Jellyfish keep UK nuclear plant shutLONDON | Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:18pm EDT
(Reuters) - An invasion of jellyfish into a cooling water pool at a Scottish nuclear power plant kept its nuclear reactors offline on Wednesday, a phenomenon which may grow more common in future, scientists said.
Two reactors at EDF Energy's Torness nuclear power plant on the Scottish east coast remained shut a day after they were manually stopped due to masses of jellyfish obstructing cooling water filters.
Nuclear power plants draw water from nearby seas or rivers to cool down their reactors, but if the filters which keep out marine animals and seaweed are clogged, the station shuts down to maintain temperature and safety standards.
...Latest plant availability data from network operator National Grid showed Torness reactor 1 would return to service on July 5 and reactor 2 on July 6, but operator EDF Energy was unable to give a restart date.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/29/us-britain-nuclear-jellyfish-idUSTRE75S56D20110629**************************************
Mock attackers 'strike' 24 nuclear plants, 'breach' twoBy Mike M. Ahlers, CNN Senior Producer
June 29, 2011 8:33 p.m.
Washington (CNN) -- Mock commandos who staged attacks on 24 nuclear power plants in pre-announced drills last year were able to "damage" or "destroy" critical targets at two of the plants, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The NRC did not identify the nuclear plants that failed the security tests, citing security concerns and other sensitivities. But it said inspectors remained at those plants until security shortcomings were addressed.
Each year, about a fourth of the nation's 104 commercial nuclear power plants undergo security tests, which involve several weeks of security inspections and table-top exercises that probe for holes in security, followed by three consecutive nights of "force-on-force" assaults. The assaults are pre-announced to avoid confusion with real-world events, and participants -- in a high-stakes game of laser tag -- attack plant defenses in an effort to "destroy" critical buildings or equipment.
Attack scenarios are changed nightly to give the attackers, called the "composite adversary force" (CAF), the upper hand.
Last year's results are...
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/29/nuclear.plants.security/*******************************************************
Quote, "attack scenarios are changed nightly to give the attackers... the upper hand."
They announce these drills in advance and they think that by changing the "attack scenario" nightly they are giving the attackers the advantage? What universe do these folks occupy? There are problems with no notice exercises but you aren't going to get anything even close to a realistic test of response capability if you give advance notice of the tests. For drills to practice the procedures, sure, advance notice is appropriate. But an operational readiness inspections that is pre-announced is a bad joke.