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Germany determined to close down nuclear power

Germany reaffirms nuclear retreat The Irish Times , Apr 16, 2011 DEREK SCALLY A MONTH after her spectacular U-turn on nuclear energy, Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday gave her officials six weeks to formulate a new national power plan for renewable and gas energy.

After regional election losses thanks to public anxiety over Fukushima, the chancellor admitted yesterday the days of nuclear power in Germany were numbered.

“We all want out of nuclear energy as soon as possible and make the switch to supplying renewable energy,” said Dr Merkel, adding there “is political will to speed things up”…….

Everything changed after Fukushima, when the German leader moved quickly to close seven ageing nuclear plants to permit security tests. They are unlikely to return to the national grid.

Ms Merkel summoned governors of all federal states that have nuclear plants to Berlin yesterday and agreed to seal a deal by June.

Most details of the plan have yet to be drawn up, but a draft has plans for a €5 billion programme to boost renewable energy production. It is likely to include new legislation to speed up planning for renewable energy facilities.

Germany already generates some 17 per cent of its electricity from renewables, a total it wants to increase to 40 per cent by 2020.

Shares in Germany’s big four energy companies fell yesterday in otherwise buoyant trading as investors reacted to the uncertainty. They have launched a legal challenge to the shutdown of the seven plants and have stopped paying into a renewable energy research fund established last October…..Germany reaffirms nuclear retreat – The Irish Times – Sat, Apr 16, 2011

April 16, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | 1 Comment

Grim health outlook for Fukushima nuclear cleanup workers

Children born to liquidator families were seriously affected with birth defects and thyroid diseases, including cancer, and loss of intellect. As for other children, based upon the work of multiple researchers, it is estimated that in the heavily contaminated areas of Belarus, only 20 percent of children are considered healthy,

Is the Fukushima nuclear plant breakdown worse than Chernobyl? | San Francisco Bay View, by Janette D. Sherman, M.D., 16 April 11“………Key to understanding effects is the difference between external and internal radiation. While external radiation, as from x-rays, neutron, gamma and cosmic rays, can harm and kill, internal radiation – alpha and beta particles – when absorbed by ingestion and inhalation release damaging energy in direct contact with tissue and cells. Continue reading →

April 16, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, employment, health, Japan | Leave a comment

World Heritage Kakadu parkland poisoned by Rio Tinto’s uranium wastes

For 30 years about 100,000 litres of contaminated water a day has been leaking from the tailings dam into fissures beneath Kakadu

Radioactive water threatens Kakadu, The Age, Lindsay Murdoch, April 16, 2011 Radioactive water is in danger of spilling into an Aboriginal community and Kakadu’s World Heritage-listed wetlands if record rainfalls continue to deluge the vast Ranger uranium mine. Continue reading →

April 16, 2011 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, environment | 2 Comments

Time for World health Organisation to sever connection with International Atomic Energy Agency

The World Health Organization (WHO) must sever its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in place since 1959, and assume independent responsibility in support of international health.

Is the Fukushima nuclear plant breakdown worse than Chernobyl? | San Francisco Bay View, by Janette D. Sherman, M.D., 16 April 11 “….Many pro-nuclear critics have downplayed the risks from Chernobyl, attributing concerns to “radio-phobia”; but documentation of disease is not limited to the human population. With few exceptions, animal and plant systems that were studied demonstrated structural abnormalities in offspring, loss of tolerance and viability, and genetic changes. Wild animals and plants do not drink alcohol, smoke or worry about compensation – so those factors cannot be held responsible. Continue reading →

April 16, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Nuclear payout not adequate for Fukushima refugees

Nuclear plant evacuees call for bigger payouts, The Independent 16 April 2011 * The operator of Japan’s tsunami-damaged nuclear plant said yesterday it would pay an initial £7,400 for each household that was forced to evacuate because of leaking radiation – a handout some displaced families said was too little.Tens of thousands of residents unable to return to their homes near the nuclear plant are bereft of their livelihoods and possessions, unsure when, if ever, they will be able to return home.

Some have travelled hundreds of miles to the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) to press the company president Masataka Shimizu for higher compensation. At the government’s request, the company will start paying out roughly ¥50bn (£370m) in compensation from 28 April to those forced to evacuate; families will get ¥1m and single adults ¥750,000, the government said.

Roughly 48,000 households will be eligible for the payments. But many families are disappointed. “I’m not satisfied,” said Kazuko Suzuki, a 49-year-old single mother of two teenagers from the town of Futuba, next to the plant. She has lived at a shelter at a high school north of Tokyo for the past month. “We’ve had to spend money on so many extra things and we don’t know how long this could go on,” she said….Nuclear plant evacuees call for bigger payouts – Asia, World – The Independent

April 16, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Australian Aboriginal leader writes to UN about uranium mining

Yvonne Margarula’s letter to the UN expressing solidarity with the people of Fukushima , | Indymedia Australia, 16 Apr 2011 Below is a letter sent by Yvonne Margarula of the Mirrar people to Ban Ki Moon the Secretary General of the UN on the 6th of April 2011. The Mirrar are the traditional owners of the land that Ranger and Jabiluka Uranium mines are located on. These mines have been developed without the consent of the Mirrar people. The letter expresses solidarity with the people of Japan and sorrow that uraniun from the land of the Mirrar was used in the Fukushima plant. Continue reading →

April 16, 2011 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, indigenous issues, Uranium | Leave a comment

Determined opposition to Jaitapur nuclear plant

Opposition to huge India nuclear plant hardens after Japan By Tony Munroe JAITAPUR, India  Apr 15, 2011, India (Reuters) – As far as Taramati Vaghdhare is concerned, there is no question of accepting compensation to make way for the world’s largest nuclear power plant………..Long-running opposition to the proposed plant at Jaitapur has hardened amid the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan, with village posters depicting scenes of last month’s devastation at the Fukushima plant and warning of what could be in store for this region in the Western Ghats north of Goa…..

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh staked his political career on a 2008 deal with the United States that ended India’s nuclear isolation dating to its 1974 test of a nuclear device, opening up a $150 billion civilian nuclear market……

Opposition to huge India nuclear plant hardens after Japan | Reuters

April 16, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Public has right to know radiation effects of Fukushima and Chernobyl

After Chernobyl, there was a delay in collecting and releasing information. The nuclear industry and many governments are reluctant to alarm the public, but the public has a right to know what the risks are and how, if possible, to avoid those risks – as much as possible…… Decades of research have confirmed that radioisotopes become deposited in various parts of living systems.In humans, I-131 and I-129 concentrate in the thyroid, Cs-137 in soft tissue and Sr-90 in teeth and bones……..

Is the Fukushima nuclear plant breakdown worse than Chernobyl? | San Francisco Bay View, by Janette D. Sherman, M.D., 16 April 11, Love lavished on the children in this orphanage near Chernobyl cannot cure the terrible effects of radiation. ..A little over six months ago I wrote: “Given profound weather effects (earthquakes, floods, tsunamis etc.), human fallibility and military conflicts, many believe that it is only a matter of time before there is another nuclear catastrophe. Nuclear fallout knows no state or national boundaries and will contribute to an increase in illnesses, decrease in intelligence and instability throughout the world. Continue reading →

April 16, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, secrets,lies and civil liberties | 1 Comment