Friday, May 20, 2011

Sleep Soundly, New England

Looks like I might be working through the night:  

"the possibility that in a power failure, spent fuel rods stored on site could be left without a functioning cooling system. In Japan, large amounts of radioactive material escaped from a spent-fuel pool at the Fukushima Daiichi plant after cooling systems failed

And here we have one 20 miles upriver that has already leaked cancer into the water and soil and was designed by the $ame negligent ba$tard$ from GE that designed the Japanese plants.

"Problems cited with nuclear backup power; Report comes as panel deems US sites safe" May 13, 2011|By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

Nuclear plant emergency generators like those that failed in Japan following the March earthquake and tsunami also failed during tests at the Seabrook Station in New Hampshire and 32 other US plants in the past eight years, according to a report by US Representative Edward J. Markey’s office.

The report was issued yesterday by the Malden Democrat’s office as a federal task force vouched for the safety of the nation’s nuclear plants in the aftermath of the Japanese crisis, triggered in part by the failure of backup generators at one plant.  

It's official: this government doesn't give a shit about you, your health, or anything else except money, Americans.

The Seabrook incident, according to the report, took place in August 2006, when the plant shut down because of “inoperable emergency diesel generators.’’ The generators were inoperable for one day.

Alan Griffith, a spokesman for NextEra, which owns Seabrook, said the problem occurred when one of two backup generators was taken down for routine maintenance and a voltage problem occurred at the other during a test. It was quickly repaired, but Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules require the plant to shut down if a certain number of generators are not operational.

Markey criticized the NRC for becoming too cozy with the industry it oversees and compromising safety.  

Same in the OIL INDUSTRY and the COAL INDUSTRY and the DRUG INDUSTRY and the FINANCIAL INDUSTRY and ANY OTHER INDUSTRY it seems here in AmeriKa! 

The report noted that NRC regulations do not require emergency diesel generators to be operational when there is no fuel in a nuclear reactor core — creating the possibility that in a power failure, spent fuel rods stored on site could be left without a functioning cooling system. In Japan, large amounts of radioactive material escaped from a spent-fuel pool at the Fukushima Daiichi plant after cooling systems failed. Japanese officials said yesterday that one of the reactors at that plant appears to be more damaged than originally thought....  

Or what we were told, really.  Bloggers were squawking from the outset.

At the Globe’s request, the NRC searched its records for reports of other problems involving backup generators at New England plants. The agency said it found problems at both Seabrook and the Pilgrim Nuclear Station in Plymouth and there could be more....

Looks like I'll be tossing and turning tonight.

--more--"  

Also see: No Need to Worry About Nuclear Radiation

So says the lying, obfuscating, agenda-pushing paper of corporate wealth and control.