nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Cover-up of nuclear collusion between USA and Japan at Fukushima

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has yet to disclose the truth behind his more disturbing decisions: first, the absence of stenographers and voice recordings at his emergency Cabinet meetings;

The high-level cover-up and lab analysis of cesium-isotope ratios indicate the Japanese nuclear establishment was illegally involved in the reprocessing of weapons-grade uranium at Fukushima No. 1 and probably two other civilian nuclear plants in northern Japan.

The collaboration between Washington and Tokyo in a covert nuclear-weapons program was a violation of international law

The World is Powerless Against Fukushima Fallout, Hyphen Submitted by New America Media, March 8, 2012 by Yoichi Shimatsu “……..Public at Risk From Official Silence At the molecular level inside a biological cell, gamma-ray bombardment rewrites the genetic code contained in the chromosomes, scrambling the elegant poetry of life into gibberish.

Since leukemia, cancers and birth defects can be falsely attributed to other disorders, the governments of North America, Europe and Asia along with international agencies can be counted on to remain silent or mount campaigns of misdiagnosis to protect their nuclear power and weapons programs, along with their food and travel industries. Bureaucrats, at heart and out of self-interest, are cowards. Continue reading →

March 9, 2012 Posted by | Japan, Reference, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Time that Israel came clean about its secret nuclear weapons

Come Out of the Nuclear Closet, NYT, Micah Zenko    MARCH 8, 2012 Israel has been a nuclear weapons state since May 1967, when Prime Minister Levi Eshkol ordered the assembly of two nuclear devices to be driven to the Egyptian border, in the event that Arab troops defeated the Israeli forces.

Over the past 45 years, Israel has refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, place its civilian nuclear program under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, or even
acknowledge that it has the bomb. Instead, Israeli officials such as Prime Minister Netanyahu have maintained, “We won’t be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East.”

It is time for Israel to come out of the nuclear closet.By maintaining this fiction, Israel has pigeonholed itself as an international pariah, allowing adversaries and the nonaligned movement to use Israeli intransigence as an excuse to slow progress on nuclear nonproliferation objectives, including preventing a nuclear Iran…..

There are three concrete steps that the Israeli government should take. First, provide transparency about the size, command and control, nuclear security features, and nonproliferation objectives of its nuclear arsenal, following the example of other states that have not signed the nonproliferation treaty. Second, in light of its intention to pursue civilian nuclear energy, sign a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency covering all existing or future nuclear facilities. Third, actively participate in international forums, like the conference on the W.M.D.-free Middle East to be held in Finland later this year. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/08/should-israel-accept-a-nuclear-ban/come-out-of-the-nuclear-closet

March 9, 2012 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

With or without tax credits, renewable energy is set to grow

renewable energy production will more than double by 2035 even without federal tax credits.

Renewable Energy Industry Poised for Growth Regardless of Tax Credits Market Watch, ,   NEW YORK, NY, Mar 08, 2012 –– Clean energy stocks have struggled considerably over the last month as concerns about a loss of subsidies and tax credits have led to growth concerns. The PowerShares Wilderhill Clean Energy Portfolio (PBW) is down more than 13 percent over the last month.

Despite the downswing, a recent report from the Energy Information Agency argues that renewable energy production is poised for growth regardless of tax credits. Continue reading →

March 9, 2012 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Democracy is not really possible with nuclear power

nuclear power is about to become less and less a creature of democracies……

In any country independent regulation is harder when the industry being regulated exists largely by government fiat. Yet, as our special report  this week explains, without governments private companies would simply not choose to build nuclear-power plants.

 new nuclear plants are likely only in still-regulated electricity markets such as those of the south-east……   the promise of a global transformation is gone. 

Nuclear power:The dream that failed A year after Fukushima, the future for nuclear power is not bright—for reasons of cost as much as safety The Economist Mar 10th 2012 | THE enormous power tucked away in the atomic nucleus, the chemist Frederick Soddy rhapsodised in 1908, could “transform a desert continent, thaw the frozen poles, and make the whole world one smiling Garden of Eden.” Militarily, that power has threatened the opposite, with its ability to make deserts out of gardens on an unparalleled scale. Idealists hoped that, in civil garb, it might redress the balance, providing a cheap, plentiful, reliable and safe source of electricity for centuries to come. But it has not. Nor does it soon seem likely to. Continue reading →

March 9, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Patrick Moore praises nuclear power, but the world does not believe him!

