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Dan R.D.

Edano Tells TEPCO To Cut "At Least" Y2.5 Trillion In Costs - Kyodo | Fox Business [24Oc... - 0 views

www.foxbusiness.com/...st-y25-trillion-in-costs-kyodo

japan nuclear costs consequences

shared by Dan R.D. on 29 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Japanese Industry minister Yukio Edano on Monday instructed Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO) to commit to cutting "at least" Y2.5 trillion in costs over 10 years before receiving funds to help it pay compensation over the nuclear crisis at its Fukushima Daiichi power plant, Kyodo News reported. The target was included in a third-party panel report submitted to the government on Oct. 3, which would be reflected in Tokyo Electric's special business plan to be compiled as a precondition to receive financial aid from a state-backed body set up to help it meet its massive compensation obligations.
  • Tokyo Electric President Toshio Nishizawa told reporters after his talks with Edano, "We will take the minister's words sincerely and steadily implement (what we are told to do)."
  • In relation to damages payments, the utility known as TEPCO requested to the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry Y120 billion in government compensation, the maximum amount set by a contract between the government and TEPCO for an accident at one nuclear power plant.
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  • The request came as the utility's compensation payments to people and companies affected by the crisis, triggered by the devastating March 11 earthquake and disaster, have exceeded Y150 billion.
Dan R.D.

TEPCO faces rough road for business future [05Oct11] - 0 views

www.yomiuri.co.jp/...T111004005635.htm

japan nuclear business consequences cost risk

shared by Dan R.D. on 29 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • he current electricity rate-setting system.
  • Dan R.D. on 29 Oct 11
     
    / 3rd-party panel cites poor management, opposition to rate increases, lack of loan support : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)
Dan R.D.

Those with nothing are coping best - Asia-Pacific, World News - Independent.ie [20Mar11] - 0 views

www.independent.ie/...g-are-coping-best-2586577.html

nuclear fukushima incompetence responses lessons failure

shared by Dan R.D. on 29 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • nine-tenths of the country which suffered no damage at all, that strength appears to have gone missing. Japan as a whole is suffering a kind of nervous breakdown. In towns nowhere near the tsunami zone, normal life has effectively stopped, with offices and shops closed, pavements empty and factory production lines silent. The only cars on the streets are queuing for petrol.
  • Even before the disaster, Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan was dogged by cabinet resignations, leadership plots and a 20 per cent approval rating. His government still appears paralysed.And there is, of course, another problem large enough to poleaxe a better man than Mr Kan. Some 150 miles north of Tokyo, the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is leaking radiation in quantities which the government admits could have an impact on human health.
  • The morale meltdown is, in fact, another symptom of government failure: an immediate failure to be clear and upfront about the risks, and a longer-term failure to behave trustworthily over nuclear power.
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  • Only four years ago, another, milder, tsunami on the other side of Japan damaged another Tepco reactor, causing a leak of radioactivity.Few, if any, lessons appear to have been learned from this earlier incident.
Dan R.D.

The Japanese Government's Appalling Earthquake, Nuclear Response (1) - The Daily Beast ... - 0 views

www.thedailybeast.com/...rthquake-nuclear-response.html

responses incompetence consequences failure japan nuclear fukushima

shared by Dan R.D. on 29 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • Residents in the radiation danger zone, instructed to stay inside their homes, are venturing out in search of food and fuel. A Japanese businessman in the country's northeast tells Joan Juliet Buck how government incompetence is killing people who escaped the earthquake.
  • Writer, cultural critic, and actor Joan Juliet Buck wrote to a foreign-born Japanese friend in the food business to ask him how we in America could help Japan. Below is his answer. Tellingly, he does not want to be identified
  • “As you are a journalist,” he wrote back, “first I would like to explain how the Japanese government and bureaucrats are incompetent against the crisis.”
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  • In the email he sent me, he combined local press reports with his own observations. The Japanese Red Cross can’t accept the food he is trying to donate for the refugees because there is no gasoline to get it into the stricken areas. Vehicles cannot get through to the affected areas, and Japan’s military, called the Self Defense Force, was forced to travel to the Tohoku region, in the country’s northeast, in a civilian ferry. People ordered to stay in their homes to shelter from radioactive emissions have neither food nor heat and venture out on foot into maximum danger to look for food.
  • Here’s a personal look at the situation in Japan today.“This is all the information we’re getting from the Japanese press: I’m giving it to you in bullet points.
  • 1. There is no fuel for heating.
  • No FuelBecause the government did not ease the regulation on the stocks of fossil fuels, there is a severe lack of fuel in all of Tokyo and the Tohoku area.
  • 2. Food and medicine are not arriving at the refugee centers.
  • 5. Due to the lack of fuel, elderly people are dying of cold, stress, malnutrition, and lack of medicine. Twenty-four of them have died so far.
  • 7. Medical doctors cannot go into the region because there is nowhere to get gasoline.
  • Slow Decision MakingThe U.S. government immediately sent an aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, after the earthquake. It arrived in the Tohoku area on March 13 at 4 a.m. Japanese time. Last night, on March 16, I learned that the Japanese Self Defense Force from Hokkaido had just left for the Tohoku area. The force was traveling to Tohoku on a civilian ferry and had planned to arrive today, March 17.Just today the government decided to send fuel to the region in need.
  • People Around the Nuclear FacilitiesWithin a 30-kilometer radius around the plants, the government has instructed the refugees to stay sealed indoors. However, the government is not sending in food and fuel to these households and these refugee centers. As food and/or fuel run out, the refugees are walking away from their houses and being exposed to radiation.
  • Public Sentiment Is Inhibiting PressureCurrently no press is in the mood to criticize the government. The general public believes that criticism should come later. The opposition parties are also quiet. There is no pressure on the bureaucrats and government to improve the situation.
Dan R.D.

NEI Nuclear Notes: Will Europe Struggle to Keep the Lights On? [28Oct11] - 0 views

neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/...truggle-to-keep-lights-on.html

nuclear europe germany risk blackout fossil fuel

shared by Dan R.D. on 28 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • A new study from consulting company Capgemini said that Europe may have trouble “keeping the lights on” this winter thanks to the nuclear phase-out in Germany.
  • Following its reactor shutdowns, Germany began to import electricity from its neighbors, including more than 2,000 MW per day from France. During the winter electricity peak, France mainly imports electricity from Germany and this will no longer be possible in coming years. This represents a real threat to some countries “keeping the lights on” for winter 2011/2012 and future winters.
  • The report sums it up well: without German nuclear generation, energy security is down, emissions are up. First, security. The Europeans better cozy up to the Russians because they will be more dependent on them than ever.
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  • taking Germany further away from its climate goals.
  • The Breakthrough Institute had this to say in its analysis of the German government plan to phase out nuclear.  
  • The plan indicates that--in the absence of nuclear power--Germany will continue to be heavily reliant on fossil-fuel generation for the bulk of its electricity supply.
Dan R.D.

New Study: Fukushima Released Twice as Much Radiation as Official Estimate Claimed | 80... - 0 views

blogs.discovermagazine.com/...n-as-official-estimate-claimed

fukushima study radiation contamination accidents japan

shared by Dan R.D. on 28 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • The nuclear disaster at the  Fukushima Daiichi power plant this spring may have released twice as much radiation into the atmosphere as the Japanese government estimated, a new preliminary study says. While the government estimates relied mostly on data from monitoring stations in Japan, the European research team behind the new report looked at radioactivity data from stations scattered across the globe.
  • The nuclear disaster at the  Fukushima Daiichi power plant this spring may have released twice as much radiation into the atmosphere as the Japanese government estimated, a new preliminary study says. While the government estimates relied mostly on data from monitoring stations in Japan, the European research team behind the new report looked at radioactivity data from stations scattered across the globe. This wider approach factored in the large amounts of radioactivity that were carried out over the Pacific Ocean, which the official tallies didn’t.
  • Overall, the team says, the disaster released about 36,000 terabecquerels of  cesium-137, a radioactive byproduct of nuclear fission, more than twice the 15,000 terabecquerels Japanese authorities estimated—and approximately 42% as much radioactivity as  Chernobyl.
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  • The researchers also found that the release of cesium declined sharply when workers started spraying water into the pools holding spent fuel rods at the plant—suggesting that, contrary to the official account, the spent fuel rods had been emitting radiation, and spraying them earlier might have mitigated the fallout.
Dan R.D.

Aiken County suing feds over Yucca Mountain | The Augusta Chronicle [20Feb10] - 0 views

chronicle.augusta.com/...unty-suing-over-yucca-mountain

nuclear storage controversy legal usa

shared by Dan R.D. on 28 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • AIKEN - Aiken County officials have filed suit against the federal government over its plans to pull the plug on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site in Nevada.
  • The county is seeking a temporary restraining order to block plans to terminate the disposal site. At one point, more than 4,000 metric tons of waste from the Savannah River Site was to be shipped to Yucca Mountain.
  • "I am not sure of the reasoning. There's been a lot of talk about what Obama wants to do, but Obama has not said what his plans are. We just have to make our lawsuit or we'll become the depository."
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  • Aiken County Councilman Willar Hightower, a Democrat, said he does not believe the move to close Yucca Mountain is for political gain, as some Republicans have alleged. Whatever the reason for the decision, he does not want the nuclear waste to remain in Aiken County, he said.
Dan R.D.

Is nuclear power fair for future generations? Realities of nuclear power production [05... - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...110505083731.htm

public opinion psychology ethics nuclear

shared by Dan R.D. on 28 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • ScienceDaily (May 5, 2011) — The recent nuclear accident in Fukushima Daiichi in Japan has brought the nuclear debate to the forefront of controversy. While Japan is trying to avert further disaster, many nations are reconsidering the future of nuclear power in their regions. A study by Behnam Taebi from the Delft University of Technology, published online in the Springer journal Philosophy & Technology, reflects on the various possible nuclear power production methods from an ethical perspective: If we intend to continue with nuclear power production, which technology is most morally desirable?
  • Dr. Taebi said, "Discussions on nuclear power usually end up in a yes/no dichotomy. Meanwhile the production of nuclear power is rapidly growing. Before we can reflect on the desirability of nuclear power, we should first distinguish between its production methods and their divergent ethical issues. We must then clearly state, if we want to continue on the nuclear path, which technology we deem desirable from a moral perspective. Then we can compare nuclear with other energy systems. The state of the art in nuclear technology provides us with many more complicated moral dilemmas than people sometimes think."
Dan R.D.

Values Predict Attitudes Toward Nuclear Power [25Mar09] - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...090325142511.htm

public opinion risk analysis nuclear

shared by Dan R.D. on 28 Oct 11 - Cached
  • ScienceDaily (Mar. 25, 2009) — Concerns about climate change and energy independence have led to renewed calls for the resurgence of nuclear power. Therefore, it is important to understand the level of and bases for public attitudes, both supporting and opposing nuclear power. According to a new study published in the March issue of the journal Risk Analysis, the American public is ambivalent about nuclear power.
Dan R.D.

TOWARD REAL ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY BY MOLECULAR NANOTECHNOLOGY - 0 views

www.tainano.com/...LITY%20BY%20NANOTECHNOLOGY.htm

nanotechnology disposal storage nuclear

shared by Dan R.D. on 28 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • Dan R.D. on 28 Oct 11
     
    2.2.5. Nuclear Wastes MNT cannot treat nuclear wastes and render them harmless directly, for MNT only work with atoms and molecules, not nuclei.  Yet indirectly, by lowering the cost of energy and equipment, MNT can offer us the means for a clean, permanent solution to the untreatable nuclear wastes left over from the nuclear era. Nuclear wastes can be collected, concentrated by specific nanobots. Products of MNT could help with conventional approaches to dealing with nuclear waste, helping to store it in the most stable, reliable forms possible.  Using nanomachines, we could seal them in self-sealing containers and powered by cheap nano-solar energy (10).  These would be more secure than any passive rock or cask.  When MNT has developed cheap, reliable spacecraft, the concentrated nuclear wastes can be transported to the moon and bury them in moon's dead, dry rock by nanobots, or to other planets that still radioactive, or even shoot them directly into the sun. Underground nano-atom smasher powered by cheap solar cells can also be devised to treat nuclear wastes. This is a reverse process of nuclear engineering.  Instead of smashing nonradioactive target and harvesting for radioactive substance, the nanomachine will smash radioactive target and harvest for nonradioactive substance.  The smashing and harvesting process will continue stability is achieved.  Fig. 9 illustrates a few routes for resolving nuclear waste piles that accumulated in the environment and TDBT is at loss on dealing with them.
Dan R.D.

