Japan will import 1000 tons of nuclear waste every year for 7 years
The Fukushima disaster and the voyage of the 5,100-ton Pacific Grebe highlights the dilemma facing Japan and the world’s nuclear industry:Radioactive waste is deadly and needs to be locked away for thousands of years, so how can any storage site be guaranteed safe and permanent?
“Japan has 1,000 tons of spent fuel coming out of reactors every year, and there are 7 more years before the spent fuel pools are filled,”
Japan Prepares for Its First Import of Radioactive Waste Since Earthquake, Bloomberg, By Yuriy Humber, Chisaki Watanabe and Stuart Biggs – Aug 14, 2011 Japan is preparing to receive its first import of highly radioactive waste since March, when an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The vessel Pacific Grebe set sail Aug. 3 to Japan from Britain with more than 30 metric tons of radioactive waste on board. The cargo, Japanese spent fuel reprocessed in the U.K., is returning sealed in 76 stainless steel canisters packed into 130-ton containers. It will arrive early next month at the Mutsu-Ogawara port in northern Honshu for delivery to Japan Nuclear Fuel’s nearby Rokkasho storage site. Continue reading
Confusion: radioactivity in town of Iitate and other “hot spots” in Japan
Murky Science Clouded Japan Nuclear Response,WSJ By YUKA HAYASHI, 15 Aug 11, “………Confusion over what to do about radioactive contamination is playing out in various forms all over Japan. Officials are struggling to figure out where it is safe to live, what is safe to eat and how farmers decontaminate their fields. At present, 116,000 people remain unable to return to their homes due to the radiation threat. Even as the government continues to ask more people to evacuate, it is mulling allowing others to return to towns where contamination is relatively light…..
America’s costly problem of nuclear wastes
AUDIO http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904292504576484133479927502.html Nuclear Waste Piles Up—in Budget Deficit. WSJ, By MARK MAREMONT, 14 Aug 11
Imagine a football field packed 20 feet high with highly radioactive nuclear waste. That’s about the volume of the 65,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel stranded at dozens of nuclear sites across the U.S.
It isn’t just a potential public health hazard, as Japan’s recent nuclear disaster showed, but a growing burden on the federal government’s groaning finances. Continue reading
A Christian argument for action on Climate Change
How do climate sceptics respond to the cloud of witnesses for global warming? By denying the full body of evidence. ……There are similar false arguments against clean energy. ……
The crux of climate change for Christians is the poorest, most vulnerable countries are those hardest hit by global warming.
The poor are least able to adapt to the impact of climate change and ironically, have contributed least to it. The carbon footprint of the poorest 1 billion people on the planet is estimated to be around 3% of the world’s total footprint. This is the social injustice of climate change: poor, developing countries will suffer because of the fossil fuels emitted by developed nations..
Eternity 16 Aug 11, John Cook a leading campaigner on climate change and, yes, a Christian too, puts the case for taking action.“…….Just as an Old Testament judge required multiple witnesses, scientists look for multiple sources of evidence. Our understanding is considered robust when scientists have found independent measurements all pointing to a single, consistent conclusion.
On the question of global warming, natural witnesses are found in our climate. Warming is directly measured by thermometers scattered across the globe, which find that the two hottest years on record were 2005 and 2010.
In addition, we have many natural thermometers painting a similar picture. Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are dissipating at an accelerating rate, shedding hundreds of billions of tonnes of ice every year. Scientists are observing tens of thousands of species shift towards cooler regions. Arctic sea ice is melting faster than even the worst- case predictions. Even tree-lines are shifting in response to warming temperatures.
Nuclear engineering expert advises against Yucca Mt for nuclear waste
Expert: Yucca not best place for storing nuclear waste, BY KEITH ROGERS, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, Aug. 12, 2011 There are better places than Yucca Mountain to bury nuclear waste…..That’s what one expert on Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future believes.
The expert, Per Peterson, a University of California, Berkeley, nuclear engineering professor, said the choices range from stowing it in salt formations that stretch from Texas to Louisiana and that exist in New Mexico, or putting it down deep boreholes below the water table.
In either case, drinking water supplies would be spared of contamination because the water is either too saline already or there is no evident pathway to it, he said.
And, he said, the search should start for a new course on dealing with tens of thousands of tons of highly radioactive waste stored in pools and above ground at reactor sites, once destined for a maze of tunnels in Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas…..http://www.lvrj.com/news/expert-yucca-not-best-place-for-storing-nuclear-waste-127623883.html?ref=883
Legal action planned against uranium mining in Tanzania
| LHRC’s warning over uranium |
| The Citizen, , 15 August 2011 23:13 |
|
By Bernard Lugongo, The Citizen Reporter, Dar es Salaam. The Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) is planning to take the government to court should it go ahead with uranium mining projects in Bahi and Manyoni districts in Dodoma and regions respectively.
The LHRC cautioned yesterday that it was against the projects because they would lead to serious health and environmental impacts on the people living in the area……. |
LHRC also asked the government to learn from other nations, such as Niger, that have already experienced negative effects of uranium mining…..thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/13781-lhrcs-warning-over-uranium.html
IAEA wants to strengthen current weak international nuclear safety rules
Currently there are no mandatory, international nuclear safety regulations, only IAEA recommendations which national regulators are in charge of enforcing. The U.N. agency conducts review missions, but only at a member state’s invitation
U.N. atom body wants wider nuclear safety checks, Reuters, By Fredrik Dahl,Aug 15, 2011
* Fukushima disaster prompted global nuclear rethink
* IAEA seeks strengthened action to prevent any repeat
* Proposes expansion of international safety checks Continue reading
What if the West has misjudged Ahmadinejad about nuclear weapons?
Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has certainly come out with some powerful statements against Israel, and he has sounded very threatening.
Yet Ahmadinejad also comes out with some powerful statements against nuclear weapons., and arguing that Iran is not developing them and would never use them, especially as a “first strike”.
We need to remember that Ahmadinejad is a popular leader, trying to function in an Islamic State, – where supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and the Mullahs wield extraordinary power and influence. Ahmadinejad has to “keep them on side” – has to come out with fiery nationalistic statements. But perhaps he really does believe that nuclear weapons are dangerous, immoral, and unnecessary. Perhaps the world could do worse than Ahmadinejad for an Iranian leader. – Christina Macpherson
Court rules compensation for soldier exposed to depleted uranium
DEPLETED URANIUM CONTINUES TO CLAIM VICTIMS, 14 AUGUST 2011 VOICE OF RUSIA Kosovo, (Pal Telegraph) – A court in Cagliari in Italy has ruled that the Ministry of Defence must pay a half million euros in compensation to the family of a soldier who died from exposure to depleted uranium in NATO bombs that were dropped on Kosovo.
Depleted uranium is used in rockets and bombs for increasing their piercing capacity. It is slightly radioactive and highly toxic. The first Italian death from exposure to it was reported in 2001.
NATO widely used DU munitions during its 1990s campaigns in Kosovo and Bosnia.http://www.paltelegraph.com/world/world-news/9844-depleted-uranium-continues-to-claim-victims.html
Just the bare $115 billion to clean up USA’s Hanford nuclear waste
$115 billion needed to finish Hanford cleanup The News Tribune, BY ANNETTE CARY, TRI-CITY HERALD, 13 Aug 11, The Department of Energy has taken a look at all the environmental cleanup yet to be completed at the Hanford nuclear reservation and come up with a big price tag: $115 billion.
Nuclear weapons an obsolete defense strategy, says Ahmadinejad
 Ahmadinejad says nuclear weapons a thing of the past, Tehran Times, 15 Aug 11, TEHRAN – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the 21st century is about knowledge, while nukes are the means of the past and are not going to be a determining force in the world in future.Ahmadinejad made the remarks during an interview with Russia Today (RT) on August 13. His comments were later translated into English by this television network.
Commenting on the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said, “We do not want nuclear weapons for a few reasons… This weapon is inhumane. Because of our faith, we are against it. Our religion says it is prohibited, and we are religious people.”
“Nuclear weapons have no capabilities today. If any country tries to build a nuclear bomb, in fact, they waste their money on resources and, secondly, they create a big danger to themselves,” he stated.
No country possessing nuclear weapons has benefited from it, Ahmadinejad said, adding, “The Americans have nuclear bombs and nuclear weapons. Could they win in Iraq or in Afghanistan? Could nuclear weapons help the Zionist regime win in Lebanon and Gaza? Could nuclear weapons help the former Soviet Union avoid collapse?”
He added, “Nuclear weapons are the means of the previous century. This century is the century of knowledge and thinking. It is the century of human beings. It is the century of culture and knowledge.”…
|
Japan and USA seek treaty to prevent having to pay international nuclear compensation
Japan eyes global nuclear compensation treaty – report, Aug 14, 2011 Reporting by Chikako Mogi; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani, TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan is considering joining a U.S.-led global nuclear compensation treaty in a bid to fend off excessive overseas damage claims related to nuclear accidents, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday, without citing sources.
The U.S., Morocco, Romania and Argentina have agreed to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, but the treaty needs at least five countries in order to go into effect.
The newspaper said Japan would start discussions with the United States in the coming week over the pact, which defines the rules for trials for damage claims in countries where accidents happen.
The move comes in the wake of a devastating accident in March at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which leaked radiation and exposed wide-ranging produces from vegetables, tea to water to excessive radioactive materials….http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE77D0C620110814
Florida’s new nuclear plants delayed – perhaps forever
Doubts cloud nuclear pay plan,Utility Products, Power Industry News, BY IVAN PENN, 14 Aug 11, Since 2009, Progress Energy customers have been paying for a nuclear plant that will not generate a kilowatt of power until 2016. Wait, make that 2018. Well, maybe 2021.
Now, more dismaying news. State consumer advocates say they have evidence the plant won’t open until 2027. Indeed, they openly wonder if the plant will ever be built. Continue reading
Continuing radiation dangers in food chain in Japan
Prolonged exposure to radiation in the air, ground and food can cause leukemia and other cancers, according to the London- based World Nuclear Association,
Mushrooms Join Growing List of Radioactive Threats to Japan’s Food Chain, Bloomberg, By Naoko Fujimura and Chris Cooper – Aug 14, 2011 Mushrooms joined the threats to Japan’s food chain from radiation spewed by Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, as the country expands efforts to limit the effects of the disaster.
Japan is under pressure to enhance food inspections as it has no centralized system for detecting radiation contamination. About two-thirds of Japan’s prefectures now plan to check rice crops, the Mainichi newspaper reported yesterday, citing its own survey. Half of Japan’s rice is grown within range of emissions from the crippled nuclear plant, and farmers are awaiting the results of tests before harvesting begins this month…… Continue reading
Serious safet problems in Hanford nuclear waste cleanup plans
The Hanford project is the most important environmental cleanup program in the nation. It seeks to prevent 56 million gallons of radioactive sludge in underground tanks, some of which are leaking, from contaminating the nearby Columbia River.
Safety doubts raised at U.S. nuclear waste cleanup project, Engineers and scientists say equipment being installed by Bechtel Corp. at the Hanford site in Washington state poses risks, but the Energy Department is letting work continue. By Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times, August 14, 2011 The Energy Department has asserted that Bechtel Corp. underplayed safety risks from equipment it is installing at the nation’s largest nuclear waste cleanup project, according to government records. 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 