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Nebraska nuclear plant safe despite flooding, officials say

From MSMBC:

The nation's top nuclear power regulator said Monday that both of Nebraska's nuclear power plants have remained safe as they battle floodwaters from the bloated Missouri River.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko visited both Fort Calhoun and Cooper nuclear power plants in eastern Nebraska this week to see how the utilities that run them are coping with the flooding. Both plants sit on the river.

The Omaha Public Power District's Fort Calhoun is the subject of more public concern because the floodwaters have surrounded that plant and forced workers to use elevated catwalks to access the facility. Nebraska Public Power District's Cooper plant is more elevated.

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Senators demand congressional probe on nuke safety

From ABC News:

Three U.S. senators, alarmed by findings of an Associated Press investigation about aging problems at the nation's nuclear power plants, asked Thursday for a congressional investigation of safety standards and federal oversight at the facilities.

The request by Democrats Barbara Boxer of California and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and independent Bernard Sanders of Vermont builds on increased public concern about nuclear safety in recent months — an outcry unlike anything since the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.

Public interest first spiked after the March accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan. Concern has been heightened this week as the AP began releasing the results of a yearlong investigation into aging related safety problems at the 104 reactors operating in the United States.

TEPCO to pay 88 bil. yen in compensation to nuclear crisis evacuees

From Kyodo News:

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday it expects to pay 88 billion yen ($109 Billion USD) in compensation to around 150,000 nuclear crisis evacuees for their mental distress. The compensation from the operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will cover the period between March 11, when the quake-tsunami disaster crippled the complex, and mid-January, the target date for TEPCO to achieve a cold shutdown of the damaged reactors. TEPCO's estimate was revealed after a government panel presented guidelines forcompensation payments, under which evacuees in temporary housing or apartments will receive 100,000 yen per month ($1242.70 USD) for six monthsfrom March and those staying in shelters will receive 120,000 yen a month ($ 1491.24 USD). The utility will include the 88 billion yen as an extraordinary loss in its April-June consolidated financial results. Six months into the crisis, the payments will be uniformly cut to 50,000 yen per month. ($ 621.35 USD)A compensation plan covering payments a year after the crisis will be decided once the situation at the Fukushima plant is brought under control.

Radioactive dust from Fukushima plant hit N. America soon after meltdown: researchers

From the Santos Republic:

Radioactive materials spewed out from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant reached North America soon after the meltdown and were carried all the way to Europe, according to a simulation by university researchers.

The computer simulation by researchers at Kyushu University and the University of Tokyo, among other institutions, calculated dispersal of radioactive dust from the Fukushima plant beginning at 9 p.m. on March 14, when radiation levels around the plant spiked.

The team found that radioactive dust was likely caught by the jet stream and carried across the Pacific Ocean, its concentration dropping as it spread. According to the computer model, radioactive materials at a concentration just one-one hundred millionth of that found around the Fukushima plant hit the west coast of North America three days later, and reached the skies over much of Europe about a week later.

Radioactive tritium leaks found at 48 US nuke sites

From the Associated Press:

Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The number and severity of the leaks has been escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation.

Tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen, has leaked from at least 48 of 65 sites, according to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission records reviewed as part of the AP's yearlong examination of safety issues at aging nuclear power plants.

Atom industry body urges cost-effective safety

From Reuters:

Steps to boost atomic safety after Japan's Fukushima accident must be "cost-effective," an industry body said on Tuesday, a day after the UN nuclear chief suggested power firms could help pay for expanded safety checks.
John Ritch, director general of the World Nuclear Association, said the industry had been struggling in the last decade to limit capital costs while building a new generation of reactors.
In this context, it is crucially important that regulatory actions taken in response to Fukushima have demonstrable benefit arising from any increased costs," he told a major international safety conference, according to a copy of his speech.