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Japan and USA seek treaty to prevent having to pay international nuclear compensation

Japan eyes global nuclear compensation treaty – report,  Aug 14, 2011 Reporting by Chikako Mogi; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani, TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan is considering joining a U.S.-led global nuclear compensation treaty in a bid to fend off excessive overseas damage claims related to nuclear accidents, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday, without citing sources.

The U.S., Morocco, Romania and Argentina have agreed to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, but the treaty needs at least five countries in order to go into effect.

The newspaper said Japan would start discussions with the United States in the coming week over the pact, which defines the rules for trials for damage claims in countries where accidents happen.

The move comes in the wake of a devastating accident in March at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which leaked radiation and exposed wide-ranging produces from vegetables, tea to water to excessive radioactive materials….http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE77D0C620110814

August 15, 2011 Posted by | Japan, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Florida’s new nuclear plants delayed – perhaps forever

Doubts cloud nuclear pay plan,Utility Products, Power Industry News, BY IVAN PENN, 14 Aug 11,  Since 2009, Progress Energy customers have been paying for a nuclear plant that will not generate a kilowatt of power until 2016. Wait, make that 2018. Well, maybe 2021.

Now, more dismaying news. State consumer advocates say they have evidence the plant won’t open until 2027. Indeed, they openly wonder if the plant will ever be built. Continue reading →

August 15, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Continuing radiation dangers in food chain in Japan

Prolonged exposure to radiation in the air, ground and food can cause leukemia and other cancers, according to the London- based World Nuclear Association,  

Mushrooms Join Growing List of Radioactive Threats to Japan’s Food Chain, Bloomberg, By Naoko Fujimura and Chris Cooper – Aug 14, 2011 Mushrooms joined the threats to Japan’s food chain from radiation spewed by Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, as the country expands efforts to limit the effects of the disaster.

Japan is under pressure to enhance food inspections as it has no centralized system for detecting radiation contamination. About two-thirds of Japan’s prefectures now plan to check rice crops, the Mainichi newspaper reported yesterday, citing its own survey. Half of Japan’s rice is grown within range of emissions from the crippled nuclear plant, and farmers are awaiting the results of tests before harvesting begins this month…… Continue reading →

August 15, 2011 Posted by | health, Japan | Leave a comment

Serious safet problems in Hanford nuclear waste cleanup plans

The Hanford project is the most important environmental cleanup program in the nation. It seeks to prevent 56 million gallons of radioactive sludge in underground tanks, some of which are leaking, from contaminating the nearby Columbia River.
Safety doubts raised at U.S. nuclear waste cleanup project, Engineers and scientists say equipment being installed by Bechtel Corp. at the Hanford site in Washington state poses risks, but the Energy Department is letting work continue. By Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times, August 14, 2011 The Energy Department has asserted that Bechtel Corp. underplayed safety risks from equipment it is installing at the nation’s largest nuclear waste cleanup project, according to government records. Continue reading →

August 15, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Second meltdown in No 3 Nuclear reactor caused Fukushima cleanup problems

Report suggests second meltdown at reactor at Fukushima plant, Asahi.com, BY TOMOOKI YASUDA STAFF WRITER, 2011/08/09, A second meltdown likely occurred in the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, a scenario that could hinder the current strategy to end the crisis, a scientist said. Continue reading →

August 15, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Death of feisty anti-nuclear fighter

Notable deaths around the nation, 14 Aug 11, “….Jackie Hudson, 76, of Bremerton, Wash., a nun and longtime nuclear weapons protester, died Aug. 3 of cancer. The Michigan native moved to Washington in 1993 but remained with the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids. She was released in June from a Georgia jail after demonstrating at an Oak Ridge, Tenn., nuclear facility. She was among three convicted in 2003 of damaging a Weld County, Colo., missile silo….”    http://blog.oregonlive.com/lifestories/2011/08/notable_deaths_around_nation_w_22.html

August 15, 2011 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA, women | Leave a comment

Even with the recession, renewable energy performing well across the globe

Special report:Renewable energy sector grows despite recession, The Citizen, 13 August 2011, Paris. The renewable energy (RE) sector continues to perform well despite continuing economic recession, incentive cuts, and low natural-gas prices, the Renewables 2011 Global Status Report (GSR) released last month has shown.

In 2010, renewable energy supplied an estimated 16 per cent of global final energy consumption and delivered close to 20 per cent of global electricity production. Renewable capacity now comprises about a quarter of total global power-generating capacity. Including all hydropower (estimated 30 GW added in 2010), RE accounted for approximately 50 per cent of total added power generating capacity in 2010.

In 2010, existing solar water and space heating capacity increased by an estimated 25 gigawatts-thermal (GWth), or about 16 per cent. The report was commissioned by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) and produced in collaboration with a global network of research partners.

“The global performance of renewable energy despite headwinds has been a positive constant in turbulent times”, says Mr Mohamed El-Ashry, chairman of REN21’s Steering Committee. “Today, more people than ever before derive energy from renewables as capacity continues to grow, prices continue to fall, and shares of global energy from renewable energy continue to increase.” …..http://thecitizen.co.tz/sunday-citizen/40-sunday-citizen-news/13743-special-reportrenewable-energy-sector-grows-despite-recession.htm

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August 15, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, renewable | Leave a comment

The Public Counsel’s case against Progress Energy’s plan for nuclear plant costing

Doubts cloud nuclear pay plan, Utility Products, Power Industry News, BY IVAN PENN, 14 Aug 11,  “……The Public Counsel’s case rests on the opinion of William Jacobs, a former nuclear plant site manager for Westinghouse. His 35 years of experience in electric power generation and doctoral degree in nuclear engineering have made him a go-to expert for power companies and public utility commissions around the country.

Jacobs makes six points to support his argument that Progress plans to delay construction of the Levy plant until 2027:

* Progress is diverting the attention of key Levy project managers to other activities. Among them: Jeff Lyash, former president and CEO of Progress Energy Florida, whom Jacobs describes as the Progress officer responsible for the Levy project.

* Progress’ own analysis shows that trends in fuel costs are making nuclear power relatively less cost effective than other sources.

* The trend in natural gas prices and lack of progress toward legislation regulating greenhouse gases increase the utility’s “enterprise risk.”

* Progress had hoped to find a partner to share ownership (and financial risk) of the project, but that has become less likely because of cost increases and regulatory delays.

* Public support for nuclear plants has diminished since the meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima plant.

* Finally, Progress, having considered all those factors, seems to be planning for the possibility of delaying the plant opening until 2027.

Jacobs based that last conclusion on the redacted “Scenario Analysis” Progress gave to the Public Counsel’s Office.

In written testimony to the PSC, Jacobs wrote that Progress Energy’s “actions continue to demonstrate doubt as to the likelihood of completion of the project on the current schedule – if at all.” Jacobs uses “if at all” three times in his report referring to the possibility of the plant never getting built.

Progress turned over an un­redacted version of the “Scenario Analysis” only after Jacobs completed his report. But the Public Counsel’s office had to agree to keep it secret……. http://www.utilityproducts.com/news/2011/08/1478674934/doubts-cloud-nuclear-pay-plan.html

August 15, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Volunteers risk health in radiation cleanup outside Fukushima area

“The area itself is relatively highly contaminated,” Kodama says. “Many small children playing around the ground might touch some mud or in some case, eat some sand, which would result in internal radiation..”

Volunteers Take on Dangerous Job of Scrubbing Nuke Contamination, ABC News International. By  (@akikofujita), Aug. 12, 2011 Tatsuhiko Kodama’s voice shakes as he addresses volunteers at Ishigami Daini Kindergarten in the city of Minamisoma, 15 miles from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.

The director of the University of Tokyo’s Radioisotope Center is training people how to decontaminate a school filled with radiation spewed from the nuclear reactors. He has explained the process a dozen times before, yet tears well up every time Kodama sees mothers donning masks, fathers taking notes with dosimeters in hand. Continue reading →

August 15, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Palo Verde Nuclear Plant – emergency plans found wanting

planning only for a 10-mile evacuation zone around reactors is inadequate because it doesn’t take into consideration the possibility of having to evacuate a larger area and the consequences of civil disorder that might ensue from gridlocked roads in the scramble to flee…… emergency plans wrongly assume that a severe problem at a nuclear facility would not be accompanied by other emergencies. 

Palo Verde nuclear response a worry, Palo Verde’s plans for evacuations debated, by Ryan Randazzo – Aug. 14, 2011, The Arizona Republic, People living within 10 miles of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix are well-aware they are in the evacuation zone of Arizona’s only nuclear power plant.

Those 11,545 residents get an annual calendar from the plant’s owners with instructions on what to do in the remote event of a disaster….. Continue reading →

August 15, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear fuels regulators in Colorado under the thumb of weapons maker General Atomics

“Basically, the judgment of the nuclear fuels industry and its captive regulators in Colorado is not to be trusted when it comes to matters of health, safety, and a clean environment,” 

General Atomics subsidiary wants to stop toxic pond tests, By David O. Williams, Real Aspen – August 14, 2011 Rather than seek an appropriate technological solution, managers of a decommissioned uranium processing mill near Cañon City want the state to let them stop testing a radioactive holding pond Continue reading →

August 15, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Cost of nuclear test refugees from Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau

Hawaii demanding assistance from the federal government, ETN News, Aug 14, 2011, The cost of providing Hawaii government services to Pacific island migrants has more than tripled over the last eight years, according to a state report completed this week.

Retired cook Calvin Nelson says that when he came to Hawaii from Kwajalein, after the United States had seized his home for a new missile range, he was told, “everything will be covered.” Him and thousands of other Micronesian immigrants need the kidney dialysis that kept him alive.

State government expenses to pay for services to migrants from Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau rose to US$115 million last year from US$32 million in 2002, the report said……..

Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau are beneficiaries of the Compact of Free Association. After the US used the Pacific islands for nuclear weapons testing from 1946 to 1958, it agreed in the 1986 pact to provide financial assistance and migration rights in exchange for the right to use defense sites.

People from the areas included in the compact suffer from higher rates of cancer and kidney disease, which come with expensive treatments such as chemotherapy and dialysis.

The federal government provides the state with only US$11 million each year to help the state cover the costs of the US treaty….http://www.eturbonews.com/24598/hawaii-demanding-assistance-federal-government

August 15, 2011 Posted by | politics, USA | 2 Comments

USA to cut funding for research on low level radiation and health?

 many more people may have incurred fatal cancers from low doses, simply based on the statistical probably of those fatalities occurring across very large populations.

Budget Deal Could Crush Low-Dose Radiation Research, Forbes, by Jeff McMahon,  15 Aug 11, “…..The nation’s only Low-Dose Radiation Research program is likely to suffer a severe cut in funding not long after the United States was blanketed with low doses of radioactive fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan…….Dr. David J. Brenner, a professor in the Columbia University medical school’s Center for Radiological Research, in a recent editorial in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Continue reading →

August 15, 2011 Posted by | health, USA | Leave a comment

Delay for India’s Jaitapur nuclear power project

First phase of Jaitapur nuclear project may be delayed by 1 year, Business Standard, 15 Aug 11, Sanjay Jog / Mumbai August 15, 2011,  The commissioning of the first phase of the 9,900-Mw Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra is likely to be delayed by a year, since the developer, Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC), would first have to upgrade and strengthen the safety applications in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

The first evolutionary pressurised reactor (EPR) of 1,650 Mw would be operational in 2018-19 instead of the originally planned 2017-18. French nuclear energy firm Areva was asked by the country’s nuclear safety regulatory authority ASN to conduct a safety audit after the Fukushima disaster. The audit is expected to be completes by September….

August 15, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, India | Leave a comment

TVA’s multi billion nuclear reactor dollar gamble in Alabama

TVA gambles on Bellefonte nuclear reactors,  Footprints, August 11th, 2011 › Nuclear, SACE Reports › Dr. Stephen A. Smith › Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has long been concerned with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) push to add more nuclear reactors to their energy mix in spite of readily available energy efficiency and renewable energy alternatives. But TVA’s dogged pursuit to complete the nearly forty-year-old, antiquated Bellefonte site in Alabama is a unique and especially risky proposition. Simply put, finishing these two abandoned and degraded reactors is a multi-billion dollar bet TVA should not place. The risks to public health and safety, potential financial impacts to TVA ratepayers and U.S. taxpayers are too significant to ignore. Continue reading →

August 15, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

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