Nuclear alert: 130 security breaches at UK atomic facilities in last 5 years via RT

Posted on 2016/09/02 by yukimiyamotodepaul
Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) officers, charged with guarding the UK’s nuclear sites, admit there have been 130 security breaches over the last five years, including a handgun going missing and the keys to Hinkley Point power station getting lost.

The CNC said two of the breaches were classed as“high risk.”

In July 2012, an unloaded handgun went missing from the National Shooting Centre in Surrey. It was reported to Surrey Police, but the force could not determine whether it had been lost or stolen.

In October 2012, confidential information was texted to an officer at Sellafield in Cumbria.

Another two incidents were identified as “medium risk.”

In November 2013, the gate access keys for Hinkley Point in Somerset were lost. All locks at the site were replaced and the keys were subsequently found there.

In February 2012, a force camera was stolen from the Sizewell site in Suffolk and never recovered.

[…]

The CNC is responsible for policing 11 nuclear sites across the UK.
It has an annual budget of £100 million (US$132 million) and employs 1,100 armed police officers with access to eight different weapons systems.

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Energy Department ending probe into Idaho radiation leak via The Register-Guard

Posted on 2016/09/02 by yukimiyamotodepaul

BOISE, Idaho — The U.S. Department of Energy says it’s concerned about a radiation leak two years ago at an eastern Idaho nuclear facility that contaminated nine workers, but the agency says it will not begin a formal investigation.

The federal agency’s Office of Enforcement in a letter told Battelle Energy Alliance, a research contractor, that it would continue to monitor the company’s efforts to improve nuclear safety at the Idaho National Laboratory but no additional requirements were being imposed.

“The actual nuclear safety consequences of this event were low, but DOE views seriously any event in which workers receive unplanned radiological uptakes,” the letter states.

Officials say the low-level exposure of the nine workers in late August 2014 occurred after faulty air monitors failed to detect a release of radioactive material from a sealed compartment.

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制御棒処分、７０ｍ以深　国の管理１０万年　規制委方針 via 朝日新聞

Posted on 2016/09/02 by yukimiyamotodepaul

原子力規制委員会は３１日、原発の廃炉で出る放射性廃棄物のうち、原子炉の制御棒など放射能レベルが比較的高い廃棄物（Ｌ１）の処分の基本方針を決定した。地震や火山の影響を受けにくい場所で７０メートルより深い地中に埋め、電力会社に３００～４００年間管理させる。その後は国が引きつぎ、１０万年間、掘削を制限する。これで、放射能レベルの高いものから低いものまで放射性廃棄物の処分方針が出そろった。

原発の廃炉で出る放射性廃棄物は、使用済み核燃料から出る放射能レベルが極めて高い高レベル放射性廃棄物と、Ｌ１、原子炉圧力容器の一部などレベルが比較的低い廃棄物（Ｌ２）、周辺の配管などレベルが極めて低い廃棄物（Ｌ３）に大きく分けられる。

埋める深さは放射能レベルによって変わる。高レベル放射性廃棄物は地下３００メートルより深くに１０万年、Ｌ２は地下十数メートル、Ｌ３は地下数メートルとの処分方針がすでに決まっていたが、Ｌ１は議論が続いていた。大手電力会社でつくる電気事業連合会は、国内の原発５７基が廃炉になれば、Ｌ１だけで約８千トンの廃棄物が出ると試算している。

規制委はＬ１について、コンクリートなどで覆って７０メートルより深い岩盤内に少なくとも１０万年間は埋める必要があると結論づけた。電力会社が管理する期間については「数万年とするのは現実的でない」として、３００～４００年間とした。その後は、国が立ち入りや掘削がされないように対策を取るとした。

続きは制御棒処分、７０ｍ以深　国の管理１０万年　規制委方針

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横浜市立校で保管の指定廃棄物、汚泥処理施設に移転へ via 産経ニュース

Posted on 2016/09/02 by yukimiyamotodepaul

横浜市は２９日、市立小・中学校などで保管している東京電力福島第１原発事故による放射性物質を含んだ指定廃棄物などを、市の汚泥処理施設「北部汚泥資源化センター」（同市鶴見区）に移転させると発表した。センター内に保管庫を新設し、今年度中に移転させる。

新たに造る保管庫は、床面積約１００平方メートルの鉄筋コンクリート平屋。移動させるのは、小・中学校や特別支援学校計４３校の雨水利用施設にたまってい た汚泥約１０トンのほか、小・中学校や市内の保育園で周辺より高い値の放射線量が確認されたマイクロスポットを除去する際に発生した土壌約３・４トン。

１０トンのうち計１７校で保管している約３トンは、放射性セシウム濃度が基準値（１キロ当たり８千ベクレル）を超えるもので、国が「指定廃棄物」に指定している。

指定廃棄物は、国が処分するまでは各地の自治体が保管することになっているが、長期間の校内での保管に保護者から不安の声が上がり、市は５月から校外への移動を検討していた。

続きは横浜市立校で保管の指定廃棄物、汚泥処理施設に移転へ

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強度不足疑いのメーカー製鋼材、８原発13基で使用 via 日本経済新聞

Posted on 2016/09/02 by yukimiyamotodepaul

　フランスの原子力発電所で強度不足の疑いがある鋼材が使われていた問題で、関西電力や九州電力など６社は２日、全国８原発13基の原子炉圧力容器に、同じメーカー製の鋼材が使われていたと原子力規制委員会に報告した。今後、使われた鋼材の強度を確かめ、10月末までに規制委に報告する。

電力各社によると、問題の鋼材をつくった日本鋳鍛鋼（北九州市）製の鋼材が使われていたのは、東京電力福島第２原発２、４号機、北陸電力志賀１号機（石川県）、関電高浜２号機（福井県）、同大飯１、２号機（同）、日本原子力発電敦賀２号機（同）、四国電力伊方２号機（愛媛県）、九電玄海２、３、４号機（佐賀県）、現在稼働している同川内１、２号機（鹿児島県）の圧力容器。

問題の鋼材はフランスで、成分の偏りのために強度が低下している恐れがあることが発覚した。仏規制当局は今年６月、同国の原発18基で同様の鋼材が使われていたとして、電力各社に強度を確認するよう求めた。

続きは 強度不足疑いのメーカー製鋼材、８原発13基で使用

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Tokyo Hopes To Lift No Go Zone Order In Fukushima In Next Five Years via Sputnik

Posted on 2016/09/02 by yukimiyamotodepaul
By the end of the 2021 fiscal year, the Japanese government intends to repeal an evacuation order on the remaining “no go zone” around the Fukushima no.1 nuclear plant, the site of one of the worst nuclear accidents in history.

Tokyo announced Wednesday that it aims to conduct infrastructure restoration and radiation clean ups in reconstruction bases built within the zone, which was highly contaminated when the plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. (TEPCO), was shut down during a March 2011 tsunami and earthquake.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at a joint meeting of the Reconstruction Promotion Council and Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters, where the proposal was adopted, said, “Based on the basic policy, we will embark on reconstruction work in the zone as soon as possible.” In June 2015 the government decided it would lift the ban on areas of Fukushima with lower contamination levels by March of 2017.
Headquarters also announced that the decontamination of Fukushima would be paid for with state funds. It was estimated in 2013 that cleanup would cost upwards of 2.5 trillion yen (about $24 billion), and the decontamination efforts would be financed with funds collected from selling state-owned shares of TEPCO.
Tokyo hopes to profit 2.5 trillion yen from selling the shares, but TEPCO stock would have to trade at about 1,050 yen for that to happen, and shares are currently valued at around 360 yen.
[…]
According to Jiji Press, the public cost of decontamination and cleanup of the nuclear accident exceeded 4.2 trillion yen by the end of the 2015 fiscal year. Factoring in costs for reactor decommissioning, compensation payments to people and organizations affected by the accident and radioactive decontamination, the government spent about 33,000 yen per capita.
Related articles:

 

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Japan Extends Reactor Lifetimes for First Time Since Fukushima　via Power

Posted on 2016/09/01 by

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) this June approved 20-year license extensions for the aging Takahama 1 and 2 reactors, a first for the power-strapped country that has been conflicted about the future of its nuclear power plants since the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe in 2011.

A regulatory system established in the aftermath of Fukushima limits the operating lives of Japanese nuclear units to 40 years, though it allows a one-time extension of no more than 20 years. The NRA’s approval to allow the 40-year-old Takahama 1 and 39-year-old Takahama 2 to operate an additional 20 years was carried out as an “extraordinary case.” Kansai Electric Power Co., which owns the two 826-MW reactors, filed applications for the extensions in April 2015, as well as for its 826-MW Mihama 3 reactor in November 2015, saying that they were “important” for its business.

[…]

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飯舘村で診療所再開＝福島　via 時事通信

Posted on 2016/09/01 by

東京電力福島第１原発事故で全域に避難指示が出ている福島県飯舘村で１日、村唯一の診療所「いいたてクリニック」が５年２カ月ぶりに再開した。[…]

全文はこちら。

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役場で町長倒れ病院搬送　原発避難の福島・川俣町　via 産経新聞

Posted on 2016/09/01 by

１日午前９時５０分ごろ、東京電力福島第１原発事故で一部地域に避難区域が残る福島県川俣町の古川道郎町長が町役場内で倒れ、福島市内の病院に運ばれた。詳しい病状は不明。

　古川町長は昨年１２月にも自宅で倒れ、軽い脳梗塞と診断された。左半身に不自由さが残ったため、今年１月から本格的なリハビリを進め、５月に職務復帰していた。

[…]

全文
を読む。

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Final demolition at US uranium enrichment complex via World Nuclear News

Posted on 2016/09/01 by yukimiyamotodepaul

National, state and local officials joined nearly 1500 employees on 30 August to watch as the final wall of building K-27 was pulled down. Demolition of the four-storey, 383,000 square foot (36,000 square metre) building began in February.

The first gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment facility established at Oak Ridge was K-25, which was built in the early 1940s to supply and produce highly enriched uranium for the Manhattan Project. In 1945, K-25 was the largest building in the world. By 1955 the complex had expanded to include five gaseous diffusion buildings – K-25, K-27, K-29, K-33 and K-31 – and continued to supply highly enriched uranium for US defence programs and low-enriched uranium for civil nuclear power reactors until the mid-1980s.

The final gaseous diffusion enrichment equipment at the plant shut down in August 1985 and the DOE formally terminated enrichment operations at the site in 1987, when it was renamed the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP). The DOE’s Office of Environmental Management began the work of cleaning up the ETTP site in 1989. Demolition of the K-25, K-29, K-33 and K-31 buildings was completed between 2006 and 2015. The footprint of the demolished K-25 building is now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge.

The demolition of the last of the former gaseous diffusion enrichment buildings completes Vision 2016, DOE’s goal to remove all of the former uranium enrichment buildings at the site by the end of 2016. It also marks the first time a former uranium enrichment complex anywhere in the world has been cleaned and demolished, according to the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

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