nuclear energy.

Their fears proved to be unfounded but the government quickly gave approval for Kansai Electric to restart No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Oi plant, arguing that nuclear energy was necessary to meet increased electricity demand during the winter.

The two reactors came fully online in August 2012, while other reactors have remained idled all along.

Japan has turned to pricey fossil-fuel alternatives to fill the gap left by the shutdown of atomic plants, which had supplied about one-third of the resource-poor nation's electricity before the Fukushima disaster.

Utilities have raised power fees to cover increased fuel costs for thermal plants while reactors remain offline.

Radiation was spread over homes and farmland in a large area of northern Japan when the massive tsunami swamped cooling systems at Fukushima Daiichi on March 11, 2011.

No one is officially recorded as having died as a direct result of the meltdowns at Fukushima, but tens of thousands of people were evacuated and many remain so, with some areas expected to be uninhabitable for decades.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 15 Sep 2013 18:22

FAS: Status of World Nuclear Forces

link

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 16 Sep 2013 21:06

Israel has 80 nuclear warheads, can make 115 to 190 more, report says

China Nuclear Stockpile Grows as India Matches Pakistan Rise

The three added an estimated 10 warheads each to their inventories, with China’s arsenal now reaching 250 devices, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said today in releasing a new yearbook. Pakistan holds 100 to 120 units and India 90 to 110

<snip>

“The long-term modernization programs underway in these states suggest that nuclear weapons are still a marker of international status and power,” said Shannon Kile, a senior researcher at the organization. “All are making qualitative improvements.”

<snip>

“There was an extraordinary number of tests of nuclear-capable launch systems conducted in 2012,” Kile said. “That really is a good indicator of the commitment of all of these countries to modernize or expand their arsenals.”

arijitkm · Post by **arijitkm** » 22 Sep 2013 16:57

Declassified document: US narrowly escaped nuclear blast in 1961 H-bomb accident

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 28 Sep 2013 18:39

Japan's green energy revolution
Fortune -- Sep 24

Japan took the last of its 50 once-vital nuclear power stations offline last Monday. But despite having one of the hottest summers on record, Japan has had no power rationing or blackouts this year. How did they do it? Put simply, the country cut back.

"Japan's nuclear reactors have mostly been replaced by post-catastrophe efficiency gains which reduced [energy] consumption by around 15-20%," says Kevin Meyerson, a retired American businessman and now an energy conservationist living in Japan. "For example, offices throughout Japan have replaced high-consumption lighting with newly developed-in-Japan low-power LED lights, cutting office electricity consumption up to 40%."

Such conservation has made Japan's vulnerable nuclear power plants redundant for the time being. Cutting energy demand by 10% across the board in Japan has eliminated the need for about 14 nuclear reactors, according to government figures.

Leading the charge to unplug are major corporations like Komatsu, the world's second-largest construction equipment manufacturer, which has pledged to cut its energy consumption by at least 50% by 2015. They are not alone. In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, public and private conservation efforts have helped keep power demand comfortably in check.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 28 Sep 2013 18:42

Gov't announces plans for 10 contaminated waste storage facilities in Fukushima

National Sep. 28, 2013 - 03:00PM JST ( 6 )

TOKYO —

The Environment Ministry has announced plans to build 10 interim radioactive waste storage and processing facilities in the two towns of Okuma and Naraha in Fukushima Prefecture. Each town will get five facilities which will be built underground.

However, the plan is likely to be opposed by local residents who say they have not been consulted. They say that the land is sacred to them and their ancestors, and that if a storage facility is built in the area, residents will never be able to return to their land.

Decontamination and recovery work in the area around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has not made much progress since the March 11, 2011 disaster because neither previous DPJ-led government or the current government have been able to secure land for storing contaminated waste anywhere in japan.

According to the latest plan, approved by a panel of experts, two kinds of facilities will be built, Fuji TV reported. One will be equipped to burn contaminated waste and the other designed to store more highly toxic materials.

The Environment Ministry has not yet released the exact locations of the proposed sites. It said it will hold further discussions with local communities to gain their understanding.

Another plan being considered calls for the government to buy up or lease land that has been abandoned in the Futaba area where radiation doses are likely to exceed 100 millisieverts per year.

The facility, which would have concrete walls, would be used to store containers of contaminated soil and radioactive waste from the no-go zone and other areas in and around Fukushima Prefecture.

The waste will initially be stored for three years in short-term repositories while the government constructs bigger facilities for storage over a 30-year period.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 28 Sep 2013 18:57

Reactor makers look abroad as home market fizzles
by Kazuaki Nagata

Staff Writer

Sep 9, 2013

The Fukushima meltdowns

and the continuing radiation crisis may have turned the public off of atomic energy at home, but it’s full steam ahead for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Japan’s heavy industries when it comes to exporting that technology to power-hungry economies abroad.

The marketing push being led by Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party, which brought Japan into the nuclear age, has angered nuclear protest groups, which, like many members of the public, blame the party’s cozy ties with big business for setting the stage for the Fukushima meltdown debacle.

Here are some questions and answers about Japan’s nuclear technology exports:

How does the process of exporting nuclear plants work?

Landing a contract to build an atomic plant overseas is more complex than a typical business deal because it requires political involvement: The governments of the exporting and host nations must conclude a nuclear cooperation pact to ensure the technology will only be used for peaceful purposes.

Because nuclear technology has weapons potential, strict international laws are applied to its export and import. This means reactor manufacturers must have politicians on their side to pave the way for entering overseas markets.

Once an accord is signed, it is basically an open bid. But in some cases, especially with countries that do not have their own advanced technology, national leaders get involved in the process to offer safety assurances and special deals to boost their companies’ bids.

What nuclear cooperation pacts has Japan joined?

The country to date has entered accords with the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, China, the European Atomic Energy Community (consisting of 28 EU members), Kazakhstan, South Korea, Vietnam, Jordan and Russia.

Abe has recently signed pacts with Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that will be finalized once they are approved by the Diet.

Japan is also approaching Brazil, South Africa and India.

Has Japan been exporting reactors?

Not yet. Japan hasn’t exported a single domestically built reactor yet because it’s a late-comer to the global nuclear power market.

For a late-comer, it hit the ground running. In October 2006, Toshiba Corp. succeeded with its blockbuster acquisition of U.S.-based reactor maker Westinghouse Electric Co., kicking off a string of other tie-ups with Japanese companies.

In 2009, Toshiba won an order for two reactors in Texas. In 2010, Vietnam effectively chose Japan for a roughly ¥1 trillion nuclear plant project, although the manufacturer hasn’t been selected yet. Hitachi Ltd. subsidiary Horizon Nuclear Power plans to build two or three reactors on Anglesey Island in Wales in the early 2020s.

In May, Abe visited Turkey and signed a deal to build a sprawling nuclear plant on the Black Sea coast. The deal will be given to a Japanese-French consortium that includes Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, which also builds reactors.

Who are Japan’s rivals?

Because nuclear power is complex and sensitive, there are not many competitors.

Japan has three major reactor makers — Toshiba, Hitachi and MHI, who are all looking to expand overseas. The three firms are partnering with overseas makers to get ahead of the competition.

Toshiba bought Westinghouse, Hitachi is allied with U.S. giant General Electric Co., and Mitsubishi Heavy is working with Areva SA, France’s biggest nuclear power company.

South Korea has Doosan Heavy Industries, while Russia runs the state-owned Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corp.

Is nuclear power use expected to grow on a global scale?

Apparently, yes. There are about 400 reactors worldwide, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry projects that 90 to 370 new reactors will be built by 2030 to support rapid economic growth in emerging countries.

Given the expected increase, is exporting nuclear plants a promising business?

That’s actually debatable.

“I think it will be very challenging (for Japanese makers) to keep their nuclear power business strong,” said Hitoshi Ikuma, an executive and energy expert at Japan Research Institute.

Ikuma noted that the number of nuclear power plants is expected to grow worldwide, and if Japanese makers compete successfully, it will benefit the nation. But the situation for the domestic nuclear industry has changed drastically since the Fukushima crisis.

In the five decades before the Fukushima disaster, 54 reactors had been built to achieve the government’s goal of securing stable sources of affordable energy to ease its dependence on overseas energy imports. Things were going relatively well, Ikuma said.

Three meltdowns

later, the nation now faces the prospect of having to cut its dependence on atomic power.

Since there is little likelihood of new reactors being built, reactor makers are looking to sell their technology abroad while maintaining state-of-the-art equipment, but this means engaging in more atomic diplomacy to forge cooperation pacts.

Then there’s the matter of competition, not only among themselves but from their Korean and Russian rivals as well.

“It’s hard for the manufacturers to predict for certain that they can land deals even if the government backs them,” said Ikuma.

A Toshiba spokesman said that his group now feels confident it can be a major global player with world-renowned Westinghouse under its wing.

In light of the Fukushima fiasco, some may question why anyone would want to import reactors from Japan, but Ikuma said Japan was exporting other electricity generating technology, including thermal power plants, long before the disaster, proving their quality and earning buyers’ trust.

The crisis at the poorly protected 40-year-old Fukushima plant was more a failure of governance than manufacturing, he said.

What are the risks involved in exporting plants and reactors?

Ikuma expressed concern that if more and more atomic plants are built in emerging economies, there is a greater risk of crises.

He noted that Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima all happened in countries whose nuclear technology was considered top class.

“I think that exporting plants and reactors to countries that do not have their own technology to build such equipment increases the risk of accidents,” he said.

When signing contracts with overseas customers, the Japanese side will probably have to stipulate the extent to which it will bear liability in the event of a crisis, but this may not cover any notion of moral responsibility, Ikuma said.

hmmm........ interesting.

arijitkm · Post by **arijitkm** » 02 Oct 2013 18:50

Wave of jellyfish shuts down Swedish nuclear reactor

It wasn't a tsunami but it had the same effect: A huge cluster of jellyfish forced one of the world's largest nuclear reactors to shut down - a phenomenon that marine biologists say could become more common.

Operators of the Oskarshamn nuclear plant in southeastern Sweden had to scramble reactor number three on Sunday after tons of jellyfish clogged the pipes that bring in cool water to the plant's turbines.

By Tuesday, the pipes had been cleaned of the jellyfish and engineers were preparing to restart the reactor, which at 1,400 megawatts of output is the largest boiling-water reactor in the world, said Anders Osterberg, a spokesman for OKG, the plant operator.

All three Oskharshamn reactors are boiling-water types, the same technology at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant that suffered a catastrophic failure in 2011 after a tsunami breached the facility's walls and flooded its equipment.

Jellyfish are not a new problem for nuclear power plants. Last year the California-based Diablo Canyon facility had to shut its reactor two after gobs of sea salp - a gelatinous, jellyfish-like organism - clogged intake pipes. In 2005, the first unit at Oskarshamn was temporarily turned off due to a sudden jellyfish influx.

Nuclear power plants need a constant flow of water to cool their reactor and turbine systems, which is why many such plants are built near large bodies of water.

Marine biologists, meanwhile, say they would not be surprised if more jellyfish shutdowns occur in the future.

"It's true that there seems to be more and more of these extreme cases of blooming jellyfish," said Lene Moller, a researcher at the Swedish Institute for the Marine Environment. "But it's very difficult to say if there are more jellyfish, because there is no historical data."

The species that caused the Oskarshamn shutdown is known as the common moon jellyfish.

"It's one of the species that can bloom in extreme areas that . . . are overfished or have bad conditions," said Moller. "The moon jelly likes these types of waters. They don't care if there are algae blooms, they don't care if the oxygen concentration is low. The fish leave . . . and (the moon jelly) can really take over the ecosystem."

