I can find NO new information on the
Zaporizhye nuclear plant event. Almost all information I can find on the web is
dated 12/3, or derives from news reports made on 12/3.
I can find NO new information
anywhere, even Twitter feed posts are dated.
I want to know why there has been NO
UPDATES on the status on a nuclear plant problem that hypothetically could
cause cooling problems for the core or spent fuel?
I'm not implying that events are not
as reported. However, I find the dearth of information significant. It reminds
me of how ebola disappeared from the headlines after Obama appointed Ron Klain
the US Ebola Czar.
Zaporizhye is the largest plant in
Europe and the 5th largest world wide. Reactors 1-5 were brought
online between 1985-1989, so these reactors are almost 30 years old and should
be retired. There have been considerable levels
of concern about the safety of Zaporizhye expressed by a wide variety of
authorities. For example:
Ukrainian nuclear plant vulnerable to Kiev’s artillery strikes – Greenpeace expert (2014, August 31). RT, http://rt.com/news/184004-greenpeace-zaporizhia-npp-danger/
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is vulnerable
to ‘direct bombardment’ in Ukraine if caught in the conflict, a Greenpeace
nuclear energy expert told a German newspaper, claiming that its nuclear
reactors are not protected from armor-piercing weapons. Greenpeace nuclear
expert Tobias Münchmeyer revealed his concerns over the six-reactor Zaporizhia
Nuclear Power Plant in eastern Ukraine to Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. He
said the plant was insufficiently protected against a direct bombardment and
that 1.2-meter thick reinforced concrete shells surrounding each reactor are
strong enough to withstand only a small aircraft crash. "There
are many armor-piercing weapons in the region, which could penetrate these
protective covers," Münchmeyer said, as cited by Deutsche
Welle on Saturday. The Soviet design reactors at Zaporizhia are largely
dependent on Russian expertise and spare parts, the expert also said.
Over summer the summer of 2014, Westinghouse
agreed to supply atomic fuel to Ukraine, causing consternation for Switzerland
and OSCE who were concerned that US fuel was incompatible with the Russian
designed reactors in Ukraine and who worried about the risks of running nuclear
reactors during a very HOT civil war:
OSCE shares Moscow's concerns over Ukraine’s nuclear deal with US. (2014, August 28) RT http://rt.com/news/183248-nuclear-ukraine-threat-osce/
[Excerpted] The Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe shares Moscow's concern on world nuclear safety and the
potential threat that possible US atomic fuel supplies to Ukraine might cause
as the country remains in crisis.
The head of the OSCE and Swiss president Didier
Burkhalter says he is concerned about nuclear safety in connection with the US
intention to supply the country with nuclear fuel, according to a reply letter
to Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Industry Vladimir Gutenev...In early June, Gutenev [Deputy Director of the
State Duma Committee] sent a letter to [Swiss President] Burkhalter warning of
security threats that European nations will face in case of a potential industrial
nuclear disaster at one of Ukraine's power plants, as Kiev is planning to sign
a contract with American Westinghouse Electric Company. He highlighted the fact
that Soviet made nuclear plants are not compatible with fuel assembly type
TBC-W offered by the Americans, as previous trials have shown.
“The nuclear reactors in Ukraine are of
Russian (Soviet) design, which are only designed for fuel that has passed a
special certification. Therefore, further attempts to use non-adapted fuel
assemblies of American production without a corresponding adjustment increase
the risk of failure of the Ukrainian reactors and dramatically increase the
likelihood of man-made disasters,” Gutenev wrote in June, calling
on the OSCE to consider the issue. [end]
Westinghouse Hydrogen Recombiners for Ukraine Reactors http://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/Contracts
Oct. 30, 2014—Westinghouse Electric Co. has been
awarded a contract by Ukraine’s Energoatom to provide a passive hydrogen
control system for the Zaporozhye 1 and 2 nuclear reactors. Westinghouse’s passive autocatalytic recombiner
system, or NIS-PAR, is designed to provide additional measures to ensure
containment integrity in the event of certain design-basis or
beyond-design-basis accidents. It is to be installed by January 2016.
As part of post-Fukushima enhanced safety measures,
NIS-PAR systems have been installed in Slovenia’s Krško nuclear plant as well
as at Brazil’s Angra, Spain’s Vandellós and Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa
reactors.
Adding recombiners is designed to prolong the life of aging reactors and mitigate against hydrogen explosions. The US is pushing extending aging reactors’ lifespans while burning the fuel at higher burn-up rates, which increases likelihoods of disasters
DOE Awards $425 Million to Supercomputers Running Nuclear Energy Simulations http://www.nei.org/News-Media/News/Contracts
DOE awarded a $325 million contract to build two
state‐of‐the‐art
supercomputers at its Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratories. Another approximate $100 million was awarded to further
develop extreme scale supercomputing technologies, DOE said.
The new Oak Ridge supercomputer, named Summit, will
be delivered in 2017. Among other topics, Summit will study ways to
improve nuclear energy technologies, “enabling reactor‐scale
simulations to allow safe, increased nuclear fuel burn times, power
upgrades, and reactor lifetime extensions, and in doing so reduce the volume of spent
fuel.”
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
Westinghouse To Provide Hydrogen Recombiners For Ukraine’s Zaporozhye http://www.nucnet.org/all-the-news/2014/10/30/westinghouse-to-provide-hydrogen-recombiners-for-ukraine-s-zaporozhye
These have been my concerns for some time. Certainly the Kiev gov military is not very reliable and just might decide to hit one of the power plants to scare and intimidate the people of Novorussia. And Chernobyl has an unfinished new sarcophagus and no money to finish it. The US has a very reckless foreign policy at this time. John Kerry is as dangerous in his own way as was H. Clinton. I suspect anything could happen given the desperation growing in the Ukraine at this time. The US has managed to wreck this nation and does not even seem to realize it. I fear I am very pessimistic about the future of the plant given its casual attitude towards the dangerous of nuclear power.
ReplyDeleteHi. Did you see the reports in the Moldavian and Romanian press, literally stating they were tracking a radioactive cloud? I put what I found together, with screenshots and links: http://wp.me/puwO9-2UE - Peace. - mvb
ReplyDelete