Climate Crisis + Regulatory Collusion = Nuclear Disasters
/Leaks at Nuke in China
By The Fairewinds Crew
The French and Chinese nuclear reactor Taishan Unit 1 is leaking radioactivity! Named Taishan Units 1 and 2, the reactors are the first of their kind in China and are located in the Guangdong Province. Designed by Framatome Corporation in France, the reactors have created “an imminent radiological threat,” according to CNN. Allegedly, governments in the West were not informed of these leaks until Framatome notified other nations on June 8, 2021. Moreover, it appears that Chinese authorities and Framatome may have known about issues at the reactor months before Western powers were notified.
Yes, you read that correctly! The public is always the last to know!
According to the New York Times, small amounts of radioactive gases, likely from Taishan, were detected in Hong Kong during April at least 130 Kilometers (80 miles) from this Chinese reactor site.
How does this distance to reactors compare for U.S. residents?
As of Tuesday, June 15th, this issue does not appear to be a meltdown like Fukushima, TMI, or Chernobyl. Repeat not! It seems that there have been one or more nuclear fuel failures at the Taishan Unit 1 plant in Southeast China.
What is a fuel failure? Each nuclear fuel rod consists of about 144 fuel pellets, depending upon the manufacturer. The fuel rod's length is 12-feet long. It has a zircaloy metallic wrapper that extends around the fuel pellets and is welded at the top and bottom, thereby creating each fuel rod.
Yesterday, Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer for Fairewinds, was interviewed by Al Jazeera Media Network. He explains how nuclear fuel cladding may fail in the interview below:
These two European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs) are considered the two most formidable atomic reactors worldwide. These new EPRs, owned by the Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company Limited (TNPC) that combines CGNPC (China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group) 70% and by EDF (Électricité de France) 30%, supply 3320 MWe of electricity to China’s electric grid.
Why the fuel cladding failed is unknown at this point in time. However, the fuel leaks released radioactive gases (isotopes of noble gases Xenon and Krypton) into the reactor coolant water. Such leaks sometimes happen at atomic power reactors. Therefore, each reactor has a system built to trap these gases and collect them in holding tanks until the radiation has decayed and no longer dangerous to the public. According to BBC reports, the Chinese authorities released radiation from the tank for some unknown reason before it decayed away. What exposure to these highly radioactive releases means for workers or nearby Chinese residents is also unknown.
The noble gases were detectable as far away as Hong Kong, which is a long way from their release location. Thus, people near the Taishan reactor may have received significant radiation exposures. Exactly how far these releases traveled is also unknown, and as Fairewinds has repeatedly said, Radiation Knows No Borders.
Obviously, a lot remains unknown at this point, and Fairewinds doubts that prompt information will be forthcoming to the world's citizens from China, Western authorities, or members of the Atomic Priesthood. Yes, sadly, the public will still be the last to know!
Let’s focus a little more on the operation of an atomic power reactor. Periodically, an atomic fuel rod will crack and release noble gases into the cooling water. Usually, when this occurs, nuclear power reactors will be shut down to find and replace the leaking fuel elements. Why hasn’t China closed this plant to examine the leak? We believe the answer lies in our worldwide climate crisis. This particular area of China is experiencing the effects of a severe climate-crisis-induced drought, where hydroelectric dams are not operating at total capacity. If the Taishan plant were to shut down for repair, it would further exacerbate an electricity shortage and possibly cause blackouts to Chinese industries. It would seem that industrial production is more important than public health to the Chinese government.
Aside from the effects of the climate crisis, let’s look at the other elephant in the room, Regulatory Collusion. At the 2021 Nuclear Energy Conference (held in Austria), Arnie discussed that nuclear power regulators have not been captured by the nuclear industry. To be captured presupposes that the regulators were at some time genuinely independent and impartial. However, regulatory independence from the nuclear power industry has never happened in China, Japan, the U.S., Europe, or Russia. In fact, the avoidable releases at Taishan are yet another example that worldwide, the atomic regulators are in collusion with the nuclear industry they are supposed to be regulating!
Frequent Fairewinds followers and readers will see these patterns of Regulatory Collusion in the material we have presented over many years. Whether we are referring to Native Americans at Church Rock in New Mexico, refugees and residents in Fukushima Prefecture, downwinders from atomic bomb tests in the western U.S. or South Pacific, or Russian and European citizens near Mayak and Chernobyl, the public is always notified last.