Moller said the biggest problem was that there's no monitoring of jellyfish in the Baltic Sea to produce the data that scientists need to figure out how to tackle the issue.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 04 Nov 2013 16:48

Climate change warriors: It's time to go nuclear

India could lead here on out. Should lead.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 24 Dec 2013 19:36

China commits $6.5 billion for Pakistani nuclear project

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 26 Dec 2013 00:30

Cost of nuclear power proving high, DAE in a fix

NEW DELHI: As the cost of electricity generation by nuclear power plants, to be set up with the help of French and American companies, is turning out to be on the higher side, the department of atomic energy is in a fix over how to bring down the cost.

On one hand, it is involved in hard negotiations with the companies and on the other hand, sources said, if the cost per unit turns out to be too expensive, then it may not even pursue the project with collaborators.

The estimated cost by the DAE for Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant (JNPP) in Maharashtra is around Rs 9 per unit while the cost for Mithi Virdhi Nuclear Power Project is around Rs 12 per unit.
.....
.....

The DAE is skeptical about the proposal due to its high cost. It states that the cost per unit from the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) unit 1 and 2 is around Rs 3.50 to Rs 4 per unit.

"If we take inflation into consideration, even then the cost is very high. We are also answerable to people. Plus, there is a lot of opposition to nuclear projects where we have foreign collaborators.

If nothing works out, then we will, perhaps, have to back out because of the high electricity generation cost from the project," a senior DAE official said.

JwalaMukhi · Post by **JwalaMukhi** » 30 Dec 2013 22:20

http://news.yahoo.com/special-report-ja ... 40505.html
Read it all...

"This is how labor recruiters like me come in every day," Sasa says, as he strides past men sleeping on cardboard and clutching at their coats against the early winter cold.

It's also how Japan finds people willing to accept minimum wage for one of the most undesirable jobs in the industrialized world: working on the $35 billion, taxpayer-funded effort to clean up radioactive fallout across an area of northern Japan larger than Hong Kong.

the October case, homeless men were rounded up at Sendai's train station by Sasa, then put to work clearing radioactive soil and debris in Fukushima City for less than minimum wage, according to police and accounts of those involved. The men reported up through a chain of three other companies to Obayashi, Japan's second-largest construction company.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 16 Jan 2014 06:21

The truth about Israel's secret nuclear arsenal

He was responsible for securing vital uranium-enrichment technology, photographing centrifuge blueprints that a German executive had been bribed into temporarily "mislaying" in his kitchen. The same blueprints, belonging to the European uranium enrichment consortium, Urenco, were stolen a second time by a Pakistani employee, Abdul Qadeer Khan, who used them to found his country's enrichment programme and to set up a global nuclear smuggling business, selling the design to Libya, North Korea and Iran.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Jan 2014 22:19

Gerard wrote:The truth about Israel's secret nuclear arsenal
He was responsible for securing vital uranium-enrichment technology, photographing centrifuge blueprints that a German executive had been bribed into temporarily "mislaying" in his kitchen. The same blueprints, belonging to the European uranium enrichment consortium, Urenco, were stolen a second time by a Pakistani employee, Abdul Qadeer Khan, who used them to found his country's enrichment programme and to set up a global nuclear smuggling business, selling the design to Libya, North Korea and Iran.

The one new info in this article is the fact that Israel and South Africa tests three times in the Indian Ocean and it was the third test that was caught by the Vela test in 1979.

Thabo Mbeki had not revealed how many times the nuke was tested by SA and Israel when he came 'clean' after coming to power after the power transfer.
He only confirmed the 1979 Vela signature was a nuke test by the previous government.

arun · Post by **arun** » 21 Jan 2014 06:53

What was the purpose of India executing complex agreements for importing nuclear power reactors when the same countries that insisted that India go through with the rigmarole of complying with the nuclear export framework of the Nuclear Supplier Group by negotiating an exception does not insist that P.R.China adhere to the same complex agreement before export of nuclear power reactors to Pakistan?

