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Tokyo residents fearful, as radiation ‘hot spots’ confirmed, far from Fukushima

Some city, ward, town and village governments in the Tokyo metropolitan area have started doing their own radiation checks. An increasing number of citizens also are apparently checking radiation levels themselves…..

Precise response needed to quell ‘hot spot’ concerns,The Yomiuri Shimbun,18 June 11 As the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant continues to unfold, high radiation readings have been confirmed in several isolated areas outside evacuation zones. Residents in these areas are feeling increasingly anxious about their radiation exposure.The government must quickly expand the scope of radiation measurements to grasp the actual condition on the ground and take steps to remedy the problem.”Hot spots” with high levels of radiation also were detected after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in the former Soviet Union. Some were several thousand kilometers from the Chernobyl plant. Continue reading →

June 20, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Audio and video accounts of flood threat to Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant

Listen to the original radio account on “Five O’Clock Shadow” on WBAI / Pacifica Radio Network with Robert Knight interviewing nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen. Watch the three youtube videos which use the Gundersen interview:
Video One, Video Two, Video Three. Watch a video taken June 16 of the road into the power plant with the reactor and generator building surrounded by floodwaters.

Missouri River floods endanger nuclear power plants – time for climate adaption | Indymedia Australia, 19 June 11“……The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant in the midwest state of Nebraska was protected by sandbag levies and is now surrounded by flood waters. Continue reading →

June 20, 2011 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Japan’s green tea industry hit with radiation crisis

VIDEO Crisis brewing as Japan’s tea farmers face radiation ban June 19, 2011CNN) — Japan’s green tea fields sway in the early summer winds, the picture of bucolic beauty. But beneath these peaceful rows of young green buds, ready for the second harvest of the year, a national crisis is brewing.Earlier this month, Japan’s government banned green tea from parts of three prefectures: Tochigi, Chiba and Kanagawa; and banned tea from all of a fourth prefecture, Ibaraki.The authorities had detected levels of radioactive cesium in tea leaves above the legal limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram.Now the discovery of radiation in fields further south in Shizuoka, Japan, some 400 kilometers away from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, threatens the most robust tea-producing region in Japan.The Shizuoka government says it asked five tea manufacturing plants in the Warashina district of Shizuoka to voluntarily stop shipping green tea leaves, after tests revealed dried tea contained 581 to 654 becquerels of cesium per kilogram…Crisis brewing as Japan’s tea farmers face radiation ban – CNN.com

June 20, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Decentralised solar energy racing ahead in Bangladesh

  One Million Households Powered by Solar Energy – in Bangladesh  ENN June 18, 2011 The number of households powered by solar energy in Bangladesh has passed the one million mark — the fastest expansion of solar power in the world, according to Bangladeshi officials. Aided by non-governmental organizations that provide low-cost loans to install solar panels, Bangladesh’s rural households — most of which are off the electricity grid — have driven a dizzying expansion of solar power in recent years. In 2002, only 7,000 households were using solar panels.

The country reached the 1 million-household milestone 18 months ahead of schedule, and by 2014 Bangladeshi officials are aiming to power 2.5 million homes with solar energy. “It’s the fastest expansion of solar energy anywhere in the world,” said Nazmul Haq, of Bangladesh’s Infrastructure Development Company.

An estimated 60 percent of Bangladesh’s 150 million people have no access to reliable electricity, and a World Bank report last month said that solar panels had “changed the face of the remote, rural areas of Bangladesh.” Bangladesh had gotten a World Bank loan in 2009 for solar energy in the country.  The results are impressive!  In 2002, just 2000 homes had solar systems, and now there are more than one million.  Bangladesh now aims to have 2.5 million on solar by 2014…..: One Million Households Powered by Solar Energy – in Bangladesh

June 20, 2011 Posted by | ASIA, decentralised | Leave a comment

AREVA trying to stop Aboriginal land becoming World Heritage listed

Areva formally requested Australia to withdraw its nomination for heritage listing from the agenda of the 35th World Heritage Committee meeting, which will be held in Paris this week…..

…Jeffrey Lee, the sole member of the Djok clan and senior custodian of the land that includes the 12.5 square kilometre Koongarra project area, has also travelled to Paris hoping to speak at the meeting. Mr Lee, 40, who would be one of Australia’s richest people if he allowed the mine to go ahead, told The Age he wanted to tell the story of his country, which he wanted to see protected forever in the park.

French uranium challenge to Kakadu heritage listing, Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin,The Age, June 20, 2011 A FRENCH government-owned company attempted to block countries discussing an Australian request to expand the World heritage-listed Kakadu National Park to include land that contains uranium worth billions of dollars. Continue reading →

June 20, 2011 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, indigenous issues | Leave a comment

South Korea urged to close Gori nuclear reactor,and to ‘leapfrog’ to safe renewable energy

Greenpeace and the Korean Federation of Environmental Movement called in a statement for the immediate closure of the Gori 1 reactor 325 kilometres (200 miles) southeast of Seoul…..South Korea had enough technological knowledge to leapfrog to clean renewable energy and provide a very safe future for the country…….

S.Korea’s oldest reactor must close: Greenpeace – Yahoo! News Jun 17,  ETSEOUL (AFP) – Greenpeace urged South Korea Friday to shut down its oldest nuclear reactor, expressing concern about its safety and drawing a parallel with a disaster-stricken reactor in Japan.The anti-nuclear environmental group is currently sailing around South Korea on its campaign ship, the Rainbow Warrior, visiting and showing solidarity for communities sited around nuclear plants. Continue reading →

June 20, 2011 Posted by | safety, South Korea | Leave a comment

Japan’s atomic bomb victims call for move away from nuclear energy

Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations to strengthen its opposition to nuclear energy, Hiroshima Peace Media Center, (June 14, 2011),by Kohei Okada,  At its annual meeting in Tokyo, held on June 8, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) determined its policy for this fiscal year, indicating that, among other actions, it will demand strongly that the Japanese government move away from the nation’s reliance on nuclear energy and call for the decommission of nuclear reactors that have been shut down. This intention goes beyond its previous policy of demanding “changes in Japan’s energy policy.”……..Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations to strengthen its opposition to nuclear energy – News – Hiroshima Peace Media Center

June 20, 2011 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

$1000 billion on nuclear weapons to be spent by Big Powers over a decade

Nuclear powers expected to spend $1,000bn FT.com, By James Blitz in London June 19 2011  The world’s nine nuclear-armed powers are set to spend a total of $1,000bn on the procurement and modernisation of atomic weapons programmes over the next decade, according to an anti-nuclear weapons group whose cause has won high-level US support.

Global Zero, which is campaigning for abolition of the world’s nuclear arsen­als by 2030, will host a London conference this week attended by senior Russian, Indian, US and Chinese figures, among others. It aims to highlight how the cost of nuclear weapons is becoming ever more unaffordable for states whose defence budgets are hard pressed by the financial crisis.

According to the organisation, the nine nuclear states – the US, Russia, China, the UK, France, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea – are set to spend $100bn between them on nuclear arms programmes this year.

The figure comprises the cost of researching, developing, procuring and testing nuclear weapons.Global Zero calculates that the states will spend the same amount in every year of this decade.

The organisation says spending on atomic weapons accounts for about 9 per cent of total defence spending in these countries – a proportion set to rise because budgets for conventional military hardware are being cut back in many countries….FT.com / World – Nuclear powers expected to spend $1,000bn

June 20, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

As nuclear power unpopular, France gives Anne Lauvergneon the chop

French Government Fires Anne Lauvergeon, Forbes, Maha Atal, Jun. 17 2011 –   The Wall Street Journal reports that Anne Lauvergeon, the longtime CEO of France’s state-owned nuclear firm Areva SA, has been asked to step down when her term expires in June. There’s been no comment from Lauvergeon, but the WSJ has a few hypotheses as to what happened:1. Nuclear energy is unpopular, to put it mildly, following the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi. France is unique in its dependence on nuclear power (80% of French power generation), and can’t afford to pull back on the technology. Indeed, Lauvergeon has been traveling the world defending the technology in the wake of the disaster. Replacing her pays lip service to public outrage at nuclear execs without making any changes to France’s overall nuclear position. …..
French Government Fires Anne Lauvergeon – Maha Atal – Foreign Exchange – Forbes

June 20, 2011 Posted by | France | Leave a comment

UN assisting renewable energy development in Nigeria

UN, Bank Of Industry to invest in renewable energy in Nigeria, NEXT, By Bassey Udo June 20, 2011  The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Bank Of Industry (BOI) are to invest about $4.48 million in renewable energy projects in the next three years to boost the productive capacities of micro- small- and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) in the country’s rural and urban areas.Renewable energy projects in volve the utilisation of wind, biomass, small hydro, and solar energy options to generate electricity. The Access to Renewable Energy (AtRE) project package unveiled yesterday in Abuja at the formal launch of the partnership, is expected to facilitate access to affordable and reliable energy supply alternatives independent of the current supply from the national grid, which has been a source of national concern in recent times.  …..UN, Bank Of Industry to invest in renewable energy in Nigeria

June 20, 2011 Posted by | Nigeria, renewable | Leave a comment

Continued investigation of radiation exposure at Perry Nuclear Plant

Perry plant radiation-exposure remains under investigation Beaver County Times By Patrick O’Shea,18 June 11 After nearly two months, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission special investigation into a radiation-exposure incident at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant near Cleveland remains ongoing, and it is unclear when the review will conclude.The Painesville, Ohio, plant, which is operated by FirstEnergy Corp., the same operator as the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station, reported an incident on April 22 that involved contractors that a company official confirmed also work at the Shippingport facility.
According to a NRC release issued four days after the incident, five workers were exposed to higher levels of radiation than normal when a contractor incorrectly installed cables used to pull monitoring equipment from the reactor during a refueling, and the workers were not shielded as well as they should have been…….Perry plant radiation-exposure remains under investigation – Timesonline.com: :

June 20, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | 1 Comment