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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Nuclear Hotseat #128: Talkin’ Nuke Trash – Beyond Nuclear’s Kevin Kamps

Japanese protestor holds up graphic by 281_Antinuke

Japanese protester holds up graphic by 281_Antinuke

Nuclear Hotseat Podcast

The Activist Voice of the Anti-Nuclear Movement

Produced and Hosted by Libbe HaLevy

THIS WEEK’S NUCLEAR HOTSEAT: www.NuclearHotseat.com/Blog

(CLICK TO ACCESS): 

Nuclear Hotseat is the weekly international news magazine keeping you up to date on all things anti-nuclear.  Produced and Hosted by Three Mile Island survivor Libbe HaLevy, each podcast contains the week’s international nuclear news, at least one expert interview, ways to protect physical health of yourself and your loved ones from the dangers of radiation exposure, and activist opportunities.

Among the nuclear experts interviewed by Nuclear Hotseat in its first two years:

  • Arnie Gundersen, nuclear engineer, head of Fairewinds Energy Education
  • Dr. Helen Caldicott, founding President, Physicians for Social Responsibility
  • Dr. Janette Sherman and Joseph Mangano, authors of “An Unexpected Mortality Increase in the United States Follows Arrival of the Radioactive Plume from Fukushima:  Is There a Correlation?”
  • Karl Grossman, Journalist, host of “Enviro Close-Up”
  • Daniel Hirsch, Nuclear Policy Lecturer, UC Santa Cruz
  • Alice Slater, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
  • Mochizuki Iori, blogger, Fukushima Diary
  • Nuclear Whistleblowers
  • …and many more.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

http://lhalevy.audioacrobat.com/download/a6d78314-9ea9-6084-a8f1-cfd1f0b9dc63.mp3 

 

INTERVIEW:  KEVIN KAMPS is Radioactive Waste Watchdog for
Beyond Nuclear.  He specializes in high-level waste management and transportation; new and existing reactors; decommissioning; Congress watch; climate change; federal subsidies — in other words, all the complex issues at the top of the nuclear-industrial-governmental food chain.

 

NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK:  TEPCO, Fukushima Prefecture AND the Japan Football Association.  They plan to turn a soccer training center located so close enough  the nuclear accident that it was used as housing for Fukushima workers back into… a training center for elite athletes.  Just in time for the 2020 Olympics!  Elite athetes training in a radiation zone — woo hoo! 

December 5, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A global call for international assistance for the crises at Fukushima Pax Christi International

That the Japanese and global media be permitted around-the-clock access
to accurate information throughout the entire process of removal of the spent
fuel rods so that the Japanese people and the international community can be
informed of any risks to their health.
A global call for international
assistance
for the crises at Fukushima
On 5 November 2013, the US Green Party,
together with many different organisations
http://archive.paxchristi.net/NEWSLETTER/2013-0447-en-gl-IS.pdf
including Pax Christi International, sent a petition to the United Nations asking for assistance in resolving the crises that followed the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, in March
2011. The letter, addressed to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, stresses the importance of relegating the responsibility of the nuclear reactor to a better prepared engineering firm that is able to remove the contaminated water in a safer way with better security measures and better coverage for the Japanese people and the international community. Read the full
petition
here

A Global Call for International Assistance with the Crises at Fukushima
The crisis situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan is deteriorating
and threatens not only the survival of the population of Japan but could also
become a  significant global disaster. We express our deepest sympathies to
the people of Japan for the tragic loss of life, habitat and infrastructure they
are continuing to suffer as a result of the triple disasters
–
earth quake, tsunami and nuclear, that began on March 11, 2011. The potential
for additional massive radiation releases now is cause for grave international
concern. The attention and resources of the international community must
be focused on Fukushima to resolve this crisis in the safest and most
transparent way.
Decommissioning of the entire Fukushima nuclear power plant will take
many decades;
however, there are two urgent situations that require international intervention.
First is contaminated water at the site and second, and more dangerous, is
the spent fuel rods , particularly those in Building Four. TEPCO has
not demonstrated the capacity to manage these problems nor
has it been forthcoming in a timely way about the magnitude of the
problems at Fukushima.
TEPCO delayed public admission about the problems with groundwater
that is flowing from the surrounding hills into the site. The water presents two
dilemmas: it undermines the structural integrity of the damaged reactor
buildings and it must be contained because it becomes contaminated when it
flows through the site. TEPCO is pumping the contaminated water into
temporary storage tanks, some of which are already leaking. Each day,
contaminated water leaks into the Pacific Ocean. The capacity to
physically hold this contaminated water on site is diminishing. TEPCO lacks an
effective long-term solution to this problem.
In November, 2013, TEPCO plans to begin removal of more than 1,300 spent
fuel rods located in the heavily-damaged Building 4. The rods are in
a pool that is 100 feet above the ground. The roof over this pool was destroyed
in the earthquake and tsunami two years ago and debris litters the pool which
further complicates removal of the rods. Under normal operation, these rods
were moved by computer-assisted cranes that knew their exact
location, but that equipment was destroyed. The rods must be
removed under manual control because of the debris and damage that
has displaced them.
This is a task that requires great skill and precision.
If a spent fuel rod breaks, gets too close to another rod or is exposed to the
air, there could be a massive release of radiation into the air.
According to Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at Kyoto University
Research Reactor Institute
, “If you calculate the
amount of cesium 137 in the pool, the amount
is equivalent to 14,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs.” This
could badly contaminate the Northern Hemisphere.
Removal of the spent fuel rods is urgent because anot
her earthquake could also lead to the release of
radiation. However, it is imperative that this task be performed with the
greatest accuracy and
transparency. TEPCO vice presid
ent, Zengo Aizawa, admitted in
August, 2013 that “we need support, not
only from the Ja
panese government but from the
international community to do this job.”

The risks of these tasks are global and require assistance from the planet’s
best experts.Therefore, we,
the undersigned, call for the following actions to be taken immediately.
That the government of Japan transfer responsibility for the
Fukushima reactor site to an international engineering firm overseen by a
civil society panel and an international group of nuclear experts
independent from TEPCO and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as
outlined in this open letter to theUnited Nations.
[See letter here:
That the decommissioning process be done safely so that
workers at the Fukushima site are protected from exposure to
hazardous materials, are compensated fairly and are provided with
all necessary support given the tremendous risks that they are taking in this
disastrous situation.

December 5, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

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