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Nagasaki calls for worldwide nuclear abolition treaty

Nagasaki calls for worldwide nuclear abolition treaty  Japan Times, 9 Aug 12,  Kyodo NAGASAKI — Nagasaki urged world leaders Thursday to conclude a treaty banning nuclear weapons at a ceremony marking the 67th anniversary of its atomic bombing.

Prayer for peace: Nagasaki atomic-bombing survivor Shigeko Iwamoto prayed for the dead in front of the Peace Statue on Thursday morning as the city marked the 67th anniversary of the attack on Aug. 9, 1945. KYODO Continue reading →

August 10, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Falure of TEPCO’s Balloon Survey of Fukushima Nuclear Reactor 1

 Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 1 Balloon Survey of 5th Floor Was Unsuccessful   http://ex-skf.blogspot.ca/2012/08/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-reactor-1.html AUGUST 8, 2012 VIDEO & Pics

I had to laugh and cry, looking at the photographs of the huge, red and white balloon with cameras attached using duct tape. This is sad.

According to TEPCO’s press release on 8/8/2012, the balloon couldn’t pop out onto the operating floor (5th floor) because it was stopped by a cable on the 4th floor. The balloon did take photographs of the 4th floor.

The purpose of the survey (not fulfilled by this project) was to see what the 5th floor was like, in order to prepare for the future removal of fuel assemblies from the Spent Fuel Pool. (See my post from July 23, 2012.)

5 TEPCO employees and 14 affiliate company workers did the work, for about 35 minutes, receiving maximum 1.54 millisievert for the shortened work.

From TEPCO’s Photos and Videos Library, 8/8/2012:
This is a iconic example how Tepco is thinking and handling the disaster.
A balloon and duct tape… How desperate can you be?
It also shows that they have no solution and no ideas how to’fix’ this. It’s clearly infixable, but ‘m affraid it will take a few more ‘balloons and duct tape solutions’ before they ( goverment and big corp. ) can/will admit it’s hopeless.
In the mean time ( a few years probably ) they will try to start more nuclear reactors, to be able to keep the cashflow going to their endless deep pockets. The money is too juicy to let this just stop right now. And that’s why we will see more of these actions; completely meaningless, but as long as they can keep the show going on an pretending they are ‘fighting’ against this disaster, the money keeps coming.
It’s all about the money ( as usual ) and the bill is paid by… right, we, the people, the taxpayers, and in Fukushima and surroundings they pay the highest price… their lives.
Sad there is still not enough ‘uprising’ in Japan ( and the rest of the world). Every day that this continueing, is a lost day for the people of Japan and in particular for those poor souls in Fukushima.

August 10, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012 | Leave a comment

Effects of ionising radiation on the brain and other organs

Neuropsychiatric effects of incorporated radionuclides  http://fukushimavoice-eng.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/neuropsychiatric-effects-of.html?spref=tw
http://www.physiciansofchernobyl.org.ua/eng/books/Niagu/pdfs/Chapter6Rev.pdf

Neuropsychiatric Effects of Ionizing Radiation
Chapter 6 Neuropsychiatric Effects of Chronic Irradiation Continue reading →

August 10, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, health, Reference | Leave a comment

Fukushima evacuation zone – radiation measure – “off the chart”

Off the Chart: University researchers film while measuring radiation levels in evacuation zone — “‘Over’ means it’s beyond the capacity of the measuring device” (VIDEO)  http://enenews.com/off-the-chart-university-researchers-film-while-measuring-radiation-levels-in-evacuation-zone-over-means-its-beyond-the-capacity-of-the-measuring-device-video  Off the Chart: University researchers film while measuring radiation levels in evacuation zone — “‘Over’ means it’s beyond the capacity of the measuring device” (VIDEO) August 8th, 2012 By ENENews
Aug 8, 2012Inside the Barricaded Fukushima Nuclear Zone

Uploaded by: 

Filmed: July 18, 2012
Description: The following depicts a one day journey inside the barricaded Fukushima Nuclear taken on July 18, 2012, almost a year and a half after the Nuclear Disaster. Read the entire story here

Group of academics from Niigata University and UCLA measuring radiation levels around the Fukushima nuclear plant At 2:45 in
[Camera shows radiation dose quickly climbing to ~30 microsieverts per hour]

Narrator: ‘Over’ means it’s beyond the capacity of the measuring device. At 4:00 in
[Camera shows computer screen]
Narrator: Here, the measurements go beyond the height of the chart.

August 10, 2012 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

VIDEO on dangers of internal radiation exposure

NHK broadcasts warnings about internal radiation exposure — Doctor: “Even a low dose will cause damage” (VIDEO) August 9th, 2012   By   Dr. Shuntaro Hida: Dangers of INTERNAL Radiation  Exposure   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JONsKfdn_-M

NHK World
Uploaded by: 
Uploaded August 8, 2012

At 2:45 in

Doctor Shuntaro Hida: Still now the nature of the radiation damage cannot be understood from a medical point of view, nor can it be treated.

At 4:15 in

Hida: Internal radiation exposure is indeed dangerous. Once you absorb even a low dose it will cause damage.

At 4:45 in

Hida: You should spend the rest of your lives working together to shut down nuclear plants and abolish nuclear weapons.

At 5:25 in

Hida: The government and other elites say that people don’t need to worry about internal exposure. But I’ve seen evidence to the contrary.