How many more unilateral deviations are members of the Nuclear Supplier Group going to permit P.R.China?

Pakistan in Talks to Acquire 3 Nuclear Plants From China

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 22 Jan 2014 00:20

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1956001 ... ompetition
Russia's Rosatom $18 Billion Hungary Nuclear Deal: Bad News For Competition

On January 14, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban signed a deal in Moscow for Rosatom to expand Hungary's only nuclear power plant. The deal includes a 30 year, $14 billion loan for Hungary's state owned power company MVM to pay for the work (link). French giant Areva (OTCPK:ARVCF) and Japanese-American company Westinghouse were both interested in putting in a bid. Hungary's government preferred to skip the bidding process and made a deal with the Russians instead.The deal's main attraction was perhaps not that it was the most attractive in terms of technology, or in terms of price. It is hard to argue whether the deal would have been the most competitive from these perspectives either way given that no bidding process was held, thus competitors did not have a chance to propose their own deal. There was however one thing that helped beat out the competition and that is attractive pre-financing. Details are still vague but apparently, the 30-year loan was offered at a very attractive interest rate, below current market prices. In contrast, the Hungarian state-owned energy company might not have had a chance to secure the loan from other sources at all, never mind receiving a decent interest rate offer. If this will be the model for pursuing other similar contracts around the world going forward, the free enterprise business model may be in big trouble in this department.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 23 Jan 2014 10:15

US Sailors Sue for Illnesses they Believe Caused by Fukushima

In June 2013 a mass tort lawsuit filed in San Diego by plaintiff lawyer Paul Garner and co-counsel Charles Bonner, contends that the 71 plaintiff sailors’ health was injured by radiation emitted by the Fukushima Daiichi NPP. Garner said, "They're suffering from the whole Chernobyl panoply," adding that many plaintiffs, most in their 20s, have been diagnosed with "cancers, leukaemias, bleeding from vagina and rectum, abnormal growths, loss of eyesight, migraine headaches, weight gain/loss, immuno-deficiencies, loss of strength, mobility" and other ailments. An amended suit with around 100 USS Ronald Reagan sailor plaintiffs is due to be filed again in February. Garner contends that TEPCO knew that 400 tons of radioactivity was leaking into the sea each day and cites the USS Ronald Reagan's deck logs to assert that the ship spent five hours sailing through a plume of radioactive material, after steam was vented from the NPP to preclude a lethal chain reaction.

Not surprisingly, TEPCO denies liability.

Senior Chief Michael Sebourn, a radiation-decontamination officer on board the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, assigned to test the aircraft carrier following its deployment, said that radiation levels measured 300 times higher than what was considered safe at one point.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 23 Jan 2014 10:22

Radioactive leaks continue to plague Fukushima, new Unit 3 problem found
Well the plants are gone for good and the town is utterly desolate. Meanwhile all Nuke reactors power plant continues to be offline. yet Japan has not witnessed the kind of catastrophic power shortages. Positive news is that now it has come to forefront of renewable energy tech development. meanwhile continued leakages of highly radioactive water pollute the region for eons to come.

Highly radioactive water, believed to have leaked from one of the damaged reactors, has been detected inside Unit 3 Reactor at the compromised Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. There's been no leakage to the outside of the building, TEPCO announced.

According to Asia's largest utility, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), water leakage was identified for the first time by a robot removing debris on the first floor of Unit 3 Reactor at the Fukushima plant. Video filmed by the robot shows highly radioactive water, found to contain high levels of radioactive cesium and cobalt. On Saturday, one of the workers who was busy monitoring the robotic device's screen, discovered that water was leaking to the drainage ditch in the northeast area of first floor, where the main steam isolation valve is located.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 23 Jan 2014 10:32

Why the Obama Administration Will Not Admit that Fukushima Radiation is Poisoning Americans
Why isn’t GE being held accountable?

Greenpeace CT blog, presumably. Of course the question ,in bold, is very pertinent and no answers as yet in Indian context.

There have been calls from many organizations for GE to be held accountable for the design faults in the reactors that powered the Fukushima plant. The fact that they had been known for so long does seem to indicate that the company ignored and over-ruled advice from nuclear experts.

GE ran Fukushima alongside TEPCO, but it isn’t liable for the clean-up costs.

A year after the disaster, Tepco was taken over by the Japanese government because it couldn’t afford the costs to get the damaged reactors under control. By June of 2012, Tepco had received nearly 50 billion dollars from the government.

The six reactors were designed by the U.S. company General Electric (GE). GE supplied the actual reactors for units one, two and six, while two Japanese companies Toshiba provided units three and five, and Hitachi unit four. These companies as well as other suppliers are exempted from liability or costs under Japanese law.

Many of them, including GE, Toshiba and Hitachi, are actually making money on the disaster by being involved in the decontamination and decommissioning, according to a report by Greenpeace International.

“The nuclear industry and governments have designed a nuclear liability system that protects the industry, and forces people to pick up the bill for its mistakes and disasters,” says the report, “Fukushima Fallout.”

“If nuclear power is as safe as the industry always claims, then why do they insist on liability limits and exemptions?” asked Shawn-Patrick Stensil, a nuclear analyst with Greenpeace Canada.

Nuclear plant owner/operators in many countries have liability caps on how much they would be forced to pay in case of an accident. In Canada, this liability cap is only 75 million dollars. In the United Kingdom, it is 220 million dollars. In the U.S., each reactor owner puts around 100 million dollars into a no-fault insurance pool. This pool is worth about 10 billion dollars.

“Suppliers are indemnified even if they are negligent,” Stensil told IPS. (source)

GE will not have put anything into this ‘pot’ to cover Fukushima, as it is not in the United States. They have walked away, even though they knew their reactors have design faults.

Wait! There’s more!

It’s not that simple, though; and here’s where keeping quiet and denying what’s happening comes into its own.

So far I have not explained why Obama is keeping quiet about the radiation contamination. Well, that’s the easy part.

There are 23 nuclear plants in the United States that use the GE Mark 1 BWR.23.

There are 23 nuclear plants in the United States where the used fuel rods are suspended, in a pond, 100 feet above the ground. (source)

Any admission that radiation has spread across the Pacific Ocean and contaminated American soil is an admission that the technology was flawed, and that same flawed technology is being used in the United States. The government does not want anyone looking closer at the situation. They don’t want people poking around asking questions about why the radiation got out in the first place…it’s too close to home.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 26 Mar 2014 04:21

Nations pledge to increase nuclear security

Thirty-five out of 53 nations taking part in a summit on nuclear security have pledged to turn international guidelines into national laws.

The US, UK and Japan were among the countries to agree to the deal at the summit in the Dutch city of The Hague.

Major nuclear powers Russia, China, India and Pakistan did not join the initiative.

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 30 Mar 2014 20:37

'Small' Nuclear War Could Trigger Catastrophic Cooling

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To see what effects such a regional nuclear conflict might have on climate, scientists modeled a war between India and Pakistan involving 100 Hiroshima-level bombs, each packing the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT — just a small fraction of the world's current nuclear arsenal. They simulated interactions within and between the atmosphere, ocean, land and sea ice components of the Earth's climate system.

Scientists found the effects of such a war could be catastrophic.

"Most people would be surprised to know that even a very small regional nuclear war on the other side of the planet could disrupt global climate for at least a decade and wipe out the ozone layer for a decade," study lead author Michael Mills, an atmospheric scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, told Live Science.

The researchers predicted the resulting firestorms would kick up about 5.5 million tons (5 million metric tons) of black carbon high into the atmosphere. This ash would absorb incoming solar heat, cooling the surface below.

