Fukushima 1/24/16: New Devices To Retrieve Nuclear Fuel; Plutonium Stora...

Publicado el 24 ene. 2016

Devices to retrieve nuclear fuel shown to media
Nuclear & Energy Jan. 18, 2016 - Updated 04:40 UTC-5
Electronics
maker Toshiba has shown media a pair of new devices to be used in
retrieving nuclear fuel rods from one of the reactors at the damaged
Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.
The 2 devices were unveiled at a Toshiba factory in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on Monday.
They will be used to remove rubble and extract fuel from a storage pool at the plant's Number 3 reactor building.
When
the nuclear accident occurred in March 2011, fuel rods were being held
in pools on the top floors of the Number 1 to Number 4 reactor
buildings.
Workers have cleared the pool at the Number 4 building.
But fuel rods remain in the 3 other buildings as workers cannot enter
due to high levels of radiation.
The device to clear out rubble is
about one meter wide and has 2 arms to hold or cut debris. It is
suspended with 6 wires to enable small location adjustments.
After rubble is removed, the other device will be used to retrieve 566 units of fuel in the Number 3 reactor building pool.
The
plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, aims to bring the devices
to the reactor building in the next fiscal year, have workers trained
and start work in 2018.
The leader of the team that developed the devices, Koichi Sekiguchi, says little is known about the situation inside the pool.
He
says the team will develop new tools if the devices are not enough to
make sure that workers can carry out their mission safely.

IAEA assesses Japan's nuclear regulator
Nuclear & Energy Jan. 22, 2016 - Updated 02:22 UTC-5
The
International Atomic Energy Agency says Japan's nuclear regulator has
been independent and transparent since its launch, but needs better
screening and expertise.
The IAEA held hearings on Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority since January 11th for its first assessment of the regulator.
The
authority was established one year after the 2011 nuclear accident at
the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The UN watchdog conducts such assessments
of regulatory frameworks for nuclear and radiation safety at the request
of member countries.
The agency provided an outline of its assessment on Friday, the last day of the procedure.
It
said the authority is transparent and independent of nuclear plant
promoters, and has tightened its safety measures. But it called on the
regulator to work to attract competent and experienced staff and enhance
its skills regarding nuclear and radiation safety.
The agency also
advised that the regulator's inspection procedures be made more flexible
to allow for focusing inspections on key facilities.
Assessment team
leader Philippe Jamet said his team recommended that Japan adopt more
top experts, as many of the country's nuclear power stations are to
resume operation. Jamet is the commissioner of the French Nuclear Safety
Authority.
The team plans to compile an official report in April.

Suspected data leak at nuclear inspection body
Nuclear & Energy Jan. 22, 2016 - Updated 06:31 UTC-5
A
Japanese agency in charge of inspecting, analyzing, and processing
information about nuclear material management says data may have leaked
from one of its computers through file-sharing software.
The
Tokyo-based Nuclear Material Control Center said on Friday that the
suspected leak of data on inspection equipment occurred last September
at Rokkasho Safeguards Center, in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan.
Officials of the center said a monitoring system detected that unspecified data was being sent to outside computers.
They
said an employee at Rokkasho apparently installed the software without
knowing it. File-sharing software is prohibited by in-house rules.
The center did not report the case to the government's Nuclear Regulation Authority.
The center is commissioned by the authority to check whether nuclear facilities handle radioactive material properly.
Another
computer at Rokkasho Safeguards Center contains important data about
where plutonium is stored and when the material has been transported.
The
officials said an investigation will look into whether the file-sharing
software in question has been installed on other computers, and whether
critical data has leaked.