Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant disconnected from power grid for second day after nearby fires cnn.com

S Korea signs $2.25 billion deal with Russia nuclear company apnews.com

Belarus leader says his warplanes have been modified to carry nuclear weapons reuters.com

Japanese fuel fabrication plant to restart world-nuclear-news.org

 

 

Ambient office = 120 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 66 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 61 nanosieverts per hour

Roma tomato from Central Market = 129 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 77 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 65 nanosieverts per hour

Part 1 of 2 Parts
     The war in Ukraine has reawakened fears of a global nuclear catastrophe. Nuclear weapons may not be used in an intentional attack but there is great possibility of mistakes and miscalculations in this war. The world cannot afford to ignore the nuclear threat posed by this war.
     The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeast Ukraine is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe. It has been in the headlines since the Russia army seized it last March. There is such great international concern about the plant that the Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the U.N. has repeatedly called for military withdrawals from the plant. He warned that if any harm came to the plant, it would be ‘suicide’. The alarm that been expressed worldwide has persuaded Russia to agree to allow U.N. officials to visit the plant and conduct an inspection.
     An accidental nuclear disaster at Zaporizhzhia might not resemble the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 in northern Ukraine. However, it will certainly be no less catastrophic than the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan in 2011.
     Currently, nuclear fission power supplies about ten percent of the world’s electricity. There are four hundred and forty-one operating nuclear power reactors in thirty six countries. These plants together can generate about three hundred and sixty-nine gigawatts of electricity per year. There are about fifty new nuclear reactors being constructed around the globe. There are claims that nuclear power plants are the safest and most secure sources of energy in the world. However, when accidents do occur, they can be devastating. The U.S. suffered the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island reactor in 1979.
     Nuclear power plants are designed to be safe from any malfunction or accident. However, they are not immune to being intentionally or inadvertently targeted during a war or other type of civil strife. The global security architecture is currently changing with a very high degree of uncertainty. It would be utterly irresponsible to ignore the threats to hundreds of nuclear power plants in a global political environment that is becoming more insecure and hostile by the day.
     In addition to other serious concerns about nuclear power plants vulnerability, cyber threats to these nuclear facilities are becoming more sophisticated while the technological capacity to provide security is limited. As the global footprint of nuclear fission power is expanding, the threat of cyberattacks is also growing. The international community is far from formalizing regulatory standards, common principles and operational guidelines to protect nuclear power plants from the fast-evolving cyber risks.
     As mentioned above, the number of nuclear power plants around the globe is increasing. The nuclear arsenals around the world will also be increasing in the coming years. This is the first increase since the end of the Cold War in 1991. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) warned about this in June of this year. This increase is mainly caused by heightened global tensions triggered by the war in Ukraine.
Please read Part 2 next

 

Ambient office = 131 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 122 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 124 nanosieverts per hour

Red bell pepper pepper from Central Market = 66 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Robot crawlers used in site ‘first’ at Paducah enrichment plant world-nuclear-news.org

Holtec ramps up SMR programme, eyes 2029 startup world-nuclear-news.org

Commissioning of Philippine research reactor under way world-nuclear-news.org

Zelenskiy says danger remains after nuclear plant resumes power supply reuters.com

 

Ambient office = 131 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 122 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 124 nanosieverts per hour

Red bell pepper pepper from Central Market = 66 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 87 nanosieverts per hour

     The United Kingdom’s maritime sector is very interested in nuclear propulsion. As a result, the U.K. is going to pass a law regulating nuclear ships in November. The U.K. Maritime Coast Guard Agency (MCGA) of the U.K. Department for Transport (DfT) has recently set a target date for passing the U.K.’s Merchant Shipping (Nuclear Ships) regulations into law.
     The new regulations will be based on the International Maritime Organization’s Chapter VIII in the Annex to the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS) and the UK’s Safety Code for Nuclear Ships (res. A.491.XII). The current legislative timetable in the U.K. states that the regulations will enter into force on the 22nd of November 2022.
     Mikal Boe is the Core Power CEO. Core Power is a private U.K.-based maritime technology company which is currently focusing on using nuclear fission power for ocean transport. Boe said, “This is an important milestone in the regulatory progress for new nuclear in maritime.”
     The U.K. MCGA of the DfT consulted with the U.K. maritime industry in August of 2021. This consultation resulted in a finding that most industry respondents agreed that no new of existing nuclear ships are likely to be flagged in the U.K. in the next ten years.

