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Giant industrial company Siemens abandons nuclear energy, favors renewables

Siemens to quit nuclear industry BBC News, 19 Sept,11,  German industrial and engineering conglomerate Siemens is to withdraw entirely from the nuclear industry…  chief executive Peter Loescher said, announcing that the firm will no longer build nuclear power stations.  ”The chapter for us is closed,”

A long-planned joint venture with Russian nuclear firm Rosatom will also be cancelled, although Mr Loescher said he would still seek to work with their partner “in other fields”….
The latest decision appears to imply a step back from building “conventional islands” – the non-nuclear plant in nuclear power stations – an area in which Siemens has remained active….
U-turnHe also gave his backing to the German government’s planned switch to renewable energy sources, calling it a “project of the century” and claiming Berlin’s target of reaching 35% renewable energy by 2020 was achievable…. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14963575

September 19, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Germany | Leave a comment

USA’s secret Plutonium ‘Bomb Plant’ exposed

Obama’s dirtiest, deadly secret exposed: Plutonium ‘Bomb Plant,’ ‘Green future’ , Human Rights ExaminerSeptember 14, 2011 – 

Obama’s dirty, deadly nuclear industry secret touted as “green future’ exposed

Joseph Trento, investigative journalist of 35 years and DC Bureau editor has released on Tuesday an introduction to “The Bomb Plant,” a multi-media research report based on two years of probing, that documents America’s most radioactive Superfund site is touted by the Obama administration as the pathway to a green future. The report reveals a MOX plant’s weapons-grade plutonium being built in S. Carolina on top of the region’s most dangerous fault line, and how environmentalists led to be “climate change” protesters joined Big Energy and how critics have been targeted, sidelined or silenced.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Obama’s dirtiest, deadly secret exposed: Plutonium ‘Bomb Plant,’ ‘Green future’ – National Human Rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/obama-s-dirtiest-deadly-secret-exposed-plutonium-bomb-plant-green-future?CID=examiner_alerts_article#ixzz1YSEG73Mf

September 19, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

VIDEO – Fukushima radiation worse than Chernobyl

VIDEO http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia-pacific/2011/09/201191845015428149.html Experts say Fukushima “worse than Chernobyl”, Al Jazeera,  Steve Chao  18 Sept 11, Experts estimate the radiation leaked from Fukushima nuclear plant will exceed that of Chernobyl. Experts say that the total radiation leaked will eventually exceed the amounts released from the Chernobyl disaster that the Ukraine in April 1986. This amount would make Fukushima the worst nuclear disaster in history.At least one billion becquerels of radiation continue to leak from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant each day even though it is now more than five months after the March earthquake and tsunami that damaged the facility.

September 19, 2011 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

North Anna nuclear plant – a test case for USA nuclear regulators

North Anna, 90 miles southwest of the White House, is emerging as a test case for the nuclear industry as it faces increased scrutiny. A presidential task force recommended stricter quake-readiness standards after a quake and tsunami caused meltdowns at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in March.

It’s also challenging federal regulators as they ponder what to review before they allow the plant to restart. ….

the [earthquake] hazards could be greater than was known when many of the plants were designed.

Weeks after quake, town near nuclear plant remains rattled, By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY, 18 Sept 11,  MINERAL, VA. – At the Sweet Delights Bakery, amid the aroma of fresh biscuits, talk turns to an unprecedented U.S. nuclear event that happened near its doorstep.

“You can’t not think about it,” says customer Roger Tignor, about the recent magnitude-5.8 quake that jolted the North Anna Power Station 11 miles away. Continue reading →

September 19, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Renewable energy prospects:Japan’s nuclear heirarchy failing to convince.

The nuclear village and its hired guns in the academic and administrative and political sectors have worked together to craft a mechanism through which compensation will almost inevitably be torn out of the public budget as well as the pockets of utility ratepayers.

