Global rallies for action on Climate Change
People’s Climate March: Hundreds of thousands march in rallies calling for action on climate change An international day of action on climate change brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets of New York City on Sunday, easily exceeding organisers’ hopes for the largest protest on the issue in history.http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-22/thousands-march-in-new-york-climate-change-protest/5759184
Organisers estimated that some 310,000 people, including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former US Vice President Al Gore, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and elected officials from the United States and abroad joined the People’s Climate March, ahead of Tuesday’s United Nations hosted summit in the city to discuss reducing carbon emissions that threaten the environment.
People joined more than 2,000 marches around the world demanding urgent action on climate change.
The march in New York came ahead of Tuesday’s United Nations-hosted summit in the city to discuss reducing carbon emissions that threaten the environment.
Organisers said some 550 busloads of people had arrived for the rally, which followed similar events in 166 countries including Australia, Britain, France, Afghanistan, Mexico and Bulgaria.
More than 10,000 people took to the streets in Melbourne, with many more in Australia’s other capital cities. A crowd including US senators Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island marched along the city’s Central Park, through midtown Manhattan to Times Square, where they stopped for a moment of silence.
Mr Moon, wearing a blue t-shirt that read “I’m for climate action” marched arm-in-arm with primatologist Jane Goodall and French ecology minister Segolene Royal.
“This is the planet where our subsequent generations will live,” Mr Moon told reporters.
“There is no Plan B, because we do not have Planet B.”
Mr DiCaprio marched towards the front of the group, with members of an Ecuadorean tribe who have fought a years-long legal battle with Chevron Corp over Amazon pollution.
“This is the most important issue of our time,” Mr DiCaprio said.
“I’m incredibly proud to be here.”
Organisers billed the event as the largest gathering focused on climate change since 2009, when tens of thousands gathered in Copenhagen in a sometime raucous demonstration that resulted in the detention of 2,000 protesters.
The march comes days after the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that August 2014 was the warmest on record, 0.75 degrees Celsius above the 20th century global average of 15.6 degrees.
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday unveiled a new plan for the city to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent from 2005 levels by 2050.
All 3,000 major city-owned buildings would be retrofitted with energy-saving heating, cooling and light systems by then, he said, though meeting the commitment will also require significant investments by private landlords.
PETITION: More Nuclear Power is NOT the Answer to the Climate Crisis
More Nuclear Power is NOT the Answer to the Climate Crisis Petition published by Tom Hayden on Sep 04, 2014
2691 Signatures  |
Fukushima alone demonstrates the risks of nuclear meltdowns even in a society based on science and advanced technology. The one hundreds plants in our country are terrorist targets.
There are no solutions in sight to nuclear waste disposal. The timelines for bringing new nuclear plants online exceed the UN’s call for rapid decarbonization. The estimated costs are staggering.
Petition:
Radioactive pollution from Fukushima is becoming a wider problem
Japan Times: Fukushima plant plagued by problems as radioactive material bleeds into Pacific — Radiation level in groundwater now 25,000 times higher than when year began http://enenews.com/japan-times-fukushima-plant-plagued-problems-radioactive-material-bleeds-pacific-record-radiation-level-groundwater-25000-times-higher-when-year-began?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Japan Times, Sept 19, 2014: Tainted water problems still plague Fukushima, despite some positive signs — More than three years since [3/11] the Fukushima No. 1 power plant is still bleeding tons of toxic radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean… [It’s] developed into a wider problem that is stoking public concern… [Tepco] is still trying to find a way to deal with the plant’s utility trenches, which are filled with highly contaminated water. The trenches, which run beneath the plant, were built to house cables and pipes… installed to bring in seawater for cooling purposes… Leaving the tainted water in the trenches is risky. For instance, if another major quake hits and damages the trenches, the toxic water will escape and contaminate the groundwater. Tepco said the trenches… can’t be drained until the leaks from the buildings are plugged…
Asahi Shimbun, Sept 19, 2014: Local fishermen are crying foul over [TEPCO’s] latest plan to discharge processed contaminated water… into the ocean. TEPCO and the central government held the first explanatory briefing… Their explanation was apparently unconvincing. “I can’t believe anything TEPCO says,” one of the attendees said after the meeting… many members of local fisheries associations opposed the plan on the opening day of the briefing sessions… [Others] expressed concern over the plan’s safety. “If a critical problem should occur, (local fisheries) would be severely damaged,” [fisherman Yoshinori Sato] said. “They wouldn’t be able to recover.” Another member criticized the utility for burdening local fishermen with such proposals, asking, “How many times will we have to make a similar painful decision?”
While Japan’s media outlets are focused on the meetings between government/Tepco and the fishermen over the whether to allow ‘processed’ contaminated water releases, new Tepco data published September 18 reveals strontium-90 concentrations are at record levels in groundwater just 100 feet from the ocean. Gross beta has risen to 720 million becquerels per cubic meter (Bq/m³) — and according to Tepco’s most recent strontium-90 tests released September 10 (4 months after the samples were taken), strontium-90 comprises over 95% of the total gross beta at this location — resulting in a Sr-90 concentration of 695 million Bq/m³. At the start of 2014, 28,000 Bq/m³ of gross beta was detected in groundwater from the same well — now 8 months later, the levels are over 25,000 times greater.
The delusion that nuclear power is economically viable
Rio Tinto’s great big nuclear delusion Business Spectator MATTHEW WRIGHT 22 Sept 14, Rio Tinto’s energy chief, quoted in The Australian Financial Review article this month believes “there will be a return to nuclear” and that China will lead it, stating that a joint venture has “quietly developed” between China’s state nuclear technology company and the Toshiba Westinghouse Corporation”.
The problem is that that consortium hasn’t produced a third-generation nuclear reactor. In fact, nobody has and all the so-called Gen III-plus reactors under construction globally are behind schedule and over budget – including those in China.
Kenyon-Slaney is living in hope as Rio is invested so heavily in uranium – a mineral which peaked in 2005, well before Germany decided to exit nuclear and Japan idled their entire reactor fleet.
It would be comical if it wasn’t so serious, but Kenyon-Slaney’s nuclear industry just can’t put a foot right. Delays are mounting up in the west, and OECD countries and huge resources are being spent keeping old ageing reactors online. The expenditure that could be better directed is immense.
As a well-known supporter of serious action on climate change, including decarbonisation of all sectors, I have on numerous occasions written about nuclear energy. Following those articles, supporters of nuclear energy have often asked, if I’m serious about climate change, why would I oppose nuclear (a low emissions source of electricity)? In this column I’ll answer that question. But, first I’ll give an update on a few of the latest nuclear industry disaster stories from around the globe.
Japan
The Fukushima disaster clean-up bill will now exceed $112 billion*……….
Europe
Europe’s nuclear industry is struggling. Many reactors are currently off-line for much longer periods than scheduled, Germany and Switzerland are phasing out their reactors and most countries –including Spain, Austria, Sweden and Italy – won’t be building any reactors.
Areva, the world’s biggest builder of nuclear along with French utility EDF, can’t deliver on a new reactor project. Reactors under construction at Flamanville, France and Olkiluoto in Finland are years behind schedule and billions over budget. In the last couple of weeks, Areva has admitted that the Finnish project, originally planned to be online and delivering electricity in 2008, will now be delayed until late 2018. This is another way of saying 2019, 2020 or … never.
United States
All four nuclear reactors being constructed in the US are suffering costly delays. The reactors rated at 990MWe (2100MWe gross) under construction in Georgia and South Carolina were supposed to begin power generation in 2016. These four reactors are reported to cost $28 billion………
China
The central government had ambitious plans to build a significant amount of nuclear power plants, but since Fukushima their local Gen II designs being used on every project have been scrapped for future projects, and Gen III designs. These Gen IIIs have never been built anywhere, and are the only acceptable options for future projects. And here’s the problem: just like in France, Finland, Georgia and South Carolina, China’s projects aresignificantly over budget and behind schedule, adding millions of dollars of cost for every additional day without power generation. Back in 2010, China claimed that it would build 80GW of new nuclear by 2020, but the reality is it is likely to add just 20GW, around 75 per cent short of their target……. (*All figure are in Australian dollars. ) http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/9/22/energy-markets/rio-tintos-great-big-nuclear-delusion?utm_source=exact&utm_medium=email&utm_content=919754&utm_campaign=cs_daily&modapt=
Huge cancer numbers in Hanford nuclear facility’s downwind area
“Like a Science Fiction Movie”: Bizarre deaths after radiation exposure at US nuclear site — My whole family’s dead; Mom eaten up by tumors everywhere, could see them growing; Dad had masses suddenly erupt all over; Brother died at birth — Incredible number of colleagues killed by cancer, 2-3% alive (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/like-science-fiction-movie-very-bizarre-deaths-after-radiation-exposure-nuclear-site-family-dead-mom-eaten-tumors-everywhere-could-growing-stomach-dad-masses-suddenly-erupt-entire-body-incredibl?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
KING 5 News, Sept. 17, 2014: Investigators expose a continuing pattern… If you work [at Hanford] and speak up about safety concerns, watch out. Chances are you’ll be met with harassment, intimidation, and the end of your career… Hanford’s tank farms [hold] the deadliest substances on Earth… Shelly Doss: “If you just ignore [the rules]… you risk contaminating the person… contaminating the environment… These were blatant violations”… Managers [said] she was to ignore that and 5 other major violations… “They were very angry because they’d been getting away with it.”… After 23 years… Shelly Doss was… fired… In the last year, they fired… 2 high-profile Hanford managers who blew the whistle. >> Watch video here
Trisha Pritikin, Hanford downwinder, interview by TalkingStickTV (emphasis added):
- Part I at 0:15 in — My brother… is one of the many infants who died shortly after birth in what is now known to be the Hanford downwind area.
- Part 2 at 12:30 in –My father died of thyroid cancer 3 years ago. He was [a nuclear safety engineer] at Hanford who believed that there was nothing wrong there… [I have severe thyroid disease and] my mother had thyroid disease. There’s no history of thyroid disease anywhere in our family… My whole family’s dead now… My mother died this March of rapidly metastatic malignant melanoma… just took over her body. It killed her in 6 weeks. I’m not saying this to evoke pity [but] to educate people.
- Part 3 at 1:00 in — The most logical reason I’ve heard for why this information on radiation… wasn’t shared with the public is liability. The government doesn’t want to deal with people’s health problems caused by the involuntary exposures.
- Part 4 at 1:30 in — [My dad] didn’t want to admit that he had thyroid problems, because he was a nuclear engineer and [said] nothing was wrong with Hanford… It erupted almost overnight into masses [and] went all over his body… Then he suddenly had 20 masses in his lungs. I thought, ‘This is like a science fiction movie,’ because it’smoving much faster than cancer ever moves… [He received] a letter from the Dept. of Energy… saying in response to his letter asking whether he had ever been a subject of human radiation experiment, yes he had been.
- Part 4 at 6:30 in — In March this happens again… [My mom’s] whole body is gettingeaten up by malignant melanoma. There are tumors everywhere, they are just growing all over. You could see them growing in her stomach, it was surreal. These two people died deaths which are very bizarre; you don’t see this in normal life. It’s like you take a science fiction movie — look at this person getting eaten up… If I simply state the facts, [the American Nuclear Society and DOE] accuse me of being emotional and over-involved… They say thyroid cancer’s a slow-moving disease and people don’t die.
- Part 5 at 1:00 in — Last Christmas my mother was still alive… I was going to Oak Ridge for a meeting and my mom said you could visit our old friends… she listed 6 couples… she just kept saying, ‘No, they’re dead. No that’s right, they died… Well, they’re all dead, I guess you don’t have to visit any of them.’ She didn’t think it remarkable that they’re all dead… There’s this incredible number of my parents’ colleagues who are dead from cancer… They just didn’t want to put 2 + 2 together and say, ‘Everybody’s dead from cancer, isn’t that weird?’ Yes, it is weird –and now you are both dead of cancer mom and dad… just the strangest, fast-moving cancers. If you could put all my parents friends together would be just 2% to 3% of them alive still, it is so amazing.
- Part 5 at 13:00 in — No [family] history of thyroid disease yet 4 of 4 members of my family developed [it]… There are lots of families with multiple incidence.
Japan’s new Industry Minister joins pro nuclear propaganda exercise
Japan Industry Minister attempts to convince public on nuclear power, Deccan Chronicle, AFP | September 21, 2014 Tokyo: Japan’s new Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi said on Sunday that the resource-poor nation should be realistic about its energy needs as the government tries to convince a sceptical public on the necessity of nuclear power.
More than three years after the disaster at Fukushima, where a tsunami sent reactors into meltdown, the Japanese public remains unconvinced of the safety of the technology.
The difficult task of winning them round has fallen to Obuchi, appointed the country’s first female minister of economy, trade and industry by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe….
……Japan’s nuclear watchdog earlier this month gave a green light to plans to restart two reactors, more than three years after the Fukushima disaster.
However, hurdles still remain, including getting the consent of local communities in a country still scarred by the catastrophe where all 48 viable reactors are offline.
Widespread anti-nuclear sentiment has simmered in Japan ever since the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 caused meltdowns at Fukushima, sparking the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl.
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes, many of whom have not been allowed to return, with scientists warning some areas might have to be abandoned forever. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/140921/world-neighbours/article/japan-industry-minister-attempts-convince-public-nuclear-power
Iran seeks to negotiate about combating ISIS and nuclear power
Iran seeks give and take on militants, nuclear program BY PARISA HAFEZI AND LOUIS CHARBONNEAU UNITED NATIONS Sun Sep 21, 2014 (Reuters) – Iran is ready to work with the United States and its allies to stop Islamic State militants, but would like to see more flexibility on Iran’s uranium enrichment program, senior Iranian officials told Reuters.
The comments from the officials, who asked not to be named, highlight how difficult it may be for the Western powers to keep the nuclear negotiations separate from other regional conflicts. Iran wields influence in the Syrian civil war and on the Iraqi government, which is fighting the advance of Islamic State fighters.
Iran has sent mixed signals about its willingness to cooperate on defeating Islamic State (IS), a hardline Sunni Islamist group that has seized large swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq and is blamed for a wave of sectarian violence, beheadings and massacres of civilians.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said recently that he vetoed a U.S. overture to the Islamic Republic to work together on defeating IS, but U.S. officials said there was no such offer. In public, both Washington and Tehran have ruled out cooperating militarily in tackling the IS threat.
But in private, Iranian officials have voiced a willingness to work with the United States on IS, though not necessarily on the battlefield. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that Iran has a role to play in defeating Islamic State, indicating the U.S. position may also be shifting………http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/21/us-iran-nuclear-exclusive-idUSKBN0HG03T20140921
Resolution in US Senate opposing Canadian nuclear waste dump plan for Lake Huron area
Senate resolution urges Obama administration to oppose Canadian nuclear waste near Lake Huron Star Tribune, : Associated Press September 21, 2014 TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — U.S. Sen. Carl Levin has introduced a resolution urging the Obama administration to oppose a Canadian proposal to bury radioactive waste less than a mile from Lake Huron.
A federal panel in Canada is taking testimony on the plan to store low- and intermediate-level waste from nuclear power plants in rock chambers more than 2,000 feet below the surface.
Ontario Power Generation proposes storing low- and intermediate-level waste from nuclear power plants in rock chambers at a site in Kincardine, Ontario, about 140 miles north-northeast of Detroit. ………
According to the resolution, “more than 40 million people in Canada and the United States depend on the fresh water from the Great Lakes for drinking water” and “a spill of nuclear waste into the Great Lakes could have lasting and severely adverse environmental, health and economic impacts on the Great Lakes and the people that depend on them for their livelihood.”
The resolution, co-sponsored by Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Mark Kirk, R-Ill.; and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., urges President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry “to take appropriate action to work with the Canadian government” to prevent building of a permanent nuclear waste repository within the Great Lakes Basin.
U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint., sponsored a similar measure in the House earlier this month.http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/275945461.html
Japan’s government looks to financially supporting the nuclear industry
Editorial: Nuclear plant support measures run counter to official policy, Mainichi 22 Sept 14 拡大写真The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is considering boosting support for nuclear power plants as Japan moves toward full liberalization of its electricity retailing market.
Under the system eyed by the ministry, consumers would shoulder the huge costs of building and decommissioning reactors so that even if there were an electricity price war, power companies wouldn’t go into the red. In essence, the system makes it easy to build and rebuild nuclear power plants and maintain them in the future.
But proposals that attempt to extend the life of nuclear power plants when the government has yet to present a picture for the future of the nation’s energy policies cannot be justified.
Nuclear power costs much more than thermal and other forms of power, yet for decades power companies have recovered expenses, protected by regional monopolies and the full cost pricing method that tacks the cost of producing electricity onto power bills.
With the full liberalization of electricity retailing set to be implemented in fiscal 2016, however, those power companies will lose their regional monopolies. And then the full cost pricing method will be abolished. If more newcomers enter the electricity market and the price of electricity drops, it will become even harder for power companies to recover costs associated with nuclear power.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry therefore proposed new measures to support nuclear power at a meeting to deliberate the role of the nation’s nuclear power plants. With respect to the system guaranteeing a set price for electricity produced though nuclear power, the ministry proposed that the cost of decommissioning nuclear reactors and the disposing of spent nuclear fuel be made part of a standard price, with consumers forced to cover the difference if the market price falls below that standard.
The ministry is also reportedly set to consider revisions to accounting systems to ease the effects of reactor decommissioning on management.
In terms of fuel alone, nuclear power plants can be run more cheaply than oil-fired power plants or those running on liquefied natural gas. This is probably why power companies are rushing to restart reactors. But when it comes to building a new nuclear plant or rebuilding an existing one, then the circumstances are entirely different. The latest support measures indicate that if market principles were to be given free reign, then the option of maintaining nuclear power would vanish…….http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20140918p2a00m0na003000c.html
Anxiety over new plutonium leak at USA’s Nuclear Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)
Reuters: Investigation suggests another drum with plutonium ruptured at US nuclear site — TV: “There are new concerns at WIPP that there could be another radiation leak” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-new-concerns-could-be-another-radiation-leak-nuclear-site-reuters-new-investigation-suggests-another-drum-plutonium-ruptured-video?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Joe Franco, DOE official, Sept. 18, 2014 (at 41:00 in): “As you probably heard… there’s been some items about a 2nd drum in Panel 6… We’ve taken into consideration, that what if we had that event again while our folks are in the underground… What’s come out insinuates that we have another potential drum… We’re taking things seriously.” >> Watch video here
Reuters, Sept. 19, 2014 (emphasis added):Second container possibly leaked at New Mexico nuclear dump — A second container of plutonium-contaminated debris may have contributed to a radiation leak [at New Mexico’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant] a U.S. Energy Department official said on Thursday…. “What has come out insinuates we have another potential drum,” Joe Franco, manager of the Energy Department field office in Carlsbad that oversees the plant, told a public meeting. Franco said further investigation of the underground suggests the rupture of an additional barrel of nuclear waste…
KRQE, Sept 18, 2014: Concerns about future WIPP leak emerge… new concerns at WIPP that there could be another radiation leak >> Video here
Albuquerque Journal, Sept. 18, 2014: Concern over another WIPP drum… State Sen. Peter Wirth… said there’s also concern that the WIPP area where the… drum is stored has not been sealed and that the Department of Energy has not presented a promised “recovery plan” for cleaning up WIPP
Santa Fe New Mexican, Sept. 18, 2014: “It’s concerning that… the problem was presented to us as one drum,” said state Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe… “Now the scope being represented by the lab involves more high-risk drums.”… 16 drums [contain] disturbing mixtures of waste… Twelve of the drums containing waste identified as high risk are at WIPP — 11 of them in Panel 6 [– which includes the] waste container… identified as a potential powder keg… [That panel]cannot be immediately accessed in a way that ensures radiation will not escape.
Carlsbad Current Argus, Sept. 16, 2014: “I cannot guarantee that second drum won’t go” [ LANL official Terry Wallace] said… “kitty litter and nitric acid… requires very high temperatures to initiate that, just like we had talked about at the World Trade Center… [Reactions] could have heated this drum up to the point where you would begin to have a reaction with the [litter].”
Terry Wallace, LANL official, Aug 15, 2014 (at 6:45 in): The [breached] drum was originally white, it’s now black … it was exposed to very high temperatures… The World Trade Center… came down [because of burning] paper that was contained within the filing cabinets, and that allowed temperatures to reach 1,200-1,300ºC. We worry about the same kinds of thing in drums — can you have a series of reactions? >> Watch video here
Los Alamos Monitor, Aug 22, 2014: Records about [the nitric acid] process were handwrittenand LANL cannot say with certainty whether some of the drums were fully neutralized.
Global carbon emissions to hit record high in 2014
Global carbon report: emissions will hit new heights in 2014, The Conversation, Pep Canadell Executive director, Global Carbon Project at CSIRO Michael Raupach Director of the Climate Change Institute at Australian National University, 22 September 2014,
As heads of state gather in New York for tomorrow’s United Nations climate summit, a new report on the state of the world’s carbon budget tells them that greenhouse emissions hit a new record last year, and are still growing.
The Global Carbon Project has released its annual report card on the global and national trends in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
It shows that global emissions from burning fossil fuels and cement production reached a new record of 36 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2013, and are predicted to grow by a further 2.5% in 2014, bringing the total CO2 emissions from all sources to more than 40 billion tonnes. This is about 65% more fossil-fuel emission than in 1990, when international negotiations to reduce emissions to address climate change began……..
Is it too late to tame the climate?
Our estimates (see here and here) show that, at current emissions levels, average global warming will hit 2C in about 30 years.
Despite this apparently imminent event, economic models can still come up with scenarios in which global warming is kept within 2C by 2100, while both population and per capita wealth continue to grow. Are these models playing tricks on us?…
http://theconversation.com/global-carbon-report-emissions-will-hit-new-heights-in-2014-31834?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+21+September+2014+-+1934&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+21+September+2014+-+1934+CID_cc30f6107f0d3fcd110e8e0dd6549531&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Global%20carbon%20report%20emissions%20will%20hit%20new%20heights%20in%20201
Japanese town finds a way to regulate against nuclear waste plans for its area
Tochigi town passes water-protection ordinance to block nuclear waste plans THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, 21 Sept 14 A town in Tochigi Prefecture has found a novel way to block the construction of a final disposal site for radioactive waste from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis by passing an ordinance that will protect its natural resources.
The ordinance, passed unanimously by the Shioya town assembly on Sept. 19, will protect an area that includes local springs, as well as mountain forest that was designated by the Environment Ministry as a candidate for the final disposal facility.
The ministry plans to use the site to store designated waste which contains more than 8,000 becquerels of radioactivity per kilogram.
Under the ordinance, the town government aims to protect the quality and quantity of water in springs, including the Shojinzawa Yusui, recognized by the ministry as one of the best 100 natural waters in Japan……..A group opposed to the construction of the disposal site had gathered more than 60,000 signatures inside and outside the prefecture as of Sept. 19, more than five times the town’s population……. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201409200104
Japan’s politicians look for nuclear plan B – burying reactors
Politicians mull idea of burying power plants Politicians discuss plan B in nuclear power push: underground reactors, Japan Times BY ERIC JOHNSTON 21 Sept 14 For more than four decades, the Kansai region has relied on Fukui Prefecture’s nuclear power plants, including 11 operated by Kansai Electric Power Co. (Kepco), to keep the region powered up.
But now that a growing number of plants are nearing or have reached the end of their 40-year life cycle, the question is: What’s next?
While most of the discussion is focused on whether to continue running or decommission them, there is an interesting — to be polite — school of thought among certain politicians that says they should be replaced with underground reactors……http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/09/21/national/politics-diplomacy/atomic-plan-b-go-underground/#.VCChHpRdUnk
Sea-based nuclear weapons being developed by Pakistan
Pakistan developing sea-based and short-range nuclear weapons: report Livemint 21 Sept 14 Pakistan to develop nuclear warheads suitable for deployment from Indian Ocean, either from warships or from its submarines, report saysIslamabad/Washington: Pakistan is developing sea-based missiles and expanding its interest in tactical nuclear warheads to give it a “second-strike” capability if a catastrophic nuclear attack destroyed all its land-based weapons, according to a media report on Sunday. The next step of Pakistan’s strategy includes an effort to develop nuclear warheads suitable for deployment from the Indian Ocean, either from warships or from one of the country’s five diesel-powered Navy submarines, The Washington Post reported quoting Pakistani and Western analysts…….
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/NvrdWIYVzgef8b24VLV1TL/Pakistan-developing-seabased-and-shortrange-nuclear-weapon.html?utm_source=copy
China joins the nuclear marketing frenzy to sell to India
China joins nations eyeing India’s civil nuclear sector, Cold Air Currents, 21 Sept 14 Yahoo News UK: NEW DELHI (Reuters) – China became the latest nation to line up for a stake in India’s civil nuclear energy drive on Thursday, agreeing to open talks on cooperation in a sector that New Delhi sees as the solution to its chronic power problems.
...”I think the Chinese are looking basically at the commercial angle, since India is going to be giving contracts for nearly $150 billion in the next 10-15 years,” said Srikanth Kondapalli, a China watcher at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
The announcement, made after Xi met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, comes on the heels of a deal India struck earlier this month to buy uranium from Australia to increase its fuel supplies.
Days before that, Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to accelerate talks on a nuclear energy pact……http://coldaircurrents.luftonline.net/2014/09/china-joins-nations-eyeing-indias-civil.html
1 This Month.
Nuclear Power? -Never again
(Switzerland –https://www.greenpeace.ch/de/handeln/atomkraft-nie-wieder/+)
PETITION – Close Down the Monticello Nuclear Reactor on the Mississippi River!
Now until to February 10, 2026 Radioactive waste storage in France: the debate is finally open! How to participate?
of the week. STAND – Severnside Together Against Nuclear Development . THE TRUE FACTS ABOUT NUCLEAR POWER
Why it is: Unaffordable – Dangerous – Unnecessary – Bad For The Environment
-
Archives
- December 2025 (29)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (377)
- September 2025 (258)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
- June 2025 (348)
- May 2025 (261)
- April 2025 (305)
- March 2025 (319)
- February 2025 (234)
- January 2025 (250)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 