April 16, 2012 - Las Vegas Sun -
More wear found on tubes at ailing Cal nuke plant - The operator of an idled nuclear plant on the California coast announced Thursday that more unusual wear has been found on tubing that carries radioactive water, the latest disclosure in a mystery involving the plant's steam generators. Southern California Edison said in a statement that investigators at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station found additional damage on tubes in its Unit 2 generators that is similar to degradation in its sister reactor, Unit 3, though at a lower level. Investigators had been puzzled why tube damage appeared different in the side-by-side units, even though the equipment is essentially identical. The new findings show "all of the generators are exhibiting the same kind of wear, though the wear in unit 3 is more excessive than in Unit 2," Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Victor Dricks said. The seaside plant has been shut down for more than two months while federal regulators and company officials try to find out why tubing designed to withstand many years of use under high pressure has eroded at an unusual rate, in some cases rapidly.
April 16, 2012 - Korea Herald - KHNP chief resigns over safety of nuclear plants - Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. chief executive Kim Jong-shin stepped down on Monday amid simmering criticism over recent power outages and cover-up attempts an atomic plant. His resignation will be accepted by Cheong Wa Dae and the selection process for his successor will be under way soon, Knowledge Economy Minister Hong Suk-woo said. "I’ll try naming his successor quickly so as not to create a vacuum in the company’s operations," Hong told reporters at a meeting. The country’s sole nuclear plant operator has come under fire in recent months for recurring breakdowns and a recent cover-up of a brief blackout at a reactor in Busan, fueling concerns over power shortages and public safety. Kim’s offer came a day after an emergency diesel power generator at an atomic plant in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province, was belatedly found to have malfunctioned during a special inspection. There was no damage or radiation leakage, but critics accused the KHNP of once again concealing the incident.
April 16, 2012 - Star-Telegram - Radioactive waste may soon travel on DFW highways - Huge numbers of trucks carrying low-level radioactive waste from dozens of states will soon travel highways nationwide -- including those in the Metroplex -- on their way to a remote disposal site in West Texas.Shipments from up to 36 states will head to a dump in Andrews County near the New Mexico border, owned by Dallas billionaire and generous Republican political donor Harold Simmons, despite concerns from environmentalists and others worried about potential accidents or contamination once the loads are left at the Waste Control Specialists facility. "Texas is going to become a nuclear waste dump if everything happens under their plans," said state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, an opponent of the facility. "We will be the major route for nuclear waste. "I am absolutely concerned about the transportation of the materials, about the high volume of nuclear waste traveling on our interstates through areas such as Fort Worth and Dallas," he said. "I think it's a really bad idea to have that much nuclear waste rolling down our interstates unguarded." The first shipments, possibly this month, will likely come from the state's two nuclear plants, Comanche Peak near Glen Rose and the South Texas project in Matagorda County. Truckloads of contaminated waste from other states, which require a formal application process and approval, could start by summer.