Below is an update on whats going on in the nuclear world. It is provided to give you information about the problems we are having nuclear “stuff”.
Included is a correction of a misstatement of fact I made a few times yesterday about the core not being loaded at Fort Calhoun.
Fukushima
(UPI) -- Motions for Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, to abandon nuclear energy and for its chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, to be replaced were defeated at the company's annual shareholders' meeting Tuesday.
Of the nuclear disaster resulting from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Katsumata opened the meeting by saying, "I express my deepest apology for the large number of problems we imposed on many people in society through the nuclear accident and rolling blackouts due to a shortage of electricity."
More than 9,300 shareholders, nearly three times more than last year's, attended the 6-hour meeting.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/...
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Fort Calhoun
FORT CALHOUN, Neb., June 28 (UPI) -- The Fort Calhoun, Neb., Nuclear Station, marooned by the flooding Missouri River, poses no immediate threat to the public, the top U.S. nuclear regulator said.
"The risk is really very low at this point that anything could go wrong," Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in Omaha Monday after touring the idled facility.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/...
The only unit at the plant is in safe mode, but it has a fully loaded reactor core. This info was confirmed by officials at Omaha Public Power District. Wild speculation yesterday (by me - oops) stated that because it was in safe mode the core was empty. I wholeheartedly apologize for the misinformation
The fuel being in core does not negatively affect safety and does not mean it has to stay there. It has to be somewhere. A core unload could be undertaken at any time if circumstances warranted and plant management deemed it necessary.
Omaha Public Power District has a page set up in response to rumors about the plant.
http://www.oppd.com/...
They include:
Rumor: A National Weather Service (NWS) river gauge malfunction is affecting safety at Fort Calhoun Station.
Rumor: Water in the spent fuel pool came close to boiling.
Rumor: The White House has declared a media blackout on news about Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station.
Rumor: Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station is at a Level 4 emergency or level 4 alert.
Rumor: A no-fly zone was set up around Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station because of a release of radiation, similar to what happened with the Fukushima reactors in Japan.
Rumor: Because of a fire at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station on June 7, the plant’s spent-fuel pool was in danger of boiling and releasing radioactivity.
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Los Alamos Labs
A wildfire has advanced on the Los Alamos laboratory and thousands of outdoor drums of plutonium-contaminated waste as authorities step up efforts to protect the site and monitor the air for radiation.
Officials at the premier US nuclear-weapons lab – the desert birthplace of the atomic bomb – gave assurances that dangerous materials were safely stored and capable of withstanding flames from the 95 sq mile fire, which at one point was as close as 50 feet (15 metres) to the grounds.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
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Cooper Nuclear Station
The other Nebraska nuclear plant. Other than it’s report to the NRC 10 days ago, it has not needed to alert authorities about a upgraded risk of plant status.