[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Nuclear Regulators: Attack Risk Low
Index:
Nuclear Regulators: Attack Risk Low
Pills Distributed at TMI Accident Site
Information day to focus on Australian waste dump plan
FirstEnergy sees year-end start for Ohio nuke plant
===================================
Nuclear Regulators: Attack Risk Low
WASHINGTON Aug 15 (AP) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says
controlling the airspace over atomic power plants is the best
available way to prevent a terrorist attack.
The agency also again acknowledged that the plants were not built to
withstand a fully fueled jetliner crashing into them.
``The commission believes that the nation's efforts associated with
protecting against terrorist attacks by air should be directed toward
enhancing security at airports and on airplanes,'' the director of
the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation wrote a whistle-blower
group.
Samuel J. Collins said the NRC, the Federal Aviation Administration
and Defense Department have discussed the idea of protecting air
space over the power reactors and other sensitive sites.
In the meantime, the FAA's post-Sept. 11 warning to pilots not to
circle or loiter over those areas remains in effect, he wrote in an
Aug. 10 response to a petition by the National Whistleblower Center
for security upgrades.
NRC officials have concluded the probability of terrorists using a
large airliner to damage a nuclear power plant ``remains acceptably
low,'' Collins said. He said there have been ``no specific credible
threats against any NRC-licensed facility since Sept. 11'' and
Congress is moving to strengthen aviation security.
In January, the NRC alerted nuclear power plants that terrorists
could be planning an attack on a power reactor using a hijacked
commercial airliner. But the information from an al-Qaida operative
turned out to be months old and was eventually deemed not to be
credible.
``No existing nuclear facilities were specifically designed to
withstand the deliberate high-velocity direct impact of a large
commercial airliner such as a Boeing 757 or 767,'' Collins wrote.
``Prior to Sept. 11, such a scenario was not considered to be a
credible threat.''
Constructed of thick exterior walls and interior barriers of
reinforced concrete, nuclear power plants ``afford a measure of
protection against deliberate aircraft impacts'' - mostly smaller
planes - and can withstand tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods and
earthquakes, Collins said.
The NRC also has ordered nuclear power plant operators to come up
with other new lines of defense.
Michael Kohn, an attorney for the whistle-blower group, said the
commission has not identified the true level of risk posed by a
terrorist threat.
On the Net:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov
National Whistleblower Center: http://www.whistleblowers.org
-----------------
Pills Distributed at TMI Accident Site
MIDDLETOWN, Pa. Aug 15 (AP) - Near the site of America's worst
commercial nuclear accident, Jennifer Albright picked up eight little
white pills Thursday that could make a difference if there is ever
another problem.
``If the government's going to provide it to us as a safeguard, we
might as well take advantage of it,'' said Albright, who collected
the potassium iodide - two pills each for herself, her husband and
two sons - at a school near the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.
More than 650,000 people who live and work within 10 miles of one of
the state's five nuclear plants are eligible for the pills, which are
being distributed free by the state Health Department.
About 42,000 pills had been distributed statewide as of midafternoon,
the department said.
The tablets, which are to be taken only upon instruction by the
governor - and then, one tablet a day for two days - protect the
thyroid gland against cancer in the event of a nuclear accident.
``The most important message we're giving residents is that
evacuation is the No. 1 protection they can use,'' said Michael K.
Huff, director of health department's Bureau of Community Health
Systems. ``But potassium iodide is an additional layer we're
providing.''
Fifteen states have ordered the pills through the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, which initiated the distribution project, NRC spokesman
Neil Sheehan said. The state has 1.9 million pills to hand out near
its Beaver Valley, Limerick, Peach Bottom, Susquehanna and Three Mile
Island nuclear plants.
While the pill can help protect the body against one hazard, Huff
said it is not a cure-all in a nuclear accident.
``Potassium iodide is not a magic anti-radiation pill,'' he said.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, residents who have lived in the shadow of
Three Mile Island say the added precaution can only help.
``If something happens like the towers in New York and there's no
warning ... at least everybody has the pill now,'' said Doug
Gellatly, chairman of the board of supervisors in Londonderry
Township, the municipality that encompasses Three Mile Island.
``We've been bombarded since Sept. 11 with talk of an attack.''
At the elementary school here, a steady trickle of residents picked
up pills and listened to precautions from nurses.
