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Far from being over, Japan’s government fears worse to come from Fukushima

Such an event would cause widespread nuclear fallout throughout the region and force the government to evacuate the nearly 10 million residents of Tokyo and surrounding areas, a scenario which government emergency planners are now taking into serious consideration.

It’s Not Over: Government Plans for the Worst: Forced Evacuation of Tokyo. Mac Slavo SHTF Plan.com, April 3rd, 2012  While it has for the most part disappeared from mainstream view, the Fukushima nuclear disaster is anything but over. In fact, the situation in Japan has gone from bad to worse.

Bottom line: There is no way to contain the radiation.

Even more alarming is that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and other agencies have warned that the nuclear storage pools (the containment units that are being used to cool the nuclear fuel) have been damaged and may collapse under their own weight. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Protest movement against nuclear power grows amongst rural Indians

“We have been holding a sit-in protest outside the Fatehabad mini-secretariat. We now plan to join hands with protesters fighting against the setting up of a nuclear plant in Jaitapur and those protesting in Koodankulam.”

Farmers are incensed that three elderly protesting farmers have already lost their lives in this agitation which has now completed over 580 days.

Protest against Haryana nuke plant intensifies http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/protest-against-haryana-nuke-plant-intensifies-152
April 3, 2012 By Rashme Sehgal  Farmers in Haryana have stepped up their campaign against the setting up of the Gorakhpur Nuclear Power Plant in the Fatehabad district of the state.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) has earmarked over 628 hectares of land to set up a 2,800-MW power plant which will use pressurised heavy water reactors at a cost of `13,000 crores. The villages earmarked for site selection include Gorakhpur, Kumaharia and Kajalhedi. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Nuclear dream turning sour in San Clemente, USA

“It’s easy to get distracted by the beauty here and not think about a nuclear meltdown,” he said. But he added he thinks about that more often. “It would be great to just shut it down.”

Residents Rethink a Nuclear Neighbor, Deteriorating Pipes, Japan Disaster Spark Calls to Close California Plant, but Shortages Are Feared WSJ, By TAMARA AUDI, 6 April 12 SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.—For three decades, the reactor domes of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station have been fixtures on the coastline here less than five miles south of this surfer’s paradise.

“You see it, you just don’t think about it,” said Dan Kenton, a 49-year-old San Clemente resident.

That appears to be changing. Concern over the plant’s safety is growing in communities around San Onofre—about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego—after officials found deteriorating steam pipes in both reactors earlier this year. Both are now shut….. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Fukushima nuclear plant not ‘under control’ as radioactive water spills

Tons of radioactive water spill from Fukushima nuclear plant http://rt.com/news/fukushima-nuclear-water-leak-378/  05 April, 2012, Officials at the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which acts as the operator of the crippled nuclear
facility, say there is reason to believe some of the 12 tons of radioactive water has flowed into the Pacific Ocean.
A leak was found in a pipe attached to a temporary decontamination system. The water, once it has been used to cool the reactors, contains massive amounts of radioactive substances and is put into the water-processing facility so it can be recycled for use as a coolant.
“Our officials confirmed that cooling water leaked at a joint in the pipes,” a TEPCO spokesman told reporters, adding that “it is possible that some of the water may have flowed outside the facility and pouredinto the ocean.”

This accident is the latest of several leaks of radioactive water at the plant, undermining the government’s claim that the shuttered  reactors were now under control.

Just last month, about 120 tons of radioactive water leaked at the plant’s water decontamination system and about 80 liters (21 gallons) seeped into the ocean, according to TEPCO. The plant, which is just north-east of Tokyo, was crippled by
meltdowns and explosions caused by Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami

April 6, 2012 Posted by | incidents, Japan | Leave a comment

America’s 2 new nukes are on the brink of death

Harvey Wasserman April 5, 2012
The only two US reactor projects now technically under construction are on the brink of death for financial reasons.

If they go under, there will almost certainly be no new reactors built here.

The much mythologized “nuclear renaissance” will be officially buried, and the US can take a definitive leap toward a green-powered future that will actually work and that won’t threaten the continent with radioactive contamination.

As this drama unfolds, the collapse of global nuclear power continues, Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

The Czech Republic’s cruel history of uranium mining

Around 80,000 people are believed to have been sentenced to work in the uranium mines by the Czechoslovak communist regime 

A cheap and plentiful source of labor was concocted by the communist regime as it turned on its real and imaginary enemies after taking power…. Brutal conditions in the mines and the camps

Czech historian produces death tally for communist uranium camps Czech historian says he has drawn up the first accurate death tally for the former communist regime’s uranium labor camps Czech Position.com Chris Johnstone | 05.04.2012 A Czech historian has drawn up the first list of prisoners who perished in the Czechoslovak communist regime’s infamous network of uranium mining camps. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | EUROPE, history, Reference, Uranium | 1 Comment

France wants to be sure of not being liable for nuclear accidents, in selling nukes to India

According to the new Rules of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Act, the foreign suppliers of nuclear material to Indian nuclear power plants would not be held liable for accidents caused by defective or faulty equipment supplied by them if the accident takes place after a guarantee period specified by them

France waits for India to clarify N-liability framework  IBN LiveNew Delhi, 5 April 12, : In the midst of the run-up to the French presidential elections, France has been in dialogue with India to clarify issues relating to the nuclear liability law, and is waiting for New Delhi to establish the legal framework before signing commercial contracts for setting up atomic reactors. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | France, India, Legal | Leave a comment

Los Angeles gets radioactive rain

(includes video) Radioactive Rain Detected in Los Angeles, LA Weekly ,  .http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/04/radiation_rain_los_angeles_fukushima.php  5 April 12,  Rain and mist that fell in Los Angeles last weekend was five times as radioactive as normal, environmental journalist and LA Weekly contributor Michael Collins reported on his website this week.

Collins tests samples with his own equipment and says that, on Saturday, he measured the highest proportion of radioactivity in the local environment since he began monitoring the local fallout from the Japanese Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in March of 2011:

One misty rain sample collected in downtown Santa Monica was over five times normal background radiation, the highest level in Los Angeles Basin rain since this reporter began sampling and testing different media March 15, 2011, four days after the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns begin.

He called the findings “shocking” and said his readings would qualify that sample as a hazardous material under the California Highway Patrol’s protocols.

Even background radiation Saturday night, which had apparently diminished significantly since his earlier sample, was 30 percent “hotter” than normal, he says.  Time for a good umbrella? Read more here.

.http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/04/radiation_rain_los_angeles_fukushima.php

April 6, 2012 Posted by | environment, USA | Leave a comment

Under pressure from TEPCO, Japan’s nuclear agency raised the radiation limit for Fukushima workers

NISA demanded the change to the radiation exposure limit after receiving a request from Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)

Gov agency sought to raise Fukushima radiation exposure limit http://www.houseofjapan.com/local/gov-agency-sought-to-raise-fukushima-radiation-exposure-limit  House of Japan, 5 April 12,  The government’s Nuclear and Industrial
Safety Agency (NISA) demanded the health ministry raise the allowable radiation exposure limit to 350 millisieverts effectively for emergency workers trying to bring the crippled Fukushima nuclear power station under control shortly after the ministry lifted the legal
exposure limit to 250 millisieverts from 100 millisieverts on March 14, 2011, it has been learned. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Environmental, security, location, incentives – all add up to a big future for renewable energy

Alternative Energy Stock Outlook – April 2012, By: Zacks Equity Research April 03, 2012 “……A worldwide industry association for solar photovoltaic electricity market, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) forecasts that the power generated from solar modules in Europe could be competitive in relation to conventional forms of energy by the end of the current decade. The major solar markets under survey were Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Britain…..
A major growth area in this space is Solar Energy…… Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, renewable | Leave a comment

Windstalk – the answer to opponents of wind energy

The symbolic power of bladeless wind turbines  http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/energy/blogs/the-symbolic-power-of-bladeless-wind-turbines Critics of renewable energy are obsessed with the costs and practicalities of cleantech right this instant. Visitors to Silicon Valley in the 1970s didn’t see the iPhone coming, either. There are countless innovative new ideas blowing in the wind. Mother Nature Network, Chris Turner 6 April 12,

…….3: “Bladeless Wind Power.” The wind energy plant in question is Windstalk, a wind turbine design without spinning blades that was created as part of a competition to help provide clean energy to Masdar, the sci-fi city being built in the desert outside Abu Dhabi……

Windstalk is notable because it addresses and pretty much completely solves the chief knock against wind power. Namely, the NIMBY thing. The fact that people don’t like giant rotating blades spinning on the horizon, making low-level rumbling soundswrecking the view and giving rise to all manner of specious health impact claims.
And Windstock’s also notable because of all the items on this list, it’s probably got the best shot of actually being built in the next few years. This is because of its affiliation with Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s crazily ambitious future city already rising from the sands of the Arabian desert. Masdar has been hatched as a model city for next-generation sustainability, a wholly self-sufficient, renewably powered district to eventually be occupied by 40,000 residents and 50,000 commuters. There are already solar installations at Masdar. A stretch of track for the Personal Rapid Transit pod vehicles is already hosting traffic. If Masdar’s deep-pocketed sky’s-the-limit dreamers decide Windstalk’s viable, its poles could actually be up and swaying and making power before long.
It’s fun to imagine what kind of wild, pioneering symbol that would represent – that this thing could jump from drawing board to grid in a few short years, changing the most basic understanding of what a wind turbine is all but overnight. Don’t like spinning blades? Wish turbines were quieter? Well, here you go, then!

April 6, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, renewable | 1 Comment

Wind power’s future – exciting innovations

The Future of Wind Power: 9 Cool Innovations http://www.treehugger.com/wind-technology/future-wind-power-9-cool-innovations.html Treehugger, 6 April 12, Derek Markham   Wind power is a great way to
generate clean renewable energy, and the innovations in wind technology being pursued over the last year or so are a reminder that with the right tools, we can turn the movement of the air above us into fuel for our energy-hungry lifestyles.


1. Airborne Wind Turbines………

2. Power from Low Speed Winds:…..

3. Bladeless Wind Power:……

4. Wind Turbine Lenses:…….

5. Vertical Axis Turbines:…..

6. Quiet Wind Turbines:…..

7. Wind Power Storage:…..

8. Community-Owned Wind Power:….

9. Multipurpose Offshore Wind Turbines:….

April 6, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, renewable | Leave a comment

Small Modular Reactors – the latest desperate effort to revive the nuclear idustry

Small Modular Reactors, [SMRs] the latest “rabbit out the nuclear hat,” are generally based on scaled down BWR or PWR technology and illustrate the nuclear industry’s schizophrenic attitude to reactor size…. it was clear that the AP600 [small nuclear reactor] was hopelessly uneconomic…  SMRs may turn out to be the latest in a long line of nuclear designs that looked good on paper, but could not make the transition to commercial technology

Prospects for Nuclear Power in 2012, The Energy Report 2 April 12, ”…….Technological Cul-de-Sac If plant life extensions can be achieved in France and the U.S. and Gen III+ does prove a blind alley, it raises the question of what options are open to the nuclear sector. Ten years ago, the industry answer would have been Generation IV designs. Unlike Gen III+, which evolved from existing Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs), these would be based on radical new technologies. Six technologies were selected by the major nuclear countries as the most promising.

However, 10 years on, they seem no closer to commercial deployment. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | Reference, technology, USA | Leave a comment

Wrong assumptions from the Fukushima nuclear disaster

World is ignoring most important lesson from Fukushima nuclear disaster
Fukushima’s most important lesson is this: Probability theory (that disaster is unlikely) failed us. If you have made assumptions, you are not prepared. Nuclear power plants should have multiple, reliable ways to cool reactors. Any nuclear plant that doesn’t heed this lesson is inviting disaster.  Christian Science Monitor By Kenichi Ohmae / April 5, 2012 TOKYO
A year has now passed since the complete core meltdown of three boiling water reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima No.1 plant. Because of the limited information issued by the Japanese government – and its insistence that the disaster was only a result of the unanticipated magnitude of the earthquake and tsunami – the world does not know what really happened and will thus draw the wrong lessons. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Business leaders welcome Los Angeles CLEAN LA Solar program

 The CLEAN LA Solar program will allow local property owners to sell solar power generated from rooftops and parking lots back to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP), using a mechanism called a feed-in tariff, or, in plain language, a solar cash-back program.

Major New Clean Energy Projects Lauded by Business, Labor, Environmental Organizations, HUFFINGTON POST, 5 April 12,  This week, there were two big clean energy projects announced in California that are remarkable for a couple of reasons. Together, these two projects will power hundreds of thousands of homes with clean, affordable solar energy. Continue reading →

April 6, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

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