As Fukushima worsens, Beyond Nuclear petition accepted by NRC!

Reports indicate Fukushima nuclear crisis worsening and widening News sources are reporting that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe, now more than 161 days old, is worsening and the scope of contamination widening. One source cites anonymous TEPCO workers reporting numerous cracks that have opened up in the ground that are releasing highly radioactive steam into the air. Another Mainichi Daily News story disclosed that excessively high radioactive cesium contamination has been discovered more than 62 miles away from the reactor ruins. In the widening catastrophe, the Japanese UPI reports excessive amounts of radioactive cesium and strontium have been detected in Chinese territorial waters threatening sea food contamination in the East China Sea. Read more.

Beyond Nuclear “Freeze Our Fukushimas” petition accepted in part by NRC:

Prompts deeper investigation of GE Mark I reactors A Petition Review Board of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission accepted and rejected in part emergency enforcement actions requested by Beyond Nuclear’s April 13, 2011 petition regarding the 23 Fukushima-style reactors operating in the US.

NRC accepted several of the requested actions for further review which include; 1) revoke the NRC prior approval of the “voluntary” installation of the same Mark I containment venting system demonstrated at Fukushima to have a 100% failure rate and; 2) order operators to immediately install emergency back-up electrical power for reliable cooling of densely-packed nuclear waste storage pools atop each of the reactors in the event of “station blackout.” The petition, which NRC confirms includes more than 5,000 additional co-petitioner requests from around the country, seeks to suspend the operation of the dangerous and deeply flawed General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors.NRC accepted several of the requested actions for further review which include; 1) revoke the NRC prior approval of the “voluntary” installation of the same Mark I containment venting system demonstrated at Fukushima to have a 100% failure rate and; 2) order operators to immediately install emergency back-up electrical power for reliable cooling of densely-packed nuclear waste storage pools atop each of the reactors in the event of “station blackout.” Read more.