Connecticut Coalition Against the Millstone Nuclear Power Reactor
CCAM NEWS 2007 part 2
“We look to the state’s highest court to correct these serious legal errors and restore the rule of law to matters involving the Millstone Nuclear Power Station, which poses the gravest threat to the safety and security of the state," Burton said.
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Bonnie Raitt for MoveOn.org Political Action Thursday, October 18, 2007
Dear MoveOn member,
When Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, many other bands and I played our "No Nukes" concerts in 1979 to 100,000 people, we never dreamed we'd have to come back almost 30 years later to fight the same fight all over again.
But it's 2007, and here we are again. The nuclear industry just slipped a clause into the energy bill that will provide up to $50 billion in tax subsidies for to build new reactors—enough to launch a whole new generation of nukes! We've already got the safe, viable alternatives to replace the dirty energy we're using now. Building new atomic reactors in an age of terror threats is not only scary, but the toxic waste from nuclear power threatens our health and our planet.
The nuclear option is not the way to go.
So I called my friends, and we recorded a music video to spread the word. We've also launched a petition, and I'm asking MoveOn members to sign on. Here's what it says:
"America's new energy policy needs to focus on safe and economic fuel sources. Congress must strip the nuclear tax subsidies from the energy bill before they pass it."
Clicking below will add your signature (and you can also see the video that we produced on that same page):
http://pol.moveon.org/nukefree/o.pl?id=11424-7250776-.GYjjG&t=4
When you're done, please take a minute to pass it along to your friends.
$50 billion in loan guarantees is a lot of money—enough to cover financial risk for the big banks who want to get involved. In other words, if something goes wrong, it will be the American taxpayers who foot the bill, not Wall Street.
It makes no sense. We know nuclear facilities are a target for terrorists. We know nuclear energy is toxic to our health and environment. And we know solar and wind power are safer, cheaper, and getting easier to use every day. This should equal a big "no" on nuclear energy, and a big "yes" to investing in clean energy. But the nuclear industry and their friends in Congress don't want to take no for an answer.
We know MoveOn members worked to pass this energy bill and most of it is great—we'll get more solar and wind with this bill, and even more fuel efficient cars. We just need to ask Congress to take the nuclear subsidies out.
So that's why we're reaching out to you. No one is better than MoveOn when it comes to mobilizing quickly on important issues.
Can sign your name to the petition below and pass it along to your friends?
"America's new energy policy needs to focus on safe and economic fuel sources. Congress must strip the nuclear tax subsidies from the energy bill before they pass it."
http://pol.moveon.org/nukefree/o.pl?id=11424-7250776-.GYjjG&t=5
Thanks for listening. Together we can find a way to a cleaner future.
–Bonnie Raitt, Musician
Thursday, October 18th, 2007P.S. To check out the video, see more information, and read the list of everyone who has signed onto this campaign, go to www.nukefree.org
Support our member-driven organization: MoveOn.org Political Action is entirely funded by our 3.2 million members. We have no corporate contributors, no foundation grants, no money from unions. Our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. If you'd like to support our work, you can give now at:
http://political.moveon.org/donate/email.html?id=11424-7250776-.GYjjG&t=6
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.__________________________________________________________________
Orbiting solar panels' day may be near
A study finds rising oil prices could finally make space power plants economically competitive.
By Theo Milonopoulos, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer October 11, 2007Beam it down, Scotty.
A new federal study released Wednesday concluded that continued increases in oil prices may finally make the generation of solar power in orbiteconomically competitive.
The report urged the government to sponsor a demonstration of the technology to spur private investment in the concept.
The orbiting power plants would reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil and help reduce the production of carbon dioxide that is contributing to global warming, according to the report led by the National Security Space Office, part of the Department of Defense.
"This is a solution for all mankind," said former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, chairman of the spaceflight advocacy group, ShareSpace Foundation. Aldrin joined a group of other space advocacy organizations to unveil the report in Washington.
Since the Space Age began 50 years ago, scientists have dreamed of launching acres of photovoltaic cells into orbit and beaming the electricity electromagnetically to Earth's surface but have stumbled over the project's high cost and the technical difficulties.
The report estimated that in a single year, satellites in a continuously sunlit orbit could generate an amount of energy nearly equivalent to all of the energy available in the world's oil reserves.
Mark Hopkins, senior vice president of the National Space Society, said space-based solar energy could generate so much power that it could transform the United States from an energy-importing country into an energy-exporting nation.
"It is the largest energy option which is available to us today in the sense that it would derive more power potentially than all of the other power sources combined," Hopkins said.
NASA and the Department of Energy have spent $80 million in the last three decades to study space-based solar energy, but the effort faded in the mid-1990s.
Critics have charged that ground-based solar energy is more economical. But putting the solar factories in space would allow them to operate 24 hours a day and would eliminate interference by clouds and adverse weather, said Charles Miller, director of the Space Frontier Foundation.
Miller said that, even if implementation started immediately, it would take at least 10 years before energy could be produced in significant quantities, and it would take several generations of satellites to reduce the cost of the technology to a reasonably low level.
But he said: "Our energy dependence and potential global warming problems are long-term problems. . . . So on a time scale, this solution matches up if we start investing now."
theo.milonopoulos @latimes.com
Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer:
Dr. Helen Caldicott in New Haven October 15
Join the discussion and book-signing with Nobel Peace
Prize nominee Dr. Helen Caldicott, celebrating the paperback release of
her acclaimed book, Nuclear Power is Not the Answer.
Helen Caldicott's look at the actual costs and environmental
consequences of nuclear energy belies the incessant barrage of nuclear
industry propaganda. Caldicott "reveals truths," Martin Sheen has
said, "that confirm we must take positive action now if we are to make
a difference." In fact, nuclear power contributes to global warming;
the true cost of nuclear power is prohibitive, with taxpayers picking
up most of the tab; there's simply not enough uranium in the world to
sustain nuclear power over the long term; and the potential for a
catastrophic accident or a terrorist attack far outweighs any
benefits. Concluding chapters detail alternative sustainable energy
sources that are the key to a clean, green future.
The world's leading spokesperson for the antinuclear movement, Dr.
Helen Caldicott is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and the recipient of
the 2003 Lannan Prize for Cultural Freedom. A bestselling author,
Caldicott is the co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility
and president of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute.
Labyrinth Books, 290 York Street, New Haven (off Broadway behind Sterling Library), 7:30 P.M.
This event is free and open to the public.
Remember “Millsteam”?
On April 17, 2005, Dominion declared a Class II emergency at Millstone Unit 3 when steam cascaded from Millstone for a 10-hour period during a Dominion-declared Class II emergency involving valve failures, operator error, defective instrumentation and a "tin whisker." Throughout the incident, Dominion denied radiation leakage to the environment. Subsequently, officials of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, under questioning by the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, admitted the steam contained unusual levels of radioactive krypton, which quickly decays to strontium-90, a deadly radioisotope which causes bone cancer and leukemia. The NRC admitted it lied to the public about radiation releases which occurred during the emergency to avoid a public panic.
On January 28, 2007, Unit 3 was again shut down when a radioactive leak allowed irradiated coolant to escape from the reactor. Workers assigned to investigate and repair the leaking valve were exposed to high levels of radiation. Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc., Millstone's Virginia-based owner, denied that any radiation leaked into the environment
These incidents - and hundreds more over the course of the past 21 years since Millstone Unit 3 went on line in 1986 - have exposed the public to high health and safety risks.
Millstone Unit 3 is so unsafe it should be closed. If Dominion and its predecessor, Northeast Utilities, were forced to pay reparations and compensation to the families of those who have died from cancer and other diseases attributable to its radiation releases, and to the State of Connecticut for its devastation of fishery stocks and heating up of the Long Island Sound with its continuous thermal plume, the money would easily exceed what it would cost to replace Millstone megawatts with conservation and green energy.
Instead, Dominion is now applying to the NRC to increase the amount of electricity it generates at Millstone Unit 3 by 7 per cent. The proposed “uprate” would geometrically increase pressure within the aging, embrittled reactor containment and increase routine radiation releases to the air and water by more than 7 per cent.
Instead of “uprating” nuclear reactors whose concrete structures have strained and cracked under punishing pressure during two decades of output, rationality dictates “downrates” to final closure.
After the NRC approved an uprate recently at Vermont Yankee, four frightening uprate-related incidents have so far occurred: a transformer fire associated with increased water flows; a fire resulting from overtaxing pumps; cracking of the steam dryer; and collapse of a cooling tower.
Sign our online petition to the NRC to deny the Millstone 3 uprate!
PETITION TO U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
We the undersigned petition the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny the Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. application for a 7 per cent “uprate” in electricity generation at the Millstone Nuclear Power Station Unit 3.
Email to info@MothballMillstone.org.
From: Harvey Schaktman harvey@ nukebusters.org Thursday, August 23, 2007
[NucNews] Cooling Tower Collapse Raises Concerns about a New
License for the Aging Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
After key components of a Vermont Yankee cooling tower fell to the ground
Tuesday, members of Safe Power Vermont are saying "no" to renewing Entergy's
license to operate for another 20 years.
Safe Power Vermont - a coalition of experienced citizen, environmental,
legal, and anti-nuclear organizations committed to closing the nuclear power
plant - said that while alarming, the collapse of the cooling tower is not
surprising.
"Vermont Yankee is running at 120% of its designed capacity. This surge in
power combined with its already ailing infrastructure leaves Vermont Yankee
incredibly vulnerable to dangerous accidents just like this one," said Deb
Katz, Executive Director of Citizens Awareness Network.
Advocates questioned the clean bill of health that the cooling tower
recently received from Entergy's experts. They called into question Vermont
Yankee's claims that the 35 five year old reactor is not experiencing
serious aging strain that jeopardizes the plant's future. "Vermont Yankee
telling us that the plant is running like new is like a hair dresser telling
you that you look twenty years younger, its nice to hear but far from the
truth," said James Moore, Clean Energy Advocate for VPIRG.
The plant's history of defects and accidents is not insignificant. Just in
the past decade, Vermont Yankee has documented 76 cracks in its steam dryer,
three fires in its transformer station, a dangerously overcrowded spent fuel
pool for radioactive waste and now a cooling tower collapse. Despite this,
Entergy is aggressively looking to extend the plant's license to operate for
an additional 20 years.
Advocates also noted that Vermont Yankee benefited from the recent
expiration of a rate payer protection plan. This fact will leave Green
Mountain Power, Central Vermont Public Service, and Vermont rate payers with
higher bills in the future.
"Any further reliance on Vermont Yankee will pass on to future generations
both financial as well as safety risks. Vermont Yankee was built to run 40
years and at 35 it is already testing "father time", the plant must close in
2012," said Ed Anthes of Nuclear Free Vermont.
In accordance with Act 160, the Vermont legislature has the power to prevent
Vermont Yankee from running past its 2012 lifespan. Safe Power Vermont says
the coalition will continue to work for the facility's closure to prevent a
seemingly inevitable accident of catastrophic proportions.
Regulators keeping tighter tabs on dangerous radioactive material
By GREG CLARY THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: August 14, 2007)
BUCHANAN - Specially trained contractors broke open a bolted box at the bottom of Indian Point 3's spent-fuel pool this month, hoping to find tiny amounts of weapons-grade uranium 235 that federal officials want to verify haven't been misplaced, lost or stolen.
The work - done underwater with equipment operated from above - should be finished in the next few days, and Indian Point officials expect to find all the radioactive isotopes they're supposed to.
Still, the process is painstaking.
"You can't just empty the contents of the boxes on the floor and start counting," said Indian Point spokesman Jim Steets. "One of the boxes gave the guys trouble just to get it opened."
Federal regulators are requiring an updated inventory of "special nuclear material" at nuclear plants across the country and have found a few cases - including Indian Point - where the storage methods and records don't meet Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards.
Those gaps bring into focus the storage of radioactive isotopes that, before Sept. 11, 2001, were considered so dangerous to handle that thieves wouldn't risk certain suicide to steal them.
"The current threat environment has changed the NRC's perspective of the self-protecting nature of this material," said Martha Williams, the agency official most responsible for ensuring inventories are accurate. "Ten years ago it never occurred to anybody that somebody would give up their life to get something like this."
It's pretty clear from experts that those trying to grab some plutonium or enhanced uranium to create a radiological disaster wouldn't get far at a nuclear plant without taking extraordinary precautions.
"When you're talking about somebody trying to steal or deliver the material, the radiation around that spent-fuel pool would be so high that if you didn't have the proper equipment, you'd have only minutes to live," said Joseph Alverez, a health physicist with more than 30 years' experience in radiation-protection programs, most of that with the U.S. Department of Energy.
"It would be like trying to walk into a place that's 300 degrees and expecting to live," Alverez said. "We're talking about radiation so strong, you're getting fried. Your nerves just go. Your body can't cool itself off."
NRC officials say that since terrorists have shown they will give their lives if the cause is important enough to them, the rules have changed, not just in tightened security measures, but also in the day-to-day warehousing of nuclear material.
So much so that the agency committed extra resources late last year to review all of its 104 nuclear plant inventories by the summer, even down to verifying amounts minute enough to force Indian Point to break open a box that had been closed since about 1988.
Entergy Nuclear, which owns and operates Indian Point, bought the power plant in 2001 and is responsible for visually verifying all its inventories.
"We have to account for metric tons (of special nuclear material)," said Robert "Monk" Hansler, the man responsible for Indian Point's inventory. "Almost all of it - probably 99.9 percent - is spent fuel."
The small remaining amount is either new fuel, instrumentation calibration samples, or detectors that measure the power of the nuclear reactors on site.
That last category is what caused the inventory problem at Indian Point and has cost other nuclear plants hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines when the detectors have turned up missing.
It's too early to know what the NRC will do on the issue with Indian Point, which was cited for not visually verifying each detector during annual inspections. Entergy said it believed the bolted container left over from previous owners was to be counted as a unit.
Federal regulators said company officials should have opened it because it was merely bolted shut, not sealed.
Indian Point isn't alone among plants that have had to find special nuclear material that wasn't properly inventoried.
As recently as last month, Dresden 3 in Morris, Ill., ran into trouble when officials couldn't locate two fuel pellets and 99 pieces of uranium used as in-core power detectors.
The items were last documented in 1977 in the reactor's spent- fuel pool and are still unaccounted for, NRC officials said yesterday.
There have been other cases, as well, including Entergy plants in Vermont and Massachusetts.
The case that raised the most auditing concerns, however, was the Millstone power plant in Waterford, Conn., which was fined $288,000 in 2002 for two fuel rods that were reported missing in 2000 and were never found.
Millstone, in fact, is the reason that the federal government started keeping a closer eye on the nuclear industry's fuel supplies - that and the terrorist attacks of 2001, NRC officials said.
A special investigation soon after those events led to a 2005 federal government report that cited a lack of visual verification of inventory and too great a reliance on record keeping that wasn't even computerized until more recent times.
"It's because of some of the problems ... that the NRC is now more in a Missouri mode, where you have to 'show me,' " said David Lochbaum, a nuclear specialist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. "In the past, a paperwork audit was enough and the change is leading to some of the situations that we have today like Indian Point's."
Lochbaum chided the NRC's lack of speed in arriving at the new attitude, noting that the Millstone discovery happened in late 1999 and that seven-plus years was too long to wait to enact tighter controls.
"The NRC is moving in the right direction on this, but they can turn a license renewal around in 24 months," Lochbaum said. "They're an agency that allegedly puts safety first."
Lochbaum and Alverez, as well as Entergy and NRC officials, all pointed out that the amounts of uranium 235 being reviewed at Indian Point are too small to make a bomb. The material has also been enriched to a maximum of 5 percent, while the amounts needed for an atomic bomb would be thousands of times greater and would have to be enriched to more than 90 percent.
"The uranium at a nuclear power plant, you can't make it into a bomb. You just can't blow that stuff up," Alverez said. "The stuff that could be made into a bomb, there just so little of it, you'd have to collect a bunch of it from a bunch of different places to do it."
He said the people who have enough nuclear material to make something dangerous are sanctioned labs set up for nuclear bomb research.
"Unless you're doing special types of experiments, you don't want that much of this material," Alverez said. "If you've got enough to make a bomb, and it gets together accidentally, you'd have a problem. It's very unstable."
Reach Greg Clary at 914-696-8566 or gclary@lohud.com.
Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' By Mark Kinver Science and nature reporter, BBC News
The idea that the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has created a wildlife haven is not scientifically justified, a study says.
Recent studies said rare species had thrived despite raised radiation levels as a result of no human activity.
But scientists who assessed the 1986 disaster's impact on birds said the ecological effects were "considerably greater than previously assumed".
The findings appear in the Royal Society's journal, Biology Letters.
In April 1986, reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded.
After the accident, traces of radioactive deposits were found in nearly every country in the northern hemisphere.
The paper's authors, Anders Moller of University Pierre and Marie Curie, France, and Tim Mousseau from the University of South Carolina, US, said their research did not support the idea that low-level radiation was not affecting animals."Recent conclusions from the UN Chernobyl Forum and reports in the popular media concerning the effects of radiation from Chernobyl has left the impression that the exclusion zone is a thriving ecosystem, filled with an increasing number of rare species," they wrote.
