How corporations manipulate the Internet
Russia’s natural resource oversight body to keep mum on catastrophes from now on Anna Kireeva, Charles Digges, 16/08-2012 […] Now, all information requests sent to Rosprirodnadzor’s press service will be subject to scouring by the special commission before it is released to the public – a decision greeted by some of Kirillov‘s subordinates as anti-democratic and needlessly complex.
Rosprirodnadzor is one of the Russian government’s most important sources of information about environmental conditions in Russia
How to manipulate the Internet by arclight2011 1 September 12, Below, are quotes from some articles that are looking at issues of internet blocking and manipulation of searches etc..
I live in the UK, and recently discovered that Uk government requests to access peoples personal data was much lower than other countries. This was because laws passed last year allow authorities to hack anyone of interest…..
they do not need to apply to the courts any more, they have to put them on the recently renamed DOMESTIC EXTREMIST DATABASE (DED) office. The DED now have no name so as to deter data protection requests from a concerned public. As you will see below, other countries also censure/manipulate data to suit local needs and some countries are more open than others..
I wanted to cover censorship and manipulation in Japan and the USA after the Gulf Oil Spill and Fukushima tragedy but the PR company (OGILVY and MATHER, WPP) that smoothed over the disasters would need its own article.
For now here are some examples of how the manipulation works.
Irradiated Russian region moves to manipulate its Internet image Charles Digges, 29/07-2011[…] Authorities in Chelyabinsk have announced that they will pay the equivalent of $13,000 in order to try to alter the region’s “online footprint” so that people looking for information on Chelyabinsk on the internet read “positive or neutral evaluations of the ecological situation” there. Read more »
Fire at Spanish nuclear power plant
Fire Shuts Nuclear Plant in Spain , WSJ, By ILAN BRAT, 15 June 12, An electrical fire forced a shutdown of Spain’s Almaraz I nuclear plant, the country’s nuclear safety authority said Friday. One worker was injured in the fire in electrical equipment outside the building housing the reactor in western Spain.
The Nuclear Safety Council said the fire posed no threat for the general public or the environment…. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303822204577468610332293428.html
Flight over nuclear reactor, smoke bombs dropped on reactor building
Activists fly over nuclear plant in Spain http://gulfnews.com/news/world/other-world/activists-fly-over-nuclear-plant-in-spain-1.1032248 Stunt designed to prove lack of security at the plant AFP June 6, 2012 Madrid Two Greenpeace activists flew over Spain’s oldest nuclear power plant on Tuesday in a motorised paraglider to draw attention to the alleged lack of security at the facility, the organisation said.
The activists threw smoke bombs on the roof of the building that houses the reactor of the Garona nuclear plant located near the northern city of Burgos from the paraglider, which carried a banner that read “Garona close now”.
In February Spain’s conservative government extended by five years the operating licence of Garona, which began operating in 1971. “With this action Greenpeace reiterates that there is no economic or energetic reason that justifies the extension of Garona’s licence,” Read more »
Spain’s Andalusia solar power station produces electricity day and night
Solar power station in Spain works at night Yahoo Finance 19 Mar 12, A unique thermosolar power station in southern Spain can shrug off cloudy days: energy stored when the sun shines lets it produce electricity even during the night.
The Gemasolar station, up and running since last May, stands out in the plains of Andalusia.
From the road between Seville and Cordoba, one can see its central tower lit up like a beacon by 2,600 solar mirrors, each 120 square metres (28,500 square feet), that surround it in an immense 195-hectare (480-acre) circle.
“It is the first station in the world that works 24 hours a day, a solar power station that works day and night!” said Santago Arias, technical director of Torresol Energy, which runs the station. The mechanism is “very easy to explain,” he said: the panels reflect the suns rays on to the tower, transmitting energy at an intensity 1,000 times higher than that of the sun’s rays reaching the earth.
Energy is stored in a vat filled with molten salts at a temperature of more than 500 degrees C (930 F). Those salts are used to produce steam to turn the turbines and produce electricity.
It is the station’s capacity to store energy that makes Gemasolar so different because it allows the plant to transmit power during the night, relying on energy it has accumulated during the day.
“I use that energy as I see fit, and not as the sun dictates,” Arias explained.
As a result, the plant produces 60 percent more energy than a station without storage capacity because it can work 6,400 hours a year compared to 1,200-2,000 hours for other solar power stations, he said.
“The amount of energy we produce a year is equal to the consumption of 30,000 Spanish households,” Arias said, an annual saving of 30,000 tonnes of CO2.
Helped by generous state aid, renewable energies have enjoyed a boom in Spain, the world number two in solar energy and the biggest wind power producer in Europe, ahead of Germany. … http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/solar-power-station-spain-works-020347254.html
Spain wants USA to clean up plutonium pollution B-52 bomber accident
two of the bombs that hit the ground detonated, spreading seven pounds of plutonium over a 200 hectares (490 acres).
US and Spain discuss cleanup of nuclear radiation, PhysOrg.com, February 5, 2012 The United States is offering technical assistance to Spain to clean up land contaminated by radiation from undetonated nuclear bombs that accidentally fell on the area in 1966, Read more »
Despite public opposition, Spain’s aging nuclear plant may stay open
Spain ageing nuclear plant may stay open: report, By Martin Roberts; MADRID | Mon Jan 2, (Reuters) – Spain’s incoming centre-right government may allow an ageing nuclear plant to stay open beyond a 2013 deadline for closing set by its Socialist predecessors, a newspaper report said on Monday.
Environmentalist groups have protested that Spain is out of step with countries like Germany, which closed seven older nuclear plants after Japan’s Fukushima disaster last year and plans to shut the rest within a decade.
In 2009, then-premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ordered the Garona plant to close in 2013, by which point it will have been in operation two years more than a benchmark 40-year lifespan…. Running nuclear plants is profitable, however, and in their unsuccessful election
campaign the Socialists proposed introducing a windfall tax on them.
Spanish voters are generally opposed to nuclear power – which provides about 21 percent of the country’s electricity – and no new plants are planned…….
Opposition in Spain to nuclear waste dump plan
New nuclear waste dump sparks controversy in Spain Olive Press, JANUARY 1, 2012 RAJOY’S new government has announced a €700 million nuclear waste dump for a village near Madrid, provoking mixed reaction from residents and green groups…
..Those in nearby villages, however, are considering taking legal action against the
plan. Greenpeace are also critical, saying the project is likely to cost nearly three times what the government has proposed, and that transporting waste to the site will be dangerous.
The plan was originally voted in 2004, but the location decision was delayed by Zapatero’s government amid protests….
Spanish taxpayers take over the costs of nuclear wastes
Spanish nuclear power stations have accumulated an estimated 6,700 tonnes of spent fuel in cooling ponds and will run out of room to store it from 2013.
Spanish voters are generally opposed to nuclear power
Spain names site for delayed nuclear waste dump By Martin Roberts MADRID, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Spain’s incoming centre-right government named a site on Friday for a nuclear waste dump, a decision that had been long delayed by its Socialist predecessors amid protests by residents and regional authorities. Read more »
Financial start for renewable energy, energy efficiency, in 10 Spanish regions
Spain Launches Fund To Promote Energy Efficiency And Renewables In 10 Regions, by: Eurasia Review, July 2, 2011 The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Spanish Energy Saving and Diversification Institute (IDAE) have concluded a finance agreement to launch a JESSICA holding fund designed to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in an innovative use of EU structural funds. …… http://www.eurasiareview.com/spain-launches-fund-to-promote-energy-efficiency-and-renewables-in-10-regions-02072011/
Small scale renewable energy is challenging big utilities
Small-scale renewable energy is more accessible to new entrants compared with the forward purchase of huge amounts of baseload generation from burning fossil fuels, which is the routine business of big utilities.
Change so far is happening slowly and from a tiny base but the cost of small-scale renewable technologies is falling.
Micro-Power Presents Slow-Burn Threat to Utilities Planet Ark: 27-May-11 SPAIN AND U.K. : Martin Roberts and Gerard Wynn A wide rollout of small-scale renewable energy poses a long-term challenge to utilities as households switch to home generation and the supply market opens, executives at green specialists and independents say. Read more »
Under pressure from nuclear lobby, Spain extends life of reactors
With much propaganda, but no truth or accurate information, the nuclear lobby was quick to proclaim everywhere that the recently adopted Law of ‘Sustainable’ Economy now allows the Spanish government to ‘extend the life of nuclear plants beyond the 40 years hitherto permitted’.
Spain’s nuclear spin | Greenpeace International, 26 Feb 2011, We are living in troubled times in Spain thanks to nuclear energy. The incoherence and inconsistency of the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero about nuclear energy in the last few weeks has plunged us into confusion. The nuclear lobby is taking advantage of this situation, proving the Spanish proverb that ‘in troubled waters, fishermen gain’. Read more »
National transformation to renewable energy – Spain and Portugal
Spain has grown from using just two percent wind and solar power to almost 20 percent in a decade…..Portugal has demonstrated an even more remarkable transformation in the last five or so years. In 2004, Portugal had just two percent wind and solar, but by the end of 2009 (the latest year for which data are available) this had risen to over fifteen percent!…….
feed-in tariff laws prompted the booms in Spain and Portugal
Spain and Portugal Lead the Way on Renewable Energy Transformation, Renewable Energy World, By Tam Hunt, February 7, 2011 Rapid energy transformation at the national level is possible. Read more »
USA called upon to clean up after its nuclear bomb accident in Spain
Spain has nowhere to store the contaminated soil, which will take thousands of years to lose its radioactivity…………The Palomares crash was the worst nuclear accident of its time,
Spain demands US clears earth from site of 1966 nuclear bomb mishap Obama administration is told to remove Palomares soil contaminated with half a tonne of plutonium ‘without delay’ Giles Tremlett * guardian.co.uk, 16 January 2011
Spain is insisting that the United States removes tens of thousands of cubic metres of earth still contaminated by plutonium from unexploded US air force nuclear bombs that accidentally fell in the 1960s. Read more »
Spain planning huge leap forward in renewable energy
Despite cuts, Spain’s subsidy structure still enables renewable power producers to earn up to 10 times more than fossil fuel producers for their energy. However, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero plans to continue incremental cuts in those subsidies. He believes that his country’s goals will be obtained through increased private investment.
Spain Shoots for 67 Percent More Renewable Energy, CALFINDER , 18 June 2010, In a draft proposal on its way to the European Commission, Spain proposes that renewable generation capacity increase to 70 gigawatts by 2020, up from 42 gigawatts currently. Read more »
Spain extending nuke plants, with no radioactive waste solution
The country’s nuclear power stations no longer have room to store much more than the 6,700 tonnes of spent fuel rods they have accumulated.
Spain mulls extending nuclear plant working lives Reuters 23 Dec 09 - “……………..Although the Socialist government had recently suggested it would extend the plants’ working lives, it has also repeatedly said it will not support building new ones. Read more »
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- AUDIO About San Onofre Nuclear plant. Nuclear Regulatory Commission – NRC: Lapdog or Watchdog? http://www.fairewinds.org/content/nrc-lapdog-or-watchdog
- and this Japan’s nuclear safety record criticised by regulator http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/connect-asia/japans-nuclear-safety-record-criticised-by-regulator/1132464
VIDEO: Japan to open nuclear plant http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3761126.ht
From Fukushima to New York: Continuing Dangers of Nuclear Power
Women and nuclear radiation – Mary Olson speaks
Mary Olson, from Nuclear Information and Resource Service, spoke at the New York symposium on Fukushima’s effects, March 2013.
Here are some highlights:
Mary Olson discussed the findings of the latest National Academy of Sciences Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation ( BEIR VII) , illustrated by this graph:
This lifespan graph shows increased cancer risk by exposure to a given amount of radiation, The pink line shows the risk for girls, the blue line for boys. Look at left hand part of the graph. It covers from zero to 5 years, and includes pre birth. We see a striking difference between the blue line and the pink line. The nuclear regulators assume that the risk shown here at age 40 – in the blue line- is the same for every individual regardless of age or gender. Yet, even at ages 40 – 60 the cancer risk from radiation is significantly more for women, than for men.
The cancer danger from ionising radiation depends on the type of radiation, the amount, and the duration of the exposure. But it also depends on who is exposed. Radiation exposure endangers some individuals more than others. In order, the most vulnerable are:
Primary germ cells/ Embryo
Foetus
Children
Elders
Some genotypes
Females – both juvenile and adult
All of the world’s scientific authorities agree that there is no safe dose of radiation. That includes the WHO, EPA, NRC, and national Academy of Science.
The standards for permissable levels of ionising radiation were originally written to cover doctors using radiation, then were intended for the purpose of sending military into radiological areas. Yet these standads, based on a 30 year old man, are applied to everyone.
Over 100 years, man’s activities have increased the background radiation by 25%
The ratio of cancer risks from radiation for males and females is 3 to 2. That is for every 2 males who get cancer from ionising radiation, there are 3 females. In reports from BEIR and the Lifespan study of Hiroshima survivors only external radiation is considered, not internal radiation. The risk for females is being underestimated in reports and in regulations about radiation
The World Health Organisation is the first big agency to acknowledge this difference in radiation risk between males and females, in its latest report. WHO is also saying that there is 70% higher risk of thyroid cancer for little girls exposed to radiation.
Studies are continuing, and animal studies, too, are showing this gender difference. We must move towards prevention and precaution as the basis of policy. Sadly, it is too late for a lot of prevention. We need to cahnge the priorities – to protect first, study second
And we need to get a whole lot more women motivated to get involved.
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