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Southern California meeting- warm reception for nuclear whistleblower Arnie Gunderson

REGION: Anti-nuclear sentiment strong at San Clemente meeting, NC Times , 12 Oct 11  An anti-government, don’t-believe-what-you’re-told message about the potential dangers of nuclear power seemed to resonate with about 200 Southern California residents who came to a San Clemente meeting hall Tuesday night.
The crowd applauded a presentation by former nuclear executive and whistle-blower Arnold “Arnie” Gundersen and from others who gave presentations outlining the dangers of radiation emitting from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, which had a severe accident this spring after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami inundated the coastal power plant.

Tuesday’s meeting was hosted by the San Clemente City Council and was organized by local environmental group San Clemente Green, which has taken an aggressive anti-nuclear energy stance in recent years.

The meeting follows a previous gathering on Sept. 28 where the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and representatives from Southern California Edison presented the council and public with reassurances that Edison’s San Onofre nuclear plant would be able to withstand the worst earthquake and tsunami that local conditions are likely to throw at the region.

At Tuesday’s meeting, however, speakers like Gundersen, a nuclear engineer, took exception with some often-cited statements made by the government and the utility.

Gunderson told the crowd that the real battle for the future of nuclear energy in California is over the “design basis” of existing nuclear plants. He said that the computer programs that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission uses to calculate the cost and benefit of using nuclear power instead of other sources of energy production are set up to favor utilities.

Gundersen urged the local public to hold regulators’ feet to the fire when they calculate the true risk of earthquakes and tsunamis to San Onofre, especially when it comes time to re-license the plant.

“Unless citizens’ groups force that program to be used properly, it will be distorted by the agency as it has (been) in the past,” he said.    http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_9f265564-21ce-592c-80d0-e8752b114806.html#ixzz1ahySLekw

October 13, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Japan: the psychological impact of Fukushima nuclear catastrophe

For Japanese, Fukushima spells fear, MARK MACKINNON,TOKYO—Globe and Mail, Oct. 12, 2011 The Fukushima fallout has now spread well beyond what can be measured with a Geiger counter. In the minds of many consumers, Fukushima prefecture – which, at almost 14,000 square kilometres is bigger than Lebanon or Jamaica – and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are one and the same. Though the Japanese government has evacuated only a 20-kilometre radius around the plant, many inside and outside Japan treat the entire region as though it’s contaminated, unsure of what to make of shifting official assessments of the situation. Continue reading →

October 13, 2011 Posted by | Japan, psychology - mental health | Leave a comment

Experts find USA radiological labs not prepared for nuclear disasters

U.S. Labs Not Equipped to Handle Radiation Disasters, By Shalmali Pal, MedPage Today October 12, 2011 Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The U.S. state-based public health community is not ready to address a large-scale radiological event such as the one at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, according to recent survey results.

The “serious gaps in U.S. radiological preparedness,” include a shortage of appropriate personnel and a lack of federal certification to conduct sample testing, wrote Megan Weil Latshaw, PhD, and colleagues, from the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) in Silver Spring, Md., in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.

APHL is the national professional organization representing state and local government labs. The authors analyzed data from two inhouse surveys, the 2009 All-Hazards Laboratory Preparedness Survey and the 2011 Radiation Capabilities Survey, which were sent to public health labs in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico…..

The authors called for several initiatives to better prepare public health labs for a radiological event.These plans include funding for the national Laboratory Response Network to continue identifying potential agents of biological and chemical terrorism and funding to develop more advanced lab methods to test radiological specimens…..http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/EnvironmentalHealth/29005

October 13, 2011 Posted by | health, USA | Leave a comment

UK Royal Society calls for a plan for long term disposal of nuclear wastes

Group wants long-term nuclear plans, Belfast Telegraph 13 Oct 11, The Government must establish long-term plans for a new generation of nuclear power plants so future generations are not left dealing with its legacy, experts have urged. Continue reading →

October 13, 2011 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

DOE can’t manage cold war’s nuclear wastes (let alone today’s)

“Many of the excess facilities awaiting deactivation and decommissioning are one-of-a-kind or unique to the DOE, with unprecedented scope and complexity,” said the authors. “In many cases, the necessary technologies are not yet developed or, if developed, they require significant re-engineering to fit DOE needs.”

Cold War’s nuclear wastes pose challenges to science, engineering, society Eureka Alert 13 Oct 11 Seven papers published in the current issue of Technology and Innovation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors ™ report on efforts by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to ensure continued safe and secure storage and disposition of 50 years worth of spent nuclear fuel, surplus nuclear materials, and high-level wastes at DOE facilities. Continue reading →

October 13, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Japan’s plan for 20 year study of 360,000 children’s radiation effects

In Japan, a Long-Term Study On Radiation Leaks’ Effects, NYT, By HIROKO TABUCHI,  October 10, 2011 TOKYO — In an effort to track the long-term health effects of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan has begun a survey of local children for thyroid abnormalities, a problem associated with exposure to radiation.

The study comes in response to concerns over the health consequencesof the serious radiation leaks caused by multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in March. Japanese officials hope to study about 360,000 children who were under 18 at the time of the accident and track their health through their lifetimes, according to Fukushima Prefecture officials.

Children and pregnant women are particularly sensitive to radioactive iodine, which can harm the thyroid, studies after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 have shown. According to research presented at a 2006 global conference, at least 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer among children have been linked to Chernobyl’s fallout.

On Sunday, the first day of the Fukushima study, more than 100 children were tested. Specific test results will not be made public, according to Fukushima Prefecture. But the children, who will be tested every two years until they turn 20 and every five years after that, will receive further care if doctors discover abnormalities….. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/world/asia/japan-studies-radiation-effects-on-children.html

October 11, 2011 Posted by | health, Japan | 1 Comment

At last, France reveals, and questions, the safety of its nuclear industry

institutions are showing greater boldness in convicting nuclear operators guilty of negligence or issuing reprimands and demanding immediate corrective measures from giants like EDF or Areva..

With accusing fingers increasingly pointing towards the nuclear industry, a hesitant debate is beginning to open up in France. Socialist leader Segolene Royal who was defeated by Nicolas Sarkozy in France’s last presidential poll but hopes once again to be her party’s candidate, said she would close down the EPR under construction at Flamanville and completely abandon the EPR technology being pushed by Areva.

Post-Fukushima, France breaks silence on nuclear safety, The Hindu VAIJUNARAVANE, 11 Oct 11 “…….Doubts have been raised about the benefits of the EPR reactor, of which India plans to buy six.    For a country as given to debate and argument as France, there has been a deafening silence surrounding the choice of nuclear as the prime source of energy. With a population of 62 million, France boasts 59 nuclear reactors — the highest per capita in the world, with over 75 per cent of its electricity coming from the power of the atom.

In the post-Fukushima period, however, that tacit silence is being broken with increasing frequency not just by anti-nuclear associations or candidates hoping to win elections but by French courts and the Nuclear Safety Authority. Continue reading →

October 11, 2011 Posted by | France, Reference, safety | Leave a comment

Japan’s government’s push to sell nuclear technology overseas

Shunning Nuclear Plants at Home, Japan Pursues Building Them Overseas, NYT, By , October 10, 2011 TOKYO — Even as Japan plans to phase out nuclear power as too risky for domestic use, the government is supporting a new push by Japanese industry to sell nuclear power technology to other countries

Japanese industrial conglomerates, with the cooperation of the government in Tokyo, are renewing their pursuit of multibillion-dollar projects, particularly in smaller energy-hungry countries like Vietnam and Turkey. The effort comes despite criticism within Japan by environment groups and opposition politicians……
Mr. Noda’s government considers foreign reactor projects a way to help stimulate Japan’s export-led economy, which had been struggling even before March’s natural and nuclear disasters. Tokyo’s backing— including financial assistance to the customer countries — has become critical in negotiating deals, especially as global confidence in nuclear safety has faltered in Fukushima’s wake….. Continue reading →

October 11, 2011 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Australia kow tows to BHP Billiton, on world’s biggest uranium hole

Christina Macpherson 11 Oct 11, 76% foreign owned, BHP Billiton made such huge profits that it’s almost an embarassment.  How to spend all that money?  Why let’s dig the world’s most gigantic toxic status symbol!

Let’s spend $20 billion of BHP’s huge profits, and untold billions of Australia’s tax-payers money –   over the long life of a dirty great mountain range of radioactive dust.   Australians will learn to pay for the carcinogenic dust that perennial dust storms will spread widely from Olympic waste mountain.  They will learn to pay for the water schemes needed, as BHP Billion plunders our artesian water – at no charge.    All Australians, not just the Aborigines, who have always been the first to be ripped off by Australian governments’ cowardly nuclear ventures.   The Menzies government started it off in the 1950s, secretly agreeing to let the British test their atomic bombs in South Australia.  Now we have a Labor government again kow-towing to a foreign multinational uranium miner, allowing it exemption from state and national laws.

October 11, 2011 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Shanghai’s radiation security scanners potentially dangerous, and illegal

Metro’s X-ray machines are ‘illegal’ English east Day.com, from Shanghai News, 11 Oct 11 ALL 528 X-ray security inspection machines in Shanghai’s Metro stations are “illegal devices” operating without radiation safety licenses, officials with the city’s environmental protection bureau said yesterday. Continue reading →

October 11, 2011 Posted by | China, safety | 2 Comments

Australian Aboriginal response to BHP’s plan for world’s biggest uranium hole

THE LIZARDS REVENGE, DLF  – Desert Liberation Front, Response to the governments decision to expand Olympic Dam mine. Sleeping underneath the ground there is an old lizard, Kalta the sleepy lizard. The lizard ain’t so sleepy anymore.

BHP is mining right into that Lizards body. The government has just approved an expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mine, making it the biggest uranium mine in the world.

Kalta is angry and wants revenge. Arabana elder Kevin Buzzacot is calling the people of the world to help the lizard shut down the mine. He is calling for people to come and heal the land in the name of peace and justice for the next 10,000 generations to come.

The land is being irreversibly poisoned in and around Roxby Downs by the tailings dam causing dust and ground water contamination, and contamination of its workers.

The uranium is taken all over the world and used to kill the land and all its creatures. It’s destroying lives not only in Fukashima, with the reactor meltdown, but in the depleted uranium shells that children play with in the streets of Iraq and Kosovo.

With the governments numerous attempts to put a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty in the Northern Territory there is a danger that radioactive waste will be brought back, opening Australia up to accepting nuclear waste from all over the world. Lets stop the deadly cycle where it starts.

The land the lizard and the creatures of this earth are summoning everybody who gives a shit to the gates of Roxby Downs on the 14th of july 2012 for The Lizards Revenge – This is an open invitation to all people and a special call out to artists, musicians and activist community groups and media to get involved in the creation of this autonomous zone for the peace and healing of this land.

Party in a Dangerous Planet with Theatre, Cabaret and Art installations. Over 20 musical acts. Solar Powered sound system extravaganza and wind powered cinema. More to be anounced.. Stand up and boogie down at the Gates of Olympic Dam 14th July 2012for more info email- izzybrown@live.com

 

October 11, 2011 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, indigenous issues | 1 Comment

A good move for Obama to accept Iran’s offer on enriched uranium

Obama urged to accept Iranian nuclear offer Guardian Uk Julian Borger, 10 Oct 11 Experts say US should agree to the sale of medium-enriched uranium to Iran in return for a halt to Iranian production, but such a deal could be politically fraught for the Obama administration

There is a growing chorus of approval among US experts for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s offer of a new uranium deal. So far the enthusiasm has failed to catch on inside the Obama administration or among the rest of the six-nation group that handles nuclear negotiations with Iran. But that could change as the months go by and the Iranian government builds up its stockpile of low enriched and medium (20%) enriched uranium. Continue reading →

October 11, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Solar Energy Boom in Arizona

Solar-energy boom: Bright spot in Ariz. economy, Arizona Republic,  by Barry Broome – Oct. 10, 2011 With more than 400 companies manufacturing, installing and distributing solar-energy products in our state, solar is one of the brightest spots in the Arizona economy, along with other renewable energies and clean technology.

In fact, in the last year alone about 6,300 jobs have been added to the more than 22,000 existing jobs in the renewable-energy and clean-tech industries – jobs helping families regain economic stability and helping Arizona claim its share of a bright, vibrant market.

Today, Arizona has about 160 megawatts of solar-energy capacity, enough to power more than 30,000 homes. Continue reading →

October 11, 2011 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Earthquake, after shocks continue in Fukushima area

Fukushima nuclear plant stable despite new earthquake, :Herald Sun,  October 10, 2011 AN EARTHQUAKE hit Japan’s Fukushima area today, but officials say the region’s crippled nuclear plant remains stable.

The 5.5-magnitude offshore quake struck at 11.45am (1345 AEDT) off Fukushima prefecture in the country’s north, at a depth of 30.2km, the US Geological Survey said…. Hundreds of powerful aftershocks have shaken the region since the March quake. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/fukushima-nuclear-plant-stable-despite-new-earthquake/story-e6frf7lf-1226163131977

October 11, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

With Global Zero, officials renew effort for nuclear weapons free world

reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles to zero would lead to the first universal verification programs which would only increase the international resolve in preventing countries like Iran and North Korea from pressing forward with nuclear weapons programs.   ”We can never get on that path unless we bring all parties to the table.”…..

Reagan-Era Officials Seek Nuclear Free World, ABC News By Luis Martinez, Oct 10, 2011  Using the 25th anniversary of the historic Reykjavik Summit where Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev almost reached an agreement to completely eliminate their nation’s nuclear weapons stockpiles, a global disarmament group is launching a campaign to begin multilateral talks that would do away with all of the world’s nuclear weapons by 2030.

Beginning Tuesday, Global Zero, an arms control group, is hosting a  commemoration of the Reykjavik Summit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.  The event will include a gathering of a hundred prominent political, military and business leaders — including former secretaries of state George Shultz and James Baker — who will  call for the first multilateral arms talks aimed at full nuclear disarmament. Continue reading →

October 11, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

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