nuclear-news

Japan’s Mount Aso volcano erupted explosively on Saturday, 8 Oct., 2016, and volcanic “ash was falling as far as 320 km (200 miles) away, … Kyushu Electric Power Co said the eruption had no impact on its Sendai nuclear plant, which is about 160 km (100 miles) south of Mount Aso“(Reuters, 8 Oct. 2016). Sendai nuclear power station has two reactors online. The other nuclear power station online is Ikata, with one reactor operating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Japan

Volcano locations exported from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanoes_in_Japan

With a change in wind direction ashfall from Mount Aso and/or Sakurajima could endanger Japan’s operating reactors. As can be seen on the map, Ikata Nuclear Power Station is closer to Mount Aso, and Sakurajima to Sendai Nuclear Power Station. Ash plume forecasts for both appear at the bottom of this post.

Disruptions due to a major volcanic eruption, as well as ashfall could lead to nuclear meltdown:…

As the South Australian Government’s second nuclear “citizens’ jury” gets underway this weekend, it’s essential that participants aren’t denied important facts about global nuclear waste, says Mark Parnell MLC, Parliamentary Leader of the SA Greens.

Here are eight inconvenient truths that the citizens’ jury needs to hear:

1.       The much-heralded Finnish underground nuclear waste facility (visited by the Premier recently) does NOT yet have a licence to accept nuclear waste, will not open for at least six years and has been three decades in planning.  It is also 20 times SMALLER than the facility proposed for SA by the Royal Commission.

2.       The nuclear industry is without peer in terms of cost blow-outs and time over-runs.  This is likely to eliminate any anticipated profit for South Australia – which is the sole rationale for the proposed SA dump.

3.       According to the Royal Commission’s own consultants, it could cost South…

The German government wants to send 30 shipments of spent nuclear fuel from its Ahaus storage facility as well as lesser amounts from Juelich over the course of 3.5 years (42 months), i.e. approximately every month and a half, to Charleston, South Carolina. Unlike airplanes which hug the coastlines, shipping routes appear to go through the English Channel, straight across the Atlantic to North Carolina and then slide down the coast to Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston was just evacuated for Hurricane Matthew.

Shipments of radioactive waste from other countries may also be continuing as per the Obama administration policy of spending almost $2 billion per year of US taxpayer money to dump foreign nuclear waste on America – in short fleecing the US taxpayer to better kill them and/or their descendants. Under Hillary this will most likely continue. And, it sounds like Trump will be too busy looking at women…

Opinion:

¶ “How will we power the planet in 2050?” • A report from the World Energy Council found that renewable sources of power now represent around 30% of the world’s total capacity and 23% of electricity production. In the last 10 years, wind and solar power had seen rapid growth. CNBC spoke to the experts about what 2050 will look like. [CNBC]

A paddleboarder in the Irish (SeaPaul Ellis | AFP | Getty Images)

Science and Technology:

¶ According to the team from the Solar Energy Institute of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, up to 1 MWh of energy can be stored in just one cubic meter of molten silicon. Silicon is the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. The technology holds a promise for dealing with the intermittency of renewable power generation. [E&T magazine]

World:

¶ German developer BayWa has secured power purchase…

Investing in sustainable infrastructure is key to tackling three simultaneous challenges: reigniting global growth, delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and reducing climate risk. Following the milestone achievements of 2015 – including the ambitious global goals set for sustainable development and its financing in Addis Ababa and New York, and through a landmark international agreement on climate action in Paris – the challenge is to now to shift urgently from rhetoric into action.
Infrastructure underpins core economic activity and is an essential foundation for achieving inclusive sustainable growth. It is indispensable for development and poverty elimination, as it enhances access to basic services, education and work opportunities, and can boost human capital and quality of life. It has a profound impact on climate goals, with the existing stock and use of infrastructure associated with more than 60% of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Climatesmart, resilient infrastructure will be…