Continuous leak at Japanese plant

SINGAPORE: The radiation crisis at the quake-and-tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi atomic energy plant in Japan deepened on Sunday, prompting a protest march in Tokyo by several hundred activists opposed to the generation of electricity by nuclear means.

Japan's nuclear safety regulators expressed the view that “there is a continuous leakage” of radioactive substances.

And, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which runs the plant and is responsible for managing the crisis, indicated that “there is a breach in the reactor” at Unit 2.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said, in a televised press conference in Tokyo, “a certain amount of radioactive materials has melted” at Unit 2 in the multi-reactor plant.

“I believe that fuel rods inside the reactor [at Unit 2] were exposed above water for some time,” causing a high degree of radioactivity at the site, said Mr. Edano, without referring to the alarming figure that the plant officials had first put out.

By nightfall on Sunday, TEPCO withdrew its earlier estimate that extreme level of radiation, as detected in stagnant water inside the turbine room of Unit 2, was caused by radioactive substances which exceeded their normal density at the site by 10-million times.

But such a dangerous degree of radiation was said to have been fully contained within the reactor site itself. However, the workers engaged in a variety of tasks aimed at bringing the plant under control were promptly withdrawn.

Mr. Edano later said “it would take some time” for these workers to return to the plant site.

At the same time, it was “a welcome sign” that the workers, who were hospitalised for exposure to intense radiation at Unit 3, would now be discharged soon, he said.

Until Sunday, officials were describing the situation at Unit 3, designed for using mixed fuel, as very “precarious” and “unpredictable” because of the extensive damage caused there by the March 11 temblor and tsunami.

Following the unabated alarm since then about the radioactive pollution of air, water, food and dairy produce, and seawater, the government had now advised a careful analysis of the soil at the power plant premises.

The investigation would focus on the possibility of plutonium leakage as well, said Mr. Edano.

The concerns, articulated by the Tokyo protesters, were less specific but no less intense.

One protester said he was always opposed to nuclear power but he could raise his voice louder now.

Source: The Hindu, 28-3-2011

High marine radiation levels cause scare in Japan

SINGAPORE: Japan on Tuesday reported an above-normal presence of radioactive substances in seawater in the vicinity of the quake-and-tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi civil nuclear plant.

The detection of seawater contamination added a new dimension to the continuing crisis over the general safety of the stricken nuclear reactors. And, the latest scare punctuated the unabated concerns over above-normal traces of radiation in the surrounding environment and in some local food products

However, the Japanese authorities said the crisis should be viewed in the overall context of remedial and precautionary measures that were being adopted. In a message on the Facebook page of the Japanese Prime Minister's Office, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said: “There have been harmful rumours about Japanese foodstuffs. However, the shipment restrictions in question on some food products of the Fukushima area have been taken as a precautionary measure based on the government's conservative-standard values.”

Noting that “higher-than-normal levels of radioactive caesium in fallout were detected on Monday night in respect of these food products, Mr. Edano said: “Even if a person is exposed to the levels in question for one month, it would be as much as about only 60 per cent of radiation in a round-trip [by aeroplane] between Tokyo and New York. It would be as much as about one-fifth of one-time CT scan.”

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), responsible for crisis management at the multi-reactor atomic energy plant, had earlier said “radioactive materials were detected [in] the seawater around the discharge canal (south) of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.”

At the nuclear complex itself, TEPCO continued its efforts to supply to the reactor sites electricity from outside the plant. The operation was designed to reactivate the cooling systems so that the radioactive discharges from the overheated spent nuclear fuel could be reduced.

Source: The Hindu,23-3-2011

Kaiga-4 achieves criticality

Karwar (Karnataka): The fourth unit of the Kaiga Generating Station (KGS) — the country's 20th nuclear power reactor — achieved criticality on Saturday. With this unit becoming operational, India now ranks sixth in terms of production of nuclear energy, behind the United States, France, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

Addressing journalists at Kaiga, S.K. Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL), said criticality, in nuclear terms, signified the start of the self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction in the reactor core, which led to the production of energy. The new unit would produce 250 MWe of nuclear power, which would be distributed among the southern States. The unit would be synchronised with the southern grid after certain mandatory tests are carried out early next month.

He said units 5 and 6 would raise the nuclear power installed capacity in the country from the current 4,560 MWe to 4,780 MWe. Kaiga-4 is an indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR).

Unique distinction

Dr. Jain said two Light Water reactors (LWRs) of 100 MWe each, at Kudankulam and a prototype fast breeder reactor of 500 MWe at Kalpakkam were at advanced stages of completion. He said the NPCIL was unique in having comprehensive capabilities in various facets of nuclear technology — namely site selection, design, construction, commissioning operation and maintenance, renovation, modernisation and life extension of nuclear power plants.

Forest undisturbed

Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, said units 5 and 6 would come up at Kaiga in the next couple of years and the site would be decided by a selection committee of NPCIL. The capacity of the each new unit would be 700 MWe, and the project would come up in the land already owned by NPCIL. He said there was no human habitation in the very small area required for the new units and the forest in the area would not be disturbed.

Dr. Banerjee said the Dhruva reactor was supplying isotopes required for the other plants, having never been shut down. In Apsara, another reactor, the NPCIL had been using imported fuel, but had now changed to locally developed fuel. Another reactor in Vizag would supply the isotopes to other reactors, he said.

Employees lauded

Later, addressing a public function arranged by NPCIL, Dr. Jain lauded the efforts of employees towards the corporation's success. He declared that it would reserve 2 per cent of its profit for community work and he would ensure that the demand of the locals to build a bride near Kaiga and other works was taken up. The money allotted would never lapse, he said, and help would be taken from the district authorities to complete it.

Dr. Srinivasan, former AEC Chairman, was honoured at the function

Source: The Hindu, 29-11-2010

India to launch six nulcear reactors in next 2-3 years

India is expected to launch six more nuclear reactors in the next two to three years, a top government atomic scientist said here.

"Six more reactors are scheduled to be launched in the next two or three years," Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India R Chidamabaram said here while addressing the 25th Brigadier S K Mazumdar memorial lecture here.

Chidambaram said four reactors, including two units each in Kakrapar and Rawatbhata, are in an advanced stage of construction and will help in increasing the installed nuclear capacity to 7000 MW.

One of the reactors at the Kudankulam power plant in Tamilnadu is also expected to start functioning by the end of this year.

The reactor has been made with assistnce from Russia and will be inaugurated during the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in December.

He said the government's vision was to reach nuclear power capacity of 63,000 MW by the year 2032.

"Of this, the contribution of reactors set up through international cooperation is likely to be about 40,000 MW," he added.

On climate change, Chidamabaram said the government is considering launching the ninth National Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, which will look at the development of the Advanced Ultra Supercritical Technology (AUST) for coal-based power plants.

Source: Decan Herald ,6-10-2010