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Keyword: reactor

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  • US fines China firm for illegal export to Pak nuke plant

    01/06/2013 2:24:28 PM PST · by Jyotishi · 5 replies
    Rediff ^ | Friday, January 4, 2013 | Press Trust of India
    A Chinese company has agreed to pay a penalty of $3 million after pleading guilty to the charges of illegally exporting high-performance coating to Pakistan's Chashma nuclear power plant, US federal authorities said. Headquartered in Nanjing, the Chinese firm Huaxing agreed to the maximum criminal fine of  $2 million, $1 million of which will be stayed pending its successful completion of five years of corporate probation. Huaxing was building Chashma II Nuclear Power Plant in Pakistan as part of a nuclear cooperation pact between China and Pakistan. Chashma II is owned by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, which is an...
  • No to Nukes: Nuclear power isn’t cost-effective, no matter how you do the math.

    06/27/2012 9:04:38 PM PDT · by neverdem · 100 replies
    Reason ^ | July 2012 | Veronique de Rugy
    When Barack Obama was just a baby, nuclear energy was touted as the technology that would finally provide pollution-free, limitless electricity for all. In its famous 1962 Port Huron Statement, the left-wing Students for a Democratic Society gushed about how “our monster cities…might now be humanized” thanks to nuclear power. Like so many predictions about the future, that one rather dramatically missed the mark. Surprising as it may seem, the United States still generates around 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear power plants. This despite the fact that no new facilities have been built since the notorious Three Mile...
  • Kodak's New York HQ housed secret underground nuclear reactor

    05/14/2012 5:14:36 PM PDT · by dynachrome · 20 replies
    Daily Mail ^ | 5-14-12 | unattributed
    A Kodak industrial facility in New York, was home to a secret nuclear reactor containing weapons-grade uranium. The research reactor was housed in an underground labyrinth in one of the buildings at the former Kodak Park site in Rochester and was the size of a fridge. Kodak used it to check chemicals and other materials for impurities, as well
  • Fukushima and the Future of Nuclear Power (No evidence that low doses of radiation are harmful)

    03/11/2012 2:16:32 PM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 17 replies
    Wall Street Journal ^ | 03/08/2012 | William Tucker
    In the early 1980s, a Taiwan steel company accidentally mixed some highly radioactive cobalt-60 into a batch of steel rebar. The radioactive rods were then used in the construction of 1,700 apartments. As a result, people living in these buildings were subject to radiation up to 30 times the normal amount received from the natural background. When dismayed officials discovered this enormous error 15 years later, they surveyed past and present apartment dwellers expecting to find an epidemic of cancer. Normal incidence would have predicted 160 cancers among the 10,000 residents. To their astonishment, the researchers discovered only five cases...
  • Iran to load own nuclear fuel rods in Tehran reactor

    02/15/2012 4:29:44 AM PST · by RS_Rider · 12 replies
    Yahoo News, Reuters ^ | 02-15-2012 | Parisa Hafezi
    TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will load domestically made nuclear fuel rods into its Tehran Research Reactor on Wednesday for the first time to keep it running, a senior official told a national news agency. Tehran had announced in January that it had successfully manufactured and tested fuel rods for use in nuclear power plants, a move to show that international sanctions are failing to stop it making advances in nuclear know-how and to strengthen its hand in any renewed negotiations with six world powers. "The first home-made nuclear fuel roads will be loaded in the Tehran Nuclear Research Reactor in...
  • OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Feds set to approve first new nuke reactors in decades (Georgia)

    02/08/2012 5:28:05 PM PST · by Libloather · 10 replies
    The Hill ^ | 2/08/12 | Andrew Restuccia, Ben Geman
    OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Feds set to approve first new nuke reactors in decadesBy Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman - 02/08/12 05:42 PM ET State of play: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is set to approve the construction of two nuclear reactors at Southern Co.’s Vogtle power plant in Georgia. The approval, expected Thursday, would mark the first time that the commission has authorized construction of a new nuclear reactor since 1978. Industry and anti-nuclear groups expect the commission to approve the license, a move that would allow construction of the reactors and conditionally authorize their operation. The commission is slated to vote...
  • Japan: Temperature remains high at damaged reactor(despite injection of more water)

    02/07/2012 5:36:50 AM PST · by TigerLikesRooster · 58 replies
    NHK ^ | 02/07/12
    Temperature remains high at damaged reactor An unknown rise in temperature at one of the reactors at the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant is troubling its operator. Tokyo Electric says the temperature hasn't gone down even after it increased the volume of cooling water on Tuesday. One of the thermometers at the bottom of reactor No. 2 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant gradually rose to about 70 degrees Celsius since January 27th. It had stayed around 45 degrees before. In an effort to lower the temperature, the operator increased the amount of water sprayed on the nuclear fuel by 3 tons...
  • Japan: Temperature Soars Mysteriously Inside Fukushima Nuclear Reactor

    02/06/2012 6:21:48 PM PST · by TigerLikesRooster · 23 replies
    Fox ^ | 02/06/12
    Temperature Soars Mysteriously Inside Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Updated: Monday, 06 Feb 2012, 9:22 AM EST Published : Monday, 06 Feb 2012, 9:22 AM EST By NewsCore TOKYO - The temperature of a reactor at Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has soared and remained mysteriously high Monday, despite more water being pumped through it. The facility's No.2 reactor had reached 164 degrees Fahrenheit (73.3 degrees Celsius) by Monday morning, after sitting at 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius) on Jan. 27, broadcaster NHK reported. That was despite Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) officials pumping 9.6 tonnes (10.6 tons) of water...
  • S. Korea dismisses rumors of nuclear explosion in N. Korea

    01/07/2012 9:14:38 PM PST · by TigerLikesRooster · 6 replies
    Yonhap News ^ | 01/06/12
    2012/01/06 18:30 KST S. Korea dismisses rumors of nuclear explosion in N. Korea SEOUL, Jan. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Friday dismissed as groundless a rumor that a light-water reactor has exploded in North Korea's nuclear complex, sending leaked radiation to Pyongyang and as far as South Korea. The rumor cited an unidentified secret Japanese intelligence operative in the isolated communist country. The rumor quickly spread among securities firms in Yeouido, South Korea's equivalent to New York's Wall Street, through instant messenger services on Friday afternoon as ordinary citizens also tweeted messages on the allegation. South Korean officials quickly...
  • US Nuclear Expert Raises Concerns Over Safety of N. Korea's LWRs(potential reactor accident?)

    12/14/2011 4:43:44 AM PST · by TigerLikesRooster · 8 replies
    Arirang News ^ | 12/14/11
    US Nuclear Expert Raises Concerns Over Safety of N. Korea's LWRs The safety of North Korea's light water reactor under construction has been questioned by a renowned US nuclear expert, who first revealed the North's uranium enrichment facility to the world last year. In Seoul to talk about his visit to North Korea last year, Stanford University professor Siegfried Hecker, indicated how important it is for a country to choose the right materials and construction methodology when building such reactors. He added that lessons should be learned from past nuclear-related accidents, like the recent nuclear meltdown at Japan's Fukushima plant.
  • Japan: Tepco Starts To Eject Hydrogen From Fukushima Plant - Kyodo (heading off explosion)

    10/08/2011 6:18:32 AM PDT · by TigerLikesRooster · 5 replies
    Fox Business ^ | 10/08/11
    Tepco Starts To Eject Hydrogen From Fukushima Plant - Kyodo Published October 08, 2011 Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.T0), operator of the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said Saturday it has started to discharge hydrogen with high concentration levels from a pipe connected to a reactor containment vessel at the plant, as a measure to prevent an explosion. The utility said it has injected nitrogen into the pipe for the No. 1 reactor vessel to eject hydrogen found with high density of more than 60%. The hydrogen has been generated by radiation that dissolved water. Tepco said it will make...
  • Japan: Hydrogen accumulates in pipes at Fukushima's No. 1 reactor

    09/26/2011 8:01:33 AM PDT · by TigerLikesRooster · 9 replies
    Asahi Shimbun ^ | 09/24/11 | HIDENORI TSUBOYA
    Hydrogen accumulates in pipes at Fukushima's No. 1 reactor September 24, 2011 By HIDENORI TSUBOYA / Staff Writer Hydrogen has accumulated to a level higher than previously thought in pipes connected to the No. 1 reactor containment vessel at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the plant's operator said Sept. 23. But Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials said an explosion was unlikely because nonflammable nitrogen was being pumped in to prevent oxygen from entering the containment vessel and triggering a blast. TEPCO also said the discovery of the hydrogen buildup will not affect the road map toward achieving a...
  • [Japan]TEPCO: Nuclear fuel pool cooled to stable level

    07/02/2011 12:05:15 AM PDT · by TigerLikesRooster · 10 replies
    NHK ^ | 07/02/11
    TEPCO: Nuclear fuel pool cooled to stable level The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has reported progress in its work to stabilize the facility's spent fuel rods. Tokyo Electric Power Company says the cooling system that began operating at the No.3 reactor on Thursday has brought the temperature of the nuclear fuel storage pool of the reactor to just below 40 degrees Celsius from the previous level of 62 degrees. TEPCO says the temperature of the pool was 39.9 degrees as of 5 AM on Saturday. As cooling has progressed faster than initially expected, TEPCO says the...
  • AP IMPACT: NRC and industry rewrite nuke history

    06/28/2011 6:40:13 AM PDT · by RS_Rider · 5 replies
    Associated Press ^ | June 28, 2011 | JEFF DONN
    ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) — When commercial nuclear power was getting its start in the 1960s and 1970s, industry and regulators stated unequivocally that reactors were designed only to operate for 40 years. Now they tell another story — insisting that the units were built with no inherent life span, and can run for up to a century, an Associated Press investigation shows. By rewriting history, plant owners are making it easier to extend the lives of dozens of reactors in a relicensing process that resembles nothing more than an elaborate rubber stamp. As part of a yearlong investigation of aging...
  • Japan: Boric acid being added to No.3 reactor fuel pool

    06/26/2011 10:20:22 AM PDT · by TigerLikesRooster · 11 replies
    NHK ^ | 06/26/11
    Boric acid being added to No.3 reactor fuel pool Tokyo Electric Power Company has begun adding boric acid to the spent fuel storage pool of the No.3 reactor at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to prevent fuel racks from being corroded by alkaline water. The company started the operation on Sunday morning. About 90 tons of water containing boric acid will be poured into the pool through Monday. Concrete debris from the March hydrogen explosion of the reactor building has been detected in the fuel pool. Last month, TEPCO found that the water in the pool had turned strongly alkaline,...
  • Japan: TEPCO to cover reactor with polyester sheets(here comes reactor burqa )

    06/14/2011 7:41:13 PM PDT · by TigerLikesRooster · 28 replies
    NHK ^ | 06/15/11
    TEPCO to cover reactor with polyester sheets The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will begin to cover the No.1 reactor building with polyester sheets this month to prevent the dispersal of radioactive substances. The buildings of the No.1, 3, and 4 reactors were severely damaged by explosions and radioactive elements are still being released into the atmosphere. There are fears that heavy rain may hamper the workers' activities and that the rainwater may become contaminated with radioactive materials. To prevent these situations, Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, plans to enclose the reactor buildings with polyester sheets. The...
  • Japan: In Nuclear Crisis, Crippling Mistrust

    06/13/2011 4:42:45 AM PDT · by TigerLikesRooster · 15 replies
    NYT ^ | 06/12/11 | NORIMITSU ONISHI and MARTIN FACKLER
    In Nuclear Crisis, Crippling Mistrust By NORIMITSU ONISHI and MARTIN FACKLER Published: June 12, 2011 TOKYO — On the evening of March 12, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s oldest reactor had suffered a hydrogen explosion and risked a complete meltdown. Prime Minister Naoto Kan asked aides to weigh the risks of injecting seawater into the reactor to cool it down. /snip At the drama’s heart was an outsider prime minister who saw the need for quick action but whose well-founded mistrust of a system of alliances between powerful plant operators, compliant bureaucrats and sympathetic politicians deprived him of resources he...
  • 3 Japan nuclear reactors had full meltdown, agency says (full?)

    06/06/2011 9:51:52 PM PDT · by TigerLikesRooster · 21 replies
    CNN ^ | 06/06/11
    3 Japan nuclear reactors had full meltdown, agency says Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant experienced full meltdowns at three reactors in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami in March, the country's Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters said Monday. The nuclear group's new evaluation, released Monday, goes further than previous statements in describing the extent of the damage caused by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The announcement will not change plans for how to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the agency said. Reactors 1, 2 and 3 experienced a full meltdown, it said. The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric...
  • Japan: Fukushima's No. 1 reactor building radiation up to 4,000 millisieverts

    06/04/2011 12:09:46 AM PDT · by TigerLikesRooster · 16 replies
    Fukushima's No. 1 reactor building radiation up to 4,000 millisieverts TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said Saturday it has detected radiation of up to 4,000 millisieverts per hour at the building housing the troubled No. 1 reactor. The radiation reading, taken as Tokyo Electric Power Co. sent a robot into the No. 1 reactor building on Friday, is believed to be the largest detected in the air at the plant. TEPCO said it took the reading near the floor at the southeast corner of the building under which runs a pipe emitting steam,...
  • Japan: Wastewater rises, fears mount [Fukushima]

    06/02/2011 7:32:29 AM PDT · by TigerLikesRooster · 6 replies · 1+ views
    NHK ^ | 06/02/11
    Wastewater rises, fears mount The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is struggling to remove pools of highly radioactive wastewater as fears of an overflow get more intense. Tokyo Electric Power Company says wastewater levels rose around 6 centimeters inside the No.2 reactor turbine building, and in its utility tunnel, during the 24-hour period through Thursday morning. Increases were also seen inside the No.3 and 4 reactor turbine buildings. The water level in the utility tunnel is now just 28 centimeters from the surface outside the No.2 reactor, and 24 centimeters from the surface outside the No.3 reactor....