Natural disasters Archives - Atomic Insights

Relaxed approach to protective action in case of radiological release

Rod Adams · April 12, 2013 · 14 Comments

After deliberating for a period of time approaching a decade, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a new draft Protective Action Manual that includes Protective Action Guides (PAG) for people responsible for responding to radioactive material releases that might come from one of the following sources:

a fire in a major facility such as a nuclear fuel manufacturing plant;
an accident at a federal nuclear weapons complex facility;
an accident at a commercial nuclear power plant (NPP);
a transportation accident involving radioactive material;
a terrorist act involving a radiological dispersal device (RDD) or yield-producing Improvised Nuclear Device (IND).

The “new” radiation dose response limits in the draft PAGs are virtually unchanged from the ones recommended in the currently active Protective Action Manual (13 MB PDF), which was issued in 1992. According to experts like Dr. Jerry Cuttler, who focuses on the health effects of low level radiation, the limits could be relaxed by a factor of 50 and still keep the public safe.

Not surprisingly, strongly antinuclear organizations like the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) are working hard to portray the new guidance as a frightening relaxation of the limits in comparison to such scientifically invalid limits as the one that the EPA applies to long term nuclear waste disposal – 15 mrem per year, which is 1/20th of average natural background.

Groups that are fundamentally opposed to the beneficial use of nuclear energy have been working hard since 2005 to try to force the EPA to issue far more stringent guidance that would be virtually impossible to execute in any reasonably foreseeable radiological material release for any source other than a nuclear power plant. (Nuclear power plants can, with enough additional investment in modeling and more redundant layers of mitigation, probably meet any proposed standard.) Watching the politics of this evolution has been interesting; the fact that the guides are still sort of reasonable is largely a result of efforts to inject real world analysis by first responders representing the Department of Homeland Security.
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Atomic Show #199 – Fukushima happened 2 years ago

Rod Adams · March 11, 2013 · 21 Comments

Before March 11, 2011, “Fukushima” was the name of a relatively unknown prefecture in Japan. Now it is a shorthand reference to an event in which three large nuclear power plants melted and released a small quantity of long lived radioactive material that has not harmed any human being. Here is a brief synopsis of [...]

NRC Chairman writes about enhancing safety after a visit to Fukushima, Japan

Rod Adams · December 22, 2012 · 44 Comments

On December 21, 2012, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) blog posted a letter from Chairman Macfarlane titled A Visit to Japan: Reflections from the Chairman. She has recently returned from a trip to Japan and a visit to the evacuated areas near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. Here are her concluding thoughts: On [...]

Atomic Show #190 – Nuclear plant performance during Hurricane Sandy

Rod Adams · November 7, 2012 · 7 Comments

There are 34 nuclear reactors located in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. Of those, 7 were shutdown for planned maintenance. Three units tripped due to disturbances on the grid or issues with one of their redundant cooling systems. The other 24 remained operational and supplied as much power as the grid could accept. On Sunday, [...]

Nuclear plants performed well during Sandy – as expected by professionals

Rod Adams · October 31, 2012 · 13 Comments

One of the best things about nuclear energy is that the fuel is cheap and densely concentrated. That characteristic enables facilities to be hardened against external events, and has the potential to reduce the vulnerability of nuclear energy facilities to infrastructure damage that happens outside of the facility. The low cost fuel also enables a [...]

Oak Ridge researchers prove Fukushima Unit 4 spent fuel pool NEVER a danger

Rod Adams · October 16, 2012 · 41 Comments

The temperature in the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent fuel pool never exceeded 90 degrees C and the level in the pool never fell below the top of the used fuel that was stored there. The Chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the people who supported his testimony to Congress on the afternoon [...]

How I learned to stop worrying and embrace the atom

Guest Author · September 21, 2012 · 23 Comments

Fukushima ‘crisis’ changed my mind on nuclear power By MICHAEL RADCLIFFE Like millions of other people in Japan, I watched the events of March 2011 unfurl with shock and trepidation. The massive earthquake, the terrible tsunami and then what seemed to be a dreadful nuclear disaster. Yet now I wonder at my naivety, because the [...]

Arnie Gundersen Caught on Video Lying About Risk of Radiation Released During Fukushima Event

Rod Adams · July 13, 2012 · 34 Comments

Arnie Gundersen, the sole engineer of Fairewinds Associates, continues to tell lies about the radiation released from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants. He also continues to lie about the potential effects and seeks to spread fear and uncertainty where neither one are justified. He is a dangerous man on a mission to make money [...]

Atomic Show #182 – 53 Weeks after Fukushima

Rod Adams · March 19, 2012 · 1 Comment

The last two episodes of the Atomic Show have been conversations with people who responded to the events of Fukushima by sharing accurate information in as many venues as they could reach. Three people who I really wanted to include in those conversations were unable to participate, so I asked them to gather on March [...]

Atomic Show #181 – The Year After Fukushima (Part 2)

Rod Adams · March 13, 2012 · Leave a Comment

There was so much to talk about regarding the way that the world responded to the great north east Japan earthquake and tsunami – and the subsequent damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station that I gathered a second group of people in the evening of Sunday March 11, 2012. This group included Will [...]

Atomic Show #180 – The Year After Fukushima (Part 1)

Rod Adams · March 12, 2012 · 3 Comments

One year ago today, one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history occurred less than 100 miles off of the north east coast of Japan. About 30-40 minutes later, a series of 7 tsunamis (tidal waves) decimated a large section of the coast, washing over numerous engineered barriers. The waves destroyed homes, factories, bridges, roads, [...]

Atomic Show #176 – Let Fukushima Residents Go Home

Rod Adams · December 6, 2011 · 5 Comments

There have been a number of recent articles about the evacuated area that surrounds the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. One in particular that caught my attention was an article published in the Washington Post titled Around the Fukushima plant, a world left behind. The problem is that the contamination levels outside of the gate [...]