Fairewinds in the News
Every morning, 3,000 cleanup workers at the Fukushima disaster site don hooded hazard suits, air-filtered face masks and multiple glove layers. Most of the gear is radioactive waste by day’s end.
Multiply those cast-offs by the 730 days since a tsunami wrecked the Dai-Ichi nuclear station two years ago and the trash could fill six Olympic swimming pools. The tens of thousands of waste bags stored in shielded containers illustrate the dilemma of dealing with a nuclear accident: Everything that touches it becomes toxic.
Contaminated...
March 5, 2013
A Lasting Legacy of the Fukushima Rescue Mission, Part 3: Cat and Mouse with a Nuclear Ghost
For several days, the winds from the destroyed nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi crashed head on into the myth of the radioactive plume.
It is the most enduring falsehood of commercial nuclear power, promoted heavily by both the industry and...
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February 15, 2013
Secret Report Said to Contradict Edison’s San Onofre Claims
Southern California Edison has spent the last year telling nuclear regulators and the public that major problems with its generators at San Onofre that leaked radiation last year were a complete surprise.
But later today, the U.S. Nuclear...
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February 11, 2013
Feds Set to Answer Public's Questions on San Onofre Leak
As scrutiny of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station heats up, federal regulators are readying for a public meeting Tuesday where they plan to take questions on design flaws behind the radiation leak that shut down the plant.
The event comes as...
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more news
February 6, 2013
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer called for an investigation Wednesday into whether Southern California Edison, the operator of the San Onofre nuclear power plant, knew about major problems with steam generators that later experienced a radiation leak.
A 2012 report by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries found...
January 21, 2013
OMAHA -- A nuclear reactor, idled for almost two years by a laundry list of problems, is coming under increased regulatory scrutiny because of some bad math in its 40-year-old design and the use of Teflon, which tends to disintegrate when exposed to high radiation.
The new issues revealed at...
January 17, 2013
A Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearing in Maryland heard testimony on a petition alleging the power company skirted regulations when it replaced San Onofre’s steam generators in 2010. The new steam generator tubes in one reactor unit leaked small amounts of radiation last January, resulting...
January 17, 2013
The operator of the San Onofre nuclear power plant in Southern California made critical errors in the design of the plant's replacement steam generators and, as a result, the public was put in great danger last year, according to expert testimony Wednesday by an internationally renowned nuclear...
Environmental group’s representative addresses NRC panel as license suspension is suggested as option.
January 16, 2013
Design changes in steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear plant were so extensive that the plant's operator, Southern California Edison, should have sought an amendment to its operating license before installing them, a consultant for an environmental group told a Nuclear Regulatory...
January 16, 2013
The group Friends of Earth presented about 40 different slides – mostly technical data – at a Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearing Wednesday outside Washington, D.C.
But the crux of their case can be summed up by just one slide: a drawing of a cart before the horse.
The group argues...
January 16, 2013
A nuclear watchdog group presented arguments Wednesday that operators of the San Onofre power plant improperly avoided a full government review of redesigned generators installed in recent years. Problems with those generators have idled the facility for nearly a year. The coastal plant, located in...
January 16, 2013
The environmental group Friends of the Earth made its case to federal regulators Wednesday that Southern California Edison should be barred from restarting the San Onofre nuclear plant unless it goes through a trial-like hearing process.
The meeting Wednesday between Friends of the Earth and a U.S...
December 30, 2012
The crippled Crystal River nuclear plant is now America's headache.
The bill to fix it and pay for replacement power may top $5 billion. The problem?
The company that insures all 104 U.S. nuclear power plants has just $3.6 billion on hand to pay for claims.
Broken nuclear plants in...
Special to The Japan Times
December 9, 2012
There are approximately 7,000 exhibits in Kiev's Ukrainian National Chornobyl Museum. (The location of the nuclear plant that exploded on April 26, 1986 is spelled this way in Ukrainian.) Among the documents, photographs, maps and objects at this museum that opened on the sixth anniversary of...
Engineer Arnie Gunderson had worked as a nuclear plant operator and became senior vice president of Nuclear Energy Services, a Connecticut consulting firm. He grew concerned about unaddressed safety violations he observed in the course of his work and in 1990 became an industry whistleblower, airing his concerns to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and later testifying before Congress with the backing of Ohio Sen. John Glenn.
December 6, 2012
Exactly 70 years later, on an unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon, activists, engineers, doctors and scientists from across the U.S., Canada, Germany and Japan gathered around Henry Moore’s abstract“Nuclear Energy” sculpture on the University of Chicago campus.
Oglala Sioux...
October 31, 2012
Hurricane Sandy’s wrath shows that U.S. regulators should swiftly implement nuclear-safety rules developed after Japan’s Fukushima disaster, a top lawmaker said, as industry officials said the lack of major problems during the storm showed that they were ready.
“U.S. regulators...
August 1, 2012
Fires represent half of the risk of core meltdowns at nuclear power plants in the United States, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC.
”In other words, the fire hazard equals all other hazards combined,” said David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer with the Union of...
July 31, 2012
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The operator of California's troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant told state regulators the damaged reactors may restart by the end of the year, according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
The tentative dates — Nov. 18 for the Unit 2 reactor...
July 27, 2012
About 2,700 gallons of water from the spent fuel pool at Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant drained into a wastewater system on Sunday. The 300,000 gallon pool contains 2,500 spent fuel assemblies removed from the reactor core. The spent fuel assemblies are submerged below more than 20 feet of...
July 24, 2012
The nation's new utility titan, Duke Energy, largely blamed the broken Crystal River nuclear plant for troubles in its recent mega merger with Progress Energy.
That was the utility's defense against a barrage of questions during hearings last week in North Carolina. But while regulators in...
July 23, 2012
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued its final report investigating two units at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, a nuclear power plant located on the Pacific coast of California, which have been shut down since January 2012 after a worker noticed a leak.
The findings of the...
July 19, 2012
For much of the past decade, Progress Energy had an edge on Duke Energy, the bigger, cross-state power company, when it came to nuclear performance and reliability. Duke’s nuclear plants appeared more frequently on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s watch list for underperformers,...
They were outperforming Duke plants, but tables have turned
July 19, 2012
For much of the past decade, Progress Energy had an edge on Duke Energy, the bigger, cross-state power company, when it came to nuclear performance and reliability. Duke’s nuclear plants appeared more frequently on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s watch list for underperformers, one...
Errors in computer modeling led to design flaws in steam-generators at the San Onofre nuclear plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says in a final inspection-team report on a crisis that has kept both of the plant's reactors offline since January.
July 19, 2012
Errors in computer modeling led to design flaws in steam-generators at the San Onofre nuclear plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says in a final inspection-team report on a crisis that has kept both of the plant's reactors offline since January.
But agency officials say decisions on...
San Onofre's steam generators in worst shape of all US nuclear plants
July 13, 2012
Problems with the steam generators and miles of tubing at the San Onofre nuclear plant are the most severe found in comparable generators in the US and much more severe than previously reported, according to a new report.
The report by Fairewinds Associates (and commissioned by Friends of the Earth...
July 13, 2012
Since the release of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Committee’s official report last week, much has been made of how it implicates Japanese culture as one of the root causes of the crisis. The committee’s chairman, Dr. Kiyoshi Kurokawa, makes the accusation quite plainly in...
July 12, 2012
Federal regulators released more details Thursday on damage at the San Onofre nuclear power plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) report comes at the same time as another new analysis commissioned by a nuclear watchdog group.
The Fairewinds Associates report said problems with the steam...
July 8, 2012
It was a marriage proposal made in utility heaven: Progress Energy and Duke Energy joining to form the nation's biggest power company.
Then came the suspicions. Did Duke know everything it needed to about its partner-to-be? Was Progress holding back about its Florida nuclear troubles?
The...
July 5, 2012
The Fukushima nuclear disaster was the result of “man-made” failures before and after last year’s earthquake, according to a report from an independent parliamentary investigation.
The breakdowns involved regulators working with the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to...
July 4, 2012
Duke and Progress finally merged on Tuesday, but the man tapped months ago to run the massive energy company won't be along for the ride.
Surprising analysts and investors, Progress Energy president and CEO Bill Johnson resigned at the eleventh hour, giving no reason for the move.
Duke CEO Jim...
June 18, 2012
An environmental group filed a legal petition with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday to keep the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant closed pending extensive review by regulators and the public.
Operators shut the plant down four months ago because of unusual equipment problems....
