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Childhood leakaemias near nuclear plants – NOT caused by “virus”

Across Europe a number of studies have reported increased rates of childhood leukaemia around other nuclear facilities. In 1992, the German Childhood Cancer Registry found a statistically significant increased incidence rate for leukaemias among children below five years of age within the 5-km-zone around nuclear sites. A second study was published in 1997, and again found increased childhood leukaemias near nuclear plants….

Further analysis of the KiKK study by the German Expert Group went on to state that childhood cancer near to nuclear power plant sites was actually underestimated by the KiKK researchers – and so the risks are considerably above those reported.

Why UK nuclear power plants may cause childhood cancer and leukaemia, The Ecologist, Dr Paul Dorfman, 16th May, 2011You won’t hear the UK government admit it but after decades of research there is now evidence of real excesses of childhood cancer and leukaemia near some nuclear facilities, argues Dr Paul Dorfman Continue reading →

May 17, 2011 Posted by | Germany, health, spinbuster | 2 Comments

Japan: collusion of govt, nuclear regulators, plant operators, courts

The lawsuits reveal a disturbing pattern in which operators underestimated or hid seismic dangers to avoid costly upgrades and keep operating. And the fact that virtually all these suits were unsuccessful reinforces the widespread belief in Japan that a culture of collusion supporting nuclear power, including the government, nuclear regulators and plant operators, extends to the courts as well.

Japanese Officials Ignored or Concealed Dangers, New York Times, By NORIMITSU ONISHI and MARTIN FACKLER,  May 16, 2011  OMAEZAKI, Japan — The nuclear power plant, lawyers argued, could not withstand the kind of major earthquake that new seismic research now suggested was likely.

If such a quake struck, electrical power could fail, along with backup generators, crippling the cooling system, the lawyers predicted. The reactors would then suffer a meltdown and start spewing radiation into the air and sea. Tens of thousands in the area would be forced to flee.

Although the predictions sound eerily like the sequence of events at the Fukushima Daiichi plant following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the lawsuit was filed nearly a decade ago to shut down another plant, long considered the most dangerous in Japan — the Hamaoka station. Continue reading →

May 17, 2011 Posted by | Japan, Legal, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Draining 4,000 tonnes of highly radioactive water from Fukushima reactor

Radioactive water to be drained from Fukushima reactor,  ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy, 17 May 11, he operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant will today begin pumping out thousands of tonnes of highly radioactive water from one of the reactors.

The Tokyo Electric Power company will use hoses to pump 4,000 tonnes of highly contaminated water from No. 3 reactor.

The radioactive water will then be shifted to a waste disposal facility to stop it from leaking into the environment….Radioactive water to be drained from Fukushima reactor – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

May 17, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

USA’s Blue Ribbon Commission floundering in the dark over nuclear wastes

Lessons of Fukushima remain unknown……..critical details of what happened to the spent fuel held in elevated water pools in reactor buildings remain a mystery to U.S. regulators and the Blue Ribbon Commission members.

Fukushima Disaster Deepens U.S. Turmoil Over Nuclear Waste Storage, NYTimes.com, By PETER BEHR of ClimateWire  May 16, 2011 Japan’s nuclear disaster and the abandoned Yucca Mountain repository are combining to create a more complex puzzle for U.S. policymakers wrestling with the future of nuclear power in the United States.
On Friday, a Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) of experts appointed by the Obama administration presented subcommittee reports calling for the “expedited” creation of one or more consolidated interim sites for storing spent fuel from commercial U.S. reactors.

More than 70,000 tons of spent fuel with varying levels of remaining radioactivity are currently in “wet” or “dry” storage at the reactor sites, with nowhere else to go.
The subcommittee also recommended that the United States develop one or more permanent underground repositories for spent fuel in place of the proposed Yucca Mountain repository that has been shelved by the Obama administration. Both interim and permanent sites should only be located where local communities welcome them, and not imposed on a location, as Yucca Mountain was in Nevada, commissioners said. A new federal agency should be created to manage both interim and permanent site development, commissioners said.

A consolidated interim storage facility could take 20 years to locate, fund, license and build, according to the Government Accountability Office. A future permanent repository is even further in the future, the GAO said…..

Lessons of Fukushima remain unknown

More than two months after the start of the Fukushima crisis, critical details of what happened to the spent fuel held in elevated water pools in reactor buildings remain a mystery to U.S. regulators and the Blue Ribbon Commission members. Technicians had to wait several years after the 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island before it was safe enough to directly assess the damage to the reactor. Crews at the Fukushima plant are in a daily struggle to control damaged reactors, and there is no guarantee that the accident details will become clear by the time the commission is planning to publish its draft final report, in July…….

In another two decades, many of the first U.S. commercial reactors will be coming to the end of an extended 60-year license term. It far from settled whether they could qualify for a new relicensing for another 20 years, or whether their owners would choose that course, experts say. That could mean that a growing line of reactors will be headed for decommissioning and more reactor sites will be closed with only their legacy of spent fuel containers, expanding the case for centralized storage, Meserve said…..

Fukushima Disaster Deepens U.S. Turmoil Over Nuclear Waste Storage – NYTimes.com

May 17, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Courage of doctors in Fukushima nuclear zone

“Doctors are there to work in this kind of adversity,” he said. “This is my mission — maybe it’s the last chapter of my medical career.”……

Doctors defy radiation woes in Japan’s Fukushima – Channel NewsAsia, 17 May, 11, FUKUSHIMA CITY, Japan: When other doctors fled, 72-year old Kyohei Takahashi stayed, and hundreds of patients in the tsunami-hit Japanese town of Minamisoma near a crippled nuclear plant will never forget.Dr. Takahashi has defied radiation fears and worked gruelling hours for the past nine weeks to do what he considers his duty.”As a doctor, I thought, I shouldn’t retreat,” he said. “I told myself: who will do it if I don’t?” Continue reading →

May 17, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, Japan, Religion and ethics | Leave a comment

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Complacent About Safety of US Nuclear Reactors

Eric Leeds, director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, said, “Our inspectors found all reactors would be kept safe ..”

Florida nuclear reactors pass inspection in wake of Japan disaster By Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post , May 16, 2011,The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed inspections of the nation’s 104 nuclear reactors, including those in Florida, to examine the plants’ abilities to deal with power losses or other issues following extreme events, such as floods, fires or terrorist attacks. Continue reading →

May 17, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | 1 Comment

Poor safety record of Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

How safe is the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant? , Richard W. Jobe,  17 May 11, A Nuke hazard?Reading Brian Lawson’s excellent article in The Times on May 11, I asked: Could Brown’s Ferry Nuclear Plant have a meltdown like Fukushima in Japan? Judge for yourself with these facts: Continue reading →

May 17, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Dead radioactive nuclear reactors will NOT be transported through Great Lakes

the controversial shipment,..would have essentially seen 1,600 tonnes of radioactive waste transported across the lakes for the first time..…

Bruce Power scraps plans to ship generators through Great Lakes, Vancouver Sun,  By Mark Iype, Postmedia News May 16, 2011  Ontario utility company Bruce Power has withdrawn its request for approval from the U.S. to transport 16 decommissioned nuclear reactors across the Great Lakes for recycling, despite permission from Canadian regulators, according to a Michigan state lawmaker. Continue reading →

May 17, 2011 Posted by | Canada, environment | Leave a comment

Australian uranium company does some deceptive spinning about nuclear power

Any increase on safety or design regulations for reactors developed in response to Fukushima will of course increase the already enormous cost of new reactors, which typically require government subsidies or loan guarantees to fund the on-average nine year-long construction phase.

BHP and the new maths of nuclear reactors, by Bernard Keane,  Crikey,17 may 11, Yesterday Robert Gottliebsen of Business Spectator spruiked the glories of BHP’s Olympic Dam uranium mine, including BHP’s claim that within 20 years the number of nuclear reactors around the world would nearly double from 439 to 793. BHP got the 439 right. It’s 793 appears to be rather more mysterious. The number of operational reactors has actually fallen since 2002 Continue reading →

May 17, 2011 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Medical radiation has hidden dangers

Children, he says, face a lifetime of radiation procedures, and many studies suggest that the adverse effects of radiation are cumulative. So limiting radiation exposure, particularly if it’s not absolutely necessary, is a good idea.

AUDIO Reporting On Hidden Dangers Of Medical Radiation, NPR 17 May 11,  “…..On Monday’s Fresh Air, Bogdanich discusses  his ongoing Times seriesabout the medical and regulatory issues that have arisen as radiation therapies have become more ubiquitous in both dental and doctors’ offices.

“I think we made it clear [in the series] that these are wonderful devices [for treatment] that save countless lives, and people need to get it when they need them, but they need to ask questions,” he says. “People were not asking questions, and, frankly, doctors who were treating the patients were not giving the patients the information they needed.”…… Continue reading →

May 17, 2011 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Opposition to nuclear power growing, after Spanish earthquake

Spanish Quake Jolts European Nuclear Debate, WSJ.com 16 May 11, The earthquake’s most lasting impact, however, may be felt in Europe’s nuclear debate….Indeed it reached fever-pitch in the Basque Country in the 1980s, when the construction of a nuclear plant there led to the involvement of terrorist group ETA, which murdered several workers and managed to stop the plant from being used.

Things have quietened down a tad since then, but the debate continues. Polls show that a majority of Spaniards tend to be more or less opposed to nuclear power, a trend that was reinforced by Japan’s nuclear crisis in March and now by the Spanish earthquake…Spanish Quake Jolts European Nuclear Debate – The Source – WSJ

May 17, 2011 Posted by | general | 1 Comment

Push to shut down factory that makes nuclear weapons parts

KC anti-nuclear group wants bomb operation shut down, Missourine, by Jessica Machetta on May 16, 2011 A Kansas City anti-nuclear group wants a citywide vote on a planned factory that would produce nuclear bomb components. Honeywell is building the plant. The KC Peace Planters organization has presented a petition calling for a vote ordering Honeywell to drop the nuclear assembly project and turn the plant into a “green energy” facility.Some city officials already are saying the issue is likely to wind up in court. …
KC anti-nuclear group wants bomb operation shut down

May 17, 2011 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear crisis affects Asian shares

UPDATE: Asian Shares Mostly Lower; Tokyo Hit By Fresh Nuclear Woes – WSJ.com, 17 May, 11, “………In Tokyo, the market continued to struggle in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis. Data showing stronger-than-expected machinery orders for March failed to buoy sentiment given worries about the outlook following the devastating natural disasters in March.”The nuclear power plant issue seemed to have momentarily calmed down, but investors are once again concerned about the difficulties in achieving a safe shutdown,” said Mizuho Securities equity strategist Tsuyoshi Segawa.Utility plays fell on concerns the group will be saddled with more compensation payments in the wake of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s acknowledgement Sunday that a partial meltdown occurred at the No. 1 reactor at its Fukushima nuclear power plant sooner than previously suspected. Tepco fell 6.8%, while Chubu Electric Power dropped 2.3% and Tohoku Electric Power slid 3.5%……
Ongoing uncertainty on whether a Japanese government rescue plan for Tokyo Electric will force banks to grant some form of a debt waiver for the beleaguered utility continued to weigh on financial stocks. Sumitomo Mitsui FG lost 1.7% and Mizuho FG slipped 0.8%.

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index trimmed some of its morning losses, but remained weak after slumping to an eight-week low of 4641.4 on heightened risk-aversion…..

UPDATE: Asian Shares Mostly Lower; Tokyo Hit By Fresh Nuclear Woes – WSJ.com

May 17, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment