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Dangerous 81 year old anti nuclear nun on the loose again!

Judge releases nun who broke into U.S. nuclear bomb facility By Preston Peeden  and by Mary Wisniewski; KNOXVILLE, Tennessee  Aug 3, 2012   (Reuters) – A U.S. magistrate judge on Friday ordered the release pending trial of an 82-year-old nun and another anti-nuclear activist charged with breaching security fences at one of the most sensitive U.S. nuclear facilities, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where weapons-grade
uranium is kept.

The security failure was an embarrassment for the National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA, the Energy Department branch that operates U.S. nuclear weapons plants, and for the international security firm G4S, which owns WSI Oak Ridge, the contractor responsible for protecting the facility….

. At a hearing in Knoxville, Tennessee on Friday, assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Kirby
argued that all three should remain in custody. “This is a crime of violence,” Kirby said. Continue reading →

August 4, 2012 Posted by | general | 1 Comment

Political instability in Japan, as anti nuclear sentiment grows

Nuclear energy wild card in Japan poll which Democrats likely to lose Asahi Shimbun REUTERS 4 Aug 12, Growing Japanese opposition to nuclear energy after the Fukushima disaster will be a wild card in a general election many expect within months, but politicians on both sides of the aisle agree on one thing: the Democratic Party is likely to fall from power just three years after its historic landslide win….

….Whatever the timing, the DPJ risks facing an anti-nuclear backlash as protests grow against Noda’s decision to restart two atomic reactors to avoid blackouts, despite
safety fears after an earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima nuclear plant in March 2011 the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986……. Continue reading →

August 4, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Andrew Marshall, 91, the Pentagon’s man for war-making

A former nuclear strategist, Marshall has spent the past 40 years running the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment, searching for potential threats to American dominance….  a dangerous tendency toward alarmism that is exaggerating the China threat to drive up defense spending.

U.S. model for a future war fans tensions with China and inside Pentagon  WP, By ,   August 1 When President Obama called on the U.S. military to shift its focus to Asia earlier this year, Andrew Marshall, a 91-year-old futurist, had a vision of what to do.

Marshall’s small office in the Pentagon has spent the past two decades planning for a war against an angry, aggressive and heavily armed China. No one had any idea how the war would start. But the American response, laid out in a concept that one of Marshall’s longtime proteges dubbed “Air-Sea Battle,” was clear.

Stealthy American bombers and submarines would knock out China’s long-range surveillance radar and precision missile systems located deep inside the country. The initial “blinding campaign” would be followed by a larger air and naval assault.

The concept, the details of which are classified, has angered the Chinese military and has been pilloried by some Army and Marine Corps officers as excessively expensive. Some Asia analysts worry that conventional strikes aimed at China could spark a nuclear war. Continue reading →

August 4, 2012 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear bomb for Iran is not inevitable or imminent

“They’ve been creating the technical know-how and the infrastructure, but they haven’t made that decision, and there is much more time than the Israelis portray there to be. I don’t think an Iranian nuclear weapons capability is inevitable or imminent.”

No imminent threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, experts say LA Times, August 3, 2012 Israeli and U.S. politicians lately have been bandying about the prospect of an airstrike on Iranian nuclear facilities, stirring fear that another destabilizing clash could be provoked in a region already rife with civil war in Syria and other religious and political tensions.

But nonproliferation experts and Middle East analysts are skeptical of Israeli claims that the Tehran regime is so close to building a nuclear weapon that time is running out for a peaceful resolution of the decades-long standoff. Continue reading →

August 4, 2012 Posted by | Iran, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Bingaman Proposes Overhaul Of Nuclear Waste Disposal, By Erica Teichert Law360, Washington (August 02, 2012,) –– Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., introduced a bill Wednesday that could alter the country’s approach to nuclear waste management policy based on recommendations of a presidential panel, saying he hoped the bill
would foster more constructive bipartisan negotiations on the issue.

The bill — S. 3469, the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2012 — pushes for a new oversight body separate from the U.S. Department of Energy to oversee nuclear waste management and recommends a content-based approach to determine the sites for waste
repositories….. Subscriber only
http://www.law360.com/energy/articles/366065/bingaman-proposes-overhaul-of-nuclear-waste-disposal

August 4, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Fukushima reactor No 1 refuelling floor too radioactively hot for humans to enter

Former Fukushima Daiichi Worker: My best guess is explosion had to blow lid off pressure vessel at Reactor 1  http://enenews.com/former-fukushima-daiichi-worker-my-best-guess-is-explosion-had-to-blow-lid-off-pressure-vessel-at-reactor-1   August 2nd, 2012   By ENENews Chris Canine has 15 years experience as a Health Physics Technician, Chemist and Radiation Safety Instructor. He has worked at over 20 plants throughout the United States, Japan and Mexico — including Fukushima #1 and #2 in the late 1970′s.

August 1, 2012 comment on ‘Tepco planning to float a balloon inside Reactor 1 in early August — Inspecting top floor with spent fuel pool‘

Tepco is basically saying that the refueling floor is still too radioactively hot for any human to enter. There was no fire in that spent fuel pool, and we never heard that it was like unit #3 and blew the lid off the pressure vessel. So why are radiation levels so high? During normal operations there is little radiation on the refueling floor because there is really nothing there. The fuel in the pool is under water with no dose on the surface, and the reactor is buried under cement and steel. My best guess is that the hydrogen explosion had to blow the lid off this reactor also. With radioactive gasses and particulates coming out of the reactor the cover was put on the building to limit the releases out onto the site. But as the cover kept in a lot of this radioactive material the refueling floor is so contaminated that it is no longer a place where humans can work or even walk through.

Find the answer why they put a cover on only this building and that will tell you the condition of this unit.

August 4, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012 | Leave a comment

Julian Assange and US government’s campaign to intimidate human rights activists

Assange’s mother stated, “The US government feels that it can seek to try my son for espionage, and possibly executing him simply for doing the job of a good investigative journalist, which is telling the truth about power.”

Assange’s mother justifiably fears U.S. would torture, maybe kill him  http://www.examiner.com/article/assange-s-mother-justifiably-fears-u-s-would-torture-maybe-kill-him?CID=examiner_alerts_article, AUGUST 3, 2012 BY: DEBORAH DUPRE

The mother of WikiLeaks founder and journalist Julian Assange is seeking refuge in the small safe haven nation, Ecuador, due the Assanges’ fear of United States persecution, a justified concern, according to The Guardian on Thursday. The American government, that claims world leadership in press freedom and democracy, is using Assange as an example of what will happen to other journalists and human rights defenders who expose high-level government corruption, The Guardian reports.

Assange’s and his mother’s concerns of U.S. persecution are justified on two counts, according to The Guardian:

“A grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, empanelled to investigate violations of the Espionage Act – a statute that by its very nature targets speech – has subpoenaed Twitter feeds regarding Assange and WikiLeaks. An FBI agent, testifying at whistleblower Bradley Manning’s trial, said that “founders, owners and managers” of WikiLeaks are being investigated.

“And then there is Assange’s 42,135-page FBI file – a compilation of curious heft if the government is “not interested” in investigating its subject.”

In considering whether Assangs’s concerns about being treated inhumanely if extradited to the US,The Guardian reports, “One need only consider how the US treated Bradley Manning, the army private who allegedly leaked the cables to WikiLeaks to see why.” Manning spent nearly a year in 23 hours a day solitary confinement and then eight months “under conditions designed to pressure him into providing evidence to incriminate Assange”: stripped of clothing and made to stand nude for inspection.

Thousands of people, including legal scholars and the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, have condemned the U.S. treatment of Manning as inhumane and torturous.

“There is no reason for Assange to expect he will be treated any better.” Continue reading →

August 4, 2012 Posted by | civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Famous Japanese photographer motivated by Japan’s lies about Hiroshima and Fukushima

Photographer: After seeing conditions in Fukushima, it feels like Hiroshima is happening again -Japan Times http://enenews.com/photographer-after-seeing-conditions-in-fukushima-it-feels-like-hiroshima-is-happening-again-japan-times     By ENENews  Title: Hasegawa gets the perfect portrait Source: The Japan Times Online By MARK SCHILLING Date: Aug. 3, 2012
Making a documentary on a crusading 90-year-old photojournalist who is famously fearless and uncompromising is not for the timid. Saburo Hasegawa, who has been directing television documentaries on a range of social issues since the 1990s, was initially afraid that his subject, Kikujiro Fukushima, might be as formidable as his body of work: 250,000 photographs taken over the course of six decades…..

What has not mellowed, however, is Fukushima’s distrust of Japanese officialdom, whose evasions, falsehoods and coverups have served, says Hasegawa, as his prime motivating force over the decades. “What are all these photographs about?’ I asked him. His answer was, ‘Japan’s lies.’ “ Continue reading →

August 4, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Radioactive tea voluntarily surrendered to Hong Kong authorities — 196 Bq/kg of cesium, almost double Japan’s limit http://enenews.com/radioactive-tea-voluntarily-surrendered-to-hong-kong-authorities-196-bqkg-of-cesium-almost-double-japans-limit August 2nd, 2012 By 

Tea bag Nuclear Event Daily Update
Hong Kong
August 2, 2012 Continue reading →

August 4, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Nuclear disarmament – a realistic and achievable goal

NAGASAKI PEACE SYMPOSIUM: Nuclear disarmament not Utopian thinking, say experts  Asahi Shimbun August 04, 2012 By HIROSHI MATSUBARA/ AJW Staff Writer NAGASAKI–Most of us probably cannot imagine a time when the world will be nuclear-free.

But experts say the disarmament process itself is a “realistic” political option that makes sustainable global peace achievable.

That is the message that came out of the International Symposium for Peace 2012, held here July 28. The event drew experts of international politics and nuclear weapons issues from Japan, China and the United States. The annual symposium, first held in Hiroshima in 1995, now meets every other year in Nagasaki.

It offers a venue for experts to discuss ridding the world of nuclear arsenals with citizens of two cities that lived through the August 1945 atomic bombings. Continue reading →

August 4, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Siddharth Malik’s success story in solar power for India

How seven young entrepreneurs defied hurdles to develop clean renewable energy  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/emerging-businesses/entrepreneurs/how-seven-young-entrepreneurs-defied-hurdles-to-develop-clean-renewable-energy/ 4 AUG, 2012,   SHREYA JAI,ET BUREAU articleshow/15347643.cms   Renewable energy in India has always been a risky business, be it due to high input cost, unsteady market or lack of government support. But these seven young entrepreneurs defied all this and much more. 

At a time when even big companies are reluctant to enter the renewable energy market due to the huge costs involved, they have come up with innovative solutions to develop clean energy, which brings down the costs and is accessible by the commons, even village folks, reports ET. 

‘SWADES’ STORY IN REAL  Siddharth Malik, 30 Megawatt Solutions, Delhi 
AN engineering and management degree fromUniversity of Pennsylvania, a flourishing career with energy-focused companies in the US where the base package is a sinful $1,00,0000 per annum. What more can you ask for?

Well, Siddharth Malik had ideas. This passionate 30-year old left all this to come back to India and start his own renewable energy venture amalgamating high-performing solar-thermal systems with fossil fuels.

He started Megawatts Solutions in 2010, which provides concentrated solar-thermal solutions. “At least when sun is shining, fossils need not be fired,” says Malik, adding, “this simple idea creates long-term economic value for industry owners.” Its 0.5-mw pilot project in Guragon provides a hybrid solution by integrating solarthermal with fossil fuel that offers considerably higher value than stand-alone solar thermal plants.”  It has resulted in up to 25% more efficient performance than competing technologies , which makes a drastic improvement in economics of solar,” adds Malik.

MS’ solutions are based on home-grown concentrated solar thermal technology and its role ranges from designing to manufacturing, installing and commissioning industrial-scale solar thermal projects. It has four projects in the pipeline including a 3 mw solar thermal heating project in Gujarat – the largest ever in India.

August 4, 2012 Posted by | decentralised, India | Leave a comment

Lucrative business for America’s weapons and drones makers

War business booming: Pentagon orders $531 million worth of drones, TECHNOLOGY, JULY 20, 2012  Business booming for Pentagon’s war on terror contractors As Americans slide further down the rough path of service cuts, unprecedented surveillance and other related human rights abuses, the Pentagon has had defense spending spree this week, $24.5 billion over five days on defense contracts including $531 million worth of drones, a situation requiring more from lawmakers, Congressman Michael McCaul toldHomeland Security.

“General Atomics, the people behind the wildly successful Predator and Reaper drones, just scored two huge contracts this week,” reportsBusiness Insider Military & Defense on Friday.

“One contract is $411 million for Gray Eagle systems, a derivative of the Predator drone. The second contract is for $120.6 million and will buy MQ-9 Reaper spares for the Air Force. They’ll also get ground support systems and spares.”

Business Insider says, “America … enjoy your latest purchases.”

This week, the 2013 Defense Appropriations bill passed in Congress with 326 “Yea” and 90 “Nay.”

DHS drones to dominate U.S. skies in two and a half years Plans exist to allow the widespread use of unmanned aircraft, or drones, in civilian airspace,violating numerous human rights that prompted experts and members of the U.S. Congress told a House committee this week that lawmakers must do more to protect privacy and reduce the likelihood of sabotage….

In May, a young Pakistani filmmaker of the award-winning movie about drones, The Other Side,was denied entry into the United States to receive his prestigious award at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth in Seattle. His film follows a child whose entire family was killed by a drone.  http://www.examiner.com/article/war-business-booming-pentagon-orders-531-million-worth-of-drones

August 4, 2012 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Australia rejects proposal to base a US nuclear aircraft carrier group near Perth , The Independent, KATHY MARKS    03 AUGUST 2012 Australia, which tries to tread a fine line between supporting its closest ally, the US, and not upsetting China, its biggest trading partner, yesterday rejected a proposal to base a US nuclear aircraft carrier group near Perth,saying it did not want American bases in the country.

The idea was raised in a Pentagon-commissioned report by the influential Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, which suggested relocating a carrier and its support fleet from the US east coast to HMAS Stirling, an Australian naval base south of Perth, as part of a new strategic focus on Asia. Continue reading →

August 4, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, weapons and war | 2 Comments

Nuclear study unveiled ( Why did The Age remove this story from the Internet?)
The Australian government finally declassifies its most secret study of the potential impact on Australia of a nuclear war between the US and the former Soviet Union.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/nuclear-study-unveiled-20120803-23l9y.html

Nuclear study unveiled  http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/story/169021/nuclear-study-unveiled/?cs=8  By Philip Dorling Aug. 4, 2012 More than three decades after it was written, the Australian government last week finally declassified its most secret study of the potential impact on Australia of a nuclear war between the US and the former Soviet Union.

Australia’s peak intelligence agency largely dismissed any danger to Australia from global radioactive fall-out or stratospheric distribution of smoke from burning cities.

In the top secret intelligence assessment released by the National Archives of Australia, the Office of National Assessments also questioned whether Australian cities would be targets for Soviet missiles, suggesting the US’ southern hemisphere ally would be a ”low priority” in a global nuclear exchange. But it acknowledged that direct attacks were a possibility.

August 4, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

?TV program “NEWSROOM” reveals truth about Fukushima event?

New Episode of HBO’s ‘Newsroom’ Centered on Fukushima Cover-up: “It’s a lot worse than they’re telling you” — Level 5 vs Level 7 is “the difference between life and gruesome death”  August 3rd, 2012   By ENENews   Title: The Newsroom
Source:  Salon.com
Author: Willa Paskin
Date: July 31, 2012
Sunday’s episode was set during the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear reactor. Sloan — who, like Munn, speaks fluent Japanese — learned from a spokesperson of the nuclear plant, off the record, that the problems with the reactor would likely be upgraded from a Three Mile Island-size disaster to a Chernobyl-size one. Filling in for an anchor on one of the prime-time news shows, Sloan, all fired up by a pep talk from Will McAvoy, manhandled and bullied her two guests, the spokesperson and his translator, repeatedly correcting the translator’s translations, eventually breaking into Japanese herself, and finally revealing the information she had gotten off the record without any on-air confirmation that this was actually true. Continue reading →

August 4, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, media | Leave a comment

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