June 18, 2012
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. (AP) — Federal regulators said Monday that a botched computer analysis resulted in design flaws that are largely to blame for unprecedented wear in steam tubes at the San Onofre nuclear power plant, but it isn't clear how the problems can be fixed.
The...
June 18, 2012
Federal regulators believe that the unusual equipment problems that have shuttered San Onofre for more than four months stem from a design issue.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Lara Uselding said preliminary findings of an NRC probe at the plant suggest that design problems, rather...
Meanwhile, several anti-nuke groups plan a protest and press conference before Monday's Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting in San Juan Capistrano.
June 18, 2012
It's official: Design flaws in San Onofre's "heavily modified" new steam generators caused excessive tube wear and a radioactive steam leak in January, NRC Regional Administrator Elmo Collins said Sunday in an interview with the Associated Press.
That conclusion dovetails with the...
June 13, 2012
Some nuclear experts are warning that spent fuel rods at a damaged plant in Japan could trigger a major catastrophe despite the government’s declaration in December that the emergency phase of the nation’s worst nuclear disaster was over.
Fifteen months after a magnitude-9 earthquake...
As temperatures rise, the heat is on to re-open San Onofre nuclear plant, following a radiation leak at the Southern California plant this winter. Jamie Reno reports.
May 29, 2012
As temperatures are rising in Southern California, so are tensions over the future of the San Onofre nuclear generating station, also known as SONGS. It’s been nearly four months since the nuclear power plant, located 45 miles north of San Diego, was shuttered after a small amount of...
May 24, 2012
Design changes at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which an expert says led to a small radiation leak, could be a sign that safety rules are inadequate, the nation’s top nuclear safety official suggested this week.
"We really need to take a look at this process one way or...
May 19, 2012
More than a year after a devastating earthquake and tsunami triggered a massive nuclear disaster, experts are warning that Japan isn't out of the woods yet and the worst nuclear storm the world has ever seen could be just one earthquake away from reality.
The troubled Reactor 4 at the Fukushima...
May 17, 2012
Growing up, I used to race my station wagon down country roads, pushing the limits of the engine, my safety and bystanders' safety on the road beyond reason. It was stupid. Fortunately, I learned several lessons about a car's engine.
First, when your car's engine light starts flashing...
An analyst hired by environmentalists says the steps being taken by Southern California Edison won’t work.
May 16, 2012
San Onofre could be on ice for 18 months before technicians finally fix the faulty generators that leaked radioactive steam in January, according to a report issued Tuesday by Fairewinds Associates, an energy consulting firm hired by an anti-nuclear group.
“The damaged steam generators...
How will the state meet its power needs?
May 16, 2012
A new report released by Friends of the Earth (FOE) says it would be unwise for Southern California Edison (SCE) to run the San Onofre nuclear power plant at reduced power.
The Edison International (NYSE: EIX) subsidiary has indicated that both units of the 2,200-MW nuclear station will probably...
May 15, 2012
San Onofre is twisting in the breeze of the new Fairewinds safety report released by activist group Friends of the Earth.
The study raises serious doubts about safety at the Southern California nuclear facility, and says running at reduced power will not solve the tubing trouble that has plagued...
Negligence led to release of radiation from defective equipment at San Onofre in January
May 15, 2012
According to a new report released by Fairewinds and Friends of the Earth, Southern California Nuclear energy company Edison avoided federal regulatory guidelines when replacing defective steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear power plant, leading to major malfunctions and a release of...
May 15, 2012
LOS ANGELES — California Sen. Barbara Boxer asked federal regulators Tuesday for details about the troubled steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear power plant, where a long-running probe into tube damage has kept the reactors sidelined for months.
In a letter, the Democrat asked Nuclear...
May 15, 2012
A consultant who has criticized Southern California Edison's handling of the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant issued a report Tuesday saying the utility's proposed solution for bringing the plant back online could make the issues worse.
The plant has been offline more than...
May 14, 2012
A document released Monday by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission shows that Southern California Edison informed the federal agency of a number of planned design changes before it replaced the plant's four steam generators.
A consultant who has alleged that Edison sidestepped review of the...
May 11, 2012
Federal officials investigating excessive tube wear, which caused a small radiation leak at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, cannot produce documentation of a presentation by operator Southern California Edison that focused on the level of federal scrutiny required for design changes at...
Despite the Japanese PM's optimistic assessment of Fukushima, experts have new worries about the plant's recovery
May 7, 2012
In December, Japan's prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, declared that "a cold shutdown" had been achieved and that the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was now over. "Today, we have reached a great milestone", Noda told the Japanese people in a televised...
May 7, 2012
Southern California Edison announced Thursday that it plans to restart the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s reactors in June, four months after extremely rapid tube wear caused a minor radiation leak.
The company also acknowledged for the first time that design problems might have...
May 6, 2012
The government does a poor job of estimating what it will cost to tear down a nuclear reactor, Congressional auditors say, and it may not be overseeing plant owners well enough to assure that they set aside enough money to do the job.
For a study it plans to issue on Monday, the Government...
Experts say acknowledging the threat would call into question the safety of dozens of identically designed nuclear power plants in the U.S.
May 4, 2012
More than a year after the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, the Japanese government, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) present similar assurances of the site's current state: challenges remain but everything is under...
April 29, 2012
A nuclear consultant for the environmental group Friends of the Earth says defective new steam generators at the shut-down San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station near San Clemente cannot be fixed and need to be replaced.
“They need to order new ones and go back to Mitsubishi and force them to...
April 29, 2012
..”All the samples would be considered nuclear waste if found here in the US.”
Arnie Gundersen on soil samples taken recently from parks, playgrounds and rooftop gardens throughout Tokyo.
The Japanese Prime Minister Declares Nuclear Plant Safe…
Last week, Japanese Prime...
April 26, 2012
The San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant has been out of commission since January and there is a movement to keep it closed or phase it out completely.
Earlier this week, the city of Irvine in Orange County voted to send a letter to federal regulators opposing the relicensing of the plant. Solana Beach...
April 17, 2012
Despite progress in improving the safety culture of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the plant still ranked highest in the nation last year for both substantiated and unsubstantiated safety complaints at nuclear plants, according to figures from federal regulators.
The number of...
April 13, 2012
The extremely rapid wear on generator tubes at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station -- which led to a minor radiation leak in January -- was the result of design changes at the plant that operator Southern California Edison did not properly disclose to federal regulators, a nuclear expert said...
April 12, 2012
Hopes that problems at San Onofre’s Unit 2 reactor might be less serious than those at Unit 3 are now fading. California’s energy agencies are gearing up efforts to get substitute power from decommissioned power plants.
NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko said when he visited San Onofre there...
April 12, 2012
LOS ANGELES — The operator of an idled nuclear plant on the California coast announced Thursday that more unusual wear has been found on tubing that carries radioactive water, the latest disclosure in an ongoing mystery involving the plant’s steam generators.
Southern California Edison...
April 12, 2012
The operators of the San Onofre nuclear power plant now say they’re seeing the same type of unusual wear in both reactor units. The plant has been closed since January while the company continues to dig for the cause of the problems.
Southern California Edison says water tubes in the steam...
April 12, 2012
An environmental watchdog group is alleging that unusual wear in the San Onofre nuclear power plant's steam generator tubes stems from design changes that were made in order to fit more tubes into each steam generator.
The group's second report on the situation at the nuclear plant came a...
April 12, 2012
BRATTLEBORO -- Power output at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant was reduced earlier this week to allow for repairs to the plant's steam condenser.
On Wednesday afternoon, the plant was running at 34 percent but on its way back up to full power, said Larry Smith, director of communications...
April 12, 2012
A follow-up analysis released today by one of the nation’s leading independent nuclear engineers provides the first detailed picture of the extent of design changes made by Southern California Edison at its San Onofre nuclear reactors. These changes likely led to the equipment degradation and...
April 6, 2012
After touring the San Onofre nuclear power plant with federal lawmakers Friday, the nation’s top nuclear regulator vowed complete accounting and accountability for why a key radiation barrier at the facility degraded far more quickly than expected and caused a minor radioactive leak earlier...
April 6, 2012
(Reuters) - The top U.S. nuclear official said on Friday his agency has not set any timetable for restarting the troubled San Onofre nuclear station in Southern California and that it would only do so if safety was assured.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Gregory Jaczko made his comments after...
April 5, 2012
LOS ANGELES — It will take more than the flip of a switch to replace power lost from the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant.
State energy officials have already warned of rotating blackouts in the region if a heat wave hits and San Onofre stays dark, and plans for replacement power remain...
When the two sides got together there was slightly more fusion than fission
April 4, 2012
PLYMOUTH —
Separately, the participants in this past week’s nuclear open house at Town Hall appear to be as far apart as they have ever been.
Proponents of relicensing Plymouth’s Pilgrim Station – the issue being debated this night – made the case for its...
Safety of plant design on minds of many
April 1, 2012
A pair of retired nuclear engineers from Vermont laid out the case for and against relicensing Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station at a forum held Thursday night.
Freeze Pilgrim, the group backing a referendum question on the relicensing of Pilgrim, sponsored the event. The question, which appears on...
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission lays out steps that Southern California Edison must take before the troubled San Onofre plant will be allowed to come back on line.
March 28, 2012
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, citing serious concerns about equipment failures at the San Onofre nuclear power plant, has prohibited Southern California Edison from restarting the plant until the problems are thoroughly understood and fixed.
The plant has been shut down for two months...
March 27, 2012
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The troubled San Onofre nuclear plant in Southern California will remain shut down until federal regulators can determine why tubes carrying radioactive water in the plant's massive generators are rapidly decaying.
The announcement Tuesday formalized an agreement with...
Deteriorating heat transfer tubes in the nuclear power plant's steam generators — installed a year ago — are a potential safety problem, officials say. The shutdown is the longest in San Onofre's history.
March 26, 2012
A year ago, Southern California Edison announced the installation of four new steam generators at the San Onofre nuclear power plant, hailing it as a major boost to electricity production.
The $671-million generators, which will be paid for by rate increases to Edison and San Diego Gas &...
March 17, 2012
This Wednesday, Vermont Yankee will have operated for 40 years.
Unlike with people, 40 years old is not middle age for a nuclear power plant. Original documents submitted to the Vermont Public Service Board during the Yankee up-rate hearings showed the plant was designed for 40 years of operation,...
Nuclear engineer Gundersen describes aftermath of Fukushima-Daiichi disaster
March 14, 2012
BRATTLEBORO—Nuclear engineer and former industry senior vice president Arnie Gundersen said he used to think people needed nuclear power.
Only a few companies like Entergy we couldn’t trust, he said at a Vermont Yankee forum held Sunday to mark the one-year anniversary of the nuclear...
March 14, 2012
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant is operating at reduced capacity due to a problem with a key component of the reactor system.
A Yankee official says engineers at the plant are investigating an issue with the condenser.
The condenser is original to the 40-year-old plant and functions something...
February 29, 2012
The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan was caused by authorities "choosing to ignore risks and make business a higher priority than safety," Greenpeace claimed in a new report released on Tuesday.
The Lessons from Fukushima study was put together by nuclear physicist Dr David Boilley...
February 28, 2012
A new report released today by Greenpeace argues it was neither the 7.1 magnitude earthquake nor the raging tsunami that followed which deserve the real blame for the nuclear disaster at Japan's Fukushima Diachi power plant last year. Rather, according to 'The Lessons of Fukushima', the...
February 15, 2012
(CNN) -- Iran flaunted a new generation of centrifuges and mastery of the nuclear fuel cycle Wednesday as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, clad in a white lab coat, was on hand to load domestically made fuel rods into the core of a Tehran reactor.
Also announced was an intent to start production of...
January 20, 2012
There is much to say about this week’s Frontline documentary, “Nuclear Aftershocks,” and some of it would even be good. For the casual follower of nuclear news in the ten months since an earthquake and tsunami triggered the massive and ongoing disaster at Japan’s Fukushima...
December 19, 2011
Members of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have said they’re willing to work together after four of them accused Chairman Gregory Jaczko of bullying employees and creating a toxic work environment.
That’s about to be tested. Jaczko, 41, remains in place after two congressional...
December 19, 2011
(Updates with prime minister’s remark in third paragraph.)
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said the Fukushima nuclear reactors have been brought to a state of cold shutdown, a disputed milestone that will likely allow the return of some evacuees and eventual...
December 14, 2011
ATLANTA (AP) -- Federal regulators are leaning toward approving a nuclear reactor designed by Westinghouse Electric Co. that could power the first nuclear plants built from scratch in a generation.
A majority of the members of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have released statements saying...
December 11, 2011
Progress Energy's disastrous do-it-yourself upgrade to the Crystal River nuclear plant was such a risky idea that the company's own internal report warned against it.
The company's lack of expertise and experience "outweigh strengths and opportunities," the report said....
December 1, 2011
There is no such thing as a safe nuclear reactor. “They’re all cancer factories, they’re all bomb factories,” says author Dr. Helen Caldicott in Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer. With radioactive contamination now spreading worldwide from the nuclear catastrophe in Japan,...
August 16, 2011
The Tennessee Valley Authority has a message for opponents of it finishing a long-shuttered, 37-year-old nuclear plant in northeast Alabama: No costumes.
A month after zombie-costumed protesters paraded in Chattanooga to oppose TVA reviving what they described as a "corpse of a power plant,...
In the wake of the Fukushima meltdowns, some nations are looking to move away from nuclear power. But not China, which is proceeding with plans to build 36 reactors over the next decade. Now some experts are questioning whether China can safely operate a host of nuclear plants.
August 8, 2011
Giant rings of prefabricated concrete and steel lower into place at the Sanmen Nuclear Power Station in Zhejiang, China. Inside the rising containment building, a 340-ton chunk of forged steel forms the nuclear reactor’s vessel, which arrived from South Korea late last month. Inside that...
July 13, 2011
(Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear industry's top cop will weigh major changes in how it regulates the country's 104 reactors after Japan's Fukushima disaster, a move that will help shape the future of the power source and could lead to significant cost increases.
A task force report...
Three months after its meltdown, the stricken nuclear power plant continues to struggle to cool its nuclear fuel--and cope with growing amounts of radioactive cooling water
June 24, 2011
More than three months after a powerful earthquake and 14-meter-high tsunami struck Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains flooded with a salty mix of ocean and fresh water that is contaminated with the radioactive residue of three reactors and four spent fuel pools' worth of...
Scientific experts believe Japan's nuclear disaster to be far worse than governments are revealing to the public.
June 16, 2011
"Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind," Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, told Al Jazeera.
Japan's 9.0 earthquake on March 11 caused a massive tsunami that crippled the cooling systems at the Tokyo Electric Power...
May 19, 2011
As I wrote in Thursday’s paper, the Fukushima Daiichi accident is renewing a debate over whether the emergency venting systems that were added to boiling water reactors 20 years ago should be opened only directly by operators or function automatically.
At Fukushima and at plants in the United...
The U.S. has 31 reactors just like Japan’s — but regulators are ignoring the risks and boosting industry profits
April 27, 2011
Five days after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, America's leading nuclear regulator came before Congress bearing good news: Don't worry, it can't happen here. In the aftermath of the Japanese catastrophe, officials in...
Authorities say it could take 10 years to decommission the Fukushima Daiichi power plant
April 9, 2011
Once Japan’s leaky nuclear complex stops spewing radiation and its reactors cool down, making the site safe and removing the ruined equipment is going to be a messy ordeal that could take decades and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Radiation has covered the area around the Fukushima Dai...
March 28, 2011
TOKYO — As radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant reached a new high Sunday, workers contended with dark, steamy conditions in their efforts to repair the facility’s cooling system and stave off a full-blown nuclear meltdown. Wearing respirators, face masks and...
In the best case, hundreds of thousands of evacuees will spend months away from home
March 24, 2011
The fate of Japan's Fukushima prefecture, where hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated, appears to lie somewhere between the outcomes at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. There were no evacuations during the Three Mile Island accident, which released about 50,000 curies of...
March 14, 2011
As radiation levels rise at the crippled reactors in northern Japan, a basic question arises: how long can workers keep struggling to ward off full meltdowns?
The workers are performing what have been described as heroic tasks, like using fire equipment to pump seawater into the three failing...
What you should know about the health risks from Japan’s nuclear accident, from an industry veteran.
March 14, 2011
The nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan is continuing to deteriorate. Multiple explosions have blown roofs and outer walls off reactor buildings, and a dire struggle is under way to prevent the worst.
For several days, authorities have attempted to reassure the public. Now, they are pleading for...
March 13, 2011
The detection of the highly radioactive elements cesium-137 and iodine-131 outside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant heralds the beginning of an ecological and human tragedy. The open question is whether it will be limited, serious or catastrophic.
The two radioactive isotopes can mean...
January 15, 2011
A nuclear decommissioning expert says estimates to dismantle the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant are too old and don’t reflect the current state of the economy.
According to study released Thursday from Fairewinds Associates, a consultancy hired by the state Legislature to analyze the...
November 22, 2010
ZION, Ill. — Twelve years ago, Commonwealth Edison found itself in a bind.
The Zion Station, its twin-unit nuclear reactor here, was no longer profitable. But the company could not afford to tear it down: the cost of dismantling the vast steel and concrete building, with multiple areas of...
November 15, 2010
(Source: Engineer)Software based on technology developed for the packaging sector is now being used in nuclear decommissioning. Dave Wilson reports
Developing algorithms that can optimise the means by which sweets, laundry detergents and pharmaceuticals can be packaged might not initially seem very...
September 1, 2010
As campaign season heats up in my home state of Vermont, environmentally conscious voters have been remarking on the similarity between media ads on local TV by Entergy, owner of the radiation-leaking Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, and BP, responsible for the worst environmental catastrophe in...
Set to go online in 2016, Westinghouse's AP1000 and other third-generation nuclear reactors are on the verge of design approval by the feds--but not quite there
July 29, 2010
A new era for nuclear power is taking shape as third-generation reactors, designed to be simpler and safer, inch through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) design certification process. Much of nuclear's revival hinges on the ability of new reactors to outshine those of yore in...
April 28, 2010
Arnie and Maggie Gundersen came to the Statehouse last week hauling a poster-sized map that detailed the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and the monitoring wells that dot the grounds.
Sitting before a legislative committee, Arnie Gundersen recounted the tritium levels found in each well and...
April 28, 2010
Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday that states have a lot of control over the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, but that radiological issues remain the federal domain.
Tom Frederick, speaking at a meeting in Bethesda, Md., told a group of nuclear power operators,...
April 20, 2010
A panel of experts convened on Tuesday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to discuss how the agency should approach tritium leaks at reactors suggested that the biggest risk that nuclear operators faced was the erosion of public trust.
“Tritium is one of the most benign of radioactive...
February 24, 2010
The nuclear power industry — and President Obama’s plans to fund its growth — is bracing for a major setback today as the Vermont state senate is expected to vote to shut down the Vermont Yankee plant, a nuclear reactor with a history of leaks. We speak to nuclear engineer and...
Vermont would be the first state to close a nuclear reactor after 38-year-old Yankee's history of leaking cancer-causing tritium
February 23, 2010
Barack Obama's new dream of a nuclear renaissance faces a major reality check tomorrow when the state of Vermont is expected to shut down an ageing nuclear reactor with a history of leaks.
It would be the first time a state has moved to shut down such a reactor, and follows Obama's...
Nuclear industry experts Arnie and Maggie Gundersen predicted the problems at Vermont Yankee
February 17, 2010
The growing list of woes at Vermont Yankee is bad news for its parent company, Louisiana-based Entergy. But the technical mishaps, monetary shortfalls and radioactive leaks at the state’s sole nuclear power plant have been a boon for independent nuclear experts Arnie and Maggie Gundersen,...
February 14, 2010
For years there have been many lawmakers, lobbyists and state officials at the Statehouse who thought Arnie and Maggie Gundersen were alarmist and rabid anti-nuclear kooks.
But it turns out that this husband-and-wife team from Burlington have been right about many things Vermont Yankee –...
Company, federal officials say power plant can operate during search for tritium leak
February 11, 2010
MONTPELIER — Vermont Yankee could stop adding to the tritium leaking into the groundwater around the Vernon nuclear plant if it were to shut down the facility while searching for the leak, Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear engineer, told legislators Wednesday.
The plant has continued to...
Says quickest way to stop tritium is to shut down
February 11, 2010
The plume of tritium leaking from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is suspected of being 35 feet deep, 200 feet wide and 400 feet long, according to the Legislature's nuclear expert.
Arnie Gundersen, a member of the Vermont Legislature's Public Oversight Panel for Vermont Yankee, told...
February 8, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: John Cramer, Associate Director of Media Relations, 802-831-1106, jcramer@vermontlaw.edu
SOUTH ROYALTON, VT –– The Environmental Law Society’s Advocacy Group will host a panel on the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant at 5:30 p.m., Tues., Feb. 9...
February 7, 2010
The Douglas administration has been forced to take a tough line on false statements coming from the owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and on the problems arising from the underground pipes now leaking radioactive tritium into the groundwater in Vernon.
Entergy Nuclear, the owner of...
February 6, 2010
Does Entergy get it?
Does Entergy really think that reassigning Vermont Yankee site vice president Jay Thayer to another position in the company is enough to restore people’s trust? Even Department of Public Service Commissioner David O’Brien on Wednesday called the move "...
January 12, 2010
BRATTLEBORO — A top-level official from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was in Vernon Monday, sitting in on meetings with Entergy Nuclear on how to handle the newly discovered radioactive leak at Vermont Yankee.
Donald Jackson, the NRC section chief, was attending the Entergy meetings,...
August 21, 2009
The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant's decomissioning fund -- which had been withering with the economy -- is showing signs of improvement.
Is it enough, though, to clean up the Vernon site after it shuts down? That perennial question lingers.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in a...
August 21, 2009
BRATTLEBORO -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s estimate as to how much it will cost to clean up the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant site is too low, stated a former industry insider turned nuclear safety advocate.
Two years ago, Arnie Gundersen and Fairewinds Associates performed a...
August 21, 2009
BRATTLEBORO, August 21, 2009 -- Mechanical problems at Vermont Yankee can be fixed, said a member of the public oversight panel tasked with reviewing a reliability assessment of the power plant in Vernon.
"But we have concerns that the global and cultural problems -- not mechanical -- are a...
July 15, 2009
BRATTLEBORO — Entergy Nuclear has improved the financial package for the proposed spin-off company of its five northeast nuclear plants, including the Vermont Yankee reactor.
Mike Burns, an Entergy spokesman in New Orleans, said Tuesday that negotiations between Entergy and New York state...
June 26, 2009
The companies that own almost half the nation's nuclear reactors are not setting aside enough money to dismantle them, and many may sit idle for decades and pose safety and security risks as a result, an Associated Press investigation has found.
The shortfalls are caused not by fluctuating...
June 12, 2009
Back in the summer of 2006, VDB was considered radical for suggesting that the relicensing of Vermont Yankee was now an open question, rather than a done deal. Of course, here in the summer of 2009, relicensing is not simply one open question but several. Will Vermont relicense an aging nuclear...
June 11, 2009
BRATTLEBORO -- A former member of the oversight panel that reviewed the results of an audit of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon was asked Wednesday to keep an eye on measures taken by power plant engineers to address issues raised in the audit.
Arnie Gundersen, who...
April 28, 2009
Vermont Yankee Oversight Panel (VYOP) report was 50 pages long, which makes it difficult to summarize in an opinion piece limited to 600 words, but as the VYOP's first chairman, I believe it is important for all Vermonters to understand the panel's assessment of Yankee's reliability....
When the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant finally closes, will there be enough money to clean up its radioactive legacy?
December 12, 2007
In the world of industrial-scale electricity generation, some structures are so large and powerful that the sight of them takes your breath away. Their massive, spinning turbines can generate millions of kilowatt-hours of cheap and reliable energy for years at a time, while contributing virtually...
Current Podcast
May 15, 2013
Kevin Hurley talks with Arnie and Maggie Gundersen about the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board's (ASLB) decision to hold public hearings about restarting the San Onofre Nuclear Plant. "This whole issue is about the public's right to know. The nuclear industry and the NRC have developed a process to keep the public out," Arnie says. "Was there a safety risk? Yes," Maggie says, "There was a significant safety risk to the 8 million people in that area of southern California. Was there a radiation release? Yes. It was minor, but it could have been so much more."
Related Documents:
NEI Nuclear Notes - Link
OC Register - Link
Related Documents:
NEI Nuclear Notes - Link
OC Register - Link
Fairewinds Feature
March 8, 2013
Arnie joins CCTV's host Margaret Harrington and special guest Mark Pendergrast, author of "Japan's Tipping Point" to talk about Fukushima Daiichi's second anniversary and the impact it is having on the public view of renewable energy.
Radio Interviews
Five O'Clock Shadow
April 1, 2013
If You Love This Planet
July 27, 2012
KPFK | 90.7FM
July 10, 2012
Radio New Zealand: National
July 7, 2012