Call to protect Selous Game Reserve from uranium mining
The radioactive wastes pose a serious threat to Selous Game Reserve which is home to the world’s largest elephant population and other wildlife. No proven methods exist to keep the radioactive and toxic slush and liquids from seeping into surface waters, aquifers or spreading with the dry season wind into the Reserve.
The environmental groups urge the World Heritage Committee to reconsider its decision on the Selous Game Reserve Boundary Change and call upon the Government of Tanzania to refrain from licensing a uranium mine in Selous Game Reserve or on lands cut out from it.
World Heritage Comittee Decision on Selous Game Reserve Boundary Changes uranium-network.org, Freiburg, Germany Gunter Wippel , Elephants, Rhinos and the environment under threat from 60 million tons of radioactive waste as World Heritage Committee agrees boundary change that will allow uranium mining at the Tanzania Selous Game Reserve – a World Heritage site. Freiburg, Germany, July 30, 2012
A foreign uranium mining conglomerate will be allowed to exploit the precious Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania after the World Heritage Committee (WHC) decided, at its July 2012 session in Russia, to accept what was described as a “minor boundary change” of the site. The change had been requested by the Government of Tanzania, in order to make way for the development of a major uranium mine, Mkuju River Uranium Project, owned by Russian ARMZ and Canadian Uranium One.
The decision to allow the boundary change would allow the Mkuju River uranium project, situated in the South of the Selous Game Reserve at its transition to the Selous Niassa Wildlife Corridor, to go forward. The Tanzanian Government lobbied heavily for the boundary change, after declaring its intent to ” win the battle” against the UNESCO WHC.
Dozens of environmental groups around the world, many of them members of the German-based Uranium Network, decried the WHC decision which could lead to the creation of 60 million tons of radioactive and poisonous waste by the mine during its 10-year lifespan (139 million tons if a projected extension of the mine should be implemented) Continue reading
Nuclear war danger in USA’s Air-Sea Battle plan
US blueprint for war with China flawed and could spark nuclear strikes, says expert http://www.melbournetimesweekly.com.au/news/world/world/general/us-blueprint-for-war-with-china-flawed-and-could-spark-nuclear-strikes-says-expert/2646720.aspx DYLAN WELCH 09 Aug, 2012 THE US government might like to deny it, but Barack Obama’s former intelligence chief has confirmed China is a principal target of a major US war plan.
The American plan, known in Washington as Air-Sea Battle, is strategically flawed, Australia’s foremost regional defence expert, Hugh White, said, and risks escalating a US-China struggle to the level of nuclear strikes. It is also known to have angered the Chinese military, and the confirmation is likely to be viewed with displeasure in Beijing. Continue reading
Unlike Romney, President Obama is backing wind energy industry
Obama knocks Romney on renewable energy, tax shelter Jeff Mason , August 9, 2012 PUEBLO, Colorado (Reuters) – President Barack Obama, trying to blunt rival Mitt Romney’s attacks on his economic record, accused the Republican on Thursday of promoting policies that would hurt renewable energy and cost jobs in important political swing states.
On the second day of a tour through Colorado, a politically divided state that could be key in deciding the November 6 election, Obama portrayed federal tax credits for the wind industry as a critical economic necessity that Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, would nix.
“At a moment when homegrown energy – renewable energy – is creating new jobs in states like Colorado and Iowa, my opponent wants to end tax credits for wind energy producers,” Obama told a crowd of some 3,500 people at the Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo.
The industry supports 5,000 jobs across Colorado, and 37,000 jobs would be at risk nationwide without the credits, he said.
“It’s time to stop spending billions in taxpayer subsidies on an oil industry that is already making a lot of profit,” Obama said. “Let’s keep investing in new energy sources that have never been more promising.”
The White House has made helping the renewable energy sector a centerpiece of Obama’s first term in office…
TEPCO: Fukushima workers’ lead shields masked radiation readings
Lead shields masked radiation readings up to 30% August 09, 2012 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN Lead radiation shields forced on workers at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to cover their dosimeters masked radiation readings by about 30 percent. Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the plant, and Tokyo Energy and Systems Inc., a TEPCO group company, made the admission Aug. 8 after a test. Continue reading
Diplomacy the way to go: Iran not close to making nuclear weapons
U.S. still believes Iran not on verge of nuclear weapon Aug 9, 2012 (Reuters) – The United States still believes that Iran is not on the verge of having a nuclear weapon and that Tehran has not made a decision to pursue one, U.S. officials said on Thursday…..
a White House National Security Council spokesman disputed the Israeli reports, saying the U.S. intelligence assessment of Iran’s nuclear activities had not changed since intelligence officials delivered testimony to Congress on the issue earlier this year.
“We believe that there is time and space to continue to pursue a diplomatic path, backed by growing international pressure on the Iranian government,” the spokesman said. “We continue to assess that Iran is not on the verge of achieving a nuclear weapon.”…. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/09/us-israel-iran-usa-idUSBRE8781GS20120809
How fast breeder nuclear reactors were tried in USA, and failed
Despite the efforts of the country’s best minds and nearly limitless budgets, the breeder program did not work. And it was not only the Clinch River team who failed. Breeder programs in Germany, France and the United Kingdom also could not make the leap from lab experiment to commercially viable practice.
United States Circumvented Laws To Help Japan Accumulate Tons of Plutonium, DC Bureau By Joseph Trento, April 9th, 2012.….Reversing Course – Reagan Undermines Carter’s Policies Richard Kennedy One of the most passionate nuclear believers was a career bureaucrat named Richard Kennedy. A former Army officer, he labored in obscurity at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, his career held hostage by his vehement opposition to President Carter’s nuclear policies. All of that changed after Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980. One of Reagan’s first acts as president was to effectively reverse Carter’s nuclear doctrine, which had barred the United States from using plutonium in civilian power projects with America’s friends or adversaries.
Reagan made Kennedy his right-hand man for nuclear affairs. From his new post as Ambassador at Large for Nuclear Energy, Kennedy oversaw the dismantling of the Carter policies he despised. The new administration rejuvenated American and international reliance on plutonium. Continue reading
Japan’s handling of nuclear disaster far worse than Soviet Russia’s in Chernobyl
If Japan takes evacuation measures equivalent in scale to that following the Chernobyl disaster, it will need to relocate several millions of people in this densely populated country,
*Asahi* Japan Physicist: Several millions will need to be evacuated from around Fukushima plant if gov’t used same scale as after Chernobyl — Japan’s handling of disaster “far worse” than Soviet Union http://enenews.com/asahi-japan-physicist-several-millions-will-need-to-be-evacuated-from-around-fukushima-plant-if-govt-used-same-scale-as-after-chernobyl-japans-handling-of-disaster-is-far-worse August 9th, 2012
By ENENews (Subscription Only) Title: INTERVIEW/ Yuko Fujita: Lone
wolf physicist calls for Nagasaki’s awakening
Source: AJW Asahi Shimbun
Author: HIROSHI MATSUBARA
Date: August 10, 2012 Continue reading
Report: “Global public sentiment is still vehemently anti-nuclear” —
Report: “Global public sentiment is still vehemently anti-nuclear” — “Extreme public resistance” in Japan, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland… http://enenews.com/report-global-public-sentiment-is-still-vehemently-anti-nuclear-extreme-public-resistance-in-japan-italy-germany-belgium-switzerland August 8th, 2012
By ENENews
Title: Safety and technology advances not easing nuclear anxiety
Source: ESI Africa
Date: August 7, 2012
[…]
Title: Safety and technology advances not easing nuclear anxiety
Countries including Japan, Italy, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland have all experienced extreme public resistance and policy changes regarding nuclear power, with the latter three nations opting to completely end production by 2034.
Prior to the Fukishima catastrophe, Japan had ambitious plans to construct nine new reactors by 2020, and another five by 2030. Japan will continue to use nuclear power as part of its energy mix, but the shock of 2011 compounded by the following public backlash has forced the government to rethink its plans.
TEPCO ‘doctored’ video of Fukushima conference
Yomiuri: Tepco has ‘heavily altered’ video footage — Expert suspects images have been altered more than necessary http://enenews.com/yomiuri-tepco-has-heavily-altered-video-footage-expert-suspects-images-have-been-altered-more-than-necessary August 7th, 2012 By ENENews
Title: TEPCO video heavily altered / Alternation shows utility’s reluctance to make information available
Source: The Yomiuri Shimbun
Date: Aug. 8, 2012
The recently disclosed video of Tokyo Electric Power Co. teleconferences that took place just after the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has been significantly altered, with many images blurred and audio heavily obscured. Continue reading
Renewable energy – matching electricity supplies to demands
MATCHING SUPPLIES OF ELECTRICITY TO VARIABLE DEMANDS FOR ELECTRICITY, DESERTEC UK, 9 Aug 12 It is sometimes suggested that renewable sources of electricity cannot provide more than about 20% of our electricity supplies because they are intermittent or variable. But all sources of electricity are intermittent because they need to be taken out of service for scheduled maintenance and because, like any kind of equipment, they are liable to unscheduled breakdowns. With all sources of power, load factors are normally well short of 100%.
