Sr-90 density rose up 155 percent of the previous highest reading in the seaside of Reactor 2
From Tepco’s report released on 9/4/2015, the density of Strontium-90 increased to 155% of the previous highest reading in the seaside of Reactor 2.
It was measured in groundwater gathered to pump up. The sampling date
was 8/3/2015, Sr-90 density was 2,800,000 Bq/m3. The previous highest reading was 1,800,000 Bq/m3, which was analyzed on 7/2/2015.
From the report of 9/15/2015 about the same area, the density of Mn-54, which has 310 days of a half-life, reached the highest reading of 680 Bq/m3 on 9/10/2015. 4 days later, it rose up to 970 Bq/m3 again.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15090401-j.pdf
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15091501-j.pdf
Source: Fukushima Diary
Sr-90 density rose up 155 percent of the previous highest reading in the seaside of Reactor 2
Climate Risks from Nuclear Power. Radioactive Krypton 85: Atmospheric-Electrical and Air-Chemical Effects of Ionizing Radiation in the Atmosphere
“Title: Climate risks by radioactive krypton-85 from nuclear fission Atmospheric-electrical and air-chemical effects of ionizing radiation in the atmosphere
Klimarisiken durch radioaktives Krypton-85 aus der Kernspaltung Luftelektrische und luftchemische Wirkungen ionisierender Strahlung in der Atmosphaere
Authors : Kollert, R. (Kollert und Donderer, Bremen (Germany)); Gewaltfreie Aktion Kaiseraugst, Liestal (Switzerland);
Corporate author: Bund fuer Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e.V. (BUND), Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany). Landesverband Baden-Wuerttemberg ; Bund Naturschutz in Bayern e.V., Muenchen (Germany)
Publication year: 1994
Language: German ;
Abstract:
The study shows that krypton-85 from nuclear fission enhances air ionization and, thus, interferes with the atmospheric-electrical system and the water balance of the earth atmosphere. This is reason for concern: There are unforeseeable effects for weather and climate if the krypton-85 content of the earth atmosphere continues to rise. There may be a krypton-specific greenhouse effect and a collapse of the natural atmospheric-electrical field. In addition, human well-being may be expected to be impaired as a result of the diminished atmospheric-electrical field. There is also the risk of radiochemical actions and effects caused-by krypton-85-containing plumes in other air-borne pollutants like the latters’ transformation to aggressive oxidants. This implies radiation smog and more acid rain in the countries exposed. This study summarizes findings gained in these issues by various sciences, analyses them and elaborates hypotheses on the actions and effects of krypton-85 on the air, the atmosphere and the climate. (orig./HP);
Abstract : Die Studie zeigt, dass Krypton-85 aus der Kernspaltung die Luftionisation erhoeht und damit in das luftelektrische System sowie in den Wasserhaushalt der Erdatmosphaere eingreift. Dies gibt Anlass zu Sorge: Nicht absehbare Folgen fuer Wetter und Klima, falls der Krypton-85-Gehalt der Erdatmosphaere weiter stark ansteigt. Ein Krypton-spezifischer Treibhauseffekt ist moeglich sowie ein Zusammenbruch des natuerlichen luftelektrischen Feldes. Zu erwarten ist ueberdies eine Beeintraechtigung menschlichen Wohlbefindens infolge des verringerten luftelektrischen Feldes. Hinzu kommt das Risiko strahlenchemischer Wirkungen der Krypton-85-haltigen Abgasschwaden auf andere Luftschadstoffe, insbesondere deren Umwandlung in aggressive Oxidantien. Das bedeutet Strahlen-Smog und mehr sauren Regen ueber den betroffenen Laendern. Die Studie fuehrt zu diesen Problemkreisen Erkenntnisse aus verschiedenen Sachgebieten zusammen, analysiert sie und begruendet Hypothesen zur Wirkung von Krypton-85 auf die Luft, die Atmosphaere und das Klima. (orig./HP) ;
Pagination/Size: 66 p.;
SIGLE classification: 08N – Meteorology, climatology ; 03J – Nuclear waste reprocessing;
Keyword(s) :
FUEL REPROCESSING PLANTS; RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS; KRYPTON 85 ; ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE PATHWAY; ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY ; ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS; CLIMATIC CHANGE ; RADIOECOLOGY; IONIZING RADIATIONS ; PHOTOIONIZATION; AIR; EARTH ATMOSPHERE;
Document type :
I – Miscellaneous ;
Series / Report no. :
BUND Information : Luftelektrische und luftchemische Wirkungen ionisierender Strahlung in der Atmosphaere. v. 51 (ISSN )
Other identifier :
DE_ 1995:4257; DE;
handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10068/255704
Provenance: SIGLE;
Get a copy:
FIZ – Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe TIB – Technische Informationsbibliothek
http://www.opengrey.eu/partner/fiz
http://www.opengrey.eu/partner/tib
Availability :
Available from TIB Hannover
Country :
Germany ;
http://www.opengrey.eu/item/display/10068/255704
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/fr/
To cite or link to this reference:” http://hdl.handle.net/10068/255704
Note: Krypton is emitted during nuclear reactor operations, nuclear accidents, and nuclear fuel reprocessing (it’s present in the spent fuel-nuclear waste): “Radionuclide Release Limits—In the context of this ANPR, the specific radionuclide release limits established under 40 CFR 190.10(b). These are the legally permissible maximum amounts of krypton-85, iodine-129, as well as plutonium-239 and other alpha emitters that can enter the environment from the processes of nuclear power operations in any given year, on an energy production basis… There have been active reprocessing facilities in 15 countries, including the U.S., although some of these facilities were more research-oriented as opposed to commercial reprocessing facilities. Of the current operating facilities, the most widely known are the facilities at Sellafield (United Kingdom) and La Hague (France), which constitute the first and second leading producers globally for krypton-85. Both facilities discharge krypton-85 directly to the environment.” https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/02/04/2014-02307/environmental-radiation-protection-standards-for-nuclear-power-operations
“Potential radioactive pollutants resulting from expanded energy programs” By Hong Lee, et. al. Environmental Monitoring and Support Laboratory (Las Vegas, Nev.). Monitoring Systems Research and Development Division, EPA-600/7-77-082 August 1977 See text p. 83 re nuclear reactor emissions: http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi/9101EI5M.PDF?Dockey=9101EI5M.PDF
Source: Mining Awareness
End the nuclear ‘safety myth’
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s final report on the March 2011 triple meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant puts the main blame on the then prevailing assumption that Japan’s “nuclear power plants were so safe that an accident of this magnitude was simply unthinkable.” Constant monitoring is needed to make sure the government, power companies and nuclear regulatory authorities aren’t falling into the same “safety myth” as they push to reactivate idled reactors that meet what is now touted as the “world’s most stringent” nuclear safety standards.
Last week, Kyushu Electric Power Co. began commercial operation of the No. 1 reactor of its Sendai nuclear power plant in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture — a little over a month after it became the first reactor idled since 2011 to be reactivated on the basis of the safety standards that were tightened in response to the Fukushima disaster. The utility plans to restart the plant’s No. 2 reactor as early as next month, and the Abe administration and the power industry are pushing to bring more idled plants back online once they have cleared the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s screening.
The regulatory system for nuclear power generation has been reformed since the 2011 crisis. The old Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, which came under fire for the Fukushima debacle, has been replaced by the NRA, and new regulations introduced in 2013 require operators of nuclear power plants to beef up their defense against natural disasters such as major earthquakes and tsunamis. But while the NRA itself states that compliance with the new standards does not guarantee the plants’ safety, the government says the plants are ready for restart because they meet the NRA criteria. No one appears ready to take final responsibility for the plants’ safety.
The IAEA report, compiled by around 180 experts from 42 countries and submitted to an annual general conference of the United Nations nuclear watchdog this week, highlights the “assumption” held by Japan’s nuclear plant operators prior to 2011 that a crisis of that magnitude would not happen, which was never challenged by the government or regulatory authorities, leaving the nation unprepared for a severe accident.
The Fukushima power plant lost its emergency power supply after it was flooded by a 15-meter tsunami triggered by the magnitude-9 quake on March 11, 2011. The loss of power crippled its crucial core-cooling functions and led to the meltdowns in its three operating reactors. Citing Tepco’s failure to take precautionary action against such external hazards despite an estimate prior to the disaster that a powerful quake off Fukushima could cause a tsunami of roughly the same scale that hit the plant site, the report said “there was not sufficient consideration of low probability, high consequence external events,” partly because “of the basic assumption in Japan, reinforced over many decades, that the robustness of the technical design of the nuclear plants would provide sufficient protection against postulated risks.” This assumption led to “a tendency for organizations and their staff not to challenge the level of safety” and “resulted in a situation where safety improvements were not introduced promptly.”
The report also pointed to the deficiencies in Japan’s nuclear regulatory system behind the Fukushima disaster. “The regulation of nuclear safety in Japan at the time of the accident was performed by a number of organizations with different roles and responsibilities and complex interrelationships. It was not fully clear which organizations had the responsibility and authority to issue binding instructions on how to respond to safety issues without delay,” it said. “The regulations, guidelines and procedures in place at the time of the accident were not fully in line with international practice in some key areas, most notably in relation to periodic safety reviews, re-evaluation of hazards, severe accident management and safety culture.”
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, in his foreword to the report, says Japan’s regulatory system has since been reformed to meet international standards, with regulators given clearer responsibilities and greater authority. Whether the new plant safety standards are the world’s most stringent or not, plants that meet the standards are supposed to withstand much greater levels of external hazards and be better able to respond to emergencies than before.
Still, complacency under the new standards would risk reviving the same safety myth rebuked in the report. Questioning whether the tightened standards are sufficient could be branded as demanding zero tolerance of risks and thereby unrealistic. However, as the IAEA report points out, it was an “unlikely combination of events” that hit the Tepco plant, and the utility’s unpreparedness for such a situation that resulted in the 2011 disaster.
We need to consider whether the tendency to dismiss low-probability risks as “small enough” — as was, for example, the risk of Kyushu Electric’s Sendai plant being hit by a volcanic eruption when the go-ahead was given for its restart — is acceptable from the viewpoint of preventing severe accidents at nuclear plants in the future.
Source: Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/09/14/editorials/end-nuclear-safety-myth/#.Vfjrx5eFSM9
Solar farms in Fukushima
Solar power farms grow in shadow of Fukushima plant http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/16/national/solar-power-farms-grow-shadow-fukushima-plant/#.Vfsu99KqpHw JIJI SEP 16, 2015 FUKUSHIMA – Parcels of farmland totaling 250 hectares near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant are returning to life and being covered with solar panels, amid government incentives to invest in renewable power.
At least one village has set up its own tiny power company, and together the solar farms are scheduled to generate about 160 megawatts of electricity.
Tohoku Electric Power Co. will buy the output, according to prefectural and municipal officials in Fukushima Prefecture.
Japan strictly regulates the conversion of farmland to other uses, to keep a lid on disorderly development. The cases in Fukushima Prefecture were made possible after the central government eased restrictions as an exceptional measure to promote reconstruction following the quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Tohoku in March 2011. Continue reading
Charles Koch saboteur of clean energy
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) connects state lawmakers with corporate
lobbyists to create model legislation. Koch foundations also fund ALEC. The corporate “bill mill” has approved model legislation to repeal or weaken renewable energy standards, eliminate solar net metering policies, and restrict markets for solar power.
How Charles Koch Prevents Clean Energy Businesses From Succeeding, TruthOut 02 September 2015 By Matthew Kasper, Republic Report | News Analysis Last week, President Obama correctly singled out the Koch brothers – Charles and David – and the Koch-funded network for standing in the way of America’s clean energy Continue reading
UK Lib Dem Leader Tim Farron Calls for Independent Investigation into Environmental Damage from Nuclear Industries
(Note that the USFWS comment deadline at 11.59 pm US ET on Saturday, will be 4.59 am on Sunday in the UK: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/09/15/polar-bear-plan-must-include-impact-of-radionuclides-comment-deadline-sat-19-sept-1159-pm-et-dc-ny-us-fisheries-wildlife-service/)
“Dear Tim
It is extremely worrying and depressing to think that the activities of the civilian and military nuclear industries at Sellafield and BAeSystems, Barrow in Furness and elsewhere are damaging wildlife such as polar bears in the Arctic which are also a good indicator of the damage being done to us (link above).
