While decontaminating some pieces of equipment for removal, an organic dissolver was used, it produced aerosols drifting alpha particles, such as Am-241. In spite of the use of masks, with filters for Iodine and particles, 9 out of 13 workers present at the working hall were contaminated: 4 out of them got doses up to 40% of the annual limit, not trespassing the Annual Limit of Intake (ALI) in any case though, 5 other workers present had an indication of lower contamination. The event was realized 4 days later, when air sampling filters where monitored. Justification: The INES Users Manual part IV is applicable to non-reactor events. According to point IV-5.1.4 .. when the radiological control procedures and managerial arrangements are inadequate and employees receive unplanned radiation exposures (internal or external) such events may be rated level 1. There where significant working procedure failures that led to this event, therefore it was rated level 1.
A vast subsea nuclear graveyard planned to hold Britain’s burgeoning piles of radioactive waste is set to become the biggest, longest-lasting and most expensive infrastructure project ever undertaken in the UK. The project [UK's nuclear waste dump] is now predicted to take more than 150yrs to complete with lifetime costs of £66bn in today’s money...The […]
Last year, the Dutch Province of Limburg started an alliance in which, besides the local government, research institutes, small nuclear reactor (SMR) developers, utilities, industrial customers and funders cooperated. With this "Limburg SMR alliance" Limburg tried to lead the way towards an SMR in Limburg. The preferred site for a first SMR would be Chemelot, […]
From the IPFM: During a visit to the Civaux nuclear power plant on 18 March 2024, France's Minister of the Armed Forces unveiled a plan to use the plant to produce tritium for the French nuclear weapons program. Civaux is a civilian power plant that belongs to and is operated by Electricité de France. According […]
An analysis by the Norwegian NGO Bellona of transborder trade operations with the customs code 840130 (irradiated fuel assemblies or fuel elements) show a more than twofold increase of import to EU countries of fresh nuclear fuel in cash terms – from 280 million Euros in 2022 to 686 million Euros in 2023. In physical […]
The French government has said it is "seriously" studying the option of building a plant to convert and enrich reprocessed uranium to cut its reliance on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. The only plant in the world that currently converts reprocessed uranium for use in nuclear power plants is in Russia. "The option of […]