Japanese doctor  say that some junior high school students in Koriyama burn the nostrils by laser to stop intense nosebleeds. fukushima-diary.com

Japanese Ministry of the Environment and the local governments are considering giving up the current desired radiation level after decontamination because it’s overly difficult to achieve. fukushima-diary.com

Iran says that direct US talks are essential for a nuclear deal. news.yahoo.com

Kudankulam becomes India’s first nuclear plant to generate 1,000MW power. timesofindia.indiatimes.com

US Experts say that Fukushima melted fuel will be “a concern for millennia.” enenews.com

 TEPCO says that more than 3 tons of radioactive water may have leaked from barriers surrounding storage tanks at Fukushima. enenews.com

On Tuesday, the Tennessee Valley Authority notified federal regulators that it installed fuses at Watts Bar 2 found to be defective by their manufacturer. nuclearstreet.com

There is a new way of looking at nuclear safety after the Fukishima disaster, and both the Cook nuclear power plant here and Palisades in Covert are making improvements because of it. wzzm13.com

         I have dealt with the potential and actual impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, and tidal waves on nuclear reactors. However, there is another natural danger that is not often raised with respect to endangering nuclear power plants.

         Japan is currently debating the restart of some of its fleet of fifty nuclear reactors after all nuclear power plants were shut down following the Fukushima disaster in March of 2011. Fifteen billion dollars has been allocated for hardening Japan’s reactors against natural disasters.

         The Ring of Fire is a horseshoe shaped zone of earthquakes and volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean. The Ring of Fire is caused by plate tectonics. Ninety percent of the world’s earthquakes and eighty percent of the world’s largest earthquakes occur around the Ring of Fire. Many active volcanoes are found along the Ring of Fire. Ten percent of the worlds active volcanoes are found in Japan which is part of the Ring of Fire. There are one hundred and ten active volcanoes in Japan.

         The Kyushu Electric Power Company’s (KEPC) nuclear power plant at Sendai in Kagoshima Prefecture is in an area where there are active volcanic sites. The Sakurajima volcano is only thirty miles from Sendai. There are five huge calderas in the Sakurajima complex. Caldera forming eruptions are devastating but rare. Some scientists estimate that the odds of such an eruption in Japan in any year is less than one in ten thousand. On the other hand, the head of the agency that monitors Japan’s volcanoes has stated that there is no demonstrated way to predict eruptions.

           The Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Authority has stated that, in their estimation, the risk of volcanic activity that might endanger the Sendai plant is negligible. Critics of the NRA report complain that the NRA is overestimating the ability of scientists to predict volcanic eruptions. They point out that while the risk might be small, the damage of such an event could be enormous. KEPC has announced that they will place monitoring gear around the Sakurajima volcano complex and they have plans to move nuclear fuel away from Sendai in case an eruption appears imminent.

        The final hurtle in restarting the Japanese reactors lies in convincing the Japanese people that the reactors will be able to operate safely and survive threats from natural disaster such as volcanoes. The cost of keeping the reactors shut down is mounting as Japan spends billions of dollars to purchase other types of fuel to cover the roughly one third of their electricity that was generated by the nuclear power plants.

      If the Japanese government approves plans to restart the Sendai reactors, the next step will be for the local citizens and government to engage in a series of public debates over restarting the reactors. The National government has been adamant that it will not restart reactors unless communities near the reactors approve.

Sendai nuclear power station:

sendai reactor.jpg

2 Contaminated water tanks overflowed at Fukushima. fukushima-diary.com

In order to investigate the groundwater contamination outside of the wall of ice being constructed, TEPCO took sample from 25 yards underground. fukushima-diary.com

As it considers the proposed refurbishment of reactors at Darlington, Canada’s nuclear regulator released a study Wednesday that forecast limited public health effects in the event of a severe accident at the facility. nuclearstreet.com

Hong Kong’s electricity supply will be more reliable and cost-competitive if it increases the amount of nuclear energy it imports from China through dedicated transmission lines, the Hong Kong Nuclear Society said. nucnet.org

         Helium-3 is an isotope of helium. He-3 has two protons and one neutron. He-3 is found in the solar wind. The Earth’s magnetic field pushes it away so little reaches the Earth. The Moon is thought to have significant He-3 because of billions of years of bombardment without a magnetic field to push away the He-3. When it was predicted in 1934, He-3 was thought to be radioactive. It was first recovered from natural helium in the atmosphere and natural gas wells in 1939 by separation from helium-4 which makes up most of the helium on Earth. Because it was found in underground natural gas deposits on Earth, it was concluded that either it did not decay or had a  very long half-life of billions of years. Some of the He-3 on Earth is a relic of the atmospheric and underwater nuclear tests conducted before 1963. Tritium (H-3) from nuclear warheads, with a half-life of about twelve years,  decays into He-3.

        He-3 has been used in nuclear fusion research. It might be a potential fuel for fusion reactors if substantial quantities could be recovered from the surface of the Moon. It’s primary current use is in the fabrication of sensors which can detect plutonium and uranium that might be used to make a “dirty” bomb. Plutonium and uranium emit neutrons which are difficult to detect. However, when a stray neutron hits an atom of He-3, a charged particle is generated which is much easier to detect. Because He-3 is nontoxic, nonradioactive and is a very accurate way to detect neutrons, it has been preferred in the creation of such sensor.

       The only source of He-3 on Earth is recovery from decommissioned nuclear warheads. The United States has been reduced from the Cold War high of around twenty five thousand to about five thousand warheads today. The number of warheads being decommissioned has been diminishing steadily and, as a result, the supply of new He-3 has also been diminishing. The National Nuclear Security Administration which is responsible for production of He-3 did not see fit to inform the Department of Energy of He-3 shortages. DoE has spent over two hundred and thirty million dollars on the development of He-3 based sensors. Now that the shortage of He-3 has been revealed, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is working to develop new technologies that can replace the current He-3 based radiation detectors.

       Recently the DTRA awarded a contract of nearly three million dollars to Alion Science and Technology (AST) to work on development of new sensors. AST is working on developing neutron sensors based on bundles of thin copper tubes coated with boron. One advantage of the new sensor design is that, unlike the current He-3 based sensors, the AST sensor is able to determine the exact direction that the neutron is coming from. This new sensor design would be excellent for portable detectors or fixed sensors for port and shipping depots. With increased concerns over nuclear terrorism, neutron sensors will be a very important defense against the clandestine movement of radioactive materials.

Concept art of helium-3 mining operation on the Moon:

Lunar He-3 mine.png

Fukushima prefectural government announced they are going to pay 8 million yen for each project to fight “harmful rumor” of radiation danger. fukushima-diary.com

Workers “very worried” about a deformed 400 ft. structure falling on Fukushima reactor buildings and causing another crisis. enenews.com

Processing operations restarted today at Australia’s Ranger uranium mine, which suffered a ruptured leaching tank six months ago. world-nuclear-news.org

Russia should start up three new reactors this year at home, and another in India, said state company Rosatom in an official meeting with prime minister Dmitry Medvedev.  world-nuclear-news.org