NEI Nuclear Notes

The following guest post was submitted by NEI Media Manager, Mitch Singer. Perhaps it’s asking too much in today’s media climate (no pun intended), but it would’ve been nice if Ginger Zee refrained from making the flippant comment on America This Morning that cooling ponds near nuclear plants are “either getting too low or too warm for the plants to function safely.” Ginger’s wrong on a number of accounts. Safety is paramount to the nuclear industry and all plants have contingency plans in place to adjust to extreme weather conditions and continue operating, albeit at a lower electrical power output. All nuclear power plants operate under their respective states’ water discharge permits and when the water’s ambient temperature reaches a certain level the plant’s power output must be lowered. Thus, they continue to “function safely.” The Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provides a great example of how in spite of extre...

Yesterday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the month of June experienced 170 all-time high temperature records being broken or tied throughout the country. They also reported that the first half of 2012 has been the warmest first half period on record back to 1895. As such, we wanted to share that most all of the U.S. nuclear plants were humming along at full power during June, helping provide electricity to air conditioners to keep all of us cool during these hot times. Below are three charts breaking out the daily availability data from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission which we aggregated based on the North American Electric Reliability Council they belong to. You can find the list of plants and their region on page 4 of this report . The following chart shows a daily average of the 104 nuclear units. Overall, the U.S. fleet was running at a steady average availability of 90.5% during the last four weeks. And the last chart shows the NER...

The American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency sent a research vessel boat to Japan last April to study the waters near the Fukushima Daiichi facility and assess the impact of radioactive isotopes released into the water by the plant. The international team of researchers found isotopes of cesium, which was expected, and silver, which was not expected. (Radioactive silver has a half-life of 250 days). The conclusion in the abstract: “Radiation risks due to these radionuclides are below those generally considered harmful to marine animals and human consumers, and even below those from naturally occurring radionuclides.” And that’s striking. Especially interesting was this : To be comparable just to doses from 210 Po, 137 Cs levels in fish would need to range from 300 to 12,000 Bq·kg −1 dry weight, some 1–3 orders of magnitude higher than what we observed ≥30 km off Japan. Thus, radiation risks of these isotopes to marine organisms and human consumers of seafood are well ...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency needs your help in spreading the message that it will be conducting a first-of-a-kind nationwide test of its Emergency Alert System next Wednesday, November 9, at 2 P.M. EST. The alert and warning system serves as a tool the President could use, if ever needed, to provide information and communicate to Americans during an emergency. FEMA’s website provides the skinny on what to expect during the test: The test will be approximately 30 seconds long and will look and sound very similar to the frequent local tests of the Emergency Alert System; It will be transmitted via television and radio stations within the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii, the territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa; An audio message will interrupt television and radio programming indicating: “This is only a test,” though text may not indicate this same message on the screen on every television channel; Organizations that serve people wit...