nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Japanese government ‘cooking the books’ on Fukushima health effects

Mainichi: Gov’t “choreographed” event on Fukushima health effects http://enenews.com/mainichi-govt-choreographed-event-fukushima-health-effects/comment-page-1#comment-293237  October 5th, 2012    Title: Fukushima Prefecture prepared proceedings for nuke radiation meeting Source: Mainichi Date: Oct 5, 2012 The Fukushima Prefectural Government drew up proceedings for a health research panel prior to a formal July 2011 meeting on nuclear radiation, deciding in advance what members should say, the Mainichi has learned.

The drafted proceedings included concluding remarks about the results of the research on the health of Fukushima Prefecture residents […]

When contacted by the Mainichi Shimbun about the choreographed proceedings, a prefectural government official in charge said the Fukushima government “may have produced” a chart of proceedings but declined to make further comment. […]

[The chart] ended with the prearranged conclusion that internal exposure to cesium 134 and cesium 137 was less than 1 millisievert in total and extremely low […]

A prefectural government official said the chart may have been prepared for the panel chairman, Shunichi Yamashita, vice president of Fukushima Medical University. […]

See also: Gov’t held secret meetings about human health impacts from Fukushima crisis

More on Yamashita: Head of Fukushima health study: 100 mSv/yr OK for pregnant moms — “Effects of radiation do not come to people that are happy… They come to people that are weak-spirited”

October 6, 2012 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

New book: Mad Science: the Nuclear Power Experiment

Joseph Mangano’s “Mad Science: the Nuclear Power Experiment” http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/05/nuclear-lies-cover-ups-and-secrecy/ Nuclear Lies, Cover-Ups and Secrecy by JANETTE D. SHERMAN, MD Do Governments and Corporations lie, cover-up and maintain secrecy as they harm our planet and us?  Joe Mangano’s new book Mad Science – The Nuclear Power Experiment clearly lays it out that they have done so for more than half a century.

This book is a page-turner, filled with useful information that many of us don’t know or have forgot.   His chapter “Tiny Atoms, Big Risks” explains the various forms of nuclear energy in terms that anyone can understand, and details the harm that has come to all life on our planet as a result of nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants. Continue reading →

October 6, 2012 Posted by | resources - print | Leave a comment

First case of compensation for cancer in Fukushima worker

Fukushima workers started having cancer
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/10/fukushima-workers-started-having-cancer/ by Mochizuki   October 5th, 2012 In September, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare admitted a Fukushima worker applied for workmen’s compensation insurance. It isfor gastric cancer, esophageal cancer or colon cancer.
This is the first case of the application of workmen’s compensation insurance. The occupational disease department of MHLW is concealing the profile and the integral dose of the worker.

Another nuclear worker commented like this below, Continue reading →

October 6, 2012 Posted by | health, Japan | Leave a comment

Series of company pullbacks puncture UK’s nuclear power dream

There is now a question mark over who will ultimately foot the bill for what are expected to be massively expensive infrastructure projects

How lights dimmed on UK’s nuclear vision, FT.com  By Guy Chazan, October 5, 2012  In 2009, Ed Miliband, the then energy secretary, unveiled plans for the most ambitious expansion of nuclear power in Europe.
It was a bold vision. Britain would build up to 12 new reactors, he said, on 10 sites stretching from Somerset to Cumbria. By the late 2020s about 30 per cent of its electricity would come from nuclear power – up from 18 per cent now

That prediction is now looking wildly optimistic

.
“The race for new nuclear in this country is at serious risk of unravelling,” says Tony Lodge, a research fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank.
Nuclear is widely seen as one of the great panaceas for Britain’s looming energy problems….

But recent events have conspired to puncture Britain’s nuclear dream. Continue reading →

October 6, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, politics, UK | Leave a comment

AUDIO:The worst scenario: nuclear fuel eating through concrete at Fukushima nuclear

AUDIO Nuclear Engineer: “This is the worst possible scenario” — I think the melted fuel has already eaten through the concrete at Fukushima plant   http://enenews.com/nuclear-engineer-worst-possible-scenario-melted-fuel-eaten-concrete-fukushima-reactor-audio/comment-page-1#comment-293133  October 4th, 2012  Interview with Nuclear Engineer Chris Harris Nutrimedical Report Oct 4, 2012

Chris Harris, former licensed Senior Reactor Operator and engineer: Their own word is that Tepco believes that the core is definitely eating through the floor, it’s already gone through the bottom of at least No 1’s reactor vessel, and he said eating its way through the concrete. I probably believe that it’s already eaten through the concrete. I think that’s past tense.

CNN talking heads, that’s what really annoyed me… don’t worry about it there’s containment, there’s this, there’s that. I said no, no, no, no, no this is the worst possible scenario, we’re talking about a core going through [inaudible] We’re finally getting some modicum of truth here, this is a recent as September 10, that’s from Tepco’s engineer’s own words. [Platts: “Tepco believes the uranium fuel […] poured to the floor of the containment structure, eating through a portion of the concrete floor of that area”].

October 6, 2012 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Politics in Japan, as government muddles over Fukushima crisis

Fukushima  Nuclear Crisis Update for October 2nd to October 4th, 2012 Greenpeace International,  by Christine McCann – October 5, 2012   Nuclear Regulation Authority Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has released new guidelines for nuclear disasters, including expanding the evacuation zone around nuclear reactors from 10 to 30 km. The move will have a significant impact on local communities, which now need to craft complicated evacuation plans. Previously, only 45 municipalities in 15 prefectures were required to have nuclear emergency plans; now 135 municipalities in 21 prefectures are required to submit them by March 2013. Iodine tablets will also be distributed to anyone living within 50 km of a nuclear reactor. Local officials are complaining that the central government has not shared radiation diffusion simulation data, which makes it impossible to determine where to send people if a nuclear accident occurs. Continue reading →

October 5, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Cancers the result of radiological spraying in St. Louis?

She has watched four siblings die of cancer

Victims of suspected radiological spraying in St. Louis suffer thyroid, other cancers — Helicopters covered children in powder — “Oh my God, if they did that there’s no telling what else they’re hiding” http://enenews.com/victims-of-suspected-radiological-spraying-in-st-louis-suffer-thyroid-other-cancers-oh-my-god-if-they-did-that-theres-no-telling-what-else-theyre-hiding  October 4th, 2012 Title: Secret Cold War tests in St. Louis raise concerns Source: Associated PressDate: October 4, 2012

“…In the mid-1950s, and again a decade later, the Army used motorized blowers atop a low-income housing high-rise, at schools and from the backs of vehicles, to send a potentially dangerous compound into the already-hazy air in predominantly black areas of St. Louis. Continue reading →

October 5, 2012 Posted by | health, USA | Leave a comment

Yamaguchi Prefecture kills project for new nuclear plant

Yamaguchi rejects Chugoku Electric’s license for new nuclear plant http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201210050069 5 Oct 12,  THE ASAHI SHIMBUN YAMAGUCHI–Yamaguchi Governor Shigetaro Yamamoto has rejected a license extension to Chugoku Electric Co. to reclaim land for a new nuclear power plant in Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture effectively killing the project.

“We cannot grant permission at this moment. The decision has been made
not to grant the license,” Yamamoto told the news media on Oct. 5. The
license is set to expire Oct. 6. Continue reading →

October 5, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Other Nuclear Politics in Japan

Fukushima  Nuclear Crisis Update for October 2nd to October 4th, 2012 Greenpeace International,  by Christine McCann – October 5, 2012 “….Other Nuclear Politics in Japan Municipal leaders and residents in towns surrounding Electric Power Development Company’s (known in Japan as J-Power) proposed Ohma nuclear power plant are protesting resumption of construction there, citing concerns about their safety in the event of a nuclear disaster.  Continue reading →

October 5, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

San Onofre nuclear reactor to restart without any repairs!

Edison rolls the nuclear dice, Friends of the Earth Oct. 5, 2012  by: Kendra Ulrich A dangerous gamble with the safety of Southern California If you have ever been to Las Vegas, you’ve seen it: People so caught up in the excitement of the casino that they just can’t resist the lure of the next bet or the thought that maybe thistime they’ll win.

Unfortunately, it seems that San Onofre nuclear operator, Southern California Edison, has the same weak spot for a high-stakes gamble. In a stunning announcement yesterday, the utility said that it plans to restart one of the crippled San Onofre nuclear reactors without any repairs. Continue reading →

October 5, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

AREVA loses in the scramble to sell nukes to Czech Republic

UPDATE 2-CEZ dumps Areva from Temelin nuclear tender ReutersOct 5, 2012
* CEZ says Areva fails to meet requirements
* Disqualification leaves U.S., Russian firms in tender (Adds quotes, shares, details)
By Jason Hovet and Jan Korselt PRAGUE, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Czech power group CEZ threw out Areva’s bid for a multibillion-dollar contract to expand the Temelin nuclear power plant, leaving U.S. and Russian firms to contest the country’s biggest-ever energy deal. Continue reading →

October 5, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, EUROPE | Leave a comment

Gloom and doom for uranium market getting worse

Miners pressured as uncertainty sours uranium market Reuters  Oct 5, 2012  

* Uranium spot price hits new 2-year low, miners’ shares sag

* Idled Japan reactors weigh as politics unclear

* Uranium price seen stagnant to lower over next months  By Julie Gordon…

TORONTO, Oct 5 – Eighteen months after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, the spot price for uranium hit a two-year low this week, putting the squeeze on the already depressed shares of uranium miners.

With a looming election keeping Japan from making a decision on how much, if any, of its nuclear reactor fleet it will keep, and slowing growth inChina weighing on the broader resource sector, it will likely be months before uranium prices start moving back toward pre-Fukushima levels.

“In the near term, the price of uranium is going to go sideways to down,” said Raymond Goldie, a senior mining analyst at Salman Partners in Toronto, adding that the spot price is not likely to start recovering until March or April 2013.

That is bad news for producers Cameco Corp, Uranium One Inc and Paladin Energy Inc, which have watched their shares plummet since a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan in March 2011, crippling the Fukushima-Daiichi atomic power plant.

Cameco, the world’s largest publicly listed uranium producer, has lost more than 48 percent of its market value in the aftermath of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Uranium One is down 62 percent, while Paladin has fallen 72 percent. Continue reading →

October 5, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Fukushima residents treated with discrimination, like the hibakusha

 the same sort of discrimination is happening to people who were exposed to radiation in Fukushima.

Voices of the “Explosion Covered People”    http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2012/09/25/161755636/voices-of-the-explosion-covered-people  More than 65 years after atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there are still thousands of people suffering. In addition to experiencing lingering effects from the radiation, many are also considered social outcasts.

The term hibakusha  in Japanese means “explosion-covered people” and applies to anyone who came within 2 kilometers (approximately 1.25 miles) of the hypocenter  of the bomb — within two weeks of the explosion. Thought to be diseased and contagious, many people hid their experience from friends, family and society at large to avoid being shunned. Continue reading →

October 5, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, Japan, social effects | Leave a comment

State of the Fukushima Reactors

Fukushima  Nuclear Crisis Update for October 2nd to October 4th, 2012 Greenpeace International,  by Christine McCann – October 5, 2012 “…State of the Fukushima Reactors TEPCO has finally installed a new thermometer in the crippled #2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The reactor experienced a meltdown in the days following the Fukushima nuclear disaster; since then, five out of six thermometers in the reactor have broken. If the final thermometer broke, the utility would have no way of knowing if the reactor was overheating and in danger of further meltdown. Although they cannot see inside the reactors, workers believe that the new thermometer is near the bottom of the pressure vessel.

The NRA will declare the Fukushima Daiichi plant a “special nuclear facility” in order to oversee stabilization of the plant, as well as its decommissioning. Currently, the agency has no authority over TEPCO’s plans there. NRA Chair Shunichi Tanaka said this week that the Fukushima plant is still unstable, contradicting earlier government reports that operations there had been stabilized.

This week, TEPCO began removing 764 spent fuel rods from reactor #4 at its Fukushima Daini power plant. The Daini plant is located approximately 11 km from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, where a triple meltdown occurred after power was lost there after last year’s massive earthquake and tsunami. Although a nuclear emergency was also declared at the Daini plant, workers were able to recover cooling systems and avoid meltdowns at the reactors. The utility is moving the rods to a storage pool on upper floors of the building, and eventually plans to follow suit with reactors #1, #2, and #3, a process that will continue through the end of 2014. (Source: NHK) http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/nuclear-reaction/fukushima-nuclear-crisis-update-for-october-2/blog/42456/

 

October 5, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012 | Leave a comment

Human Rights request to Fukushima Prefecture

Human Rights Now (3 September 2012)【Statement】Request for the Radical Reform of the Health Check System including Thyroid Examination for the Affected People by the Nuclear Power Plant Accident  “…..HRN requests to Fukushima prefecture to:

 1. Conduct the thyroid examination for children at least once a year for the “early identification” and “early treatment.” Especially when the thyroid nodules or cysts are recognized, establish and implement the system quickly;

 2. Expand the thyroid examination to adults, and also conduct the blood and urine examinations;

 3. Provide information of the thyroid examination and others (such as blood examination and thyroid sonogram) conducted by the prefecture to first-person or their parents, and provide explanation if requested;

 4. Store the result of the thyroid examination over a long period of time for the future follow-up and comparison, and disclose the information of the examination result when requested by the examinees or their parents, without asking the information disclose procedure. Also, take necessary measures so that other municipalities and medical institutes that will provide the health examinations can share the data.

 HRN requests to the state to:

1. From the position of protecting the residents’ rights to health around the nuclear power plant accident, as a responsibility of the state, construct the guidelines regarding health checks, examination, and medical treatment promptly. In the course of that, take into account the international perception and the good practice of medical policies, taken by the related countries of the Chernobyl accident;

 2. Publish guidelines about the information disclosure of the result of health examinations including the thyroid examination, and instruct the prefecture;

 3. As a state, commit to the health checks of the prefecture, and request the drastic reform and improvement of the examination system, based on the above mentioned recommendations towards Fukushima prefecture;

 4. Provide a financial support to the municipalities in Fukushima prefecture to enable them to establish the examination systems including the thyroid examination and the internal exposure examination; secure the base hospitals of the health examinations including the thyroid examination in all areas in Japan, and provide a financial support so that the affected people are able to take necessary examinations, such as thyroid and internal exposure examinations, for free at least once a year, regardless of their living place.

 HRN requests to Mr. Shunichi Yamashita (the head of the Exploratory Committee on the “Fukushima Health Management Survey,” the vice-president of the Fukushima Medical University, and the president of theRadiation Medical Science Center for the Fukushima health management survey) to:

 1. Officially withdraw the announcement (dated 16 January 2012) sent to the members of the Japan Thyroid Association.

 These recommendations are all important to protect the right to people’s health (Article 25 of the Constitution, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights), therefore, prompt improvement and implementation are required. http://hrn.or.jp/eng/activity/area/japan/statementrequest-for-the-radical-reform-of-the-health-check-system-including-thyroid-examination-for/

October 5, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, Reference | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »