Los Alamos nuclear weapons site – what a mess!
The aging facility was slated for replacement 20 years ago. But in 1998, designers identified a fault line beneath the structure. The discovery pushed the price of reconstruction so high that no administration was willing to sign off. The Obama administration says safety requires its replacement — at a cost of $6 billion. Critics in Congress and among anti-nuclear groups, however, say the expensive new plant is unnecessary and would still present environmental dangers if built on the fault line. Continue reading
The nuclear industry has had a Bad Week
The Worst Week for the World’s Nuclear Industry Dianuke.org, 16 Sept 12 Anamika Badal JAPAN, BELGIUM, SPAIN, FRANCE, USA, CANADA, INDIA, GERMANY, ITALY, SWITZERLAND By all signs, it appears that the whole of planet Earth has at once decided to shun nuclear energy. The popular sentiment was definitely negative towards the use of nuclear power, and now it seems that governments have had to bow to people’s wishes.
Within one week, the industry has been dealt such a severe body blow that it will have to struggle hard to even survive. Let us take a look at the week’s news:…….
If one adds the fierce opposition to the start of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in southern India, the future of the nuclear energy industry itself is at stake.
Long accustomed to shoving its way out of trouble by using a mix of mis-information, powerful lobbying, and other dubious means, the industry is now faced with a popular dissent from the citizens of the countries it operates in.
This will be difficult, if not impossible, to conquer. After all, Governments depend on their voters to get them elected to power and going against such a vociferous and strident people’s movement would mean certain electoral losses. No government in its right mind would want to take such a suicidal step. http://www.dianuke.org/the-worst-week-for-the-worlds-nuclear-industry/
If attacked, Iran might leave Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)
Iran may quit nuclear non-proliferation treaty if attacked: IRGC commander English.news.cn 2012-09-17 TEHRAN, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) –– Commander of Iran ‘s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said Sunday that Iran may quit the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) if its nuclear facilities come under attacks, Continue reading
S. Korea urges U.S. to allow ‘peaceful’ nuclear enrichment SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Yonhap) –– South Korea called for the United States to approve it undertaking “peaceful” enrichment of uranium and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, a government think tank said Monday, as little progress has been made in bilateral negotiations to revise the countries’ nuclear accord.
Under a 1974 accord with the U.S., South Korea is banned from enriching uranium or reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. The allies have held five rounds of formal negotiations since 2010 to rewrite the bilateral nuclear cooperation treaty, which expires in 2014…..
Some nonproliferation experts say pyroprocessing is not significantly different from reprocessing, and pyroprocessed plutonium could be quickly turned into weapons-grade material….. http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2012/09/17/38/0301000000AEN20120917002600315F.HTML
Closing Fessenheim nuclear plant will create jobs for French workers
Speaking on French television, Labor Minister Michel Sapin said the closure of Fessenheim would actually create jobs as it would take years of specialized work to dismantle the plant.
EDF denies seeking $2.6 billion for Fessenheim closure (Reuters) Reporting by Vicky Buffery; editing by Anthony Barker, Hans-Juergen Peters, Gary Crosse 16 Sept 12, – French power group EDF denied it had requested compensation from the government over its decision to close the state-controlled energy company’s Fessenheim nuclear power
plant. Continue reading
President Obama beholden to USA’s Nuclear Weapons Establishment
All of the president’s decisions, from the broad nuclear structure to the number of warheads and the top-secret target list, cascade through the nuclear establishment, affecting the types of weapons and delivery systems that must be available to meet the objectives
Still a growing number of former senior administration officials from both parties argue that more substantial cuts would encourage nonnuclear states to abandon their nuclear ambitions, making the world safer from political miscalculations and saving money for defense items that are actually used.
Aging U.S. nuclear arsenal slated for costly and long-delayed modernization WP, By Dana Priest, September 15“…….Nuclear Posture Review In an April 2009 speech, President Obama outlined his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. Acknowledging that his goal might not be accomplished in his lifetime, Obama laid out an agenda for forging new partnerships to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, ending production of fissile material for weapons and ratifying new treaties to reduce their numbers.
Since then, though, the president has taken few steps to implement his objective. Continue reading
People of Kudankalam’s petition to stop nuclear power plant
The petition said the Government had also absolved the Russian supplier of the nuclear reactor from any liability in case of an accident. And Russia has already stated that it not responsible for any nuclear blasts.
India’s Judiciary creates scam over Kudankulam The Canadian, 17 SEPTEMBER 2012 ……….When the Indian government Regime Targets People.
The Indian regime, committed to the welfare of the people is interested only in promoting the nuclear and other arms merchants and is threatening the people with impending nuclear disasters.
One has no idea as to how many more nukes India wants and for what, because it has already plenty of weapons of mass destruction at various sites. Madras High court and Supreme court seem not worried about the deadly risks involved in the state nuke manufacturing agenda. Both High CA private company’s employee moved the Supreme Court against a Madras High Court order giving the green signal to the commissioning of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu. Continue reading
Nuclear Regulatory Commission hushed up flood risk to reactors
Flood Threat To Nuclear Plants Covered Up By Regulators, NRC Whistleblower Claims HUFFINGTON POST, Tom Zeller Jr, 09/15/2012 In a letter submitted Friday afternoon to internal investigators at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a whistleblower engineer within the agency accused regulators of deliberately covering up information relating to the vulnerability of U.S. nuclear power facilities that sit downstream from large dams and reservoirs. Continue reading Japan Times: “Alarming estimate of cancer fatalities… 1 million extra deaths” — Nobody mentions krypton and xenon that poured from Fukushima plant, says Gundersen — 2-3 times greater than Chernobyl http://enenews.com/japan-times-nobody-mentions-cancer-causing-krypton-and-xenon-that-poured-from-fukushima-plant-says-gundersen-2-3-times-greater-than-chernobyl
September 15th, 2012
By ENENews Title: ‘The government could still save lives’
Source: The Japan Times Online
Author: DAVID MCNEILL
Date: Sep. 16, 2012
[…]
Experts waved away fears about radiation, cabinet ministers scoffed at comparisons to Chernobyl, and the word “meltdown” itself was effectively scoured from the media.
Some observers, however, were quick to hit the panic button. One of the best known was U.S. antinuclear campaigner Arnie Gundersen, who predicted that the disaster would lead to 1 million extra deaths from cancer.
[…]
Gundersen, a nuclear engineer, says [the official release amount is] an underestimate. He puts the release of cesium at about half that of Chernobyl, and says little attention has been paid to radioactive gases, Xenon and Krypton, which poured out of the No. 1 plant in quantities “two to three times” greater than the 1986 Ukraine meltdown. He is sticking to his original alarming estimate of cancer fatalities.
[…]
Gundersen bases much of his assessment of Fukushima on what he learned from America’s worst nuclear accident, the 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. As an expert witness during the probe that followed, Gundersen said the official estimate of radioactive releases there was also much too low. “You have to remember, we don’t know how much radiation was released. It’s guys like me who have to calculate it.” His assessment upped the official radiation figure for the accident by five times. “I’m dead sure that’s too low,” he says, adding that he believes the true figure could be 15 times higher than the industry estimate.
[…]
He cites the work of Steve Wing, an epidemiologist who says he has tracked 10,000 extra deaths from lung cancer in the first six to seven years after the accident.
“The same gases (Xenon and Krypton) that caused those cancers leaked out of the containment vessel at the Daiichi (No. 1) plant,” he says. “Nobody is talking about it.” He says the gases quickly disperse and are notoriously hard to measure. Other emissions are more straightforward. Plutonium is heavy and does not widely disperse. Cesium is relatively easy to track.
[…]
34% of Fukushima city people want to evacuate, local gov “Measures need to be taken” http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/09/34-of-fukushima-city-people-want-to-evacuate-local-gov-measures-need-to-be-taken/#.UFZI1IGM8Ng.facebook by Mochizuki September 16th, 2012
For the questionnaire, 34% of the people answered they want to evacuate Fukushima city, and local government staff is commenting they need to take measures about this situation.
In May, Fukushima city government sent questionnaires to 5,000 people
of over 20 years old living in Fukushima city and to 500 people who
evacuated to out of Fukushima city. The valid response rate was 55%.
The result showed 34% of them answered “They want to evacuate even
now.”. 31% of them answered “They used to want to evacuate.”.
Among people who evacuated to out of Fukushima city, 27% of them
answered “They don’t want to come back.”. 19% of them answered “They
don’t want to come back to Fukushima city if possible.”
However, 55% of them answered “They want to come back to Fukushima city.”
The city government staff comments, “The result is very severe. We
need to take some measures. “.
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