In the shadow of Chernobyl – 27 years later : Cesium-137 found in wood ash from Japan
http://ex-skf.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/long-shadow-of-chernobyl-224-bqkg-of.html
26 April 2013
Published by EXSKF
And of atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons by world nuclear powers, which did not stop until 1980 (China).
One of my twitter followers lives in south western Japan. A while ago he sent me the result of the test he had it done with the ashes from burning wood pellets in his stove this winter. The lab test, using the germanium semiconductor detector, found 223.8 Bq/kg of cesium-137.
He was upset, thinking it is from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, until I pointed out to him that there was no cesium-134 found. The Cesium in the ashes is most likely from the fallout from atmospheric testing, and the Chernobyl accident in 1986.
He burned 600kg of wood pellets made from cedar trees in Ehime Prefecture in Shikoku Island in southwestern Japan. According to the pellet manufacturer, the concentration factor was about 375, and radioactive Cesium (Cs-137) in the pellets was estimated to be about 0.59 Bq/kg.
He said he will “entomb” the ashes with concrete and bury.
The chart plotting the historical monthly fallout in entire Shikoku (4 prefectures, as they didn’t start measuring the fallout in Ehime until 1977) shows the spike from the Chernobyl accident was less than that of the atmospheric testing, and larger than that from the Fukushima accident. (The chart was created from data at Japan Chemical Analysis Center. Y-axis in log scale.)
In 2012 he tested the ashes from burning the wood pellets from a different company, and to his great dismay the test found 1,000 Bq/kg of radioactive Cesium (Cs-137) in the ashes. He had already spread some of those ashes on his home garden. Those pellets, it turned out, were made from trees from Europe (Sweden, Finland, Germany, Austria) that the manufacturer had started to purchase in 1994 . That manufacturer told him that it had never ever occurred to them that the trees were contaminated from the Chernobyl accident, and there was no regulation on importing. The manufacturer told him that they chose European trees because they were cheap, and supply was steady.
April 26 marks the 27th anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant accident.
Radiation of Chernobyl blast discovered in Sri Lankan soil
Friday, 19 April 2013 – 01:06 PM
A sample test carried out by the Sri Lankan Atomic Energy Authority has found some acute radioactive particles which were released by the Chernobyl nuclear explosion of Ukraine in Sri Lankan soil.
Breaking! Japanese Government found responsible for the evacuation of Koriyama city children!
Op Ed – Arclight2011
Published by nuclear-news.net
26 April 2013
…..There will be an increased risk on the health of the children of Koriyama City due to the effects of radiation…. Statement by the Court
Published on 25 Apr 2013
The Fukushima Collective Evacuation Trial Team
http://fukushima-evacuation-e.blogspo…
The court case that was trying to get a legal judgement on the right of the children of Koriyama city to evacuate but received an unusual judgement from the court on Wednesday 24 April 2013.
This judgement from the Sendai High Court found that there was a problem with the children’s health due to local contamination issues from the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
The earlier Koriyama District Court ruling used the argument that there was not enough ICRP dose radiation measurement to cause harm but, strangely this crucial point was ignored by the Sendai High Court. The court found that there was existing health issues to take into account after hearing the masses of compelling evidence set before them. The case has taken 3 months to reach judgement.
Strangely, the judgement then rejected the petition saying that the Local Government of Koriyama was not responsible for the costs or organising the evacuation.
The Lawyer for the children, Toshio Yanagihara a member of the Fukushima Collective Evacuation Trial Team, said that this means the national government has been put in the spotlight, though the judges did not want to look at this aspect of the case and make a statement supporting, more fully, the idea behind the court case that “someone” needs to act on the children’s behalf.
This legal twist allows the main stream media to claim that the overall case was rejected and this is a win for the well paid PR companies like Ogilvy and Maher who are tasked with mitigating the news and the costs of the 3 meltdowns at Daichi by the government of Japan and Tepco (bankrupted and now owned by the government of Japan). The spin on this story will ensure that the truth does not come out about the plight of the children of Koriyama city and other effected cities and prefectures.
It is up to us as individuals to spread the word and stop this corporate propaganda machine of lawyers and PR companies and stop them in their tracks. The word has to get out. It is up to you!
“..based on the logic that there is no need to give legal permission to the Koriyama children’s evacuation….”
Hows that for legal double speak? They must have had an army of solicitors firms working on this confusion?
Apologies about “nuclear news”and Renewables News
Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs
yes – I know that this site is supposed to be all about nuclear news. But what IS the nuclear news? And what IS happening in the energy world.
Well – my problem is that IT’s ALL HAPPENING IN RENEWABLE ENERGY.
The nuclear lobby huffs and puffs, and tries to blow down the house of renewable energy.
But it’s all hot air. The reality of the nuclear industry is that it hobbles on, in its servitude to nuclear weapons, it pretends that it’s economic, which it clearly isn’t, and it touts for markets all over the world.
The real news about the nuclear industry is that it can’t solve the waste problem, that it can’t convince the world’s health authorities, as it lies its head off about ionising radiation. And its costs just keep skyrocketing. Nuclear news is all negative stuff, and I get sick of it.
Meanwhile there’s all sorts of positive things happening in renewable energy, small and large scale, in energy storage, and in constantly falling costs.
Of course, as the nuclear lobby huffs and puffs, it tries to fight, to destroy, the clean energy movement. It brings to mind Mahatma Ghandi’s sayng:
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”
27 years later, Chernobyl still leaking radiation, still dangerous
Chornobyl, 27 years later, still dangerous http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/chornobyl-27-years-later-still-dangerous-323760.html April 26, 2013, Ukraine — by Katya Gorchinskaya, Svitlana Tuchynska CHORNOBYL, Ukraine – A turbine hall adjoining Chornobyl’s destroyed fourth reactor has a gaping 600-square meter opening where the roof collapsed in February. The roof has not been fixed yet, letting in rainwater that mingles with radioactive dust and elements inside and oozes out.
USA: Jail sentence for under-reporting injuries at nuclear plants.
An American court has sentenced a former engineering safety manager to 6.5 years in prison for falsifying information about injuries at three nuclear power plant sites. Walter Cardin was convicted in November 2012by a federal grand jury of eight counts of major fraud against the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a US government corporation. The offences were committed from 2004 to 2006. Cardin was convicted of providing false information by under-reporting the number of injuries and their severity.
At the time of the offences, Shaw Group subsidiary Stone & Webster Construction had been contracted by the TVA to provide maintenance and modification services at the Browns Ferry, Sequoyah and Watts Bar nuclear sites, including construction work for the restart of Browns Ferry 1. False injury rates were then used by Stone & Webster to collect safety bonuses of over $2.5 million from TVA. Stone & Webster paid back US$6.2 million to the USA as part of a civil settlement over the false claims and contract fraud in early 2009. During the trial, evidence was presented covering more than 80 injuries that were not properly recorded by Cardin. Some employees testified that they had been denied or delayed proper medical treatment as a result of Cardin’s actions. (World Nuclear News, 15 April 2013, ‘Jail sentence for falsification’)
Boulder, Colorado makes a break for wind energy
Boulder Wants More Wind Power, and Wants It Now, Triple Pundit, By Tina Casey | April 25th, 2013 Earlier this year, we noticed that the residents of Boulder, Colorado have been moving forward with a plan to break away from their current electricity company, Xcel Energy, in order to establish a new municipal utility. The goal is for the city to provide its utility customers with more wind power and other forms of clean energy. In the latest development, just last week the Boulder City Council voted to move ahead with the final steps. Continue reading
Skyrocketing investment predicted in renewable energy by 2030
Annual Renewable Energy Investment Set To Sky-rocket By 2030, Cleantechnica April 25, 2013Joshua S Hill The next 15 years and more are going to be interesting ones for the renewable energy industry, as the cost of manufacturing and installation drop and the public face of fossil fuels continues to be tarnished. Specifically, the rising popularity and efficiency of wind and solar energy will push the renewable energy industry as a whole into a new era of prominence.
According to new research from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the future of the renewable energy sector is a jump of 230% in annual investment to $630 billion per year by 2030. Continue reading
South Africa’s National Planning Commission warns against nuclear energy
Energy: Nuclear warning sparks meltdown, Mail and Guardian (Africa) 26 APR 2013 00:00 – LIONEL FAULL A major policy clash over the biggest spending plan in SA’s history has erupted between the national planning commission and the energy department. The trillion-rand plan to build a fleet of new nuclear power stations is not only costlier than expected, but may be entirely unnecessary, according to the research initiated by the commission.
It also warned that the department’s commitment to a massive nuclear push could ratchet electricity prices up by as much as 12% compared with alternative scenarios Continue reading
Investors attracted to renewable energy projects
Renewable energy projects gaining investor appeal Arab News REUTERS 26 April 2013 FRANKFURT: Renewable energy production and infrastructure are gaining investor appeal as they become less dependent on government support in more European markets, the asset management arm of insurer Allianz said.
Allianz, Europe’s biggest insurer, has been investing billions of euros of policy holder funds in renewable energy.
“These investments either offer attractive feed-in tariffs, are already at grid parity (competitive with conventional energy) or are going in that direction,” Armin Sandhoevel, chief investment officer for renewables at Allianz Global Investors, told a press briefing in Frankfurt.
“That is also the future of the market, it will make it bigger and more comfortable for institutional investors.”
Spanish and Italian wind or solar installations were the most advanced in terms of profitability while those in the Nordic countries, Britain, Germany, France and the Benelux would be catching up, he said….
Further advantages of a move to green systems were the decoupling from rising global fuel costs and proven viability of the new technologies, which ensured long-term cash flows.
Institutional investors such as pension funds were looking for a diversification away from government bonds at a time of unattractive yields, Allianz executives said.
“Renewables and infrastructure represent a good match with insurers’ and pension funds’ long-term obligations to policy holders,” said managing director Tobias Pross…… http://www.arabnews.com/news/449434
Plan for storage of offshore wind energy
Wind Power Storage, Environmental Network News, 26 April 13 One of the problems with wind power is that when there is no wind then there is no power. Offshore wind could provide abundant electricity — but as with solar energy, this power supply can be intermittent and unpredictable. A new approach from researchers at MIT could mitigate that problem, allowing the electricity generated by floating wind farms to be stored and then used, on demand, whenever it’s needed….. http://www.enn.com/energy/article/45904
Large photovoltaic solar farm now operating in Thailand
Thailand’s Largest Solar Farm Powered By REC Panels by Energy Matters, 25 April 13 Renewable Energy Corporation has arrived in Thailand in a big way – supplying panels for the country’s largest solar power station.
The 9.5 MW Chiang Rai installation commenced operations last month. 41,000 REC Peak Energy Series solar panels are now generating enough electricity to provide the power needs of 7,200 Thai households and will avoid the production of 9,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide annually…. http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3710
The Google Renewable Energy Solution
Google pushes new plan for utility-supplied renewable energy, REneweconomy By Tina Casey on 21 April 2013 Cleantechnica
In a new post on Google’s blog, Google Director of Global Infrastructure Gary Demasi has just put forth a plan that could really blow up the domestic renewable energy market. Continue reading
Draft plan for USA’s nuclear wastes, from 4 US Senators
U.S. Senators Seek Comments on Plan to Store Nuclear Waste Science, by David Malakoff 25 April 2013, After Yucca. Four U.S. Senators have drafted legislation that would set up a process for disposing of nuclear waste that was once supposed to go to a repository under Yucca Mountain (above) in Nevada.
“Our country can’t wait any longer to find a long-term solution for disposing of nuclear waste,” said Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, in a statement. “I’m hopeful the feedback we receive will help us finish the job and allow us to move forward with legislation that puts the U.S. back on the path to safely managing and permanently disposing of the most radioactive wastes.” The other members of the waste quartet are senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who lead the Senate appropriations subpanel that oversees waste issues, and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the senior Republican on the energy committee.
The draft bill includes many of the suggestions made by the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. It calls for the creation of a new nuclear waste administration, for example, that would coordinate a “consent-based process” for building new nuclear waste storage facilities. (That process is, in part, a response to complaints that Congress placed the Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada without the state’s consent.) Two of the senators also offered alternative ideas on several issues……
But Dave Lochbaum, the director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), said in a statement that the draft doesn’t do enough to address the safety of waste already stored at reactors around the nation. “Despite their good intentions, the senators ignored the fact that we have a problem right now with how nuclear plant owners store this highly radioactive waste,” Lochbaum said. “Even under the rosiest scenario, it will take years to site and build an interim storage facility. That means large quantities of nuclear waste will remain at nuclear plants for a long, long time—and three quarters of it is currently crammed in cooling pools rather than stored in dry casks, which are safer.”
The senators say that they released the draft in order to provoke discussion and have asked for comments by 24 May. http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2013/04/us-senators-seek-comments-on-pla.html
Fire on UK nuclear submarine
HMS Torbay nuclear submarine evacuated, BBC News Devon 25 April 13 A nuclear submarine in Devonport dockyard had to be evacuated after a fire broke out while maintenance work was being carried out.About 55 people had to leave when the fire broke out as welding was being done on the outside of the Trafalgar class submarine, said the Royal Navy.The “small fire” among protective blankets was put out within five minutes by a fire crew, it said.The Royal Navy said no-one was injured and an investigation would take place. It added the submarine had not been damaged…. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-22302965
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