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Unsafe radiation levels in Kanto region, beyond Fukushima

The story also alludes to the strength of alternative information networks in the wake of the March crisis – after announcing her daughter’s test results on Twitter, the mother’s number of followers jumped from a number of close acquaintances to 700 people asking for details and advice about how to have their own children tested…..

While airborne radiation has lessened as emissions from the Fukushima Daiichi plant have decreased, there are concerns across the Kanto region of radioactive buildup in the soil….

Readings in one area of Saitama were over 900,000 Bq – a level greater than that which resulted in forced relocation after Chernobyl 

Contamination Outside Fukushima, JapanFocus, Sep. 04, 2011 Matthew Penney The extent of radioactive contamination in Fukushima Prefecture is at the center of important debates as some scientists, NGOs, and citizen’s groups argue that the Japanese government has not gone far enough in dealing with the fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi accident and has deliberately downplayed the potential health effects of radiation. With so much attention focused on Fukushima, however, there has been less consideration of the impact of the crisis, ongoing since March 11, on other parts of Japan. Continue reading →

September 6, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

How USA’s Department of Energy carefully doesn’t investigate health near nuclear sites

Science can send people to the moon, clone sheep, and genetically engineer tomatoes, but it can’t yet determine if the toxic mix of substances released from the nation’s nuclear weapons production sites made anyone around them sick. 

The Isolation of Victims to control the Survey Outcomes – Will they cook the books at Fukushima?, Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog,  A PROTOTYPE FOR CONTROLLING THE HEALTH STATISTICS. 6 Sept 11

The Tennessean Special Report – An Investigation into illnesses around US Nuclear Weapons Sites. DOE Survey and programs frustrate the sick. 2006. Energy Department officials say they have tried to help the ill near the nation’s nuclear weapons and research facilities. But some of those attempts have frustrated and infuriated the ill they’re intended to help. Continue reading →

September 6, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

A start to addressing the scandal of Navajo radiation contamination from uranium mining

The cleanup at the Skyline Mine represents not only a reduced risk of exposure for Begay and her family, but marks the first significant remediation of a mine on the country’s largest American Indian reservation where such sites number in the hundreds.

Tests have found gamma radiation activity greater than two times the background level at 80 locations on the site. In the traditional Navajo home where Begay once lived with two of her sons, the radiation levels were up to 100 times the acceptable level. The two sons have died — one of lung cancer and the other from a tumor.

Navajo woman helps prompt uranium mine cleanup, Houston Chronicle, FELICIA FONSECA,   September 5, 2011 MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah (AP) — The stretch of high desert on the Arizona-Utah border gives way to towering rock formations that resemble huge mittens, chimney spires and castles. But to the west of Monument Valley lies a reminder of what has been blamed for much heartache and tragedy in Elsie Mae Begay‘s family: A mesa stained with a gray streak where uranium was mined decades ago. Continue reading →

September 6, 2011 Posted by | indigenous issues, USA, women | Leave a comment

Nuclear bomb testing – a horror that is hard to ban

Perhaps because its people understand firsthand the horrors of living with the effects of nuclear testing, Kazakhstan has fully supported efforts to ban nuclear testing and nuclear weaponry, and has given up its nuclear arsenal. 

Politics Clouds Efforts to Ban Nuclear Testing, By Elizabeth Whitman, UNITED NATIONS, Sep 5, 2011 (IPS) – On Aug. 29, 1949, the Soviet Union conducted the first of 456 nuclear tests in Semipalatinsk in Eastern Kazakhstan, at the site where it ultimately held over two-thirds of all Soviet nuclear tests without warning inhabitants of the region of the impact of exposure to these tests.On Aug. 29, 1991 the site closed, yet the devastating health and environmental effects continue to plague the region to this day. Continue reading →

September 6, 2011 Posted by | Kazakhstan, politics international | Leave a comment

Nuclear Summit in Seoul with safety as top priority

Safety to top Seoul nuclear summit agenda, 2011-09-05,The Korea Herald, By Shin Hae-in  “…Some 50 state leaders will also deal with North Korea uranium issue Following Japan’s nuclear crisis at Fukushima, next year’s nuclear security summit in Seoul will focus on how to improve safety in atomic energy, organizers said Monday…..
Among leaders attending the Seoul summit will be heads of five nations in the six-party talks, including U.S. President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao. The talks involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110905000686