August 10, 2012 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Tougher charges against elderly Catholic anti nuclear nun: could face 10 years in prison

New charges filed in nuclear weapons plant breach The Sacfamento Bee, By ERIK SCHELZIG Associated Press, Aug. 9, 2012 –  NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal grand jury toughened the charges against three anti-war protesters who authorities say cut their way through three security fences and spray-painted slogans on the walls of a nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee.

An indictment released Thursday in Knoxville charges an 82-year-old Roman Catholic nun with Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, a gardener and a housepainter with “depredation”
of the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Continue reading →

August 10, 2012 Posted by | Legal, Religion and ethics, USA | Leave a comment

On the News With Thom Hartmann

On the News With Thom Hartmann: Corporations Are Bribing Foreign Government Officials, and More  Truthout , 09 August 2012   By Thom Hartmann, The Thom Hartmann Program | News Report   In today’s On the News segment: On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it would temporarily freeze any new licenses or renewal of licenses for nuclear power plants around the country; corporations are bribing foreign government officials; Florida Gov. Rick Scott is defending the Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act; and more.

I’m Jim Javinsky – In for Thom Hartmann – on the news… You need to know this. No nukes!…at least for a little bit. On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it would temporarily freeze any new licenses or renewal of licenses for nuclear power plants around the country. That decision by the NRC was prompted by a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling back in June that the NRC has insufficiently dealt with the problem of nuclear waste material – thus violating the National Environmental Policy Act. Currently, the NRC provides licenses under the assumption that it will find ways to dispose of nuclear waste in the future when it becomes “necessary” or that nuclear waste can be safely stored at reactors sites. As we’re seeing in Japan, there are a lot of problem with nuclear waste stored inside the reactor building – and the U.S. Court of Appeals recognized as much when they issued their ruling against the NRC. One of the main litigants in the case against the NRC – Stephen Smith, the executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy said about the NRC’s decision, “We believe it is appropriate to halt nuclear licensing decisions and stop creating an inter-generational debt of nuclear waste that will burden our children and grandchildren for centuries to come.” Time to ditch nuclear power!…

….  Americans should be getting used to hearing this by now, but we’re coming off the hottest month ever recorded in the history of the United States. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the month of July was the hottest ever recorded going all the back to 1895. The average temperature for that month was 77.6 degrees – more than three degrees higher than the century average. At the same time, 63% of the nation is mired in an historic drought that’s threatening not only our nation’s food supply, but the rest of the world’s too. Stay tuned, this is just the beginning of climate change-induced global “weirding.”

August 10, 2012 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Was Yasser Arafat poisoned by radiation? Swiss experts asked to investigate

Swiss radiation experts invited to examine Arafat’s remains http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Swiss+radiation+experts+invited+examine+Arafat+remains/7061676/story.html#ixzz23B4nMoZa Announcement follows disagreement over investigation By Mohammed Daraghmeh, The Associated Press August 9, 2012

Swiss experts have been invited to the West Bank to test Yasser Arafat’s remains for possible poisoning, the chief investigator looking into the 2004 death of the Palestinian leader said Wednesday. Continue reading →

August 10, 2012 Posted by | MIDDLE EAST, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Murky history of Japan’s fast breeder nuclear reactor program

United States Circumvented Laws To Help Japan Accumulate Tons of Plutonium, DC Bureau By Joseph Trento, on April 9th, 2012“…….From the very start, the Japanese breeder program was predicated on the belief that Japanese industry could do what the Americans and Europeans had failed to do – run the extremely complicated breeder cycle safely and profitably. That belief was rooted in Japan’s national self-confidence, nurtured by two generations of success in manufacturing. Japan’s dedicated and educated workforce and its special brand of quality management made it the world leader in a host of industries. Nuclear power generation would, it was believed, merely be one more success, made possible by Japan’s superior workers and management.
Thirty years ago even Japan’s harshest critics might have agreed that perhaps it could succeed where Western efforts had failed. But that optimism soon faded as a string of nuclear catastrophes demonstrated that nuclear industries are far different than any other. Both the Monju fast-breeder reactor in 1995 and the Tokai reprocessing plant in April 1997 suffered serious, accidental radiation leaks; both accidents were the subjects of attempted cover-ups. Most egregious was the fire and leak of radioactive sodium at the Monju FBR. Japan’s Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC), the government corporation that operated Monju, lied repeatedly to the public about the accident. PNC attempted to suppress video footage that showed the cause of the accident: a ruptured pipe in a secondary cooling system that had spilled an estimated two to three tons of radioactive sodium – the largest such leak in the history of fast-breeder technology. One of the reasons PNC gave for releasing the misinformation was that Monju was too important to Japan’s energy program to jeopardize the reactor’s operation. In other words, the public’s safety was secondary to the breeder program.

Had it not been for a courageous act by a group of Fukui prefecture officials in the early morning of December 11, PNC’s attempted cover-up probably would have succeeded. Suspecting a cover-up, the officials entered the plant and secured the videotape. The action came as a direct result of a previous accident at Fukui’s Tsuruga Unit I reactor in the early 1980s. Fukui prefecture officials were not permitted to investigate that mishap. When the Monju accident took place, the officials were determined not to be turned away a second time. Following revelations that the agency itself had been involved in trying to withhold the video, a PNC executive committed suicide……. http://www.dcbureau.org/201204097128/national-se

August 10, 2012 Posted by | Japan, Reference, reprocessing, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

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 →

August 10, 2012 Posted by | AFRICA, environment, Uranium | Leave a comment

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 →

August 10, 2012 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

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…

August 10, 2012 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

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 →

August 10, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

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

August 10, 2012 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

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 →

August 10, 2012 Posted by | history, reprocessing, USA | Leave a comment

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