Misplaced Pages

Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
#833166

108-589: The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant ( 女川原子力発電所 , Onagawa ( pronunciation ) genshiryoku hatsudensho , Onagawa NPP) is a nuclear power plant located on a 1,730,000 m (432 acres) site in Onagawa in the Oshika District and Ishinomaki city, Miyagi Prefecture , Japan. It is managed by the Tohoku Electric Power Company . It was the most quickly constructed nuclear power plant in the world. All

216-588: A nuclear power station ( NPS ), nuclear generating station ( NGS ) or atomic power station ( APS ) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor . As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces electricity . As of September 2023 , the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that there were 410 nuclear power reactors in operation in 32 countries around

324-510: A "value-neutral approach" which extends to not using the word terrorist in its stories. The practice attracted criticism following the September 11 attacks . Reuters' editorial policy states: "Reuters may refer without attribution to terrorism and counterterrorism in general, but do not refer to specific events as terrorism. Nor does Reuters use the word terrorist without attribution to qualify specific individuals, groups or events." By contrast,

432-603: A U.S. military Apache helicopter in Baghdad. During 2004, cameramen Adlan Khasanov was killed by Chechen separatists, and Dhia Najim was killed in Iraq . In April 2008, cameraman Fadel Shana was killed in the Gaza Strip after being hit by an Israeli tank . While covering China's Cultural Revolution in Peking in the late 1960s for Reuters, journalist Anthony Grey was detained by

540-408: A career of almost 20 years with the company and wrote that "progressively, getting any climate change-themed story published got harder" following comments from then-deputy editor-in-chief Paul Ingrassia that he was a " climate change sceptic ". In his comments, Fogarty stated: By mid-October, I was informed that climate change just wasn't a big story for the present, but that it would be if there

648-460: A condenser. The condenser is a heat exchanger which is connected to a secondary side such as a river or a cooling tower . The water is then pumped back into the steam generator and the cycle begins again. The water-steam cycle corresponds to the Rankine cycle . The nuclear reactor is the heart of the station. In its central part, the reactor's core produces heat due to nuclear fission. With this heat,

756-442: A coolant is heated as it is pumped through the reactor and thereby removes the energy from the reactor. The heat from nuclear fission is used to raise steam, which runs through turbines , which in turn power the electrical generators. Nuclear reactors usually rely on uranium to fuel the chain reaction. Uranium is a very heavy metal that is abundant on Earth and is found in sea water as well as most rocks. Naturally occurring uranium

864-402: A facility has been completely decommissioned it is released from regulatory control, and the licensee of the station no longer has responsibility for its nuclear safety. Generally speaking, nuclear stations were originally designed for a life of about 30 years. Newer stations are designed for a 40 to 60-year operating life. The Centurion Reactor is a future class of nuclear reactor that

972-612: A guide for fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests, to "maintain the values of integrity and freedom upon which their reputation for reliability, accuracy, speed and exclusivity relies". In May 2000, Kurt Schork , an American reporter , was killed in an ambush while on assignment in Sierra Leone . In April and August 2003, news cameramen Taras Protsyuk and Mazen Dana were killed in separate incidents by U.S. troops in Iraq . In July 2007, Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh were killed when they were struck by fire from

1080-404: A nuclear reactor heats the reactor coolant. The coolant may be water or gas, or even liquid metal, depending on the type of reactor. The reactor coolant then goes to a steam generator and heats water to produce steam. The pressurized steam is then usually fed to a multi-stage steam turbine . After the steam turbine has expanded and partially condensed the steam, the remaining vapor is condensed in

1188-649: A nuclear reactor was used to generate electricity was on December 21, 1951, at the Experimental Breeder Reactor I , powering four light bulbs. On June 27, 1954, the world's first nuclear power station to generate electricity for a power grid , the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant , commenced operations in Obninsk , in the Soviet Union . The world's first full scale power station, Calder Hall in

SECTION 10

#1732858114834

1296-479: A nuclear station is smaller than the fuel cost for operation of coal or gas plants. Since most of the cost of nuclear power plant is capital cost, there is almost no cost saving by running it at less than full capacity. Nuclear power plants are routinely used in load following mode on a large scale in France, although "it is generally accepted that this is not an ideal economic situation for nuclear stations". Unit A at

1404-578: A number of electronic brokerage and trading services. Reuters was floated as a public company in 1984, when Reuters Trust was listed on the stock exchanges such as the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and NASDAQ . Reuters later published the first story of the Berlin Wall being breached in 1989. Reuters was the dominant news service on the Internet in the 1990s. It earned this position by developing

1512-506: A number of long-established projects are struggling to find financing, notably Belene in Bulgaria and the additional reactors at Cernavodă in Romania , and some potential backers have pulled out. Where cheap gas is available and its future supply relatively secure, this also poses a major problem for nuclear projects. Analysis of the economics of nuclear power must take into account who bears

1620-561: A partnership with ClariNet and Pointcast , two early Internet-based news providers. Reuters' share price grew during the dotcom boom , then fell after the banking troubles in 2001. In 2002, Britannica wrote that most news throughout the world came from three major agencies: the Associated Press , Reuters, and Agence France-Presse . Until 2008, the Reuters news agency formed part of an independent company, Reuters Group plc . Reuters

1728-577: A pioneering act. In 1925, the Press Association (PA) of Great Britain acquired a majority interest in Reuters, and full ownership some years later. During the world wars, The Guardian reported that Reuters: "came under pressure from the British government to serve national interests. In 1941, Reuters deflected the pressure by restructuring itself as a private company." In 1941, the PA sold half of Reuters to

1836-444: A previous goal aimed to reduce nuclear electricity generation share to lower than fifty percent by 2025, this target was postponed to 2035 in 2019 and ultimately discarded in 2023. Russia continues to export the most nuclear power plants in the world, with projects across various countries: as of July 2023, Russia was constructing 19 out of 22 reactors constructed by foreign vendors; however, some exporting projects were canceled due to

1944-587: A significantly different evaluation of the economics of new nuclear power stations. Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan , costs are likely to go up for currently operating and new nuclear power stations, due to increased requirements for on-site spent fuel management and elevated design basis threats. However many designs, such as the currently under construction AP1000, use passive nuclear safety cooling systems, unlike those of Fukushima I which required active cooling systems, which largely eliminates

2052-413: A slight decrease from the 2653 TWh produced in 2021. Thirteen countries generated at least one-quarter of their electricity from nuclear sources. Notably, France relies on nuclear energy for about 70% of its electricity needs, while Ukraine , Slovakia , Belgium , and Hungary source around half their power from nuclear. Japan , which previously depended on nuclear for over a quarter of its electricity,

2160-427: A small enough volume to become supercritical. Most reactors require continuous temperature control to prevent a core meltdown , which has occurred on a few occasions through accident or natural disaster, releasing radiation and making the surrounding area uninhabitable. Plants must be defended against theft of nuclear material and attack by enemy military planes or missiles. The most serious accidents to date have been

2268-624: A state of emergency, and they did so at 12:50, declaring the lowest-level such state. Within 10 minutes the level had dropped to 10μSv/hour. The Japanese authorities believe the temporarily heightened values were due to radiation from the Fukushima I nuclear accidents and not from the Onagawa plant. On 13 March, 20:45 UTC, the IAEA announced that radiation levels at the Onagawa plant had returned to normal background levels. An 7 April 2011 aftershock damaged 2 of

SECTION 20

#1732858114834

2376-476: A team of specialist reporters at Point Carbon and a columnist. There has been no change in our editorial policy." Subsequently, climate blogger Joe Romm cited a Reuters article on climate as employing " false balance ", and quoted Stefan Rahmstorf, co-chair of Earth System Analysis at the Potsdam Institute that "[s]imply, a lot of unrelated climate sceptics nonsense has been added to this Reuters piece. In

2484-673: A then-total of 18 partner agencies. Reuters president Michael Friedenberg said he was "delighted that TASS and Reuters are building upon our valued partnership". Two years later, TASS's membership in Reuters Connect came under scrutiny in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine ; Politico reported that Reuters staff members were "frustrated and embarrassed" that their agency had not suspended its partnership with TASS. On 23 March 2022, Reuters removed TASS from its "content marketplace". Matthew Keen, interim CEO of Reuters said "we believe making TASS content available on Reuters Connect

2592-482: A three-year research study of offshore floating nuclear power generation. In October 2022, NuScale Power and Canadian company Prodigy announced a joint project to bring a North American small modular reactor based floating plant to market. The economics of nuclear power plants is a controversial subject, and multibillion-dollar investments ride on the choice of an energy source. Nuclear power stations typically have high capital costs, but low direct fuel costs, with

2700-580: A worldwide perspective, long-term waste storage costs are uncertain. Construction, or capital cost aside, measures to mitigate global warming such as a carbon tax or carbon emissions trading , increasingly favor the economics of nuclear power. Further efficiencies are hoped to be achieved through more advanced reactor designs, Generation III reactors promise to be at least 17% more fuel efficient, and have lower capital costs, while Generation IV reactors promise further gains in fuel efficiency and significant reductions in nuclear waste. In Eastern Europe,

2808-505: Is about 1/3 of solar and 1/45 of natural gas and 1/75 of coal . Newer models, like HPR1000 , produce even less carbon dioxide during the whole operating life, as little as 1/8 of power plants using gen II reactors for 1.31g/kWh. Reuters Reuters ( / ˈ r ɔɪ t ər z / ROY -terz ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters . It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters

2916-520: Is anticipated to resume similar levels of nuclear energy utilization. Over the last 15 years, the United States has seen a significant improvement in the operational performance of its nuclear power plants, enhancing their utilization and efficiency, adding the output equivalent to 19 new 1000 MWe reactors without actual construction. In France, nuclear power plants still produce over sixty percent of this country's total power generation in 2022. While