The variability of sources such as wind power is much less of an issue than is sometimes suggested, as described in Managing Variability (PDF, 402 KB, a report by independent consultant David Milborrow commissioned by Greenpeace, WWF, RSPB, Friends of the Earth, July 2009).
Not only are all sources of electricity intermittent, and many of them are variable, but the demand for electricity is variable too—and there can be quite large changes from one minute to the next. The often-quoted example is how there can be a sharp peak in demand for electricity when there is a commercial break in a popular TV programme and many people go and put the kettle on to make a cup of tea.
There is a range of techniques available for matching supplies with constantly varying demands. When electricity supply systems are properly engineered, they should be able to accommodate sources of electricity that are 100% renewable.
Any or all of the following techniques may be used:
Large-scale ‘HVDC’ transmission grids. In an area like Europe, there are several potential benefits from building a ‘supergrid’ of highly-efficient HVDC transmission lines to link existing HVAC transmission grids (see electricity transmission grids). One of the most important benefits is that this kind of large-scale grid can make it much easier to match variable supplies with variable demands. For example, the wind may stop blowing in any one spot but it almost never stops blowing everywhere across a wide area like Europe. If there is a peak in demand in any one area, it can almost always be met from spare capacity in one or more other areas. Large-scale storage facilities, such as pumped-storage systems in Norway and the Alps, may be widely shared. Submarine HVDC transmission lines that have been laid between Norway and Denmark and between Norway and the Netherlands enable both pairs of countries to benefit in this way.- Complementary sources of power……
- Power on demand. … . http://www.desertec-uk.org.uk/elec_eng/supply_demand.html
How USA secretly transferred nuclear weapons research to Japan
United States Circumvented Laws To Help Japan Accumulate Tons of Plutonium, DC Bureau By Joseph Trento, April 9th, 2012 National Security News Service The United States deliberately allowed Japan access to the United States’ most secret nuclear weapons facilities while it transferred tens of billions of dollars worth of American tax paid research that has allowed Japan to amass 70 tons of weapons grade plutonium since the 1980s, a National Security News Service investigation reveals. These activities repeatedly violated U.S. laws regarding controls of sensitive nuclear materials that could be diverted to weapons programs in Japan. The NSNS investigation found that the United States has known about a secret nuclear weapons program in Japan since the 1960s, according to CIA reports.
The diversion of U.S. classified technology began during the Reagan administration after it allowed a $10 billion reactor sale to China. Japan protested that sensitive technology was being sold to a potential nuclear adversary. The Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations permitted sensitive technology and nuclear materials to be transferred to Japan despite laws and treaties preventing such transfers. Highly sensitive technology on plutonium separation from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site and Hanford nuclear weapons complex, as well as tens of billions of dollars worth of breeder reactor research was turned over to Japan with almost no safeguards against proliferation. Japanese scientist and technicians were given access to both Hanford and Savannah River as part of the transfer process.
While Japan has refrained from deploying nuclear weapons and remains under an umbrella of U.S. nuclear protection, NSNS has learned that the country has used its electrical utility companies as a cover to allow the country to amass enough nuclear weapons materials to build a nuclear arsenal larger than China, India and Pakistan combined.
This deliberate proliferation by the United States fuels arguments by countries like Iran that the original nuclear powers engage in proliferation despite treaty and internal legal obligations. Russia, France, Great Britain as well as the United States created civilian nuclear power industries around the world from their weapons complexes that amount to government-owned or subsidized industries. Israel, like Japan, has been a major beneficiary and, like Japan, has had nuclear weapons capabilities since the 1960s.
A year ago a natural disaster combined with a man-made tragedy decimated Northern Japan and came close to making Tokyo, a city of 30 million people, uninhabitable. Nuclear tragedies plague Japan’s modern history. It is the only nation in the world attacked with nuclear weapons. In March 2011, after a tsunami swept on shore, hydrogen explosions and the subsequent meltdowns of three reactors at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant spewed radiation across the region. Like the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan will face the aftermath for generations. A twelve-mile area around the site is considered uninhabitable. It is a national sacrifice zone. ……..http://www.dcbureau.org/201204097128/national-security-news-service/united-states-circumvented-laws-to-help-japan-accumulate-tons-of-plutonium.html
Belgium Halts One Nuclear Reactor On Suspicion of Cracks
Belgium Halts One Nuclear Reactor On Suspicion of Cracks – Regulator Fox Business August 08, 2012 Dow Jones Newswires Belgium has temporarily shut one of its seven nuclear power reactors on suspicion that one of its components might be cracked, the
country’s atomic power regulator said Wednesday.
“We have found anomalies,” said Karina De Beule, spokesman for the ACFN, the federal agency for nuclear control….. GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR), the French energy giant that operates Belgian nuclear plans through its unit Electrabel, confirmed that the reactor will remain closed. “The reactor has been halted since June for regular control. Halt for maintenance has been extended, to allow additional inspections,” a company spokesman said.
The reactor that’s been shut is expected to be decommissioned in 2022.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/08/08/belgium-halts-one-nuclear-reactor-on-suspicion-cracks-regulator/#ixzz235hmrmgc
According to prosecution, 82 year old anti nuclear nun is “violent”, “a danger to community”
Prosecutor Kirby……asserting that their action was a “crime of violence.” Kirby got worked up enough to hiss, “Their description of nonviolence is not right. They are willing to die for what they believe. That’s violence.”
Unarmed Octogenarian Nun Called ‘Danger to Community’ by Prosecutors Nuclear Security Unmasked by JOHN LaFORGE, AUGUST 08, 2012 “……. something our nuclear war mafia hates as much as vampires hate daylight — is that the gravity of the Y-12 shut-down, along with the government’s wish to keep the interveners behind bars, moved prosecutors to up the charges. The three were at first charged only with federal trespass.
On Aug. 3, prosecutors added a felony count — “willful and malicious destruction or injury to a structure, conveyance, personal or real property” or its attempt — which carries a max of 5 years in prison, 3 years’ probation, and/or a $250,000 fine. Continue reading
USA’s mounting nuclear wastes influenced NRC decision to halt reactor licensing
More than 65,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel is stored at operating and shuttered reactor sites across the country. But those 72 sites in 34 states are filling up. Some 2,000 additional tons of waste are produced each year, according to a report released this year by the president’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. …..
As Nuclear Waste Problem Persists, Federal Regulators Freeze Licensing for Reactors Aug. 8, 2012 Jim Malewitz, Stateline.org The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) won’t sign off on licenses for news and existing nuclear power plants until the commission addresses a decades-old problem plaguing states: what to do with spent fuel rods and other hazardous waste piling up at storage sites across the country.
In a unanimous decision on Tuesday (August 7), the commission said it
will hold off licensing plants that are new or up for renewal. That’s
until it responds to a court’s ruling that the NRC failed to consider
the environmental impacts of continuing to store waste at sites meant
to be temporary.
Licensing reviews will continue, the commission said, but no final
decisions will be made.
More than 65,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel is stored at operating and shuttered reactor sites across the country. But those 72 sites in 34 states are filling up. Some 2,000 additional tons of waste are produced each year, according to a report released this year by the
president’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. …..
In June, a federal appeals court threw out the commission’s “waste
confidence rule” and “temporary storage rule,” decisions that
collectively approved the status quo for onsite storage. Siding with
environmentalists and four states led by New York, the court said the
commission’s rulemaking process was flawed in that it did not
calculate the environmental effects of failing to secure a permanent
disposal site _ “a possibility that cannot be ignored,” the court
ruled. The NRC also, according to the court, “failed to examine future
dangers and key consequences,” in its determination that spent nuclear
fuel could be safely stored at nuclear sites for up to 60 years after
their license expires. ….
Eric Schneiderman, New York’s attorney general, hailed the NRC’s
decision to halt the licensing of reactors.
“The storage of nuclear waste at nuclear power facilities poses
long-term health and environmental risks, including the risk of leaks
from spent fuel pools and fires, he said in a statement yesterday.
“The NRC’s commitment is a welcome step toward ensuring a full, fair
and open examination of the numerous critical questions about the
safety and environmental impact of Indian Point before any decisions
are made about extending its operating licenses for another 20 years.”
Australia’s inadequate nuclear safety agencies
Inadequate Safety Practices at Lucas Heights and Inadequate Regulation by ARPANSA, Friends of the Earth 10 Aug 12 Since 2007, a saga has been unfolding regarding contamination accidents at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), ANSTO’s handling of those incidents, ANSTO’s treatment of whistleblowers, the handling of the matter by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), and the independence or otherwise of ARPANSA.
The saga has exposed inadequate safety practices at ANSTO and an inadequate performance by the regulator ARPANSA. The problems would not have been exposed and partially rectified if not for a number of ANSTO whistleblowers.
A few snapshots of this saga are noted below and more details can be found on the Friends of the Earth website: Continue reading
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