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Big money pushing for Virginia uranium, rather than water safety

Virginia. election, uranium’s future among the top political, government stories of 2012, Washingtn Post, 25 Dec 11 RICHMOND, Va. — The list of top stories includes whether money can speak loudly enough to open Virginia to uranium mining despite serious environmental concerns and whether the Republican right rules all of Virginia policymaking…..

A long-awaited independent study by the National Academy of Sciences in December raised serious concerns about whether a massive uranium ore deposit can be safely mined and milled in Pittsylvania County…..
It’s up to the Virginia General Assembly to weigh the appeal of an economic boom in Southside Virginia — an area hit hard by declines in the textile, furniture and tobacco industries — against the prospect of contaminating water supplies for huge areas of Virginia and North Carolina.

The deep-pockets consortium of investors and corporations eager to recover the 119-million-pound deposit has hired Capitol Square’s most expensive and influential lobbyists to shepherd legislation to end a 30-year uranium mining ban through a deeply divided House and Senate.

This is one of those issues more likely to create geographic divisions than partisan ones…..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-at-elections-forefront-can-republicans-really-rule-uraniums-future-the-stories-of-2012/2011/12/25/gIQA9RjEHP_story.html

December 26, 2011 Posted by | politics, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Amid safety risks, India’s ambitious nuclear plan gets a sham safety regulator

Fear over India’s nuclear embrace, Narromine News  BEN DOHERTY With SOM PATIDAR 23 Dec, 2011 “…..The Indian government is seeking to dismantle the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, proposing to abandon the long-standing independent regulator in favour of a new body directly controlled by the central government.

Critics have condemned the move, arguing the new regulator will be captive to government and unable to properly pursue safety concerns. Although the law is expected to pass the national Parliament without significant alteration, a former head of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Dr A Gopalakrishnan, has labelled the proposed replacement body
as a sham. Continue reading →

December 26, 2011 Posted by | India, safety | Leave a comment

India weakens nuclear safety, and nuclear liability law

The bill aims at a formal ‘regulatory capture’ of the nuclear sector so that a few top people in the executive branch, in collusion with some of the senior atomic scientists, bureaucrats and politicians, can help the Indian and foreign corporate sectors in importing foreign power reactors into India on their terms, irrespective of their
relative safety or cost merits.”

 Safety fears for new uranium customer SMH, Ben Doherty, Som Patidar, Som Patidar December 23, 2011 NEW DELHI: India, Australia’s newest uranium export destination, is to dismantle its nuclear regulator, replacing the expert panel with a government-controlled body critics say will be a ”sham” and ”no regulator at all”. Legislation before the Indian parliament would replace the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, which has monitored the use, transfer and disposal of nuclear material in India for 28 years, with the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority.

The NSRA will be answerable to a clutch of government ministers who can direct the regulator, even sack its members, giving rise to allegations that the new body will be captive to government. The controversial move comes as Australian officials prepare to begin negotiations with India about the sale of uranium to its civilian nuclear program.
This month the Labor Party overturned a long-standing ban on selling uranium to India because it refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. India remains steadfastly outside the treaty  Continue reading →

December 23, 2011 Posted by | India, safety | 2 Comments

The coming cancer cost from Fukushma ionising radiation

Nuclear Expert: 1,000,000 cancers from Fukushima in Japan over next 20 years  ENE News — First thyroid, then lung, organ, brain, leukemia (VIDEO)  Title: Fukushima – Total Cost http://enenews.com/nuclear-expert-forecasts-1000000-cancers-from-fukushima-in-japan-first-thyroid-then-lung-organ-brain-leukemia-vide0  Dec 21, 2011

Description: Arnie Gundersen of Fairwinds Associates (a leading nuclear expert) and Warren Pollock (http://www.wepollock.com ) redefine the Fukushima nuclear incidents (meltdowns and explosions) in terms of human and total cost. […]

I think the 20 year cost from Fukushima will be about one million cancers

  • Based on Three Mile Island studies
  • About a 20% increase in lung cancer 3-5 years after TMI
  • And that was small compared to Fukushima
  • And in a much lower population density
  • First thyroid cancer
  • Then lung cancer
  • Then organ cancer, leukemia, brain cancer, things like that

December 23, 2011 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Victims of low level radiation wain legal cases in Japan

The 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine deepened the understanding of internal exposure. When thyroid cancer surged among children there, it was traced to contaminated cows’ milk they had consumed. ..

 Since 2006, about 300 hibakusha [in Japan] have won in 30 class-action suits nationwide. In many, judges ruled “early entrants” should also get benefits. In effect, this was the first official acknowledgment that internal exposure could cause health problems, given that these people weren’t exposed to the blasts, but to later fallout.

Discovery of radiation in autumn rice crops from Fukushima has put people on alert. …..

Extended low-level exposure might actually be more hazardous than a one-time blast if a brief, high dose just kills cells, whereas internal exposure could damage them even at low levels, ultimately causing cancer. 

Past Haunts Tally of Japan’s Nuke Crisis, WSJ  By YUKA HAYASHI, 23 Dec 11 KASHIWA, Japan—The struggle to understand the health consequences of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown carries an eerie echo of Japan’s past: The nation is still debating who is a victim of the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.

On Wednesday, in the latest in a series of high-profile lawsuits, four of five people who were exposed to radiation from the bombings—but weren’t present at the actual blasts—won official recognition as victims. Until recent years, Japan held that only people who experienced the actual blasts at close range were victims, because secondary radiation posed negligible danger.

This debate resonates today because many potential victims of the Fukushima disaster will have received only secondary radiation, for instance from eating tainted food or inhaling dust. Continue reading →

December 23, 2011 Posted by | Japan, Legal | Leave a comment

Farmers can provide renewable energy along with agriculture

 Farmers, fishermen and food processing businesses have opportunities to install technologies to generate wind power, solar power, micro-hydropower.

in remote rural areas without access to the electricity grid, autonomous renewable energy systems are competitive because they allow users to avoid the high expenses in connecting to the grid.

Clean and green farming is feasible, Malaya Business Insights, 23 Dec 11 REDUCING the dependence of food systems on fossil fuels by using renewable energy is feasible. Renewable energy can also be used for transporting raw food feedstocks, processing food, distributing finished products and cooking.

In poor countries, renewable energy presents opportunities to provide much needed basic energy services such as in post-harvest stages that are important for reducing food losses. In Sri Lanka, for example, wood biomass is being used to dry spices. Continue reading →

December 23, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, decentralised | Leave a comment

United Nations concerned about Libya’s unsafe uranium stores

UN watchdog worries about Kadhafi uranium in Libya Google News, (AFP)  23 Dec 11 UNITED NATIONS — The UN atomic watchdog has told Libya to urgently find a home for yellow cake uranium from the Moamer Kadhafi era left in thousands of deteriorating barrels, a UN envoy said Thursday.
Kadhafi renounced efforts to make weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear bombs, in 2003, but a major storage base with the raw uranium was found in the uprising which led to his death in October.
An International Atomic Energy Agency team completed a visit to the Tajoura nuclear complex in Tripoli and the Sabha uranium storage base, in the desert of southern Libya, on December 9, UN envoy to Libya, Ian Martin, told the UN Security Council….
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hQJCokPyuiEQ14EK2iCPsN0zw_yA?docId=CNG.e2eaa3a1d5b6df35ac9841bb3a6ef85b.431

December 23, 2011 Posted by | Libya, safety | Leave a comment

MRI scans better and safer than radiation methods for heart checks

MRI scans ‘are better for heart checks’, experts say, BBC News, 23 Dec 11 Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans should be used to assess patients with suspected heart disease, rather than standard checks, experts say.

A University of Leeds study of 750 people found MRI was better at detecting the condition, and of ruling it out in unaffected patients.