Instead, they added: "Species richness, abundance and population density of breeding birds decreased with increasing levels of radiation."
The study, which recorded 1,570 birds from 57 species, found that the number of birds in the most contaminated areas declined by 66% compared with sites that had normal background radiation levels.
It also reported a decline of more than 50% in the range of species as radiation levels increase.
Photos showing normal (left) and partial albino barn swallow
The findings build on a previous study of barn swallows in the affected area, which showed that the number of the birds declined sharply in contaminated areas.
The birds' decline was probably the result of depressed level of antioxidants after its long migration back to the area, making it more vulnerable to the low-level radiation, the researchers concluded.
"It suggests to us that barn swallows are not alone; there are many other species that appear to be affected in a similar way," Professor Mousseau told BBC News.
"This paper also suggests that birds feeding on insects that are living in the upper surface of the soil, where contaminates are highest, seem to be most likely to be missing or depressed."
He added that they were currently carrying out research to find out whether the decline was a result of the birds eating contaminated insects, or whether it was a result of fewer insects living in affected areas.
"We are also looking for funding to expand the range of ecological studies to include invertebrates, as well as plants and animals."
Radioactive retreat
A recent paper published in the American Scientist magazine suggested that plants and animals were better off in the exclusion zone than specimens outside the 30km radius surrounding the site of the destroyed nuclear reactor.
How wildlife is coping inside the exclusion zone
One of the paper's co-authors, Robert Baker from the Texas Tech University, said that the benefits for wildlife from the lack of human activity outweighed the risks of low-level radiation.
Writing on his university web page, Professor Baker said: "The elimination of human activities such as farming, ranching, hunting and logging are the greatest benefits.
"It can be said that the world's worst nuclear power plant disaster is not as destructive to wildlife populations as are normal human activities."
Professor Mousseau acknowledged Professor Baker's description: "It is true that the Chernobyl region gives the appearance of a thriving ecosystem because of its protection from other human activities.
"However, when you do controlled ecological studies, what we see is a very clear signature of negative effects of contamination on diversity and abundance of organisms.
"We clearly need to be applying scientific method to ecological studies before we can conclude, based on anecdotal observations, that there are no consequences."
Denmark's Living Green Island
by Becky Daniels
http://www.positivenews.org.uk/artman/publish/article_1197.shtml
Jun 12, 2007
Positive News Issue 52
4,000 islanders on the Danish island of Samso run all their homes, farms and
businesses without using any fossil fuels. Samso has developed an almost
entirely self-sufficient energy system, which has improved life for the
whole community.
"It's a very good feeling because we're a renewable energy island," says
farmer, Erik Anderson, who runs his tractor on home-grown rapeseed oil and
gets his hot water and power from solar panels and wind turbines.
Since winning a national competition in 1997, Samso was given the go ahead
to provide all its energy from renewable sources. It has been so successful
that 100 per cent of its electricity now comes from wind power while 75 per
cent of its heat comes from combining solar power and fuels from biomass.
To save money, the island installed collective solar thermal plants, which
pump hot water to the majority of near-by houses. Locally-grown straw and
wood pellets burnt in central furnaces produce hot water piped underground
straight to people's homes. This efficient system is totally carbon neutral.
Ten offshore wind turbines produce Samso's electricity. This compensates for
emissions from all the island's trans-port including the ferries. Sometimes
the turbines even make surplus energy to sell to the mainland - a bonus for
the islanders who are the shareholders!
Experts on Samso are currently work-ing on two ideas to solve the residual
problem of fuel emissions. Biofuel from rapeseed oil can power any vehicle
once the engine has been adapted, so diesel guzzlers, like ferries and
tractors, will all be converted. However, this small island cannot produce
enough biofuel for every car so the residents also want to build a
wind-powered hydrogen plant as soon as possible. Plans for a
hydrogen-fuelled truck are also in the pipeline.
Support from the whole community to bring about this green dream has been
essential. "People participate, not because they are forced to by the
authorities, but because they want to," says the Manager of Samso's Energy
and Environment Office, Soren Hermansen.
Samso Energy & Environment Office
http://www.energiakademiet.dk
No Future for Nuclear Energy
by Ralph Nader Published on Saturday, July 21, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
Here they go again. After thirty years without a firm order, the atomic
power companies are pushing their radioactive, costly technology for a
comeback on the backs of you the taxpayers.
The old argument in the Seventies was that nuclear powered electricity would
reduce our dependence on foreign oil. With only three percent of our
electricity coming from burning petroleum, the pro-nuke lobby is now jumping
on the global warming bandwagon. Uranium, they argue, does not release
greenhouse gases like coal or oil.
What nuclear lobbies ignore is all the coal and oil that needs to be burned
to enrich uranium, to transport radioactive wastes with protective highway
and rail convoys and provide security since they would be a priority target
for sabotage.
Apart from that, let’s start with the technological insanity of the nuclear
fuel cycle-from uranium mines and their deadly tailings, to the refining and
fabrication into fuel rods, to the multi-shielded dome-like nuclear plant,
to the necessity for perfect operation of the facility, to the still
unresolved problems of the location and containment of hot radioactive
wastes and contaminated material for the next 200,000 years!
All this for one objective-to boil water into steam. A pretty complex chain
of events in order to boil water. There are far better, cheaper ways to meet
the electricity needs of today’s generation without burdening future
generations for centuries with the deadly waste products.
Back in the Seventies, before the public rose up and said no to nuclear
power, helped by Wall Street’s reluctance to finance these trouble-prone
plants, the Atomic Energy Commission projected the construction of 1000
atomic power plants in the U.S. by the year 2000. There are today 103
plants.
Placing the predicted 100 plants up and down the California coastline would
have been an act of peerless recklessness, especially given the earthquake
faults.
Just this week, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Kashiwazaki, Japan and
disabled a gigantic nuclear power plant which the New York Times reported,
“raised new concerns about the safety of the nation’s accident-plagued
nuclear industry.” It turns out that this plant, owned by Tokyo Electric
Power, may be sitting directly above an earthquake fault line.
Each day, reports show damage greater than believed the day before,
including radiation leaks, damage to exhaust ducts, burst pipes and other
“malfunctions” beyond the fires. Several hundred barrels of radioactive
waste were toppled.
The problem with nuclear power is that it gets one bite of the apple.
Just one major meltdown could provoke a demand to close the industry down by
overwhelming adverse public outrage. You see, way back in the Fifties and
Sixties, the Atomic Energy Commission, a booster-regulatory agency for
atomic power plants, estimated that an “area the size of Pennsylvania” would
be contaminated in such a disaster.
Remember, Chernobyl in Ukraine is still surrounded by vacant towns and
villages following the 1986 tragedy. Radioactivity found its way as far as
sheep in England, nuts grown in Turkey and elsewhere.
Do you know any other industry producing electricity that has to have
specific evacuation plans for miles around it, is inherently a national
security risk, cannot be privately insured without Congress mandating severe
limited liability in case of massive casualties and requires massive
taxpayer subsidies?
A most concise, authoritative case against the electric atom was recently
released titled “Why a Future for the Nuclear Industry is Risky” by a group
of environmental health and social investment groups. (See
www.cleanenergy.org)
In the introduction to the report, the case against nuclear energy was
summarized this way: “Wind power and other renewable technologies, combined
with energy efficiency, conservation and cogeneration can be much more cost
effective and can be deployed much sooner than new nuclear power plants.”
Yes indeed, efficiency or conservation, with a national mission, can cut in
half the waste of energy, using currently available technology and know-how,
before the first privately capitalized nuclear plant opens. One scientist
once described the primary output of electric generating plants as “heating
the heavens.”
If this insensitive industry cannot be revived by Uncle Sam’s tax treasury,
Wall Street certainly has given no indication that private investment would
take on the risk. Investment money is pouring presently into wind power,
solar and other renewables and this is just the early springtime for these
benign sources of energy.
The International Energy Agency sees a 25% cost reduction for wind power and
a 50% cost reduction for solar photovoltaics from 2001 to 2020. Without Wall
Street’s private capital and with rising construction and operating costs in
other countries, the prospect for nuclear power being competitive, even
deducting decommissioning costs, and the many millennia of waste storage
costs, is not there.
Add a major accident and you’ll see, in addition to casualties and
contaminated land and property, every private investor running for cover
while the bill is passed on to taxpayers.
Here is a suggestion to put the industry’s propaganda to rest. Will any high
nuclear industry executive debate physicist Amory Lovins at the National
Press Club filled with electric company leaders? If so, please visit
http://www.rmi.org and contact Mr. Lovins.
