EFMR Monitoring Group

Monday, July 26, 2010

2 die in natural gas well explosion in western Pennsylvania

From the Patriot News:

A natural gas well where welders were believed to be working exploded today, killing two people and sparking a fire that spewed black smoke for hours. The blast happened around 9:50 a.m. in a remote, wooded area of Indiana Township, northeast of Pittsburgh, police said. Firefighters doused the resulting fire with foam, and part of the blaze was still burning about three hours after the explosion.
The cause wasn’t yet known, but state officials believe “people were welding at the site and there was an explosion and the well caught fire,” said Helen Humphries, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection. “Why they were welding or what caused the explosion, I don’t know yet."

Nuclear Monitor 713

This issues's contents include:

2010 Nuclear-Free Future Awards
More and More Questions About the Epr
Chernobyl Restrictions for Sheep Consumption Ending in Scotland; Not in Wales
Has Sweden Learned to Love Nuclear Power?
Kings Cliffe and the Low- Level Waste Crisis in U.K.
National U.S. Grassroots Summit on Radwaste Policy

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Nuclear plant unit could be down for extended time

From the Scranton Times-Tribune:

Flooding forced PPL to shut down Unit 1 of the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant late Friday afternoon.

An estimated 1 million gallons of Susquehanna river water flowed from an 8-foot-diameter pipe heading to the condenser room - where steam leaving the turbine is cooled - and damaged equipment in the basement of the plant's turbine building.

As a result, the plant could be shut down for a long period.

"We don't have an estimate," PPL spokesman Joe Scopelliti said. "There is no timeline."

Patrick Finney, the plant's senior Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector, doesn't think the plant will be online any time soon, though.

Water requirements of nuclear power stations

From the Parliament of Australia, Department of Parliamentary Services:

Per megawatt existing nuclear power stations use and consume more water than power stations using other fuel sources. Depending on the cooling technology utilised, the water requirements for a nuclear power station can vary between 20 to 83 per cent more than for other power stations.

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Tritium levels continue to rise in Pilgrim well

From the Patriot Ledger:

Entergy Corp. has found tritium levels that exceed federal drinking water standards in a monitoring well at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant for the first time since the wells were installed nearly three years ago.

The power plant owner learned on Monday that samples taken on July 7 showed one monitoring well near the Cape Cod Bay shoreline had more than 25,000 picocuries per liter of tritium, a radioactive isotope. The Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum threshold for safe drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per liter.

The elevated levels of tritium are in a monitoring well that was installed in April. Entergy has found elevated levels in that well since May, and the well’s tritium levels previously peaked at just more than 11,000 picocuries per liter last month.

A nearby monitoring well showed elevated levels of tritium, at more than 3,000 picocuries per liter, on July 7. The plant’s 10 other wells, including several that were installed in 2007, showed relatively low amounts of tritium, plant spokesman Dave Tarantino said.

Tarantino said the tritium leak doesn’t pose any threat to drinking water in Plymouth, largely because the groundwater at the plant flows into Cape Cod Bay. A test of Cape Cod Bay waters showed no elevated levels of tritium on July 7, he said.

Report: Entergy Vermont Yankee Lacks "Questioning Attitude"

From Seven Days:

A key legislative oversight panel is criticizing Entergy Vermont Yankee's for lacking a "questioning attitude" that has led to a number of system failures at the aging reactor in recent years. The Vermont Yankee Public Oversight Panel (POP) also concluded that Entergy didn't deliberately mislead a legislative panel or a state consultant when it neglected to inform them last August about underground pipes that carry radionuclides. The three-member panel includes former Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Peter Bradford, nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen, and retired nuclear scientist Fred Sears. Last summer, Gundersen questioned key Entergy engineers about whether there were underground pipes that could potentially be leaking. The response: No. Case closed.

Nuclear Coverup: 10 Cool Examples Of Cooling Tower Art

From Web Urbanist:

Cooling towers have come to symbolize power plants – nuclear or not – around the world. Standing hundreds of feet tall with a distinctive hourglass profile, some of these “towers of power” show an unexpected side: they’ve become colossal curvaceous canvases upon which an astonishing variety of art has been displayed.