Secret agreement between Fukushima Govt. Fukushima Medical University and IAEA
Fukushima Govt. & Fukushima Medical University Signed Secrecy Pact With IAEA fukuleaks.org January 1st, 2014 Tokyo Shimbun is reporting the results of their investigation into the dealings of the Fukushima prefecture government, the medical university and the IAEA. There has been
ongoing suspicion about the openness and honesty of what has been ongoing in Japan. Tokyo Shimbun has confirmed that these government entities did sign a secrecy agreement with the IAEA. The Fukushima Medical University has been the main source of all public data on exposure and had been dictating what medical care many in the region were allowed to receive related to radiation issues.
Both the prefecture and the medical university have been the subject of growing distrust from the public due to their efforts to downplay problems and withhold information from the public. Tokyo Shimbun’s work has confirmed this problem to be the case. A machine translation of the article is below.
………The Memorandum of Understanding with the IAEA, in December last year, Fukushima Prefecture were signed respectively in October this year, Fukui Prefecture.
In Fukushima Prefecture, Prefectural University of Medicine has concluded with the IAEA for the health impact study prefecture, radiation for the management of radioactive waste and decontamination. There are “exemplary arrangements” document as detailed MOU provisions marked to be “to ensure the confidentiality of information designated as confidential by the other party” is included in the document……..http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=11993
Elegant exposing of a paid climate denialist shill
In the end, what we have here is a paid shill writing garbage for more paid shills whose only goal is to misrepresent facts, lie and distort so the people who write their paycheques can continue to make money by polluting the Earth.
Heartland relying on more non-experts with vested interests to spin garbage uknowispeaksense 4 Jan 14 Normally I couldn’t care less what the privately funded (fossil fuels, pharmaceutical, tobacco etc) loony right-wing Heartland Institute have to say, but there’s only tennis on the television and I’m a little bored. Anyway, their blog, ironically called Somewhat Reasonable has a post entitled “There is no denying mother nature” written by some bloke by the name of Paul Crovo. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a larger pile of crap.
So, before we begin looking at this no doubt informative article about mother nature (biology, ecology, physics, chemistry etc) let’s check the credentials of the author.
Heartland describe Paul Crovo as “an energy analyst [working] for a major financial institution in Philadelphia……Allow me to paraphrase…Paul Crovo is a loony tea party capitalist petroleum analyst whose job it is to make money for his bank out of fossil fuels. He has no actual climate science expertise
A search of scientific literature databases reveals that globally, there were more than 55000 peer-reviewed papers published on the subject of climate change covering hundreds of different topics including atmospheric physics, ocean chemistry, cryosphere, species range shifts, hydrology, economics, disease, tropical storms, soil carbon sequestration, plant physiology. The list is extensive. For the 5 or 6 examples of these alleged defeats, Mr Crovo offers no credible references to any scientific (or political science) journals. ………First, he mentions the Australian election. Yes, Australians elected a conservative government. Yes, that political party had removal of the carbon “tax” as one of its election commitments. Does that mean Australian voters are rejecting UN protocols? In short, no. Tony Abbott was elected by default by an electorate that had gro wn tired of the progressives. Most of the sentiment had to do with issues of party stability. Tony Abbott ran a negative campaign for three years, aided completely by a print media dominated by right-wing Murdoch owned newspapers and a compliant mainstream television media and right-wing shock jocks on radio. Interestingly, Abbott didn’t actually secure a majority with most of the disaffected shifting their vote not to Abbott, but to new parties and independents, with preferences getting Abbott over the line in marginal seats. In the end, it was only 30000 votes in marginal seats that decided it. He also didn’t secure a majority in the upper house of parliament either. Hardly a convincing win and definitely no mandate as he claims.,,,,,,,
In the end, what we have here is a paid shill writing garbage for more paid shills whose only goal is to misrepresent facts, lie and distort so the people who write their paycheques can continue to make money by polluting the Earth. They are unconscionable and don’t care about anyone but themselves. Well, all I can say is the title of Mr Crovo’s dodgy article is the only thing he got right. There is no denying Mother Nature and she is starting to let her fury be known. Eventually, the vast majority will know the Paul Crovo’s and his ilk for what they are and future historians will not be kind. What a legacy to leave. http://uknowispeaksense.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/heartland-relying-on-more-non-experts-with-vested-interests-to-spin-garbage/
Peace is being waged in the Middle East
Nuclear Peace Emerging in the Middle East HUFFINGTON POST, William Lambers /02/2014 Last year ended with some momentum toward ending the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program. If a comprehensive agreement can be forged this year, it will be a major step toward freeing the world of the costly and dangerous burden of nuclear weapons.
Iran has suffered from sanctions for failing to live up to obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. A report from the International Federation of Human Rightsstated the consequences for the Iranian people:
“Unemployment is on the rise, inflation is at unprecedented levels and most people have to combine several jobs because the minimum wage is insufficient to counterbalance inflation. Iran’s population is experiencing an increasing income gap between rich and poor.”
Iran cannot afford to be diverting precious resources to the pursuit of nuclear weapons. As President Obama said, “Iran must know that security and prosperity will never come through the pursuit of nuclear weapons — it must be reached through fully verifiable agreements that make Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons impossible.”
The new year brings great hope of a comprehensive settlement on Iran’s nuclear program, following last year’s six-month interim agreement. There is more, too.
Jordan is hosting a large-scale simulated inspection exercise for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). This treaty bans all nuclear weapons test explosions.
Eight countries still need to ratify the CTBT for the pact to take effect globally: Iran, China, Israel, Egypt, India, Pakistan and North Korea. The United States also has yet to ratify the CTBT, and clearly this is an area where non-proliferation leadership is needed.
The treaty is vital for creating the conditions for deeper nuclear arms reductions. If the U.S. or Russia were to resume nuclear weapons tests it would be followed by others, leading to a costly arms race and increased tensions. It would be a return to the Cold War days. No one wants to see those days again. The only place left for nuclear tests is the history books.
The CTBT is enforced through an international monitoring and inspection system, the one to be tested in Jordan…..
President Obama is committed to ratifying the CTBT, finishing a goal shared by almost every president since Dwight Eisenhower. In fact, President Eisenhower and President Kennedy both supported the goal of ending nuclear testing, and did achieve a limited treaty banning tests in the atmosphere, underwater and in outer space. Both Republicans and Democrats supported this plan.
The Senate would need to show the same cooperation to get the CTBT passed today.
A lasting agreement with Iran and ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty are two goals within reach. It’s diplomacy in action, the only road to peace and nuclear disarmament. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-lambers/nuclear-peace-middle-east_b_4485847.html
Both the land and the people suffer from uranium mining: its long term harm
Uranium mining: everything about it is negative http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674uranium_mining_everything_about_it_is_negative/ Dale DewarWynard, Sask.3 Jan 14, “There is probably fairly low probability that mining will even occur” NUNATSIAQ NEWS Youth should be congratulated on tackling the issue of uranium mining in Nunavut.
Both sides sound as though they did their research thoroughly. Unfortunately the “economic benefit” argument is based upon promise and not fact. What little research that has been done does not support the argument for local benefit. The few unskilled jobs that go locally provide money that accrues to individuals, not communities. The government of Nunavut may benefit from royalties — but as Saskatchewan recently discovered, even that was banked in Switzerland to avoid taxes.
What kind of legacy does uranium mining leave? The natural situation can never be restored; 85 per cent of the nuclear radiation bound up in the rock will be left on the surface.
The industry speaks of “reclamation” but even that is more an unfulfilled promise than fact. The area can never be normal again. Mines in northern Saskatchewan still spill toxic tailings into waters bound for the Arctic Ocean. Mining in Niger (North Africa) has been going on since 1968 with not a whisper of reclamation. Two million tonnes of radioactive tailings were dumped into local surface waters in Gabon (also Africa.)
Containment in Australia recently ruptured and is still spreading into the surface waters of the surrounding Indigenous lands. The mining company in Navajo Territory in the south-western United States transferred its assets and then declared bankruptcy.
Reclamation, such as it is, is extremely expensive. Germany began reclamation of a collection of mines referred to as WISMUT in the 1990s —to date, close to twelve billion dollars have been spent and the job is not complete.
The tailings from a proposed mine in Tanzania expected to produce uranium for 20 years has a clean-up price tag of four billion dollars.
Given that uranium has only two end uses — nuclear power and nuclear bombs — no renaissance for the first and no desire for the second, there is probably fairly low probability that mining will even occur.
