Japan restarting nuclear reactor – but what about Japan’s intractable problem of wastes?
Nuclear restart highlights government dilemma over lack of waste disposal sites, Japan Times BY KAYO MIMIZUKA KYODO AUG 11, 2015 With an unpopular return to nuclear power generation, Japan can no longer ignore the elephant in the room: where is the country’s highly radioactive nuclear waste going?
The reboot Tuesday of a reactor at Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai plant in Kagoshima Prefecture comes as the government struggles to find a final disposal site for high-level nuclear waste.
Currently, around 17,000 tons is sitting in temporary storage pools across the country, and the restart means the generation of even more.
Spent fuel pools at some nuclear plants will reach their capacity in as soon as three years.
A spokeswoman at Kyushu Electric said the Sendai plant’s storage pools “still have enough room,” suggesting the utility is not planning to immediately take further measures. But they are expected to become full in roughly 11 years, according to official data.
International concerns are also growing over the increase in Japan’s possession of plutonium due to its potential for falling into the wrong hands and being used to make nuclear weapons. As of the end of 2014, Japan had 47.8 tons of plutonium, up 0.7 tons from a year earlier.
Under Japan’s nuclear fuel recycle policy, plutonium extracted by reprocessing conventional uranium fuel is consumed by reactors in the form of plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel, known as MOX. But its feasibility remains uncertain, given public concerns after the Fukushima disaster.
Currently, the government plans to store nuclear waste at a final repository more than 300 meters underground. It would sit there for up to 100,000 years until radiation levels fall low enough and there is no harm to the environment……
In May, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe introduced a scheme allowing the government to choose candidate sites based on scientific grounds, including resistance to earthquakes……
Hideyuki Ban, co-director of the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, said finding a location to build a disposal site in Japan is even more difficult than in other countries due to the public’s sensitivity to nuclear power given the Fukushima crisis.
“For now, there is no national consensus at all on what to do with nuclear power generation down the road,” Ban said. “As the majority of people oppose nuclear power, surely there will be a backlash” against the government’s plan.
Since May, the government has been briefing municipalities on how it selects candidate sites.
Such meetings have been held in all 47 prefectures except Fukushima, but officials from some communities refused to take part out of fear their attendance might be considered a sign of their intention to accept a disposal site.
Questions have also arisen over the transparency of the process……http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/08/11/national/nuclear-restart-highlights-government-dilemma-lack-waste-disposal-sites/#.VcrZ3LKqpHx
Total lifetime costs of Vogtle nuclear station estimated at $65 billion and rising
Vogtle: at $65 billion and counting, it’s a case study of nuclear power’s staggeringly awful economics, Green World, Michael Mariotte August 2, 2015 Georgia is one state that you would think would be wary of nuclear power economics. The first two reactors at Georgia Power’s Vogtle site, which came online in the late 1980s, were a record 800% over budget.
That is a number that is almost impossible to grasp. Nothing goes 800% over budget–in the real world, projects get cancelled well before reaching that point……
Sane people do not let projects get 800% over budget. Unless, perhaps, if someone else is putting up the money. And that’s exactly what happened with the first two Vogtle reactors–the overruns were pushed on to ratepayers; Georgia Power had to eat some small portion of them, but basically ratepayers were forced to pick up the tab.
And in a case of history repeating itself as predicted–as farce–that’s exactly what is happening with the two Vogtle reactors under construction now.
When the project was announced, and when the utilities building the project first applied for taxpayer loans to help finance the project, Southern Company (Georgia Power’s parent) said the two reactors would cost about $14 billion and would be online in 2016 and 2017.
That was back around 2008. Vogtle got its taxpayer loan promise in February 2010 and its construction permit in February 2012. Three and a half years later, Vogtle is more than three years behind schedule–39 months behind, in fact.
And the cost of building Vogtle has, not surprisingly, gone up. Way up. Right now, it’s somewhere around $16 billion and rising fast–the over-budget portion caused by the delays alone is $2 million per day. And as you can see from the photo at the top of the page, taken last Thursday, construction still has quite a long way to go.
Georgia Power already has run through half of its federal loan money, paid for by all U.S. taxpayers, not just Georgia ratepayers. Some of the rest of the taxpayer loan (the loans totaled more than $8 billion) was received later by the other partners, so perhaps they haven’t run through their share yet.
In any case, the supposed point of getting the loan, and of charging ratepayers for construction costs as they are incurred (a concept called Construction Work in Progress, barred in most states), and of building the reactors in the first place, was to save ratepayers money. That’s what Southern Company says anyway.
And they run off numbers and argue that building Vogtle, even with the overruns and delays, will save ratepayers $3 billion compared to building a gas-powered plant, which probably would already be operational, by the way, except that neither it nor Vogtle actually are needed.
But those numbers, despite the utility’s protestations, no longer add up……..
If one–or both–of the reactors gets cancelled before operation, then the negative benefits grow even more. Unless the cancellation occurs before too much more money is spent–then cancellation would turn into a net benefit for the ratepayers by avoiding the costs that have not yet been incurred. Sure, Georgia Power might take a hit and a lot of money that already has been spent would be wasted. But at least ratepayers could breathe easier……..
The economics of nuclear construction are just too staggeringly awful. But it gets worse. Because, as former PSC Commissioner Baker said, the total lifetime cost of Vogtle, including construction, is now estimated at $65 billion–a number too high for “staggering” to apply anymore……
the $65 billion number doesn’t include decommissioning and radioactive waste disposal costs, both of which will be added to ratepayers’ bills–and probably the rest of us taxpayers as well when the amount collected proves to be too small, as is the case with every other reactor in the country.
Meanwhile, utilities across the country, including Georgia Power, are buying solar power for 5 cents kilowatt/hour and less. And, unlike Vogtle, where the costs keep rising, solar’s price keeps falling…..http://safeenergy.org/2015/08/03/vogtle-at-65-billion-and-counting/
Seawater heating up causes partial shutdown for Pilgrim nuclear station
Rising seawater temperatures force Pilgrim to reduce power, Cape Cod Times, 11 Aug 15, Rising temperatures in bay force reduction in power
To cool its reactors, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station draws up to 500 million gallons of saltwater a day from Cape Cod Bay through an inlet created by two breakwaters. Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times File By Christine Legere clegere@capecodonline.com
PLYMOUTH — The owner of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station had been planning to ask for a license adjustment that would allow the plant to draw warmer water from Cape Cod Bay than is currently allowed.But the request was not made soon enough.Pilgrim operators were forced to begin preparation for a shutdown late Sunday afternoon, when the temperature of the seawater used to cool the reactor edged above the 75-degree limit set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission…….
Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in Connecticut, which draws water from Long Island Sound, was the first in the Northeast to shut down because of rising water temperatures, which have become an issue in this region within the past five years. The plant has since secured a maximum intake temperature of 80 degrees on its operating license.“Pilgrim is still looking to increase the maximum saltwater temperature to a higher value, but the supporting analysis is not yet complete,” Lauren Burm, spokeswoman for Entergy Corp., the plant’s owner-operator, said.Last week’s hot spell likely contributed to the rise in the bay’s water temperature, but a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the plant’s discharge of hot water into the bay also may have been a contributing factor.
“The ballpark estimate on water discharge temperatures at Pilgrim (Sunday) would be about 95 degrees Fahrenheit,” Neil Sheehan said in an email.Under its license, water discharged from the plant may be no hotter than 102 degrees, a level set by the Environmental Protection Agency as part of a water discharge permit…….
Pilgrim draws up to 500 million gallons of saltwater daily from Cape Cod Bay through an inlet created by two breakwaters. The water is circulated through the plant’s condenser via a network of thousands of tubes, cooling down the steam from the reactor and returning it to its water form, Sheehan said.“The higher water temperature affects the efficiency of the heat removal,” Sheehan said.http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20150811/NEWS/150819916
Struggling nuclear industry battles on, but it’s a losing battle
Contrast the nuclear power industry’s troubles with the bright prospects for renewables and energy efficiency, and it’s clear that our future lies not with the unstable nuclear industry but with the rapidly growing clean energy sector.
Nuclear power is a losing proposition BY MICHAEL BRUNE, ANNIE LEONARD AND ERICH PICA http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article30434562.htmlfoe.org 12 Aug 15 Americans know the clean energy economy is here and they are embracing it. More than seven out of 10 of us want more emphasis on wind and solar energy, while only about a third favor more nuclear energy, according to the latest research from the Gallup poling organization. Gallup also found that support for nuclear power dropped by 11 percentage points in the United States in the last five years.
Meanwhile, the struggling nuclear industry is trying to pitch its product as a viable low-carbon alternative to clean energy, rather than the dangerous and expensive choice that it is.
As potential climate solutions go, though, nuclear power is a losing proposition that is only getting worse. Developing clean, affordable renewable energy sources and tapping our vast energy efficiency “reserves” is a much smarter bet for America’s future.
