fairewinds

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NRC – Spent Fuel Pools and Fukushima

CCTV Host Margaret Harrington and Fairewinds Energy Education’s Arnie Gundersen discuss the urgent need to empty spent fuel pools into dry cask storage to prevent a serious but avoidable accident. They also discuss the economic cost to nuclear plants if they where forced to withstand natural calamities, the future of Yucca Mountain, and the radiological contamination caused by depleted uranium weapons.

Video transcript – http://fairewinds.org/content/cctv-live-five-margaret-harrington-and-arnie-gundersen

NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane talks about the 3 New actions the NRC has issued in response to the Fukushima Nuclear Accident – Allison also speaks about the need for the NRC to improve communication with the public in order to gain trust, it is interesting that both ratings and comments have been disabled in this NRC.gov youtube video.

Here is the NRC page detailing their “response” which does NOT include moving the spent fuel from pools into dry casks – http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/japan-info.html

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Arnie Gundersen on Nuclear Plants Loss of the Ultimate Heat Sink

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Arnie Gundersen from Fairewinds Associates speaks on the “loss of the ultimate heat sink” and the energy dependence vulnerability of nuclear plant cooling systems.
http://www.fairewinds.com/

latest news on Vermont Yankee case – Appeals court hands NRC a victory in Yankee license case

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Fairewinds – Fukushima Update – Unit 3 Analysis

Analysis of new Fukushima 3 photographs released last week by TEPCO substantiate Fairewinds’ claim that explosion of Unit 3 began over the spent fuel pool. Fairewinds believes that significant damage has also occurred to the containment system of Fukushima Unit 3, and that the two events (fuel pool explosion and containment breach) did not occur simultaneously. Video also includes brief discussion of tent system being constructed over Fukushima Unit 1.

http://www.fairewinds.com/

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The NRC – justifying continued operation of reactors without safety modifications

Gundersen expresses concerns that the nuclear industry and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are not addressing major safety issues that have become evident since Fukushima. These issues include serious design flaws in the BWR Mark 1 containment, fundamental flaws in the Boiling Water Reactor vessel design, and problems with detonation shockwaves. The NRC and the nuclear industry are using a flawed cost benefit computer code that underestimates the value of human life and minimize property damages after an accident, which has the effect of justifying continued operation of reactors without safety modifications.

Also, Fairewinds announces the launch of the Japanese language version of its site, Fairewinds.jp.

 

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New Data Supports Previous Fairewinds Analysis, as Contamination Spreads in Japan and Worldwide – Fairewinds Update

Newly released neutron data from three University of California San Diego scientists confirms Fairewinds’ April analysis that the nuclear core at Fukushima Daiichi turned on and off after TEPCO claimed its reactors had been shutdown. This periodic nuclear chain reaction (inadvertent criticality) continued to contaminate the surrounding environment and upper atmosphere with large doses of radioactivity.

In a second area of concern, Fairewinds disagrees the NRC’s latest report claiming that all Fukushima spent fuel pools had no problems following the earthquake. In a new revelation, the NRC claims that the plutonium found more than 1 mile offsite actually came from inside the nuclear reactors. If such a statement were true, it indicates that the nuclear power plant containments failed and were breached with debris landing far from the power plants themselves. Such a failure of the containment system certainly necessitates a complete review of all US reactor containment design and industry assurances that containments will hold in radioactivity in the event of a nuclear accident. The evidence Fairewinds reviewed to date continues to support its April analysis that the detonation in the Unit 3 Spent Fuel pool was the cause of plutonium found off site.

link (full text) – http://www.fairewinds.com/content/new-data-supports-previous-fairewinds-analysis-contamination-spreads-japan-and-worldwide

 

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Fairewinds & Greenpeace Fukushima Updates

TEPCO has discovered locations on the Fukushima plant site with lethal levels of external gamma radiation.  Fairewinds takes a close look at how this radiation might have been deposited and how similar radioactive material would have been released offsite.

Contaminated seafood and government cover-up at Fukushima (Greenpeace)

Blogpost by Justin McKeating – August 9, 2011
Our team of radiation experts has found high levels of radiation in seafood caught by Japanese fishermen off the coast of Japan. This, along with the news that the Japanese government covered up the true extent of radiation releases from Fukushima and so put people in danger, shows it is long past time that urgent, transparent action was taken by officials.At a press conference in Japan earlier today (video here and here), we explained how our radiation experts had visited ports in Iwaki prefecture between 22nd and 24th of July and conducted sampling of seafood with the help from local fishermen. The French laboratories ACRO and CRIIRAD analysed the radioactive contamination and detected high levels of radioactivity in a number of samples. This means that the contamination of the Fukushima coast is still very serious.Greenpeace has therefore requested the Japanese government to make the labelling of seafood products mandatory and to indicate the radiation levels and fishing area, as supermarkets are not providing enough information to their customers. Radiation monitoring procedures should also be strengthened and food distribution regulations tightened.
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Fairewinds ☢ Nuclear Power Conference ☢ From Fukushima to Vermont

In this video Arnie Gundersen examines the fundamental advantages and disadvantages of splitting atoms to boil water and presents how nuclear power plants work, how to cool a reactor during an accident, the effect of hot particles when inhaled, and concerns involving the long-term storage of nuclear waste. This presentation took place at the Nuclear Power Conference held at the University of Vermont July 23, 2011.

