2015 February 25 « nuclear-news

Quebec City fo rthe first time hosting World Uranium Symposium April 14-16

For the first time in Québec City, Canada The World Uranium Symposium http://www.incentivetravel.co.uk/news/venuesevents/25114-for-the-first-time-in-quebec-city-canada-the-world-uranium-symposium 23 February 2015
The World Uranium Symposium will be held for the first time in Québec City, Canada, from April 14 to 16, 2015, at the Québec City Convention Centre. Organized by medical associations and civil society partners, the symposium will welcome more than 100 national and international specialists who will examine major questions associated with the nuclear fuel chain, including issues related to economic trends in the industry, safety and governance, social and environmental aspects, health, ethics, human rights, and indigenous peoples’ rights.

“We’re very pleased to be able to present the World Uranium Symposium in Québec this year. This is an important event and a unique opportunity for specialists and the public alike to explore the key issues pertaining to the nuclear fuel chain,” says Dr. Juan Carlos Chirgwin, Faculty lecturer at McGill University and president of Physicians for Global Survival (1985 Nobel Peace Prize).

2015: a key year for debating the future of nuclear energy
The World Uranium Symposium is taking place in a unique international context: rising costs and safety issues related to the Fukushima accidents in 2011 have led many countries to question the future of nuclear energy, which currently generates about 11% of the world’s electricity. This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the United Nations’ negotiations in New York for the Non-Proliferation Treaty. A new United Nations climate agreement will also be signed in Paris this year. All of these issues form the backdrop for the Symposium, whose primary aim is to make key recommendations to public policy makers to ensure increased protection of health, safety and the environment (see Preliminary Program).

Speakers at the Symposium include Helen Mary Caldicott (Australia), cofounder of Physicians for Social Responsibility; Arnie Gundersen (USA), international nuclear safety expert, former nuclear industry senior executive and author of a bestseller about the Fukushima; Mycle Shneider (France), international expert on energy and nuclear policies, author of the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report; Sara Olsvig (Greenland), leader of the Ataqatigiit party and member of the Danish Parliament; Peter Prebble (Canada), former Saskatchewan cabinet minister; Doug Brugge (United States), Department of Public Health at Tufts University, author of The Navajo People and Uranium Mining; Ian Fairlie (Great Britain), former advisor to the UK government on the radiation risks of the nuclear industry; and Mariette Liefferink (South Africa), CEO, Federation for a Sustainable Environment.

The Symposium is jointly organized by Physicians for Global Survival (1985 Nobel Peace Prize), the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Nature Québec, the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility and the Coalition pour que le Québec ait meilleure mine. It also receives support from the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Swiss chapter), the First Nations of Québec and Labrador Sustainable Development Institute, the Cree Nation of Mistissini, MiningWatch Canada, and a number of other local, national and international partners.

February 25, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | ACTION | Leave a comment

Apple’s two Entirely Renewable Energy Data Centres – $2.5 Billion investment

Apple’s Investing $2.5 Billion On Two Entirely Renewable Energy Data Centres http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/02/apples-investing-2-5-billion-on-two-entirely-renewable-energy-data-centres/

GERALD LYNCH – GIZMODO UKApple has just announced that it is to invest €1.7 billion ($2.5 billion) in two new “state-of-the-art” data centres for Europe, located in Ireland and Denmark. The sites in County Galway and Denmark’s central Jutland will use 100 per cent renewable energy and power Apple’s iTunes Store, App Store, iMessage and Maps applications and Siri voice assistant.Measuring 166,000 square metres apiece, the data centres will begin operations in 2017, and each will support a specific local initiative too. The County Galway project will include a scheme to recover land previously used for the harvesting of non-native trees and return native flora to the area, along with an outdoor education space for schools. The Danish data centre will capture excess heat and return it to the district’s heating system to warm local homes.
It’s the latest in a recent burst of green-friendly moves by Apple, with the company also recently announcing plans to build a giant solar farm in Monterey, California.

February 25, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

“Land of Hope” and “Infant ” depict aspects of Fukushima, raise questions about the future

Although Land of Hope and Infant depict only some of the aspects experienced amid the unfolding ‘Fukushima’ nuclear disaster, these artistic works reflect not only what was or is, but also what is to be. They elicit the future as it speaks to us in the present. The question is, are we listening?

Conflicting ImmunitiesPriorities of Life and Sovereign amid the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear DisasterAdam Broinowski, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University [About | Email]

Volume 14, Issue 3 (Article 13 in 2014). First published in ejcjs on 23 December 2014.

Abstract

Through an analysis of two artistic works, a fiction film titled Kibō no Kuni (Land of Hope) (script/direction Sono Shion 2012), and a theatre performance titled Infant by Gekidan Kaitaisha (2013), this paper explores the increasing visibility of the structures of power which support the communities affected by the March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan. The paper suggests that there has been an attempt to resolve the contradictions between biological and political/economic forms of immunity that have emerged by asserting the necessity of national/military forms of immunity as mechanisms to minimise short-term economic hardship, but which may have dire long-term consequences…….. Continue reading →

February 25, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment