Renewed anxiety over Barnsworth nuclear waste plume
Controversy remains over Barnsworth Nuclear Plume Barnwell, SC (WLTX) – A plume of a low level radioactive substance is traveling through the ground and has bubbled up in a creek in Barnwell, about an hour and a half from Columbia.
The plume has been there for some time, but new concern over how nuclear waste at a disposal site nearby has sparked debate and a court battle………
The 235 acre site has accepted low level nuclear waste for the past 43 years.
For the past 20 years, Energy Solutions and DHEC have monitored the plume of radioactive Tritium. The nuclear byproduct has traveled through groundwater and reached Mary’s Branch Creek near the disposal site.
“You have to keep in mind that low level does not mean low risk,” said Susan Corbett, Chairwoman of the South Carolina Sierra Club.
Court documents from a claim filed by the Sierra Club say nuclear waste was sometimes transported in paper and cardboard to the site years ago……..http://www.wltx.com/story/news/local/2014/03/31/tritium-plume-barnwell-site/7050761/
Another USA nuclear power plant of dubious safety
Waterford 3 nuclear plant in St. Charles Parish faces extra safety oversight By Littice Bacon-Blood, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune The Waterford 3 nuclear power plant in St. Charles Parish will receive additional oversight from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission because it failed to ensure that an exhaust fan designed to cool diesel generators in an emergency would work. The NRC on Monday issued what it called a “white” finding, meaning the infraction ranks as a low to moderate safety risk.
The NRC evaluates regulatory performance at commercial nuclear power plants with a color-coded process that classifies findings as green, white, yellow or red, in order of increasing safety significance. While the Entergy plant, located inKillona, has taken corrective action, the finding still will result in increased inspections and regulatory oversight, the NRC reports.
Read the NRC Waterford 3 report……..
http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2014/04/waterford_3_nuclear_plant_in_s.html
Deep Borehole Disposal of Spent Fuel: International Developments and Implications for NE Asia
NAPSNet Special Report
Recommended Citation
Neil Chapman, “Deep Borehole Disposal of Spent Fuel: International Developments and Implications for NE Asia”, NAPSNet Special Reports, March 24, 2014, http://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-special-reports/deep-borehole-disposal-of-spent-fuel-international-developments-and-implications-for-ne-asia/
by Neil A. Chapman
25 March 2014
This Special Report was originally published as a Working Paper 2013-12 by the Center for Energy, Governance and Security at Hanyang University, Seoul.
I. INTRODUCTION
Deep borehole disposal (DBD) has been discussed as a possible means of disposing of spent fuel (SF) from nuclear power reactors in some East Asian countries, to support a prospective nuclear weapons free zone in the region, and to help to avoid security and sustainability dilemmas associated with the management of rapidly growing quantities of SF. This Working Paper examines the status of the DBD concept and discusses some of the implications for SF strategy in East Asia, with special emphasis on NE Asian countries.
The concept of deep borehole disposal (DBD) of spent fuel, high-level nuclear wastes (HLW, generated during the reprocessing of spent fuel to extract plutonium and uranium) and other radioactive wastes has been discussed actively for many decades. The US Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board identified DBD as a “technically viable type of geologic disposal”. In fact, it is a significant variant of ‘conventional’ geological disposal in deep underground repositories, which are mined facilities that can be accessed by shafts and tunnels during operation, and which have extensive underground cavern and tunnel excavations. Nevertheless, DBD retains many conceptual similarities with conventional repositories in terms of the way in which long-term containment and isolation of radioactivity are provided.
Scheduled Re-Entry at New Mexico Nuclear Waste Plant Delayed
April 1, 2014
(CARLSBAD, N.M.) — Workers were unable to re-enter the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad on Tuesday as scheduled due to an equipment delay.
The radiation monitors that the personnel entering the plant are expected to wear were not received in time to enter the plant’s mines on Tuesday. The re-entry would have been the first since the plant was shut down following a February radiation leak.
Eight workers had been expected to establish a safe base of operations, conduct radiation surveys and check for airborne contamination.
The plant had been in operation for 15 years and allows for the permanent disposal of nuclear waste in salt mines over 2,000 feet below the earth’s surface. In February, prior to the initial radiation leak, the plant had suffered a vehicle fire in the underground mines.
