2017 April 17 « nuclear-news

Stop focusing on celebrities and shares – inform people on climate change – David Suzuki

“As long as we’re focused on celebrity and economics, we’re not going to see the world in a way that
allows us to live and thrive,” he said.

“Why don’t you at least give us an indicator of what we’re doing to the planet?” he asked. “We don’t do that. Our priorities are indicated by things like the Dow Jones average and all that crap.

Suzuki wants journalists to forget the Dow Jones, report on climate every day, National Observer By Elizabeth McSheffrey April 13th 2017 David Suzuki cuts straight to the chase. The state of Canada’s climate action is “disgusting,” he says, and the federal government should be ashamed.

Canada should hang its head,” he told National Observer in an interview. “(Trudeau) has given no indication that he was serious about the promise made at Paris.”

It’s a typically frank assessment by the 81-year-old star environmentalist, scientist and broadcaster. In 2015, he famously called Justin Trudeau a “twerp” during a phone call about the Liberal climate change platform, after Trudeau reportedly indicated that his comments were “sanctimonious crap.”

As Trudeau’s Liberals today cling to widely-criticized Harper-era climate change targets and continue to approve new oilsands pipelines, Suzuki says countries like Sweden, Morocco and Costa Rica are blazing ahead in climate leadership. Even India and China, two of the world’s biggest emitters of heat-trapping carbon pollution, are leaders in wind and solar investment — statistics that put Canada to shame, he says.

“We’re using the earth as a garbage can and we’re going to pay a huge consequence of that,” Suzuki fired over the phone. “The very life support systems of earth are being sacrificed all in the name of economic development.”

The scientist’s comments are at odds with the Trudeau government’s mantra that the environment and economy “go together,” and that a balance can be struck between getting Canadian oil to tidewater and cutting down on heat-trapping carbon pollution…….

Suzuki credited the Trudeau government for putting climate action “back on the table” after a decade of denial from the Harper government and said in the first year, Trudeau’s progress was “amazing.” Today, the prime minister’s climate portfolio is still far from demonstrating “the real action that is needed now.”

And as glaciers melt into the ocean, sea levels continue to rise, and droughts strike in full force, Suzuki called on journalists to hold governments accountable for their commitments to the race against climate change.

Declaring war on climate change

According to Suzuki, Canada should react to climate change the way the world reacted when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941:

“When they attacked, nobody said, ‘Oh my god, we can’t afford to fight these guys, we better make peace with them in the Pacific.’ You knew that you were drawn into a battle and you had to throw everything you could at it, because the only possibility you could accept was victory.”

As it stands, no legislation or organization has the authority to impose sanctions on a government for failing to meet its climate obligations. Such a body would be “ideal,” he said, but given that none exist, journalists must put their elected officials’ feet to the fire. It’s a tall order, Suzuki acknowledged, in a world where infinite information is available online, and ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’ run rampant.

The new world of online information means the public must not only learn to be critical of the information it consumes, he said, but also that the media must learn to present climate reporting in a way that it engages a modern audience. After all, it has to compete with reality TV socialites Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton, he added, questioning “how the hell” such individuals capture our attention.

“As long as we’re focused on celebrity and economics, we’re not going to see the world in a way that allows us to live and thrive,” he said.

In Suzuki’s ideal world, instead of reporting daily on the stock market and the value of the loonie to four decimal points, Canadian media would report daily on how many acres of ancient forest are being torn down, how many tonnes of pesticides have been sprayed, and how much carbon has been dumped into the atmosphere.

“I believe that the more better information people had, the better decisions they would make. That’s always been my drive in television — give people the best scientific information available so that they can make more informed decisions.”

Suzuki was recently in Ottawa to accept a lifetime leadership award in animal welfare at the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies’ National Animal Welfare Conference. http://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/04/13/news/suzuki-wants-journalists-forget-dow-jones-report-climate-every-day

April 17, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, media | Leave a comment

Trump administration plans to eliminate climate data collection

Scientists Fear Climate Data Gap as Trump Aims at Satellites, NYT By HENRY FOUNTAIN, APRIL 10, 2017 Among the sweeping cuts in the Trump administration’s 53-page budget blueprint released last month, one paragraph stood out to climate researchers. It proposed eliminating four of NASA’s climate science missions, including instruments to study clouds, small airborne particles, the flow of carbon dioxide and other elements of the atmosphere and oceans.

The blueprint is as much a political document as a fiscal plan, in this case designed to send a message that the administration intends to pursue a long-sought goal of some conservatives: to clamp down on NASA’s study of Earth rather than space. ……In the past, NASA has built and operated climate satellites and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has operated weather satellites. While there is some overlap, weather satellites focus on basics like clouds, winds, temperatures and moisture to provide information for forecasts. Most of NASA’s instruments are designed to provide long-term records of phenomena like ice-sheet thickness, sea-level rise, vegetation changes and the makeup of the atmosphere…..there are currently few plans to replace NASA’s instruments, many of which are at or near the end of their useful lives.

“Climate monitoring has fallen into this big gap between the agencies,” said Thomas P. Ackerman, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington…..Of the four missions that the Trump administration wants to eliminate, one is of particular importance to researchers. The

Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory, or Clarreo, is an imager that would be mounted on the International Space Station……https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/climate/trump-nasa-satellites-global-warming-data.html?_r=0

April 17, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, politics, USA | Leave a comment

Irresponsible of Court rulings to permit restart of restart of Japan’s NPPs

Court rulings permitting restart of NPPs are irresponsible http://www.japan-press.co.jp/modules/news/index.php?id=10497 April 5, 2017 Akahata editorial

The Osaka High Court and the Hiroshima District Court permitted in quick succession the restart of the currently-suspended Nos.3 and 4 reactors at the Kansai Electric Power Takahama Nuclear Power Plant (Fukui Pref.) and the continuation of operations at the No.3 reactor at the Shikoku Electric Power Ikata Nuclear Power Plant (Ehime Pref.). A point that must not be overlooked is that the two courts determined that the go-ahead for these reactors given by the government based on the Nuclear Regulation Authority standards is “not unreasonable”. In short, the judicial institutions relinquished their legal role of handing down their own decisions by just confirming governmental approvals. Cases over reactivation of offline reactors are pending in many courts in Japan. The courts should fulfill the judicial authorities’ role to protect the daily life and livelihoods of the general public.

‘Safety myth’ may again run rampant

If deeming that as long as the NRA gives a green light to resuming operations of nuclear reactors, courts do not need to judge whether or not such operations are appropriate, they would no longer be judicial apparatuses independent from the government. The Abe Shinzo Cabinet in principle reactivates NPPs which meet the NRA regulatory standards. It is tantamount to reinforcing the “safety myth” about the NRA screening itself.

Courts formerly did not make judgements about the “state policy” of NPPs as the policy is a government decision. However, the “safety myth” of NPPs completely collapsed after the dangers of NPPs came to light, especially after the 2011 nuclear meltdowns at the Tokyo Electric Power Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Fukushima Pref.) occurred. In lawsuits filed in the wake of the Fukushima accident, the district courts in Fukui and Otsu issued a temporary injunction order stopping operations of Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at the Oi NPP (Fukui Pref.) and Nos.3 and 4 reactors at the Takahana NPP, both operated by Kansai Electric Power Company.

Both of the court rulings state that people have the right to seek to protect their lives and livelihoods from NPP-related risks as the Constitution guarantees “personal rights”. The two judgements point out that the investigation into the cause of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown is totally insufficient. Concerning the NRA quakeproofing and tsunami-proofing criteria that the state used in approving the restart of NPPs, the court decisions criticized the criteria as “too lax”, which is of grave significance. The Fukui and Otsu district courts refused to blindly follow the government’s pro-nuclear policy and made independent decisions, clearly highlighting the collapse of the “safety myth”.

However, the recent decisions by the Osaka High Court and the Hiroshima District Court were completely unlike the previous two courts’ decisions. Regarding the nuclear safety standards that the NRA employed in allowing the reactivation of the reactors, the rulings by the two courts acknowledged the safety standards as “not unreasonable”, claiming that they reflect lessons learned from past accidents as well as the latest scientific and technical knowledge”. The Hiroshima ruling not just followed the state policy but abandoned the principle of judicial independence. It asserted that inconsistencies among court judgements will lead to confusion and that the Hiroshima court made the decision in line with the April 2016 decision by the Fukuoka High Court Miyazaki Branch which allowed the operation of Nos 1 and 2 reactors at the Kyushu Electric Power Company Sendai NPP (Kagoshima Pref.). If the judiciary keeps taking such a stance, it will be unable to protect people’s lives and their human rights.

Safeguard people’s rights

In the first place, the Constitution guarantees people’s right to go to court. It is a matter of course that judges should make their own decisions without being influenced by the state.

The latest rulings by the Osaka High Court and the Hiroshima District Court had to admit that evacuation plans in case of a serious accident at the Takahama and Ikata NPPs are insufficient. The Fukushima nuclear meltdown proved that an accident at a NPP will cause long-lasting, irreversible damage affecting wide areas. Courts should reject the “safety myth” and fulfil their role to protect people’s lives and livelihoods.

April 17, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, Legal | Leave a comment

Experimental deep bore project under consideration

County commissioners weigh nuclear waste storage project http://www.wral.com/county-commissioners-weigh-nuclear-waste-storage-project/16647314/ ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — County commissioners in southern New Mexico are in debate over a federal project that aims to determine whether nuclear waste can be stored far underground.

The Otero County Commission discussed a proposed resolution in opposition of the project Thursday, but the panel decided to hold off on taking any action, The Alamogordo Daily News reported (http://bit.ly/2oaS2oL).

Commissioners say they have received comments from residents both for and against the project, which involves the drilling of narrow, vertical holes deep into the ground to test whether they can hold disposed nuclear material.

The U.S. Department of Energy is paying for the testing by New Mexico-based TerranearPMC and has said no nuclear waste will be involved.

Fred Stong, director of FIRST Robotics New Mexico, voiced his support for the project during Thursday’s meeting, saying he would like to see it continue because there are many residents who support science and technology.

“There is no waste in this program. This is a wonderful geographical opportunity,” Stong said. “Our job is to bring technology in, not drive away technology from this community.” But resident Bobby Jones said the federal government’s plan was too risky and he doesn’t “support the project because of what might happen afterwards.”

TerranearPMC CEO Kenneth Fillman said he shares residents’ concerns and an environmental assessment will be conducted before the company moves forward with the project.

The Otero County Commission meeting came the same day Harding County passed a resolution opposing a similar borehole project in neighboring Quay County.

April 17, 2017 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

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