Toshiba may lose ‘billions of dollars’ on troubled U.S. nuclear power deal WP, By Makiko Yamazaki December 27 Toshiba said it may have to book several billion dollars in charges related to a U.S. nuclear power acquisition, a shock warning that sent its stock tumbling 12 percent and rekindled concerns about its accounting acumen.
The Japanese group said cost overruns at U.S. power projects handled by a nuclear construction business newly acquired from Chicago Bridge & Iron would be much greater than initially expected, potentially requiring a huge writedown.
Such a hit would be another slap in the face for a sprawling conglomerate hoping to recover from a $1.3 billion accounting scandal as well as a writedown of more than $2 billion for its nuclear business in the last financial year.”This will come as an additional shock to Toshiba’s institutional investors that may further undermine confidence in company management as well as significantly weakening its international nuclear credentials,” said Tom O’Sullivan, founder of energy consultancy Mathyos Japan.
O’Sullivan noted the acquisition in December 2015 coincided with the finalizing of a record fine by Japanese regulators for accounting irregularities at Toshiba, indicating that corporate governance controls were extremely weak……
As of end-September, Toshiba had shareholders’ equity of 363 billion yen, or just 7.5 percent of assets, which could fall close to zero if the company is forced to log significant losses…….
Toshiba has positioned its nuclear and semiconductors businesses as key pillars of growth while seeking to scale down less profitable consumer electronics units such as personal computers and TVs…….
The deal between CB&I and Toshiba’s Westinghouse division has been fraught with disagreement since at least July.
Clashing over who should shoulder potential liabilities related to cost overruns and over calculations for working capital for the unit, CB&I sued Toshiba’s Westinghouse division after Westinghouse said it was owed more than $2 billion……. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/toshiba-may-lose-billions-of-dollars-on-troubled-us-nuclear-power-deal/2016/12/27/dd6503c4-cc4f-11e6-a747-d03044780a02_story.html?utm_term=.a3d4b3382b25
December 28, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
business and costs, Japan |
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Torpedo fired at Plymouth nuclear submarine dock ‘posed no danger’ Plymouth Herald, By JLewis_Herald December 27, 2016 A torpedo was inadvertently fired at the nuclear submarine dock in Plymouth.
And, in a separate incident, a dockyard worker in the city breathed in radioactive material, an investigation of incidents involving the nuclear industry has found.
But in both cases, The Times reports, the nuclear safety regulator deemed the incidents as being of no nuclear safety significance.
The decision that these and dozens more apparent safety breaches at nuclear installations around the country pose no danger has alarmed some scientists, who told the newspaper they should have been taken much more seriously.
Among the other incidents reported to the Office for Nuclear Regulation but dismissed as no more than ‘anomalies’ were three road accidents involving vehicles carrying nuclear material, the discovery of radioactive hydrogen in groundwater around the Dungeness nuclear power station in Kent and at least 70 safety incidents on the UK’s main nuclear warhead base at Aldermaston in Berkshire.
The Times reports that brief accounts of all the incidents were quietly published earlier this year.
They record events in the three years up to March 15 in what is said to be the first report of its kind.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation has defended its classification of the incidents, including the accidental firing of the torpedo at a nuclear submarine in dock in Plymouth and the ingestion of potentially deadly isotope of cobalt 13, breathed in by a Devonport Dockyard worker……..http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/torpedo-fired-at-plymouth-nuclear-submarine-dock-posed-no-danger/story-30013772-detail/story.html
December 28, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, UK |
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Could Donald Trump help unleash nuclear catastrophe with a single tweet?, Canberra Times, Greg Sargent , 27 Dec 16, Donald Trump’s alarming tweet about his desire to “greatly strengthen and expand” the “nuclear capability” of the US unleashed a frenzy of media efforts to try to divine his actual policy intentions. It forced some of his advisers into tortured claims that Trump didn’t say what he actually said, even as others simultaneously insisted that Trump did meaningfully put other countries on notice that if he deems them to be challenging our supremacy, they will face an arms race.
But perhaps the most worrisome thing about Trump’s nuclear tweet is not the intention to break with decades of international disarmament efforts that it may have signalled, though that’s frightening enough on its own. Rather, it’s that he saw fit to tweet about nuclear weapons at all.
As we prepare for President Trump to take near-unchecked control of our nuclear machinery, his nuclear tweet is best seen as a window into his temperament. Trump still does not appreciate that every word he utters carries tremendous weight and could have dramatic, untold, far-reaching, unpredictable consequences – something that is especially true in the nuclear arena. Or, perhaps worse, Trump may be entirely indifferent to this fact.
Arms control experts I spoke with suggested that Trump’s willingness to tweet about nuclear weapons raises the possibility of Trump doing the same as president – and more to the point, the possibility of him doing so amid some species of international crisis or escalation………
As we prepare for President Trump to take near-unchecked control of our nuclear machinery, his nuclear tweet is best seen as a window into his temperament. Trump still does not appreciate that every word he utters carries tremendous weight and could have dramatic, untold, far-reaching, unpredictable consequences – something that is especially true in the nuclear arena. Or, perhaps worse, Trump may be entirely indifferent to this fact.
Arms control experts I spoke with suggested that Trump’s willingness to tweet about nuclear weapons raises the possibility of Trump doing the same as president – and more to the point, the possibility of him doing so amid some species of international crisis or escalation……
whatever Trump’s actual intentions for our nuclear arsenal and the future of international disarmament efforts, his willingness to use Twitter to posture and chest-thump around nuclear matters should itself stir urgent concern. This will be particularly true if it holds over into situations involving escalating tensions…..http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/could-donald-trump-help-unleash-nuclear-catastrophe-with-a-single-tweet-20161226-gti6z7.html
December 28, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, USA, weapons and war |
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/letters/dec-27-nuclear-aggression-plus-other-letters-to-the-editor/article33425706/J.L. Black, former director, Centre for Research on Canadian-Russian Relations; Barrie, Ont.
U.S. nuclear warheads, especially on America’s full fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, already outnumber those of Russia and are, in fact, up-to-date (U.S. Must Grow Its Nuclear Force – Dec. 23).
It was the United States that unilaterally abrogated the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and got us into a potential arms race in the first place; anyone who ever believed that the U.S.-constructed (not just “backed”) European Missile Shield with its forward ends in Romania and Poland was aimed at Iran and not at Russia should give their head a shake.
The shield badly skews the nuclear balance in Europe and its presence is precisely why Russia has to upgrade, when it cannot afford it. The U.S. already is spending more on armaments, including on its nuclear force, than Russia and China put together. Someone better mute Donald Trump and his team soon or the entire world is in danger of a nuclear conflagration.
December 28, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
general |
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Protesters rip Trump’s nuclear views during Midtown rally, drawing support and criticism from tourists, Daily News, NY JEFFERSON SIEGEL, 27 Dec 16, Crowds of Midtown tourists found themselves mingling Monday night with people protesting President-elect Donald Trump’s recent comments on escalating the nuclear arms race.
The demonstrators found they were noticed as well.
Chanting “No nukes, no Trump,” and holding candles in empty milk containers, several dozen protesters were both encouraged and excoriated by the passing mobs during the demonstration from about 4 to 6 p.m…..
On so many levels, from conflicts of interest to some of the people he’s chosen for cabinet positions that seemed to have espoused bigotry and hatred in the past,” said Joseph Lalli, 60, of the Bronx, “a man like Trump does not appear to have the temperament that is suitable to be the president of the most powerful nation in the world.”……http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/protesters-rip-trump-nuclear-views-midtown-rally-article-1.2924869
December 28, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
general |
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Solar leading the charge in Mexico’s clean energy push BN Americas By Adam Critchley – Tuesday, December 27, 2016 Mexico’s installed solar capacity is expected to increase 20-fold by 2019 to 5.4GW, the energy ministry (Sener) said.
Key growth drivers are two supply auctions held in March and September, which will result in 1,691MW and 1,853MW being added, respectively.
Solar dominated the September auction, accounting for 54% of electric power sold and 53% of clean energy certificates (CEC) issued. It was followed by wind with 43% of power and 41% of CECs. Hydroelectric and geothermal accounted for 3% of power and 2% of CECs, respectively.
Mexico’s solar PV capacity is expected to grow 275% this year, or by 390MW, US consultancy GTM Research has said.
Mexico’s installed clean energy capacity grew 6.3% year-on-year in June to 20.2GW, and these types of sources now account for 28.4% of the country’s energy generation mix, Sener said.
