I have posted several times about the problems in the U.S. nuclear missile forces. The U.S. missile force is responsible for the maintenance and launch of four hundred and fifty intercontinental missiles based in North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. Generals have been fired for misbehavior, launch officers cannot pass certification exams, facilities are deteriorating, soldiers have been arrested for drug offenses and, in general, morale is at an all time low. The decrepit Minuteman 3 missile force is viewed by airmen as an unattractive posting and a career dead end. Hearings have been held and studies have been conducted to find causes and solutions. I thought it was time for an update on the situation.

        There have been complaints about the Air Force nuclear missile management for years. A 2012 review of corrective attempts since 2008 concluded that the actions were “movement without direction.” The study said that unless the Air Force improves its ability to develop, sustain and value nuclear expertise, the nuclear missile force will continue to decline as they have for the past two decades.

         In light of all the problems and recent bad publicity, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has demanded swift and comprehensive action to restore public confidence in the nuclear force. Air Force leaders have come up with a number of corrective actions. Cash bonuses will be offered to officers and gaps in the ranks will be filled. A new nuclear service medal will be created. Money will be allocated to repair and modernized missile launch facilities. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, who just took her post in December, will be in charge of the new effort to resolve the missile force problems. Although these changes will have some impact, critics are not sure that their impact will significantly address the root problem.

        Some analysts say that the basic problem with the missile force is related to the end of the Cold War two decades ago. As the focus of the military turned to the war on terror, the old model of a conflict between two nuclear armed superpowers has faded in importance. In addition, if the launch officers are called on to launch their missiles, they will just be insuring the complete collapse of human civilization. That has got to have an impact on morale.

       At first, Air Force officials took the common position that everything was OK and that the problems were just the usual griping and minor mistakes. After James was appointed as Air Force Secretary, she began a series of visits to all three missile bases and concluded that far from being routine, the problems were systemic. While the announced changes may be moves in the right direction, Hagel is still waiting for the completion of two reviews that began in February. It will be interesting to see how well the changes in progress match the recommendations of the reviews when they are complete. James has called for elevating the command of the missile force from a three star general to a four star general. This would raise the importance of the missile forcers in the overall Air Force command structure.

Launch officers at North Dakota missile base:

U.S. Missile Launch Officers.png

Fukushima will be bleeding into the Pacific Ocean for next 100 years.  enenews.com

A video titled “Happy Fukushima, Japan” is collecting attention on Youtube. fukushima-diary.com

The European Union agrees to tougher nuclear safety rules after the Fukushima disaster. reuters.com

Unit 1 of the Kudankulam nuclear power station in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state has attained full operating power for the first time and could now enter commercial operation next month. nucnet.org

         I have blogged in the past about the push by countries with nuclear industries to export nuclear technology to non-nuclear nations especially in the third world. Russia, China, the United States, Japan, France and South Korea are all engaged in fighting for export sales. Often, the exporting nation will offer loan guarantees or outright grants of billions of dollars to the non-nuclear nation on the condition that the money comes back to the exporting nation for the purchase of the nuclear technology.

        France has decided to use the model of the Paris Air Show to showcase nuclear technology in a biennial exhibition. The first such “World Nuclear Exhibition” will be held in Le Bourget in the same venue as the Paris Air Show in October of 2014. The estimated attendance for the WNE is seven thousands people. Over five hundred French and foreign nuclear companies have signed up to participate.

       The head of the NWE says that the primary intent of the exhibition is to for small and medium sized players in the global nuclear industry to take orders for nuclear technology and related services in the range of sixty thousand dollars to a hundred and forty thousand dollars. France has a robust nuclear industry with over twenty five hundred companies which bring in a total of over sixty billion dollars annually. The French nuclear industry employs over two hundred thousand workers.

        Even though, the major players in the nuclear industry do not need something like the NWE in order to bring in business, major global nuclear companies such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toshiba Corporation’s Westinghouse, General Electric Hitachi and Russia’s Rosatom are going to be at the exhibition. The Chinese firms China General Nuclear and the China National Nuclear Corporation are in negotiation for participation.

        Although Russia has had many nuclear expositions such as the annual Atomexpo  France has had none of their own. The French state-owned Areva is currently building two new European Pressurized Reactors (EPR) nuclear reactors in China and one in Finland. Areva has not contracted to build a reactor since 2007. It appears that their goal of selling ten of the new ERP reactors by 2016 might be too optimistic. With growing demand for energy sources which do not contribute to global warming, France believes that it will be able to increase exports of nuclear technology.

       One of my concerns about this push to sell nuclear technology to third-world countries is the fact that the purchasing countries will be at the mercy of the nuclear nation that built their reactors. Recent experiences in Ukraine show that nuclear fuel assemblies are not sufficiently standardized to insure the possibility of seeking other suppliers for nuclear fuel. Russia already has a bad reputation for holding up fossil fuel exports to countries that do not support Russian positions in the international community.

       Another big concern that I have is the fact that selling nuclear technology to corrupt third-world regimes is going to virtually guarantee major nuclear accidents as reactor construction and operation will likely not be conducted properly. Another Fukushima level accident or two and there will be a major public backlash against all nuclear power generation.

Model of an Areva European Pressurized Reactor:

Areva EPR.png

Officials fear that the melted reactor fuel of Fukushima Unit 2 reactor is now exposed. enenews.com

Japan has begun purposely dumping 100s of tons of radioactive water from Fukushima into the Pacific. redflagnews.com

Iran questioned whether a July deadline for a nuclear deal with world powers will be met, fuelling doubts on the outcome as France spoke out to say talks on curbing Tehran’s uranium enrichment had “hit a wall”. reuters.com

Crews at the Dresden nuclear plant near Chicago have been working to secure a leak of tritiated water detected over the weekend.  nuclearstreet.com

         As information continues to trickle out about the April accident at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico, once again I am going to offer an update. WIPP has been open for fifteen years and is the only repository used to dispose of plutonium contaminated waste from the U.S. nuclear weapons program.

        In April, a drum of waste exploded and released radioactive particles into the environment. Research has now suggested that hundreds of drums of waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) were packed with an absorbent that reacts with the nitrate salts in the waste to produce explosive substances. This danger was clearly stated in the packaging for the absorbent. There are emails from subcontractors at LANL asking someone from the lab consider the safety issues that might be associated with the new absorbent but it is not known whether anyone at the lab researched the dangers. In any case, the use of the new absorbent was approved.. The WIPP was closed by the accident and some of the dangerous drums of waste are also still at the LANL while at least a hundred more are in temporary storage in Texas.

        When the WIPP was developed in the old salt mine, big open areas called Panels were divided into rooms which were filled with drums of waste. Originally when a Panel was filled with drums, a twelve foot thick explosion isolation wall was used to seal the Panel. Overtime, the Department of Energy reduced the safety requirements for WIPP and the Panels were sealed with a steel bulkhead that was not explosion proof. Eventually, even the steel bulkheads were abandoned.

        When Panel Six was totally filled with drums of waste, it was not sealed off as previous Panels had been. The explosion that took place in Panel Seven could have contaminated the waste drums in Panel Six. The Secretary of the New Mexico Department of the Environment has demanded that both Panel Six and Panel Seven be immediately sealed with bulkheads that can withstand explosions in case more of the drums from LANL explode. To make matters worse, there was no detailed record of exactly which drums were stored where in a particular Panel. Electronic records had not been updated when new shipments of drums arrived. This lack of good records impeded the investigation into where the exploding drum had come from.

        The LANL has not been forthcoming with answers and documents that involve the actions of the subcontractors, the decision to use that particular absorbent or what testing was done at LANL, if any. They still not confirming that the absorbent is the problem. Questions are being referred to the Department of Energy, the “customer” of LANL.

        Prior to 2006, drums of waste bound for WIPP were routinely inspected to insure that the contents of the drums were accurately represented by the manifest that accompanied the shipment. In 2006, the New Mexico Environmental Department changed the rules for inspection so that testing was reduced to a few random drums. While these inspections would not necessarily have caught the drums with the bad absorbent, they do clearly illustrate that the rules for safe handling of waste at WIPP were weakened and even ignored as the years went by. This happened because there were no significant accidents for fifteen years. But it should never have happened. These wastes are very dangerous and they must be treated with respect or more such accidents are guaranteed.

Transuranic Waste Shipment:

WIPP Shipmnt.png

Japan has failed to mention having about 1,411 pounds of unused plutonium in reports it submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2012 and 2013. rt.com

All β nuclide (including Strontium-90) density in groundwater at Fukushima jumped up by 1,000 times since this February, according to TEPCO. fukushima-diary.com

After years of cost overruns and design mistakes, the National Nuclear Security Administration plans to completely overhaul its approach to building a new facility for processing highly enriched uranium at the Y-12 site. nuclearstreet.com

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is refusing to turn over requested documentation to Senator Barbara Boxer who is investigating the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant. ocregister.com

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