The industry and the argument will serve only to divide a community that needs to work together to tackle challenging times.
Thorium nuclear reactors produce just as much radioactive waste products as do uranium reactors
Reuters Breakout Series Focuses on China’s Interest in Thorium, The Energy Collective December 23, 2013 Reuters is running a series titled Breakout: Inside China’s Military Buildout. Installment number 6 is titled The U.S. government lab behind Beijing’s nuclear power push. The title is misleading; it is not about China’s world-leading, multibillion-dollar program. That program includes 29 large commercial nuclear plants currently under construction. Instead, the article focuses on a $350 million research program to evaluate the use of thorium as an alternative nuclear fission fuel source.
The Reuters piece includes a number of statements about the comparison between thorium and uranium that are debatable, at best, but whose source should be obvious to anyone that has been involved in any discussions with thorium advocates. It neglects the fact that uranium and thorium produce approximately the same mix of radioactive fission products. Systems using thorium need to pay just as much attention to decay heat removal as systems using uranium.
The article partially blames Admiral Rickover for the nuclear industry’s initial focus on uranium, without ever mentioning that the single most impressive use of thorium in an operating reactor took place under Admiral Rickover’s direction………
There is not a single mention in the article that Rickover’s Shippingport nuclear power plant was the site of the successful test of the Light Water Breeder Reactor (LWBR)between 1977 and 1982. That demonstration plant…..used a carefully engineered nuclear reactor core with uranium-233 as the fissile material and thorium-232 as fertile material…….detailed destructive post irradiation testing determined that the core contained about 2% more U-233 at the end of operation than it did at the beginning.
Japan quietly removing debris from Reactor 3 Spent Fuel Pool at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant
Fukushima I NPP Reactor 3: Debris Removal from Spent Fuel Pool Has Started JANUARY 1, 2014 There were a few news outlets in late November and early December last year that reported TEPCO would start removing the debris from the Reactor 3 Spent Fuel Pool at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in mid December. Hardly anyone paid attention. (No one probably thought it was possible.) Then there was no news of it actually starting.
Well, news or not, the work started on December 17, 2013. That information was shared at the meeting on December 26, 2013 on “Roadmap to Decommissioning”, which was available via live feed on the net. However, unless you are one of the dwindling number of reporters and net citizens who continue to follow the accident by attending/watching such meetings, you wouldn’t know……..(excellent graphics)…
Kyodo also reports that two cranes will be used, and up to 11 monitoring cameras will be used. All the work will be done by remote-controlled vehicles and equipment. No information whether the human workers are to be posted near the work for further safety monitoring.
All of the MOX fuel that TEPCO had at the plant was in the reactor itself at the time of the accident. http://ex-skf.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/fukushima-i-npp-reactor-3-debris.html
Keeping the lid on Fukushima information: the reason for Japan’s new Secrecy laws
t cannot be overly emphasized that the law undermines freedom of the press, people’s right to know and freedom of expression
Japan & the Truth About Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station Armstrong Economics, January 2, 2014 by Martin Armstrong, I have received a many requests about Japan and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station disaster. I have many friends there and it deeply concerns me that the failure of the government to seal that site like the Russians did is threatening the world and Japan itself.
The reports of radiation hitting the West Coast of the USA are alarming and the debris that has been floating toward the USA is another issue unreported. However, the great concern is the secrecy laws imposed in Japan. Governments do not imprison people for criticizing officials unless there is really something they are trying to suppress. This in itself seems to be confirmation of our worst fears.
A Source from Japan Writes: Continue reading
Indefinite delay for restart of Japan’s idled nuclear reactors
Restart of nuclear facilities and policy for nuclear waste disposal in Japan unlikely to be settled soon http://enformable.com/2014/01/restart-nuclear-facilities-policy-nuclear-waste-disposal-japan-unlikely-settled-soon/ In Japan, utilities are working to restart idled nuclear power plants across the nation and regain public support post-Fukushima. The Nuclear Regulation Authority, a newly established regulator, set new safety standards in July of 2013 which call for greater preparedness in regards to severe accidents, earthquakes, and tsunamis.
So far, 7 utilities have applied for regulatory officials to conduct safety screenings required to restart 9 plants. Officials still say that none of the plants are ready to restart because utilities have not adequately revised their estimations of potential earthquake activities.
This week, Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority told reporters that there was no time limit on how long the safety screening process might take.
Even if operators are able to pass safety screens, they still need to obtain consent from local governments before the reactors can be restarted.
The task will not be easy in a nation which before the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster had very little experience with management of severe accidents. The challenge is even greater considering the fact that the most experienced members of the workforce are aging and the new workforce has little to no prior experience with nuclear power.
As a nation Japan still has to revise a basic policy for the long-term disposal of nuclear waste. While government plans call for storage in deep underground repositories, experts caution that finding such locations in Japan will be difficult due to the seismicity of the area and lack of public trust. So far, no municipalities have come forward with any candidate sites.
Britain’s nuclear project means opposition to EU renewables targets, and potential job losses
UK opposition to new EU green eenergy targets could risk ‘half a million jobs’ theguardian.com, Thursday 2 January 2014 Britain’s demand to keep nuclear option open to reduce emissions will mean potential job losses, leaked report shows Adam Vaughan Over half a million new jobs over the next two decades could be at risk from the UK’s opposition to new EU targets for green energy, according to a leaked official report from the European commission.
Since last spring, European countries have been battling over what new climate change targets should be set to follow the existing ones for greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy and energy efficiency, which run out in 2020. The UK, along with the Czech Republic, is strongly opposed to setting a new renewable energy goal for 2030, favouring an overall target for greenhouse gas emissions instead – which would entail an ambitious cut of 50% on 1990 levels. They want countries to be allowed the freedom to reach the target as they choose to, for example by relying heavily on nuclear power.
Energy and climate secretary, Ed Davey, has said: “We need a technology neutral approach to how individual countries meet their emissions targets … we will therefore oppose a renewable energy target at an EU level as inflexible and unnecessary.”
But a draft report, commissioned by the European commission on the impact of setting different targets and seen by the Guardian, says that including renewable energy and energy efficiency targets in addition to a greenhouse gas emissions target would create around 568,000 more jobs across Europe by 2030 than an emissions one alone. However, the cost of having renewable energy and efficiency targets would be 2.6% higher than with just an emissions target alone, the report notes.Germany, Denmark, Austria and Finland back a renewable energy target. A new energy efficiency target is considered unlikely.The wind industry said that not setting a renewable energy target would make it harder for developers to attract investment. ……
The new German government has already set a target of 40-45% of its electricity supply coming from renewable sources by 2025, higher than the 30-35% EU-wide target being discussed. By contrast, the UK has been one of the worst performers for share of energy generated by renewable sources, near the bottom of the European league table along with Malta and Luxembourg. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/02/uk-eu-renewables-targets
India’s nuclear regulator – nor independent, not effective
Radiation regulatory regime needs independent powers Deccan Herald, Devender Singh, Jan 3, 2014:“……….In India, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) was set up in 1983 to carry out the regulatory and safety functions as envisaged in the Atomic Energy Act, 1962. Surprisingly, the AERB remains a subordinate authority under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) though India has ratified the Convention on Nuclear Safety. A regulatory body must be equipped to exercise its key regulatory functions — namely, standard-setting, authorisation, inspection and enforcement without any constraint — and must possess the core values of competence, independence, stringency and transparency.
……….Regulatory mechanism
The PAC noted that the regulatory mechanism concerning X-ray units was virtually non-existent. Out of a total of 57,443 medical X-ray facilities operating in the country, only 5270 units had been registered and were under the regulatory control of AERB, leaving the balance 91 per cent of the total units without registrations. The AERB admitted that with its very limited workforce of engineers and scientists, it was impossible to regulate all the X-ray machines. The marked accelerated growth of ionising radiation, such as medical X-rays used as an essential diagnostic tool pose grave risks to health of workers and the public in the vicinity of these facilities. There was an alarming shortfall of over 97 per cent regulatory inspections in case of diagnostic radiological facilities every year. ………http://www.deccanherald.com/content/378174/radiation-regulatory-regime-needs-independent.html
Why is USA government stocking up on potassium iodide pills?