Growth has so far been led by wind and co-generation. Wind power capacity is expected to triple over the coming years, largely due to the development of the projects awarded contracts in this year’s auctions. Wind power capacity is expected to total 2,456MW by the end of 2018 and 3,857MW by the end of 2019.
In the first half of 2016 Mexico generated 30,586GWh of clean energy, 19.68% of the total generated, with a 34.9% increase in generation by co-generation plants and 11.9% growth by wind……http://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/electricpower/solar-leading-the-charge-in-mexicos-clean-energy-push
December 28, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
renewable, SOUTH AMERICA |
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The policy to return the population to the still contaminated areas is in progress in spite of the evacuees’ protests.
In three months, at the end of March 2017, the evacuation order will be lifted except for the “difficult-to-return” zones. In parallel, the housing aid for the so-called “auto-evacuees” from the areas situated outside of the evacuation zones will come to an end. The “psychological damage compensation” for the forced-evacuees will finish at the end of March 2018.
In this context, the local governments’ employees are going around the temporary housing, offered freely to “auto-evacuees” (1), in door-to-door visits to apply pressure to expel the inhabitants. It is difficult to see in this act anything other than harassment and persecution.
In November, Taro YAMAMOTO, Member of Parliament in Japan, posed a series of questions at the Special Commission for Reconstruction. We shall cite some extracts. (See Fukushima 311 Watchdogs for the full translation).
***
Taro YAMAMOTO
Here are some testimonies.
“I am afraid of the investigators of the Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture visiting door to door. I hide under the cover for fear of hearing the ringing at the door. When I opened the door, the investigator stuck his foot into the door so that I could not close it. With a loud voice so that all the neighbors could hear, he shouted at me “you know very well that you can only live here until March”. I know, but I cannot move. “
The next person. “The Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture demands that we move out in a fierce and haughty manner. We had to leave our home because of the accident at the nuclear power plant. I do not understand why they are expelling us again.”
“Constant phone calls, visits without notice, and they shout at me asking what my intention is. They send documents to file, and leave passing notices in the mailbox. I am completely exhausted, physically and psychologically. “
END OF QUOTE
***
The same kind of persecution is deployed inside Fukushima prefecture.
You can see the photo of the notice taped on the apartment door of Mr. Yôichi OZAWA in the social housing for job seekers in mobility, used as temporary housing offered free of charge to nuclear accident victims, situated in Hara-machi district of Minamisoma town.
Mr. OWAZA left his home at 22km from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant where the radioactivity was too high. In spite of the contamination, his home was not included in the evacuation zone, which stopped 20km from the NPP. Thus, he is considered as “auto-evacuee”, jishu-hinansha, and as such subject to the same harassment as the “auto-evacuees” in the Metropolitan regions of Tokyo or in West Japan.
Because of this zoning based on the geographic distance from the crippled NPP that divides Minamisoma town, the evacuees of Hara-machi district are subject to expulsion persecution, whereas those of Odaka district are exempt from such acts.
The door picture was posted in the Facebook of Mr. Tatsushi OKAMOTO on December 24th 2016 with the text below.
On the notice we can read:
Please contact us, for we have things to communicate to you.
December 13th 2016
Kuroki Housing Management Office
Cellphone #: XXXX
Manager: XXXX
Here is the paper taped on the door of a house for evacuees.
It is shocking, this way of taping the notice.
They treat us like a non-paying renter or as if we are not paying our taxes!
No consideration of the dignity of the person.
It is like the Yakuza’s way of collecting money!
Currently in Fukushima, the victims are facing a double or triple suffering.
Who is to be blamed? What have we done to deserve this, we, the victims?
_______
(1) Minashi kasetsu jyûtaku. Rental housing managed by private or public agencies offered to evacuees of which the rent is taken in charge by the central or local government.
_____
Reference links
山本太郎公式ホームページの質問書き起こし Texte of questions of Taro Yamamoto in his official HP (in Japanese)
山本太郎の質問の英訳とフランス語訳の記事
English translation of Taro Yamamoto’s questions
山本太郎議員が使った、ふくいち周辺環境放射線モニタリングプロジェクトの汚染地図（日本語）
Contamination map used by Taro Yamamoto (in English)
Read also:
Harassment of Evacuees by Prefectural Housing Authorities to evict them for March 2017
Source :
https://fukushima311voices.wordpress.com/2016/12/27/%e8%bf%bd%e3%81%84%e8%a9%b0%e3%82%81%e3%82%89%e3%82%8c%e3%82%8b%e9%81%bf%e9%9b%a3%e8%80%85%e3%81%9f%e3%81%a1-evacuees-trapped-by-the-return-policy/
December 28, 2016
Posted by dunrenard |
Fukushima 2016 | Evacuees, Evacuees Return, Fukushima, Persecution |
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Dolls are positioned at the entrance to a cafe in Naraha
At first glance, the Japanese town of Naraha appears normal, if a little quiet.
There are a handful of residents dotted about the place – a few in the post office, and some others in the bank – though several are oddly still.
A doll is positioned by the ATM inside the post office in Naraha Town, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
There are some youngsters loitering around too, but the older residents say they don’t mind as they never cause any trouble.
In fact, they say, it is nice to have some new faces around a town still struggling to come to terms with the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which brought the community to its knees.
Even if they are only dummies.
The life-sized mannequins are the work of a group of elderly women who have taken it upon themselves to “repopulate” their town, after most of its inhabitants fled during the March 2011 disaster, which took place just 12 miles away.
These days most of Naraha former residents are scattered across the country.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/26/welcome-naraha-ghost-town-fukushimas-shadowwhere-dolls-have/
December 28, 2016
Posted by dunrenard |
Fukushima 2016 | Fukushima, Ghost Towns, Naraha |
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geoharvey
Opinion:
¶ “Changing landscape for renewable energy” • Energy experts say that, although a Trump administration could slow progress, states have actually been at the forefront in pushing for cleaner, renewable power generation, with private sector funding far outstripping federal investments over the past five years. [Nantucket Island Inquirer]
Offshore wind farm (Photo: DONG Energy A/S)
¶ “It’s time for states to lead on climate change – and on justice, too” • With the new administration in Washington, climate activists will have a lot to defend in the next four years, but defense is not enough. We don’t have time to waste in fighting climate change. We must make up the ground we are likely to lose at the federal level. [Grist]
Science and Technology:
¶ Canadian archeologists are in a race against time. They have been collecting, studying and preserving ancient artifacts – darts, bows…
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December 27, 2016
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geoharvey
Opinion and Reviews:
¶ “Mothers unleash their organizing power on climate” • Taking their place in a tradition as political and social activists, groups
of activist mothers attract constituencies that are politically and racially diverse. They are hellbent on doing everything they can to un-screw-up the world, and the recent US election has only strengthened that resolve. [Grist]
Moms clean air force
¶ Review: “A chilling tale of lies, tragedy” • Voices From Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich is a powerful read. The author speaks with those impacted directly by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown in the Soviet Union. She gets testimony first hand from many people impacted by the event and presents it
in startling detail. [Glens Falls Post-Star]
¶ “Low Costs of Solar Power & Wind Power Crush Coal, Crush Nuclear, & Beat Natural Gas” • Here are 5 messages for all those who…
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December 27, 2016
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jpratt27
President-elect Donald Trump stops taking climate change into account when making federal energy policy, he’ll do so just as a leading projection of climate-related costs bolts upward.
William Nordhaus of Yale University is a central figure in the study of climate change and economics. In the early 1990s he developed what became the leading computer model for studying the effects of warming on the global economy. The Dynamic Integrated model of Climate & the Economy (DICE) has long given resource economists, students, and policymakers an opportunity to test how different scenarios might lead to quite different future climates.
Nordhaus recently updated DICE. He published results of an early test-drive of it this week in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, titled “Projections and Uncertainties About Climate Change in an Era of Minimal Climate Policies.”
Readers of recent headlines might be forgiven for assuming the “era of minimal climate…
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December 27, 2016
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From November 2014
The Fukushima nuclear accident on 11 March 2011 emerged as a global threat to the conservation of the Pacific Ocean, human health, and marine biodiversity. On April 11 (2011), the Fukushima nuclear plant reached the severity level 7, equivalent to that of the 1986-Chernobyl nuclear disaster. This accident was defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency as “a major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures”.
