Formålet med bloggen er å bidra til informasjon om luftfart av alle slag. Også litt om ubåter og forsvarsspørsmål. Nyheter vil du finne her også, en del på engelsk som er det mest brukte luftfartsspråket. Har du selv noe som bør komme ut, så send meg en mail til per.gram@hesbynett.no
Allegiant Air's pilots union says airline is scraping by on
safety An Allegiant Airline jet flies over on March 16,
2015, in Las Vegas. (David Becker/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The
union representing Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air's pilots has turned up the heat
on company management by publishing a letter to customers warning them of safety
concerns they have with the airline.
APA Teamsters Local 1224 has
purchased advertising on Google directing prospective Allegiant customers to a
letter telling them that passengers could be "flying an airline that is content
with just barely meeting acceptable safety standards."
"This is not
something we prefer to do," said Daniel Wells, president of the union that
represents pilots of 10 other airlines in addition to Allegiant. "We believe in
a progressive approach (to labor negotiations), but this is a sign of how bad
it's gotten and how concerned we are."
Allegiant officials called the
letter "a scare tactic" and that the union is in engaging in "heavy-handed
bullying tactics." They said they plan to be back to negotiations in late
April.
In January, pilots voted 465-8 to authorize a strike against
Allegiant. Negotiations between the union and Allegiant management have been
fruitless since December 2012 when contract talks began. At issue in the
negotiations are pay and pilot work rules involving seniority and
scheduling.
The union contends that Allegiant is the nation's most
profitable airline but that pilots are underpaid.
The pilots' letter to
passengers said they "are uncomfortable remaining silent about company practices
that negatively impact our customers' travel and vacation, including your
comfort, and - most importantly - your safety."
The letter says Allegiant
represents the worst in an economy today where greedy CEOs disregard needed
investments into a company's workforce and infrastructure at the expense of
passenger safety and for the benefit of Wall Street.
Thai carriers under threat of air
safety downgrade Past problems at Bangkok's main airport . Are they
now coming back?
Thailand is at risk of an aviation safety downgrade
by ICAO and is taking urgent action under martial law powers to avoid the
damaging commercial consequences that would follow such a decision.
It's
a story that ought to be of concern to Australian international carriers, given
factors that could also cause a similar outcome because of the scandals and
failures associated with CASA and the ATSB in recent years, and the inability of
regulatory reform programs to meet declared targets under successive Labor and
Coalition governments.
Most of the world's aviation sectors, including
those of Thailand and Australia, are rated as Level 1 states when it comes to
having comprehensive, properly functioning and resourced air safety
regimens.
This is the second time FAA has audited India's air
safety following the downgrade in January 2014
A team of US Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) officials visited India on Monday for a final
review of safety measures taken after it had downgraded the country's air
security ratings over a year ago, sources said.
A senior Directorate
General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official told Business Standard consultations
with the FAA team would continue on Tuesday.
This is the second time FAA
has audited India's air safety following the downgrade in January 2014. India is
hoping for a return to Category-I status. A review would occur only after FAA
filed its inspection report in April, sources said. "The FAA team is likely to
file its report by April 10 and we are hopeful of a review by the end of April,"
a senior ministry official said.
FAA had lowered India to Category-II
because of inadequate safety oversight. During its earlier visit in December,
the FAA had flagged shortage of full-time flight operations inspectors and
safety procedures.
Category II means India's aviation safety does not
match international standards. Indian carriers like Air India and Jet Airways
could not add new US flights, while existing ones faced more scrutiny by FAA
inspectors in the US since the downgrade.
Germanwings Investigation to Focus on How Industry Vets Psychological
Backgrounds of PilotsProsecutors say plane crash co-pilot
Andreas Lubitz underwent psychotherapy French police discuss operations at the site of
the Germanwings crash, in Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps, on
Tuesday.
PARIS-France's aviation accident investigation office is
focusing its probe of Germanwings Flight 9525 on "systemic weaknesses" that may
have led to the crash, including how the airline industry vets the psychological
backgrounds of pilots.
The Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses said Tuesday
its investigators were deepening their probe of the flight, operated by the
budget unit of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. French prosecutors said they suspected the
jetliner's co-pilot deliberately flew it into a mountain killing 149
people.
As one of the world's most prominent investigators of airline
crashes, the BEA's findings are likely to be closely watched by aviation
regulators in Europe and the U.S. The investigation, BEA said in a statement,
will examine "the systemic weaknesses [that] might possibly have led to this
aviation disaster or other similar events."
The probe over what went
wrong aboard Flight 9525 leapt forward last week when French prosecutors said
they suspected Andreas Lubitz, the 27-year-old co-pilot, deliberately locked his
captain out of the cockpit and flew the airliner into an Alpine ridge at 400
miles an hour.
BEA's probe, the agency said, will look into the
mechanisms and procedures used to lock cockpit doors as well as "the criteria
and procedures applied to detect specific psychological profiles" of
pilots.
German prosecutors on Monday said Mr. Lubitz underwent
psychotherapy years ago because of suicidal tendencies-a situation experts say
is hard for airlines to detect. While Mr. Lubitz had been under treatment, the
prosecutors say, he hadn't exhibited suicidal or violent tendencies
recently.
As French and German investigators comb Mr. Lubitz's life for
clues of possible motives, industry experts have begun calling for tougher
measures on how pilots are screened.
Current rules don't require-and in
some countries prohibit-a private doctor from sharing information on a pilot's
medical condition with airlines and regulators. Germany has very strict privacy
laws that bar doctors from revealing medical information on their
patients.
"That is probably something that is going to change," said Rob
Bor, a specialist in clinical aviation psychology in London. Authorities may
mandate information sharing.
While an assessment of mental fitness is
part of annual checks, Mr. Bor said they may not be as thorough as possible.
Doctors performing the pilot checks may need to sharpen their use of clinical
interview methods to catch pilots trying to hide medical conditions, he
said.
Last week's crash of the Germanwings plane in which
all 150 aboard were killed will put further pressure on the already
"beleaguered" aviation war sector, says A.M. Best Co. Inc. in a special report
issued Monday.
Best said it believes the majority of the loss will be
absorbed by the Lloyd's of London market, as well as a number of global insurers
and reinsurers, according to the report, which was issued by the rating agency's
London office.
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty S.E. has been
cited as the lead insurer of the all risks policy covering the aircraft, which
was operated by Germanwings, a unit of Cologne, Germany-based Deutsche Lufthansa
A.G., according to the report.
The report says passenger liability claims
in connection with the crash, which reportedly was caused by its suicidal
co-pilot, will be covered as part of aviation all risks policies and represent
the majority of the overall loss.
The level of liability is uncertain but
will depend upon the nationality, earning potential and family status of the
passengers and crew, according to the report.
In terms of physical
damage, the aircraft is valued at $6.5 million.
Best says if reports that
the plane crash was caused by deliberate pilot action are correct, the insurers
that underwrote the airlines hull war policy, rather than its all risks policy,
are likely to be liable for the physical damage.
The report notes the
crash followed a series of high-profile aviation losses in 2014, including the
March 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH-370, hull claims caused
by fighting at Tripoli Airport, and the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight
MH-17 in Ukraine in July 2014.
The report says premium rates for the
aviation war sector rose in 2014 in response to claim activity, although the
level of increase was disappointing, given the magnitude of losses, and upward
momentum stalled towards the end of the year.
The report says also the
aviation market on the whole has performed well over the past 10 years, with
results repeatedly bolstered by substantial reserve releases.
French eye cockpit entry, psychological screening
rules
France's air accident investigation agency says it is
examining cockpit entry and psychological screening procedures following the
crash of a Germanwings plane in the French Alps that killed all 150 people on
board.
Authorities say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who in the past had been
treated for suicidal tendencies, locked the captain out of the cockpit before
flying the Airbus 320 into a mountain during its March 24 flight from Barcelona
to Duesseldorf.
In its first statement since the co-pilot's
responsibility was established, the French agency known as BEA said Tuesday its
investigation was aiming to provide a "detailed analysis" of flight
data.
The BEA also said it would be studying "systemic weaknesses" that
could have led to the crash - notably psychological screening procedures and
cockpit-door procedures.
Lufthansa insurers set aside $300 million over Alps
crash Gendarme Bruno Hermignies stands by a bulldozer
clearing a path to the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France, Monday, March
30, 2015. European investigators are focusing on the psychological state of a
27-year-old German co-pilot who prosecutors say deliberately flew a Germanwings
plane carrying 150 people into a mountain, a French police official said Monday.
(AP Photo/Claude Paris, Pool)
BERLIN - Lufthansa says its insurers
are setting aside $300 million to deal with possible costs resulting from last
week's crash of a Germanwings jet in the French Alps, in which 150 people
died.