Impasse Over Yucca Mountain [01Jul11] - 0 views

www.todaysengineer.org/...Yucca-Mountain.asp

nuclear disposal storage politics costs public resistance failure

shared by Dan R.D. on 27 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • Following is an excerpt from the Government Accountability Office's description of the chronology of efforts in this direction:
  • Nuclear energy, which supplied about 20 percent of the nation’s electric power in 2010, offers a domestic source of energy with low emissions but also presents difficulties — including what to do with nuclear fuel after it has been used and removed from commercial power reactors. This material, known as spent nuclear fuel, is highly radioactive and considered one of the most hazardous substances on earth. The current national inventory of nearly 65,000 metric tons of commercial spent nuclear fuel is stored at 75 sites in 33 states and increases by about 2,000 metric tons each year.
  • In June 2008, DOE submitted a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) seeking authorization to construct a high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain. NRC has regulatory authority to authorize construction of the repository. DOE planned to open the repository in 2017, but later delayed the date to 2020.
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  • In March 2009, however, the Secretary of Energy announced plans to terminate the Yucca Mountain repository program and instead study other options for nuclear waste management.
  • Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), noting that his state had 9,700 canisters of spent nuclear fuel ready to ship toYucca Mountain, characterized the present situation as “a failed state.” [See 1:27 to 1:34 on the video for the interchanges.]
  • Congress is demanding answers about the administration’s decision to halt development of the only permanent U.S. site for spent nuclear fuel.
  • At about the same time, the administration also directed DOE to establish a Blue Ribbon Commission of recognized experts to study nuclear waste management alternatives (but not disposal sites). The commission is scheduled to issue a report by January 2012.
  • At a June hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Energy Peter Lyons said that the administration believed that the Yucca Mountain repository lacked social public acceptance, and that Secretary Chu was meeting with Energy Department lawyers to formulate the grounds to terminate the program[see video].
  • Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) asked about the investment to date in Yucca Mountain. Consumers (ratepayers) have paid $9.5 billion of the nearly $15 billion spent thus far, with taxpayers paying the rest.
  • The federal government has already paid out about $1 billion in lawsuits for reneging on promises made under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to cart off nuclear waste.
  • Yucca Mountain is scheduled to open for storage in 2020. These costs will total $15.4 billion by 2020 and increase by an estimated $500 million for each year delay after that.
  • The Washington Post called the situation “toxic politics,” in a recent editorial.
  • Physics Today notes the dysfunctional controversy as reminiscent of another expensive hole in the ground — in Texas — for the superconducting super collider, canceled in 1993.
Dan R.D.

Sellafield's radioactive salmon | Greenpeace UK [21May03] - 0 views

www.greenpeace.org.uk/...sellafields-radioactive-salmon

nuclear radiation environment ocean risk

shared by Dan R.D. on 27 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • Radioactive waste from Sellafield has been found in Scottish farmed salmon sold in major British supermarkets. Tests commissioned by Greenpeace revealed traces of radioactive waste in packets of fresh and smoked salmon. The tests, conducted independently by Southampton University's oceanography centre, found low levels Technetium-99 (Tc-99) in farmed Scottish salmon sold at Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Safeway, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer. Tc-99 is a byproduct of Magnox fuel reprocessing. Dr David Santillo, a scientist at Greenpeace's research laboratories at Exeter University, said: "Tc-99 should not be there at all. It is inexplicable yet significant. Scottish salmon is marketed as something that comes from a pristine environment."
Dan R.D.

Thorp nuclear plant may close for years | Environment | The Guardian - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...p-nuclear-plant-white-elephant

nuclear costs failure decommissioning uk

shared by Dan R.D. on 27 Oct 11 - Cached
  • The huge £1.8bn plant at Sellafield imports spent nuclear fuel from around the world and returns it to countries as new reactor fuel. But a series of catastrophic technical failures with associated equipment means Thorp could be mothballed at a cost of millions of pounds.
  • Thorp is contracted to reprocess more than 700 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel, most of it for Germany, which could sue if Sella­field does not return it on time.
  • The latest technical hitches are embarrassing for the government, which hopes to use Sellafield as the centre of a huge British nuclear industry, with the Cumbrian coast expected to host a new enormous waste depository as well as possibly two new nuclear power stations.
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  • Closure could also slow the decommissioning of other nuclear reactors in Britain. Revenue from Thorp was expected to provide much of the £70bn conservatively estimated to be needed to decommission Britain's reactors and clean up the environment after 50 years of nuclear power. Most first-generation UK reactors are expected to have closed within 10 years.
  • To date, Thorp has completed about 6,000 tonnes of its initial order book and is now, largely as a result of the broken evaporators, limited to processing 200 tonnes a year – about a sixth of its original design capacity.
Dan R.D.