The school is just a few miles down the road from Three Mile Island,
where one reactor is still used. The plant's other reactor was the
site of the 1979 nuclear accident, in which the reactor's core
partially melted. Potassium iodide was stockpiled at evacuation sites
but was not distributed during the accident.
Charlene Brinser of Middletown recalled how nervous she was when it
happened.
``I had a child in the eighth grade,'' said Brinser, 66, who worked
in the school cafeteria at the time. ``It was a little nerve-racking
to think that I might not be able to come back home again.''
The pills served as an added security blanket, however slight,
Brinser said. ``If I have to leave and pack up some things, I at
least have a couple of hours,'' she said.
On the Net:
State health agency: http://webserver.health.state.pa.us/health/site
------------------
Information day to focus on Australian waste dump plan
Aug 16 (Australian Broadcasting Company) Broken Hill residents are
being encouraged to come to an information day today to ask
questions about the proposed national low-level radioactive waste
dump in Woomera.
The Federal Government is seeking public comment as part of the
environment impact statement being completed on the project.
The Department of Science is visiting Broken Hill because it is the
most direct route from Sydney's new nuclear reactor to the waste
dump, which means a number of trucks loaded with nuclear waste would
pass through.
The director of radioactive waste management, Caroline Perkins, says
people can talk to representatives from the department about their
concerns regarding the risk of a waste spill.
"Transported waste is undertaken according to very strict codes and
regulations to ensure it is safe and it's actually far safer to
transport this material than it is to transport hazardous chemical
wastes that are transported on our roads each day," she said.
However, the Conservation Council of South Australia's nuclear
issues spokesman, Dennis Matthews, says today's display in Broken
Hill will be very one-sided.
"It would have been more useful if the people of Broken Hill had been
given both sides of the argument," he said.
"The SA Government could have been represented, some of the
community groups in this issue could have been represented,
invited to do the same thing as the Federal Government.
"So they are giving their side of the story and I think that's really
what this is all about, it's the Federal Government agenda which
they're sort of pushing."
-----------------
FirstEnergy sees year-end start for Ohio nuke plant
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 15 (Reuters) - FirstEnergy Corp. <FE.N> on
Thursday said plans to repair and restart its Ohio nuclear power
plant by the end of the year were still on track. The plant was
closed in February for safety problems,
"We're still on schedule to restart by the fourth quarter," said Todd
Schneider, a spokesman for FirstEnergy subsidiary FirstEnergy
Nuclear Operating Co. (FENOC), which operates the plant.
A severely corroded cavity was found in the reactor vessel head at
FirstEnergy's 925-megawatt Davis-Besse plant in February,
triggering industrywide concerns about possible problems at other
nuclear plants and an investigation by the U.S. House Energy and
Commerce Committee.
Schneider said the Akron, Ohio-based company still saw repair
estimates at the 25-year-old plant between $55 million and $75
million.
FirstEnergy presented a report on Thursday to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) aimed at getting NRC approval to restart
the plant by the end of the year by identifying problems that led to
the corrosion at Davis-Besse and solutions to avoid future
problems.
Company engineers found a deep cavity where boric acid -- used in the
coolant surrounding radioactive uranium rods in the reactor
core -- had seeped out around several of the control rod nozzles that
penetrate the carbon steel reactor head.
The corrosion problems were identified during a routine refueling and
maintenance outage that began Feb. 16.
The company's so-called Root Cause Analysis Report issued Thursday
includes a set of recommendations and observations, such
as improving training for those conducting boric acid inspections and
increasing management oversight.
The report also says plant management and workers missed
opportunities to spot problems earlier by, among other things,
failing to
integrate industry information and site knowledge and experience that
could have detected problems earlier.
The report was compiled by a group of nuclear experts commissioned by
FENOC.
In June, the NRC approved FirstEnergy plans to fix the corrosion at
the plant by buying an existing pressure vessel head from Consumers
Energy <CMS.N>, which ordered it for a nuclear power plant that was
never completed.
The replacement vessel has never been used.
The United States has 103 operating nuclear power plants which
provide about a fifth of the nation's electricity.
***************************************************************
Sandy Perle Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100
Director, Technical Extension 2306
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service Fax:(714) 668-3149
ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc. E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com
************************************************************************
You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,
send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the text "unsubscribe
radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.
You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/