The simulations hint that after such a war, global average surface temperatures would drop suddenly by about 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius), their lowest levels in more than 1,000 years. In some places, temperatures would get significantly colder — most of North America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East would experience winters that are 4.5 to 10.8 degrees F (2.5 to 6 degrees C) colder, and summers 1.8 to 7.2 degrees F (1 to 4 degrees C) cooler. The colder temperatures would lead to lethal frosts worldwide that would reduce growing seasons by 10 to 40 days annually for several years. [The Top 10 Largest Explosions Ever]

The ash that absorbed heat up in the atmosphere would also intensely heat the stratosphere, accelerating chemical reactions that destroy ozone. This would allow much greater amounts of ultraviolet radiation to reach Earth's surface, with a summertime ultraviolet increase of 30 to 80 percent in the mid-latitudes, posing a threat to human health, agriculture and ecosystems on both land and sea.

The models also suggest colder temperatures would reduce global rainfall and other forms of precipitation by up to about 10 percent. This would likely trigger widespread fires in regions such as the Amazon, and it would pump even more smoke into the atmosphere.

"All in all, these effects would be very detrimental to food production and to ecosystems," Mills said.
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Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 16 Apr 2014 23:03

€2.2 billion owed to German nuclear utilities

Germany should immediately refund some €2.2 billion in nuclear fuel taxes collected from EOn and RWE, pending final decisions on the tax from either the Federal Constitutional Court or the European Court of Justice.
The latest ruling in the court battle over nuclear fuel taxes in Germany came yesterday from the Hamburg Tax Court, underlining successive decisions since power plant operators were required to pay €145 ($200) per gram of uranium or plutonium loaded into power reactors. The tax is intended to take about half of the profit from the nuclear power plants.

That tax arrangement had been agreed between utilities and the government in 2010 as an amendment to the 2002 Atomic Energy Act that would allow longer operating lives for German reactors. But the government reneged on the deal in reaction to the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan by taking away the longer lives and forcing closures of older units - all while keeping the tax. Power companies were quick to take the matter to court.

In yesterday's ruling, the Hamburg Tax Court agreed with the utilities that they should be relieved from paying the tax, and should be refunded some €2.2 billion ($3.0 billion) until the tax's legality is finally decided.
<snip>
In parallel with contesting the tax, RWE is also claiming damages from the losses incurred as a result of the forced closure of its Biblis nuclear power plant in 2011. The actions of the state of Hesse were ruled to be unlawful in this regard by the German Supreme Court in January. Another nuclear utility, EnBW, is 45% owned by the Green-controlled state of Baden-Württembergand not contesting its damages. Vattenfall of Sweden is fighting the shutdowns of two German reactors in which it has stakes via international arbitration.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 16 Apr 2014 23:14

Meanwhile here in US and - Fuel cycle watch (from various sources)

- Nichols Ranch

Operations have started at the Nichols Ranch.. uranium project in Wyoming following final clearance from the NRC, making Uranerz the newest uranium producer in America.

Cebolleta

Uranium Resources has announced new NI 43-101 compliant resource figures for its Cebolleta uranium project in New Mexico

Dewey-Burdock

The NRC has issued a final source and byproduct materials licence for Powertech's Dewey-Burdock uranium recovery facility in South Dakota

Texas project starts permitting

Uranium Energy Corp (UEC) has filed mine permit and aquifer exemption applications for its Burke Hollow ISL uranium project with the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality.

And in Australia..
Four Mile ready to go

Australian firm Alliance Resources has announced that all approvals to begin mining in the first stage area of the Four Mile East ISL project in South Australia had been received, effective 11 April.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 18 Apr 2014 22:10

..
Finnish companies agree to take forward new plant at Pyhäjoki

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 25 Apr 2014 05:26

Marshall Islands sues nine nuclear powers over failure to disarm

In the unprecedented legal action, comprising nine separate cases brought before the ICJ on Thursday, the Republic of the Marshall Islands accuses the nuclear weapons states of a "flagrant denial of human justice". It argues it is justified in taking the action because of the harm it suffered as a result of the nuclear arms race.

