Nuclear Poland
Channel: onthewaytoextinction
Date: 24/06/2013

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

POSSIBLE RADIATION LEAK AT US HANFORD SITE

The US Energy Department says higher levels of radiation were detected outside a storage tank at the Hanford nuclear site in the state of Washington during a routine inspection on Thursday.

 The announcement came on Friday amid mounting concern about a possible radiation leak at the site.

 Water levels for 6 of 177 underground tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation were found to have fallen in February.

 The tanks are used for storing waste water containing radioactive materials.

 The Energy Department said it will send a team to the site to look into whether radioactive water had leaked.

 Washington State Governor Jay Inslee said this is most disturbing news and that the Energy Department has a legal obligation to clean up the site and remove or treat nuclear waste there.

 The Hanford site contains the world's first full-scale plutonium production reactor. The plutonium was used for the nuclear bomb that detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9th, 1945, less than a week before Japan's surrender in World War Two.

 The site has been closed since 1989. But sloppy management of the facility has been questioned for a long time.

Jun. 22, 2013 - Updated 07:12 UTC

'MEGA SOLAR' POWER PLANT TO BE BUILT IN FUKUSHIMA

The mayor of Iitate Village in Fukushima Prefecture says a large solar power plant will be built in the village that was seriously contaminated by the 2011 nuclear accident.

 Located northwest of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Iitate Village has been designated as an exclusion zone due to high radiation levels from the nuclear facility.

 All residents were evacuated from the village following the 2011 nuclear disaster. Former residents are allowed to visit their homes but not stay overnight.

 Iitate Mayor Norio Kanno told reporters on Friday that the village and a Tokyo-based electric equipment company will jointly build a "Mega Solar" power station at a now-defunct ranch in the village. The 14-hectar lot of land is owned by the village.

 Kanno said that the power station will produce 10,000 kilowatts, enough to supply the requirements of about 3,000 households for a year.

 All electricity generated by the plant will be sold to a power company taking advantage of the central government scheme that requires major utilities to buy locally-generated renewable energy.

 The mayor said that the village expects to make a profit of about 7 million dollars for a period of 20 years. He said that the revenue will be used to support recovery work in the village.

 Kanno said that the local government compiled the plan in the hope that the solar plant will be a symbol for the reconstruction of Iitate, and encourage former residents to return.

 The local government plans to spend about 40 million dollars to build the large solar power plant.

 The mayor said construction will begin in April 2014 after design and decontamination work are completed. The solar power plant is expected to start generating electricity in April 2016.

Jun. 21, 2013 - Updated 12:28 UTC

MORE MISSED SAFETY INSPECTIONS DISCOVERED AT MONJU

Some 2,300 additional missed equipment safety inspections have been discovered at the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor on the Sea of Japan coast.

 Plant operator Japan Atomic Energy Agency conducted an investigation into the way its inspections were carried out.

 The operator says the newly-discovered inspection lapses even involved key safety equipment used to monitor the movement of control rods.

 Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority found about 10,000 similar lapses at Monju last month and ordered the operator not to prepare to restart the reactor until its safety can be established.

 Japan Atomic Energy Agency says it is extremely regrettable that the revelation of more missed safety inspections has undermined public trust.

Jun. 21, 2013 - Updated 12:55 UTC

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