Concern at plumes of steam over Oldbury nuclear station

By Ben Falconer, This Is Gloucestershire

A massive plume of steam was seen rising from the Oldbury nuclear reactor, frightening residents on both sides of the Severn.

It came as three Gloucestershire MPs backed a document calling for investment in the nuclear industry and insisted it is the way forward, despite the Japanese nuclear crisis.

A new reactor is being built at Oldbury in South Gloucestershire, but on Thursday, steam billowed from one of the two reactors there, leading concerned residents to fear the worst.

Magnox, which runs the site, said steam was released as part of a normal automatic shutdown after an electrical failure.

"My wife said the noise was horrendous," said anti-nuclear campaigner Reg Illingworth, who lives near the site.

He said he feared that if a more serious problem occurred, thousands of people in the surrounding area, including the Forest of Dean, would have to be evacuated.

"Magnox issued a statement saying there was nothing to worry about but given the concerns about Japan it was worrying."

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Radioactive substances from Fukushima plant to go around globe

According to Kyodo News:

Radioactive substances released from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station have already reached the United States and Iceland, and are expected to go around the globe in two to three weeks, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization said Thursday.

But the amount is too small to affect humans, the Vienna-based CTBTO told Kyodo News.

The commission operates a network of monitoring facilities at 63 locations in the world, including one in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture.

A senior official at the commission's monitoring department said figures observed in Takasaki continue to go up and down and that the amount of radioactive substances from the Fukushima plant, which has been crippled by the March 11 mega earthquake and tsunami, cannot be said to be on the decrease.

Small amounts of radioactive substances were already detected at observation facilities in western California on March 18 and in Iceland on Tuesday, and they are expected to reach European countries in a few days, according to the official.

Diplomatic sources at the International Atomic Energy Agency said many Southeast Asian countries are worried about the adverse effects of the radioactive substances.

But Japan's Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency said it does not expect any impact on foreign countries, citing data observed so far.

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