Australia will get nuclear power, top nuclear scientist confident

“We will learn from the tragic Japanese experience how to build more robust reactors, how to ensure multiple layers of protection work properly, how to better contain radioactive gases.” – Ziggy

Ziggy Switkowski, nuclear physicist, and chief of Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, is confident that there will be only a short term halt in the nuclear renaissance.

Ziggy’s been explaining on Australian TV (Channel 10 News 14/3/11) and print media (THE AUSTRALIAN, 14/3/11), how Australia doesn’t need to worry about earthquakes and nuclear power, and does need nuclear energy. Indeed, Ziggy looks forward to the boost that nuclear power development will get, from studying the defects in the Japanese nuclear reactors. In this way, the nuclear renaissance will thrive again. Though I dunno that it was thriving even before the Japan disaster, now that I come to think of it. – Christina Macpherson

March 14, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, marketing | Leave a comment

Effects of Japan’s nuclear damage will be either serious or catastrophic

In the best case,……….the immense anxiety triggered by the incident and the toll of the subsequent evacuation on nearby residents.

The consequences of the most dire scenarios are much harder to estimate. They include the loss of the facility, an expensive local cleanup — a foregone conclusion — and a wide-scale disaster that renders the countryside around the plant uninhabitable for decades.

Ultimate impact of damage to Japan nuclear reactors still unknown, Washington Post, By Brian Vastag, March 13,

The detection of the highly radioactive elements cesium-137 and iodine-131 outside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant heralds the beginning of an ecological and human tragedy. The open question is whether it will be limited, serious or catastrophic Continue reading →

March 14, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Nuclear plants likely to be shut in Germany, cancelled in Switzerland

Germany May Shut Nuclear Plants

WSJ, 14 March, By ANDREAS KISSLER And JAN HROMADKO

FRANKFURT—German Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Guido Westerwelle said Monday that individual nuclear power plants could be shut down on safety grounds after accidents at Japanese reactors that followed a devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami Friday.

If German reactors were found to have inadequate cooling systems the facilities need to be shut down and upgraded, Mr. Westerwelle told reporters at a press conference in Berlin.

His statement came as Switzerland suspended plans for new nuclear plants, pending a review of the emergency in Japan………http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576200122562101848.html

March 14, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, safety | Leave a comment

Possible meltdown of fuel rods inside the Fukushima Daiichi complex’s No.2 reactor

Water level near empty at Japan nuclear reactor

Reuters 03/14/2011 Water levels inside a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear reactor were almost empty on Monday night, said the power plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. The Yomiuri newspaper was reporting that the cooling system at the reactor has stopped, and additional reports said fuel rods were exposed.

News agency Jiji said a meltdown of fuel rods inside the Fukushima Daiichi complex’s No.2 reactor could not be ruled out.

March 14, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Nuclear industry at a standstill: this could be the end

“The nuclear renaissance was on the rocks in any case,” said Peter Bradford, a former commissioner on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He served on the commission in 1979 during the Three Mile Island accident in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

Senator Joe Lieberman, who chairs the U.S. Senate’s homeland security panel, said on Sunday the United States should “put the brakes on” new nuclear power plants until the impact of the incident in Japan became clear.

Analysis: Nuclear renaissance could fizzle after Japan quake

(Reuters) 14 March 11, – Japan‘s battle to avert a full-scale meltdown could damage the global nuclear energy industry, derailing plans to build dozens of new power plants and forestalling any surge in demand for uranium to fuel them. Continue reading →

March 14, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment