Dangerous radioactive gas leak at Chinese nuclear power plant could become a major disaster

SS ^ | 6/16/21 | SS

[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.’

[frank ballenger]

Don’t know much about this.

When the Chinese were the last ones doing large scale nuclear bomb tests it was said the radioactivity from China circled the globe six times a year and was over the United States that many times as the atmosphere moved with the earth’s rotation.

[frank ballenger]

Typical substandard commie facilities. Just like their airplanes, ships and missiles. Massive failure rates … and bridges, and dry wall, and dog food, and baby formula …

And don't order chicken in the restaurants.

[Cold Heart]

Great, another planned technology theft. Plantheft

[blueplum]

maybe, like the biolab, France provided some proprietary info along with funding and, anticipating an imminent disaster this time, seeks an export license to cover their backside so they can distract attention from themselves and say, look, America approved!

[VTenigma]

I agree totally. I’m just relaying what I’ve read.

[VTenigma]

I believe the fuel bundles were supplied by the French.

[Flick Lives]

“Hey, you got radioactive gas in my Covid virus!”

“Hey, you got Covid virus in my radioactive gas.”

“Mmmm. Two lethal agents that are lethal together.”

[redgolum]

Thank you for the explanation.

Not a nuke engineer, but I am familiar enough with such designs that I can see big problems if the cladding is damaged.

For instance, can you remove the rods?

[oldasrocks]

Nex? Godzilla.

[Broker]

A grand slow radioactive BLOOM! China only hints problems outta control. Fallout IS NEXT

[VTenigma]

That’s the big question along with is the reactor shut down and how much damage is there?

[VTenigma]

That’s my worry.

[Revel]

Most freepers will tell you that radiation is good for you.

[mass55th]

"Nothing to see here until one sees a mysterious turtle looking gargantuan monster rising from the water."

Time for some new movies geared toward gigantic monsters caused by atomic energy, like the black and white movies we watched as kids in the 50's.

[dfwgator]

Ross Denton: Rodney, can you please tell us, how big is the president?

Rodney Dangerfield: Oh, he’s a big guy, I’ll tell you that, he’s a big guy. I tell you he’s so big, I saw him sitting in the George Washington bridge dangling his feet in the water! He’s a big guy!

Rosalynn Carter: Oh my God! Jimmy! Oh God!

Rodney Dangerfield: Oh, he’s big, I’ll tell you that, boy. He’s so big that when two girls make love to him at the same time, they never meet each other! He’s a big guy, I’ll tell you!

Rosalynn Carter: Oh no! Oh Jimmy! My Jimmy!

Rodney Dangerfield: I don’t want to upset you lady, he’s big, you know what I mean? Why he could have an affair with the Lincoln Tunnel! I mean, he’s really high! He’s big, I’ll tell you! He’s a big guy!

Rosalynn Carter: No! No! No!

Ross Denton: Rodney, thank you very much. You can go.

Rodney Dangerfield: It’s my pleasure. He’s way up there, lady! you know what I mean? [ goes off, leaving Rosalynn Carter very upset ]

[PIF]

I believe the fuel bundles were supplied by the French.

—
You are, of course, certain that those were the ones actually installed? And not sold elsewhere? And no cheap substitutes were used in place of the real ones?

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

That just simply has to be the very next step. Uberbats. Film at 11.

[GeorgianaCavendish]

What the plant is releasing is dependent upon the type of fuel. If it’s uranium-238 then you can expect strontium, xenon, cesium, and other products. Winds can impact this as to can the amount that is released into the air. Time to get your iodine tablets when these radioactive products decay into more dangerous substances.

[meatloaf]

Westinghouse licensed the PWR technology to Frammatome long ago. Frammatome has developed it further. That’s what the Chinese are using. The leak means the zirconium cladding on the fuel rods has been damaged possibly by being exposed w/o being covered by water..

[4Liberty]