2011 July 13 « nuclear-news

Powerful nuclear clique opposes Japan Prime Minister’s renewable energy push

Kan told reporters yesterday. “We should reduce nuclear dependency in a planned, step-by-step manner and eventually we can do without atomic energy.”

“Japan’s nuclear village is worried and they’re extremely well connected,” Kingston, head ofTemple University’s Asian Studies program at its Tokyo campus, said in a phone interview. “They’re out to get Kan and it’s not because he’s that incompetent. What worries them is that he’s been making provocative statements that trample on very powerful toes.”….“All these things hit at the heart of the nuclear village and they’re not going down without a fight,” said Kingston,

fight,” said Kingston,

Kan Takes on Japan’s ‘Nuclear Village’ in Renewable Energy Drive, Bloomberg, By Stuart Biggs and Kanoko Matsuyama – Jul 14, 2011 Toshinobu Hatsui’s protest against construction of a nuclear power plant split friends and families in his hometown. After the biggest atomic accident in 25 years, resentment has turned to gratitude. “Those of us who opposed the plant can finally be proud of what we did,” said Hatsui, a 62-year-old fisherman, Continue reading →

July 13, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Safecast – citizen scientists monitor Japan’s radiation levels

Safecast took its first reading on April 16. Today, it has about 50 regular volunteers who collect data from their homes or while driving, build devices or assist in other ways. Those using vehicles equipped with Geiger counters cover an area that Franken estimates to be about 620 miles long by 185 miles wide. To date, they’ve collected 251,000 data points from their drives and fixed reporting stations, and have received about 60,000 more from other sources, including people with their own Geiger counters.

Japan’s citizen scientists map radiation, DIY-style, World Blog, By Miranda Leitsinger, Senior Writer and Editor, msnbc.com 13 July 11, With the Japanese government only providing spotty information about the radiation leaking from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in the early days after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, a group of tech-minded citizen scientists set out to fill in the “black holes” in the knowledge base. Continue reading →

July 13, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Japan, technology | 2 Comments

Suspend Jaitapur nuclear plant, extend liability for reactor suppliers

Accusing the UPA government of not being transparent on the issue of nuclear power, Mr. Karat said it had “failed” to take people into confidence, especially after the nuclear crisis in Japan.

Mr. Raja demanded that the nuclear liability law be reformed to extend the liability to the supplier in case of design defect.

Left demands suspension of work at Jaitapur nuke project, MUMBAI, juillet 13, 201, THE HINDU, The Left parties on Wednesday demanded immediate suspension of work at the proposed 9900 mw Jaitapur nuclear power project and said it favoured an independent review of existing nuclear installations in the country. Continue reading →

July 13, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics | Leave a comment

Renewable energy supplied almost 20% of world’s electricity jn 2010

The sector also delivered close to 20 per cent of the world’s electricity production,…“More and more of the world’s people are gaining access to energy services through renewables, not only to meet their basic needs, but also to enable them to develop economically,”

UN-backed report shows strong performance by renewable energy sector, UN News Centre, 13 July 2011 – The renewable energy sector has continued to perform well despite the global economic slowdown, cuts in incentives, and low natural-gas prices, according to a United Nations-backed report unveiled today, which shows that the sector supplied an estimated 16 per cent of global energy last year. Continue reading →

July 13, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, renewable | Leave a comment

Wave and Tidal Power for UK Cost Competitive with Nuclear

Marine energy ‘could compete with nuclear on cost‘, Low Carbon Economy.com 13 juil. 2011 Marine energy could supply almost 20 percent of the UK’s energy needs and be cost competitive with onshore wind and nuclear sources. This is according to a new report from the Carbon Trust, which sets out a three-year research and development programme for the marine energy sector.

The document claims the best marine energy sites in the UK could produce energy at a comparable cost to that generated from onshore wind and nuclear sources, once cost reductions following the first gigawatt of installation come into force.

Wave energy could provide 50TWh of power and tidal power could provide 20.6TWh, equating to 13 percent and five percent of the UK’s energy needs ……http://www.lowcarboneconomy.com/profile/the_low_carbon_economy_ltd/_low_carbon_blog/marine_energy_’could_compete_with_nuclear_on_cost’/14825

July 13, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

Iran and IAEA talks might lead to better co-operation

Iranian, IAEA Experts to Find New Realms for Cooperation. FARS NewsAgency TEHRAN (FNA) 13 July 11, – Experts from Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are due to hold talks in a bid to explore ways of increasing cooperation between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters after meeting IAEA Chief Yukiya Amano in Vienna, Salehi described his talks with Amano as positive, and said, “It was decided that the two sides’ experts hold meetings and find a mechanism for further cooperation on Iran’s nuclear issue so that the existing misunderstandings will be removed properly.”

Stressing that Iran’s nuclear case should have been closed long time ago, he said and main points of difference between Iran and the IAEA have been resolved. ….http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=900421327
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July 13, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

USA’s Aerial Radiological Survey – testing radiation levels in the atmosphere

Now You Know: That Thing in the Sky is Testing for Radiation, Seattlest 13 July 11 If you’ve recently spied a startlingly low-flying beast in the sky, don’t worry–it’s not Google trying to get a more recent photo of your back yard, and it’s not a search party looking for bad guys in your neighborhood. It’s just trying to get a read on how much radiation you might exposed to.

Yesterday, the Washington State Department of Health launched the Aerial Radiological Survey for King and Piece Counties. The survey, which is being conducted by a helicopter that flies in a grid pattern at about 300 feet above the ground, will last until July 28. It is being funded by the Department of Homeland Security, and can “detect the presence of radioactive materials that emit gamma radiation such as cesium and radioactive iodine.” The goal of the project is to establish a radiation baseline–that is, how much radiation each area is exposed to right now, in a time of normal levels.

The project, says the DOH, has been in the works since 2009. But, we imagine, since the Fukushima nuclear disaster across the pond in Japan, the information being gathered is more critical than they could have predicted. Having a baseline for what is “normal” will be massively helpful in the future, when determining what is dangerous, and what is abnormal….http://seattlest.com/2011/07/12/now_you_know_that_thing_in_the_sky.php

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July 13, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, technology, USA | 1 Comment