Dirty laundry averts nuclear disaster

subscribe

A nuclear leak in Britain that could have caused a disaster was averted by a chance decision to wash some dirty clothes, according to a newly obtained official report, The Guardian says.

On the morning of Sunday, Jan. 7, 2007, one of the contractors working on decommissioning the Sizewell A nuclear-power station on the Suffolk coast was in the laundry room when he noticed cooling water leaking onto the floor from the pond that holds the reactor's highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. The pond water level had dropped as much as 30 centimetres, yet none of the sophisticated alarms in the plant sounded in the main control room.

By the time of the next scheduled inspection, the pond level would have dipped enough to expose the nuclear fuel rods – potentially causing them to overheat and catch fire, sending a plume of radioactive contamination along the coastline.

Related News

Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear complex

Energy authority clears TEPCO to restart Niigata nuclear plant

TOKYO - Tokyo Electric Power Co. cleared a major regulatory hurdle toward restarting a nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, but the utility’s bid to resume its operations still hangs in the balance of a series of political approvals.

The government’s nuclear watchdog concluded Sept. 23 that the utility is fit to operate the plant, based on new legally binding safety rules TEPCO drafted and pledged to follow. If TEPCO is found to be in breach of those regulations, it could be ordered to halt the plant’s operations.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority’s green light now shifts the focus over to whether local…

READ MORE
sunrun-tesla-unveil-texas-power-plant

Sunrun and Tesla Unveil Texas Power Plant

READ MORE

sheerness power plant

Stop the Shock campaign seeks to bring back Canadian coal power

READ MORE

biomass generator

New energy projects seek to lower electricity costs in Southeast Alaska

READ MORE

trump

Joni Ernst calls Trump's wind turbine cancer claim 'ridiculous'

READ MORE