UK moves closer to long-term nuclear disposal [07Oct11] - 0 views

www.tcetoday.com/...term%20nuclear%20disposal.aspx

nuclear waste decommissioning storage uk

shared by Dan R.D. on 27 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF has signed a deal with the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to provide technical support for the development of a long-term geological disposal site for nuclear waste.
  • The UK government started a consultation on potential sites earlier this year which closed on 30 September 2011. Any sites which are identified will need to be extensively assessed to determine their suitability, and a source tells tce that it is likely to be this work that Parsons Brinckerhoff assists with, through geological surveys and site analysis.
  • The multi-million pound project will provide a long-term disposal solution for both legacy and future waste from the UK’s planned new nuclear power stations. It is likely to be in operation for around 100 years, but the site will need to be engineered to last for centuries. The current favoured site is west Cumbria, in the north of England, which has already passed a sub-surface unsuitability test, but more may join the running following the consultation.
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  • Parsons Brinckerhoff will carry out the work through the Orchid group, which was formed in 2005 to tackle the problem of engineering a long-term nuclear waste repository.
  • David Rutherford, senior director of energy at Parsons Brinckerhoff, said that the company’s experts have been supporting the NDA and its predecessor for almost 20 years, adding: “The development of an underground disposal facility for radioactive materials is one of the most exciting engineering challenges facing the UK today, and it is also a vital legacy for future generations.”
Dan R.D.

Sellafield Ltd fined £75,000 for radiation breach (From The Westmorland) [04D... - 0 views

www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/...___75_000_for_radiation_breach

nuclear accidents health workforce risk costs UK

shared by Dan R.D. on 27 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • THE nuclear company Sellafield Ltd was today fined £75,000 after pleading guilty to breaches of health and safety law after two contractors inhaled radioactive contamination.
Dan R.D.

Sellafield leak proves case for 'permanent shutdown' | Irish Examiner [16Oct06] - 0 views

www.irishexaminer.com/...cwidkfcweyql

nuclear costs accident failure risk UK

shared by Dan R.D. on 27 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • UK authorities should ensure the Thorp plant at Sellafield remains permanently closed down, it was claimed today as the nuclear operators were fined €743,000 following a radioactive leak.Around 83,000 litres of acid containing 20 tonnes of uranium and 160kg of plutonium escaped from a broken pipe into a sealed concrete holding site at the Thorp plant in west Cumbria in April 2005.
Dan R.D.

Devastating nuclear bomb only an ocean away - Analysis, Opinion - Independent.ie [25Nov01] - 0 views

www.independent.ie/...only-an-ocean-away-511612.html

nuclear health cancer risk UK

shared by Dan R.D. on 26 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • Sellafield could become a deadly weapon, capable of contaminating Irish people with cancer, warns Aine O'ConnorIN THE Eighties the world worried about the possibility of nuclear war. The deployment of nuclear weapons was at its height, relations between the superpowers at their worst. All things nuclear posed a threat and as a by-product, Sellafield became a household name.
  • We learned that the Irish Sea was the most radioactive in the world, that mutated fish had been found in it, that there were serious health concerns in Co Louth and that an accident at Sellafield would have serious repercussions for our health.
  • The Norwegian Government is also considering legal action since radioactive pollution from the plant has been found along the Norwegian coastline as far north as the Arctic.
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  • The recent Safety at Sellafield conference in Drogheda heard that the greatest risk to Irish people from a disaster at Sellafield would be of long-term cancers.
  • On October 22, an EU report commissioned before September 11 identified a risk of sabotage and claimed the UK authorities have not complied with the responsibilities outlined in the Euratom Treaty: that some emissions from the plant have caused radiation doses in excess of the recommended EU levels and that the European Commission has never effectively used its rights to inspect the plant.
Dan R.D.

Hanford's Nuclear Option - Page 3 - News - Seattle - Seattle Weekly [19Oct11] - 0 views

www.seattleweekly.com/...3

nuclear waste health risk

shared by Dan R.D. on 26 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • As a result, a class-action suit was filed in 1991 by 2,400 individuals—"downwinders"— who claimed they had developed thyroid cancer after being exposed to radioactive iodine-131 emissions from Hanford.
  • Many of these tanks are already leaking, and have been for some time; according to the Washington Department of Ecology's estimate, one million gallons of nuclear waste have already poisoned groundwater as it continues to seep toward the Columbia River. However, it is not only leaks that haunt Hanford's scientists and engineers. The longer the waste stays put, the more dangerous it becomes.
  • "In the extreme," says Alexander, "this could lead to a serious condition that remains undiscovered until it is too late and another Mayak-scale incident occurs."
Dan R.D.

Hanford's Nuclear Option - Page 2 - News - Seattle - Seattle Weekly [19Oct11] - 0 views

www.seattleweekly.com/...2

nuclear waste cleanup costs risk failure

shared by Dan R.D. on 26 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), an independent organization tasked by the executive branch to oversee public health and safety issues at the DOE's nuclear facilities. In a report addressed to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, DNFSB investigators wrote that "both DOE and contractor project management behaviors reinforce a subculture . . . that deters the timely reporting, acknowledgement, and ultimate resolution of technical safety concerns."
  • It's not just the DNFSB that is concerned with the safety culture and management at Hanford. Seattle Weekly has obtained official documents revealing that the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Congressional arm in charge of investigating matters relating to contractors and other public fund recipients, visited the Hanford site last month. In an outline sent to DOE personnel in advance of their visit, the GAO wrote that it will look into how contractors are addressing concerns over what they call "relatively lax attitudes toward safety procedures," "inadequacies in identifying and addressing safety problems," and a "weak safety culture, including employees' reluctance to report problems." Their findings likely will be made public in early 2012.
  • After reviewing 30,000 documents and interviewing 45 staffers, the DNFSB reported that those who went against the grain and raised concerns about safety issues associated with construction design "were discouraged, if not opposed or rejected without review." In fact, according to the DNFSB, one of these scientists, Dr. Walter Tamosaitis, was actually removed from his position as a result of speaking up about design problems.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • This wasn't the first time the GAO investigated DOE contracts with Bechtel. In 2004, the agency released a report critical of the DOE and Bechtel's clean-up plans, warning of faulty design and construction of the Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), a structure at the heart of the clean-up effort. The WTP building was not designed to withstand a strong earthquake, but only after prodding from the DNFSB did the DOE force Bechtel to go back to the drawing board to ensure the plant could withstand one. As a result, Bechtel's design and cost estimates to finish construction skyrocketed from $4.3 billion to more than $10 billion. And in 2006, GAO released another paper critical of Bechtel's timeline and cost estimates, which seemed to change annually, saying that they have "continuing concerns about the current strategy for going forward on the project."
Dan R.D.

Hanford's Nuclear Option - Page 1 - News - Seattle - Seattle Weekly [19Oct11] - 0 views

www.seattleweekly.com/...hanford-s-nuclear-option

nuclear waste cleanup costs risk failure

shared by Dan R.D. on 26 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • Department of Energy scientists allege catastrophic mismanagement of the costliest environmental cleanup in world history.
  • During Hanford's lifespan, 475 billion gallons of radioactive wastewater were released into the ground. Radioactive isotopes have made their way up the food chain in the Hanford ecosystem at an alarming rate. Coyote excrement frequently lights up Geigers, as these scavengers feast on varmints that live beneath the earth's surface. Deer also have nuclear radiation accumulating in their bones as a result of consuming local shrubbery and water.
  • The EPA has deemed Hanford the most contaminated site in North America—a jarring fact, as the Columbia River, lifeline for more than 10,000 farmers and dozens of commercial fisheries in the Pacific Northwest, surges along Hanford's eastern boundary.
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  • In 1989 Hanford changed from a nuclear-weapons outpost to a massive cleanup project. Since then, the site has become the largest and most costly environmental remediation the world has ever seen.
  • despite more than two decades of cleanup efforts and billions of dollars spent, only a tiny fraction of Hanford's radioactivity has been safely contained. And the final costs for the Hanford cleanup process could exceed $120 billion—higher even than the $100 billion tab for the International Space Station.
  • "We need alternatives to the current plan right now," Dr. Donald Alexander, a high-level DOE physical chemist working at Hanford, says in distress.
  • "One of the main problems at Hanford is that DOE is understaffed and overtasked," Alexander explains. "As such, we cannot conduct in-depth reviews of each of the individual systems in the facilities. Therefore there is a high likelihood that several systems will be found to be inoperable or not perform to expectations."
  • Currently, federal employees at DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C., are evaluating whether Bechtel's construction designs at the site have violated federal law under the Price-Anderson Amendments Act (PAAA). An amendment to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the PAAA governs liability issues for all non-military nuclear-facility construction in the United States, which includes Hanford.
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