Dramatic fall in new nuclear power stations after Fukushima,   in Brussels,  and n. guardian.co.uk,  8 March 2012 The drop in construction work on new reactors may reflect waning interest in nuclear after the shutdown of the Japan reactor a year ago

The number of new nuclear power stations entering the construction phase fell dramatically last year compared with previous years, in the aftermath of the incident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan last March.

From 2008 to 2010, construction work began on 38 reactors around the world, but in 2011-12, there were only two construction starts, according to Steve Thomas, professor of energy studies at the University of Greenwich. Continue reading →

March 9, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

A Pandora’s box of scientific changes, following Fukushima nuclear disaster

The World is Powerless Against Fukushima Fallout, Hyphen Submitted by New America Media, March 8, 2012 by Yoichi Shimatsu “………Previously unknown types of explosive nuclear reactions occurring midair or underground, which have been misrepresented as “hydrogen blasts”
Expansion of a vast ozone hole over the Arctic Circle, now equal in area to the damaged upper atmosphere over the Antarctic, caused by radioactive iodine and xenon gas caught in the jet stream, leaving the Earth’s air supply unprotected and heightening the threat of skin
carcinoma
High-energy interactions of xenon gas (which decays into cesium) with incoming solar flares and artificial electromagnetic belts created by US, NATO and Russian missile-defense shields (this synergy is visible in the northern lights that emit a deep green color due to the
excitation of xenon, and it is no coincidence that three American nuclear power plants were incapacitated during the recent solar flare)
The growing possibility of mass extinction of marine life in the Pacific Ocean due to the nuclear contamination of major spawning waters for plankton and fish, the bottom of the food chain for higher life-forms, including whales and humans A rising threat to human reproductive health from ingestion of radioactive isotopes through food, drinking water and respiration,
resulting in mass abortions and population decline for Japan, a trend that will extend worldwide
Mutations of contagious pathogens, such as bird flu, due to genetic disorders in both microorganism and host species, including domesticated animals and wildlife….. …. . http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archive/2012/03/world-powerless-against-fukushima-fallout

March 9, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, environment, Reference | Leave a comment

Fukushima’s psychological trauma, as well as radiation cancer risk

Radiation is still leaking from the now-closed Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, though at a slower pace than it did in the weeks after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. It’s not immediately fatal but could show up as cancer or other illnesses years later.
The uncertainty breeds fear.

The [cancer] risk is cumulative. The radioactivity in one’s body builds up through various activities, including eating contaminated food every day or staying in a hot spot for an extended period.

Uncertain risks torment Japanese in nuclear zone, THE HINDU, 8 March 12,  Yoshiko Ota keeps her windows shut. She never hangs her laundry outdoors. Fearful of birth defects, she warns her daughters — never have children.

This is life with radiation, nearly one year after a tsunami-hit nuclear power plant began spewing it into Ota’s neighbourhood, 60 km away. She’s so worried that she has broken out in hives.

“The government spokesman keeps saying there are no immediate health effects,” the 48-year-old nursery school worker says. “He’s not talking about 10 years or 20 years later. He must think the people of Fukushima are fools. It’s not really OK to live here,” she says. “But we live here.” Continue reading →

March 8, 2012 Posted by | Japan, psychology - mental health | Leave a comment

India’s democracy disappearing under nuclear lobby pressure?

‘The fact that the government is going to the extent of cancelling legitimately granted visas clearly shows that they don’t want people from Japan to come to India and share their experience’ said Karuna Raina of the green group. Kobayashi helped save children from
radiation as part of a network of local mothers……

Scared India denies visa to nuclear activist and Fukushima disaster survivor Mail Online India, By DINESH C SHARMA, 7th March 2012 ‘We are a democracy, we are not like China’. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh professed while making his ‘foreign hand behind nuclear protests’ remark recently.
However, actions of his government show that India is behaving much like China when it comes to muzzling dissent. The latest example of the government’s intolerant behaviour is denying a survivor of Fukushima disaster from visiting nuclear protest hotspots in India on the eve of the first anniversary of the Japanese nuclear accident on March 11. Continue reading →

March 8, 2012 Posted by | civil liberties, India | Leave a comment

77% of Americans want government loans for renewable energy, not nuclear

More than three out of four Americans (77 percent) would support “a shift of federal loan-guarantee support for energy away from nuclear reactors” in favor of wind and solar power.

Survey: Americans Not Warming Up to Nuclear Power One Year After Fukushima, Market Watch, WASHINGTON, March 7, 2012  Contrary to Industry Predictions, Reactor Disaster Seen As Having a”Lasting Chill” on Perceptions;

It’s Not All Fukushima: 3 in 5 Americans Less Supportive Due to Woes of U.S. Nuclear Industry in Last Year. Continue reading →

March 8, 2012 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

Plenty of future work for Japan’s nuclear professionals – in shutting down the world’s nuclear reactors

concerns over where Japan’s nuclear professionals will end up. We believe, however, that this concern needs to be reframed. There are more than 430 nuclear reactors in the world, and one by one they will all reach the end of their service lives. Regardless of the future paths of nuclear policies around the world, there will be plenty of reactors that need to be shut down.

Editorial: Time to say goodbye to nuclear power, Mainichi Daily News, 7 March 12,   The illusion of nuclear power safety has been torn out by the root. The Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed the great waves of March 11 last year made sure of that.. Continue reading →

March 8, 2012 Posted by | employment, Japan | Leave a comment

Move to close Mühleberg atomic plant, then Beznau

Future of nuclear plant on shaky ground  by Clare O’Dea, swissinfo.ch  Mar 7, 2012 The Mühleberg atomic plant near Bern will lose its operating licence at the end of June 2013 on security grounds, the Federal Administrative Court has ruled…. In its judgment on Mühleberg, the court said various factors imposed a limit on the plant’s viability, including the condition of the reactor’s core shroud, which has fissures in it.

Other security questions cited were the inconclusive evaluations on security in the event of an earthquake and the absence of a cooling system independent of the Aare river…. The court’s decision has been hailed as a victory by anti-nuclear campaigners who swiftly called for the same action to be taken for Switzerland’s and the world’s oldest nuclear power plant Beznau.

Greenpeace called it “a stage victory for the safety of the Swiss population”, while the anti-nuclear organisation Swiss Energy Foundation (SES) said the verdict was a slap in the face for the federal authorities, whose work had clearly been called in
question…. the lawyer for the group that pursued the case against BKW – more than 100 local residents and an environmental group – said the decision spelled the end of Mühleberg. “I do not think that BKW is going to make such an investment within a year,” Rainer Weibel told Swiss television.

Shaky ground With the future of Mühleberg now on shaky ground, the focus will shift to the Beznau I plant in canton Aarau, commissioned in 1969.

Critics say safety issues prove Beznau’s time is up, claiming the emergency power supply is unreliable, the reactor cover has corrosion problems and the steel container has cracks….
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/Future_of_nuclear_plant_on_shaky_ground.html?cid=32250844

March 8, 2012 Posted by | safety, Switzerland | Leave a comment

Misunderstanding, wrong translation of Ahmadinejad’s supposed words “Israel must be wiped off the map”

from Wikileaks: Translation controversy Many news sources repeated the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting statement by Ahmadinejad that “Israel must be wiped off the map”,[5][6] an English idiom which means to “cause a place to stop existing”,[7] or to “obliterate totally”,[8] or “destroy completely”.[9]

Ahmadinejad’s phrase was “بايد از صفحه روزگار محو شود” according to the text published on the President’s Office’s website.[10]

The translation presented by the official Islamic Republic News Agency has been challenged by Arash Norouzi, who says the statement “wiped off the map” was never made and that Ahmadinejad did not refer to the nation or land mass of Israel, but to the “regime occupying Jerusalem”. Norouzi translated the original Persian to English, with the result, “the Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.”[11] Juan Cole, a University of Michigan Professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History, agrees that Ahmadinejad’s statement should be translated as, “the Imam said that this regime occupying Jerusalem (een rezhim-e eshghalgar-e qods) must [vanish from] the page of time (bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad).[12] According to Cole, “Ahmadinejad did not say he was going to ‘wipe Israel off the map’ because no such idiom exists in Persian.” Instead, “he did say he hoped its regime, i.e., a Jewish-Zionist state occupying Jerusalem, would collapse.”[13] The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translated the phrase similarly, as “this regime” must be “eliminated from the pages of history.”[14]

Iranian government sources denied that Ahmadinejad issued any sort of threat. On 20 February 2006, Iran’s foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference: “How is it possible to remove a country from the map? He is talking about the regime. We do not recognize legally this regime.”[15][16][17]

March 8, 2012 Posted by | history, Iran, Reference, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Even Netanyatu’s supporters offended by his inflammatory remarks about Iran

Netanyahu’s references to Holocaust in relation to Iran nuclear threat bother some Israelis Washington Post By Associated Press, March 7 JERUSALEM — The Israeli prime minister’s linking of Iran to Nazi Germany evoked ringing applause this week at a gathering of a pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington. Back home, though, it drew some heavy criticism.

The Nazi Holocaust of World War II is a delicate and charged topic in Israel, and many felt Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated equating of the Nazis with the possible modern-day threat of a nuclear-armed Iran went too far..

…. His parallels were clear: Just as the Nazis tried to exterminate European Jewry during World War II, Netanyahu implied that Iran’s apparent pursuit of nuclear weapons is part of a plot to wipe Israel off the map. “Never again” is the signature phrase of the Jewish pledge that the Holocaust must not be repeated.

Critics accused Netanyahu of both cheapening the memory of the Holocaust and unnecessarily escalating tensions at a time when the U.S. was urging restraint….. Yehuda Bauer, a Holocaust scholar at Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, said Netanyahu’s Auschwitz analogy in Washington this week was “sheer nonsense.” While acknowledging the dangers of a nuclear Iran, Bauer said, “to bring up Auschwitz is a cheap way of gaining public attention.”
The uproar caused some discomfort even among Netanyahu’s supporters.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/netanyahus-references-to-holocaust-in-relation-to-iran-nuclear-threat-bother-some-israelis/2012/03/07/gIQAFC6GxR_story.html

March 8, 2012 Posted by | Israel, politics international | Leave a comment

Early shutdown for nuclear power plant – court orders

Swiss court orders nuclear plant offline in 2013  By Katharina BartMar 7, 2012  ZURICH, March 7 (Reuters) – A Swiss court ruled that Switzerland’s Muehleberg nuclear power plant must go offline next year for security reasons, according to a judgment made public on Wednesday.

“The state of the nuclear shell, the assessment of the plant’s resistance to withstand earthquakes which is not complete, and lacking cooling possibilities independent of the river Aare allow operations of Muehleberg only up to mid 2013 at the most,” the federal
administrative court said in a ruling handed down March 1.

The ruling backs residents near to the plan in their bid to have the court overturn a previous decision by environment, transport energy and communication department UVEK to grant a longer operational period…

.. Muehleberg, built in 1972, is one of the plants frequently cited by opponents of nuclear energy as ripe for mothballing. The government decided to scrap plans to build new nuclear reactors after Fukushima shook public confidence in the industry. Until now, it had not planned to shut existing power plants prematurely…. http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL5E8E771P20120307

March 8, 2012 Posted by | Legal, Switzerland | Leave a comment

Conflict of interest in India’s nuclear regulation

 In India, all Indian nuclear plants are in the public sector and so are the agencies that exercise regulatory functions and promotional responsibilities. In this situation, conflict of interest between regulation and promotion is inevitable.

How Fukushima is relevant to Kudankulam, THE HINDU, T. N. SRINIVASAN, T. S. GOPI RETHINARAJ, SURYA SETHI, 8 March 12, “……REGULATORY INDEPENDENCE The Fukushima accident highlighted the need for the independence of regulators from plant operators. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has long been criticised for being subservient to DAE, the promoting organisation for nuclear power.

After Fukushima, the establishment of a truly independent regulator has been promised.
Currently, institutional deficiencies are structurally inbuilt and hard to eliminate. If they remain, the credibility and autonomy of the regulator cannot be ensured. Historically, nuclear policymaking in India was not transparent and involved only a handful of people in the
government. Continue reading →

March 8, 2012 Posted by | India, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »