nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Death of worker at Fukushima nuclear station – from head injury

Worker at wrecked Japan nuclear plant dies from head injury, AP The Big Story,  By MARI YAMAGUCHI Aug. 8, 2015  TOKYO (AP) — A worker at Japan’s wrecked nuclear power plant died after the hatch at the back of a truck closed on his head Saturday, the latest mishap at a complex still struggling with the cleanup from the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

The operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant said the 52-year-old man was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead soon after……..

The decades-long decommissioning of the plant, which was wrecked in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan, involves thousands of workers.

The number of accidents last year, including injuries and sickness, doubled to 64 from a year earlier. Saturday’s death, the second this year, occurred weeks after the government and TEPCO announced plans to slow down projects to improve safety. In January, a worker died after accidentally falling from atop a storage tank.

The two men involved in Saturday’s incident were assigned to the truck used at the site where a frozen underground wall is being installed near highly contaminated reactor buildings, a project aimed at curbing a contaminated water problem hampering the decommissioning of the plant. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6c411d81dfc340639f9d8b6d15d6787b/worker-wrecked-japan-nuclear-plant-dies-head-injury

August 10, 2015 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

August 9 Energy News

geoharvey's avatargeoharvey

Science and Technology:

¶ A new system combining lithium-iodine batteries and solar cells, an aqueous lithium−iodine solar flow battery, has been created by researchers at Ohio State University. The new battery system promises energy savings of nearly 20%, compared to conventional lithium-iodine batteries. The new work may serve as a design basis for other metal-redox flow batteries. [CleanTechnica]

Not Energy or Climate Change, but Noteworthy:

¶ Scotland is to ban the growing of genetically modified crops, the country’s rural affairs secretary has announced. Richard Lochhead said the Scottish government was not prepared to “gamble” with the future of the country’s £14 billion food and drink sector. Under European Union rules, genetically modified crops must be formally authorised before they can be cultivated. [BBC News]

World:

¶ Coal India Ltd (CIL), the largest producer of the fuel in the country, will invest over ₹62,500 crore ($9.8 billion)…

View original post 546 more words

August 9, 2015 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Mapped: The world’s largest offshore windfarms #Auspol #ClimateChange 

John's avatarjpratt27

Yesterday, the UK government approved a 400-turbine 2.4 gigawatt (GW) offshore windfarm at Dogger Bank in the North Sea. Once built, it would be the world’s largest by far.
But where are the world’s largest offshore windfarms already operating today? And how much electricity do they generate? Carbon Brief has mapped the world’s offshore schemes to find out.

Global offshore wind data
We found 62 offshore wind schemes currently generating electricity around the world, of which 25 are in the UK. Though Denmark was an early pioneer (red bars, below), the UK has installed more megawatts of offshore capacity than any other country in most years since 2004 (blue bars).
This year Germany is expected to knock the UK off top spot (yellow bars), installing the largest offshore capacity for the first time. The chart below only shows capacity already up and running, so the total for 2015 will rise…

View original post 133 more words

August 9, 2015 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

1,000 Japanese Cranes: Sadako Sasaki

miningawareness's avatarMining Awareness +

Yokoyama_Taikan Cranes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokoyama_Taikan
Memorial Statue of Sadako Sasaki outside the Noborichō Junior High School in Hiroshima, Japan. Noborichō was her Jr. High school, Photo by Chenmingyu, CC-By-SA, via wikimedia
Memorial Statue of Sadako Sasaki outside the Noborichō Junior High School in Hiroshima, Japan. Noborichō was her Junior High school. This statue was created in 1985. Photo by Chenmingyu, CC-By-SA-3.0, via wikimedia
Sadako Sasaki
Born January 7, 1943
Kusunoki-cho
Hiroshima, Japan
Died October 25, 1955 (aged 12)
Red Cross Hospital
Hiroshima, Japan
Cause of death
Leukemia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_Sasaki
The thousand origami cranes were popularized through the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who was 24 months old when she was exposed to radiation from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II. Sasaki soon developed leukemia and, at age 12 after spending a significant amount of time in a nursing home, began making origami cranes with the goal of making one thousand, inspired by the senbazuru legend.”
Origami Cranes, public domain via wikipedia
Thousand Origami Cranes (千羽鶴 Senbazuru?) is a group of one thousand origami paper cranes…

View original post 467 more words

August 9, 2015 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Navajo Nation President Begaye demands immediate explanation of EPA accident.

