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Two research fellows died after a fire broke out in a laboratory of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in northeast Mumbai on Tuesday. The BARC clarified that its nuclear reactors were safe and there was no radioactive leak. The dead are Umang Singh of Mumbai and Partha Bagh from Kolkata, both 25 and Ph.D students of radiochemistry. Sources said there were helium and nitrogen cylinders in the lab, which are likely to have exploded. It took firefighters 45 minutes to control the fire, which could have resulted in a major disaster, they added.

Two research fellows died after a fire broke out in a laboratory of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in northeast Mumbai on Tuesday. The BARC clarified that its nuclear reactors were safe and there was no radioactive leak. The dead are Umang Singh of Mumbai and Partha Bagh from Kolkata, both 25 and Ph.D students of radiochemistry. Sources said there were helium and nitrogen cylinders in the lab, which are likely to have exploded. It took firefighters 45 minutes to control the fire, which could have resulted in a major disaster, they added.

"India successfully test-fired on Friday a nuclear-capable, short range ballistic missile, the Prithvi-II, state television reported, citing defense officials. The surface-to-surface Prithvi-II, India's first domestically produced ballistic missile, with a range of 350 km and payload capacity of 500 kg, was blasted off from the Chandipur firing range in the eastern state of Orissa. India conducted the previous test of the Prithvi-II missile from the same base on March 27."

A fire caused $1 million worth of damage at an unmanned underground nuclear launch site last spring, but the Air Force didn't find out about it until five days later, an Air Force official said Thursday. The May 23 fire burned itself out after an hour or two, and multiple safety systems prevented any threat of an accidental launch of the Minuteman III missile, Maj. Laurie Arellano said. She said she was not allowed to say whether the missile was armed with a nuclear warhead at the time of the fire.

A big fire broke out last month in China`s biggest nuclear power plant in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, and though a radiation leak was suspected, Chinese media did not report the accident, the Hong Kong daily Ming Pao said yesterday. The daily said the fire occurred Aug. 26 after a transformer at the Tianwan nuclear plant exploded. Fourteen fire engines and 66 firefighters were dispatched to the scene, but it took more than five hours to put out the blaze.

BRIDGMAN - Fire crews were called to battle a small fire at the Cook Nuclear Plant, along Red Arrow Highway in Bridgman. Firefighters were called to put out the fire in a nonnuclear part of the plant, said Cook spokesman Bill Schalk late Saturday.

The transformer damaged in the blaze Sunday will have to be replaced, according to plant officials; the cause of the fire has not yet been determined No date has been set for restarting a reactor at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant that was the site of a transformer fire early Sunday. The burned transformer will have to be replaced. The fire also slightly damaged another transformer and other nearby equipment as well as the plant's administration building.

Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), the nation's biggest electricity producer, said it had extinguished a fire at a spare transformer at its No. 3 nuclear plant and that the station's two generating units were unaffected and operating normally. The transformer, between 100m and 200m from the plant's reactors, wasn't in use when the accident occurred, Hsu Hwai-chiung (徐懷瓊), vice president of the state-run utility, said at a press conference yesterday. 'FAULT' "Our initial investigation indicates that it was probably caused by a fault in the transformer," Hsu said. The fire broke out at around 3:15pm after a sudden surge in pressure triggered an oil leak, Hsu said. SAFE The fire was extinguished by 3:48pm without any radiation leaks or injuries, he said.

The Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in north Alabama has a fire response problem that could lead to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission civil penalty. In a letter to TVA, the NRC said inspectors this year found that the plant near Athens, Ala., potentially violated four safety standards, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported Thursday. TVA spokesman Craig Beasley said the plant is working with regulators to address their concerns. He said TVA will "do the work necessary to implement the National Fire Protection Association standards at Browns Ferry."

The Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in north Alabama has a fire response problem that could lead to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission civil penalty. In a letter to TVA, the NRC said inspectors this year found that the plant near Athens, Ala., potentially violated four safety standards, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported Thursday. TVA spokesman Craig Beasley said the plant is working with regulators to address their concerns. He said TVA will "do the work necessary to implement the National Fire Protection Association standards at Browns Ferry."

Tokyo Electric Power Co. will seek a ban on the operation of its quake-damaged nuclear plant lifted, paving the way for a test run when it completes repairs of one of the reactors next month. "We will ask the local fire department to check our facility," President Masataka Shimizu told reporters today. Tepco will fix a turbine in early February, the final repair on the No. 7 reactor at its Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, he said. Six other reactors are still being worked on. The Kashiwazaki Fire Department imposed the ban after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the plant on July 16, 2007, causing a fire and radiation leaks. Shimizu said he doesn't know when he can resume output at Kashiwazaki Kariwa, the world's biggest nuclear plant.

A Monday morning fire at the Y-12 National Security Complex resulted in the evacuation of 95 employees, including two who were taken to Y-12 Occupational Health Services and released. "Emergency response personnel at the Y-12 National Security Complex are responding to a fire at the Oak Ridge facility," stated a 10:24 a.m. e-mail from the Y-12 Site Office.

Let's get serious about the risks of nuclear power. Utahns are quite familiar with the problems of nuclear waste. But now we are confronted with a proposal to build a nuclear power plant in our state. Not so fast. A Government Accountability Office report this month found that after three decades, nuclear power plants have yet to comply with fire-safety rules. Fires at nuclear power plants are potentially disastrous. This lax regulation is frightening.

Jim Albertini, a Big Island resident who has stood in opposition to the military presence on the island, especially in regards to nuclear weaponry, testified at the NRC meeting in Hilo. "Ongoing live-fire at PTA (millions of rounds annually) risks spreading the DU radiation already present," Albertini wrote in a recent media release. "DU is particularly hazardous when small burned DU oxide particles are inhaled. The Hawaii County Council, more than a year ago, on July 2, 2008, called for a halt to all live-fire and other activities at PTA that create dust until there is an assessment and clean up of the DU already present. 7 additional needed actions have also been noted by the Council. The military has ignored the Council and continues live-fire and other dust creating activities at PTA, putting the residents of Hawaii Island at risk, since no comprehensive testing has been completed."

There have been many accidents and thefts of uranium in India's atomic research centres and other facilities giving rise to doubts about the security of Indian nukes. Risks related to India nuclear proliferation are many while their security arrangements are far from satisfactory. The world must take note of it before it is too late. On 29th December 2009, two research students died in the fire in laboratory of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) caused by an explosion, what was described as a 'loud bang'. It is not yet clear if the bang was caused by an explosion or triggered by a chemical reaction, however this has exploded the myth of the security of India's nukes. The centre's director and Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Sreekumar Banerjee said that the fire broke out at 12.05 hours in the lab on the third floor of the modular lab of BARC. However, two scientists associated with the centre have claimed that no research involving radioactive material is conducted in the modular lab. Nevertheless, security has been beefed up at BARC following intelligence inputs that the country's prestigious nuclear facility faced terror threat.

There have been many accidents and thefts of uranium in India's atomic research centres and other facilities giving rise to doubts about the security of Indian nukes. Risks related to India nuclear proliferation are many while their security arrangements are far from satisfactory. The world must take note of it before it is too late. On 29th December 2009, two research students died in the fire in laboratory of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) caused by an explosion, what was described as a 'loud bang'. It is not yet clear if the bang was caused by an explosion or triggered by a chemical reaction, however this has exploded the myth of the security of India's nukes. The centre's director and Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Sreekumar Banerjee said that the fire broke out at 12.05 hours in the lab on the third floor of the modular lab of BARC. However, two scientists associated with the centre have claimed that no research involving radioactive material is conducted in the modular lab. Nevertheless, security has been beefed up at BARC following intelligence inputs that the country's prestigious nuclear facility faced terror threat.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold hearings tomorrow and Wednesday in Hawaii on an application by the US Army for a permit to have depleted uranium at its Pohakuloa Training Area, a vast stretch of flat land in what's called the "saddle" between the sacred mountains of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island, and at the Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu. In fact, what the Army is asking for is a permit to leave in place the DU left over from years of test firing of M101 mortar "spotting rounds," that each contained close to half a pound of depleted uranium (DU). The Army, which originally denied that any DU weapons had been used at either location, now says that as many as 2000 rounds of M101 DU mortars might have been fired at Pohakuloa alone.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold hearings tomorrow and Wednesday in Hawaii on an application by the US Army for a permit to have depleted uranium at its Pohakuloa Training Area, a vast stretch of flat land in what's called the "saddle" between the sacred mountains of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island, and at the Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu. In fact, what the Army is asking for is a permit to leave in place the DU left over from years of test firing of M101 mortar "spotting rounds," that each contained close to half a pound of depleted uranium (DU). The Army, which originally denied that any DU weapons had been used at either location, now says that as many as 2000 rounds of M101 DU mortars might have been fired at Pohakuloa alone.

Smoke rose on Thursday from the world's largest nuclear power plant in Japan, which was shut down by an earthquake two years ago, but the operator said no-one was injured and there was no radiation leak. The smoke was caused by friction from the brake of a crane in a reactor's turbine room, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said in a statement. "We reported immediately to the fire station and used fire extinguishers and now the smoke has stopped," the statement said. "There were no injuries nor any radiation leak" in the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata prefecture, 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Tokyo, it said. The company said it would thoroughly investigate.

Smoke rose on Thursday from the world's largest nuclear power plant in Japan, which was shut down by an earthquake two years ago, but the operator said no-one was injured and there was no radiation leak. The smoke was caused by friction from the brake of a crane in a reactor's turbine room, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said in a statement. "We reported immediately to the fire station and used fire extinguishers and now the smoke has stopped," the statement said. "There were no injuries nor any radiation leak" in the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata prefecture, 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Tokyo, it said. The company said it would thoroughly investigate.

A fire broke out at a nuclear power plant in northern Japan on Thursday, injuring one worker but causing no radiation leak, the operator said. Firefighters put out the fire about an hour after white smoke was spotted coming out of the reactor, which was already shut for a regular check-up, Tohoku Electric Power said. "One worker sustained minor burns but was not exposed to radiation," a company spokesman said, adding there was no leak to the outside environment either.

Pacific Gas and Electric has restarted a reactor unit at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant after an explosive transformer fire prompted a 20-day shutdown. The cause of the fire has been identified as the failure of a bushing that connects the transformer to the high-voltage transmission lines. The failure caused the bushing's outer ceramic shell to disintegrate and ignited insulating oil.

DETAILS OF a serious fire hazard at the Hunterston nuclear power station in North Ayrshire have been kept secret because they could aid a terrorist attack. The government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has refused to release information about a "specific fire scenario" at the reactors because to do so could "threaten national security". The revelation has prompted calls from environmentalists for the plant to be shut down as soon as possible. But its operator, British Energy, said that it was working to improve safety.

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

TVA is scaling back plans for new reactors at its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in northeast Alabama as it moves forward with building a natural-gas-powered generator adjacent to a coal-fired steam plant near Rogersville, Tenn. Advertisement The Bellefonte plant, picked three years ago as a possible site for America's next reactor and once eyed for up to four reactors, is now being studied for a single reactor to be built within the next decade. TVA announced Friday that falling power sales and rising cleanup costs at the Kingston ash spill have changed plans for the nuclear plant in Hollywood, Ala. "As the valley grows, TVA intends to meet the demand for power with a combination of conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and additional base load generation," TVA Senior Vice President Ashok Bhatnagar said.

In an apparent protest against recent sanctions, North Korea fired four short-range missiles yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul said. The ministry said the first missile was fired at 5:20 p.m. The second followed at 6:00 p.m., the third at 7:50 p.m. and the fourth at 9:20 p.m. All missiles were launched from a missile base in Sinsang-ri, South Hamgyong, on the northeast coast of the Korean Peninsula. The launches followed a U.S. decision on Wednesday to freeze assets of two companies - one North Korean, the other Iranian - for alleged links to the North Korean nuclear and missile development programs. Then yesterday, the U.S. State Department said it would not provide further food aid to North Korea unless it was assured the food reached starving North Koreans.