2014 June 21 « nuclear-news

Illness and deaths among Fukushima’s nuclear clean-up volunteers

Fukushima Guide: “Lots of people suddenly started having nose bleeds, cats and dogs too, it lasted for some time” after 3/11 — Article: Many who volunteered in Fukushima have died, including 2 students from group of 15 helping to decontaminate http://enenews.com/fukushima-guide-lots-of-people-suddenly-started-having-nose-bleeds-cats-and-dogs-too-it-lasted-for-some-time-after-311-article-many-who-volunteered-in-fukushima-have-died-including-2-stud?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29

Zukunashi no Hiyamizu, June 9, 2014 (h/t Dissensus Japan]: Why many of decontamination volunteers died — “Genpatsu Mondai” wrote a blog article in the May 21, 2014 titled “Joining the volunteer with Fukushima citizens result in sudden death!!! Two of fifteen students in the neighborhood already died from an unknown cause”. In this article, you can read many dead cases of volunteers who went to Fukushima and worked there. They went to contaminated area and worked for decontamination as volunteers. […] Basically the purpose of volunteers is to go to the contaminated area where the air dose rate is high and to work there.

Sulejman Brkic, June 12, 2014: We left for Fukushima by bus very early on May 31, from Yokohama […] At the rest area where we stopped to pick up our guide, Masumi K. […] According to Masumi san, the population is divided between those who trust the government and the ones who don’t […] Don’t forget Fukushima are the words spoken to us by Masumi K. […] Masumi is from Okuma which she fled with her family after the nuclear explosions in 2011 […] She has been also battling cancer for some time now […] her husband got seriously sick and needed a new kidney, Masumi gave him one of hers. […] [A] young anonymous worker [at Fukushima Daiichi] told us […] about so many small and big acts of exploitation […] that…well…one stops listening, not on purpose, but it’s just too much, too overwhelming, it starts sounding normal after a while, I am sorry I can’t remember all of it. At every step in that area one can see or hear or feel the Japanese government’s lies and crimes. […] After the young anonymous worker, Masumi K talked again. She told us, again among many other stories of suffering, about the increase in suicides, consumption of alcohol, domestic violence, depression…she also told us how after the ongoing nuclear disaster there was a time when quite lots of people suddenly started having nose bleeds, cats and dogs too, it lasted for some time and then it suddenly stopped.

June 21, 2014 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Fukushima 2014, health | Leave a comment

40 times above normal – thyroid cancer rates in Fukushima’s children

Fukushima’s Children are Dying (includes audio)http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/14/fukushima-children-dying/2/ Harvey Wasserman | June 14, 2014 Some 39 months after the multiple explosions at Fukushima, thyroid cancer rates among nearby children have skyrocketed to more than forty times (40x) normal.

More than 48 percent of some 375,000 young people—nearly 200,000 kids—tested by the Fukushima Medical University near the smoldering reactors now suffer from pre-cancerous thyroid abnormalities, primarily nodules and cysts. The rate is accelerating.

More than 120 childhood cancers have been indicated where just three would be expected, says Joseph Mangano, executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project.

The nuclear industry and its apologists continue to deny this public health tragedy. Some have actually asserted that “not one person” has been affected by Fukushima’s massive radiation releases, which for some isotopes exceed Hiroshima by a factor of nearly 30.

But the deadly epidemic at Fukushima is consistent with impacts suffered among children near the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island and the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl, as well as findings at other commercial reactors. Continue reading →

June 21, 2014 Posted by Christina Macpherson | children, Fukushima 2014, health, Japan | Leave a comment

Anxiety in China, over its not so safe rush to nuclear power

Losers aplenty in China’s race for nuclear power THE AUSTRALIAN JUNE 21, 2014 Scott Murdoch China
Correspondent Beijing IN China’s far eastern region of Rongsheng, the government is rolling out one of the most ambitious nuclear power developments in the world.

China has commissioned at least three power plants in the Shandong province as it attempts to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. However, the details of the projects remain tightly controlled, with hundreds of residents, farmers and business owners left to question their future amid concerns over the safety of nuclear technology.

A journalist, photographer and news assistant from The Weekend Australian were recently detained by police while researching the Shidaowan project. The company behind the development, the China Huaneng power company, refused to answer questions. French nuclear regulators this week warned China needs to step up its level of supervision, control and interaction with the rest of the world as it invests more in nuclear generation. There are 20 nuclear reactors in operation in China and a further 28 under construction.

It has been mooted that Shidaowan will come online by 2017, more than three years behind schedule, after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan halted nuclear development around the world.

Under the government’s plans, next-generation CAP1400 reactors are being developed in Shandong. The program has been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, the peak economic planning agency in China.

It is forecast that nuclear power generation will almost triple, from 15.69 gigawatts to at least 58GW, by 2020, as China aims to reduce its reliance on coal-fired power generation.

However, in the small villages around the new power plant in Rongsheng, the human and environmental costs of the development are already clear.

Villages have been razed, with dozens of residents forced from their homes in the early stages of the plant’s construction.

The project has brought work, with labourers housed in cramped conditions. But residents are concerned about the use of world-first technology. Some have been told they will be moved and placed in high-rise accommodation, leaving behind their friends, family, traditions and culture………

“The villagers have had land by the seaside for generations, we could grow our own food, we could fish, and not only feed our family but we could make some money from that.

“But now the land has been seized and if something goes wrong then the seas will be completely damaged and our villages could be wiped out.”………

Former nuclear power engineer Du Minghai said while China was rolling out the most ambitious nuclear program in the world, it had to ensure it strengthened safeguards to prevent environmental, social and health problems.

“In terms of the plant design, equipment manufacturing and maintenance management, China still has gaps compared with the world’s most advanced levels,” he said.

“We should introduce and insist that foreign-management methods are put in place, and make sure that we don’t localise the management systems of the plants.

“Some people are saying that China is using the highest standards and building the most advanced nuclear units, but to some extent I think this is just political language being used to make sure politicians support their projects.”

Additional reporting: Wang Yuanyuan http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/losers-aplenty-in-chinas-race-for-nuclear-power/story-e6frg6so-1226961728367#

June 21, 2014 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, politics | Leave a comment

Fukushima reactors too “hot” to allow workers to look for molten nuclear cores

Hemisphere facing generations of radiologic contamination” from Fukushima — TV: It’s a major humanitarian crisis — NYT: “Nobody really knows” if 100s of tons of plutonium & uranium fuel resolidified — Experts: It’s certain reactor cores ‘moved around’; “Flowed to different part of buildings”? (VIDEO)

Al Jazeera, June 17, 2014: Fukushima ‘ice wall’ looking more like a dirt Slurpee […] Skeptics of the plan to build a massive ice wall […] didn’t have to wait particularly long for their first “I told you so.” […] “We have yet to form the ice stopper because we can’t make the temperature low enough to freeze water,” a TEPCO spokesman said. […] What if freezing causes the ground to sink? What if the ice and the ensuing expansion and contraction interrupts or further damages drainage in the reactor buildings? […] TEPCO’s experiment around the margins does nothing to address the hot mess at the core (as it were) of the crisis, and is cold comfort to those people still displaced or a country and hemisphere facing generations of radiologic contamination.

Christopher Morris, Muon Radiography Program Leader, June 16, 2014: “It’s certain that the reactor cores melted and the material moved around. By using muons going through the cores, we can make a radiograph of the uranium material and find out how much is left inside the pressure vessel, how much has leaked out of the pressure vessel.”

Duncan McBranch, Los Alamos Lab’s Chief Technology Officer, June 18, 2014: “The material itself may have melted and flowed to a different part of the building. Invasive techniques such as video endoscopy or introduction of robots run the risk of releasing radiation.”

New York Times, June 17, 2014: […] there are three wrecked reactor cores, twisted masses of hundreds of tons of highly radioactive uranium, plutonium, cesium and strontium. […] most of the material in the plant’s reactors resolidified, in difficult shapes and in confined spaces, wrapped around and through the structural parts of the reactors and the buildings. […] that is what the engineers think. Nobody really knows, because nobody has yet examined […] “nobody knows what happened inside,” [McBranch] said. “Nobody wants to go in to find out.” […] concrete, steel and water will all be distinguishable from uranium, plutonium and other very heavy materials. […] Testing will begin later this year, officials say, and final images will be produced next year.

KRQE, June 18, 2014: LANL technology to examine Fukushima damage […] “This is a major humanitarian crisis,” said Matt Durham, a post-doctoral researcher at Los Alamos […] “They are much too radioactive to go in and look at things,” said Christopher Morris, the lead researcher on the project. […] LANL hopes the detectors will be used in about a year. >> Full broadcast here

Watch LANL’s new video here

June 21, 2014 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Fukushima 2014 | Leave a comment

Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “Fatally compromised” William Magwood IV

“Fatally compromised” NRC Commissioner Magwood urged to resign immediately , Beyond Nuclear, 21 June 14 34 groups, including Beyond Nuclear, represented by attorneys Diane Curran and Mindy Goldstein, have urged NRC Commissioner William Magwood IV to resign immediately, as well as to retroactively recuse himself from numerous votes over the past many months, due to his apparent and actual conflict of interest.

He has agreed to become the Director-General of the OECD’s Nuclear Energy Agency, an institution explicitly mandated to promote nuclear energy — at odds with Magwood’s current job to protect people and the environment as a nuclear safety regulator. In 2009 and 2010, Beyond Nuclear helped lead a coalition effort opposing Magwood’s nomination and confirmation as an NRC Commissioner, due to his previous, long career of promoting nuclear power at DOE and in industry…..http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2014/6/18/fatally-compromised-nrc-commissioner-magwood-urged-to-resign.html

June 21, 2014 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Despite differences, a nuclear deal is possible between Iran and the West

Iran Nuclear Talks Produce Possible Framework for Deal Chinese Envoy Says Negotiations This Week Made Progress But Main Issues Unresolved y
WSJ, LAURENCE NORMAN June 20, 2014 VIENNA—With one month to go until a July 20 deadline, the odds of a high-stakes nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers appeared finely balanced, with senior diplomats saying this week’s talks had shown “progress” but warning that gaps may prove too wide to resolve.

After five days of discussions in Vienna, top Iranian and U.S. officials demanded major concessions from the other side and there was no pretense of any sudden breakthrough.

However, the negotiating teams departed Friday with a working document in hand—the first concrete advance in months. Diplomats said all sides appear committed to reach an accord and they left with plans to return July 2 for a mammoth negotiation session that could run through July 20.

The climax to the decade-old Iran talks comes at a time of flux in the long frozen relationship between Tehran and Washington. The Obama administration has suffered multiple foreign policy setbacks in recent months, and Iran has been shaken by the offensive by extremist Sunni groups in its neighbor, Iraq. On Monday, senior U.S. and Iranian officials discussed the Iraq crisis in Vienna.

It’s not yet clear whether that development could help pave the way for a nuclear deal, which could be a rare foreign policy win for the U.S. administration and reward Iranian President Hasan Rouhani for the diplomatic outreach he instigated when he took office last summer.

Iran and the six powers—the U.S., the U.K., China, Russia, Germany and France—are seeking an accord that would settle international concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions in return for lifting tight energy and financial sanctions on Tehran…….

Russia’s top negotiator at the talks, Sergei Ryabkov, said earlier this week that while the differences between Iran and the U.S. on centrifuge numbers remain a “big problem,” this issue was always likely to be settled “at a very late stage.” http://online.wsj.com/articles/iran-nuclear-talks-produce-possible-framework-for-deal-1403273321

June 21, 2014 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment