Propping up Japan’s nuclear industry – with guaranteed electricity prices?
Japan may guarantee price for nuclear power to prop up industry TOKYO Aug 21 (Reuters) – Japan will consider guaranteeing prices for electricity generated by nuclear plants to help the country’s struggling utilities, which have lost about $35 billion in the three years since the Fukushima disaster saddled them with extra costs.
Japan’s nuclear plants are in shutdown with no schedule for restarts after the meltdown at Fukushima in 2011, leading the country’s utilities to turn to expensive fossil fuel imports.
But even if they can get their reactors running they face higher costs to meet new safety requirements just as the government is pushing through plans to allow more competition in the industry. They also face possible costs for decommissioning older units that are too costly to upgrade.
The move was floated by a trade ministry panel as an example of supporting the nuclear industry financially like Britain’s “Contracts for Difference” scheme, which guarantees nuclear operators fixed rates for power.
The panel, which is in charge of making detailed policies in line with the government’s basic energy plan, did not give a schedule for finalising the scheme.
Propping up nuclear power, promoted for decades by Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party as cheap, safe and reliable, is likely to be at odds with public sentiment which has turned against atomic energy since Fukushima. If the market price of electricity falls below a pre-set level, consumers would pay the gap to the utilities, according to the British example discussed on Thursday at the panel……… http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL4N0QR1G120140821
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Local leaders want full disclosure of testimony of Fukushima nuclear plant manager
Local leaders seek disclosure of testimony by former nuclear plant chief THE ASAHI SHIMBUN 21 Aug 14 Leaders of local governments near the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant want the testimony given by the plant manager months after the accident to be disclosed.
The Asahi Shimbun ascertained that eight local leaders want full disclosure after seeking the views of the Fukushima governor and heads of 13 cities, towns and villages located within 20 kilometers of the plant and areas outside the 20-km radius where radiation levels were more than 20 millisieverts per year.
Masao Yoshida was plant chief when the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami set off the nuclear accident.
He gave hours of testimony to the government’s Investigation Committee on the Accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations, and died in July 2013 from esophageal cancer. Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the plant, said Yoshida’s cancer was not related to radiation exposure.
The survey also revealed that five of the leaders said there would be no problem if their own interviews with the government investigation panel were made public.
After the onset of nuclear crisis, the government’s investigation panel interviewed 770 officials and others involved in the disaster.
Although the central government currently plans to publicly disclose part of those records by the end of the year, it will not release the contents of Yoshida’s interview, citing Yoshida’s request not to disclose his testimony……http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201408210044
Life in a Fukushima world
http://asaablog.tumblr.com/post/94878108901/life-in-a-fukushima-world Asian Currents, By Adam Broinowski, 21 Aug 14 The focus of sovereign intervention in response to the nuclear meltdowns since 3/11 risks long-term consequences for short-term gains.
The meltdowns of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) since the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011 (3/11) have exposed not only the dangers of nuclear power but the visibility of the power structure that supports it.
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
The focus of sovereign intervention has demonstrated the major priorities of this power structure, while local responses have sought to increase public knowledge of the nuclear industry and the health dangers from radiation exposures. Given the myriad factors in play, it is useful to consider the disaster in terms of immunity.
Three main forms of immunity are applicable to the disaster. Continue reading
Indian Uranium Corporation ordered to probe birth deformities near mines
The health issue came to the attention of the High Court earlier this year after pictures of Jadugora’s deformed children appeared in the Indian press. The court in February ordered Uranium Corp. to produce documents that might shed light on the health issues. The court noted then that children living near the mines in Jadugora are “born with swollen heads, blood disorders and skeletal distortions.”
India Court Orders Uranium Corp. to Probe Deformities Near Mines Bloomberg By Rakteem Katakey and Tom Lasseter Aug 20, 2014 India’s sole uranium mining company is being ordered by a regional court to disclose radiation levels and the presence of any heavy metals in soil and water in a cluster of villages with reports of unusual numbers of deformed and sick children.
The order by the Jharkhand High Court also mandates thatUranium Corp. of India Ltd.explain how it ensures the safety of nearby civilian populations who may be exposed to its 193-acre (78-hectare) radioactive waste dump near the village of Jadugora in eastern India.
The move comes about a month after a Bloomberg News story chronicled the plight of parents living near the Uranium Corp. mines who are seeking answers to what’s sickening and killing so many of their kids. The story also reported that local residents routinely wander the unfenced dump sites and fish and bathe in a river that receives water flowing from the dumps, known as tailings ponds. The Bloomberg article was submitted to the judges of the High Court by Ananda Sen, the lawyer appointed by the court to review the case.
Uranium Corp. has denied its mining operations have anything to do with village health issues. In 2007, a survey of more than 2,100 households by an Indian physicians group found mothers in villages 1.5 miles from the mines reported congenital deformities more than 80 percent higher than the rates just 20 miles (32 kilometers) away, with reported child death rates from such abnormalities more than five times as high.
Independent Experts
Fukushima radiation transported over entire northern hemisphere
New study finds radiation dose for US West Coast from Fukushima over 500% of recent gov’t estimate Fukushima Emergency What Can We Do Release from Japan disaster could exceed Chernobyl
Atmospheric transport and deposition of radionuclides released after the Fukushima Dai-chi accident and resulting effective dose, Atmospheric Environment, Sept. 2014 (emphasis added): On 11 March 2011 an earthquake off the Pacific coast of the Fukushima prefecture generated a tsunami that hit Fukushima Dai-ichi and Fukushima Da-ini Nuclear Power Plants. From 12 March a significant amount of radioactive material was released into the atmosphere and dispersed worldwide. […] The simulation shows that the radioactive plume, consisting of about 200 PBq by adding contributions from 131I, 134Cs, and 137Cs, has been transported over the entire northern hemisphere[…] An early quantitative estimation of the amount of radioactive material discharged in the atmosphere has been provided by Chino et al. (2011) by coupling environmental monitoring data with atmospheric dispersion simulations, then updated by Katata et al. (2012) with a more detailed description of the emission from the morning of 12 March to late night of 14 March. The total amount of radioactivity has been estimated in 12.6 PBq of 134Cs and 137Cs, and 128.2 PBq of 1311. […] The uncertainty associated with this source term has been estimated by Chino et al. (2011)to be a factor of 5 or greater.
- As the study notes “uncertainty associated with this source term has been estimated… to be a factor of 5or greater.” Using only a factor of 5, the result is 63 PBq of 137Cs (5 x 12.6) and 63 PBq of 134Cs (5 x 12.6) released at Fukushima — 126 PBq total.
- According to an estimate by the National Academy published in 1995, “35 PBq of Cs-134 and 70 PBq of Cs-137 were released” at Chernobyl — 105 PBq total…………http://fukushimaemergencywhatcanwedo.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/new-study-finds-radiation-dose-for-us.html
USA Tax-payers once more funding nuclear industry’s boondoggles
DOE GRANTS TOTAL $67M FOR 83 NUCLEAR TECH R&D, ENGINEERING PROJECTS; ERNEST MONIZ COMMENTS http://www.executivegov.com/2014/08/doe-grants-total-67m-for-83-nuclear-tech-r-ernest-moniz-comments/ ANNA FORRESTER · AUG 21ST, The Energy Department has awarded an estimated $67 million in total to fund 83 research and infrastructure enhancement projects on nuclear technology in support of the administration’s Climate Action Plan.
DOE said Wednesday that the projects are expected to bolster energy security, clean energy and energy efficiency initiatives across the country.
“These awards not only provide crucial funding for research and development, but also for the training and education of the next-generation nuclear energy workforce that will enhance American leadership in the safe, secure and efficient use of nuclear energy here and around the world,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said.
The department distributed the grant across the following:
$30 million for 44 university-led nuclear energy R&D projects;
$4 million for 19 research reactor and infrastructure improvement projects;
$20 million for five integrated research projects;
$11 million for 12 R&D projects by DOE national laboratories, industry and U.S. universities; and
$1 million for two infrastructure enhancement projects.
DOE said research coverage includes fluoride high-temperature reactor technology development and nuclear fuel storage, while the engineering projects focus on infrastructure upgrades, reactor materials and instrumentation.
USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner’s Conflict of Interest
Groups try to block nuclear regulator’s vote, citing conflict of interest WP By Josh Hicks August 21 Dozens of environmental organizations and nuclear-power opponents are trying to stop a federal regulator from participating in upcoming votes scheduled to take place one week before he starts a new leadership role with an industry group.
In a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday, the Sierra Club and 33 other groups called on the panel to postpone its Aug. 26 decisions until Commissioner William Magwood moves to his new job as director of the non-government Nuclear Energy Agency on Aug. 31.
“Mr. Magwood has created a real and apparent conflict of interest by pursuing and accepting a position with an international agency whose primary purpose is to promote nuclear power, at the same time he serves on a U.S. agency that is dedicated to protection of public health and safety and the environment,” the letter said…….
the opposing groups said a vote by the commissioner would lead to questions about whether he “influenced the agency to gloss over the serious problems that attend the long-term storage and disposal of spent reactor fuel, in order to fulfill his new mission of promoting nuclear energy worldwide.”….. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/08/21/groups-try-to-block-nuclear-regulators-vote-citing-conflict-of-interest/
Westinghouse desperate to sell nuclear equipment to Europe
Note about Westinghouse Westinghouse hasn’t been a US corp. for 15 or more years. First it became British and now is Toshiba. The biggest pushers of new reactors are thus Japan, Russia and France. GE is Hitachi Japan. France is Areva and EDF and the Russian gov has Rosatom.
Westinghouse seeks EU aid to weaken Russia’s nuclear fuel role in Europe ITar-Tass August 21, Michael Kirst, Westinghouse’s vice-president for strategy, says Europe needed the second supplier in case of technical failures and possible political sanctions LONDON, August 21. /ITAR-TASS/. US-based Westinghouse has asked the European Union to introduce competition rules on the nuclear fuel market with the aim of reducing Europe’s dependence on the Russian fuel supplies, the Financial Times reported on Thursday………
Finland is one of the European states depending heavily on supplies of Russian nuclear fuel, while Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic are entirely dependent on the Russian deliveries.
Westinghouse presses the EU for diversification in the Eastern Europe, since the US-based company is the only alternative for supplies of nuclear fuel for VVER-440 reactors.
The company said it needs an investment of $20 million to reprise the nuclear fuel production for the VVER-440 reactors, however, the work would take up to two years. http://en.itar-tass.com/world/746081
Reinstatement of nuclear whistleblower ordered by USA Feds
Feds Order Reinstatement of Nuclear Whistleblower abc news, SEATTLE — Aug 21, 2014 The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered a Hanford Nuclear Reservation contractor to reinstate a worker who the department says was fired for voicing concerns about nuclear and environmental safety, officials announced Wednesday.
Richland-based Washington River Protection Solutions, a subsidiary of URS Corporation and Energy Solutions, was also ordered to pay $220,000 in back wages and other expenses.
The company denies the allegations that the worker was fired in retaliation.
But the labor department said the contractor violated federal whistleblower provisions. The worker first blew the whistle on nuclear and environmental safety and permit and record-keeping violations in 2009, according to the labor department. The worker was fired two years later and unsuccessfully re-applied for the job in 2012. The reason for the initial firing was “poor performance.”
“The people most able to identify hazards are often the workers who are threatened by them,” Galen Lemke, the labor department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration acting regional administrator, said in a statement. “Employees must never be punished for sounding an alarm when they see a problem that could injure, sicken or kill someone, or harm the environment.”…….http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/feds-order-reinstatement-nuclear-whistleblower-25063970
Australia breaks international Treaty, in selling uranium to India
Seen from the perspective of adherence to non-proliferation norms and commitments If Australia exports uranium to India, Australia would violate its obligations of the Treaty of Rarotonga, which binds it from not indulging in such trade. Article 4 of the Rarotonga Treaty requires India to comply with safeguards requirements of Article III(1) of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Article III(1) of the NPT is about reaching a comprehensive safeguards agreement with IAEA. Instead, India has only acknowledged safeguards on certain foreign-supplied reactors and facilities. India’s safeguards agreement is based upon the IAEA’s ‘facility specific’ safeguards.
Australian uranium sale to India will be subjected to weak monitoring safeguards or ‘facility specific’ of IAEA, contrary to nuclear deals Australia has with other countries
AUSTRALIAN PROSPECTIVE NUCLEAR TRADE WITH INDIA – THE CONTROVERSYhttp://www.eurasiareview.com/21082014-australian-prospective-nuclear-trade-india-controversy/AUGUST 21, 2014 EURASIA REVIEW BY HASAN EHTISHAM
These protests have been a regular feature in Koodankulam (Tamil Nadu), Jaitapur (Maharashtra) and Gorakhpur (Haryana) and at least five activists have lost their lives since 2010 in their struggle against the Indian government’s decision without taking the affected parties on board. Radioactive waste from uranium mining in the country’s east is reportedly affecting adjacent communities. Thousands of Indians suffer from the effects of uranium mining as related to poor technical and management practices.
Australia controls the planet’s largest known uranium reserves. Uranium is a controversial and debatable subject in Canberra, because it can be used both for civil and military purposes. Australia had previously cancelled plans to sell uranium to India as it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but it was Indo- US nuclear deal which paved the way for the ban’s lifting.
The move of lifting the ban came despite a parliamentary report on nuclear safety regulation in India had emphasized grave nuclear safety concerns and organizational flaws comparable international norms. India’s auditor general in this report has designated the country’s nuclear industry as insecure, disordered and in many cases, unregulated. The report underlined the fact that there is no national policy on nuclear and radiation safety after almost 30 years and is not much ardent to adopt world standards and best practices.
It is an unpredictable and unjustified security situation into which Australia is selling uranium. Australian government’s idea to sell uranium to India was strongly criticized by the Australians but the government seems inclined to disregard it. Analysts in Australia are opposing the Uranium sale without preconditions and any meaningful concessions from India, like Indian ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and stopping the production of nuclear bomb making material.
Seen from the perspective of adherence to non-proliferation norms and commitments If Australia exports uranium to India, Australia would violate its obligations of the Treaty of Rarotonga, which binds it from not indulging in such trade. Article 4 of the Rarotonga Treaty requires India to comply with safeguards requirements of Article III(1) of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Article III(1) of the NPT is about reaching a comprehensive safeguards agreement with IAEA. Instead, India has only acknowledged safeguards on certain foreign-supplied reactors and facilities. India’s safeguards agreement is based upon the IAEA’s ‘facility specific’ safeguards.
Australian uranium sale to India will be subjected to weak monitoring safeguards or ‘facility specific’ of IAEA, contrary to nuclear deals Australia has with other countries.Andrew Davies from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute highlighted IAEA’s inability to screen exactly where uranium sent to India from Australia if comprehensive monitoring safeguards are not applied. “For example, if 100 tones go into a civilian nuclear program and 90 tons of products come out, they don’t know where the missing product was diverted from,” he convincingly argues.
A defense research group, IHS Jane’s has revealed that India is increasing its uranium facility that could support the expansion of nuclear weapons. India is trying to buy foreign sources of uranium so she can use its domestic reserves for a nuclear arms race with Pakistan. India is expanding its nuclear power programme to use its own uranium for the production of more nuclear weapons. Adding Australian uranium into India’s energy mix would have serious fall outs on prevailing strained relations between India and its nuclear-armed neighbors. Can Australia trust India to not use Australian uranium for weapons manufacture?
Non-proliferation is a top agenda item when it comes to Pakistan, Iran or North Korea, but it is an inoperable standard when it is India or Israel. The commencement of nuclear trade with India – first by Washington in 2008 and currently by Canberra – has immense repercussions. It will profoundly upset the proliferation equation for other countries in the region. India-Australia nuclear deal will aggravate India-Pakistan nuclear rivalry and exacerbate Pakistan’s security dilemma. Both countries have nuclear weapons, so this commitment by Aussies will no doubt intensify the India-Pakistan tensions. Nuclear trade with India will profoundly upset strategic stability of the South Asian region.
New lawsuit over US sailors’ exposure to Fukushima radiation
US sailors prepare for fresh legal challenge over Fukushima radiation, Guardian, 21 Aug 14 $1bn lawsuit accuses Tepco of failing to avoid the accident and of lying about radiation levels that have caused health problems to themselves and their families stationed in Japan
The first time it occurred to James Jackson that there could be lasting damage from his US Navy service during Japan’s tsunami and nuclear disaster came when his eldest son, Darius, was diagnosed with leukaemia.
Darius, now 15, spent a month in hospital in early 2013, soon after his diagnosis. “I thought I was going to have to bury him,” Jackson recalled. The teenager who aspired to play college basketball now has a catheter in his chest and is too frail to run the length of the court.
Jackson, a navy information technologist, was stationed with his family at Yokosuka, Japan, when an earthquake and tsunami knocked out the cooling systems at the Fukushima nuclear plant in March 2011, causing a triple meltdown.
He acknowledges he can’t know for sure why Darius got leukaemia – but Jackson remains convinced there is a connection to the radiation escape from the Fukushima disaster and he blames the Japanese electric company, Tepco.
On 25 August, a district court judge in San Diego will decide whether the Jacksons – and around 110 other US navy sailors and marines – can proceed with a $1bn lawsuit that accuses Tepco of failing to avoid the accident and of lying about the levels of radiation from the stricken reactors, putting US personnel at risk.
“I don’t think the navy or the United States government would have let us stay there in the region. They would have gotten us out of there probably within the first 48, or 72 hours if they knew then what they know now,” Jackson said. “The issue is that we have this large company, this large enterprise, feeding the Japanese government and the rest of the world bad information. They could have come to the forefront and said: ‘hey we need help’, instead of trying to put a blanket over it.”
Some 77,000 US navy sailors and marines took part in the huge relief effort after Japan’s cascading disasters, called Operation Tomodachi, or friend.
The 110 sailors suing Tepco represent only a small fraction of that number, and the lawsuit does not have the support of the US navy establishment……..
The lawsuit alleges a number of the sailors and their children suffered thyroid and other cancers, leukaemia, birth defects, and a variety of medical conditions including infertility after they were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. Some of the sailors were also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One of the sailors named in the lawsuit, helicopter mechanic Theodor Holcomb, who served on the USS Reagan aircraft carrier, died of a rare cancer on 24 April. The lawsuit seeks $1bn for a medical monitoring and treatment fund.
The case is one of a number of lawsuits brought against Tepco in US and Japanese courts after the accident on 11 March 2011…….
A judicial panel in Japan on 31 July said three former Tepco executives should face criminal charges for the disaster, finding they overlooked the risk of an earthquake or tsunami, and failed to take adequate measures to prevent an accident…….http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/20/us-navy-sailors-legal-challenge-fukushima-radiation-tepco
Data on uranium mine leaching must be made public
Uranium mining company must release survey data Argus Leader, KEVIN BURBACH, August 20, 2014 RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A mining company must release the results of a geological survey that opponents of its proposed uranium mine in western South Dakota say is necessary to ensure that local aquifers are protected, a federal licensing board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled Wednesday.
The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board continued its hearings Wednesday morning in Rapid City, where three federal judges are hearing challenges to a license granted to Powertech Uranium Corp. for its proposed Dewey-Burdock uranium mine.
The intervenors to the proposed mine — members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and other concerned parties — had been pushing for data Powertech collected by drilling throughout the region to find concentrations of uranium ore, among other things. They’ve said enough data haven’t been studied to know if the region’s aquifers would be contaminated or depleted if the company were to mine.
Powertech plans to use a method known as in-situ uranium recovery, which would pump groundwater fortified with oxygen and carbon dioxide into the underground ore deposits to dissolve the uranium. The water would be pumped back to the surface, where the uranium would be extracted and sold to nuclear power plants.
Dr. Robert Moran, who testified at the request of the intervenors, said making the data available would allow the geologists to better understand how the region’s groundwater could be affected if the company starts mining in the area……..http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2014/08/20/uranium-mining-company-must-release-survey-data/14355969/
Nuclear security cuts opposed by US Democrat Senators
White House faces Democratic Senate revolt over nuclear security cuts Yahoo News 21 Aug 14, , Twenty-six members of the Senate are calling on the Obama administration to increase planned spending on programs to secure or reduce global stocks of nuclear weapons materials in the upcoming 2016 White House budget, even as they are challenging an administration decision to significantly shrink these programs in 2015.
“The recent spate of terrorism in Iraq, Pakistan, and Kenya is a harrowing reminder of the importance of ensuring that terrorist groups and rogue states cannot get their hands on the world’s most dangerous weapons and materials,” the senators wrote………http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-faces-democratic-senate-150503823.html
Los Alamos worker sold nuclear secrets
Los Alamos worker imprisoned for selling nuclear secrets CBS News, 21 Aug 14 A former contract employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 71, of Los Alamos, N.M., pleaded guilty to passing “classified nuclear weapons data to a person believed to be a Venezuelan government official,” and to lying to the FBI, the DOJ said in a statement.
Mascheroni is a Ph.D. physicist. Her husband was also a Los Alamos employee who pleaded guilty to similar charges. He has not been sentenced yet. Both were indicted in 2010……..http://www.cbsnews.com/news/los-alamos-worker-imprisoned-for-selling-nuclear-secrets-to-apparent-venezuelan-official/
Treasure Island has 2 more higher radiation readings
Two more elevated radiation readings on Treasure Island SF Gate, August 20 By Marisa Lagos The U.S. Navy has completed its surveys of Treasure Island and found two more locations where higher-than-usual radiation levels were detected — one under an occupied house, a city official said Wednesday……http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2014/08/20/two-more-elevated-radiation-readings-on-treasure-island/
1 This Month
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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