More Lessons From the Fukushima Daiichi Accident: Containment Failures and the Loss of the Ultimate Heat Sink

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More Lessons From the Fukushima Daiichi Accident: Containment Failures and the Loss of the Ultimate Heat Sink

In this Monday's video, Fairewinds investigates a recently released report from Tokyo Electric. Arnie Gundersen discusses TEPCO's latest analysis that, almost two years after the accident, fully substantiates Fairewinds long held position that the explosion at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 was the result of a detonation shock wave. Arnie also discusses troubling reports that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been avoiding the analysis of damage to many nuclear plants' emergency cooling systems (Ultimate Heat Sink) from storm surges, tsunamis or dam failures. The ramifications of both of these issues on old designs and also the AP1000 are also analyzed in depth.

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Deja vu all over again!

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Deja vu all over again!

In this Sunday's podcast, Fairewinds' Arnie Gundersen discusses two recent safety equipment failures at operating nuclear plants in the United States. Just this week, a containment failure in New York State and an emergency cooling water failure in Tennessee prove yet again that Fairewinds previous analyses of nuclear plant weaknesses are correct. Arnie also discusses how containments are leak tested and how the NRC allows those containment leak tests to be manipulated.

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Gundersen on Democracy Now Discussing Hurricane Sandy

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Gundersen on Democracy Now Discussing Hurricane Sandy

Gundersen speaks with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now the morning after Hurricane Sandy makes landfall. They discuss the Oyster Creek nuclear plant, which was close to the eye of Hurricane Sandy. The tidal surge at Oyster Creek was within six inches of flooding the service water pumps that cool the nuclear reactor. Several other plants shut down and reverted to their diesel engines for reactor cooling. They also discuss how spent fuel pools are not cooled by diesels - so in the event of a "loss of offsite power," if a plant is shutdown for refueling, the spent fuel pool cannot be cooled.

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Gundersen on Democracy Now Discussing Hurricane Sandy

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Gundersen on Democracy Now Discussing Hurricane Sandy

Gundersen discusses the likelihood of nuclear plants in the path of Hurricane Sandy to lose off-site electrical power. In this scenario, a plant would be forced to rely on backup diesel generators to cool the reactor. Gundersen says: "Its not a question of the winds from this hurricane blowing the plant down. It's a question of the loss of off-site power. That's exactly what happened after Fukushima Daiichi"

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The Ongoing Damage and Danger at Fukushima

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The Ongoing Damage and Danger at Fukushima

Arnie Gundersen joins Helen Caldicott on If You Love This Planet to discuss the ongoing release of radiation at Fukushima Daichi and what methods are being used to contain the damage. The water being used to cool the reactor is highly radioactive and is still being released into the Pacific. They deal with the dilemma of workers endangerment and ongoing radiation leakage. Information about health effects on children in the first 18 months since the accident is discussed

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Lessons from Fukushima: A Lecture by Arnie Gundersen

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Lessons from Fukushima: A Lecture by Arnie Gundersen

Arnie Gundersen, an earnest, eloquent and incisive critic of the nuclear power industry, speaks with the assured authority of a former insider. A licensed power plant operator and former senior vice president of a nuclear engineering company, he has worked on 70 different nuclear power sites, and holds a Master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering. As chief engineer of Fairewinds Associates Inc., an energy consulting firm based in Vermont, USA, he has become well known for his hard-hitting nuclear safety analyses in interviews and videos produced by Fairewinds Energy Education, especially following the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.

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It Could Have Been Worse

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It Could Have Been Worse

Fairewinds analysis of the triple meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi determined that other Japanese reactor sites were also in jeopardy because their cooling water systems were destroyed by the same tsunami. In this film, Fairewinds provides evidence that cooling systems for 24 out of 37 diesel generators were shut down by the tsunami and that 14 additional nuclear reactors were impacted. Finally, Fairewinds also recommends that the criteria of the international nuclear accident scale have a Level 8 added. The addition of a Level 8 would reflect the nuclear accident scenario at a multi-reactor site that significantly changes the risk factors to the general public and emergency evacuation procedures.

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