WATCH UNDT October 12, 2012 - Toronto Sun - Radioactive kitchenware detected at the Port of Montreal - A ship container with radioactive kitchenware was detected at the Port of Montreal in May and hasn't yet been removed. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) issued an order to the cargo firm Hanjin Shipping Canada, demanding it remove the contaminated merchandise by Oct. 26. "A shipment from the company triggered a Canada Border Services Agency radiation detection alarm upon its arrival at the Port of Montreal," the nuclear watchdog said in a statement. "The order was issued on October 5 as a result of an inspection at the Port that confirmed kitchenware carried within a shipping container was contaminated with Cobalt-60." Hanjin Shipping Canada isn't licensed to carry nuclear materials, says the agency. The order says the material would pose "an unreasonable risk to the environment and to the health and safety of persons should it remain in Canada for a prolonged period of time." But the CNSC news release also says the cobalt is not currently dangerous.
October 12, 2012 - The Denki Shimbun - Radiation dose survey on plants and animals in Fukushima - The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) is studying wild plants and animals to investigate the environmental effect of radioactive material spread by the accident at the Fukushima I nuclear power station. The ministry invited the press on October 9 for the first time to see the survey operation. On this day, six investigators collected seeds of Japanese red pine in Hirono Town within the 20-30 km radius of Fukushima I and measured air dose rates. Since November last year, MOE has been investigating radiological effects on wild plants and animals mainly within the no-entry zones in Fukushima Prefecture. In this fiscal year, it conducted such surveys in May, June and July. Focusing on the 12 kinds of reference plants and animals that the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) enumerated for studying the effect of radiation, MOE has been collecting rats, swallow chicks, frogs, killifish, salamanders and earthworms, among others. From October 9 to 14, MOE will collect seeds of plants such as Japanese red pine and green bristle grass as well as soil and honeybees outside the no-entry zones. On October 9, investigators used tree pruners and other tools to collect Japanese red pine seeds at the same locations as the last year's survey. During the survey period, they plan to collect 10,000 seeds, measure radionuclide concentrations, assess exposure doses and study genetic effects through germination tests.
October 12, 2012 - Nuclear Street - Russia May Seek Bids for Recovery of Sunken Nuclear Submarines - Russia's military is preparing to retrieve two nuclear submarines resting at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, according to a Russian newspaper. Quoting an unnamed military source, Izvestia reported Thursday that the Defense Ministry will announce an international tender to recover the vessels, which would require deep-sea salvage equipment the country does not possess. The Cold-War era submarines are known as B-159 – resting 790 feet deep in the Barents Sea – and K-27 – an experimental attack submarine scuttled in 1982 and resting 220 feet below the Kara Sea. The long-decommissioned B-159 sank in a storm while being towed to a shipyard in 2003. The accident killed nine sailors, and an estimated 1,760 pounds of spent fuel was on board, according to Russian news service Ria Novosti. In 2010, Wired reported the Russian Federation had hired Scottish firm Adus to produce a high-resolution sonar survey of B-159 to address the feasibility of recovering it.
October 12, 2012 - Associated Press - Japan utility agrees nuclear crisis was avoidable - The utility behind Japan's nuclear disaster is acknowledging for the first time that it could have avoided the crisis. Tokyo Electric Power Co. says in a statement issued Friday that it had known safety improvements were needed before last year's tsunami triggered three meltdowns, but it had feared the political, economic and legal consequences of implementing them. The admissions mark a major reversal for the utility, which had defended its preparedness and crisis management since the March 2011 tsunami. TEPCO says it had feared efforts to better protect nuclear facilities from severe accidents such as tsunamis would trigger anti-nuclear sentiment, interfere with operations or increase litigation risks. The acknowledgement came as TEPCO held its first internal reform committee meeting led by a former U.S. nuclear regulatory chief.