USA pressure on Japan to keep with nuclear energy
U.S. needs Japan to remain nuclear, US expert says Relations in region not likely to change with Obama or Romney, even in China tiesJapan Times, By TAKASHI KITAZUME, 3 Nov 12 A “zero-nuclear” Japan will be a serious concern for the United States as its key ally both from economic and security standpoints, the chief of an influential U.S. think tank said at a recent seminar on Japan-U.S. relations.
The policy set out in September by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s Cabinet seeking to phase out nuclear power generation in Japan by the end of the 2030s — in response to strong anti-nuclear sentiments in the country following the triple meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011 — is not viable given Japan’s vast economic needs, said John Hamre, president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Hamre, a former deputy U.S. defense secretary, and his CSIS colleague Michael Green were speaking at a seminar organized by the Keizai Koho Center on Oct. 25 to discuss American policy on East Asia ahead of the U.S. presidential election as well as the imminent change in leadership in China.
Nuclear power generation in Japan over the past four decades has been an important part of Japan’s economic success that provided “a strong, reliable supply of base energy” for the historically energy-poor country, Hamre said.
While he said he understood that the Fukushima crisis shook people’s confidence in nuclear power — just as the 1979 Three Mile Island incident did for Americans — he noted there is “too much of a romantic idea about alternative energy in this country as a substitute for nuclear power.”
The Democratic Party of Japan-led government’s policy does not include a specific road map to achieve the goal, but assumes that renewable sources like wind and solar power will account for a greater portion of the nation’s energy mix in coming decades.
Citing U.S. experience in wind and solar power generation, Hamre said the low efficiency and output of these sources that rely on natural conditions will not “replace the base capacity of nuclear power generation.”……
Hamre said. “There can’t be any romanticism about alternative energy. If you’re going to be a modern, sophisticated economy, you have to address this question of making nuclear power a legitimate source of energy.”
Hamre also said the policy poses a security concern from the viewpoint of international control for nonproliferation of nuclear materials…..
If Japan is to give up nuclear energy — and if nuclear power is to wither in the U.S. due to competition with cheap natural gas and in Europe as in the case of Germany — “the countries that have given us the security system are going to diminish, and who’s going to replace them?” he said. “Americans cannot afford from a security standpoint to have Japan abandon nuclear power. It’s too important to us.”.….. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20121103d1.html
Japan’s leaders cave in to pressure: will keep nuclear power
Japan’s leaders give up on quitting nuclear power Although Japan’s 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster set much of the public against nuclear power, politicians are not convinced. Christian Science Momitor By Gavin Blair, Correspondent / November 5, 2012 TOKYO In mid-September, Japan said it would close all 50 of its nuclear reactors by “the end of the 2030s.”
Days later, the administration backtracked in the face of opposition from the main business lobby and some senior lawmakers in Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s own Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Although the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has profoundly increased the public’s antipathy toward nuclear power, politicians have yet to be convinced.
“The majority of Japanese people are now against nuclear power, but none of the major political parties are listening to them,” Continue reading
Fossil fuel lobby American Legislative Exchange Council aims to kill renewable energy
Twenty-nine states have adopted renewable standards, and several of them were passed under leadership from Republican governors, such as Minnesota’s under Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
the policies still have a good level of bipartisan support.
American Legislative Exchange Council, (ALEC)’s proposal is “out to do one thing, and that’s to maximize the profits of fossil fuel industry and eliminate renewables from competition.
Conservative group seeks to repeal state renewable standards Midwest Energy News, 11/05/2012 by Dan Haugen A highly influential conservative policy group with strong ties to the fossil fuel industry plans to make repealing state renewable policies a “high priority” in the coming year, potentially raising the stakes for legislative elections across the country. Continue reading
Earthquake fault under Oi nuclear reactor is definitely active
Gov’t Nuclear Expert: Immediately halt Japan’s only 2 operating reactors — “It’s certain there’s an active fault” http://enenews.com/govt-nuclear-expert-immediately-halt-japans-only-two-operating-reactors-its-certain-there-is-an-active-fault
November 4th, 2012
Title: Panel at odds over fault at Oi nuke plant Source: Kyodo Date: Nov. 5, 2012
A fault running under the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture is definitely active, an expert on a Nuclear Regulation Authority panel investigating the compound’s safety said Sunday, as other members continued to debate the potential danger.
Toyo University professor Mitsuhisa Watanabe is calling for the immediate halt of two reactors at the plant, the only nuclear facility reactivated since the Fukushima disaster last year, arguing evidence points to an active fault.
“It’s certain there is an active fault. Operations should be stopped and another investigation should be conducted” at the Oi plant, Watanabe said. […]
Ionising radiation – the killer for super fast space travel
Super-Fast Space Travel Would Kill You In Minutes http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/11/super-fast-space-travel-would-kill-you-in-minutes/ JAMIE CONDLIFFE, 6 Nov 12, Everyone thinks it would be cool to travel at the speed of light, which is why scientists devote their lives to working out if it would be possible and NASA is trying to develop its own warp drive. But easy, tiger: turns out super-fast space travel would be fatal. A paper published in Natural Science brings some boring common sense to the speed-of-light-travel table. In order to travel huge distances in next to no time, people need to travel close to the speed of light. In so doing, travellers cover extremely large distances very quickly, and thanks to the quirks of relativity, it would feel like it took mere minutes because of an effect known as time dilation , which squashes perceived time.
The trouble is that travelling close to the speed of light brings about other effects too. In Natural Science , Edelstein and Edelstein point out that hydrogen in any craft cable of travelling at the speed of light would also prevent it from travelling at the speed of light. They explain :
Unfortunately, as spaceship velocities approach the speed of light, interstellar hydrogen H, although only present at a density of approximately 1.8 atoms/cm3, turns into intense radiation that would quickly kill passengers and destroy electronic instrumentation. In addition, the energy loss of ionizing radiation passing through the ship’s hull represents an increasing heat load that necessitates large expenditures of energy to cool the ship.
In other words, travel close to the speed of light and you’ll be bombarded with so much radiation that you kick the bucket. The knock-on effect is that even if it’s possible to create a craft capable of travelling close the speed of light, it wouldn’t be able to transport people.
Instead, there’s a natural speed limit imposed by safe levels of radiation due to hydrogen, which means humans couldn’t travel faster than half the speed of light unless they were willing to die almost immediately. Dammit. [Natural Science ]
The nightmare of the Marshall Islands nuclear bomb tests
PARADISE WITH AN ASTERISK, OUTSIDE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 17, 2012 Bikini Atoll, a tiny ring of islands halfway between Hawaii and Australia, is a world-class diving destination and home to one of the Pacific’s last great fishing grounds. So where are all the tourists? Welcome to heaven on earth, where the vestiges of hell lie just below the surface. Continue reading
Youtube – earthquake fault line under Oi nuclear power plant – and more
Fukushima TEPCO Criminals, Ohi Fault Line Investigation, update 11/2/12http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwnFVEb7qtU&feature=share Nov 2, 2012 Well, here we go again. The Ohi plant is already operational, and the plant owners Know about the Fault running directly under a water cooling pipe. But, the plant owners say, “the fissure is not active”. Okay, so then if the fissure DOES become ACTIVE, they will shut the plant down. WTF!?! Hint hint, it will be Too Late by then guys and gals.
A worker for a subcontractor of TEPCO becomes whistleblower after knowingly being sent into a highly radioactive Fukushimna building to lay cable.
TEPCO working very closely with the Japanese version of “the mob” coined Yakuza – a criminal group (to say the least).
Hurricane Sandy update about New York. Hurricane Sandy damage estimated to cost approx 50 Billion dollars. How they can figure that stuff out, I have no idea…
Bulgaria weighs in on whether to go nuclear.
A great pep talk about the long term impact of Nuclear Power.
Podcast on nuclear power after Sandy, and costs of Vogtle reactor
Fairewinds PODCAST NOVEMBER 4TH, 2012 http://fairewinds.org/content/podcast-november-4th-2012 In this edition, we’ll discuss the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and what lessons must 
be learned including the breakdown in emergency preparedness. – Nuclear power plants are built to a “design basis” in an effort to prepare them for Mother Nature’s worst events. Are these design bases still sufficient? – Containment Venting has long been a concern associated with Mark 1 BWR containment systems. Now, NRC staff has recommended that these filtered vents be hardened. –
Looking at industry wide changes, we discuss the new Vogtle nuclear power plant, under construction in Georgia, that will cost billions of dollars for ratepayers and US taxpayers. Finally, in response to reader questions, we discuss what other radioactive isotopes in addition to cesium were released into the environment from the Fukushima Daiichi triple meltdown.
At Oyster Creek nuclear plant, fuel pools started to heat up
Gundersen: Nuclear fuel pool started to heat up at New Jersey plant due to Sandy — They were bringing in fire pumps because of all the problems (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/gundersen-nuclear-fuel-pool-started-heat-nj-plant-bringing-fire-pumps-because-all-problems-sandy-audio
November 4th, 2012
Fairewinds Podcast, Nov. 4, 2012: http://fairewinds.org/content/podcast-november-4th-2012
Nuclear Expert Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Energy Education:
There’s something called a PNO out, a preliminary notice of occurrence, and the NRC has said that the normal shutdown cooling and the fuel pool cooling were both lost at Oyster Creek and also that there was a loss of offsite power.
So what that means is the nuclear fuel pool started to heat up and Oyster Creek started to bring in some diesel fire pumps, apparently they got the situation rectified before turning the pumps. They were in a position where they were bringing in diesel fire pumps in order to keep the nuclear fuel pool cool because of all the problems they were having as a result of Sandy.