Lufthansa spokeswoman Kerstin Lau confirmed a report on the
set-aside in the daily Handelsblatt on Tuesday. She said $300 million is the
amount currently reserved to deal with "all costs arising in connection with the
case."
Last week, the company offered immediate aid of up to 50,000 euros
($54,250) per passenger to relatives of the victims. Those payments are separate
from eventual compensation payments.
Prosecutors believe, based on data
from the cockpit voice recorder, that the Airbus A320's co-pilot locked his
captain out of the cockpit and deliberately crashed Flight 9525 from Barcelona
to Duesseldorf last Tuesday.
French pilots suing over leaks in German jet crash
probe In this undated photo provided by the French
Interior Ministry, French emergency rescue services work at the site of the
Germanwings jet that crashed on Tuesday, March 24, 2015 near Seyne-les-Alpes,
France. The co-pilot of the Germanwings jet barricaded himself in the cockpit
and intentionally rammed the plane full speed into the French Alps, ignoring the
captain's frantic pounding on the door and the screams of terror from
passengers, a prosecutor said Thursday. (AP Photo/French Interior Ministry,
Francis Pellier)
PARIS - France's leading pilots union said Friday
it is filing a lawsuit over leaks about the investigation into the crash of a
German jet into the French Alps.
Pilots around Europe are angry that
information about the final moments of the flight was reported in the media
before prosecutors and others were informed. Pilots are concerned that the
circumstances of Tuesday's crash will damage public trust.
After leaks in
the media about the crash, a prosecutor announced that cockpit recordings
indicate the co-pilot of the Germanwings A320 jet intentionally flew the plane
into a mountain. All 150 aboard were killed.
Guillaume Schmid of France's
SNPL union told The Associated Press on Friday that the lawsuit is over
violating a French law on keeping information about investigations secret while
they are ongoing. The lawsuit doesn't name an alleged perpetrator, a method in
French law that leaves investigators to determine who is at fault.
"We
can understand there is a certain pressure, a wish to know," Schmid said - but
he warned that leaking information too early can mislead the public instead of
informing accurately.
The French air accident investigation agency, the
BEA, "will never be able to satisfy the demand for immediate information. ... It
is designed to resist that," and instead is meant to focus on "establishing
irrefutable facts," he said.
European Cockpit Association also expressed
concern about the leaks and urged further investigation before drawing final
conclusions.
The idea that the crash was deliberate is "shocking," it
said in a statement. "Our thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. As
trusted professionals, who invest a lifelong career in making air travel safe,
this is a very difficult day for us."
Crash-jet's data
recorder is missing piece in explaining tragedy
French Red Cross members and inhabitants pay
tribute to the victims in front of a stele, a stone slab erected as a monument,
set up in the area where a Germanwings aircraft crashed in the French Alps, in
Le Vernet, France.
Almost a week after a Germanwings jet smashed
into the French Alps with the loss of 150 lives, its flight data recorder
remains the missing piece in proving that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz sent the plane
into its deadly dive.
Evidence that Lubitz deliberately crashed the
Airbus A320 operated by the Deutsche Lufthansa subsidiary after locking his
captain out of the flight-deck is based on an analysis of sounds from the
airliner's cockpit voice recorder, which was discovered a day after the tragedy.
The theory has been backed up by a series of revelations regarding his mental
state.
The second device's housing has also been found, minus its
contents, suggesting that an impact speed estimated at about 400 miles an hour
was sufficient to rip the so-called black box apart. Even so, critical elements
including computer chips that store information across hundreds of parameters
are still likely to be recovered, based on past experience, experts
say.
"For the sake of good order in the investigation they need to have
it," said Paul Hayes, safety director at London-based consultants Ascend
Worldwide. "The investigators must consider everything, and make sure there
wasn't some undetected problem with the aircraft."
France's BEA
air-accident investigator hasn't commented since a press conference to announce
the discovery of the audio recorder, when it declined to provide information
beyond saying that "voices" could be heard on the device. Daily phone calls and
emails to the agency, responsible for leading the technical probe into the
event, have since gone unanswered.
Searchers at the site of the crash are
also focused on finding body parts that will allow for DNA identification of
those killed, partly to aid burials and bring closure for relatives, but also to
ensure that all passengers and crew are accounted for and that there was no one
else on board.
No details have been provided on how ground teams are
going about the search for the flight data recorder on the precipitous mountain
slopes, though searches have ultimately proved successful in equally trying
conditions in the past.
After a Sukhoi Superjet 100 slammed into steep
and heavily forested slopes of Mount Salak, a dormant volcano near Jakarta, in
2012, search teams managed to find both boxes.
When Air France Flight 447
disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio De Janeiro to Paris in
2009, an ultimately fruitful undersea search for the recorders took fully two
years. While the bid to locate black boxes from Malaysia Air Flight 370, which
went missing last year, has so far failed, that's because the wreckage itself
has yet to be located.
Ascend's Hayes said investigators should be able
to extract information from badly damaged data chips, even if they must be
pieced together. Readings would then be married with sounds from the voice
recorder to provide a second-by-second account of what happened throughout the
entire flight.
While the level of detail available from the voice
recorder suggests that the current explanation of Germanwings Flight 9525's
demise is unlikely to change, the FDR still needs to be found if all doubts are
to be eliminated, Hayes said.
"The worst thing you can do in an
investigation is start off by saying you know the answer," he said. "You still
need to do the full investigation."
US military aircraft will be absent from the flying display at this yearParis air show, although show organisers are holding out hope that theBombardierCSeries would make its major show debut at the event.
"No US military aircraft will fly at the show," says theParisair show's managing director Gilles Fournier. "I'm disappointed."
The Paris air show is on the list of approved trade shows for the Department of Defense. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which coordinates US defense participation at the shows, was not immediately contactable for comment.
Show organisers also do not expect an appearance by theLockheed MartinF-35, they told reporters today at a press briefing in Washington DC.
NorthropGrumman, which missed the Paris air show in 2013, will sit this show out as well. Northrop has chosen to focus on regional shows in the recent years instead, notes Fournier.
The Paris air show will take place on 15 to 21 June. While the show organisers are still in the process of firming up the aircraft that will be on display, Fournier says theAirbus A350will fly. Less tentative is an appearance by the CSeries. "Bombardier has to confirm," says Fournier, adding that he believes there is a "90% chance" that the in-development narrowbody would make its major air show debut at Paris.
A Bombardier spokesperson did not immediately respond to queries. Fournier says: "My point of view is that the CSeries should be there. They already have five flight test aircraft."
Show organisers are expecting theDassaultFalcon 8X ultra long-range business jet and the Textron AirLand Scorpion to display at the show, although it is not certain yet that either type will fly. Unmanned aerial vehicles will not fly at the event, says Fournier, citing French civil aviation regulations. "In 2017, we hope that it will be possible then to fly big UAVs at the show."
The 51st Paris air show is slated to host more than 2,200 exhibitors this year and 285 official delegations, say organisers. Representatives of the Russian government have been invited, says the show's chief executive and chairman Emeric d'Arcimoles when asked.
Last year, the UK government barred Russian delegates from attending theFarnborough air showand refused to issue them visas. The UK government attributed the snub to Russia's actions in Ukraine.
While the Russians have been invited for the Paris air show, show organisers have not received any requests for Russian aircraft to feature in the flying display, says d'Arcimoles
Bell's new twin engine, fly-by-wire 525 Relentless helicopter has been designed for applications such as oil and gas support, search and rescue, VIP transportation, and emergency medical operations.
Facebook's UAV Flies, Builds On Developments In Solar Power
Somewhere in the U.K., Facebook has completed the first flight of a
prototype of the solar-powered stratospheric unmanned aircraft the social media
giant is developing to provide Internet infrastructure in remote parts of the
world.
CEO Mark Zuckerburg unveiled the aircraft's design and announced the first
test flight on his Facebook page on Mar. 25 and, on Mar. 26 at a Facebook
developer's conference in San Francisco, Chief Technology Officer Mike
Schroepfer showed a photograph of the subscale prototype in flight.
SAS-pilot Svein Duvsete (til venstre) i cockpit hos kollega Gunnar Lundin på vei til Stockholm. Den siste uken har SAS-pilotene forhandlet om ny tariffavtale. Foto: Klaudia Lech
SAS’ piloter må gi opp rettigheter som de har tilkjempet seg gjennom vel 60 år. I forhandlingene om ny tariffavtale er avtalen redusert fra 238 til rundt 40 sider.
Det har vært en krevende uke for piloter på vanlige passasjerfly etter flystyrten med Germanwings-flyet sist tirsdag.
SAS-pilot Svein Duvsete var på vei fra Oslo til møter i Stockholm omtrent da ulykken inntraff. Germanwings er et datterselskap av Lufthansa, som er en nær partner av SAS i flyalliansen Star Alliance. Pilotkorpset i de to selskapene kjenner hverandre godt.
Først var det usikkert om ulykken skyldtes tekniske problemer. Torsdag ble det klart at den 27-årige annenpiloten Andreas Lubitz hadde styrtet flyet med 150 personer ombord med vilje.
– Det er utrolig tragisk å høre om en slik ulykke. Det mest spesielle er at det skjer så nære oss, sier Duvsete, som er nestleder i SAS Norge Pilotforening, en av to pilotforeninger i SAS i Norge.
Innspurt i Stockholm
Sist uke var en stor delegasjon fra pilotkorpset samlet i Stockholm for innspurten i forhandlingene om en ny pilotavtale i selskapet.
Mens nyhetene om ulykken svirret på tv-skjermene, har SAS-pilotene fått jobbe i fred og har forsøkt å komme i mål til en tidsfrist 1. april. I Norwegian endte lignende forhandlinger med en fastlåst pilotstreik i starten av mars.
I SAS vil noen foreninger forhandle på overtid, men det skal det være et godt samarbeidsklima med pilotene.
– Jeg tror alle ser behovet for at selskapet får en mer fleksibel avtale. SAS må bli mer konkurransedyktig, så vi kan utvide i helt nye markeder. Selskapet må jo tjene penger, sier Duvsete.
Samtalene med ledelsen begynte i desember ifjor. SAS valgte tidlig å si opp tariffavtalen som utløper 1. april i år, og vil komme til livs en komplisert avtale på 238 sider som har regulert det meste ved arbeidstid, lønn, tillegg og goder i detalj. Selskapet ble grunnlagt i 1946, og avtalen overlevde til og med krisen i SAS i november 2012, da selskapet var nær konkurs. Det skapte reaksjoner i deler av pilotkorpset da avtalen ble sagt opp i vinter.
– Det er uhørt i skandinavisk arbeidsliv at en avtale blir satt ut av spill, sa leder Rune Sundland i Norske SAS-flyveres forening (NSF), den andre norske pilotforeningen i SAS, til DN i januar.
Siden midten av februar har partene sittet på et Scandic-hotell i utkanten av Stockholm i tre-fire dager av gangen. De viktigste punktene i avtalen er samlet i en ny tariffavtale på rundt 40 sider, og skal ha en liten variasjon i hvert land.
Like muligheter
Svein Duvsete var pilot i Braathens frem til SAS kjøpte selskapet i 2001. Han og flere kolleger har blant annet vært utestengt fra å fly på langdistanseruter, fordi det var forbeholdt SAS-piloter, ifølge den gamle avtalen. Tidligere Braathens-piloter havnet bak på karrierelistene.
– Et selskap må ha like vilkår for alle som jobber innen samme ansattgruppe, sier Duvsete.
Danske piloter og SAS Norge Pilotforening har ønsket å signere en avtale innen 1. april. Svenske piloter og den største norske pilotforeningen har fått utsatt en frist med inntil to måneder.
– Det har vært en god dialog, sier SAS’ informasjonssjef Knut Morten Johansen. Foto: Skjalg Bøhmer Vold– Det er for tidlig å si når vi blir enige eller ikke. Etter påske skal vi snakke om reelle krav, og da finner vi raskt ut om partene kommer til enighet innen kort tid, sier Rune Rundland i NSF.
De to norske foreningene vil antagelig undertegne samtidig.
– Det har vært en god dialog i forhandlingene, men foreningene har ulike interesser når avtalen skal forenkles. Nå er det vedtatt en forlengelse til 1. juni, sier SAS’ informasjonssjef Knut Morten Johansen.
Duvsete tror ikke på en pilotstreik i SAS.
– Fagforeningene har en tendens til å være konservativ. Jeg tror alle er opptatte av å sikre vilkår som gjør at vi kan leve et vanlig liv med lokale arbeidsvilkår. I mange andre selskaper er det blitt vanlig med innleid mannskap og sesongarbeidere, sier Duvsete.
I begge tilfeller hadde flygere problemer med privatlivet. Vi hører nå at kjæresten til Lubitz slo opp like før massedrapet, og kapteinen på Malaysian MH370 var i en barnefordelingssak samme dag da han antakelig begikk massedrap.
Vel, her åpner det opp for problemstillinger vi ser på som uønsket, som for eksempel at arbeidsgiveren kan begi seg inn i private sfærer. Uansett, dette vil bli diskutert.
Nuclear submarines have long been a favourite in popular fiction. From movies such as The Hunt for Red October to long-running TV series like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, they have always been portrayed as awesome instruments of geopolitical power gliding quietly through the gloomy deep on secret, serious missions.
An aquarium of radioactive junk — The Kara Sea, a submarine graveyard
But at the end of their useful lives the subs essentially become floating nuclear hazards, fizzing with lethal, spent nuclear fuel that's extremely hard to get out. Nuclear navies have had to go to extraordinary lengths to cope with their bloated and ageing Cold War fleets of hunter-killer and ballistic missile nuclear subs.
(Credit: Science Photo Library)
As a result, some of the strangest industrial graveyards on the planet have been created – stretching from the US Pacific Northwest, via the Arctic Circle to Russia’s Pacific Fleet home of Vladivostok.
These submarine cemeteries take many forms. At the filthy end of the spectrum, in the Kara Sea north of Siberia, they are essentially nuclear dumping grounds, with submarine reactors and fuel strewn across the 300m-deep seabed. Here the Russians appear to have continued, until the early 1990s, disposing of their nuclear subs in the same manner as their diesel-powered compatriots: dropping them into the ocean.
Rusting remains
The diesel sub scrapyard in the inlets around Olenya Bay in north-west Russia's arctic Kola Peninsula is an arresting sight: rusted-through prows expose torpedo tubes inside, corroded conning towers keel over at bizarre angles and hulls are burst asunder, like mussels smashed on rocks by gulls. The Soviets turned the Kara Sea into "an aquarium of radioactive junk" says Norway’s Bellona Foundation, an environmental watchdog based in Oslo. The seabed is littered with some 17,000 naval radioactive waste containers, 16 nuclear reactors and five complete nuclear submarines – one has both its reactors still fully fuelled.
(Credit: Bellona Foundation)
The Kara Sea area is now a target for oil and gas companies – and accidental drilling into such waste could, in principle, breach reactor containments or fuel rod cladding, and release radionuclides into the fishing grounds, warns Bellona's managing director Nils Bohmer.
Official submarine graveyards are much more visible: you can even see them on Google Maps or Google Earth. Zoom in on America's biggest nuclear waste repository in Hanford, Washington, Sayda Bay in the arctic Kola Peninsula, or the shipyards near Vladivostok and you'll see them. There are row after row of massive steel canisters, each around 12m long. They are lined up in ranks in Hanford's long, earthen pits awaiting a future mass burial, sitting in regimented rows on a Sayda Bay dockside, or floating on the waters of the Sea of Japan, shackled to a pier at the Pavlovks sub base near Vladivostok.
Drained and removed
These canisters are all that remain of hundreds of nuclear subs. Known as "three-compartment units" they are the sealed, de-fuelled reactor blocks produced in a decommissioning process perfected at the US Department of Defense's Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington.
It’s a meticulous process. First, the defunct sub is towed to a secure de-fuelling dock where its reactor compartment is drained of all liquids to expose its spent nuclear fuel assemblies. Each assembly is then removed and placed in spent nuclear fuel casks and put on secure trains for disposal at a long-term waste storage and reprocessing plant. In the US, this is the Naval Reactor Facility at the sprawling Idaho National Laboratory, and in Russia the Mayak plutonium production and reprocessing plant in Siberia is the final destination.
(Credit: Getty Images)
Although the reactor machinery – steam generators, pumps, valves and piping – now contains no enriched uranium, the metals in it are rendered radioactive by decades of neutron bombardment shredding their atoms. So after fuel removal, the sub is towed into dry dock where cutting tools and blowtorches are used to sever the reactor compartment, plus an emptied compartment either side of it, from the submarine's hull. Then thick steel seals are welded to either end. So the canisters are not merely receptacles: they are giant high-pressure steel segments of the nuclear submarine itself – all that remains of it, in fact, as all nonradioactive submarine sections are then recycled.
Russia also uses this technique because the West feared that its less rigorous decommissioning processes risked fissile materials getting into unfriendly hands. At Andreeva Bay, near Sayda, for instance, Russia still stores spent fuel from 90 subs from the 1960s and 1970s, for instance. So in 2002, the G8 nations started a 10-year, $20bn programme to transfer Puget Sound's decommissioning knowhow to the Russian Federation. That involved vastly improving technology and storage at their de-fuelling facility in Severodvinsk and their dismantling facility, and by building a land-based storage dock for the decommissioned reactors.
Floating menace
Safer land-based storage matters because the reactor blocks had been left afloat at Sayda Bay, as the air-filled compartments either side of the reactor compartment provide buoyancy, says Bohmer. But at Pavlovks, near Vladivostok, 54 of the canisters are still afloat and at the mercy of the weather.
Decommissioning this way is not always possible, however, says Bohmer. Some Soviet subs had liquid metal cooled reactors – using a lead-bismuth mixture to remove heat from the core – rather than the common pressurised water reactor (PWR). In a cold, defunct reactor the lead-bismuth coolant freezes, turning it into an unwieldy solid block. Bohmer says two such submarines are not yet decommissioned and have had to be moved to an extremely remote dockyard at Gremikha Bay – also on the Kola Peninsula – for safety's sake.
(Credit: Science Photo Library)
Using the three-compartment-unit method, Russia has so far decommissioned 120 nuclear submarines of the Northern Fleet and 75 subs from its Pacific Fleet. In the US, meanwhile, 125 Cold War-era subs have been dismantled this way. France, too, has used the same procedure. In Britain, however, Royal Navy nuclear subs are designed so that the reactor module can be removed without having to sever compartments from the midsection. "The reactor pressure vessel can be removed in one piece, encased, transported and stored," says a spokesman for the UK Ministry of Defence.
However Britain's plans to decommission 12 defunct submarines stored at Devonport in the south of England and seven at Rosyth in Scotland won't happen any time soon as the government still has to decide which of five possible UK sites will eventually store those pressure vessels and spent fuel. This has raised community concerns as the numbers of defunct nuclear-fuelled subs is building up at Devonport and Rosyth, as BBC News reported last year.
Water fears
Environmental groups have also raised concerns about fuel storage in the US. The Idaho National Lab has been the ultimate destination for all US Navy high-level spent fuel since the first nuclear sub, USS Nautilus, was developed in 1953. "The prototype reactor for the USS Nautilus was tested at INL and since then every scrap of spent fuel from the nuclear navy has ended up in Idaho. It is stored above the upstream end of the Snake River Aquifer, the second largest unified underground body of water on the North American continent," says Beatrice Brailsford of the Snake River Alliance, an environmental lobby group.
"The spent fuel is stored above ground, but the rest of the waste is buried above the aquifer and that practice may continue for another half century. It is a source of concern for many people in Idaho." It's not only the aquifer's fresh water that's at risk: the state’s signature crop, potatoes, would also be affected.
(Credit: Science Photo Library)
Even with high security, radioactive material can occasionally escape – sometimes in bizarre ways. For instance both INL and Hanford have suffered unusual radiation leaks from tumbleweeds blowing into waste cooling ponds, picking up contaminated water, and then being blown over the facility's perimeter by the wind.
The expensive, long-term measures that have to be taken to render a defunct nuclear sub safe don’t seem to deter military planners from building more vessels. "As far as the US is concerned there is no indication that the Navy believes nuclear submarines have been anything less than a stellar success and replacements for the major submarine classes are in the works." says Edwin Lyman, nuclear policy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a pressure group, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
(Credit: Science Photo Library)
The US is not alone: Russia has four new nuclear subs under construction at Severodvinsk and may build a further eight before 2020. "Despite limited budgets Russia is committed to building up its nuclear fleet again," says Bohmer. China is doing likewise.
The submarine graveyards and spent fuel stores, it appears, will continue to be busy.
Sist fredag skulle et følge på fem, inkl. undertegnede, reise fra Sola via OSL til Istanbul. Dagen før hadde det vært snøfall på Gardermoen, noe som førte til store følgeforsinkelser for SAS, men ikke for Norwegian som fløy som normalt. På Sola var det lang kø fredag da vi stilte oss opp kl. 0750 . SAS ga oss brosjyre fra 2004 vedr. passasjerer rettigheter, noe jeg satte pris på selv om det hadde kommet nye regler etter dette. Jeg fant ut grunnen til at SAS var på tilbudssiden; Forbrukerrådet var tilstede og sjekket deres service.
Etter 6 og en halv time var vi fremme ved skranken; må ha vært 200 i kø før oss. Det var tre damer tilstede, men det var plass for fire. Damen i skranken sjekket og sjekket, men fant ingen mulighet for oss før via CPH mandag. Hun ba oss uttrykkelig å sjekke med SAS senere om det var muligheter å returnere et par dager senere enn opprinnelig planlagt siden vi hadde tapt to dager i venting. Vi måtte finne oss i dette.
