New Nukes
The government is being taken to court in a bid to derail its plans for a programme of new nuclear power stations because of fears that leaking radiation will give children cancer. A 24-year-old community worker from Lancaster has won legal aid to launch an unprecedented High Court action against Chris Huhne, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Lawyers claim the action could delay, or even stop, the nuclear programme. Rory Walker, who lives close to Heysham where new reactors are planned, is worried about having children who could suffer an increased risk of leukaemia. His court challenge is backed by radiation experts and is being pursued by one of Britain’s largest law firms, Irwin Mitchell. Evidence from government-sponsored studies in Germany has suggested that young children who live close to nuclear power stations suffer twice as many leukaemias and other cancers as other children. The studies, known as KiKK (Kinderkrebs in der Umgebung von KernKraftwerken), have prompted an investigation by the UK Department of Health, the results of which were originally due to be published before the end of last year, but have been delayed.
Guardian 25th March 2011 more >>
Rob Edwards 25th March 2011 more >>
Lancashire Evening Post 25th March 2011 more >>
UK Government needs to urgently inspect ageing UK nuclear reactors and cancel the new nuclear build programme in the wake of the exlosions at the Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan. In Europe we note that both the German and the Swiss Governments are putting an immediate moratorium on the decision to extend the life of their ageing fleet of nuclear reactors. We ask the UK Government to urgently review the recent decisions to extend the life of a number of its own ageing nuclear reactors, such as at Wylfa and at Oldbury. We also ask that the recent review announced by Chris Huhne of nuclear safety is coupled with a decision to seek a full cancellation of any further development of a UK new nuclear build programme.
Westmorland Gazette 24th March 2011 more >>
For a world that was on the brink of a major expansion in nuclear power, a key question raised by the Fukushima Daiichi crisis is this: Would brand-new reactors have fared better in the power outage that triggered dangerous overheating at one of Japan’s oldest power plants? The answer seems to be: Not necessarily.
National Geographic 23rd March 2011 more >>
Tom Burke: A vigorous, focused and well resourced Government effort to get new nuclear off the ground has been underway for years. The trouble is the dreadful economics clash with the commitment not to offer any subsidies. Electricity Market Reform is supposed to solve that problem, but what we have at the moment is the weird sight of a government actually picking a technology loser while pretending it is not in the business of picking technology winners
ENDS Report March 2011 (subscription only) more >>
Japan
Abnormally high levels of radioactive materials were again detected in the sea near the crisis-hit nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, its operator said Thursday, warning the radiation levels in seawater may keep rising. According to Tokyo Electric Power Co., radioactive iodine-131 146.9 times higher than the legal concentration limit was detected Wednesday morning in a seawater sample taken around 330 meters south of the plant, near the drain outlets of its troubled four reactors.
Kyodo News 24th March more >>
A high-level radiation leak detected Thursday at one of six troubled reactors at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant indicates possible damage to the reactor’s vessel, pipes or valves, the government’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Friday. Three workers at the No. 3 reactor’s turbine building, connected to the reactor building, were exposed Thursday to water containing radioactive materials 10,000 times the normal level, with two of them taken to hospital due to possible radiation burns to their feet, the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
Kyodo News 25th March 2011 more >>
Japan moved on Friday to widen the exclusion zone around its radiation-leaking atomic power station, by “recommending” residents in a 20-30km band around the plant to leave and telling them to prepare for a possible mandatory evacuation. Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary, said the government had taken the decision in response to increasingly difficult living conditions inside the band, where for nearly two weeks people have been under orders to stay inside
FT 25th March 2011 more >>
The plant’s owners, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), and the government say people will be safe here as long as they stay inside. Mr Ueda sent his wife and two children to Tokyo despite the reassurances. “I don’t know who to trust,” says Mr Ueda. “TEPCO have hidden problems in the past.” Japan’s power giant is denying any responsibility for the current crisis at its Fukushima Dai-Chi plant and is set for a legal scrap over liabilities which could have a profound influence on the future of nuclear power worldwide. TEPCO insists that the magnitude 9 earthquake on 11 March was outside the range of anything previously predicted. But testimony from those involved in the design and regulation of the plant, as well as leaked documents, portray a company that cut costs and ignored warnings in the build-up to the disaster.
Independent 25th March 2011 more >>
Shops across Tokyo began rationing yesterday after panic-buying of bottled water and disrupted deliveries left shelves bare. Milk, rice, water and toilet paper were among staples in short supply. Panic-buying followed an announcement from city officials that radioactive iodine had been found in the capital’s tapwater at more than twice the level considered safe for babies.
Scotsman 25th March 2011 more >>
Tokyo officials have started giving out 240,000 half-litre bottles of water to 80,000 families with infants in the city, 137 miles south of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, after panic buying in the capital cleared supermarket shelves.
Telegraph 24th March 2011 more >>
Japan will have to review its nuclear power policy, its top government spokesman said, as fear of radiation from an earthquake-damaged nuclear complex spread both at home and abroad. Radiation above safety levels has also been found in milk and vegetables from Fukushima and the Kyodo news agency said radioactive caesium 1.8 times higher than the standard level was found in a leafy vegetable grown at a Tokyo research facility. Alarm has spread, particularly among Japan’s neighbours.
Reuters 25th March 2011 more >>
Three of the Fukushima Fifty have been rushed to hospital with radiation poisoning as they battle to save Japan’s crippled power plant from nuclear meltdown. Fumio Matsuda, a spokesman for the nuclear safety agency, said the three workers, two in their 20s and one in his 30s, came face to face with the danger they had all feared when contaminated water came into contact with their skin at the Fukushima Dai-chi plant. Officials said they were standing in irradiated water in the No.3 reactor when it somehow seeped through their protective gear, causing them to be contaminated with a level of radiation almost twice as high as the accepted ‘safe’ limit.
Daily Mail 24th March 2011 more >>
Guardian 25th March 2011 more >>
FT 25th March 2011 more >>
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne says the Government turned down the same type of nuclear reactor that engineers are struggling to bring under control at Japan’s Fukushima plant.
Engineering & Technology 24th March 2011 more >>
Japanese engineers have warned that the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power station is far from over and it will be up to two weeks before they can declare the site safe.
Telegraph 24th March 2011 more >>
Sea salt may be hampering Japanese recovery operations. Corrosive salt from seawater may be adding to problems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, damaged two weeks ago by the megaquake and tsunami in Japan. Concerns are now arising about the effect of salt deposits in reactors and cooling systems as the water is boiled away by intense heat from the fuel
New Scientist 24th March 2011 more >>
A couple of examples below of how the radiation data being made public by the Japanese authorities can be represented. Rather than the static information you’d get in a print article, citing X microsieverts per hour, for example, these visualisations give you a sense of how the situation has evolved.
Guardian 24th March 2011 more >>
Timeline of the accident.
Wikipedia 25th March 2011 more >>
Bankers at Sumitomo Mitsui were returning a 14-year-old favour to Tokyo Electric Power when they pulled together a consortium this week to offer Y2,000bn in emergency loans to the utility at the centre of Japans nuclear crisis. When the bank faced liquidity problems during the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Tepco, a loyal customer that had a top-notch credit rating, raised about $2bn at low rates from western banks, according to people familiar with the matter. It promptly put the cash on deposit at Sumitomo Mitsui, helping the bank through the crisis.
FT 25th March 2011 more >>
Implications
Letter: In light of the Japan nuclear disaster people are now aware of the dangers. The question I would like to see debated is: should people living within 25km/15.5 miles of a nuclear power station or nuclear submarine base not be educated in the potential dangers so that they will be better prepared if it ever was to happen again.
Scotsman 25th March 2011 more >>
National Policy Statements
Given the events in Japan, the government will make a statement about the six energy NPSs as soon as the situation there has ‘clarified’ (and the nuclear one at least will wait until after the Weightman Report in mid May).
Bircham Dyson Bell 24th March 2011 more >>
Parliament
The energy secretary has said there is no complacency about the safety of the UK’s nuclear power stations. At DECC questions today Chris Huhne reassured MPs there are “very substantial differences between our situation and that in Japan”. He said the government’s plans for new nuclear power stations come “on stream” in 2018. “It is our view that new nuclear can play an important part,” he told the House. Huhne added that there have been “knee-jerk reactions in other countries, but that is not the right basis for British policy”. Shadow energy secretary Meg Hillier accused him of “dancing around on this issue” and “failing to be emphatic about the government’s position on nuclear”. Huhne said: “We continue with the plans as set out in the coalition agreement, and that we envisage a role for new nuclear and want to see new nuclear come on, but that we have to put an emphasis on safety.” Green MP Caroline Lucas asked if “the Japan accident will make it more difficult for private investors to raise capital to build the eight new reactors that are planned by the Government”. Huhne said: “Although I spent many years in financial markets I do not claim to know how they will react to particular events as they can often react in a rather faddish and fashionable manner. I think we will just have to wait and see.”
ePolitix 24th March 2011 more >>
Wylfa
THE nuclear power company behind the proposed development of a new power station in Anglesey has promised to prioritise the safety of local residents as it continues to push ahead with plans for the plant’s development.
The Leader 24th March 2011 more >>
Hinkley
EDF Energy is encouraging residents and organisations to make their views known on updates and changes to the energy company’s preferred proposals for the development of Hinkley Point C new nuclear power station. EDF Energy’s latest consultation, which closes on Monday, focuses on material changes to the plans. The fundamentals of the project remain the same.
This is Somerset 24th March 2011 more >>
FURTHER clarification from EDF on planned preparation work at the site of the proposed new Hinkley Point Power Station is needed, according to West Somerset Council. At a full council meeting last night, councillors asked for more time to clarify technical aspects of EDF’s application for site preparation work. EDF has also applied to build a temporary jetty to transport bulk material to the construction site.
Somerset County Gazette 24th March 2011 more >>
EDF’s chief executive appeared on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show to justify continuing with the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor despite the life-threatening radioactive devastation in Japan. Vincent de Rivaz was interviewed by political commentator Mr Marr on Sunday. EDF believes the disaster will delay Britain’s nuclear programme by “a couple of weeks”, at most.
This is Somerset 24th March 2011 more >>
Dounreay
New strategy sets out clean-up priorities: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has published its strategy for cleaning up the nuclear legacy at sites such as Dounreay.
Dounreay News 22nd March 2011 more >>
The discovery of the slapdash way Dounreay stored its low-level radioactive waste 20 years ago led to stinging criticism of the Caithness plant and a major clean-up, which is about to move into its final phase. Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL), the site licence company responsible for the closure programme, yesterday announced the award of a 13 million contract to develop a disposal site for low-level waste from the decommissioning and closure of the site. It will mean the clearance of tens of thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste from the redundant nuclear site.
Herald 25th March 2011 more >>
Dungeness
David Cameron has backed calls by a Kent MP to push forward with a nuclear future despite warnings that one of the county’s power plants sits next to an earthquake zone. It follows fears over the future of nuclear energy in the light of the situation in Japan. In Parliament, the Prime Minister agreed with a statement made by Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins that nuclear power was an important part of future energy needs in the UK and should be “part of the mix”. Mr Collins is campaigning for a new nuclear station at Dungeness after it was excluded from Government’s list of potential sites for development.
Your Shepway 20th March 2011 more >>
Bradwell
A NUCLEAR protest group has defended its comments about the disaster at Fukushima. Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG), was criticised by Miriam Lewis, a Maldon District Councillor, after claiming that a similar event could befall Bradwell. The group was accused by councillor Lewis of using the tragedy for political gain. However, in a statement sent to the Standard, spokesperson Varrie Blowers said: “The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan has highlighted the problems with nuclear power and BANNG, in rightly drawing attention to these, has promised to re-double its efforts to prevent a Fukushima happening at Bradwell.”
Maldon Standard 23rd March 2011 more >>
Oldbury
NUCLEAR bosses have moved to allay fears after smoke was seen rising from one of Oldbury’s reactors. People living near Oldbury Power Station witnessed plumes of smoke escaping from one of the site’s two reactors last Thursday.
Gloucestershire Gazette 24th March 2011 more >>
Radwaste
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has published the latest edition of the UK’s radioactive waste inventory.
Dounreay News 22nd March 2011 more >>
Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) submitted a construction permit application to Swedish authorities this month for a final disposal facility for nuclear waste.
Tunnels & Tunneling 24th March 2011 more >>
IAEA & WHO
The disturbing bargain between the IAEA & WHO, how they each essentially agreed not to release information that might cast a negative light on the operations of the other, and its impact on public health (the mandate of WHO), especially re Chernoblyl.
Couterpunch 4th – 6th March 2011 more >>
Europe
John Large: Fukushima – implications for the world wide nuclear regulatory regimes.
Large Associates 23rd March 2011 more >>
France
When the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster drifted across the European continent in 1986, the French government famously claimed the clouds had stopped at the border. This time round, as Japanese authorities struggle to bring the crippled Fukushima plant north-east of Tokyo back under control, the French public is not buying any such platitudes. A vast public debate has been sparked by the accident, calling into question for the first time in decades France’s heavy reliance on nuclear power
FT 25th March 2011 more >>
US
“While new plants are unlikely to be built in the United States over the next 25 years, nuclear power provides 20 percent of our electrical power and is climate friendly. We therefore must make existing reactors safer, develop a new generation of safer designs and prevent nuclear power from facilitating nuclear proliferation. As tragic as the Fukushima disaster has been, it has provided a rare opportunity to advance those goals”. Nuclear physicist Frank von Hippel has a good op-ed today, which the NYT gave the provocative headline, “It Could Happen Here.”
Climate Progress 24th March 2011 more >>
New York Times 24th March 2011 more >>
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said on Thursday it was seeking public comment on the proposed certification of General Electric -Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s Economic Simplified Boiling-Water Reactor (ESBWR) design for use in the United States.
Reuters 24th March 2011 more >>
Defects in components of US nuclear plants are going unreported because of contradictory and unclear regulations, according to a report from the federal nuclear regulators watchdog. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector generals report, released on Thursday, is based on a review conducted in January, before the crisis at Japans Fukushima Daiichi plant and the ensuing concern over the safety of nuclear sites in the US. The inspector generals findings, however, raise questions about risks at the 104 operating reactors across the country. Nuclear plants provide 20 per cent of US electricity, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industrys lobbying organisation. Under NRC rules, the companies that operate nuclear plants are supposed to report problems caused by faulty components. That includes parts involved in keeping nuclear fuel cooled, shutting down the reactor and preventing accidents that could lead to leaks of radioactive material. But plant operators were also required to report defects in those parts, even if they had not caused an incident, if the faulty components could cause a substantial safety hazard, the report said. In spite of these requirements, industry data showed many problems with parts were not being reported, with 28 per cent of nuclear plants not reporting defects unless an incident occurred.
FT 25th March 2011 more >>
Iran
It would take Iran at least two years to produce a single nuclear weapon, according to a new in-depth report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Although concerns have long been raised about Iran’s uranium enrichment programme – and major powers have sought to limit it through talks, sanctions and sabotage – officials and analysts have differed in their estimates of the timeline for an Iranian nuclear weapon. The latest IISS Strategic Dossier, Iran’s Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Capabilities: a net assessment is the most systematic and thorough public review of the evidence yet. It explains, in fact-rich detail that most government public estimates fail to provide, the assumptions and calculations behind the timelines. The IISS estimate, which has been reviewed by internationally recognised experts and practitioners, is neither worst- nor best case.
Wired Gov 24th March 2011 more >>
Germany
German chancellor Angela Merkel is scrambling to stave off a hugely embarrassing defeat this weekend as a German state her party has governed for nearly six decades votes in an election clouded by Japan’s nuclear crisis. But the Ms Merkel’s abrupt – many say credibility-sapping – about-turn on Germany’s nuclear power plants may harm, not help. And the issue could help the anti-nuclear opposition Greens win their first state governorship.
Scotsman 25th March 2011 more >>
The Japanese earthquake caused Ms Merkel to perform an extraordinary U-turn in her nuclear policy, ordering an instant moratorium on extending the life of nuclear power stations. More than 70 per cent of voters believe it was a move to save the election.
FT 25th March 2011 more >>
China
The first steel ring of Haiyang 2’s containment vessel was lifted into place a few days after a structural module for the centre of the reactor building. The moves were announced by Shandong Nuclear Power Equipment Manufacturing Company as the first milestones this year in the construction of the second Westinghouse AP1000 pressurized water reactor (PWR) at the site. Three other AP1000s are under construction in China – another one at Haiyang and two more at Sanmen – which should begin operation over a two-year period from mid-2013. Many more are planned for China as it masters the technology under agreements with US-based Westinghouse
World Nuclear News 24th March 2011 more >>