Before we build any more nuclear weapons, power stations or other nuclear facilities, we need a proper independent investigation into the damage being caused by the nuclear industries to public health and the environment.
I would be grateful if you could ask the Secretary of State for such an independent investigation.
Yours sincerely”
Concerned Citizen-Radiation Free Lakeland Supporter [1]
“17 September 2015
Thank you very much for your recent email…
View original post 270 more words
TODAY SEPT. 17, 2015 ABE’S LAW WAS DICTATED BYPASSING THE DUE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
Remarkable report from our friend Laurent Mabesoone (青眼 マブソン) in Japan explaining to us what took place today at the Diet (Parlement) of Japan.
Translated by Hervé Courtois (D’un Renard)
Abe’s law, which should allow Japan to conduct an offensive war abroad at the side of an allied country – in fact, the USA (a law judged unconstitutional by all serious experts) would pass in front of the Senate, after being passed thanks to an expeditious procedure last July 15th before the Diet.
On this occasion, the senators of the opposition parties (Fukuyama for the Democratic Party Minshuto, Koike for the CCP, Taro Yamamoto, etc …) wanted to do everything possible to make the debates last long. This is because the character very confused and very risk of this law (which challenges the constitutional basis of the country since World War II).
But also because the Abe government would be required to revote the law in plenary session of the Diet, if the ratification by the Senate would take place 60 days after July 15th. In this case, as Abe would not get 2/3 of the votes in plenary session in the Diet, the law could fall in the water …
The limit for the vote in the Senate was this week. So the opposition parties have done everything to delay, with an unpublished heroism – they felt lifted by the huge crowd that rallies everyday and night in front of the Diet and elsewhere in Japan (youth movement “SEALDs”, among others, who have finally expanded our movement, which was antinuclear at its foundation …).
Yesterday evening, the few women senators from the opposition parties have worn pink headbands and form a women’s wall (a “no kabe onna”, to prevent the President of the Special Committee of the Senate to go to the hall of parliament. They had the clever idea to shout “Sekku hara” (sexual harrassment) every time the police touched them to clear the way. This held until 0:30, and the session had to be postponed to this morning 9:00.
This morning, surprise: the government announces that the law will not be voted in plenary session of the Senate, but in a special commission expeditious manner (as it was done in the Diet in July, that is by just asking members of that commission sho support the law to stand up … an incredibly expeditious procedure for a law of this importance, and an unreliable procedure).
So the opposition had the idea to file a censure motion against the President of the Committee (Mr. Konoike), which would delay one day. They intended afterwards to file a motion against the government, which would help to exceed this week time limit, and to maybe drop the law.
Each opposition MP was brilliant, taking his/her time (since this morning until 5:00 p.m. It was broadcasted live on NHK). Taro passing last (15: 30-17: 00: a full speech, taking the whole American policy since the Pacific War until the Iraq war and the problems with China, etc …).
All speeches were broadcasted live (well, NHK is trying to show that it was doing its job for a change!), It was watched live throughout Japan.
Yamamoto Taro was particularly appreciated on all social networks – having his way to “buy time” while marking strong points…. As examples:
“the Iraq war was declared illegal by the International Court of The Hague, at that time, Japan was on the side of the US, in a passive way – for constitutional reasons, but the Iraqis have already been disappointed by Japan during that time”
or” To follow a country that sustains its economy with illegal wars, is to also transform Japan in an economy that depends only of war ”
or” the Japanese military are not things that one moves for the economic interests of the US or Japan. They are human beings. If you want to participate in an offensive war with the US, Abe, go yourself to the front line, please. It is you who has promised this Constitutional reform to the American military last year! ”
(Abe was away until the last moment …).
At 17:00 the Vice President of the Committee (Mr. Sato, former commander of PKO troops in Iraq in 2003! …) forced Yamamoto Taro to end his speech. And immediately, the sameVice-President requested the vote on the censure motion against the President of the Commission.
Without surprise, the motion was rejected, but all of a sudden, the NHK mutes the sound ( 5:50 in the video), posting subtitles claiming that “the exchanges that follow are not transcribed” (???).
We saw then the president of the commission, the PM Abe and his Minister of Defence finally entering into the room, escorted by policemen, the President announcing that the vote on the law would take place immediately in reduced session!
Opposition senators, revolted (they counted immediately file a further motion against the government) have rushed to the desk of the president. YamamotoTaro was the first in line, naturally, asking for time to file another motion. They were ignored,
In an incredible noise and turmoil, the president of the commission, invisible and inaudible, probably stammered that the law was passed! Indeed, the LPD senators stood up more or less two or three times. Just after they are already stood up a first time, Abe came out !! (He fled?) …
There it is, it has been done … Japan is not a pacifist country anymore. It can make war again!
The trial record of the meeting (published on twitter by Koike of the PCF) specifies that the law was fully read, there was 5 questions and a regulatory vote: gross lie perfectly verifiable on the video).
In short, Taro has been the last Japanese MP (Senator) to express himself in a democratic framework. Now we know that Abe is ready to to do ANYTHING!
Why we must expose the true ugly nature of the nuclear industry
Hervé Courtois, (D’un Renard), 60 years old, Picardie, France My daughter French-Japanese lives in Iwaki city, Fukushima prefecture, 50 kms South from the nuclear plant of Fukushima Daiichi. Sandra Sagae Courtois, born in Paris in 1982, grown up in Fukushima, 33 years old,unmarried, no children, does not want to give birth anymore by fear of possible tetragenic birth due to radioactive contamination thru her living environment and the contaminated food.
I have been following the Fukushima catastrophe day and night from the right beginning, and I am very well aware of the real dangers of Fukushima and of nuclear, my own blood and flesh French-Japanese daughter being one of the victims of nuclear in Fukushima, l will therefore continue to fight nuclear until it ends or until my last breath.
I am a member of Sortir du Nucléaire France and of Greenpeace France, activist in the real world and on internet.
I am opposed to all pro-nuclear and their paid shills, but I am also oppose to those irresponsable people who produce hoax after hoax about Fukushima to satisfy their attention-glory-narcissist craving and their donations milking. All those people in different ways are harming the truth, harming our antinuclear cause.
Nuclear is more than bad, we will only win by exposing its ugly real nature, the true real solid facts. We won’t win by spinning sensationalism or hoaxes, which only become ammunitions for the pro-nuke shills to discredit us and the true dangers of nuclear in the mind of the general public.
Entergy’s FitzPatrick Nuclear Reactor next to bite the dust?
Entergy’s FitzPatrick Reactor May Be Next Nuclear Casualty, Power, 09/14/2015 | Sonal Patel Entergy’s 850-MW James A. FitzPatrick nuclear plant located near Oswego, N.Y., may be the next reactor doomed to close on profitability woes. Entergy’s CEO Leo Denault told attendees at the Barclays CEO EnergyPower Conference on Sept. 10 that the company will need to decide by the end of this year whether to go forward with plans to refuel the FitzPatrick plant in Fall 2016.
The single-unit 1975-built reactor is one of six merchant nuclear plants that Entergy operates in the Northeast. Competition from low-cost gas and subsidized wind power has undercut power prices, making it difficult for FitzPatrick to make money (see POWER‘s latest story on how Exelon is dealing with similar issues)………Entergy in December 2014 shuttered its Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant because it was unprofitable. The Louisiana-based company acknowledged that the FitzPatrick plant, which gained the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s green light to run until 2034, has been flailing financially for two years now. However, the company is determined to continue operating its two Indian Point units in New York despite strong opposition by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and environmental advocacy groups, Denault said, because its a “primary source of value earnings and … cash flow.” http://www.powermag.com/entergys-fitzpatrick-reactor-may-be-next-nuclear-casualty/
Climate change at a ‘turning point’ – could now move faster
Earth’s climate system ‘at turning point’ http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/14/global-temps-rise-restart-soon Experts warn big changes are under way in the earth’s climate.Source: AAPExperts said big changes were under way in the earth’s climate system, with a natural phenomenon known as El Nino combining with the impact of greenhouse gases to push global temperatures to record highs.
But other changes in the Atlantic Ocean over the coming decades could make relatively cooler and possibly drier summers in the UK and northern Europe more likely.
Globally, the Earth’s climate system was at a “turning point”, with a number of major changes happening at once, the Met Office’s Professor Adam Scaife said.
In the run-up to key United Nations talks in Paris, at which it is hoped a new international agreement to tackle climate change can be agreed, “the signal is very clear” that global warming is happening.
The world has witnessed a slowdown or “pause” in rising temperatures in recent years, which sceptics pointed to as contradicting evidence of ongoing climate change.
The new report from the Met Office, which has been peer-reviewed by the University of Reading’s Professor Rowan Sutton, suggests the world is warming again.
Prof Scaife said experts could not be sure it was the end of the slowdown.
However, rates of warming averaged over decades were likely to reach the high levels seen at the end of the 20th century, when the world was warming rapidly, within two years.
The years 2014, 2015 and 2016 are all likely to be at or near record levels, in part due to the influence of the El Nino phenomenon of surface warming in the Pacific Ocean.
Scientists are very confident there is now a major El Nino under way, which is set to peak this winter, on the scale of an El Nino event in 1998 which helped drive global temperatures to record highs.
But Prof Scaife said natural variations such as El Nino were just the “icing on the cake” on top of human activity which is putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and driving climate change.
Renewable energy race – 5 developing countries fast ditching fossil fuels
China continues to invest in renewables at a scale that dwarfs that of other countries. China invested nearly $90bn in clean energy in 2014, or 73% more than the US, building large solar parks in Qinghai and wind farms in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, just to name a few.
as solar power rapidly becomes a mainstream energy option, the industry could create over 670,000 new, clean-energy jobs in India.
virtually infinite potential from wind and solar energy can truly democratise the generation of, and access to, power.
Race to renewable: five developing countries ditching fossil fuels
Costa Rica, Afghanistan, China, India and Albania are all embracing renewable energy sources – five experts give their opinion on what the future holds Continue reading
Learn about these terrific films showing at Uranium Film Festival in Berlin
PROGRAMM BERLIN 2015 http://uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/programm-berlin-2015
Programme of the International Uranium Film Festival Berlin 2015, September 24 to 30
Location: KINO BROTFABRIK, Caligariplatz 1, Phone: 030 4714001/2, E-Mail: karten@brotfabrik-berlin.de(link sends e-mail)
Thursday 24 September Continue reading
Resentencing of USA’s nun who broke into nuclear weapons complex
Nun who broke into nuclear weapons complex resentenced http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nun-85-who-broke-into-nuclear-weapons-complex-resentenced-megan-rice/ NASHVILLE, Tenn. 15 Sep 15— An 85-year-old nun and two fellow Catholic peace activists have been resentenced to time served for vandalizing a storage bunkerthat held much of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium.
Sister Megan Rice, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed were originally convicted of felony sabotage for their 2012 actions in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where they cut through fences and sneaked into the most secure area of the Y-12 National Security Complex. Once there, they hung banners, prayed and hammered on the outside wall of the bunker to symbolize a Bible passage that refers to the end of all war: “They will beat their swords into ploughshares.”
Rice was sentenced to nearly three years in prison while Walli, 66, and Boertje-Obed, 60, were each sentenced to just over five years. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the sabotage charge in May, leaving a conviction on the lesser charge of injuring government property. When they were released from prison in June, the anti-nuclear activists had already served two years.
Government prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar to put the activists on supervised released.
Defense attorney Judy Kwan said the judge on Tuesday ordered two years of unsupervised release instead. During that time the activists are prohibited from going onto the grounds of any nuclear facilities.
The activists asked the judge to reduce the amount of restitution they were ordered to pay for damage at Y-12, nearly $53,000. He denied that request, Kwan said.
Rice and Walli, who live in Washington, D.C., and Boertje-Obed, who lives in Minnesota, are part of a loose network of activists who oppose the spread of nuclear weapons through provocative non-violent protests they call ploughshares actions. In the aftermath of their break-in at Y-12, federal officials implemented sweeping changes, including new management and a new defense security chief to oversee all of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s sites.
South Africa fires key nuclear negotiator
Joemat-Pettersson fires point man on nuclear BY CAROL PATON, Business Day, 15 SEPTEMBER 2015, THE key figure in the government’s bid to secure a 9.6GW nuclear energy programme, nuclear physicist Senti Thobejane, has been fired by Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, raising new questions on the future of the project.
Mr Thobejane, who was nuclear adviser to Ms Joemat-Pettersson, also advised President Jacob Zuma, which, with his knowledge and skills, placed him in a unique position to broker the large nuclear procurement, of which Mr Zuma has been an enthusiastic supporter.
He was the key figure in discussions with vendor countries and played a central role in the Cabinet’s energy security sub-committee, which is led by Mr Zuma himself.
His sudden departure comes as the Treasury is finally getting to grips with the feasibility of the nuclear procurement, which until recently had been kept under wraps by the Department of Energy. The department has repeatedly assured Parliament and the public that the procurement of 9.6GW of nuclear energy was affordable and viable. However, it has refused to make public the studies which it says support this.
The reasons for the termination of Mr Thobejane’s contract are not publicly known. ……..aside from Mr Thobejane’s departure there are other signs that the programme may be losing momentum. Six weeks ago Ms Joemat-Pettersson denied that the government had ever said it would build 9.6GW of nuclear power, describing the number as “a thumb-suck”………
In reply to questions submitted by Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said on Monday that the Treasury was still in the process of assessing both the financial costs and economic effects of the nuclear build programme.
“This work is currently not finalised yet as there is an interactive process under way with the Department of Energy on the scale of the programme and possible financing scenarios that have a bearing on the modelling work and its results. The recommendations from this work are expected to be submitted to the Cabinet as soon as the work is completed,” said Mr Nene. http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/energy/2015/09/15/joemat-pettersson-fires-point-man-on-nuclear
100% renewable energy achieved in city of Columbia, Maryland
Columbia, Maryland Running On 100% Renewable Energy Energy Matters, 15 Sept 15 A new solar power station has enabled Columbia Association to complete its transformation to running facilities and services in Columbia, Maryland on 100 per cent renewable energy.
Columbia is an unincorporated city of nearly 100,000 people that was established in the 1960’s; part of the New Towns Movement in the United States. Its founder, James Rouse, sought to build a complete city that would respect the land and provide for the growth of people as well as making a profit.
Columbia Association (CA) is the nonprofit service corporation that manages Columbia. It operates a vast array of infrastructure, recreational, cultural and community services within the community; including fitness facilities, tennis clubs and dozens of swimming pools.
Columbia Association had been sourcing 75 percent of its energy from wind renewable energy credits. The final 25 percent is now being generated by a newly completed two megawatt solar farm; a project of SunEdison and Bithenergy.
The Nixon Farm solar project is located West Friendship, Maryland. Electricity generated by the plant is provided to Columbia via virtual net metering and under a 20 year power purchase agreement with SunEdison.
“With the completion of the Nixon Farm solar power plant, the people of Columbia now enjoy the environmental and cost benefits of getting 100 percent of their electricity from renewable sources,” said Steve Raeder, SunEdison’s general manager of Eastern U.S. commercial and industrial solar…….In addition to its renewable energy efforts, Columbia Association has been very active as an Energy Star Partner with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), promoting the benefits of the program to the community as well as carrying out various energy efficiency upgrades within the facilities it operates. http://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/sunedison-columbia-solar-em5061/
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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