Creating a Solar Belt in East Japan: The Energy Future, Japan Focus , Son Masayoshi with an introduction by Andrew DeWit, 19 Sept 11   Introduction  “……..In fact, the fight over Japan’s energy options is not at all ended. The nuclear village’s effort to portray Fukushima as merely a setback has failed in the face of the facts, of course. Continue reading →

September 19, 2011 Posted by | Japan, renewable | Leave a comment

IAEA nuclear safety plan derailed by nuclear countries

The proposal–which included a one-year deadline for new safety standards and an 18-month window for stress tests on all reactors–had the backing of large nuclear power-generating nations such as Canada, Germany, and Australia, as well as many non-nuclear nations across the globe, but that support and the ongoing disaster in Japan were not enough to overcome sustained, behind-the-scenes efforts to derail this plan. ..

. When the IAEA finally took up a draft resolution on Tuesday, it contained no timelines, deadlines or mandatory inspections. 

Though Nuclear Crisis Continues, IAEA Can’t Force Safety Overhaul, Truth Out,  18 September 2011 by: Gregg Levine,  On Monday, September 12, an incinerator explosion at a French nuclear waste processing center killed one, injured four, and created just enough nuclear news to edge this week’s other nuclear story right out of the headlines. Continue reading →

September 19, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

TEPCO hides information from Japan’s govt nuclear agancy

Head of nuclear watchdog criticizes TEPCO over blacked-out documents, Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog, 19 Sept 11 The head of a government nuclear watchdog has criticized Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) for not being transparent enough, after it submitted documents earlier this month that were mostly blacked out. Continue reading →

September 19, 2011 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Government Accountability Office report rejected by USA nuclear agancies

“The agencies have not systematically visited countries believed to be holding the highest proliferation risk quantities of U.S. nuclear material, or systematically revisited facilities not meeting international physical security guidelines in a timely manner,” the GAO report warned…
The U.S agencies rejected the recommendations, claiming that keeping a comprehensive inventory would be costly, impractical and unwarranted,
U.S. unable to account for 16,000 kilograms of exported enriched uranium
By Eric W. Dolan, The Raw Story, September 13th, 2011  The United States could only account for 1,160 out of 17,500 kilograms of Highly-Enriched Uranium (HEU) — weapon-usable nuclear material — exported to 27 countries in response to a 1992 congressional mandate, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released last week. Continue reading →

September 19, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Former PM Kan now free to reveal Fukushima facts

Kan reveals Tokyo nuclear evacuation plans ABC Radio 774, Tokyo correspondent  September 19, 2011  Japan’s former prime minister Naoto Kan has revealed he contemplated evacuating as many as 30 million people from Tokyo and surrounding areas during the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Continue reading →

September 19, 2011 Posted by | general | 1 Comment

… Are nuclear power plants actually cheap while natural energy is expensive?

Creating a Solar Belt in East Japan: The Energy Future, Japan Focus , Son Masayoshi with an introduction by Andrew DeWit, 19 Sept 11  ”……… Are nuclear power plants actually cheap while natural energy is expensive?   From the standpoint of practical, economical logic, solar power and natural energy are expensive. I had always believed that nuclear power was the most inexpensive way of producing power, at 5-6 yen per kilowatt-hour; therefore we have to use nuclear power and construct new plants. I am sure that many people thought the same.

But is this really true? According to figures listed on an application for approval of the nuclear power plant installation, its unit cost is 15-20 yen. This is the actual data; the pre-accident cost. Continue reading →

September 19, 2011 Posted by | Japan, renewable | Leave a comment

Nuclear industry’s poor understanding of public opinion

People do not like this [nuclear] industry, not because they misunderstand it but because they understand it perfectly well. That is going to be very difficult to fix with little video clips on websites and new fact sheets….

… the magnitude of the disconnect, the dissonance, that exists in the minds of the strongest advocates of the [nuclear] industry. All they need to do is somehow just fix up the image of the industry and everything is going to be fine. I think we will be hearing a lot more of that on the part of the nuclear industry and its supporters in government.

Adjournment speech – Fukushima 6 months on – Australia’s Nuclear Free Alliance Spokesperson Scott Ludlam 14th September 2011 ”……..It will be very interesting to see how the democratic aspirations of the people of Japan now play out in the light of the permanent radioactive nightmare that has been unleashed in the Tohoku region of Japan.
If we take a very quick trip around the world, a Washington Post/ABC poll in April 2011 found that 64 per cent of Americans oppose the construction of new reactors, so there are no surprises why the industry is at an absolute standstill there. Support for nuclear power was similar or much lower in countries as varied as Chile at 12 per cent, Thailand at 16½ per cent, Australia at 34 per cent, and the United Kingdom at 35 per cent support.

That, I think, is a problem that has dogged the nuclear industry right from the beginning Continue reading →

September 17, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | Leave a comment

People’s continued fight to shut down Japan’s nuclear industry

“The government and TEPCO need to admit to the crime they’ve committed. Then they need to work on making amends. This accident was not a natural disaster. It was caused by humans,”  mayor, Tamotsu Baba, said……

even though Congressman Takano isn’t getting much support in the Japanese government for his campaign to shut down the country’s nuclear power plants, he is getting more attention from the public, and for now, that’s good enough, as he wants to mostly spread the word on a grassroots level, beyond his community and beyond the Tohoku region…..

Fighting for a radiation- free Japan, Aj Jazeera, D. Parvaz   16 Sep 2011 Communities in the Tohoku region are struggling for information, decontamination and a say in future policies…. The radiation contamination has created a pristine post-apocalyptic postcard, a place where no one is allowed to live and farmers are forbidden from growing anything. It will be years before the full extent of damage to area residents and ecosystem alike will be known…..” Continue reading →

September 17, 2011 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Making nuclear power safe – too hard to be cost effective

 I back renewables and efficiency. Making those work at sufficient scale is of course a huge challenge. But making the nuclear industry around the world safe and cost-effective is a greater one.

What price safe and secure nuclear power?, Guardian UK Damian Carrington 16 Sept 11, A sober analysis of what is needed to make the global nuclear power industry safe and secure reveals a mountain to climb

“….an analysis published on Friday which sets out how to make the global nuclear power industry safe is important, not least because it is written by neither industry-linked figures or green campaigners. Continue reading →

September 17, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Kudankulam anti nuclear protestors resolute against Chief Minister

Anti-nuclear plant protesters in Tamil Nadu turn down Jayalalithaa appeal, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, 17 SEP, 2011,  , JOE A SCARIA, CHENNAI: Protestors from three southern districts in Tamil Nadu have refused to give up their demand to shut down what is poised to be the nation’s newest nuclear power plant coming up in Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram made a “kind appeal” to the protestors, including 127 people who are on a fast that entered the sixth day on Friday, to end their protest. She said the power plant had ensured all safety parameters, and that it was situated in the second zone of seismic activity where earthquakes were unlikely.

The protestors have turned down her plea. “The CM’s request was disappointing for all of those who are here demanding closure of the plant”, Amal Raj, a volunteer of the People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy which is spearheading the agitation against the nuke project told ET.

Among those who have thrown their weight behind the agitation to have the plant shut, is the local Radhapuram MLA, Michael Rayappan of DMDK, which was an ally of the ruling AIADMK in the assembly poll. …  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/anti-nuclear-plant-protesters-in-tamil-nadu-turn-down-jayalalithaa-appeal/articleshow/10012764.cms

September 17, 2011 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Asking nuclear scientists about safety is like asking the Pope if he believes in God

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister discussed nuclear power safety with nuclear scientists and engineers – and surprise surprise – they said it was safe!

Why didn’t she talk with ecologists, seismologists, radiation medical experts, economists?
Does anyone really believe nuclear scientists any more?   It’s like asking the Pope if he believes in God? – C.M. 
Koodankulam nuclear plant: Jayalalithaa slams protesters, says safety ensured, Sep 16, 2011, By Kumar Chellappan  Chennai | Agency: DNA The agitators fasting for the closure of the 1000 MW Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant were given a dressing down by Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa who described the reactor quite safe.

“My discussions with nuclear scientists and engineers have allayed all kinds of apprehensions….

Representations of various organisations including Peoples Movement Against Nuclear Energy, NGOs and some sections of the Church have been on indefinite fast asking for the closure of the Koodankulam plant which is expected to be commissioned by December 2011….

September 17, 2011 Posted by | India, politics | Leave a comment

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