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UK and France manage to water down European nuclear safety tests

The UK, with the backing of France and the Czech Republic, managed to have terror attacks excluded from a series of new nuclear safety tests

Europe divided over nuclear power after Fukushima disaster, The Guardian, 25 may 11, UK and France lobby to have safety checks watered down, while Switzerland moves to phase out its nuclear power plants Europe‘s nuclear power faultlines in the wake of the Fukushima disaster were exposed on Wednesday as Switzerland moved to phase out its nuclear power plants and the extent of British and French lobbying to water down nuclear safety checks was revealed. Continue reading →

May 26, 2011 Posted by | EUROPE, safety | Leave a comment

Tokyo Electric Power Company dishonestly meters out Fukushima news

Today in news reports we have another carefully metered dose of the truth seeping out from the corrupt, incompetent and totally dishonest Tokyo Electric Power Company, that apart from conceding that a meltdown occurred in the Number 1 reactor there ‘appeared to have been partial meltdowns in reactors Number 2 and Number 3′, and that the pressure vessels in one or more of the reactors ‘appear’ to have been damaged .

Some plain talking about nuclear lies, Crikey , May 24, 2011 –, by Ben Sandiland When the Tohoku earthquake struck Japan on March 11 it was covered here because the first indication of the massive consequences of the following tsunami was the inundation of Sendai Airport. Continue reading →

May 26, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Japanese buying Geiger counters, don’t trust govt information on radiation

Demand for personal Geiger counters soars in Japan, Reuters, By Chiaki Kawase, TOKYO  May 25, 2011  – With a nuclear plant just 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo still leaking radiation, demand for personal Geiger counters has skyrocketed in the Japanese capital and manufacturers are struggling to keep up with the demand…..With many people unsure of who to trust for their information, some buy Geiger counters to check for themselves……

plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) confirmed on Tuesday that the fuel rods at three reactors at the plant had melted down. Radioactive traces exceeding national safety standards have been found in various foods grown in areas around the plant as well as in tap water in places as far away as Tokyo, keeping residents on edge.

“I don’t think that the information you got are the real information in Japan. That’s the problem,” said restaurant chef Bruno Menard, noting that a French company he had checked with that morning for radiation levels had said levels were very high around Fukushima.

“Especially when it’s raining we have to be concerned.”….Demand for personal Geiger counters soars in Japan | Reuters

May 26, 2011 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Switzerland to phase out nuclear power

Switzerland Decides on Nuclear Phase-Out by James Kanter, 25 may  ,  NYTimes.com, BRUSSELS — The Swiss government decided Wednesday to abandon plans to build new nuclear reactors, while European Union regulators agreed on a framework for stress-testing theirs, as repercussions from the disaster in Japan continue to ripple across Europe. Continue reading →

May 26, 2011 Posted by | politics, Switzerland | Leave a comment

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission faces lawsuit from Vermont

Vermont, nuclear watchdog group file lawsuit against NRC,  SentinelSource.com, State, group file suit against NRC May 25, 2011, By Kyle Jarvis Vermont state officials are asking a federal court to have the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant’s recently renewed operating license temporarily revoked and reviewed by the court, according to court documents filed by state officials last week.

The state and the New England Coalition, a nuclear watchdog group, are suing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in federal court for what they say was a mishandling of the Vermont Yankee renewal process in March. n the lawsuit, Vermont Department of Public Service officials said the commission “acted arbitrarily, abused its discretion, and violated the clear mandate of the Clean Water Act.”State officials argue the commission should not have granted the 20-year license renewal without also requiring a new water quality certification, which they say the Clean Water Act mandates, according to court documents…….. Vermont, nuclear watchdog group file lawsuit against NRC – SentinelSource.com: Local News

May 26, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Indian scientists contradict nuclear lobby’s propaganda

Unlike the pro-nuclear propaganda that tries to project nuclear power as a scientifically-proven energy option that is both efficient and environment-friendly, there are scores of scientists who have been against nuclear energy but their voice got drowned in the clamor of powerful lobbyists,”

Scientists enroll students into anti-nuke lobby – The Times of India, 26 May,”……………….The scientists, gathered under the umbrella of Poromanu Shakti Birodhi Mancha or Anti-Nuclear Power Front, have already given a talk to students of La Martinere, Lakshmipat Singhania, Don Bosco, Mitra Institution and Loreto Day School. After the summer vacation, more talks are lined up in at least nine more schools in the city. Continue reading →

May 26, 2011 Posted by | India, spinbuster | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear weapons program secretly was helped by USA

US secretly helped French nuclear program: documents, Google News By Shaun Tandon (AFP) – 26 May 11, WASHINGTON — The United States secretly helped France develop advanced nuclear weapons in the 1970s as part of a bid by the Nixon administration to sow divisions in Europe, declassified US documents showed. Continue reading →

May 26, 2011 Posted by | history, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Beyond Nuclear grows: New England Coalition joins up

New England Coalition Joins With National Organizations in Urging In Depth N-Plant Review Following Japan Disaster, vtdigger.org, 25 May 11, On May 19th, NEC joined the Maryland-based national organization, Beyond Nuclear, and an unknown number of regional organizations, in an enforcement petition with the NRC that would have that agency undertake a precautionary shutdown of 24 US “boiling water” nuclear reactors, including in New England, Entergy Pilgrim and Entergy Vermont Yankee, until basic design flaws that became evident at Fukushima are fixed and the remedies independently verified as technically sound and workable. Continue reading →

May 26, 2011 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Wikileaks reveal global concerns about Pakistan’s nukes

VIDEO WikiLeaks: US raised concerns about safety of Pakistan’s nuclear assets, NDTV   May 26, 2011 New Delhi:  Defence Minister AK Antony voiced India’s apprehension on Wednesday about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and said it was a matter of global concern. “Naturally, it is a concern not only for us but for everybody,” Antony said in response to reporters’ questions on whether the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal was under threat in the wake of terror strikes such as the one at the Mehran naval air base in Karachi on Sunday night. (Watch – India’s new worry: Are Pak’s N-weapons safe?)

US cables, accessed exclusively by NDTV through WikiLeaks, show that this concern is indeed a global one and has been voiced by several countries since the present government took over in 2008. Several cables between US embassies and Washington during in a year-long period between mid 2008 and mid 2009, reveal that the US had raised concerns about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal with Pakistan and China and had sought to reassure a worried Russia……
WikiLeaks: US raised concerns about safety of Pakistan’s nuclear assets

May 26, 2011 Posted by | Pakistan, safety, Wikileaks | Leave a comment

IAEA concerned about nuclear developments in Iran and Syria

AUDIO Nuclear Watchdog Details Concerns In Iran, Syria : NPR, 26 May 11, The International Atomic Energy Agency has released troubling new reports on the nuclear activities of Iran and Syria.The Iran report indicates the production of enriched uranium there is increasing and raises more questions about Iran’s possible research into the military applications of nuclear technology. Continue reading →

May 26, 2011 Posted by | Iran, Syria, Uranium, weapons and war | Leave a comment

European Union’s new nuclear power safety tests won’t be independent

Switzerland Decides on Nuclear Phase-Out – NYTimes.com, 25 May,11“………national regulators from across the 27-nation European Union are planning new safety tests for the 143 operating nuclear reactors in their territories…..The E.U. energy commissioner, Günther Oettinger, said at a news conference in Brussels that the tests would be robust……

Greenpeace, an environmental group that opposes nuclear power, strongly disagreed.

The tests “won’t be independent, won’t cover plans for emergencies and won’t always tell us whether some of Europe’s most obvious terrorist targets are protected or not,” said Jan Haverkamp, a nuclear policy adviser at Greenpeace.