GarryRogers's avatarGarryRogers Nature Conservation

The EPA actually has no concern for the environment, they just happen to use the environment as a cover story to create laws and gain an advantage for the companies that lobbied for exemptions to the agency’s regulations, and to collect money in fines. There are solutions outside the common government paradigm, and that is mainly the ability for individuals, not governments, to hold polluters personally and financially accountable. . . Sourced through Scoop.it from: colouredjustice.wordpress.com

GR:  Initial reports suggest that EPA acted like any other polluter attempting to gloss over a catastrophic spill.  Have to follow this story a bit farther.

View original post

August 9, 2015 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

UK Parliamentarian (1968): Why is Germany Better Off Financially than the UK when Germany lost the War?

miningawareness's avatarMining Awareness +

How does the Prime Minister explain that West Germany, although she lost the war, is lending us money and is in a better financial situation than we are? Is it because Germany is spending less of her national income on armaments?” (Mr. Emrys Hughes of S. Ayrshire, Scotland, UK House of Commons, 1968)

Maybe the Military – Nuclear Industrial Complex didn’t bring the prosperity which we have been led to believe? Did Germany and Japan fare better with consumer goods? Reconstruction is cited, but the UK also had cities bombed during World War II.

British nuclear-powered attack submarine HMS Valiant (SSN-102) tied up at the navy pier. Location: PORT CANAVERAL, FLORIDA US DOD photo
HMS Valiant, the first British nuclear submarine to be powered by a British built reactor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PWR1

5 November 1968 → Commons Sitting → ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
GERMAN CHANCELLOR (COMMUNICATION)

HC Deb 05 November 1968 vol 772 cc694-5 694
§Q5. Mr. Marten asked the Prime Minister what communication he sent to…

View original post 841 more words

August 9, 2015 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

August 8 Energy News

geoharvey's avatargeoharvey

World:

¶ A British company has announced plans for an array of unique marine turbines that can operate in shallower and slower-moving water than current designs. Kepler Energy says the turbines will eventually produce electricity more cheaply than off-shore wind farms. It hopes to install its new design in what is called a tidal energy fence, one kilometre long, in the Bristol Channel. [RTCC]

How the rotor blades look installed in a tidal fence configuration (Pic: Kepler Energy) How the rotor blades look installed in a tidal fence configuration (Pic: Kepler Energy)

¶ Figures released on Thursday show that electricity production in the 34 member states of the OECD fell 0.8% to 10,712 TWh, a decrease of 86 TWh on 2013’s figures. The International Energy Agency point out that this decline was driven by lower fossil fuel and hydro production, but a decline which was partially offset by a growth in non-hydro renewables and nuclear. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Azar Mobaraki is…

View original post 702 more words

August 9, 2015 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Daniel Ellsberg and Takashi Tanemori join Hiroshima Day protest at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory

Daniel Ellsberg speaks during a demonstration to protest nuclear weapons outside the fence of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. Thursday marked the 70th anniversary of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)

Daniel Ellsberg speaks during a demonstration to protest nuclear weapons outside the fence of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. Thursday marked the 70th anniversary of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)

Bay area activists protest nuclear weapons on 70th anniversary of atomic bomb, Contra Costa Times, 7 Aug 15 By Dan Lawton dlawton@bayareanewsgroup.com LIVERMORE — About 300 activists from a wide range of Bay Area organizations converged early Thursday on Lawrence Livermore Laboratory to protest nuclear weapons on the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

 Dozens of the protesters — many of them elderly — were peacefully arrested after refusing an order by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office to disperse. According to organizers, the gathering had a dual focus: to raise awareness about the money spent on nuclear weapons research at the lab and to pay respect to the Hiroshima victims. The Aug. 6, 1945, bombing, along with the subsequent bombing of Nagasaki three days later, are credited with expediting the end of World War II.

Similar events were held across the world.

“U.S. plans to modernize the arsenal are also underway at Livermore Lab,” said Marylia Kelley, a lead organizer and executive director of Tri-Valley Cares, which was one of about 40 organizations taking part in the protest.

Kelley said a large part of the lab’s funding in the 2016 fiscal year — about 85 percent, or $1 billion — is earmarked for weapons. Those statistics are backed up by documents from the Department of Energy. She said that money is being spent on tasks such as designing new long-range warheads and other improvements to the nuclear arsenal.

The United States is prohibited from manufacturing new nuclear weapons by a nonproliferation treaty signed in 1968……

Takashi Tanemori, who was an 8-year-old boy living in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped, told the crowd that he has made peace with losing his family in the bombing, as well as his eyesight.