Fukushima Anti-Radiation Pills? US Government Official Hangs Up When Asked About Potassium Iodide Purchase Department of Health and Human Services rep. says “no hidden agenda” behind 14 million dose buy By Paul Joseph Watson Global Research, January 03, 2014 An official with the Department of Health and Human Services hung up when asked if the federal government’s purchase of 14 million doses of potassium iodide was linked to the Fukushima crisis. As we reported earlier this week, the DHHS put out a solicitation asking for companies to supply 700,000 packages each containing 20 pills to be delivered before the beginning of next month.
Potassium Iodide helps block radioactive iodine from being absorbed by the thyroid gland and is used by victims of severe nuclear accidents or emergencies.
Questions immediately arose as to whether such a large purchase was routine or if it was linked to concerns about radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant impacting the west coast of America……..
Is the government’s purchase of 14 million doses of anti-radiation pills merely a routine order, or are they stockpiling potassium iodide in preparation for a nuclear catastrophe which could emerge out of the Fukushima crisis? Either way, the DHHS doesn’t seem too keen on answering questions………..http://www.globalresearch.ca/government-official-hangs-up-when-asked-about-iodide-purchase/5363630
Former MSNBC Host Told Not to Warn Public About Fukushima – The Young Turks
“Because the official government position is that it’s safe”
Fukushima News 1/2/14: Nuclear Expert: Fukushima Reactor Cores Melted Into The Ground
Published on 2 Jan 2014
Nuclear Expert: Fukushima reactor cores melted right down into the ground — That radioactive material is getting washed out into Pacific Ocean (AUDIO)
http://enenews.com/nuclear-expert-fuk…
Japan to set new policy for nuclear waste disposal
The Japanese government plans to revise a basic policy for disposing of nuclear waste so that it can play a more active role in selecting disposal sites.
The industry ministry says starting early this year it will act on proposals submitted in November by a panel of experts.
The government plans to store highly-radioactive waste from nuclear power plants deep underground. It has been asking local governments to come up with candidate sites under a law that came into effect in 2000.
But no municipalities have stepped forward, and the government has still not secured any candidate sites.
Nuclear plants unlikely to resume operations soon
Officials with the Nuclear Regulation Authority in Japan say no nuclear plants are likely to resume operations in the near future.
They set new safety standards last July following the 2011 accident at Fukushima Daiichi. The guidelines call on operators to prepare for severe accidents and to reinforce facilities to make them earthquake-resistant.
Seven utilities have applied for safety screenings for 9 plants so they can restart operations.
Annual New Year sit-in held in Nagasaki
A group of atomic bomb survivors and other citizens have staged an annual New Year’s Day sit-in in Nagasaki, calling for the elimination of nuclear arms.
About 60 people took part in the event at the city’s Peace Park on Wednesday.
Speaking at the rally, 91-year-old former Nagasaki mayor Hitoshi Motoshima said helping create a peaceful world is the duty of Japan which inflicted damage and pain against the people of Asian nations during World War Two.
FUKUSHIMA children living with nuclear fallout today
Published on 1 Jan 2014
FUKUSHIMA children living with nuclear fallout.
h/t http://www.frequency.com/video/fukushima-children-living-with-nuclear/141467341/-/5-770055
Vietnamese boat-people priest serving the victims of Fukushima
AsiaNews: Welcomed in Japan 28 years ago after fleeing with his family from South Vietnam, today the 36-year old priest Nguyen Quang Thuan “is giving back ” to the country that took him in by devoting psychological help to those who were evacuated from their homes in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster of March 2011.
They are people housed in temporary accommodation in the city of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, isolated within their shelters, to the point that a meeting place has been ste up for them called “outreach cafe”.
The Vietnamese priest goes there every day: he prays for displaced people, listens to them, tries to help them out of their isolation, to socialize. Don Thuan is in charge of 10 temporary housing complexes: Together with volunteers from the Catholic church they visit and chat with residents. “Evacuees – he said – are worried about whether they will be able to go home in the future. I want them to be positive about their lives, even if it’s just a little”.
Born in the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, Thuan lived with his two brothers and sister, as well as his parents who ran a coffee plantation. However, his family decided to leave Vietnam for fear of persecution by the new government in the chaos just after the end of the Vietnam war.
One day when Thuan was 5 years old, found himself on a small wooden boat, one of the estimated 1.44 million refugees who escaped from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia after Saigon’s fall in 1975.
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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