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"Nuclear accidents may occur more often as atomic technology spreads and countries build more reactors, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano said. "Member states are considering the introduction of nuclear power plants," Amano said during a May 14 interview in his 28th-floor office overlooking Vienna. "We cannot exclude accidents. If there are more, we have certain risks." The IAEA expects as many as 25 nations to start developing nuclear-power facilities by 2030. The total global investment in building new atomic plants is about $270 billion, the Arlington, Virginia-based Pew Center on Global Climate Change said on Feb. 17. Interest in nuclear power is growing at the fastest rate since the Three Mile Island accident in the U.S. in 1979 and the Chernobyl explosion in Ukraine in 1986, IAEA statistics show. The additional uranium resources needed to power the reactors may create security hazards for which the public must prepare, said Amano, 63, a career diplomat. "

"The radiation effects from the Fukushima I nuclear accidents are the results of release of radioactive isotopes from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The total amount of iodine-131 and caesium-137 released into the atmosphere has been estimated to exceed 10% of the emissions from the Chernobyl accident.[1][2] Large amounts on radioactive isotopes have also been released into the Pacific Ocean. The accidents were rated at level 7 rating on the International Nuclear Event Scale."

Ten years after a nuclear accident killed two plant workers and shattered the "safety myth" surrounding atomic power generation, Japan still has much work to do in improving responses to cases of radiation exposure. Experts and officials say the number of doctors and facilities that can provide emergency care is still insufficient, while more has to be done to prevent and respond to radiation emergencies. The incident, at the JCO Co. nuclear fuel processing plant in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Sept. 30, 1999, was the nation's first "criticality accident," a term used to describe the unintentional triggering of a nuclear chain reaction in fissile material.

Ten years after a nuclear accident killed two plant workers and shattered the "safety myth" surrounding atomic power generation, Japan still has much work to do in improving responses to cases of radiation exposure. Experts and officials say the number of doctors and facilities that can provide emergency care is still insufficient, while more has to be done to prevent and respond to radiation emergencies. The incident, at the JCO Co. nuclear fuel processing plant in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Sept. 30, 1999, was the nation's first "criticality accident," a term used to describe the unintentional triggering of a nuclear chain reaction in fissile material.

Public employees have filed a lawsuit demanding documents related to the U.S. EPA's plans made "in secrecy" to allow public exposure to increased levels of radioactivity following nuclear accidents or attacks. The lawsuit filed Wednesday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility under the Freedom of Information Act claims that the agency "wrongfully withheld" comments submitted by EPA and other federal and state agency officials and by representatives of private corporations or trade associations to the EPA Office of Radiation and Indoor Air as it prepared its updated Protective Action Guides. The radiation guides are protocols for responding to incidents ranging from nuclear power plant accidents to transportation spills to dirty bombs.

Public employees have filed a lawsuit demanding documents related to the U.S. EPA's plans made "in secrecy" to allow public exposure to increased levels of radioactivity following nuclear accidents or attacks. The lawsuit filed Wednesday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility under the Freedom of Information Act claims that the agency "wrongfully withheld" comments submitted by EPA and other federal and state agency officials and by representatives of private corporations or trade associations to the EPA Office of Radiation and Indoor Air as it prepared its updated Protective Action Guides. The radiation guides are protocols for responding to incidents ranging from nuclear power plant accidents to transportation spills to dirty bombs.

"The Hong Kong government is considering a plan that would require Daya Bay Nuclear Power Operations and Management Co. to report minor accidents, Hong Kong's Ming Pao Daily News reported today. Under the proposal, Daya Bay would need to report small accidents such as the leakage on May 23 to shareholder CLP Holdings Ltd., the government's Environmental Protection Department and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, the Chinese- language paper said, without saying where it got the information. "

"The government today sought to end the debate on the civil nuclear liability Bill by agreeing to "periodically review" the Rs 500-crore cap fixed for operators of nuclear power plants as damages in the event of an accident, and increase it, if necessary. At the same time, it has tried to make it easier for the nuclear operator to demand compensation amount from a foreign supplier in case the accident happens due to a fault in equipment. This has been done by removing a provision in the original Bill that gave the operator the right of recourse only if the accident had resulted from "wilful act or gross negligence" on the part of the supplier. "

"Greenpeace is collecting signatures to force the government to review the nuclear liability bill which it says allows foreign corporations to get away by paying a meagre compensation in case of a nuclear accident. With already over 1.8 lakh signatures online, the petition will be forwarded to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him to stop the bill in its current form and review it. "The proposed nuclear liability bill appeases foreign corporations by allowing them to get away by paying a meagre compensatory amount in case of a nuclear accident, which is not fair," reads the petition. It alleged that the government was only considering cosmetic changes in the bill. Drawing a parallel with the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984, the petition said: "The Bhopal judgment highlights the manner in which an American corporation has been so easily let off after causing the deaths of over 25,000 people and affecting thousands more." "India must hold a public consultation before changing the liability rules for any nuclear accidents caused by US corporations." A Bhopal court on June 07 sentenced seven former employees of Union Carbide Indian Ltd to two years imprisonment for culpability in the tragedy and quickly bailed them. The ruling has triggered a furore. "

"The possibility that depleted uranium could be stored at the Milan Army Ammunition Plant has parents like Stacey Moody worried for their families' safety. Moody lives on Salem Road, about two miles from the arsenal, with her husband and 2-year-old daughter Elizabeth. She said storing depleted uranium at the arsenal would pose a threat to people and wildlife if a truck accident or explosion exposed people to the element that is classified as nuclear waste. "It would be very easy for a truck to turn over or have an accident," Moody said. "What kind of sickness would it cause if there was an accident? That's something we don't know." The Milan Arsenal is being used by American Ordinance to manufacture 40-millimeter munitions, 60mm and 81mm mortars and other munitions for the U.S. military, primarily the U.S. Army. The company has proposed moving that manufacturing to Iowa. It would then use Milan as a place to store depleted uranium shipped from Iowa and from weapons sent to the local arsenal for destruction. American Ordnance's plan must first be approved by the military. The plan can be found at www.jmc.army.mil/milan-ea.pdf."

A Russian sailor has been charged for causing an accident where 20 people were gassed to death on a nuclear submarine in the country's worst tragedy since the 2000 Kursk disaster, officials said on Thursday. "The suspect is one of the sailors of the crew, who for no reason set off the fire extinguishing system, as a result of which 20 people died and 21 were hospitalized," investigator Vladimir Markin told Vesti-24 television. "This sailor has already testified to his guilt," said Markin, a spokesman for investigators probing Saturday's accident about the Nerpa submarine, which raised new doubts about the safety of Russian military hardware.

MINSK, May 4 (Itar-Tass) - As of Monday, May 4, the Belarussian authorities have opened temporary access to cemeteries in the Chernobyl nuclear accident exclusion zone, which embraces a number of areas in eastern and southeast parts of the country affected by radiation in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. The exclusion zone has restricted access, and the population from there was largely resettled to other parts of the country shortly after the accident.

An accident killed a 46-year-old man at an Atomic Energy of Canada Limited laboratory in Pinawa, Thursday. The accident happened around 11:00 a.m. The employee was on shift when he was killed.

Two accidents at the Hanford vitrification plant construction project this month prompted the Department of Energy to send a second letter to its contractor outlining safety concerns. In one incident a worker fell 4 feet off a ladder and broke his arm and elbow. In the other, a worker needed 19 stitches after being cut with a saw. In early May, DOE told Bechtel National that it was concerned about an increase in accidents requiring medical attention and other safety-related incidents at the plant. Bechtel redoubled safety efforts then and succeeded in accumulating almost 900,000 employee work hours at the site without a worker accident that required medical attention.

A recent letter ("The case against storing at Yucca," June 11) shows a lack of understanding of nuclear waste; for example, the writer is worried about hundreds of truck or train loads of spent fuel, and mentioned the Graniteville accident. Sign up to get local news by e-mail Thousands of trucks and train cars of gasoline and other hazardous chemicals are crossing the country every day. They represent a risk thousands of times greater than spent fuel. The Graniteville accident involved tank cars of gaseous chlorine and killed people. After an accident a car load of spent fuel would just lie there until picked up. No terrorist would waste his time on such a target. At Savannah River Site, it was calculated that a truck load of explosives in a fuel storage pool couldn't spread radioactivity past the plant boundary. I hoped that, if a terrorist had a truck load of explosives, he was dumb enough to explode it at the plant rather than where he could kill people.

We live in the shadow of Vermont Yankee (VY). We live with alarm radios in our homes, provided for us free by VY, to alert us if there is an accident at the outdated plant located only a few miles from our homes. We store our potassium iodide pills supplied by the VT Department of Health where we can easily find them. We dutifully review the emergency evacuation route that we must travel in case of a nuclear accident, knowing that VY has acknowledged that it is ineffective. Daily we feel unsafe in the homes and community that we love and have worked hard to live in. Imagine reading these headlines in your newspaper about a nearby nuclear plant: "Nuclear Plant Tower Collapses" and " Plant at 60% reduced Power Due to Radioactive Water Leaks." Imagine reading these headlines knowing there is no insurance that will cover you or your home from the risks of an accident or sabotage or dangerous levels of radioactive waste. Remember that this plant would not be licensed by today's standards and is currently running at 20% over its original design capacity. Please imagine yourself in our place, and remember you too are not that far away and would be affected if there was a major disaster. Please ask your legislator to reject the relicensing of this aged nuclear reactor.

"An employee at the EnergySolutions' Bear Creek Facility in Oak Ridge was airlifted to a Knoxville hospital today after he was injured in an accident. Operations at the radioactive-waste processing plant were shut down immediately afterwards, and the accident is under investigation, the company said. According to information released by EnergySolutions, the worker was injured when a crane moving a 10-ton metal block failed, with the block falling and hitting the worker's leg. The worker's name was not immediately released, but EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker said the worker -- a 20-year employee at the site -- was in stable condition at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. Walker said the injuries were not life-threatening."

