NEI Nuclear Notes

He’s young and scruffy, with puppy dog eyes: She’s fresh and vivacious, who likes to – do – something out front of the facility (must be a windy day): When they meet, can love be far behind? Vodka and cooling towers? Will there be a second date? World Nuclear News has the story of a new Russian film called Atomic Ivan (not the young fellow – his name is Vanya): Snigirev Dobrygin and Julie Gregory take the starring roles under direction from Vasily Barkhatov, who uses family and nuclear culture to explore themes of commitment, stability and continuity between generations. Rosatom said that nuclear work is portrayed as prestigious and exciting, as complicated and intricate as personal relationships, and coming with extensive training and great responsibility. That sounds – awful – like something the old Soviet Union would produce to extol agricultural achievements. There certainly are interesting pictures that could be made using the nuclear industry as a backgroun...

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...

Earlier this year, the Fort Calhoun nuclear facility in Nebraska was surrounded by the Missouri River, which jumped its banks due to a strong winter runoff and heavy spring rains. That flood was characterized as a 100-year event.  Is a 100-year event like the cicadas that swarm the Washington area every 17 years? No, not at all. The cicadas arrive on a predictable schedule. Seventeen years elapse and there they are again. This is a better description of a 100-year event: Of course, return period doesn’t mean that we won’t see that kind of rain in those locations for several decades (or centuries). A 1 in 100 year rain means that there is a 1% chance of seeing that amount of rain in any given year. A 0.1% chance is true for a 1 in 1000 year event. I assume that the 1 in 100 number changes every time something similar takes place – obviously, the odds of it happening in a given year drop if it happens more frequently. In any event, what is being discussed here is the ra...

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: Japan Prime Minister Seeks Stability at Fukushima Sept. 12, 2011 Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues Japan marked six months since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami with a call from the country’s new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to stabilize the situation in and around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility. Noda asked his cabinet to be responsive to requests for decontamination from residents and heads of municipalities. Prime Minister Noda named former chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano as the new minister for economy, trade and industry (METI). The previous METI minister, Yoshio Hachiro, resigned Saturday after his controversial remarks about radiation in Fukushima prefecture were published. Edano had been the previous government’s spokesman during its efforts to cope with the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, including the accident at Fukushima Daiichi. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) holds its board meeting ...

In France today : One person was killed and four were injured Monday afternoon in an explosion at a nuclear waste treatment site in southern France, according to the French Nuclear Safety Authority. I saw some reports that said this was a electricity generation facility. Not so. The site, about 20 miles from Avignon, has no nuclear reactors, the authority said. Since the Times points to the French authority, let’s see what it has to say : L’accident survenu ce matin dans l’installation nucléaire Centraco située près du site de Marcoule (Gard) est terminé. L’explosion d’un four servant à fondre les déchets radioactifs métalliques a causé un incendie qui a été maitrisé à 13 h. Le bâtiment concerné n’a pas été endommagé. Aucune contamination n’a été constatée : les blessés ne sont pas contaminés et les mesures réalisées à l’extérieur du bâtiment par l’exploitant et les services publics de pompiers spécialisés n’ont révélé aucune contamination . Phew! Here’s a...

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC Commissioners Deny Groups’ Petition to Suspend New Reactor Licensing Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • Commissioners at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission today denied a request by several groups to suspend licensing and standardized design certification decisions pending completion of the NRC Fukushima Task Force evaluation of the implications of the Fukushima accident. The commissioners also denied a petition to suspend hearings and opportunities for public comment on reactor or used fuel pool issues identified for investigation by the task force. The commissioners granted the groups’ request for a safety analysis of regulatory implications of the events in Japan, incorporating stakeholder input into the process. • New Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda visited the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility on Thursday. He expressed gratitude to workers who are stabilizing the facility, according to a BBC report . Noda credited workers ...

NEI, the nuclear industry and a stack of community colleges have a program to offer certification in several nuclear energy specialties. The program has been notably successful – you can read more about it here – but it’s always a treat when local press picks up on it. And that’s what the Miami Herald has done : Forty-one-year-old Tomas Alvarez left Cuba in December 2007 to settle in Homestead. While working for American Airlines as a skycap for four years, he learned to speak English. Now he has earned an associate’s degree from Miami Dade College and should soon start a new job as a nuclear technician with Florida Power & Light, one of the state’s largest employers. Alvarez received his training through the Clean Energy Institute, a cooperative program organized by MDC and FPL. Graduates of the program are trained as technicians and offered a yearly starting salary of about $55,000 to $57,000. Writer Stephanie Parra hit a goldmine with Mr. Alvarez, showing  upwar...