Nuclear Power Plants

Radioactive leak at Catawba Nuclear Station 15 May 2013 (SC) Federal regulators say more than 100 gallons of water, with traces of a radioactive hydrogen isotope, have leaked at the Catawba Nuclear Station. According to a report from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the leak was discovered around 11:23 p.m. on Tuesday night. Officials at the Lake Wylie-based nuclear station reported the leak to federal officials around 2:52 a.m. Wednesday morning. The report states that a "leak greater than 100 gallons containing tritium has the potential to reach groundwater."

Tritium found in water leak at Catawba Nuclear Station 15 May 2013 (SC) More than 100 gallons of water with traces of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, has been leaked from a discharge pipe at the Catawba Nuclear Station, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The leak has been classified as a "non emergency event" [!?!] by the NRC. The leak, however, has the potential to reach groundwater, according to the NRC. Duke Energy has initiated actions to fix the problem, which happened at 11:23 p.m. Tuesday, according to NRC officials.

Missing Nuclear Gauge Lost Between Pennsylvania, West Virginia 14 May 2013 The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and West Virginia state officials are searching for a missing portable gauge containing sealed sources of radioactive material that was lost in West Virginia on May 3, and are asking anyone with information on the missing gauge to report it to DEP. "It is critical for anyone who has information about the lost nuclear gauge to contact the Pennsylvania DEP, Nuclear Regulatory Commission or a local law enforcement agency immediately," DEP Bureau of Radiation Protection Director David Allard said. The gauge, a Troxler Model 3430 with serial number 32506, was lost when it apparently fell off the back of a truck on I-81 between the Pennsylvania and West Virginia border between mile markers 17 and 24.

Panel concludes Tsuruga nuclear reactor sits above active fault 15 May 2013 A panel under the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday concluded that a geologic fault running beneath a reactor in western Japan is active, raising the possibility of the unit's permanent shutdown. The move is expected to lead NRA commissioners to decide that the No. 2 unit of Japan Atomic Power Co.'s Tsuruga plant does not meet the conditions for undergoing a safety assessment that the country's reactors need to clear in order to resume operations in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi complex disaster.