As 2013 begins, nuclear lobby active, but not winning hearts and minds
Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs
Unless a new nuclear disaster occurs, the global nuclear lobby is set for a pretty successful 2013. Japan is to re-invigorate its nuclear industry, China is going ahead with a big nuclear plant, Fukushima is off the media radar, and the world is being subtly conned into loving low level radiation, and new gee-whiz nuclear reactors.
And yet – “If You Don’t Fight, You Lose” – so we antinukes press on, both against nuclear energy/nuclear weapons, and for real action on climate change. I, for one, want my grandchildren to know that I tried.
- Japan ‘s government planning not only to restart nuclear reactors, but to import spent nuclear fuel rods from Asian countries, and get a nuclear reprocessing industry going. Also hoping to get nuclear weapons. Many business and civic leaders on side with the government, but the public not happy. Fukushima news fades from the media, except for reassuring bland statements on how safe the people are , radiation no real problem.
- China- the great hope of the global nuclear industry – to build a big nuclear power plant, and forge ahead with new nuclear technology and sales. A pity that Chinese cyberbugs are turning up in other countries’ computer system, and are now suspected in USA’s Los Angeles nuclear weapons laboratory. China’s nuclear industry must be just fine, because that we don’t hear of anti-nuclear dissidents in China/ (Oh, I forgot, because totalitarian China does not tolerate dissidents)
- France – what a pickle! Their civil nuclear energy is so entwined with their nuclear weapons, and they can’t afford to make their aging nuclear reactors safe, and they can’t afford to shut them down, either.
- India does nuclear deal with Russia (very lucrative for Russia), and determinedly represses protests. yet still, people are protesting in their thousands, against Kudankulam and Jaitapur nuclear plants.
- UK’s Cumbria agonises over plan to host nuclear waste burial. UK govt agonises over Scotland not wanting to keep Trident nuclear weapons base, and agonisies even more over the financing problems for their new nuclear reactors – Chinese money to the rescue?
- Iran – the usual back and forth of Israeli brinkmanship, and international efforts to negotiate with Iran.
- USA agonising as usual over its nuclear wastes and paralysis of its “new nuclear” industry. Meanwhile a star-studded array of scientists prepares for the most informative symposium March 11-12 in New York – The Medical and Ecological Impacts of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident nuclearfreeplanet.org
Fukushima cleanup led by company that built the nuclear reactors
NY Times: Japan’s cleanup denounced — “A disgrace… absolutely irresponsible” — Company that built all six Fukushima reactor buildings is leading ‘decontamination’ http://enenews.com/nytimes-japans-cleanup-denounced-disgrace-absolutely-irresponsible-company-built-all-six-fukushima-reactor-buildings-control-decontamination
January 8th, 2013
Title: Japan’s Cleanup After a Nuclear Accident Is Denounced
Source: NYTimes
Author: HIROKO TABUCHI; Makiko Inoue contributed reporting
Date: January 7, 2013
The decontamination crews at a deserted elementary school here are at the forefront of what Japan says is the most ambitious radiological cleanup the world has seen […]
Recent reports in the local media of cleanup crews dumping contaminated soil and leaves into rivers has focused attention on the sloppiness of the cleanup.
[…] the central and local governments have handed over much of the 1 trillion yen decontamination effort to Japan’s largest construction companies. […]
Kajima also built the reactor buildings for all six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, leading some critics to question why control of the cleanup effort has been left to companies with deep ties to the nuclear industry. […]
“What’s happening on the ground is a disgrace” -Masafumi Shiga, president of Shiga Toso, a refurbishing company based in Iwaki, Fukushima
“This isn’t decontamination — it’s […] absolutely irresponsible” -Tomoya Yamauchi, an expert in radiation measurement at Kobe University
See also: Gundersen: Truly appalling nuclear event in Japan — A lot of people are very, very concerned (AUDIO)
Fukushima clean-up mess – a disaster on top of the nuclear disaster
Fukushima Cleanup Workers Have Been Dumping Contaminated Debris Into Rivers http://www.businessinsider.com/fukushima-radiation-cleanup-still-primitive-22-months-after-the-tsunami-2013-1#ixzz2HX4rP6eZ Michael Kelley | Jan. 8, 2013, After a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011, officials promised to use cutting-edge technology from across the globe to mount the most ambitious radiological 
cleanup humanity has ever seen.
But it appears that the $11.5 billion, multi-decade effort has become part of the nuclear disaster. Continue reading
North Carolina will fight proposal for uranium mine in Virginia
NC opposition builds to proposed Virginia uranium mine, WRAL.com, 8
Jan 13, MANSON, N.C. — As legislation that would allow uranium mining
in Virginia advances through that state’s legislature, opposition to
the move is growing in North Carolina.
A group of Virginia lawmakers voted Monday to approve a bill that
would lift a 31-year-old ban on uranium mining and allow the practice
in Chatham, Va., where a 119 million-pound deposit of uranium – the $7
billion vein is the largest in the U.S. – is located.
The bill now goes to the full legislature, which convenes Wednesday.
“North Carolina will be fighting this,” Continue reading
Tentative step towards uranium mining in Virginia, but opposition persists
While environmental groups have led the charge against mining, the
Virginia Farm Bureau Federation took the unexpected step of opposing
mining, and municipal groups have also joined in the opposition.
Virginia Beach, which draws public drinking water from southern
Virginia, has also taken a stand against mining, as well as other
cities in Hampton Roads.
Virginia uranium mining wins 1st legislative test January 7, 2013
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Proposed uranium mining in Virginia easily
survived its first legislative test Monday, with lawmakers
recommending the development of regulations for the mining of the
radioactive ore.
Those rules — and whether a 30-year ban on such mining is lifted —
ultimately would need to be approved by the General Assembly.
The Coal and Energy Commission voted 11-2 in support of legislation
proposed by Sen. John Watkins that would have the effect of limiting
mining to one company and the only known, commercially viable deposit
of uranium in the state: Virginia Uranium Inc…..
Asked why he would limit uranium mining in the state, Watkins said:
“Because I want the bill to pass.”
……..Robert G. Burnley, a former director of the Virginia
Department of Environmental Quality who now is affiliated with the
Southern Environmental Law Center, said the legislation is a “de
facto” vote on ending the 31-year ban. Continue reading
Nuclear Regulatory Commission gives slaps on the wrist for safety violations
Hurricane Sandy blew through, spinning houses off foundations,
blowing holes in barrier islands and wrecking lives. In the midst of
this mayhem, Oyster Creek sounded a modest alarm.
there is the impression, built up year after empirical year, that
the N.R.C. is a tiger denuded of claws. Even the agency’s internal
monitors found it was notoriously cautious about actions that might
cost plants time and money.
“I get the feeling we’re
regulating with our fingers crossed.”
At a Nuclear Plant, Hurricane Brings More Worry, NYT By MICHAEL POWELL
January 7, 2013“……Rising waters in Barnegat Bay threatened to
submerge the pumps the plant uses to pull in water to cool its reactor
and spent-fuel pools. Had workers with Exelon Corporation, which owns
Oyster Creek, been forced to turn off the water-intake pumps, they
might have had to dip fire hoses into the floodwaters to refill the
ever-hot pool. The plant issued an alert, the second lowest on the
four-stage scale established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
At the same time, 39 of 42 warning sirens, which are perched on poles
for miles around the plant and intended to warn local residents in
event of a nuclear emergency, lost power. Continue reading
Mainstream media has gone quiet about Fukushima radioactive sea flows to USA
Media Silent on Fukushima Radiation Impact in US http://www.opednews.com/articles/Media-Silent-on-Fukushima-by-Brian-Lynch-130108-588.html
By Brian Lynch OpEdNews Op Eds 1/8/2013 Sometimes big news stories can only be seen by the shadows they cast. You would think that it should be easy to find detailed updates on the Fukushima disaster’s impact on our fishing industry, milk production, global radiation distribution patterns, etc. You would be mistaken. The massive media coverage following the initial disaster has fallen nearly silent. Some frustrated environmental advocates have suggested that there is a media blackout. Probably not, but media follow-up stories are few and far between these days.
In July of last year there were major stories about Fukushima and the plume of radiation reaching across the Pacific Ocean towards North America. On July 16, 2012, Deborah Dupre of the Examiner reported the following:
“As hair falls out of a Fukushima victim’s head, a new German study reports that North America’s West Coast will be the area most contaminated by Fukushima cesium of all regions in Pacific in 10 years, an “order-of-magnitude higher” than waters off Japan, according to a new German study followed by a former New York Times journalist going inside the no-entry zone and reporting radiation levels over 10 times higher than Tepco’s data.”
The article was accompanied by this scary graphic:
Radioactive Seawater Impact Map by Radioactive Seawater Impact Map Credits: US Department of State Geographer, TerraMetrics, Google
http://www.examiner.com/article/fukushima-west-coast-cesium-slam-ahead-hair-falling-out-tepco-data-flaw?cid=PROD-redesign-right-next
Continue reading
Pakistan gets affordable solar panels, a winning strategy in Asia
“We are aiming to make sure that any person who installs the house solar system will have monthly instalments equal to their current monthly electricity bill,” said Khurram. Given the fact that grid electricity in Pakistan is cheap, but unreliable, it is likely that many will find that proposition highly tempting.
The company is confident that the venture will prove to be financially viable. Adeel Anwar, the finance director of the company, said that he expects its revenues to touch €150 million (Rs19.2 billion) within the first year. CAE officials feel they can then double that number within three years.
Renewable energy: German firm to set up first solar panel plant in Pakistan http://tribune.com.pk/story/491194/renewable-energy-german-firm-to-set-up-first-solar-panel-plant-in-pakistan/ By 
Imran Rana January 8, 2013 FAISALABAD: German renewable energy company CAE plans to invest more than €100 million (Rs12.9 billion) in setting up the first solar panel manufacturing facility in Pakistan, and the second of its kind in Asia.
In an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune, Shahzada Khurram, the only Pakistani director of the company, shared its plans of becoming a leading supplier of renewable energy equipment in the country. “Pakistan is going through one of the worst energy crises, and it is time to think about renewable energy as a way to make good money in the sector,” said Khurram. Continue reading
Chinese technology removed from US nuke weapons lab – a security risk
US Nuclear Lab Removed Chinese Tech Due To National Security Risk Gizmodo, 9 Jan 13 ASHLEY FEINBERG After recently discovering that its computer systems contained several Chinese-made network switches, a major US nuclear weapons lab has replaced at least two components because of national security concerns.
According to a document acquired by Reuters:
A letter from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, dated November 5, 2012, states that the research facility had installed devices made by H3C Technologies Co, based in Hangzhou, China. H3C began as a joint venture between China’s Huawei Technologies Co and 3Com Corp, a U.S. tech firm, and was once called Huawei-3Com. Hewlett Packard Co acquired the firm in 2010.
The US government has previously expressed concerns about Huawei and any potential ties to the Chinese military and government, although the company denies that the Chinese military holds any influence over its business and the security of its products……
In October, the House Intelligence Committee issued an investigative report on Huawei and ZTE, claiming they “cannot be trusted to be free of foreign state influence” and pose “a security threat to the United States and to our systems”. http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/01/us-nuclear-lab-removed-chinese-tech-due-to-national-security-risk/
Federal Appeals judge sides with NRC against environment groups
AUDIO Anti-Nuclear Groups Won’t Have Role In Seabrook Re-Licensing
http://www.nhpr.org/post/anti-nuclear-groups-wont-have-role-seabrook-re-licensing
By ROGER WOOD, 8 Jan 13
Anti-Nuclear groups are disappointed by a recent Federal Court
decision regarding their role in the Seabrook Nuclear Plant
re-licensing process. On Friday, the Federal Appeals Court in Boston
rejected the petition from three anti-nuclear groups to re-instate
their intervenor status in the plant’s re-licensing application. The
petition sought to overturn a Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruling
excluding them from public hearings on the issue. A Three judge panel
decided that the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing board erred in
granting opponents of the plant intervenor status. Doug Bogen, of the
Seacoast Anti-Pollution League says that the groups sought to make the
point that wind power could replace nuclear energy.
“It seemed pretty clear that the judges were taking the side of the
industry and the NRC. At least, they didn’t seem inclined to go
against their decision.”
NextEra Energy seeks a 20 year extension of its current license, which
expires in 2030. Bogen says he now believes that the Seabrook Plant
will ultimately receive its operating extension.
Don’t be duped by the thorium hype
Thorium nukes are just the 21st century version of “too cheap to meter” that the nuke lobby was pushing in the last century. They always have some amazing technology just around the corner, but it’s just a smokescreen to distract from what they are trying to sell now.
Learn a few facts and you won’t be so easily duped:
Thorium: Back to the Dream Factory
Benefits of thorium as alternative nuclear fuel are ‘overstated’
Thieves fall out – The rest of the nuclear lobby accused of blocking the thorium lobby!
China blazes trail for ‘clean’ nuclear power, TODAY online by Ambrose
Evans-Pritchard Jan 09, 2013“……Major players in the nuclear
industry have had a vested interest in blocking thorium. They have
sunk huge costs in the old technology, and they have bent the ear of
cash-strapped ministers. The hesitance of governments is
understandable, but the costs are going to hit whatever they do.
China’s dash for thorium is now changing the game…..”
Syria’s uranium stockpile a cause for anxiety
Fears raised over Syria uranium stockpile, Ft.com. 8 Jan 13, By James Blitz in London Nuclear experts in the US and Middle East have raised concerns about the security of up to 50 tonnes of unenriched uranium in Syria amid fears that civil war could put the stockpile at risk.
Since the start of the uprising against Bashar al-Assad two years ago, western governments have been heavily focused on the fate of Syria’s chemical weapons and worries that those stocks might be taken over by militant group
But government officials and nuclear experts have also expressed fears to the Financial Times about what may be a significant stockpile of uranium inside Syria.
Concerns go back to the Assad regime’s attempt to build a nuclear reactor at Al-Kibar in the east of the country. yria, with assistance from North Korea, was thought to be close to completing the reactor when the facility was destroyed by Israeli jets in September 2007.
Very little is known about Syria’s nuclear programme and the country has always denied that it ever had one. Syria has also given very little information to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog, about its work……
An IAEA inspection team visited the destroyed Al-Kibar site in May 2008 and only found traces of uranium. This merely added to the mystery of where the 50 tonnes of uranium, if it exists, might be. Such a stockpile would be enough, according to experts, to provide weapons grade fuel for five atomic devices….. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a450b660-5998-11e2-88a1-00144feab49a.html#axzz2HX2YULqD
China’s big steps forward in renewable energy
China unveils big renewable energy ambitions for 2013, The Age,
January 9, 2013 China, the world’s largest carbon emitter due to its
dependence on coal, plans to add 49 gigawatts of renewable-energy
capacity this year in an effort to boost power production without
increasing its reliance on fossil fuels.
China will add 21 gigawatts of hydroelectric capacity, 18 gigawatts of
wind generation and 10 gigawatts of solar, according to a statement
today on the website of the National Energy Administration. The
agency, a unit of the National Development Reform Commission, reported
the results of a national work meeting on energy in Beijing yesterday
and was attended by Zhang Ping, who heads the commission.
That will exceed other forecasts for China’s wind and solar
development. The country is expected to surpass Germany to become the
largest solar market by installing as much as 5.39 gigawatts of
photovoltaic panels this year, according to a November report from
Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The London- based research company
anticipates 16.3 gigawatts of new, land- based wind capacity in China
this year……. :
http://www.theage.com.au/business/carbon-economy/china-unveils-big-renewable-energy-ambitions-for-2013-20130109-2cfdd.html#ixzz2HX92zVT0
The way forward must be 100% renewable energy
100% Renewable Energy – The Only Way Forward, The Energy Collective Anna Leidreiter January 8, 2013 It is a fact that non-renewable energies will, by definition, run out. It is also a fact that in the meantime, dependence on these energy sources is causing multiple existential global crises. If human beings are to preserve modernity and planetary habitability, we must soon shift to 100% renewable energy in all sectors. A fossil-free energy system is the only way forward as it results in socio-economic development and regional value creation.
The world’s leading scientists have issued a mandate that we must change our energy system to a sustainable one based on conservation, efficiency and renewable energy in the near future or risk losing planetary habitability. The energy transition is not a lifestyle choice; it is an essential way to combat climate change and save our planet. Continue reading
1 This Month
22 June – Virtual Event –Climate Change: New Data, New Debate
Monday, June 22, 2026 2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. CT
YouTube. Register here
Protect Sazan Island from the Trump family! https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/protect_sazan_island_from_the_trump_family_loc/?bqFCVab&v=174511&cl=22707147157&_checksum=5e9dde668860e8231c33699735e16a1fbf22ab2cb01da50c999fe8732b9775ef&utm_source=email&utm_medium=blast_email&utm_campaign=174511
25 June- THE PUKE ON NUKES
Thursday, June 25, 2026
7pm Central Time (8pm ET, 6pm MT, 5pm PT) UTC – 5
From NRC & DOE Deregulation to Techno-Fascist Billionaires Going Nuclear, Plus a Few Songs from Atomic Cabaret REGISTER
26 June – Radiation Trainwreck at the NRC / Join the Protect Better Campaign – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4ZlZ5_qLSHGiLSCg8FF6Bg#/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
-
Archives
- June 2026 (193)
- May 2026 (306)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (268)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (257)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 