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Japanese monks store radioactive waste near their temple

Abe said he and the other monks are storing the soil on a hill behind the temple as neither the government nor the nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) are helping with the clean-up.

“No-one else would take the soil. If there’s nobody to take care of it, the decontamination can’t get going because there’s nowhere to get rid of it,” Abe said.

Japan priest fights invisible demon: radiation Feb 10 (Reuters) – On the snowy fringes of Japan’s Fukushima city, now notorious as a byword for nuclear crisis, Zen monk Koyu Abe offers prayers for the souls of thousands left dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami nearly one year ago.

But away from the ceremonial drums and the incense swirling around the Joenji temple altar, Abe has undertaken another task, no less
harrowing — to search out radioactive “hot spots” and clean them up, storing irradiated earth on temple grounds….

Radiation, carried on winds and by snow, spread far beyond the 20 km (12 miles) evacuation zone around the plant, nestling in hot spots across the region and contaminating the ground in what remains a largely agricultural region. Continue reading

February 11, 2012 Posted by | Japan, Religion and ethics, wastes | Leave a comment

What really is Israel’s purpose in killing Iran’s nuclear scientists?

Mossad training terrorists to kill Iran’s nuclear scientists, U.S. officials claim… but is Israel’s real target Obama? Israel funding dissident People’s Mujahedin of Iran, say officials in Tehran   DAILY MAIL  10th February 2012 U.S. officials confirmed today that Israel has been funding and training Iranian dissidents to assassinate nuclear scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear program.

The claim has already been levelled by the Iranian government who believed that Mossad, Israel’s secret service, have been arming
dissidents with the terrorist organisation the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK). Last month Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, 32, a chemistry expert, was killed in a brazen daylight assassination when two assailants on a motorcycle
attached a magnetic bomb to his car in Tehran.
Washington insiders confirmed there is a close relationship between Mossad and MEK, according to NBC, but said the U.S. was not involved. Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior aide to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told NBC: ‘Israel does not have direct access to our society. Mujahedin, being Iranian and being part of Iranian society, they have… places to get into the touch with people…..
Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan’s death was the latest in a string of attacks on Iranian scientists. : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099142/Mossad-training-terrorists-kill-Irans-nuclear-scientists-U-S-officials-claim–Israels-real-target-Obama.html#ixzz1m76bXdno

February 11, 2012 Posted by | Israel, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Doctors want to make sure that use of medical radiation does more good than harm

ensuring that a diagnostic procedure involving ionizing radiation is necessary for a patient’s care and should be expected to do more good than harm

Radiation Risks From Diagnostic Procedures Examined, Doctors’ Lounge: February 09, 2012, Feb. 9 (HealthDay News) — National strategies should be developed for the use of evidence-based criteria and improved oversight of equipment to minimize radiation exposure for patients undergoing diagnostic procedures, according to a study published online Feb. 3 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Continue reading

February 11, 2012 Posted by | health, USA | Leave a comment

Cameco uranium company cuts production in view of nuclear industry slowdown

Cameco outlook sours amid doubts on nuclear’s future * Company sees 2012 revenue flat to down 5 percent

* Eyes lower production in 2012

* Shares down 1 pct at C$23.12 

TORONTO, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Uranium producer Cameco forecast lower sales and highlighted doubts about the takeup of nuclear power in its stronger than expected quarterly results, and its shares edged lower on Friday, ……
Cameco, the world’s No.1 publicly-listed uranium producer, also lowered its 2012 uranium production outlook by 3 percent to 21.7 million pounds and said delays and cancellations after last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster could hit prices.

Germany, which represents about 5 percent of the global market for uranium, plans to phase out its reactors by 2022.

Japan shut down most of its reactors for testing after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, and is expected to take its remaining three reactors offline for maintenance in the next few months.

“It remains unclear what level of nuclear power Japan itself – which represents 12 percent of global nuclear generating capacity – will depend on in the future,” Cameco said.

February 11, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Canada, Uranium | Leave a comment

Process for terminating Cotter company’s radioactive license in Colorado

The majority of the documents being reviewed currently concern characterization of the soil and groundwater contamination on site and cleanup criteria.

Cotter documents under review, Company in process to terminate radioactive materials license, Canon City Daily Record, By RACHEL ALEXANDER    02/10/2012  A public meeting was held Thursday with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Cotter Corp. to discuss three upcoming department decisions.

The documents currently under review by CDPHE, the Environmental Protection agency and the public are the New Evaporation Pond
Conceptual Design; the Onsite Soil Excavation and Groundwater Characterization Process Plan; and the Soil Remediation Criteria
Selection.

This is the first round of documents that are being developed by Cotter as part of the process to terminate its radioactive materials
license and the deletion of the site from the Superfund list. Continue reading

February 11, 2012 Posted by | Uranium, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

320.000 UK homes get electricity from offshore wind turbines

World’s biggest offshore wind farm officially connected to the Grid, Environmental News Network, 10 Feb 2012, The world’s biggest offshore wind farm was officially opened today after record-fast construction in the middle of the Irish Sea. The 102 turbines of the two connected Walney wind farms cover an area of 73 square-kilometres and were formally connected to the National Grid in a ceremony today.

With a capacity of 367.2MW, the huge project can provide low-carbon, green electricity to 320,000 homes. The generating capacity of each turbine, supplied by Siemens Wind Power, is 3.6MW, and the rotor diameter of the turbines is 107m for Walney 1 and 120m for Walney 2, with a maximum height of 150m from sea level to blade tip….. http://www.enn.com/energy/article/43984

February 11, 2012 Posted by | renewable, UK | 1 Comment

NRC faults San Onofre nuclear plant over ammonia leak

Federal regulators fault Southern California’s San Onofre nuclear plant for ammonia leak, Washington Post,  By Associated Press,  February 10 LOS ANGELES — An ammonia leak that caused an emergency alert at the San Onofre nuclear plant in November was caused by employees who failed to recognize degraded equipment and fix it, federal regulators said Friday. Continue reading

February 11, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Canada’s emerging renewable energy power needs a national focus

Clean energy also needs political focus, Montreal Gazette, By TIM WEIS, Financial Post February 10, 2012 Whether it is the Keystone XL pipeline, the Northern Gateway pipeline or securing an export market in China, the oil sands have dominated
much of the recent energy discussions in Canada.

What might surprise many is that Canada is quietly emerging as a renewable energy leader, but it will take the same political focus
currently being put toward oil sands to ensure we retain and grow the jobs that are being created in the country’s emerging clean energy sector.

In 2011 Canada was sixth in the world in wind energy installations, and as recently as November 2011, Ernst & Young ranked Canada as the eighth most attractive country in the world for renewable energy investment, ahead of some traditional leaders including Denmark, Spain and Japan.

Despite having fewer than 35 million people, Canada has the sixth-largest electricity system on the planet, behind only China, the
United States, Russia, Japan and Germany. Given the size of our electricity system, perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that
Canada ought to be one of the leading markets for renewable electricity. Continue reading

February 11, 2012 Posted by | Canada, renewable | Leave a comment

Objection by Argentina to British nuclear submarine in South Atlantic

UK sent nuclear sub near Falklands, says Argentina, BBC News, 10 Feb 12, The UK says the HMS Dauntless is being sent to the South Atlantic as part of routine operations

Argentina’s foreign minister has accused the UK of sending a nuclear-armed submarine to the South Atlantic, after making an
official complaint to the UN over the Falklands dispute. Hector Timerman demanded that the British confirm the location of
nuclear submarines in the region. Continue reading

February 11, 2012 Posted by | politics international, SOUTH AMERICA | Leave a comment