Nuclear Plant sits ON TOP OF ACTIVE FAULT LINE: Tsurugu in Japan
Published on 6 Jun 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuruga_…
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ALSO IN THE NEWS:
TEPCO REPORTS ANOTHER LEAK AT FUKUSHIMA
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has reported another leak of radioactive water, this time from a steel storage tank above ground.
Tokyo Electric Power Company officials say a worker found the leak shortly after noon on Wednesday.
The tank is one of those built at the plant since May to store contaminated water transferred from storage pools underground.
The utility built the tanks after finding a series of leaks in April in the underground pools.
TEPCO officials say the contaminated water was seeping from a joint in the tank, at a rate of one drop every 3 to 4 seconds.
They report that bolts at the joint were tightened. They stopped water transfer and are investigating the cause.
The officials say no changes were detected in radioactivity levels at monitoring points near the plant.
The tank is about 400 meters from the sea. TEPCO officials say there is no risk of contaminated water reaching the sea.
Jun. 5, 2013 – Updated 07:36 UTC
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NUCLEAR EVACUATION GUIDELINES UPDATED
Japan’s nuclear regulator has decided further details of its guidelines for local residents in case of a nuclear plant accident.
In February the Nuclear Regulation Authority decided on a revised version of the guidelines. The review came after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident in March, 2011.
The new guidelines expanded the necessary evacuation area, or the area where residents must stay indoors, to a 30-kilometer radius around a nuclear plant.
It also says iodine tablets should be distributed to households within 5 kilometers of a plant in advance of a possible accident.
Iodine helps prevent the thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive substances.
Continue reading
USA marketing nuclear technology to Vietnam
Obama’s Nuclear Vietnam National Review Online By Henry Sokolski June 4, 2013 In Washington, learning comes hard. Officials may know when to back off when they’ve crossed wires with Congress, but in most cases, and in less time than you’d think, they’re back at it again.
Take the State Department’s rush three years ago to seal a civilian nuclear deal with Vietnam. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the U.S. had initialed a draft agreement in July of 2010. It featured nuclear-nonproliferation provisions far looser than what Congress wanted. When the Hill found out, it threw a fit, the White House withdrew the deal, and State promised to lead a government-wide review of U.S. nonproliferation policies.
That was 33 months ago. Last September, State completed the review and forwarded its recommendations to the White House. The president has yet to focus on them. Instead he’s gotten excited about promoting U.S. nuclear-reactor exports to — you guessed it — Vietnam.
Last month he sent a U.S. nuclear-export delegation to Hanoi. It included the White House director for nuclear-energy policy, the under secretary of commerce, the assistant secretary of energy for nuclear energy, and 18 nuclear-industry representatives. Their mission: to persuade Vietnam to buy Westinghouse reactors. Continue reading
Latest UNSCEAR Fukushima report says opposite to World Health report
On May 31, 2013 the United Nations said it did not expect to see elevated rates of cancer from Fukushima, though it recommended continued monitoring <link> .
The report by the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation said prompt evacuation meant the dose inhaled by most people was low. But that assessment was at odds with a report by the World Health Organization in February that warned of an elevated cancer risk.
Life and Death Choices: Radiation, Children, and Japan’s Future, 04 June 2013 By David McNeill, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus | Report Like most fathers, Fujimoto Yoji frets about the health of his young children. In addition to normal parental concerns about the food they eat, the air they breathe and the environment they will inherit, however, he must add one more: the radioactive fallout from a major nuclear disaster.
Three days after meltdown began at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on 11 March, 2011, Fujimoto moved his two daughters, then aged four and three, to safety hundreds of kilometers away. In December, 2012 the eldest of the two was diagnosed with adenoidal cysts, the prelude to a type of cancer that often strikes the salivary glands. “I was told by the doctor that it’s very rare,” he says.
Although Mr Fujimoto and his family were in Chiba Prefecture, over 100km (60 miles) from the nuclear plant and in the opposite direction from the worst of the fallout, he believes his daughter inhaled enough radiation to cause her illness. “I’m convinced this is because of the Fukushima accident.” Continue reading
American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans for Prosperity – Koch tools against renewable energy
powerful forces fueling LePage and his allies’ efforts to weaken Maine’s RPS: Charles and David Koch, billionaire industrialists from Kansas and owners of the second largest private company in the U.S. with revenues estimated at $100 billion a year.
powerful forces fueling LePage and his allies’ efforts to weaken Maine’s RPS: Charles and David Koch, billionaire industrialists from Kansas and owners of the second largest private company in the U.S. with revenues estimated at $100 billion a year.
The billionaire force behind GOP attempts to dismantle Maine’s renewable energy standards http://bangordailynews.com/2013/06/04/opinion/the-billionaire-force-behind-gop-attempts-to-dismantle-maines-renewable-energy-standards/ By Phil Bartlett, June 04, 2013, Put into effect nearly 15 years ago with bipartisan support, Maine’s Renewable Portfolio Standard has created thousands of jobs, cut down on harmful pollution and helped to keep more of Mainers’ energy dollars in the state. Requiring 30 percent of the state’s energy providers’ electricity sales to come from renewables such as wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and hydroelectric power, it has also led to tremendous investment by renewable energy companies that are paying more than $17 million annually in property taxes and employing more than 2,500 Mainers.
Simply put, the Renewable Portfolio Standard is working — for everyday Mainers and businesses alike. In light of our struggling economy, programs such as the RPS should be celebrated and protected. So what could possibly have motivated Gov. Paul LePage to devote an entire weekly radio address to attacking the program? And why are some elected officials pushing legislation that would dismantle it? Continue reading
Radioactive seawater travels towards USA from Fukushima
Are North Americans Already Succumbing to Radiation From Japan? http://www.complex.com/city-guide/2013/06/are-north-americans-already-succumbing-to-radiation-from-japan
BY JULIAN KIMBLE | JUN 5, 2013 We don’t mean to alarm anyone, but there’s reportedly been an increase in radiation levels in food and water thanks to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that struck in 2011. In addition, children being born with thyroid issues has also been tied to radiation while both the U.S. and Canada are allowing more of specific toxic substances in food being imported from Japan.
The image above shows radiation on the move from the Fukushima nuclear plant following the horrible events of 2011. That was captured in March 2012, meaning it’s probably covered even more ground over the past year and change.
According to World Truth TV, milk samples taken from across the U.S. show that radiation levels are 2000 percent above the EPA maximums. Milk is also used to represent the entire food supply. Furthermore, the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Deception Protection Agency have responded by raising the “acceptable levels” of radioactive materials that are found in foods.
So apparently water, dairy products, produce, seafood, and meat are all at risk. Great, just great. Remember that when you go grocery shopping this weekend. [via Jeromie Williams]
Secrecy in plans for radioactive dump near Great Lakes
Used nuclear fuel is a touchy subject because it is so highly radioactive. It must be encased in heavy radiation-proof containers, and remains dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years.
The idea of entombing it close to the Great Lakes has drawn criticism from both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border.
“Canadians have been very clear that this generation must begin to take responsibility now, and not leave used fuel as a legacy for future generations to deal with,”
Nuclear waste meetings draw criticism in Bruce County, The Star, Meetings between Bruce County mayors and nuclear waste planners took place for years behind closed doors, local groups have learned. By: John Spears Business reporter, Jun 05 2013 Two citizens’ groups in Bruce County have asked for a probe of what they say are secret meetings held between local mayors and nuclear waste planners.
Records of meetings going back to 2005 show that mayors and nuclear waste planners discussed both plans for a low and intermediate nuclear waste site and a site for highly radioactive spent fuel, although the projects are supposed to be separate.
No public notice of the meetings was ever given, nor were records published until this spring, according to the groups.
Plans are far advanced for a low- and mid-level waste sitenear Kincardine, Ont., and some residents fear the used fuel site will automatically follow.
The citizens’ groups have filed a formal complaint about the process with Bruce County Council, saying that some of the sessions may have violated the rules governing open meetings under the Municipal Act.
Records of the meetings, though incomplete, show that the mayors were discussing the possibility of locating a used fuel disposal facility in the region before the public was let in on the possibility of it being in Bruce County…… Continue reading
Leak in Water Tank at Fukushima adds to TEPCO’s woes
Leak Found in Steel Tank for Water at Fukushima NYT, By MARTIN FACKLER June 5, 2013 TOKYO — The operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant said Wednesday that it had found a leak in one of the hundreds of steel tanks used to store radioactive water at the plant, raising renewed questions about the company’s ability to handle the plant’s cleanup.
The discovery comes a day after the operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, admitted that it had found cesium particles in groundwater flowing into the Fukushima Daiichi plant, reversing its earlier assertion that the water was uncontaminated….
Tepco has struggled to deal with tens of millions of gallons of contaminated, toxic water at the plant, which must be stored in the large steel tanks that now occupy virtually every available bit of space there. The amount of radioactive water has continued to grow as groundwater has flowed at a rate of 100,000 gallons per day into the basements of the damaged reactor buildings. This contaminated water must be drawn off every day to prevent it from overwhelming makeshift systems that cool the melted reactors. Continue reading
Radiation and the ethics of sending astronauts to Mars
One thing is certain: there can be no more romantic idealism. No amount of wishful thinking, or crowdsourcing, or press releasing can circumvent this problem. Space radiation is dangerous, potentially deadly. Manned missions to Mars with current technology will carry significant exposure risks.
At what price ethically do we want the Red Planet?
Space radiation results should spark manned Mars mission debate, Guardian UK, Stuart Clark 5 June 13Nasa data shows radiation doses would be so high on a manned Mars mission that we must now debate the ethics of deep space exploration – or wait decades to develop safer technology
It is time for idealism about missions to Mars to end. Going there with current technology would carry a significant risk of harmful radiation exposure. Continue reading
Thyroid cancer in Fukushima children – nothing to worry about?
Life and Death Choices: Radiation, Children, and Japan’s Future, Truth Out, By David McNeill, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 4 June 13 “…….Many parents point to a recent finding that over 40 per cent of nearly 95,000 children checked by Dr Suzuki’s team had thyroid ultrasound “abnormalities”. About 35 per cent had nodules or cysts on their thyroids.
The cysts and nodules are not cancers but they point to an inevitable spike in future health problems, says Mr Fujimoto – a view contested by the government. “I have absolutely no faith in what the Fukushima government is saying,” he retorts. “They want people to go back and live there so they clearly want to keep a lid on the impact of the disaster.”
Parents accuse government scientists of making their minds up before the survey began – Professor Suzuki’s team said last July that their aim was “to calm the anxiety of the population.”
Iwata Wataru, who heads a non-profit group that measures radiation, believes that’s an abuse of science. “A scientific study is normally designed to detect an effect and lead the investigator to accept or reject a stated hypothesis,” he said. “In this case, they have a strong prior belief that there is no physical effect of exposure.” Iwata wants more independent testing.
In the absence of a consensus on the likely impact of the Fukushima accident, the debate has hardened into two sides: people like Fujimoto an Iwata who say the authorities are playing down or even covering up the disaster, and the increasingly vocal official view that their worries are overblown. Those who stray too far from the official line risk being accused of fear-mongering.
That criticism misses the point, says Mochizuki Iori, author of the blog Fukushima Diary. “I was exposed in the first week,” he writes. “It’s irreversible. Not so many people can share this feeling in the world. I check my thyroid, lymph and symptoms of other things that I don’t even want to mention.”
Doctors say children’s thyroids, which help regulate the body’s metabolism, are especially sensitive to radioactive iodine. The gland is very active during childhood development. A study published last year in the International Journal of Cancer found elevated risks of thyroid cancer in childhood survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 50 years after they were exposed to radiation. The study found over a third of 191 thyroid cancers in adults who were children at the time of the bombing were probably due to exposure. <link>
Whatever the scientists say, Mr. Fujimoto insists he won’t be persuaded by government reassurances that it is safe to return to Fukushima. “There is so much information not getting out at the moment. It will be too late for my children when it is eventually released.”
http://truth-out.org/news/item/16768-life-and-death-choices-radiation-children-and-japans-future
USA – South Korea nuclear deal and the dangers of an Asian nuclear arms race
Obama’s Nuclear Vietnam National Review Online By Henry Sokolski June 4, 2013 “………..South Korea. The Obama administration has asked Congress to act in the next few weeks on a two-year extension of the existing U.S. nuclear-cooperative agreement with Seoul. The existing deal was supposed to be renegotiated so it could be extended for another 30-year period. Seoul, however, wanted Washington to allow it to make nuclear fuel from U.S. nuclear materials. This caused U.S. negotiators to balk. Publicly, U.S. officials worried that giving South Korea the go-ahead to enrich uranium and reprocess plutonium would sink any prospect of getting North Korea to back off from doing so.
