Doubts on viability of Latest Fukushima cleanup plan
the presence of highly radioactive water at Unit 2 posed a particular challenge. There and at other units, workers have been cooling nuclear fuel at the reactor’s core and in storage pools by pumping in hundreds of tons of water a day, producing dangerous amounts of runoff.
Radiation Poses Barrier To Repair Work at Plant NYTimes.com By HIROKO TABUCHI April 18, 2011TOKYO — Robots deployed inside two reactors at the Japanese nuclear plant overrun by last month’s devastating tsunami have detected radiation levels too high for workers to enter, posing immediate challenges for a new plan to bring the ravaged complex under control by year’s end…. Continue reading
Radiation in seafoods
“[People] should not venture into the ocean [where the radioactive materials are being released]; they should not eat any fish or seaweed from the ocean.
“The living species likely to be most affected are shellfish because they are stationary whereas fish that swim may pass through the area and out again. The shellfish such as mussels, oysters and clams certainly accumulate high levels of radioactivity….
Japanese earthquake | what Japan’s new nuclear crisis rating means, Sydney Morning Herald, Glenda Kwek April 12, 2011 As Japan raised the severity level of its nuclear crisis to match Chernobyl’s seven, an Australian scientist explained what that meant. Continue reading
Developing the myths of nuclear power as cheap and safe
The myth of radiation being very interesting but not dangerous was however firmly debunked by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, but not without a last ditch attempt by the occupying Allied Powers to protect it – by arresting and deporting any journalist who talked about radiation deaths.
The Nuclear Power Mercantilist Myth :: The Market Oracle :: By Andrew McKillop, 19 April 11, “…..COSTS DIDNT MATTERThe atom scientists of the 1930s with names we still know today, for example Fermi and Einstein, argued about those subjects but, being scientists, were not specially concerned what it would all cost. Only later, with the founding of the UN’s atomic energy agency in 1956 – a promotional agency for nuclear power – were the key subjects of entrepreneurial effort and the obligatorily linked need for government subsidies brought into the fray. This was sold as creating a future world where atomic arms will be changed to power plant ploughshares. While atomic weapons were expensive, the ploughshares would be cheap if we spent enough investing in them. Continue reading
32 Asian nuclear plants at risk from earthquakes
.Like Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi plant they lie within a few hundred miles of the type of fault known to unleash the largest tsunami-spawning earthquakes…..At least 32 plants in operation or under construction in Asia are at risk of one day being hit by a tsunami, nuclear experts and geologists warn…..
Asia nuclear reactors face tsunami risk, Google News (AP) 19 April 11, JAKARTA, Indonesia — The skeleton of what will soon be one of the world’s biggest nuclear plants is slowly taking shape along China’s southeastern coast — right on the doorstep of Hong Kong’s bustling metropolis. Three other facilities nearby are up and running or under construction. Continue reading
Fukushima the last chapter in dying nuclear industry
“The nuclear industry was arguably on life support before Fukushima. When the history of this industry is written, Fukushima is likely to introduce its final chapter,”New Worldwatch Report Previewed in Berlin
To obtain a free copy of the draft report, click here
http://www.worldwatch.org/system/files/NuclearStatusReport2011_prel.pdf
Berlin, Germany—The future of nuclear power was bleak even before the Fukushima disaster, said energy expert Mycle Schneider Wednesday at a press conference in Berlin, where he previewed an upcoming Worldwatch Institute report on the outlook of nuclear power.
“The industry was arguably on life support before Fukushima. When the history of this industry is written, Fukushima is likely to introduce its final chapter,” said Schneider, lead author of the new report, which was previewed in Berlin today at an event hosted by the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Continue reading
Desperate marketing tactics of Nuclear Suppliers Group
Trying desperately to keep itself alive at whatever cost and whatever risk to present and future human and other life on the planet, the nuclear industry has retreated into its laager mentality with technology gimmicks ranging from thorium and other non-uranium fuelled reactors, fusion reactors, and fast breeder reactors. Although no commercial – that is non subsidized and large scale – versions of these quick fixes exist, the high tech sheen on these claimed alternatives is enough to beguile some weak minded, uninformed and gullible persons. Nuclear power should be given another try, they say !
The Nuclear Power Mercantilist Myth :: The Market Oracle :: By Andrew McKillop, 19 April 11,“…The now 46-nation NSG-Nuclear Suppliers Group is mainly OECD membership but also includes Argentina, Brazil, China, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Turkey and Ukraine, as well as some other small non-OECD countries but specifically does not include India. This traces to the 1975 founding of the NSG, in the wake of India’s 1974 test explosion of an atom bomb, and the alarmed but confused attempt by leaderships of the old nuclear nations to lock down nuclear technology but also promote nuclear power. The permanent and basic linkage between nuclear weapons, and nuclear power had been made clear for all to see by the Indian test, but business had to go on as usual. Continue reading
Anti nuclear protestor killed by police
Anti-nuclear activists were planning further protests this weekend in Maharahstra to demand that the Jaitapur and other nuclear power plant schemes be scrapped,
Indian police kill protester in anti-nuclear demo, Google News, (AFP) – 19 April 11, MUMBAI — Indian police opened fire on hundreds of protesters — killing one — at a demonstration against the proposed construction of a nuclear power station, police and the government said Monday… Continue reading
US Nuclear Regulators as US Nuclear Marketing Men
the cables — from 2006 to early 2010 — show that the NRC’s role in promoting its regulatory model around the world can easily turn it into an advocate for U.S. nuclear technology, whether its officials realize it or not…..
U.S. nuclear regulator a policeman or salesman? (Reuters), 18 April 11, – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission exists to police, not promote, the domestic nuclear industry — but diplomatic cables show that it is sometimes used as a sales tool to help push American technology to foreign governments. Continue reading
Eight ghost towns in Fukushima Prefecture
Futaba Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa, meanwhile, said it will be “years” before the residents of his town can return. …….
Eerie Hush Descends on Japan’s Nuclear Zone – WSJ.com, 19 April 11, “……..Over the road that runs through the town center, a white-and-blue sign proclaims: “Understanding Nuclear Power Correctly Will Lead to an Abundant Life.”But life, by and large, is what is absent in this town, just a few miles away from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Futaba, once home to 7,000 residents, is one of eight towns forced to evacuate the day after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged the nuclear plant. In the following days, tens of thousands of residents living within 12 miles of the damaged reactors fled. Last Monday, the Japanese government expanded the mandatory evacuation zone to encompass more towns. Continue reading
Radiation forces Japan to use robots in Fukushima nuclear plant
Japanese Using Robots To Peer Into Crippled Nuclear Plant Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2011 April 18, 2011 Reports said robots were being used to investigate Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, one day after plant operators announced a new nine-month stabilization plan for the facility Continue reading
Internet leak of nuclear submarine secrets
Nuclear secrets leaked in redaction gaffe, Information Age, 18 April 11, Ministry of Defence redacted secret parts of nuclear documents just by changing the background colourThe UK’s Ministry of Defence accidentally published nuclear secrets online after staff used an easily reversible technique to redact sensitive parts publically available documents.The documents were published online following a Freedom of Information request from anti-nuclear campaigners. Certain sensitive parts of documents were supposed to be redacted, but staff simply changed the background colour of the text to black – a procedure that is easily reversed by copying and pasting the text into another document.The gaffe revealed top secret emergency response procedures for UK nuclear submarines, and details of US nuclear subs too…… Nuclear secrets leaked in redaction gaffe
Tokyo – thousands march against nuclear energy
Japan: Thousands march against nuclear power | Green Left Weekly, April 17, 2011, By Alexander Brown About 15,000 people attended the “No Nukes” protest in the central Tokyo district of Koenji on April 10.The rally called for assistance to those affected by the March earthquake and tsunami disaster, and for an end to nuclear power. Organisers said more than 1.23 million yen (A$14,000) had been raised for those affected by the disaster.About 2500 people joined a separate rally in another part of the city calling for the Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka to be switched off. The Hamaoka plant is on a fault line considered likely to be affected by future quakes.The Koenji rally, officially titled the “Great Anti-Nuclear Rock Festival Demo in Kōenji”, was called by Matsumoto Hajime of the Shiroto no ran (Amateur’s Riot) network.The network, based in Koenji, has been trying to build alternative spaces and communities in the area.
Japan: Thousands march against nuclear power | Green Left Weekly
Solar field instead of nuclear plant, in Italy
Italy’s Last Reactor Town Goes Solar in Fight Against Nuclear , by Alessandra Migliaccio and Flavia RotondiApril 18 (Bloomberg) — Montalto di Castro, the town where Italy’s last nuclear plant was built before a two-decade ban, is fighting against a return to atomic power and staking its future on solar energy by hosting Europe’s largest photovoltaic park. Continue reading
Germany determined to close down nuclear power
Germany reaffirms nuclear retreat The Irish Times , Apr 16, 2011 DEREK SCALLY A MONTH after her spectacular U-turn on nuclear energy, Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday gave her officials six weeks to formulate a new national power plan for renewable and gas energy.
After regional election losses thanks to public anxiety over Fukushima, the chancellor admitted yesterday the days of nuclear power in Germany were numbered.
“We all want out of nuclear energy as soon as possible and make the switch to supplying renewable energy,” said Dr Merkel, adding there “is political will to speed things up”…….
Everything changed after Fukushima, when the German leader moved quickly to close seven ageing nuclear plants to permit security tests. They are unlikely to return to the national grid.
Ms Merkel summoned governors of all federal states that have nuclear plants to Berlin yesterday and agreed to seal a deal by June.
Most details of the plan have yet to be drawn up, but a draft has plans for a €5 billion programme to boost renewable energy production. It is likely to include new legislation to speed up planning for renewable energy facilities.
Germany already generates some 17 per cent of its electricity from renewables, a total it wants to increase to 40 per cent by 2020.
Shares in Germany’s big four energy companies fell yesterday in otherwise buoyant trading as investors reacted to the uncertainty. They have launched a legal challenge to the shutdown of the seven plants and have stopped paying into a renewable energy research fund established last October…..Germany reaffirms nuclear retreat – The Irish Times – Sat, Apr 16, 2011
Grim health outlook for Fukushima nuclear cleanup workers
Children born to liquidator families were seriously affected with birth defects and thyroid diseases, including cancer, and loss of intellect. As for other children, based upon the work of multiple researchers, it is estimated that in the heavily contaminated areas of Belarus, only 20 percent of children are considered healthy,
Is the Fukushima nuclear plant breakdown worse than Chernobyl? | San Francisco Bay View, by Janette D. Sherman, M.D., 16 April 11“………Key to understanding effects is the difference between external and internal radiation. While external radiation, as from x-rays, neutron, gamma and cosmic rays, can harm and kill, internal radiation – alpha and beta particles – when absorbed by ingestion and inhalation release damaging energy in direct contact with tissue and cells. Continue reading
1 This Month
of the week – Shut Down Drone Warfare!
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
Petition to revoke the licensing of the Near Surface Nuclear Disposal Facility (NSDF) at Chalk River. https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7247
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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