2011 December 09 « nuclear-news

Long range threat of Fukushima radiation accumulating on ocean floor

the releases have not ended, so that is of concern. If the contaminants end up in the marine sediments/muds, then they will remain there for decades to come,

Fukushima ocean radiation could pose sleeper threat, Smart Planet, By David Worthington | December 7, 2011 Scientists have determined that the unprecedented release of radioactivity into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima nuclear disaster poses no direct exposure threat to people, but caution that the accumulated fallout lying in sediment is a potential danger for decades to come.

The findings were published in a report, Impacts of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants on Marine Radioactivity, on Wednesday. Levels of cesium and iodine peaked in April, a month after the core meltdowns when seawater used to cool the reactors and spent fuel rods was pumped out of the facility into the nearby ocean.

Levels of radioactive cesium peaked at 50 million times normal levels, becoming the largest accidental release of radiation into the ocean in history, Continue reading →

December 9, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, oceans | Leave a comment

France needs to boost nuclear security, following Greenpeace’s infiltration of nuke plant

EDF to boost security at nuclear power plants-CEO Dec 8, 2011 Dec 8 (Reuters) – EDF will reinforce security at its nuclear power plants, its chief executive said on Thursday, after Greenpeace activists succeeded in entering two of them this week to alert the public on their lack of security.

Greenpeace activists entered the Nogent plant near Paris early on Monday and climbed onto one of the domes that houses a reactor, while others went into the Cruas nuclear power site in southeastern France.

“Measures have already been decided which will make this kind of intrusion even more difficult and probably more painful,” Proglio said on the margins of a partnership announcement with GE Energy. He declined to give details on those measures….

France’s dependence on nuclear energy, more than any other country, has been much debated ahead of the presidential election in April. The Socialist Party and the Greens struck a deal last month to shut France’s 24 oldest reactors by 2025 and not to build any more reactors if they come to power, marking a U-turn by the Socialists who had supported nuclear power in the 1980s and the 1990s.

After Japan’s Fukushima disaster in March 2011, France decided to carry out safety tests on its 58 nuclear reactors to check their capacity to resist flooding, earthquakes, power outages and failure of the cooling systems as well as operational management of accidents.

The tests did not include terrorist attacks or the possibility of a plane crash. (Reporting By Muriel Boselli, editing by Jane Baird)

December 9, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Finland, safety | Leave a comment

Medical radiation listed as a top cause of breast cancer

Medical radiation, alcohol, obesity top IOM’s breast cancer risk report. December 08, 2011 by Brendon Nafziger , DOTmed News Associate Editor Medical radiation from CT scans, being overweight, using combination estrogen and progestin hormone therapy and drinking alcohol were among the usual suspects deemed to have the most convincing evidence showing a link with breast cancer risk, according to a new report by the Institute of Medicine examining environmental factors that contribute to the disease.

In a supplement, the group noted that avoiding “inappropriate medical radiation exposure” was a workable risk reduction goal, even though it also said that it should be balanced against the offsetting risk: missing crucial medical information by skipping a scan. …

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women, and 230,000 new diagnoses are expected to be made this year, IOM said. … http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/17642/

December 9, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, women | Leave a comment

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