As things now stand, the nuclear power industry is facing dark days. All five nuclear reactors now under construction in the United States are behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget — a situation that is not unique to our nation. In fact, 75 percent of reactors currently under construction worldwide are delayed and over budget. Continue reading
Politics, Safety, Money – all factors working against Japan’s supposed nuclear power revival
Japan’s return to nuclear meets with fear and loathing, CNBC, Nyshka Chandran | @NyshkaC 11 Aug 15, “………..Tuesday’s restart has far-reaching consequences for Japan’s politics and economy. Here are the key issues:
The move is highly controversial among citizens, with regular opinion polls revealing that a clear majority of the population want Japan to end nuclear power………”This is absolutely the worst possible timing given public opinion is significantly moving away from Abe: There is already backlash against his security bills and last week’s Hiroshima commemoration didn’t go well for him either,” James Brown, assistant professor at Temple University in Tokyo, told CNBC, referring to new legislation that would end Japan’s pacifist constitution.
“If we start to see some connection between nuclear issues and the collective self-defense concept behind the security bills, i.e. a connection between civilian and military nuclear usage, that’s particularly dangerous for Abe’s popularity.”
Despite public disapproval, the government will be able to implement its nuclear policies due to the lack of a strong political opposition, Brown explained.
Safety
Kyushu’s Sendai reactor was commissioned around 30 years ago, raising doubts whether the unit may be too old to withstand future disasters, such as the large earthquakes common across Japan.
“They are on the edge, seeing as most reactors above 40 years of age are considered to be aging,” Daniel Aldrich, professor of political science and co-director of the Center for Resilience Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, told CNBC.
The country has embraced stricter guidelines and new technology for the entire nuclear industry since the 2011 tragedy, but according to Aldrich, “the question is, for Japan to extend the life and licensing of these aging reactors, can they convince the population that these reactors are safe?”
The Sendai reactor is also located near an active volcano……..
Money…….“In the longer term, Japan’s population will be in decline, they will be more efficient in energy usage, and overall gas demand should slow. The government is also going big on renewable energy, which should also lower demand.”………”Marginal operating expenses are low but the longer-term costs are incredibly high. Regulatory standards have increased, so nuclear operators need to install more equipment, which means higher costs,” Brown added.http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/10/japans-return-to-nuclear-meets-with-fear-and-loathing.html
A nuclear revival in Japan is by no means a sure thing
Japan restarts reactor – A nuclear revival? , DW, 11 Aug 15 “…….The government’s nuclear energy program, however, remains controversial in Japan……..PM Abe’s decision to ignore the prevailing public opinion can be explained by the huge amount of influence exercised by regional electricity lobbies on politicians, said Franz Waldenberger, Japan expert at the Tokyo-based German Institute for Japan Studies (DIJ).
“Major media outlets in the country have also been unable to escape this influence, making it extremely difficult for opponents to make themselves heard,” he told DW. Added to this is the lack of any real opposition for Abe either within or outside his Liberal Democratic Party, Waldenberger noted.
Clever tactics
Abe has also maneuvered skillfully in terms of his energy policy. At first, he promised to reduce Japan’s high-reliance on nuclear power as much as possible. This was followed by the PM’s announcement of making nuclear power part of the “main sources of electricity,” and ultimately by raising the intended share of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix from 20 to 22 percent……….
Sakurajima, one of Japan’s active volcanoes, is only 50 kilometers away. Several volcanologists have contradicted the inspectors who argue that the mountain poses no threat. TheAsahi newspaper criticized the ongoing “systemic vulnerability” of the nuclear reactors given that nothing had changed in terms of their classification into groups.
Other experts even think that restarting the reactors after such a long period of time is dangerous. According to the World Nuclear Association, the restart of 14 nuclear reactors around the world after four years of idleness led to emergency shutdowns and technical failures.
An unrealistic goal?
There is significant opposition in Japan to bringing the reactors back online
There are also big doubts about a renaissance of nuclear energy in the East Asian country. “There is just too much happening in terms of renewable energy sources which are becoming increasingly competitive in Japan,” said Waldenberger, adding that this is already being reflected in the country’s energy mix…….
Furthermore, operators will also have to deal with the consequences of the deregulation of the Japanese energy market, which will allow consumers to switch to “green energy” from 2016. And they will also have to face the fact that they are running out of storage space for used nuclear fuel elements. Japan doesn’t even have temporary storage facilities for this purpose. http://www.dw.com/en/japan-restarts-reactor-a-nuclear-revival/a-18640138
Most Japanese oppose nuclear power restart; support drops for PM Shinzo Abe
Japan PM Abe’s support slips, majority oppose nuclear restart http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3191885/Japan-PM-Abes-support-slips-majority-oppose-nuclear-restart.html By REUTERS, 10 August 2015 TOKYO, Support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has slipped to just over 30 percent and a majority oppose the planned restart of a nuclear reactor that went offline after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, a poll by the Mainichi newspaper showed on Monday.
The three-point decline to 32 percent – the lowest since Abe returned to office in December 2012 – comes as voters fret over a shift in security policy that would end a ban on the military fighting overseas to defend a friendly country. That could let Japan’s troops fight abroad for the first time since World War Two.
Abe’s ratings began dropping sharply after scholars told a parliamentary panel in June the legislation would violate Japan’s post-war, pacifist constitution. Abe says the change will boost deterrence and make war less likely but critics fear Japan could get embroiled in a U.S.-led conflict.
Fifty-seven percent of respondents to the weekend survey opposed Kyushu Electric Power Co’s restart of a reactor at its Sendai plant in southwest Japan, set for Tuesday. Thirty percent supported the reboot, the first in nearly two years, which will reopen the nuclear sector.
Opposition to Abe was higher among women than men. Only 26 percent of female voters backed his government compared to 40 percent of men.
Japan’s fragmented opposition parties, however, are not benefiting from Abe’s woes. Support for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was flat at 28 percent but that of the main opposition Democratic Party was just 9 percent.
Nor has any LDP rival so far indicated a desire to challenge Abe in a party leadership election that must be held next month. (Reporting by Linda Sieg; Editing by Alan Raybould)
Japan’s govt pursuing nuclear power, while having no effective plan for wastes
It was bureaucrats who made the plan to demand each prefecture to build it. There has been no viable explanation why each prefecture has to be responsible for the solution.
This is a typical example of negative aspect of top-down style bureaucracy in Japan
No Exit for Radioactive Wastes http://hitaku7664.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/no-exit-for-radioactive-wastes.html While Government of Japan promotes nuclear policy of resuming some nuclear power plants, the people in the area suffered from radioactive materials emitted by broken First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant are still living with great amount of contaminated soil, grass or trees. Although the government decided that those contaminated wastes should be treated by each prefecture, programs to build processing facilities are deadlocked by firm opposition by the residents. The government is facing a necessity for changing their plan.
Ministry of Environment designated radioactive waste, caused by the accident in Fukushima, with 8,000 Becquerel per kilogram or more as necessary to be under control of public sector. Concerning firm opposition from Fukushima, if those waste would be concentrated to Fukushima, the ministry decided that the disseminated waste should be processed in each prefecture.
Among five prefectures around Fukushima in need of building processing facility, Miyagi and Tochigi have been seeing strong protest of the residents. In Tochigi, although the ministry determined the place for the facility in Shioya Town, the people there organized broad movement against the plan. They pointed out fundamental contradiction of Ministry of Environment that it was building environmentally harmful facility in the place close to a water source which the ministry had formerly registered as a pure water source to be protected.
Chiba has been regarded as the place where the facility would be build first. Tokyo Electric Power Company offered an unused land in Chiba city for the facility. But, residents started protesting activities, arguing that the reason of selecting the place was unclear or liquidation caused by great earthquake would be concerned. Two thousand metric tons of radioactive waste in Chiba has still no way to go.
Now, the question is whether the decision of Ministry of Environment to process radioactive waste in each prefecture was right or wrong. The lawmakers passed a law which determined that national government would deal with radioactive waste caused by Fukushima accident. But the law did not require each prefecture to build processing facility. It was bureaucrats who made the plan to demand each prefecture to build it. There has been no viable explanation why each prefecture has to be responsible for the solution.
This is a typical example of negative aspect of top-down style bureaucracy in Japan. The key is whether bureaucrats would admit their wrong decision and change the course to plan B.
Digital archives on Fukushima documents
NPO launches digital archives on Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan Times, BY KEIJI HIRANO, 11 Aug 15 KYODO A Tokyo-based nonprofit organization has launched a digital archive of public documents on the 2011 nuclear catastrophe at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, so people can examine whether administrative bodies have pursued appropriate policies since the disaster started.
There are currently over 3,000 documents organized by Access-Info Clearinghouse Japan on file, totaling some 60,000 pages obtained from central government offices and local-level authorities through freedom-of-information requests or from the home pages of each administrative body.
