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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

France doesn’t want airline crashes included as nuclear safety threat

principally France, see the measure as excessively burdensome, fearing it could force the closure of plants that would otherwise be deemed fit for operation.

EU divided over inclusion of plane crashes in nuclear tests, EU Observer, ANDREW WILLIS, 4 May 11, BRUSSELS – EU member states are divided over the need to include airplane crashes as a criterion in European nuclear stress tests, currently being drawn up in response to Japan’s accident….. A final decision on whether the voluntary stress tests should be limited to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods is likely to be taken by national nuclear regulators next week. Continue reading →

May 4, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Philippines ban plant products from 6 Japanese prefectures

The department said that the well-being of the consuming public is its priority in protecting the country from harm coming from radiation-contaminated product

PHL bans Japanese agri products on radiation fears, GMA News, 05/04/2011Plant products and planting materials including fruits and vegetables from six prefectures affected by the nuclear radiation in Japan have been banned from entering the Philippines for now, the Department of Agriculture said Wednesday. Continue reading →

May 4, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Greenpeace now blocking construction of dangerous Flamanville nuclear reactor

The EPR design in particular has a number of safety risks similar to Fukushima, as the French nuclear safety authority ASN pointed out a few weeks ago.

Greenpeace Blocks Construction at France’s Flamanville Nuclear Reactor, Greenpeace by Justin – May 4, 2011 , At dawn on Monday this week, Greenpeace activists began blocking the construction of the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) under construction at Flamanville, France. Two trucks were anchored to the ground, blockading the entrance carrying activists. More activists scaled four cranes, attempting to impede further construction work at the site. Continue reading →

May 4, 2011 Posted by | France, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

USA rally against new nuclear plant at Turkey point

Rally opposes new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point, Sun Sentinel 3 May 11….. nuclear power opponents rallied Saturday near the Turkey Point plant in southern Miami-Dade County, staging a mock evacuation to protest Florida Power & Light’s plans to expand the plant with two new reactors.

South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard and representatives from nine environmental groups expressed concern about the state’s evacuation plan, the likelihood that FPL customers would see higher bills to finance the new reactors and the strain the new reactors would place on the region’s supply of fresh water…… http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/blogs/green-south-florida/sfl-rally-opposes-new-nuclear-reactors-at-turkey-point-20110502,0,1771069.story

May 4, 2011 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Threat of nuclear revenge of Bin Laden’s death

9/11 Mastermind Reportedly Warned of ‘Nuclear Hellstorm’ if Bin Laden Killed, May 02, 2011,  FoxNews.com The self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/1l terror plot told interrogators at Guantanamo Bay that Al Qaeda has a nuclear bomb somewhere in Europe and would detonate it if Usama bin Laden was ever captured or killed, The Daily Telegraph reported, citing WikiLeaks’ cables.

Continue reading →

May 3, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | 1 Comment

Just how safe are Pakistan’s nukes?

the fact remains that the security of these weapons rests in the hands of those who somehow missed bin Laden’s mansion just down the street from their training facility, who receive their information from the same intelligence services that consider the Taliban a strategic asset, not an enemy

Pakistan can’t be trusted with nuclear weapons, National Post, Matt Gurney, 3 May 11, “…bin Laden wasn’t hiding in some dank cave, but was in fact living in a newly built mansion in an affluent Pakistani city, apparently within a 10 minute walk — a mere thousand yards — of a Pakistani military academy …… The government of Pakistan is divided up into competing factions, with their own agendas and plots against each other. This breeds instability and the risk of rapid shifts in the balance of power within Pakistan.… Continue reading →

May 3, 2011 Posted by | Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment

USA’s Nuclear Establishment Ponders About Nuclear Wastes

Nuclear waste storage a top issue for NRC-chairman,   * How long should plants store waste in pools? * NRC studies issue after Fukushima pool damage  * Task force also studies power blackouts, flooding  By Roberta Rampton,  WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. nuclear safety regulator is studying whether to require plants to more quickly move radioactive waste out of pools as part of a review on safety in the wake of Japan’s nuclear disaster, its chairman said on Monday.


…….. Dry casks use air to keep fuel cool, rather than pumped water, which needs steady power. A recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology study has pushed for a system of regional dry cask storage sites to hold nuclear waste.

Jaczko said it’s too soon to say what the NRC will do. A task force is studying what the U.S. regulator can learn from the Japan disaster and will issue recommendations in a couple of months.

The task force is slated to hold its first public briefing on its progress on May 12. It will also conduct a longer six-month review.

……… A “blue ribbon” panel also is currently studying long-term solutions for handling U.S. nuclear waste after the Obama administration shut down plans for a permanent dump site deep inside Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. That group is slated to deliver a draft report by July 29.

…….. http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN0230128220110502

May 3, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

German Chancellor wants definite date for closing nuclear industry

Merkel seeks to accelerate nuclear power exit-paper, BERLIN May 2 (Reuters) by Christian Ruettger,  – Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to accelerate Germany’s planned exit from nuclear energy by fixing a precise date, business daily Handelsblatt quoted senior government sources as saying on Monday.

In a high-level meeting last week with Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen and her chief of staff Ronald Pofalla, Merkel pressed for an exact year when nuclear power will be taken off line, the sources said.

Merkel would like to have the nuclear plants switched off before the previous date of about 2022 agreed by the former centre-left government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the sources said…….. http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE7410MU20110502

May 3, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant the world’s most dangerous complex

Making Hamaoka a special concern to its opponents is the presence of plutonium. Chubu is the only utility in Japan to have signed a contract to process mixed oxide fuel containing plutonium and uranium with the Sellafield plant in the UK.

The industry’s clout, its collusion with government watchdogs and a largely compliant media have helped smother concerns about this potentially explosive collision of state-of-the-art atomic power with primordial seismic instability

‘We all said disaster would strike here, not Fukushima’, The Independent, 3 May 11, After a 40-year campaign, warnings about the vast nuclear power station on Japan’s earthquake faultline are finally being heard. By David McNeill in Omaezeki and Nanako Otani, Norihiko Watanabe is pointing to his home, 600m from what he calls the most dangerous nuclear power complex on the planet. “There’s nothing like it anywhere in the world,” he says, eyes widening. “If it blows up, we’re all finished.” Continue reading →

May 3, 2011 Posted by | Japan, reprocessing, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Suspected radioactive leak in Tsuruga nuclear plant, Japan

Another radiation leak suspected in Japan, NZ Herald, 3 May 11, A radioactive substance leak from fuel rods is suspected to have occurred at another nuclear power plant in Japan, Kyodo News is reporting today.It’s occurred in Tsuruga, the Fukui prefectural government said, citing a rise in the level of radioactive substances in coolant water.

The operator, Japan Atomic Power Co, says it will manually shut down the No. 2 reactor of the plant on the Sea of Japan coast and examine its primary cooling system…..http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10723121

May 3, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Chile gets some radioactive cars from Japan

Radioactive cars from Japan arrive in Chile, NZ Herald, 3 May 11 Customs agents in Chile have detected low levels of radioactivity in cars shipped from the Japanese port of Yokohama….http://www.nzherald.co.nz/motoring/news/article.cfm?c_id=9&objectid=10723126

May 3, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Physicians, not nuclear physicists, know the facts about radiation

There’s no group better prepared than doctors to stand up to the physicists of the nuclear industry….Physicists had the knowledge to begin the nuclear age. Physicians have the knowledge, credibility and legitimacy to end it.

Unsafe at Any Dose, New York Times, By HELEN CALDICOTT,  April 30, 2011 “………There’s great debate about the number of fatalities following Chernobyl; theInternational Atomic Energy Agency has predicted that there will be only about 4,000 deaths from cancer, but a 2009 report published by the New York Academy of Sciencessays that almost one million people have already perished from cancer and other diseases. The high doses of radiation caused so many miscarriages that we will never know the number of genetically damaged fetuses that did not come to term. (And both Belarus and Ukraine have group homes full of deformed children.) Continue reading →

May 2, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, health, spinbuster | Leave a comment

30,000 tons of Chernobyl radioactive waste to last thousands of years

there is no long-term plan for dealing with a radioactive legacy that will remain for several millennia…..no one knows where the radioactive wreckage of the ruined reactor and the roughly 30,000 tons of material containing fuel are to be stored…the water problem remains unresolved.

Beyond the Sarcophagus, The Overwhelming Challenge of Containing Chernobyl, Spiegel Online, By Benjamin Bidder, 1 May 11,   Work on the new sarcophagus meant to contain Chernobyl’s reactor 4 is a decade behind schedule. But significant problems will remain even once it is complete. For one, it is only meant to last for 100 years. For another, no one knows what to do with the vast quantities of radioactive waste left behind. Continue reading →

May 2, 2011 Posted by | safety, wastes | Leave a comment

Fukushima care worker exposed to internal radiation emitter

the worker in question, who is in her 40s, was found to have suffered more internal than external radiation exposure, with the internal exposure reaching 6.71 millisieverts.

She was providing care to workers who had become sick at a building on site that was being used as the operation center for the crisis, the utility known as Tepco said.

Second woman over legally set limit, Worker found overexposed to radiation, Japan Times, 2 May 11,  Kyodo, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday that a woman at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant has been overexposed to radiation, making her the second at the plant to be subjected to more than the legal limit. Continue reading →

May 2, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Japanese parents fight government over changed radiation limits

Parents and lobbyists are scheduled to meet bureaucrats today to hand over a petition demanding the withdrawal of the new radiation standard

Parents fight back over raised radiation limits, Independent, 2 May 11, By David McNeill in Fukushima City, Thousands of parents living near Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant have condemned a government decision to lift radiation limits for schools in the area by 20 times, saying the move is based on incomplete science and could put children in danger. Continue reading →

May 2, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, Japan, politics | Leave a comment

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