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Radioactivity to move up food chain from plankton near Fukushima

Radioactive plankton found near Fukushima plant, ABC News, By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy, October 15, 2011 Researchers say high concentrations of radioactive caesium have been detected in plankton in the Pacific Ocean off the shattered Fukushima nuclear plant.

The Fukushima nuclear plant was badly damaged in the March earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, and has been leaking radiation ever since.

It is feared more radiation could now enter the food chain.

Researchers from Tokyo University collected plankton from the sea south of the Fukushima nuclear plant, discovering nearly 700 becquerels per kilogram of caesium in plankton close to the shore.

Research leader professor Takashi Ishimaru told Japan’s NHK network sea currents had carried contaminated water south from the nuclear plant, heavily contaminating the plankton. A wide range of fish and other marine species feed on the plankton, leading to fears it could have a serious impact on the food chain. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-15/radioactive-plankton-found-near-fukushima/3573076?section=world

October 16, 2011 Posted by | Japan, oceans | Leave a comment

Japan’s Occupy protest is an anti nuclear demonstration

Occupy in Japan has anti-nuclear focus, Market Watch  – Kate Gibson, October 15, 2011,NEW YORK – Unlike demonstrations in many cities around the globe, the Occupy protest in Japan seems to be less of a youth-directed movement, with recent events also drawing an anti-nuclear crowd.

In Tokyo, about 100 protesters, including children and senior citizens, marched on Saturday, shouting “Occupy Tokyo!”, according to Dow Jones Newswires, which cited the Kyodo news service.

The demonstrators included anti-nuclear slogans while walking by the offices of Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the damaged Fukushima plant…..

One university student, 22-year-old Tomoko Horaguchi, who also came to protest nuclear power, said she was inspired by the demonstrations on Wall Street, telling Agence France Presse “I feel the same anger. In particular I am angry at nuclear power plants. Only one percent of people want to run them still.”  http://blogs.marketwatch.com/specialreport/2011/10/15/occupy-in-japan-has-anti-nuclear-focus/

October 16, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

With Federal govt paralysed, USA States take up renewal energy challenge

While Washington bickers, green tech goes local, CNet News, by   October 16, 2011  As dark clouds form over solar in Washington, a handful of U.S. states are taking the lead in a global economic race to develop green technologies. Continue reading →

October 16, 2011 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Money talks louder than the public good, in the issue of uranium mining

Editorial: There’s green in that thar canyon The Daily Courier, 13 Oct 11,  We smell something surrounding this week’s battle to open 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon for mining, and that something is political money.

The obvious concern for mining is the environmental impact on the majestic canyon, which, according to a report this year, is the biggest tourist destination in the U.S., and is just 100 miles north of Prescott. Continue reading →

October 16, 2011 Posted by | politics, secrets,lies and civil liberties, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

In long run, Grand Canyon’s watershed must be saved from uranium mining contamination

the task of elected officials is not to just manage our county’s and city’s assets, but to thoroughly understand the complexities of our evolving human development. This involves managing our environmental resources to the best long-range benefit, and not for short-sighted, misperceived monetary gain.

Consequences outweigh benefits  Kingman Daily Miner, Jack Ehrhardt,  14 Oct 11 Over the past months, stories have reported on how our local elected officials support the lifting of the moratorium on uranium mining in the Northern Arizona area, on the other side of the Grand Canyon. This area that is a watershed to the Grand Canyon is a sensitive area of environmental protection for its capacity to bring vast amounts of water to the storage downstream in Lake Mead and provide clean water to communities in the west.  Continue reading →

October 16, 2011 Posted by | Uranium, USA, water | Leave a comment

16% rise in renewable energy investment in third quarter

Clean-Energy Investment Rises Annual 16% in Quarter, BNEF Says, Bloombeerg, By Marc Roca – Oct 13, 2011  New investment in clean energy rose 16 percent in the third quarter to $45.4 billion, aided by a surge in wind and solar plant financing as low equipment costs drive installations, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.Asset financing of utility-scale renewable-energy projects jumped to a record $41.8 billion in the quarter, the London- based research company said today in a statement….. Continue reading →

October 16, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Solar feed in tariffs working for Germany, Japan, China

Feed in Tariffs: Investing in a Renewable Energy Future, Policy Shop, 16 Oct 11     Mijin Cha Clean energy skeptics have seized on the failure of Solyndra to argue that scaling up renewable sources is a pipe dream.

They should visit Germany.

In the first quarter of 2011, Germany’s renewable energy output accounted for 19.2 percent of its total electricity consumption. Germany installed more solar PV in 2010 than the whole rest of the world and is well on its way to meeting the target of 35 percent of its electricity coming from renewables by 2020. And, in 2010, almost 370,000 people were employed in the renewable energy sector.

So how does Germany gets lots of clean energy and green jobs?

The key to this success is an incentive called a feed-in-tariff. Continue reading →

October 16, 2011 Posted by | Germany, renewable | Leave a comment

Pakistan pushes for nuclear disarmament

Pakistan calls for talks on nuclear disarmament, Business Recorder, OCTOBER 15, 2011 Pakistan has urged “some major powers” to commence negotiations on the larger issue of nuclear disarmament instead of pushing for a treaty to ban production of fissile material used as fuel for atomic weapons, saying the treaty was a limited non-proliferation goal.

Speaking in the General Assembly’s main committee, Raza Bashir Tarar, the deputy permanent representative of Pakistan, said besides nuclear disarmament, his country was ready to start talks on two other outstanding agenda items negative security assurances for non-nuclear-weapon-states and preventing an arms race in outer space in the Conference on Disarmament, the Geneva-based UN negotiating body.

“After all, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) is not there to only negotiate an FMCT (Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty),” he said in the course of a thematic debate on nuclear weapons. Over the past couple of years, Pakistan has been blocking the launching of negotiations on the proposed treaty at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on the ground that it is prejudicial to its national security interests……  http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/single/599/172/1242266/

October 16, 2011 Posted by | Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment

At last, efforts to rebury the poisonous monster of uranium, in Navajo land

Cleanup takes on uranium monster in Monument Valley, By Judy Fahys, The Salt Lake Tribune,  Oct 16, 2011  Monument Valley • An old story tells how the first Navajos made a choice that shaped their destiny.

They embraced yellow corn pollen over yellow uranium. And they concluded unearthing the radioactive rock would unleash evil from the underworld.

But in the rush to fuel atomic weapons and nuclear reactors, Navajo lands yielded tons of the yellow rock, and the heavy machinery that dug it up left behind a hazardous legacy.

Here, below the Skyline Mine, about a mile from the famous Goulding’s Trading Post, the Navajos’ worst fears about uranium came true. Tumors and cancer and a host of other maladies plagued families living on the valley floor in Skyline’s shadow. So did a nagging fear.

In some people’s minds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleanup this summer signaled the federal government has at long last started owning up to its obligations to the Navajos. Next week dump trucks and dozers will be done stuffing the evil back into the redrock.

And the unseen demons will be vanquished from the mythic landscape……

The $7.5 million Skyline cleanup is part of EPA’s effort to address uranium problems all over the reservation. About $22 million is slated for addressing water contamination. A total of $60 million is planned for five years to identify and deal with contaminated homes and mine sites.

The Skyline cleanup is the first of four that EPA has planned so far,…..  A few weeks ago, Tenley announced the next cleanup on the reservation: a $44 million project to address contamination at the largest uranium mine on the Navajo Reservation, Northeast Church Rock, New Mexico. And, unlike the Skyline cleanup that taxpayers paid for, this one will be on the tab of the company that mined it, a subsidiary of General Electric Co….http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home2/52705676-183/uranium-mesa-cleanup-skyline.html.csp

October 16, 2011 Posted by | indigenous issues, USA | Leave a comment