Secrecy in Fukushima reports raise possibility of hidden nuclear weapons program
Secret Weapons Program Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant? U.S.-Japan security treaty fatally delayed nuclear workers’ fight against meltdown Global Research, 12/4/11 by Yoichi Shimatsu Confused and often conflicting reports out of Fukushima 1 nuclear plant cannot be solely the result of tsunami-caused breakdowns, bungling or miscommunication. Inexplicable delays and half-baked explanations from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) seem to be driven by some unspoken factor.
The smoke and mirrors at Fukushima 1 seem to obscure a steady purpose, an iron will and a grim task unknown to outsiders. The most logical explanation: The nuclear industry and government agencies are scrambling to prevent the discovery of atomic-bomb research facilities hidden inside Japan’s civilian nuclear power plants.
A secret nuclear weapons program is a ghost in the machine, detectable only when the system of information control momentarily lapses or breaks down. A close look must be taken at the gap between the official account and unexpected events.
Conflicting Reports TEPCO, Japan’s nuclear power operator, initially reported three reactors were operating at the time of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Then a hydrogen explosion ripped Unit 3, run on plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (or MOX). Unit 6 immediately disappeared from the list of operational reactors, as highly lethal particles of plutonium billowed out of Unit 3. Plutonium is the stuff of smaller, more easily delivered warheads.
A fire ignited inside the damaged housing of the Unit 4 reactor, reportedly due to overheating of spent uranium fuel rods in a dry cooling pool. But the size of the fire indicates that this reactor was running hot for some purpose other than electricity generation. Its omission from the list of electricity-generating operations raises the question of whether Unit 4 was being used to enrich uranium, the first step of the process leading to extraction of weapons-grade fissionable material.
The bloom of irradiated seawater across the Pacific comprises another piece of the puzzle, because its underground source is untraceable (or, perhaps, unmentionable). The flooded labyrinth of pipes, where the bodies of two missing nuclear workers—never before disclosed to the press— were found, could well contain the answer to the mystery: a lab that none dare name.
Political Warfare In reaction to Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s demand for prompt reporting of problems, the pro-nuclear lobby has closed ranks, fencing off and freezing out the prime minister’s office from vital information. A grand alliance of nuclear proponents now includes TEPCO, plant designer General Electric, METI, the former ruling Liberal Democratic Party and, by all signs, the White House.
Cabinet ministers in charge of communication and national emergencies recently lambasted METI head Banri Kaeda for acting as both nuclear promoter and regulator in charge of the now-muzzled Nuclear and Industrial Safety Commission. ….
The Manchurian Deal The chain of events behind this vast fabrication goes back many decades……. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24275
USA must cut spending on outdated and ineffective nuclear weapons systems
The most pressing security threats we face today, such as terrorism and cyber attack, simply cannot be addressed with nuclear weapons.
Time to rethink nuclear weapons spending The Hill, By Tom Z. Collina and Daryl G. Kimball, Arms Control Association, 13 Dec 11 The supercommittee’s failure to reach agreement on a deficit reduction plan may trigger deep, automatic reductions in future U.S. defense spending. At the same time, some in Congress are finally beginning to examine how much the United States plans to spend on nuclear weapons in the years ahead.The automatic reductions, known as “sequestration,” would double the amount of money the Pentagon must cut from its projected budget growth, from about $450 billion to roughly $1 trillion, over the next decade. Continue reading
Nuclear sabotage likely, as Iran suffers third explosion
Third explosion fuels talk of nuclear sabotage, N.Z. Herald, By Abraham Rabinovich Dec 14, 2011 Another mysterious explosion in Iran this week, the third in a month, has stirred speculation that a mysterious hand was once again striking at Iran’s nuclear programme.
The blast on Sunday occurred at a steel plant in the city of Yazd, killing seven people and seriously wounding 12 others. A number of the victims were foreigners, according to Iranian officials….
Ron Ben-Ishai, an Israeli military analyst, wrote yesterday in the newspaper Yediot Achronot that the explosion might have been a simple accident, but in view of the other recent explosions “it is hard toreject the possibility that this was intentional sabotage”.
Ben-Ishai noted that Sunday’s blast had happened at a time not usually considered a work hour and that the mention of foreigners among the dead could have been a reference to North Korean experts who had come to train Iranians in processing the steel.
Ben-Ishai suggested that sophisticated American unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), such as the one which fell into Iranian hands last week, might be closely tracking all aspects of the Iranian nuclear programme, including this.
A huge explosion at a missile testing base near Tehran on November 12 killed 17 people, including the general heading Iran’s missile
programme….http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10773027
Disappearance of secret files on Australia’s nuclear weapons plans
Treasures of Australia’s past lost from the National Archives by:Herald Sun Patrick Lion From:The Daily Telegraph December 13, 2011 HUNDREDS of rare files – including secret plans for nuclear weapons and personal files of prime ministers – have gone missing from the library responsible for preserving Australia’s history.
Over the past two decades the National Archives has lost at least 748 historic items, some dating back more than 150 years, from its official collection of documents, government files, letters, recordings and photographs.
Among the missing files on nuclear weapons and uranium from the middle of last century is a 1956 report, The Clandestine Introduction Of Nuclear Weapons In Australia…… http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/treasures-of-australias-past-lost-rare-items-missing-from-the-national-archives/story-fn7x8me2-1226220439496
Shrinking nuclear and uranium markets add to AREVA’s woes
The company has lost contracts worth hundreds of millions of euros….The company says its earnings will be
hit by a reduction in the number of new reactors being built, which will also depress the price of uranium…
.. the market is now shrinking. Areva said it expects to make an operating loss of between 1.4 and 1.6 billion euros (1.9 and 2.1 billion dollars) in 2011 mainly due to the depreciation of African mining assets…..
all activities in Namibia are to be suspended….
Fukushima hits French nuclear giant hard, Monsters and Critics, By Ralf E Krueger Dec 13, 2011“……….Areva’s new chief executive Luc Oursel announced the suspension of a planned nuclear enrichment plant project in Idaho in the United States, as well as several projects in Africa. Areva has also suspended plans to expand capacity at its reprocessing plant in La Hague, northern France. Continue reading
Nuclear Energy Institute spends up on lobbying USA governmnet
NEI, based in Washington, lobbied the government on measures designed to ensure the nation’s 104 commercial reactors can withstand natural disasters, cyber attacks, and on a proposal that would require the president to issue guidance on a federal response to a large-scale nuclear disaster. It also lobbied on a measure that would require nuclear operators to transfer radioactive spent nuclear fuel from cooling pools inside or near reactor cores to dry casks further fromthe reactors….
NEI also lobbied the government over environmental regulations….
Nuclear group spent $540,000 lobbying in 3Q. CBS News, 12 Dec 11(AP) NEW YORK — The main trade group for the nuclear power industry, the Nuclear Energy Institute, spent $540,000 in the third quarter lobbying federal officials about financial support for new reactors, safety regulations and other issues, according to a disclosure report. Continue reading
High radiation exposure of Fukushima residents. Internal radiation not measured
Exposure levels were higher for residents who worked at nuclear facilities.
The survey didn’t look at so-called internal exposure, or radiation taken into human body from contaminated air, water or food.
Local Japan Survey Shows High Radiation Exposure WSJ, By YUKA HAYASHI, 14 Dec 11 TOKYO—Hundreds of Fukushima residents were exposed to radiation well above the level permitted for the general public following the March nuclear disaster, according to an official survey released Tuesday, confirming the accident’s broad impact on local communities. Continue reading
Radiation monitoring of Japan’s forest monkeys
Monkeys to Track Fallout at Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Plant, ABC News, 12 Dec 11 Wild monkeys have been enlisted by Japanese researchers to obtain detailed readings of radiation levels in forests near the troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant.
Professor Takayuki Takahashi and his team of scientists at Fukushima University are fitting nearly 1000 animals with radiation meters and GPS transmitters in order to track the spread of radiation leaked from
March’s nuclear accident, the worst in Japan’s history…. Researchers also hope to monitor the amount of radiation exposure in wild animals. The project is being launched in partnership with Minamisoma, one of the cities hardest hit by the nuclear disaster. Radiation fears
prompted more than half of its 67,000 residents to evacuate, in Fukushima’s aftermath. A third of the city sits inside the 12 mile government mandated exclusion zone, deemed too dangerous for people to live in. In the larger Fukushima prefecture, more than 80,000
residents have been displaced by the nuclear disaster.
With 14 monkey colonies in Minamisoma’s forests alone, Takahashi is hopeful his researchers will get a broad spectrum of readings, from the ground level to the highest trees. The collars equipped with radiation meters and GPS transmitters will be detachable by remote
control, but the plan is to keep the devices on the animals, for decades. Takahashi says his team will begin monitoring levels next spring.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/12/monkeys-to-track-fallout-at-japans-fukushima-nuclear-plant/
Security breaches, costs, politics – France’s nuclear industry in trouble
activists remained inside the Cruas site for 14 hours before being caught
Electricite de France (EDF) shares have slumped (EDF) 37 percent since the Fukushima disaster, on concern about the amount of investment needed to keep French reactors running safely in the coming years.
At the same time, the opposition Socialist and Green parties are campaigning to close 24 reactors by 2025 to cut dependence on atomic power.
France’s Biggest Nuclear Breach Raises Alarm as Support for Reactors Wanes Bloomberg By Tara Patel – Dec 13, 2011 Just after 6 a.m. on Dec. 5,under cover of darkness, nine Greenpeace activists cut through a fence at the Nogent-sur-Seine atomic plant 95 kilometers (59 miles) southeast of Paris and headed for a domed reactor building.
They scaled the roof and unfurled a “Safe Nuclear Doesn’t Exist” banner before attracting the attention of security guards. Two remained at large for four hours.
On the same day, two more campaigners breached the perimeter of the Cruas-Meysse plant on the Rhone, escaping detection for more than 14 hours while posting videos of their sit-in on the Internet. Continue reading
Four radioactively contaminated Minstry of Defence sites in Scotland
the MoD had offered the site to the Scottish Government for £1. The offer was refused, largely because of serious impediments related to the site, all of which had significant
financial implications.