Death and illness rate in Chernobyl’s fallout area
France’s troubled fleet of EDF nuclear reactors
Six weeks left to bring back reactors says EDF, Oct 17, 2012
* One third of EDF’s nuclear power fleet still offline
* Europe faces more fragile supply context this year
* RTE could be forced to clip some demand during peak use
Reuters, By Marion Douet MONTESQUIEU-DES-ALBERES, France, Oct 17 – French state-owned utility only has six weeks left to ensure its troubled fleet of nuclear power reactors is capable of producing enough electricity to cope with winter demand, the French power grid’s head said on Wednesday.
Around a third of EDF’s 58 nuclear reactors — which are on average 26 years old — have been offline since April due to a maintenance, problems restarting some of the ageing reactors and unexpected outages.
This has led to questions over the energy company’s ability to adequately supply its customers in time this winter with supply already been hit by hitches at French and Belgium reactors……
Another expensive legal fight over Vogtle nuclear power plant
New $900 million Vogtle lawsuit filed, By Kristi Swartz, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5 Nov 12 The main contractors building two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle filed a more than $900 million lawsuit against Georgia Power and other utility groups Thursday, escalating a fight over the project’s costs. Continue reading
Tragedy of the displaced Bikini Atoll residents, following atomic bomb tests
PARADISE WITH AN ASTERISK, OUTSIDE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 17, 2012“…”………WHAT HAPPENED TO THE displaced islanders after 1946 was a tragedy of neglect. There was never enough food on Rongerik: the reef fish were poisonous; a fire damaged the island’s coconut trees. There was not enough water. By 1948, they were starving to death, even though the United States had committed to taking care of them. In March of that year, the Bikinians were moved to Kwajalein Island, home to a new U.S. naval base, where they camped miserably on a small strip of grass next to the runway. A few months later they were relocated yet again, this time to the island of Kili.
This was a disaster, too, but of a different kind. Kili was a true island, which meant that there was no ring of coral, no protected lagoon, no jungle-fringed outer islands to fish and hunt, just the big waves of the Pacific crashing up against rugged shores. Fishing was nearly impossible. “It was just a small piece of rock in the middle of the ocean with some coconuts growing on it,” says Alson. Once again food supplies were intermittent. At one point, the island’s new inhabitants required an emergency airdrop. The Bikinian exile continued for another 20 years, long after the last bomb, code-named Fig, was detonated in August of 1958……
The final devastating blow came in 2010, when the Bikinians lost their largest lawsuit against the U.S. government. In 2001, the Nuclear Claims Tribunal—a body established in 1983, as part of the Compact of Free Association, to handle Marshall Islands complaints—awarded the Bikinians $563 million in compensation. But the tribunal was never adequately funded to pay a claim of that size. The Bikinians sued to force payment, but the effort failed when the Supreme Court refused to hear the case in 2010, claiming it doesn’t have the right to rule over international agreements. The U.S. courts are now closed to them. “It was absolutely devastating,” says Niedenthal. “We always had the idea and the hope that we were fighting for something. When we got the final rejection by the Supreme Court, that was it. We’re done.”http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Paradise-With-An-Asterisk.html?168980656
Haphazard storage of radioactive rubble in Japan
local officials are breaking the law by failing to inform residents and ensure the sites are properly monitored.
Koriyama’s case illustrates that much related to nuclear power – and its very powerful business interests – remains hidden from an increasingly distrustful public.
Laws don’t require signs to be posted at these sites or ground water nearby to be monitored
“I’m very angry,” “The city isn’t protecting us.”
Japan’s nuclear dilemma: What to do with all that nuclear waste?
Japanese citizens are balking at the lack of information and supervision of waste stored in public places, such as playgrounds. By Winifred Bird | Christian Science Monitor, 5 Nov 12, The small sandy square in front of Yasushi Takemoto’s apartment in Koriyama, a city of 328,000 about 150 miles north of Tokyo , looks like a normal public park. On a recent weekday morning, a group of children played on the swings while the retired dentistry professor strolled under the trees.
Beneath the soil in one unmarked, unfenced corner, however, lie hundreds of bags packed with radioactive dirt, sludge from drainage ditches, and other contaminated debris. Continue reading
Uranium’s worst month since Fukushima FN Arena News-6 Nov 12 Despite a widely held belief of commodities analysts that the global demand-supply balance for uranium into the medium term points to higher .http://www.fnarena.com/index2.cfm?type=dsp_newsitem&n=CEE6B60B-9824-2D7F-6EB37B2AC916EF28
1 This Month.
5 January -Webinar-What is Trump’s Golden Dome?
REGISTER AT Massachusetts Peace Action Education
New book – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1923372157?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Now until to February 10, 2026 Radioactive waste storage in France: the debate is finally open! How to participate?
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