TIME: OCTOBER 30 (TUESDAY), 2012, 14:00-16:00
1: Mr Katsutaka IDOGAWA: mayor of Futaba town which was “worst hit by Fukushima fallout” Organized by Japanese Association for the Right to Freedom of Speech (JRFS), Association of Fukushima Collective Evacuation Trial for the Right to Education in a Safe Place
2. Professor Michel Fernex: Professor Emeritus, Medical Faculty, University of Basel, will speak about the effects of radiation on children.
3: Mr Toshio YANAGIHARA: lead lawyer representing the Fukushima Collective Evacuation Trial for the Right to Education in a Safe Place representing 14 children plaintiffs for a collective evacuation (whole school) from heavily contaminated Koriyama city, Fukushima.
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October 29, 2012
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Nuclear Reactors Await Hurricane Sandy By MATTHEW L. WALD, NYT October 28, 2012, Among the various immobile pieces of infrastructure in the path of the East Coast hurricane are around 20 nuclear reactors, from Calvert Cliffs in southern Maryland to Pilgrim in Plymouth, Mass., and Vermont Yankee, just north of the Massachusetts line in Vernon, Vt.
But the industry and regulatory officials say that this is an anticipated challenge…. The most severe weather to afflict nuclear reactors may have been Hurricane Andrew, in August 1992, which was a Category 5 storm when it hit the Turkey Point reactors 25 miles south of Miami. The plant lost telephone communications with the outside world, and
the access road was blocked by fallen trees, but there was no significant damage to safety systems, the regulatory commission found later …. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/nuclear-reactors-await-hurricane-sandy/
October 29, 2012
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, USA |
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http://enenews.com/100000-tepco-employees-expected-to-go-to-fukushima-in-2013-all-of-companys-workers-to-be-sent
Published: October 27th, 2012 at 5:30 pm ET
By ENENews
Oct. 27 ,2012 report in Nikkei with summary translation by Fukushima Diary:
In the mid-term administration plan, Tepco decided to send all of their employees to Fukushima for decontamination from 2013.
They are sent to Fukushima for 2~3 times a year, about 100,000 people in total will go to Fukushima annually.
This is not volunteer, this is obligation.
More detail on the comments on the enenews article concerning manpower resources available
October 28, 2012
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“Next month, Okamura’s group plans to flip the switch on new purifying equipment using Toshiba Corp. technology that is supposedly able to decontaminate the water by removing strontium and other nuclides, potentially below detectable levels, he said.
TEPCO claims the treated water from this new system is clean enough to be potentially released into the ocean”
By Mari Yamaguchi
NATIONAL OCT. 28, 2012
Japan Today
[…]
“…….To deal with the excess tainted water, the utility has channeled it to more than 300 huge storage tanks placed around the plant. The utility has plans to install storage tanks for up to 700,000 tons—or about three more years’ worth—f contaminated water. If that maxes out, it could build additional space for roughly two more years’ worth of storage, said Mayumi Yoshida, a company spokeswoman.
But those forecasts hinge on plans to detect and plug holes in the damaged reactors to minimize leaks over the next two years. The utility also plans to take steps to keep ground water from seeping into the reactor basements.
Both are tasks that TEPCO is still not sure how to accomplish: Those areas remain so highly radioactive that it is unclear how humans or even robots could work there.
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October 28, 2012
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“In 2012, the Da Lat University offers the scholarship of one million dong a month and seats at dorms when enrolling students for the nuclear power major. However, the school could enroll 17 students only, while it planned to enroll 50.”
“As you receive this letter, seventeen Vietnamese social activists, including bloggers and citizen journalists have been in jail for up to a year. Most have not even been brought to trial. These seventeen individuals have been arbitrarily detained because of their work as citizen journalists, environmental advocates, anti-corruption crusaders and human rights defenders.”
Saturday, 27 October 2012
Mr Vuong Huu Tan, Head of the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety VARANS
The press briefing held on October 24 in Vietnam was introduced as the meeting to introduce the 2012 nuclear power exhibition to be inaugurated the next day.
However, the questions raised by the reporters at the press briefing did not relate to the exhibition. The biggest matter of interest of the participants was the safety of the nuke power plants to be built in Vietnam.
After the Fukushima accident in March 2011, some big countries in the world, including Germany and Switzerland, are considering shut a part or the whole nuclear power plans. This has once again, triggered the big worries about the safety of the nuke plants in Vietnam.
However, Vuong Huu Tan, Head of the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety VARANS, has affirmed that the nuclear power plants still have been on the development over the last 18 months, after the Fukushima catastrophe, simply because no alternative energy source has been found.
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October 28, 2012
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After the decomposed carcass was discovered, U.S. officials gave strict instructions to the crew aboard the vessels that no information or photographs were to be released. NOAA did later issue a press release about the dead whale, though it was soon edited in such a way that it appeared to minimize the oil’s effect on whales.
“We believe a full throated debate over the settlement amount needs to happen before any deal is done,” said John Kostyack, a vice president at the National Wildlife Federation, who estimates BP’s potential liability at more than $50 billion.
Oct 26, 2012
Yulia Monakhova
Greenpeace obtained documents relating to the 2010 BP oil spill indicating that Obama administration officials tried to restrict information about whales and other wildlife affected by the disaster. The newly released pictures and emails show that, two years ago, the U.S. government tried to cover up the number of whales which came into close contact with BP’s leaking oil well after the Gulf of Mexico spill.
The environmental organization obtained the pictures and emails in late September through a Freedom of information request. The pictures were taken in the summer of 2010 and show the carcass of a sperm whale whose skin had been burnt black. According to The Guardian, the dead whale was sighted at sea, south of the Deepwater Horizon oilrig.
It is thought the photos were taken by crewmembers of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) research vessel,Pisces, who found the dead whale on June 15, 2010. It was floating 77 miles from the Deepwater Horizon. The young sperm whale’s skin had been burned and partially eaten by sharks. On the same day, NOAA observers aboard another vessel spotted five whales covered in oil. After the decomposed carcass was discovered, U.S. officials gave strict instructionsto the crew aboard the vessels that no information or photographs were to be released. NOAA did later issue a press release about the dead whale, though it was soon edited in such a way that it appeared to minimize the oil’s effect on whales.
There were believed to be about 1,200 sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico at the time of the spill, making it one of the biggest populations in the world. Environmental organizations and the U.S. government still need to determine the exact impact of the oil spill on wildlife in the area, particularly on endangered species, such as sea turtles and sperm whales. The outcome may have enormous financial implications for BP.
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October 28, 2012
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14 October 2012 – The medics in prison go on hunger strike to demand that all charges are dropped and their immediate release.
Sat Oct 27, 2012 3:54PM GMT
Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have attacked anti-regime protesters in the village of Nuwaidrat, using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/27/269053/bahraini-forces-attack-protesters/
more info on the link below with video pleas for help
26/10/2012 – 2:19 p | Hits: 66
Doctors and medics volunteered to offer assistance to injured protesters during the uprisings in Bahrain (Photo/Bahrainmujaz)
Roula al-Saffar was arrested in March 2011 by the Bahraini authorities.
Roula is the head of nursing at the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama, and like many other Bahraini medics and doctors she had assisted injured protesters during the uprising in Manama.
They were then accused of inciting sectarian hatred and the overthrow of the regime. These medics were detained, tortured and harassed for nearly two months and many were initially sentenced to 15 years in prison by a military court.
The individual stories can be found on the human rights websites Doctors in chains and Physicians for human rights.
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October 27, 2012
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TOKYO | Sat Oct 27, 2012 11:29am BST
(Reuters) – Hitachi Ltd (6501.T), Japan‘s largest industrial electronics maker, is close to buying British nuclear new-build project Horizon in a deal expected to be worth more than 50 billion yen ($628.46 million), Japanese media said on Saturday.
Horizon, which plans to build 6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity, was put up for sale by its German owners E.ON AG (EONGn.DE) and RWE AG (RWEG.DE) in March, as Germany‘s decision to pull out of nuclear power hurt the utilities’ finances.
“Hitachi has made the best offer and has a good chance to get Horizon,” a source inside the consortium familiar with the process told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another person with knowledge of the proceedings also said Hitachi was likely to be the winner.
Hitachi is expected to hold a board meeting on Tuesday to approve the deal and officially announce it later that day, both the Asahi daily newspaper and Kyodo newswire reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Another newspaper, the Mainichi daily, reported that in addition to building the nuclear units, Hitachi is also expected to win a contract for about 40 years to operate and maintain the reactors.
Hitachi officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.
Officials at E.ON and Horizon declined to comment, while a RWE spokesman said: “We are in the final stages. We will probably say more in the coming days.”
On Thursday, a RWE said it was in advanced talks to sell Horizon, after a German newspaper reported that a consortium led by Hitachi was the front runner for the Gloucester-based venture.
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October 27, 2012
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Nuclear Fusion Project Struggles to Put the Pieces Together Scientific America, 27 Oct 12, Contracting woes may cause further delays for $19.4-billion ITER, a project designed to show the feasibility of nuclear fusion as a power source
By Geoff Brumfiel and Nature magazine The world’s largest scientific project is threatened with further delays, as agencies struggle to complete the design and sign contracts worth hundred of millions of euros with industrial partners, Nature has learned.
ITER is a massive project designed to show the feasibility of nuclear fusion as a power source. Continue reading →
October 27, 2012
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
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Britain views pre-emptive strike on Iran nuclear facilities as illegal Telegraph UK, 26 Oct 12 Britain views a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities as illegal under present circumstances and would not allow UK military bases to be used for this purpose, according to reports.
The Foreign Office declined to comment on suggestions that British ministers have been advised that a strike on Iran would breach international law because no imminent threat currently exists.
If the US were to attack Iran’s nuclear plants, it could request permission to use the RAF base at Akrotiri in Cyprus and the American military facilities located on the British territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. However, The Guardian reports that the Britain would reject any such request under present conditions…..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9636134/Britain-views-pre-emptive-strike-on-Iran-nuclear-facilities-as-illegal.html
October 27, 2012
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
UK, weapons and war |
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PEC-funded projects have brought power to the lives of more than 10,000 people in the Solomon Islands; will reduce Samoa’s fuel usage by 135,000 litres per annum; and, in the Federated States of Micronesia, reduce carbon emissions by 500 tonnes and induce fuel cost savings of 486,000 dollars per year.
Pacific Island Sets Renewable Energy Record, Alert Net, 26 Oct 2012 By Catherine Wilson BRISBANE, (IPS) – Tokelau, a small Polynesian territory in the central Pacific, has surpassed the rest of the world in replacing fossil fuels and raised the benchmark of achievement on sustainable development. Continue reading →
October 27, 2012
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
OCEANIA, renewable |
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this failure to make the promise of renewables a keynote in the debate is a huge missed opportunity. In particular, it ignores the dramatic reduction in the cost of photovoltaic solar power worldwide and the considerable benefits to U.S. consumers and the environment
Solar Energy Is Ready. The U.S. Isn’t Bloomberg, By Ken Wells – Oct 25, 2012 Clean energy has become a dirty word in presidential politics. In their second debate, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama each tried to 
outdo the other’s love of fossil fuels: Obama extolling his record on oil and natural gas production, Romney vowing to take “advantage of the oil and coal we have here.” Continue reading →
October 27, 2012
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
decentralised, renewable, USA |
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Tepco: Water used to cool Fukushima reactors could be released into ocean — Outside experts worried http://enenews.com/tepco-water-cool-fukushima-reactors-could-be-released-ocean-experts-worried-about-lasting-impact
October 25th, 2012 Title AP Interview: Japan Nuke Plant Water Worries Rise (PHOTOS)
Source: Associated Press
Author: MARI YAMAGUCHI (Malcolm Foster contributed to this report)
Date: October 25, 2012
Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant is struggling to find space to store [… a]bout 200,000 tons of radioactive water […]
TEPCO is close to running a new treatment system that could make the water safe enough to release into the ocean. […]
Outside experts worry that if contaminated water is released, there will be lasting impact on the environment. […]
TEPCO claims the treated water from this new system is clean enough to be potentially released into the ocean, although it hasn’t said whether it would do that. […]
October 27, 2012
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Fukushima 2012, Japan, oceans |
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Nuclear weapons still have the power to instantly destroy the world October 23, 2012, This month is the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis — which took place Oct. 16-28 in 1962 — so we’re going to hear a great deal about the weeks when the world almost died. But the past is a foreign country, a place where everything was in black and white, and men still wore hats, so it’s just scary stories about a long-gone time.
Or so it seems.
The outlines of the tale are well known. It was 17 years since the United States had used nuclear weapons on Japan, and the Soviet Union now had them, too. Lots of them. The American and Soviet arsenals included some 30,000 nuclear weapons, and not all of them were carried by bombers any more. Some were mounted on rockets that could reach
their targets in the other country in half an hour……
What almost nobody knew until very recently is that the crisis did not really end on Oct. 28. A new book by Sergo Mikoyan — “The Soviet Cuban Missile Crisis: Castro, Mikoyan, Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Missiles of November” — reveals that it continued all the way through November……. the whole world could have ended.
As Robert McNamara, Kennedy’s defence secretary in 1962, said 40 years later: “We were just plain lucky in October 1962 — and without that luck most of you would never have been born because the world would have been destroyed instantly or made unlivable in October 1962.”
Then he said the bit that applies to us. “Something like that could happen today, tomorrow, next year. It will happen at some point. That is why we must abolish nuclear weapons as soon as possible.” They are still there, you know, and human beings still make mistakes.
http://www.capebretonpost.com/Opinion/Columns/2012-10-23/article-3105130/Nuclear-weapons-still-have-the-power-to-instantly-destroy-the-world/1
October 27, 2012
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
resources - print |
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100 foot deep wall at Fukushima plant still being built, says Tepco — Trying to keep underground contamination from ocean — Years from completion? http://enenews.com/tepco-100-foot-deep-underground-wall-being-built-to-try-and-stop-water-from-seeping-out-of-plant-and-into-ocean-will-take-until-mid-2014 October 25th, 2012
Title: Fish Off Fukushima, Japan, Show Elevated Levels of Cesium
Source: New York Times
Author: HIROKO TABUCHI
October 25, 2012
To stop water from seeping out of the plant, Tokyo Electric is building a 2,400-foot-long wall between the site’s reactors and the ocean. But [Yoshikazu Nagai, a spokesman for Tepco] said the steel-and-concrete wall, which will reach 100 feet underground, will take until mid-2014 to build.
October 27, 2012
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Fukushima 2012 |
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