The MoD is institutionally incapable of transparency for security reasons – but that has invaded its corporate culture and it is now constitutionally incapable of honesty..
Four new MoD sites identified with radiation contamination – including Machrihanis ForArgyll.com, December 12, 2011 Four new sites in Scotland – all owned by the Ministry of Defence, have been identified as radiation contaminated, with an immediate call from MSPs for urgent action to ensure public safety. Continue reading
American complicity in Japan’s secret nuclear weapons plans
Kishi uttered the famous statement that “nuclear weapons are not expressly prohibited” under the postwar Constitution’s Article 9 prohibiting war-making powers. His words were repeated two years ago by his grandson, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Secret Weapons Program Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant? Global Research, 12/4/11 by Yoichi Shimatsu“…….During the Japanese militarist occupation of northeast China in the 1930s, the puppet state of Manchukuo was carved out as a fully modern economic powerhouse to support overpopulated Japan and its military machine……
After clawing his way into the good graces of Cold Warrior John Foster Dulles, Eisenhower’s secretary of state, Kishi was elected prime minister in 1957. His protégé Yasuhiro Nakasone, the former naval officer and future prime minister, spearheaded Japan’s campaign to become a nuclear power under the cover of the Atomic Energy Basic Law.
American Complicity Kishi secretly negotiated a deal with the White House to permit the U.S. military to store atomic bombs in Okinawa and Atsugi naval air station outside Tokyo. Continue reading
Nuclear terrorism risk for European soccer championships
UN agency tackles potential nuclear threat at European soccer championships UN News Centre 13 Dec 11, 13 December 2011 – When the 2012 European soccer championships kick off in Poland and Ukraine next June, the United Nations atomic energy will be centrefield offering its expertise to guarantee the safety of the tournament’s spectators and participants.
With over one million fans expected to descend on the two countries during the tournament, the Vienna-based UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA ) will provide first-hand experience in training authorities in Poland and Ukraine to quickly detect, identify, and
deal with a potential atomic threat…..
“We have around 200 events per year in our illicit trafficking database showing that nuclear material can be used for malicious acts,” said Khammar Mrabit, Director of the IAEA’s Office of Nuclear Security, “Therefore we’re trying everything together with the Member
States to prevent and reduce these threats and these
risks.”…http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40712&Cr=nuclear&Cr1=
Radioactive spill adds to the problems of Point Lepreau nuclear power plan
Radioactive water spilled at Point Lepreau nuclear power plant in New Brunswick The Canadian Press 12/13/2011 LEPREAU, N.B. – Radioactive heavy water spilled Tuesday evening at the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant in New Brunswick.
Kathleen Duguay, a spokeswoman for NB Power, said the spill occurred in the reactor building…..The cause of the accident wasn’t known.
Lepreau was taken offline in March 2008 for an overhaul that was supposed to take 18 months. But the project has been plagued by cost overruns and delays and is now not expected to return to service until the fall of 2012.
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. is overseeing the refurbishment. The province has pegged the total cost overruns, including replacement power while the nuclear reactor is offline, at about $2.4 billion..http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/radioactive-water-spilled-at-point-lepreau-nuclear-power-plant-in-new-brunswick-135542773.htm
Potential for environmental catastrophe with uranium mining in Pittsylvania
digging up and processing the uranium will create 28 million tons of radioactive waste – enough to fill 145 Super Walmart stores – that could poison local wells and seep into the Roanoke River, contaminating the drinking water for nearly 2 million people downstream of the mine.
A study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that the dust from uranium mines can spread up to 50 miles, which would include Smith Mountain Lake and parts of the Roanoke Valley.
Uranium in Pittsylvania County: buried treasure or threat?, By Laurence Hammack and Michael Sluss The Roanoke Times, 13 Dec 11“….. a potential public health and environmental disaster. Do the risks of uranium mining outweigh the benefits? That will soon be a question for the General Assembly, which is expected to decide at its upcoming session whether to lift a 30-year moratorium on the practice. Continue reading
USA nuclear industry – delays, shut downs, security problems
Nuclear uncertainty High Country News, Marian Lyman Kirst, 13 Dec 11, The American nuclear industry had some serious shade thrown its way in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant disaster. Almost a year later, U.S. nuclear still can’t seem to catch a break. On Wednesday, Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, announced that the agency will likely face delays in renewing licenses for 14 existing nuclear reactors as well as its review of license applications for the construction of two new reactors, the first such applications in more than 30 years.
Workers at nuclear plants in Ohio and Nebraska were exposed to higher than expected radiation levels, Jaczko said, while three other plants were shut down for months because of safety concerns — the first time in more than decade that several plants have been shut down at the same time.
From The Associated Press:The Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida and Fort Calhoun in Nebraska remain shut down, while the earthquake-damaged North Anna plant in Virginia reopened last month after being shut down for three months.
Jaczko is particularly concerned about the ability of plants, old and new, to deal with natural disaster-caused blackouts like the tsunami triggered flooding that led to meltdowns in the Fukushima reactors….
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