Solar panels plan for all new buildings in Japan
Japan ‘plans solar panels for all new buildings’, Google News, (AFP) – 23 May 11TOKYO — Japan is considering a plan that would make it compulsory for all new buildings and houses to come fitted with solar panels by 2030, a business daily said Sunday.The plan, expected to be unveiled at the upcoming G8 Summit in France, aims to show Japan’s resolve to encourage technological innovation and promote the wider use of renewable energy, the Nikkei daily said……
AFP: Japan ‘plans solar panels for all new buildings’
20,000 protest against nuclear power in Switzerland
Swiss protest nuclear power, Google News, (AFP) – 23 May 11, DOETTINGEN, Switzerland — About 20,000 people took part in an anti-nuclear demonstration in north Switzerland on Sunday ahead of a government decision on the future of atomic energy in the country.” At least 20,000″ protesters joined the march near the town of Doettingen and the Beznau nuclear power plant, Switzerland’s oldest, police and organisers said. Continue reading
Nuclear lobby’s comic book spin to Jaitapur villagers
AREVA, Cameco, and other nuclear companies have become skillful at targeting indigenous peoples with comic strip books and promotions. They’ve also used these tactics in schools – getting to unsophisticated people with cheerful, simplistic propaganda.
the comic narrates the story of Jagdishpur, a village that had been underdeveloped due to ignorance and superstition, but undergoes a transformation when a nuclear power plant is built there.
Comic relief for Jaitapur N-plant fears Hindustan Times, Mumbai, May 23, 2011 The Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) has turned to comic strips to dispel safety fears of villagers about atomic energy. The move by the Government-run nuclear plant operator is an attempt to address opposition by locals and activists to the planned nuclear power project in Jaitapur, Maharashtra and questions that may come up at sites of other proposed projects. The comic dwells on the benefits of atomic power Continue reading
Decentralised solar energy a boon for local companies
“We’re recommending it to everyone,” ….. “We’ve certainly got our money’s worth.”
Many local companies laud effects of renewable energy efforts By Marc Munroe DionHerald News Staff Reporter 22 May 11, FALL RIVER — It’s been 15 months since linen manufacturer Matouk, 925 Airport Road, installed about 200 solar panels atop its building, which houses the company’s offices, manufacturing space and factory store.
Matouk Controller Peter Brust said it’s been a good deal for the company. Continue reading
Japan’s Prime Minister up against nuclear lobby as he promises reforms
Japan tsunami: Survivors make emotional visit to Fukushima homes hit by nuclear meltdown | Mail Online 23 May 11, “……….Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Japan must rethink how nuclear power is regulated and explore other energy sources. Kan, battling low support rates, a feisty opposition and rebels in his own party, has pledged a blank-slate review of Japan’s current energy policy that aims to boost nuclear power to more than 50 percent of electricity supply by 2030 from about 30 percent now.
But whether he can break the grip of the politically powerful utilities companies remains in doubt. He also dodged questions about how big a role atomic energy would play in the country’s future….Japan tsunami: Survivors make emotional visit to Fukushima homes hit by nuclear meltdown | Mail Online
Ionising radiation the most proven environmental cause of cancer
the health impact of exposure is perhaps “the best understood, and certainly the most highly quantified dose-response relationship for any common environmental human carcinogen,” a report of the U.S. National Cancer Institute concluded…….the most stressful aspect of the Chernobyl results, in the final analysis, is that the accident surely caused thousands of deaths that cannot actually be identified. The Chernobyl fatalities, in that sense, are like the deaths of unknown soldiers……
Radiation Risks – IEEE Spectrum, Bill Sweet, May 22, 2011, “………..the accident showed that large radiation releases can occur in a light water reactor accident, not just in a defectively designed and operated Soviet-era reactor. So it’s important to be clear about Chernobyl’s long-term health impact. Continue reading
Ionising radiation dangerous, electromagnetic radiation might be
Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs
This website is concerned with matters nuclear. In particular, ionising radiation is proven to be damaging to health, with no safe level.
We’ve been at pains to distinguish ionising radiation from other forms, such as electromagnetic radiation, whose health effects are not really known.
At the same time, we acknowledge that it’s possible that electromagnetic radiation is harmful to health. And so, we welcome the move to investigate this – Christina Macpherson
the renewed concern though is not just about mobile phones. WiFi is now in the frame. The panic button was pressed by an influential European committee that has compared the current situation of mobiles and WiFi to previous experiences of tobacco and asbestos.
Putting You on Hold. Mobile Phone and WiFi Radiation Scare Ramped up in Europe – Haydn Shaughnessy – Re:thinking Innovation – Forbes, 14 May 11, The argument that mobile phones are bad for health was maybe due a reprise, so expect at least a round of calls for more research on their impact in the coming days, and possibly for outright bans in some circumstances (like schools). Continue reading
Broadening spying on Julian Assange – Australian govt introduces new law
Last week the government introduced legislation to define ASIO’s role more broadly to include collection of intelligence ”about the capabilities, intentions or activities of people or organisations outside Australia.”..
ASIO eye on WikiLeaks,The Age 23 May 11, “………declassified official briefings do not support Ms Gillard’s public assertion that Assange broke Australian law by publishing leaked US government secrets. Continue reading
Debate over China’s nuclear policy
ANALYSIS: Questions remain on China’s nuclear stance, Taipei Times, By J. Michael Cole / Staff Reporter, 23 May 11, A recent report on China’s nuclear weapons capabilities has re-ignited debate on the country’s nuclear policy and the overall lack of transparency surrounding the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Continue reading
Hamaoka nuclear plant – seawater in reactor core, radiation in farmland
Seawater enters reactor core at nuclear plant, Oman Observer, Sat, 21 May 2011 TOKYO — Some five tons of seawater is estimated to have entered a reactor core at the Hamaoka nuclear power station in central Japan, the operator said on Thursday. That followed the discovery of an estimated 400 tons of seawater that has inundated the main steam condenser at reactor 5 of the Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka prefecture, south-west of Tokyo.
Chubu Electric Power Co, which runs the plant, found the 400 tons of seawater while shutting down the reactor as requested by the government. Chubu Electric officials said their assessment of the purity of water inside the pressure vessel showed some 5 tons of seawater came from the condenser. The utility will not decommission the reactor. Instead, it will dilute and desalinate the seawater to prevent any corrosion inside the reactor as salt causes corrosion…….
The plant is run by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO). On Saturday, after Chubu Electric started to put the Hamaoka plant in a stable state known as cold shutdown, it discovered seawater in the reactor core, Jiji said. Meanwhile, local officials in the prefecture of Miyagi said on Thursday they had found high levels of radioactive substances in a sample of pasture grass.
Local government officials detected 1,530 becquerels of radioactive caesium per kilogram in a sample collected a week ago from a farm run by the town of Marumori, some 60 kilometres north of the Fukushima plant. — DPA… Seawater enters reactor core at nuclear plant | Oman Observer
A legal win for Namibia’s groundwater against uranium mining
issue is the question of who has the legal standing to go to court to ask for protection for the environment, which is unable to speak for itself…plan to extract large quantities of water from an underground water source in such a dry, environmentally sensitive and hitherto unspoilt area.
Uranium company loses desert water plan appeal, the Namibian, 20 May 11, By: WERNER MENGES A LEGAL challenge to a Canadian-owned mining company’s plan to use underground water to set up a uranium mine in the Namib Desert south-west of Usakos is heading back to the High Court after an appeal judgement that was given in the Supreme Court yesterday.
An issue that has never before had to be decided by a Namibian court is expected to be at the core Continue reading
UK government’s hidden subsidies to nuclear industry
Government’s ‘hidden’ nuclear subsidies blasted, North West Evening Mail, 20 May 
2011 
MPs have accused the government of planning to subsidise nuclear power despite pledging no public financial support for the industry.The coalition government says it is committed to new nuclear build but has insisted it would not be taxpayer funded.But a report by the Commons Energy and Climate Change committee said hidden subsidies for nuclear will be awarded through government-supported long-term contracts to supply energy, and a minimum price for carbon emissions.It condemned the attempts to hide the subsidies as “deeply irresponsible” and said it put the government’s green credentials in jeopardy….
it would be deeply irresponsible to skew the whole process of electricity market reform simply to save face.”
Nuclear companies could also receive government assurances that the taxpayer could meet the cost of any increases to the estimated bill for storing radioactive waste from new reactors.
Mr Yeo said: “The government must be upfront about the support it is giving to nuclear and not hide subsidies.”….
Agonising decisions over animals left in Fukushima prefecture
As the no-go zone spreads, ever more farmers are being forced to make agonising decisions over whether to move their livestock to safe areas and incur huge costs, slaughter their animals or — perhaps the most unacceptable option — leave them to their fate.
Agony for Japan livestock farmers in nuclear crisis, By Shingo Ito (AFP) – GoogleNews, 20 May 11, FUKUSHIMA CITY, Japan — As more people are forced to leave their homes around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, anger is growing in a farming community forced to make the agonising decision whether to slaughter livestock or face ruin. Continue reading
Tribunal raps Indian govt over Jaitapur health and safety issues
Jaitapur public tribunal gives govt a rap on the knuckles, May 20, 2011, By Alok Deshpande Mumbai : DNA As around 20 fisherfolk, men and women from Sakhri Nate village, situated around the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) site appeared before a People’s Tribunal for the second day to blow the lid off police atrocities, the government’s nuclear agencies were for the first time ever, forced to submit their depositions to the panel of two retired high court judges. Justice AP Shah, however, reacted sharply, calling it a “half-hearted attempt” from the government to answer people’s grievances over the JNPP.
“The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has submitted its deposition to the tribunal, which has no answer to the questions raised by the people. Even Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has sent large number of documents, but strangely no-one is appearing, in person, before the people’s court and is not ready to face cross-examination,” said Shah.
He added that the documents are related to radiation, health and safety and seemed to be regular brochures. “I have asked the experts to study them and tell us what was not mentioned in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report,” said Shah. The judges have however, noted that this is the first time that a full-fledged discussion over nuclear energy is taking place in a free environment, which is a good sign…..Jaitapur public tribunal gives govt a rap on the knuckles – Mumbai – DNA
US nuclear reactors same design as Fukushima’s- are they safe?
US reactors of the same design have generally been found to have less, not more, emergency battery power to cool reactors during power outages. Most such reactors also have much larger loads of spent fuel in their cooling pools than did their counterparts at Fukushima.
Nuclear power safety: Latest on Japan crisis fuels new concern in US Nuclear Regulatory Commission still insists that US nuclear plants with same design as Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi facility are safe. But watchdog groups cite failed venting system, which led to hydrogen explosions. CSMonitor.com, By Mark Clayton, Staff writer / May 20, 2011 Continue reading
1 This Month
10 June – Assessing Canada’s Investments in Small Modular Nuclear Reactors – https://zoom.us/meeting/register/IiqHA5feRhaEBycOLNTJlA#/registration
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
-
Archives
- June 2026 (89)
- May 2026 (306)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (268)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (257)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 