From the Gonzo

Braidwood tritium update June 26, 2006

On June 11, 2006 the Braidwood nuclear plant, in Illinois, provided a preliminary notification report update to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on its ongoing issues with tritium contamination. (more…)

Remembering Chernobyl April 26, 2006

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear disaster. It happened in the Ukraine.

Chernobyl, April 26, 1986. Blatant disregard for safety regulations led to a nuclear explosion and ensuing fire which contaminated huge areas of Europe.

Areas where people are still dying. And despite the fact that some areas will remain uninhabitable for 900 years, people are still living in the "exclusion zone" around the plant.

Here is a stunning set of photographs of the after effects of the disaster.

There is still significant debate about just how many people will eventually perish from Chernobyl related illnesses.

A sad day to be sure. But a day that must not be forgotten, as we know the sooner we forget the sooner it all happens over again.

Turkey point and NRC brief April 19, 2006

A few notes on nuclear power, I have been saving up a few items for several days, just haven't got to posting them until now.

Turkey Point Sabotage

The first bits of news items involve the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant, near Miami, which is the location of an act of suspected nuclear sabotage. (more…)

Quad cities crack up April 11, 2006

And back to nuclear power I go.

First, check out the update to my recent post, Braidwood leaks radioactive steam (click for update). I took a semi-in-depth look at the tritium contamination around the Braidwood plant and looked less deeply into the problem around Byron. I will probably delve futher in a future post.

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I have an item of note about the Quad Cities plant, nothing huge, but I will offer up some analysis that is rather foreboding for the nuclear power industry. (more…)

Braidwood leaks radioactive steam April 7, 2006

I don't run a nuke plant but jeez, these people are idiots. Exelon. Morons.

Here's the statement from Exelon, nada from the NRC thus far.

UPDATE: They just didn't make it obvious. There is a preliminary report available, (PDF here).

The LaSalle report April 6, 2006

*Note, I have linked as many of the technical terms and abberviations as possible to the definitions maintained in the NRC online reading room glossary.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Special Inspection Report on LaSalle County Station Unit 1 was sent to Exelon on March 23, 2006, 31 days after the ‘site area emergency’ at the LaSalle nuclear plant. The reactor came back online March 20, 2006. (more…)

Notes on the LaSalle nuclear plant April 5, 2006

Still waiting on the NRC report on the site area emergency that occurred in the wee hours on the morning of Feb. 20. I blogged about it here. The NRC previously stated, in its Feb. 23 release on the incident that a written report of the incident would be available in 30 days and posted on this website: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/listofrpts_body.html#lasa.

Weird but it’s not yet available. I sent a request to the public affairs office at the NRC hoping they can point me in the right direction. We shall see. (more…)

Sabotage at Florida nuclear plant? April 2, 2006

 A reader pointed me to this story at daily kos.

UPDATE: 4-19-06- You can read a brief update on this story here.

Apparently, operators at the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant in Florida found a hole drilled into a pipe at the facility. Note the use of the term drilled. Possible sabotage?

Perhaps. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission maintains a database of event notification reports, which I am using to compile the nuclear emergencies that have a occurred in the United States over the past several years. (more…)

Trouble in Fissionville February 21, 2006

A couple notes on nuclear power, which once had the potential to be the world’s next great source of energy – before Chernobyl and Three Mile Island anyway.

And then there are incidents such as this:

“Operators at the LaSalle Generating Station declared a ‘site area emergency’ at 12:28 a.m. Monday during shutdown of the Unit 1 reactor for a scheduled refueling outage and exited the emergency condition at 4:27 a.m. Monday. (more…)

A story about nuclear safety January 27, 2006

Once upon a time . . ., just kidding. Once, working for an unnamed publication I was assigned a story which consisted of coverage of a political debate. I gladly accepted the assignment, my interest in politics being what it is. And since it has a passing connection to nuclear safety I will relate it here. (more…)

Nuclear safety January 27, 2006

Nuclear power, nuclear meltdowns, in conversations about nuclear power they almost always become intertwined.

Obviously the risk is minimal. With Chernobyl being the only major meltdown accident and Three Mile Island coming extremely close, but, nonetheless, the chance does exist. If it did not then companies which hold nuclear power and plants would not publish pamphlets such as this one. (more…)

Research, test and new nuclear reactors January 24, 2006

Keeping with the last post’s theme news that a new nuclear power reactor may be online by 2016 broke yesterday/this morning. The AP story is here. The new reactor will be located near Raleigh, NC (headquarters of the company building the reactor, Progress Energy). The reactor’s will be built by Westinghouse. The new plant will incorporate Westinghouse’s AP1000, which received design certification from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Dec.30. (more…)