Posts Tagged "accident"

Fessenheim : To be shut down or not ?

6 Sep 2012

Fessenheim : To be shut down or not ?

In any event, an immediate decision on the closure or continued operation of the nuclear center in Fessenheim is imperative. Fessenheim does not make tea. Operators and contractors are responsible for handling of radioactive fuel and monitoring of nuclear fission. The staff has been under pressure for a year now, which is absolutely inconsistent with the serenity and concentration required when working at a nuclear plant. Prolonging the uncertainty is irresponsible of the government.

The handling, storing, and transport of hydrogen peroxide leads to many accidents and releases of exothermic vapors that have could potentially cause burns to employees and first-aid attendants every year. Such accidents occur in paper mills, agribusiness, and water purification centers.

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MSC Flaminia : to remove the doubts about radioactivity

23 Aug 2012

MSC Flaminia

Press release no. 4

Inspection of the damaged container ship before she crosses the English Channel and the North Sea will take place in the coming days.

German experts along with British, Dutch and French specialists shall examine the condition of the vessel, her containers and her cargo.

Robin des Bois wishes this expertise to be completed by a radiological diagnosis of the ship. Hundreds of containers are damaged and the charterer of MSC Flaminia, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), is known to occasionally transport radioactive materials. The company is also known for a lack of transparency when it comes to publishing, when required, an inventory of transported goods. In November 1997, the MSC Carla broke in two off the Azores during a journey from Le Havre to Boston. MSC have remained silent with regards to the nature of the cargo, and it was three days after the accident that the French Nuclear Installations Safety Directorate (DSIN) announced that three sealed radioactive sources for use in American hospitals were aboard MSC Carla; they sank with the fore section, whilst the aft section was towed to the Canary Islands.

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MSC Flaminia : to remove the doubts about radioactivity

23 Aug 2012

MSC Flaminia
Press release no. 4

Inspection of the damaged container ship before she crosses the English Channel and the North Sea will take place in the coming days.

German experts along with British, Dutch and French specialists shall examine the condition of the vessel, her containers and her cargo.

Robin des Bois wishes this expertise to be completed by a radiological diagnosis of the ship. Hundreds of containers are damaged and the charterer of MSC Flaminia, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), is known to occasionally transport radioactive materials. The company is also known for a lack of transparency when it comes to publishing, when required, an inventory of transported goods. In November 1997, the MSC Carla broke in two off the Azores during a journey from Le Havre to Boston. MSC have remained silent with regards to the nature of the cargo, and it was three days after the accident that the French Nuclear Installations Safety Directorate (DSIN) announced that three sealed radioactive sources for use in American hospitals were aboard MSC Carla; they sank with the fore section, whilst the aft section was towed to the Canary Islands.

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The MSC Flaminia en route to Germany

20 Aug 2012

MSC Flaminia
Press release no. 3

The MSC Flaminia could find refuge in Bremerhaven, Germany. Bremerhaven not only has docks avalaible for unloading MSC Flaminia, a process that will take several weeks, but also a dry dock for emergency repairs. The normal stopover time for a container ship of this size is a few hours. This remote destination requires the convoy to cross the English Channel and the North Sea. Germany is taking its responsibility as the MSC Flaminia flies the German flag. It is unfortunate that France, the United Kingdom and other countries closer to the current position of the MSC Flaminia were unable or unwilling to take charge of the ship.

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Costa Concordia : the worst has been avoided

16 Jan 2012

Gigantic ocean liners and other types of ships such as container ships have worried towing and sea salvage specialists for years. Such large vessels worried the sailor and writer Joseph Conrad a century ago. Back in May 1912, one month after the Titanic tragedy, , he imagined the horrors and doubts of a night-watchman in the future, that is to say today. “ You are at night on the bridge in charge of a 150,000 tons ship, with a motor track, organ-loft etc. with a full cargo of passengers, a full crew of 1,500 cafe waiters, two sailors and a boy and three collapsible boats (.). You perceive suddenly right ahead, and close to, something that looks like a large ice-floe. What do you do? “(1).

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