Posted on 06/16/2021 2:35:28 PM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal
A Chinese nuclear power station is leaking radioactive gas and could become a major disaster, according to secret US intelligence reports.
Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, located in southern Guangdong province, is thought to have been leaking for at least two weeks after a French firm that co-owns the facility flagged the issue to Washington.
Cover up!
American agents have spent the last week monitoring the situation and have concluded it has the potential turn into a major disaster but that facility is not currently at ‘crisis level’.
That is in stark contrast to the message being put out by the power plant’s Chinese state owners, who insisted in a report published Sunday that everything is ‘normal’.
Fission gas leak Problems at the power plant first came to light in late May when French firm Framatome reached out to US intelligence agencies to alert them of it, according to documents sent to the Department of Energy and seen by CNN.
A follow-up memo sent on June 3 identified the issue as a ‘fission gas leak’ and asked for the DoE to share intelligence that might help solve the issue.
Fission gas is a radioactive biproduct of nuclear fission, where heavy atoms are split into lighter ones – a process which releases energy but also creates the waste gas.
Framatome apparently got no response and so sent another memo on June 8 asking for their message to be urgently reviewed.
In that note, they described the problem as ‘an imminent radiological threat to the site’ and warned that Chinese regulators had increased the ‘safe’ levels of radioactivity allowed around the plant.
Increasing the ‘safe’ limit means China has been able to keep the plant running instead of shutting it down to resolve the issue.
Framatome claimed China more-than doubled the limit, and that the new limit exceeds the current safety standards in France.
The June 8 memo was picked up by the US State Department, setting off a flurry of activity over the last week that included meetings of senior figures on the National Security Council to assess the threat.
They concluded that while the plant could turn into a major disaster, they believe it is not in immediate danger of becoming one and it is more likely the issue will be resolved without seriously endangering the public.
Meanwhile French energy giant EDF also put out a statement on Monday, saying there has been an increase in noble gases detected in the plant’s cooling system.
Noble gases are one of the biproducts of nuclear fission, and their presence in the cooling system may indicate a leak in the reactor.
The operator of the power station, state-owned China General Nuclear Power Group, said in a statement on Sunday evening that ‘the environmental indicators of Taishan Nuclear Power Plant and its surroundings are normal’.
Powered up in 2018, the Taishan plant was the first worldwide to operate a next-generation EPR nuclear reactor, a pressurised water design that has been subject to years of delays in similar European projects in Britain, France and Finland.
EPR reactors have been touted as promising advances in safety and efficiency over conventional reactors while producing less waste.
The plant’s state owners said one of the two reactors on site then completed an ‘overhaul’ and ‘successfully connected to the grid on June 10, 2021.’
The export license from what I understand is for the Zircalloy fuel cladding. The ongoing problem seems to be a partial fuel melt from the Chi-coms pushing the plant above the design rating and melting some fuel rods (see: Three Mile Island). The radioactive noble gasses occur when the cladding fails and the nuclear fuel is exposed to the coolant (water) while the fuel is undergoing fission. Take it for what it’s worth from a lay person. Something’s going on and it ain’t good.
Everything is under control...no cause for alarm at this time...We are monitoring the situation closely....
Toothpaste, toys, ...
A Wuhan bat is going to get radiation poisoning and turn into a super bat with super Covid...
Time for the Naked Gun meme.
Said it was damaged prior to insertion into the reactor and was normal.
Guaranteed B.S. Not even the Chi-coms are dumb enough to place damaged fuel rod bundles in a new reactor. They were pushing the plant beyond what the French said was safe.
First a bioengineered virus and then a nuclear cloud...what’s next?
*************
Wasn’t there some deformation of the Three Gorges Dam a couple years ago?
Kind of gives a whole new meaning to gambling in Macao.
It’s a tad unsettling that after France sent our DoE information about the leak we didn’t respond. France AGAIN sent us a memo after not hearing from us.
Are we asleep when it comes to REAL problems? Too preoccupied with “correcting” our unwoke mindset in the federal bureaucracy to pay attention?
Now the Chicoms just need to have an “accident” with some chemical weapons to achieve the NBC trifecta.
CNN just said, "Relax, everyone.. Nothing more than just a BAT FARTING in Guangdong!" /x
Who knows? But I have a feeling they’ll find some way to turn this into more mask and social distancing mandates. Nuclear plant have some troubles 10,000 miles away?…masks and social distancing. Asteroid about to collide with Earth?…masks and social distancing. You get the idea.
Like everything in China its build by the lowest bidder using the cheapest possible materials which helps to repay the bribes and maximize the profit. Close inspection of the concrete might reveal fillers like cardboard or plaster common in building construction. You get the idea.
Someone got gas after eating a radioactive bat?
Said it was damaged prior to insertion into the reactor and was normal.
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Every possibility that the cladding was from a defective run and was bought by the contractor on the cheap, yielding good profit.
Good one. Shows real class. I should learn from you.
Don’t shoot the messenger here. I don’t trust a thing they say or do.
or they were using substandard materials - a very common practice in China. The would have looked undamaged.
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