North Korean Nuclear BBQ

Lithium 6 on Facebook Garage Sale Site...

From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The online ad reads like something only a metallurgist could love: an offer to sell 22 pounds of highly pure lithium 6 every month, set for delivery from the port of Dandong, China. 

But it caught the attention of intelligence agencies around the world for a simple reason: Lithium 6 offers a fast way to turn an ordinary atom bomb into a hydrogen bomb, magnifying its destructive power by up to 1,000 times. The seller listed in the ad — who even provided his cellphone number — was identified in a recent United Nations report as the third secretary in the North Korean Embassy in Beijing.

Iran Downs US Drone

A member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Majlis (Parliament), Ali Aqazadeh Dafsari, said on Tuesday that the unmanned spy plane was flying near the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant in Qom province when the IRGC's Air Defense units brought it down, Javanoline.ir reported.

The official stated that the US drone was on a mission to identify the location of the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant and gather information about the nuclear facility for the CIA, Dafsari stated.

Earlier in the day, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast had said that the country is installing a new generation of uranium enrichment centrifuges in the country's nuclear facilities to enhance the Islamic Republic's peaceful nuclear program.

As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has every right to develop and acquire nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes. Riiiiggghhhttttt.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence indicating that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production. Which means they're really good at hiding things.

But if you've got nothing to hide, why shoot down the drone?

And does the US need to give it's grieving mother a flag and a purple heart at the funeral? Even if the mother is an old IBM 486 Clone?

Coincidence, of course

Nuclear experts killed in Russia plane crash helped design Iranian facility

The five nuclear experts killed in a plane crash in northern Russia had assisted in the design of an Iranian atomic facility, security sources in Russia said on Thursday. The five Russian experts were among the 44 passengers killed when the Tupolev-134 plane broke up and caught fire on landing outside the northern city of Petrozavodsk on Monday. The experts – who included lead designers Sergei Rizhov, Gennadi Benyok, Nicolai Tronov and Russia’s top nuclear technological experts, Andrei Tropinov – worked at Bushehr after the contract for the plant’s construction passed from the German Siemens company to Russian hands.

The five were employed at the Hydropress factory, a member of Russia’s state nuclear corporation, and one of the main companies to contracted for the Bushehr construction. The sources said that the death of the scientists is a great blow to the Russian nuclear industry. The experts were tasked with completing construction of the plant and for ensuring that it would be able to survive an earthquake.

According to the sources, although Iranian nuclear scientists have in the past been involved in unexplained accidents and plane crashes, there is no official suspicion of foul play. Investigators are investigating human error and technical malfunction as the causes of the crash.

Luckily, I'm not one to buy into conspiracy theories. Just strange coincidences and happenstance. “Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence.”

No word what the other 39 passenger's professions were. I assume at least two people who perished were pilots.

Stabilization at Fukushima Daiichi

UPDATE 1: 2.56pm GMT Units 5 and 6 in cold shutdown, tsunami heights

UPDATE 2: 3.30pm GMT IAEA graph of fuel pond temperatures

Workers on site have succeeded in increasing the stability of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors, with units 5 and 6 now in cold shutdown. Pressure built up within unit 3 but a more significant venting does not seem necessary now.

External power has now been connected to unit 5 and 6, allowing them to use their residual heat removal systems and transfer heat to the sea. This has been used to cool the fuel ponds and bring the units to cold shutdown status, meaning that water in the reactor system is at less than 100ºC.

This graph from the International Atomic Energy Agency illustrates how fuel pond temperatures have dropped at units 5 and 6 since the connection of external power and use of the residual heat removal system was restarted

READ MORE

Meltdown Imminent

NRC: No Water In Spent Fuel Pool Of Japan Plant

US nuclear agency chief says no more water in spent fuel pool at troubled Japan plant.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chief of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says all the water is gone from one of the spent fuel pools at Japan's most troubled nuclear plant. This means there's nothing to stop the fuel rods from getting hotter and ultimately melting down.

Read more .... The Meltdown is now Imminent

US Nuke Plant Next To Faults: Odds and Wagers

For those of you wondering, "Hey, I'll bet there are some nuclear facilities near major earthquake plate tectonics right here in the US... I wonder what the odds are..."

Wonder no more: Here are the 10 nuclear power sites with the highest risk of suffering core damage from an earthquake, showing their NRC risk estimates based on 2008 and 1989 geological data. (The full list of 104 reactors is below.)

1. Indian Point 3, Buchanan, N.Y.: 1 in 10,000 chance each year. Old estimate: 1 in 17,241. Increase in risk: 72 percent.

2. Pilgrim 1, Plymouth, Mass.: 1 in 14,493. Old estimate: 1 in 125,000. Increase in risk: 763 percent.

3. Limerick 1 and 2, Limerick, Pa.: 1 in 18,868. Old estimate: 1 in 45,455. Increase in risk: 141 percent.

4. Sequoyah 1 and 2, Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.: 1 in 19,608. Old estimate: 1 in 102,041. Increase in risk: 420 percent.

5. Beaver Valley 1, Shippingport, Pa.: 1 in 20,833. Old estimate: 1 in 76,923. Increase in risk: 269 percent.

6. Saint Lucie 1 and 2, Jensen Beach, Fla.: 1 in 21,739. Old estimate: N/A.

7. North Anna 1 and 2, Louisa, Va.: 1 in 22,727. Old estimate: 1 in 31,250. Increase in risk: 38 percent.

8. Oconee 1, 2 and 3, Seneca, S.C.: 1 in 23,256. Old estimate: 1 in 100,000. Increase in risk: 330 percent.

9. Diablo Canyon 1 and 2, Avila Beach, Calif.: 1 in 23,810. Old estimate: N/A.

10. Three Mile Island, Middletown, Pa.: 1 in 25,000. Old estimate: 1 in 45,455. Increase in risk: 82 percent.

Read More, place your bets.

Let's Fall Back to a More Strategic Location

Radiation: Crew on helicopters returning to the USS Ronald Reagan were contaminated after delivering aid. Photo from The Daily Mail

After Contamination, U.S. Military Fleet Repositions

U.S. Navy officials in Japan announced early today that they have repositioned their 7th Fleet after 17 Navy personnel aboard three helicopters tested positive for low levels of contamination from a radioactive plume that rose above the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Read more ....