Despite the looming threat of radiation, there has been scant attention and inadequate radiation monitoring. This is unfortunate, as the potential radioactive contamination of seafoods through bioaccumulation of radioisotopes (i.e. 137Cs) in marine and coastal food webs are issues of major concern for the public health of coastal communities. While releases of 137Cs into the Pacific after the Fukushima nuclear accident are subject to high degree of dilution in the ocean, 137Cs activities are also prone to concentrate in marine food-webs.
With the aim to track the long term fate and bioaccumulation of 137Cs in marine organisms of the Northwest Pacific, we assessed the bioaccumulation potential of 137Cs in a North West Pacific foodweb by developing, applying and testing a simulation time dependent bioaccumulation model in a marine mammalian food web that includes fish-eating resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) as the apex predator.
The model outcomes showed that 137Cs can be expected to bioaccumulate gradually over time in the food web as demonstrated through the use of the slope of the trophic magnification factor (TMF) for 137Cs, which was significantly higher than one (TMF > 1.0; p < 0.0001), ranging from 5.0 at 365 days of simulation to 30 at 10,950 days.
From 1 year to 30 years of simulation, the 137Cs activities predicted in the male killer whale were 6.0 to 182 times 137Cs activities in its major prey (Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).
Bioaccumulation of 137Cs was characterized by slow uptake and elimination rates in upper trophic level organisms and dominance of dietary consumption in the uptake of 137CS.
This modeling work showed that in addition to the ocean dilution of 137Cs, a magnification of this radionuclide takes place in the marine food web over time.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233869698_A_Marine_Food_Web_Bioaccumulation_model_for_Cesium_137_in_the_Pacific_Northwest
December 27, 2016
Posted by dunrenard |
Fukushima 2016 | Bioaccumulation, cesium 137, Fukushima, Marine Food Web, Pacific Northwest |
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GarryRogers Nature Conservation
Block Trump. Declare World War on Global Warming and Other Human Impacts on Nature
Our Problem
Earth could join Mars as a dry, lifeless derelict.
Scientists report that growth and spread of humanity together with rising global temperature are causing declining biodiversity, rising seas, growing storms, intensifying drought, spreading disease, and much more. The reports, made by observers all over the world, are like the thunder ahead of a storm that threatens the safety of our families, our friends, our civilization, and all life on our planet. We know it’s coming. Without a massive effort by the people of the world, the storm will grow until terrible destruction ruins our planet. We and all other life may be lost.
Donald Trump’s pre-inauguration statements and cabinet choices make it clear that he will add to global warming and every other negative human impact on Earth.
The Earth continues turning, but if…
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December 27, 2016
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Mining Awareness +
Clustered DNA damage is considered a signature of ionizing radiation: “clustered DNA damage sites, which may be considered as a signature of ionising radiation, underlie the deleterious biological consequences of ionising radiation…ionising radiation creates significant levels of clustered DNA damage, including complex double-strand breaks (DSB)” See: “Biological Consequences of Radiation-induced DNA Damage: Relevance to Radiotherapy“, by M.E. Lomax et. al. Clinical Oncology 25 (2013) 578-585
“The formation of clustered damage distinguishes ionising radiation-induced damage from normal endogenous damage“. https://cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp5-euratom/docs/non_dsb_lesions_projrep_en.pdf (See more details further below, after political commentary.)
When watching US Congressman from Illinois, Hultgren: http://youtu.be/UkN4Ss5LcrI witchhunting renewable energy researcher Dr. Sharlene Weatherwax over removal of Noelle Metting and closure of the US DOE’s so-called low dose program, which at 100 mSv (10,000 mrem) isn’t even low dose, one needs to bear in mind facts. With the information found further below, we will leave…
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December 27, 2016
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GarryRogers Nature Conservation
GR: Trump is the mouth of the oligarchy. Corrupted by corporate money, Congress has turned against us and now they’ve found someone to tell them it’s okay. We must stop Trump’s attempts, but more than just Trump, we must act to stop wildlife extinctions and global warming. Michael Moore says that we need to form small action groups composed of family, friends, or neighbors that share news and action ideas, and he says he believes things will be worse than we expect. Figures. In the list below, number one definitely belongs at the top of the list. Here’s a taste of the list:
- Don’t just complain to your friends, let Congress know how you feel. Often. When you disagree with them AND when you agree. Write Reps here & Senators here.
- Tell state legislatures it’s time to get rid of the Electoral College. We can make it happen, and we…
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December 27, 2016
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nuclear-news 