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
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
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
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.”
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
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.
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
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
USA increases “safe” radiation levels – protecting nuclear industry, not the people
In the wake of the continuing nuclear tragedy in Japan, the United States government is still moving quickly to increase the amounts of radiation the population can “safely” absorb by raising the safe zone for exposure to levels designed to protect the government and nuclear industry more than human life.”
The Radiation Warnings You Won’t Get from the Mainstream Propaganda Machine The Liberty Beacon January 22, 2013, The mainstream media and the federal government will soon have the blood of the world on it’s hands.
Radiation from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant disaster in Japan is now actively in the ecosystem all along the North American west coast… even the sea weed is now radiated. The Vancouver Sun reported one year ago that the seaweed tested from waters off the coast of British Columbia were 4 times the amount considered safe. No further test results were released after the initial report.
The governments of the United States and Canada are not conducting tests for radioactivity – at least not to the knowledge of the public. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has agreed to continue purchasing seafood from Japan, despite the fact that the food is not being tested for radioactive contamination. Last November, independent testing in Japan showed 65 per cent of the catches tested positive for cesium (a radioactive material). Instead of refusing to purchase the poisoned fish, food safety agencies in both the United States and Canada have simply raised the “acceptable level of radiation.” We can’t go offending the Japanese after promising to buy their tainted goods, now can we?
After the North American governments refused to fund testing, oceanographer Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist at the non-profit Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass, along with Nicholas Fisher, a marine sciences professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and other concerned scientists, managed to secure private funding for a Pacific research voyage. The results? Continue reading
Radioactvity increasing in water at Fukushima Unit No. 2 nuclear reactor
Report: Radioactivity levels rising at Fukushima Unit No. 2 sub-drain since November http://enenews.com/report-radioactivity-levels-rising-at-fukushima-unit-no-2-sub-drain-since-november
January 22nd, 2013
Title: Contaminated water still a serious issue at Fukushima Daiichi
Source: Enformable
Date: Jan 22, 2013
[…] over 220,000 metric tons of contaminated water have been collected and stored on site, still another 75,000 tons remains in the reactor buildings. Every day at least another 40 tons of contaminated water are created […]
The utility has been so far unable to prevent the contaminated water injected into the damaged reactors from flowing out of the buildings into the environment and even escaping directly into the ocean. […]
The levels of radioactivity measured near the Unit 2 Sub-Drain have been on the rise since November […] it is critical to control the seeping of contamination through the local groundwater.
See Tepco’s report here
A little shark could beat a nuclear submarine
This Tiny Shark Can Take Out Nuclear Submarines Jennifer Welsh | Jan. 23, 2013,
The Cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis).
The cat-sized shark in the picture to the right doesn’t look that intimidating, but it has the power to take down an entire nuclear submarine. The fish’s strange bite can get at the softer areas of the submarines, National Geographic’s Ed Yong reports: The fearless cookie-cutters have even disabled the most dangerous ocean creature of all—the nuclear submarine. They attacked exposed soft areas including electrical cables and rubber sonar domes. In several cases, the attacks effectively blinded the subs, forcing them back to base for repairs. They later returned, fitted with fibreglass coverings.
The attacks happened in the 1970s and the problem seems to have been taken care of, though in several cases the sharks did enough damage to the vessel’s sonar equpiment that the oils inside that transmit sound would leak out of the ship and break the equipment — the subs could no longer see what was around them, according to the ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research.
Nuclear subs obviously aren’t all that tasty, but they seem to bite just about anything — even research equipment in the ocean. The distinctive bites have been found in all kinds of fish and other sharks, and even a human has been attacked by the little guys.
See the rest of Yong’s blog post for more fascinating facts about the cookiecutter shark and the analysis of a new paper out in Pacific Science this month, detailing cookiecutter bites on a great white shark. Here are some more images:……
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-tiny-shark-can-take-out-nuclear-submarines-2013-1#ixzz2IuvjPEFc
Anti uranium rally in Virginia 28th January
Opponents of uranium mining to rally in Virginia , January 23, 2013 By Luci Weldon Residents of Warren and surrounding counties will be among citizens from both North Carolina and Virginia who will participate in a mass rally on Monday 28 Jan at 1 p.m. at the Virginia Legislative Building in Richmond to voice their opposition to uranium mining. Continue reading
Collective responsibility to act on climate change
However, neither governments nor vested interests would have been able to continue on the track leading toward a climate calamity had it not been for the majority who, aware of the risks, pay only lip service to the issue. Ultimately it is the collective foresight or lack of such, by our species which it will decide its future
Humanity’s scorched Earth program – where to now? The Conversation, Andrew Glikson, 24 Jan 13, The intensity and frequency of bush fires and firestorms around the globe, including recently in Australia, is a growing worry. Under conditions where mean land temperatures have increasedby ~1.5 degrees Celsius since 1750, the effects of fires under higher temperatures projected by the IPCC for later this century defy contemplation.
