America’s big con job – the Nuclear “Waste Confidence Rule”
The only reasonable and logical solution is to stop making more. But this “Waste Confidence” decision isn’t based on reason or logic. It’s based on keeping the reactors OPERATING for the next hundred years.
So why are we burdening our future generations with an ever-growing, unsolvable problem?
The Eternal Problem – Nuclear Waste Confidence, Counter Punch by RUSSELL D. HOFFMAN, JANUARY 03, 2013“………The pro-nuker preferred to call it “spent fuel confidence.” I, on the other hand, didn’t like the word “confidence” since there’s nothing that warrants ANY confidence in this discussion, whatsoever. ”Waste Failure” would be more appropriate. Or “Waste Impasse” might be even better. Or better yet: ”The Intractable, Unsolvable, Filthy, Disgusting Mess We’ve Made” but I guess that would just be too accurate to a group where a “rapid disassembly” is the term for a core explosion that spews radioactive crud for miles around.
But one way or another, it’s obvious that “Waste Confidence” is a misnomer from start to finish…… …… Nuclear waste storage is a huge unsolved problem in every nuclear country. Continue reading
Toshiba’s plan to put nuclear reactor under permafrost in Alaska
Radio: New nuclear reactor to be buried 100 feet under permafrost in middle of Alaska? (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/radio-nuclear-reactor-be-buried-100-feet-permafrost-middle-alaska-audio
January 1st, 2013
Title: The New Normal Is No Normal
Source: Radio Ecoshock Show
Date: Jan 2, 2013
Toshiba is very interested in, it has been in talks with the mayor of Galena [Alaska] to build a, what they call a 4S Toshiba, it’s a liquid sodium reactor that they propose to bury under the permafrost — 100 feet under the permafrost, on the Yukon River floodplain.
So the last of the pristine rivers in the world, there’s been negotiations and machinations to put a liquid sodium reactor under the permafrost on the floodplain there in the middle of Alaska.
Full broadcast here
Alaskan oil crisis, as Shell oil rig runs aground
Shell oil rig filled with fuel runs aground in Alaska — Worst development yet in crisis — “So it just happened, it’s dark, no one has seen it” http://enenews.com/nytimes-shell-oil-rig-filled-fuel-runs-aground-alaska-worst-development-crisis-happened-dark-one
January 1st, 2013
Follow-up to: NYTimes: Breakaway Oil Rig, Filled With Fuel, Runs Aground
Title: Shell drilling rig grounds off Kodiak Island after towlines fail again
Source: Alaska Daily News
Author: LISA DEMER
Date Updated: Jan 1, 2013 at 12:25p ET
h/t Anonymous tips
Royal Dutch Shell’s Kulluk drilling rig […] grounded off Sitkalidak Island, at the northern end of Ocean Bay, officials said. […]
The grounding was the worst development yet in a crisis that began Thursday night […]
The Kulluk was carrying about 150,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 12,000 gallons of lube oil and hydraulic fluid. […]
Statements:
“So it just happened. It’s dark. No one has seen it” -Susan Childs, Shell’s incident commander
“We are now entering into the salvage and possible spill response phase of this event” -Alan Wien of the state Department of Environmental Conservation
“We’ve got a pattern of failures. I’m saying no, there’s no way that I can see any feasibility of drilling in the Arctic, especially with the extreme conditions that we’re seeing, not only with Mother Nature right now but also just the technical aspects of the failures that we’re seeing with the fleet.” -Carl Wassilie, a Yup’ik Eskimo who coordinates a grass-roots group called Alaska’s Big Village Network
Ionising radiation threatens dementia onset in space travellers
Space travel may accelerate Alzheimer’s
http://www.skynews.com.au/health/article.aspx?id=831812 January 1,
2013 Long journeys into deep space, including a mission to Mars, may
expose astronauts to levels of cosmic radiation harmful to the brain
and accelerate Alzheimer’s disease, US research has shown. Continue reading
24 organisations warn Nuclear Regulatory Commission not to rush a new “Waste Confidence Rule”
24 Groups: NRC Rushing Nuclear “Waste Confidence” Process, Not Satisfying Court-Ordered Requirements By Physicians for Social Responsibility, Washington, D.C., Jan. 3, 2013 — Incomplete Process Should Trigger Continued Suspension of All Reactor Licensing, Re-Licensing
In documents filed Wednesday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), a wide range of national and grassroots environmental groups said it would be impossible for the NRC to adequately conduct a court-ordered assessment of the environmental implications of long-term storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel in the two short years the federal agency envisions for the process.
In their filings, the 24 groups said a full review of the three issues outlined in June 2012 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit – long-term storage risks for spent nuclear fuel, spent fuel pool fire risks, and spent fuel pool leakage risks – would take at least the seven years originally projected by the NRC staff, and likely considerably longer. Current federal law requires that the NRC conduct a comprehensive environmental impact statement (EIS) study before issuing a revised Waste Confidence Decision; the 24 groups submitted their comments about the appropriate “scoping” of the EIS.
In the absence of an adequate EIS review, the NRC has “no choice but to continue to suspend all licensing and re-licensing actions” for U.S. nuclear reactors, according to the 24 organizations. All licensing and re-licensing actions were previously suspended by the NRC until an EIS and revised Waste Confidence Decision have been issued…..
Highlights of the 24-group filings include the following: Continue reading
Critically dangerous state of Vermont Yankee’s accumulated nuclear waste
Vermont, New York regulators urge review of storage of spent nuclear fuel, VT Digger, by Andrew Stein | January 3, 2013 “……Vermont Yankee has 1,507 fuel rod assemblies submerged in a spent fuel pool, which was originally designed to hold about 350. Spent fuel rods must be kept under water in order to prevent the Zirconium cladding (the metal tubes that contain the fuel pellets) from igniting. The rods can remain hot for several years.
Vermont Yankee’s spent fuel pool, located in a metal warehouse structure, has more than five full reactor cores worth of radioactive material. In the event of an accident, the impact would be five times greater than a single reactor meltdown.
The dry cask storage containers on the site are hundreds of times safer than the spent fuel pool, Shadis said.
At this point, the site has 13 loaded casks, four of which were filled last year, according to Neil Sheehan, NRC public affairs officer for Region 1.
Each cask, which can hold 72 assemblies, costs $1 million. It would cost roughly $11 million to move all of the assemblies into dry cask storage……. http://vtdigger.org/2013/01/03/vermont-new-york-regulators-urge-review-of-spent-nuclear-fuel-storage/
Prime Minister Abe in a hurry to restart nuclear power, fearing that Japan might manage well without it
A survey conducted by the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper, just before the
elections last month, showed that more than 60 per cent wanted to
phase out nuclear energy completely
If the government allows nuclear plants to remain switched off, it
would be admitting that nuclear power is not critical to economic
recovery
the Abe administration cannot afford to have
the public realise that Japan can get along just fine without nuclear
power
Japan prepares for nuclear U-turn.Ft.com By Michiyo Nakamoto in Tokyo 3 Jan 13,
Japan’s plan for a nuclear-free society, which gathered momentum after
the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima nearly two years ago, looks set to
be shortlived.
Since its electoral landslide in December, the Liberal Democratic
party has wasted no time in setting the stage for a return to Japan’s
former policy of promoting nuclear power as a major source of energy
generation.
Shinzo Abe, who took over as prime minister last month, has given a
clear indication that the government is looking to build new nuclear
power plants, Continue reading
Five thousand villagers defy police in march and rally against Jaitapur nuclear power plant
Villagers from Madhban-Mithgavane, Sakhrinate, Adiware, Dhaulwali,
Dhartale and other hamlets were taking part in the march Wednesday
despite prohibitory orders clamped by the local police to deter them.
Anti-nuclear plant protestors launch ‘jail-bharo’ in Maharashtra
http://india.nydailynews.com/business/2c7c1676293d2f93702509aa46ba49fd/anti-nuclear-plant-protestors-launch-jail-bharo-in-maharashtra
Jan 02, 2013 Ratnagiri — Thousands of villagers Wednesday launched a
‘jail bharo’ agitation demanding scrapping of the proposed 9,900-MW
Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) coming up here, an activist
said.
Nearly 5,000 residents from neighbouring villages and fishing hamlets
started a peaceful march to the JNPP site, some 400 km from Mumbai,
where they proposed to court arrest. Continue reading
New York and Vermont regulators demand review of nuclear waste spent fuel pools
Vermont, New York regulators urge review of storage of spent nuclear fuel, VT Digger, by Andrew Stein | January 3, 2013 Leading Vermont and New York regulators on Tuesday called on the Nuclear Regulator Commission to conduct a comprehensive environmental review of spent nuclear fuel storage.
Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell, the Vermont Department of Public Service and the New York Attorney General’s office issued a formal letter to the federal commission on Tuesday regarding the “scope of consideration of environmental impacts of temporary spent fuel after cessation of reactor operation.” The states’ plea comes roughly eight months after the U.S. Appellate Court struck down the commission’s so-called “waste confidence rule,” which authorized the storage of spent fuel at a reactor. The court called for more extensive environmental assessments of this practice, and in August 2012, the NRC suspended all licensing decisions for nuclear power plants until it can address concerns regarding long-term storage of nuclear waste.
“The NRC owes a legal obligation to the public to engage in a full and thorough review of the environmental impacts of storing spent nuclear fuel at reactors that were never designed to be long-term storage facilities,” Sorrell said in a public statement.
The letter from Vermont and New York politicians says it is time to begin exploring new ways to store high-level nuclear waste other than spent fuel pools at reactor sites across the country.
“After more than three decades of failing to address the very real and widespread concern with the continued production of nuclear wastes without a permanent, safe, and secure nuclear waste repository NRC now has the opportunity, albeit mandated by a Federal Court, to apply its considerable expertise to address these concerns,” the letter says…… http://vtdigger.org/2013/01/03/vermont-new-york-regulators-urge-review-of-spent-nuclear-fuel-storage/
Public ignorance about the radiation dangers of CT scans
Many people unaware of radiation risk from CT scans By Genevra Pittman | Reuters, 4 Jan 13, NEW YORK–One-third of people getting a CT scan didn’t know the test exposed their body to radiation, in a new study from a single U.S. medical center.
Researchers found the majority of patients also underestimated the amount of radiation delivered by a CT scan, and just one in 20 believed the scan would increase their chance of ever getting cancer.
The study’s lead researcher, , Janet Busey, , said doctors need to do a better job of talking to patients about the risks and benefits of the tests, including about radiation exposure.
One challenge is that there is still debate within the medical community about just how much long term cancer risk the scans carry, she said. That risk also depends on how many scans a patient gets and which organs are exposed to radiation.
“There’s no doubt, CT saves lives,” Busey, from the University of Washington in Seattle, told Reuters Health. And their benefits usually outweigh their risks, she added.
Still, even if the radiation risk is small, patients “definitely should be aware of it.”
CT scans are high-powered X-rays that provide clearer images but expose patients to between ten and 100 times more radiation than a normal head or chest X-ray, for example…. http://news.yahoo.com/many-people-unaware-radiation-risk-ct-scans-213236978.html
The world will pay dearly for delaying action on climate change
Delay climate action – and pay: report, SMH, January 3, 2013 An
agreement by almost 200 nations to curb rising greenhouse gas
emissions from 2020 will be far more costly than taking action now to
tackle climate change, according to research published on Wednesday.
Quick measures to cut emissions would give a far better chance of
keeping global warming within an agreed U.N. limit of 2 degrees
Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial times to avert more floods,
heatwaves, droughts and rising sea levels.
“If you delay action by 10, 20 years you significantly reduce the
chances of meeting the 2 degree target,” said Keywan Riahi, one of the
authors of the report at the International Institute for Applied
Systems Analysis in Austria. Continue reading
Company terminates USA spent nuclear fuel license due to costs
Costs drove PFS move to terminate US spent fuel storage license: exec Washington (Platts)–2 Jan2013
Private Fuel Storage’s December request that the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission terminate its license for an away-from-reactor spent fuel storage facility in Utah that might never be built centered on economics, according to Robert Palmberg, chairman of the PFS board.
It was costing the utility consortium hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to maintain a license for a project that has remained dormant since NRC licensed the facility in 2006, he said in an interview Wednesday. …. http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/6977321
Turkey now testing all food from Japan for radiation
Report: Turkey begins testing all food from Japan for radiation — Imports suspected to be contaminated http://enenews.com/report-turkey-begins-testing-all-food-japan-radiation-imports-suspected-be-contaminated
January 2nd, 2013
Excerpt From: Turkey to test Japanese products for radiation
Source: World Bulletin
Date: December 30 2012
h/t Anonymous tip
Turkey to test Japanese products for radiation
The arrangement will go into effect on January 1, 2013 and will cover all Japanese products sent to Turkey after March 11, 2011. […]
Fukushima Diary summarizes a Japanese-language report on Turkey’s move:
[…] They state imports from Japan are suspected to be radioactively contaminated.
Fukushima government’s efforts to stop study of baby teeth for radiation checks.
Fukushima gov’t tried to kill proposal to store baby teeth for future
radiation checks
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20121219p2a00m0na016000c.html
FUKUSHIMA — The Fukushima Prefectural Government has tried to kill a
proposal by a local assemblyperson to store local children’s milk
teeth to examine their internal radiation exposure stemming from the
Fukushima nuclear disaster, it has been learned. Continue reading
Youtube: The aftermath for Fukushima cleanup workers, and nearby villagers
What happened to the Fukushima 50 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sshECHcEerI&feature=player_detailpage#t=107s 2 Jan 2013 The workers who stayed behind in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 were told by many at the time that they were going to die for their pains.
There were actually 300 of them but they worked in shifts of 50.
Tokyo correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports on what has happened to them – and the villages around the stricken reactor – since the disaster.
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