“The greatest way to avenge your enemy is by learning how to forgive,” he said.

But Tanemori, dressed in flowing black robes and wearing sunglasses, also cautioned the crowd that the threat of nuclear weapons will be extremely hard to eradicate……

Also speaking at the event was Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower and former military contractor who released the Pentagon Papers in 1971. The documents were a top-secret study of U.S. strategy in Vietnam. Ellsberg was sentenced to 109 years in prison for his actions, but his conviction was eventually overturned.

Now a prominent anti-nuclear weapons activist, Ellsberg, 84, said he still remembered the “ominous feeling” he had when the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Daniel Ellsberg speaks during a demonstration to protest nuclear weapons outside the fence of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)

“The killing at Hiroshima was mass murder,” he said…….http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_28597321/bay-area-activists-protest-nuclear-weapons-70th-anniversary

August 7, 2015 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Israel to once again assassinate Iranian Nuclear Scientists?

murder-1flag-IsraelIsrael to Resume Assassinations of Iranian Nuclear Scientists?
In interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel, Israeli defense minister hints Israel could target Iranian scientists to halt nuclear program. Israel to Resume Assassinations of Iranian Nuclear Scientists?, Arutz Sheva, 7 Aug 15 

In interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel, Israeli defense minister hints Israel could target Iranian scientists to halt nuclear program. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has hinted Israel could resume assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists…….

Comparing the Iran deal to attempts by western Allies to appease Nazi Germany prior to World War Two, Ya’alon said historians would view the agreement as a “historic mistake” and a mere attempt to “kick the can down the road.”

And in what appeared to be a subtle threat, Ya’alon added thatIsrael “bore no responsibility for the lives of Iranian nuclear scientists,” in what appeared to be a subtle threat.

Israel is believed to be behind a series of assassinations of at least 5 top Iranian scientists involved in Iran’s covert nuclear weapons program, though it has never commented on the allegations. Most of the scientists were reportedly killed by unknown assassins placing “sticky bombs” on their cars, sometimes in audacious daylight operations.

But those assassinations – along with other covert operations including cyber attacks against Iran – have petered out in recent years, with the last known attack occurring in 2013. The halt in assassinations is believed to be a result both of direct American pressure on Israel to stop them, as well as other western states’ pivot towards detente with Tehran and away cooperating with Israel on such operations.

Ya’alon also hinted Israel could also consider airstrikes against Iranian nuclear weapons facilities as a last resort.

Analysts have long debated the viability of a unilateral Israeli strike, with many assuming such a strike to be impossible without US cooperation.

The interview follows reports that Iran is already busily “sanitizing” its Parchin military complex to hide evidence of nuclear weaponsdevelopment from nuclear inspections. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/199178#.VcUevnGqpHw

August 7, 2015 Posted by | Israel, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

USA nuclear weapons numbers shrink, but nuclear weapons budget balloons out

weapons1Why the US nuclear budget grows while the stockpile of warheads shrinks
Obama’s plan to modernize and replace the nuclear arsenal will soon push nuclear weapons spending to Cold War levels
 Aljazeera America, August 7, 2015  by Michael Pizzi   @michaelwpizzi & Michael Keller   @mhkeller “……… American taxpayers will soon be spending more on nuclear weapons in real dollars than they have since the end of the Cold War. In October 2013, just four months after calling for yet another one-third reduction in the stockpile, President Barack Obama announced plans to “modernize” the entire nuclear arsenal over the next 30 years, arguing that updating and replacing the so-called nuclear triad — the submarines, jets and ballistic missiles designed to deliver warheads — will help create a leaner, sleeker nuclear fleet. But leaner doesn’t mean cheaper, at least not in the short term. According to a recent study by two researchers at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Jeffrey Lewis and Jon Wolfsthal, Obama’s modernization program could carry a price tag of over $1 trillion, vaulting nuclear weapons spending relative to the overall defense budget to a level comparable to the 1980s………

Watchdog groups say the lack of transparency behind Obama’s ambitious nuclear weapons spending is worrying. Except for an unprecedented data release on the nuclear stockpile in 2010, the government doesn’t provide comprehensive budget estimates for its nuclear weapons programs. Instead, the budget for nuclear weapons spending is spread across two different departments, Defense and Energy, and it often overlaps with conventional military spending. A regular bomber, for example, can be “nuclear certified” to carry nuclear warheads, meaning that its cost might be hidden in the conventional military budget. In other cases, research and design programs for nuclear weapons modernization are classified and therefore don’t show up in spending estimates at all.

