Nuclear Event – State of Illinois, [Dresden Nuclear Power Plant]

Earth Watch Report  –  Nuclear Event

Exelon Corporation  :  Dresden Generating Plant

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Nuclear Event

USA

State of Illinois, [Dresden Nuclear Power Plant]

 

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RSOE EDIS

Nuclear Event in USA on Monday, 14 April, 2014 at 04:45 (04:45 AM) UTC.

Description Damage to an electrical transformer caused one reactor to shut down automatically at a northern Illinois nuclear power plant over the weekend. Unit 2 at the Dresden Nuclear Station shut down Saturday morning, and it remained offline on Sunday as crews worked to fix the damage. Dresden spokesman Robert Osgood says the problem is on the non-nuclear side of the plant. He says the plant responded as expected, and there was no safety threat. He says a second reactor is operating normally, and electrical customers will not be affected. The plant is in Morris, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago,

 

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Search NRC

Dresden – Unit 1

1.0 Site Identification

Type of Site:	Power Reactor Facility
Location:	Dresden, IL
License No.:	DPR-2
Docket No.:	50-0010
License Status:	SAFSTOR
Project Manager:	John Hickman

2.0 Site Status Summary

The plant shut down in October 1978 and is currently in SAFSTOR. The Decommissioning Plan was approved in September 1993. No significant dismantlement activities are underway. Isolation of Unit 1 and Units 2 and 3, is complete. All spent fuel from DNPS Unit 1 that was previously stored in the Unit 1 SFP, the Unit 1 fuel transfer pool, and the Unit 2 SFP has now been transferred to the on-site Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). Currently, 108 spent fuel assemblies and one fuel rod basket from Unit 1 are stored in the DNPS Unit 3 SFP. During the SAFSTOR period (through 2027), the Unit 1 facility will be subjected to periodic inspection and monitoring. These activities will include condition monitoring of the ISFSI, ongoing environmental surveys, and maintenance of equipment required to support the SAFSTOR condition of the facility. Security will be maintained as part of the site protected area boundary for DNPS Units 1, 2, and 3 during this period. The licensee plans that decontamination and dismantlement of DNPS Unit 1, including removal of any remaining Unit 1 spent fuel that is stored in the Unit 3 SFP, will take place from 2029 through 2031. Major components, including the nuclear steam supply system and the turbine-generator machinery, will be decontaminated as needed, and removed at this time. Other systems and components will also be removed, packaged and disposed of; the associated buildings will be prepared for demolition. A four-year site restoration delay will follow the major decontamination and dismantlement of DNPS Unit 1 to allow for the decontamination and dismantlement of Units 2 and 3, with completion of these activities tentatively planned for 2035. Site restoration is planned for in 2035 and 2036, with the demolition of the remaining structures and removal of contaminated soil. The licensee plans to conduct a final site survey in late 2036. The licensee will monitor the DNPS ISFSI complex with site security and periodic inspections until final transfer of the spent fuel to the Department of Energy for disposal.

Dresden Unit 1 produced power commercially from 1960 to October 31,1978. The unit had a history of minor steam leaks and erosion in steam piping in the early and mid-1960s. There were also fuel failures during the period of September through December of 1964 and other times which, although not leading to off-gas releases above limits, did cause redistribution of radionuclides from the fuel to other parts of the primary system. Several systems in the plant used admiralty brass (Cu-Ni) heat exchange surfaces, including the Main Condenser. Most of these were taken out of service and replaced with stainless steel tubing. In the sixth partial refueling, the condenser was re-tubed from admiralty brass to 304L stainless steel. The use of Cu-Ni surfaces did lead to translocation and deposition of corrosion products throughout the operating systems. The use of carbon steel in the Secondary Feedwater System may have also contributed to the elevated corrosion radionuclide levels. These foregoing events led to the need to perform a chemical decontamination of the Primary System. The Unit was taken off-line on October 31, 1978, to backfit it with equipment to meet new federal regulations and to perform a chemical decontamination of major piping systems. While it was out of service for retrofitting, additional regulations were issued as a result of the March 1979 incident at Three Mile Island. The estimated cost to bring Dresden Unit 1 into compliance with these regulations was more than $300 million. Commonwealth Edison concluded that the age of the unit and its relatively small size did not warrant the added investment. In 1984, chemical decontamination of the primary system was performed and 753 curies of Cobalt-60 and 12.4 curies of Cesium- 137 were removed. This decontamination was completed and activities began shortly thereafter to prepare the facility for decommissioning. In July of 1986, the NRC revised the Dresden Unit 1 license to possess-but-not-operate status. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved Revision 3 to the Dresden Unit 1 Decommissioning Program Plan on September 3, 1993. In 1998, the Decommissioning Program Plan was revised to the current Defueled Safety Analysis Report (DSAR) format.

3.0 Major Technical or Regulatory Issues

None.

4.0 Estimated Date For Closure

12/31/2036

Page Last Reviewed/Updated Thursday, February 20, 2014

 

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 Dresden 25 Mile Radius Fallout Map

The center of this Toxic Plume is located approximately 60 miles southwest of Chicago, Illinois. This plume is produced by 2 reactors located at the Dresden Nuclear Power Plant site. The reactors that produce this plume have 1,734 Mega Watts of radiation generating power. There is a total of 1,050 tons of Highly Toxic Radioactive spent fuel stored at this Nuclear Power Plant. The Dresden Nuclear 1 reactor has been forced into permanent shut down, leaving the plant in a virtually unattended state. During one winter, this unit experienced containment flooding to the service water system, due to freeze damage. It was determined that a similar threat to Spent Fuel Pool integrity. Tritium leaks at the other units in this plant are treated with the same lack of concern that Nuclear Power corporations give all leaking radiation.

 

See Larger Map Image Here

 

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Fukushima News 3/12/14:*Just In* “Radioactive Metal from Fukushima” Detected in Pacific Northwest

missingsky102

Published on Mar 12, 2014

*Just In* Scientists Raise Alarm: “Radioactive metal from Fukushima” detected in Pacific Northwest — Concern for impact on humans, west coast ecosystems — Continuing contamination crossing ocean, not going away soon — “A surprise… This is an international issue… Gov’t should be doing something”
http://enenews.com/scientists-raise-a…

Radiation surge detailed in 2011 accident
Data recorded by radiation monitoring posts near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant show the environmental radiation level rose sharply 1 hour before a hydrogen explosion took place at the plant.
14 monitoring posts around the plant recorded the radiation level every 20 seconds after the plant was damaged by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11th of 2011.
Data recorded by one of the monitoring posts, located 5.6 kilometers northwest of the plant, show that the radiation level began surging after 2:10 PM on March 12th.
At 2:40 and 40 seconds, the post measured 4.6 millisieverts per hour, the highest level of the day. That was about 1 hour before a hydrogen explosion occurred at the No.1 reactor of the plant.
The data suggest the accumulated doses of radiation would have reached 1 millisievert in about 20 minutes. 1 millisievert is the annual exposure limit for ordinary people.
Masamichi Chino, senior researcher at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, says the rise in the environmental radiation level may have been caused by an emergency operation to protect the No.1 reactor by reducing pressure within the containment vessel. Tokyo Electric Power officials began the so-called vent work at around 2:00 PM.
The vented air was released after going through water to reduce the amount of radioactive cesium. The step is intended to reduce the substance to 1 thousandth of its original level. But the measure may not have been effective.
Chino says the data can help researchers investigate how radioactive substances were released into the atmosphere and study the effectiveness of the venting process.

US nuclear expert calls for strict safety measures
A US nuclear expert has stressed the need to prepare for accidents at nuclear power plants, saying there is no way to completely prevent them.
A former chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory Jaczko, spoke to NHK in Tokyo on Tuesday, the 3rd anniversary of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Jaczko noted that the plant is still releasing radioactive materials through contaminated water.
He said someone who is considerate of people’s health and the environment should lead the workers at the plant. He also called for thorough explanations to be given to the people who had to leave their homes.
Jaczko said nuclear plants in Japan are less likely to have accidents thanks to the new safety measures that were introduced after the Fukushima disaster.

Official: Japan will be ruined if public doesn’t realize they’re being exposed to Fukushima radiation — “99.99% of the people are being sacrificed” — Rest of world will be taken down too (AUDIO)
http://enenews.com/lawmaker-if-japane…

THREE YEARS AFTER: Majority of Japan’s nuclear reactors face bleak future
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disa…

‘Inadequate equipment, workforce for Fukushima decontamination’
http://rt.com/op-edge/fukushima-decon…

Japan’s Lower House speaker voices opposition against nuclear energy at 3/11 memorial
http://japandailypress.com/japans-low…

Sendai nuclear plant expected to be one of the first to go back online
http://japandailypress.com/sendai-nuc…

A nuclear reactor designed to burn up surplus Cold War plutonium has been closed by the US Department of Energy. Initially it was meant to cost $1bn. So far it has cost $4bn. To complete and operate would cost $25-34bn.
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news…

All WIPP employees will help in cleanup of nuclear site
Dept. of Energy approves recovery plan for site of nuclear waste repository
http://www.currentargus.com/carlsbad-…

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Radiation threat at Fukushima is real, 300 tons of radioactive water daily pours into Pacific – energy activist

Photo: EPA

Anti-nuke sentiments are simmering in Japan as the nation prepares to mark the third anniversary of Fukushima disaster. Thousands of people flooded the streets of capital Tokyo on Sunday to voice their anger at the nuclear power industry and the government’s plans to restart some of Fukushima’s dormant reactors. For more on this topic, the Voice of Russia has talked to Harvey Wasserman, author of numerous books and editor of www.nukefree.org website.

On March 11, 2011 the deadly 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami struck Fukushima in the northern Japan triggering the triple reactor meltdown and explosions that tainted much of Fukushima Prefecture with radioactive materials. The tragedy claimed the lives of about 16 thousand people and left over 2 thousand still unaccounted for.

Three years ago a disastrous tsunami and earthquake killed nearly 19000 people and set off the nuclear crisis in Japan. Did the region manage to recover from the catastrophe? What are the current results of its recovery?

It’s never really recovered and the radiation threat is still very real at Fukushima, there were three meltdowns and four explosions, there are thousands of very highly radioactive elements scattered around the side and every day some 300 tons of radioactive water pours into the Pacific ocean. One public radio station in the US has called it “a post-apocalyptic event” and the treat for the world ecology is very serious. We believe that all nuclear reactors should shut down and we should convert to renewable energy as fast as possible.

Have you heard of this recent news about Fukushima that the government is soon to allow people to return to Fukushima area, those who lived around it, when a lot of the people that have heard of this in Japan are a bit upset because they do know that the levels of radiation near Fukushima are still way above normal. Have you heard of this?

Yes, this is a very pro-nuclear administration in Tokyo, very dangerous and very irresponsible. It is pushing to open reactors that shouldn’t open. I was in Japan in the mid 1970s and the population warned very strongly against building Fukushima, against building reactors in an earthquake and tsunami zone. Builders of Fukushima even took down a natural 85-foot high seawall to build these reactors right at sea level which is responsible for much of the destruction. But the radiation is going all through the Pacific ocean, we don’t know the effects it will have but they are not good and it is extremely unpopular and in Japan the idea of reopening some of the old reactors- this must stop. This is a threat to the health of the entire world.

Absolutely, I agree with you. I do understand that there is of course economy is at stake here and paying out to the unfortunate people that have suffered through this disaster near Fukushima and paying out the necessary money as subsidies to the crisis is not the smartest move so perhaps that is why the Fukushima administration government is allowing people to m0ve back to their homes near Fukushima which could be another reason. The nuclear catastrophe had a great impact on the environment. What are the main consequences? And what have been done so far to struggle against them? Is it possible that the region will be safe to live in the future?

