GAO: Leaks on ageing Nuke sites difficult to detect

U.S. nuclear plant power, the operators have found out not how quickly detect leaks of radioactive water from Aging pipes that snake and the leaks, often for years undetected are unstoppable, according to a new report by researchers at the Kongresses.

Der of two congressmen Tuesday in response to an investigation of the associated press published report from the Government Accountability Office has been under the sites -, the three-fourths of America's 65 nuclear plants shows sites radioactive tritium, sometimes have leaked into the groundwater.Separately, two US Senators arm of the Congress asked GAO, monitoring and watchdog, to examine the results of the current AP series of aging nukes, which is therefore, who have U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the nuclear power industry operate within safety standards worked closely, to old reactors by weakening it or not force to keep the rules.

A third Senator, independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, said plants raised disturbing claims about safety at the aging of the AP series and reiterates its call that the Vermont Yankee plant be shut down."The GAO concluded Tuesday democratic deputies Edward j. Markey of Massachusetts and Peter Welch of Vermont published report that during a voluntary initiative, the industry, to identify that recently adopted to leaks to, who U.S. does not know how quickly discovered nuclear regulatory Commission."Without such an assessment, we continue to believe that NRC has no guarantee that to confirm the presence of underground pipe-laying will lead the ground water protection initiative system leaks nuclear power plants age "report authors completed."No leak is known, that aquifer, holding water resources of the public utilities, have reached even though tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, residential drinking fountain in the vicinity of at least three nuclear power plants has contaminated.

Not exceed tritium in these wells the federal health standard. Although slightly radioactive tritium is the greatest risk to cause of cancer, if it ends up in drinking water.Markey spokesperson said that his Office received the GAO report in early June after it request to a tritium leak at the Indian point nuclear plant North of New York City 2009 reports. Usually, offices keep Congress reports for 30 days, but it Markey in response AP tritium history, part of an ongoing investigative series appears."In a written statement to he the ongoing nuclear crisis in the Japanese Fukushima Dai-Ichi work, the kind of collapse, what he said could happen in the United States, if a tube, the water to a reactor core to be cool not."It said would no warning as ever the integrity of these underground pipes checked no one, "Markey.Der industry's nuclear energy Institute cited his" underground pipe laying integrity initiative directive "voluntarily in 2009 was launched, as proof of the fact that it takes tritium serious leaks.

"The initiative commits the industry after a series of actions to set up more frequent inspections and improve the reliability of underground pipe-laying with a goal of structural integrity and leaks to protect prevent, "said the Institute in a statement. the Institute criticized also the AP General findings and" selective, misleading reporting in a number of new articles on U.S. nuclear power plant safety. ""Previously, the AP reported that regulatory authorities and industry to keep commercial nuclear reactors operation have weakened security standards for decades of the country.

While NRC officials and operators argue that safety margins can be relaxed without affecting safety, critics of these accommodations say the reactors are an accident inching closer."In response to these findings the GAO for a new inquiry, asked New Jersey's two Democratic Senators based on"serious accusations"documented by the AP."There the concern reached we would, in fact, aging power plants compliance with operating rules required because of the weakened NRC rules, instead of demonstrating compliance with the existing standards, "wrote separations Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez.In of a speech Senate Tuesday, Sanders said the Vermonters have ignored the will of Vermont Yankee operator Entergy and the NRC." Vermont Senate recently voted to close the plant, his license of next year expired.He called also a GAO investigation into the security issues in the AP series. "These allegations by the AP are incredibly disturbing," said Sanders.

"Our nuclear security should have seen top priority at the NRC, especially after what we do in Japan." "You should not answer to the nuclear industry, NRC must answer public."Sanders said that the investigation should determine whether the NRC systematically works with industry, safety, aging plants operation to keep to undermine.California Democrat Barbara Boxer, Chairman of the Senate Committee, said environment and public works Sanders.Late she supported Tuesday, NRC said it did not agree with the AP conclusions in the stories, but welcomed the attention to nuclear plant safety, that have generated stories.

"The Agency defended security its standards and approach.""The NRC never varies from its main task - ensure that the public stays safe during the civil use of radioactive materials in the United States", the Anweisung.Die said the main issue of the series AP addressing to the weakening of the standards, the NRC said it "changes supported only if they maintain acceptable levels of public security;" "This includes adding or strengthening requirements."-The investigative AP national team can be reached to ap.org investigate (at)

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Japan approved Tepco nuclear claims plan, reactor leaks

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan (C) speaks during a cabinet ministers' meeting to discuss crippled nuclear power plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) compensation plan in Tokyo May 12, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Yoko Kubota
TOKYO | Sat May 14, 2011 2:31am EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan on Friday announced a plan to help Tokyo Electric Power compensate victims of the crisis at its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant without going broke while it struggles to resolve the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

The plan, agreed after weeks of wrangling between government officials, bankers and Tokyo Electric executives over who should pay for the crisis, allays investors' fears that a collapse of the power firm would roil financial markets.

It comes as engineers are still working to bring reactors under control at Tokyo Electric's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant north of Tokyo two months after the earthquake and tsunami that led to radiation leaks.

Ratings agency Standard and Poors lowered Tokyo Electric, known as Tepco, to BBB from BBB+, saying in a statement: "The upper limit of compensation remains unclear at this stage, and we expect Tepco's profitability to remain under significant pressure for a very long period."
The government will issue special-purpose bonds to help finance a fund that will allow Asia's largest utility to handle compensation claims expected to run into tens of billions of dollars. No ceiling was set on Tokyo Electric's liabilities.

The government is also considering buying preferred shares from Tokyo Electric, also known as Tepco, if it runs short of capital. It did not provide details on the size of its planned fund injection but lawmakers told reporters earlier this week the bond issue would total about 5 trillion yen ($62 billion).
In return for public backing, the government said it will exert control "for a certain period of time" over management of Tokyo Electric and other power utilities, which will also be asked to pay annual premiums into the fund.

Though relieved that the worst may have been averted, investors sold utility stocks, unsettled by the prospect of the government's hands-on role in running the sector.

Bank shares also slid after Japan's top government spokesman said a distinction should be made between loans made before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and those extended after the disaster and that banks should be asked to cooperate in easing Tokyo Electric's financial burden.

The market interpreted the comments from Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano as an indication banks may be asked to forgive loans or make other concessions. Shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, the utility's main creditor bank, dropped 3.8 percent.

"The government is infringing on private firms' profits. It has violated the profits of utilities and now it's trying to lower the burden for the taxpayer by encroaching on banks' profits," said Kiyoshi Noda, chief fund manager at MU Investments.
PUBLIC BURDEN
Government officials made great efforts to fend off criticism of the scheme as an unjustified use of taxpayer funds. Some have argued the utility, which has a history of safety lapses and is known for its cozy ties with regulators, should have been allowed to fail.

"This framework is not meant as a bailout of Tepco. We made this framework so that compensation can take place swiftly for the victims ... and so that Tepco can supply electricity in a stable way," Trade Minister Banri Kaieda told reporters.
Ministers also sought to alleviate concerns that consumers would end up shouldering much of the burden either in the form of higher electricity tariffs or new taxes, saying the implications for both should be kept to a minimum.

The government will need to pass a new law in parliament to implement the plan and analysts said the opposition, however critical of the scheme, will find it hard to block it as it will effectively mean a delay in compensating disaster victims.
The special-purpose bonds can be turned into cash to handle the initial burst of payouts and Tepco said it aimed to make the first payments to farmers and fishermen affected by the disaster by the end of this month.

More than 70,000 people living in a largely rural area within a 20-km (12 mile) radius of the plant were forced to evacuate. About 136,000 people living within a zone extending another 10 km were advised to stay indoors.
Some analysts have estimated that compensation claims could be anywhere between $20 billion and $130 billion, depending on how long the crisis continues.
S&P said the likelihood that Tepco would receive extraordinary support from the government was very high, but among other factors an increase in radiation leaks from the nuclear plant could raise the risk of further ratings cuts.

DELAY

While the government tried to navigate the political minefield surrounding the compensation plan, workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant 240 km north of Tokyo faced another setback after a water leak was discovered in one of the reactors this week.
Tepco said on Friday that the discovery of leaking water from the stricken plant's No.1 reactor could complicate its plan to set up a more permanent cooling system for the facility. Some outside experts have been skeptical for weeks about Japan's plan to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi reactors by January.
Kaieda said a delay in that timetable was now likely.

"I think this is a major factor that will require a change in Tokyo Electric's road map for bringing the situation under control," Kaieda said.
Earlier in the week, Tepco said it had sealed a leak of radioactive water outside the plant's No.3 reactor. The No.2 reactor developed similar leaks which were sealed in April with liquid glass and other substances.
The 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that followed killed more than 15,000 people, the National Policy Agency said. More than 9,500 people are still missing.

Since the disaster disabled the Fukushima Daiichi plant's cooling systems, Tepco has poured water on the reactors to forestall disastrous meltdowns. The utility has scrambled to find means of storing the contaminated water, some of which has seeped into the ocean.
The world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century prompted Tokyo to rethink its energy policy that heavily relied on nuclear power as the main alternative to fossil fuels.

Last week, Prime Minister Naoto Kan asked another power utility to close a nuclear plant in an earthquake-prone area. He drew both applause for bold action and fire for what critics said was a rash and poorly planned policy move.
The move also rekindled fears that household and businesses will be hit by rolling blackouts during the summer when electricity use is the highest.
Tepco on Friday said it planned to restart conventional thermal plants shut since the March 11 quake and that by the end of July it should be able to supply enough power to meet peak demand.

Kaieda also said the government would do its best to avoid power blackouts.
(Additional reporting by Yoshifumi Takemoto, Leika Kihara, Yoko Kubota, Chikako Mogi, Kevin Krolicki, and Antoni Slokowski; Writing by Nathan Layne and Tomasz Janowski; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Neil Fullick)
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