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Fukushima evacuees stay away: population at lowest level since 1945

flag-japanFukushima population at postwar low, down 5.7%, as nuclear disaster evacuees steer clear: census   http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/12/28/national/fukushima-population-postwar-low-5-7-nuclear-disaster-evacuees-steer-clear-census/#.VoL85rZ97Gg FUKUSHIMA 29 DEC 15 – The population of Fukushima Prefecture fell by 115,458, or 5.7 percent, from 2010 to stand at 1,913,606 as of Oct. 1, marking the lowest level since the end of World War II, the prefecture has said.

The size of the drop, shown in a preliminary report on the census for 2015 released Friday, was the largest on record, due mainly to the evacuation of residents after the nuclear disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant in March 2011.

The population was zero in the towns of Okuma, Futaba, Tomioka and Namie, all of which were evacuated.

The prefecture’s population fell for the fourth consecutive time in the census, which is conducted every five years.

By municipality, the population plunged 87.3 percent to 976 in the town of Naraha, where the government’s evacuation advisory was mostly lifted in September.

The population dropped 28.3 percent to 2,021 in the village of Kawauchi, where the evacuation advisory for its eastern part was removed in October 2014.

The figures indicate a lack of progress in the return of residents to the two municipalities.

By contrast, the population grew 0.6 to 2.1 percent in the cities of Fukushima, Iwaki and Soma, as well as the town of Miharu, as they accepted evacuees from areas close to the Tepco plant and workers involved in reconstruction-related projects, such as the decontamination of areas tainted by radioactive materials from the plant.

The number of households in Fukushima Prefecture rose 2.2 percent to 736,616, up for the 19th time in a row since the first census.

JIJI

December 30, 2015 Posted by | Fukushima 2015, Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Growing nuclear dangers are ‘dimly perceived’ by public

Atomic-Bomb-SmFlag-USACrusading former Pentagon chief: nuclear dangers are growing but ‘dimly Book Journey at Nuclear Brinkperceived’ by public, Fox News 29 Dec 15  WASHINGTON –  Late in a life lived unnervingly near the nuclear abyss, William J. Perry is on a mission to warn of a “real and growing danger” of nuclear doom.

The 88-year-old former defense secretary is troubled by the risks of catastrophe from the very weapons he helped develop. Atop his list: a nuclear terror attack in a major U.S. city or a shooting war with Russia that, through miscalculation, turns nuclear. A terrorist attack using a nuclear bomb or improvised nuclear device could happen “any time now – next year or the year after,” he said in an interview with reporters earlier this month………

“It was, of course, a false alarm,” Perry said, but it was one of many experiences throughout the Cold War and beyond that he says have given him a “unique and chilling vantage point from which to conclude that nuclear weapons no longer provide for our security — they now endanger it.”

His views are remarkable, not least because they strike at the heart of the conventional wisdom about nuclear weapons that has been embraced by both political parties for decades. For example, Perry thinks the U.S. nuclear force no longer needs land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, and can rely on the other two “legs” of the force — bomber aircraft and submarine-based missiles. ICBMs should be scrapped, he says, adding, “I don’t think it’s going to happen, but I think it should happen. They’re not needed” to deter nuclear aggression.

He also opposes the Obama administration’s plan to build a new nuclear-capable cruise missile.

Perry looks at Russia’s nuclear modernization and U.S. plans to spend hundreds of billions to update its nuclear arsenal and sees irrational nuclear competition.

“I see an imperative to stop this damn nuclear race before it gets under way again, not just for the cost but for the danger it puts all of us in,” he said……….

“Our chief peril is that the poised nuclear doom, much of it hidden beneath the seas and in remote badlands, is too far out of the public consciousness,” he wrote in his memoir.

In his book’s preface Perry outlines a nuclear terror scenario, which he calls “my nuclear nightmare, born of long and deep experience.”…..

“The danger of a nuclear bomb being detonated in one of our cities is all too real,” Perry writes. “And yet, while this catastrophe would result in a hundred times the casualties of 9/11, it is only dimly perceived by the public and not well understood.” http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/29/crusading-former-pentagon-chief-nuclear-dangers-are-growing-but-dimly-perceived.html

December 30, 2015 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Renewed calls to shut down aging Indian Point nuclear station

reactor--Indian-PointNew calls to shut Indian Point; plant’s critics cite age, proximity to cities, North Jersey.com , DECEMBER 27, 2015BY SCOTT FALLON A nuclear power plant just 15 miles from North Jersey is at a crossroads as federal regulators determine whether to allow Indian Point in Westchester County to continue operating for another two decades in the face of fierce opposition from New York officials.

A series of mishaps this year, including one in which a reactor was shut down this month, has renewed calls by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to close the aging plant on the Hudson River. They come as an arm of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission continues to scrutinize Indian Point’s application to renew the licenses on its two reactors, a marathon process that began eight years ago.

In a scathing letter to the commission last month, a top Cuomo official called the 40-year-old reactors brittle and fatigued, and said the plant’s proximity to a major population center makes it impossible to have an effective evacuation plan.

“Given the deterioration of this aging plant, it should not be permitted to operate for another 20 years,” wrote Jim Malatras, director of state operations in New York.

A spokesman for Entergy Corp., which owns Indian Point, did not respond to a request for comment……

The reactors’ 40-year licenses have expired — Unit 2 in 2013 and Unit 3 on Dec. 12 — but they are allowed to operate while the renewal process continues…….

Evacuation zone

Indian Point has long been a concern of North Jersey officials because Bergen and Passaic counties sit just outside the plant’s federally designated 10-mile evacuation zone, which critics have long said is too small. New Jersey has developed emergency plans, including one to accept thousands of people from Rockland County if need be.

New Jersey has not weighed in on Indian Point’s future. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has not submitted any comments to the NRC because it has “no regulatory role” over the plant, said Larry Hajna, an agency spokesman.

Indian Point’s relicensing saga comes during a relatively quiet time for New Jersey’s own nuclear industry. Three nuclear reactors have been approved to operate for several more decades while a fourth – Oyster Creek in Ocean County – is scheduled to close by the end of the decade. Although Governor Christie has called for  another reactor to be built in New Jersey, plans by the state’s largest electric utility to build one in Salem County are on hold.

In New York, Cuomo is trying disrupt Indian Point’s relicensing efforts by denying a certification under the state’s Coastal Zone Management Plan. In a report sent to NRC last month, New York officials reiterated much of the criticism leveled at Indian Point through the years: That there is no way New York City and its densely populated suburbs could be adequately evacuated if a disaster occurred, the plant is vulnerable because it sits near two fault lines, and a billion fish and other marine organisms are killed annually when they are sucked from the Hudson River into the plant’s intake valves.

Some environmental advocates say the report could disrupt Indian Point’s license renewal. A New York court has said the plant is exempt from the state’s review. That decision is being appealed…….. http://www.northjersey.com/news/new-calls-to-shut-indian-point-plant-s-critics-cite-age-proximity-to-cities-1.1480825

December 30, 2015 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, politics, USA | Leave a comment

Rejecting nuclear power, Catholic Church in South Africa calls for a referendum

text-Noflag-S.AfricaSouth Africa’s Catholic Church Rejects Nuclear Procurement Plans, Calls For Referendum, IBT  BY  @MORGANWINSOR ON 12/29/15 The Catholic Church in South Africa urged the government Tuesday to suspend its nuclear power procurement plans until a referendum on the issue is held. The Justice and Peace Commission for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said in a statement the risks of adding nuclear energy to the national grid outweigh any economic benefits, according to South Africa’sFin24.

“Although the probability of a nuclear accident is relatively low, the consequences of such an accident cause health hazards for thousands of people and render hundreds of kilometers of land uninhabitable and unsuitable for any use for decades,” said Bishop Abel Gabuza, chairperson of the commission. “The commission has therefore appealed to the government to urgently call for a nuclear referendum.”

Gabuza said the South African government, which is struggling with power shortages and an economic crisis, has yet to show evidence that nuclear procurement is affordable to the country and consumers. The Christian-majority nation should instead focus its efforts and financial resources on renewable energy, he added.

“Given the enormity of the risks that the South African government is asking its citizens to bear through the nuclear option, including the enormous safety risks and economic risks, it is only fair that the government directly consults its people on the matter,” Gabuza said in the statement Tuesday. “A referendum is the best instrument for realizing the common good on this important matter.”…….

The Justice and Peace Commission for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said the government should look to Italy as a leading example. In June 2011, the Italian government held a similar referendum to poll its citizens on its plans to generate 25 percent of the country’s electricity from nuclear power by 2030. Well over 90 percent of voters rejected the plans for a return to nuclear power generation, the Guardian reported at the time.

“If our government truly believes that its nuclear decision is serving the best interests of the majority of South Africans, it should not be afraid to emulate the Italian example and open up the matter to a national referendum before the formal bidding process commences,” Gabuza said in the commission’s statement Tuesday, according to Fin24. http://www.ibtimes.com/south-africas-catholic-church-rejects-nuclear-procurement-plans-calls-referendum-2242619

December 30, 2015 Posted by | Religion and ethics, South Africa | Leave a comment

St. Louis and the Radiation problem – recommendation – Just get out of town!

highly-recommendedFlag-USAFukushima Update: “Your Radiation This Week BEFORE IT’S NEWS, Dec 19 to Dec 26, 2015″ By Bob Nichols  “………St. Louis and the Rad problem: St. Louis, now and forever more, will be remembered as a Manhattan Project nuclear garbage dump. It was for the most poisonous, flammable elements in the universe that just happen to also be radioactive. What will happen to the pieces of the rocks that incinerated Hiroshima, Japan and turned former people into mere shadows on the concrete? Nagasaki was blown away by Plutonium, manufactured by all reactors.
What is going on at the St. Louis City/Federal Nuclear garbage dump is the two have more or less run together 100 to 200 feet below the ground. This is out by the Airport in a poor section of town in a flood plain. As garbage dumps frequently do, it caught on fire. Now that is not very unusual, however hundreds of tons, if not thousands of tons of highly radioactive, flammable rocks mixed with or next to the garbage dump is not solvable in this lifetime; or ever. There is no fix.
landfill West Lake St Louis
As YRTW readers and commentators have pointed out, this nuke fire in St. Louis could be the result of many different things or nothing at all. That is real “plausible deniability” for you; an old term fired President Nixon popularized. The real criminals are the long dead people who thought of digging a plain hole in the ground for the Uranium bomb making left overs from the Manhattan Project in the first place and those workers who buried it many years ago. Their atomic legacy just keeps on killing.
St Louis is certainly not alone in experiencing the reckless disregard for life and health of the powerful federal/private Manhattan Project. The same highly radioactive throw-aways from building the Bomb are used as an under-pavement for roads in Niagara Falls, New York and West Chicago, Illinois. There are no doubt more cities with such a curse from WWII days and the 1950’s.
The St. Louis dump grounds now make up a giant nuclear powered cooking pot because the Uranium brings it’s own heat with it as a free built-in Property. This stuff burns really hot – up to 10,832 D. F. A real devils brew of explosive and poisonous stuff is cooking up in St. Louis. Worse, it is probably already on fire up to 200 feet below ground. The garbage fire is called a “smouldering fire” and is starved for oxygen. Digging it up is not a good idea since that just exposes the burning garbage fire to more oxygen.
The Uranium products don’t require oxygen to burn. Uranium products can burn without oxygen and underwater – it makes no difference. Plus, the fine Uranium particles can catch on fire at room temperature all by themselves. No ignition sources are required. When people use the old expression “It was bound to happen,” this is one of those things.
Now – 70 years later – it is kind of a Perfect Crime. The original Perps are long dead and buried or almost dead. The Feds are using a standard cover story that emphasizes that it was an illegal dumping operation of radioactive waste. Ha! That’s preposterous! The hundreds or thousands of workers, ranging from engineers to laborers digging a huge hole out by the Airport did exactly what they were told to do by the Manhattan Project. The Feds are just trying to escape liability by these idiotic lies. The Feds broke it; they have to pay to fix the impossible situation the folks are in now – It’s theirs! Now – Not 50 years from now.
Uranium is also chemically active. It can and does provoke the creation of explosive and poisonous gases at the St. Louis Garbage/Nuke Dump that migrate through the upper layers of dirt to poison and harm people in St. Louis. That is the natural way of things when substances are exposed to Radiolysis. It is defined by the Free Dictionary as: “Radiolysis – Molecular decomposition of a substance as a result of radiation.” – http://www.thefreedictionary.com/radiolytic.  Pissin’ On The Roses has a good piece on Radiolysis. It is here.

My recommendation remains the same for healthy,
able-bodied people in St. Louis – Just leave, get out of town……

December 30, 2015 Posted by | safety, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Oak Ridge, USA, dependent on nuclear industry, kept secret about its polluting work

see-no-evilFlag-USANuclear workers: Projects’ results were worth illnesses, deaths Amarillo.com  December 28, 2015 Tribune News Service ….”……it’s a sensitive subject in Oak Ridge, with the community so dependent on the still-running Y-12 plant.

And over the years, there have been plenty of secrets to keep.

The women who worked at the plant were told to keep their mouths shut, and those who talked about their jobs were quickly let go.

Huddleston, the calutron girl who said she felt the burden of helping kill Japanese citizens, said she didn’t even tell her son what she was doing at Y-12 until five years ago.

“I was told so long — I just never did talk about it,” she said………..http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2015-12-28/nuclear-workers-projects-results-were-worth-illnesses-deaths#.VoMfhne5dh0.twitter

 

December 30, 2015 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Russia to dump nuclear waste in melting permafrost in Arkhangelsk Region

permafrost thawing eastern-siberia-lgApproves radioactive waste disposal in melting permafrost December 22, 2015 http://thebarentsobserver.com/ecology/2015/12/approves-radioactive-waste-disposal-melting-permafrost

On Monday, the Government of Arkhangelsk Region sent an order to Russia’s national operator for radioactive waste management with the approval to locate a repository for low- and medium level radioactive waste on the south-western part of the southern island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.

Novaya Zemlya is geographically part of Arkhangelsk Oblast.

The repository will receive radioactive waste that already are in temporary storages in north-western Russia, including the large quantities stored at the naval yards in Severodvinsk on the coast of the White Sea, reports Nuclear.ru

The repository will be underground, but near the surface. Novaya Zemlya, like most other places in the High Arctic has permafrost in the ground. With climate changes, scientists fears the top layers of the permafrost could melt. That worries nuclear safety experts.

“It is important to consider the melting permafrost when studying risk-assessments for a radioactive waste repository on Novaya Zemlya,” says Nils Bøhmer, Nuclear Physicists with the Bellona Foundation in Norway.

He says the melting permafrost makes it highly uncertain for how long such waste can be protected.

Low- and medium level waste must be kept safe for hundreds of years according to Russian standards, reports Polit.ru that wrote about the Novaya Zemlya plans on Monday.

Bøhmer says it would be a much better alternative to establish a final repository for low- and medium level radioactive waste on the Kola Peninsula where the rocks are way more stable.

“In addition, it is safer to establish a repository where most of the waste already are located. Sea transport across the Barents Sea to Novaya Zemlya is a risky business in itself,” Bøhmer argues.

Novaya Zemlya was one of ten different sites in Northwest-Russia studied over the last couple of years to see if it is suited to be repository. Sites on the coast of the Kola Peninsula were also studied.

 

December 30, 2015 Posted by | climate change, Russia, wastes | Leave a comment

32 Million Japanese Affected by Fukushima nuclear catastrophe

Fukushima-deformed--structuFukushima Today, Dissident Voice by Robert Hunziker / December 29th, 2015   32 Million Japanese Affected by Fukushima  “……..According to 2015 Fukushima Report released March 11, 2015 by Green Cross/Geneva founded by former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, thirty-two million people in Japan are negatively affected by the nuclear disaster.

The Green Cross criteria is based upon direct exposure to radiation as well as people influenced by stress factors due to the disaster, all of whom are at risk of long-term and short-term consequences, including neuropsychological and/or cancer disorders.

According to estimates, 80 percent of the released radiation was deposited in the ocean and the other 20 percent was mostly dispersed within a 50 km radius to the northwest of the power plant in the Fukushima Prefecture. While the expected cancer risks to humans caused by the radiation released over the Pacific Ocean are small, trace amounts of radiation have already reached the North American continent and, in particular, parts of the northern West Coast of the United States. The risk of cancer overall will increase, especially for those individuals who were still children at the time of the accident. Their health will be at risk over their entire lifetime as a result of the radiation released by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.3

The 2015 Fukushima Report was prepared under the direction of Prof. Jonathan M. Samet, Director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Southern California (USC), at the initiative of Green Cross Switzerland.

Yet, proponents of nuclear power, including several distinguished climate scientists, promote more nuclear to solve the world’s greenhouse gas problems, claiming nuclear accidents are so rare as to be low risk. But, that logic misses an important point. When nuclear disaster does strike, it lasts a lifetime, affecting millions upon millions. It only takes one disaster like a Chernobyl or a Fukushima to be equivalent to untold thousands of disasters by renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

As for a lifetime of radiation misery, one only need visit one of a couple hundred homes for Chernobyl children hidden in the back woods of Belarus. They all have physical if not mental defects or both.  Because of one nuclear accident, 6,000 children are born every year in Ukraine with genetic heart defects; the country experiences a 250% increase in congenital birth deformities; 85% of Belarusian children carry “genetic markers” that could affect health at any time; UNICEF found children’s disease rates off the map, for example, a 63% increase in disorders of the bone, muscle and connective tissue; more than one million children still live in contaminated zones. Belarusian doctors have seen a dramatic increase in cancers, including a 200% increase in breast cancer, a 100% increase in leukemia, and a 2,400% increase in incidence of thyroid cancer. All from only one nuclear disaster!4

Meanwhile, China plans on building 400 nuclear power plants along waterways and coastlines where water is plentiful, thus cooling radioactive power. Imagine the fateful range of possibilities!

Robert Hunziker (MA, economic history, DePaul University) is a freelance writer and environmental journalist whose articles have been translated into foreign languages and appeared in over 50 journals, magazines, and sites worldwide. He can be contacted at:rlhunziker@gmail.comRead other articles by Robert.    http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/12/fukushima-today/

December 30, 2015 Posted by | Fukushima 2015 | Leave a comment

Sloppy health data collection in the history of America’s nuclear workers

death-nuclearFlag-USANuclear workers: Projects’ results were worth illnesses, deaths Amarillo.com  December 28, 2015 Tribune News Service  “…………The death toll for American workers has never been disclosed. The U.S. Department of Labor, which administers the compensation program, makes routine reports on how much it spends and how many people it serves, but never on the number who have died.

At first, department officials told TNS they do not even bother to collect information on the cause of injury or deaths for deceased workers. But later they said they do, on a limited basis, to comply with federal law.

The investigation also found vast differences in the way the federal program is run. As an example, workers at the nuclear facility at Hanford are nearly twice as likely to win money from the government as workers at their sister plant at Savannah River.

The department goes to great lengths to protect its data, taking several months to release it and comply with a request under the Freedom of Information Act. Then the department refused to release the names of companies that have provided medical care for sick workers under the program, formally called the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. The department cited privacy concerns, but TNS is appealing that decision.

An examination of the data reveals the program that began accepting applications in 2001 has far surpassed anything envisioned by its founders.

The explosive growth of the program surprised even its chief architect.

Bill Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico who served as energy secretary under President Bill Clinton, said sloppy record-keeping at the nuclear sites made it difficult to predict the ultimate size of the program.

“See, you don’t know when you enter a program like this what the result is going to be, except you need to be guided by: Is it the right thing to do?” he said in September.

Richardson said the federal government had shown “a lack of conscience” in its decades-long refusal to help workers who had legitimate claims until Congress finally reversed course.

He said getting the program passed became easier after the Washington Post in 1999 first reported that thousands of unsuspecting workers had been exposed to plutonium and other highly radioactive metals for 23 years at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in western Kentucky.

Richardson, who apologized at the time for the government’s denial of any plutonium exposures, said the program’s dramatic growth is a good sign, adding that no one’s getting rich, with individual payments capped at $400,000.

James Melius — the chairman of the federal Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, a presidential panel that examines compensation claims — said it’s hardly a surprise that the program has grown so rapidly.

“The DOE complex is huge,” he said, with “literally hundreds of thousands of workers who are potentially eligible who worked at various times within the complex.”……..

Congress passed the program in 2000 after the Department of Energy submitted studies covering 600,000 people that showed workers at 14 sites had increased risks of dying from cancer and nonmalignant diseases……….http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2015-12-28/nuclear-workers-projects-results-were-worth-illnesses-deaths#.VoMfhne5dh0.twitter

 

December 30, 2015 Posted by | employment, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

“Radiation Sensors in Major U.S. Cities Turned Off By EPA

highly-recommendedtext ionisingBEFORE IT’S NEWS, Dec 19 to Dec 26, 2015″ By Bob Nichols”………“Radiation Sensors in Major U.S. Cities Turned Off By EPA”Billings, Montana on Oct 16, 2015 was reading a Combined Beta and Gamma Rad of 1,227 Beta and 703 Gamma for a Combined reading of 1,930CPM. The Beta Rad unit stopped publicly reporting, then four (4) days later on Oct 20, 2015 at 12:37:25 the unit came to life again. It’s… ahh, personality had changed, though. The new Beta and Gamma reading was 926 Beta and 401 Gamma. The new Combined radiation number on Oct 20 was 1,227 CPM Combined. The Combined reading was 603 CPM less than it was 4 days before. There was no Note or Comment on the missing four days. It was a 4 Day Rad Gap and an unexplained disappearance of 603CPM. The disappearing CPM was comprised of 302 CPM Gamma and 301 CPM Beta. In the next 4 Hours the Combined CPM eroded another 550 CPM for a total CPM Loss of 1,153 CPM. Billings, Montana today is barely in the List of cities above 1000 CPM. Billings is now 23rd on the list and reads 1,101 CPM. The missing Radiation remains “Unaccounted For.” Presumably it [the radiation] did not go to the Moon; therefore, it is on Earth somewhere now. (So, they apparently tried to “rig” the system and failed, so instead turned it all off. Just my hunch… – CP)
German Analysis of Certain Isotopes after Meltdown: Hold on to your hat… In 1992 Germany calculated that in reactor meltdowns like Fukushima Daiichi the radioactive isotope Strontium 90 would aggressively poison the environment for 109.2 years and then decline slowly over the next 273 years. Of course, we will ALL be long dead by then. Other deadly Rad isotopes put Strontium 90’s generous life span to shame. The German study is here for those brave enough to tackle it. Source: The IAEA: Dispersion of radionuclides and radiation exposure after leaching by groundwater of a solidified core-concrete melt by Bayer, A.; Tromm, W.; Al-Omari, I. (Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Germany)) from 8. International congress of the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA8)
Isotope Count reporting: These CPM numbers do not represent the actual radiation counts in your radiation weather this week. It is higher [or worse] than these government certified partial reports say. Use these report numbers as your Starting Point in adding up your daily, monthly and annual exposure from your Rad Weather. Most radiation monitors report on the radioactive presence of Cesium 137 at the detector. YRTW will report on “the secrets the Pros use” in estimating the actual Total radiation counts. It is not a pretty picture. Squeamish readers may want to turn to other Veterans Today articles reporting on usual things like wars and people getting blown up by an actual named enemy you can see in pictures.
Day One out of the reactor use a news reported Cesium multiplier of 150 Times. After 15 days outside the reactor the multiplier is still approximately 100 times the Cesium Twins. Take all appropriate Rad precautions. A second Multiplier is for Rad particles that have been outside the reactor for ten years or more. The Total radiation declines to approximately Five (5) Times the Cesium level. The Lethality is still increasing though. Here’s how you can calculate an estimate of your Total Rad today: Use a reported account of the Cesium 137/134 CPM in your area and Multiply Times 5. Another way to say it is:
Cs137/134 CPM X 5.0 = Total Radiation released in CPM
Radiation types commonly measured by radiation monitors include Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Neutron and X-Ray radiation. Only Beta and Gamma are reported by the EPA and here on YRTW. There are 1,944 other individual Rad elements, only a few are ever mentioned in articles. In short: The newer disaster’s Cesium 137/134 radiation CPM that is conveniently echoed by local and national news outlets, tells you right away by simple Multiplication how big the disaster really is, even if they are lying. At least it gets you closer than “There is no danger to the public.” That would be You. Think of it as the insider’s secret code. Multiply away! That’s it. No magic or VooDoo, just the facts as close as you can calculate it. However, provided Cesium 134 is present you are experiencing a recent radioactive release and all bets are off. Why is that? Because the two Rad Isotopes decay at greatly different rates. The relatively long lived Cs 137 is half gone in 30.1 years. The shorter lived Cesium 134 is half gone in only 2.06 years. As a result the Multiplier changes very rapidly. Good Luck.
The Lethality goes up for 35 years; then declines slightly and hangs steady for millions of years, for that release. New releases start a new clock all over again. Regrettably for all normal Humans, that is a bunch of generations. The end result is extinction, of course.  Everybody is included; no one is left out. Truthfully, it is a bummer and I know of no variety of radiation-exempt Human Species.
 
How often do radioactive releases occur? The answer is: Radioactive releases occur almost daily in most reactors. This venting does complicate your health and your estimated Rad readings. May you always have better Rad Weather; but, that’s not likely.”

December 30, 2015 Posted by | radiation, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

Iran has complied with its obligations to get rid of enriched uranium – John Kerry

diplomacy-not-bombsflag-IranIran nuclear deal: Tehran on track, says John Kerry http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35191146  28 December 2015

The US says Iran has taken a “significant step” towards meeting its nuclear commitments, by sending a large quantity of uranium abroad. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke after Iran dispatched a shipment of more than 11 tonnes of low-enriched uranium to Russia.

Iran signed a deal in July with six international powers. It is designed to demonstrate that Iran is not on the threshold of being able to make an atomic bomb.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to reduce its holdings of low-enriched uranium; sharply reduce its quantity of centrifuges – used to enrich uranium – and cut its output of plutonium by re-engineering a power plant.

Mr Kerry said Monday’s shipment of low-enriched uranium to Russia had tripled the amount of time it would take to produce enough fuel for a bomb – from two or three months to nine months. “I am pleased to report that we have seen important indications of significant progress towards Iran completing its key nuclear commitments under the deal,” Mr Kerry said.

Under July’s agreement, the International Atomic Energy Agency will decide when Tehran has complied with its obligations.

After this, the US and other world powers will begin to dismantle their programme of economic sanctions against Iran.

Grey line

Key areas of the nuclear deal:

Uranium enrichment: Iran can operate 5,060 first generation centrifuges, configured to enrich uranium to 3.67%, a level well below that needed to make an atomic weapon. It can also operate up to 1,000 centrifuges at its mountain facility at Fordow – but these cannot be used to enrich uranium.

Plutonium production: Iran has agreed to reconfigure its heavy water reactor at Arak, so that it will only produce a tiny amount of plutonium as a by-product of power generation, and will not build any more heavy water reactors for 15 years.

Inspections: International monitors will be able to carry out a comprehensive programme of inspection of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Sanctions: All EU and US energy, economic and financial sanctions, and most UN sanctions, will be lifted on the day Iran shows it has complied with the main parts of the deal.

December 30, 2015 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Today’s renewable energy headlines

Renewable Energy Trading Launched in GermanyMIT Technology Review-2 hours ago

The German company Sonnenbatterie has launched a trading platform for distributed renewable energy by offering a way for owners of small …

Renewable Energy’s Secret Weapon

DesignNews-10 hours ago
As the world moves toward a grand vision of renewable energy, an underappreciated reality is dawning: You can’t do it without storage.

Spain’s Top Stock: A Renewable-Energy Company That Isn’t Abengoa

Bloomberg-21 hours ago
As 2015 draws to a close, traders in Spanish renewable-energycompanies are either kicking themselves or celebrating. Those who bet on …

Renewable energy is crucial

The Advocate-19 hours ago
In view of the breakdown of the Basslink cable and the shortfall in rainfall it is even more important that we ramp up renewable energy projects.

180 MW Of Renewable Energy Projects In Pipeline In Jordan

CleanTechnica-28Dec.,2015
Work on solar and wind energy projects in Jordan is likely to pick up swiftly in 2016 for companies that were awarded in projects in the recent …
The strong economics of wind energy
In-Depth-The Guardian-28Dec.,2015

Explore in depth (60 more articles)

New Google Data Center To Be 100% Renewable Energy Powered

Energy Matters-24Dec.,2015
The facility will be powered 100 percent by renewable energythrough an arrangement with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA); which will …

December 30, 2015 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Japan’s controversial Takahama nuclear reactor loaded with problematic MOX fuel

The Problems With Takahama, Simply Info, December 29th, 2015

Takahama unit 3 is the most recent nuclear reactor to attempt a restart in Japan. It is also one of the more controversial. The reactor restart had been blocked by the courts for being unsafe until another judge overturned that decision. On December 25th 157 fuel assemblies including 24 MOX  assemblies were loaded into the reactor. The power company plans to restart the reactor by the end of January.

The impact of MOX on the meltdown and explosion of unit 3 at Fukushima Daiichi is still not understood yet Japanese authorities allowed this unit to be loaded with this controversial plutonium fuel.

The plan to restart reactors in this area of Fukui prefecture has raised concerns about the ability to evacuate and respond to a nuclear disaster……..http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=15253

December 30, 2015 Posted by | Japan, technology | Leave a comment

All of Iran’s enriched uranium removed with Russian assistance

That’s It: All Enriched Uranium Removed From Iran Under Russian Assistance http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151229/1032438231/iran-uranium-russia.html MOSCOW (Sputnik) – All of the enriched uranium in Iran under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, accepted on July 14 in Vienna on Iran’s nuclear energy program, has been removed under Russia’s assistance, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

“Under Russia’s assistance, all of the enriched uranium falling into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action has been removed from Iran,” the ministry said in a statement.

The shipment comprised Iran’s nuclear material enriched to 20 percent not already in the form of fabricated fuel plates for the Tehran Research Reactor.

On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 group of mediators — Russia, the United States, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany — reached an agreement on maintaining a peaceful nature of Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Russia played a vital role in arranging for Tehran’s low-enriched uranium being shipped out of Iran under the P5+1 nuclear deal

December 30, 2015 Posted by | Iran, politics international, Uranium | Leave a comment

Increased risk of cancer for American heart patients due to diagnostic radiation exposure

medical-radiationAmerican patients are ‘exposed to excessive radiation during heart tests – raising the risk of cancer’, Daily Mail, 29 Dec 15 

  • Scientists revealed US heart patients face higher risk of radiation exposure
  • Myocardial perfusion imaging is used to diagnose coronary artery disease
  • The imaging technology requires the use of radiation, the study said
  • US patients receive a 20% higher radiation dose during these tests
  • That’s because US facilities don’t closely follow radiation dosing guidelines

By LISA RYAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM , 30 December 2015 |…………..Dr Einstein said the results from the studies show that doctors must do more to minimize radiation exposure.

That’s because radiation exposure will still cause cancer in a small – but real – number of patients, according to Dr Rebecca Smith-Bindman of the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr Smith-Bindman wrote, in an accompanying editorial: ‘The right imaging tests performed at the right time can lead to earlier and more accurate diagnoses, better treatment decisions and improved patient outcomes, and advanced imaging has had a very positive impact on patient care.’

Yet, she cautioned that ‘unnecessary and inappropriately performed tests cause patients discomfort and anxiety

They can lead to a large number of irrelevant incidental findings and expose them to ionizing radiation – which can have negative effects on their health – she concluded.

The studies were published in JAMA Internal Medicine. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3377866/American-patients-exposed-excessive-radiation-heart-tests-raising-risk-cancer.html

December 30, 2015 Posted by | health, radiation, USA | Leave a comment