     Respondents involved in the consultation included class societies American Bureau of Shipping and Bureau Veritas as well as the UK Chamber of Shipping and several nuclear technology firms. Eleven out of the fourteen companies which gave the MCGA feedback said that there is an appetite for nuclear powered ships over the next ten years. There is a growing interest nuclear propulsion for large ocean-going vessels.
     There were concerns with respect to questions of additional cost considerations for the nuclear propulsion technologies as compared to other propulsion technologies. Some of the respondents pointed to training and qualifying crew, maintenance, the exclusion of nuclear-powered vessels in some regions. There is also the potential reputational jeopardy on the part of companies who utilize nuclear technology.
     The consultation mentioned above noted that IMO’s SOLAS regulations covering nuclear propulsion on board vessels was developed and ratified in the early 1980s. That means that the rules are roughly forty years old. Some respondents said that a potential unintended consequence of adopting the regulations into the new law without updating them could lead to “a direct regulatory barrier being put in place to adopting new and advanced nuclear technologies”.
     Recently, the maritime industry has seen increased interest in thorium and molten salt reactors (MSR) as possible propulsion technologies for vessels.
     Thorium is an abundant, naturally occurring metal with low radioactivity. MSRs work by dissolving thorium in liquid salt. The chain reaction in the reactor heats the salt, producing steam to drive a turbine and create electricity. Although the development of such reactors is well documented, thorium’s potential for delivering clean maritime power has not yet been incorporated in a vessel design. Proponents of the technology say that it is much safer than traditional nuclear technologies and results in much lower levels of nuclear waste.

DOE marks milestone as Xe-100 basic design completed world-nuclear-news.org

Japan should consider building new nuclear plants: Kishida bbc.com

Iran’s pivot to China and Russia means a nuclear deal would now look very different, professor says cnbc.com

Chernobyl waste processing operations resume world-nuclear-news.org

Ambient office = 154 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 119 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 110 nanosieverts per hour

English cucumber from Central Market = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 79 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 67 nanosieverts per hour

Parts 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     Russia seized control of the Zaporizhzhia plant last March, but it is still being operated by Ukrainian workers. There has been increasing concern about Russian management of the plant in recent weeks. There is great pressure on Russia to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to visit the plant.
     Kotin said that inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog could be at the plant within two weeks to check on security after progress in negotiations with Russia about a visit by the IAEA. Kotin is also concerned about the risk of fire from the Russia vehicles packed into the turbine halls which sit next to the only two reactors still in operation. There are fourteen vehicles in one of the halls and at least sixteen vehicles in the other. Many other military vehicles are lined up under overpasses constructed to house pipes and walkways between reactor and turbine complexes.
     Kotin said, “In case there is a fire in the turbine hall you don’t even have a possibility to put it out or mitigate the consequences of this fire, because your fire brigades cannot get in, because any entry is blocked by the trucks, which are just packed in there.” Any blaze could then potentially spread towards the reactor building.
      A fire near the reactors could have disastrous implications for the entire world. He added that “This situation is very dangerous not only for the plant, for Ukraine, but also for the whole world because you never can say what the weather would be like and what the wind direction [would be].”
     The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was constructed according to Soviet specifications but was modernized following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. This means that the Russian engineers do not have the skills needed to operate and maintain the plant. Kotin said, “Actually, for us, the Ukrainian workers at the plant are heroes, just doing their job in such unbelievable conditions,” said Kotin, who knows the plant well because he spent most of his career there. He arrived at Zaporizhzhia as a young graduate and rose to become general manager.
     Rockets have landed within eighty feet of one hundred and seventy-four spent fuel containers. While the reactors themselves are constructed to withstand the impact of a passenger jet, the spent fuel containers are much more vulnerable. Kotin said, “It will probably withstand two explosions of maybe two missiles on one container and after that, it will be broken.
      Kotin said that he hoped that nuclear inspectors would be allowed to inspect the plant within one or two weeks. He added, “There is progress in negotiations … there is only modalities of the mission to finally agree between parties, and after that they will go. And actually I’ve seen some plans that they are to go at the end of the month.” He also said that he had confidence that the Ukrainian workers at the plant who have sacrificed so much will be able to keep it safe. He went on to say that “In any case, we won’t allow Russians to bring the world to the nuclear catastrophe and we will do everything just to return the plant to under our full control and operate it safely reliably, like it always been.”

Inflation Reduction Act makes ‘down payment’ on HALEU world-nuclear-news.org

Liz Truss would be ‘ready’ to press the nuclear button if she becomes PM metro.co.uk

Iran to only accept inspections agreed in 2015 nuclear deal arabnews.com

Israel’s premier urges West to reject Iran nuclear deal tristatehomepage.com