2011 June 11 « nuclear-news

Mainstream media not reporting the full story on Fukushima disaster

Water remains a primary complication; 15 million highly radioactive gallons await proper treatment and storage. That’s equivalent to about thirty highly contaminated Olympic-sized swimming pools. It is unclear how much of this water has already been released into the Pacific Ocean, but it is likely in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of gallons.

Japan Update, Footprints Sara Barczak , 10 June 11 Unfortunately, the mainstream media is reporting increasingly less on the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in Japan. Nonetheless, radioactivity continues to be released into the air and water at the severely damaged facility. Continue reading →

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011 | 1 Comment

High radiation levels in No. 3 reactor force workers to stop nuclear cleanup

Fukushima: Radiation in No. 3 reactor too high for work H5 NI Via NHK: Radiation in No. 3 reactor too high for work. The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says radiation levels in one of the reactor buildings remain too high for workers to do their jobs.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, sent 9 workers into the No.3 reactor building for about 20 minutes on Thursday, in a bid to start stabilizing the reactor. The utility plans to inject nitrogen gas into the containment vessel to prevent accumulated hydrogen from causing an explosion. It also intends to install a system to cool the reactor with circulating water.
The workers withdrew after measuring radiation of 100 millisieverts per hour near the reactor’s containment vessel. TEPCO says it intended to limit the workers’ exposure to below 5 millisieverts per hour. But as all 9 received higher doses, it has suspended work while considering a course of action…http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2011/06/fukushima-radiation-in-no-3-reactor-too-high-for-work.html

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Three more Fukushima nuclear workers get highly irradiated

Three nuclear workers exposed to high radiation Asia One News TOKYO – Three male emergency workers at a crippled Japanese nuclear plant have been exposed to more than twice the legally permitted level of radiation, an official watchdog agency said Friday.AFP Jun 10, 2011

The agency said another man in his 50s was found to have received more than the 250 millisieverts of exposure allowed for emergency crews working at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant……

A man in his 30s was confirmed to have been exposed to 678 millisieverts of radiation, while a man in his 40s received 643 millisieverts, according to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA)…..http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20110610-283483.html

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Water cooling at Fukushima nuclear plant causes more problems

Workers must inject the reactor cores with water to keep them cool. But that step guarantees that water will leak through the damaged plant and into the basement-level turbine rooms……..”They’re just perpetuating the problem and making a bigger and bigger mess,” said Lake Barrett, a nuclear engineer who directed the cleanup of the hobbled Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania.-

Water cooling Japan plant now a problem, FRANCE, June 9, 2011 , News Day.com By CHICO HARLAN. The Washington Post, Tokyo At the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, nothing is more problematic than the contaminated water that covers the basement floors, leaks into the environment and endangers any worker who goes near it. Continue reading →

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Italy goes to vote, with nuclear issue in mind

Italy, also a seismically active country, shut down its nuclear power program in a 1987 referendum following the Chernobyl disaster. Although the referendum was legally binding for only five years, its political staying power proved more durable. Berlusconi pledged in 2009 to revive nuclear power …...

Italians vote on nuclear, water policies, Google News By COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press – 11 June 11 MILAN (AP) — Premier Silvio Berlusconi would rather Italians head to the beach and not to the polls this weekend. Continue reading →

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Italy, politics | Leave a comment

Danger of unstable nations having nuclear power

A trove of U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and provided to Reuters by a third party provide colorful and sometimes scary commentary on the conditions in developing nations with nuclear power aspirations……Turmoil of the kind sweeping north Africa and the Middle East could affect the security of power plants and nuclear fuel – which some fear could be turned into weapons in case of a coup or if they fell into the hands of terrorists.

After Japan, Where’s the Next Nuclear Weak Link?, Reuters By Nick Carey, Jun 10, 2011 It may sound alarming but that is what could happen in many developing countries which are either building nuclear power plants or considering doing so – a prospect that raises serious questions after Japan’s experience handling a nuclear crisis.

Imagine a country where corruption is rampant, infrastructure is very poor, or the quality of security is in question. Now what if that country built a nuclear power plant? Continue reading →

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | MIDDLE EAST, safety | Leave a comment

Fear of radiation leads to discrimination against Fukushima victims

Although such examples are isolated, the severity and callousness of them led chief government spokesman Yukio Edano to condemn such actions. But many Japanese from outside the affected area remain wary in their dealings with Fukushima locals….The Fukushima Bar Association says evacuees and their children have been victimised and petrol stations have denied access to cars with Fukushima plates……

Discrimination increases torment of Fukushima, THE AUSTRALIAN, Rick Wallace, Tokyo correspondent June 11, 2011 IT was supposed to be a lifetime highlight, but the wedding plans of a bride-to-be from Fukushima have turned into a nightmare thanks to the new post-crisis phenomenon of radiation discrimination. Continue reading →

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Power transmission companies benefit from Germany’s nuclear shutdown

Dealtalk: German nuclear exit a boon for Siemens, ABB, By Marilyn Gerlach, FRANKFURT | Jun 10, 2011 (Reuters) – Germany’s nuclear exit and power shortages in China may help boost demand for switchgears and transformers, benefiting European power transmission suppliers such as Siemens and ABB.

Germany’s parliament began debating its new energy bill on Thursday, clearing the way for the shutdown of 17 nuclear reactors from 2015. Analysts say the nuclear capacity gap could be replaced mostly by renewables, which are volatile sources of energy and so trigger a need to invest in grid transmission infrastructure. ….http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/10/us-germany-siemens-idUSTRE7592YQ20110610

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Germany | Leave a comment

Tokyo Electric – too big to fail, but it’s failing

In a sense, it is because Japan allowed Tokyo Electric to become too big to fail that it must now deal with the consequences of its potential demise. Led by Tokyo Electric, Japan’s 10 electricity companies have long resisted efforts to liberalize the market, leaving them with virtual monopolies in their respective regions.

After Nuclear Crisis, Japan’s Biggest Utility Faces Insolvency Risk, NYT By HIROKO TABUCHI, June 9, 2011 On Thursday, shares in Tokyo Electric again fell to a record low, at one point slumping to 148 yen ($1.85), down 93 percent from prequake levels. Shares finished at 192 yen ($2.40), down 4 percent from the previous day, and the company already had a 1.25 trillion yen loss in the year ending March 31, the largest annual loss for a nonfinancial institution in Japanese history. Continue reading →

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan | Leave a comment

Google’s move into renewable energy – a commercial and environmental plus

By developing or investing in the technology that makes that goal achievable, Google gets in at the ground level of an industry that’s likely to generate significant revenue in the coming decades.

Google Takes Aim At Renewable Energy, Wired, By Duncan Geere June 8, 2011 Google’s founder and CEO, Larry Page, has announced that the company has tasked an R&D team with making renewable energy cheaper than fossil fuels. Continue reading →

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, USA | 1 Comment

Corrupt authoritarian regimes and nuclear power – example Azerbaijan

Rampant corruption in some developing countries could also lead to corners being cut in everything from plant construction to security,

In Azerbaijan, a cable written in November 2008 describes the man who would have the responsibility for regulation of a proposed nuclear program, Kamaladdin Heydarov, as “ubiquitous, with his hands in everything from construction to customs.”.

After Japan, Where’s the Next Nuclear Weak Link?, Reuters By Nick Carey, Jun 10, 2011″…..REGULATION AND CORRUPTION For many, rule No.1 for a safe nuclear program is a regulator with at least some semblance of independence from government or corporate influence.

Critics worry that authoritarian governments will not tolerate an authority with even pretensions to partial independence or transparency of decision-making. While nuclear authorities in the West have also faced criticism for being too close to the industry they regulate, they are at least open to media and lawmaker scrutiny. Continue reading →

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | MIDDLE EAST, safety | Leave a comment

Japan should have turned away from nuclear power – says Murakami

Mr. Murakami said Japan, having experienced the trauma of radiation, should have turned away from nuclear power…. those who questioned nuclear power were marginalized as being ‘unrealistic dreamers’,

Murakami Slams Japan’s Nuclear Choice, WSJ JUNE 10, 2011,“……..Accepting an international award given to people whose work helps ”develop cultural, scientific and human values worldwide” from Catalan authorities in Barcelona late Thursday, Mr. Murakami didn’t mince his words. Picking up the International Catalunya Prize (in Catalan), the author described the crisis at Fukushima Daiichi as the second nuclear blow Japan has suffered after the atomic bombings of World War II—and a self-inflicted blow at that, he said, one that should never have happened. Continue reading →

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan | Leave a comment

Japanese will need to conserve electricity as unofficial nuclear shut-downs increase

A spokesman for Kansai Electric, which supplies electricity to Osaka, Japan’s second-largest city after Tokyo, said Wednesday that it may have to ask its customers to save electricity this summer if many of the nuclear power reactors that supply electricity to the company remain idle, and if temperatures are high.

Japan Expects Power Shortages Amid Growing, Unofficial Nuclear Shutdown, WSJ 11 June 11By MARI IWATA, TOKYO—Japan’s electricity shortages may be intensified over the coming months by a wide-scale unofficial shutdown of nuclear power plants across the country. Continue reading →

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

Increasing number of TEPCO shareholders want withdrawal from nuclear

More Tepco Shareholders Seeking Nuclear Phaseout, TOKYO (Nikkei) 11 JUne 11–A total of 402 shareholders at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) have jointly submitted a resolution urging a withdrawal from nuclear power operations, the utility revealed in a notice for its general shareholders…http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110610D10JFN01.htm

June 11, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan | Leave a comment

VIDEO: Fukushima meltdowns, radiation into sea

VIDEO Japan Admits 3 Nuclear Meltdowns, More Radiation Leaked into Sea; U.S. Nuclear Waste Poses Deadly Risks, Democracy Now 11 June 11 Almost three months after the earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear disaster in Japan, new radiation “hot spots” may require the evacuation of more areas further from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency recently admitted for the first time that full nuclear meltdowns occurred at three of the plant’s reactors, and more than doubled its estimate for the amount of radiation that leaked from the plant in the first week of the disaster in March. “What they failed to mention is that they discharged an equally large amount into the ocean,” says our guest Robert Alvarez, former senior policy adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Energy. “As [the radiation] goes up the food chain, it accumulates. By the time it reaches people who consume this food, the levels are higher than they originally were when they entered the environment.” Alvarez also discusses his new report on the vulnerabilities and hazards of stored spent fuel at U.S. reactors in the United States. Then we go to Tokyo to speak with Aileen Mioko Smith, executive director of the group Green Action. She says citizens leading their own monitoring efforts are calling for additional evacuations, especially for young children and pregnant women. [includes rush transcript] http://www.democracynow.org/seo/2011/6/10/as_japan_nuclear_crisis_worsens_citizen