September 6, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, politics international | Leave a comment

Still no way to monitor radiation in Mayapuri scrap market

No radiation detectors still in Mayapuri scrap market – Hindustan Times, 6 Sept 11, Even 16 months after it was hit by radiation, leaving one person dead and eight seriously injured, the Mayapuri market in west Delhi, the biggest scrap market in India, still does not have a regulatory body. In April 2010, radioactive Cobalt 60 from a Delhi University (DU) laboratory thatwas auctioned off found its way to the market.

Although six professors were charge sheeted by the Delhi Police on Friday, the scrap dealers are still on the edge, as there is no mechanism to detect hazardous materials.

“The market is not equipped with detectors, even though it is common practice in steel recycling factories in other countries. The presence of toxic heavy metals and harmful chemicals threatens people living in the area,” said Deepak Jain, who suffered radiation injuries in the crisis last April.

Sharad Sinha, a scrap dealer, said, “We have been facing an acute shortage of workers after the incident. Ever since the incident, no one wants to come and work here.”  No radiation detectors still in Mayapuri scrap market – Hindustan Times

September 6, 2011 Posted by | India, safety | Leave a comment

Libya lied about nuclear weapons – documents reveal

MI6 caught Libyans lying about nuclear weapons, documents reveal MI6 caught the Libyans lying about their stock of nuclear weapons after uncovering a secret network of arms supplies from Pakistan, documents found in Tripoli reveal.Telegraph, By , and Richard Spencer 05 Sep 2011…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8743226/MI6-caught-Libyans-lying-about-nuclear-weapons-documents-reveal.html

September 6, 2011 Posted by | Libya, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Japan’s crisis of radioactive waste in sewage plants

VIDEO  Radioactive waste swamps Japan sewage plants – Asia-pacific – Al Jazeera English   3 Sept 11, Environmental experts warn of new crisis over build up of contaminated sewage far from Fukushima plant.

Environmental experts in Japan are warning of new fallout from the country’s nuclear crisis.

Radioactive waste is piling up at several sewerage plants, well away from the crippled Fukushima reactor.

Months after the tsunami and earthquake that triggered the nuclear meltdown, the government still has no policy on what to do with the waste.

September 5, 2011 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Nuclear company Exelon sued over child’s brain cancer

The demand came about after the parents of a girl sued Exelon claiming their daughter developed brain cancer as a result of living close to the nuclear plant,  Dresden Generating Station in northern Illinois.

Judge Orders Exelon to Divulge Radiation Data in Child Brain Cancer Lawsuit, AllGov – News, -Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky, September 03, 2011, Energy company Exelon has been ordered by a federal judge to turn over data regarding radiation leakage from one of its power plants. Continue reading →

September 5, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA | 1 Comment

Kazakhtsan – land of nuclear human nuclear radiation guinea pigs

 

 

As for the locals, they were little more than guinea pigs…. it is so hard to prove the link between nuclear fallout and the diseases that may strike afterwards.According to Dr. Marat Sandybaev, head of the local oncology centre, cancer rates in the area are still twice as high as the national average, and it is estimated that birth defects are up to 10 times higher.

 

Bringing life to a nuclear wasteland Can a nuclear test site be reclaimed? The Soviets detonated hundreds of bombs in Kazakhstan, poisoning the land and people. Louise Gray of the Telegraph travels to the notorious Polygon site and reports on plans to restore the region By Louise Gray, The Telegraph September 4, 2011 “…. Between 1949 and 1989, the Soviet Union detonated more than 456 nuclear devices on the Semipalatinsk test site, better known as the “Polygon.” Continue reading →

September 5, 2011 Posted by | health, Kazakhstan | Leave a comment

Germany’s renewable energy use increases to 20%

Green Energy Use in Germany Passes 20 Percent of Total Power Mix Environmental News Network, 4 Sept 11, During the first half of 2011, Germany for the first time generated more than 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, a new report says. While the country’s total electricity demand remained stable during the first six months of 2011, the share generated by renewable sources increased from 18.3 percent to 20.8 percent, according to the German Association of Energy and Water Industries.
hat increase provides a boost to government initiatives to produce 35 percent of the country’s electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020, while phasing out all of the nation’s nuclear reactors, an aggressive target announced after the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
Alternative Energy and Fuel News: Green Energy Use in Germany Passes 20 Percent of Total Power Mix

September 5, 2011 Posted by | Germany, renewable | Leave a comment

Pictures of Fukushima’s nuclear ghost town

PICTURES  Eerie echoes of Chernobyl: Inside Fukushima’s nuclear ghost town abandoned by people fleeing the fallout, Mail Online 4 Sept 11,By Daniel Miller, 4th September 2011
Inside Fukushima’s nuclear ghost town abandoned by people fleeing the fallout | Mail Online

September 5, 2011 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Renewable energy a a sound investment for USA

“We will need subsidies for a little while, but not for the indefinite future and we do expect that renewables will, whether it’s going to be competitive 10 years or 20 years from now, it’s going to be on that time scale,” Chu said. “And it will certainly be far less than the amount we needed for other traditional energies, like oil and gas.”….

Congress should see potential in renewable energy and invest in it Las Vegas Sun, , Sept. 4, 2011 Under President Barack Obama’s administration, the federal government has taken a more aggressive stance on developing renewable energy. It has been met with resistance by the fossil fuel industry and its supporters in Congress.

They have groused about the cost of subsidies and tax breaks for renewable energy projects (never mind the billions of dollars a year in handouts the oil industry gets). Continue reading →

September 5, 2011 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Farmland ruined by radioactive “superdumps” from uranium mining

He blames the recent toxic and radioactive spillages on Mine Waste Solutions, a subsidiary of Canadian First Uranium, which is reprocessing mining waste from 15 old slimes dams – some of which are located on his expansive farm – in the Klerksdorp area….

Superdumps are huge dams that store toxic waste form the smaller, historical dumps that are reprocessed for gold and uranium.

(South Africa) Radioactive spillages condemn farmlandAugust 31 2011  IOL Science Tech, By Sheree Bega INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS Johan Kondos can only use a small portion of his land to grow lucerne.   “……This lone field, and a few beloved cattle, is all Kondos has left of his farm in Hartbeesfontein in the North West.

Like many of his neighbours, he blames surrounding mining operations for contaminating his farm, situated about 5km from the Vaal River.

“Some of the pollution is historic but some of it is so recent, it’s still wet,” he explains.

“I’ve had calves born with two heads on my farm. At one time I was having 70 percent abortions and very high mortality with my animals. They drank from the Koekemoerspruit and ate the lucerne I produced.

He blames the recent toxic and radioactive spillages on Mine Waste Solutions, a subsidiary of Canadian First Uranium, which is reprocessing mining waste from 15 old slimes dams – some of which are located on his expansive farm – in the Klerksdorp area.

As part of this, the company is also constructing a controversial central tailings storage facility, or superdump, about 2km from the Vaal River, touting it as a model rehabilitation plan, where the mining waste from the 15 tailings dams is piped. Superdumps are huge dams that store toxic waste form the smaller, historical dumps that are reprocessed for gold and uranium.

In July, the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) shut down Mine Waste Solutions’ operations after its inspection revealed spillages and leakages of tailings materials along the company’s extensive pipeline and on the properties of farmers like Kondos.

But a week later, Mine Waste Solutions was back on line, stating it said it had been given conditional approval to restart operations provided it follow an “enhanced pipeline maintenance programme” and submit monthly reports.

Radioactive spillages condemn farmland – IOL SciTech | IOL.co.za

September 5, 2011 Posted by | environment, South Africa, Uranium | Leave a comment

Editor resigns over sloppy anti climate change publication

 Journal editor resigns over ‘problematic’ climate paper, BBC News, Richard Black, 2 September 2011 The editor of a science journal has resigned after admitting that a recent paper casting doubt on man-made climate change should not have been published. Continue reading →

September 5, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, media | 1 Comment

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