Kolkata’s solar energy policies going ahead
Solar heaters a must for Kolkata highrises Suman Chakraborti, TNN | Sep 17, 2012, KOLKATA: Civic bodies of Kolkata, Howrah, Durgapur and Siliguri are bringing some provisions in the building by-laws, which will make installation of solar water heaters in all multi storied commercial establishments, including hospitals and five-star hotels, mandatory.that the state government came out with earlier this year.
Representatives from the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are coming to the city on September 29 to meet the officials of these four civic bodies. where this matter will be looked into.
Officials of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) and West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA) will also attend the meeting.
It may be noted that the state has already come out with the renewable energy policy this year. …. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Solar-heaters-a-must-for-Kolkata-highrises/articleshow/16428464.cms
Inadequate safety plans for Kudankulam nuclear reactors
India’s Judiciary creates scam over Kudankulam The Canadian, 17 SEPTEMBER 2012“……In the name of nation and national interests they protect the rich and multinationals and want the common people also support that. Recent disclosures from a special official safety review on all Russian reactor designs reveal their several generic flaws, including inadequate emergency cooling, poor evacuation procedures, and non-factoring of earthquake hazards. The Kudankulam reactors lack an independent freshwater source, critical to cooling them in emergencies. They are probably the world’s only nuclear reactors dependent on unreliable seawater desalination, which can fail and has no backup. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) approved the fuel-loading despite all this and without the mandatory emergency evacuation drill in a 16-km radius. AERB approval is NPCIL’s clinching justification for fuel-loading. The AERB “has no rule-making powers.” It never fulfilled the mandate to prepare an overall nuclear and radiation safety policy.
It has failed to develop as many as 27 of the 168 Standards, Codes and Guides it itself termed essential. It has no role in radiological surveillance and monitoring workers’ health. It doesn’t directly oversee on-site emergency drills. The AERB doesn’t even possess a full inventory of nuclear materials and radiation sources. It has no framework for decommissioning nuclear plants……. http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/news/intrnational/2012/09/17/4465.html
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. “.
The lies of nuclear food, alcohol, water and the IAEA cover up!
Official Journal of the European Union February 2011
Radioactive contamination of foodstuffs ***I
P7_TA(2011)0055
European Parliament legislative resolution of 15 February 2011 on the proposal for a Council
regulation (Euratom) laying down maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination of
foodstuffs and of feedingstuffs following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological
emergency (recast) (COM(2010)0184 – C7-0137/2010 – 2010/0098(COD))
Note
This report came out a month before the japan earthquake nuclear disaster. It made requirements of European countries to monitor and manage levels of contamination. Since Fukushima the European governments have covered up the large contamination incident in Hungary that has doomed many young people from around the Bucharest medical isotope institute, and others further downwind too. The IAEA was instrumental to this play down and cover up as were the main stream media. And the fallout from fukushima in Europe, though minor was not a minor health hazard as we were told to believe by the paid for university specialists. Also, the releases from hungary brought drinking water Pb210 lead contamination to above safety drinking standards in the uk according to a cached copy of a removed link to a USA military base in the UK (Milford Haven) no measurement for iodine isotopes of any sort, but the warning level was changed and a second reading was done a month later that mathched the new limit, just!
Here are some links you might not have seen that outline these hidden nuclear horrors. Continue reading
Japan’s government stops the “bad news” from Fukushima
July, 2011, Japan passes law to cleanse “bad” Fukushima news from internet 
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/6482 EDITED BY TONY RUTHERFORD FROM MULTIPLE REPORTS Japan has passed a new law to cleanse the internet of “bad” Fukushima news. In fact, Japan in this You Tube video tells citizens they have no right to 
live a radiation free life. . http://japanfocus.org/-Makiko-Segawa/3516
The following is a quote from “Fukushima Residents Seek Answers Amid Mixed Signals From Media, TEPCO and Government. Report from the Radiation Exclusion Zone (Updated May 16) Makiko SEGAWA in Fukushima, published byh Asia-Pacific Journal, Japan Focus.
“Now the Japanese government has moved to crack down on independent reportage and criticism of the government’s policies in the wake of the disaster by deciding what citizens may or may not talk about in public.
A new project team has been created by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, the National Police Agency, and METI to combat “rumors” deemed harmful to Japanese security in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
The government charges that the damage caused by earthquakes and by the nuclear accident are being magnified by irresponsible rumors, and the government must take action for the sake of the public good. The project team has begun to send “letters of request” to such organizations as telephone companies, internet providers, cable television stations, and others, demanding that they “take adequate measures based on the guidelines in response to illegal information. ”The measures include erasing any information from internet sites that the authorities deem harmful to public order and morality.” Japan Focus…… http://nuclearhistory.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/28-july-2011-japan-passes-law-to-cleanse-bad-fukushima-news-from-internet/
Indian govt’s harsh crackdown on anti nuclear protesors
India: Government crushes nuclear protests http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/india/india-nuclear-protests 14 Sept 12, Nuclear projects in India can only be thrust on unwilling citizens at gunpoint, writes activist Praful Bidwai In the wake of police firing that killed one of the many Indians protesting against the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu, activist Praful Bidwai lays it into the government that not long back was hailed for its groundbreaking civilian nuclear agreement with George W. Bush.
“The repression, including lethal firing, unleashed on peaceful protesters against the Kudankulam nuclear plant on Monday, on top of FIRs over many months charging thousands with sedition, makes two things clear. Nuclear projects in India can only be thrust on unwilling citizens at gunpoint. [And] as the jalsatyagraha (water civil disobedience) shows, people will resist them tenaciously, because they are aware of their hazards,” Bidwai writes in India’s Hindustan Times newspaper .
As GlobalPost reported last year, a massive nuclear project planned for Jaitapur, Maharashtra, has also faced large protests.
Casual readers and the government dismisses these protests as the work of ignorant villagers and eco-radical agitators (as demonstrated by the claim that the opposition can be traced to various “foreign-funded” NGOs).
But Bidwai points out that every single nuclear project India has planned has spurred committed resistance:
“That’s true of every nuclear project, whether Jaitapur (Maharashtra), Gorakhpur (Haryana), Mithi-Virdi (Gujarat), Kovvada (Andhra Pradesh), Haripur (West Bengal), Chutka (Madhya Pradesh) or Banswada (Rajasthan). For instance, at Gorakhpur, there has been a daily dharna against four proposed reactors for two years, unbeknownst to Delhi, which lies in their potential radiation-fallout zone,” he writes.
And when some 100 activists met in Delhi this August, nobody listened to their reservations about the Kudankulam project, which Bidwai says “was cleared in violation of the recommendations of an official Task Force, and without even the fig leaf of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.”
Now villagers, and, yes, more than a few “agitators” have walked into the sea near the reactor, in imitation of a protest against the flooding of villages in Gujarat earlier this month.
They might be wrong. The government says Kudankulam is safe. Coal isn’t without its dangers. And the huge number of hydropower projects planned for Northeast India will destroy cultures and wildlife in one of the country’s last remaining wilderness areas. (Personally, I was sold on nuclear after visiting Arunachal Pradesh for this series on dams–if the government can proceed responsibly).
But it is foolishness bordering on the criminal to undertake such projects on the assurances of company insiders and circumvent the environmental clearance regime, as Bidwai and others say has been done for nuclear plants, and other environmental activists say is routinely done for big dams, coal mines, and every sort of industrial activity.
And it’s bad politics simply to dismiss those claims because of some hidebound commitment to the ideology of economic growth.
1 This Month
Protect Sazan Island from the Trump family! https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/protect_sazan_island_from_the_trump_family_loc/?bqFCVab&v=174511&cl=22707147157&_checksum=5e9dde668860e8231c33699735e16a1fbf22ab2cb01da50c999fe8732b9775ef&utm_source=email&utm_medium=blast_email&utm_campaign=174511
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
-
Archives
- June 2026 (129)
- May 2026 (306)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (268)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (257)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 