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Commissioning of Nuclear Power Plants: Training and Human Resource Considerations PDF - 0 views

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    A pdf, won't highlight - from the Intro - The IAEA Technical Working Group on Training and Qualification of Nuclear Power Plant Personnel (TWG-T&Q) recommended that the Agency develop a publication on experiences gained regarding commissioning training for nuclear power plant projects This recommendation was made in recognition that in many of the Member States with operating nuclear power plants it has been some years since an NPP has been commissioned, and most of the staff with experience in commissioning have since retired. Additionally, in a number of Member States serious consideration is being given to initiating new nuclear power programmes. This publication is intended to provide useful information for both of these situations.
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Would-be builders build resources - 0 views

  • GE and Hitachi nuclear alliance companies are taking steps to strengthen their positions in emerging nuclear energy countries, with Hitachi-GE inaugurating a human resource training program for Southeast Asia and GE-Hitachi expanding its supplier network in Poland.   Japan-based Hitachi-GE has announced the establishment of a course at the Electric Power University (EPU) in Vietnam under a joint human resource training program with the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Titech).
  • A lack of human resources trained in nuclear power, energy and the environment, including within the academic sector, is a pressing issue for southeast Asian countries planning to introduce nuclear power. Indeed, when Japan was identified as the preferred partner for the construction of Vietnam's second nuclear power plant in 2010, a primary condition was cooperation in nuclear energy human resources development.
  • Against this backdrop, Hitachi-GE launched a joint international training program with Titech. As well as initiatives within Titech's Department of Nuclear Engineering (DNE), Hitachi-GE and Titech's efforts to promote human resource activities in Vietnam and other southeast Asian countries include establishing courses at local universities, Hitachi-GE scholarships for southeast Asian students at Titech's DNE, and offering student internships at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The course at EPU will be taught by Hitachi-GE engineers and Titech professors, and will be attended by around 40 EPU undergraduates. Hitachi-GE and Titech plan to implement similar initiatives in cooperation with other Southeast Asian universities.
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  • Vietnamese power development plans recently approved by prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung envisage nuclear power providing 2.1% of the nation's energy by 2020. Russia's AtomStroyExport is due to begin work on Vietnam's first nuclear power plant in Nin Thuan province in 2014 under an agreement signed in October 2010. At around the same time, the Vietnamese government selected Japan as the preferred partner to build its second nuclear power station, also in Nin Thuan province
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    about training more nuke workers
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"Muzzled": Fukushima teacher quits after stopped from alerting students about radiation... - 0 views

  • Fukushima Teacher Muzzled on Radiation Risks for School Children, Bloomberg by Takahiko Hyuga, July 28, 2011:
  • [... O]n a recent July morning, school children in Fukushima prefecture were taking off their masks and running around playgrounds in T-shirts, exposing them to a similar amount of annual radiation as a worker in a nuclear power plant. Toshinori Shishido, a Japanese literature teacher of 25 years, had warned his students two months ago to wear surgical masks and keep their skin covered with long-sleeved shirts. His advice went unheeded, not because of the weather but because his school told him not to alarm students. Shishido quit this week. “I want to get away from this situation where I’m not even allowed to alert children about radiation exposure,” said Shishido, a 48-year-old teacher who taught at Fukushima Nishi High School. [...]
  • Kiyoharu Furukawa, 57, assistant principal at Fukushima Nishi High: “I don’t think the children are safe either, and I know the radiation level is still high… These days, they are wearing short sleeves and no masks.”
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Spent Fuel Pools in Japan Survived Disaster, Industry Notes [28Jul11] - 0 views

  • The staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently produced a list of safety improvements that might be undertaken at American nuclear plants in light of the Fukushima disaster in Japan. On Tuesday, the nuclear industry focused on two elements that were conspicuous by their absence.
  • In a presentation to Wall Street analysts, Marvin Fertel, the president and chief executive of the Nuclear Energy Institute, emphasized that spent fuel pools at the Fukushima Daiichi plant had “survived the accident quite well.”Early in the crisis, which began with an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, American regulators feared that water in one of the pools had almost completely boiled off, and the American Embassy in Tokyo advised Americans to stay 50 miles away. But “the pools may turn out to be a much better story at Fukushima than people envisioned,’’ Mr. Fertel said.
  • Noting that fuel pools at American reactors have far more radioactive material in them than the ones at Fukushima, the accident focused new attention on the idea of moving spent fuel out of the pools and into dry casks, Something already done at most American reactors when they run out of space.That idea first came to prominence after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
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  • But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff’s report does not call for moving more of the fuel.When the commission received an oral report from a six-member “task force” it appointed to study the safety implications of Fukushima, one commissioner, William C. Ostendorff, said he had received letters from members of Congress asking for wider use of the casks, however.But Charles L. Miller, who led the task force, replied that removing the fuel would not do much to reduce the basic problem, which is that fuel rods remain in the pool, and if cooling is knocked out, the water that provides protection against melting and the release of radioactive materials will boil away.
  • “Before you can take it out of the pool, it has to be at least five years old, and by that time, we call it, for lack of a better word, cold fuel,’’ Mr. Miller said.At the briefing on Tuesday, Mr. Fertel mentioned other recommendations from the task force, including better instruments for altering operators to how much water is in the pools and new ways of adding water in an emergency. Pulling more fuel out, he said, would provide certain advantages but is also certain to expose workers to radiation in the course of the transfer.
  • Fukushima used dry casks as well, and those appear to have survived without damage, Mr. Fertel said, although they have not been thoroughly inspected. “They’re fine, but so are the pools,’’ he said.
  • They were not unscathed, however; debris flew into the pools after the buildings surrounding them blew up in hydrogen explosions.
  • The task force also refrained from recommending changes in emergency planning zones, despite the embassy’s recommendation during the crisis for Americans to stay 50 miles away from Fukushima. In the United States, emergency evacuation planning is required within 10 miles of any reactor.
  • Mr. Fertel said the recommendation to evacuate to 50 miles “was based not on information, but on the lack thereof.’’
  • Opponents of nuclear power have argued that the commission should cease all extensions of reactors’ operating licenses until it has digested the lessons of the accident in Japan. But Mr. Fertel noted that since March 11, the commission has issued 20-year license extensions for the Vermont Yankee, Palo Verde, Prairie Island, Salem and Hope Creek reactors, and allowed higher power outputs for Limerick and Point Beach.
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The Latte Fallacy: German Switch to Renewables Likely to Be Expensive [28Jul11] - 0 views

  • Chancellor Angela Merkel's government insists that electricity bills will only grow modestly as a result of the nuclear energy phase-out. Experts, however, disagree, with many pointing to Berlin's massive subsidies for solar power as the culprit.
  • A pioneering spirit has taken hold in Germany, thanks to the government's radical reworking of the country's energy policies. Hardly a week goes by without the foundation being laid someplace in the country for a new solar farm, yet another biogas plant or an even bigger wind turbine. Fesseldorf, the town in northern Bavaria which just hosted Seehofer, will soon be home to one of the largest photovoltaic plants in the state.
  • The German government's plan calls for increasing the share of renewables in the country's energy mix to 35 percent by 2020. It is an ambitious goal in every respect. Not only will the current renewable energy share have to be doubled within a few years, the grid expanded and new power storage facilities installed. But Chancellor Angela Merkel's government is also somehow expecting the entire energy revolution to cost virtually nothing.
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  • "According to our calculations, the cost of a kilowatt hour of electricity will go up by only one cent," says Economics Minister Philipp Rösler, head of Merkel's junior coalition partner, the Free Democrats (FDP). For an average household, this would correspond to the price of only one latte a month, says Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen, of Merkel's Christian Democrats. Germany is rapidly switching to green energy and at almost no additional cost to consumers. What conservative politician would have thought such a thing possible just a few months ago?
  • In reality, though, the official calculations have little connection to reality. According to an assessment by the Rhenish-Westphalian Institute for Economic Research (RWI), the politicians' estimate of the costs of expanding renewable sources of energy is far too low, while the environmental benefits have been systematically overstated.
  • RWI experts estimate that the cost of electricity could increase by as much as five times the government's estimate of one cent per kilowatt hour. In an internal prognosis, the semi-governmental German Energy Agency anticipates an increase of four to five cents. According to the Federation of German Consumer Organizations, the additional cost could easily amount to "five cents or more per kilowatt hour."
  • An internal estimate making the rounds at the Economics Ministry also exceeds the official announcements. It concludes that an average three-person household will pay an additional 0.5 to 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour, and up to five cents more in the mid-term. This would come to an additional cost of €175 ($250) a year. "Not exactly the price of a latte," says Manuel Frondel of the RWI.
  • The problem is the federal government's outlandish subsidies policy. Electricity customers are already paying more than €13 billion this year to subsidize renewable energy. The largest subsidies go to solar plants, which contribute relatively little to overall power generation, as well as offshore wind farms in the north, which are far away from the countries largest electricity consumers in Germany's deep south.
  • German citizens will be able to see the consequences of solar subsidization on their next electricity bill. Since the beginning of the year, consumers have been assessed a renewable energy surcharge of 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity, up from about 2 cents last year. And the cost is only going up. Since the first nuclear power plant was shut down, the price of electricity on the European Energy Exchange in Leipzig has increased by about 12 percent. Germany has gone from being a net exporter to a net importer of electricity.
  • For economic and environmental reasons, therefore, it would be best to drastically reduce solar subsidies and spend the money elsewhere, such as for a subsidy system that is not tied to any given technology. For example, wind turbines built on land are significantly more effective than solar power. They receive about the same amount of subsidy money, and yet they are already feeding about five times as much electricity into the grid. In the case of hydroelectric power plants, the relationship between subsidies and electricity generation is six times better. Biomass provides a return on subsidies that is three times as high as solar.
  • "We are dumping billions into the least effective technology," says Fritz Vahrenholt, the former environment minister for the city-state of Hamburg and now the head of utility RWE's renewable electricity subsidy Innogy.
  • "From the standpoint of the climate, every solar plant is a bad investment," says Joachim Weimann, an environmental economist at the University of Magdeburg. He has calculated that it costs about €500 to save a ton of CO2 emissions with solar power. In the case of wind energy, it costs only €150. In combination with building upgrades, the cost plummets to only €15 per ton of CO2 emissions savings.
  • Photovoltaics, in particular, is now seen as an enormous waste of money. The technology receives almost half all renewable energy subsidies, even though it makes up less than one 10th of total green electricity production. And it is unreliable -- one never knows if and when the sun will be shining
  • According to the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSOE) in Brussels, Germany now imports several million kilowatt hours of electricity from abroad every day.
  • In displays on ENTSOE computers in Brussels, countries that produce slightly more electricity than they consume are identified in yellow on the monitors, while countries dependent on imports are blue. Germany used to be one of the yellow countries, but now that seven nuclear reactors have been shut down, blue is the dominant color. The electricity that was once generated by those German nuclear power plants now comes primarily from the Czech Republic and France -- and is, of course, more expensive. The demand for electricity is expected to increase in the coming years, particularly with growing numbers of electric cars being connected to the grid as they charge their batteries.
  • Solar panels only achieve their maximum capacity in the laboratory and at optimal exposure to the sun (1,000 watts per square meter), an ideal angle of incidence (48.2 degrees) and a standardized module temperature (25 degrees Celsius, or 77 degrees Fahrenheit). Such values are rare outside the laboratory. All photovoltaic systems are inactive at night, and they also generate little electricity on winter days
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U.S. nuclear group backs 5-year safety timeline [26Jul11] - 0 views

  • WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The head of the nuclear power industry's trade group on Tuesday said U.S. plants should move within five years to implement safety measures as a result of lessons learned from Japan's nuclear crisis. Marvin Fertel, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said the five-year timeline put forward last week by U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko was "reasonable."
  • An NRC staff task force this month recommended a host of changes to U.S. regulations based on observations of Japan's Fukuhsima Daiichi plant, which has struggled to safely shut down and control radiation after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami. In addition to saying any changes should be fully implemented within five years, Jaczko has also said the five-member commission should decide within 90 days whether it would support the staff recommendations. Fertel did not endorse Jaczko's 90-day proposal. He said acting too quickly could have unintended consequences. "We also don't want to divert operations to areas that maybe are important to safety but not as important as something else that needs to be done right now," he said.
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Nuclear Energy Institute Report on Japan's Nuclear Reactors [27Jul11] - 0 views

  • TEPCO to Install Second Water Decontamination System Plant Status Tokyo Electric Power Co. continues its attempts to decontaminate radioactive water that has collected in the basements of buildings and in drains at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility. With its current decontamination system operating at only 53 percent of capacity, TEPCO is planning to receive new water treatment equipment this week.  TEPCO will use the new system alongside the existing one
  • Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues The government of Japan will buy beef containing radioactive cesium that has reached the country’s distribution chain. NHK news service reports that more than 2,800 cattle that may have been fed radioactive rice straw have been shipped to 46 of 47 prefectures. The government will inspect the beef and buy any that contains higher-than-permissible levels of cesium.
  • Media Highlights NEI briefed financial analysts in New York July 26 on the U.S. nuclear energy industry’s response to the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The presentation is available in the Financial Center on NEI’s website. NEI President and CEO Marv Fertel appeared on CNBC prior to the briefing. Media coverage included Dow Jones Market Watch and a New York Times blog. NEI’s news release on the event is here.
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  • Upcoming Events A July 28 public Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting will focus on the agency’s near-term task force recommendations for safety enhancements at U.S. nuclear energy facilities after the Fukushima accident. The Foundation for Nuclear Studies will host a July 29 briefing and discussion on the status of Fukushima Daiichi for congressional staff in Washington, D.C. The briefing will be conducted by Lake Barrett, former NRC site director for Three Mile Island and former acting director of the DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management.
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Californians support for nuclear energy melts down [28Jul11] - 0 views

  • Californians are closely synched to Gov. Jerry Brown's views on nuclear power, global warming and other environmental issues, a new Public Policy Institute of California poll has found, but they aren't very approving of how he has handled those issues. The PPIC poll found that support for nuclear energy, which had been creeping upwards in recent years, plummeted after a tsunami hit Japanese nuclear plants and threatened to create a nuclear disaster. Nearly two-thirds of California adults now oppose building more nuclear plants in California, which now has two in operation -- the lowest level of support ever found in a PPIC poll. Last month, a statewide Field Poll found a similar drop in nuclear power support.
  • "Californians are holding steady in the belief that global warming is underway and threatens the state's future," Baldassare added. "In the wake of federal inaction on the issue, they strongly support the state's climate change policies. With unemployment high, many also see a potential for job creation."
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Japan's Nukes Following Earthquake - 1 views

  • TEPCO has just released "diaries" from early in the accident giving us a better view of the sequence of events from the operators point of view.
  • The bulk of the materials, distributed on discs with digital files, show reams of raw numerical data. They include photos of broadsheet computer printouts and other formatted charts with thousands of data points for measurements of reactor heat, pressure, water levels, fuel rod positions and the status of cooling pumps, among other functions. Tokyo Electric, or Tepco, also released a smaller batch of more recent documents highlighting its various efforts to restore electric power to each of the reactors, a task that was achieved on April 26. But a series of what Tepco terms reactor "diaries" from the first 48 hours after the quake include the most visually arresting materials. These feature snapshots of whiteboards on which plant employees—11 of whom remained in each of the plant's three control rooms—jotted down status updates on the progress of the reactor shutdowns and steadily increasing radiation levels around the facility.
  • Using red, black or blue ink markers, the plant operators appear to have scribbled down the notes quickly. Many are smudged or illegible. Others depict complex diagrams and are peppered with technical jargon or acronyms such as SBO for "station blackout." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281504576329011846064194.html
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  • So helpless were the plant's engineers that, as dusk fell after Japan's devastating March 11 quake and tsunami, they were forced to scavenge flashlights from nearby homes. They pulled batteries from cars not washed away by the tsunami in a desperate effort to revive reactor gauges that weren't working properly. The plant's complete power loss contributed to a failure of relief vents on a dangerously overheating reactor, forcing workers to open valves by hand.And in a significant miscalculation: At first, engineers weren't aware that the plant's emergency batteries were barely working, the investigation found—giving them a false impression that they had more time to make repairs. As a result, nuclear fuel began melting down hours earlier than previously assumed. This week Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, confirmed that one of the plant's six reactors suffered a substantial meltdown early in Day 1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704322804576302553455643510.html
  • Lots of interesting information in this paper from TEPCO:http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/images/handouts_110525_01-e.pdfUnits 1-4 did not have RCIC.  They had isolation condensers.  Not only that, the isolation condensers were water cooled with 8 hours of water in the condenser reservoir. 
  • HPCI required DC power to operate.  The turbine lube oil pump was DC; it didn't have a shaft oil pump.  I think this may be common here too, anyone willing to verify that?That's why they had trouble so quick:  8 hours later and without AC power they had no way to get water to the pressure vessel.  About the same time the instruments died from a lack of battery power is about the time they lost the isolation condenser from a lack of water.They also verify that they didn't have the hardened vent modification.
  • Fukushima may have a group that could tackle the nuclear crisis looming over Japan. The Skilled Veterans Corps, retired engineers and professionals, want to volunteer to work in the dangerous conditions instead of putting younger generations at risk. More than 200 Japanese retirees are seeking to replace younger workers at Fukushima while the plant is being stabilized. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/307378
  • The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) on June 6 revised the level of radioactivity of materials emitted from the crisis hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant from 370,000 terabecquerels to 850,000 terabecquerels. (from 10,000,000 curies to 22,972,972.97 curies)http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110606p2a00m0na009000c.html
  • The following article focus's on US spent fuel storage safety, Several members of Congress are calling for the fuel to be moved from the pools into dry casks at a faster clip, noting that the casks are thought to be capable of withstanding an earthquake or a plane crash, they have no moving parts and they require no electricity. but there is a reference to Fukishima's dry storage casks farther into the article.But Robert Alvarez, a former senior adviser to the secretary of energy and expert on nuclear power, points out that unlike the fuel pools, dry casks survived the tsunami at Fukushima unscathed. “They don’t get much attention because they didn’t fail,” he said.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/business/energy-environment/06cask.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=science
  • In 1967, Tepco chopped 25 meters off the 35-meter natural seawall where the reactors were to be located, according to documents filed at the time with Japanese authorities. That little-noticed action was taken to make it easier to ferry equipment to the site and pump seawater to the reactors. It was also seen as an efficient way to build the complex atop the solid base of bedrock needed to better protect the plant from earthquakes.But the razing of the cliff also placed the reactors five meters below the level of 14- to 15-meter tsunami hitting the plant March 11, triggering a major nuclear disaster resulting in the meltdown of three reactor cores.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303982504576425312941820794.html
  • Toyota was a key executive who was involved in the Fukushima No. 1 plant construction.It is actually common practice to build primary nuclear plant facilities directly on bedrock because of the temblor factor.Toyota also cited two other reasons for Tepco clearing away the bluff — seawater pumps used to provide coolant water needed to be set up on the ground up to 10 meters from the sea, and extremely heavy equipment, including the 500-ton reator pressure vessels, were expected to be brought in by boat.In fact, Tepco decided to build the plant on low ground based on a cost-benefit calculation of the operating costs of the seawater pumps, according to two research papers separately written by senior Tepco engineers in the 1960s.
  • If the seawater pumps were placed on high ground, their operating costs would be accordingly higher."We decided to build the plant at ground level after comparing the ground construction costs and operating costs of the circulation water pumps," wrote Hiroshi Kaburaki, then deputy head of the Tepco's construction office at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, in the January 1969 edition of Hatsuden Suiryoku, a technical magazine on power plants.Still, Tepco believed ground level was "high enough to sufficiently secure safety against tsunami and typhoon waves," wrote Seiji Saeki, then civil engineering section head of Tepco's construction office, in his research paper published in October 1967.
  • Engineers at Tohoku Electric Power Co., on the other hand, had a different take on the tsunami threat when the Onagawa nuclear plant was built in Miyagi Prefecture in the 1980s.Like Fukushima, the plant was built along the Tohoku coast and was hit by tsunami as high as 13 meters on March 11.Before building the plant, Tohoku Electric, examining historic records of tsunami reported in the region, conducted computer simulations and concluded the local coast could face tsumani of up to 9.1 meters.Tohoku Electric had set the construction ground level at 14.8 meters above sea level — which barely spared the Onagawa plant from major damage from 13-meter-high tsunami that hit in March.
  • Former Tepco worker Naganuma said many locals now feel they have been duped by Tepco's long-running propaganda on the safety of its nuclear facilities, despite the huge economic benefits the plant brought to his hometown of Okuma, which hosts the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
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    from a nuclear worker's forum so the dates run from May 20, 2011 to July 15, 2011...these are the points these nuclear workers thought important about Fukushima
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#Radioactive Compost Has Already Spread Wide [27Jul11] - 0 views

  • From the press release by Akita prefectural government on July 25:A resident in Akita Prefecture alerted the authorities when the bag of leaf compost that he purchased from a local garden/home center measured high in radiation with his portable survey meter. The authorities tested the content of the bag, and it had 11,000 becquerels/kg of cesium.
  • At the garden/home center (2 locations) the air radiation 1 meter from the pile of the leaf compost bags measured as high as 0.48 microsievert/hr.
  • The press release is somewhat misleading, as it says the air radiation 1 meter from one bag of the leaf compost is 0.06 microsievert/hr. If you measure in front of the pile of the same bags, the radiation is as high as 0.48 microsievert/hr. Akita's air radiation level (which the prefectural government measures only at 2 locations) is between 0.04 and 0.06 microsievert/hr.According to Yomiuri Shinbun (7/27/2011), these bags were packed in Tochigi Prefecture, and 20,000 bags have already been sold in Akita Prefecture alone.
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  • Shimotsuke Shinbun (local Tochigi paper; 7/27/2011) reports that Tochigi Prefecture tested the leaves that went into the leaf compost bags, and they found 72,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. The leaves were collected in the northern Tochigi in April, and was sold outside the prefecture from mid June to early July. The Tochigi prefectural government ordered the two sellers of leaf compost in Tochigi to recall what's been sold and refrain from shipping "voluntarily" (i.e. at the sellers' own cost, with no support from the government).Leaf composts are mainly used by the home gardeners. There may be many who hoped to grow their own, radiation-free vegetables and bought these bags to amend the soil for better growth of the seedlings. Well, that hope is dashed. The home gardeners may have ended up contaminating their own soil which may not have been contaminated before they put in the compost.
  • The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries couldn't even figure out that cattle farmers feed their cows with rice hay. What the individual home gardeners use for their small gardens was probably none of their concern, as the Ministry is there for the producers.
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    By allowing contamination to spread to the entire island, if not the country, epidemiological studies of the impact on health in the medium and long-term will be made impossible, as there will be no "control" group with which to compare that has not been exposed. The risk, of course, is to the export economy as eventually export products will become contaminated also and international trade with Japan may suffer. Who is going to buy a Japanese car, if they think it is likely to glow in the dark (for example)? And radioactive electronics will show higher failure rates. - comment from reader
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Strike vote looming for Nine Mile Point nuclear plant operators [28Jun11] - 0 views

  • Syracuse, N.Y. -- Owners of the Nine Mile Point nuclear plants say they plan to keep the reactors operating even if nearly half of the work force walks out on strike Friday morning.
  • Constellation Energy Nuclear Group and IBEW Local 97, the union representing workers at Nine Mile station, will begin working with a federal mediator Wednesday in hopes of forging a new contract before the deadline Thursday night. But some management employees began “job shadowing” their union colleagues Monday, in case the talks fail and non-union workers have to take over, said Jill Lyon, speaking for Constellation.
  • The company has spent the past year devising its contingency plan and training managers to step in if the union goes on strike, Lyon said. “We don’t expect or want a work stoppage,” Lyon said. “But because of what we do, we have to be prepared.” Local 97 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represents 560 of the roughly 1,000 employees at Nine Mile Point, including control room operators, radiation protection personnel, emergency response workers and others.
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Nine Mile Point nuclear workers in Oswego County strike after labor talks fail [09Jul11] - 0 views

  • Scriba, NY -- Today, for the first time in four decades, workers who operate two nuclear power plants in Oswego County went on strike. At midnight Friday, when a shift ended at Nine Mile Point Unit 1 and Unit 2, Constellation Energy Nuclear Group managers relieved union co-workers at desks throughout the plants.
  • The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 97 called for 460 workers to go on strike in the plants owned by Constellation Energy Nuclear Group after a final contract negotiating session lasted just minutes Friday morning. CENG will temporarily run the two reactors in Scriba with management workers, said Jill Lyon, a company spokeswoman. “... We are prepared to safely run the facility,” Lyon said in a statement issued hours before the company’s contract with the IBEW expired.
  • Local 97 represents 590 of the roughly 1,000 workers at the plant, including control-room operators, radiation-protection personnel, emergency-response workers and others, said Theodore Skerpon, Local 97 president. About 460 of the workers will be on strike. IBEW-represented security officers are not permitted to strike. CENG has spent the past year devising its contingency plan and training managers to step in if necessary, Lyon said.
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  • Skerpon said the union does not believe management workers have been sufficiently trained. “These management personnel haven’t been doing hands-on work like my members have,” he said. He said management workers began job-shadowing their IBEW counterparts only two weeks ago. “I would say the public should be concerned to the point that they should question it,” Skerpon said. “I’m not telling anyone to evacuate their house. But they should be concerned enough to question it.”
  • Strikes by nuclear plant operators are rare, but not illegal. There has never been a strike at the two Nine Mile Point plants, which became operational in 1969 and 1988. CENG purchased the plants for $762 million from Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. in 2001.
  • The last strike at a nuclear plant in the Northeast occurred in 2003 at Oyster Creek, N.J., where more than 200 workers walked off the job when contract talks broke down. The strike lasted about 11 weeks.
  • Dave Lochbaum, director of the nuclear safety project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that management workers have safely operated other nuclear plants during strikes. Nuclear plant owners typically replace striking workers with managers who hold licenses to operate nuclear plants and who work daily in the plant control room or in training rooms, said Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who worked 17 years in nuclear plants. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent three extra inspectors to Scriba to monitor the two nuclear plants around the clock from inside their control rooms during the first 48 hours of the strike, an NRC spokesman said. After that, inspectors will remain on-site 24 hours a day for the next couple of weeks to make sure things are going smoothly, said Diane Screnci, speaking for the NRC.
  • Screnci said the NRC has reviewed the company’s plans for operating the plants during the strike and is satisfied that its replacement operators can operate them safely. If the NRC inspectors find the replacement workers can’t do the job, they will order the plants be shut down, Lochbaum said. “The safety net the public has is the NRC watching the first few days,” Lochbaum said
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Post-Nuke Reconstruction Plan for Fukushima Prefecture: World-Class Radiation Medicine,... - 0 views

  • When the governor of Fukushima started to say "post-nuke", I thought "OK, he must have found a new way to benefit from the close ties with the national government, other than nuke, or in addition to nuke."According to Yomiuri Shinbun, the latest and final version of the Kan administration's plan for recovery and reconstruction after the March 11 earthquake/tsunami for Fukushima Prefecture will include a host of government research institutions going to Fukushima, with the related industries - heavy electric, utilities, pharmaceutical, etc. - tagging along.
  • Dr. Shunichi "100 millisieverts are no problem" Yamashita is already in Fukushima, salivating at the unique, world-first opportunity to study the long-term effect of radiation on children. Also, Fukushima University and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, of Monju fame, have signed an agreement to cooperate in research and development of the world-class decontamination technology, among others. (Links are in Japanese.)That the government research institutions rushing to Fukushima makes me wonder if the whole plan is one gigantic experiment using the land, water, air, people, animals, crops, forests and mountains in Fukushima to develop world-class technologies in radiation medicine and decontamination, and renewable energy that the government and the industries can later capitalize on.
  • Yomiuri Shinbun (3:03AM JST 7/27/2011)
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  • The final version of the recovery and reconstruction plan that the government was to submit by the end of this month was revealed on July 26.
  • The plan will include the research and development centers for health care and renewable energy in Fukushima Prefecture, which suffers damages from the nuclear plant accident. The government will support the recovery by sending the government research institutions to Fukushima. For residents who cannot rebuild their homes easily, the government will provide the "disaster public housing". The government will set up the headquarters for recovery and reconstruction on July 29, and formally decide on the plan.
  • In the final version of the plan, it is clearly stated that "the national government will be responsible" in recovery and reconstruction from a nuclear disaster. As to the decontamination of the soil and the disposal of disaster debris, the plan says [the government] will "take necessary measures". It also mentions the creation of facilities for the "world-class pharmaceutical and medical equipment research and development" and the "world-class renewable energy research" in Fukushima Prefecture, which are to attract the related industries. For the residents who have lost their homes, the government will provide the "disaster public housing", which will be sold later to those who want to purchase the homes under the scheme.So here's one answer to the question posed by a resident in the youtube video below that captured the confrontation between the Fukushima residents and the national government officials over evacuation:
  • "People in Fukushima have a right to avoid the radiation and live a healthy life, too. Don't you think so?"Well, the government needs them inside Fukushima for all these grand projects. Besides, the government doesn't care about that right for anyone outside Fukushima either.
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#Radiation in Japan: 60 Becquerels/Kg Cesium from Eggs in Fukushima (Video-clip added) ... - 0 views

  • From TV Asahi's "Hodo Station" on July 26, in the segment that discusses the lifetime limit of 100 millisieverts radiation.
  • A chicken farmer in Kawamata-machi in Fukushima Prefecture has brought his eggs to a volunteer testing station in Fukushima City. After 20 minutes of testing, 60 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium is detected from the eggs.Disappointed, the farmer says, "I don't know what to say to my customers. It's much lower than the provisional safety limit in Japan, but if I compare the number to the safety limit in Ukraine it is extraordinary..."
  • The reporter asks the farmer, "What is the safety limit in Ukraine?"6 becquerels/kg, he tells the reporter.The man who runs the station says, "For these farmers, the provisional safety limit in Japan is just too loose."
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  • Kawamata-machi is 47 kilometers northwest of Fukushima I Nuke Plant.The Japanese government's mishandling and concealing the radioactive fallout information has resulted in radioactive water, vegetables, fish, mushroom, beef, hay, pork, manure, compost, and now eggs. And the farmers like this chicken farmer who clearly wants to sell only "safe" eggs to his customers are at a loss. To the chicken farmer, 60 becquerels/kg was just too high to sell his eggs in good conscience.
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Germany discontinuing forecast of radioactive plume on July 29 - Final animation shows ... - 0 views

  • Migration Japan, Deutscher Wetterdienst [Public institution with partial legal capacity under Germany's Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development], July 27, 2011:
  • PORTANT NOTE: The provision of this graphics will bei [sic] discontinued on July, 29th. If required, the production will be resumed.  The Deutscher Wetterdienst has ceased to publish its special reports on the “Meteorological situation and dispersion conditions in Japan” as of 31 May 2011. The pictures and the animation in 6-hourly time steps show the possible migration of radioactivly [sic] loaded air emanating from he nuclear power station Fukushima I in 250m height. IMPORTANT NOTE: Since the strength of the emission is unknown, the values are to interpret only as relative distribution and dilution outgoing from an unknown source concentration. A conclusion on the actually radioactive load locally is not possible! Further information can be found on the website of BMU (www.bmu.de).
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Thousands of pets left behind in restricted zone near nuclear power plant -Fukushima [2... - 0 views

  • After the March 11 earthquake and tsunami struck, residents in the area were ordered to evacuate. Knowing that most shelters banned pets and believing the evacuation would be short-lived, many residents left their pets behind. In past weeks, numerous dogs have been found dead, chained to their doghouses.Despite efforts from animal rescue volunteers and advocacy groups, thousands of pets remain in the 12-mile no-go zone, they say.
  • For dogs alone, there are at least 2,000 to 3,000 left behind in the restricted zone,” said Yuri Nakatani, director of the Hiroshima-based animal rights advocate group Dogs and Cats Orphan Support.Dogs and Cats Orphan Support has rescued about 400 dogs and cats so far from the area, said member Hirofumi Sasaki.Animals rescued by the group are taken to a shelter in neighboring Tochigi prefecture, where they are paired with a temporary caregiver or adopted to a new home, Sasaki said.
  • “Besides food, what the animals in the shelter crave for is love of human beings,” he said.
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  • The Japanese government began efforts this month to rescue animals from the restricted zone around Fukushima.About 67 dogs and cats have been taken to safety so far, according to Ministry of the Environment officials, who said it is unclear how many pets remain in the area.There are 5,800 dogs registered in the nine municipalities covered by the evacuation zone, said Koji Okura, deputy chief of the Ministry’s Office of Welfare and Management of Animals. The number of displaced cats cannot be estimated because Japan does not require cats to be registered, he said.“It is not possible to figure out exactly how many dogs are still left within the zone,” Okura said.
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U.S. extends travel alert around Fukushima power plant till Aug. 15 [10Jun11] - 0 views

  • The U.S. government has extended a warning to U.S. citizens to keep out of a 50-mile evacuation zone surrounding the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.The alert, which expires Aug. 15 and was transmitted Thursday by the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, advises that, although the situation at the Fukushima plant remains serious and dynamic, it is not a significant risk to U.S. citizens outside the evacuation zone.
  • “Out of an abundance of caution, we continue to recommend that U.S. citizens avoid travel to destinations within the 50-mile evacuation zone of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant,” the alert stated. “U.S. citizens who are still within this zone should evacuate or shelter in place.”In contrast, the Japanese government’s evacuation zone extends 12 miles away from the nuclear plant.
  • Transport routes between Tokyo and Sendai that run through the zone are open to the public and the U.S. government believes health and safety risks associated with using the routes are low, the alert states.“It is safe for U.S. citizens to use the Tohoku Shinkansen railway and Tohoku Expressway to transit through the area,” the alert states.
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U.S. military expected to lift ban on Japanese foods soon [15Jul11] - 0 views

  • The U.S. military is preparing to lift a ban on some Japanese foods, imposed after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear scare.The Japan District Veterinary Command, which is responsible for food safety on U.S. bases, said Thursday that, within a month, products from 26 Japanese processing plants will once again be sold on U.S. installations.
  • Food deliveries from those factories were suspended due to a range of health concerns, including the proximity of some of them to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station, which was severely damaged by the quake and tsunami, said Lt. Col. Margery Hanfelt, commander of the veterinary command.The suspended plants — among 60 that deliver to U.S. bases — produce a variety of foods ranging from baked goods and eggs to fresh fruit, vegetables and processed items. Some of the facilities, which Hanfelt declined to identify, were damaged by the earthquake while others had supplies of basic ingredients cut. For example, a farm supplying grain to one plant was destroyed by the tsunami, she said.
  • “As they recover, we are going through and re-auditing and re-assessing them,” she said.In the past month, teams of U.S. servicemembers have been inspecting the suspended plants — located in 13 prefectures in northern Honshu — and testing food samples for chemical, microbiological and radiological contamination, she said.
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  • “We have been gathering data and samples and combining them with their (the plants’) test results so we have a total picture from before, during and after [the disaster] to make sure the food safety measures they put in place weren’t impacted,” she said.
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Up to the minute US Military Response ... - Earthquake Disaster in Japan [18Mar11] - 0 views

  • Stars and Stripes reporters across Japan and the world are sending disaster dispatches as they gather new facts, updated in real time. All times are local Tokyo time.  Japan is 13 hours ahead of the East Coast. So for example, 8 a.m. EDT is 9 p.m. in Japan.
  • No increase in Yokota radiation levels   11 p.m. Saturday, Tokyo timeLatest advisory from Yokota’s Facebook page says base officials there just checked with emergency managers and they have confirmed that the radiation levels at Yokota remain at the same background levels we experience every day (even prior to the quake)."To ensure everyone's safety, we are scanning air samples repeatedly every day, we're checking the water daily and we are inspecting aircraft ... and vehicles as they arrive," the Facebook page says.-- Dave Ornauer
  • The latest on Navy support to Japan   10:20 p.m. Saturday, Tokyo timeU.S. 7th Fleet has 12,750 personnel, 20 ships, and 140 aircraft participating in Operation Tomodachi. Seventh Fleet forces have delivered 81 tons of relief supplies to date.USS Tortuga is in the vicinity of Hachinohe where she will serve as an afloat forward service base for helicopter operations. CH-53 Sea Stallion aircraft from attached to Tortuga delivered 13 tons of humanitarian aid cargo on Friday, including 5,000 pounds of water and 5,000 MREs, to Yamada Station, 80 miles south of Misawa.USS Essex, USS Harpers Ferry and USS Germantown with the embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived off the coast of Akita prefecture Saturday. Marines of the 31st MEU have established a Forward Control Element in Matsushima to coordinate disaster aid planning with officials. They are scheduled to move to Sendai later Saturday.
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  • The USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group, to include the cruiser USS Chancellorsville, the destroyer USS Preble and the combat support ship USNS Bridge, the guided-missile destroyers USS Fitzgerald, USS John S. McCain, USS McCampbell, USS Mustin and USS Curtis Wilbur continue relief operations off the east coast of Iwate prefecture. Three U.S. Navy liaison officers are on JS Hyuga to coordinate U.S. operations with Japan Maritime Self Defense force leadership.Helicopters from HS-4 and HSL-43 with the Reagan strike group, and HSL-51 from Carrier Airwing Five (CVW-5) in Atsugi, on the 18th delivered 28 tons of food, water, clothes, medicine, toiletries, baby supplies, and much needed kerosene to displaced persons at fifteen relief sites ashore. For two of the relief sites serviced, it was the first humanitarian aid they have received since the tsunami a week ago. Eight of the sites serviced made requests for specific aid, including a need for a medical professional.CVW-5 on Friday completed the relocation of 14 helos normally assigned to USS George Washington from Atsugi to Misawa Air Base in northern Honshu.
  • USS Cowpens continued its northerly track to rendezvous with the Reagan Carrier Strike Group. Cowpens is expected to join the Strike Group overnight. USS Shiloh is en route from Yokosuka to deliver relief supplies to the Strike Group.USS Blue Ridge, the flagship for the U.S. 7th Fleet, remains in the vicinity of Okinawa to conduct transfers of supplies and additional personnel to augment the staff.All 7th Fleet ships, including George Washington and USS Lassen which are currently conducting maintenance in Yokosuka, are preparing to go. Personnel have been recalled and leaves canceled.
  • Two P-3 Orion aircraft from Patrol Squadron Four conducted two aerial survey missions over ports and airfields in northern Honshu on Saturday. CTF-72 has embarked two liaison officers from Japan Maritime Self Defense Force on each mission. Aerial imagery captured on these missions is shared with Japan. VP-4 has established a detachment in Misawa with two aircraft and four aircrews. Radioactive iodine found in Tokyo drinking water10:07 p.m. Saturday, Tokyo timeFrom the Associated Press:TOKYO — Japan officials say radioactive iodine detected in drinking water for Tokyo and other areas.
  • A valuable resource on your entitlements during evacuations
  • The link for this Office of Personnel Management (OPM) handbook is: http://www.opm.gov/oca/compmemo/2008/HandbookForEmergencies(PayAndLeave)
  • Voluntary departure" updates at Misawa
  • Video: Yokosuka commander talks flights
  • Who is authorized to fly out?·         Command Sponsored and non-Command Sponsored Dependents of Uniformed and Civilian DoD personnelo    NOTE: Non-Command Sponsored dependents are only entitled to a round trip flight to the first destination in the United States. These dependents are not entitled to draw per diem or Safe Haven Allowance.What about girlfriends or significant others?They are not authorized departure. Only <span>Dependents</span> of Uniformed and Civilian DoD personnel are covered by the current authorization.
  • What about dependents of our NAFA/CFAY/ZAMA contractors?·         They will be allowed to board the plane and fly to the States, HOWEVER, as things currently stand, they are NOT entitled to any allowances or even to government-funded air travel out of NAFA.·         Funding issues should be worked through the contractor’s parent company, and the contractor sponsor should beware that he/she may ultimately be required to reimburse the U.S. Government for the value of the flight.
  • What about non-DoD American Citizens who aren’t contractors or attached to our bases?
  •  
    a log of updates during the initial phase of the disaster, mainly about evacuating military and report of navy vessels arriving to aid, Didn't highlight all of it, see site for more
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Nearly 8,000 military family members signed up to evacuate Japan [20Mar11] - 0 views

  • According to estimates provided by the military and compiled by Stars and Stripes, more than 7,900 residents at bases in central and northern Japan want to flee on flights sponsored by the U.S. military.
  • There were 233 family members on the first voluntary evacuation flight from Yokota to Seattle, Wash., on Saturday as Japan continued spraying water on reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant about 130 miles north of Tokyo. Even though power was restored to part of the plant this weekend, the country still faces a possible meltdown that many fear could spread dangerous radiation over the region.
  • So far, only Yokota has ferried residents out of Japan, but more flights are expected in the next two days.
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  • The military is working to schedule flights through contractors because no military aircraft will be used for the voluntary departures, according to U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Maj. Neal Fisher.
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