Former NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko Visits Fukushima, Meets Evacuees -EXSKF
“What I take away from coming here and talking first hand to people in Japan, that there really is no acceptable situation which people have to be sent from their homes because of a man made technology that is there to provide electricity and do these kind of things. This is not the kind of trade off that we want to have.
It really reinforces in my mind that I think we need a different standard when it comes to nuclear safety and that standard needs really to be that nuclear power plants should only be allowed to operate if we can really guarantee that we wont have to have these large scale evacuations.
I think that’s the goal that we need to shoot for and make sure that bring about and being here and coming here, reinforces in my mind that is really the right approach and i think that that is something we want people to do.”
“we can not stop the accidents…..”
30 December 2012
EXSKF
I haven’t watched the entire program myself, but will do so tomorrow, before NHK finds the video and takes it down.
NHK BS-1 documentary “原発の“安全”を問い直す 米ＮＲＣ前委員長 福島への旅 (NRC former chairman’s trip to Fukushima – to re-examine the safety of nuclear power plants)”, first aired on December 22, 2012. The program is in Japanese, but you can hear Jaczko’s comments in English, and you can catch the interpreter.
Jaczko visited Japan in August this year, soon after he resigned from the NRC.
While walking in Namie-machi with a former resident in Tyvek suits and mask, Jaczko says,
I see many different people with views about nuclear power. Some people try and say that really because no one was killed from radiation or appears to have received lethal doses of radiation that there’s… such hype. But I think it is certainly very difficult to walk around here and see the livelihood that’s just no longer there.
The town is frozen at March 11, 2011.
At the end of the program, Jaczko says,
“In the end, everyone has to keep in mind that the safety of the public is the number one responsibility, whether you are a power plant owner, whether you’re a worker at the power plant, or a local or state or national government official, everyone has to recognize that safety of the people is the most important issue.”
Well, it wasn’t, in case of Japan. What came first and foremost was to tell people it was safe, and kept repeating it like a mantra.
Jaczko certainly does not come across as arrogant, bullying chairman that he was accused of being, by his colleagues.
Video on link
http://ex-skf.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/radioactive-japan-former-nrc-chairman.html
Nuclear firm AREVA hedging its bets- making wind turbines now
Areva plans 750 jobs with Scottish wind turbine factory, Telegraph,
By Emily Gosden 19 Nov 2012 French energy company Areva has
unveiled plans for a wind turbine factory in Scotland that could
create up to 750 jobs.
The plant at the Firth of Forth would manufacture turbines for use off
the coast of the UK, each generating 5 megawatts of electricity, which
could supply 6,000 homes a year.
The move was hailed as “brilliant news for Scotland” by Prime Minister
David Cameron, who added: “Growth of the renewable energy sector isn’t
just good for our environment, it’s good for our economy too.”…..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/9689022/Areva-plans-750-jobs-with-Scottish-wind-turbine-factory.html
Wind and solar bringing energy independence to Africa
Early this year, the Rio+20 conference saw increased calls for a green economy that would help African governments cease being net energy importers through the use of renewable energy resources such as wind and solar.
Greening Africa: The turbines turn http://www.africareview.com/Special-Reports/Greening-Africa-The-turbines-turn/-/979182/1654236/-/uuxs6a/-/index.html
December 30 2012
This month, the UK’s Blue Energy announced it would sink $400 million into building sub-Saharan Africa’s largest photovoltaic solar power plant in Ghana, to meet six per cent of that country’s energy needs.
The planned 155MW Nzema project places Ghana among a growing list of African countries that have recently looked to tap into clean energy to meet their huge power deficits, to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and by extension secure their very existence. Continue reading
Ghana’s The 155-megawatt Nzema solar energy project
155MW Solar Farm For Ghana http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3533 30 Dec 12, A UK company will construct Africa’s largest solar panel based power plant; which will be fully operational in 2015.
The facility will be developed by Blue Energy; a firm majority owned and funded by members of the Stadium Group, one of Europe’s largest private asset and development companies.
The 155-megawatt Nzema project will be the first utility scale solar project to get the green light under Ghana’s 2011 Renewable Energy Act. Continue reading
Idle No More – indigenous movement spreads beyond Canada
Why Idle No More matters, Montreal Gazette, The aboriginal protest
movement fits into a pattern that suggests we are entering a new era
of collective action
By Celine Cooper, Special to The Gazette December 30, 2012 MONTREAL —
In a teepee on Victoria Island in the Ottawa River just a stone’s
throw from Parliament Hill, Attawapiskat First Nations Chief Theresa
Spence is engaging in a hunger strike. Her actions have come to
represent the growing social movement known as Idle No More.
Set into motion and founded by four women from Saskatchewan — Sheelah
McLean, Nina Wilson, Sylvia McAdam and Jessica Gordon — Idle No More
(#idlenomore on Twitter) has gained momentum as an indigenous-led
protest against the mammoth omnibus Bill C-45 tabled by the federal
Conservative government this month. Critics of the bill have taken
particular issue with its amendments to the Indian Act and the
Navigable Waters Act, arguing that it disrespects treaty rights and
aboriginal sovereignty and erodes protection of the environment. Continue reading
New chief of the National Nuclear Security Administration – close ties with DOE
Acting Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration:
Who Is Neile Miller? AllGov, December 30, 2012 Neile L. Miller, who has
been the principal deputy administrator for the National Nuclear
Security Administration (NNSA) since August 2010, will become acting
administrator on January 18, 2013, upon the retirement of current
director Thomas P. D’Agostino. NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within
the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) responsible for overseeing the
nation’s nuclear weapons complex….. Miller and her husband, nuclear
scientist Dr. Werner Lutze, have two sons, Max and Daniel.
http://www.allgov.com/news/appointments-and-resignations/acting-administrator-of-the-national-nuclear-security-administration-who-is-neile-miller-121230?news=846613
Anxiety over rail transport of Dounreay’s nuclear spent fuel
Savings put ahead of nuclear safety, Tor Justad
http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/letters/savings-put-ahead-of-nuclear-safety.19779977, 30 Dec 12,
The report referring to a large increase in radioactive discharges
once again raises concerns about what is actually happening at
Dounreay (Alarm at plans for huge increase in radioactive discharges
from Dounreay, News, December 23).
It appears saving money is being put ahead of safety.
It has been regularly reported that the Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority (NDA) wishes to close Dounreay as quickly as possible. One
result is the current controversial transport of 44 tonnes of highly
radioactive spent fuel 400 miles by rail, from Dounreay to Sellafield.
The NDA has asserted that savings of millions of pounds can be made by
this transport when they previously indicated that the spent fuel
could be safely stored at Dounreay.What should be concerning to
Highland Council and Sepa (the Scottish Environment Protection Agency)
is that these reported “savings” could be putting the lives of tens of
thousands of people at risk from accident or terrorist attack linked
to this rail transport, or from any increase in discharges around
Dounreay, which are already unacceptably high. I trust that Highland
Council and Sepa will act sooner rather than later to reassure the
public and to take action before it is too late.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) misled the world about Chernobyls’ cancer threat
Thyroid Cancers: More, Sooner, Untreatable Chernobyl at Ten: Half-lives and Half Truths, Chernobyl, by John M. LaForge
“……Dr. Soyfer further discovered that the Soviets focused on and publicized the fallout’s radioactive iodine content, but understated the amounts of other far more dangerous isotopes. While 10 to 15 percent of the fallout was iodine-131, the long-lived radionuclides strontium-90 and cesium-137 made up more than two thirds of the total contamination.[12]
Furthermore, the Soviet’s 1986 estimate of future cancer deaths was based only on the impact of iodine-131, and then only on external doses. As a result, the IAEA misled the world about Chernobyl’s cancer threat. Continue reading
NORWAY WORLD LEADERS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY -sort of?
“…Figures show that 45 % of the energy bought in Norway comes from fossil fuels, while more than 30% comes from nuclear power…”
- Posted on December 27, 2012
- by gasse5
Norway, from which Team Gasse’s Tor Staubo hails, prides itself in being one of the leaders in the Green Energy production. Below is an informative article about how Norwegian consumers are being pushed to demand the implementation of such cleaner energy usage in their own country.
Norway is in a special position when it comes to energy. 95% of the energy produced in Norway comes from hydropower, and the energy prices are the lowest in Europe. Despite of this, Norwegian consumers use less environmentally friendly energy.
Big demand for guarantee of origin
Renewable energy is in big demand in many European countries. More and more Europeans want energy with guarantee of origin. Because of this, Norwegian hydropower is sold on the European market, and Norwegian households buy energy from less environmentally friendly sources, imported from other countries.
In June, the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) announced its updated declaration of energy. Figures show that 45 % of the energy bought in Norway comes from fossil fuels, while more than 30% comes from nuclear power. NVE’s numbers are in sharp contrast to the myth that they mostly use clean hydropower in Norway.
“Norway is in a special position when it comes to renewable energy,” says Finn Erik Arctander , Managing Director of Telinet Energi. “Because most of the electricity in Norway is produced from hydropower, we are used to thinking that the power we use is green energy. The challenge is that we sell much of our renewable power abroad and in return we import electricity from coal and nuclear power.”
To get the renewable energy they want, Norwegian consumers now need to actively demand this from their power supplier.
“We see a big increase in customers that are environmentally conscious. They want origin-guaranteed energy in Norway as well, and they choose their power supplier based on this rather than on price only,” says Arctander. “The good news is that environmentally friendly energy is not more expensive than the energy bought from fossil fuel and nuclear power.”
Green energy just as inexpensive
A brand new overview shows that many of the power suppliers with guarantee of origin have the same low prices, or even lower, than the others. On top of the price list for all power suppliers in the Oslo area, with the lowest prices, we find Telinet Energi, with 100% green energy.
“This list shows that green energy can also be affordable,” says Arctander.
Source: http://www.prnewswire.com; December 21, 2012.
http://gasseracing.com/news-updates/norway-world-leaders-in-renewable-energy/
Norway is opposed to nuclear power?
“….As of 2011, countries such as Australia,Austria, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Israel,Malaysia, New Zealand, and Norway remain opposed to nuclear power….”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-nuclear_movement
Nuclear reactor in Norway helps to make paper!
“…Its small test reactor in the town of Halden is furnishing steam to a nearby paper mill, according to the “Material Testing Reactors” website published by France’s Energy and AlternativeEnergies Commission (CEA). Wikipedia identifies the user as the Saugbrugs paper mill, operated by Norske Skog Corp….”
http://www.norwaynews.com/en/~view.php?73T2654KL84839B2851gi844SQ2888Q076AEk353M7U8
“The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster” – Professor Edward Vajda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcCiagavS3Q
Published on Nov 28, 2012
Edward Vajda, professor of Modern and Classical Languages at Western Washington University, gave a lecture titled “The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012 in the Bellingham City Council Chambers, 210 Lottie St., in Bellingham.
The free, public talk, an installment of the WWU College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Lecture Series, was co-sponsored by the City of Bellingham.
Vajda discussed the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, which arguably remains the world’s worst environmental catastrophe. Vajda worked as a translator and news analyst in the Moscow office of CBS News during the crisis. He will recount his experience in helping cover the story at the time, and also will explain what is known in hindsight about the causes leading up to the disaster. He also will analyze the role played by the tragedy in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and assess its continuing environmental, political and social effects a quarter century later.
Edward Vajda has been a professor at Western since 1987 and currently serves as director of the Linguistics Program. He teaches Russian language, culture and history, as well as general linguistics and courses on Inner Asian and Siberian peoples. Vajda worked as tour guide and interpreter in the former Soviet Union and has traveled extensively throughout the Russian Federation, specializing more recently in language documentation among northern Siberia’s native ethnic communities. Vajda received Western’s Excellence of Teaching Award in 1992 and the Paul J. Olscamp Research award in 2011. Audience questions will be welcomed.
The lecture will be recorded and shown on Bellingham TV Channel 10. For more information on this lecture, please contact Katrina Schaeffer, WWU College of Humanities & Social Sciences, (360) 650-3763, or katrina.schaeffer@wwu.edu
Published on Nov 23, 2012
原発反対! 子どもを守ろう! 命を守ろう! みんなで守れ、子供を守れ、子供こそ宝だ・・・・。
Thank you to ; Ian Thomas Ash, David Zavaglia, Iwakami Yasumi, Mark Willacy, Alain de Halleux, Birdhairjp, Tom Hartman, Jan Hemmer (for all your great input), Greenpeace International and everyone who have devoted so much time to bring out the truth to the small and big screen. These very simple homemade video petitions are dedicated to all victims of 311 and the brave citizens of Tohoku.
このとてもシンプルで手造りのビデオ署名３１１の犠牲者たちに捧げられた。
また東北地方の勇敢な人々に。
Please sign this petition on behalf of the children.
Become part of the solution.
子供達のために署名をおねがいします。
解決策の一部となろう。署名は 福島の子供を守れwww.avaaz.org で
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Protect_the_children_of_Japan_against_radiat…
May all the children of the great nation of Japan be safe from radiation.
素晴らしい国日本の子供たちを放射能から救えます様に。
Evacuate Fukushima 福島の子供を守れ
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Evacuate-Fukushima-%E7%A6%8F%E5%B3%B6%E3%81%AE…
TO contact us; kodomo.wo.mamoru.311@gmail.com
The very best!
Nelson
Evacuate Fukushima 福島の子供を守れ
Live from Arevaland !
WHO and IAEA cover up – Namie-machi and Iidate villages not warned about the high radiation
Fukushima Appeal 福島アピール
http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/it-was-in-fact-well-over-100msvy.html
Image courtesy of http://evacuatefukushimanow.wordpress.com
SATURDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2012
In my previous post it says “The WHO report put the maximum whole-body radiation dose per person in the first four months of the crisis at 50 millisieverts”
It was in fact well over 100mSv/y.!!
This September, after one year and half, Fukushima government and Tepco finally revealed the radiation level of area near Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant at the time of the accident.
Highest point in Futaba-machi was 1590 uSv per hour (=13,928 mSv per year!) at 3pm before 1st explosion at reactor 1 on March 12, 2012.
The level was so high that being there for 40 minutes would expose you to the annual radiation dosage limit. Citizens within 10km radius of Daiichi nuclear power plant were evacuated in early morning on the day but not everybody managed to evacuate before vent was carried at reactor 1around 9am. Mr. Hirose, journalist and been a main figure of anti nuclear campaign in Japan commented in his lecture that we should review evidence of the high radiation level and the evacuation situation.
While central and Fukushima government, Tepco employees, IAEA members and possibly even Radiation Effects Research Foundation (they were there carrying measuring equipment) with protective gears were collecting samples, local people were staying in the shelter without any protections or safety information. Also residents in Namie-machi and Iidate village weren’t told the danger of the radiation for several months although it was over 100 uSv/h (=876 mSv/y) in some places.
Although Namie-machi and Iidate village are about 30km away from Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, unfortunately wind blew towards there and became heavily contaminated area. There was an article “Prometheus’ Trap” – “Men in protective cloth” on Asahi Newspapers written by one of residents in Namie-machi. These men were IAEA members.
Nowhere to use Japan’s growing plutonium stockpile – Japan Today
“….Giving up on using plutonium for power would cause Japan to break its international pledge not to possess excess plutonium not designated for power generation. That’s why Japan’s nuclear phase-out plan drew concern from Washington; the country would end up with tons of plutonium left over. To reassure Japan’s allies, government officials said the plan was only a goal, not a commitment….”
By Mari Yamaguchi
NATIONAL DEC. 30, 2012 – 07:00AM JST
ROKKASHO —
How is an nuclear-powered island nation riddled with fault lines supposed to handle its nuclear waste? Part of the answer was supposed to come from this windswept village along Japan’s northern coast.
By hosting a high-tech facility that would convert spent fuel into a plutonium-uranium mix designed for the next generation of reactors, Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture was supposed to provide fuel while minimizing nuclear waste storage problems. Those ambitions are falling apart because years of attempts to build a “fast breeder” reactor, which would use the reprocessed fuel, appear to be ending in failure.
[…]
There is scant prospect for building a long-term nuclear waste disposal site in Japan.
[…]
If Japan decided that it cannot use the plutonium, it would be breaking international pledges aimed at preventing the spread of weapons-grade nuclear material. It already has enough plutonium to make hundreds of nuclear bombs — 10 tons of it at home and the rest in Britain and France, where Japan’s spent fuel was previously processed.
[…]
“Our nuclear policy was a fiction,” former National Policy Minister Seiji Maehara told a parliamentary panel in November. “We have been aware of the two crucial problems. One is a fuel cycle: A fast-breeder is not ready. The other is the back-end (waste disposal) issue. They had never been resolved, but we pushed for the nuclear programs anyway.” -Seiji Maehara
[…]
Construction at Rokkasho’s reprocessing plant started in 1993 and that unit alone has cost 2.2 trillion yen so far. Rokkasho’s operational cost through 2060 would be a massive 43 trillion yen, according to a recent government estimate.
[…]
The prototype Monju fast-breeder reactor in western Japan had been in the works for nearly 50 years, but after repeated problems, authorities this summer pulled the plug, deeming the project unworkable and unsafe.
[…]
The fourth reactor that used MOX was among the reactors that melted down. Plant and government officials deny that the reactor explosion was related to MOX.
[…]
Meanwhile, the plutonium stockpile grows. Including the amount not yet separated from spent fuel, Japan has nearly 160 tons. Few countries have more, though the U.S., Russia and Great Britain have substantially more.
TEPCO needs help! 3.2 trillion yen needed for Fukushima compensation
Tepco requested additional financial support of 697 billion yen for the 
Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/12/tepco-requested-additional-financial-support-of-697-billion-yen-for-the-nuclear-damage-liability-facilitation-fund/
by Mochizuki on December 27th, 2012 ·
Tepco has estimated the total nuclear damage compensation to be 2.5 trillion yen and has been requesting the financial support from the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund based on the revised Special Business Plan approved on May 9, 2012.
However, after deciding the compensation standard of lands or houses, adding real estate and postponing the compensation term for spontaneous evacuees and harmful rumor of agricultural products, the estimated compensation amount increased to be 3.2 trillion yen.
On 12/27/2012, Tepco requested the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund for 697 billion yen of the additional financial support.
Related article..[Bloomberg] Tepco Sued by U.S. Sailors Exposed to Radiation [Link]
Video of radiation alarms going off on USS Ronald Reagan
NSFW: Footage of alarms going off during radiation scans on USS Ronald Reagan — “This is crazy… We’re dying and we’re taking videos of it” — “Hey put the camera away” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/nsfw-footage-alarms-going-during-radiation-scans-uss-ronald-reagan-crazy-dying-videos-hey-put-camera-away-video
December 28th, 2012
Watch the video here
Title: Radiation Scans
Uploaded by: lil3breezy
Date Uploaded by: lil3breezy
Date Uploaded: on Jan 28, 2012
h/t Fairewinds Energy Education
Description: During our 2011 deployment on the USS Ronald Reagan, we went through a radiation plume after heading to help out Japan after the earthquake/tsunami. This is what we had to go through every time we came back off the flight deck. This was the only entry point from the flight deck.
*Not Safe For Work*
At :05 in
“This is what happens when you’re exposed to massive amounts of radiation.”
At 2:10 in
(Radiation detectors beeping loudly) “This is crazy… Oh shit can you hear it?”
At 2:45 in
“This is kind of crazy. When in your life will you ever get to do this shit again besides a nuclear holocaust?”
“We’re dying and we’re taking videos of it.”
At 4:45 in
“Hey put that camera away.” (Video Ends)
1 This Month
10 June – Assessing Canada’s Investments in Small Modular Nuclear Reactors – https://zoom.us/meeting/register/IiqHA5feRhaEBycOLNTJlA#/registration
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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