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The hypocrisy and lies of the global nuclear lobby

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

Has anyone noticed that Japan well and truly stuffed up in its planning and setting up of the Fukushima nuclear power plant – and yet is now preaching to India on the unsafety of India’s nuclear plants?

That strikes me as a dazzling bit of arrogance and hypocrisy. Yet Japan’s Prime Minister has the gall to tell India that because of Japan’s nuclear disaster, Japan is now an expert on nuclear safety!

And anyway, as if the Japanese government cared about India’s safety, anyway!  What they care about is making money selling their nuclear. technology.

But now – I’m here getting  a bit ahead of  the worldwide nuclear lobby. The comprehensive international report on the Fukushima nuclear disaster will not be completed until about June 2012.  However, the initial part of the report recounts all the errors made by the Japanese regarding the planning and setting up of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and in dealing with the catastrophe.

I’m predicting that the nuclear lobby will come out with a whole lot of guff about how much safer nuclear technology is now.  How much they’ve learned from the disaster, so we can all rest assured that the nuclear industry is now safe! – Christina Macpherson, 27 Dec 11

December 27, 2011 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

New report on the continuing nuclear disaster at Fukushima

Nuclear disaster response failed: report 9 News Dec 26 2011 Yuri Kageyama Japan’s response to the nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 tsunami was confused and riddled with problems, a report revealed on Monday. The response included an erroneous assumption that an emergency cooling system was working and a delay in disclosing dangerous radiation leaks.

The disturbing picture of harried and bumbling workers and government officials scrambling to respond to the problems at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was depicted in the report detailing a government investigation……
Sadder still was how the government dallied in relaying information to the public, such as using evasive language to avoid admitting serious meltdowns at the reactors, the report said.

The government also delayed disclosure of radiation data in the area, unnecessarily exposing entire towns to radiation when they could have evacuated, the report found.

The government recommended changes so utilities will respond properly to serious accidents.

It recommended separating the nuclear regulators from the unit that promotes atomic energy, echoing frequent criticism since the disaster, which left 20,000 people dead or missing.

Japan’s nuclear regulators were in the same ministry that promotes the industry, but they will be moved to the environment ministry next year to ensure more independence.

The report acknowledged people were still living in fear of radiation spewed into the air and water, as well as radiation in the food they eat. Thousands have been forced to evacuate and have suffered monetary damage from radiation contamination, it said.

“The nuclear disaster is far from over,” the report said.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8395190/japan-probe-finds-nuclear-disaster-respons

December 27, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

The continuing human cost of Fukushima’s continuing radiation

Enduring the nuclear winter, Irish Times, 26 Dec 11“……..More than 100,000 people have been displaced due to radiation around Fukushima Prefecture, home to the crippled Daiichi nuclear plant. Those who stay keep children indoors for much of the day. Others, such as single mother Kanako Nishitaka from Fukushima City, have fled in an attempt to find normality in a different part of the country.

“My daughter is smaller and closer to the ground, so she absorbed more radiation,” she says. “They found caesium in her body. I was told it was about the same amount as people exposed to nuclear bomb tests. When I told my son we were moving, he cried his eyes out because he
didn’t want to leave his friends.”

Many doubt the immediate area around the plant will ever again be habitable. The Daiichi plant will become an unwanted monument to Japan’s nuclear ambitions for years to come, while the cost of dismantling its reactors and supporting its victims will haunt future
governments…….” http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/1227/1224309514995.html

December 27, 2011 Posted by | Japan, psychology - mental health | Leave a comment

Stiff opposition in South Korea to new nuclear power plants

New nuclear plants face public backlash, Korea Herald, By Shin Hyon-hee, 27 Dec 11 2011  Civic groups, environmentalists, residents stage protests, voicing safety concerns The government’s plan to install new nuclear reactors in the country’s eastern shore faces stiff opposition from residents, stoking safety concerns in the aftermath of a Japanese disaster.

Last week, the government picked two candidate sites for nuclear power plants –Yeongdeok in North Gyeongsang Province and Samcheok in Gangwon Province. The decision will be finalized by late next year  after on-site inspections and environmental surveys.

On Monday, civic groups, religious organizations, environmentalists and residents staged a mass rally in downtown Seoul and the two regions, calling to scrap the country’s atomic energy policy.

“The government’s latest site selection completely neglects a global anti-nuclear trend that has been reigning supreme since the Fukushima meltdown in March,” Green Korea United, one of the country’s major environmental groups, said in a statement. In Samcheok, Gangwon
Province Gov. Choi Moon-soon added fuel to the flame by expressing his regret over the announcement. “It’s hard to understand the government is pushing ahead with its nuclear expansion program at a time when there is no national consensus and public understanding of the safety of the plan,” he said. ..

..Among the imminent issues is the storage of spent radioactive fuel rods that will run of space in 2016. The ministry plans to host a public forum in the first half of next year to discuss how to take care of such obsolete equipment, Hong said….http://www.koreaherald.com/business/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20111226000732

December 27, 2011 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, South Korea | Leave a comment

78% of Japanese do not believe that Fukushima nuclear plant crisis is over

78 percent of poll participants did not accept Noda’s announcement this month of the effective end of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant,

Japan PM’s public support plunges Channel Asia News 26 December 2011 TOKYO: Support for Japan’s primeminister plunged in December as voters lost faith in his leadership, amid party turmoil and criticism over his handling of the nuclear crisis, a poll said Monday. Continue reading →

December 27, 2011 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Japan taking a moral position about the unsafety of India’s nuclear plants!

Japan likely to speak out on N-plants’ safety during talks with India The Pioneer, 22 DECEMBER 2011   SANDHYA SHARMA | NEW DELHI     Japan will voice concerns over the safety of nuclear plants with India as two Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda are set to meet in New Delhi next week for the 6th Annual Summit between the two leaders.

The two sides will enhance the cooperation in nuclear sector despite the Fukushima disaster that rocked Tokyo last year….. even less than a year to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, Japan is recommencing steps it hopes will lead to exports of commercial nuclear technology to counties like India and Vietnam. This resumption comes even as Japan itself is scaling back the use of nuclear energy
at home.

Japan’s ruling Democratic Party is promoting nuclear technology exports as a pillar of its economic growth strategy. The earthquake in March with ensuing accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant led to a suspension of negotiations with India toward accords on the
transfer of nuclear energy technology.

New Delhi on the other hand is facing the flack from the locals over the commencement of the Kudankulam nuclear plant which is a joint Indo-Russian collaboration project following the Fukushima disaster….http://dailypioneer.com/nation/29789-japan-likely-to-speak-out-on-n-plants-safety-during-talks-with-india.html

December 27, 2011 Posted by | India, Japan, marketing of nuclear | Leave a comment

Japan trying to sell nuclear technology to India

India, Japan PMs to meet today, N-trade tops agenda Times of India, Sachin Parashar, TNN | Dec 27, 2011, NEW DELHI: Despite the Japanese Parliament, Diet, clearing Japan’s civil nuclear cooperation with four other countries allowing it to resume its supply of nuclear reactors, India remains uncertain about the resumption of its own negotiations for such cooperation with Tokyo.

Ahead of Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda’s visit to India on Tuesday for the 6th annual India-Japan summit, officials said the issue would be taken up in Noda’s meeting with his counterpart Manmohan Singh, but added that it was not possible to say what the outcome would be…..http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-Japan-PMs-to-meet-today-N-trade-tops-agenda/articleshow/11261201.cms

December 27, 2011 Posted by | India, Japan, politics international | Leave a comment

Fukushima radiation in Japan’s mushrooms and forests

Radiation fears spread to forest industry SHIROISHI, Mainichi Daily News, 26 Dec 11 Miyagi –– Radiation fears stemming from the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant and radiation monitoring activities are raising concern among people handling trees to grow mushrooms and make charcoal.

Forest workers are very concerned about any potential fallout from the nuclear crisis because they have to independently monitor radiation before applying to the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), for compensation, unlike farmers and fishermen who have
standing in law.

Decontamination work in the mountains is said to be much more difficult than on flat land Continue reading →

December 27, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Growing investment in renewable energy

  investment in Renewable Energy across the globe has increased in recent time, moving from $33 billion in 2004 to $211billion as at June, this year.

Renewable energy hits $211b globally The Nation, By Kamarudeen Ogundele, 27 Dec 11 Abuja INVESTMENT portfolio in renewable energy in Africa has hit $3.6 billion with Egypt and Kenya occupying centre stage, the Managing Director of the Bank of Industry (BoI), Ms. Evelyn Oputu, has said.

Oputu, who spoke during the first Renewable Energy Investment Forum in Abuja, stated that investments in renewable energy have a large potential for growth given the large gap between energy demand and supply and the enormous renewable energy options available to the country.
The alternative energy event tagged: Access to Renewable Energy (AtRE), is organised to create a forum to interface investors with project developers in the renewable energy sector…… Continue reading →

December 27, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Solar power – the primordial energy source

A sunny forecast for solar energy, Jordan Directions, 26 December 2011 At the European Future Energy Forum (EFEF) held in October this year, participants were reminded once again about the need for collaboration, innovation and knowledge transfer between countries, companies and governments, in shaping the future of renewable energy in the world. Renewable energy technology safeguards environment, bolsters energy security and drives economic development globally.

“Solar power is one of the primordial energy sources. I could be biased, but to me there is no other energy source that feels so naturally right for harnessing: with each sunrise our planet has the potential capacity to sustainably recharge its energy grids across the
world,” says Jerry Stokes, president of Suntech Europe.

Today, thanks to Masdar, Abu Dhabi is a hothouse for innovation in solar and all sectors of renewable energy, innovation that is making its way to the world and leads to greater energy security and a cleaner environment…….According to the European Photovoltaic Industry
Association, (EPIA), the cumulative global installed PV capacity stood
at almost 16.5 GW at the end of 2010, compared to only 9 GW at the end
of 2007.

(Germany ranked first followed by Italy and Spain in terms of cumulative installed solar electric power capacity). Though there’s uncertainty surrounding the incentivising of the renewable market, in the current global economic climate (with feed-in tariffs that guaranteed above-market power prices for the life of a PV installation being slashed across Europe, including in Germany and Italy), the fact that more countries are adopting renewable energy standards and planning to build solar plants has analysts and fund managers feeling
more confident about the industry and bullish on solar in particular, because the market is no longer dominated by two or three players.
Read more http://www.albawaba.com/sunny-forecast-solar-energy-406658
http://www.jordandirections.com/2011122648655/business/a-sunny-forecast-for-solar-energy

December 27, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment