Undercover Japanese journalist at Fukushima Daiichi says NRC Chairman Jaczko's 50 mile emergency evacuation warning got it "about right"

Self portrat by Tomohiko Suzuki, taken with a pinhole camera hidden in his wristwatch, on his way to work undercover at Fukushima DaiichiAn undercover journalist working at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant surmises the the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's order to Americans in Japan to evacuate at least 50 miles away from the melting down reactors and boiling high-level radioactive waste storage pools in the first days of the catastrophe was "about right." It is a marked contrast to the Japanese government's response, which has maintained a mere 12.4 mile radius evacuation zone for the past nine months, and is now urging residents to return to abandoned homes, many times against their will. NRC Chairman Jaczko, having invoked emergency powers, ordered the 50 mile evacuation for Americans in Japan, against the wishes of his fellow Commissioners, who otherwise very likely would have delayed, or simply outright blocked, the warning.

As reported by the New York Times, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, in a nationally televised address last week, declared that the four destroyed units at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been brought under control, and "cold shutdown" will be achieved by year's end, ending a catastrophic chapter in Japan's history. However, critics warn that the decommissioning and "clean up" of the site could take 40 years, and that nuclear criticality in the melted cores is still a risk. Noda's announcement comes with an "all clear" from federal, prefectural, and local authorities for many of the 90,000 nuclear evacuees to return to their homes for the first time in nine months, but many of them question such assurances, and people across Japan still fear the documented radioactive contamination of the food supply.

Meanwhile, the Mainichi Daily News reports that a journalist, Tomohiko Suzuki, worked undercover inside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant for over a month this summer, and now reports that "absolutely no progress is being made," that rushed work is often shoddy and done for cosmetic, not safety purposes, and that major short cuts are being taken on such vital activities as decontaminating vast quantities of cooling water highly contaminated with radioactivity. Suzuki quotes one worker as saying "Working at Fukushima is equivalent to being given an order to die," and reports that many games are being played to under-report actually radiation doses being suffered by workers.

The article reports: " '(Nuclear) technology experts I've spoken to say that there are people living in areas where no one should be. It's almost as though they're living inside a nuclear plant,' says Suzuki. Based on this and his own radiation readings, he believes the 80-kilometer-radius evacuation advisory issued by the United States government after the meltdowns was "about right," adding that the government probably decided on the current no-go zones to avoid the immense task of evacuating larger cities like Iwaki and Fukushima." (emphasis added)

NRC Chairman Jaczko pushed for safety first at Bellefonte "zombie reactors" in Alabama

The Chattanooga Times Free Press has published a comprehensive article about U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Greg Jaczko's "safety first" no vote on the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) bid to "resurrect" two "zombie" reactors, abandoned decades ago, at Bellefonte nuclear power plant in Hollywood, Alabama. Jackzo defended his no vote by writing:

“Although records may remain, the NRC can no longer be assured of the quality of the equipment since the [quality assurance] program was halted. The potential that undocumented work activities, introduction of unapproved chemicals, corrosion and other unknown degradation that may have occurred calls into question the integrity and reliability of safety-related structures, systems and components...We set the bar basically on the ground, and now TVA is asking the NRC to lift them over it...By requesting reinstatement, TVA is asking the commission to allow licensees to choose when they want to comply with the rules and when they do not; and is asking the NRC to provide TVA regulatory stability while sacrificing it for others.”

Jaczko "went a step further, calling for a new environmental impact statement and new public hearings."

In fact, nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen documented that TVA had actually "cannibalized" Bellefonte, removing systems, structures, and components for use at other TVA nuclear power plants over the years and decades since Bellefonte's abandonment.

The article also reported:

Garry Morgan, of Scottsboro, Ala., lives four miles from Bellefonte Nuclear Plant site, and he believes Jaczko — the lone NRC vote against reinstating Bellefonte’s construction permits — is under fire because he wants tougher nuclear regulation.

“This is a battle for control of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission originating from the nuclear industry utilizing Republican Party politicians,” said Morgan, a retired U.S. Army nuclear biological and chemical warfare protection officer who has become active in the anti-nuclear movement.

“Bottom line, the NRC which is supposed to be our ‘watchdog’ ensuring the nuclear industry conducts their operations safely has been compromised due to the nuclear industry’s financial influence over politicians attempting to control the NRC,” he said. “It wasn’t so long ago a Republican senator threatened to defund the NRC for doing their job.”

Markey accuses 4 NRC Commissioners of "regulatory meltdown" post-Fukushima

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), Ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee and Senior Member of the Energy and Commerce CommitteeAs reported by Reuters in an article entitled "Private Spat within U.S. Nuclear Agency Laid Bare," U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA, pictured left) has published a report entitled “Regulatory Meltdown: How Four Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners Conspired to Delay and Weaken Nuclear Reactor Safety in the Wake of Fukushima.” The report documents efforts by 2 Democratic appointees, William Magwood IV and George Apostalakis, and 2 Republican appointees, Kristine Svinicki and William Ostendorff, to block the creation of NRC's Near-Term Fukushima Task Force, as well as implementation at the 104 operating U.S. atomic reactors of its "lessons learned" from the triple reactor melt down -- and likely high-level radioactive waste storage pool fire -- at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

In a press release, Markey said “The actions of these four Commissioners since the Fukushima nuclear disaster has caused a regulatory meltdown that has left America’s nuclear fleet and the general public at risk. Instead of doing what they have been sworn to do, these four Commissioners have attempted a coup on the Chairman and have abdicated their responsibility to the American public to assure the safety of America’s nuclear industry. I call on these four Commissioners to stop the obstruction, do their jobs and quickly move to fully implement the lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster.”

Update on December 10, 2011 by admin

Politico has also reported on this story in an article entitled "Ugly Divide at NRC Pits Jaczko against Fellow Commissioners." Politico reports that Markey's report was published one business day earlier than originally planned, in response to U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-CA) Friday night release of an October letter, written by four of the NRC Commissioners to President Obama's Chief of Staff William Daley, complaining about Jaczko's leadership at the NRC. Issa, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the letter despite it clearly being marked "NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE."

All five NRC Commissioners are scheduled to testify before committees on both sides of Capitol Hill next week. On Wednesday, Dec. 14th beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern, the NRC Commissioners will appear before Issa's committee; the hearing will be webcast. On Thursday, Dec. 15th, also beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern, they will testify before U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer's Environment and Public Works Committee, which should also be webcast. 

Beyond Nuclear to testify at NRC on reactor earthquake and fire risks

NRC HQ, Rockville, MarylandOn Monday, December 12, 2011 from 2:30 to 4:30 PM EST, a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission petition review board will hear Beyond Nuclear staff and joint petitioners -- including Saprodani Associates, Not On Our Fault Line, Alliance for Progressive Values, and the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter -- who have called for emergency enforcement action, and full public hearing rights, on license changes to Virginia’s North Anna nuclear power plant following the August 23, 2011 earthquake of 5.8 magnitude, epicentered just 11 miles away. The meeting will be webcast and a telephone bridge line is being provided for up to 100 toll free lines for the public to listen in. Details for linking to the webcast and toll free telephone bridge line can be viewed by clicking on December 12 in NRC homepage calendar for public meetings.

On Tuesday, December 13, 2011, beginning at 9 AM EST, Beyond Nuclear Director of Reactor Oversight, Paul Gunter, will be testifying before the Chairman and Commissioners of the US NRC on what we believe to significant decades old fire protection risks at US reactors. These same risks potentially threaten control room operations for safe shutdown and cooling of reactors similar to the failure that led to the explosions and meltdowns at Fukushima. Go to this NRC link to view the webcast and Beyond Nuclear at the meeting.

NRC cites Exelon for emergency cooling and containment violations at Limerick 2

NRC file photo of Limerick; it does not indicate whether or not the flowers in the foreground are spiderwort, mutated by radioactivity.The Mercury (Pottstown, PA) reports that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a "white finding" of "low to moderate safety significance" at the Limerick nuclear powere plant's Unit 2, owned and operated by Exelon Nuclear, regarding faulty valves “resulting in one of the plant’s safety systems, known as the Reactor Core Isolation Cooling system, being inoperable from April 23 to May 23." The faulty valves also rendered a Primary Containment Isolation Valve inoperable during the same time period, which “would be used during an accident to close off the plant’s containment building during a significant event in order to prevent the release of radioactivity into the environment.” As mentioned in NRC's press release on the safety violations, regulatory inspections will be increased. “Because the valves in question failed to fully shut, the majority of the cooling water from one of the plant’s safety systems would have diverted to the condenser rather than flow to the reactor,” NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean said.

On Nov. 22nd, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) submitted a petition to NRC to intervene against Limerick's proposed 20 year license extension. An NRC commissioned report from 1982 found that a major accident at Limerick Unit 2 could cause 74,000 "peak early fatalities," 610,000 "peak early injuries," 34,000 "peak cancer deaths," and $197 billion in property damage. However, in the past 30 years, the surrounding population has grown to a whopping 8 million within 50 miles. Those property damages, adjusted for inflation, would now top $434 billion.