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France to consider all nuclear options, including exit from nuclear power

French 2050 committee will consider all nuclear options: BessonParis (Platts)- –Anna Crowley, -8 Nov 2011 A committee tasked with reviewing France’s energy supply options to 2050 will consider all options for nuclear energy, energy minister Eric Besson said Tuesday.

Besson told a Paris conference that scenarios under review included expanding the lifespans of existing reactors, “accelerating” the move towards a new generation of third- or fourth-generation nuclear reactors, a gradual reduction of nuclear’s share of the energy mix and full exit from nuclear generation. …. Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

Radiation problem, and likely accidents cast a gloom over nuclear energy

a worker involved in the Fukushima City decontamination project: “It is not much fun being part of a medical experiment.”

Nuclear energy: A hotter topic than ever, Ft.com By Mure Dickie and Clive Cookson, 9 Nov 11 Uncertainty about radiation danger is not a problem for Japan alone. Atomic plants around the world are ageing fast, and more are being built in developing countries where there is often limited public oversight and high levels of corruption. It would be foolish for the world to assume that this crisis will be the last….. Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Possibility of further uncontrolled fission at Fukushima

A German Professor who is an expert on radiation warns that there is a real possibility of a mini Atomic Bomb from an uncontrolled nuclear fission at Fukushima. Grant Lawrence–Bodhi Thunder Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Tokyo now testing radiation in fresh and processed food

Tokyo city starts radiation tests on food in shops Google News, (AFP) – 8 Nov 11 TOKYO — Tokyo city government on Tuesday began radiation tests on samples of food bought in shops to reassure residents amid a contamination scare after a major nuclear accident in northeast Japan.
It is rare that authorities check on products at the point of sale and the the inspection includes processed food as well as fresh produce. The metropolitan government is measuring radiation on vegetables and other fresh food to complement pre-shipment tests at places of
production. Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Significant radiation on beach at Fife, Scotland

Radiation sources found on beach, Google News (UKPA) – 8 Nov 11   “Significant” sources of radiation which could pose a risk to the public if exposed have been found on the same beach where around 200 radioactive particles were discovered previously.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said the material appeared to be buried on the beach at Dalgety Bay in Fife. Sepa said the sources of the radiation were a “significant hazard” and if they were exposed through erosion or movement, they would “pose a risk to the Dalgety Bay community”.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been told about the find. Sepa has also warned that an area around the foreshore at Dalgety Bay could be designated Radioactive Contaminated Land for the public protection. The group called for a long-term plan to deal with the problem….. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hGZIrNZGj_tzXF1m-WK6m4yCyClg?docId=N0526321320749067702A

November 10, 2011 Posted by | environment, UK | Leave a comment

Fukushima elections: 90% of candidates want nuclear power scrapped

90% of Fukushima candidates want N-reactors scrapped The Yomiuri Shimbun, 9 Nov 11 Nearly 90 percent of candidates planning to run in the upcoming Fukushima prefectural assembly election think all the reactors at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant should be decommissioned, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.

All 87 potential candidates responded to the survey, whose findings suggest radiation decontamination and other nuclear issues will be key points in this campaign–a change from previous prefectural assembly elections.

An official announcement of the election will be made Thursday, and Fukushima Prefecture residents will go to the polls Nov. 20. The election has been postponed due to the March 11 disaster and ensuing nuclear crisis.

According to the survey, 76 candidate, or 87.3 percent, said the Nos. 5 and 6 reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s nuclear plant should be decommissioned. The Nos. 1 to 4 reactors have already been designated for decommissioning.Regarding the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant, the future of which has not been decided, 72 people, or 82.7 percent, said the plant should be decommissioned…..http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111108005264.htm

November 10, 2011 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Inadequacy of Japan’s radiation cleanup plan

Radiation cleanup plan falls short Experts liken current strategy to letting nature run its course Japan Times, By KAZUAKI NAGATA. 9 Nov 11 “…the government’s plan falls short and efforts should focus in particular on residential areas with more aggressive decontamination measures and goals, including reducing current radiation levels by 90 percent, two radiation experts said when interviewed by The Japan Times. Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

USA doesn’t even know how much it spends on nuclear weapons programs

Cost of Nuclear Weapons Program in Dispute Secrecy News, November 8th, 2011 by Steven Aftergood In the last few weeks, members of Congress have presented radically different estimates of the cost of the U.S. nuclear weapons program.  The disparate estimates, which vary by hundreds of billions of dollars, reflect a lack of consensus about how to properly assess the cost of nuclear weapons. Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

America’s bloated military spending, with trivial cuts planned

our military is not bloated because the U.S. faces threats to its security. It is bloated because of the military-industrial-Congressional complex that President Eisenhower warned about more than fifty years ago….
Planned Pentagon Cuts Are Trivial, HUFFINGTON POST, by Aaron Belkin: 11/6/11  Poor, poor Leon Panetta. Our Secretary of Defense has to find a way to cut $45 billion per year out of our $700 billion military budget. That’s right, five percent. Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Alarm about cracks in Davis Besse nuclear plant

Ohio: Scientists Sound Alarm on Nuclear Plant, NYT By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS November 8, 2011 A watchdog group is questioning the soundness of a nuclear plant where a 30-foot hairline crack was recently discovered. The crack was found in the thick concrete on the outside of the reactor containment building at the Davis-Besse plant outside Toledo. Further inspections found numerous, tiny cracks on the building’s facade. The Union of Concerned Scientists has written the Nuclear Regulatory Commission asking whether the concrete walls were built to adequate engineering specifications. The plant’s owner, the FirstEnergy Corporation, says that the walls were designed properly and that the building has been inspected thoroughly. The plant has been shut down for installation of a new 82-ton reactor head, replacing one that cracked… http://www.nytimes.co/2011/11/09/us/ohio-scientists-sound-alarm-on-nuclear-plant.html

November 10, 2011 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Doctors who own radiation stress machines order more tests on healthy patients

“We have to remember that unnecessary testing puts patients at
unnecessary risk of exposure to radiation …

Doctors Who Own Stress Machines More Likely to Order Heart Test,    By Pat Wechsler Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) –– Doctors who own and bill for nuclear cardiac stress-test technology are twice as likely to order the procedure as those who aren’t paid for it, researchers said.

The widest variation in whether a doctor prescribed a nuclear stress test, which uses radiation to track blood flow, occurred when patients had no symptoms of coronary disease following bypass surgery or other heart procedures, according to a study published today in the Journal
of the American Medical Association. Physicians who owned the equipment ordered tests in 10 percent of the cases versus 4.3 percent
for those who didn’t…… Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | health, USA | Leave a comment

Accident risk makes nuclear costs even more expensive

 Japan study factors accident risk into nuclear power cost estimates Nov 8 (Reuters) – The cost of generating nuclear power in Japan would rise by up to 1.6 yen per kilowatt hour if the risk of a serious nuclear accident like the one in Fukushima is factored in, a government panel of experts estimated, providing a key element for the government to decide on its post-Fukushima energy policy.

Lawmakers and officials are working to come up with a new energy policy after the Fukushima radiation crisis made it difficult, if not impossible, to build more reactors in the world’s third-biggest generator of nuclear power…..

now that the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant forced its operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co , to pay compensation for residents who have been evacuated and extra costs to decommission the crippled reactors, a new estimate on the cost of nuclear power was needed to include these factors…..

The cost for the risk of an accident could rise further if compensation payments to help evacuees and cover other damages increases from the current estimate, based on actual payments related to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, of 5 trillion yen ($64 billion) for a model reactor, the panel said…. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/nuclear-japan-estimate-idUSL4E7M81Q620111108

November 10, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

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