Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2011-10-25 07:38.
Evidently the Japanese didn't take the concept of "defense in depth" to heart.
There really is no excuse for having the fuel tanks for your backup diesel generators sitting on the ground at dockside where they would be susceptible to a tsunami. The NRC in the USA requires these tanks to be buried as the tanks at your local gas station are.
The NRC also requires that the diesel generators and their switchgear be housed in water-tight vaults. The Japanese didn't require that, and their generators were flooded.
The NRC requires that US plants have to have offsite backup generators that they can fly into position and hook up in case of failures at the plant. Power plant operators are required to conduct drills of this procedure. The Japanese attempted to fly in backup generators, but found they had the wrong type of connectors.
If the Japanese had offsite generators ready and waiting and had drilled, they would have found out that they had incompatible connectors.
TEPCO and the Japanese regulators put on a good show to make it look like they were prepared and had defense in depth; but they really didn't.
TEPCO has given up a plan to install a land-side retaining wall aimed at preventing radioactive water from permeating into the ground water. TEPCO had initially planned to build a land-side retaining wall (an underground dam) as well, thereby surrounding all four sides of the reactor buildings and turbine buildings of the No. 1 through No. 4 reactors at the plant, in order to prevent highly radioactive water from coming into contact with the ground water.
However, the utility concluded that such a plan would be "ineffective" on the grounds that the ground water in the area flows only downward into the ocean as the area's terrain is seaward-dipping and building a U-shaped retaining wall on the land side would make no point in preventing contaminated water from leaking into the ocean. The utility also said a land-side retaining wall would lower the ground water level around the reactor and turbine buildings, raising the risk of contaminated water leaking from those buildings. In addition, the utility said, the construction of such a wall would require the removal or relocation of existing facilities surrounding the buildings.
The utility, however, will construct an ocean-side retaining wall to prevent contaminated water from leaking into the sea, starting on Oct. 28.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-10-20 07:48.
:(
Bernard Bigot, chairman of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission vowed his country would NEVER allow an accident involving the release of radiation outside its nuclear power plants.
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his French counterpart Francois Fillon agreed Sunday that the two countries will bolster cooperation on …
The two leaders … “signed a treaty aimed at protecting bilaterally exchanged classified diplomatic information.”
Noda will meet German President Christian Wulff on Monday and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday, government officials said.
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, said on Monday that his controversial website could be forced to shut down by the end of the year because a 10-month-old "financial blockade" had sharply reduced the donations on which it depends.
Calling the blockade a "dangerous, oppressive and undemocratic" attack led by the United States, Assange said at a news conference that it had deprived his organization of "tens of millions of dollars," and warned, "If WikiLeaks does not find a way to remove this blockade, we will not be able to continue by the turn of the new year."
Since the end of 2010, financial intermediaries - including Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union - have refused to allow donations to WikiLeaks to flow through their systems, he said, blocking "95 percent" of the website's revenue and leaving it to operate on its cash reserves for the past 10 months.
5. Corporate governance of AREVA - AREVA is directed by an Executive Board, working under the observation of a Supervisory Board.
The Executive Board counts 4 members:
The Supervisory Board counts 15 members (as of April 27, 2011): - members appointed by the shareholders:
Bernard Bigot, Vice President of the Supervisory Board
French Atomic Energy Commission (Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux énergies alternatives), represented by Christophe Gégout
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-10-20 07:59.
:(
Never say never and never say “Never Again”.
March 13, 1980 - INES Level-4 - Orléans, France - A power excursion at the Saint-Laurent Nuclear Power Plant, in Reactor A2, resulted in fuel bundle rupture of fuel and a release of ~1 x 10?11 Bq of nuclear materials.
1993: Technical failure at Paluel causes subcooling accident
1993: Instrumentation and Control failure at Saint Alban nuclear power plant
1992: Two workers contaminated at Dampierre nuclear power plant
1992: Temperature rise in storage pool at Gravelines nuclear power plant
1991: Failure of core cooling system at Belleville nuclear power plant
1990: Superphenix Fast Breeder Reactor is closed down due to technical failures
1990: Pump failure during a shut-down at Gravelines nuclear power plant
1990: During refuelling, five cubic meters of radioactive water spilled at the Fessenheim nuclear power plant
1990: 2 workers irradiated during refuelling at Blayais nuclear power plant
1989: Control rod failure at Gravelines nuclear power plant
1988: Release of 5000 Curies of tritium gas from the Bruyere le Chatel military nuclear complex
1988: Two control rods jammed at Blayais nuclear power plant
1986: Flooding at the Cattenom nuclear power plant
1983: Technical failure and human error cause accident at Blayas nuclear power plant
1980: Pump failure causes accidental release of radioactive water at La Hague reprocessing plant
1969: Fuel elements melt at St Laurent des Eaux nuclear power plant
1968: Leakage at La Hague reprocessing plant
1967: Release of radioactivity at Grenoble nuclear power plant
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2011-10-22 06:59.
*
France has usually been governed by prostitutes.
Mark Twain - Notebook #18, Feb.- Sept. 1879 (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
France has neither winter nor summer nor morals--apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.
- Mark Twain's Notebook
A French married lady cannot enter even a menagerie without bringing the purity of that menagerie under suspicion.
- Mark Twain's Notebooks and Journals, Notebook #19, July 1880-January 1882
The objects of which Paris folks are fond--literature, art, medicine and adultery.
- - speech at the Stanley Club in Paris, ca. April 1879
Of course it could have been avoided
Evidently the Japanese didn't take the concept of "defense in depth" to heart.
There really is no excuse for having the fuel tanks for your backup diesel generators sitting on the ground at dockside where they would be susceptible to a tsunami. The NRC in the USA requires these tanks to be buried as the tanks at your local gas station are.
The NRC also requires that the diesel generators and their switchgear be housed in water-tight vaults. The Japanese didn't require that, and their generators were flooded.
The NRC requires that US plants have to have offsite backup generators that they can fly into position and hook up in case of failures at the plant. Power plant operators are required to conduct drills of this procedure. The Japanese attempted to fly in backup generators, but found they had the wrong type of connectors.
If the Japanese had offsite generators ready and waiting and had drilled, they would have found out that they had incompatible connectors.
TEPCO and the Japanese regulators put on a good show to make it look like they were prepared and had defense in depth; but they really didn't.
TEPCO cost cutting
1st The decontamination process will be ? 30 years, perhaps ? 10?9 years
2nd What happens to the flow, when the ocean side retaining wall BLOCKS the way?
3rd TEPCO can move the upside dam … further up grade
4th TEPCO should remove or relocate structures as needed
English: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111027p2a00m0na009000c.html
Japanese: http://mainichi.jp/select/weathernews/archive/news/2011/10/27/20111027dd...
TEPCO has given up a plan to install a land-side retaining wall aimed at preventing radioactive water from permeating into the ground water. TEPCO had initially planned to build a land-side retaining wall (an underground dam) as well, thereby surrounding all four sides of the reactor buildings and turbine buildings of the No. 1 through No. 4 reactors at the plant, in order to prevent highly radioactive water from coming into contact with the ground water.
However, the utility concluded that such a plan would be "ineffective" on the grounds that the ground water in the area flows only downward into the ocean as the area's terrain is seaward-dipping and building a U-shaped retaining wall on the land side would make no point in preventing contaminated water from leaking into the ocean. The utility also said a land-side retaining wall would lower the ground water level around the reactor and turbine buildings, raising the risk of contaminated water leaking from those buildings. In addition, the utility said, the construction of such a wall would require the removal or relocation of existing facilities surrounding the buildings.
The utility, however, will construct an ocean-side retaining wall to prevent contaminated water from leaking into the sea, starting on Oct. 28.
(Mainichi Japan) October 27, 2011
Very Reassuring
:(
Bernard Bigot, chairman of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission vowed his country would NEVER allow an accident involving the release of radiation outside its nuclear power plants.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111020p2g00m0dm013000c.html
A very reassuring statement from AREVA, the leading global purveyer of MOX (plutonium enriched) nuclear fuel.
Bury WikiLEAKS
:(
Japan and Europe will jointly crush Julian Assange
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111023p2g00m0dm063000c.html
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his French counterpart Francois Fillon agreed Sunday that the two countries will bolster cooperation on …
The two leaders … “signed a treaty aimed at protecting bilaterally exchanged classified diplomatic information.”
Noda will meet German President Christian Wulff on Monday and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday, government officials said.
(Mainichi Japan) October 23, 2011
Dangerous, Oppressive and Undemocratic
*
“Calling the blockade a "dangerous, oppressive and undemocratic" attack led by the United States”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/24/MNEG1LLMT9.DTL
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, said on Monday that his controversial website could be forced to shut down by the end of the year because a 10-month-old "financial blockade" had sharply reduced the donations on which it depends.