There is really nothing that can be done. As you know the Chernobyl reactor in what now is Ukraine is still not covered with the sarcophagus to prevent radiation from leaking even though it happened in 1986. The attempt to bring the disaster at Fukushima under control is still not anywhere near finished three years later when huge amounts of spent radioactive fuel rods to deal with at Fukushima and no real way to do it. We are essentially helpless in the face of this disaster and yet more reactors stay on earthquake folds in tsunami zone not only in Japan but around the world including the US. The danger is horrific but the corporate investments are very high and therefore the Abe Administration and other administrations don’t want to shut the reactors but if we are to survive on this planet, these nuclear power plants must be closed.

Harvey, would you develop a little bit on geothermal and wind energies and of course solar energies? Do we have enough technology these days to actually switch to alternative means for energy development?

The most important of the new technologies is photovoltaic cells which convert sunlight to electricity. I believe photovoltaics will be the biggest industry in the history of the world, they will cover all our buildings, out vehicles, our machinery and convert the power that we need. We do have major breakthroughs in wind, in bio-fuels, in geothermal, ocean thermal, other forms of renewable energy are coming on very strong and yet they are very clearly superior to nuclear and even to fossil fuels. And we must make what I call a ‘solartopiantransition’ or we are simply not going to survive on this planet and the good news is that these technologies are good for the economy, they create jobs and they come in more cheap certainly than nuclear power and other sources as well. So there is good news here, but in order to get there we have to shut the atomic power plants.

What are the dangers that the western coast of North America is facing due to the fact that the Pacific ocean is right there?

Well, airborne radiation came to the US within four days, it took ten days to get here from Chernobyl but inevitably we live on a small planet and this radiation goes all over the world and there is really no escaping it. There is now indication that the first waterborne cesium from the ongoing flood of contaminated water at Fukushima will be reaching the west coast in this summer. And that is the terrible thing. It is something that we have to take very seriously.

As ex-Californian myself I will definitely tell my friends to prepare. What is the name of that technology you just spoke about?

Photovoltaic cells, you know the solar panels that you see on roof tops. Ford has actually come out with a car now that has photovoltaic cells on the roof to get electricity from the sun as the car drives. This will be everywhere, photovoltaic cells will take over the world if we can’t preserve it long enough by shutting the commercial reactors.

Harvey, thank you so much for such an insight on all of this.

Miguel Francis

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Nuclear regulators misled the media after Fukushima, emails show

Published time: March 10, 2014 20:11

An employee (C) of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) measures using a dosimeter at the central operating control room of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at TEPCO’s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant at Fukushima prefecture March 10, 2014 (Reuters/Koji Sasahara)

Emails obtained by journalists at NBC News reveal that officials at the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission — the government agency that oversees reactor safety and security — purposely misled the media after the Fukushima, Japan disaster in 2011.

On Monday this week — one day shy of the third anniversary of the Fukushima meltdown — NBC published emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act that for the first time exposes on a major scale the efforts that NRC officials undertook in order to diminish the severity of the event in the hours and days after it began to unfold.

“In the tense days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan on March 11, 2011, staff at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission made a concerted effort to play down the risk of earthquakes and tsunamis to America’s aging nuclear plants,” Bill Dedman wrote for NBC.

Through the course of analyzing thousands of internal NRC emails, Dedman and company unearthed evidence that proves nuclear regulators went to great lengths to keep the scary facts about the Fukushima meltdown from being brought into the public eye.

Even when the international media was eager to learn the facts about the Fukushima tragedy while the matter was still developing, emails suggest that the NRC’s public relations wing worked hard to have employees stick to talking points that ignored the actual severity of the meltdown.

“While we know more than these say,” a PR manager wrote in one email to his colleagues, “we’re sticking to this story for now.”

Read More Here

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Nuclear Event – Maryland : Reactors at nuclear power plant in southern Maryland shut down last week after an electrical malfunction

Nuclear regulators send inspectors to Calvert Cliffs

Reactors at nuclear power plant in southern Maryland shut down last week after an electrical malfunction

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By Jamie Smith Hopkins, The Baltimore Sun

7:50 p.m. EST, January 27, 2014

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Monday that it is conducting a special inspection at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland after an electrical malfunction caused the two reactors there to shut down.

The plant, which restarted both reactors over the weekend, suffered the shutdown after snow and ice during a storm Jan. 21 apparently affected a ventilation louver filter and caused a short circuit. After the electrical supply system shut down, so did several plant systems and components that rely on electricity, the nuclear regulatory agency said Monday.

Those components included motors for moving control rods and water circulating pumps for the Unit 2 reactor, the agency said. The main turbine control circuit for the Unit 1 reactor also malfunctioned after the electricity loss.

Both units shut down as a result, with “no impacts on public health and safety,” the agency said.

The three-person inspection team began working at the plant Monday, the commission said.

“We want to gain a better understanding of the chain of events that caused both of the reactors to simultaneously shut down and equipment anomalies subsequent to the plant trips,” said Bill Dean, the commission’s administrator for the region that includes Maryland, in a statement. “This inspection is designed to shed additional light on not only why the outages happened but how the plant operators handled them.”

A Constellation Energy Nuclear Group spokesman said in an email that federal reviews after shutdowns are common, adding that the company welcomed the inspection at its plant.

“Operators followed their training and performed well during the shutdowns,” said Kory Raftery, the spokesman. “The site’s multiple safety systems responded as designed.”

But Neil Sheehan, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman, said such inspections are not common.

