U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Don’t impose death sentence on 82-year-old nun and peacemaker
Petition by
Washington, United States
Sixteen years in prison is not enough? Sister Megan Rice and her friends, all peace activists, already face 16 years in prison if convicted for a nonviolent peace action. Sister Megan, Greg Boertje-Obed, and Michael Walli went to Oak Ridge, Tennesse, to say NO to nuclear holocaust. Instead of dropping charges, the US Attorney General and the Department of Justice are considering two additional charges against this 82-year-old nun and two U.S. veterans, both sabotage charges. One carries 20 years and the other 30 years in prison. With the new charges, the defendants would face a maximum of 65 years in prison. This is the equivalent of a death sentence.
Megan, Greg, and Michael called their action “Transform Now Plowshares,” and brought nothing more dangerous than flashlights, binoculars, bolt cutters, bread, flowers, a Bible, and household hammers to Oak Ridge. They hammered on the walls of a storage facility to symbolize the disarming and abolition of nuclear weapons. The real danger to society is not this nun and two veterans, but instead the facility they want to transform. This unconstitutional facility holds enough weapons grade uranium to make more than 10,000 nuclear weapons, far more than what scientists say is needed to destroy life on earth.
Please join in this petition to the Attorney General of the United States asking him to refuse to authorize additional charges: 16 years in prison for revealing the criminality and insecurity of nuclear weapons production smacks of killing the messenger for the failings of the king.
Sign the Petition here
Fukushima -Secure spent nuclear fuel rods in dry passive storage -Petition
The greatest near term threat to humanity is reactor fuel pond No. 4. International aid for the stabilization of the Fukushima-Daichi site is needed, to place all of its spent reactor fuel into dry, hardened storage casks. This will require about 244 additional casks at a cost of about $1 million per cask. To accomplish this goal, an international effort is required – something that Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has called for. As we have learned, despite the enormous destruction from the earthquake and tsunami at the Dai-Ichi Site, the nine dry casks and their contents were unscathed. This is an important lesson we should not ignore.
Sign the petition here
Bulgarian President Opposes Recommended Nuclear Energy Policy
“So, an indifferent electorate, a president in opposition, and billions of dollars at stake – place your bets.”
By John Daly | Mon, 17 December 2012
As the global nuclear energy industry at present is recovering from the potential death blows of the 11 March 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that destroyed Japan’s six reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, the battleground for nuclear power’s future seems increasingly to be shifting to Central and Eastern Europe. There, a legacy of aging Soviet reactors, allied to EU and NATO membership is heightening tensions between governments increasingly torn between Communist-era policies and a non-nuclear future.
Nowhere are the battle lines more starkly drawn than in Bulgaria, where the International Atomic Energy Agency has recommended several improvements to Bulgaria’s sole remaining nuclear power plant at Kozloduy.
The fly in the ointment?
Bulgaria’s president Rosen Plevneliev, who stated that he will vote against the proposed building of a second Bulgarian NPP at Belene at the upcoming 27 January 2013 referendum.
On 27 January Bulgarians will vote on a referendum asking them to decide, “Should Bulgaria develop nuclear energy through the construction of a new nuclear plant?”
Taiwan -Nuclear energy meeting ends in brawl over attendance
“None of us legislators want to see these incidences of violence in the committee” and “We only want to know who these participants are,” Chen Shu-hui shouted as he was surrounded by several legislators from both parties, adding that the meeting should not be allowed to proceed.
]…[
“Can’t we even listen to the meeting?” Yang asked.
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
Tue, Dec 18, 2012
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Shu-hui, left, and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ho Hsin-chun, right, argue yesterday over the presence of members of the public at a legislative committee meeting.Dec 18, 2012
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
A meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday to hear a report by the Atomic Energy Council on comprehensive safety checks at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) was postponed after legislators quarreled over whether members of the public should be allowed to attend the meeting.
The committee chair for the session, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), had invited Gongliao residents and members of anti-nuclear energy groups to attend the session, but the move drew objections from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chen Shu-hui (陳淑慧) and Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉).
Fearing a repeat of an incident involving National Tsing Hua University student Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), a co-convener of the Youth Alliance Against Media Monsters — who attended a committee meeting earlier this month and caused controversy by using strong language while addressing Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) — Chen Shu-hui stepped up to the inquiry podium at the beginning of the meeting and asked the committee chair to vet the participants before opening the meeting.
Chen Shu-hui’s request prompted DPP legislators to question the constitutionality of identifying the participants and the dispute devolved into a quarrel between KMT and DPP legislators, culminating with Chen Shu-hui and DPP Legislator Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) shouting loudly at each another and banging on the podium.
Japanese election result is no guarantee of nuclear power restart
“People who voted for the LDP are supporting their economic-stimulus measures, not nuclear power policy,”
“Even for the LDP it will be difficult to gain support from residents living near nuclear stations for restarting them, as the tragedy in Fukushima is not over,”
Nuclear Stock Rally in Japan Ignores Public Opposition, Bloomberg News By Yuriy Humber, Anna Kitanaka and Aya Takada December 17, 2012 Japanese power-company stocks that rallied after the pro-nuclear energy Liberal Democratic Party was elected may struggle to sustain gains because of public opposition to restarting atomic plants……
“Just because politicians say they want to restart reactors doesn’t mean they will actually be able to do it,” said Ayako Sera, a market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. in Tokyo, which has about $400 billion in assets. ….
Any plans to restart reactors will need approval from the Nuclear Regulation Authority, which is investigating six atomic plants on concern they were built on active fault lines. Japanese law states reactors cannot be built on active faults, indicating the plants may need to be decommissioned.
“Proving safety is going to be really hard,” Sera said. Continue reading
Japanese voted on economic issue, but anti nuclear opinion is widespread
Exit poll: Anti-nuclear votes spread across the board http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201212170097 Ballots cast by people who advocate scrapping nuclear power ended up being spread among the various parties, meaning that anti-nuclear entities failed to gain seats, an Asahi Shimbun exit poll shows.
The Asahi Shimbun approached voters nationwide who had cast their ballots in the Dec. 16 Lower House election to find out if they supported “scrapping nuclear power immediately, “gradually phasing out nuclear power altogether” or “not pursuing zero nuclear power.”
Fourteen percent chose scrapping nuclear power immediately, and 64 percent picked gradually phasing out nuclear power altogether.
Voters opposed to nuclear power cast ballots across a wide range of parties in the proportional representation system.
This was because parties other than the Liberal Democratic Party advocate a break with nuclear power to a certain extent. Fifteen percent of the respondents said they do not want to pursue zero nuclear power.
The LDP has been a strong supporter of nuclear power. Yet, the party was supported by 16 percent of those who said they want to scrap nuclear power immediately, and 28 percent of those who said they supported gradually phasing out nuclear power altogether. This suggests voters made choices based also on issues other than on nuclear energy.
Of those who do not want to pursue zero nuclear power, 43 percent voted for the LDP. Continue reading
No early return to nuclear energy, for Japan
Japan Shifts to LNG Dependency from Nuclear, Eyes US Fuel, Energy Tribune, December 17, 2012 Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) purchase, a post-Fukushima item in Japan’s imports list that sent country’s foreign trade figures to their first deficit in 38 years in 2011, will continue dominating the country’s energy near future, as officials confirm that they are in LNG trade talks with the U.S., not a traditional supplier. Qatar and Australia seem to be maintaining their top supply positions to the Japan with new deals, the country’s Nuclear Policy Unit has said.
Before the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami on May 11, 2011, Japan was planning to increase nuclear power’s share in its energy bucket to 50 percent as of 2030, from 26 percent at the time.
Today, the revised plans vary from zero to a maximum 25 percent of nuclear, the Nuclear Policy Unit Cabinet Secretariat Yoshinori Tanaka told journalists in Tokyo on Dec. 13.
Along with purchases from Qatar and Australia, the country is looking to buy LNG from the U.S., he also revealed. However, other officials have stated that the U.S. is primarily considering meeting its domestic demand first.
A new Japanese strategy document prioritizes renewables, but such projects will take time to fill the significant energy gap in Asia’s second largest economy.
Japan, which was once energy self-sufficient, this year and in 2011 bought large amounts of LNG, along with coal and oil, to meet the gap that emerged after the closure of its nuclear facilities, the assistant press secretary of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Masaru Sato, told the Hürriyet Daily News……
The country’s newly founded Nuclear Regulation Authority, a governmental body focusing exclusively on nuclear safety, will start inspecting nuclear plants to restart operations only in June 2013, showing that a nuclear comeback is also not on the agenda in the immediate short term…..http://www.energytribune.com/68237/japan-shifts-to-lng-dependency-from-nuclear-eyes-us-fuel
Berlin goes for 100% renewable energy, in buying back the grid
The new municipal utility would work towards a 100 percent renewable supply of energy starting with distributed cogeneration units whose efficiencies are at least 80 percent. And as Germans always understand, the path to a greater share of renewable energy always requires energy conservation and efficiency, so the new utility would also focus on these goals
Berlin to buy back grid and go 100 percent renewable, Renewables International 18 Dec12, The German capital has resolved to buy back its power supply. On Wednesday, the grand coalition that governs the city-state passed a resolution to buy back its grid and switch to renewables. Continue reading
Contradictory information about Lynas rare earths project in Malaysia
Lynas will be in court in Malaysia on 19 December. The Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) campaignerswill be appealing against the Kuantan High Court decision to lift its stay on the company being able to exercise its rights to proceed under the temporary licence.
The toxic waste that’s not in Australia’s backyard http://aliran.com/11005.html 18 Dec 12, Australian-owned company Lynas is quietly shipping rare earth to a processing plant in Malaysia – without a firm plan in place to dispose of dangerous radioactive waste. Wendy Bacon reports.
If a manufacturing plant involving radioactive materials moved into your community, one of the first things you would ask is, “what’s going to happen to the waste?”
This is exactly how residents of Kuantan on Malaysia’s east coast reacted when the Australian company Lynas announced plans to build Lamp, the world’s biggest rare earth processing plant in their area.
Several years later, they have no clear answer. Indeed last week, while the plant that will use concentrate imported from Lynas’s rare earth mine at Mount Weld in Western Australia was finally ramping up for production, the Malaysian government and the company were in direct conflict about what would happen to the waste. Continue reading
Plutonium now called “material” as it travels from Scotland to Wales
Breeder is classed as material and not as fuel or waste, by NDA.
Nuclear material moved by train from Scotland to England , BBC News, 17 December 2012 The first of 90 rail shipments of nuclear material from Dounreay in Caithness to Sellafield in Cumbria was made overnight.
The journey was understood to have been made under armed escort. Forty-four tonnes of breeder material in total will be transported by train to Sellafield for reprocessing. Continue reading
Mitsubishi faulted by nuclear watchdog, over San Onofre equipment tests
Nuclear watchdog faults Mitsubishi over San Onofre equipment tests
LA Times, December 17, 2012 Federal regulators found flaws in the process followed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in building and testing mock-up replacement parts for the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant.
The plant has been out of service for more than 10 months because of excessive wear on tubes carrying radioactive water, one of which leaked a small amount of radioactive steam in January, prompting the plant’s shutdown.
The tubes are part of the four massive replacement steam generator assemblies manufactured by Mitsubishi for plant operator Southern California Edison.
The replacement project cost Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, which co-owns the plant, a combined $771 million, a cost passed on to ratepayers. A warranty on the equipment is capped at $137 million. Continue reading
Vogtle nuclear plant loan guarantee negotiations drag on slowly
Nuclear Energy Institute chief finds Vogtle loan guarantee delays troubling December 12, 2012 By Matthew Bandyk The U.S. nuclear industry is hoping the Vogtle nuclear plant project in Georgia will spur the construction of other nuclear reactors this decade.
But continued delays in negotiations between Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power Co., the lead developer of the Vogtle project, and the U.S. Department of Energy over the final terms of a federal loan guarantee are creating troubling implications for the program, Nuclear Energy Institute President and CEO Marvin Fertel said Dec. 12….. Continue reading
100% of Fukushima white rockfish had cesium levels, November-December
Cesium measured from 100% of Fukushima white rockfish in November and December http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/12/cesium-measured-from-100-of-fukushima-white-rockfish-in-november-and-december/
by Mochizuki December 17th, 2012
On 9/9/2012, Fukushima Diary reported white rockfish (Shiromebaru) tends to accumulate cesium. http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/09/85-of-fukushima-rockfish-exceeds-safety-limit-in-cesium/
According to Fukushima prefectural government, high level of cesium was measured from 100% (19 of 19) of the samples taken in November and December from offshore Fukushima. 84% (16/19) of them exceeded the government’s safety limit of 100Bq/Kg.
The highest reading was 1,731 Bq/Kg (11/30/2012), the second highest reading was 1,225 Bq/Kg (12/8/2012).
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