While there is scepticism from those who do not accept the scientific method nor empirical evidence, the laws of physics tell us atmospheric temperatures are largely regulated by greenhouse gases (GHG). The same applies to the connection between rising temperature and the spate of extreme weather events around the world. This includes increased climate variability, heat waves, fires, cold fronts, intensification of the hydrological cycle and consequent rise in floods and hurricanes experienced in Australia over the last few years andat present.
The failure to negotiate agreements for mitigation of GHG, through Kyoto, Copenhagen, Cancun, Durban and Doha now poses an existential risk around the world and in Australia.
Where does responsibility belong? Continue reading
Anti nuclear events in London March 9 – 11
Japanese Against Nuclear, Kick nuclear and CND are calling all the people in the UK to join the march, vigil, and the public meeting explained below:
** Saturday 9 March: SOLIDARITY MARCH
Assemble 12 noon at Hyde Park Corner for solidarity March to Parliament
with rally there, in Palace Yard, at 2.30pm
** Monday 11 March: Candle-lit Vigil
5.30 – 6.30PM, outside Japanese Embassy
(101 Piccadilly, London, W1J 7JT)
(nearest tube: Green Park)
** Monday 11 March: Public Meeting
7.30 – 9.30PM, in the House of Commons
Two years will pass since THE DAY. Japanese Against Nuclear UK (JAN UK), Kick Nuclear, and CND , 24 Jan 13
We would like to ask you to join us to march in London, to mark the 2nd anniversary of the ongoing Fukushima disaster, in international solidarity with people in Japan and for a nuclear-free world as Japanese expatriates and as UK/world citizens. Continue reading
Rapid climate change due to diminishing Arctic sea ice
Loss of Arctic Sea Ice Speeds Domino Effect of Warming Temperatures at High Latitudes http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130123144044.htm
Melting Arctic sea ice is no longer just evidence of a rapidly warming planet — it’s also part of the problem.
Alan Werner, professor of geology at Mount Holyoke College, said that decreasing amounts of Arctic snow and ice in summer will lead to a greater degree of heat absorption at the North Pole.
The reason, Werner said, is because the loss of snow and ice makes Earth’s surface less reflective, meaning solar radiation. or heat — is absorbed in greater amounts by the exposed dark ocean or tundra.
“That’s the thing that’s happening very abruptly, or at least in geologic time scales, very quickly,” Werner said. “That the high latitudes are warming at a much faster rate than the other latitudes.”
Werner’s observation follows the announcement in September by the National Snow and Ice Data Center that the surface area of Arctic sea ice had reached a new low in 2012, breaking a previous record reached in 2007.
What the new data suggests, Werner said, is that the Arctic Ocean will likely be free of sea ice during summer in the next few decades, which may trigger significant changes in climate across the globe.
“One thing about humans living on the planet is that we don’t do well with change,” Werner said. “The changes that we’re talking about are changes that are going to be difficult for humans to adapt to.”
Nuclear energy becoming irrelevant
‘Nuclear energy is nearing to its irrelevance’ http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nuclear-energy-is-nearing-to-its-irrelevance/article4336430.ece The nuclear energy throughout the world is nearing to its irrelevance, said Dr. John Byrne, Director of the Centre for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP) and a distinguished Professor of University of Delaware, U.S. on Wednesday. Dr. Byrne has contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 1992 and shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the IPCC researchers.
Dr. Byrne, who is on a 12-day tour to India, held a meeting with the villagers of area in and around the proposed Jaitapur nuclear Power Plant (JNPP). “It seems the people have a number of unanswered questions. The answers provided to them and the risks or other implications of the project are not clear at all. People want to know the reason for bringing this project here,” he said, in a press conference organised by Greenpeace, after the meeting with villagers and anti-nuclear power activists. Making his stand against nuclear energy clear, Dr. Byrne said, “This technology (nuclear) has a record of unanticipated accidents because of its complex nature. The economic investment required to build and operate the plant is huge and the ecological risks associated with the nuclear plant cannot be denied,” he said. In particular, he noted the repeated negative advisories from credit rating agencies regarding nuclear power. “Considering all the negative sides of the nuclear energy and the available options of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, the nuclear energy is nearing to its irrelevance,” he said.
According to Dr. Byrne, the evidence from scientific community in Japan shows that nuclear accident in Fukushima after the earthquake and tsunami has its roots in the technology and management related issues. “These were the problems which were not anticipated even by the well-learned technicians from Japanese nuclear industry,” he alleged.
Comparing the option of solar energy to nuclear, he said the former is more sustainable. “But right now the solar energy is restricted for individual uses. There has been no cost-effective model in case of solar energy to build a plant which will benefit larger population. We are working on such model, but I am sure that in future, such model will be developed,” he said.
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”
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