 

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Fairewinds Update July 19

While many radioactive cattle have been discovered large distances from Fukushima, what is more important is where their feed is coming from. “It’s not only about the radioactive cattle in Fukushima Prefecture; its also about the radioactive straw the cattle eat that was grown elsewhere”. Straw found 45 miles from Fukushima is highly contaminated with radioactive cesium, which is an indication that radiation has contaminated large portions of Northern Japan.

More than half a million disintegrations per second in a kilogram of straw are comparable to Chernobyl levels. This proves that the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission was correct when it told Americans to evacuate beyond 50 miles and that the Japanese should have done the same. An Ex-Secretariat of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission blames this contamination on “Black Rain”. Rather than minimize the information the Japanese people receive, Gundersen suggests minimizing their radiation exposure.”

 

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Why Fukushima Can Happen Here: What the NRC and Nuclear Industry Dont Want You to Know

The well-known safety flaws of Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactors have gained significant attention in the wake of the four reactor accidents at Fukushima, but a more insidious danger lurks. In this video nuclear engineers Arnie Gundersen and David Lochbaum discuss how the US regulators and regulatory process have left Americans unprotected. They walk, step-by-step, through the events of the Japanese meltdowns and consider how the knowledge gained from Fukushima applies to the nuclear industry worldwide. They discuss “points of vulnerability” in American plants, some of which have been unaddressed by the NRC for three decades. Finally, they concluded that an accident with the consequences of Fukushima could happen in the US.

With more radioactive Cesium in the Pilgrim Nuclear Plant’s spent fuel pool than was released by Fukushima, Chernobyl, and all nuclear bomb testing combined, Gundersen and Lockbaum ask why there is not a single procedure in place to deal with a crisis in the fuel pool? These and more safety questions are discussed in this forum presented by the C-10 Foundation at the Boston Public Library. Special thanks to Herb Moyer for the excellent video and Geoff Sutton for the frame-by-frame graphics of the Unit 3 explosion.

 

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Fairewinds – Fukushima Update July 1

New Analysis of Unit 3 Fuel Pool Video Reveals Top of Fuel Bundle

A video first released by TEPCO in April has been re-analyzed by Ian Goddard and appears to reveal a handle found atop a single nuclear fuel bundle. This raises more questions about the condition of any fuel still remaining in the Unit 3 fuel pool.

 

 

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Hot Particles From Japan to Seattle Virtually Undetectable when Inhaled or Swallowed

Update from Fairwinds – June 12th

Original estimates of xenon and krypton releases remain the same, but a TEPCO recalculation shows dramatic increases in the release of hot particles. This confirms the results of air filter monitoring by independent scientists. Fairewinds’ Arnie Gundersen explains how hot particles may react in mammals while escaping traditional detection. Reports of a metallic taste in the mouth, such as those now being reported in Japan and on the west coast, are a telltale sign of radiation exposure.

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Fairewinds Update June 5th

Fairewinds’ chief engineer Arnie Gundersen emphasizes the need to enlarge evacuation zones around US nuclear plants to 50 miles. Reducing US evacuation zones to only 10 miles during a nuclear power accident compromises public safety.

 

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Fairewinds Update: 5/22/11

The Implications of the Fukushima Accident on the World’s Operating Reactors

Gundersen says Fukushima’s gaseous and liquid releases continue unabated.  With a meltdown at Unit 1, Unit 4 leaning and facing possible collapse, several units contaminating ground water, and area school children outside the exclusion zone receiving adult occupational radiation doses, the situation continues to worsen. TEPCO needs a cohesive plan and international support to protect against world-wide contamination.

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Vermont Nuclear Expert Speaks about Fukushima

Arnie Gundersen is a former nuclear industry senior vice president, he has a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in nuclear engineering, he holds a nuclear safety patent, and was a licensed reactor operator. During his nuclear industry career, Arnie managed and coordinated projects at 70-nuclear power plants around the country. He is now a leading advisor of Vermont’s Fairewinds Associates, a nuclear advisory company. In this April 26 video Mr. Gundersen speaks about Fukushima and its increasing severity. Visit fairewinds site for their detailed analysis on Vermont Yankee’s decommissioning and more.