An additional concern, though, was more immediate and credible: Saying yes might lock down Japanese plans to finally open a large, uneconomical fuel-making plant capable of producing 1,000 to 2,000 nuclear bombs’ worth of “civilian” plutonium a year. If Japan should decide to open this plant, located in Rokkasho, it might easily give Beijing yet another reason to turn its own military preparations up an additional notch. It was for these reasons that U.S. negotiators asked South Korea to agree to a short, two-year extension to allow further negotiations to sort these matters out.
Reflecting these worries, congressional staffers from both parties added modest language to the administration’s draft U.S.–South Korea two-year nuclear-agreement-extension bill. The staffers’ amended language clarified the desirability of keeping nuclear-fuel-making at bay on the Korean peninsula and in Asia more generally. Administration officials, however, have privately made it clear that they want this language taken out.
This raises even more questions. Is the administration going to hold the line on Korean fuel-making? If so, how can it do this without doing the same with Vietnam? Or is the plan to cave in both cases? If so, how do we intend to deal with the nuclear-fuel-making aspirations of Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Jordan, Egypt, and Turkey?
One diplomatic answer is that we will handle these matters country by country (i.e., case by case). If Congress settles for this, though, it will have forgotten what it was trying to make the White House understand when it first complained about Secretary Clinton’s cutting a loose nuclear deal with Vietnam: That a “case by case” policy is no policy at all.http://www.nationalreview.com/article/350043/obamas-nuclear-vietnam-henry-sokolski
America did more nuclear weapons tests than all other countries put together
America Leads the World in Nuclear Tests The Diplomat By Zachary Keck June 6, 2013 The United States has conducted more nuclear weapon tests than the rest of the world combined, according to a new analysis published on Real Clear Science.
Real Clear Science compiled a list counting the number of tests each country that is known have conducted nuclear tests has carried out since the dawn of the nuclear era.
The United States leads the pack with 1,032 nuclear weapons tests, with Russia (including the Soviet Union) coming in at a distant second with 715 tests. France has conducted the third most with 198 tests, while China and the United Kingdom have both carried out 45 of them.
After that the numbers drop off even more substantially with India having carried out three confirmed tests and six claimed ones, North Korea’s three tests since 2009, and Pakistan having carried out two confirmed tests and six claimed ones, according to Real Clear Science. Although not included on the list, Israel is widely believed to have carried out a covert nuclear test off the coast of South Africa in 1979, which was captured by the U.S. Vela satellite.
Counting Israel’s test and India and Pakistan’s confirmed tests, the world excluding U.S. has carried out 1,012 tests. If India and Pakistan’s non-confirmed tests are included, that number rises to 1,019.
Thus the U.S. has carried out either twenty or thirteen more nuclear tests than the rest of the world combined, according to the Real Clear Science data….. http://thediplomat.com/flashpoints-blog/2013/06/06/america-leads-the-world-in-nuclear-tests/
Oak Ridge uranium processing facility costs running out of control?
Frank Munger: Alexander keeping eye on Uranium Processing Facility costs Knox News, By Frank Munger June 5, 2013 U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander has been a big supporter of the Uranium Processing Facility and no doubt still is, but Tennessee’s senior senator sounded a warning last week that he wouldn’t put up with out-of-control costs — even for an Oak Ridge project that he considers essential.
“I’ve pretty well had it with these big Energy Department projects
that start out costing a billion dollars and end up costing $6
billion,” Alexander said in an interview. “We can’t afford that. And
we can use the money much more wisely, either to reduce the debt or to
pay for energy research.”
There are reports that the UPF is on the verge of going over the top
end of its estimated cost range — currently set at $4.2 billion to
$6.5 billion. The senator is the ranking Republican on the Senate
Appropriations’ energy and water subcommittee, which plays a pivotal
role in funding the Department of Energy and its sub-unit, the
National Nuclear Security Administration.
I asked him if there was a price tag too high.
“Well, we’ll have to decide that,” he said. “One thing I want to make
sure is we don’t start constructing the facility until we have a
design. And then I want it to be more like the big Spallation Neuron
Source which we built a few years ago that (ORNL Director) Thom Mason
was in charge of. Once we knew the design and we knew the cost, even
though the number was big ($1.4 billion), they stayed on time and on
budget.”
When pressed about a cost ceiling for UPF, Alexander wouldn’t go
there….. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jun/05/frank-munger-alexander-keeping-eye-on-uranium/
More bad news for uranium industry
Uranium – little selling in May 9 News Finance 4 June 13 By Andrew
Nelson Uranium sellers were not inclined to sell in May and
unfortunately for them, the buyers weren’t really buying either. The
spot price traded in a tight range over the month, starting at
US$40.50 per pound and then dropping to US$40.25 before heading back
up to end the month at US$40.40 per pound.
The same old story continued to play out, the one in which sellers
can’t/don’t want to drop prices further versus buyers that really
don’t need the stock. Industry analyst TradeTech reports that
producers have been going almost door to door to shift uncommitted
material off the shelves this year at or around current prices, but
buyers are increasingly focused on 2014 deliveries.
There was a bit of hope earlier in the month that prices could start
pushing higher on news of a terrorist attack and subsequent production
stoppage at the Somair uranium mine in Niger. The problem with this
ill-conceived hope is that it looks like production at the facility
will kick back on over the next few months and with little disruption
to delivery commitments.
With buyers not buying and sellesr not wanting to sell at lower
prices, market activity in May was slow. TradeTech reports only 23
transactions were concluded, accounting for nearly 3 million pounds of
U3O8 equivalent. While by no means running hot, May was at least up on
the 2.4m pounds that changed hands in April.
By the end of the month, which was also the end of the week,
TradeTech’s Exchange Spot Price Indicator had come off US10c to
US$40.40…… http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newscolumnists/other/8669520/uranium-little-selling-in-may
A health survey in Fukushima covered up by the Japanese Media?
Radiation Causing Unusual Changes: What’s Happening to Children?
(This video as well as others have been continually taken down on request of persons unknown.. you have to wonder why?) [Arclight2011]
By tokyobrowntabby
This video is from a webcast program called “ContAct,”
webcasted on July 14, 2011 by OurPlanet-TV
( http://www.ourplanet-tv.org/?q=node/287 ) an independent net-based media.
Translation by EX-SKF( http//:ex-skf.blospot.jp ) & tokyobrowntabby and captioning by tokyobrowntabby.
Fighting a dragon I cannot see – Insight into Japan – Akio Matsumura
….Akio Matsumura is a renowned diplomat who has dedicated his life to building bridges between government, business, and spiritual leaders in the cause of world peace. He is the founder and Secretary General of the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival with conferences held in Oxford, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Kyoto, and Konya….
Published on 5 Jun 2013
On today’s podcast, host Nathaniel White-Joyal and Fairewinds Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen talk with renowned diplomat Akio Matsumura and Fairewinds board member Chiho Kaneko about nuclear power and the effects of the Fukushima disaster on the Japanese people today.
1.This Month
Zoom webinar – “Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange.”
April 7th at 11:30 am PST / 2:30 pm EST
“Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange”
Join us for an informative webinar with renowned atmospheric scientist, Professor Brian Toon, as he discusses the environmental risks and global impacts of a nuclear war. Despite the potential damage caused by the blast from even small nuclear weapons, many countries continue to invest in and expand nuclear arsenals. Professor Toon will provide a scientific assessment of civilian fatalities, agricultural failures, climate concerns, and complications with food supply that would follow any international nuclear conflict. We need to plan how to prevent nuclear conflict and avoid catastrophe. Politicians and military planners must be made aware of global climate and agricultural complications that would ensue. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from, and engage in, this vital conversation
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