Nuclear physics

S Korea-US-nuclear accord

Yonhap News Agency — Mon, 20 May 2013 07:30:41 +0000

Yonhap News Agency

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 International — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:00:04 +0000

Kyodo News International

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 Press — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:01:37 +0000

The Canadian Press

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 Press — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:31:55 +0000

The Canadian Press

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-Presse — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:00:20 +0000

Agence France-Presse

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 Press — Sun, 12 May 2013 06:30:48 +0000

The Canadian Press

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 International — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:30:16 +0000

Kyodo News International

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 Press — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:30:05 +0000

The Canadian Press

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-Presse — Thu, 02 May 2013 05:15:18 +0000

Agence France-Presse

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.

N. Korea may test light-water reactor by mid-2013: think tank

Kyodo News International — Thu, 02 May 2013 02:15:10 +0000

Kyodo News International

North Korea is nearing completion of an experimental light water reactor, with the facility potentially ready to begin a start-up period by mid-2013 if fuel is available, a U.S. think tank said Wednesday, citing commercial satellite imagery.

North Korea is "nearing completion" of the light water reactor that is primarily intended to generate electricity for civilian purposes, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said on its website 38 North.

Iran says it's ready to resume talks with world powers

Thomson Reuters — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:00:23 +0000

Thomson Reuters

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran is ready to resume talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear programme and awaits word from the European Union on timing and details, Iran's deputy nuclear negotiator said on Thursday.

Ali Bagheri, in an interview with Reuters in Geneva, said Iran needed 20 percent-enriched uranium for its Tehran research reactor and four others being built, and was continuing to convert some of its stockpile into reactor fuel.

S. Korea, US extend nuclear pact

Agence France-Presse — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:16:02 +0000

Agence France-Presse

South Korea and the United States have agreed on a two-year extension to a civilian nuclear pact that Seoul wants amended to allow it to produce its own nuclear fuel, officials said Wednesday.

The current pact, signed in 1974, had been due to expire next year. The extension was agreed to allow more negotiations on the heated topic of allowing the South to reprocess spent fuel rods.

"The two sides reached a temporary agreement on extending the current accord by two years on the grounds that they need more time," Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Young told reporters.

S. Korea, US extend nuclear pact

Agence France-Presse — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:30:41 +0000

Agence France-Presse

South Korea and the United States have agreed on a two-year extension to a civilian nuclear pact that Seoul wants amended to allow it to produce its own nuclear fuel, officials said Wednesday.

The current pact, signed in 1974, had been due to expire next year. The extension was agreed to allow more negotiations on the heated topic of allowing the South to reprocess spent fuel rods.

"The two sides reached a temporary agreement on extending the current accord by two years on the grounds that they need more time," Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Young told reporters.

UK takes ownership of stored plutonium, may fuel new reactors

Thomson Reuters — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:00:04 +0000

Thomson Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said it would take ownership of 2,950 kg of waste plutonium that it has been storing on behalf of European utilities and may reprocess it into fuel for a planned new generation of nuclear plants.

The ownership change does not mean that more nuclear fuel will be brought into Britain, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said.

First radioactive traces from NKorea nuke test

Agence France-Presse — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:45:48 +0000

Agence France-Presse

Possible radioactive traces from North Korea's February nuclear test have been detected for the first time, although it remains unclear what fissile material Pyongyang used, monitoring organisation CTBTO said Tuesday.

"The ratio of the detected xenon isotopes (xenon-131m and xenon-133) is consistent with a nuclear fission event occurring more than 50 days before the detection," the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) said.