SimplyInfo » Entries tagged with "US"
New Easy To Use US Radiation Readings
So many have expressed their utter frustration with how US EPA’s Radnet serves up information. While EPA has refused to do anything to make their site more functional (they have actually made things worse and removed features) we found a way to quickly get national radiation readings with less effort. This page on our site lists all the available beta and gamma radiation graphs for EPA Radnet stations on one page and they will update over … Read entire article »
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US Nuclear Plant Would Have To Charge Double To Stay Profitable
Bloomberg has an interesting article about the major problem for US nuclear reactors. The economics are killing them. They blame subsidies other power generation gets (conveniently avoiding mention of the considerable subsidies nuclear power receives) and other (cheaper) power sources. What was so startling in this Bloomberg article is that Ginna nuclear plant would have to charge consumers double the current retail power rates in order to turn a profit. This was vs. all other power … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Contaminated Food Was Found In US Right After The Meltdowns
A presentation given at a recent American Chemical Society meeting outlined the discovery of Fukushima radioactive contamination in food soon after the disaster. Private sector testing done for food importers in the US did find contamination in some food items sent in for testing. Since this work was done with a private lab by a food company there was no mandate to make this information public. One sample of imported fresh fish from Japan intended for … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Publishes Arrogant Press Release To The US On Fukushima
As news came out about yet another finding of Fukushima radioactive contamination offshore of North America, TEPCO published a rather bizarre press release. The corporate statement insists the contamination “Level raises no concern for human or animal health”. This is a bit like taking healthy food advice from McDonalds. They go on to misrepresent statements made by Woods Hole for their own purposes including one twisted to try to claim cesium doesn’t contaminate fish. This is obviously … Read entire article »
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Japan Diet Approval Required To Join Nuclear Liability Treaty
The US has been pushing for Japan to sign on to a nuclear liability treaty, withholding some cooperation on the Fukushima disaster as pressure. In order for Japan to sign on to this treaty the Diet will have to give approval of the agreement. Currently only a few nuclear countries in the world have signed on to this liability treaty pushed by the US. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/10/24/national/government-seeks-diet-approval-treaty-international-funds-following-nuclear-disaster/#.VE6xEvl4pkA This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo … Read entire article »
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Why Are The US & Russia Blocking European Nuclear Safety Upgrades?
The European countries proposed new nuclear safety upgrades to be put in place after the Fukushima Daiichi disaster to a semi-official international nuclear pact. Yet the two countries want to derail a plan to improve safety. The European proposal would take costly safety upgrades already approved in the EU and make them into international standards. Both the US and Russia are completely against this. Bloomberg did extensive research into this issue including FOIA requests for records related … Read entire article »
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North Anna Nuclear Fuel Failure Raises Questions About Safety Procedures
In late September Dominion admitted that two nuclear fuel rods had broken open in the #2 reactor, spilling up to 15 fuel pellets inside the reactor. Eight pellets have been recovered, they think the others may have been ground up in the pumping and filtration system. The fuel was supplied by Areva and was in operation during the 2011 east coast earthquake. Having two fuel rods fail to the point that fuel pellets escape is a … Read entire article »
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Cracked Belgian Reactors May Be Retired, Same Risk at 22 Nuclear Plants Worldwide
Two Belgian reactors are receiving continued investigations into the structural cracking problems of their reactor vessels. The steel reactor vessels in question were all made by the now defunct Rotterdam Steel Company. Problems with the fabrication and steel quality lead to unusual cracks that were discovered during routine ageing inspections. A 22 US, European and South American reactors were made by this company and subject to the same potential problem. The reactors appear to all be either Westinghouse … Read entire article »
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US New Nuclear Running Into Systemic Failures
The US department of Energy has granted billions in guarantees to get these projects off the ground. The promised efficiency and quality from making components offsite hasn’t happened. A new Associated Press report shows they may even be worse than the cost and quality of building plants on site. Since these factors were reasoned by the nuclear industry for why a previous generation of nuclear power plants were over budget and plagued with problems, it … Read entire article »
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US Taxpayers May End Up Paying For Fukushima Disaster
The US and Japanese governments are one step closer to a liability agreement that would put US taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars towards the clean up of Fukushima Daiichi. Other countries that are party of the treaty would also be expected to put money in to the disaster site. The US has been pushing Japan to agree to this by withholding some assistance until Japan signs the treaty. The treaty also shelters major nuclear companies like Hitachi-GE, Toshiba and Areva from liability while pushing costs back on taxpayers. General Electric is a major proponent of this treaty. GE has paid no taxes in the US in recent years while parking billions of dollars in profits in banks in other countries. This article would not be possible without the extensive … Read entire article »
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US Pacific Kelp; Fukushima Radiation Testing Results
Kelp Watch has released their first batch of testing results. The program is a mash up of university, national lab and citizen efforts to test Pacific sea kelp for radiation. The main focus is on cesium contamination but also has been screening for natural sources of radiation. This first batch of test results are considers a “control” set. This establishes the radiation readings considered to be before any Fukushima related radiation would make it to the … Read entire article »
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US Nuclear Plagued With New Problems
(this article now available in Polish via http://www.marmas.nazwa.pl/wordpress/?p=549 we thank them for their translation efforts) The much touted SMR nuclear reactor program that has been claimed to be the next generation of nuclear plants is in trouble before it has even really started. Babcock & Wilcox, long time nuclear company located in Tennessee has scaled back their SMR reactor development. They are unable to find investors or customers for the concept reactor. The US Department of Energy has given $226 million to help B&W fund the project. The company booked a loss last year and said they would drastically cut how much money they put into the project this year. Entergy executives have been selling off large amounts of their personal company stock. There have already been hints that the company’s nuclear fleet is … Read entire article »
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US Nuclear Regulator Refuses To Fix Evacuation Zone Flaws
While Japan is implementing larger evacuation zones and comprehensive evacuation zone plans after the Fukushima disaster, the US has decided to change nothing. A petition asking them to review the 10 mile evacuation zone plan by the US NRC was rejected. Japan is working on detailed evacuation plans including local evacuation drills where locals participate. The US scales back their protective actions. Read more here: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140410/NEWS/404100337 This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo … Read entire article »
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US Coalition Call In To Congress Day, Demand Fukushima Food Testing
A coalition of groups and the Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network are asking people to call, write or email Congress today to demand effective and transparent testing of the food supply for radiation contamination. More information about the national call in day today (April 10, 2014) can be found here at https://www.facebook.com/RADSrBAD2EAT Congressional contacts can be found here: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml FFAN has been pushing for the FDA to use a more scientifically sound “intervention level” for radioactive contamination in the US food … Read entire article »
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US MOX Fuel Plant May Finally Be Terminated
Fitnews is reporting that the US MOX plant in South Carolina may finally be ending. The project has never had any customers lined up while the building costs have increased almost 10 fold. According to the report the US Department of Energy has sent a “shutdown specialist” consultant to the facility to look at options for terminating the project. image credit | http://www.isaiahhankel.com/ This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Brings New Awareness Of Contaminated Food Worldwide
The concerns about food contamination from Fukushima has also increased awareness of the lingering problems of world wide food contamination from various sources. Fukushima was not the first major radiation release to the environment. Atomic testing in the Pacific contributed to considerable amounts of radioactive contamination of the sea that can still be found in sea life today. Chernobyl contaminated a wide swath of Europe and Russia, this contamination is still routinely found in foods … Read entire article »
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48th Anniversary Of Palomares Nuclear Disaster
Friday was the 48th anniversary of the Palomares nuclear disaster. A US B52 collided with a refueling plane over southern Spain causing both planes to fall from the sky. The B52 had four hydrogen bombs on board. Three fell on the town of Palomares, one out to sea. Two of the nuclear bombs had the non nuclear explosive detonate on impact, sending plutonium showering over the town like dirty bombs. Much of the deadly plutonium was … Read entire article »
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Democracy Now! In Japan This Week, Covers Fukushima
Alternative news television Democracy Now! Is broadcasting from Japan this week. Anchor Amy Goodman is covering a variety of topics this week including Fukushima. See recordings of their broadcasts on their website here. http://www.democracynow.org/ This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content cited, quoted etc. from other sources is under the respective rights of that content owner. If you are … Read entire article »
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NRA Japan Saves The US West Coast And The Rest Of The World
NRA demanded that TEPCO drop test waste canisters to be used to hold highly radioactive sludge from the ALPS processing system. They also stopped TEPCO from operating ALPS months ago and demanded they test the system first. The systems are all still in various phases of testing due to a string of failures. Had NRA not stepped in TEPCO would have had ALPS in an attempt at full operation with now known flaws and have … Read entire article »
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What Power Companies Do When Nuclear Is No Longer An Easy Option
MidAmerican Energy in the US tried for years to force Iowa residents to pre-pay for a nuclear power plant. Those efforts failed twice, causing the company to stop trying to pass the new law. As of February 2013 MidAmerican Energy owner Warren Buffett continued to express his interest in building two nuclear power plants in Iowa. Without public funding for nuclear and a public that has been strongly against any new nuclear plants in Iowa, … Read entire article »
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Japan State Secrets Bill Would Jail Journalists, Hide Fukushima Information
This bill is a major issue in Japan for good reason, yet this issue gets little press in the west. The current LDP government proposed a new state secrets law that would make anything at any agency a “state secret” if the agency or prime minister decided it should be. This system has no oversight or checks and balances to prevent abuse or to protect the public’s right to know. “Yutaka Saito, a member of the … Read entire article »
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US Group Calls For Radiation Monitoring Of Food Supply
A US grassroots group is urging the public to support a set of efforts to improve food monitoring in the US against radioactive contamination. The fallout from Fukushima that fell on the US and that which has been crossing the Pacific has been an area of concern with residents of the US and Canada. Government agencies have declared the issue to be a “non-issue” and either have opted to do no testing or rely on premature … Read entire article »
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Radiation Monitoring For US/Canada Food Added
We have added a page to our site that compiles results of independent food testing for the US and Canada. There has been no centralized testing in the US or Canada since the Fukushima nuclear disaster. While what has been found so far is fairly low compared to what is being found in some parts of Japan, additional more widespread testing is needed to fully understand the situation. See the results here. http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?page_id=11724 If you know of independent … Read entire article »
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US Puts Major Strings On Offer To Help With Fukushima Disaster
US Energy Secretary Moniz offered “international help” with the Fukushima disaster but it comes with some big strings attached. Ex-SKF discovered that the US is holding help hostage by demanding Japan sign a nuclear liability treaty in trade for assistance. The treaty appears to allow US companies to not be held liable if their technology or work fails. If the treaty is retroactive on liability waivers or financial aid to victims is not completely clear. Japan … Read entire article »
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US Pacific Coast Seaweed Shows With Fukushima Cesium Contamination
New testing done by Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering found Fukushima cesium in US Pacific sea weed. The samples were standardized against a known amount of cesium 137 and cobalt 60. The finding of cesium 134 would indicate this is at least partially from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. “Washington State Pacific coast eel weed sample contained 0.22 pCi/g of Cs134 and 0.24 pCi/g of Cs137. It also contained 0.1 pCi/g of Co60” These values converted to … Read entire article »
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US Nuclear Regulator Shuts Doors Today Due To Govt. Shutdown
The US NRC has sent home 90% of their staff. Only resident inspectors and a handful of core staff remain. All licensing and safety reviews are on hold. The NRC insists they can call back critical staff if there is an accident or disaster. Those people are currently sitting home unpaid. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content cited, quoted etc. from other sources is under the respective rights of that content owner. If you are viewing this page on any website other than www.simplyinfo.org (or www.fukuleaks.org) it may be plagiarized, please let us know. If you wish to reproduce any of our content in full or in more than a phrase or … Read entire article »
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Reality Of Pacific Contamination From Fukushima Hits US
The French nuclear agency has called Fukushima “the largest single nuclear contamination of the ocean in history.“ This includes the years of Pacific atomic bomb testing by the US and other countries. Those historic events created contamination in Pacific seafood far from where the bombs were detonated that required the destruction of tons of landed seafood. TEPCO of course insisted the contamination from Fukushima would “disperse”. The Independent has TEPCO’s PR program all figured out. … Read entire article »
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Irony; US Nuclear Bomb Plant To Be Wind Powered
The US Pantex nuclear bomb plant will be running on wind power soon. It was announced this week that the plant will be installing wind turbines to supply electricity to the plant. At more than 65% of their electricity will come from the wind turbines being installed on site. The turbines are expected to save $50 million dollars over 18 years. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content cited, quoted etc. from other sources is under the respective rights of that content owner. If you are viewing this page on any website other than www.simplyinfo.org (or www.fukuleaks.org) it may be plagiarized, please let us know. If you wish to reproduce any of our … Read entire article »
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US Spent Nuclear Fuel’s Epic Problem
The NY Times published an article today discussing the considerable problems with spent nuclear fuel in the US. They looked at the problems facing the NRC and Dept. of Energy and the lack of a final site for permanent storage of spent nuclear fuel. The US has no central permanent storage facility, Yucca Mountain was scrapped by the Obama administration due to resistance to the plan from Nevada. The current hope by the two agencies tasked with handling the growing problem is to create some sort of smaller facilities around the US but they would need to gain local approval. What is even more disturbing is the rather obvious problem pointed out by the NY Times. Many old reactor sites around the US have torn down the reactors taking the spent fuel … Read entire article »
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Japan Receives MOX Shipment As US Ends Their MOX Program
The Takahama nuclear plant received a shipment of MOX fuel yesterday. The power company has hinted they intend to use the shipment originally produced before the March 2011 nuclear disaster. Green Action Japan points out a number of ways using this fuel is in violation of existing statutes in Japan and that the new regulator has not established standards for MOX use. While the power companies in Japan are pushing for restarts and continuation of the MOX program, the US is poised to end their MOX program. The US has dabbled with MOX fuel over the decades. In the 1970′s under an agreement with a private company the US began building a reprocessing facility at Barnwell SC to make MOX from used reactor fuel. The project was ended after government accountability … Read entire article »
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US Pressured Japan In Secret To Continue MOX Program
The Mainichi has uncovered secret government documents that prove the US and deputy DOE secretary Danial Poneman put intense pressure on Japan to continue the plutonium fuel MOX program in Japan. The documents clearly show the US is pressuring Japan to continue with the MOX fuel cycle program, something the US has failed to do themselves. The US has claimed the concern to be that the plutonium would be diverted to military use. Japan has a massive amount of spent nuclear fuel, more than they could ever realistically use through reprocessing into MOX. The US stance also ignores the prospect of vitrification, a technology that encases the material in a glass substance rendering it unusable for weapons. The US is still struggling to create an operating vitrification plant at the Hanford … Read entire article »
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US Nuclear Plant Cracks Reactor Vessel
The Sharon Harris nuclear plant admitted to having a crack in the reactor vessel. The 1/4 crack did not penetrate all the way through the vessel steel. It was not reported how long or deep the crack was. The reactor ultrasound data was collected a year ago but the plant officials are only now going through it. This raises questions about why they were allowed to wait so long and also to restart before the review is conducted. The plant owners said the repair would need to be done with robots on the reactor head section of the reactor vessel due to the high radiation. The crack appeared on a weld for a control rod nozzle on the reactor head. The unit in question is a 3 loop PWR reactor, this … Read entire article »
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83 Year Old Nun Who Broke Into Nuclear Facility Faces 20 Year Sentence
The 83 year old nun that broke into Oak Ridge nuclear facility faces a 20 year sentence after being found guilty. If given the full sentence she would essentially serve the rest of her life in prison. The group who snuck into the facility and vandalized a building are waiting for the final sentencing phase of their trial. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org © 2011-2015 SimplyInfo.org, Fukuleaks.org All Rights Reserved Content cited, quoted etc. from other sources is under the respective rights of that content owner. If you are viewing this page on any website other than www.simplyinfo.org (or www.fukuleaks.org) it may be plagiarized, please let us know. If you wish to reproduce any of our content in full … Read entire article »
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Goldfish Found In Reactor Water At Perry Nuclear Plant
The NRC is investigating an incident during the recent maintenance outage at the Perry nuclear plant in Ohio. Goldfish were found swimming in a lemonade pitcher filled with reactor water that was left in the steam tunnel. The location is part of the secured portion of the reactor building that houses the steam pipes that run between the reactor and the turbine building. The NRC and plant operators think they will be able to catch the pranksters due to security cameras and limited access into the area. The Perry nuclear plant is already under heightened scrutiny after two workers were involved in a life threatening radiation incident last year. The number of whistleblower complaints from nuclear plant workers and NRC employees has seen an uptick in recent years. An incident at San … Read entire article »
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US Nuclear; Failing Casks, Cracked Concrete And Foot Dragging On Safety
30 of the US’s 100+ nuclear plants have ordered spent fuel pool water level monitoring systems. The issue of this kind of equipment came up again during hurricane Sandy as both members of the public and experts questioned if the nuclear plants impacted by the storm had upgraded spent fuel pool equipment. The new equipment to monitor and provide water to the pool was suggested by the post Fukushima committee that looked at what failed and could fail at US reactors. It is not clear if the remaining units in the US have not ordered such equipment or have already ordered such equipment. The water level monitoring system is only part of the suggested upgrades and comes with a 7 day battery pack. Dry Casks Failing In The US The NRC found multiple … Read entire article »
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EPA Signs Industry Authored Public Radiation Rules
The EPA has signed the revised PAG rules that have caused much concern among experts and others in the EPA. These new rules were written by the NCRP, an industry funded group that represents the nuclear power industry’s interests. In an attempt to fight off criticism about the dangerous new standards the EPA tried to claim they are non-binding. Yet we have seen PAG standards being applied to the Fukushima disaster and being used as an excuse in the US to ignore contamination problems in the US. The new standards would take water contamination from 3 picocuries per liter to 81,000 picocuries per liter. The EPA claims since the levels are just for emergencies they are somehow OK. This is just another example of the dysfunction in government where an industry can … Read entire article »
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US Nuclear Waste Plan May Be Illegal
The GAO has determined that aspects of the planned nuclear waste disposal program are likely illegal. The GAO says the Dept. of Energy lacks the authority to create new interim storage facilities. Any authority they did have was tied to milestones or timelines not achieved. There is some suspicion the entire idea of interim storage facilities is just a stalling tactic to fend off lawsuits and delay the entire issue in the hopes of better technology being developed. The Forbes article that outlines the problems also mentions the logistics with moving all of the spent fuel twice and that a transportation plan could take a decade to get that alone approved. They also note that much of the cask stored fuel at nuclear plants is currently “too hot” to transport. The GAO review also … Read entire article »
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Omaha Power Company Charges $5000 To Answer Question
The Omaha Public Power District is demanding $5000 to answer a question from their customers. OPPD owns and runs the Ft. Calhoun nuclear plant made famous after it sat surrounded by flood waters in the spring of 2011. The plant is still out of operation as a mountain of failures found by the NRC are being worked through. OPPD claims they can repair all of the problem including a structural failure found inside the reactor containment structure. OPPD recently requested a rate increase from consumers to pay for a $143 million dollar contract with Exelon to help them try to fix the plant. A slew of new problems have been found since the last OPPD request for more money including the containment failure. These new costs caused some concerned consumers to ask … Read entire article »
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EPA Employees Balk At Proposed Nuclear Industry Authored Public Safety Guidelines
High ranking EPA officials are calling foul on a new set of public safety guidelines that would dictate how the government would respond to a nuclear disaster. What has caused the extreme concern among EPA officials is within the proposed report that was authored by the NCRP. We previously documented that the NCRP is a private company funded by the nuclear industry. These new guidelines would drastically lower the level of public safety and give it a back seat to nuclear industry financial interests to pretend that nothing happened. Paul Kudarauskas, of the EPA Consequence Management Advisory Team when talking about the industry written rules and a potential nuclear disaster in the US said “U.S. residents are used to having “cleanup to perfection,” but will have to abandon their “not in my … Read entire article »
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