No end in sight to the cleanup and the costs of Fukushima radiation
“Fukushima is mountainous and such large-scale and highly concentrated contamination has not taken place on earth before in an area like this. How things will go is unpredictable.”
Japan faces costly, unprecedented radiation cleanup, By Yoko Kubota, TOKYO | Thu Aug 25, 2011 (Reuters) – Nearly six months after the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan faces the task of cleaning up a sprawling area of radioactivity that could cost tens of billions of dollars, and thousands may not be able to return home for years, if ever. Continue reading
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission resisting new safety standards
It’s been very important to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow plants to be relicensed and not to put requirements in or to enforce existing requirements that would shut down nuclear plants for expensive upgrades or repairs.”
NRC resistant to improving nuclear plant safety standards,Press TV, 25 Aug 11, The director of Los Alamos Study Group says getting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to pass new safety standards is like ‘walking through molasses’. Continue reading
Warning on medical radiation
Joint Commission issues alert on medical radiation, August 25, 2011,by Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor The Joint Commission issued a sentinel event alert Wednesday on diagnostic radiation in medical imaging, urging doctors to pay greater attention to the long-term hazards of repeated X-ray exposures. Continue reading
Hospital accreditors in USA call for limiting radiation technology
Hospitals urged to reduce radiation exposure, ABC Local August 25, 2011 (WLS) –– In a new alert, an accrediting group is urging hospitals to find new ways to reduce patient’s exposure to repeated radiation doses.
The Joint Commission wants hospitals to pay more attention to risks of long term damage, including cancer, from too many imaging tests that use radiation, such as CT scans.
The commission’s president says diagnostic tests are often necessary but must be used with caution.One of the recommendations is using imaging other than CT scans such as ultrasound or MRIs when possible.–http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/health&id=8327042
U.S. Republicans gunning for NRC chief Gregory Jaczko,
Republicans seek new probe of NRC chairman Jaczko, Forbes, By MATTHEW DALY , 08.25.11 WASHINGTON –– Four Republican senators are asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspector general to investigate the agency’s chairman for what they say is a continued pattern of withholding information from colleagues and acting unilaterally on the commission’s behalf.
Lawmakers from both parties have criticized NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko, asserting that he has an overly secretive and controlling style. The GOP lawmakers say the latest example stems from Jaczko’s declaration in March that Japan’s nuclear crisis constituted an emergency in the United States.
GOP Sens. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and David Vitter of Louisiana said it is not clear that Jaczko had authority to make such a declaration, which grants him additional powers, since the crisis occurred on foreign soil. ….
An agency spokesman said Thursday that Jaczko acted within his authority, citing congressional testimony by the commission’s top lawyer. Steve Burns, the NRC’s general counsel, told a Senate committee Aug. 2 that Jaczko’s actions “were consistent with the powers that he has under the statute.”
While there was no specific event at a U.S. nuclear plant, the Japanese crisis presented an overall “threat environment” to U.S. sites, Burns told the Senate Environment Committee.
Jaczko, testifying at the same hearing, said he had informally rescinded the order, adding that no formal report was necessary because he had kept commissioners informed of his actions all along…http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/08/25/general-us-nuclear-chief-japan_8643195.html
Un Secretary General calls for renewable energy, energy efficiency
U.N. Secretary-General: Renewables Can End Energy Poverty Renewable Energy World, New Hampshire, USA , — United Nation’s Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made renewable energy and its ability to lift the poorest nations to new levels of prosperity a central theme during his visit to Colorado on Wednesday. By Steve Leone, August 25, 2011
With the Rockies as his backdrop, Ban toured the National Renewable Energy Laborary in Golden, where he inspected the flexible thin-film modules produced by Colorado-based Ascent Solar. The facility, he said, represents innovative approaches that for relatively little cost can connect remote areas to the global network of information and ideas.
If energy is the lifeblood of the world economy, Ban argues that renewable energy represents an infusion of humanity. Continue reading
China stregthening nuclear missiles, in distrust of India
China has strengthened nuclear missiles as deterrent against India: U.S. THE HINDU, NARAYAN LAKSHMAN, 25 AUG 11, China has substituted liquid-fuelled, nuclear-capable missiles with “more advanced and survivable solid-fuelled” rocket systems, and this has been explicitly aimed at “[strengthening] its deterrent posture relative to India,” according to an annual report on the developments within the Chinese military, authored by the United States Pentagon…..
Despite burgeoning defence rapprochement manifested in the Sino-Indian Annual Defence Dialogue established in 2007, India had pulled out of high-level military exchanges following China’s denial of a visa to a senior Indian general in 2010, the Pentagon report said.
Although Premier Wen Jiabao attempted to mend fences during his December 2010 visit to New Delhi “he did not address serious irritants… [and] a high degree of mistrust continues to strain the bilateral relationship,” the report added…..http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2397247.ece
U.S. doctors call for stronger safety measures in nuclear reactors
Physicians for Social Responsibility calls for improved safety at nuclear reactor sites. E News, 25 Aug 11The quake was felt from South Carolina to Toronto, with an epicenter in Mineral, Virginia, just a few miles from the North Anna nuclear station. The reactor lost offsite power and had to rely on diesel generators for cooling until late Tuesday night. About a dozen other reactors experienced ‘unusual events’ as a result of the quake.
“This event highlights how absolutely essential backup safety systems are for nuclear reactors. In this instance, only three of the four backup generators functioned as they should. We are lucky,” said Peter D. Wilk, MD executive director of PSR “We call on the NRC to uphold their duties and begin reviewing and implementing the Fukushima Task Force recommendations promptly. Anything less can only be perceived as willful blindness.” Continue reading
USA planning to send radioactive wastes back to uranium selling countries
Official: U.S. in Early Talks About Int’l Nuclear Leasing Arrangements, NYT. By HANNAH NORTHEY, August 23, 2011 Department of Energy officials have spent weeks trying to knock down reports that they have been interested in building a nuclear waste repository in Mongolia.
Now, the Obama administration is going a step further, disclosing that what DOE hopes to do is “lease” uranium from other countries, then return the spent fuel to the originating country.
A senior Obama administration official told Greenwire earlier this month that the government is in preliminary talks with several countries, including Mongolia, Japan and the United Arab Emirates, about setting up commercial nuclear fuel leasing arrangements.
In one example of how a fuel leasing arrangement could work, countries with uranium reserves could mine, enrich and fabricate the material and lease it to reactor companies abroad. Spent nuclear fuel would then be sent back to the originating country, the official said.
Discussions have not touched upon what those countries would do with the waste, the official said, but the United States hopes to prevent proliferation by providing alternatives to domestic enrichment and reprocessing capabilities…..
Legitimate fears about the safety of USA nuclear plants
Why Recent Earthquakes Should Make You Worry About Nuclear Power, By Kirsten Korosec | August 24, 2011, BNet A 5.8 magnitude earthquake — the largest to hit the East Coast in nearly seven decades — caused the shutdown of two nuclear reactors located less than 15 miles from the epicenter of the temblor. The back-up diesel generator system worked as designed (well, except for the one with the coolant leak), and by late Tuesday night operator Dominion Resources had restored offsite power.
Yet instead of putting folks at ease, the incident actually raises legitimate fears about the safety of U.S. nuclear power plants.
Consider, for starters, the fact that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has taken more than six years to develop new safety standards to address higher-than-expected seismic risks. It turns out that seismic risks to nuclear plants in the eastern United States were greater than the NRC had previously realized, iWatch.org reported.
North Anna, a twin-reactor nuclear facility about 85 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., was one of four plants with a seismic hazard higher than previously thought. (It’s also the plant with the coolant leak that shut down one of its backup diesels.)……http://www.bnet.com/blog/clean-energy/why-recent-earthquakes-should-make-you-worry-about-nuclear-power/6199
Risk of radioactive “dirty bomb” in Libya
Former UN nuclear expert warns of ‘dirty bomb’ Research centre has large quantities of radioisotopes and radioactive waste even after programme was abandoned, Gulf News, Reuters, August 25, 2011,Vienna: A research centre near Tripoli has stocks of nuclear material that could be used to make a “dirty bomb”, a former senior UN inspector said yesterday, warning of possible looting during turmoil in Libya.
Seeking to mend ties with the West, Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi agreed in 2003 to abandon efforts to acquire nuclear, chemical and biological weapons — a move that brought him in from the cold and helped end decades of Libyan isolation.
A six-month popular insurgency has now forced Gaddafi to abandon his stronghold in the Libyan capital but continued gunfire suggests the resistance fighters have not completely triumphed yet.
Olli Heinonen, head of UN nuclear safeguards inspections worldwide until last year, pointed to substantial looting that took place at Iraq’s Tuwaitha atomic research facility near Baghdad after Saddam Hussain was toppled in 2003.
In Iraq, “most likely due to pure luck, the story did not end in a radiological disaster,” Heinonen said. In Libya, “nuclear security concerns still linger,” the former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in an online commentary.http://gulfnews.com/news/region/libya/former-un-nuclear-expert-warns-of-dirty-bomb-1.856887
China finding excessive radiation levels in seafoods east of Fukushima
Excessive Radiation Found in Sea Organisms Near Japan’s Nuke Plant 2011-08-24 Xinhua Web Editor: Guo Biological samples taken from waters in the Western Pacific region east of Fukushima, Japan show excessive radiation levels, said a statement from China’s State Oceanic Administration on Wednesday.The samples were also found to contain argentum-110m and cesium-134, which are normally difficult to detect in biological samples from China’s coastal waters, the statement said. Continue reading
Earthquakes and Environmental Modification Techniques
On Tuesday, at approximately 2:05 pm ET, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake has hit Washington D.C. and felt in New York, North Carolina, Connecticut, Delaware, Ohio and there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries according to Reuters, KSFR Santa Fe Public Radio. Tuesday’s mid-day quake, later downgraded to 5.9, has prompted further public discussion about environmental modification techniques (ENMOD), weapons of mass destruction with capacity to trigger or cause earthquakes.
Continue reading on Examiner.com D.C. area hit with 5.9 quake: Natural or manmade? – National Human Rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/d-c-area-hit-with-5-9-quake-natural-or-manmade?CID=examiner_alerts_article#ixzz1W5dbkXHo
Targeted killing of investigative journalists in Libya
Order: Kill non-mainstream reporters in Libya, What U.S. is hiding, Deborah Dupre, Human Rights Examiner, August 22, 2011, Targeted Killings of non-mainstream reporters in Libya ordered: Attempts to bury truth
The Examiner learned in communications from human rights defenders and independent journalists throughout Monday that they were shaken with news of 1300 Libyans killed and 5000 wounded Saturday, plus, the U.S. allegedly ordered Targeted Killings of Voltaire Network reporters, Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya and Thierry Meyssan, non-mainstream reporters in Libya covering the NATO war, while other independent reporters there are being fired upon and one, Mohammed Nabbous was killed Saturday according to ABC News. In an interview with journalist Don DeBar on KPFA radio, he reported most mainstream “news” about Libya has been untrue, as alternative news sites heavily report but are increasingly persecuted according to their recent reports.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Order: Kill non-mainstream reporters in Libya, What U.S. is hiding – National Human Rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/kill-non-mainstream-reporters-libya-ordered-trapped-hiding-shot?CID=examiner_alerts_article#ixzz1W5cmLRq
Radiation pills for USA States – good idea or not?
NRC officials say they do not favor expanded distribution because there’s a misconception about potassium iodide’s powers and a fear people might delay in heeding evacuation orders, if they have pills. “It doesn’t protect against damage to organs other than the thyroid,” said Patricia Milligan, a certified health physicist in the NRC’s division of preparedness and response. “It’s not an anti-radiation pill, as some people seem to think”
States Urged to Offer Radiation Pills, WSJ, By REBECCA SMITH —Yuka Hayashi contributed to this article. 24 Aug 11, It has been nearly a decade since Congress passed a law promoting distribution of pills to people living near nuclear plants that would minimize one potentially lethal effect of accidental radiation exposure. But the law still hasn’t been implemented. 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”
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