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Nuclear regulators acknowledge fault below Tsuruga reactor is active

Kyodo News InternationalMay 22, 2013 02:16

The Nuclear Regulation Authority accepted on Wednesday an assessment that a reactor at the Tsuruga plant in western Japan is sitting above an active fault, making it increasingly difficult for the facility to resume operation. It is the first time Japan's regulatory authorities have acknowledged an existing reactor is located above a fault feared to move in the future, according to an NRA official. The judgment may leave plant operator Japan Atomic Power Co. with no option but to scrap the No. 2 reactor.

S Korea-US-nuclear accord

Yonhap News AgencyMay 20, 2013 03:30

SEOUL, May 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States are expected to resume formal negotiations early next month aimed at revising a bilateral civilian nuclear accord, a government source said Monday, in what would be the first meeting since the allies agreed to extend the deadline for a deal until 2016. Seoul and Washington have been in consultations to resume the negotiations in the first week of June in Seoul, the source said on the condition of anonymity.

Head of operator of fast-breeder reactor resigns

Kyodo News InternationalMay 17, 2013 04:00

The president of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the operator of the Monju prototype fast breeder reactor, resigned Friday over the state-run agency's failure to properly inspect the reactor, science and technology minister Hakubun Shimomura said. Shimomura told a regular news conference that he had accepted Atsuyuki Suzuki's offer to resign, adding he will pick Suzuki's successor shortly.

Correction: Nuclear Plant Shutdown-NC story

The Canadian PressMay 16, 2013 14:01

RALEIGH, N.C. - In a story May 16 about a shutdown at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the reactor vessel contains superheated steam. The vessel covers the nuclear core, which produces heat. The heat is converted to steam later in the process to produce electricity. A corrected version of the story is below: NC nuclear plant shut down after crack discovered NC nuclear plant shut down after crack discovered; officials say no safety threat By EMERY P. DALESIO AP Business Writer

Regulators: Water with traces of radioactive hydrogen leaked at SC nuclear plant; no emergency

The Canadian PressMay 16, 2013 05:31

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Water with traces of a radioactive hydrogen isotope leaked at a nuclear power plant in South Carolina, but the level of tritium in the water is well below limits that would make it dangerous to drink, federal regulators said. The leak was reported Tuesday night at the Catawba Nuclear Station in York County in a fiberglass pipe that takes water from a turbine pump to a holding pond, where it is tested before it is released back into Lake Wylie, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

Japan nuke regulator to halt reactor restart

Agence France-PresseMay 15, 2013 03:00

Japan's atomic regulator Wednesday ordered a halt to plans to restart an experimental reactor because of safety concerns, as a strong anti-nuclear mood grips the nation. Local media said the move by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) would make it impossible for the Monju Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor to begin working again this fiscal year. The NRA has been examining Monju since it was revealed last year that appropriate safety checks had been skipped on nearly 10,000 pieces of equipment at the plant, on the coast 350 kilometres (220 miles) west of Tokyo.

1 of 2 reactors at Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Md. shuts down after valve malfunction

The Canadian PressMay 12, 2013 02:30

LUSBY, Md. - Constellation Energy Nuclear Group says one of two nuclear reactors at its Calvert Cliffs power plant in Maryland shut down automatically after a malfunction. Calvert Cliffs spokesman Kory Raftery says valves that feed turbines in Unit 2 unexpectedly shut down Wednesday evening, and the reactor was taken offline. He says that workers at the southern Maryland plant followed their training and that there was no public safety threat.

Hashimoto clarifies remarks on "comfort women" after flak

Kyodo News InternationalMay 7, 2013 12:30

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto on Wednesday sought to clarify his remarks on a system to recruit women into sexual servitude for Japan's soldiers during World War II, saying he personally does not condone the scheme. Two days after he made controversial remarks that the so-called comfort women were "necessary to maintain discipline" in the Japanese military, Hashimoto told reporters he simply stated a fact that people at the time had that kind of view.

Anti-nuclear weapons protesters on trial this week for incursion into Tenn. nuclear facility

The Canadian PressMay 6, 2013 16:30

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - An octogenarian nun and two codefendants used bolt cutters to cut through fences and spent about two hours inside a Tennessee national security plant that has had a hand in making, maintaining or dismantling parts of every nuclear weapon in the country's arsenal, federal authorities allege. In July, the trio splashed human blood on the walls of fortress-like Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility in the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and painted phrases on its walls like: "Woe to the empire of blood."

N.Korea could start nuclear reactor soon

Agence France-PresseMay 2, 2013 01:15

North Korea could be ready within weeks to start operating a light-water reactor that has triggered growing concern amid the regime's vows to build more nuclear weapons, researchers said Wednesday. The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said that satellite pictures taken in March and April appeared to show that North Korea was doing final work inside the reactor and cleaning up after completing construction.