Read More Here

Related

• Control rod problem shuts down Calvert Cliffs reactor

• Electric malfunction shuts down Calvert Co. power plant

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• Inspections find flaws in nuclear plant mechanism during scheduled outage

• “NRC inspectors have been reviewing the plant’s inspections and assessments and are reviewing the licensee’s replacement and repair plans, which will be completed prior to plant startup,” said Viktoria Mitlyng, senior public affairs officer for the NRC in this region. “The NRC will continue to evaluate and validate the licensee’s response to the issue to ensure plant safety.”

  The plant shut down Jan. 19 to replace 64 fuel assemblies and conduct maintenance, tests and inspections on equipment including the reactor vessel and its two low-pressure turbines.

  The facility remains offline.

  The control rod drive mechanism housings are part of the reactor coolant system boundary designed to prevent reactor coolant from leaking, Mitlyng said. There was no evidence of leakage.

  Read More Here

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Nuclear Event – Covert, Michigan : During Palisades refueling shutdown, flaws discovered in control rod drive housings

During Palisades refueling shutdown, flaws discovered in control rod drive housings

Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert, Michigan. Operated by Entergy Corp., the plant has be downgraded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the past year because of problems related to the safety culture and workers following proper proceeders.

Mark Bugnaski | MLive.com / Kalamazoo Gazette

By Yvonne Zipp | yzipp@mlive.com

on January 30, 2014 at 5:20 PM, updated January 30, 2014 at 6:54 PM

Palisades Nuclear Plant

• During Palisades refueling shutdown, flaws discovered in control rod drive housings
• Palisades Nuclear Power Plant begins 23rd scheduled refueling outage

COVERT TOWNSHIP, MI – During Palisades Nuclear Power Plant‘s shutdown for refueling and maintenance, flaws were found in more than a dozen of the control rod drive mechanism housings, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported Jan. 30.

The Covert Township nuclear power plant was removed from service Jan. 19. The inspections took place over the past several days and Entergy Corp., which owns Palisades, reported the flaws to the NRC Jan. 29.

Flaws were found in 17 of the 45 CRDM housings, the NRC said. However, there is no evidence that a leak occurred before the Jan. 19 shutdown, spokeswomen for both the NRC and Entergy Corp. said. The NRC said that the issue had no adverse affect on the public’s safety or of the power plant’s employees.

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• During Palisades refueling shutdown, flaws discovered in control rod drive housings

Nuclear energy is not an alternative to energies that increase global warming, because nuclear increases global warming. When high-grade uranium runs out, nuclear will be worse for CO2 emissions than burning fossil fuels.

Nuclear power plants world-wide, in operation, as of 18 January 2013

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WashingtonsBlog

Former NRC Commissioner: Trying To Solve Global Warming By Building Nuclear Power Plants Is Like Trying To Solve Global Hunger By Serving Everyone Caviar

Posted on January 22, 2014 by WashingtonsBlog

And Nuclear Pumps Out a Lot of Carbon Dioxide

It is well-documented that nuclear energy is very expensive and bad for the environment.

Former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Peter Bradford notes:

If asked whether we should increase our reliance on caviar to fight world hunger, most people would laugh. Relying on an overly expensive commodity to perform an essential task spends too much money for too little benefit, while foreclosing more-promising approaches.

That is nuclear power’s fundamental flaw in the search for plentiful energy without climate repercussions, though reactors are also more dangerous than caviar unless you’re a sturgeon.

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Nuclear power is so much more expensive than alternative ways of providing energy that the world can only increase its nuclear reliance through massive government subsidy—like the $8 billion loan guarantee offered by the federal government to a two-reactor project in Georgia approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission earlier this year.

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Many more such direct government subsidies will be needed to scale up nuclear power to any great extent.

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John Rowe, former chief executive of Exelon Corp., an energy company that relies heavily on nuclear power, recently said, “At today’s [natural] gas prices, a new nuclear power plant is out of the money by a factor of two.” He added, “It’s not something where you can go sharpen the pencil and play. It’s economically wrong.” His successor, Christopher Crane, recently said gas prices would have to increase roughly fivefold for nuclear to be competitive in the U.S.

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Countries that choose power supplies through democratic, transparent and market-based methods aren’t building new reactors.

Indeed, nuclear is not only crazily expensive, but it also pumps out a huge amount of carbon dioxide during construction, and crowds out development of clean energy.

Nuclear may also provide a lower return on energy invested than renewable forms of alternative energy. In other words, it might take more energy to create nuclear energy than other forms of power … which is worse for the environment.

Read More Here

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Number of reactors in operation, worldwide, 2013-01-18 (IAEA 2013, modified)

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Number of reactors under construction, 2013-01-18 (IAEA 2013, modified)

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Nuclear share in electricity generation, 2011 (IAEA 2012, modified)

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WashingtonsBlog

Nuclear Power Is Expensive and Bad for the Environment … It’s Being Pushed Because It Is Good For Making Bombs

Posted on April 11, 2012 by WashingtonsBlog

Since the 1980s, the U.S. Has Secretly Helped Japan Build Up Its Nuclear Weapons Program … Pretending It Was “Nuclear Energy” and “Space Exploration” …

As demonstrated below, nuclear energy is expensive and bad for the environment.

The real reason it is being pushed is because it is good for helping countries like Japan and the U.S. build nuclear weapons.

Nuclear Energy Is Expensive

Forbes points out:

Nuclear power is no longer an economically viable source of new energy in the United States, the freshly-retired CEO of Exelon, America’s largest producer of nuclear power [who also served on the president’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future], said in Chicago Thursday.

And it won’t become economically viable, he said, for the forseeable future.

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“I’m the nuclear guy,” Rowe said. “And you won’t get better results with nuclear. It just isn’t economic, and it’s not economic within a foreseeable time frame.”

U.S. News and World Report notes:

After the Fukushima power plant disaster in Japan last year, the rising costs of nuclear energy could deliver a knockout punch to its future use in the United States, according to a researcher at the Vermont Law School Institute for Energy and the Environment.

“From my point of view, the fundamental nature of [nuclear] technology suggests that the future will be as clouded as the past,” says Mark Cooper, the author of the report. New safety regulations enacted or being considered by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission would push the cost of nuclear energy too high to be economically competitive.

The disaster insurance for nuclear power plants in the United States is currently underwritten by the federal government, Cooper says. Without that safeguard, “nuclear power is neither affordable nor worth the risk. If the owners and operators of nuclear reactors had to face the full liability of a Fukushima-style nuclear accident or go head-to-head with alternatives in a truly competitive marketplace, unfettered by subsidies, no one would have built a nuclear reactor in the past, no one would build one today, and anyone who owns a reactor would exit the nuclear business as quickly as possible.”

Alternet reports:

An authoritative study by the investment bank Lazard Ltd. found that wind beat nuclear and that nuclear essentially tied with solar. But wind and solar, being simple and safe, are coming on line faster. Another advantage wind and solar have is that capacity can be added bit by bit; a wind farm can have more or less turbines without scuttling the whole project. As economies of scale are created within the alternative energy supply chains and the construction process becomes more efficient, prices continue to drop. Meanwhile, the cost of stalled nukes moves upward.

AP noted last year:

Nuclear power is a viable source for cheap energy only if it goes uninsured.

***

Governments that use nuclear energy are torn between the benefit of low-cost electricity and the risk of a nuclear catastrophe, which could total trillions of dollars and even bankrupt a country.

The bottom line is that it’s a gamble: Governments are hoping to dodge a one-off disaster while they accumulate small gains over the long-term.

The cost of a worst-case nuclear accident at a plant in Germany, for example, has been estimated to total as much as €7.6 trillion ($11 trillion), while the mandatory reactor insurance is only €2.5 billion.

“The €2.5 billion will be just enough to buy the stamps for the letters of condolence,” said Olav Hohmeyer, an economist at the University of Flensburg who is also a member of the German government’s environmental advisory body.

The situation in the U.S., Japan, China, France and other countries is similar.

***

“Around the globe, nuclear risks — be it damages to power plants or the liability risks resulting from radiation accidents — are covered by the state. The private insurance industry is barely liable,” said Torsten Jeworrek, a board member at Munich Re, one of the world’s biggest reinsurance companies.

***

In financial terms, nuclear incidents can be so devastating that the cost of full insurance would be so high as to make nuclear energy more expensive than fossil fuels.

***

Ultimately, the decision to keep insurance on nuclear plants to a minimum is a way of supporting the industry.

“Capping the insurance was a clear decision to provide a non-negligible subsidy to the technology,” Klaus Toepfer, a former German environment minister and longtime head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said.

See this and this.

This is an ongoing battle, not ancient history. As Harvey Wasserman reports:

The only two US reactor projects now technically under construction are on the brink of death for financial reasons.

If they go under, there will almost certainly be no new reactors built here.

***

Georgia’s double-reactor Vogtle project has been sold on the basis of federal loan guarantees. Last year President Obama promised the Southern Company, parent to Georgia Power, $8.33 billion in financing from an $18.5 billion fund that had been established at the Department of Energy by George W. Bush. Until last week most industry observers had assumed the guarantees were a done deal. But the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry trade group, has publicly complained that the Office of Management and Budget may be requiring terms that are unacceptable to the builders.

***

The climate for loan guarantees has changed since this one was promised. The $535 million collapse of Solyndra prompted a rash of angry Congressional hearings and cast a long shadow over the whole range of loan guarantees for energy projects. Though the Vogtle deal comes from a separate fund, skepticism over stalled negotiations is rising.

So is resistance among Georgia ratepayers. To fund the new Vogtle reactors, Southern is forcing “construction work in progress” rate hikes that require consumers to pay for the new nukes as they’re being built. Southern is free of liability, even if the reactors are not completed. Thus it behooves the company to build them essentially forever, collecting payment whether they open or not.

All that would collapse should the loan guarantee package fail.

Bad for the Environment

Alternet points out:

Mark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis at the Vermont Law School … found that the states that invested heavily in nuclear power had worse track records on efficiency and developing renewables than those that did not have large nuclear programs. In other words, investing in nuclear technology crowded out developing clean energy.

Many experts also say that the “energy return on investment” from nuclear power is lower than many other forms of energy. In other words, non-nuclear energy sources produce more energy for a given input.

And decentralizing energy production and storage is the real solution for the environment … not building more centralized nuclear plants.

Read More Here

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Nuclear Event – State of Massachusetts, Plymouth [Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station]

Earth Watch Report  –  Nuclear Event

Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2010 photo, retiree Bob Scamen stands near a discharge pipe for the Braidwood Nuclear Power Station about 300 feet from his property, in Braidwood, Ill., 50 miles southwest of Chicago. In 1998 the pipe poured out 3 million gallons of water but, at first, Scamen did not realize it was radioactive. Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping, an Associated Press investigation shows. The number and severity of the leaks has been escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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Nuclear Event

USA

State of Massachusetts, Plymouth [Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station]

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Nuclear Event in USA on Saturday, 18 January, 2014 at 04:15 (04:15 AM) UTC.

Description

The owner of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant has told the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission that radioactive tritium has been discovered in a newly installed groundwater monitoring well at the plant. A sample taken from the well Dec. 30 indicated a tritium concentration of 69,000 picocuries per liter. Those levels dropped to 20,000 in samples taken Jan. 6 and to 14,300 after additional samples were obtained Jan. 9. The EPA limit for tritium in groundwater used for drinking purposes is 20,000 picocuries per liter. However, the groundwater at the Pilgrim site is not used for drinking. In 1991, the EPA calculated it would take a year-long ingestion of water containing 60,900 picocuries per liter of tritium to yield a radiation exposure dose of 4 millirems, a fraction of the approximately 620 millirems of radiation exposure that Americans receive each year from natural and manmade sources. Last April, Entergy identified a separation in its neutralizing sump discharge line. The company theorized, at that time, that this line was the source of tritium groundwater contamination first identified years earlier at the site. The new monitoring well is adjacent to the catch basin where the outfall from the sump discharge line was rerouted, which supports that theory. However, the NRC also said that additional monitoring will be necessary before it can conclusively rule out other possible sources. The NRC will continue to inspect and report on the company’s implementation of its groundwater monitoring and prevention activities, as specified by the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Groundwater Protection Initiative. In addition, any subsurface contamination will be reviewed to ensure that public health and safety are protected. Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and is produced primarily by nuclear fission. Because it emits light in the dark, it can be used in exit signs, watch dials and some gun sights. It is also used to boost the yield of nuclear weapons.

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>Associated Press

This Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007 file picture shows a cooling tower at the Salem nuclear power plant owned by the Public Service Energy Group and a building on a small farm in Lower Alloways Creek Township, N.J., in rural Salem County. One of the highest known tritium readings was discovered in 2002 at the Salem facility. Tritium leaks from the reactor’s spent fuel pool contaminated groundwater under the facility _ located on an island in Delaware Bay _ at a concentration of 15 million picocuries per liter. That’s 750 times the EPA drinking water limit. According to NRC records, the tritium readings last year still exceeded EPA drinking-water standards. And tritium found separately in an onsite storm drain system measured 1 million picocuries per liter in April 2010. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

 

Tritium found at Pilgrim nuclear power plant

PLYMOUTH —

The owner of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant has told  the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission that radioactive tritium has been discovered in a newly installed groundwater monitoring well at the plant.
A sample taken from the well Dec. 30 indicated a tritium concentration of 69,000 picocuries per liter. Those levels dropped to 20,000 in samples taken Jan. 6 and to 14,300 after additional samples were obtained Jan. 9.

The EPA limit for tritium in groundwater used for drinking purposes is 20,000 picocuries per liter. However, the groundwater at the Pilgrim site is not used for drinking.

In the NRC announcement of the discovery, the commission provided a link to more information on tritium contamination: www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/tritium-radiation-fs.html.

In 1991, the EPA calculated it would take a year-long ingestion of water containing 60,900 picocuries per liter of tritium to yield a radiation exposure dose of 4 millirems, a fraction of the approximately 620 millirems of radiation exposure that Americans receive each year from natural and manmade sources.

Read More Here

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Leaky pipes put tritium into the groundwater

Jun 28, 2011 @ 07:00 AM

The number and severity of the nuclear leaks has been escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation.

Leaky pipes: 75% of plants have spewed tritium

Federal regulators weaken safety rules at nuclear plants

Relicensing the Pilgrim nuclear plant in Plymouth

Old age is catching up with the nation’s nuclear power plants

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Fukushima News 12/7/13: NRC-Tepco Should Dump Water; New Fuku “Hot Spot”; State Secrecy Law Passes

MissingSky101

 

Published on Dec 7, 2013

NRC chief: Consider releasing contaminated water
The top US nuclear regulator says Japan should study discharging water containing radioactive tritium from Fukushima after diluting its contents.
The chairperson of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Allison Macfarlane, spoke with NHK in Tokyo on Friday.
She referred to the radioactive water building up at the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Workers are decontaminating the water, but currently have no method of removing the tritium.
Macfarlane noted that the decision is up to Japan.
She said the issue is very complex with no silver bullet to solve it.

Highest radiation levels measured outside reactor
Tokyo Electric Power Company says radiation levels are extremely high in an area near a ventilation pipe at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
TEPCO found radiation of 25 sieverts an hour on a duct, which connects reactor buildings and the 120-meter-tall ventilation pipe.
The estimated radiation level is the highest ever detected outside reactor buildings. People exposed to this level of radiation would die within 20 minutes.
The exhaust pipe in question was used to release radioactive gases following the outbreak of the accident 2 years ago.
TEPCO says radioactive substances could remain inside the pipes.

Japan’s Diet enacts state secrecy law
Lawmakers in Japan have approved a bill that gives the government the authority to designate certain official information as special secrets. The law will strictly penalize those who leak information.
Lawmakers in the ruling coalition used their majority in the Upper House to cut off debate on the secrecy bill.
Then they voted in favor of it.
The law gives senior government officials the authority to define information as ‘special secrets.’
That would include material related to defense, diplomacy, counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism.

TV: Officials near San Francisco to monitor Fukushima plume, concerns for environment and food supply — Supervisor: The risks to Californians are concerning — Commissioner: We can’t rely on Japan or Tepco — Will waves of cesium and strontium pollute coast? (VIDEO)
http://enenews.com/tv-bay-area-offici…
http://archive.org/details/KOFY_20131…

California town passes Fukushima resolution: “Urgent international rescue” needed at site — “Poses health and safety concerns to America’s West Coast” — “Much greater contamination is likely”
http://www.town-of-fairfax.org/pdfs/c…

Bloomberg: Fukushima isotopes are nearing West Coast — Official: U.S. ocean water to have 100 Bq/m3 of cesium-137?
http://enenews.com/bloomberg-fukushim…

BBC: Work at Fukushima Unit 4 a “distraction”; The “real nightmare” is coming from 3 molten cores — NYTimes: Melted fuel is “all over the place… First goal is simply to stop uncontrolled releases of radioactive material” (AUDIO)

http://enenews.com/bbc-work-at-fukush…
http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/12/06…

Tepco “We deny press’s misinformation when it affects the stock price.”
http://fukushima-diary.com/2013/12/te…

Fukushima Clean-Up Chief Admits Contaminated Water will be Dumped into Ocean
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-New…

This alarming map shows dozens of nuclear materials thefts and losses every year
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/w…

The Same Level of Treatment
IAEA Promotes Better Training for Cancer Care Professionals
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2…

Ministry panel eyes three Fukushima towns for storage of tainted soil
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013…

