IPPNW appeals to Japanese Prime Minister for urgent health protections in radioactive aftermath of Fukushima nuclear catastrophe

The three co-presidents of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) -- Sergey Kolesnikov of Russia, Vappu Taipale of Finland, and Robert Mtonga of Zambia -- wrote Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on August 22nd urging immediate action to better protect those downwind and downstream of Fukushima Daiichi's radioactive fallout. IPPNW issued a press release in addition to the full text of the letter. Among its many urgent calls, IPPNW urges that preparations be made to evacuate residents as far as 100 km (as opposed to the current 20 km) from the three melted down atomic reactors, if radiological conditions demand it. IPPNW also calls for a return to the pre-catastrophe 100 millirem per year dose limits for the population, instead of the controversial 20-fold increase (to 2 rem per year) in "allowable" radiation doses for Fukushima Prefecture residents established by the Japanese federal government in April.

Did a second meltdown occur at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3?

Photo taken in the first moments of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 hydrogen explosion on March 14thThe Asahi Shimbun has reported that Fumiya Tanabe, a former senior researcher at the government-affiliated Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) and an expert on atomic meltdowns, has argued that a second meltdown occurred at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3. He theorizes that the first meltdown occurred on March 14th, associated with the violent hydrogen explosion (photo at left) that largely rubblized the secondary containment building, but that a second meltdown occurred on March 21st. He provides several lines of evidence. If, as he purports, Unit 3's melted down core has melted through the reactor pressure vessel and now rests on the primary containment structure's concrete floor, this could hamper Tokyo Electric Power Company's plan to bring the molten core into "cold shutdown."

Wind-driven aluminum siding shuts down Calvert Cliffs reactor

As reported by CNN: "A nuclear power reactor automatically went offline late Saturday in Calvert Cliffs after its main transformer was hit by a piece of aluminum siding that Hurricane Irene had peeled off a building, said Mark Sullivan, spokesman for the Constellation Energy Nuclear Group said. All employees were safe."

Update on August 29, 2011 by admin

Robert Alvarez of the Institute for Policy Studies shared the following this morning:

"Keep in mind that when these large reactors scram, it's like a jumbo jet making a quick forced landing. The sudden insertion of control rods creates unexpected stress on the reactor. This is why when a reactor is normally shut-down for refueling, it is done gradually. If a reactor experiences several scrams during a year, this should raise a red nuclear safety flag.

While working in DOE, I was involved in energy emergency planning, and electricity blackouts, NRC staff were definitely concerned about the safety of increased scrams caused by forced power outages.

BTW, scram is an acronym going back to the experimental 'pile' at the University of Chicago in the early 1940's. It stands for safety control [rod] axe man. According to Norman Hillbury who worked on the U. of Chicago pile:

'When I showed up on the balcony on that December 2, 1942 afternoon, I was ushered to the balcony rail, handed a well sharpened fireman's ax and told, 'if the safety rods fail to operate, cut that manila rope.' The safety rods, needless to say, worked, the rope was not cut... I don't believe I have ever felt quite as foolish as I did then. ...I did not get the SCRAM [Safety Control Rod Axe Man] story until many years after the fact. Then one day one of my fellows who had been on Zinn's construction crew called me Mr. Scram. I asked him, 'How come?'

Best,

Bob"

Update on August 29, 2011 by admin

A follow-up NRC Daily Event Report filed on August 29 by Constellation Energy to the NRC identified that the wind blown debris crashed into an electrical transformer at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear station causing an electrical short and "An unanticipated explosion within the Protected Area resulting in visible damage to permanent structures or equipment." One has to wonder what an "anticipated" explosion might look like?

The same report further identifies: "At 2400, 8/27/2011, numerous alarms on the 1A DG [Diesel Generator] started to be received. These were investigated and it was found that water was intruding down the DG exhaust piping resulting in a DC ground. Based on these indications the 1A DG was declared inoperable and appropriate technical specifications implemented."

Another Daily Event Report issued the same day identified that Hurricane Irene simulataneously disabled  the emergency public notification sirens for two counties in the reactor's emergency planning zone due to loss of power and further revealing that the power company has bothered to provide a battery back-up power  to its public emergency notification sirens. So much for defense in depth.

Numerous atomic reactors shut down or reduce power as Hurricane Irene batters East Coast

Bloomberg has reported that the Oyster Creek reactor in NJ shut down as a safety precaution, while one of the Calvert Cliffs reactors in MD was forced to automatically shut down when wind driven debris damaged its main transformer. The twin Brunswick reactors in NC lowered powere to 70%, and the two operating reactors at Millstone nuclear power plant in CT lowered power levels to 70% and 50%, of normal as a safety precaution, in case they had to quickly shut down completely. However, the Surry reactor in VA, the two Indian Point, NY reactors, Calvert Cliffs Unit 2 in MD, and Pilgrim in MA continued to operate at full power levels throughout the storm. (As of August 26th, North Anna Units 1 and 2 were still shutdown following last week's Mineral, VA earthquake, epicentered just a few miles away -- hopefully they were kept shutdown given Hurricane Irene's approach).

20 atomic reactors in 9 East Coast states poised to shut down as safety precaution in the face of Hurricane Irene

NOAA satellite image of Hurricane Irene at 8:45pm Eastern FridayBusiness Insider reports that 20 atomic reactors in 9 states on the East Coast of the U.S. are poised to shut down as a safety precaution if Hurricane Irene's winds and waves prove too intense. The article links to a National Geographic report warning that downed trees could cause widespread power outages -- which would be exacerbated by atomic reactor shutdowns prompted as safety precautions. In fact, the second biggest electricity outage in world history, the August 14th, 2003 "Northeast Blackout," which plunged 50 million Americans and Canadians into darkness, was initiated by a single sagging tree limb in northwest Ohio touching a power line. This was the fault of FirstEnergy Nuclear, which had neglected its tree-trimming responsibilities, as it was distracted at the time by a costly and serious scandal at its Davis-Besse atomic reactor near Toledo. The 2003 "Northeast Blackout" led to the safety-related shutdown of about two dozen atomic reactors as a safety precaution due to the unstable electrical grid, which dramatically widened the scope of the incident. As Beyond Nuclear has warned, nuclear power is too risky to operate as climate chaos worsens; this is due to the vulnerable locations of atomic reactors, such as on coastlines, subject to not only severe weather events such as storm surges, but also earthquake-spawned tsunamis and sea level rise due to global warming.