“Some of the official documents may be stored as historical papers in the future, but others may be eventually lost after they’ve been screened,” said Yukiko Miki, who heads the NPO.
“It is necessary to create conditions to allow people to access these documents even 20 or 30 years later to ensure effective follow-up on radioactivity impact, which must have a late onset, and examine policies over the disaster as it will take a long time to put it under control,” she added.
The documents on the archives include summaries of teleconferences involving the government, Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the Fukushima No. 1 complex, which came from the Cabinet Office, as well as those on decontamination and radioactive waste owned by the Environment Ministry.
Papers filed with the Radiation Medical Science Center of Fukushima Medical University, including those on health monitoring, and summaries of joint press conferences of the government and Tepco are also available.
Users of the archives are able to find their target documents through keyword retrievals.
“Information disclosure allows us to examine policy decision processes, and the public examination will push administrative bodies to make better decisions,” Miki said. “This type of scrutiny will lead to better administrative work, particularly on behalf of those affected by the disaster.”
As only portions of some documents were disclosed, the NPO has posted them on the archives as they are…….
Touching on the lawsuit and the launch of the archives on the nuclear disaster, Miki said: “I believe we have to take concrete action to achieve our right to know rather than merely insisting on it.”
She said her organization will continue seeking the disclosure of official documents, such as records of the nuclear disaster dosimetry and policy records on evacuations of those living near the Fukushima complex, to improve and expand the archives in the span of 10 to 15 years.
The URL of the archives, which is available without charge and only in Japanese, iswww.archives311.org. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/07/31/national/npo-launches-digital-archives-fukushima-nuclear-disaster/#.VcpzcXGqpHx
Confusing message in new documentary about #uranium – a ‘soft sell’ for the nuclear lobby?
A Critical Look at ‘Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail’, truthdig, Aug 9, 2015 By Stanley Heller A week or so before the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, I watched a curious documentary on PBS. It was called “Uranium: Twisting the Dragon’s Tail.” You can see it here. The presenter was a physicist named Derek Muller. What’s odd is that Muller concludes that nuclear power is not the way to go, but the way the film was edited, the message is the opposite: that nuclear power is relatively safe and that its technical problems are at the point of being solved. Continue reading
Solar power races ahead as China builds huge station in Gobi desert
China builds huge solar power station which could power a million homes, http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/china-builds-huge-solar-power-station-which-could-power-a-million-homes-10446840.html The Independent, ALEXANDRA SIMS, 08 August 2015 China is set to build a giant solar power station in the Gobi desert, which could generate enough energy to supply one million homes. The proposed power station will measure 10 square miles and generate 200 megawatts of solar energy.
The plans will fall in line with the Chinese government’s ambitious initiative to reduce the country’s fossil fuel energy by 20 per cent by 2030 in addition to cutting its green house gas emissions.
Construction began six years ago on the country’s first large –scale power station, according to National Geographic.Recent photos from NASA satelites show that the solar panels making up the plant cover an area roughly three times bigger than was seen three years ago.
China is quickly becoming a world leader in solar power.
According to the International Energy Agency, the country produces two-thirds of all solar panels and it gained more solar capacity than any other country in the world last year. China invested $83.3 billion dollars last year into renewable energy, more than any other country, according to a report from the UN Environment programme.
The United States, despite being the second highest investors in renewable energies, invested less than half this amount.
Jennifer Morgan, director of the climate program at the World Resources Institute told National Geographic: “China is largely motivated by its strong national interests to tackle persistent air pollution problems, limit climate impacts and expand its renewable energy job force.”
She added that China, presently the greatest emitter of greenhouse gases, will be able to meet its pledge if it continues with its new emphasis on renewables.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said: “China’s carbon dioxide emission will peak by around 2030 and China will work hard to achieve the target at an even earlier date,” according to Reuters.
A global boom in solar power could be on the cards, according toBloomberg New Energy Finance, as panels get cheaper and batteries become more advanced.
By 2040, they predict, in moves led partly by China, solar power could account for one-third of new electricity.
Outcry as Sendai nuclear station is restarted
Sendai nuclear plant restarts amid outcry, Financial Times 11 Aug
“…….Naoto Kan, the prime minister who led Japan during the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, described the restart as a “huge mistake” by an industry in decline. “Nuclear power generation is a technology of the 20th century,” he said on Tuesday. “As a source of energy, it is inferior from the long-term point of view.”
Mr Kan was on Tuesday joined outside the Sendai plant, 1,000km from Tokyo on Japan’s southernmost island of Kyushu, by hundreds of protesters, chanting in anger as the reactor was restarted.
As a source of energy, it is inferior from the long-term point of view– Naoto Kan, former prime minister
Technical Problems with Japan Nuclear Power Seismic and Volcanic Evaluations
Japan has over 100 active volcanos and is in the most seismically and volcanically active zone in the world. Nuclear Energy is dangerous everywhere, but more dangerous than average in Japan, as demonstrated by Fukushima, which is the still leaking into air and water by TEPCO’s own admission. No stop to its leaking and belching of radionuclides into air and water appears in sight.
The problem of mixing earthquakes, volcanos, and nuclear energy has not been resolved by Japan. It is an obviously unresolvable. Nonetheless, the world being what it is today, experts had to do studies to explain that Japan hasn’t resolved the unresolvable.
Japan is in the Ring of Fire, the most seismically and volcanically active zone in the world. http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/tectonics.html
See also: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/why-the-recent-japan-earthquakes-japan-trench-no-place-for-nuclear-reactors-beam-me-up-scotty/
Japan plates, USGS, Rhea et. al., 2010
108 of Japan’s volcanos. There are at least 110 active ones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanoes_in_Japan
It takes time to…
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In Australia – gender difference on attitudes to climate change, and nuclear power
More men back nuclear, women like solar: climate change gender divide found, The Age, August 10, 2015 Nicole Hasham Environment and immigration correspondent If the climate change debate wasn’t polarised enough, another divide has opened up: the attitudes of men versus those of women.
Climate Institute research published on Monday confirms Australian men are more likely than women to believe climate change is not happening, and to prefer nuclear and coal as energy sources. Women, meanwhile, are more inclined than men to support wind and solar power, and take the view backed by the vast majority of the world’s scientists – that climate change is real.
Ian Dunlop, a former international oil, gas and coal industry executive who is now a director of not-for-profit think tank Australia21, said gender differences were a “fundamental issue” holding back climate action.
“The male incumbency in the business and political world have not been prepared to engage with that discussion,” he said, deriding a dominant culture of “macho short-termism”. “I think women on the other hand are actually more conscious of the … world we are heading into and [that] we need to start doing something about it.”………
The United Nations has previously said women in poor nations bear the disproportionate burden of climate change, but are largely overlooked in the debate about how to address effects such as rising seas, droughts and extreme weather.
The founder of 1 million women, Natalie Isaacs, whose organisation encourages women to act on climate change through the way they live, said protecting future generations “is a hot button issue for women”. She said women made 85 per cent of consumer decisions that affect a household’s carbon footprint.
Mr Dunlop, former chairman of the Australian Coal Association and former chief executive of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, said women were more likely than men to see climate change as an “existential issue”. “The male approach to this thing is [often] saying it is all nonsense, it’s all just alarmism,” he said.
It has been argued that advocates for climate action should frame their message around defending the status quo, to encourage more men to confront the problem. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/men-back-nuclear-women-like-solar-climate-change-gender-divide-found-20150809-giv5vk.html#ixzz3iZgnCE00
Standards for nuclear related deaths in Fukushima
Fukushima Pref. eyes uniform standards for recognizing deaths as related to nuke accident http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=368 26 June 2014 The Fukushima prefectural government is considering correcting municipal imbalances in standards for recognizing local people’s deaths as being related indirectly to the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Co. Specifically, the local government is seeking to have city, town and village offices share information on the causes of deaths believed associated with the nuclear disaster caused by the March 11, 2011 killer earthquake and tsunami.
At a prefectural assembly session on June 25, a senior prefectural government official in charge of compensation for damage from the disaster said it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify a relationship between deaths and the accident due to the long period of time that has lapsed, adding that the local government will call meetings with municipalities as needed to exchange information and share examples of accident-related deaths.
According to the prefectural government, 1,729 people had died as a result of lingering effects of the accident as of June 25, exceeding the 1,603 deaths caused directly by the disaster. The government intends to provide municipal authorities with information on accident-related deaths in an aggressive manner to help standardize norms for identifying such fatalities.
Note: Nuclear accident-related deaths result from deterioration in health conditions following protracted life in shelters as evacuees and they are recognized by a panel of experts such as medical doctors and lawyers set up by each municipality. A sum of 5 million yen is paid as consolation money to a family in the case of the death of a main income earner and half the sum for other dead family members.
(Translated by Kyodo News)
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