3024-503: Is being designed to last 100 years. One of the major limiting wear factors is the deterioration of the reactor's pressure vessel under the action of neutron bombardment, however in 2018 Rosatom announced it had developed a thermal annealing technique for reactor pressure vessels which ameliorates radiation damage and extends service life by between 15 and 30 years. Nuclear stations are used primarily for base load because of economic considerations. The fuel cost of operations for

3132-431: Is found in two different isotopes : uranium-238 (U-238), accounting for 99.3% and uranium-235 (U-235) accounting for about 0.7%. U-238 has 146 neutrons and U-235 has 143 neutrons. Different isotopes have different behaviors. For instance, U-235 is fissile which means that it is easily split and gives off a lot of energy making it ideal for nuclear energy. On the other hand, U-238 does not have that property despite it being

3240-699: Is headquartered in Toronto , and provides financial information to clients while also maintaining its traditional news-agency business. In 2012, Thomson Reuters appointed Jim Smith as CEO. In July 2016, Thomson Reuters agreed to sell its intellectual property and science operation for $ 3.55 billion to private equity firms. In October 2016, Thomson Reuters announced expansions and relocations to Toronto . As part of cuts and restructuring, in November 2016, Thomson Reuters Corp. eliminated 2,000 jobs worldwide out of its estimated 50,000 employees. On 15 March 2020, Steve Hasker

3348-514: Is journalism 101. The fact that the blather was all inserted without attribution suggests it was added at the insistence of an editor." According to Ynetnews , Reuters was accused of bias against Israel in its coverage of the 2006 Israel–Lebanon conflict after the wire service used two doctored photos by a Lebanese freelance photographer, Adnan Hajj. In August 2006, Reuters announced it had severed all ties with Hajj and said his photographs would be removed from its database. In 2010, Reuters

Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant - Misplaced Pages Continue

3456-609: Is not aligned with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles". An investigation by the Intercept , the Nation , and DeSmog found that Reuters is one of the leading media outlets that publishes advertising for the fossil fuel industry. Journalists who cover climate change for Reuters are concerned that conflicts of interest with the companies and industries that caused climate change and obstructed action will reduce

3564-617: Is one of the largest and most trusted news agencies in the world. The agency was established in London in 1851 by the German baron Paul Reuter . It was acquired by the Thomson Corporation of Canada in 2008 and now makes up the news media division of Thomson Reuters. Paul Reuter worked at a book-publishing firm in Berlin and was involved in distributing radical pamphlets at the beginning of

3672-461: Is released 10 meters under the surface of the water, in order to reduce adverse effects on the environment. The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant was affected by the 2005 Miyagi earthquake and recorded vibrations above what the plant was designed for. Analysis after the event, however, found no damage to the reactor systems. Some people reported seeing smoke come from the plant after the earthquake and reported it, thinking that it indicated an accident, but

3780-429: Is the only nuclear facility that does not use a natural body of water for cooling, instead it uses treated sewage from the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. The water coming from the cooling body of water is either pumped back to the water source at a warmer temperature or returns to a cooling tower where it either cools for more uses or evaporates into water vapor that rises out the top of the tower. The water level in

3888-589: The Associated Press does use the term terrorist in reference to non-governmental organizations who carry out attacks on civilian populations. In 2004, Reuters asked CanWest Global Communications, a Canadian newspaper chain, to remove Reuters' bylines , as the chain had edited Reuters articles to insert the word terrorist . A spokesman for Reuters stated: "My goal is to protect my reporters and protect our editorial integrity." In July 2013, David Fogarty, former Reuters climate change correspondent in Asia, resigned after

3996-486: The BWR , the steam is directed into the suppression chamber and condenses there. The chambers on a heat exchanger are connected to the intermediate cooling circuit. The main condenser is a large cross-flow shell and tube heat exchanger that takes wet vapor, a mixture of liquid water and steam at saturation conditions, from the turbine-generator exhaust and condenses it back into sub-cooled liquid water so it can be pumped back to

4104-611: The Far East , followed by South America in 1874. Both expansions were made possible by advances in overland telegraphs and undersea cables. In 1878, Reuter retired as managing director, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Herbert de Reuter . In 1883, Reuter's began transmitting messages electrically to London newspapers. Reuter's son Herbert de Reuter continued as general manager until his death by suicide in 1915. The company returned to private ownership in 1916, when all shares were purchased by Roderick Jones and Mark Napier; they renamed

4212-409: The Fukushima disaster at Fukushima I which had a much shorter sea wall of 5.7 m (19 ft). In response to the high tsunami, Onagawa power plant's seawall was later built up to a height of 17 m (56 ft). On 13 March 2011, two days after the earthquake and tsunami, levels of radiation on site reached 21 μSv /hour, a level at which Tohoku Electric Power Company were mandated to declare

4320-774: The Newspaper Proprietors' Association , and co-ownership was expanded in 1947 to associations that represented daily newspapers in New Zealand and Australia . The new owners formed the Reuters Trust. The Reuters Trust Principles were put in place to maintain the company's independence. At that point, Reuters had become "one of the world's major news agencies, supplying both text and images to newspapers, other news agencies, and radio and television broadcasters." Also at that point, it directly or through national news agencies provided service "to most countries, reaching virtually all

4428-577: The Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for their work on Elon Musk and misconduct at his businesses, including SpaceX , Tesla , and Neuralink , as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for coverage of the Israel–Hamas war . Reuters employs some 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters journalists use the Standards and Values as

Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant - Misplaced Pages Continue

4536-743: The Revolutions of 1848 . These publications brought much attention to Reuter, who in 1850 developed a prototype news service in Aachen using homing pigeons and electric telegraphy from 1851 on, in order to transmit messages between Brussels and Aachen, in what today is Aachen's Reuters House. Reuter moved to London in 1851 and established a news wire agency at the London Royal Exchange . Headquartered in London, Reuter's company initially covered commercial news, serving banks, brokerage houses, and business firms. The first newspaper client to subscribe

4644-491: The Russian invasion of Ukraine . Meanwhile, China continues to advance in nuclear energy: having 25 reactors under construction by late 2023, China is the country with the most reactors being built at one time in the world. Nuclear decommissioning is the dismantling of a nuclear power station and decontamination of the site to a state no longer requiring protection from radiation for the general public. The main difference from

4752-656: The UAE launched the Arab region's first-ever nuclear energy plant. Unit 1 of the Barakah plant in the Al Dhafrah region of Abu Dhabi commenced generating heat on the first day of its launch, while the remaining 3 Units are being built. However, Nuclear Consulting Group head, Paul Dorfman, warned the Gulf nation's investment into the plant as a risk "further destabilizing the volatile Gulf region, damaging

4860-644: The UK Foreign Office released archive documents confirming that it had provided funding to Reuters during the 1960s and 1970s so that Reuters could expand its coverage in the Middle East. An agreement was made between the Information Research Department (IRD) and Reuters for the UK Treasury to provide £350,000 over four years to fund Reuters' expansion. The UK government had already been funding

4968-631: The United Kingdom , opened on October 17, 1956 and was also meant to produce plutonium . The world's first full scale power station solely devoted to electricity production was the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania , United States, which was connected to the grid on December 18, 1957. The conversion to electrical energy takes place indirectly, as in conventional thermal power stations. The fission in

5076-424: The 1970s and 1980s, when it "reached an intensity unprecedented in the history of technology controversies," in some countries. Proponents argue that nuclear power is a sustainable energy source which reduces carbon emissions and can increase energy security if its use supplants a dependence on imported fuels. Proponents advance the notion that nuclear power produces virtually no air pollution, in contrast to

5184-485: The 1979 Three Mile Island accident , the 1986 Chernobyl disaster , and the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster , corresponding to the beginning of the operation of generation II reactors . Professor of sociology Charles Perrow states that multiple and unexpected failures are built into society's complex and tightly coupled nuclear reactor systems. Such accidents are unavoidable and cannot be designed around. An interdisciplinary team from MIT has estimated that given

5292-577: The 3 power lines connecting to the plant, but it did not damage any of the backup cooling systems, which remained undamaged and unneeded, including the ESWS , the ECCS and the back up diesel generators. In 2013 the owners of the station, Tohoku Electric Power Company , sent a restart request to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) for Onagawa 2. They can only be restarted after passing an assessment by

5400-559: The Brussels supplementary convention, and the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage . However states with a majority of the world's nuclear power stations, including the U.S., Russia, China and Japan, are not party to international nuclear liability conventions. The nuclear power debate about the deployment and use of nuclear fission reactors to generate electricity from nuclear fuel for civilian purposes peaked during

5508-671: The Chinese government in response to the jailing of several Chinese journalists by the colonial British government of Hong Kong . He was released after being imprisoned for 27 months from 1967 to 1969 and was awarded an OBE by the British Government. After his release, he went on to become a best-selling historical novelist. In May 2016, the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets published the names and personal data of 4,508 journalists, including Reuters reporters, and other media staff from all over

SECTION 50

#1732858114834

5616-698: The Foreign Press Association Media Award and the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting , and were named as part of the Time Person of the Year for 2018 along with other persecuted journalists. After 511 days in prison, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were freed on 7 March 2019 after receiving a presidential pardon. In February 2023, a team of Reuters journalists won the Selden Ring Award for their investigation that exposed human-rights abuses by

5724-641: The Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). Reactor 2 finally restarted on October 29 2024. It was announced in 2018, that Onagawa Unit 1 which has been idled since 2011 will be decommissioned. Tohoku Electric resumed operations of the Onagawa Unit 2 reactor in 2024 following significant safety improvements. The plant conforms fully to ISO 14001 , a set of international environmental management standards. The plant's waste heat water leaves 7 degrees Celsius higher than it came in and

5832-595: The Latin American department of Reuters through a shell company; however, this method was discounted for the Middle East operation due to the accounting of the shell company looking suspicious, with the IRD stating that the company "already looks queer to anyone who might wish to investigate why such an inactive and unprofitable company continues to run." Instead, the BBC was used to fund the project by paying for enhanced subscriptions to

5940-513: The Nigerian military. In 1977, Rolling Stone and The New York Times said that according to information from CIA officials, Reuters cooperated with the CIA. In response to that, Reuters' then-managing director, Gerald Long, had asked for evidence of the charges, but none was provided, according to Reuters' then-managing editor for North America, Desmond Maberly. Reuters has a policy of taking

6048-514: The Nuclear Regulatory Agency, which in turn is waiting on completion of construction of newly-required safety measures. The utility company expected to complete construction by March 2019, and planned to restart Onagawa 2 by fiscal year 2020. In November 2019 the NRA gave approval for Onagawa 2 to be restarted subject to local approvals, consultation and further anti-disaster work. The reactor

6156-552: The chief viable alternative of fossil fuel. Proponents also believe that nuclear power is the only viable course to achieve energy independence for most Western countries. They emphasize that the risks of storing waste are small and can be further reduced by using the latest technology in newer reactors, and the operational safety record in the Western world is excellent when compared to the other major kinds of power plants. Opponents say that nuclear power poses many threats to people and

6264-498: The company "Reuters Limited", dropping the apostrophe. In 1919, a number of Reuters reports falsely described the anti-colonial March 1st Movement protests in Korea as violent Bolshevik uprisings. South Korean researchers found that a number of these reports were cited in a number of international newspapers and possibly negatively influenced international opinion on Korea. In 1923, Reuters began using radio to transmit news internationally,

6372-485: The costs of fuel extraction, processing, use and spent fuel storage internalized costs. Therefore, comparison with other power generation methods is strongly dependent on assumptions about construction timescales and capital financing for nuclear stations. Cost estimates take into account station decommissioning and nuclear waste storage or recycling costs in the United States due to the Price Anderson Act . With

6480-486: The current version of the text. This had the effect of confusing readers, and suggests that the former president was involved in corruption and the comment was attributed to him. Reuters later confirmed the error, and explained that the comment, originating from one of the local editors, was actually intended for the journalist who wrote the original text in English, and that it should not have been published. In November 2019,

6588-424: The destruction of a turbine in operation from flying towards the reactor. In the case of a pressurized water reactor, the steam turbine is separated from the nuclear system. To detect a leak in the steam generator and thus the passage of radioactive water at an early stage, an activity meter is mounted to track the outlet steam of the steam generator. In contrast, boiling water reactors pass radioactive water through

SECTION 60

#1732858114834

6696-458: The dismantling of other power stations is the presence of radioactive material that requires special precautions to remove and safely relocate to a waste repository. Decommissioning involves many administrative and technical actions. It includes all clean-up of radioactivity and progressive demolition of the station. Once a facility is decommissioned, there should no longer be any danger of a radioactive accident or to any persons visiting it. After

6804-412: The duration and size of this great earthquake". More recently, Tohoku Electric reported that the third floor of No. 2 reactor building lost about 70% of its structural rigidity and the first floors lost 25%, compared to when they were built, and was planning to reinforce the structures for increased quake resistance. In 2013 the station operators sent an application request to restart unit 2 at Onagawa to

6912-534: The energy-intensive stages of the nuclear fuel chain are considered, from uranium mining to nuclear decommissioning , nuclear power is not a low-carbon electricity source despite the possibility of refinement and long-term storage being powered by a nuclear facility. Those countries that do not contain uranium mines cannot achieve energy independence through existing nuclear power technologies. Actual construction costs often exceed estimates, and spent fuel management costs are difficult to define. On 1 August 2020,

7020-402: The environment and raising the possibility of nuclear proliferation." Nuclear power plants do not produce greenhouse gases during operation. Older nuclear power plants, like ones using second-generation reactors , produce approximately the same amount of carbon dioxide during the whole life cycle of nuclear power plants for an average of about 11g/kWh, as much power generated by wind , which

7128-775: The environment, and that costs do not justify benefits. Threats include health risks and environmental damage from uranium mining , processing and transport, the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation or sabotage, and the problem of radioactive nuclear waste . Another environmental issue is discharge of hot water into the sea. The hot water modifies the environmental conditions for marine flora and fauna. They also contend that reactors themselves are enormously complex machines where many things can and do go wrong, and there have been many serious nuclear accidents . Critics do not believe that these risks can be reduced through new technology , despite rapid advancements in containment procedures and storage methods. Opponents argue that when all

7236-411: The environment. In addition, many reactors are equipped with a dome of concrete to protect the reactor against both internal casualties and external impacts. The purpose of the steam turbine is to convert the heat contained in steam into mechanical energy. The engine house with the steam turbine is usually structurally separated from the main reactor building. It is aligned so as to prevent debris from

7344-513: The expected growth of nuclear power from 2005 to 2055, at least four serious nuclear accidents would be expected in that period. The MIT study does not take into account improvements in safety since 1970. Nuclear power works under an insurance framework that limits or structures accident liabilities in accordance with the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy ,

7452-406: The hot coolant is used as a heat source for a boiler, and the pressurized steam from that drives one or more steam turbine driven electrical generators . In the event of an emergency, safety valves can be used to prevent pipes from bursting or the reactor from exploding. The valves are designed so that they can derive all of the supplied flow rates with little increase in pressure. In the case of

7560-426: The hours over which the fixed cost of construction can be amortized. Nuclear power plants have a carbon footprint comparable to that of renewable energy such as solar farms and wind farms , and much lower than fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal . Nuclear power plants are among the safest modes of electricity generation, comparable to solar and wind power plants. The first time that heat from

7668-554: The idea, tended to dominate the Ring Combination. Its influence was greatest because its reserved territories were larger or of greater news importance than most others. It also had more staff and stringers throughout the world and thus contributed more original news to the pool. British control of cable lines made London itself an unrivalled centre for world news, further enhanced by Britain's wide-ranging commercial, financial and imperial activities. In 1872, Reuter's expanded into

7776-643: The issue, a new rule was set by the NRA in the wake of the Fukushima disaster which limits the operational life of nuclear reactors to 40 years. Onagawa 1 has operated since 1984, and therefore would only be able to operate a few more years even if it were approved to restart. In 2020 it was confirmed that Onagawa 2 met Japanese safety requirements again. The reactor was then expected to restart in 2021. It finally came back online again in October 2024. Nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant ( NPP ), also known as

7884-548: The name Reuter's Telegram Company Limited; Reuter was appointed managing director of the company. In 1870 the press agencies French Havas (founded in 1835), British Reuter's (founded in 1851) and German Wolff (founded in 1849) signed an agreement (known as the Ring Combination) that set 'reserved territories' for the three agencies. Each agency made its own separate contracts with national agencies or other subscribers within its territory. In practice, Reuters, who came up with

7992-586: The need to spend more on redundant back up safety equipment. According to the World Nuclear Association , as of March 2020: The Russian state nuclear company Rosatom is the largest player in international nuclear power market, building nuclear plants around the world. Whereas Russian oil and gas were subject to international sanctions after the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Rosatom

8100-639: The news organisation, for which the Treasury would reimburse the BBC at a later date. The IRD acknowledged that this agreement would not give them editorial control over Reuters, although the IRD believed it would give them political influence over Reuters' work, stating "this influence would flow, at the top level, from Reuters' willingness to consult and to listen to views expressed on the results of its work." On 1 June 2020, Reuters announced that Russian news agency TASS had joined its "Reuters Connect" programme, comprising

8208-473: The now decommissioned German Biblis Nuclear Power Plant was designed to modulate its output 15% per minute between 40% and 100% of its nominal power. Russia has led in the practical development of floating nuclear power stations , which can be transported to the desired location and occasionally relocated or moved for easier decommissioning. In 2022, the United States Department of Energy funded

8316-413: The plant's reactor in a building housing the electricity-generating turbine, but was soon extinguished. Following the tsunami, two to three hundred residents of the town who lost their homes to the tsunami took refuge in the Onagawa nuclear plant's gymnasium, as the reactor complex was the only safe area in the vicinity to evacuate to, with the reactor operators supplying food and blankets to the needy. At

8424-474: The prospect that all spent nuclear fuel could potentially be recycled by using future reactors, generation IV reactors are being designed to completely close the nuclear fuel cycle . However, up to now, there has not been any actual bulk recycling of waste from a NPP, and on-site temporary storage is still being used at almost all plant sites due to construction problems for deep geological repositories . Only Finland has stable repository plans, therefore from

8532-427: The reactor by the condensate and feedwater pumps. In the main condenser, the wet vapor turbine exhaust come into contact with thousands of tubes that have much colder water flowing through them on the other side. The cooling water typically come from a natural body of water such as a river or lake. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station , located in the desert about 97 kilometres (60 mi) west of Phoenix, Arizona,

8640-427: The reactor safety systems being designed some twenty years apart, was that the Fukushima I seawall was built to a height of just 5.7m, while the Onagawa power plant seawall was nearly 14 m (46 ft) high and thus successfully blocked the majority of the tsunami from causing severe flood damage. It was this tsunami that has been determined to be solely responsible for precipitating the loss of cooling and ultimately

8748-537: The reactors were constructed by Toshiba . The Onagawa-3 unit was used as a prototype for the Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant . The plant had been shut down after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami . The Onagawa nuclear power plant was the closest nuclear power plant to the epicenter, and facing the Pacific Ocean on Japan's north-east coast, experienced very high levels of ground shaking – among

8856-628: The report of the inaccurate reporting trickled out to the public, Reuters' senior director of communication Heather Carpenter contacted media outlets asking them to take down their posts. In March 2015, the Brazilian affiliate of Reuters released an excerpt from an interview with Brazilian ex-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso about Operation Car Wash ( Portuguese : Operação Lava Jato ). In 2014, several politicians from Brazil were found to be involved in corruption, by accepting bribes from different corporations in exchange for Government contracts. After

8964-415: The report, and the man whose image was wrongly used was invited and interrogated for nine hours by Indian police. Reuters admitted to the error, but Raphael Satter claimed that they had mistaken the man for the suspected hacker Sumit Gupta because both men share the same business address. A check by local media, however, showed that both men were in different buildings and not as claimed by Raphael Satter. As

9072-540: The risks of future uncertainties. To date all operating nuclear power stations were developed by state-owned or regulated utilities where many of the risks associated with construction costs, operating performance, fuel price, and other factors were borne by consumers rather than suppliers. Many countries have now liberalized the electricity market where these risks and the risk of cheaper competitors emerging before capital costs are recovered, are borne by station suppliers and operators rather than consumers, which leads to

9180-422: The safety of the plant during the tsunami: expecting the sea to draw back before a tsunami, he made sure the plant's water intake cooling system pipes were designed so it could still draw water for cooling the reactors. All safety systems functioned as designed, the reactors automatically shut down without damage, and no reactor damage occurred. A fire broke out in the turbine hall , which is sited separately from

9288-407: The same element. Different isotopes also have different half-lives . U-238 has a longer half-life than U-235, so it takes longer to decay over time. This also means that U-238 is less radioactive than U-235. Since nuclear fission creates radioactivity, the reactor core is surrounded by a protective shield. This containment absorbs radiation and prevents radioactive material from being released into

9396-400: The scandal, the excerpt from Brazil's president Fernando Henrique's interview was released. One paragraph by a former Petrobras manager mentioned a comment, in which he suggested corruption in the company may date back to Cardoso's presidency. Attached, was a comment between parenthesis: " Podemos tirar se achar melhor " ("we can take it out if 'you' think better"), which was removed from

9504-430: The smoke was actually produced by the backup diesel generators. The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant was the closest nuclear power plant to the epicenter of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake , less than half the distance of the stricken Fukushima I power plant. The town of Onagawa to the northeast of the plant was largely destroyed by the tsunami which followed the earthquake, but the plant's 14 meters (46 ft) high seawall

9612-693: The steam generator and the nuclear reactor is controlled using the feedwater system. The feedwater pump has the task of taking the water from the condensate system, increasing the pressure and forcing it into either the steam generators—in the case of a pressurized water reactor — or directly into the reactor, for boiling water reactors . Continuous power supply to the plant is critical to ensure safe operation. Most nuclear stations require at least two distinct sources of offsite power for redundancy. These are usually provided by multiple transformers that are sufficiently separated and can receive power from multiple transmission lines. In addition, in some nuclear stations,

9720-487: The steam turbine, so the turbine is kept as part of the radiologically controlled area of the nuclear power station. The electric generator converts mechanical power supplied by the turbine into electrical power. Low-pole AC synchronous generators of high rated power are used. A cooling system removes heat from the reactor core and transports it to another area of the station, where the thermal energy can be harnessed to produce electricity or to do other useful work. Typically

9828-463: The strongest of any plant affected by the earthquake – and some flooding from the tsunami that followed. All three reactors at the power plant successfully withstood the earthquake and tsunami without accident. Following an IAEA inspection in 2012, the agency stated that "The structural elements of the NPS (nuclear power station) were remarkably undamaged given the magnitude of ground motion experienced and

9936-407: The three units remained in cold shutdown until 2024 when reactor 2 was restarted. Whereas the mishaps at Fukushima I radically changed public opinion on safety and risks, Tohoku Electric seems to have preserved much of its pre-disaster goodwill in the area of Onagawa. While the tsunami was more than 13m high at both Fukushima I and the Onagawa power plant, the largest difference between them, apart from

10044-424: The time Reuters suggested that the Onagawa nuclear power plant may demonstrate that it is possible for nuclear facilities to withstand the greatest natural disasters, and to retain public trust. The plant was shut down following the earthquake and tsunami, in accordance with standard legally mandated procedure after such an event, but despite the IAEA finding that the plant had survived the quake remarkably undamaged,

10152-477: The turbine generator can power the station's loads while the station is online, without requiring external power. This is achieved via station service transformers which tap power from the generator output before they reach the step-up transformer. Nuclear power plants generate approximately 10% of global electricity, sourced from around 440 reactors worldwide. They are recognized as a significant provider of low-carbon electricity , accounting for about one-quarter of

10260-528: The versions of the pictures published by Reuters. Reuters said it is standard operating procedure to crop photos at the margins, and replaced the cropped images with the original ones after it was brought to the agency's attention. On 9 June 2020, three Reuters journalists (Jack Stubbs, Raphael Satter and Christopher Bing) incorrectly used the image of an Indian herbal medicine entrepreneur in an exclusive story titled "Obscure Indian cyber firm spied on politicians, investors worldwide". Indian local media picked up

10368-545: The words of the late Steve Schneider, this is like adding some nonsense from the Flat Earth Society to a report about the latest generation of telecommunication satellites. It is absurd." Romm opined: "We can't know for certain who insisted on cramming this absurd and non-germane 'climate sceptics nonsense' into the piece, but we have a strong clue. If it had been part of the reporter's original reporting, you would have expected direct quotes from actual sceptics, because that

10476-545: The world's leading newspapers and many thousands of smaller ones", according to Britannica . In 1961, Reuters scooped news of the erection of the Berlin Wall . Reuters was one of the first news agencies to transmit financial data over oceans via computers in the 1960s. In 1973, Reuters "began making computer-terminal displays of foreign-exchange rates available to clients." In 1981, Reuters began supporting electronic transactions on its computer network and afterwards developed

10584-455: The world's supply in this category. As of 2020, nuclear power stood as the second-largest source of low-carbon energy, making up 26% of the total. Nuclear power facilities are active in 32 countries or regions, and their influence extends beyond these nations through regional transmission grids, especially in Europe. In 2022, nuclear power plants generated 2545 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity,

10692-402: The world, and 57 nuclear power reactors under construction. Building a nuclear power plant often spans five to ten years, which can accrue significant financial costs, depending on how the initial investments are financed. Because of this high construction cost and lower operations, maintenance, and fuel costs, nuclear plants are usually used for base load generation, because this maximizes

10800-482: The world, who were accredited by the self-proclaimed authorities in the separatist -controlled regions of eastern Ukraine . In 2018, two Reuters journalists were convicted in Myanmar of obtaining state secrets while investigating a massacre in a Rohingya village. The arrest and convictions were widely condemned as an attack on press freedom . The journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, received several awards, including

10908-484: Was a significant shift in global policy, such as the US introducing an emissions cap-and-trade system. Very soon after that conversation I was told my climate change role was abolished. Ingrassia, formerly Reuters' managing editor, previously worked for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones for 31 years. Reuters responded to Fogarty's piece by stating: "Reuters has a number of staff dedicated to covering this story, including

11016-689: Was acquired by Thomson Corporation in Canada in 2008, forming Thomson Reuters. In 2009, Thomson Reuters withdrew from the LSE and the NASDAQ, instead listing its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The last surviving member of the Reuters family founders, Marguerite, Baroness de Reuter , died at age 96 on 25 January 2009. The parent company Thomson Reuters

11124-402: Was appointed president and CEO. In April 2021, Reuters announced that its website would go behind a paywall , following rivals who have done the same. In March 2024, Gannett , the largest newspaper publisher in the United States, signed an agreement with Reuters to use the wire service's global content after cancelling its contract with the Associated Press . In 2024, Reuters staff won

11232-501: Was criticised again by Haaretz for "anti-Israeli" bias when it cropped the edges of photos, removing commandos' knives held by activists and a naval commando's blood from photographs taken aboard the Mavi Marmara during the Gaza flotilla raid , a raid that left nine Turkish activists dead. It has been alleged that in two separate photographs, knives held by the activists were cropped out of

11340-484: Was expected to be restarted in 2021 following upgrade work. In contrast, Onagawa 1 has been slated for decommissioning, the tenth operable reactor to do so since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster . Costs of bringing Onagawa 1 to the standards set by the Nuclear Regulation Authority and subsequent maintenance are considered too expensive and time-consuming in comparison to the other two units. Further complicating

11448-477: Was not targeted by sanctions. However, some countries, especially in Europe, scaled back or cancelled planned nuclear power plants that were to be built by Rosatom. Modern nuclear reactor designs have had numerous safety improvements since the first-generation nuclear reactors. A nuclear power plant cannot explode like a nuclear weapon because the fuel for uranium reactors is not enriched enough, and nuclear weapons require precision explosives to force fuel into

11556-470: Was tall and robust enough to prevent the power plant from experiencing severe flooding. Yanosuke Hirai , who died in 1986, is cited as the only person on the entire power station construction project to push for the 14.8-meter breakwater. Although many of his colleagues regarded 12 meters as sufficient, Hirai's authority eventually prevailed, and Tōhoku Electric spent the extra money to build the 14.8m tsunami wall. Another of Hirai's proposals also helped ensure

11664-642: Was the London Morning Advertiser in 1858, and more began to subscribe soon after. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica : "the value of Reuters to newspapers lay not only in the financial news it provided but in its ability to be the first to report on stories of international importance." It was the first to report Abraham Lincoln 's assassination in Europe , for instance, in 1865. In 1865, Reuter incorporated his private business, under

#833166