Dounreay – Vulcan
A mishap at a naval nuclear reactor near Dounreay said by the UK Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, to have caused no environmental pollution in fact triggered a tenfold rise in radioactive gas emissions. The revelation, unearthed by a Sunday Herald investigation, has prompted First Minister Alex Salmond to accuse Hammond of deceiving parliament. Salmond has also written to David Cameron demanding an apology. The problem at the Vulcan plant in Caithness, which tests submarine reactors for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), occurred in January 2012. But the first the public and Scottish ministers knew about it was when Hammond made a statement in the House of Commons on Thursday. He told MPs there had been “no measurable change in the radiation discharge” from the site. “That is the important point for people living in those communities,” he said. Radioactivity had leaked into the reactor’s cooling water but had been contained within the sealed reactor circuit, Hammond said. “I can reassure the House that there has been no detectable radiation leak from that sealed circuit.” But according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), discharges of radioactive noble gases including argon, krypton and xenon had been boosted by the incident. Official figures show that emissions of the gases to the atmosphere rocketed from 0.19 gigabecquerels of radioactivity in 2011 to 2.16 Gbq in 2012. former senior MoD safety official pointed out that the MoD had not yet figured out the cause of the cooling water contamination. “This being the case I have difficulty in believing their words of reassurance,” said Fred Dawson, who worked for the MoD for 31 years before he retired as head of the radiation protection policy team in 2009. “If the leak is so insignificant and of no safety concern, why is the MoD planning early replacement of submarine reactor cores at great cost to the taxpayer?” he asked. The incident also showed “how the MOD can gag external stakeholders including regulators,” he said.
Sunday Herald 9th March 2014 read more »
Rob Edwards 9th March 2014 read more »
Alex Salmond has demanded an apology from David Cameron for failing to tell Scottish ministers about a radiation problem at a nuclear submarine test reactor. The First Minister said the UK Government had “disrespected” Holyrood and the people of Scotland by not alerting the Scottish Government to the problem for almost two years.
ITV 9th March 2014 read more »
BBC 9th March 2014 read more »
Sunday Times 9th March 2014 read more »
An inquiry has been called for into why the Ministry of Defence took two years to inform the public of a fault at its nuclear submarine test site at Dounreay. Labour has called for a parliamentary inquiry to establish why the MoD took so long to reveal details of the handling of a radiation leak at a nuclear test reactor at the base in Caithness.
STV 9th March 2014 read more »
BBC 8th March 2014 read more »
Nuclear Submarines
The UK’s entire nuclear-powered submarine fleet will be told to leave the Clyde and go back to England if Scotland votes for independence in September, the Scottish Government has said. This would deal a fatal blow to Ministry of Defence (MoD) plans to make the Faslane naval base near Helensburgh the UK home port for all its 14 reactor-driven submarines over the next few decades. As well as the four Trident submarines, three Trafalgar-class submarines and seven new Astute-class boats would all have to find a new base on the English coast. The move has been warmly welcomed by anti-nuclear groups, who label the submarines “floating Chernobyls” after the devastating nuclear accident in Ukraine in 1986. But the MoD warned that ending Faslane’s role as a submarine base “would seriously impair the UK’s national security, including Scotland”. In 2011, the Scottish Government welcomed the decision to station Astute submarines at Faslane because of the jobs they would bring. But this was publicly opposed by prominent party activists, and has led to a change of heart. The Scottish Government now says that it sees no role for any nuclear-powered submarines in an independent Scotland. “We do not see the continued basing of the Astute or Trafalgar fleets at Faslane, beyond the necessary transition period, to be in Scotland’s interests,” a spokeswoman told the Sunday Herald.
Sunday Herald 9th March 2014 read more »
Rob Edwards 9th March 2014 read more »
Thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste from seven defunct nuclear submarines at Rosyth should be dumped in England, the Scottish Government has told a minister at the MoD. Scotland’s Environment Minister, Richard Lochhead, has written to the UK’s Under Secretary for Defence, Philip Dunne, saying that waste from dismantling the vessels “should not be stored in Scotland”. Last month, the MoD proposed an old nuclear site at Chapelcross, in Dumfries and Galloway, as a potential store site. But this now looks likely to be dropped as a result of Lochhead’s intervention. That would mean the waste going to one of four sites suggested by the MoD in England: Sellafield nuclear complex in Cumbria; Capenhurst nuclear site in Cheshire; MoD nuclear weapons plants at Aldermaston; and Burghfield in Berkshire. The MoD has been trying to decide for more than a decade what to do with the seven old subs tied up at Rosyth, as well as 11 at Devonport on the south coast. Its latest plan is to dismantle them at the yards and move the resultant waste elsewhere. The Sunday Herald revealed in February that taking apart the Rosyth submarines would produce more than 3600 tonnes of radioactive waste. Lower-level wastes will go to the official dump at Drigg near Sellafield, and higher-level wastes are intended for a store at a site yet to be decided. The proposed store is described as “interim” by the MoD – though designed to last more than 100 years and have the capacity for the waste of nine more vessels still in service. The final aim is to dispose of the waste in an underground repository but no community has agreed to host it. A Holyrood spokeswoman said: “The Scottish Government has made clear to the MoD this waste should not be stored in Scotland and we will continue to make this case.”
Sunday Herald 9th March 2014 read more »
Rob Edwards 9th March 2014 read more »
The nuclear industry in general, and Dounreay in particular, has a long history of deception. It has an unenviable record, but we have been told many times that things are better now. We are meant to be in a new era of openness, transparency and trust. In the light of the revelations of the last few days, this is hard to believe. In a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday, the Defence Secretary Philip Hammond disclosed that the Vulcan naval nuclear reactor near Dounreay had suffered a mishap in January 2012.The root of the problem lies in the MoD’s historic crown immunity from regulation and prosecution. No other area of public safety policy would accept a situation in which a body responsible for some of the most dangerous nuclear activities on the planet is allowed to quietly regulate itself. Ministers must now question whether it is right for the MoD to remain outwith the law.
Sunday Herald 9th March 2014 read more »
Faslane
The nuclear submarine base at Faslane on the Clyde has failed to complete vital fire and explosion risk assessments, according to information released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). More than 500 of the MoD’s potentially hazardous sites across the UK have to carry out safety assessments under the 2002 Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations. But according to a spreadsheet made available in the House of Commons, the assessments have not yet been done at Faslane and other Scottish military sites. The information was released to the SNP’s Westminster leader and defence spokesman, Angus Robertson MP, in response to a parliamentary question. “This latest revelation that facilities at Faslane have not been properly assessed for risk of explosions and fires is nothing short of shocking,” he said.
Sunday Herald 9th March 2014 read more »
Rob Edwards 9th March 2014 read more »
Fuel Transports
Rosatom, Russia’s state energy corporation, said on Saturday it would resume nuclear fuel shipments to Europe via Ukraine after Kiev lifted a ban imposed during anti-government protests earlier this year on transporting the hazardous material.The ban was introduced on Jan. 28 by the government of now-deposed President Viktor Yanukovich, who fled the country last month after a popular uprising.Rosatom said the ban ended on Thursday and the first rail shipment of nuclear fuel in 2014 via Ukraine to eastern Europe was expected next week.
Reuters 8th March 2014 read more »
Russia
Russia may suspend nuclear arms inspections in a treaty with the US in reaction to Western sanctions over Ukraine, Russian news agencies quoted an unnamed defence ministry source as saying.
ITV 9th March 2014 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
Book Review: “Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster” by David Lochbaum, Edwin Lyman, Susan Q. Stranahan and the Union of Concerned Scientists; New Press (320 pages, $27.95).
LA Times 8th March 2014 read more »
JUST three years on from the catastrophic meltdown in March 2011 of three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, Japan is taking steps to revive its nuclear dream. A rush to restart some of the country’s 48 mothballed commercial nuclear reactors is well under way. Hundreds of technicians from utility firms are camped out in downmarket Tokyo hotels, working at the beck and call of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), the country’s new nuclear watchdog, in hopes of meeting new safety requirements. On February 25th the government published a draft energy plan which put nuclear power at the core. It is a sharp reversal of the previous energy strategy, devised by a former government in 2012, eventually to eliminate nuclear power altogether.
Economist 8th March 2014 read more »
US – Radwaste
The only operating underground deep geologic nuclear waste repository had its first minor accident on Valentine’s Day. It was a small release of radiation that will not harm anyone or have any environmental consequence. Maybe it was the Earth’s way of saying, “Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you, but take me for granted and I’ll slap you upside the head.”
Forbes 5th March 2014 read more »
Radiation has leaked from a nuclear waste site in New Mexico that’s been held up as an example by proponents of a similar site in Ontario. Ontario Power Generation, which wants to build a site for low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste near Kincardine, says it’s still trying to find out more about what happened at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M. OPG is seeking permission to build a storage site for low- and intermediate-level waste at the Bruce nuclear station.
Toronto Star 7th March 2014 read more »
A recent radiation leak at America’s only nuclear waste repository threatens the future of waste storage in the country. But leaders in the city of Carlsbad, New Mexico, still want their area to be a destination for America’s radioactive history.
BBC 6th March 2014 read more »
India
One worker was killed and two injured in an accident at shipyard building a nuclear submarine in Visakhapatnam in southern India on Saturday evening, the third fatal navy related accident in a month.The accident took place outside the submarine during testing of a pressure tank at the facility meant for development of submarines, the Defence Research and Development Organisation said in a statement on Sunday.
Reuters 9th March 2014 read more »
Iran
THE European Union’s foreign policy chief has arrived in Iran, her first visit to the Islamic Republic as nuclear talks with world powers continue.
Scotland on Sunday 9th March 2014 read more »
Renewables
A WIND FARM which could earn the Scottish Tories’ environment spokesman more than £8 million will make his constituents’ lives a misery, kill tourism jobs and turn a community into a “ghost village”, objectors have claimed.
Sunday Herald 9th March 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
AN ALLIANCE of green organisations has called on the government to create frack-free zones where shale gas exploitation is banned because the wildlife is too fragile. Such bans should cover most national parks, nature reserves and areas of outstanding natural beauty, says the group, which includes the National Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. In a report, Are we Fit to Frack, published this week, the alliance warns that a fracking free-for-all could destroy some of Britain’s most pristine countryside and last wildernesses.
Times 9th March 2014 read more »
A RESPECTED geologist has warned of potentially serious environmental damage, including contamination of streams and rivers, if plans to drill for subterranean methane are given the green light in Scotland. Dart Energy, an Australian firm, is seeking permission to drill 22 bore holes 800 metres deep into the Falkirk countryside at Letham Moss. The 22-mile pocket will become Britain’s first commercial site of coalbed methane if Dart wins a public inquiry which starts later this month. Extraction of coal bed methane involves pumping large volumes of water potentially millions of tons from the saturated coal seam to reduce water pressure and release the gas. Professor David Smythe, emeritus professor of geophysics at Glasgow University , will tell the inquiry that the technique is likely to contaminate groundwater sources across the entire site, posing a threat to human health. Smythe, who lives in France and will give evidence in person for Concerned Comunities of Falkirk, will also warn that millions of tons of “fugitive” methane gas could be released into the atmosphere. About one ton of methane has the same environmental impact as 27 tons of carbon dioxide.
Sunday Times 9th March 2014 read more »
