COMMENT - Christina Macpherson - Most incident reports come from U.S.A. Now, is this because the U.S. is so careless etc? More likely, it's because the US at least has some standards, and freedom of the press. How safe is the nuclear industry in countries without these standards? How safe in countries without freedom of the press?

RECENT NEWS AND VIEWS - below

Nuclear reactor will be shut down until cause of vibration found Greenville online by Anna Smith 5 May 08 . "OCONEE NUCLEAR STATION -- A special inspection last week failed to pinpoint the cause of high vibrations recently experienced by three reactor coolant pumps at Oconee Nuclear Station. .

The Unit 1 reactor, which was being shut down for routine maintenance and refueling when the vibration occurred, will stay offline until the cause is identified, NRC and Duke Energy officials said.
The Unit 1 reactor was shut down on April 12 for scheduled outage and not because of the vibration, said Linda Conley, a Duke spokeswoman.A fourth coolant pump in the reactor had been shut down a couple of weeks earlier because of a small motor oil leak. ..............

........After the shutdown, one of the three coolant pumps that experienced vibration also showed indications of a degraded condition, the NRC reported.
Inspectors are still trying to determine whether the pump problems are linked, Hutto said.

SPAIN: Warning of Radioactive Leak Comes Five Months Late
By Alicia Fraerman MADRID, Apr 15 (IPS) - "Failure to inform the authorities and take safety measures after a radioactive leak at a Spanish nuclear plant nearly five months ago has alarmed people in nearby towns, environmentalists and civil society organisations.

One of Spain's eight nuclear power plants at Ascó, a village in the northeastern region of Catalonia, leaked radioactivity on Nov. 29, 2007, but those responsible failed to inform nearby residents, thus preventing them from taking remedial action to protect themselves.
................................children from several schools toured the plant after the leak had occurred. Robert Serra, head of the Maristas school in Girona, told IPS that his greatest concern is that "they let visits by schoolchildren continue, even though they knew what had happened in November." That is why his school has determined that all pupils who went on the visit to the nuclear plant undergo medical checks to prevent any health problems.

Given the secrecy that still shrouds the incident, on Tuesday Greenpeace Spain sent the state Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) 50 questions which, under current legislation, must be answered within 30 days.

The CSN's deputy director of radiological protection, Manuel Rodríguez, said that the agency had given out "inadequate" information because it had itself been misinformed, and added that "the radioactivity leaked outside the plant is estimated to be 100 times more than what the plant declared a week ago," although at that time the company already knew the facts.

Fire incident reported at north German nuclear power plan
Islamic Republic News Agency Saturday March 15, 2008 - "A technical glitch was reported at the north German Brokdorf nuclear power plant as a short circuit of a malfunctioning pump caused a fire in the facility, press reports Friday.
According to the nuclear supervisory board, workers at the plant managed to extinguish the fire.
Two of the four emergency power wires had to be turned off in a bid to repair the short circuit.
Last month, a fire broke out at a deactivated nuclear power plant near Hamburg which had been the scene of repeated mishaps in the past, press reports said Monday.
According to the operator of the Kruemmel atomic reactor, the fire department of the nuclear plant had to be called in to extinguish the fire at a ventilation system. ………………

……………….Owned by the Swedish Vattenfall company, the Kruemmel nuclear plant was shut down after a fire broke out in a transformer on June 28, 2007.
The nuclear supervisory board of the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein announced earlier that the Kruemmel nuclear plant would not be activated again before the middle of May. ……………

…………Germany's nuclear power plants have reported 944 incidents between the period of early 2000 and late 2006, according to statistics released by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS).

Meanwhile the number of registered breakdowns in German nuclear power plants since 1993 stand at 1,945......................................."

Nuclear Plant Shutdown Causes Massive Florida Power Outages MIAMI CNN Money.com (AP) February 26, 2008 - "-A problem with the electrical grid in Florida caused power outages stretching from Miami up almost to Jacksonville that affected as many as 3 million people Tuesday and caused a nuclear plant to automatically shut down, officials with the state's largest utility said........................"

Pakistan nuclear technicians kidnapped ABC Radio Australia 13 Feb 2008 - "Two technicians from Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission have been kidnapped near the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan.

Police say their driver and five local people were also taken, although the locals were later released.

The police say it's unclear who carried out the abduction................................."

Radioactive Cargo on Train to Iran Investigated
NPR by Ivan Watson January 31, 2008 · - "Authorities in the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan are investigating why a train traveling from Kyrgyzstan to Iran was carrying radioactive cargo.
.........................................On Dec. 31, 2007, emergency workers gathered at Belovodskaya station in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, to greet a train that was turned back after it set off radiation detectors in Uzbekistan en route to Iran.
Specialists pinpointed one car, which was emitting radiation at levels 1,000 times higher than normal.

...........................................Kyrgyz newspapers report that this is the third time in three years authorities have intercepted trains leaving Kyrgyzstan with radioactive cargo.
…………………………………Last spring, two former government officials stood trial in neighboring Tajikistan for allegedly trying to sell canisters of plutonium and cesium-137 on the black market.
Watchdog organizations say nuclear smugglers are arrested in this region every year................................................"

3 workers exposed at OR nuke facility knox news.com By Frank Munger January 28, 2008 OAK RIDGE - Three workers were contaminated with radioactivity Jan. 16 while unpacking a container at an Oak Ridge waste-processing facility, a state spokeswoman confirmed today.

................ plant officials are still awaiting lab results of biological samples to determine if there was any internal contamination, said Tisha Calabrese-Benton of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

The incident occurred at the EnergySolutions facility on Bear Creek Road, and a small area of one building was contaminated with radioactive material released during the operation, Calabrese-Benton said.

Arrests reveal nuke black market The London Free Press November 30, 2007 - "By WILLIAM J. KOLE, AP BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA -- The arrests of three men who allegedly tried to sell contraband uranium for $1 million show how a shadowy market for nuclear components has survived .....

....officials tracking the illicit global trade in radioactive materials said the arrests underscored the risk of nuclear substances falling into terrorist hands.....".

"SCRIBA, N.Y. (AP) - Turbulent water and a build-up of lake debris in a water intake forced operators of the James A. FitzPatrick nuclear plant near Oswego to shut down the reactor over the weekend.

It was the second time in just over a month that the Lake Ontario facility's water intake became clogged. This time, FitzPatrick spokeswoman Bonnie Bostian says lake algae blocked the intake screening system. As a result, plant operators manually shut down the nuclear facility early yesterday morning....................A heavy storm on September 12th caused a similar problem.................."

Heat Wave Shuts Down Alabama Reactor - Slashdot 18 August 07 "In a first for the US, one of three nuclear reactors at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama has been shut down because the Tennessee River is too hot to provide adequate cooling for the waste heat produced by the reactor.

This is happening as the TVA faces its highest demand for power ever, reports the Houston Chronicle.

This effect has been seen in Europe in the past, forcing reduced generation, but the US has until now been immune to the problem. The TVA will buy power elsewhere and impose higher rates, blaming reduced river flow as a result of drought."

Japan Barely Dodges Nuclear Disaster in Latest Earthquake - Cleveland Leader 16 July 07 - "Shortly after 10am local time on Monday, an earthquake rocked northwestern Japan. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, roads and bridges buckled, and fire started at a nuclear power plant.

So far, at least seven people have died and hundreds more have been injured.Japan's Meterological Agency measured the earthquake at 6.8 magnitude, while the U.S. Geological Survey said they registered it as a 6.7. Either way, this was a strong one, causing buildings to sway 160 miles away in Tokyo............

......The hardest hit area appears to have been Kashiwazaki, a city of about 90,000 in the prefecture of Niigata. And while the affects of the earthquake have thus far been disasterous,

Japan can count their blessings on one thing - the fact that they narrowly escaped the destruction of a nuclear reactor.

The earthquake caused a fire to start, as well as an explosion, at the Kashiwazaki nuclear plant. Plant officials have said that water containing some radioactive materials leaked after the quake, and may have been discharged into the sea.

'Power firms hid 10,000 problems' - Japan Daily Yomuiri Online The Yomiuri Shimbun 7/4/07 - "Utility firms have concealed problems or altered data at power plants more than 10,000 times, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan announced Thursday. Federation Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata reported the findings of an investigation to a Liberal Democratic Party investigation committee Thursday morning. ……………….

The federation reexamined the numbers after receiving a request from the LDP to more accurately count the number of irregularities…….............. According to the new report, there were 450 irregularities at nuclear power plants……………"

India's processed uranium selling in International black market - Daily Times Pakistan 27/2/07 - "ISLAMABAD: India's Jaduguda uranium mines in Jharkhand are becoming notorious for the smuggling of processed uranium, or 'yellow cake', which is being sold in the international black market, according to 'WMD Insights' - a reputable US-based magazine.More recent reports dealing with international discussions on the smuggling of nuclear and radioactive materials have said that uranium ores stolen from the Jaduguda mines in India have found their way to Nepal, from where they are sold to international buyers.

An Indian newspaper, Vijay Times, wrote, 'In an alarming development, smugglers are sending highly radioactive yellow cake or processed uranium, used in making nuclear weaponry, to Nepal through the clandestine narcotic route via the Jharkhand-Bihar-West Bengal conduit, and it is suspected that the destination might be Al Qaeda.' India is being projected by some as a responsible nuclear-capable state. In fact this has been cited as a prima facie by the US to offer India civilian nuclear cooperation. However, the facts belie any such presumption........................."

TIMELINE
11 July 07 944 incidents reported in German nuclear power plants reported over a six-year period - June 07 Two German nuclear power stations closed due to transformer station fire
June 07 China - generators at the Lingao nuclear power plant shut due to high temperatures
June 07 Scotland -Hunterston B power plant in Ayrshire due to temperature problems
June 07 USA cracks discovered in a component at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant
May 07 USA Hope Creek nuclear plant shut down due to fault causing decrease in water level
24 May USA Newly restarted nuclear reactor at TVA's Browns Ferry power plant shut down after fluid leak
9 May 07 USA - Nuclear Fuel Services shut down enriched uranium facility due to radioactive spill
April 07 Japan - Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan announced Power firms hid 10,000 problems - 450 irregularities found at nuclear power plants
April 07 USA Explosion At Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant
April 07 USA - Fire in transformer shuts Indian Point 3 nuclear plant
March 07 Japan - cover-up revealed regarding 3 serious accidents at Shika Nuclear Power Station in 1999
March 07 Czech Republic 3,000 litres of radioactive water leaked in Temelin nuclear plant
March 07 USA 2 Incidents Reported at Nuclear Plant Near Washington
March 07 USA Two spills of an enriched uranium solution at Oakridge nuclear weapons plant USA
March 07 uranium missing from Congo's nuclear research reactor..
March 07 Tokyo Electric Power Co admits nine cases in which data on nuclear power plants was falsified
Feb 07 India's processed uranium reported to be selling in International black market
Feb 07 UK Atomic Energy Authority pleads guilty to illegally dumping radioactive waste and releasing nuclear fuel particles into the sea
Jan 07 USA tractor-trailer overturned with radioactive plutonium on board
Jan 07 USA Hanford Nuclear Reservation - A radiation leak and employee falsified records
Jan 07 USA Rats caused wildfire near Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant
17 Jan 07 USA Monticello nuclear power plant remains shut down indefinitely - large metal component broke loose inside the plant,
Jan 07 Radioactive leak at British nuclear power station
Jan 07 USA radioactive leaks at Braidwood, Dresden and Byron nuclear power plants
24 Dec Fire Breaks out at Japanese Nuclear Plant
Dec 06 Texas - Truck carrying uranium crashes in N.C
June 1999 Japan 3 serious accidents atShika Nuclear Power Station