The island republic is suing the five "established" nuclear weapons states recognised in the 1968 nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) – the US, Russia (which inherited the Soviet arsenal), China, France and the UK – as well as the three countries outside the NPT who have declared nuclear arsenals – India, Pakistan and North Korea, and the one undeclared nuclear weapons state, Israel.

nandakumar · Post by **nandakumar** » 01 May 2014 13:31

Artcile on costs of decommissioning a nuclear power plant.
http://thebulletin.org/rising-cost-deco ... -plant7107
It makes the case that the costs were overly underestimated and sprang from nuclear energy professional who had a personal stake in seeing the industry grow. But a comment at the end of the article makes an interesting point. All human activities result in waste generation. In conventional power generation waste tends to be diffused (as in carbon and sulfur diffusion in a coal based power plant) and thus harder to impound while in nclear energy waste is concentrated and hence easier to contain its fallout.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 07 May 2014 06:34

http://rt.com/news/157096-us-ballistic-missile-europe/
US ‘anti-Russian’ missile shield may threaten nuke reduction, officials warn
May 06, 2014

Moscow believes that the US has intensified its effort to create a Europe-based anti-missile shield and is increasingly certain that it is targeting Russia. If the situation deteriorates, US-Russia nuclear reduction agreements may be at risk.

Russian concerns over the ABM shield, which the US is building in Eastern Europe, claiming that it is meant to stop ballistic missiles from North Korea and Iran, were voiced Tuesday by both the military and diplomats.

“Unfortunately, I have to state that our partners from NATO have effectively rejected any expert dialogue on the antiballistic missile defense issue and substitute it with political slogans,” said Sergey Koshelyev, the head of the Defense Ministry’s department for international military cooperation.

“This situation and the latest statements from the alliance leadership only make us more certain that the ABM system is an anti-Russian capability, which will only grow stronger in time,” he said.

A Standard Missile-3 Block 1A interceptor as it is launched from the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) during a test on February, 13, 2013 in the Pacific Ocean (AFP Photo)

The assertion was echoed by statements from the Foreign Ministry. Russian Deputy FM Sergey Ryabkov said that in Moscow “we feel the symptoms of the work on various segments of the AMD system being intensified… And those symptoms are more frequent that they used to be.”

“This proves our initial concerns that the system in its final form is designed to block not only limited threats, as it was claimed. To a much degree it will be formed, designed and built to try and devalue the Russian strategic nuclear deterrence,” he told RIA Novosti in an interview.

Ryabkov warned that such developments may affect the New START treaty between the US and Russia on nuclear weapons disarmament.

“Fundamental for this treaty is the link between strategic offensive and defensive weapons. So the development of the AMD may in the end affect negatively the prospects of preserving of the treaty,” he said, adding that so far the treaty is strictly observed by both sides and that Moscow has all reasons to believe that its reduction goals will be fulfilled by the 2018 deadline.

The warning comes days after the US rejected the latest Russian proposition on defusing the conflict of the anti-missile system. Russia insists that US should take legally binding obligations not to use the European AMD system to undermine Russia’s nuclear capabilities.

The rejection was expected, especially considering that the US downgraded most lines of cooperation with Russia, except for those beneficial to America, as part of its response to the Ukrainian crisis.

Meanwhile the European AMD system made a new step in mid-April after the US Navy decided to deploy the second generation of the Standard Missile-3 Block IB missile, interceptor projectiles that are part of the antimissile shield.

“The SM-3 Block IB's completion of initial operational testing last year set the stage for a rapid deployment to theater,” said Taylor W. Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems, the producer of the interceptor missile. “The SM-3's highly successful test performance gives combatant commanders around the world the confidence they need to counter the growing ballistic missile threat.”

The Obama administration scrapped the Bush-era plans for European AMD and replaced it in 2009 with the so-called Phased Adaptive Approach. While initially viewed as a positive sign of possible compromise, in practice the move resulted in US is continuing to develop the system and stonewalling Russia’s objections.