Japans Nuclear Accident has Some Countries Reviewing Nuclear Plant Safety

http://www.solamonenergy.com/japan%E2%80%99s-nuclear-accident-has-some-countries-reviewingnuclear-plant-safety

(Institute for Energy Research) The earthquake and tsunami that recently hit Japan knocked out the back-up power that runs the cooling system on several of Japans nuclear reactors, exposing fuel rods, and damaged components to several of the reactors. The Japanese have worked tediously to avoid a full meltdown by cooling the control rods with seawater from the Pacific Ocean and deploying helicopters and fire trucks to more effectively disperse water on the units. Japans reactors were tested to withstand an earthquake of a 7.9 magnitude. Unfortunately, the earthquake that struck last Friday was of a 9.0 magnitude.

Public concern over Japans nuclear accident has led China to review the safety of its operating and proposed nuclear units. The country has suspended approvals for new nuclear plants to revise its safety standards and has asked for safety checks at their six operating nuclear plants. With Chinas GDP growing at 7 to 10 percent, its energy requirements are enormous. The country is undertaking construction of all types of electricity generatorscoal, nuclear, natural gas, hydroelectric, wind and solarto fuel its growing economy. Nuclear power and renewable energy generating plants play a major role in Chinas plan to reduce carbon intensity.

Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel has ordered the temporary shutdown of almost half of its 17 nuclear reactors for 3 months. The shutdown affects reactors built prior to 1980. The shut down announcement had an effect on futures contracts for electricity prices bidding them up by 6 percent, and has businesses wondering where the energy will come from to replace the electricity generated by those reactors, which supply 5 percent of the nations electricity. Merkels administration had previously approved a life extension on the countrys nuclear plants, extending them on average by about 12 years.

Merkel stated that German nuclear power plants are among the safest in the world. She indicated that a nuclear power withdrawal should be with a sense of proportion. For the European Union, nuclear safety tests are voluntary. While some countries in the union would like to phase out nuclear, others such as France and Britain are defending the technology. France generates about 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power and exports the technology, while Britain generates about 18 percent of its electricity from nuclear.

And in the United States, President Obama has asked for a comprehensive, safety review of all nuclear reactors. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko indicated that the safety review would be done in two phases. First, a 90-day short-term review would be done of the nuclear reactor fleet in the United States, followed by a longer-term, comprehensive review based on Japans report of findings.