Japan’s hibakusha see a repeat of Hiroshima’s radiation horror
Sasamori is a hibakusha, or heat radiation survivor — a name given to those who lived through the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States at the end of World War II.
For them, radiation is an invisible enemy that has haunted them, claimed their loved ones, altered their bodies and threatened their lives…….The hibakusha like Sasamori have lived in uncertainty, watching their childhood friends fall ill and wondering if their bodies were ticking time bombs for radiation-related diseases.
Hiroshima survivors fear new nuclear fallout, By Madison Park, CNN, March 18, 2011 Los Angeles — The cities flattened by last week’s earthquake look eerily similar to the decimated buildings Shigeko Sasamori saw after an atomic bomb was dropped on her hometown in 1945.
Nuclear power, Price Anderson Act, and the economic facts
even without the safety concerns we should forgo new nuclear reactors because they are fundamentally uneconomic. Nuclear reactors are a bad deal for the private sector and they are a bad deal for American taxpayers
Nuclear Socialism, Krystal Ball, 19 March 11, Up until about a week ago, nuclear energy had been broadly embraced as our great radioactive hope for a clean energy future. Continue reading
Nuclear power – uninsurable, cannot exist in private market system
the question is not whether government should ban nuclear power. The question is whether it should stop propping it up.
How to “Ban” Nuclear Power, by Kevin Carson , Mar 17, 2011 “……….the actual problem is that governments worldwide have been actively intervening for decades to prevent the market from banning nuclear power. Precisely because the stakes are so high and there’s so much room for unforeseen things to go wrong, nuclear power is uninsurable on the private market. Continue reading
Many nuclear plants in earthquake zones: scientists underestimated risks
scientists sometimes have underestimated how powerful quakes can be. The temblor that struck Japan was more than 10 times bigger than the Daiichi plant had been tested to withstand. In 2007, the world’s biggest nuclear plant, Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, was damaged after it was hit by a quake far stronger than its designers anticipated.
Dozens of Reactors in Quake Zones, WSJ.com, 18 March 11, Japan, Taiwan Account for Most Sites in High-Activity Areas; ‘Large Margins of Safety’ Factored In at U.S. Plants By MAURICE TAMMAN, BEN CASSELMAN and PAUL MOZUR Dozens of nuclear reactors operate in earthquake-prone regions around the world, including at least 14 in high-hazard areas, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows. Continue reading
Fukushima’s spent nuclear fuel rods are critically dangerous
Figures provided by the Tokyo Electric Power Company on Thursday show that most of the dangerous uranium at the powerplant is in the spent fuel rods, not the reactor cores.
The company said that a total of 11,195 spent fuel rod assemblies were stored at the site. That is about four times as much radioactive material as in the reactor cores combined…….the zirconium cladding on the fuel rods could burst into flames if exposed to air for hours when a storage pool lost its water
Spent rods the biggest hazard, Sydney Morning Herald, Keith Bradsher and Hiroko Tabuchi, March 19, 2011 YEARS of procrastination in deciding on long-term disposal of highly radioactive fuel rods from nuclear reactors are coming back to haunt Japanese authorities as they try to control fires and explosions at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.
IAEA chief says battle to stabilise Fukushima nuclear planr “a race against time”
Japan nuclear crisis a ‘race against time’ March 19, 2011 – International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano says Japan’s battle to stabilise a crippled nuclear power plant is “a race against time”.Speaking in Tokyo, 250km from the stricken Fukushima Number One plant, Amano also said the IAEA has brought its own monitoring equipment to test for radiation levels in the Japanese capital…….Japan nuclear crisis a ‘race against time’
The nuclear resuscitation – finished before it really got started
Diesendorf expects events in Japan will see nuclear power continue its decline – ”despite the claims of its proponents, it is already an industry in stagnation” – and will drive renewable expansion. ”China and India were doing a lot already on renewables … enough to wipe out nuclear.” He foresees increasing emphasis on wind, on solar, and on concentrated solar thermal power.
Is this the end of the nuclear revival?, The Age, Jo Chandler, March 19, 2011 “……Professor Frank von Hippel.”This is definitely in the Chernobyl league now. If the reactors go, that’s bad, of course. But the real concern at this point is if those … spent-fuel pools catch fire. There are many Chernobyls’ worth of radioactive material in there.”……. Continue reading
Five close shaves at USA nuclear reactor cores
Nuclear safety: Five recent ‘near miss’ incidents at US nuclear power plants, Christian Science Monitor, 18 March 11, Fourteen safety-related events at nuclear power plants required follow-up inspections from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the NRC reported in 2010. These “near-miss” events “raised the risk of damage to the reactor core – and thus to the safety of workers and the public,” concluded a new report, “The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2010,” by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Here are five of these 14 “near miss” examples:……
Japanese nuclear workers called upon for heroic sacrifice
Disaster officials could face a grim choice: Scale back their containment efforts or allow workers to face radiation levels that could significantly increase their risk of cancer…..The actions of the power plant workers in Japan have already been described as heroic,
Japan nuclear accident poses crisis for worker safety, latimes.com, 17 march 11, Workers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could rapidly reach their annual radiation exposure limit and may have to be rotated out soon. Continue reading
Fukushima reactors might get concrete tomb, like Chernobyl
Japan nuclear operator: not impossible to encase reactors in concrete TOKYO (Reuters) 18 March 11, – The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said on Friday that it would not be impossible to encase the facility’s reactors in concrete, though cooling them down is the priority.
Tokyo Electric Power Co told reporters that using concrete was an option, but that it would continue trying to cool the reactors for the time being……UPDATE 1-Japan nuclear operator: not impossible to encase reactors in concrete | Reuters
US Senator Graham has touching faith in nuclear industry
“I have a lot of faith in the nuclear industry, and I feel safe living five miles away from a nuclear power plant,”…Graham said, adding that the nuclear industry needs to do a better job explaining itself…….
US Sen. Graham: I have faith in nuclear power – BusinessWeek, 18 March COLUMBIA, S.C.U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Thursday that Japan’s nuclear crisis shouldn’t cause a halt in the construction of new nuclear power plants in this country. Continue reading
The danger of “spent nuclear fuel rods” at Fukushima
These rods, which will have become laced with radioactive by-products of the main reaction, including plutonium and radioactive isotopes of strontium, iodine and other elements, are taken out of reactors and put in pools of water for storage
The Fukushima crisis: A new danger at Fukushima | The Economist, 18 March 11, “…….the Japanese Atomic Industrial Forum, a trade body, acknowledged that there were worries about the water levels in the ponds at units 3 and 4. Continue reading
Westinghouse, Toshiba, AREVA, Rosatom marketing nuclear power to Czech Republic
Czechs pledge to develop nuclear energy program Bloomberg, BusinessWeek. 18 March, PRAGUE The Czech Republic’s prime minister says his country will go ahead with plans to develop its nuclear energy program despite Japan’s nuclear crisis. Continue reading
Potential for disaster in USA’s nuclear reactors and cooling systems
It would not even require a quake or tsunami, only a moderately ingenious terrorist, to breach Shearon Harris’s puny defences and sabotage the cooling systems. A study by the Brookhaven Labs estimates that a pool fire there could cause 140,000 cancers, and contaminate thousands of square miles of land.
Another Fukushima meltdown? In America? Not if, but when | The First Post, Alexander Cockburn, 18 March 11, “…….. President Obama for example, who took plenty of money from this industry for his presidential campaign and used his State of the Union address last January to reaffirm his commitment to “clean, safe” nuclear power. This week, Obama’s press spokesman confirmed that nuclear energy “remains a part of the President’s overall energy plan”. Continue reading
Nuclear power for Indonesia, despite earthquakes, tsunamis, and corruption
But experts are worried – not only about Indonesia’s regular earthquakes, one of which triggered a massive tsunami in December 2004, but also about weak government institutions and corruption.
Indonesia insists nuclear plans are safe | beyondbrics |March 17, 2011 by Anthony Deutsch Indonesia will go ahead with a feasibility study for a nuclear power plant, even as China has put plans on hold in the wake of Japan’s nuclear crisis. Continue reading
1 This Month
petition to oppose the rapid increase of space-military industry threatening Jeju Island and the region.
[Petition by April 19th (KST)] Stop the joint military-Hanwha Systems-Jeju Provincial Government Sea Launch!
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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