Investigation into why Darlington workers were filling wrong tank CLARINGTON -- Workers at the Darlington nuclear station filled the wrong tank with a cocktail of water and a radioactive isotope Monday, spilling more than 200,000 litres into Lake Ontario. Ontario Power Generation is investigating how the accident happened and officials say hourly tests of the lake water show that the level of tritium - the radioactive isotope of hydrogen - poses no harm to nearby residents.

Investigation into why Darlington workers were filling wrong tank CLARINGTON -- Workers at the Darlington nuclear station filled the wrong tank with a cocktail of water and a radioactive isotope Monday, spilling more than 200,000 litres into Lake Ontario. Ontario Power Generation is investigating how the accident happened and officials say hourly tests of the lake water show that the level of tritium - the radioactive isotope of hydrogen - poses no harm to nearby residents.

U.S nuclear firms said on Monday they were worried land scarcity in India could further delay a joint atomic deal already hobbled by policy holdups over issues such as accident liability protection. A 50-member U.S. business delegation this week is seeking to push the implementation of the deal, which promises to open up India's multi-billion-dollar nuclear market to American firms. U.S. firms already worry over delays such as writing a new Indian law to limit U.S. firms' liability in case of an industrial accident and differences over a fuel reprocessing pact. Recent protests over land acquisition for building reactors has added to their uncertainty. India and the United States signed a civilian nuclear deal last year, ending India's nuclear isolation since it tested a nuclear device in 1974 and opening up its atomic market for firms such as General Electric Co and Westinghouse Electric Co, a subsidiary of Japan's Toshiba Corp.

U.S nuclear firms said on Monday they were worried land scarcity in India could further delay a joint atomic deal already hobbled by policy holdups over issues such as accident liability protection. A 50-member U.S. business delegation this week is seeking to push the implementation of the deal, which promises to open up India's multi-billion-dollar nuclear market to American firms. U.S. firms already worry over delays such as writing a new Indian law to limit U.S. firms' liability in case of an industrial accident and differences over a fuel reprocessing pact. Recent protests over land acquisition for building reactors has added to their uncertainty. India and the United States signed a civilian nuclear deal last year, ending India's nuclear isolation since it tested a nuclear device in 1974 and opening up its atomic market for firms such as General Electric Co and Westinghouse Electric Co, a subsidiary of Japan's Toshiba Corp.

Because New York State is a leader in monitoring radiotherapy and collecting data about errors, The Times decided to examine patterns of accidents there and spent months obtaining and analyzing records. Even though many accident details are confidential under state law, the records described 621 mistakes from 2001 to 2008. While most were minor, causing no immediate injury, they nonetheless illuminate underlying problems. Following are 18 accidents representing a variety of medical mistakes."

Nuclear power suffered because of accidents. But no one abandoned it because of accidents The impact of water used as coolant may extend up to about 500 metres from the discharge point The doses to members of the public are too small and well within the AERB limit The speakers at a well attended side event at the recently held International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy at Delhi (September 29-October 1) recommended a proactive, public awareness programme on issues related to energy, particularly nuclear energy. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Department of Atomic Energy and Indian Nuclear Society jointly organized the meeting.

Nuclear power suffered because of accidents. But no one abandoned it because of accidents The impact of water used as coolant may extend up to about 500 metres from the discharge point The doses to members of the public are too small and well within the AERB limit The speakers at a well attended side event at the recently held International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy at Delhi (September 29-October 1) recommended a proactive, public awareness programme on issues related to energy, particularly nuclear energy. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Department of Atomic Energy and Indian Nuclear Society jointly organized the meeting.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with Toshiba Corp. next week to discuss the safety of its proposed AP1000 nuclear-reactor design. Toshiba's Westinghouse unit will address the commission's concern about the structural integrity of the silo-shaped shield building that would contain the reactor and trap radioactivity in an accident, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko said today in an interview at Bloomberg's New York bureau. Containment buildings at existing reactors were poured at the site as a solid piece of steel-reinforced concrete, Jaczko said. Toshiba wants to piece the building together from sections, he said. "Where the staff has some concerns is how those things are tied together," Jaczko said. "When you're dealing with the kinds of accident scenarios that we look at, or hurricanes or tornados or seismic events, will that structure maintain its integrity?"

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with Toshiba Corp. next week to discuss the safety of its proposed AP1000 nuclear-reactor design. Toshiba's Westinghouse unit will address the commission's concern about the structural integrity of the silo-shaped shield building that would contain the reactor and trap radioactivity in an accident, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko said today in an interview at Bloomberg's New York bureau. Containment buildings at existing reactors were poured at the site as a solid piece of steel-reinforced concrete, Jaczko said. Toshiba wants to piece the building together from sections, he said. "Where the staff has some concerns is how those things are tied together," Jaczko said. "When you're dealing with the kinds of accident scenarios that we look at, or hurricanes or tornados or seismic events, will that structure maintain its integrity?"