2012 December 04 « nuclear-news

Kay Drey speaks at “A Mountain of Waste 70 Years High” conference -Video

4th December 2012

Kay Kranzberg Drey has devoted her life to civil rights and to saving the planet. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan

http://www.umsl.edu/services/oeo/pdfs/karydrey.pdf

Streamed live on Dec 1, 2012 by chicagomultikulti

Kay Drey`s Speech opens the conference at the start of the recording

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_NjEaUmQHQ&feature=youtu.be

From this link for further coverage of the conference recordings

http://rceezwhatsup.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/video-december-conference-mountain-of.html

December 4, 2012 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Seven more years for Hinkley and Hunterston B -WNNews

04 December 2012

UK nucelar utility EDF Energy is to extend by seven years the life of four of its Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors – two each at Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B.

Seven more years for Hunterston B (Image: Richard Webb)

Both plants had been expected to shut down in 2016. Today’s announcement should see operations continue until at least 2023 – good news for the more than 1500 employees and contractors employed at the plants. It should also reassure UK policy makers worried about the possibility of a looming supply gap facing the country as AGRs approach the end of originally anticipated lifespans, and coal-fired power plants close down to meet EU air quality rules.

The UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) does not set fixed licence periods for nuclear plants; rather they can continue to operate as long as they are deemed safe and pass periodic safety reviews. According to a spokesman, the ONR is “broadly content” with EDF’s proposal to manage aging at the plants and the next periodic safety reviews for both stations is scheduled for 2015.

EDF Energy CEO Vincent de Rivaz noted that each year EDF Energy invests some £300 million ($483 million) in parts and for its nuclear fleet while a further £350 million (564 million) is spent on plant operations – with over 90% of total spend remaining inside the UK. This fleet comprises the UK’s 14 remaining AGRs as well as a single 1188 MWe pressurised water reactor at Sizewell B. The two units at Hunterston B have a combined output of 890 MWe while those at Hinkley Point B are rated at 870 MWe.

Continue reading →

December 4, 2012 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Fukushima Medical University Hospital cover up -An interview with Kazihiko Kobayashi

“Some responsible medical professionals have left the Japanese Medical Association because they no longer want to wear with this behaviour. This summer, they have decided to establish their own clinic with the support of civic initiatives in Fukushima. It is citizens and should serve above all parents and children. 1200 of 4,000 children in Fukushima, already have signs of disease, such as cysts and nodes on the thyroid. Despite government and Tepco silence on the matter.”

“You must see that TEPCO only through financial assignments of the State can they hold on. In doing so, the Japanese major banks also have their hands in the game, because they are shareholders of the power companies. If TEPCO were broke because of the billions in compensation to victims of Fukushima, the banks would have lost lots of money. Therefore, the government is under pressure, TEPCO to keep TEPCO afloat with tax money. And that happens.”

04.12.2012

By ALEXANDER MICHEL

SÜDKURIER

Eighteen months after the nuclear disaster, the government markets the beautiful location and buys the doctors who explain the radiation exposure is insignificant. But the resistance of the people in the country is growing. Japan’s prominent nuclear critic Kazuhiko Kobayashi declared to the SÜDKURIER how people are sold in Japan for a fool. For more information Info:

Interview with the nuclear power critic Kazihiko Kobayashi

Mr. Kobayashi, more than a year after the Fukushima disaster during the Tokyo demonstrations when hundreds of thousands of people were on the streets. Did this change something in your country?

If you mean by government and industry: no. The Government, with responsibility for the consequences of Fukushima, Ministry of Industry, the power plant operators and TEPCO are still working together closely, as they did formerly. They make a pact. It is with us long in Japan tradition that make large corporations, politicians and state officials common cause to protect their interests. For this they are willing to stop at nothing. The effects of the disaster will be covered up .

How does that work?

Initially, the government held to the internationally accepted limit of one millisievert of radiation per year, which a person can be exposed. After the disaster hit the triple pact agreed to increase the limit, so that nobody can make a compensation. So you have set up the limit arbitrarily to ten millisieverts/year. It is safe, it said. After a few months, it was found that this limit was exceeded. Because even in Tokyo there is radioactive contamination. The measurements also show a citizens’ initiative in a park that is close to my apartment. The measured values of these stress hotspots are staggering. And around Fukushima would require many more areas to be cleared. But that would cause compensation costs so again.

They have screwed up the limit so again?

The government could not afford to work at this, they would lose face if they did. They took a different route: a doctor and professor at the Medical College of Nagasaki was made in Fukushima as Vice Chief of the medical faculty at the University. (Prof S Yamashita) In return, he will represent the official government line. And he does it well: when he says that every year up to 100 millisieverts/year threatens no health risk. That is the limit of the original hundredfold!

How can a physician do that?

You need to know: medical radiation research is not studied in Japan. The Americans have after the dropping of two atomic bombs stopped after the war as an occupying power. Research on the radiation sickness was even banned by law – initially only for seven years. After that was a perpetual vow of silence and the consensus: There is no science on radiation sickness in Japan. So the doctors are corrupted. And that has continued into the present.

Can one treat radiation sickness in Japan at all?

There are hardly any specialists in that area. That is the long-range effect of the American prohibition. It was 1945, so yes, Japan to gain a military foothold and partner in the Cold War. This included the deployment of nuclear weapons. By the dropping of atomic bombs, the United States had of course made many enemies in Japan. The peaceful use of nuclear fission should serve to make the Japanese view more balanced. This explains why more than 50 nuclear reactors could be built in a country that has seen two nuclear bombs drops… Yes, these power plants are also highly political objects. They serve the military alliance between the U.S. and Japan. Only then this excessive expansion of nuclear power in Japan will ever be understood.

And the doctors were convinced?

The Government has equipped them with all sorts of privileges after the war. These include some tax advantages. Also dizziness and tricks when expenses are condoned. Tests do not exist. All this is an open secret in Japan.

What is the radiation medical care procedures in Fukushima now?

Specialists from around the world and also many from Germany have come to Fukushima. The German doctors and American colleagues have lamented the populations plight and were horrified when they measured values and found that: people may not live here any more.

click for more..

Continue reading →

December 4, 2012 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Even France can’t build a nuclear reactor economically, and in the planned time

The spiralling costs at Flamanville, and at another EPR being built by French engineering company Areva in Finland, have raised questions about the viability of nuclear power.

“If there’s anywhere that the EPR should be built on time and on budget it surely must be France,” said Dr Paul Dorfman, founder of the Nuclear Consulting Group. “The fact that it hasn’t been has profound implications for nuclear new build in the UK.”

EDF plant cost rises damp nuclear hopes Ft.com, By Guy Chazan and James Boxell, 3 Dec 12 EDF, the French utility, said the cost of its new nuclear power station in northern France had increased by a third, raising fears that its planned UK plant may also be vulnerable to a similar budget blowout. But EDF Energy, the company’s UK subsidiary, insisted that the cost issues in Flamanville, Normandy, would have no bearing on its plans for Hinkley Point in Somerset. Continue reading →

December 4, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France | 1 Comment

Exelon a powerful nuclear bully against the public interest

Nuclear Giant Exelon Back to Bullying Wind Energy, The Green Miles, by Miles Grant, 3 Dec 12 Nuclear power giant Exelon is once again complaining that wind power makes electricity prices too low. On page 21 of Exelon’s new report slamming government support for wind energy:

[S]ubsidized wind generation also exacerbates artificially low electric prices, thus imposing economic harm.
on competitive generators that are needed to maintain system reliability.

Aw, poor little Exelon! Considering the company brought in $19 billion in revenue last year while dumping vast amounts of carbon pollution into the air at no charge, I bet that cheap wind power had Exelon executives crying in their Johnnie Walker Blue.

Exelon isn’t poor or little – it’s a big, powerful bully that has no problem putting its best interests ahead of your family’s best interests. Exelon spent $9.2 million on lobbying last year, just one of many electric utilities fighting to protect our dirty, expensive energy status quo. The entire alternative energy industry – from wind to solar to biofuels – spent $28.6 million. Continue reading →

December 4, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | Leave a comment

Wind and rain repeatedly bring radioactive material into Fukushima cities

TV: Fukushima ‘hotspots’ move to new areas, but still remain where they were — “With rain or wind, radioactive materials come always into city” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-radioactive-fukushima-hotspots-move-new-areas-remain-rain-wind-radioactive-materials-always-city-video
Title: The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster
Source: CAN TV (Chicago Access Network Television)
Date: Dec 1, 2012

Akiko Yoshida, Friends of the Earth – Tokyo: This is the contamination survey in October this year.

The hot spots still remain in these areas and also in other cities in Fukushima.
The hotspots is moving from here to another place, but still remain there.
The government said that they do decontamination, but the effect of decontamination is very limited. […]
With the rain or with the wind, radioactive materials comes always into the city.

Watch the presentation here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c32EjEmLwA

December 4, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Tsuruga nuclear power plant may be sitting on an active earthquake fault

Regulator does not ‘rule out’ crush zone at Tsuruga nuclear plant as
active fault, Daily Yomuiri, 4 Dec 12 TSURUGA, Fukui (Jiji Press)–A nuclear regulator has not ruled out the possibility a crush zone under the Tsuruga nuclear power plant is an active fault, the presence of which would prevent restarting one of the plant’s reactors.

At a news conference Sunday after a second day of on-site surveys at the plant, Kunihiko Shimazaki, acting chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, said inspectors found stratum deformation above the crush zone D-1, which runs directly underneath the plant’s No. 2 reactor building. The results of the survey, conducted by Shimazaki and four other
experts commissioned by the authority, will be evaluated at a meeting next week.

If D-1 is judged to be an active fault, the regulatory group will prevent Japan Atomic Power Co., the plant’s operator, from restarting the No. 2 reactor….. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T121203003485.htm

December 4, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

AUDIO: Wider implications of Fukushima nuclear disaster

AUDIO: UN expert:Japan’s view on Fukushima too optimistic http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2012-12-03/un-expertjapans-view-on-fukushima-too-optimistic/1055192 3 December 2012 The United Nations’ special rapporteur on the right to health, Anand
Grover, says the Japanese government should consult more with local communities to assess the real impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Continue reading →

December 4, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Debate over nuclear power plant on the shores of Lake Ontario

Nuclear power debated: Darlington plant’s critics line up at hearing, Macleans,
by Nick Taylor-Vaisey , December 3, 2012 Hope Fellowship Church. It sits on Bloor Street in Courtice, Ont., a small town east of Oshawa, and it’ll be packed with people for the next few days. That’s because the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is holding hearings about the future of the nuclear power plant five kilometres away, nestled against the shores of Lake Ontario. Many don’t much care for the nuclear plant, and they hope to throw a wrench into proposals to keep that plant chugging for years to come. Some are even suggesting Parliament should investigate various elements of nuclear safety. Others support the plant, and intend to tell the commission as much.

What’s on the table, specifically? Ontario Power Generation, the crown corporation that manages the province’s nuclear plants, wants to refurbish the plant, extend its licence until the end of 2014, and renew its waste management facility’s licence, too. The CNSC hearings are part of that application process. The commission received an abnormally high number of interventions, many of which were submitted by individuals, and it was forced delay hearings by several weeks. (By the way, you can request a copy of interventions at the CNSC website. Why they’re not available for download is puzzling.)

Who is opposed? Continue reading →

December 4, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, environment | Leave a comment

Nuclear industry sees the writing on the wall, – and attacks renewable energy

The Canadian Nuclear Association and the Ontario Power Workers Union have recently been vocal in promoting nuclear power, labelling renewables such as wind and solar as “intermittent” and expensive, and encouraging more investment in nuclear.

Solar industry urged to push back against nuclear ‘attack’ RICHARD BLACKWELL Toronto — The Globe and Mail, Dec. 03 2012, Canada’s solar power industry needs to market itself more aggressively to counter “misinformation” spread by the nuclear power business, the head of the country’s solar association said Monday.

Claims by the nuclear industry that it is more economical and just as clean as renewable energy sources are essentially an “attack” on solar and need to be countered, said John Gorman, president of the Canadian Solar Industries Association.

“Make no mistake about it, renewable energy, and increasingly solar energy, is under attack,” he told delegates to a solar energy conference in Toronto. Misinformation “is being spread by a small number of short-sighted politicians and by competing industries that see the writing on the wall.” Continue reading →

December 4, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Chinese engineering firm violated nuclear export rules

Chinese firm admits nuclear export violations: U.S. Justice Dept WASHINGTON (Reuters) David Ingram, 3 Dec 12– A nuclear engineering company with ties to the Chinese government pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of illegally exporting coatings that can withstand high temperatures to a power plant in Pakistan, the U.S. Justice Department
said.

China Nuclear Industry Huaxing Construction Co Ltd entered the guilty plea in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to the department…..
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-nuclear-coatings-pakistanbre8b2160-20121203,0,5911850.story

December 4, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

72 microsieverts/hour spike -Cattenom France, during emergency response exercise -Not noticed?

3.00 am 4th Dec 2012

I was measuring the radiation in the air in London and tonight i got a 0.19 mcSv/h or about 73 cpm average over a one hour count. Recently, the air quality has been around 0.10 mcSv/h or about 36 cpm.

i checked the Eurdep mapping for radiation spikes and found that Cattenom in the north east of france to have switch offs to hide the levels but also i found a 72 mcSv/h spike and in Germany a high level of beta too.

i have posted my findings for posterity. there are no warnings of why this level of release or contamination is present. It is reaching London in the UK via the north sea via denmark, most likely.

Interestingly there is an ongoing exercise for a radiological disaster response.. wonder if they know they are sucking up large amounts of radon and its daughters?? the Eurdep map is designed for the emergency services and they havent mentioned a 72 microsievert spike?? the full article is posted below the maps and graph evidence below.

My gieger counter is an Inspecter Alert and new.. The levels in the second hour seemed to have dropped a bit but there are small clouds of radioactive particles and gases obviously in the air in europe. Definately in the UK..

“Luxembourg is to participate in a disaster exercise to test emergency responses in the event of a crisis at the neighbouring French nuclear power plant in Cattenom. The Grand Duchy is joining forces with local authorities in Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lorraine and Belgium to participate in the second phase of tests on December 5 and 6. The exercise, which involves teams from the emergency and civil protection, is designed as a “dummy run” in the event of a disaster at the plant, which may put lives at risk.”