There has also been a 10-fold increase in the number of incidents reported by people working in the French nuclear power industry, Criirad director Corinne Castanier said. ... Electricite de France says Wednesday's incident at Tricastin - a huge nuclear complex near the town of Avignon - was not connected to the earlier uranium leak at the plant. ... The rise in radiation prompted 97 EDF and maintenance subcontractors to be evacuated and sent for medical tests. "Seventy of them show low traces of radioelements, below one 40th of the authorised limit," EDF said, adding that the incident would not affect people's health or the environment. .... On Friday, energy company Areva said liquid containing slightly enriched uranium leaked at another of its sites in south-east France. The same day, 15 EDF workers were exposed to what the company called "non-harmful" traces of radioactive elements at the Saint-Alban plant in the Alpine Isere region.
"Seventy of them show low traces of radioelements, below one 40th of the authorised limit," EDF said, adding that the incident would not affect people's health or the environment. .... On Friday, energy company Areva said liquid containing slightly enriched uranium leaked at another of its sites in south-east France.
The same day, 15 EDF workers were exposed to what the company called "non-harmful" traces of radioactive elements at the Saint-Alban plant in the Alpine Isere region.
In Spain last May we heard about a leak that occurred in November 2007, Endesa had not reported it and had continued the plant visits scheduled for students! There have been 2-3 more since then.
Is there any country on earth that takes its regulation and supervision duty seriously? Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.
It also shows that nuclear IS taking "regulation and supervision" seriousy given that such minor incidents are being reported publicly. The hysterics are such that if such minor incidents are not reported, the industry is accused of hiding stuff, and if reported, it is accused of being unsecure.
A car crossing a red light would be a "level 0" incident if the driving industry had such a scale. This is just becoming ridiculous. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
A car crossing a red light would be a "level 0" incident if the driving industry had such a scale.
And a car refusing to stop for a pedestrian on a crossing would perhaps be "Level 1" ? And what would be your attitude to that? ;)
More seriously, though you may be right about journalists, public reporting of incidents is meaningless unless it is publicly reported. A list of incidents on a web page you have to search for, and an absolutely derisory Public Information Centre effort by the French Nuclear Security Authority (please take a serious look, if you can stop laughing, at the presentation on the Authority's site of the Public Information Centre and the documentation made available to the public (not a single link!!!).)
So the journalists may be ignorant (not surprising) but a genuine effort by the authorities to inform transparently is not there. In the case of nuclear, that is a serious matter precisely because nuclear is scary.
So I'd say they get the reporting they deserve.
Syndicated political columnist and television pundit Robert D. Novak was issued a $50 traffic citation yesterday after he struck and slightly injured a pedestrian while driving his sports car in downtown Washington, police said.
Novak, who was on his way to work when the incident occurred, said the bicyclist was "shouting at me that I couldn't just hit people and drive away. But I didn't know I'd hit him. I really didn't have any idea it happened until they flagged me down and told me."
Bono, 47, a partner at Harkins Cunningham law firm, said: "I can tell you what I saw. I was on K Street on my bicycle, and what I saw was a guy get hit by a black Corvette convertible. I see the guy go up on the hood, up on the windshield." As the Corvette turned right from 18th Street onto the service road beside K, Bono said, "the guy rolled off the hood and landed on the street."