Calling the blockade a "dangerous, oppressive and undemocratic" attack led by the United States, Assange said at a news conference that it had deprived his organization of "tens of millions of dollars," and warned, "If WikiLeaks does not find a way to remove this blockade, we will not be able to continue by the turn of the new year."
Since the end of 2010, financial intermediaries - including Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union - have refused to allow donations to WikiLeaks to flow through their systems, he said, blocking "95 percent" of the website's revenue and leaving it to operate on its cash reserves for the past 10 months.
Similar Names
;)
Hmmm … similar name spelling …
Bernard Bigot, chairman of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission
Bernard Bigot, Vice President of the AREVA Supervisory Board
http://knol.google.com/k/areva-english-version#
5. Corporate governance of AREVA - AREVA is directed by an Executive Board, working under the observation of a Supervisory Board.
The Executive Board counts 4 members:
The Supervisory Board counts 15 members (as of April 27, 2011): - members appointed by the shareholders:
Bernard Bigot, Vice President of the Supervisory Board
French Atomic Energy Commission (Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux énergies alternatives), represented by Christophe Gégout
$ Bernard Bigot €
$
EXECUTIVE PROFILE*
Bernard Bigot - Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Member of Strategy Committee, Areva S.A.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?pers...
Age - 60
Total Annual Cash Compensation - €215,232
BACKGROUND*
Mr. Bernard Bigot has been Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Areva SA since February 5, 2009.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/10/11/stories/2010101155681100.htm
Photo:
http://www.powermag.com/blog/index.php/2010/11/04/epr-reactor-in-crisis/
Never say Never
:(
Never say never and never say “Never Again”.
March 13, 1980 - INES Level-4 - Orléans, France - A power excursion at the Saint-Laurent Nuclear Power Plant, in Reactor A2, resulted in fuel bundle rupture of fuel and a release of ~1 x 10?11 Bq of nuclear materials.
1993: Technical failure at Paluel causes subcooling accident
1993: Instrumentation and Control failure at Saint Alban nuclear power plant
1992: Two workers contaminated at Dampierre nuclear power plant
1992: Temperature rise in storage pool at Gravelines nuclear power plant
1991: Failure of core cooling system at Belleville nuclear power plant
1990: Superphenix Fast Breeder Reactor is closed down due to technical failures
1990: Pump failure during a shut-down at Gravelines nuclear power plant
1990: During refuelling, five cubic meters of radioactive water spilled at the Fessenheim nuclear power plant
1990: 2 workers irradiated during refuelling at Blayais nuclear power plant
1989: Control rod failure at Gravelines nuclear power plant
1988: Release of 5000 Curies of tritium gas from the Bruyere le Chatel military nuclear complex
1988: Two control rods jammed at Blayais nuclear power plant
1986: Flooding at the Cattenom nuclear power plant
1983: Technical failure and human error cause accident at Blayas nuclear power plant
1980: Pump failure causes accidental release of radioactive water at La Hague reprocessing plant
1969: Fuel elements melt at St Laurent des Eaux nuclear power plant
1968: Leakage at La Hague reprocessing plant
1967: Release of radioactivity at Grenoble nuclear power plant
Not a power plant
1967: Release of radioactivity at Grenoble nuclear power plant
=====================================
There's no nuclear power plant in Grenoble.
The facility in Grenoble is a French Research Laboratory.
It's not a power plant.
France
*
France has usually been governed by prostitutes.
Mark Twain - Notebook #18, Feb.- Sept. 1879 (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
France has neither winter nor summer nor morals--apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.
- Mark Twain's Notebook
A French married lady cannot enter even a menagerie without bringing the purity of that menagerie under suspicion.
- Mark Twain's Notebooks and Journals, Notebook #19, July 1880-January 1882
The objects of which Paris folks are fond--literature, art, medicine and adultery.
- - speech at the Stanley Club in Paris, ca. April 1879
http://www.twainquotes.com/French.html
Like it...
I like the Twain, it is fantastic !
Even his bigotry?
I'm sorry, I can't condone bigotry of a culture or a nationality; regardless of who says it.
Huckleberry Finn
Too 'PC' for me ...
Guess you 'hated' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/books/07huck.html?pagewanted=all
Light Out, Huck, They Still Want to Sivilize You
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/01/sanitising_huckleberry_finn
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/04/whitewashing-huck-finn-and-tom-sawy...
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news...