Japan’s nuclear regulators have begun testing a new radiation data-publicizing system for residents near a power plant.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority says it has begun to test-run the system it has developed in an area surrounding the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, western Japan.
Kyushu Electric Power Company aims to bring the plant back online next month.
The new system enables the central government and municipalities to provide their radiation data online for other organizations as well as for local residents during emergencies.
The system will allow users to access a special site on the Authority’s website to obtain such data in the event of a nuclear accident.
In the case of the Sendai plant, the website provides updated figures from 73 observation points within a 30-kilometer radius from the plant, as well as from cars equipped with radiation-monitoring equipment.
Figures are colored in red or yellow when they exceed government standards.
New nuclear emergency guidelines call for the evacuation of residents within a 5- to 30-kilometer radius from a power plant if radiation levels exceed the government limit.
The government reviewed the guidelines following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident.
The regulators say they will fully launch the system in August after one month of testing. They say they will also set up web sites for other nuclear power plants.
In the first part of the show we have a stunning expose on the Far Right British National party. Thanks to the investigative work of www.hopenothate.org.uk we have testimony from an ex BNP member Dawn Charlton. This is really a must watch breaking story.
Next up we have Wayne Jones ( https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=556777632&fref=ts )who is an anti nuclear activist and campaigner who breaks down some worrying issues with new and old nuclear power stations in Europe such as the risk of Flooding of coastal nuclear sites due to Global Warming effects on the Oceans and Ukranian nuclear sites under threat of accident or sabotage.
We also inform people that the powerful 60 Minutes show from Australia has now uploaded the Investigative report on Paedophileia cases in the UK government “Spies , Lords and Predators here; http://www.9jumpin.com.au/show/60minutes/videos/4361923189001/
In the second part of the show we have an exclusive and unique report from Candyce Paul who is a First Nations activist who has been sharing information to people who were threatened by the huge record breaking wildfires, reported in the Main Stream Media, in the northern Territories in Canada. We get to understand the social and spiritual diffculties that face evacuess and future effects of these wildfires on the local tribal communities who have been made homeless (link to support info should be placed here soon) . A link to Candyse`s Activist page with a running history of effects and solutions cann be found here;
This was a great interview jam packed full of information concerning the wildfires not being reported by the main stream media.
Following The Canadian report from Candyce we step right into out Extinction Report with Kevin Hester and consider the full global ramifications of the seriousness of this disaster both now and in the future.
Tony Rochford the Irish Hunger striker currently refusing fluids!
The Third Part of the show looks at the various activist news centered in Ireland with amazing testimonies from activist regarding a wide range of issues. We wish to bring to your attention the terrible case of the Irish activist who has gone on hunger strike and is refusing water still after 3 days to highlight health problems with building practises in Ireland, that he has been campaigning against. A phone call from a callous government minister to the wife of Tony Rochfordsaid that he;
“hoped that Mr Rochford would stop the hunger strike”
…. instead of addressing his concerns in any way. We discuss this story with a colleague of Tony called Ashling Lowe ( https://www.facebook.com/ashling.lowe.3?fref=ts )who was concerned by the lack of coverage in the media on this story. We are concerned about his health and hope by raising the issue will encourage Tony to not keep refusing water and medical help whilst he continues his hunger strike so please get this story out to the public!
Other guest we have are talking about the Landmark court ruling that allows protesters the right to carry out actions in a peacful manner with full support of the courts. This is a blow to the bullying tactics of Shell Oil and their PR and security companies This is bucking the trend in the rest of Europe where protesters are being made illegal and/or facing punitive charges and harrasment.
Image source courtesy of Donal O`Kelley
We break down some of the backstory with in show that you will not hear in the main stream media. We have Donal O`Kelly of Irish PALFEST (Actor , Writer and Poet) who was at the Shell Oil court hearing and also discusses his support for the Gaza victims of oppression with his art instalation of 558 kids Tee-shirts on a beach in Dublin last week (representing the dead children of last years attacks in Gaza). https://www.facebook.com/donal.okelly.3?fref=ts
Image source Shannon Watch
John Lannon from Shanonwatch ( https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shannonwatch/268685181500?fref=ts )joins us to give us the good news concerning the succsesful demonstration against US military craft using Shannon Airport and we discuss the Shell Oil court case and its implications for Clare Daly and Mick Wallace (Irish Politicians) who have been charged for peaceful protest at Shannon earlier in the year.
We have Gerry Rourke one of the activists who has been absolved by the Irish Court case in an exclusive report. The audio was not good and we discuss tampering with phones on local community activists around the planned Shell Oil drilling site.
We list a load of harrasment and violence against the activists just as we see the same types of strategies being employed in the Gulf of mexico area (affected by the BP Gulf Oil Spill). We discuss which corporations are involved and try to connect the dots. He recounts the Norwegians saying that the;
“Irish musy be mad giving their natural resources away instead of nationalising it”
…after a Shell Oil activist group visited Statoil to ask how their system runs.
Stephen Manning of Integrity Ireland joins us to update us on his legal situation concerning alleged Gardai Harrasment and he offers us a quick update on the case of Joe Doocey and the Gardais charges against him.
Nuclear Communicatiion, by Suzanne Waldmann, The Energy Collective, 2 March 2015,”……. what, outside of simply providing information, can the industry do to shift people’s thoughts and feelings about nuclear?
A number of communicative tacks were floated at the CNA conference. One was better dialogue with communities, given the reasonable need communities have tofeel control over their destinies……Another option is to accelerate technological improvements. Famed climate scientist and nuclear supporter James Hansen told me that to accept nuclear power more broadly “the public needs to see things becoming safer.” ……..
there was a sense at the conference that the nuclear industry should be developing communication strategies to nudge a cultural shift amongst the public along at least one of two lines.
The first line is towards greater public pragmatism……….. the public health benefits of nuclear power ought to be foregrounded was an idea that percolated throughout the conference. ..
The second line is towards greater public optimism. Leslie Dewan testified that the spirit of the “Atoms for Peace” era—the exciting early days of atomic energy—is currently being rekindled among young nuclear engineers. How to rekindle that excitement about human ingenuity and transformative technology broadly across society is the most difficult question for nuclear communication. …..
American sailors on the USS Reagan got really sick after having snowball fights with radioactive snow blowing off of the coasts of Fukushima. University of Alaska professors Doug Dasher, John Kelley, Gay Sheffield, and Raphaela Stimmelmayr theorize that radioactive snow might have also caused Alaska’s seals to become sick er plant resulting in a major nuclear accident that included a large release of airborne radionuclides into theenvironment.
Within five days of the accident atmospheric air masses carrying Fukushima radiation were transiting into the northern Bering and Chukchi seas. During summer 2011 it became evidentto coastal communities and wildlife management agencies that there was a novel disease outbreak occurring in several species of Arctic ice-associated seals. Gross symptoms associated with the disease included lethargy, no new hair growth, andskin lesions, with the majority of the outbreak reports occurring between the Nome and Barrow region. NOAA and USFWS declared an Alaska Northern Pinnipeds Usual Mortality Event (UME) in late winter of 2011.
The ongoing Alaska 2011 Northern Pinnipeds UME investigation continues to explore a mix of potential etiologies (infectious, endocrine, toxins, nutritious etc.), including radioactivity. Currently, the underlying etiology remains undetermined [i.e. scientists don’t yet know what caused the seals’ sickness, but they think it might have been Fukushima radiation]. We present results on gamma analysis (cesium 134 and 137) of muscle tissue from control and diseased seals, and discuss wildlife health implications from different possible routes of exposure to Fukushima fallout to ice seals. Continue reading →
Japan Green Tea Exports Banned Due To High Radiation Levels, Planet Save, June 12th, 2012 by Shellee Tyler “……According to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, several of Japan’s tea-making regions are being banned from exporting their green tea harvests due to high levels of radiation.So far, some of the banned areas include: Tochigi, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Ibaraki.
Green tea plantations were first highlighted as suffering from potential radiation contamination last month following the results of sample tests in Kanagawa prefecture. The authorities discovered around 570 becquerels of caesium per kilogram in leaves grown in the city of Minamiashigara – compared to the legal limit of 500 – and started a recall of tea products.
Tea leaves are the latest agricultural products in Japan to be affected by problems surrounding the still-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
From milk to spinach, a raft of items have fallen under the spotlight due to radiation fears although Japanese authorities have assured the public and its export nations that it is strictly regulating products.
While it seems that areas around the nuclear crisis will never recover, tens of thousands of farmers have lost their livelihood due to soil contamination and food safety fears.
Seas willcontinuetowarm for centuries even if manmade greenhouse gas emissions were frozen at today’s levels, say US government scientists The warming of the oceans due to climate change is now unstoppable after record temperatures last year, bringing additional sea-level rise, and raising the risks of severe storms, US government climate scientists said on Thursday.
“For the United States, because of a congressional action, to isolate our country on such an important issue, would be devastating to our standing in the world,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “If Congress killed this agreement, it would have a terrible impact.”
The U.S. struck the deal in cooperation with Russia, China, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
Republicans and some Democrats are expressing serious concerns about the agreement, which will lift economic sanctions against Tehran in exchange for imposing limits on Iran’s nuclear program. President Obama said it’s the best way to ensure that Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon for at least the next 10 years.
Mr. Earnest said international sanctions “would collapse” if the U.S. kills the agreement.
“Iran would still obtain the financial benefits of sanctions relief,” he said. “Iran will get all the benefits of this deal without having to give up anything.”
The president’s spokesman also said the administration isn’t trying to disregard Congress by requesting the U.N. Security Council to approve the agreement before Congress can review it. Congress has 60 days to debate the accord.
Iran nuclear deal a win for non-proliferationTHE AUSTRALIAN JULY 20, 2015 CHRIS PATTEN THE AUSTRALIAN JULY 20, 2015Let us give praise where it is richly deserved. Despite all the criticism they faced, US President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State, John Kerry, stuck doggedly to the task of negotiating a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program. Together with representatives of Britain, Russia, China, France, and Germany, they have now succeeded.
The main terms of this historic agreement, concluded in the teeth of opposition from Israel, Iran’s regional competitors (particularly Saudi Arabia), and the political Right in the US, seek to rein in Iran’s nuclear activities so that civil capacity cannot be swiftly weaponised. In exchange for inspection and monitoring of nuclear sites, the international economic sanctions imposed years ago on Iran will be lifted.
This is a significant moment in the nuclear age. Since 1945, the terrifying destructive force of nuclear weapons has encouraged political leaders to search for ways to control them…………
We know how the Bush strategy turned out. The talks collapsed: no compromise, no agreement. Today, a deal has been concluded; but it is less good than the deal that could have been reached a decade ago — a point worth keeping in mind as the likes of former vice-president Dick Cheney and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu start hollering from the sidelines.As it is, not only will an agreement add cement to the NPT; it could also open the way to the sort of understanding with Iran that is essential to any broad diplomatic moves to control and halt the violence sweeping across western Asia.
Peach Bottom nuclear power plant could run out of spent fuel storage space in 2019 There is no available off-site storage for spent fuel rods, ydr.com Local News, By Brett Sholtis bsholtis@ydr.com @BrettSholtis on Twitter 07/18/2015 Most people will never get a chance to stare down at nuclear fuel rods submerged in the eerie blue water of a spent fuel pool.
For Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station employees, however, working near tens of thousands of used fuel rods — still lethally radioactive — is business as usual.
Some of those rods have been in the fuel pool since 1976, according to Krista Connelly, spokeswoman for the southern York County power plant.
But with nowhere off-site to store the fuel, Connelly said Peach Bottom is running out of places to put it. Continue reading →
Drought and earthquakes pose “enormous risk” to China’s nuclear plans, China Dialogue Wang Yi’nan 27.02.2013
China’s nuclear industry is shifting inland, away from the crowded coast. It’s a risky move, argues Wang Yi’nan When the Fukushima nuclear disaster struck, China was building new nuclear power capacity at a rate unprecedented in world history: 40% of all reactors planned or under construction were in China. Targets for installed nuclear generation capacity by 2020 were raised repeatedly – from 40 gigawatts in 2007 to 80 gigawatts in 2010.
Preparations were also under way for more than 20 inland nuclear power plants. The 41-plus gigawatts of capacity already completed or under construction lies along China’s seaboard. Space is running out.
But Fukushima sent shockwaves through the nuclear industry. In China, focus shifted from the speed and scale of expansion to questions of safety and quality. The government placed a moratorium on approvals for new nuclear plants, which lasted for more than a year, a period during which debate on what to do raged – over safety, scale of expansion, technology, site locations and, most crucially, whether or not the process of considering applications to build new inland nuclear power plants should be restarted.
China’s nuclear moratorium may have been lifted, but those arguments continue today……..China’s realities warn against inland nuclear development.
Figures from the China Earthquake Administration’s Institute of Geology show that, since 1900, China has been hit by almost 800 earthquakes of magnitude six or above, causing destruction in all regions except Guizhou, Zhejiang and Hong Kong. Despite having only 7% of the world’s landmass, China – where three tectonic plates meet – gets more than a third of all strong continental earthquakes.
Moreover, China’s per-head freshwater resources are only one quarter of the global average. Inland nuclear power plants require a failsafe, 100% reliable and never-ending supply of water for cooling. Even if a reactor stops operating it still requires water to carry off heat. If the water dries up, we could see a Fukushima-style disaster, with terrible consequences: radioactive pollutants released into nearby rivers and lakes, affecting the safety of water on which hundreds of millions rely.
In June last year, Reuters covered a report by European and US scientists on the vulnerabilities of nuclear and thermal power to climate change. According to the report, “under climate change, a lack of water for cooling is severely restricting generating capacity at nuclear power plants in the EU and US. In the summer seasons of 2003 to 2009, many inland nuclear power plants were forced to shut down due to a lack of cooling water.”
The authors predicted that “due to a lack of water for cooling, between 2030 and 2060 nuclear and thermal generating capacity will drop 4-16% in the US, and 6-19% in the EU,” and went on to stress that “opting to build nuclear and other thermal power plants by the sea is an effective and important strategy to cope with climate change.”
China is densely populated and prone to both drought and earthquakes, making the development of inland nuclear power inadvisable. It has also long sought to emulate the EU and US, regions which have now realised the outlook for inland nuclear power is bleak. China should not make the same mistake……… Safety standards still not being met
Moreover, there are still limits to China’s ability to run nuclear power plants.
During the State Council’s safety audit of 41 reactors in operation or under construction, some plants and fuel recycling facilities were found not to meet new safety standards for flood and earthquake resilience, while some plants did not have procedures for preventing or mitigating major accidents. Others had not evaluated tsunami risks and responses.
The Taishan Nuclear Power Plant has no guidelines for managing a major accident, for example. The Taishan No.2 reactor, Ling’Ao and Tianwan Nuclear Power Plants have procedures only for certain types of major accident……..
China has better and more realistic options to relieve energy shortages and cut emissions. These include more efficient use of resources including coal; the promotion of energy-saving techniques such as the use of energy performance contracting(where energy savings from new buildings systems pay for the cost of a building renewal project) a tool which, if used in China as it is in the EU, would save the equivalent of several Three Gorges Dams’ worth of energy.
Comprehensive clean-energy solutions, incorporating solar power, wind power, bioenergy, pumped-storage hydropower and natural gas peak power plants, can provide China with the clean, reliable and efficient energy it needs for a new type of industrialisation.
Plans to build Canada’s first permanent nuclear waste storage facility are heading to court.
A citizen’s group called Save Our Saugeen Shores has asked the Federal Court of Canada to put the project on ice.
They are appealing for a judicial review of the Joint Review Panel decision of May 7th, which recommended approval of the multi-million dollar project. Following six weeks of public hearings and months of deliberation a three-person panel recommended Ontario Power Generation be allowed to build an underground facility near Lake Huron to house all of Ontario’s low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste.
If approved by the federal government, it would be Canada’s first permanent nuclear waste storage facility.
Save our Saugeen Shores argues the Joint Review Panel erred in their decision because of “multiple legal errors, bias-tainted process, and its acceptance of evidence of, and reliance on, deceptive and unlawful conduct.”
Jill Taylor is president of Save our Saugeen Shores. She says “If the federal government is not prepared to respect its own environmental laws and processes, how can they expect Canadian industry and the Canadian public to do so?”
The federal environment minister has moved a deadline to make a final decision on the project until early December. The deadline was initially early September, before October’s federal election.
Save our Saugeen Shores wants the Joint Review Panel decision quashed and a new, more thorough process to be undertaken before allowing Ontario Power Generation to proceed with construction.
If built, 200,000 cubic metres of low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste would be buried within 1.5 kilometres of Lake Huron on the Bruce Power site north of Kincardine. If approved by the federal Ministry of the Environment, construction could begin by 2018.
Are Canada’s nuclear power plants ready in case of disaster?,The Star.com Meltdown at Fukushima forced nuclear facilities across the country to review their fail-safe measures, but the modifications being put in place might still be inadequate. By: Kevin Bissett The Canadian Press, Jul 18 2015
FREDERICTON—More than four years after an earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown of three nuclear reactors in Japan, lessons learned are still being put into place at nuclear power plants in Canada.
But one critic is questioning whether the industry and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission have gone far enough in preparing for potential disasters, particularly in light of climate change.
Shawn-Patrick Stensil, a nuclear industry observer with Greenpeace, said that, while the technical changes mandated by the commission are good, there also needs to be a new mindset in the nuclear industry after what happened at the Fukushima Dai-ichi facility.
Using a recent licence-renewal hearing for the Bruce nuclear plants in Ontario as an example, he said discussions on tornado strengths were inadequate and more severe weather must be considered as a result of climate change.
“Fukushima should be a warning that we should be looking at these new, more extreme weather events in the risk assessments of all plants globally, and we haven’t done that yet,” Stensil added.
Ramzi Jammal, executive vice-president of the commission, said it launched a review of Canadian nuclear power plants shortly after the March 2011 accident at Fukushima. Two years later, it produced a report and identified changes that must be completed by the end of this year.
“We need to expect the unexpected,” he said.
Before Fukushima, Jammal said the emphasis in the nuclear industry was on design and prevention, but now it’s on prevention and mitigation. “Now we’re saying accidents are going to occur. We are going to design and put into place emergency measures to deal with off-site consequences,” he said.
The effort is to make nuclear power plants completely self-sufficient in situations that would stress a facility beyond most reasonable and probable scenarios, Jammal said.
He said that means making each facility able to provide its own backup power, cooling water and other key safety measures to protect a reactor in the event of earthquakes, tornadoes, blackouts and even terrorism. They need to be self-sufficient for three days to a week, depending on how remote the facility is located.
At New Brunswick’s Point Lepreau nuclear power plant, it has meant a number of measures including increasing the number of diesel generators to four from two, adding a new building for emergency equipment, installing a large diesel storage tank, and adding pumps and hoses to ensure a supply of water to maintain cooling of radioactive fuel…………
Stensil said the industry in Canada must not dismiss possible events because they have a low probability of happening.
There has also been little examination by the nuclear safety commission of an accident involving multiple reactors, said Stensil, who is based in Toronto.
Could Nuclear Fallout Make Infectious Diseases More Devastating?, Radiation Prevention, July 15In this post we explore the adverse health effects of ionizing radiation on the body and its ability to combat disease.
As of late, the spread of deadly contagious diseases have been accelerating, with an increased number of viral outbreaks all within the last few months (February – July 2014).
In contrast, so has the risk of exposure to ionizing radiation, so I decided to take a deeper look at how this exposure might play a role in concurrent viral epidemics and pandemics. There is a domino-effect currently unfolding; nuclear fallout could increase the potency of infectious diseases, in addition to further propelling a heightened cancer epidemic which has been underway for decades.
8 Deadly Outbreaks and Counting…….
With the lifespan of man made radiation measured in the hundreds and thousands of years, there is no doubt in my mind that radiation will have a key role in how quickly viruses spread, and how deadly their efficacy. If this isn’t already happening today, my guess is that it will in the future.
A Correlation?The immune system is responsible for protecting your body from bacterial, viral, and fungal infections, in addition to aiding the body in healing wounds and damage to your skin and internal organs. Your bone marrow makes about one thousand million white blood cells every single day, of varying types, each with a unique purpose. Some of these white blood cells are called macrophages, and they constantly patrol your body and destroy germs as they come across them.
This is your ‘natural’ or inborn immunity. If an infection begins to proliferate, your body fights back with an even more powerful defence of T-cells and B-cells. These cells grant your body an immunity, so that the same germ can never make you as sick again. It’s a pretty genius defence mechanism.
On the other hand, radiation works by damaging DNA cells and killing host bone marrow, where white blood cells come from. Radiation prohibits their ability to replenish themselves, along with other rapidly dividing cells such as hair, or cells lining a hosts gastrointestinal tract —which is why cancer patients receiving radiation therapy lose their hair and throw up often.
With an immune system compromised to such a degree, the host is more susceptible to infections the average person is less susceptible to; Infections such as giardia, toxoplasmosis, cryptococcus, candida, JC virus, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy —although you are much more likely to get a common disease before any of these like a strep or staph infection.
Other diseases associated with radiation exposure include non-malignant thyroid nodular disease, parathyroid adenoma, posterior sub capsular cataracts, tumours of the brain and central nervous system, and all other cancers.
Fukushima MonkeysOne recent study of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) compared 61 monkeys living 70km (44 miles) from the the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant with 31 monkeys from the Shimokita Penisula, over 400km (249 miles) from Fukushima. The monkeys from areas in the 70km (44 mile) range impacted by fallout from the Fukushima Daichii meltdown exhibited low white and red blood cell counts, low hemoglobin levels, and tested positive for radioactive caesium.
It is believed that the presence of caesium can be linked to the soil in their habitats, as well as the tree buds and bark which the macaques feed on. This research is considered inconclusive, although both malnutrition and disease were ruled out as causes of the blood abnormalities the monkeys were experiencing. Only through time and the process of elimination will we better understand the adverse health effects on wildlife local to the area.
Common SenseIn conclusion, research is inconclusive and I cannot say there is a scientific correlation between radiation and the proliferation of ‘super viruses’.
I can only make an average joe ‘common sense correlation’: If radiation exposure weakens your immune system, and both a proliferation of deadly viral outbreaks and increased exposure of radioactive isotopes is occurring the world over —it’s pretty clear that anything which lowers our immune system is going to pose a serious challenge for our bodies to overcome this new wave of robust viruses. And because radiation has the potential to do this to us, imagine what it’s doing to weaken the natural systems and defences of the earth and its ocean.http://radiationprevention.com/correlation-radiation-immune-response-super-virus-outbreaks/
Dead Dolphins In Fukushima Stranding Found With White Radiated Lungs Japanese scientists are dumbfounded by the discovery by: Neon Nettle |@NeonNettle 17th July 2015Japanese scientists are dumbfounded by the new discovery after conducting an autopsy on a large group of dolphins that where discovered washed up on a beach close to the Fukushima disaster site.
Each dolphins lungs were white, which is according to scientists, an indication of loss of blood to the organs – a symptom of radiation poisoning.
Google Translate: Ibaraki Prefecture… for a large amount of dolphin which was launched on the shore… the National Science Museum… investigated… researchers rushed from national museums and university laboratory, about 30 people were the anatomy of the 17 animals in the field. [According to Yuko Tajima] who led the investigation.
“the lungs of most of the 17… was pure white ischemic state, visceral signs of overall clean and disease and infections were observed”… Lungs white state, that has never seen before.
Fukushima Diary, Apr 12, 2015: According to National Science Museum, most of the inspected 17 dolphins had their lungs in ischaemia state… The chief of the researching team stated “Most of the lungs looked entirely white”… internal organs were generally clean without any symptoms of disease or infection, but most of the lungs were in ischaemia state. She said “I have never seen such a state”.
Wikipedia: Ischemia is a vascular disease involving an interruption in the arterial blood supply to a tissue, organ, or extremity that, if untreated, can lead to tissue death.
Many reports have been published on the links between ischemia and radiation exposure:
“It has been shown that the ionizing radiation in small doses under certain conditions can be considered as one of starting mechanisms of… IHD [ischemic heart disease].” -Source