nuclear-news

Scientists predict earthquake expected anytime on US West Coast – Nuclear reactors and waste dumps at risk?

“…Portland General Electric says the storage site is built to withstand a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, a tsunami or a Columbia River dam break. The containers rest 45 feet above sea level and are under 24-hour security….”

“…The quake had a magnitude between 8.7 and 9.2, and geologists in 2010 predicted that there is a 37 percent change of another such quake occurring within 50 years…”

 

Published time: March 15, 2013 16:45

Researchers say a massive earthquake and tsunami could soon strike the Northwest US coast, killing more than 10,000 people, flooding entire towns, and causing economic damages totaling $32 billion.

An alarming report published by the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission warns about the dire effects of the quake and claims that it is imminent and could strike anytime. The report, which was compiled by a group of more than 150 volunteer experts, was requested by the Oregon legislature in order to adequately prepare for the looming disaster.

The last high magnitude earthquake in the region occurred in the year 1700 in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The quake had a magnitude between 8.7 and 9.2, and geologists in 2010 predicted that there is a 37 percent change of another such quake occurring within 50 years. The new report claims that there is a 100 percent chance of a monster earthquake occurring in the region – but scientists don’t know when.

“This earthquake will hit us again,” Kent Yu, an engineer and chairman of the commission, told lawmakers. “It’s just a matter of how soon.”

Jay Wilson, vice chairman of the commission that put together the report, told AP that “we’re well within the window for it to happen again.”

With no time frame for the predicted earthquake, Oregonians need to be constantly prepared for one. The report warns of death and devastation ranging from British Columbia to Northern California, the worst of which will strike Oregon.

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March 15, 2013 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

‘Manning testimony recording could be a direct leak from the government’

“…What is now the focus is his motivation and he obviously was not motivated to aid the enemy, or to harm the US – he made that very clear. He chose cables and videos that had no national security concerns and he released them so we could have this conversation. And I think it is a disgrace every day that he is in jail. It is a disgrace to our military. It is a disgrace to the promises that Obama made in 2008….”

Published time: March 14, 2013 00:34

RT

The quality of the audio recording of Bradley Manning’s plea speech suggests that the tape could have been leaked by the government itself rather than some rogue journalist, WikiLeaks activist Clark Stoeckley told RT.

RT: The media reported what Manning said during the hearing, why is it so significant to actually hear him say it in his own voice?

Clark Stoeckley:  I think it is very important for people to hear Manning’s own voice. So far everything has been processed through journalists and finally we get to hear his tone and the conviction in his voice. We can hear that he is a very brave, intelligent young man. And I think this is a very great thing that this has been released to the world.

RT: Is it going to effect the trial in any way, because it was not supposed to be leaked, is it?

CS: Correct. The court rules say, and every time I go as a journalist, I have to sign a peace of paper that says that I won’t to any recording. I will clarify: I definitely did not record this. I did not leak it. I’m sure that they are going to be clamping down on us.

But I am suspicious as to whether they leaked this audio or not.  The audio to me sounds like it came from the courtroom rather than press room. There is a lot more chatter in the pressroom and I do not hear that in the audio. And it is also a lot crisper and clearer than what I heard in the pressroom. It sounds like it could be a direct recording from the government.

Journalists stand outside the courthouse at Fort Meade, Maryland during the US vs Private Bradley E. Manning Article 32 hearing December 16, 2011. (Reuters / Yuri Gripas)

RT: What is the reason for the trial to be held in total secrecy? Surely it would be better for openness and trust to hear what is going on when it is going on?

CS: I believe that is the fact. In fact this morning I started a petition on the whitehouse.gov website to petition the Obama administration to allow CSPAN to televise the trial. I know that, it is probably not likely but I think it would be symbolic of the fact that Americans want to see what is going on.

This is the largest leak case in US history and whether your opinion of Manning as a traitor or a hero it is still of great public interest and relevance.

I believe, it should be available for lawyers, law students, scholars, historians and the general public, especially those who can’t make it to Fort Mead, Maryland.

RT: Manning said the main reason behind the leaks is to in some way bring change to US foreign policy. Will he succeed in the end of the day?

CS: I do not know if he will succeed in that but he definitely has succeeded in starting a conversation and a worldwide debate. And so yes, he has succeeded in that. I do not know if our government is open for change and think there is an old guard that keeps the things the old way, but what is ironic here is that Manning has just been nominated for his third Noble Peace Prize meanwhile he is being charged with aiding the enemy. That does not look good for the Obama administration or our military or our government in any way.

RT: But leaking military information can jeopardize people’s safety, can’t it?

CS: It certainly could but we have not seen any evidence of that in this trial. There has been no evidence whatsoever of any kind of harm done, just simple embarrassment.  And I believe that is why Bradley, without any type of provocation, he spoke from the heart, he spoke truthfully. He made it very obvious that he is a truth teller and he is not beating around the bush and he explained why he did this, which really removed the necessity by the prosecution to place him doing the actual crime himself. So he has taken full responsibility for that.

What is now the focus is his motivation and he obviously was not motivated to aid the enemy, or to harm the US – he made that very clear. He chose cables and videos that had no national security concerns and he released them so we could have this conversation. And I think it is a disgrace every day that he is in jail. It is a disgrace to our military. It is a disgrace to the promises that Obama made in 2008.

Video on link

http://rt.com/op-edge/manning-testimony-government-leak-236/

March 15, 2013 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

New Japanese nuclear regulatory agency must assert its opinion as confusion around Fukushima disaster still lingers

“…For the time being, only solar has yielded effective results. Wind power would also be effective, but Matsumoto said that Japan has made few inroads on the wind path, though he expects wind power facilities to grow under the new administration…..”

 

http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2013/fuku_series_last

Charles Digges, 14/03-2013

Bellona

TOKYO – By its own understated account, the nuclear regulatory body that was reconstituted in Japan is suffering from a public relations crisis, given its goals of openness and honesty that are meant to supplant the crony system of the past nuclear regulator, whose close ties to industry led to oversights that made the Fukushima Daiichi disaster possible, according to a Japanese officials. 

The the newly-minted Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), which, together with Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco, and the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), issued nearly laughably conflicting reports about radiation released following the tsunami that hit Fukushima Daiichi on March  11, 2011, have been disbanded, and the NRA is now in charge.

As of July, all of Japan’s nuclear reactors will be subject to new tests, according to Toshihiro Bannai, safety regulations coordinator for international affairs at the NRA, and these tests – which will also take into account public opinion in the areas where Japans’ 50 operable reactors are located – will be stringent.

But the NRA seems to be having a core difficulty in spreading its message: 70 percent of Japan is opposed to a restart of the reactors that have been idled since 3/11 as it had come to be known in local parlance, according to a February 18 poll conducted by Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

The new agency also suffers, says the NRA’s safety regulation coordinator for international affairs, Toshihiro Bannai, from a crossover of officials from NISA, which has a damaging effect on the NRA’s credibility before the public as it struggles to deal not only with reactor restarts, but the ongoing crisis at the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi plant.

“Most are saying that we are nothing but a reconstitution of NISA, which is defunct, and many are saying that we have not changed from the old industry, “ said Bannai in an interview with Bellona here in Tokyo. And he was open about the fact that many of NISA’s employees had to be transferred to the NRA to assure continuity.

Toshihiro Bannai, second from left, and his team at the NRA.

Nils Bøhmer/Bellona

But Bannai insisted that there is a new sheriff in town under the NRA’s watch, and that all of Japan’s nuclear reactors – including the two that are in operation at Oi – will undergo more strenuous checks on the NRA’s watch come July when the Agency is able to codify its new standard. The Oi reactors, which were switched on over the summer amid government pleas of an energy shortage, will have to meet new standards to continue operation, and cease operations in September to undergo the NRA’s new testing criteria.

But with the majority of public opinion turned against anything nuclear, the NRA has had a hard time expressing its message. Despite the two press conferences the NRA has held to convey its message, the public remains sceptical of anything relayed to it by a government agency – a new phenomenon amongst the Japanese public.

“The NRA needs to engage in a more concerted effort to express to the Japanese public that it means business about evaluating the suitability of the country’s shut down reactors,” said Nils Bøhmer, Bellona’s general director and nuclear physicist who is here in Japan with other Bellona staff.

“Their goals are admirable and a distinct departure from the past crony system – they just need to present that in a palatable way,” said Bøhmer.

Whole energy system in free fall

Takashi Matsumoto, deputy director of the agency for natural resources and energy at the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry  (METI), underscored that the entirely of Japan’ energy strategy was being considered.  

He said that Japan’s energy needs were currently being met by oil and liquefied natural as (LNG) imports, the latter of which have led the country’s first trades deficits over the past two years in 31 years.

METI’s Takashi Matsumoto

Nils Bøhmer/Bellona

Prices for gas to Japan are linked to oil prices, thus the country is paying five to six times more than US priced for the same commodities.  Japan will therefore petition for a Fair Trade Agreement with the US to take advantage of enormous shale gas surpluses there. The pursuit of shale gas in the US is still very much an environmental hot potato, posing, as it does, risks to ground water, and high releases of methane gas, the most potent of greenhouse gasses, into the atmosphere.

But Japan, said Matsumoto, is not engaged in the regulatory battles over how shale gas will be controlled by the US Department of Energy (DoE): Japan needs cheap gas now.

“I understand that the DoE is responsible for making decisions about export of this gas – we want to buy cheap gas from the US, and have no say in the regulatory battles there,” said Matsumoto.

Japan leaning more on renewables – in word

Matsumoto said Japan would also be relying more on its renewables sector, but tables he presented to Bellona show that only some 9 to 12 percent of Japan’s energy mix have been accounted for renewables –primarily solar power.

But he also presented data that the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted that the bulk of Japan’s future energy would be coming from gas imports, oil and nuclear energy, implying a switch on of more nuclear power plants in compliance with the new NRA regulations, while at the same time increasing Japan’s carbon footprint.

“Japan had pledged a 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions, but the disaster at Fukushima changed things drastically,” Matsumoto told Bellona. He added that those reduction commitments were made under the ousted government of former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, whose stance was heavily anti-nuclear following the Fukushima disaster.

Matsumoto added that the government will be going into talks about how to handle Japan’s energy mix on March 25, but added that he had no idea when the government would be able to offer a climate change strategy.

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March 15, 2013 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nuclear Controversies (full length) 核電爭議(附中文字幕)

The WHO’s Secrecy Pact about Fukushima Radiation Fallout!

MsMilkytheclown1

Published on 11 Mar 2013

Thank you Jrae50021 http://www.youtube.com/user/jrae50021 for this upload from Dr. Helen Caldicott’s Foundation Fukushima Symposium.

Nuclear Controversies, by Wladimir Tchertkoff, 51min, 2004

dailukching

Uploaded on 22 Nov 2011

March 15, 2013 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nuclear power faces unexpected dangers, warns Allison McFarlane

The current generation of reactors has already outlived the theory of geology that was prevalent when their sites were chosen, she pointed out; they predate wide acceptance of the theory of plate tectonics — the view that the Earth’s crust is made up of plates that rub and slip against one another.

Head of U.S. Nuclear Watchdog Emphasizes Preparing for Unknown, NYT, By MATTHEW L. WALD
 March 12, 2013 Appealing for a shift in emphasis on nuclear safety, the new head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission warned a gathering of more than 3,000 industry executives, experts and government regulators on Tuesday against relying too heavily on their ability to predict the future, and suggested that when it comes to commercial reactors, the industry and the government should be ready to deal with the unknown.

Speaking two years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan,Allison M. Macfarlane, a geologist who became chairwoman of the five-member commission last July, cited aging nuclear reactors, terrorist attacks and natural disasters, saying, “we don’t know everything about how the Earth behaves, and we must factor this into how we approach nuclear safety.’’ Continue reading →

March 15, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | 2 Comments