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Rain and mud bring radioactivity to areas in Tokyo park

Radiation hotspots found in Tokyo park, June 26, 2012, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN Radiation levels exceeding official standards have been detected at a park in Tokyo, after a metropolitan government inspection carried out under pressure from the Japanese Communist Party.

The Tokyo metropolitan government said June 25 that it had detected a maximum radiation reading of 1.22 microsieverts per hour at Mizumoto Park in Katsushika Ward. Officials took readings at two points in the shrubbery in the parking areas. Both readings exceeded the central government standard for decontamination of 1 microsievert per hour above background radiation. The metropolitan government said it will decontaminate the area.

The cause of the high radiation levels is still being investigated, but officials say both spots are likely places where rainwater and mud build up….. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201206260057

June 27, 2012 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

More costs, more delays for cleanup of USA’s most radioactive nuclear waste site

Today, it is the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, with cleanup expected to last decades.

In March, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board ruled that the agency lacks necessary information to resolve some problems and establish a complete safety plan.

Hanford waste plant sees new costs, delays USA Today, By Shannon Dininny, 26 June 12, KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — A new cost estimate and construction schedule for a massive waste plant being built at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site will be delayed at least a year as workers try to resolve serious technical problems raised by whistleblowers about design and safety, the U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday.

The $12.3 billion plant at south-central Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation is being built to convert highly radioactive waste into a stable glass form for permanent disposal underground.
The plant is currently scheduled to begin operating in 2019, but several workers have raised concerns about safety, particularly about erosion and corrosion in tanks and piping inside the plant.
The issues are significant because the problem areas are inside so-called black cells, which will be closed off and inaccessible due to high radioactivity after the plant begins operating. Continue reading →

June 27, 2012 Posted by | Reference, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Same old price doldrums for the uranium industry

Spot uranium price unchanged at $50.75/lb U3O8 in weak market, Washington (Platts)–26 Jun2012 The spot price for uranium was unchanged over the last week at about $50.75/lb U3O8, prompting one analyst to describe the market as”stuck” with few buyers or sellers anxious to make a deal.

TradeTech on Friday kept its weekly price at $50.75/lb, saying that spot uranium demand “continues to be dominated by highly price sensitive and discretionary demand, and while spot supplies are currently sufficient to meet demand [and] sellers are not actively seeking to push material to the market.”… http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/8439315

June 27, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Not a good look for the USA – Nuclear Regulatory Commission can override State’s wishes

Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs

Not a good look for the USA.

It seems now that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and its friends, the nuclear industry, can now override any State in America that wants to get rid of dirty, dangerous nuclear energy – Christina Macpherson

“The New England Coalition, and all Vermonters, have now been deprived of the right that was guaranteed to them by Congress, to have a say in how this plant affects clean water,”

State Loses Another Legal Round In Vt. Yankee Relicensing, Vermont Public Radio, 06/26/12, John Dillon A federal court has handed the state of Vermont another loss in its ongoing challenge to Vermont Yankee’s operating license.
The Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington rejected the state’s arguments that the new 20-year license was invalid because Entergy Vermont Yankee failed to get a new water quality permit.
The court found Vermont missed its chance to raise the issue before the Nuclear Regulator Commission. Continue reading →

June 27, 2012 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Conflicting reports about French nationals held by rebels in Central African Republic

Bakouma lawmaker Alima Diarra said the rebels seized five French nationals and two locals. But there are conflicting reports over whether the seven were hostages……French authorities are talking with local authorities and Areva about what to do next.

Foreigners not held in Central African Republic, The Telegraph June 26, 2012  By HIPPOLYTE MARBOUA — Associated Press BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC — Authorities in the Central African Republic said that rebels had released the foreigners they were holding after attacking a French uranium exploration site, even though officials with the company in France denied that the expatriates had ever been kidnapped.

A military official in Bakouma, where the site is, said that a plane was sent to pick up five French nationals and two locals to take them to the capital, Bangui. Rebels on Sunday attacked the exploration site in Bakouma, operated by French company Areva. Continue reading →

June 27, 2012 Posted by | AFRICA, incidents | Leave a comment

AREVA uranium site in Central Africa attacked by gunmen

Gunmen attack French uranium plant, Times Live, Sapa-AFP | 25 June, 2012 Gunmen have attacked a uranium plant operated by French nuclear power giant Areva at Bakouma in the southeast of the Central African Republic, army and French diplomatic sources said yesterday.

“A violent clash on Sunday afternoon pitted” Central African troops against “an unidentified group of armed men attempting to launch an assault on the site of mining company Areva,” a military statementsaid…. http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2012/06/25/gunmen-attack-french-uranium-plant

June 27, 2012 Posted by | AFRICA, incidents | Leave a comment

Japanese utility shareholders meetings – local governments will demand nuclear power shutdown

Local governments to demand change at utility shareholders’ meetings, June 26, 2012 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN Long seen as “silent” shareholders, local governments are expected to demand bold reforms, such as abolishing nuclear power plants, at the general shareholders’ meetings of electric utilities.

But they may not have enough voting power to force big changes in the industry. All 10 of Japan’s regional electric power companies, except for Okinawa Electric Power Co., are scheduled to hold their shareholders’ meetings on June 27.

At Kansai Electric Power Co.’s meeting, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto is set to propose “the abolition of all of its nuclear power plants as soon as possible” in company’s articles of incorporation. The city of Osaka is the largest shareholder of Kansai Electric, with a 9.37-percent stake in terms of voting rights……
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201206260079

June 27, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Growing interest in UK for farming the wind and the sunlight

UK: Concern about energy security ‘sparks rise in interest in developing renewable schemes’ EADT 24, UK , June 24, 2012  Growing concern about climate change and energy security has sparked the country-wide development of renewable energy facilities and commercial interest from landowners and developers, says surveyors’ organisation RICS. Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

Thousands protest in Japan and beyond, against restart of nuclear reactors

Protests in Japan Over Nuclear Plant Restarts, By Jack Phillips Epoch Times 24 June 12, Tens of thousands of Japanese people took to the streets over the weekend in Tokyo and Osaka to protest the government’s plan to restart two reactors in Fukui Prefecture—the first restarts since all nuclear facilities were shut for inspection after last year’s tsunami-triggered and nuclear disaster.

“The government’s decision (to reactivate the Oi reactors) is folly. We should not leave it to the next generation to solve the energy issue,” a 42-year-old woman from the city of Kofu told the Japan Times, and was joined by 45,000 other people at a rally in Tokyo Friday…..

“They are trying to scare us by saying power supplies may run out even if the reactors are restarted,” one protester was quoted as saying….. There were also protests at Japanese consulates on Pacific Coast and in the U.S. cities of San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon .http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/protests-in-japan-over-nuclear-plant-restarts-256329.html

June 25, 2012 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Typhoons, tornadoes, threaten crippled Fukushima nuclear plant

Fukushima plant faces typhoon summer with added tornado threat, Fuel Fix June 22, 2012 Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501)’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant faces its second typhoon season since the March 11 disaster last year, raising the risk of further radiation leaks if storms thrash exposed pools of uranium fuel rods or tanks holding contaminated water. Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Philippines – a call for renewable energy

“Previously more expensive geothermal and biomass power are now competitive with coal in terms of generation cost, with wind and solar expected to reach grid parity within the decade,”


WWF urges government: Go for clean energy, Philippine Daily Inquirer TJ Burgonio, June 25th, 2012 The government should stop relying on “quick fixes” and open the door to clean and cheap renewable energy sources Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Goodnight and goodbye for San Onofre nuclear plant?

Instead of spending the next five years figuring out how to keep the plant going indefinitely, Edison should be using that time to develop other ways to generate the needed power, especially from reliable, sustainable sources such as solar and wind.

 Now is the perfect time for Edison, and the state as a whole, to begin the planning for a non-nuclear future.

San Onofre’s cloudy future Can the damaged nuclear power plant be repaired and restarted? And if so, what then?  LA Times, June 24, 2012 These are dark days at the San Onofre nuclear plant just south of Orange County. Both of its reactors have been shut down for more than four months, when abnormal “thinning” was discovered in the tubes of recently installed steam generators. Neither reactor will come back on line this summer, and after that, it’s still unclear whether one or both will be switched on again and if so, at full power or partial — or whether they’ll stay shut for the foreseeable future.

On Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission provided a troubling assessment of the situation at San Onofre. A flaw in the design of the new generators — which cost ratepayers $671 million to build — appears to be responsible for making their tightly bundled tubes vibrate too much and rub together. The result is an alarming level of wear in equipment that is still in its relative infancy, especially in Unit 3, where, according to NRC officials, the damage reaches a level far beyond what’s been seen before in this nation’s nuclear industry. The rupture of one or more tubes could release radiation……. Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Wife claims that politician fled from Tokyo in fear of radiation

Ozawa fled radiation, wife claims, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 24 June 12, The wife of former Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa has accused him of fleeing from Tokyo in fear of radiation shortly after the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

The end of cheap coal and the rise of renewable energy

Cheap Coal Is Dead. Long Live Renewable Age (Part 1) By Carl Pope, Bloomberg June 20, 2012  Sustainable Energy for All” is the main theme for this week’s Rio+20 United Nations gathering in Brazil. The challenge of making energy both accessible and sustainable has grown more complicated in the past year or so, and also more exciting.

These are tough times for coal and other high-carbon sources of energy, while the news about clean energy is more promising. Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Liu Li-erh calls for a nuclear free Taiwan

we have about 8,000 spent fuel rods stored in the cooling pool at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant [in Wanli District (萬里), New Taipei City] and a total of about 16,000 throughout the country

in February France’s Le Monde newspaper warned about the risk from poor management of spent fuel rods at the Guosheng plant.

Many Japanese companies and government offices have saved up to 50 percent on their electricity consumption since the disaster, “so Taiwan can surely do the same to end our reliance on nuclear power

Now is time to go nuclear-free: author, Taipei Times By Lee I-chia  24 June 12, Tokyo-based Taiwanese writer Liu Li-erh (劉黎兒) yesterday in Taipei shared her latest fact-finding from Japan to say that now is the best time to put a halt to nuclear power in Taiwan… Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | Taiwan, wastes | Leave a comment

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