Britain, France and the Czech Republic were among countries that had fought hardest to water down the tests, Mr. Haverkamp said……Switzerland Decides on Nuclear Phase-Out – NYTimes.com

May 26, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Thousands of tons of radioactive water to be stored somehow at Fukushima

Meanwhile, over 80,000 tons of water remains in or around reactors 1 to 4. 
Facility for tainted water almost full,  New storage sites needed at Fukushima No. 1 Japan Times, May 24, 2011 Kyodo A nuclear waste disposal facility being used to store radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant will soon be full, Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials said Monday. The operator, known as Tepco, plans to suspend the extraction operation until mid-June once the facility becomes filled and until a new water treatment facility begins operating. Continue reading →

May 24, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Japanese parents angry over radiation levels for children

Japanese ire over radiation limit for kids. Herald Sun AAP , May 23, 2011  FURIOUS parents at the centre of Japan’s atomic crisis and hundreds of their supporters rallied in Tokyo today against revised nuclear safety standards in schools they say are putting children at risk.

Japanese children can now be exposed to 20 times the radiation that was permissible before the March 11 tsunami caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, sparking the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. Around 400 protesters, many from areas around the stricken plant, flocked to the education and science ministry to demand a rethink on the new limit, which allows exposure of up to 20 millisieverts a year.

A group of Fukushima residents submitted a letter for the education minister demanding the ministry do all it can to lower radiation levels at schools and offer financial support.

Protest organisers said the radiation limit for playgrounds was about six times as much as the 0.6 microsievert-per-hour legal maximum under which under-18s are allowed to work…….The nuclear crisis remains unresolved and tens of thousands of people are still unable to return to homes, farms and businesses in a 20-kilometre zone around the radiation-spewing plant.

More than 20 elementary and junior high schools within 30 kilometres have been forced to close since the accident, affecting some 5000 pupils, the Yomiuri daily newspaper reported today….http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/japanese-ire-over-radiation-limit-for-kids/story-e6frf7jx-1226061484710

May 24, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, health, Japan | Leave a comment

Germany to become front runner in renewable energy technologies

The expertise of carbuilders and machine-tool makers would drive the switch to renewables, Mr Röttgen said. Germany could become “a frontrunner” in the shift from fossil fuels – a move even the US and China saw as being one of the century’s key competitive challenges.

Röttgen sees rewards in non-nuclear policy, Ft,com By Gerrit Wiesmann and Quentin Peel in Berlin May 23 2011 Phasing out nuclear power in the next decade could boost competitiveness and “reap enormous pay-offs for the economy”, Germany’s environment minister has claimed in a powerful snub to critics… Continue reading →

May 24, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Pakistan and the nuclear terrorism risk

Pakistan is the nuclear Somalia...- By: Sumantra Maitra 05/23/11 The Examiner Pakistani Talibans last night attacked a heavily secured Air Force base in Karachi, Pakistan at approximately 2 AM. Around 15-20 heavily armed terrorists, with rocket propelled granades, shoulder fired missile launchers, and assault rifles, attacked the Air Force base PNS Mehran, which also houses the Pakistani Navy air group, right at the heart of the commercial capital of Pakistan raises question on the failing state.

The Pakistani Taliban spokesperson Ihsan Ullah claimed the attack to be a “revenge for the death of Osama Bin Laden and against the entire infidel foprces of the World.” Hw also warned saying that this attack proves that they are capable of attacking any place in the World, at anytime. …….The PNS Mehran base is within miles of the largest air force base of Pakistan, which is probably also a suspected place of storage of nuclear materials. The attack points out to the increasing radicalisation of the armed forces of Pakistan, as such an attack could not be planned and executed without some inside help from someone inside the Pakistani Navy.

Also it raises the unanswered question about the safety of the nuclear materials in the custody of Pakistan. If the Terrorists can get hold of any IRBM and nuclear materials, a few Indian and Israeli cities, and a few thousand NATO soldiers in Afghanistan might go up in smoke….  Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/opinion-zone/2011/05/pakistan-nuclear-somalia#ixzz1NHl9k74X


May 24, 2011 Posted by | Pakistan, safety | Leave a comment

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