NEWS FROM BEYOND NUCLEAR
For Immediate Release
July 23, 2007
Contact: Linda Gunter
301.270.2209
info@beyondnuclear.org
Superb Los Angeles Times Editorial Makes Compelling Case against Turning to Nuclear Power to Combat Climate Change
TAKOMA PARK, MD – The Los Angeles Times today ran an excellent editorial on the detriments of nuclear power. In an extensive, detailed, and possibly unprecedented opinion piece, the Times laid out the definitive arguments against the nuclear power option in the context of climate change. The editorial can be found at: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-nuclear23jul23,0,378363.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail.
The editorial, entitled: A Warming World, No to Nukes, identified the case for nuclear power as “weak” and went on to list the many compelling reasons to eliminate the nuclear choice:
“The enormous cost of building nuclear plants, the reluctance of investors to fund them, community opposition and an endless controversy over what to do with the waste ensure that ramping up the nuclear infrastructure will be a slow process — far too slow to make a difference on global warming. That's just as well, because nuclear power is extremely risky. What's more, there are cleaner, cheaper, faster alternatives that come with none of the risks.
Beyond Nuclear applauds the Los Angeles Times for taking this stand, particularly in making the often neglected connection between nuclear power and nuclear weapons, an issue central to the Beyond Nuclear mission. The Times editorialists wrote:
“Weapons proliferation is an even more serious concern. The uranium used in nuclear reactors isn't concentrated enough for anything but a dirty bomb, but the same labs that enrich uranium for nuclear fuel can be used to create weapons-grade uranium. Thus any country, such as Iran, that pursues uranium enrichment for nuclear power might also be building a bomb factory. It would be more than a little hypocritical for the U.S. to expand its own nuclear power capacity while forbidding countries it doesn't like from doing the same.”
Beyond Nuclear urges the country’s press corps to take note of this important editorial, and to call upon the expertise and resources of the Beyond Nuclear staff at any time for follow-up on the broad array of related topics discussed in the piece.
Paul Gunter covers all aspects of nuclear reactor oversight for Beyond Nuclear: paul@beyondnuclear.org
Kevin Kamps covers all aspects of radioactive waste and the nuclear fuel chain for Beyond Nuclear. kevin@beyondnuclear.org
Cindy Folkers is a specialist in the radiation impacts on health at Beyond Nuclear. cindy@beyondnuclear.org
Linda Gunter authored with Paul Gunter a special report on the impacts to wildlife from the operation of nuclear reactors, due to be expanded and updated later this year. linda@beyondnuclear.org.
Beyond Nuclear staff members can be reached at: 301.270.2209.
Please visit our Web site at: www.beyondnuclear.org
###
Beyond Nuclear
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 400
Takoma Park, MD 20912
Tel: 301.270.2209 Fax: 301.270.4000
www.beyondnuclear.org
Radioactive material leaked undetected for days
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: July 19, 2007 Filed at 2:19 p.m. ET
KASHIWAZAKI, Japan (AP) -- Radioactive material leaked undetected for days
at an earthquake-battered nuclear power plant even as the utility was
assuring the public that the damage posed no danger to those outside the
site, company executives admitted Thursday.
The revelation cast more doubt on the plant's emergency measures and the
response by Japan's largest power company, while the indefinite shutdown of
the world's most powerful electricity generating facility raised serious
fears of a summer power shortage.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. confirmed reports that radioactive material was
leaking as late as Wednesday night, nearly three days after the plant
suffered a near-direct hit from a quake that killed 10 people and injured
more than 1,000 in Kashiwazaki on Japan's northern coast.
It was government inspectors who found radioactive iodine venting from an
exhaust pipe at the plant's No. 7 nuclear reactor, said Hisanori Nei, an
official with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. It escaped between
Tuesday and Wednesday night, Nei said.
Tokyo Electric previously announced other radioactive materials had escaped
from the pipe, but not iodine. An exhaust fan inside the building may not
have been turned off as instructed in the operations manual, company
spokesman Manabu Takeyama said.
Government inspectors concluded the iodine leak was too small to harm the
environment or public health, Nei said.
The utility also stressed the amount was extremely low and said it posed no
threat to the environment or local people.
But the revelation reinforced concerns about the plant's safety, coming a
day after Tokyo Electric issued a list of previously unreported damage from
the quake -- including a fire, burst pipes and waste spillage.
The seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant shut down automatically
when the quake hit, and authorities have ordered the plant closed
indefinitely while inspections and repairs are carried out to assure it can
be restarted safely.
Tokyo Electric has warned that the closure could cause a power shortage in
Japan as demand rises from summer use of air conditioners.
Six other power companies have said they will cooperate in providing
emergency electricity and Tokyo Electric is considering restarting
generating plants fueled by oil and natural gas, the utility said late
Thursday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki urged the operators of Japan's 55
nuclear reactors -- suppliers of one-third of Japan's energy -- to speed up
safety checks for earthquake resistance, a top concern in the temblor-prone
nation.
''Since there was such a huge earthquake that surpassed our expectations, we
need to consider future measures for quake resistance,'' Shiozaki said. ''I
asked them to speed up the assessment and checkups wherever possible.''
Officials at the plant conceded earlier that they had not foreseen the
possibility of an earthquake as powerful as the magnitude-6.8 temblor that
hit Monday. They also said the utility hadn't known about the nearby
offshore fault line in which the quake occurred.
The utility announced Thursday that the force of the quake exceeded its
resistance guidelines at all seven reactors, sometimes by more than double.
Public broadcaster NHK said the reading at the No. 1 reactor was the
strongest quake ever measured at a Japanese reactor.
Tokyo Electric has repeatedly underreported the quake's impact. After
initially saying it had caused a fire in an electrical transformer and the
spill of radioactive water into the Sea of Japan, the company reported 50
incidents of damage or leaks. Then it upped the number to 63.
Its stock tumbled again Thursday, sliding 5.6 percent to 3,400 yen a share,
or $27.88, bringing its losses since the quake to 10.3 percent.
Members of the Nuclear Safety Commission toured the sprawling plant Thursday
and criticized Tokyo Electric for missteps in its response to the
earthquake.
Even so, they concluded none of the errors had threatened public health.
The safety of the ''plant was fundamentally maintained and we avoided the
serious consequences of a nuclear accident,'' commission Chairman Atsuyuki
Suzuki said in a statement. ''The list of problems announced by TEPCO have
no serious effect on the safety of the reactor.''
Tokyo Electric has been punished for failing to accurately inform the public
of problems in the past.
Four years ago, the utility was forced to halt all of its 17 nuclear
reactors after admitting it misreported safety problems in the late 1980s
and early 1990s. The halt caused a power shortage in the summer of 2003, and
other utilities stepped in with emergency electricity production.
In that scandal, a trade ministry report revealed 29 cases of cracks or
minor structural damage in eight of Tokyo Electric's reactors, including two
reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa. The company's top three executives resigned,
but the utility insisted the cracks never posed a serious danger. The last
of the shuttered reactors wasn't cleared to reopen until July 2005.
The impact of Monday's quake has spread far beyond the region. Japan's auto
companies had to suspend production because a key parts maker sustained
damage during the temblor. Officials at the damaged factory said they
expected to restart production early next week.
People in the Kashiwazaki region struggled to put their lives back together
but basic services such as water had not been restored to some areas.
''We're just getting by day by day,'' said Masatoshi Ogawa, sitting in front
of his closed pinball parlor. ''Our houses were OK so we didn't have to go
to evacuation centers, but life without water is really inconvenient.''
------
Associated Press writers Kozo Mizoguchi and Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo
contributed to this report.
NEWS FROM BEYOND NUCLEAR
For Immediate Release
July 18, 2007
Contact: Linda Gunter, Beyond Nuclear
301.455.5655
linda@beyondnuclear.org
Concerns rise over vulnerability of U.S. atomic facilities to earthquakes after world’s largest nuclear plant damaged by Japanese quake
TAKOMA PARK, MD – The extensive damage at a seven-reactor nuclear power plant in Japan after an earthquake this week is stoking concern that U.S. reactors and other nuclear facilities may also be vulnerable to releases of deadly radioactivity into the environment due to earthquakes.
Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa atomic power plant, the largest in the world in terms of electricity output, suffered 50 cases of “malfunctioning and trouble” after a 6.7 tremor struck nearby two days ago. Radioactively contaminated water, now calculated at more than 600 gallons, leaked into the Pacific Ocean and an estimated 400 barrels containing radioactive waste tipped over, with 10% of the lids falling off. Hazardous radioactive isotopes, cobalt-60 and chromium-51, were emitted into the atmosphere from an exhaust stack.
Concerns that a similar event could happen here are confirmed by an incident in August 2004, when an earthquake in Illinois broke an underground pipe attached to one of the Dresden nuclear power plant’s radioactive waste condensate storage tanks. The broken pipe was leaking tritium (a harmful, radioactive form of hydrogen) into groundwater, creating an expanding underground plume of hazardous radioactive contamination.
Several U.S. atomic reactors may be especially vulnerable to earthquakes. The twin reactor Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant near San Luis Obispo, California was already built before it was discovered that an earthquake fault line associated with the infamous San Andreas Fault lay just offshore in the Pacific Ocean.
Fires, such as the one that broke out in Japan, are also a legitimate U.S. concern.
“Earthquakes are notorious for sparking fires, which could spell disaster at U.S. nuclear power plants given that many are not in compliance with safety regulations for fire protection and reactor shutdown systems,” said Paul Gunter, the nuclear industry watchdog at Beyond Nuclear, and an expert on nuclear plant fire protection. “An earthquake-sparked inferno, or failure to safely shut down a reactor, could lead to a meltdown, catastrophic release of radioactivity, and deadly fallout hundreds of miles downwind and downstream,” Gunter added.
A 1982 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) report, known as CRAC-2, shows that a major accident at a U.S. atomic reactor could cause tens to hundreds of thousands of radiation-related deaths and injuries, as well as hundreds of billions of dollars of property damage.
Risks extend to the radioactive wastes stored on-site at U.S. reactors as well. Environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit last month against the NRC for failing to enforce its earthquake safety regulations for outdoor storage of high-level radioactive wastes at the Palisades atomic reactor on the shores of Lake Michigan. The lake supplies drinking water for Chicago and millions downstream.
“An earthquake could bury the containers under sand causing the nuclear fuel rods to overheat, or could even submerge them under the waters of Lake Michigan,” said Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Watchdog at Beyond Nuclear. “This could initiate a nuclear chain reaction in the wastes making emergency response a suicide mission. In either case, it would amount to a radiological disaster for Lake Michigan and the millions who depend on it for drinking water.”
Earthquake risks also plague the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada dumpsite for commercial and military high-level radioactive wastes. Nearly three dozen earthquake fault lines are in the vicinity, and two faults actually intersect the proposed burial spot. Many hundreds of tremors larger than 2.5 on the Richter scale have struck within 50 miles of Yucca Mountain since 1975. One jolt, measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale, struck just ten miles from Yucca Mountain in 1992, doing extensive damage to the U.S. Department of Energy’s field office at the site. Critics fear that a major earthquake at the dump site could cause a radiological catastrophe by damaging waste handling surface facilities planned for the site, or could cause tunnel collapses that would breach waste burial containers, spilling their deadly contents into the drinking water aquifer below.
“The risks of earthquakes alone are reason enough to stop the Yucca Mountain dump proposal dead in its tracks right now,” said Kamps.
###
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Quake Chronology
Tokyo Electric Power Company’s seven reactor Kashiwazaki-Kariwa atomic power plant, the largest in the world in terms of electricity output, suffered 50 cases of “malfunctioning and trouble” after a 6.7 tremor struck nearby two days ago. Radioactively contaminated water, at first estimated to be around 315 gallons but later raised by 50%, leaked into the Pacific Ocean. Barrels containing radioactive waste tipped over, and 10% of their lids fell off; the number of barrels was first estimated at 100, but later increased to 400. Hazardous radioactive isotopes cobalt-60 and chromium-51 were emitted into the atmosphere from an exhaust stack. The first sign of trouble was not an alert issued by the company, but rather a column of black smoke pouring off a transformer fire that took two hours to bring under control. The quake, epi-centered on a previously unknown fault line just over five miles from the nuclear plant, created forces 2.5 times stronger than the plant was designed to withstand. Based upon data from the quake’s aftershocks, Japanese authorities now fear an extension of the fault line may pass very near to, or even directly under, the atomic complex itself. The twelve hour delay before the company announced the radioactive leak into the ocean, the day-long delay in discovering the tipped over barrels, and the increasing magnitude of the spills and other problems has caused consternation among environmental groups, local residents and politicians, even with the Japanese Prime Minister himself.
Report on Earthquake Damage to Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Facility In the early hours following the July 16 earthquake in Japan’s Niigata Prefecture, when Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) was reporting only a transformer fire and spill of 1.5 liters of radioactive water, NIRS criticized TEPCO for being slow to report information and told the Associated Press that we were waiting “for the other shoe to drop.”
That sound you hear is the rumble of an entire shoe factory tumbling to the ground.
It is now clear that the damage to the world’s largest nuclear power facility was far greater than
initially reported and that radiation releases were also far greater than reported. Indeed, it appears that radiation releases are continuing today (July 19, 2007). According to a report from Bloomberg News(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aCWh.1vTk3_Y&refer=home), 402 million Becquerels of radioactivity already have been released, although this government-supplied figure likely understates the reality, as radiation apparently continues to be released into the environment. According to the Associated Press (http://www.pr-inside.com/a-look-at-problems-found-at-r174712.htm) on July 17, damage to the reactors was extensive. The AP found the following problems listed at that time.
A list of malfunctions at the seven-reactor Kashiwazaki-Kariya nuclear power plant in northwestern
Japan following a powerful earthquake this week
* Fire at an electrical transformer facility.
* 1,200 liters of water containing radioactive material leaked into sea.
* About 100 barrels of radioactive waste knocked over in storage facility.
* Duct knocked out of place in major vent; possible leak of radioactive cobalt-60 and chromium-51
from five of the plant's reactors.
* Water leak inside buildings housing all seven reactors.
* Malfunctioning of water intake screening pump at two reactors.
* Blowout panel knocked down at turbine buildings at two reactors.
* Oil leak from low-activation transformer waste oil pipes at two reactors.
* Loss in water-tight seal at reactor core cooling system.
* Water leaks from diesel generator facility, burst extinguisher pipe, burst condenser valve and
filtration tank.
* Broken connections and broken bolt at electric transformer.
* Loss of power at control center for liquid waste disposal facility.
* Oil leaks from damaged transformer and magnetic transformer facility.
* Oil leak at reactor water supply pump facility.
* Disrupted electrical connection at magnetic transformer facility.
* Cracks in embankment of water intake facility.
* Air and oil leaks at switching stations.
* Land under parts of plant turned to mud in quake-caused process known as liquefaction.
However, as of July 19, we now know that some 400, not 100, barrels of radioactive waste were knocked over, and about 40 lost their lids. At least some of the waste was liquid, and leaked into the building, according to Citizens Nuclear Information Center (CNIC) in Japan (for more information on nuclear power in Japan, visit their website at http://cnic.jp/english/). It is not known whether radiation from these spills has leaked outside the building.
The 1200 liters (about 317 gallons) of radioactive water spilled into the Sea of Japan apparently came from the irradiated fuel pool at Unit 6 at the site. This is one of the two newer units: it is a 1315 MW General Electric/Toshiba Boiling Water Reactor that came online in November 1996. According to Japanese officials, the newest reactor at the site, a 1315 MW GE/Hitachi Boiling Water Reactor that came online in July 1997, has been venting radioactive steam into the air since the earthquake began, and continues to do so today (July 19). We have been unable to determine radiation levels of these releases.
The earthquake exceeded the design basis for the reactors, and the facility does not meet new Japanese earthquake standards put in place in September 2006. Moreover, the fault that caused the quake is apparently directly underneath the facility site, and was not discovered prior to construction. It is not yet known whether this fault is capable of an even larger earthquake than the 6.8 measured on July 16. In a July 17 statement, CNIC said, “In just two years three earthquakes (off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture on 16 August 2005, off the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on 25 March 2007, and now this one) have exceeded the "extreme design earthquake" assumed at the time the plants were built. In September 2006, for the first time in 28 years, the Nuclear Safety Commission revised Japan's earthquake guidelines. Japan's nuclear power companies are now carrying out earthquake safety checks on the basis of the new guidelines. By rights, all nuclear power plants should be shut down until these checks have been completed.”
All of the reactors at Kashiwasaki Kariwa currently are shutdown and likely will be so for a long time to come as additional damage comes to light and its ability to withstand future earthquakes comes further into question. Initial projections are that the reactors will be closed for at least a year, and it is highly possible they will never reopen. Already, the earthquake has caused TEPCO to lose $4.3 Billion of its market value, according to Bloomberg. A lengthy shutdown of the world’s largest nuclear facility will undoubtedly cause far greater cost to the utility.
Ironically, TEPCO’s website touts its nuclear program, and states as its number one priority in restoring public confidence in that program, “Promoting disclosure of information and ensuring transparency of nuclear operations.” Clearly, TEPCO’s commitment to transparency is no more than a slogan and it is unlikely public confidence will ever be regained.
