Mutated plants near Fukushima gain internet fame. enenews.com

Japan’s nuclear regulator has given Shikoku Electric Power Company permission to make changes to the reactor installation of unit 3 of its Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime prefecture. It marks the first of three regulatory approvals required for restarting the unit. world-nuclear-news.org

A road-map for “the clarification of past and present outstanding issues” regarding Iran’s nuclear program was agreed yesterday between the country and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). All issues should be resolved by the end of the year. world-nuclear-news.org

There are no technical issues that stand in the way of 20-year license renewals for two Exelon Generation Company nuclear power plants in Illinois, the Byron and Braidwood plants that house two reactors each, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. Nuclearstreet.com

 

 

         I have been following with great interest the negotiations between Iran and the U.N. Security Council members including the U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany over the Iran nuclear program. Fearing that Iran may be working on the development of nuclear weapons, severe trade sanctions have been instituted against Iran. After months of negotiations and missed deadlines, a deal has finally been reached. Moderates and liberals in Iran and the Security Council nations hail the agreement as a win for diplomacy while conservative factions among the U.N. members complain that the deal is a loss for the world community and that Iran will continue on the path to nuclear weapons. Here are some of the details about the new Iranian agreement:

1.Iranian Nuclear Program. Iran will be allowed to continue its nuclear power program. For the first eight years of the agreement, Iran has agreed to limit uranium enrichment  as well as related research and development.

2. Iranian low-enriched uranium stockpile. Iran has agreed to reduced its current stockpile of low-enriched uranium (enriched less than 3.67 percent) to about six hundred and sixty pounds. This means that they will have under two percent of their current stockpile remaining.

3. International sanctions. Under the new deal, all the sanctions imposed by U.N. members will be removed as well as other international sanctions such as the embargo on Iranian oil sales which has reduced the Iranian economy by one fifth.

4. Monitoring Iran Compliance. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be charged with monitoring and verification of Iranian compliance. The IAEA will inspect Iranian nuclear sites and obtain answers to past Iranian nuclear weapons research and development.

5. Iranian Violations. The time it takes to develop a nuclear weapon is called the “breakout period.” The new agreement is supposed to insure that for the next fifteen years, Iran would need more than a year to create a nuclear weapon if it breaks the agreement.

6. Iranian Purchase of Nuclear Weapons. Iran will be prohibited from purchasing major weapons on the international market for at least five years and prohibited from purchasing missile technology for at least eight years.

7. Iranian Nuclear Facilities. Iran has promised to convert a major nuclear research facility named Fordrow into an international center for nuclear and physics research. Iran will be allowed to rebuild and modernize the Arak heavy water reactor for peaceful research and medical purposes. Iran has promised not to use the reactor to create weapons grade uranium.

8. Next Steps in the Process. The U.S. Congress has sixty days to review and vote on the agreement. Many Republican members of Congress are skeptical of the deal. The U.S. President has said that he will veto any Congressional action to back out of the agreement. The U.N. Security Council will have to vote to approve the agreement. Hardliners in Iran are also against the deal and may prevent Iran from ratifying the agreement.

9. Ongoing Review. Ministers from the ratifying nations including Iran will meet every two years to review Iranian compliance.

         If all parties vote to approve the new agreement, only time will tell if Iran will comply faithfully. It is true that lifting the sanctions will result in a lot of oil revenues for Iran that would make it possible for Iran to covertly work on nuclear weapons if they wanted to. Israel was not involved in the negotiations and is very upset about the deal. They have threatened to attack Iran if they feel that Iran is working on nuclear weapons.  

         Even if the U.S. Congress has enough votes to reject the agreement over the U.S. President’s support, some or all of the other members of the U.N. Security Council may decide to drop the sanctions and trade with Iran. This new agreement may be the best that the U.S. can hope for. 