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio
Japan may only be able to restart one-third of its nuclear reactors
“Given the current unwillingness of the government to have stronger support for nuclear power they have to be prepared for the future replacement,” said Tatsujiro Suzuki, a vice chairman of the Japan Atomic Energy Commision, who is stepping down on Monday. https://nuclear-news.net/2014/03/31/japan-to-add-11000-mw-of-fossil-fuels-thinking-about-renewables-for-2050-maybe/
http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/107102.php
Three years after the Fukushima disaster prompted the closure of all Japan’s nuclear reactors, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is moving to revive nuclear power as a core part of the energy mix, but many of those idled reactors will never come back online.
The above link will take you to the Japanese Media Center website that was abandoned in 2012. However I happen to know that the Japanese Science Media Center is still operating and giving the media some good climate change advice. – 🙂
Image source ; http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/blog/
LONG LIVE FIONNA FOX!!
The climate change queen
Arclight
New US/Russia nuclear warhead numbers released.
Department of State released some new data pertaining to New START aggregate numbers.
http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/224236.htm
Compared to previous declarations, there was a slight reduction of US numbers and a slight rise of Russian ones, mostly attributable to launch platforms (missiles, bombers and submarines) being shifted in and out of refurbishment.
Some chronological data for context:
h/t http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?236892
Nuclear lobby buys off Imperial College London to the applause of Fionna Fox
UNSW reinstated its graduate program in nuclear engineering this year, having previously offered courses between 1954 and 1986.
“Components to build a reactor are sourced from a number of different high tech engineering companies specialising in anything from pumps to control systems,” he says.
“Australia is a well known provider of world beating civil engineering but are also involved in other parts of the process.”
GERALDINE THOMAS (Chernobyl Tissue Bank): “Following Fukushima I doubt that there’ll be any rise in thyroid cancers in Japan.”
Students learn from top nuclear scientists
01 April 2014
http://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-technology/students-learn-top-nuclear-scientists
A teaching partnership with Imperial College London has given the first students in UNSW’s nuclear engineering masters program access to experts including Britain’s Chief Scientific Adviser to its Foreign Service, Robin Grimes.
Grimes, also a Professor of Materials Physics at Imperial College London, fellow College lecturer Dr Mark Wenman, and Dr Simon Walker are the first Imperial staff to visit UNSW under the partnership agreement.
“Imperial College is constantly developing and maturing partnerships with world-beating organisations,” Grimes says.
“We’re at the beginning of our journey with UNSW. We will carry out nuclear energy-related research together and as we become more familiar with each other’s processes and longer term goals, I hope it will lead to a much closer relationship.”
RUSI set to cover up the full impact of TEMPORA on UK population
Op Ed by arclight2011part2
2 April 2014
Posted to nuclear-news.net
Over the last 3 years, I have been researching information concerning the incident at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear site. Specifically I have concerns with the population and environment. In the course of my research I have found a lot of evidence about the nuclear processes and the different types of pollution that they emit into our environment.
I discovered that NO2 is a pollutant from the decommissioning processes used in the UK and possibly at other sites that use nitric acid to “melt” old fuel rods and contaminated materials. Many people die each year in the UK from the NO2 and the European Union has taken the UK government to task for all this “un-sourced” NO2. There is even some preliminary evidence of these new nuclear processes are causing miscarriage rates to soar.There are many other pollutants as well.
I also discovered that many institutions around the globe have been corrupted because of “national security” issues. The military industrial complex and their associated financiers have stopped most debate about this subject and by funding universities and medical organisations, have corrupted our health and education systems..
A nice example of how things get covered up is on the links and quotes below. I have tried many times to get some support to challenge, what I feel, is a blatant abuse of the TEMPORA system. Having been hacked and harassed in many forms, I can attest to the highly damaging nature of such technology when used in conjunction with corporate entities such as in Insurance companies, banks, telecommunications etc.
The latest attacks over the past few weeks are getting more urgent in their nature and I was wondering why? After talking to Chris Busby and others, I realised that the attack in the UK is widespread and damaging to many people from all walks of life.
Whilst RUSI are tasked with looking at the legal implications of Edward Snowdens revelations and how it has highlighted illegal wiretapping etc, it seems that the actual effects of such a system on the population at large is not of importance to them.
RUSI are the “independent” organisation looking into “official” hacking by GCHQ. I offered to give a witness statement outlining my situation with work and personal references but have received no reply, not even an acknowledgement.I also offered to supply other witness statements from anti nuclear activists and independent scientists.
Having been ignored and after a bit of searching I found this tweet from 2013 ..
“I would argue that the public does not need to know about Prism or Tempora,” says Charlie Edwards, RUSI #r4today …
And charlie is this guy .. https://www.rusi.org/analysis/authors/ref:B5134A15F3880E/
Here is the link to the report info
“RUSI to Convene Independent Review on the Use of Internet Data for Surveillance Purposes” https://www.rusi.org/news/ref:N5315B2C9B1941/
So RUSI will do a report that will support the military/security viewpoint and so no real independent discussion or critique will be allowed to be heard. In fact it is worse than that as Charlie Edwards statement above seems to testify to.
Another example of how to spin an independent inquiry is shown below courtesy of the Guardian. I might point out that Tony Blair works for WPP and therefore its daughter company Ogilvey and Maher who are in the business of using their media empire to smooth over large Industrial disasters such as the BP oil spill in the gulf of Mexico and Fukushima in Japan as 2 examples of contracts that they have taken on for the USA and Japanese governments to reduce liability costs for victims.
Please click on the title for the full article
Tony Blair manages Rebecca Brooks
According to Brooks’s note, Blair advised her to set up an “independent” inquiry, suggesting it could have “outside counsel, Ken Macdonald [the former director of public prosecutions], a great and good type“.
He said the inquiry would be “Hutton style” – a reference to Lord Hutton’s inquiry into the death of David Kelly – and would “clear” her, but warned that “shortcomings” would have to be accepted as a result of the report.
More information here;
…Despite the strong interparty consensus on the issue, therefore, the United Kingdom remains a country where public opinion – and anti-nuclear energy activists – will have to be “monitored” carefully to gauge which way the country will go following the Fukushima incident….. STRATFOR REPORT
XIII 国連と原子力の問題 UN and Nuclear Power Issues – How to lie when working for the IAEA
http://savekidsjapan.blogspot.jp/2013/01/xiii-un-and-nuclear-power-issues.html
ＸＩＩＩ 国連と原子力の問題について
UN and Nuclear Power Issues
2000年にアナン事務総長が「チェルノブイリで医療措置を必要としている子供が３００万人」といった発言を真っ向から否定したLars Eric Holm氏は、IAEA, ICRP, UNSCEARに所属
Mr. Lars Eric Holm from IAEA, ICRP, UNSCEAR denied UN Secretary General Mr. Annan’s statement in 2000 “3 million children require physical treatment from Chernobyl.”
原 爆投下直後から数千の被曝者の治療にあたった広島被爆医師の肥田舜太郎氏によれば、１９６８年国連のウ・タント報告書では、「生存被曝者はすべて健康」と 記載されており、驚いた肥田氏は国連にそうではないことを丁寧に説明し、その後１１０００人以上のヒバクシャ聞きとり報告を持って１９７７年国連とＮＧＯ 主宰の被曝者の実相に関する会議が開かれたと言います。核兵器の非人道性を過小評価するために、科学的に根拠のないことがヒバクシャが声を上げる前まで国 際的に長年の間まかり通っていたことになります。このエピソードが物語るように、真実というものは、被害者の声を聞かなければわかるものではありません。
According to Hiroshima A-bomb survivor Dr. Shuntaro Hida who has been treating A-bomb victims as a medical doctor, he was shocked when he saw 1968 UN U. Thanto Report saying, “All the A-bomb survivors have no health problems.” He went to the UN explaining the fact that there have been countless ill health survivors. Then upon the UN request, he conducted more than 11000 survivors’ survey, and an international conference by UN and NGOs was realized in 1977 focusing on the reality of A-bomb late effects on survivors.
In order to downplay the inhumane cruelty of nuclear weapons, scientifically groundless theory had been prevailed for many years until the A-bomb survivors’ raised their voices. As this episode shows, the truth could be hidden unless the victims’ voices are heard.
実 は日本国内でも、上記の肥田医師のような人は、まったく例外であり、ほとんどの医師や学者が政府側について研究費をもらい、被曝研究を行い、被曝の過小評 価をしてきたのです。原爆被爆者には悲しい歴史があり、原爆投下後、何年も原爆について語ることは禁じられ、また、原爆投下点から離れた被曝者は長年その 被害を認められませんでした。２００８年になってようやく、司法の場で、半径２ｋｍ以遠の被曝者が認められたのです。
As a matter of fact, a person like Dr. Hida was quite exceptional , and most doctors took the side of the US and Japanese governments to obtain research money on A-bomb survivors to downplay the late effects. There is a sad history among A-bomb survivors who were forced to be silent about A-bombs for years after the attack, and survivors at distant areas were not recognized as victims. As late as 2008, A-bomb survivors outside of 2km radius of the epicenter were recognized as the victims by the court.
ま た動物実験ではほぼ１世紀も前に証明されている放射線の遺伝的影響は、現在でも否定されています。長崎では胎児や赤ん坊を何千も解剖した学者がおり、遺伝 的な影響も出ていたのですが、そのような核開発推進に邪魔となるデータは敢えて無視し、代わりに原子力を持つ政府寄りの学者らが偏ったデータを使うこと で、原爆による遺伝的な影響を受けた者はいないとされてきました。広島長崎の学者たちのほとんどが権力側に加担し、被曝の実相を国内にも世界にも訴えな かったということは、日本の恥部だと思っています。
Moreover, genetic effects of radiation has been denied even as of today though it had been proven by animal experiments almost a century ago. In Nagasaki, there was a doctor who conducted autopsy on thousands of babies and fetus to see genetic effects of radiation. However, such inconvenient fact has been ignored by nuclear promoting lobbies and only biased data have been used by the nuclear power states and their affiliated scholars to deny any genetic effects by A-bombs. I think it is a shame of Japan’s history that our scholars have been siding on the government to conceal the facts about radiation effects domestically and internationally.
そ して１９９１年のＩＡＥＡ主導の国際チェルノブイリプロジェクトでは、広島の放射線影響研究所の重松逸造氏が委員長として、「汚染地帯の住民には放射能に よる健康影響は認められない、むしろ放射能恐怖症による精神的ストレスのほうが問題である。」と発表しました。被爆者を研究してきた医師と言うことで期待 した現地の医師や住民の落胆は非常に大きかったと言います。現地の医師たちはＩＡＥＡの報告の前に既に様々な放射線原因の健康異常を観察・報告していたの です。
In 1991, the leader of International Chernobyl Project lead by IAEA, Dr. Itsuzo Shigematsu, who was the director of Radiation Effects Research Foundation stated that no health disorder has been caused directly by radiation exposure and that negative impacts were caused only by stress. I heard the disappointment felt by local doctors and residents who at first had some expectation from Dr. Shigematsu who had researched on A-bomb victims were really great. They had observed and reported various radiation caused health damages before the 1991 IAEA report.
し かし１９９６年にはＩＡＥＡは、甲状腺ガンに限っては過ちを認めることになります。しかし、このことは、既に汚染された土地で暮らしている人々への予防原 則的な警告をタイムリーに発せられなかったこと、その間に新たに健康被害をこうむったチェルノブイリの汚染地帯の住民のことを考えれば、健康問題に対する 予防原則を考えれば、当然謝罪すべき話だと思います。しかしながらいまだにそのような謝罪がないことは、非常に倫理的におかしな話です。
However, in 1996, IAEA admitted that they had made a mistake on the additional thousands of cases of thyroid cancer. This means that a proper warning was not given at a timely manner and that residents in the contaminated area may have been exposed to further risks without any advice. Considering a preventive measure for protecting health, the then members of IAEA Project Team should extend apologies to the residents in the contaminated area, but such apologies have never been heard, which is ethically quite wrong.
私 がこのことを強調して言いたいのは、こういった類の学者たちは、意図的に同じ過ちを繰り返すからです。ちなみにこの重松氏の直弟子である長瀧重信氏は、 「チェルノブイリでのセシウムによる健康被害はいまだ認められていません」といい、その孫弟子にあたる山下俊一氏が「福島では健康被害はない」と主張して いるのです。
Science Media Centres quietly go along with Australia’s Tony Abbott
Arclight 1 April 14 Australia and the UK covered up Fukushima using the Science Media centres with a small group of UK and Australian hand picked scientists..
The Science media centre (SMC) in the UK makes the BBC put on 1 of the 99 per cent who think there is a problem, with 1 climate denier from the remaimng 1 percent..
The UK government tells the SMC to manage the news..
The SMC is pro fracking and pro GMO too!
basically pro big buisness…
I think you were to kind with Cameron Christine.. The UK is managing climate change by saying it will be too far into the future to have any immediate effects. even after the weird weather and flooding we have been having in the UK over the winter. Also, they are commissioning some weather modification studies and has asked the SMC to deal with it.. So no articles on weather modification..
The SMC is funded and supported by petroleum, nuclear, pharma, BBC and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC UK) etc etc
follow the money! The SMC did
Great comments! I hope the refrigeration is solar!!
Aircraft threaten nuclear power plants and other industrial plants – Global dimming effects over the Atlantic due to contrails increasing severe rainfall – 2
NATS is the UK’s leading provider of air traffic control services. Each year we handle 2.2 million flights and 220 million passengers in UK airspace.
http://www.nats.aero/about-us/what-we-do/our-control-centres/
OpEd
Arclight2011
20 February 2014
This post attempts to answer the question of what mechanism is causing the large amounts of record breaking levels of rainfall in Norway and the UK over recent years. Whilst global warming is an obvious answer as clouds hold more water if the atmosphere is warmer but the facts remain that increased flights across the Atlantic and increased particulates from various sources are responsible for this.
This dimming effect has repercussion concerning reports that use data that expects no quick changes to the earths climate (ref MET Office UK). In planning large projects such as nuclear power plants, waste/fuel processing work and storage sites, I have noticed that they refer to the incorrect information on the MET Office site and do not include the obvious recent data showing record breaking severe weather.
Of course this localised dimming effect causes the clouds to empty quicker in Europe and has reported to be causing droughts in Iran for instance.
Severe rainfall also can flood deep nuclear waste repositories as well as undermine buildings.
David Cameron on Sky TV yesterday did not say that climate change was definite and a done deal in answer to why is the flooding so severe. David Cameron decided to concentrate on the here and now and not worry about the future (even with more storms heading towards the UK).
So as part of my research i will place the links and info that is helping to inform me.. I think many flights are not reported (rendition and military but bear in mind that most flights to the wars from the USA to the middle east fly either to Ireland or across the top of Scotland).
Below are some links concerning localised global dimming in the context of global warming.
Extreme Weather in parts of the world (Updated 14 February 2014)
Parts of the world have witnessed a series of extreme weather conditions in the first six weeks of 2014, continuing a pattern that was set in December 2013.
Much of the United States of America has experienced cold waves and major winter storms, whilst California remains gripped by drought.The United Kingdom has seen its wettest December-January period on record, with severe, widespread and prolonged flooding. A combination of strong winds, storms and high tides caused damage and flooding in other coastal areas of Europe. There has been unusually heavy snowfall in the southern Alps.
Monthly mean temperatures were extremely high from eastern Mongolia to eastern China. In the Southern hemisphere, Australia, Argentina and Brazil experienced extended heatwaves.
Throughout this period, national meteorological and hydrological services provided forecasts and regularly-updated warnings.
http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/news/index_en.html
Tuesday, 8 January 2013: 9:15 AM
Relating the climate impact of trans-Atlantic flights to typical north Atlantic weather patterns
Room 17A (Austin Convention Center)
Emma A. Irvine, Univ. of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom; and K. P. Shine and B. J. Hoskins
Video of talk here that discusses the connection between contrails and the jet stream and high pressure ridges as well as the connection between dimming (cloud cover) and rain.
https://ams.confex.com/ams/93Annual/flvgateway.cgi/id/23305?recordingid=23305
Martin Wild
ETH Zurich, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, Zurich, Switzerland
Coherent periods and regions with prevailing declines (“dimming”) and inclines (“brightening”) in surface solar radiation have been detected in the worldwide observational networks, often in accord with anthropogenic air pollution patterns
http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00074.1
By Kharunya Paramaguru
Oct. 30, 2013
A new report on extreme-weather events by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the European national science academies suggests that “some of the extreme weather phenomena associated with climate change are increasing in frequency and intensity within Europe.” They also say that
“human activity has been the cause of more profound and rapid change”
for the earth’s climate.
Using computer modeling, the authors have found a “consensus” on “the likely future pattern of extreme weather events in Europe.” This includes more frequent and intense heat waves, as well as a reduction of rainfall and average temperatures for southern Europe.
For northern Europe, the authors say that “high intensity and extreme precipitation are expected to become more frequent……
Read more: Europe Hit by Powerful Storm: More Extreme Weather Is Likely in Future | TIME.com http://science.time.com/2013/10/30/bad-news-for-storm-battered-europe-theres-more-extreme-weather-on-the-horizon/#ixzz2tsKnjFg2
2011: world’s 10th warmest year, warmest year with La Niña on record, second-lowest Arctic sea ice extent
“Norway also had its wettest summer on record, and record summer rainfalls also occurred in many parts of Denmark and northeast Germany. “
http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/gcs_2011_en.html
Past and future variations in climate and runoff in Norway
A comforting AUSTRALIAN view about climate change
Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs
I’ve been humming Reg Livermore’s song all this morning ” I’m in the
Dance Band on the Titanic” Now why is that? Oh, It’s ever since I learned of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’ response to the IPCC’s report on Climate Change – Tony’s got no worries. ““Australia is a land of drought and flooding rains, always has been and always will be”.
Is that not dandy? And here were we stressing unnecessarily about yesterday’s The 
report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Those panic merchants say that climate change is already upon us, and will get worse. Especially here in Australia! Rubbish! (Excuse me while I yell to someone – ”for god’s sake someone turn on the air-conditioning, it’s boiling hot here”)
Anyway – not to worry, because it’s the poor and disadvantaged in Australia, who will be hit most. (Not US – will we?)
And, another thought. There’s that enthusiastic push in Australia for the nuclear industry , including the claim that nuclear power will solve the climate change problem. (That in itself is a bit of a problem for them, with a government that doesn’t believe in climate change).
But no doubt Tony Abbott will change his mind about climate change, as soon as BHP and Rio tell him to.
Nuclear industry for Australia? Sure, sez I, why just stuff up our country partially with coal and gas, when we can stuff it up completely with nuclear?
However, nuclear will have zilch impact on climate change, for many reasons. but here’s a couple:
- The time lapse until the 11,000 necessary nuclear plants are operating, will be many decades – by which time global warming will have run away with no hope of mitigation.
- The entire nuclear fuel cycle – uranium mining to reactor and waste burial – gives out heaps of carbon emissions. (The nuclear lobby just doesn’t count the dirty bits at the beginning and at the end.
INTERNATIONAL
Oh dear – in my patriotic delight that we in Australia are exempt from worrying about Climate and Nuclear, – I have left little space for those countries that are NOT Australia.
Well – the IPCC says that they are all going to cop Climate Change, too. (See youtube video) And odd people like Barack Obama, David Cameron, Xi Jinping, and all the European leaders believe it. Well, we in Oz never did trust foreigners, did we?
USA are going to spend over 1 $trillion making and minding their nuclear weapons until 2015
UK is paying private companies 7 billion pounds to clean up old nuclear reactors.
Japan has a shocker of a nuclear energy plan so full of dangers that it is a (bad) April Fools Day joke.
Sorry – I gotta go and get some ice. Summer in Australia is supposed to end in February? Oh well….
Climate Change is now upon us, and it’s going to get worse
Panel’s Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come NYT, By JUSTIN GILLISMARCH 30, 2014 YOKOHAMA, Japan — Climate change is already having sweeping effects on every continent and throughout the world’s oceans, scientists reported Monday, and they warned that the problem is likely to grow substantially worse unless greenhouse emissions are brought under control.
The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that periodically summarizes climate science, concluded that ice caps are melting, sea ice in the Arctic is collapsing, water supplies are coming under stress, heat waves and heavy rains are intensifying, coral reefs are dying, and fish and many other creatures are migrating toward the poles or in some cases going extinct.
The oceans are rising at a pace that threatens coastal communities and are becoming more acidic as they absorb some of the carbon dioxide given off by cars and power plants, which is killing some creatures or stunting their growth, the report found.
Organic matter frozen in Arctic soils since before civilization began is now melting, allowing it to decay into greenhouse gases that will cause further warming, the scientists said.
And the worst is yet to come, the scientists said in the second of three reports that are expected to carry considerable weight next year as
nations try to agree on a new global climate treaty. In particular, the report emphasized that the world’s food supply is at considerable risk — a threat that could have serious consequences for the poorest nations.
“Nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change,” Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the intergovernmental panel, said at a news conference here on Monday…….. Timothy Gore, an analyst for Oxfam, the anti-hunger charity that sent observers to the proceedings, praised the new report for painting a clear picture. But he warned that without greater efforts to limit global warming and to adapt to the changes that have become inevitable, “the goal we have in Oxfam of ensuring that every person has enough food to eat could be lost forever.” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/science/earth/panels-warning-on-climate-risk-worst-is-yet-to-come.html?hp&_r=0
Japan’s Basic Energy Plan – a (bad) April Fools Day joke
Is the joke still on Fukushima this April Fools’? MAR 31, 2014 What’s wrong with this picture? Japan Times, Eric Johnson, Japan’s new Basic Energy Plan sees nuclear power as an important base load energy source. But whatever “base load” means politically, the public is lulled — fooled — into a sense that, despite Fukushima, nuclear will remain a logistically viable long-term option.
Yet the realities of Japan’s nuclear power industry show keeping nuclear are l
ikely to be far more problematic — and expensive — than the pro-nuclear lobby wants to admit. Here are the most obvious hurdles.
First, as of 2013, of the remaining 48 reactors, three were more than 40 years and 13 were over 30 years old. The reactors were supposed to be decommissioned after 40 years but can now apply for a maximum two-decade extension.
Want to keep those reactors, with their increased risk of technical problems and thus lower efficiency rates, running until they’re 60? Even if they meet new safety standards, local governments hosting the reactors are sure to demand funding for pork-barrel projects in exchange for agreeing to any extension. Guess whose tax money will be used to ensure a continued flow of “cheap” nuclear power. Hint: look in the mirror.
Even if restarted reactors run at pre-3/11 levels, estimates are their spent fuel pools will be overflowing like public toilets sooner rather than later. A Tokyo Shimbun calculation shows 33 reactors could see their pools full within six years. Government figures estimate the pools will be full within three to 16 years, with most filled to the brim within eight years.
What happens then? Tokyo is now pushing local governments to build interim storage facilities for the fuel before it’s sent to Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, for reprocessing. But despite promises of even more tax money for their coffers, no local government wants to host such a facility.
Finally, Japan’s population, about 127 million, will shrink to 107 million by 2040 while the working population, i.e. the large volume of electricity users, will decline by 30 percent. Furthermore, 21 percent of all Japanese will be 75 years or older, also by 2040. Who is going to need how much electricity?
So, the “nuclear will be an important base load” argument assumes: 1. Older plants can be run until they are 60 years without major problems and at a lower cost than other sources; 2. Within the next, say, 16 years, new storage facilities for spent fuel will be built somewhere; and 3. By 2040, a country with 16 percent less people than in 2010 and one-fifth the population over 75 will not use less energy than today.
What’s wrong with this picture?…….http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/03/31/issues/is-the-joke-still-on-fukushima-this-april-fools/
UK awards lucrative nuclear clean-up job to Babcock and Fluor
Babcock wins UK nuclear clean-up deal, Guardian UK, British engineering contractors and US group Fluor given £7bn contract covering sites such as Hinkley, Sizewell and Dungeness Britain has awarded a 14-year, £7bn contract to manage the decommissioning of its nuclear sites to engineering contractors Babcock and US group Fluor. The deal covers some of Britain’s oldest nuclear power sites, including Hinkley, Sizewell and Dungeness, and is one of the largest contracts the country has put out to tender.,,,,,,,,
Aside from EnergySolutions and Bechtel, Babcock beat two other consortiums: Serco, Areva and CH2M Hill; and Amec, Atkins and Rolls-Royce in a two-year-long bidding process.
Cavendish Fluor, the joint venture between Babcock-owned subsidiary Cavendish Nuclear and Fluor, will be formally awarded the contract – pending legal approval – on 1 September , after a ten-day mandatory standstill and a five-month transition period.
“Cavendish Fluor Partnership bring a successful track record and extensive nuclear experience that will bring enormous benefits to the decommissioning and clean-up programme,” NDA chief executive John Clarke said………http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/31/babcock-uk-nuclear-clean-up-contract
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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