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Fukushima’s scattered melted nuclear cores are not found nor being dealt with

exclamation-Smflag-japanJapanese Nuclear Expert: Melted reactor cores not in one piece at Fukushima, as gov’t claims — I think nuclear fuel scattered everywhere, stuck to walls — Chernobyl-like sarcophagus may be needed — Nothing has been done, by time they deal with this I’ll be long dead http://enenews.com/japanese-nuclear-expert-melted-fuel-not-in-one-piece-at-fukushima-as-govt-says-its-probably-scattered-everywhere-pieces-of-nuclear-core-stuck-to-walls-i-think-its-better-to-just-build-sa?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29

Radio Forum #72, May 24, 2014 — Translated by DISSENSUS JAPAN, June 10, 2014:

  • Jiro Ishimaru, host: They don’t even know where the melted fuel is. What is the current situation of the melted fuel?
  • Hiroaki Koide, professor at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute: Nothing has been done. I don’t think the melted fuel is sitting in one piece as TEPCO and the government imagine. Probably, many pieces are scattered everywhere in the reactor vessel. For example, there are pieces stuck to the wall, I think. If, for example, they somehow can collect 50 pieces of debris they can’t collect the other 50; if many workers are forced to be exposed to radiation to do this ineffective job, I think it’s better to just contain it like the Chernobyl sarcophagus.
  • Ishimaru: It is going to be a long road to decommissioning…
  • Koide: The government says it will take 40 years, but that is not going to be enough at all. When they finish, I will have been dead for a long time.

Translation of interview here | Audio of interview here (Japanese)

See also: Japan Nuclear Professor: It’s feared Fukushima fuel pool to “collapse in” at any time; “Any scale of accident is possible” — Expert warns ice wall increases risk that reactor units will move or shift; Buildings ‘very precarious’ even without frozen barrier being constructed (AUDIO)

And: Japan TV ‘News Flash’: Officials fear melted reactor fuel is now exposed at Fukushima — Tepco: We don’t know at this point if fuel is uncovered — Large drop in water level — Experts ‘struggling’ to find condition of nuclear cores, nothing is known for all 3 reactors (VIDEO)

June 14, 2014 Posted by | Fukushima 2014 | Leave a comment

New plan to assist Fukushima clean-up is really designed to protect and promote USA nuclear technology sales

nuke-spruikersSmThe U.S. is pushing the CSC because its nuclear industry needs new markets, said Tom Vanden Borre, a researcher in nuclear liability law at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.

Countries with plans to build nuclear power plants are important because the U.S. hasn’t had a new atomic plant begin service since 1996, he said.

“It’s merely to protect the American industry and nothing more.”

Fukushima Fires Up Atomic Industry’s Removal-of-Liability Drive http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-06-12/japan-may-ratify-atomic-treaty-for-u-dot-s-highly-recommendeddot-aid-in-fukushima-cleanup By Jacob Adelman June 13, 2014 Japan will introduce legislation this year to ratify a controversial treaty backed by General Electric Co. and other atomic-plant manufacturers seeking protection from damage claims caused by nuclear accidents.

The treaty, known as the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage or CSC, will encourage experienced U.S. companies to assist in the cleanup and decommissioning at the Fukushima atomic accident site, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement today.

Protection from accident claims is needed because of the dangers and risks that remain at Fukushima, said U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. The plant has three melted reactors and thousands of tons of radioactive water.

“The important thing is to do everything that we can to facilitate the cleanup and decontamination of the Fukushima site,” Poneman said. The CSC is a means to support U.S. companies in that role, he said.

Poneman was in Tokyo to attend a meeting of the U.S.-Japan Bilateral Commission on Civil Nuclear Cooperation, which was established after the March 2011 accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501)’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant.

The CSC puts all liability for accidents at a nuclear power plant on the operator of the facility. To cover potential damage claims, CSC member countries would each contribute the equivalent of about $465 million. An atomic plant operator would have access to that fund after paying out an equivalent amount itself.

CSC Critics

Critics of nuclear power, environmental group Greenpeace among them, say the CSC acts as a subsidy for atomic power plant makers, such as GE, Toshiba Corp.’s Westinghouse unit and Areva SA of France, by shielding them from accident claims. Continue reading →

June 14, 2014 Posted by | marketing, USA | Leave a comment

Individual shareholders in Japan push for withdrawal from nuclear power

flag-japanIndividual Shareholders of Japan Nuclear Power Plants Want Reduced Reliance on Nuke Energy – Report International Business Times, By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | June 13, 2014  Individual shareholders of Japan‘s nuclear power plants want the government to review the country’s current energy mix to rely less on nuclear energy, a report by the Asahi Shimbun said. Shareholders of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) want the company to evaluate and examine its Comprehensive Special Business Plan.

The report noted individual shareholders of Japan‘s nine electric utilities with nuclear power plants had also submitted proposals to strengthen their call ahead of the June 26 annual general shareholders’ meetings of the power companies.

It was the first time that individual shareholders joined in the fray to push for a withdrawal of Japan’s dependence on nuclear power.

However, Asahi Shimbun believed their calls for major changes in policy would fall on deaf ears. These individual shares, when gathered, make up only a small number of total shares.

The bulk of the nine electric utilities’ shareholders belong to financial institutions and other corporate entities…….http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/555644/20140613/shareholders-japan-nuclear-power-plants-reliance-nuke.htm#.U5z0IJRdUnk

June 14, 2014 Posted by | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

Despite differences, nuclear pact between Iran and West may be within reach

diplomacy not bombs 1Iran: Nuclear Pact ‘Within Reach,’ Despite Yawning Divide http://www.nationaljournal.com/global-security-newswire/iran-nuclear-pact-within-reach-despite-yawning-divide-20140613 Iran said a landmark nuclear pact may be “within reach,” though a chasm persists between negotiators on key issues, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“We’re both very close and very far” from a deal with the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday. The sides are seeking terms to lift sanctions on Iran and to impose long-term limits on its atomic efforts, which are seen by Washington and its allies as a cover for pursuing a nuclear-bomb capability.

“We all want to get the job done by July 20,” Araqchi added, referring to the expiration date for an interim accord that his nation reached in November with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

 Washington on Thursday also reaffirmed its goal to finalize a successor agreement by the cutoff date.

“Our focus remains on the July 20 deadline and that has not changed,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

Analysts, though, warned that a renewal of the short-term deal appears to be a growing possibility, Agence France-Presse reported on Thursday.

“I doubt that an extension is being formally discussed, because that would be to admit failure to meet the July 20 deadline,” former U.S. State Department official Mark Fitzpatrick said. “But some discussion of it must be underway informally.” Western powers may only agree to an extension if Tehran indicates it “will make substantial concessions and come down from hard-line positions,” said Mark Hibbs, a nuclear expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

He added, though, that the sides “have been drafting documents in preparation for an eventual extension for a long time.”

June 14, 2014 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

VIDEO on Australian Aboriginals’ desperate fight to prevent nuclear waste dumping on their land

see-this.wayVIDEO : Muckaty Traditional Owners maintain rage about plans to build nuclear waste dump http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-13/muckaty-traditional-owners-maintain-rage-about/5523490 Alyssa Betts Fri 13 Jun 2014

Traditional Owners of Muckaty Station are maintaining the rage about plans to build a nuclear waste dump there.
Some are fighting for it, many others are fighting against it.
The legalities of which clans own what parts of the station and whether the Northern Land Council has done the right thing in nominating the dump site is being fought in court.

June 14, 2014 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment