Arms firm support for University College London institution rapped
image courtesy of TokenLibertarianGirl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9dPuuBke9Q
Philippe Sands QC, professor of law at UCL, raised questions about the support provided for the Institute for Security and Resilience Studies (ISRS) by Ultra Electronics, which is set up by Labour’s former home and defence secretary John Reid, The Guardian reported.
“It does look like a bit of a throwback to the Bush years. It’s right that UCL should be a broad church, but there must be real openness to a range of views and perspectives, real transparency about funding sources, and real academic activity. Otherwise it will be seen as little more than a front offering a patina of academic respectability to one set of views,” Sands said.
This summer, as part of a $2 million contract, Ultra delivered fuel cells to the US military for its deadly drones.
The ISRS, whose inaugural conference was addressed behind closed doors last month by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has an 11-person “advisory board”, that includes arms manufacturers and politicians who are accused of promoting an illegal war against Iraq.
Earlier in November, anti-war campaigners took part in a demonstration called “War criminals & arms dealers out of our universities”, which was held against ex-UK Prime Minister’s invitation as a speaker to the conference of the UCL ISRS.
Britain’s former Labour leader is globally discredited for his war crimes, as in his 10 years as Prime Minister, hundreds of thousands were killed and injured in illegal interventions, and hundreds of thousands more were made refugees.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/26/280212/arms-firm-support-for-uks-ucl-rapped/
Independent WHO forum ”Nuclear Free Now” – December 2012 -Koriyama, Japan (Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM-1bDfVfxo
Video has English introduction and then in French language
A cons-forum was organized by the group “Nuclear Free Now” in Koriyama, a city 55 km from Fukushima, from 12 to 17 December 2012, in response to the ministerial meeting on nuclear safety organized on the same dates in this city by the Japanese government and the IAEA.
Against the organizers of the forum, a member wishing to make a presentation “Independent WHO” the agreement WHO / IAEA and collective activities, Christophe Elain has participated in various events organized by “Nuclear Free Now.”
In this video Christophe Elain intervention during the press conference at the event on Friday 21 December 2012.
Thank you to Kna for mounting the video and the subtitles
WHO Report on Fukushima a Travesty
8 – DECEMBER – 2012
The World Health Organisation has failed in its obligation to protect the public and guilty of the crime of non-assistance. World Health Organisation subservient to nuclear lobby. The World Health Report (May 2012) entitled “Preliminary dose estimation from the nuclearaccident after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami” [1] is a public relations exercise to reassure the world that WHO is fulfilling its role in the area of radiation and health. Following the preliminary dose estimation, WHO will complete a health risk assessment to “support the identification of needs and priorities for public health action.” But this report [ Read More ]
Pentagon Held Secret Meeting With Nuclear Industry 2003 -Veterans Today
“Moreover, because these “smaller” tactical nuclear weapons have been reclassified by the Pentagon as “safe for the surrounding civilian population,” thereby allegedly “minimizing the risk of collateral damage,” there are no overriding, built-in restrictions to prevent their use, Chossudovsky writes. Stockpiled tactical nuclear weapons, he concludes, are now considered to be an integral part of the battlefield arsenal, “part of the tool box,” so to speak, used in conventional war theaters.”
Veterans Today
Tuesday, December 25th, 2012
Image courtesy of http://www.publicdeception.net
U.S. corporations that reap billions from making nuclear weapons have “a direct voice” as to “their use and deployment,” a distinguished political scientist warns.
On August 6, 2003, a secret meeting was held at U.S. Strategic Command headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base, Omaha, Neb., that brought together more than 150 “senior executives from the nuclear industry and military-industrial complex,” writes Michel Chossudovsky, Professor Emeritus at the University of Ottawa and Founder of the Centre for Research on Globalization, of Montreal.
According to a leaked draft of the agenda, the secret session included discussions on “mini-nukes” and “bunker-buster” bombs with nuclear warheads “for possible use against rogue states,” Chossudovsky writes in his new E-book, “Towards a World War III Scenario,”(Global Research.)
The meeting was intended to set the stage for creation of a new generation of “smaller,” “safer,” and “more usable” nukes for use in “in-theater nuclear wars” of the 21st Century, Chossudovsky writes. No members of Congress representing the public were in attendance.
Barely a week prior to this meeting, the National Nuclear Security Administration(NNSA) disbanded the advisory committee that had “independent oversight” over the U.S. nuclear arsenal, including the testing and/or use of new nuclear devices.
The nuclear industry—which makes both nuclear devices and their missile delivery systems—Chossudovsky writes, is controlled by a handful of defense contractors, led by Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and Boeing.
Meanwhile, “the Pentagon has unleashed a major propaganda and public relations campaign with a view to upholding the use of nuclear weapons for the ‘defense of the American homeland,” Chossudovsky writes. He points out:
Hitachi President protests nuclear-free future in Japan -Quote of the week
http://enformable.com/2012/12/hitachi-president-protests-nuclear-free-future-in-japan/
Hiroaki Nakanishi, the president of Hitachi, told reporters that even in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, it would “be impossible” for Japan to reduce dependence on nuclear power, and used the importance of “protecting the environment” as one of his arguments.
“It is impossible to end nuclear power generation and do everything with renewable energy such as solar and wind power generation,”
India is on the cusp of a solar energy revolution. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) kick-started the development of large, mega-watt scale, solar plants….
Training under way for new nuclear plant operators – Old nuclear is finished!
By Ray Henry Associated Press Posted December 26, 2012 at 4 a.m.
While the nuclear industry had earlier proposed a larger building campaign, low natural gas prices coupled with uncertainty after last year’s disaster at a Japanese nuclear plant have scaled back those ambitions.
“This is where nuclear power is going,” said Jason Hayes, who is training to become asenior reactor operator for the new reactors at Plant Vogtle. He left a job as a control room supervisor at a nuclear plant in Mississippi because he wanted to tie his career to the emerging technology. “If there is going to be a nuclear power industry, I figured I’d go to where it’s going to be.”
“The biggest difference is the digital aspect of it,” said Greg Crosby, a training coordinator for Southern Co. “We’re almost totally digital.”
WAYNESBORO, Ga. — Utility companies are preparing a new wave of workers to run first-of-their-kind nuclear plants, a process certain to influence how workers are trained on the new technology for decades to come.
Southern Co. in Georgia and SCANA Corp. in South Carolina are the first to prepare new workers to run a recently approved reactor design never before built in the United States. Training like it will be repeated over the decades-long lifetime of those plants and at other new ones that may share the technology in years to come.
Both power companies are building pairs of Westinghouse Electric Corp. AP1000 reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta and SCANA Corp.’s Summer Nuclear Station northwest of Columbia, S.C. While the nuclear industry had earlier proposed a larger building campaign, low natural gas prices coupled with uncertainty after last year’s disaster at a Japanese nuclear plant have scaled back those ambitions.
EDF declines comment on China nuclear probe report – Reuters
PARIS | Wed Dec 26, 2012 11:11am GMT
(Reuters) – Electricite de France (EDF.PA) on Tuesday declined to comment on a report of a probe into its recent partnership with a Chinese utility to develop a new type of nuclear reactor.
Several French news websites cited a forthcoming article in satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine, due to appear on Wednesday, as saying that French finance-ministry inspectors had begun an inquiry into the terms of the China agreement.
“We have no reaction,” a spokeswoman for EDF said, adding she had not seen the forthcoming article. The French finance ministry was unavailable for comment.
EDF had said in November that the agreement with China Guangdong Nuclear PowerCorporation Holding GDNCP.UL was to develop a concept for a 1,000-MW reactor. This would be cheaper and smaller than the 1,600-MW EPR reactor blamed for the loss of a landmark project in Abu Dhabi in 2009.
(Reporting by Lionel Laurent and Gerard Bon; editing by Patrick Graham)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/12/26/uk-edf-china-nuclear-idUKBRE8BO03K20121226
India Claims Problems With Russian-Leased Nuclear Sub
02:29 26/12/2012
MOSCOW, December 26 (RIA Novosti) – India has asked Russia to replace the faulty parts on the leased Nerpa nuclear-powered submarine as they affect its operational readiness, the Times of India reported.
The Navy sources cited by the newspaper on Tuesday did not specify the components that needed the replacement but said they “were critical for the operations of the submarine.”
Neither Russian nor Indian defense ministries have officially commented on the report.
The Russian-built Akula II class nuclear attack submarine was inducted into the Indian Navy as INS Chakra in April.
The lease contract, worth over $900 million, was drawn up after an agreement between Moscow and New Delhi in January 2004, in which India agreed to fund part of the Nerpa’s construction.
However, shortly after the start of sea trials in November 2008, an accident on board the submarine killed 20 sailors and technical due to a toxic gas leak when the automatic fire extinguishing system malfunctioned.
The Nerpa was finally handed over to India in January after prolonged and costly repairs.
Hitachi CEO: Still in talks on Lithuania nuclear project?
Published: Wednesday December 26, 2012 MYT 7:15:00 AM
The Star online
TOKYO: Japan’s Hitachi Ltd remains in talks with Lithuania over its plans to build a nuclear plant after the European country’s new centre-left government said it could shelve nuclear projects, the company’s top executive said on Tuesday.
Hitachi, a century-old conglomerate that designs and builds nuclear power plants with General Electric Co in two joint ventures, has shifted its focus overseas as Japan shuns nuclear energy in the wake of the worst radiation crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant last year.
Hitachi’s nuclear joint venture had been lined up to supply a nuclear energy plant to Lithuania under the country’s previous government, which lost power in October.
“There might be a slight lag in the time period, but the talks have not been completely suspended,” Hiroaki Nakanishi, Chief Executive of Hitachi, said at a press briefing.
Nakanishi said he did not think the worldwide market for nuclear energy would shrink, but said it was impossible to form a sales outlook for Hitachi’s nuclear business before Japan’s own energy policy has been concluded.
The company has previously said it aimed to reach 360 billion yen ($4.25 billion) in sales in the nuclear business by fiscal year 2020. Hitachi’s power systems division, which includes its thermal and nuclear power business, logged 832.4 billion yen in sales the year ended March.
Nuclear safety watchdog criticises Sellafield’s emergency readiness
Report finds errors by fire officers during practice exercise could have led to ‘prolonged release of radioactive material off-site’
- The Guardian, Wednesday 26 December 2012 18.43 GMT
A damning report by safety experts has revealed that staff at Britain’s most important nuclear site did “not have the level of capability required to respond to nuclear emergencies effectively”.
In response to a freedom of information request, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), an arm of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said errors by senior fire officers in a preparedness exercise at Sellafield “could have led to delays in responding to the nuclear emergency and a prolonged release of radioactive material off-site”.
The criticism is revealed at a critical time for the nuclear industry, which is trying to build public confidence after the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant while drawing up plans to construct a new generation of atomic power stations in Britain.
It is also an embarrassment to Nuclear Management Partners, the private sector consortium which runs Sellafield and is part-owned by Areva, the French engineering company that has prepared the design for a proposed reactor at Hinkley Point in Somerset.
The initial report from the ONR led to an improvement notice being issued to the Cumbrian site, ordering it to improve its training and wider preparedness to deal with emergencies.
Two HSE fire specialists had watched a safety exercise in December 2011 which tested the Sellafield fire and rescue service’s ability to search for two people after a fictional accident that led to the spillage of radioactive liquid and an aerial release of radioactivity. Although the exercise presented “simple scenarios under ideal conditions”, the service’s “resources were stretched” and “there were insufficient numbers of firefighters to achieve the objectives”, according to the HSE report.
A spokesman for Sellafield said the successful introduction of an integrated risk management plan (IRMP) had subsequently led to the improvement notice issued in February 2012 being “closed out” by the ONR.
“This IRMP is the first of its kind for Sellafield Ltd and ONR has asked Sellafield Ltd if it would be happy to share it as good practice with other operators. A number of key improvements are being progressed to achieve the implementation of the IRMP, including enhanced training for SF&RS [Sellafield fire and rescues service] firefighters and officers,” he added.
The inspectors found evidence of “significant deficiencies around availability of resources, frequency and quality of training, competency and operational preparedness”.
The report, obtained by the website NuclearSpin, also said that Sellafield had already “identified the need to improve arrangements in this area [but] no effective remedial action was put in place”.
The service is a critical part of Sellafield’s management of nuclear safety and the HSE found it in breach of its licence conditions and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
This is not the first time the plant has been criticised by the HSE. A report in 2010 disclosed a number of safety problems at the site and the HSE ordered the closure for safety reasons of a plant for solidifying highly radioactive liquid waste. The executive also refused to endorse a “lifetime plan” outlining schedules for decommissioning the site over the next 110 years.
Fukushima kids overweight as risk of exposure to radiation forces kids indoors
Drawing by Erika, age 17, Koriyama City, Fukushima. (Geoff Read)
Published: 25 December, 2012, 17:53
RT
Kids in Fukushima Prefecture are becoming increasingly overweight, as they are denied daily exercise in schoolyards due to the risk posed by exposure to nuclear radiation in the area, governments’ health report reveals.
The report argues that an increasing number of kids are weighing 20 per cent more than their standard based on their height, reported Kyodo News.
The study was released by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Since June 2011 more than half the public institutions in Fukushima, which is just under 450 schools, have limited their outdoor activities during school hours. As of September 2012, 71 elementary and junior high schools still adhere to such restrictions, according to the prefectural education board.
Their main concern is fear of exposure to radiation released from the Fukushima Daiichi complex.
Earlier, alarming reports of children developing potentially cancerous abnormalities have been making news as early as July.
A report by Fukushima Medical University first published this April and updated in July revealed that 36 per cent of Fukushima children have unusually overgrown thyroid glands, and could be prone to cancer.
Of 38,000 children examined, 13,000 had cysts or nodules as large as five millimeters, the Health Management Surveystated, which made doctors around the globe rate Japan’s reaction to the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster as“ultimately medical irresponsibility.”
A message from Fukushima, “Documenting Ian” -Play Until You Cry
documenting ian, blog
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Play until you cry
I was shown around “Smile Park” by Ms. Tomita, a Red Cross staff member.
No control over radiation-contaminated products
The potential danger comes, however, from the cumulative effect of proximity to radiation, particularly over time and in relation to other contaminants. The precise degree of that danger has not yet been definitively determined for low-level radiation, such as that contained in commonplace goods and materials…..
Because the amount of tainted metals in circulation is unknown, the cumulative overall health effect — now and over time — is impossible to calculate. Whatever it is, there is little debate that unnecessary exposure to radiation is best avoided.
“There is no threshold of exposure below which low levels of ionizing radiation can be demonstrated to be harmless or beneficial,”
Recycled radioactive metal contaminates consumer products: “It’s your worst nightmare,” Engineering Evil, October 20, 2012
2009 report posted for filing Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com I don’t believe a single thing has been done about this crisis since this report. Not even a simple mention in the nightly news.
Thousands of everyday products and materials containing radioactive metals are surfacing across the United States and around the world.
Common kitchen cheese graters, reclining chairs, women’s handbags and tableware manufactured with contaminated metals have been identified, some after having been in circulation for as long as a decade. So have fencing wire and fence posts, shovel blades, elevator buttons, airline parts and steel used in construction.
A Scripps Howard News Service investigation has found that — because of haphazard screening, an absence of oversight and substantial disincentives for businesses to report contamination — no one knows how many tainted goods are in circulation in the United States.
But thousands of consumer goods and millions of pounds of unfinished metal and its byproducts have been found to contain low levels of radiation, and experts think the true amount could be much higher, perhaps by a factor of 10. Continue reading
VIDEOS (4) – No “Safe Dose of” Any Ionising Radiation
Rense – No ‘Safe’ Dose Of Any Radiation 1-4
http://zen-haven.com/rense-no-safe-dose-of-any-radiation-1-4/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rense-no-safe-dose-of-any-radiation-1-4
December 25, 2012 by Zen-Haven
Author: Jeff Rense
PETITION: “Recycling” with radioactive materials is NOT acceptable!
Nothing has changed since 2000 that would justify lifting its current
ban. Rather, just the opposite: since then the National Academy of
Sciences has acknowledged that there is no safe level of radiation
exposure, and we’ve learned that women are even more vulnerable to
radiation than men (while children have long been known to be more
vulnerable than adults). The DOE’s proposal flies in the face of what
our society values most: protecting our children. It must be stopped
before it starts
Tell DOE: “Recycling” with radioactive materials is NOT acceptable!
Petition http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5502/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12406 25 Dec 12,
The Department of Energy (DOE) is considering a plan to allow
radioactively-contaminated metal from nuclear weapons facilities to be
“recycled.” This would allow this toxic metal to be mixed with clean
recycled metal and enter into normal commerce—where it could be turned
into anything from your next pants zipper to baby toys. Act below to
stop this outrage! Continue reading
Hiding the facts on Fukushima decontamination
Report from Japan: Radioactive fallout around Fukushima incineration plant being hidden — “It’s very odd” (VIDEOS) http://enenews.com/report-radioactive-fallout-around-fukushima-incineration-plant-being-hidden-very-odd-videos
December 24th, 2012
Title: Decontamination is for hiding the fact, fallout from Fukushima incinerator plant, Dec 2012
Source: Birdhairjp
Date Dec 23, 2012
Decontamination is for hiding the fact, fallout from Fukushima incinerator plant, Dec 2012, a thorough decontamination work is being conducted around “Healthy Land Fukushima”. Vast amounts of plastic container bags are piled up for a small area decontamination. Contaminations, surface soil, vegetation, falllen leaves, dust with radioactive particles are stuffed in them. They removed tree barks for reducing radiation level. It’s very odd.
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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