UN report on Fukushima Criticized
…Mari Inoue, a representative of Tokyo-based Human Rights Now, meanwhile called for the UNSCEAR report to be revised.
She said the report should endorse evacuation from areas where exposure exceeds 1 millisievert of radiation per year, well below the Japanese government’s yardstick of 20 millisieverts per year….
Oct 25, 2013
NEW YORK – Human rights experts, including a U.N. special rapporteur, are criticizing a U.N. scientific report dismissing concerns about the effects of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster on the Japanese public.
Speaking Thursday at an event organized by U.S. and Japanese nongovernmental groups, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to health Anand Grover took issue with the report’s conclusion that “there is nothing to worry about” for members of the public exposed to radiation from Fukushima No. 1.
The report was prepared by the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation.
The committee, which studied the levels and effects of radiation exposure caused by the nuclear disaster after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, found that for the general public, “no discernible increased incidence of radiation-related health effects are expected.”
Grover, who visited Japan in November 2012 and compiled his own report on the situation from a human rights perspective, said the data on radioactive exposure is insufficient to rule out the possibility that low doses could have ill effects on health.
He also said that ensuring the participation of affected communities in decision-making is “one of the core obligations” of governments and that the public has a right to information.
Special rapporteurs are independent investigators tasked by the United Nations with investigating human rights issues and can only investigate a country if invited to do so by its government.
Mari Inoue, a representative of Tokyo-based Human Rights Now, meanwhile called for the UNSCEAR report to be revised.
She said the report should endorse evacuation from areas where exposure exceeds 1 millisievert of radiation per year, well below the Japanese government’s yardstick of 20 millisieverts per year.
It should also recommend continued study of contract workers exposed to radiation, increased community participation in the government response to the disaster, and recognition that it is too early to rule out future health effects for the exposed, Inoue said.
Also on Thursday, Human Rights Now released a statement signed by 64 community organizations in Japan calling for revisions to the report.
The UNSCEAR’s full report, including scientific data supporting its findings, has not yet been published. The group said when finished, the report will be “the most comprehensive scientific analysis of the information available to date.”
Nuclear commission issues license to Army for depleted uranium at 2 training areas in Hawaii
…”The real issue is all live fire needs to be stopped at Pohakuloa and cleanup of all depleted uranium that is present,” he said.
Depleted uranium likely is more widespread than the Army has acknowledged, he said….
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/726f58fbe3b047a0aa13d085b513f54c/HI–Depleted-Uranium
HILO, Hawaii — The Army has been granted a license to possess depleted uranium at two Hawaii training areas.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday issued the license for the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island and Schofield Barracks on Oahu , the Hawaii Tribune-Herald (http://bit.ly/Hk9r8H) reported.
The Army six years ago revealed that rounds used as part of the Davy Crockett weapons program were fired at the locations about 50 years ago.
The military between 1960 and 1968 used 8- by 1-inch spotting rounds containing 6.7 ounces of depleted uranium alloy to identify the flight path of Davy Crockett warheads, according to the Army Garrison-Hawaii website. The weakly radioactive alloy was used to add weight to the spotting rounds so they could mimic the flight of the warheads.
Fragments were found first at Schofield Barracks. A review of Army records indicated their use at Pohakuloa.
The Army had operated with a license to manufacture and distribute the spotting rounds. The Atomic Energy Commission license expired in 1978.
The NRC determined that enough depleted uranium had been used to warrant a new license for possession. The license authorizes possession of 275 pounds of depleted uranium and puts in place regulations to address contamination.
No additional use of depleted uranium is authorized. The license requires air and plant sampling plans within 90 days.
A safety plan establishes a “radiation control area” where spotting rounds had been fired and requires the Army to notify the NRC when explosives will be used.
The Pohakuloa facility covers 133,000 acres. The affected nuclear area is about 2,190 acres, Clint German, safety manager for U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii, said by email.
Peace activist Jim Albertini said the license is inadequate.
“The real issue is all live fire needs to be stopped at Pohakuloa and cleanup of all depleted uranium that is present,” he said.
Depleted uranium likely is more widespread than the Army has acknowledged, he said.
Any cleanup would have to be approved by the NRC, German said.
Ontario govt has no idea of the costs of refurbishing nuclear reactors
Ontario Liberals flying blind on nuclear reactor file, NDP says CBC News 23 Oct 13, Horwath charges Liberals ‘haven’t learned’ from $1.1-billion gas-plant fiasco The Canadian Press Oct 23, 2013 The provincial Liberal government “learned nothing” from the $1.1-billion cost of killing two gas plants and is ready to refurbish nuclear reactors without knowing the final price, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath charged Wednesday.
‘Apparently the sky is the limit when it comes to the price’ –NDP Leader Andrea Horwath on proposed nuclear refurbishments
The Liberals recently abandoned plans to build two new nuclear reactors, after spending $180 million in preparatory work, but said they would refurbish existing reactors at the Darlington power station east of Toronto to extend their service life until 2055.
“The procurement for it is going to take place in stages, and the final cost is not known at this particular point in time,” Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli said.
The NDP released a statement from the Ministry of Energy showing “a final timeline and cost will not be known until the regulatory and technical scope is determined” and contracts are signed, sometime in
Check out CBC’s special report on electricity in Canada, including this profile of power in Ontario.
“We were shocked when the minister responded to our request by saying, ‘We’re spending $950 million on contracts we’ve already signed but we can’t tell you what the final cost is going to be,’ ” Horwath said. “That is frightening.”
It’s hard to believe the Liberals are prepared to waste more money on the electricity file after the auditor general reported the costs of their decisions to cancel gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga could top $1.1 billion, added Horwath….. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-liberals-flying-blind-on-nuclear-reactor-file-ndp-says-1.2187519
Top nuclear disarmament award goes to New Zealand
NZ’s nuclear-free legislation wins top disarmament award, Scoop, 24 October 2013, World Future Council, New Zealand’s ground-breaking nuclear-free legislation wins top disarmament award
Hamburg/Geneva/New York – 23 October 2013: In 1987, against the backdrop of rising Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, New Zealand passed its ground-breaking Nuclear-Free Act, which banned nuclear weapons and meant US nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered ships were no longer allowed in New Zealand ports.
Today, more than 25 years later, the policy has been announced by the World Future Council as winner of the Silver Future Policy Award. This year’s award seeks to highlight disarmament policies that contribute to the achievement of peace, sustainable development and human security. This evening, a formal awards ceremony will be convened at UN Headquarters……
New Zealand’s policy started as a radical and utopian gesture, and has become part of our national identity – our DNA,” says New Zealander Alyn Ware, winner of the 2009 Right Livelihood Award for his work on nuclear disarmament, and a participant in the Future Policy Award ceremony at the United Nations on 23 October. “It inspires other countries, and empowers us kiwis to take nuclear abolition global.’
The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco) won the 2013 Future Policy Gold Award, while Argentina’s “National Programme for the Voluntary Surrender of Firearms” also received Silver. Four additional disarmament policies from Belgium, Costa Rica, Mongolia and Mozambique/South Africa were recognized as Honourable Mentions.
The Future Policy Award is the only award that honours policies rather than people on an international level. The World Future Council convened this year’s Award in partnership with the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1310/S00241/nzs-nuclear-free-legislation-wins-top-disarmament-award.htm
ends
European Union studying UK nuclear deal
EU to examine govt aid for UK nuclear deal France 24 22 Oct 13 AFP – The European Commission said Tuesday it would examine British government support for a massive 19-billion-euro nuclear plant to be built by French and Chinese firms…….
Colombani said the Commission would shortly update its guidelines covering state aid for the energy market in general.
These “will not include specific guidelines as concerns nuclear power,” he said, and will instead feature “case-by-case assessments.”
The deal has angered anti-nuclear activists.
“Instead of subsidising nuclear energy production, the government should be investing more in safe, clean and affordable renewable energy,” said Kate Hudson, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
The EU is divided over the future of nuclear energy, with some member states even arguing that it should be considered as a renewable. http://www.france24.com/en/20131022-eu-examine-govt-aid-uk-nuclear-deal
Iran pauses uranium enrichment
Iran temporarily halts 20% uranium enrichment: Tehran (AFP) – 7 News 24 Oct 13 Iran has temporarily halted its production of enriched uranium to 20 percent purity as it has sufficient stocks to fuel its Tehran research reactor, a lawmaker was quoted Thursday as saying.
“There is no production at all … as right now there is no need for the production of 20 percent (enriched) uranium,” the parliament website reported conservative MP Hossein Naqavi Hosseini as saying.
Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme is at the core of its dispute with world powers, who suspect it masks a drive for atomic weapons despite repeated denials by the Islamic republic….. Demands that the programme be halted were again put forward earlier this year in the Kazakh city of Almaty, in talks between Iran and the P5+1 group — the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany.
The halting of the sensitive work could be crucial in resolving the long-running showdown in the negotiations, which were revived last week in Geneva and are set to resume in November.
In the talks, Iran is seeking the lifting of international sanctions which have damaged its struggling economy. World powers for their part are seeking to ensure that Tehran is not able to develop nuclear weapons. http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/19538233/iran-temporarily-halts-20-uranium-enrichment-report/
AREVA’s renewable energy business slowing, because of political uncertainty
French Nuclear Giant Areva Sees Revenue Slump http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/french-nuclear-giant-areva-sees-revenue-slump-20670644 PARIS October 24, 2013 (AP) French nuclear giant Areva says its revenue fell in the third quarter partially due to a slump in business at its renewable energies division.
The state-controlled company said Thursday that its revenue dropped 5.8 percent to 2.1 billion euros ($2.9 billion) in the June-to-September quarter.
The company, which is struggling to stage a turnaround following a global rethink of nuclear energy, said some of the slide was due to unfavorable currency exchange rates, including a strong dollar. It also saw a slowdown in business in its reactors and services division in the U.S.
But the biggest slide came in its renewable energies division, which is small but had been growing quickly. Sales fell 46 percent there. Areva blamed the decline on indecision in the new market.
Japanese govt considering putting all nuclear reactors into one company
Nuclear industry amalgamation mulled LDP examining idea to bring all reactors under one company, Japan Times, 23 Oct 2013. BLOOMBERG The government is discussing a radical overhaul of the nuclear power sector that would combine the nation’s 50 operating reactors into a single company to rebuild an industry that’s been effectively halted by the Fukushima disaster that started in March 2011.
The company would be owned by the nine regional utilities, along with wholesalers Japan Atomic Power Co. and Electric Power Development Co., while the government and reactor makers would give financial and technical support, Taku Yamamoto, who chairs the Liberal Democratic Party’s energy committee, said in an interview.
Part of the profit from sales of the new company’s electricity would be funneled toward the cleanup of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant and victim compensation, which combined may cost more than ¥11 trillion. The plan would keep Tokyo Electric Power Co. alive to shoulder Fukushima costs……
None of the idled reactors may be restarted by the end of March 31, as preparations by power companies for the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s safety review are behind schedule, the Sankei Shimbun reported Monday.
LDP lawmakers have discussed other options to restructure Tepco. Tadamori Oshima, head of the party’s 2011 quake reconstruction task force, proposed to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Tepco form a separate company to deal with decommissioning Fukushima No. 1 and the government provide financial aid, Kyodo News reported Sept. 21.
The Abe administration is seeking the Diet’s endorsementthis month for a bill designed to end the 60-year-old monopolies of the regional utilities, led by Tepco.
The other entities — which like Tepco dominate electricity generation and transmission in their respective regions — are Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Tohoku Electric Power Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric, Hokuriku Electric Power Co., Chugoku Electric Power Co., Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co.
The draft bill would unbundle generation and transmission operations and allow households to choose power suppliers for the first time. In theory, 60 percent of the electricity market has been deregulated, though in practice the dominance of the regional utilities stands in the way…… http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/10/23/business/ldp-mulls-amalgamating-all-nuclear-plants-under-one-firm/#.UmnhNnBwo7o
Fukushima workers tweeted about their safety worries
Fukushima Workers: There was a collapse at plant due to typhoon — Not revealed by Tepco — Worry that upcoming storm to cause more damage Two Fukushima workers commented on Twitter that the previous Typhoon Wipha caused a slope in Fukushima plant area to collapse. The slope faces the main street, and the earth and sand blockaded the street. Also, there was a part to have had a subsidence. […] The worker added there are more slopes in the area and they may collapse due to the next Typhoon […]
Specific Tweets translated by Google:
- @sunnysunnynismo, Oct. 19, 2013: Pattern collapse due to typhoon at the Fukushima Daiichi premises has not been press releases
- @Happy11311, Oct. 19, 2013: Uh-oh? I did not press! It was learned for the first time to see tweets of Sunny’s. I’ve had also place the road much would have been blocked, was depressed (> _ <) after law could face there had collapsed …. Next week, I wonder if the public? Typhoon No. 27 is also a worry about next week, and slope is likely to collapse still, and I wonder … I’m worried about.
- @Happy11311, Oct. 19, 2013: […] I think restoration work is dangerous’ s rain today where it left mudslides after, that it is not doing, but disciple no choice but to pray that the damage is not expanded
China General Nuclear Power Group – does it have the know how to safely run Britain’s nukes?
China’s need for nuclear power leads Britain to revive outdated technology Terry Macalister The Guardian, Sunday 20 October 2013 “…………But while EDF has now convinced government of the need to provide these different support mechanisms, the hard work begins for the French and its Chinese partner. The nuclear industry has a terrible reputation for completing new plants years late and over budget. Areva, the French nuclear engineering company providing the EPR design for Hinkley, is involved in similar plants at Flamanville in France and Olkiluoto in Finland. Both are proving more difficult than expected: the Finnish reactors are expected to be at least seven years late and at least £1.4bn over budget; Flamanville is two years late and believed to be as much as £2bn over budget.
And there is good reason to believe that British companies are going to miss out in Somerset. Centrica has already given up its opportunity to participate as an owner, while EDF has indicated the UK may not have the high-tech engineering skills to compete for supply contracts……
Western nuclear experts claim Beijing has a lot to prove that its own regulation is up to standard, and there will be intense pressure on the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation not to dilute standards to help Chinese firms operate their own plants here. There is already an inquiry going on into whether too many concessions have been made by George Osborne into a separate deal under which Chinese banks can operate more freely in London.
China General Nuclear Power Group is one of the biggest companies you have never heard of. In fact, it took a new name only six months ago. The change reflected its ambitions to establish itself on a world stage, outside its home base of Guangdong province. Involvement in Hinkley Point is a key part of the globalisation strategy…….http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/21/china-nuclear-power-britain-outdated-technology
Even George Monbiot condemns UK government’s new nuclear power plan
The farce of the Hinkley C nuclear reactor will haunt Britain for decades The Guardian, George Monbiot, Monday 21 October 2013 “………… the government has plumped for outdated technology at the worst price imaginable “…..Nils Pratley warned in the Guardian last week that “if Hinkley Point’s entire output is tied to the rate of inflation for 40 years, we could be staring at a truly astronomical cost by the end of the contract.” The City analyst he consulted reassured him that “the government surely can’t be that dumb”. Oh yes? Payment to the operators, the government now tells us, will be “fully indexed to the consumer prices index”. Guaranteed income for corporations, risk assumed by the taxpayer: this deal looks as bad as any private finance initiative contract.
That’s not the only respect in which the price is too high. A fundamental principle of all development is that we should know how the story ends. In this case no one has the faintest idea. Cumbria – the only local authority which seemed prepared to accept a dump for the nuclear waste from past and future schemes – rejected the proposal in January. No one should commission a mess without a plan for clearing it up….
New untested nuclear reactors – a gamble for UK
U.K. Nuclear Future Relies on Reactor Plagued by Delays: Energy Bloomberg, By Tara Patel & Sally Bakewell – Oct 22, 2013 To ensure the future of its nuclear power industry, the U.K. is relying on an unproven reactor design plagued by delays and billions in budget overruns.
The government’s deal yesterday with Electricite de France SA to build a $26 billion plant at Hinkley Point in England involves two European Pressurized Reactors. The first EPR project in Finland, led by Areva SA (AREVA), the French company that designed the technology, is seven years behind schedule and won’t be completed until 2016. The second, an EDF project at Flamanville in northwest France, will cost more than twice as much as expected…..
History suggests the plan for the U.K., which needs to replace aging reactors built in the 1970s, isn’t ironclad, said Roland Vetter, head of research at CF Partners (UK) LLP, which runs a fund that invests in utilities.
“Nuclear is the biggest gamble in power generation,” said Ingo Becker, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux in Frankfurt. “At 16 billion pounds ($26 billion) for two EPRs, they have probably taken into account possible cost overruns.”….
The U.K. project, expected to take 10 years, will be more expensive because soft local soil means it needs deeper foundations, requiring 30 percent more concrete, EDF said in a presentation yesterday. The Paris-based company also has to build an atomic waste facility and 3.8-kilometer (2.2-mile) pipes to carry seawater to cool the reactors….
The EPR was criticized in France for being too big and costly after an Areva-led group lost a $20 billion atomic contract from Abu Dhabi in 2009.
“The credibility of both the EPR and the ability of the French nuclear industry to successfully build new reactors has been seriously undermined by difficulties” at Finland’s Olkiluoto site and Flamanville, according to a report ordered by former President Nicolas Sarkozy and published in 2010. It found the plant’s complexity was “a handicap.”….http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-21/u-k-nuclear-future-relies-on-reactor-plagued-by-delays-energy.html
UK’s new nuclear power – a bad financial gamble
‘New generation’: The UK bets on a nuclear future, DW, Emma Wallis, 21 Oct
“….…Hidden costs Pete Roche works at “Spinwatch”, an organization that aims to highlight the true meaning behind government PR, or “spin.” Roche’s area of expertise is “Nuclear Spin.”
The UK government, he believes, “thinks they need [nuclear power] because there are an awful lot of coal fired stations due to close over the next few years, and the gas from the North Sea is also reducing.”
He also feels that consumers are not being told the true cost of nuclear energy. “At the beginning of all this we were told that nuclear is the cheapest for providing low-carbon electricity,” something he says is not necessarily true.
Price comparisons
By comparison, offshore wind costs 130 British pounds per megawatt, a figure that might drop to 100 by 2030. Although on the government press release for Hinkley Point, they estimate that Hinkley Point on 430 acres will be able to generate 26 terrawatt hours of electricity, compared to 130,000 acres of solar farms needed and 250,000 acres of onshore wind farms.
Roche told DW that Germany is “showing us the way,” clearly wishing that the UK had also decided after Fukushima to phase out its nuclear power, not increase them.
“The first difference that I like to highlight between Germany and the UK is that Germany expects to reduce energy consumption by about 20 percent, I think. And the UK is expecting our energy consumption to increase. If we went for the kinds of reduction in consumption that Germany is going for, it would be much easier to implement a renewable energy strategy.”…..http://www.dw.de/new-generation-the-uk-bets-on-a-nuclear-future/a-17171536
Malicious software got into UN nuclear agency computers
U.N. nuclear agency says malware infected some computers (Reuters) – Malicious software infected some U.N. nuclear agency computers over the past few months but no data in its network has been compromised, the agency said on Tuesday….http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/22/uk-nuclear-iaea-malware-idUKBRE99L08Q20131022
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