U.S. oil prices wavered Tuesday after the market recovered from a more than 2% drop on news that Iran reached a nuclear agreement with world powers that could eventually pave the way for the return of Iranian barrels to global crude markets. wsj.com

Republican leaders in Congress said Tuesday that they were prepared to reject the Iran nuclear deal, while many Democrats remained skeptical but willing to hear out President Obama’s pitch. nytimes.com

Sixteen drums of waste within a concrete disposal container were put within one of the facility’s silos on 13 July, the Korea Radioactive Waste Agency (KORAD) announced today. The milestone marks the start of operations at Asia’s first underground radioactive waste disposal facility. world-nuclear-news.org

EnergySolutions announced yesterday the successful completion of the first large commercial reactor vessel segmentation in the USA.  world-nuclear-news.org

        I have mentioned in several blogs that Russia is working on the development of a major nuclear technology export business. Rosatom, the Russian nuclear utility owned by the Russian government says that it has twenty nine nuclear reactors in “various stages of planning and construction,” in over a dozen countries including Jordan, Hungary, Egypt, Iran, Finland, Turkey and Argentina.

         There are some open questions about how realistic these Russian ambitions are.  The Russian government support for Russia’s Rosatom is reportedly being reduced. There are also reductions in loans to foreign governments for the purchase of nuclear reactors. There have been challenges to Rosatom’s announcements of all the Russian nuclear deals with foreign governments with some critics saying that many of the supposed “deals” are only letters of agreement to cooperate on peaceful uses for nuclear energy and not real contracts for reactor construction. Now it appears that Russia is considering partnering with India to sell reactors to other countries.

         Late last year, during the Russian President’s visit to India, a series of documents were signed as part of a “strategic vision for strengthening Indian-Russian cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear power”. Recently, during a visit to Russia by the Indian Prime Minister to the city of Ufa, delegates from India and Russia to discuss more detailed plans for nuclear cooperation between Russia and India.

         Russia is proposing to increase the number of nuclear reactors it will construct in India from twelve to twenty. Russia in inviting India to be involved in the construction of Russian nuclear power plants in other countries. The new nuclear cooperation talks also include working on the “joint extraction of natural uranium and the production of nuclear fuel and atomic waste elimination.” The delegates are negotiating on an advanced contract for the design of two additional reactors for the Kudankulam site in Tamil Nadu.

        The two new reactors are estimated to cost about twice the previous cost estimates for two Russian reactors already constructed at Kudankulam. The price of the new reactor project is being pegged to the Russian ruble which has been depreciated recently against other currencies as a result of the international rejection of Russian actions in Ukraine.

        The biggest problem for the Kudankulam reactor deal has to do with questions regarding the Indian domestic nuclear liability law. Following the horrible industrial accident at Bhopol in Bangladesh in late 1984, India passed some of the world’s most stringent liability laws for such accidents. The Indian law allows manufacturers of equipment involved in industrial accidents to be sued for damages. This law has been a major impediment in sale of nuclear technology to India.

         Recently Russia was secretly negotiating with South Africa for the purchase of nuclear reactors. The Russians were pressing for a clause that said the Russian companies that manufactured reactors would not be held liable if there was a nuclear accident. When these negotiations became public, there was a scandal in South Africa. It will be interesting to see how the Russians deal with the Indian law. Perhaps these new intergovernmental agreements being negotiated are an attempt to circumvent liability.

Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant:

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.7 struck Iwate Prefecture in Japan’s northeastern region early Friday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, adding that the quake poses no tsunami risk. mainichi.jp

The recent test of the US В61-12 nuclear bomb confirms Washington’s plans to maintain nuclear weapons in Europe that are capable of reaching Russia, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said on Monday. rt.com

Ghostly remains of Seattle’s unused Satsop nuclear power plant. mysanantonio.com

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today completed an assessment of operational safety at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan. world-nuclear-news.org

Document shows nuclear fuel burned through bottom of containment vessel under Fukushima reactor. enenews.com

Japan’s 11 utilities plan to spend at least 2.4 trillion yen ($19.69 billion) to improve the safety of their nuclear plants, 1.5 times higher than an estimate made 18 months ago, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed. ajw.asahi.com

US scientists testing for radiation in dead whales as mysterious die-off in Pacific continues. enenews.com

Nuclear plant closing reflects overhaul of German energy production. nytimes.com