The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan body that tracks government spending, has projected Obama’s plans for the nuclear arsenal at $348 billion through 2024. But that time frame stops just before the modernization plan’s costs are projected to spike, in the mid-to-late-2020’s, said Lewis of the Monterey Institute. A recent study by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington D.C.-based think tank that works closely with the Pentagon, found that the actual cost could total $963 billion between 2014 and 2043.

In short, the American public and even their representatives in Congress have very little idea how much these weapons will end up costing them. “If you’re a member of Congress, you can’t make informed decisions about need and affordability if you don’t know the current and projected costs of the things you’re supposed to exercise oversight over,” said Kingston Reif, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association. “Whether you think we need more or fewer or zero nuclear weapons, we ought to know from a good-government perspective how much this is going to cost.” http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/8/7/us-nuclear-stockpile-shrinks-but-budget-grows.html

August 7, 2015 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Iran nuclear deal is supported by Jews in Iran

diplomacy-not-bombsflag-IranIran’s Jewish community gets behind nuclear deal with U.S.USA Today, 7 Aug 15 Reese Erlich, GlobalPost TEHRAN, Iran — Tapo, one of six kosher restaurants in Tehran, has become an informal hangout for the city’s small Jewish community. During a lunchtime rush last week customers ate savory kebabs while excitedly discussing the signing of the U.S.-Iran nuclear accord.

“There was lots of joy for us,” said Horiel, a Jewish customer who declined to give his last name. “It was not only the Jewish community that was happy. The nation was happy.”

Most Iranian Jews strongly disagree with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s denunciations of the accord. Horiel said his ancestors came from Jerusalem, “but I’m an Iranian Jew. Israel will get nothing with threats and war.”

Israeli leaders and conservative politicians in the U.S. have denounced the accords as too weak, saying they’ll allow Iran to eventually develop atomic weapons.

Iranians argue that they never built a nuclear bomb and have no intention of doing so. They broadly support the accord in hopes that the U.S. will lift economic sanctions and the economy will improve.

But the agreement also lessens international tensions, says Homayoun Sameyah Najafabadi, chair of the Tehran Jewish Committee, the country’s main Jewish organization. “There was the possibility of war,” he said. “With the deal signed, it will take war off the table and bring stability to the region.”

Najafabadi said that Israel’s opposition to the accord “has no impact on the Jewish community in Iran.”…….. Jewish leaders estimate there are between 12,000 and 30,000 Jews here today, making Iran’s the second-largest Jewish population in the Middle East after Israel.

But those who have chosen to stay in Iran have a long history of opposition to hawkish Israeli governments. Many consider themselves Jews but not Zionists.

The Islamic Republic of Iran allows freedom of worship for Jews and Christians, according to Siamak Morsedegh, the Jewish representative to Iran’s parliament. He points out that unlike some other countries in the region and in Europe, Jewish templesin Iran have not been attacked.

“There (is) no need for guards in front of our synagogues,” he said………..

GlobalPost Special Correspondent Reese Erlich received a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for his reporting from Iran. His latest book is “Inside Syria: The Back Story of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect.”

This article originally appeared on GlobalPost. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/08/07/globalpost-iran-jewish-community-nuclear-deal/31277653/

August 7, 2015 Posted by | Iran, Israel, politics, politics international | Leave a comment

Britain’s nuclear power and nuclear weapons plans intrinsically linked

peaceful-nukeflag-UKShining a light on Britain’s nuclear state, Guardian, Phil Johnstone and  , 7 Aug 15 
Debates over Trident and energy policy are rarely joined up. But are there deeper links between Britain’s nuclear deterrent and its commitment to nuclear power? 
Two momentous issues facing David Cameron’s government concern nuclear infrastructure. The new secretary of state for energy, Amber Rudd, recentlyconfirmed her enthusiasm for what is arguably the most expensive infrastructure project in British history: the Hinkley Point C power station. At the same time, a decision is pressing on a similarly eye-watering commitment to renew Britain’s nuclear deterrent.

Ostensibly distinct, both of these issues are intensely controversialextremelyexpensiveagonisingly protracted, and often accompanied by vicious political rhetoric. Yet commentators rarely ask how these decisions might be connected. Could such links help to explain the strength of the UK’s nuclear lobby? Britain remains one of only a handful of countries committed to a “nuclear renaissance”, with senior government figures asserting the manifest falsehood that there is “no alternative” to nuclear power. Meanwhile, support for renewables and energy efficiency has been cut.

It seems that Whitehall is in denial about the widely acknowledged performance trends of nuclear power and renewables. The reality is that renewables manifestly outperform nuclear power as low carbon energy sources. Successive UK andinternational studies show they are already more competitive than nuclear. And renewables costs continue to fall. Yet after more than half a century of development (and far greater levels of cumulative public support), nuclear costs keep rising. The performance gap just keeps on growing.

Nor is there any good excuse for ignoring such overblown nuclear promises. Problems of reactor safetynuclear waste and weapons proliferation remain unsolved. Nuclear security risks are uniquely grave. With finance in question andtechnical difficulties mounting, the deteriorating prospects of the Hinkley project are the latest episode in a familiar pattern.

So why is the UK so persistent in pursuing new nuclear power? If the nuclear lobby is driving this, why have other countries with stronger nuclear industries nonetheless developed far more sceptical positions? In the case of Germany, this has meant the country with the world’s most successful nuclear industry and a less attractive renewable resource than the UK, nonetheless undertaking a wholesale shift from one to the other.

Advertisement

One striking factor is an apparently strong correlation between those countries most eager to construct new nuclear with those expressing a desire to maintain nuclear weapons. But care is needed before jumping to conclusions. Historically,links between enthusiasms for nuclear power and nuclear weapons are well-explored. Almost all the attention here has focused on possibilities for diverting nuclear weapons materials like highly enriched uranium and plutonium. These connections were crucial in early nuclear developments, and remain so in contemporary proliferation threatsBut it is highly doubtful they explain the UK situation. An elaborate global nuclear safeguards regime introduces formidable barriers. And the UK has since the end of the Cold War maintained enormous gluts of key weapons materials………

the links between UK civilian nuclear power and military interests in nuclear submarines run deep. What is remarkable is the complete lack of discussion these provoke in the media, public policy documents, or wider critical debate. Yet the stakes are very high. Does the commitment to a submarine based nuclear deterrent help to explain the intensity of high-level UK support for costly, risky and slow nuclear power, rather than cheaper, quicker and cleaner renewable technologies?

If so, the conclusions are not self-evident. For some supporters of a nuclear deterrent, the additional burdens of nuclear power may seem entirely reasonable. But the almost total silence on these connections raises crucial implications for democracy. Imminent decisions that the government must take over nuclear power and the nuclear deterrent are hugely significant. There is a responsibility on all involved to be open and accountable. Otherwise, it will not just be electricity consumers and taxpayers that pay the price, but British democracy itself.

Phil Johnstone is a research fellow and Andy Stirling is a professor of science and technology policy at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex.  http://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2015/aug/07/shining-a-light-on-britains-nuclear-state

August 7, 2015 Posted by | politics, UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

UK government just quietly funding Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

text-SMRsUK invests in advanced nuclear fuel research, World Nuclear News, 7 Aug 15  “……The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has awarded £1.5 million ($2.3 million) to the NNL and £1.0 million ($1.6 million) to the University of Manchester to fund new capital equipment for nuclear fuel and manufacturing research……..

NNL said that fuels are being developed with the aim of not only enhancing safety performance, but also to improve the economics and efficiency of existing and future reactors, including some designs of small modular reactors. …..
Work on nuclear fuels research and development is carried out through the Nuclear Fuel Centre of Excellence (NFCE), launched jointly by the University of Manchester and NNL last October. Access to the new equipment will also be available to researchers from outside the NNL through funded research programs facilitated by the NFCE. http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/UF-UK-invests-in-advanced-nuclear-fuel-research-0708154.html

August 7, 2015 Posted by | politics, technology, UK | Leave a comment

Thousands hospitalised as Tokyo experiences record heat wave

Japan in Hot Water — Longest Heatwave on Record for Tokyo, Tens of Thousands Hospitalizedhttp://robertscribbler.com/2015/08/06/japan-in-hot-water-longest-heatwave-on-record-for-tokyo-tens-of-thousands-hospitalized/

This morning, at 10:53 AM local time in Tokyo, the temperature was a sweltering 95.2 F (35.1 C) and climbing

For six days running thermometers in that city have been above 95 degrees F (35 C). That’sthe longest unbroken string of 95 degree + highs Japan’s capital has experienced since record-keeping began 140 years ago in 1875. In other words, parts of Japan are experiencing never-seen-before heat.

All told, recent days have seen fully 25 percent of Japan’s cities and towns hit temperatures above 95 F. It’s a heat that sinks bone deep. That gets into the blood. That makes it hard to keep going outdoors. A heat that causes injury and, sometimes, death. And over this summermore than 35,000 people have been hospitalized throughout Japan due to heat injury. Of those, more than 850 have remained hospitalized for three weeks or more. And from this grim tally 55 have now lost their lives.

Hot Ocean Waters Breed Heat Domes

The record hot air temperatures have come on due to a combination of factors. First, the ocean around Japan is abnormally warm. Recently, near-Japan sea surface temperatures have ranged from 2-5 degrees Celsius above established averages. That’s excessively hot water, especially when one considers that El Nino will typically draw the warm waters south and eastward. But this year is not at all typical with unusual-to-record heat now ranging much of the Pacific Ocean basin.

(Extreme sea surface temperatures and a heat dome high pressure system are setting the stage for record heatwaves and tragic heat injuries in Japan. Ocean temperatures in the region have ranged up to 5-6 C above average for this time of year. Image source: Earth Nullschool.)

Near Japan, the added ocean warmth lends both heat and humidity to the air about the archipelago land mass. A combination that can push wet bulb readings into ranges that are ever more difficult for human bodies to manage.

Concordant with the exceptionally hot waters surrounding Japan is a heavy heat dome high pressure system dominating the atmosphere above it. This heat dome, as with many weather systems under the regime of human-caused climate change, has been doggedly persistent. Setting up an excessively long-lasting period of record heat that has now continued off and on for weeks.

Multiple Heatwave Mass Casualty Events for Record Hot 2015

Japan joins India, Pakistan, and the Persian Gulf Region as locations experiencing heat capable of producing mass casualty events this year. In India, more than 3,000 lost their lives due to high heat and humidity during late May and early June. In Pakistan, more than 1,500 died due to the heat even as hospitals were overwhelmed by related injuries. And in Iran last week, wet bulb temperatures rocketed to a stunning 34.7 C.

Under human-forced climate change it’s a sad fact that heatwaves proliferate. We are now four times more likely to experience a heatwave on any part of the globe than we were back during the 1880s. Before our fossil fuel burning warmed the global climate by 1 degree Celsius. And as maximum temperatures and humidity push toward and past the wet bulb limit of 35 C, we are unfortunately likely to see more and more of these heatwave mass casualty events.

August 7, 2015 Posted by | climate change, Japan | Leave a comment

The essence of the Iran nuclear deal

Breaking Down The Iran Nuclear Deal: Here’s What You Need To Know  http://www.refinery29.com/2015/08/91972/iran-nuclear-deal-basics-obama-speech  ELIZABETH KIEFERIt’s been a busy week in Washington, between the fight for women’s healthcare and ramping up to the first GOP debate. In the midst of it all, discussions about the Obama administration’s Iran Nuclear Deal have continued to unfold. Wednesday, the president gave a speech addressing critics of the controversial agreement.

“The choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy and some form of war,” he said. “Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not three months from now, but soon.” He also asked the audience of 200 at American University how this nation can justify going to war without first taking a stab at a diplomatic deal.

It’s a good question. There is no simple answer. The basic facts of the deal are these: The U.S. wants to curb Iran’s access to uranium and plutonium — decreasing the country’s supply by 98% over time — so that eventually, it would take an entire year to produce enough material for a nuclear weapon. In return, the U.S. would make its own concessions, including sanctions relief.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle have been slow to publicly warm to any kind of deal with Iran, though the right has been especially incensed. “This deal paves the way to Iran getting the bomb and gives $150 [billion] to the mullahs. That’s not leadership,” Jeb Bush wrote on Twitter yesterday. Republicans, led by Rep. Ed Royce, went so far as to introduce a disapproval resolution — which many high-profile members of his party have hopped on board.

Democrats are coming around. Today, Kirsten Gillibrand announced her support and clarified her reasoning in a lengthy post on Medium. Since 2010, the New York senator has pushed for sanctions against Iran and checks on its spiraling nuclear program. “The Iranian regime with a nuclear weapon posed — then and now — an existential threat to the State of Israel and dangerously threatens our own national security interests,” she wrote. “Bottom line: Iran possessing a nuclear weapon would be a game-changing event that cannot and will not be allowed. That was true then — and it remains true today.”

The president has admitted that that an Iran Nuclear Deal has the potential to monetarily benefit terrorist groups. He has admitted that it’s an imperfect plan. But what he has also said — and what other politicians who favor the deal, including Gillibrand, have acknowledged — is that, right now, it’s the best we have.

August 7, 2015 Posted by | general | Leave a comment