The earthquake in Japan is something we should look at before we approve 2 more reactors at Turkey Point (it would be the only plant in the US to have 4). Remember this: the reactors in Japan were shut down during the earthquake. SHUT DOWN.A electric transformer caught fire and somehow at the Kariwa Plant (the world’s largest in terms of power output) radioactive water leaked out into the ocean among other things.
According to a Yahoo News report posted 25 minutes ago,
Nuke waste drums tipped in Japan quake:
“A nuclear power plant near the epicenter of a powerful earthquake suffered a slew of problems, including spilled waste drums, leaked radioactive water, fires and burst pipes, the reactor's operator said Tuesday — more than 24 hours after the tremors struck northern Japan.” and:
“The malfunctions at the Kashiwazaki power plant and the delays in acknowledging them are likely to feed concerns about the safety of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors, which supply 30 percent of the quake-prone country's electricity and have suffered a long string of accidents and cover-ups.” and:
“Later Tuesday, TEPCO said a small amount of radioactive materials cobalt-60 and chromium-51 had been emitted into the atmosphere from an exhaust stack, but posed no danger to the environment. It was unclear if that leak was caused by the quake.”
Anyway, we should think about this before putting 4 reactors — in one place -- on the coast of a hurricane prone area. Duh. Did you know the US has more nuclear power plants than anywhere else? Japan comes in third. I am not trying to be an alarmist, only a realist. Shit happens.
P.S. Breaking news: "Tokyo Electric spokesman Akitsuka Kobayashi said Tuesday that the quake knocked over 100 barrels of waste. "A few" of the drums, containing plastic bags of radioactive waste, broke open, he said. He refused to comment further, saying an investigation was underway.
The Associated Press, citing an unnamed Tokyo Electric official, reported 50 cases of malfunctioning and trouble had been found at the plant since Monday's quake..."
10 comments:
There should be no consideration of expansion of Turkey Point, without a full analysis of the impacts of sea-level rise that are anticipated within the next 100 years: easily the time frame within which the danger of disposed and active radioactive fuel is of concern. FPL executives should be sent to Japan to do the clean-up of the spillage caused by a natural disaster, as a training exercise.
Yes, good idea, maybe FP&L can haul away the plastic bags of radioactive waste. What is that about?
330,000 people had to be relocated because of Chernobyl disaster.
Japan News Review Societyhttp://www.japannewsreview.com/society/chubu/20070717page_id=785
Nuclear plant admits further radioactivy leaks 1 day after quake Jully 17th 8:24PM
Tokyo Electric Power Co. admitted on Tuesday there had been more radiation leaks than previously reported at the world’s largest nuclear power plant, in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, where a 6.8 magnitude earthquake took 9 lives and razed more than 300 buildings.
After initial reports on Monday that no radioactivity had been leaked from the power plant, it was later revealed that 1,200 liters of water containing radioactive material had been leaked into the Sea of Japan from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata. On Tuesday, TEPCO admitted at a news conference that about a 100 drums contaning nuclear waste had fallen during the quake, making several of them losing their lids.
TEPCO’s safety department said the contents of the particular drums were not known, but that usually contained the ashes of gloves, clothes and masks used at the power plant.
It was also revealed that about 800 liters of turbine oil had leaked from another reactor at the same power plant, and that small amounts of radioactive materials had been emitted into the atmosphere from the main exhaust pipe of a third reactor, but according to TEPCO, the emissions, although inadvertent, had been within legal limits.
A Reuters report quoted Abe at a Tokyo press conference: “I believe that nuclear power plants can only be operated with the trust of the people. For this, if something happens they need to report on it thoroughly and quickly. We need to get them to strictly reflect on this incident.“
While none of these incidents alone might have been very serious, they have raised questions over the overall security at Japanese nuclear plants.
Japan, relying on atomic power for one third of its total energy consumption, has a history of cover-ups and accidents at nuclear power plants: in 1999, two Tokaimura nuclear power plant workers died in an accident after they had severely violated safety guidelines when dealing with uranium. In March this year, a nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture operated by Hokuriku Electric power was forced to shut down one of its reactors after it acknowledged it had covered up an uncontrollable nuclear chain reaction that had gone on for 15 minutes, which happened in 1999.
If the transformer fire were at a fossil-fired, greenhouse gas emitting plant in Japan, would it have made your blog?
What about if a major fire happened at a refinery, where one half-expects fires to occur?
Was the public in any danger, or are we self-indulging in fear-mongering?
If a container of radwaste spills, it is 'waste'. It therefore has been cleaned up from some other mess. Can it not be cleaned up again?
Last time I checked, there are basically three reliable and dense energy sources to power cities and industry - fossil, hydro and nuke. Hyrdo probably won't work out in Florida ;)
Just curious if you have better proposals... I am pretty sure solar cells won't run Florida's summer A/C loads, and certainly not at night.
All in one place? That is where I have a real problem. See tomorrow's post.
We should definatly be looking at alternate engery like from the sun and wind. And even bio-fuels to cut down on green house effect. Nucler power is a danger and our governments do not no how to handle the waste. Ho to any more and take out what we have , please.
Sincerely, - Burnham Neill
Solar is more robust than as dismissed here, also new solar relies upon ultraviolet light not cloud covered sunshine.
Interesting how the Japanese utility at first downplayed the releases and as the days passed, a clearer and more disturbing picture begins to emerge. Do you think FPL would do it any differently? Of course not: they invested millions to push their coal-fired power plant proposal in Glades County, their lobbyists engaged in secret meetings with public officials, spending lots of money to set up their own counter-movement to citizen opponents. Then, just like that, they disappeared.
Is it any different from the rock miners did in Miami-Dade who put benzene in the aquifer? ... and the mainstream media dutifully reported their point of view: don't worry. It's how we screwed up the planet, isn't it?
There's already 53 miles of cooling canals at Turkey Point releasing
hot water that kills Thalasea grass on the the bay bottom. 2 more reactors may just bring that water to a boiling point and cause mass fish kills.
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