Vel, i dag sjekket jeg med SAS` på tlf. 05400 og fikk følgende svar. Tyverr, det referansenummeret jeg oppga var en E-bookers sak siden billetten var kjøpt gjennom dem. Jeg viste da til at SAS Sola hadde greid å booke om, da måtte vel SAS sentralt kunne gjøre det samme. Tyverr, det gikk ikke. Jeg viste så til at damen i skranken på Sola hadde uttrykkelig sagt at vi skulle kontakte SAS for å sjekke evt. avbestillingen bla. bla, "Tyverr" sa Malin...... men SAS sviktet oss her. Vi ble iallefall forledet til å tro at dette var grei skuring. Hører gjerne fra SAS om de kan forklare hvorfor det er forskjellige ordninger når en er på flyplassen vs. en telefonhenvendelse. Ser liksom for meg, etter 6 og en halv time: Beklager Gram, du må ringe E-bookers.....
Solar Impulse in Mandalay preparing to leave for Chongqing
Solar Impulse, the fuel-free aeroplane, is up in the air again on the fifth leg of its round-the-world flight.
The vehicle, with Bertrand Piccard at the controls, left Mandalay in Myanmar (Burma) just after 21:00 GMT on Sunday, and is heading for Chongqing in China.
The intention is to make a brief stop there, and then try to reach Nanjing on the east coast of the country.
This would set up Solar Impulse for the first of its big ocean crossings - a five-day, five-night flight to Hawaii.
Mission control will not make a decision on the Nanjing leg until late on Monday.
Den nye kampflybasen på Ørland i Sør-Trøndelag, der flesteparten av de nye F35-flyene skal være, blir av magasinet Norges forsvar beskrevet som «altfor sårbar».
Kampflyene skal ikke stå beskyttet i betongbygg, men i hangarer. Administrasjonsanlegget blir liggende som åpne bygg.
Kampflybasen på Ørland blir dermed altfor sårbar, ifølge magasinet Norges forsvar.
– Blir velfungerende
– Vi bygger en kampflybase på Ørland til cirka 10 milliarder kroner, men har ikke penger til å bygge sikre betongbunkere til flyene. I framtiden vil 48 F-35 til 68 milliarder kroner stå oppmarsjert som fete mål uten beskyttelse, skriver bladet.
Overfor Aftenposten forsikrer imidlertid Luftforsvaret at den nye basen blir velfungerende. – Ørland planlegges utbygd for å kunne fungere i alle konfliktnivå, heter det i et svar fra Luftforsvaret.
– Det planlegges en rekke tiltak for å gi tilfredsstillende sikring og beskyttelse, svarer Luftforsvaret på spørsmål om infrastrukturen på basen.
Økonomiske spørsmål
Major Stian Roen ved informasjonsenheten i Luftforsvaret opplyser til magasinet Norges forsvar at valg av løsningene på Ørland har å gjøre med økonomi. Forsvaret gikk opprinnelig inn for å ha to kampflybaser i Norge, i Bodø og på Ørland. Økonomi gjorde at man endret dette til én, på Ørland utenfor Trondheim.
I tillegg til basen på Ørland skal det være base for noen få F-35-fly ved Evenes utenfor Harstad, som skal fungere som utrykningsfly på vegne av NATO.
An investigator says the plane touched down 1,100 feet short of the runway
Video appears to show plane with nicked wing and missing part of nose
Twenty-five people taken to hospital for injuries that aren't life threatening, airline says
(CNN)An Air Canada jet touched down short of the runway at an airport in Halifax early Sunday, hitting an antenna, severing a power line and losing its landing gear before skidding to a stop.
The aircraft, an Airbus A320, touched down about 1,100 feet short of the runway, said Mike Cunningham, a regional manager of air investigations at the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. From there, it hit an antenna array that's part of the airport's landing system and severed a power line.
The plane skidded for another 1,100 feet on its belly before coming to a stop.
Investigators haven't determined yet what caused the accident, Cunningham said.
The plane's so-called black boxes are on their way to engineers for analysis, he said, and dozens more investigators are set to arrive at the crash site Monday.
"Obviously it's too early to draw any conclusions. ... These things are always very complex. It takes quite a bit of time to get to the underlying factors."
Twenty-five people, including the two pilots, were treated for minor injuries at a hospital, said Klaus Goersch, Air Canada executive vice president and COO.
By Sunday afternoon, all but one passenger was released.
Goersch called the incident "very unsettling" and said that the company is cooperating with authorities in an investigation.
Questioned by reporters, Goersch said that the weather was safe enough for a plane to land.
He declined to speculate on a cause for the crash, saying investigators will make that determination.