Natural Ways to Combat Latent Radiation Damage
http://survivalmedicineblog.com/2012/…

How To Fight Radiation Exposure Naturally
http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.co…

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• Gundersen: They want to dump all Fukushima’s radioactive water in Pacific – Tepco: It will be diluted, then released – Professor suggests pumping it out in deep ocean (VIDEOS)
• Tepco doesn’t have the enough room to accept all the spent fuel in the common pool

Radioactive Fukushima Water Headed for US West Coast

Published on Friday, December 6, 2013 by Common Dreams

As nuclear industry and allies in government play down risk, scientists warn there is no such thing as safe radiation

– Sarah Lazare, staff writer

Big Sur Coast in Central California (Photo: Joseph Plotz / Wikimedia Creative Commons)Radioactive water contaminated by Japan’s ravaged Fukushima nuclear plant will soon reach the west coast of the United States, according to Chairwoman of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Allison Macfarlane, Bloomberg reports.

As the nuclear industry and its allies in government attempt to play down the danger of the contaminated ocean waters, scientists warn there is no such thing as safe radiation.

“The highest amount of radiation that will reach the U.S. is two orders of magnitude — 100 times — less than the drinking water standard,” Macfarlane told Bloomberg. “So, if you could drink the salt water, which you won’t be able to do, it’s still fairly low.”

Her claims of safety come on the heels of repeated efforts by TEPCO, the nuclear industry and the Japanese government to cover up and play down the spiraling Fukushima nuclear crisis.

Yet, scientists warn that claims that radiation is not harmful are deceptive.

Over 800 people across the world will get cancer from consuming fish that were contaminated with Fukushima radiation in Japanese waters by mid-July, 2013, according to newspaper Georgia Straight calculations based on a cancer risk formula developed by the Environmental Protection Agency and radiation levels in fish tested by the Japanese Fisheries Agency.

“This is not a one time wave that washes the shore and goes away. Fukushima is continuing to pollute the ocean.”—Arnie GundersenThis is likely only the tip of the iceberg, explained Daniel Hirsch, a nuclear-policy lecturer at the University of California at Santa Cruz, in an interview with Georgia Straight. The number 800 does not account for future fish consumption, unmonitored damaged isotopes released by the Fukushima disaster and a host of other factors that could drastically increase cancer rates, he explained.

Scientists note it is difficult to predict the cancer rates for those on North America’s west coast, and that these cancer statistics do not include a host of other potential ill health effects, including heart disease and genetic damage.

“All radiation is unsafe,” said Arnie Gundersen, former nuclear industry executive turned whistleblower, in an interview with Common Dreams. “There is no non-harmful level.”

Meanwhile, west coast cities are growing nervous. The San Francisco Bay area city of Fairfax, California passed a resolution earlier this week calling for increased testing of coastal seafood and a reduction of radiation emissions from Fukushima.

Gundersen warned that the danger will only increase from here. “The faucet is still on. The Pacific is still becoming more contaminated,” he said. “This is not a one time wave that washes the shore and goes away. Fukushima is continuing to pollute the ocean.”

_____________________

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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Fukushima “Apocalypse in Progress” Gundersen & Wasserman

MsMilkytheclown1

Published on Nov 19, 2013

at 28:15 into the video, Wasserman states Fukushima is an apocalypse in progress.
Gundersen: Unit 4 pool can turn into a nuclear reactor as they pull rods up — Bloomberg: Like a “self-sustained chain reaction similar to meltdowns” — NHK: Fuel is 1% plutonium (VIDEO)
Green Power And Wellness — 11/18/13 They wrote:
FUKUSHIMA and the fall of nuclear power with ARNIE GUNDERSEN and MICHAEL MARIOTTE fill this riveting hour as we get to the bottom of the Unit Four fuel pool. A long-time nuclear engineer, Arnie explains at http://www.Fairewinds.org much of the only reliable technical information about what’s happening at Fukushima. Executive Director of the Nuclear Information & Resource Service since shortly after Chernobyl, Michael sorts through the realities of reactor operations and waste management at http://www.nirs.org. If you are at all concerned about our global future, don’t miss this show
http://prn.fm/2013/11/green-power-wel…

Fairewinds chief engineer Arnie Gundersen interviewed by Prof. Harvey Wasserman, Nov. 18, 2013 (at 22:00 in): The boron between the nuclear fuel has disintegrated. It was never designed for the temperatures it’s seen and it was never designed for saltwater. So there’s no assurance that you’ve got boron neutron absorbers between the nuclear fuel rods. So you’ve got what we call an inadvertent criticality — you’ve got the chance of the nuclear fuel pool becoming a nuclear reactor when it didn’t want to be, as they pull these rods out. So they have to be extraordinarily careful that they dont snap a rod and extraordinarily careful that as they’re pulling these rods, that the dont get an inadvertent criticality.

Bloomberg, Nov. 18, 2013: Were the rods [in the Unit 4 pool] to break or overheat, it could prompt a self-sustained nuclear chain reaction similar to the meltdowns at three Fukushima reactors.

NHK WORLD, Nov. 18, 2013: Spent fuel contains about one percent plutonium by weight. The spent fuel units at the No.4 reactor building have been in the storage pool for at least 3 years. Each is said to have up to 7,500 trillion becquerels of radioactivity. Because of this, the units are stored in water that can block radiation.

Let’s talk about Spent Fuel Pool at reactor number 4

FUKUSHIMA bent pool fool trick
http://youtu.be/t9aC2OElPEc
do you believe THIS
Fukushima nuclear plant – Two Flyovers shot in high definition http://youtu.be/C_CdCRux9bc
TRANSFORMED into ‘SAFE’ THIS?
Transfer of Fuel Assemblies to the Cask inside Reactor 4 SFP at Fukushima I NPP (11/18/2013)
http://youtu.be/xqhcfXQHAi8
Published on Nov 18, 2013
TEPCO started removing fuel assemblies stored in Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool on November 18, 2013. 4 unused (new) assemblies containing about 60 fuel rods each were removed to the cask by 6:45PM.
The work continues on November 19, 2013, and TEPCO hopes to load the cask with 22 unused (new) fuel assemblies before the cask is lowered by the gantry crane to the ground.
Removal of fuel assemblies in SFP4 is to continue for a year.
For more coverage of the Fukushima nuclear accident, visit my blogs:

Fukushima Unit 4 hoax underway http://youtu.be/gtZ-QOK5RJ0
Published on Nov 18, 2013 by Hatrick Penry

BBC article: Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant begins fuel rod removal http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-…

TEPCO report from 11/18/13: http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-…

TEPCO handout with pictures: http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushim…

The ultimate collection of NRC FOIA information on Unit 4….Fear and Loathing on Fukushima Unit 4: http://hatrickpenryunbound.com/?p=3928

See for yourself….the NRC FOIA documents pertaining to Fukushima: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/foia/ja…

Something Wicked This Way Comes: The story of Plume-Gate, the world’s largest, provable cover-up: http://hatrickpenryunbound.com/?p=3683

Join us at The Post Ignorance Project on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/postignorance

Physicist Dr. Busby Warns of Chernobyl Like Future for America
http://youtu.be/eRBHxhRTqTY

Fukushima Reactor 4 Fuel Removal Death Watch
a great argument by BeautifulGirlByDana who has been doing nightly broadcasts since October 25, 2013 and the last BIG earthquake off the coast of Fukushima Japan.
Please join in the chat room for his live broadcasts every night and ask questions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc7z9G…
Streamed live on Nov 18, 2013

 

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Nuclear Event – State of Alabama, [Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Power Plant] : Carbon Dioxide Leak

Earth Watch Report  –  Nuclear Event

Image Source  :  WTVY.com

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04.08.2013

Nuclear Event

USA

State of Alabama, [Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Power Plant]

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Nuclear Event in USA on Saturday, 03 August, 2013 at 15:28 (03:28 PM) UTC.

Description

A carbon dioxide leak prompted an Alabama nuclear plant to declare an alert, though federal authorities say the issue does not threaten the public. Southern Co. spokesman Ike Pigott said a carbon dioxide release was detected in an auxiliary building of the Unit 1 reactor at Plant Farley around 5:20 a.m. Saturday. An initial investigation suggests that the gas came from a fire suppression system, though no fires were detected. Pigott said the volume of gas was equivalent to what might be released from a large fire extinguisher. Both reactors continued operating normally. No other equipment failures were reported. No radiation was released. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Roger Hannah said federal inspectors were monitoring the incident, but they do not believe it poses any threat to the public.The Dothan/Houston County Emergency Management Agency, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency were advised that an incident classified as an “ALERT” has been declared at the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Power Plant. An alert is the second least serious of four nuclear plant emergency classifications assigned by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This means that certain events could degrade or have degraded the level of safety at the power facility. There has been no radiation release so NO protective actions are required at this time for the public’s health and safety. Houston County officials and Alabama Emergency Management Agency will keep the public informed of any changes or developments in the situation at Plant Farley. Protective actions will be recommended if they become necessary.

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Nuclear Event in USA on Saturday, 03 August, 2013 at 15:28 (03:28 PM) UTC.

Back

Updated:	Sunday, 04 August, 2013 at 04:05 UTC
Description
Alabama Power has lifted an alert caused by a carbon dioxide leak at a nuclear power plant. The utility said the alert was lifted Saturday at 11:10 a.m., about five hours after it was first declared. Alabama Power spokesman Ike Pigott (PIG’-utt) said the carbon dioxide release was detected in an auxiliary building of the Unit 1 reactor at Plant Farley. The leak was then contained. It appears the gas came from a fire suppression system, though no fires were detected. Pigott said the volume of gas was equivalent to what might be released from a large fire extinguisher. Both reactors continued operating normally. No other equipment failures were reported. No radiation was released.

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Ala. nuclear plant ends alert over CO2 leak

The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, Ala. —

A carbon dioxide leak prompted an Alabama nuclear plant to declare a five-hour alert on Saturday, though federal authorities said the incident did not threaten the public.

The carbon dioxide leak was detected around 5:20 a.m. inside an auxiliary building serving the Unit 1 reactor at the Joseph Farley Nuclear Plant, about 18 miles from Dothan, according to Alabama Power spokesman Ike Pigott. The firm then declared an alert, the second-lowest of four emergency classifications used by federal regulators.

The utility ended the alert at 11:10 a.m.

Initial indications show that the gas came from a fire suppression system, though no fires were detected or reported. Carbon dioxide is often used to put out fires at industrial sites because it can extinguish flames without damaging sensitive equipment.

Read More Here

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Montgomery Advertiser

Nuclear plant ends alert for CO2 leak

Aug. 3, 2013 9:52 PM

Written by

Associated Press

COLUMBIA — A carbon dioxide leak prompted an Alabama nuclear plant to declare a five-hour alert Saturday, though federal authorities said the incident did not threaten the public.

The carbon dioxide leak was detected about 5:20 a.m. inside an auxiliary building serving the Unit 1 reactor at Joseph Farley Nuclear Plant, about 18 miles south of Dothan, according to Alabama Power spokesman Ike Pigott. The firm then declared an alert, the second-lowest of four emergency classifications used by federal regulators.

The utility ended the alert at 11:10 a.m.

Initial indications show that the gas came from a fire suppression system, though no fires were detected or reported.

Read More Here

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• UPDATE: Farley Nuclear Plant Declares Alert Over CO2 Leak
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• Ala. nuclear plant ends alert over CO2 leak
• Ala. nuclear plant declares alert over CO2 leak
• Alert lifted at Southern Nuclear’s Plant Farley after carbon dioxide release
• Further details on alert at Plant Farley
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