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NEWS ABOUT: nuclear power plant

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US OKs First Nuclear Reactors in 30 Years

Georgia plant gets approval to build two

(Newser) - It's a milestone for the nuclear energy industry: The feds today gave their blessing to a Georgia utility company to build two new reactors, the first such approval in 30 years, reports CNN . Southern Co. and its partners will build the reactors in Waynesboro, Ga., about 170 miles east... More »

San Diego Nuke Plant Shut Down After Leak

San Onofre leak posed no danger to public, officials say

(Newser) - The San Onofre nuclear plant north of San Diego was closed last evening to deal with a radiation leak that regulators say posed no danger to the public or to plant workers. The plant's operators say a small quantity of radioactive gas escaped from a leaky tube in a... More »

Japan Kept Worst-Case Nuclear Fears Under Wraps

Fukushima report warned that all of Tokyo might need to be evacuated

(Newser) - Japanese officials were told that last year's nuclear disaster could have required the evacuation of tens of millions—but they didn't mention it, worried that the information might cause a panic. A 15-page report, given to the prime minister two weeks after the earthquake, was obtained by the... More »

Judge: Vermont Can't Shut Down Nuke Plant

Federal judge says only federal government can regulate nuclear safety

(Newser) - Vermont is the only state with a law allowing it to have a say over whether a nuclear plant's license should be renewed, but a federal judge has slapped down Vermont's attempt to withhold such a renewal. The judge ruled that Vermont Yankee, the state's only nuclear... More »

Greenpeace Raids French Nuclear Plant

Incident shows building is 'vulnerable': activists

(Newser) - Four Greenpeace activists were arrested in France today after breaking into a nuclear power plant; some scaled one of the reactors and sat atop it. The activists, who aimed to reveal flaws in plant safety, entered the area at 5am. "Simple activists with peaceful intentions and few means managed... More »

Fukushima Radiation Traveled the Globe

Most landed in sea: report

(Newser) - Some 80% of the radiation from Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi plant ended up in the sea, where it’s now spread worldwide, a report finds. Fortunately, data suggests “ocean pollution resulting from the accident was well below levels affecting humans,” a researcher tells AFP . Radiation—some of which... More »

Energy Giant Guilty of Spying on Greenpeace

Hacking case also snared Floyd Landis

(Newser) - French electricity giant EDF, the world's biggest operator of nuclear power plants, has been found guilty of spying on Greenpeace and fined $2 million. EDF, a frequent target of Greenpeace campaigns, hired a security agency to hack into the group's computers to gain information about its anti-nuclear activities,... More »

Iran Nuke Plant Goes Online

Bushehr joins power grid, be inaugurated next Monday

(Newser) - Just in case you got a good night's sleep, you can stew on this tonight: Iran says its Bushehr nuclear plant went online last night, beginning testing on the national power grid that had been delayed for years. The Russian-built plant, which Tehran says will eventually supply 2.5%... More »

Quake Raises Nuke Plant Worries

Time to review standards at nuclear plants, experts say

(Newser) - Yesterday's East Coast earthquake was the strongest to hit the region since the beginning of the nuclear age, and safety advocates say it should serve as a wake-up call to nuclear plants using outdated safety standards. At Virginia's North Anna nuclear plant, just a few miles away from... More »

Uranium Tech Could Open Easy Path to the Bomb

But GE says laser enrichment could help US energy security

(Newser) - Advances in uranium enrichment using lasers by General Electric could allow the US conglomerate to process reactor fuel by the ton—but security experts fear the technology could also allow rogue states and terrorist groups to make bomb fuel much more easily, in smaller plants that would be much harder... More »

Fukushima Nuclear Plant Stabilized

Workers on track for cold shutdown within six months

(Newser) - Some good news from Japan: The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is stabilized and a cold shutdown should be achieved within six months. Even so, Tokyo Electric Power Co. warns that final cleanup—which will involve encasing the plant in concrete—could take more than 10 years. Engineers have recently... More »

If Fukushima Happened in US ... We'd Be Hosed

40% of Americans live within 50 miles of a nuclear plant

(AP) - An AP investigation suggests that America's nuclear power plants and safety policies have not aged well: The once-rural areas around the plants have become far more crowded and difficult to evacuate, and the plants themselves are running at higher power and thus pose more of a risk in the... More »

Floodwaters Breach Nebraska Nuke Berm

Water hits transformers, triggering shutdown of electricity

(Newser) - Floodwaters have poured over a berm surrounding a Nebraska nuclear power plant, forcing a shutdown of electricity used to control cooling systems. Emergency generators were used until an off-site power supply could be connected to the Fort Calhoun plant, and officials say there has been no danger to the public,... More »

US Nuclear Regulators Routinely Weaken Rules

Changing standards keep ancient reactors running, despite wear and tear

(Newser) - US regulators are helping the nuclear power industry keep its aging plants in line with safety requirements by repeatedly loosening those requirements, according to a year-long AP investigation . The AP found thousands of problems—from cracking tubes to failed cables to leaking valves—all of which made the plants less... More »

Rising Missouri River Almost Shuts Down Nuclear Plant

River came within 18 inches of forcing the shutdown

(AP) - The Missouri River rose to within 18 inches of forcing the shutdown of a nuclear power plant in southeast Nebraska but stopped and ebbed slightly, a plant spokesman said today. The river has to hit 902 feet above sea level at Brownville before officials will shut down the Cooper Nuclear... More »

Germany: All Nuke Plants Shut Down by 2022

Country is largest industrial power to make such a pledge

(Newser) - In the wake of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, Germany has announced plans to phase out all of its nuclear power plants by 2022. With this move, Germany will become the largest industrial power to give up nuclear energy, the BBC reports. The country’s seven... More »

5 Arrested on Terror Charges Near UK Nuke Plant

Homes of the five suspects were being searched

(Newser) - Five men have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism outside a nuclear power facility in Britain, reports CNN . All five live in London and their homes were being searched, while roads near the Sellafield nuclear facility were temporarily closed. The arrests drew interest given the killing of Osama bin Laden,... More »

Robot Detects Radiation Still Too High for Japan Workers

But Tepco officials say this will not affect their reactor shutdown plans

(Newser) - An American robot sent into the crippled nuclear reactor buildings at Fukushima Dai-ichi has detected radiation levels too high for workers to enter, more than a month after a quake and tsunami crippled the plant, reports the AP . Reactor Unit 1 measured 49 millisieverts per hour, and Unit 3 reached... More »

Radioactive Water Leaks After Japan Aftershock

Death toll rises to four; 100 injured

(Newser) - The death toll from yesterday's aftershock in Japan rose to four as news came that the quake (revised to a magnitude of 7.1) also caused radioactive water to leak from one of the country's nuclear plants. The water leaked from the spent fuel pools at the Onagawa nuclear power... More »

Fukushima's Disaster Plan: A Stretcher and a Fax

Plant was woefully unprepared for natural disaster

(Newser) - Tokyo Electric Power Co. had a disaster plan in place at its Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, but certainly not a very thorough one: It only involved one stretcher, and relied heavily on a satellite phone and fax machine for emergency communications. In a look at the plan, the Wall Street ... More »

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