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)
Cyber terrorism threat if Britain’s nuclear security moves to online technology
Nuclear power plants ‘could become more open to cyber attacks’ as police consider cloud storage
The armed police force that guards Britain’s nuclear material is considering storing information in “cloud” despite series of high-profile leaks. Britain’s nuclear power stations could be more exposed to cyber attacks within months, experts have warned after the police force that protects them revealed they are considering using the “cloud” to store information.
The Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), the armed police force tasked with guarding all of Britain’s nuclear plants, has previously refused to use the new storage technology given much of its information is classified as “sensitive”.
However the force has revealed it could start using cloud technology as early as April next year despite a series of high profile information breaches which raised questions about the software’s reliability.
Technology experts warned the move could be “unnecessary” and leave the force more exposed to foreign hackers.
It will raise fears that information about Britain’s nuclear material could be more likely to be obtained by enemies of the state at a time of heightened alert over terrorism…….http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/11792281/Nuclear-power-plants-could-become-more-open-to-cyber-attacks-as-police-consider-cloud-storage.html
Nunavat hunters want Federal govt not to overrule Nunavut Impact Review Board uranium decision
Nunavut hunters want feds to stay out of uranium mine decision ‘This would be a political disaster for Nunavut, and for Canada,’ Kivalliq Wildlife Board By Sima Sahar Zerehi, for CBC News Posted: Aug 11, 2015 Hunters in Nunavut say if the federal government overrides a recent uranium mining decision from the Nunavut Impact Review Board if will seriously erode the confidence of the Inuit in the regulatory system.
“This would be a political disaster for Nunavut, and for Canada,” states the Kivalliq Wildlife Board in a letter they sent to the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development yesterday.
“Residents and institutions of Nunavut have spent considerable time and resources participating in the NIRB screening and review of Areva’s proposal,” states the letter, “If you reject the NIRB report and recommendation, residents of Nunavut will question what the point of their participation in this process was.”
This spring, the Nunavut Impact Review Board issued its final report on a proposed uranium mine near Baker Lake. The report rejected Areva’s proposed Kiggavik mine on the grounds that it lacks a definite start date and a development schedule. The review board concluded that without this information it was impossible to assess the environmental and social impacts of the uranium mine.
The French mining company Areva, has asked the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development to reject that decision. And the region’s hunters and trappers don’t want to see that happen.
“For a company that says they are in support of Inuit organizations to turn around and ask for this was very offensive to our organizations,” says Leah Muckpah, the regional coordinator of the Kivalliq Wildlife Board.
Muckpah says the hunters in Nunavut see the board’s rejection of Areva’s proposal as “a gain to the region.” She says without a clear start date and a land use plan to protect the caribou calving ground, the risks of the project are too high……..
The $2.1 billion project calls for one underground and four open-pit mines just west of Baker Lake.
Areva is in financial turmoil. With the declining market for uranium, even if the project gets the green light, mining may not start for another 10 to 20 years. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavut-hunters-want-feds-to-stay-out-of-uranium-mine-decision-1.3186753
Hothouse Mass Casualties Strike Egypt, Heatwave Hospitalizes Thousands in Japan
#Global Warming–#Weather Extremes
Back in May, official temperatures soared to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) as humidity levels spiked in Cairo, Egypt. The early high heat and humidity sparked anxiety among residents worrying over the coming summer. Public complaints about official temperatures being lower than actual measures were widespread among a populace vulnerable to heat exposure in a notoriously hot region of the world suffering the ongoing impacts of human-forced warming. The below video captures some of the sentiment of a few months ago, when concern that record global temperatures in the range of 1 degree Celsius above 1880s averages might result in harm to Egypt’s populace was widespread and growing.” Sourced through Scoop.it from: robertscribbler.com GR: This summer’s deaths are sad harbingers of escalating weather extremes as the planet warms and ocean evaporation increases. Urban heat islands intensify the extremes. This bad for humans, pets, and factory-farmed animals…
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August 11 Energy News
World:
¶ Abengoa and Toshiba Corporation have been picked to build the Tees Renewable Energy Plant, a 299-MW CHP project to be sited in Teeside, UK. The project will have a capacity of 299 MW from electricity and steam to be used in combustion and exported to nearby industrial facilities and consumers. The engineering, design, and construction contract is worth over €600 million. [reNews]
Image: an Indiana-based biogas plant (Abengoa)
¶ Kyushu Electric Power has restarted the first nuclear reactor to operated under new Japanese safety rules following the 2011 Fukushima Disaster. All Japan’s nuclear plants were gradually shut down after a series of meltdowns at the Fukushima plant sparked by the tsunami and earthquake. But after passing stringent new safety tests the Sendai plant restarted on Tuesday morning. [BBC]
¶ Australia plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2030, PM Tony Abbott says. It is…
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Northern California National Forests on Fire
Last month’s storms in the North Coast resulted in hundreds of lightning strikes igniting forest fires across the region and throughout the Pacific Northwest. Now a combined total of approximately 102,755 acres are burning on the Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests. Thousands of fire fighters are on the ground, some in an effort to protect life and property and others are in the wilderness and backcountry. Fire suppression and the military style of firefighting can be more environmentally destructive than wildfire itself. Crews typically construct ridge top fire lines with bulldozers, dump fire retardant, ignite high severity back burns, fell trees and open up decommissioned roads to access and suppress the fires. These damaging efforts are often ineffective, for example yesterday a burning tree fell across a containment line on the Route complex, causing the fire to escape. Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.wildcalifornia.org
GR: The human damage fighting fires…
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Extreme Heat Leads To Deaths, Protests In The Middle East. #ClimateChange #Auspol
At least 21 people have died and 66 more have been hospitalized as a major heat wave engulfs Egypt and much of the rest of the Middle East.High humidity levels and temperatures as high as 116.6°F made conditions deadly for Egyptians in Cairo, Marsa Matruh province, and Qena province. All of those who died were over 60, according to Al Jazeera — an age group that’s among the most vulnerable to heat waves.
“There is a big rise in temperature compared with previous years. But the problem is the humidity which is affecting people more,” health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar told Al Jazeera. “Long exposure under the sun is a killer.”
Egypt isn’t the only country suffering from extreme heat in recent weeks. Last month, higher than average temperatures also hit Turkey, and 100 people who tried to escape the heat by swimming in pools and lakes ended up…
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Lifting of Japanese food ban to require more time: minister
Taiwan is working toward lifting a ban on food imports from Japanese prefectures affected by the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, but the timeline will depend on further evaluations by health authorities, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said yesterday.
“I believe we are moving in that direction,” Lin said in response to questions on whether Taiwan is working toward lifting the ban on Japanese products from areas affected by the nuclear disaster.
Since Taiwan tightened regulations on imported Japanese food on May 15, “to date there have been no safety concerns associated with food products imported from Japan,” Lin said.
Lin said the Ministry of Health and Welfare is conducting further assessments and the government is also looking at how other countries have been dealing with the situation.
“Basically, the vast majority of countries are moving toward lifting restrictions, but we still hope that the Ministry of Health and Welfare can give a clear explanation of [the results of] its assessments at an appropriate time,” Lin said.
Even if the ban is lifted, Lin added, the new regulations implemented in May are to continue.
The new measures require Japanese food product importers to present certificates that show the place of origin of their products and radiation inspection results for certain types of products, such as tea, baby food and aquaculture products.
The new regulations were imposed after it was found in March that products from five restricted areas in Japan had made their way into Taiwan through the use of false labels.
Taiwan currently bans food imports from the Japanese prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba, which were affected by a meltdown in March 2011 after Japan was struck by a disastrous earthquake and tsunami.
Source: Taipei Times
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/08/11/2003625096
Fukushima governor seeks safety first
The governor of Fukushima Prefecture says Japan’s nuclear energy policy should place utmost priority on ensuring people’s safety and giving them a sense of security.
Masao Uchibori issued a statement in response to the restart on Tuesday of a nuclear plant in southwestern Japan, the first time in nearly 2 years for a nuclear facility in the country to come online. He said the government’s policy should reflect the lessons learned from the accident at the Daiichi plant in Fukushima.
He said his prefecture will continue pressing the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company to scrap all nuclear plants in Fukushima. TEPCO is the Daiichi plant’s operator.
Uchibori said the prefecture will also do its utmost to realize its basic principle for reconstruction — fostering a society that does not depend on nuclear power.
Former residents of Namie Town, which was designated a no-entry zone after the nuclear accident, expressed mixed emotions at the news of the restart of the Sendai plant.
An 83-year-old man was against the move, saying the suffering endured by the evacuees in Fukushima can never be understood by others.
A 44-year-old woman said the restart probably can’t be avoided. Even so, it gives her complicated feelings. She said she believes the normal order of business is to restart nuclear reactors only after confirming that all safety measures are in place — such as securing a final disposal site for spent nuclear fuel and designating evacuation routes in case of emergencies.
The woman said she wants the government to think more about protecting lives than profits, by looking at issues from the people’s perspective.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150811_20.html
1 This Month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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