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Narrow escape – nuclear satellite mishap in 1982

Thirty Years Ago, Everyone Thought A Nuclear Satellite Was Going To Fall From Space And Spread Destruction  http://www.businessinsider.com/flashback-how-a-tumbling-nuclear-russian-satellite-held-the-world-in-fear-for-a-month-2013-1#ixzz2J0sLfzPZ Dina Spector | Jan. 24, 2013 Thirty years ago, the world was held hostage by a nuclear-powered Soviet spy satellite tumbling out of control in an orbit close to Earth.

 The spiraling spacecraft, named Cosmos 1402, was launched into low-Earth orbit on Aug. 20, 1982.

What made Cosmos particularly scary is that it carried a nuclear reactor with about 100 pounds of enriched uranium. The reactor was used to power a radar system for tracking ships.

To compare, it takes as little as 35 pounds of uranium to make a nuclear bomb. Once the satellite completed its mission, the plan was to boost the 1,000-pound reactor section, including the fuel core, into higher orbit, where it would linger at a safe distance from Earth for many hundreds of years.

But that failed.   Continue reading →

January 25, 2013 Posted by | 2 WORLD, history, safety | Leave a comment

Japanese nuclear plant operators charge customers over 90 million dollars per year to pay local authorities

WEDNESDAY, 23 JANUARY 2013

Japanese nuclear plant operators charge over 90 million dollars per year to pay local authorities

(Source) http://enformable.com/2013/01/japanese-nuclear-plant-operators-charge-over-90-million-dollars-per-year-to-pay-local-authorities/
A report by NHK has shown that operators of nuclear power plants in Japan charge the public users over 90 million dollars per year, in order to cover payments made to local authorities in the areas which host the nuclear sites. Last year, the central government announced that it did not consider these charges as an expense, and that it would no longer allow utilities to charge users to cover them.
Osaka University Professor Tatsuo Hatta says utilities may be able to find other ways to compensate themselves for the payments, and is calling for further transparency.
Kansai Electric has been charging their users around 40 million dollars per year, TEPCO charges around 22 million, Kyushu charges around 10 million, Chugoku charges about 8 million, and Chubu charges about 4 million.
Government authorities are beginning to see the attempt to buy support, or silent acquiescence of communities, by hooking them on generous subsidies and pay outs, as a detriment to the sustained growth and development of these areas, as it promotes a false market and leaves local communities dependent on the additional sources of income.
“This structure of dependency makes it impossible for communities to speak out against the plants or nuclear power,” said Shuji Shimizu, a professor of public finance at Fukushima University told the New York Times after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
One Japanese resident, who ran for the office of May of Kashima spoke out against the effect that these payments have on local authorities. “They call it a nuclear power plant, but it should actually be called a political power plant,” he said. He explained how local communities and leaders use the jobs and money they receive to secure the support of key voters and industries and make them more reliant on the local leaders and the compensation from nuclear sites.
h/t I check this blog regularly (arclight2011)

from the blog….
“We are Japanese people living in the UK. We are not activists or scientists, just normal citizens who want peace in the world and to protect our environment in a way that serves everybody. We are aware that there isn’t enough information in the main stream media in the UK about what’s going on in Fukushima, and we would like to share with you what we’ve found from Japanese web sites: information and news from scientists and doctors who are extremely worried about the safety of citizens, and from concerned freelance journalists and ordinary people. Since the magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami, followed by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, we have been feeling a huge sense of loss… and have learned that nothing stays the same. Also we think that the Fukushima disaster was actually the result of many years of global political and economic corruption going on behind the scenes, and that the Japanese government was taken in by the worldwide drive for nuclear power, without learning the lessons of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings. (NB: English is not our native language, so please take this into account when reading this blog.)”

http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/japanese-nuclear-plant-operators-charge.html

January 25, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Local Fukushima NGO -URGENT APPEAL TO SUPPORT GREEN ACTION JAPAN! They need your help!!

January 24, 2013

Source Beyond Nuclear

During the critical first days and months of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe in Japan, many of us turned immediately to Aileen Mioko Smith (pictured far left with Sachiko Sato and Kaori Izumi) and her organization, Green Action-Japan. Through her depth of knowledge on the nuclear issue, organizing skills, and essential translations between English and Japanese, Aileen played a crucial role in globally networking the U.S. and Japanese anti-nuclear movements.

Today, Green Action-Japan needs your financial help to keep its important work ongoing. 

Without Aileen’s relentless efforts for more than a decade to delay the use of plutonium (MOX) fuel, the three reactors that melted down at Fukushima could have been loaded with 33% plutonium cores, significantly worsening the radiological catastrophe that has unfolded. (Only Unit 3 had loaded MOX fuel, at a 6% level.) Aileen has also helped oppose the Rokkasho reprocessing facility and the Monju breeder reactor.

Please make a generous donation via Green Action’s Paypal button today. Green Action-Japan and Aileen Mioko Smith play an essential role in connecting our campaigns and sharing knowledge, information that will help us end the Nuclear Age.

Please donate here: http://www.greenaction-japan.org/modules/entop2/

Contamination Fears Linger For Japanese Children, Workers One Year After Fukushima Meltdown

Published on Mar 12, 2012

democracynow.org –

We go to Japan to speak with Aileen Mioko Smith, executive director of the Kyoto-based group Green Action, as Japan marks the first anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that left approximately 20,000 dead or missing and triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It was the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. About 326,000 Japanese residents remain homeless, including 80,000 evacuated from the vicinity of the Fukushima facility. Residents evacuated from the zone set up in a 12-mile radius around the nuclear plant are especially struggling to rebuild their lives. We also speak with Saburo Kitajima, a contract laborer and union organizer from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. “The workers at the Fukushima plant are currently working under extreme circumstances,” Kitajima says. “In spite of being exposed to radiation, the level of wages run to about $100 a day.”

January 25, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Action Alert: Uranium Mining Vote Too Close To Call! – call and email all VA GA

THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013
The vote to open Virginia to uranium mining may well come down to your Delegate’s or Senator’s vote!

After millions of study and uranium industry lobby dollars have been spent, we are finally approaching the day when your Delegate and Senator will cast a vote to keep Virginia’s uranium mining ban in place or open up our state to the many unknown consequences of such an action.

In announcing their opposition, the Danville-Pittsylvania Chamber of Commerce said, “While considering possible economic benefits of such an industry, the board still has significant concerns surrounding the potential impact of uranium mining and milling on existing businesses and the region’s ability to attract, retain and grow jobs.”

The Chamber joined the Virginia Municipal League, the Virginia Association of Counties, the Virginia Farm Bureau, the Fairfax and Fauquier Water Authorities and individual Counties and Cities from Norfolk and Virginia Beach to Patrick and Floyd to Roanoke and Rappahannock in strongly encouraging our representatives to keep Virginia’s ban on uranium mining.

Please join all of these individuals and groups, rural and urban, Democrat and Republican in asking your Delegate and Senator to vote “No” to opening up our state to uranium mining.

The unanswered questions are too numerous and the consequences of such an experiment in our weather-prone state far outweigh the potential benefits.

Please email your representatives today! Click here to send to rep: http://valcv.e-actionmax.com/takeaction.asp?aaid=6771

More info on this Petition here, please visit site..

http://nuclearfreeva.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/action-alert-uranium-mining-vote-too.html

h/t  http://virginiaagainsturanium.blogspot.co.uk/2009_11_01_archive.html for image.. site is not updated but has some interesting on topic links for the curious.. Arclight2011

January 25, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Japan Faces Nuclear Shutdown For Second Time Since Fukushima

“…The only two of Japan’s 50 nuclear plants operating are both at Kansai Electric Power’s Ohi plant in western Japan, and must be for shut for maintenance 13 months after resuming commercial operations, according to Japanese law…”

Thursday, 24 January 2013 16:33

TOKYO: Japan may face a total nuclear shutdown in the summer for the second time since the March 2011 Fukushima disaster as the country’s two operating reactors close for maintenance and tough new safety checks keep the rest of the fleet offline.

image courtesy of the Guardian UK

That could force Japan to import even more fossil fuels for power generation, adding to an onerous energy bill that helped push the country into a record trade deficit in 2012.

“It is unlikely that any of the idled reactors will re-start prior to September due to ongoing investigations of seismic issues at certain plants and due to the fact that safety standards have still not been finalised by the Nuclear Regulation Authority,” said Tom O’Sullivan, a Tokyo-based energy consultant.

“Local approvals will also be necessary for re-starts, adding a further layer of complication,” he said.

The previous Democratic Party of Japan government’s decision last June to restart two reactors weeks after the last full shutdown galvanized the country’s previously dormant anti-nuclear movement, sparking the biggest demonstrations in decades and contributing to its downfall in elections in December.

Media surveys have shown a majority of Japanese want to abandon atomic energy by 2030, if not sooner, making the decision to restart even reactors deemed safe a risky proposition for the new Liberal Democratic Party government.

Continue reading →

January 25, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Vietnam partners with Japan to build nuclear plants

25 January 2013

AP

Japan to provide Vietnam with US$500 million to finance the projects.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung have agreed that their countries will cooperate closely to build nuclear power plants in Vietnam. Japan won an order for the building of a nuclear power plant scheduled for completion in 2020.

Under Abe, Japan is again on the road to utilizing nuclear power. Abe has hinted that the previous administration’s policy of phasing out nuclear power will be reviewed.

Abe and Dung confirmed bilateral cooperation on the mining of rare earth minerals and the development of expressways and ports, also agreeing that Japan will promote its acceptance of Vietnamese nurses and care workers.

http://asian-power.com/environment/news/vietnam-partners-japan-build-nuclear-plants

January 25, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Japan embassy london – anti nuclear demonstration every friday morning

Japanese activists and UK campaigners from ‘kick nuclear’ have organised a series of Friday morning protests outside the Japanese embassy in Piccadilly, London.

the demonstrations are in solidarity with Japanese people, who are protesting in ever-increasing numbers on friday evenings at the prime minister’s residence in japan.

the Japanese government has begun switching on nuclear reactors around the country, despite the fact that Fukushima is far from under control, still spewing contaminated water into the ground and the pacific, and releasing toxic steam into the atmosphere.

http://stopnuclearpoweruk.net/groups/kicknuclear

Video of recent demonstration

More details….

THIS FRIDAY WE WILL BE HOLDING A SOLIDARITY PROTEST OUTSIDE THE JAPANESE EMBASSY IN LONDON, FOLLOWED BY A SHORT PROTEST OUTSIDE THE OFFICES OF TEPCO, THE OPERATOR OF THE STRICKEN FUKUSHIMA-1 NUCLEAR POWER PLANT.

9-11am, Kick Nuclear picket of Embassy of Japan, 101-104 Piccadilly W1. (Nearest tube Green Park. Walk west from there in the direction of Hyde Park Corner.)

11am-12.50pm, Japanese Against Nuclear UK and Kick Nuclear picket of Embassy of Japan

1-1.30pm, London Office of Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated (TEPCO), Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square W1J 6BR (5-10 minute walk from Japanese embassy)

***This Friday, at 25th January, at 12noon, we will also be reading out and handing in a letter about Fukushima addressed to the Japanese Government. For this, we will be joined by Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, who is a co-signatory to the letter (see text below).***

Text of letter to be delivered by hand to the Japanese Embassy on Friday 25 January 2013, at 12  noon

Continue reading →

January 25, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | 3 Comments

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