MRI was also non-invasive and did not use radiation, unlike the usual tests. A spokesman for the British Heart Foundation, which backed the study, said MRI should be used more widely…… Patients with suspected angina are currently most likely to have either an angiogram – an invasive test where dye is injected directly into the heart’s arteries
– or a non-invasive imaging test called SPECT.

Angiograms and SPECT tests both involve ionising radiation…… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16305278

December 23, 2011 Posted by | health, UK | 1 Comment

Claim that AQ Khan gave nuclear weapons technology to India

AQ Khan gave India nuclear technology: US expert, IBN Live 23 Dec Washington: India got shortcut tips on nuclear weapons from Pakistani Scientist AQ Khan claims a bizarre article written in the Playboy magazine by an American arms expert.
This astonishing claim is according to US arms control expert Joshua Pollack and whats even more is that he wrote this article in the Playboy magazine.

Pollock has claimed that Khan provided a shortcut to a nuclear weapon to India, along with Iran, Libya and North Korea. India had conducted its first nuclear test on May 18, 1974, while
Pakistan did it only in 1998……
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/aq-khan-gave-india-nuclear-tech-us-expert/214363-2.html

December 23, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Mothers are turning out to be a threat to the nuclear industry’s future

The leadership of women in civic movements is also unprecedented. Mothers have been leading the demonstrations, with many of them coming out for the first time to gain sympathy and support for their campaign to prevent exposing children to the dangers of radiation…..
Parliamentarian Mizuho Fukushima, one of Japan’s leading female politicians and an active participant in the anti-nuclear demonstrations, told IPS that the protests against nuclear power are not going to die down.

Mothers Rise Against Nuclear Power , IPS News, By Suvendrini Kakuchi TOKYO, Dec 22, 2011  – Japan’s nuclear power industry, which once ignored opposition, now finds its existence threatened by women angered by official opaqueness on radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after it was struck by an earthquake- driven tsunami on Mar. 11.

“Mothers are at the forefront of various grassroots movements that are working together to stop the operation of all nuclear plants in Japan from 2012,” Aileen Miyoko Smith, head of Green Action, a non- governmental organisation (NGO) that promotes renewable energy told IPS. Continue reading →

December 22, 2011 Posted by | Japan, women | Leave a comment

Japan’s coverup of public health risk from radioactive fallout

Public health fallout from Japanese quake, CMAJ,  Lauren Vogel, 22 Dec 11,  A “culture of coverup” and inadequate cleanup efforts have combined to leave Japanese people exposed to “unconscionable” health risks nine months after last year’s meltdown of nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, health experts say.

Although the Japanese government has declared the plant virtually stable, some experts are calling for evacuation of people from a wider area, which they say is contaminated with radioactive fallout.

They’re also calling for the Japanese government to reinstate internationally-approved radiation exposure limits for members of the public and are slagging government officials for “extreme lack of transparent, timely and comprehensive communication.” Continue reading →

December 22, 2011 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Africa: investment in renewable energy $3.6 billion and growing

Investment in Africa’s renewable energy hits $3.6b The Nation, By Franca Ochigbo, Abuja 22 Dec 11  Over $3.6 billion has been invested  in renewable energy in Africa, including Nigeria, with Egypt and Kenya taking centre stage. The  Bank of Industry (BoI) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has unveiled plans to boost Nigeria’s investment portfolio in renewable energy through private sector participation.

The Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Ms Evelyn Oputu who was represented by Mr Austin Jo-Madugu, General Manager, Operations, disclosed this during the First Renewable Energy Investment Forum in Abuja. She said renewable energy has a large potential for growth given the large gap between energy demand and supply and the enormous renewable energy options available to the country……
http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/business/30662-investment-in-africa%E2%80%99s-renewable-energy-hits-$3.6b.html

December 22, 2011 Posted by | AFRICA, renewable | Leave a comment

Radiation study on muttonbirds in the Pacific

Muttonbirds in radiation study Stuff.co.nz MICHAEL DALY, 22 Dec 11, New Zealand muttonbirds are being studied to see if they were affected by radiation from Japan’s damaged
nuclear power plant.

Samples are being taken from the birds as part of the research into the effects of radiation from the Fukushima plant, …. The research aims to determine the degree to which the mutton bird population was exposed to radiation.

Experts have said the Fukushima disaster was responsible for the largest single release of radioactivity into the ocean, threatening wildlife and fisheries in the region.

Millions of the birds, known as sooty shearwaters, come to this country to breed during the summer months before heading north during the colder southern months….Adams said it was planned to take tissue samples from birds in this country in late March or early April.

Sooty shearwaters had been chosen for the research mainly because they were one of the most abundant seabirds in the Pacific…. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6179864/Muttonbirds-in-radiation-study

December 22, 2011 Posted by | New Zealand, oceans | Leave a comment

USA $700 Billion for outdated nuclear weapons! – time to question this

in a time of soaring national debts, should we be asking the Chinese to lend us more money for outdated weapons?

What Nuclear Weapons Cost Us — It’s the Right Time for a Debate , Huffington Post, Joel Rubin,  12/20/11 The debate over the extent to which the U.S. government is committing itself to spending vast sums of taxpayer dollars on nuclear weapons and related programs over the next decade is in full force in Congress, inside the administration, and in the media.

An open, transparent debate is essential to ensuring that citizens and policymakers alike have the right information in their hands when deciding about our country’s future spending on both these weapons and their related programs. It’s understandable that there will be differences of opinion throughout this debate – one that’s been made more difficult due to a lack of transparency about what our government actually spends on nuclear weapons and related programs.

It is because of this lack of clear information that Ploughshares Fund is providing its third working paper estimate on what it will cost Americans to produce, build, maintain, and clean-up nuclear weapons and related programs over the next decade. To our knowledge, this estimate is the only current comprehensive assessment that projects these costs for the next decade. It is based upon the best publicly available information.

Our conclusion continues to be that current plans for nuclear weapons and related programs over the next decade will cost the American taxpayer approximately $700 billion.

The state of the debate over these estimates

There is significant consensus between this estimate and others being discussed both on Capitol Hill and in the media. Specifically, there is a common view that the taxpayer will spend a combined $358 billion on nuclear incident management, nuclear threat reduction, missile defense, deferred environmental and health costs, and nuclear weapons activities.

These programs are included in our projection because, as the Congressional Budget Office has noted, they are part of the full cost accounting of nuclear weapons and therefore “…might reasonably be attributed” to nuclear force expenditures….

Bringing it all together Having a debate over the numbers creates an opportunity to ask important questions about our country’s national security and fiscal policy.

For example, what does it really cost to protect Americans from terrorism, cyber attack, and nuclear threats from states such as North Korea and Pakistan? Should it cost that same amount as if the Cold War had never ended? Are there better places to invest these limited defense dollars? And in a time of soaring national debts, should we be asking the Chinese to lend us more money for outdated weapons? …. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-rubin/what-nuclear-weapons-cost_b_1161443.html

December 21, 2011 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

“cold shutdown” – incorrect words to hide the truth on Fukushima

News of a “cold shutdown” sounds like a PR smokescreen.

Redefining “Cold shutdown” doesn’t hide the truth about Fukushima Greenpeace, by Justin McKeating – December 20, 2011 The Japanese authorities stated last Friday that Fukushima is in a state of “cold shutdown. This is not true. At first glance, the announcement that the stricken nuclear reactors are now “stable” sounds like some rare good news from the disaster zone. Not at all. As we all know, first impressions can be deceptive.

The industry definition of “cold shutdown” means that the temperature inside a nuclear reactor has stabilized below 95℃ from the hellish temperatures of the nuclear fission process. In the case of Fukushima, this suggests the crisis is over. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, the Japanese authorities have cheated by redefining  “cold shutdown” to suit the situation at Fukushima. Continue reading →

December 21, 2011 Posted by | Japan, spinbuster | Leave a comment

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