For the United States, the lesson is unmistakable: the earthquake reminds us of the fragility and danger of nuclear power and its ability to withstand the acts of Mother Nature. Nuclear reactors and earthquake faults simply don’t mix. An immediate need is to permanently end any further discussion of installation of dry cask radioactive waste storage units at the Diablo Canyon site on California’s earthquake-prone Pacific coast. NIRS will attempt to update this report as events warrant.
The Kashiwasaki Kariwa facility consists of seven Boiling Water Reactors. Three are of Toshiba design and are 1067 MW each. Unit 1 came online in September 1985, Unit 2 in September 1990 and Unit 3 in August 1993. Two are Hitachi reactors of 1067 MW each: Unit 4 came online in August 1994 and Unit 5 in April 1990. Unit 6, a GE/Toshiba BWR of 1315 MW, came online in November 1996 and Unit 7, a 1315 MW GE/Hitachi BWR came online in July 1997. Taken together, until July 16, 2007, these represented the world’s largest nuclear power facility.
Michael Mariotte, July 19, 2007
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 340
Takoma Park, MD 20912
301-270-6477
nirsnet@nirs.org, www.nirs.org
Earthquake, fire and nuclear leak in Japan Greenpeace July 19, 2007
A 6.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the world's largest nuclear plant on Monday, causing a transformer fire. Since then, revelations have been coming out about spills and leaks at the plant.
Initially, plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said there was no leak of radioactivity. Then it said there was a small leak of radioactively contaminated water. Then the size of the leak turned out to be much larger than originally reported, and the water was 50 percent more radioactive than they had first said. Then it came out that hundreds of nuclear waste barrels had fallen over, with the lids coming off dozens of them. Oh and, it was revealed that cobalt-60 and chromium-51 was released into the atmosphere from an exhaust stack.Lucky?
It's hard to call the residents of Kashiwazaki lucky. Hundreds were injured by the quake, at least nine have died and thousands have been rushed to emergency shelters. But, if any of the four working reactors had lost power to their coolant system, it could have gone much worse. From the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center:
Even after automatic shutdown, the fuel in the reactor core is still extremely hot, so it is necessary to maintain a continual flow of coolant. If it is not maintained, the fuel could melt, leading to the release of highly radioactive material into the environment. Under some circumstances, it could also result in an explosion.
Despite the potential seriousness of this fire, TEPCO failed to announce whether the transformer continued to operate, or whether the emergency generator started up.
According to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, TEPCO admitted its disaster response measures did not function successfully, and that there were only four workers available to extinguish the fire, which burned for almost two hours.
The ground vibrations from the earthquake were more severe than the nuclear plant was designed to withstand, and there are some indications that a previously undiscovered fault line runs under the plant. Japan is one of the world's most earthquake prone countries, and also one of the most reliant on nuclear power. Not a good combination.
The delay in reporting leaks and spills also comes as no surprise to industry watchers, but it does seem that Japan's government may finally be loosing patience with an industry rocked by scandal for the past decade.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters, "They raised the alert too late. I have sent stern instructions that such alerts must be raised seriously and swiftly." He continued, "Those involved should reflect on their actions."
"Nuclear power can only operate with the people's trust," Abe told reporters. The litany below shows that the betrayal of peoples trust is standing operating procedure for Japan's nuclear industry.
Nuclear power is never safe, but it is even more dangerous with a potent combination of lies, cover-ups and geological fault lines.A lot to reflect on
The Japanese nuclear industry, and TEPCO in particular, is no stranger to scandal.
In 2002, three top TEPCO officials resigned after finally acknowledging that the company had violated safety regulations and falsified records at three of its largest nuclear power plants (including the one at Kashiwazaki). All 17 TEPCO reactors were ordered to shut down at the end of the investigation. The cover-up had been going on since the 1980s.
More examples:
March 2007 - It was discovered that the Hokuriku utility did not inform the public or nuclear inspectors about a serious incident at Shika nuclear power plant where, on July 18th, 1999, failure of control rods lead to an uncontrolled chain reaction.
April 2006 - A radioactive spill of 40 litres of liquid containing plutonium occurs at a brand new reprocessing plant in Rokkasho-Mura.
August 2004 - A ruptured pipe in Mihama nuclear power plant kills five workers.
July 2002 - A shipment of plutonium pellets leaves Japan, on a return journey to the UK, after revelations that British Nuclear Fuels falsified records about safety checks in their production.
September 1999 - Workers at a fuel factory in Tokaimura fail to follow guidelines, leading to an uncontrolled chain reaction that lasts for three days. Three workers die due to high irradiation and the neighbourhood is evacuated.
The Earthquake that Screamed "NO NUKES!!!"
Posted July 19, 2007 | 11:51 AM (EST) by Harvey Wasserman
The massive earthquake that shook Japan this week nearly killed millions in
a nuclear apocalypse.
It also produced one of the most terrifying sentences ever buried in a
newspaper. As reported deep in the New York Times, the Tokyo Electric
Company has admitted that "the force of the shaking caused by the earthquake
had exceeded the design limits of the reactors, suggesting that the plant's
builders had underestimated the strength of possible earthquakes in the
region."
There are 55 reactors in Japan. Virtually all of them are on or near major
earthquake faults. Kashiwazaki alone hosts seven, four of which were forced
into the dangerous SCRAM mode to narrowly avoid meltdowns. At least 50
separate serious problems have been so far identified, including fire and
the spillage of barrels filled with radioactive wastes.
There are four active reactors in California on or near major earthquake
faults, as are the two at Indian Point north of New York City. On January
31, 1986, an earthquake struck the Perry reactor east of Cleveland, knocking
out roads and bridges, as well as pipes within the plant, which (thankfully)
was not operating at the time. The governor of Ohio, then Richard Celeste,
sued to keep Perry shut, but lost in federal court.
The fault that hit Perry is an off-shoot of the powerful New Madrid line
that runs through the Mississippi River Valley, threatening numerous
reactors. The Beyond Nuclear Project reports that in August, 2004, a quake
hit the Dresden reactor in Illinois, resulting in a leak of radioactive
tritium. Nevada's Yucca Mountain, slated as the nation's high-level
radioactive waste dump, has a visible fault line running through it.
More than 400 atomic reactors are on-line worldwide. How many are vulnerable
to seismic shocks we can only shudder to guess. But one-eighth of them sit
in one of the world's richest, most technologically advanced, most densely
populated industrial nations, which has now admitted its reactor designs
cannot match the power an earthquake that has just happened.
In whatever language it's said, that translates into the unmistakable
warning that the world's atomic reactors constitute a multiple, ticking
seismic time bomb. Talk of building more can only be classified as suicidal
irresponsibility.
Tokyo Electric's behavior since the quake defines the industry's
credibility. For three consecutive days (with more undoubtedly to come) the
utility has been forced to issue public apologies for erroneous statements
about the severity of the damage done to the reactors, the size and
lethality of radioactive spills into the air and water, the on-going danger
to the public, and much more.
Once again, the only thing reactor owners can be trusted to do is to lie.
Prior to the March 28, 1979 disaster at Three Mile Island, the industry for
years assured the public that the kind of accident that did happen was
"impossible."
Then the utility repeatedly assured the public there had been no melt-down
of fuel and no danger of further catastrophe. Nine years later a robotic
camera showed that nearly all the fuel had melted, and that avoiding a
full-blown catastrophe was little short of a miracle.
The industry continues to say no one was killed at TMI. But it does not know
how much radiation was released, where it went or who it might have harmed.
Since 1979 its allies in the courts have denied 2400 central Pennsylvania
families the right to test their belief that they and their loved ones have
been killed and maimed en masse.
Prior to its April 26, 1986, explosion, Soviet Life Magazine ran a major
feature extolling the virtually "accident-proof design" of Chernobyl Unit
Four.
Then the former Soviet Union of Mikhail Gorbachev kept secret the gargantuan
radiation releases that have killed thousands and yielded a horrific plague
of cancers, leukemia, birth defects and more throughout the region, and
among the more than 800,000 drafted "jumpers" who were forced to run through
the plant to clean it up.
Since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the industry has claimed its
reactors can withstand the effects of a jet crash, and are immune to
sabotage. The claims are as patently absurd as the lies about TMI and
Chernobyl.
So, too, the endless, dogged assurances from Japan that no earthquake could
do to Kashiwazaki what has just happened.
Yet today and into the future, expensive ads will flood the US and global
airwaves, full of nonsense about the "need" for new nukes.
There is only one thing we know for certain about this advertising: it is a
lie.
Atomic reactors contribute to global warming rather than abating it. In
construction, in the mining, milling and enriching of the fuel, in on-going
"normal" releases of heat and radioactivity, in dismantling and
decommissioning, in managing radioactive wastes, in future terror attacks,
in proliferation of nuke weapons, and much much more, atomic energy is an
unmitigated eco-disaster.
To this list we must now add additional tangible evidence that reactors
allegedly built to withstand "worst case" earthquakes in fact cannot. And
when they go down, the investment is lost, and power shortages arise (as is
now happening in Japan) that are filled by the burning of fossil fuels.
It costs up to ten times as much to produce energy from a nuke as to save it
with efficiency. Advances in wind, solar and other green "Solartopian"
technologies mean atomic energy simply cannot compete without massive
subsidies, loan guarantees and government insurance to protect it from
catastrophes to come.
This latest "impossible" earthquake has not merely shattered the alleged
safeguards of Japan's reactor fleet. It has blown apart---yet again---any
possible argument for building more reactors anywhere on this beleaguered
Earth.
Harvey Wasserman's SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH, A.D. 2030, is at
http://www.solartopia.org
He is senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information &
Resource Service, and senior editor of http://www.freepress.org, where this
piece originally appeared. In 1975 he spoke near the Kashiwazaki complex,
urging its shut down.
Leak Went Undetected For Days At Nuclear Plant
By Associated Press Published on 7/20/2007 in Home »Nation, World »National News Kashiwazaki, Japan (AP)Radioactive material leaked undetected for days at an earthquake-battered nuclear power plant even as the utility was assuring the public that the damage posed no danger to those outside the site, company executives admitted Thursday.
The revelation cast more doubt on the plant's emergency measures and the response by Japan's largest power company, while the indefinite shutdown of the world's most powerful electricity generating facility raised serious fears of a summer power shortage.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. confirmed reports that radioactive material was leaking as late as Wednesday night, nearly three days after the plant suffered a near-direct hit from a quake that killed 10 people and injured more than 1,000 in Kashiwazaki on Japan's northern coast.
It was government inspectors who found radioactive iodine venting from an exhaust pipe at the plant's No. 7 nuclear reactor, said Hisanori Nei, an official with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. It escaped between Tuesday and Wednesday night, Nei said.
Tokyo Electric previously announced other radioactive materials had escaped from the pipe, but not iodine. An exhaust fan inside the building may not have been turned off as instructed in the operations manual, company spokesman Manabu Takeyama said.
Government inspectors concluded the iodine leak was too small to harm the environment or public health, Nei said. The utility also stressed the amount was extremely low and said it posed no threat to the environment or local people.
But the revelation reinforced concerns about the plant's safety, coming a day after Tokyo Electric issued a list of previously unreported damage from the quake — including a fire, burst pipes and waste spillage.
The seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant shut down automatically when the quake hit, and authorities have ordered the plant closed indefinitely while inspections and repairs are carried out to assure it can be restarted safely.
Tokyo Electric has warned that the closure could cause a power shortage in Japan as demand rises from summer use of air conditioners.
Six other power companies have said they will cooperate in providing emergency electricity and Tokyo Electric is considering restarting generating plants fueled by oil and natural gas, the utility said late Thursday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki urged the operators of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors — suppliers of one-third of Japan's energy — to speed up safety checks for earthquake resistance, a top concern in the temblor-prone nation.
“Since there was such a huge earthquake that surpassed our expectations, we need to consider future measures for quake resistance,” Shiozaki said. “I asked them to speed up the assessment and checkups wherever possible.”
Officials at the plant conceded earlier that they had not foreseen the possibility of an earthquake as powerful as the magnitude-6.8 temblor that hit Monday. They also said the utility hadn't known about the nearby offshore fault line in which the quake occurred.
The utility announced Thursday that the force of the quake exceeded its resistance guidelines at all seven reactors, sometimes by more than double. Public broadcaster NHK said the reading at the No. 1 reactor was the strongest quake ever measured at a Japanese reactor.
Tokyo Electric has repeatedly underreported the quake's impact. After initially saying it had caused a fire in an electrical transformer and the spill of radioactive water into the Sea of Japan, the company reported 50 incidents of damage or leaks. Then it upped the number to 63.
Its stock tumbled again Thursday, sliding 5.6 percent to 3,400 yen a share, or $27.88, bringing its losses since the quake to 10.3 percent.
Members of the Nuclear Safety Commission toured the sprawling plant Thursday and criticized Tokyo Electric for missteps in its response to the earthquake.
Even so, they concluded none of the errors had threatened public health.
The safety of the “plant was fundamentally maintained and we avoided the serious consequences of a nuclear accident,” commission Chairman Atsuyuki Suzuki said in a statement. “The list of problems announced by TEPCO have no serious effect on the safety of the reactor.”
Tokyo Electric has been punished for failing to accurately inform the public of problems in the past.
Four years ago, the utility was forced to halt all of its 17 nuclear reactors after admitting it misreported safety problems in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The halt caused a power shortage in the summer of 2003, and other utilities stepped in with emergency electricity production.
In that scandal, a trade ministry report revealed 29 cases of cracks or minor structural damage in eight of Tokyo Electric's reactors, including two reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa. The company's top three executives resigned, but the utility insisted the cracks never posed a serious danger. The last of the shuttered reactors wasn't cleared to reopen until July 2005.
The impact of Monday's quake has spread far beyond the region. Japan's auto companies had to suspend production because a key parts maker sustained damage during the temblor. Officials at the damaged factory said they expected to restart production early next week.
People in the Kashiwazaki region struggled to put their lives back together but basic services such as water had not been restored to some areas.
“We're just getting by day by day,” said Masatoshi Ogawa, sitting in front of his closed pinball parlor. “Our houses were OK so we didn't have to go to evacuation centers, but life without water is really inconvenient.”
Situation grave at world's largest nuclear plant
by Deep Harm Wed Jul 18, 2007 at 06:25:27 AM PDT http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/18/92527/0219
The world's largest nuclear plant, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, experienced a fire and damage after two earthquakes on Monday. Accounts of the damage worsen with each new report, and now data indicate that the plant sits directly over a fault line. The plant's seven reactors are currently shut down, but keeping them safely shut down will be difficult. If technicians cannot keep cooling water flowing to the radioactive cores, those could overheat, resulting in a meltdown and massive release of radiation. The head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency has urged Japanese authorities to investigate the accident fully.
Deep Harm's diary :: ::
There are disparities regarding the magnitude and even the number of earthquakes. But, Bloomberg currently gives this account.
The quake struck at 10.13am Japan time on Monday, 24km from Kashiwazaki and 240km from Tokyo, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said on its website. It revised the magnitude to 6.6 from a preliminary 6.8. The Japan Meteorological Agency initially put the level at 6.6 before revising it to 6.8.
A second quake of 6.8 magnitude struck 13 hours later and 330km to the west, causing no damage.
Japanese authorities seemed surprised at the extent of the damage. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant supposedly was designed to withstand an earthquake. If, however, there was more than one epicenter, the effect of seismic waves approaching from different angles would be far more devastating than a single quake, or even multiple tremors from the same epicenter.
Bloomberg reports two other recent quakes, of similar magnitude: one in October 2004 and one in March of this year. Possibly, the earlier quakes strained plant structures, leaving them vulnerable to Monday's quake.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), operator of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, has been slow to reveal to authorities and the public reveal the nature and full extent of damages.
The earthquake Monday off the Japanese coast killed nine people, started a small fire at the sprawling Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear complex and caused 312 gallons of radioactive water from the plant to spill into the Sea of Japan. Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the plant, didn't announce the leak until nearly 12 hours after the quake struck.
"They were hiding the truth," said Masako Sawai, researcher at Tokyo's Citizens' Nuclear Information Center.
An accurate assessment of the situation is needed so that citizs can prepare to take appropriate precautionary measures, such as evacuating the vicinity. But, there is no evidence that such a plan has been prepared.
On Tuesday, plant officials dropped another shoe, confirming that "about 100 drums containing nuclear waste at a warehouse had fallen over and "several" lost their lids." TEPCO admitted to a second release of radiation, followed by an admission that the release was twice as large as reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe blasted Tokyo Electric. "They raised the alert too late," he said. "I have sent stern instructions that such alerts must be raised seriously and swiftly. Those involved should repent their actions."
Just in case TEPCO had any ideas about restarting the reactors, the mayor of Kashiwazaki, on Wednesday, ordered a halt to operations on Wednesday for "safety reasons."
On Wednesday, the operators announced that 400 drums of nuclear waste, not 100, have been tipped over, and 40 have lost their lids. But, repeated issuance of round numbers suggests that plant officials are making very rought estimates, perhaps as a way of easing in worse news to come.
Additional malfunctions, listed in an Associated Press report, include the following (as of July 17).
Duct knocked out of place in major vent; possible leak of radioactive cobalt-60 and chromium-51 from five of the plant's reactors.
Water leak inside buildings housing all seven reactors.
Malfunctioning of water intake screening pump at two reactors.
Blowout panel knocked down at turbine buildings at two reactors.
Oil leak from low-activation transformer waste oil pipes at two reactors.
Loss in water-tight seal at reactor core cooling system.
Water leaks from diesel generator facility, burst extinguisher pipe, burst condenser valve and filtration tank.
Broken connections and broken bolt at electric transformer.
Loss of power at control center for liquid waste disposal facility.
Oil leaks from damaged transformer and magnetic transformer facility.
Oil leak at reactor water supply pump facility.
Disrupted electrical connection at magnetic transformer facility.
Cracks in embankment of water intake facility.
Air and oil leaks at switching stations.
Land under parts of plant turned to mud in quake-caused process known as liquefaction.
Information is still sketchy, but the presence of water leaks inside the reactor buildings and at the diesel generator facility (which presumably supplies backup power for pumping), and the failure of a "water-tight seal at the reactor core cooling system" are worrisome signs.
The difficulty of working with malfunctioning equipment can lead to errors, such as operators experienced at Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania (USA), where a partial meltdown occurred on March 28, 1979. But, a meltdown at the Japanese nuclear plant would have a far greater impact because the Kashiwazaki plant dwarfs any in the United States.
The incident in Japan is sufficiently serious that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is on emergency standby.
As of late on Monday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it had not received any official request for aid from Japan, but stood ready to weigh such request if one was made.
As NRC officials wait, they should reconsider their basis for licensing plants in California and other seismically active areas. The AP reports that "the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires that nuclear plants be built with the capacity to withstand the strongest earthquake to hit its site within 100 years." But, 100 years, the approximate span of recordkeeping on earthquakes, is a very misleading measure of earthquake risk. Earthquakes of great size may occur several centuries or hundreds of centuries apart. Geologists can identify fault lines and make estimates of the frequency and timing of movements on the faults. That is a very rough guide, but more reasonable and cautious than the NRC standard.
Like U.S. authorities, the Chairman of the board of the The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan (FEPC)last year spoke reassuringly about the earthquake resistance of Japanese nuclear reactors. But, his speech also included hints of problems.
With respect to existing nuclear power plants, we have until now designed such plants with a sufficient margin of earthquake resistance, and have assessed earthquake-resistance safety in the light of appropriate recent information. When the current guidelines are revised, we will of course reassess earthquake-resistance safety in light of the new guidelines.
It must be noted, however, that assessment of earthquake-resistance safety will require geological surveys and other measures that are expected to take considerable time to complete. As such, we plan to have each electric power supplier undertake voluntary measures to ensure an improved margin of earthquake-resistance safety in advance of the new guidelines’ implementation.
Monday's earthquake should put pressure on authorities to speed up those investigations. Very likely, too, there will be additional investigations into TEPCO's management, similar to this February 2007 report about falsification of plant inspection data, which you won't read about in the pro-nuclear mainstream press.
(February 01, 2007) The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on Thursday requested Tokyo Electric Power Co. to report full details of its newly unearthed false data on power plant inspections and devise measures to prevent data falsification.
Nobuaki Terasaka, the agency's director-general for nuclear and industrial safety policy, summoned Tokyo Electric Vice President Katsutoshi Chikudate and instructed the power company to submit the report by March 1.
On Wednesday, Tokyo Electric said it had fabricated the results of legally required inspections of nuclear and other power plants to conceal breakdowns and problems seen in equipment at the plants.
Lest readers think that the Japanese are less conscientious than other countries with nuclear power plants, reports of cover-ups from Germany, Sweden, Canada, Scotland, and the USA show that failing to report safety problems is common practice at nuclear plants around the world. Nevertheless, the Bush administration wants to increase the number of nuclear plants in the United States without answering a critical question: Why so many lies?
By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press WriterWed Jul 18, 11:01 AM ET
The operator of an earthquake-ravaged nuclear plant said Wednesday a radioactive leak from the plant was 50 percent bigger than first reported two days ago. The mayor ordered the facility closed until its safety could be confirmed.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. also said about 400 barrels containing low-level radioactive waste at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant were knocked over, and the lids had come off 40 of them, as a result of Monday's deadly 6.8-magnitude quake. The announcement revised the company's earlier estimate of 100 tipped barrels.
"We made a mistake in calculating the amount that leaked into the ocean. We apologize and make correction," Tokyo Electric said in a statement. Spokesman Jun Oshima said the amount of radioactive water that leaked into the Sea of Japan was still "one-billionth of Japan's legal limit."
Tokyo Electric spokesman Tsutomu Uehara said no radiation has been detected outside the nuclear plant.
Japanese automakers, meanwhile, called production halts Wednesday at factories because of quake damage at a major parts supplier. Production was scaled back at Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Fuji Heavy Industries.
Toyota, Japan's No. 1 automaker, will stop production lines at a dozen factories centered in central Aichi prefecture Thursday afternoon and Friday. The shutdown was due to the temporary closure of Riken Corp.'s plant at Kashiwazaki, near the epicenter of Monday's quake.
Toyota will assess the situation at Riken, supplier of key transmission and engine parts, before deciding whether to resume production Monday, he said.
Repair workers on Wednesday climbed over the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa's three-story transformer building, which was charred from top to bottom in a fire Monday.
A tour given to Japan's Communist Party chief, Kazuo Shii, and reporters revealed widespread damage across the sprawling compound, including large cracks in roads, toppled concrete fences and buckled sidewalks.
"This is unforgivable," Shii told TEPCO Deputy Superintendent Masakazu Minamidate. "You say there's no leak before you really know. ... The delay in information was especially inexcusable."
TEPCO President Tsunehisa Katsumata toured the site earlier, declaring it "a mess" and apologizing for "all the worry and trouble we have caused."
"We will conduct an investigation from the ground up. But I think fundamentally we have confirmed that our safety measures worked," he said.
Hiroshi Aida, mayor of Kashiwazaki, a city near the epicenter that is home to the plant and 93,500 people, ordered operations at the plant halted Wednesday for "safety reasons."
The malfunctions and a delay in reporting them fueled concerns about the safety of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors, which have suffered a string of accidents and cover-ups. Nuclear power plants around Japan were ordered to conduct inspections.
Adding to the urgency of any investigation was new data from quake aftershocks that suggested a fault line may run underneath the mammoth power plant.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, located 135 miles northwest of Tokyo, has been plagued with mishaps. In 2001, a radioactive leak was found in the turbine room of one reactor. It is the world's largest nuclear plant in power output capacity. '
Signs of problems after the quake Monday came first not from the officials, but in a plume of smoke after the quake triggered a small fire at an electrical transformer. Twelve hours later, the company announced the quake also caused a leak of about 315 gallons of water containing radioactive material.
Later Tuesday, it said 50 cases of "malfunctioning and trouble" had been found. Four of the plant's seven reactors were running at the time of the quake, and they were all shut down automatically by a safety mechanism.
Meanwhile, TEPCO spokesman Hiroshi Itagaki said that information accumulated by studying aftershocks shows that a fault line stretches under the ocean near the coast, which is not far from the plant. He declined to say how close to the plant the fault might come.
Osamu Kamigaichi, an official at Japan's Meteorological Agency, which monitors earthquakes, said it was possible the fault line stretched to underneath the plant grounds.
Across the town, more than 8,000 residents hunkered down for their second night in shelters. Late Wednesday, police discovered a 76-year-old man crushed to death under a temple in Kashiwazaki, bringing the quake's fatalities to 10.
For residents, thousands of whom work at the plant, the controversy over its safety compounded already severe problems, which included heavy rains and the threat of landslides, water and power outages.
"Whenever there is an earthquake, the first thing we worry about is the nuclear plant. I worry about whether there will be a fire or something," said Kiyokazu Tsunajima, a tailor who sat outside with his family, afraid an aftershock might collapse his damaged house.
The area around Kashiwazaki was hit by an earthquake three years ago that killed 67 people, but the plant suffered no damage.
The plant's safety record and its proximity to a fault line prompted residents to file lawsuits claiming the government had failed to conduct sufficient safety reviews when it approved construction of the plant in the 1970s. But in 2005, a Tokyo court threw out a lawsuit filed by 33 residents, saying there was no error in the government safety reviews.
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Associated Press writers Hiroko Tabuchi and Kozo Mizoguchi in Tokyo and Sarah DiLorenzo in New York contributed to this report.
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