Hanford Nuclear Waste Cleanup Could Take Years

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/08/hanford-nuclear-waste-leak-cleanup-could-tak_n_2831474.html

Controversial Report Released for Nuclear Plant

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/san-onofre-nuclear-plant-feds-196496781.html

Report cites federal agency for failing to address nuclear safety problems

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/08/us/nrc-nuclear-report

Filtered Vents and Boiling Water Reactors: It’s Not About the Costs

Filtered Vents and Boiling Water Reactors: It’s Not About the Costs

by Eric McErlain

Recently, we've seen a spate of media reports that have accused the nuclear industry of opposing the installation of filtered vents on Mark I and II boiling water reactors (BWRs) simply because of cost considerations.

Needless to say, a number of us here at NEI are troubled by that accusation given the extensive research industry has produced buttressing our position that demanding that filtered vents be installed on every Mark I and II BWR is a "one-size fits all" solution.http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2013/03/filtered-vents-and-boiling-water.html

Southern California Edison Comments on MHI Evaluation of San Onofre Nuclear Plant Steam Generators

Southern California Edison Comments on MHI Evaluation of San Onofre Nuclear Plant Steam Generators

Posted March 8, 2013 - 2:00 p.m. PDT

 

 

Media Contact: Media Relations, (626) 302-2255

 

ROSEMEAD, Calif., March 8, 2013 — An evaluation by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) made public today cites ineffective tube supports, dry steam and high steam flow velocity as causes of excessive wear in the steam generators MHI supplied to Southern California Edison's (SCE) San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

SCE previously disclosed these same causes based on its own investigation, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) augmented inspection team report last July found that MHI's use of faulty computer modeling in the design process caused MHI engineers to inadequately predict the dryness of the steam, measured by void fraction, in the replacement steam generators.

 

MHI repeatedly reassured SCE of the efficacy of the design. During the design phase of the project, MHI advised SCE that, based on its own review and analysis, the maximum void fraction that MHI expected to occur was acceptable, did not require additional design changes or measures, and that the replacement steam generators would perform as warranted.

 

"SCE's own oversight of MHI's design review complied with industry standards and best practices," said Pete Dietrich, SCE senior vice president and chief nuclear officer. "SCE would never, and did not, install steam generators that it believed would impact public safety or impair reliability."

 

In fact, MHI states in its root cause report (page 41), that its analysis of conditions in the steam generator during the design phase (which calculated void fraction and steam flow velocity) concluded that the thermal hydraulic conditions in the San Onofre steam generators were acceptable, and specifically that there was no need to reduce void fraction¹.

 

Additionally, SCE never rejected a proposed design change to address void fraction based on its impact on compliance with 10 CFR 50.59.

 

"At no time was SCE informed that the maximum void fraction or flow velocities estimated by MHI could contribute to the failure of steam generator tubes," said Dietrich. "At the time, the design was considered sound."

 

SCE is disappointed that MHI decided on its own to redact some information in its evaluation about the flaws in the computer codes. However, the NRC publicly disclosed the computer code flaws three months before MHI completed its evaluation. In addition, the corrective actions and other statements included in the evaluation make it evident that there were problems with the computer modeling that failed to predict conditions that led to the tube-to-tube wear.

 

SCE has proposed operating Unit 2 at 70 percent to decrease velocity and decrease steam dryness to increase damping, thus preventing the conditions that led to excessive wear. The proposed restart plan was validated using a different computer model and has been reviewed by independent experts.

 

The San Onofre nuclear plant is the largest source of baseload generation and voltage support in the region and is a critical asset in meeting California's summer electricity and clean energy needs. Both units at San Onofre are currently safely shut down. Unit 2 remains shut down since it was taken out of service Jan. 9, 2012, for a planned outage. Unit 3 was safely taken offline Jan. 31, 2012, after station operators detected a leak in a steam generator tube.

 

NRC approval is required before SCE can restart Unit 2. The repair, corrective action and restart plan for Unit 2, along with additional technical information to address questions from the NRC, are available to the public at www.SONGScommunity.com

 

More information, including videos that explain how a steam generator works and the role San Onofre plays in providing reliable electricity to the region, is available at www.edison.com/SONGSupdate and at www.SONGScommunity.com. San Onofre is jointly owned by SCE (78.21 percent), San Diego Gas & Electric (20 percent) and the city of Riverside (1.79 percent). Follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/SCE) and like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/SCE).

 

About Southern California EdisonAn Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation's largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

¹MHI Root Cause Analysis, page 41: T/H condition "was judged acceptable by FIV analysis" and "T/H analysis (FIT-III) did not indicate the necessity to reduce the high steam quality (void fraction)."

San Onofre news update 3/8

NRC releases Mitsubishi report on San Onofre nuclear problem ... HOUSTON, March 8 (Reuters) - Nuclear regulators on Fridayreleased a report from the manufacturer of steam generatorsinstalled in Edison International's ... www.reuters.com/.../utilities-nuclear-edison-sanonofre-idUSL1...

NRC releases docs on San Onofre design flaws - Fox 5 San Diego SAN DIEGO -- Documents that show Southern California Edison and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries knew about design flaws in steam generators installed at the ... fox5sandiego.com/.../nrc-released-docs-on-san-onofre-design-...

Officials rejected some fixes to crippled San Onofre nuclear generators Experts say they don't expect a quake larger than 7.0 near the San Onofre nuclear plant, nor do they expect one bigger than 7.5 near Diablo Canyon, despite the ... thepoliticalcarnival.net/.../officials-rejected-some-fixes-to-crip...

Officials rejected some changes to crippled San Onofre generators ... A report on the root causes of problems at the San Onofre nuclear plant shows that officials considered making design changes to the plant's new steam ... www.coastlinepilot.com/.../tn-cpt-officials-rejected-some-chan...

San Onofre - Friends of the Earth San Onofre: Secret report confirms Edison knew of major problems. Posted Mar. 8, 2013 / Posted by: Lisa Matthes. Friends of the Earth: 'Bombshell' for plans to ... www.foe.org/.../2013-03-san-onofre-report-confirms-edison-k...

Seven Next-Generation Energy Technologies Showcased by ARPA-E

Seven Next-Generation Energy Technologies Showcased by ARPA-E

from Technology Review Feed - Tech Review Top Stories

Companies showed off their latest clean energy innovations at the ARPA-E Summit.
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy funds R&D in energy technologies that are too early for private funders to pick up. It’s funded hundreds of projects since it was first funded in 2009 in areas including carbon capture and storage, power electronics, and solar power. http://www.technologyreview.com/view/512241/seven-next-generation-energy-technologies-showcased-by-arpa-e/

Federal Court Reopens Case Disputing Nuclear Waste Fund Fees

Federal Court Reopens Case Disputing Nuclear Waste Fund Fees POWER magazine The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last week reopened and set a relatively expedited briefing schedule for a case in which several states and nuclear utilities have claimed collection of a nuclear waste fee by the Department of Energy (DOE ...http://www.powermag.com/POWERnews/Federal-Court-Reopens-Case-Disputing-Nuclear-Waste-Fund-Fees_5441.html

NuScale highlights its small modular reactor technology

NuScale highlights its small modular reactor technology
PennEnergy (press release)
NuScale Power LLC announced today that it has launched a newly redesigned and revamped corporate website that highlights the key features of its small modular reactor (SMR) technology. The site offers potential customers and key stakeholders a ...http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2013/03/nuscale-highlights-its-small-modular-reactor-technology.html

Vermont Yankee's safety record gets NRC approval

Vermont Yankee's safety record gets NRC approval vtdigger.org This finding comes after former Public Service Department Commissioner Liz Miller sent the NRC a series of letters asking why the NRC was not strengthening its oversight of the plant in light of a string of human performance errors in 2012 (for more on ...http://vtdigger.org/2013/03/07/vermont-yankees-safety-record-gets-nrc-approval/

NRC Gives Yankee Good Grades For 2012 Vermont Public Radio The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant did a good job last year in protecting public health and safety. The nuclear agency released its annual assessment report on Thursday. Spokesman Neil Sheehan said Yankee does ...http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/97723/nrc-gives-yankee-good-grades-for-2012/

Fukushima Updates 3/7

Here are the topics of today's Fukushima updates. Click the link for the full reports.

Numerous 3/11/11 second anniversary articles are being posted in the Japanese Press. Tomorrow, we will post a summary of the Fukushima-specific articles, and Sunday a summary of tsunami-specific articles... The Tokyo government is reviewing the disaster recovery subsidy policy of the former political regime... The former regime’s Fukushima decommissioning policy is also under review... Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority wants the on-going Fukushima Prefecture health survey to continue indefinitely... The NRA says they will not make the mistakes of their predecessor; NISA... Tokyo Electric Company (Tepco) drilled a hole in the roof of F. Daiichi unit #6 reactor building on March 18, 2011... The Mainichi Shimbun says the government is not doing enough to protect the health of Fukushima residents.

http://www.hiroshimasyndrome.com/fukushima-accident-updates.html

The Hanford triangle, where radiation, engineers and Gov. Jay Inslee meet

For the governor, newly-leaking tanks of radioactive waste made a trip to Eastern Washington the biggest thing on his agenda this week.

The Hanford triangle, where radiation, engineers and Gov. Jay Inslee meet: http://crosscut.com/2013/03/08/olympia-2013/113341/hanford-engineers-and-jay-inslee-triangle-made-nee/

US NRC Blog Update: Two Important Reports about Steam Generators at SONGS go public

U.S. NRC Blog

Two Important Reports about Steam Generators at SONGS Go Public by Moderator Victor Dricks Senior Public Affairs Officer   The NRC made public today redacted versions of two reports prepared by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries concerning the steam generator replacement at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The Steam Generator Root Cause Analysis Report and a Supplemental Technical Evaluation Report  were prepared by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as part of its effort to determine what contributed to the unusual wear in the steam generators after they were installed in 2010 and 2011 at Units 2 and 3, respectively. The NRC is using a variety of regulatory actions, such as inspections and investigations, to ensure that it is comprehensively addressing the issues that have arisen at the SONGS nuclear power plant. On Sept. 28, 2012, the NRC began an expansive investigation on the completeness and accuracy of information that Edison provided to the NRC regarding the steam generator degradation under the NRC’s regulatory requirements. These reports are included in an array of documents being reviewed by the NRC as we investigate whether Edison demonstrated sufficient due diligence in its oversight of the redesign of the steam generators; how design changes that were made or rejected may have affected the safety of the steam generators; and the truthfulness and accuracy of all the information Edison has provided to the NRC regarding the redesign and replacement of the steam generators. Separately from the ongoing investigation, the NRC is evaluating Edison’s responses to questions the NRC has raised about their request to restart Unit 2 at the plant. Additionally, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is reviewing issues related to the Confirmatory Action Letter issued by the NRC staff to Southern California Edison. Moderator | March 8, 2013 at 2:57 pm | Tags: NRC, nuclear power plants, San Onofre, SONGS, steam generator | Categories: Operating Reactors | URL: http://wp.me/p1fSSY-10w Comment    See all comments

Fukushima nuclear plant flooded daily by 400 tons of groundwater

Published time: March 08, 2013 19:44 http://rt.com/news/fukushima-nuclear-plant-disaster-013/

This photo taken on March 6, 2013 shows members of the media wearing protective suits and masks being escorted by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) employees as they visit near the No.4 reactor (C) and the construction of a foundation (R) for storage of melted fuel rods at TEPCO's tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in the town of Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, ahead of the second anniversary of the March 11, 2011 tsunami and earthquake. (AFP Photo/Issei Kato)

Inevitable US Nuclear Phase-Out Part of a Broader Evolution

Published on March 4, 2013 at 6:16 AM

In a 2012 report, the Obama administration announced that it was "jumpstarting" the nuclear industry. Because of the industry's long history of permitting problems, cost overruns, and construction delays, financial markets have been wary of backing new nuclear construction for decades. http://www.azocleantech.com/news.aspx?newsID=18060

Nuclear No-go Zone Shepherd Protects Livestock from Cull

Nuclear No-go Zone Shepherd Protects Livestock from Cull

New Tang Dynasty Television - ‎Mar 5, 2013‎

Two years from the meltdown at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Naoto Matsumura continues his daily routine of caring for his flock of animals. With one major difference. Matsumura now lives alone inside of the nuclear exclusion zone with ...http://ntdtv.org/en/news/world/asia/2013-03-05/nuclear-no-go-zone-shepherd-protects-livestock-from-cull.html

Fukushima report sheds light on future health risks

Fukushima report sheds light on future health risks

News-Medical.net - ‎Mar 6, 2013‎

A detailed report carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the risk to the general public inside and outside Japan from the Fukushima nuclear accident is minimal with no anticipated increases in cancer rates. However, for those living ...http://www.news-medical.net/news/20130306/Fukushima-report-sheds-light-on-future-health-risks.aspx

Radiation levels at Fukushima plant still too high, two years after nuclear meltdown

Radiation levels at Fukushima plant still too high, two years after nuclear meltdown

The Japan Daily Press - ‎Mar 6, 2013‎

Two years after the second worst nuclear disaster in the world, scientists are still no closer to understanding the exact conditions of the reactor cores inside the Fukushima nuclear plant. That is because the radiation levels are still too high for anyone to enter ...http://japandailypress.com/radiation-levels-at-fukushima-plant-still-too-high-two-years-after-nuclear-meltdown-0724695

Exclusive: Inside Japan's Fukushima, two years on

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant suffered meltdowns in three reactors as a result of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. FRANCE 24's Japan correspondent Justin McCurry visits the highly radioactive site.

By Guillaume BRESSION / Justin McCURRY (text) http://www.france24.com/en/20130307-inside-japans-fukushima-plant-two-years-later

Two Years Later, the Battle for Truth Continues Fukushima’s Nuclear Casualties by JOSEPH J. MANGANO

Two Years Later, the Battle for Truth Continues

Fukushima’s Nuclear Casualties

by JOSEPH J. MANGANOhttp://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/07/fukushimas-nuclear-casualties-2/