2011 April 02 « nuclear-news

Decades until Fukushima nuclear plant closed down

Experts: Scrapping Fukushima plant could take decades, asahi.com（朝日新聞社）2 April 11, – Regaining control of the four stricken reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant could take months or years, according to nuclear experts. And, even if the reactor cores can be cooled below 100 degrees, known as the “cold shutdown” stage, decommissioning will take several decades……. Continue reading →

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011 | 1 Comment

A floating radioactive waste pool? Hope there’s no more tsunamis!

Pontoon to hold Japan nuke plant water | Herald Sun April 02, 2011 THE operator of Japan’s disaster-stricken nuclear power plant plans to use a huge steel floating structure to contain radioactive water it releases.The pontoon-type structure which can hold a maximum of 18,000 tonnes of water will be handed over to Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) by its owner which has been using it as a floating park for anglers, officials said yesterday.Called a “Mega-Float”, it measures 136 metres long, 46 metres wide and three metres high and can hold up to 10,000 tonnes of water without sinking….. Pontoon to hold Japan nuke plant water | Herald Sun

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011, technology | Leave a comment

Fukushima a greater disaster than Chernobyl

“Chernobyl was level seven and it had only one reactor and lasted only two weeks. We have now three weeks (at Fukushima) and we have four reactors which we know are in very dangerous situations,”

Fukushima ‘much bigger than Chernobyl’, says Russian nuclear activist | Herald SunApril 02, 2011 JAPAN’S unfolding nuclear disaster is “much bigger than Chernobyl” and could rewrite the international scale used to measure the severity of atomic accidents, a Russian expert says.”Chernobyl was a dirty bomb explosion. The next dirty bomb is Fukushima and it will cost much more in economic and human terms,” Natalia Mironova said. Continue reading →

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

China: solar power on the rise, nuclear power stalled

China to Cut Nuclear & Increase Solar Power Goals after Japan Crisis – CleanTechnica: 1 April 11, China hasn’t taken long to learn a lesson from the Japan nuclear crisis (perhaps). It is cutting its 2020 target for nuclear power and is filling in with increased solar power targets, according to an official from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
China recently passed up the U.S. as the world’s leading energy consumer. What it does on this front is critical to the long-term livability of our planet (for humans, at least). It is great to see that it is not only cutting back on nuclear expansion (which is a very risky option until someone learns how to deal with nuclear waste that lasts several times longer than humans have existed for), but that it is also increasing its solar power goals to account for this…….China to Cut Nuclear & Increase Solar Power Goals after Japan Crisis – CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, renewable | Leave a comment

As Japan proposes to get bone marrow cells from workers, global nuclear industry prospec ts dim

If the past is any guide, the problems at Fukishima will slow or even freeze the construction of plants in many countries.

Walsh: Fukushima will slow or even freeze building of nuclear plants in many countries – In the Arena – CNN.com James Walsh, 2 April 11, TIME magazine reports that Japanese authorities have proposed, as a precautionary measure, the harvesting and banking of the stem cells from the bone marrow of workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. Those cells could be transplanted back in workers who were exposed to too much radiation. How much danger are these workers in? Continue reading →

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011, business and costs | Leave a comment

Investors see renewable energy looking good, nuclear energy looking crap

Renewable energy prospects rise with nuclear unease | EurActiv: 01 April 2011 Public unease about nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster is prompting renewed scrutiny of renewable power options by governments across the world. Following temporary moratoriums on the nuclear industry imposed in Germany and Switzerland, Japan is planning a review of energy options such as solar power.

China may double its target for photovoltaic activity, while Taiwan is also considering axing nuclear output. Investors are betting on an energy shake up, carrying world benchmark indexes to their highest in 14 months.

The global FTSE Cleantech index has spiked more than 8% since Japan’s earthquake struck on 11 March.The WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation index of alternative energy stocks has gained around 12%…….Whatever their exact outcome, the Fukushima events are likely to shift the energy policy balance toward renewables,” Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) said in a report on 28 March.

Robin Batchelor, a fund manager at BlackRock in charge of $8.2 billion in energy-related funds, said that Fukushima might have brought renewables into focus for fund managers….Renewable energy prospects rise with nuclear unease | EurActiv

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, renewable | Leave a comment

The medical story of Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster

the evidence of 52 scientists and estimated the deaths and illnesses to be 93,000 terminal cancers already and perhaps 140,000 more in time. Using other data, the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences declared in 2006 that 212,000 people had died as a direct consequence of Chernobyl.

Nuclear’s green cheerleaders forget Chernobyl at our peril Pundits who downplay the risks of radiation are ignoring the casualities of the past. Fukushima’s meltdown may be worse John Vidal guardian.co.uk, 1 April 2011 Five years ago I visited the still highly contaminated areas of Ukraine and the Belarus border where much of the radioactive plume from Chernobyl descended on 26 April 1986. I challenge chief scientist John Beddington and environmentalists like George Monbiot or any of the pundits now downplaying the risks of radiation to talk to the doctors, the scientists, the mothers, children and villagers who have been left with the consequences of a major nuclear accident. Continue reading →

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health | Leave a comment

Investors and power generators turning to non nuclear energy sources

Meanwhile, power generators are turning elsewhere to meet the nation’s growing energy needs.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. added 23,144 megawatts of non-nuclear power generating capacity in 2009, the equivalent of about 23 atomic reactors.

Nuclear industry’s other big hurdle: finance NRG put brakes on new plant; industry aims at loan guarantees By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch, 1 April 11, “……..with the cost of a plant reaching $6 billion or more, and its income stream years away, the payoff for investors is not terribly appealing, Dobson said. Safety concerns and regulatory scrutiny resulting from the Fukushima accident merely add to a murky financing mix, he said. Continue reading →

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Authorities do not know what are Fukushima’s real radiation dangers

“When you hear ‘no immediate danger’ [from nuclear radiation] then you should run away as far and as fast as you can.”

Nuclear’s green cheerleaders forget Chernobyl at our peril Pundits who downplay the risks of radiation are ignoring the casualities of the past. Fukushima’s meltdown may be worse John Vidal guardian.co.uk, Friday 1 April 2011“…..Every day there are more setbacks to solving the Japanese nuclear crisis and it’s pretty clear that the industry and governments are telling us little; have no idea how long it will take to control; or what the real risk of cumulative contamination may be. Continue reading →

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Nuked up Republicans lying about Yucca Mountains as safe nuke waste dump

Berkley calls on ‘nuked-up’ Republicans to cease Yucca Mountain probe The Hill By Pete Kasperowicz – 04/01/11 Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) on Friday called on House Republicans to stop their investigation into an Obama administration decision to abandon Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as a planned storage site for nuclear waste.

Speaking on the House floor, Berkley said the GOP investigation is a “political stunt” aimed at turning Nevada into a “nuclear garbage dump.”

“Those pushing this review are lying about the dump’s safety,” Berkley said. “They know Yucca Mountain is smack in the middle of an earthquake zone. There’s volcanic activity. There’s groundwater issues. Have we learned nothing abbot what’s happening now in Japan?”

Berkley added that the investigation is being prompted by the nuclear industry, and is being aided by its “nuked-up buddies” in Congress….. Berkley calls on ‘nuked-up’ Republicans to cease Yucca Mountain probe – The Hill’s E2-Wire

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Even an undamaged nuclear reactor takes decades to decommission

Experts: Scrapping Fukushima plant could take decades, asahi.com（朝日新聞社）2 April 11, “…..Even an undamaged nuclear reactor takes decades to decommission. After the fuel rods are removed, all of the pipes to the core have to be sealed. The inactive reactor then has to be kept airtight for five to 10 years, allowing radiation levels within the core to fall. The core is then dismantled and removed. Finally, the building that houses the core is taken down. In order to stop radiation from leaking into the atmosphere, more contaminated parts of the building have to be removed before parts with low levels of radiation….”asahi.com（朝日新聞社）：Experts: Scrapping Fukushima plant could take decades – English

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, decommission reactor | Leave a comment

Global monitoring of Fukushima radiation fallout

Radioactive iodine-131 and cesium-137 are key to this process. They don’t exist in nature, so their appearance signals a nuclear event — either a bomb or a reactor in trouble…..Nuclear detectives can dive deeper still, sorting out whether radioactive emissions emanate from a dangerously active and still-fissioning reactor core, from burning fuel rods, or from used fuel sitting in pools.

As Fukushima fallout circles the globe, nuclear sleuths sift it for clues, The Washington Post, by Brian Vastag 1 April 11, Fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has landed on 30 exquisitely sensitive detectors on desolate Arctic islands, on the tops of tall buildings and in other windy locales across the Northern Hemisphere, according to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, which maintains those sensors. Sniffing the air like silent sentinels, the 63 shack-like stations (with 17 more planned) are capturing tiny radioactive particles in filters much like those on a home furnace. Continue reading →

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011, technology | Leave a comment

Whom to believe about Fukushima – nuclear industry or doctors?

“……So who can we trust when the estimates swing so wildly? Should we believe the empirical evidence of the doctors; or governments and industrialists backed by their PR companies? So politicised has nuclear energy become, that you can now pick and choose your data, rubbish your opponents, and ignore anything you do not like. The fact is we may never know the truth about Chernobyl because the records are lost, thousands of people from 24 countries who cleaned up the site have dispersed across the vast former Soviet Union, and many people have died.Fukushima is not Chernobyl, but it is potentially worse. It is a multiple reactor catastrophe happening within 150 miles of a metropolis of 30 million people. If it happened at Sellafield, there would be panic in every major city in Britain. We still don’t know the final outcome but to hear experts claiming that nuclear radiation is not that serious, or that this accident proves the need for nuclear power, is nothing short of disgraceful…..
Nuclear’s green cheerleaders forget Chernobyl at our peril | John Vidal | Comment is free | The Guardian

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Money, not Fukushima, is nuclear industry’s biggest hurdle

Nuclear industry’s other big hurdle: finance NRG put brakes on new plant; industry aims at loan guarantees By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch, 1 April 11,

NEW YORK — While public outrage over radiation seeping from Japan’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant is a huge setback for proponents of nuclear power, securing financing for new reactors poses perhaps an even bigger challenge in the United States….. Continue reading →

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Canada’s former nuclear watchdog supports Greens

Former nuclear watchdog supports May, slams Tory minister. Ottawa Citizen, By Cindy Harnett, Postmedia News April 1, 2011 VICTORIA — Canada’s former nuclear watchdog threw her support behind Green party leader Elizabeth May on Friday, three years after she was fired by the Harper government……Keen was fired from her post as CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission after she forced a shutdown in late 2007 at a Chalk River reactor that provides vital isotopes for medical uses, and refused to restart it until safety systems were in place, despite intense political pressure……She also used the opportunity to link the nuclear issue to the crisis in Japan, where the Fukushima nuclear plant was badly damaged in an earthquake last month, and has leaked radiation to surrounding areas. “I think all Canadians can agree that there can be no short cuts or compromises on nuclear safety,” said May, who became friends with Keen after she was fired…….Former nuclear watchdog supports May, slams Tory minister.

April 2, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, politics | Leave a comment

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