nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Everyone agrees that USA President has complete power to pardon himself – says Trump

Trump asserts all agree he has ‘complete power’ to pardon, AP, By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, 22 July 17 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that he has “complete power” to issue pardons, an assertion that comes amid investigations into Russian interference in last year’s presidential election. It was one of many topics that appeared to occupy the president’s mind as the day broke.

On a day when most people are ready to forget about the issues that nagged them during the week, Trump revved up. In an early morning flurry of 10 tweets, he commented about pardons, former presidential rival Hillary Clinton, son Don Jr., health care, the USS Gerald Ford, the attorney general and other issues.

Trump said in one of his 10 messages: “While all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us. FAKE NEWS.”

The Washington Post recently reported that Trump has inquired about the authority he has as president to pardon aides, relatives or even himself in connection with the widening investigation into Russian interference in the election and whether any Trump associates were involved…..

One of Trump’s attorneys, Jay Sekulow, said the president has not discussed the issue of pardons with his outside legal team…….https://apnews.com/0cfcfc0956a6445ba59cc2edef5a81a0/Trump-asserts-all-agree-he-has-%27complete-power%27-to-pardon

Advertisement

July 24, 2017 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Tepco not likely to meet the estimated $192.5 Billion of the Fukushima nuclear clean-up

The Total Fukushima Cost is now estimated at $21.5 trillion Yen ($192.5 Billion Dollars) by the Japanese Government,  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/total-fukushima-cost-now-estimated-215-trillion-yen-1925-maxwell  July 22, 2017Keith Jason Maxwell

The Japanese government said in December that it expects total costs including compensation, decommissioning and decontamination to reach 21.5 trillion yen ($192.5 billion) in a process likely to take at least four decades as highradiation levels slow operations.

The new CEO of TEPCO has recently stated that unless TEPCO can increase its cash flow and profit margin (e.g. rate increases) the company will not be able to continue, or ultimately finish the recovery. In this scenario, the Japanese government will then be responsible for the cost of the recovery.

July 24, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima continuing | Leave a comment

Air Force chief objects to Yucca Mountain nuclear routes 

By Keith Rogers Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 22, 2017 Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson sees a need to protect the space frontier and envisions bolstering the ranks of drone warfare all while preserving the vast Southern Nevada range that shrinks as fighter jets zip faster across it.

What she doesn’t see in her crystal ball is a nuclear-waste train rolling across the 2.9-million-acre Nevada Test and Training Range to reach the Department of Energy’s planned repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

“If Yucca Mountain becomes a storage area it needs to operate without impacting the ability of the country to defend itself,” Wilson said Friday in an exclusive interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “There is no route across the range that would not impact testing and training.”

Even a rail corridor that closely parallels the range’s boundary in Nye County could raise encroachment issues, she said, comparing what Nellis Air Force Base has dealt with balancing jet noise complaints and national security as urban Las Vegas sprawled closer to it over the decades……..

n 2003, Air Force Secretary James Roche and Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper wrote the House Armed Services Committee objecting to the Energy Department’s proposed Chalk Mountain route across the range. They said it would impact “mission-critical systems evaluations” as well as air combat training. They noted that 75 percent of all Air Force live munitions stateside are employed there.

Roving the range

The range’s role in testing of how new generation aircraft perform and can be detected or not by radar is also vital to the readiness.

Roche and Jumper also expressed concern for the fringe of the range citing “any modified routes into portions of the NTTR (Nevada Test and Training Range). Additionally, any overflight restrictions on aircraft operating in NTTR-associated airspace will negatively impact our readiness activities.”

The Chalk Mountain route, a short-cut option for rail shipments of spent nuclear fuel assemblies from the Midwest and eastern U.S., was later downgraded to “nonpreferred” by the Energy Department but is still part of the routes evaluated for the license application submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2008…….. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/military/air-force-chief-objects-to-yucca-mountain-nuclear-routes/

July 24, 2017 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

The Conscience of Fukushima” — M. Murata – warns on the Olympic Games and the influence of the nuclear industry

Urgent Messages from Murata-San http://www.opensourcetruth.com/urgent-messages-from-murata-san/  JULY 22, 2017 RALPH FUCETOLA, As has been our practice, we are providing here to the public the recent urgent messages from “The Conscience of Fukushima” — M. Murata, former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland, and one of the most prominent of the Japanese to be calling for “honorable retreat” from the 2020 Olympics, currently scheduled to be held in Japan near the Fukushima disaster zone.

Murata-san has these messages for us:

[1] Message to International Olympic Committee [20 July 2017]
[2] Fukushima Radiation Water Dumping into the Pacific Ocean [16 July 2017]
[3] Retreating from the Tokyo Olympic Games [17 June 2017]

———-

Subject: Message to International Olympic Committee President Bach
Date: 08:56 AM EDT, 07/20/17
From: “mitsu”

Dear Friends,

I am sending you my message addressed to President Thomas Bach of the IOC.

With warmest and highest regards,

From: mitsu

Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2017 9:44 PM

Dear President Thomas Bach,

Please allow me to transmit this extremely alarming mail that may interest you.

It has been sent to me from an American friend.

The widening gap between the promoters and the opponents of the of the Tokyo Olympic Games could not be left unattended.

“Former nuclear industry senior vice president Arnie Gunderson, who managed and coordinated projects at 70 U.S. atomic power plants, is appalled at how the Japanese government is handling the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

“The inhumanity of the Japanese government toward the Fukushima disaster refugees is appalling,” Gunderson, a licensed reactor operator with 45 years of nuclear power engineering experience and the author of a bestselling book in Japan about the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, told Truthout.”

He explains that both the Japanese government and the atomic power industry are trying to force almost all of the people who evacuated their homes in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster to return “home” before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

https://www.ecowatch.com/tokyo-olympics-fukushima-2460798164.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e61916ad29-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e61916ad29-85979265

With highest regards,

Received: 09:20 PM EDT, 07/16/2017
From: “mitsu”
Subject: Fukushima Radiation Water and the Pacific Ocean

Dear Friends,

At the Fukushima Daiichi, the volume of contaminated water amounts to one million tons contained in 1000 tanks.

On July13, the new Chairman of TEPCO announced in an interview that the massive radioactive contaminated water containing unremovable tritium would be released into the sea, as recommended by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority. It is well known that tritium is a deadly poison. 2 milligram of it is lethal.

The future of the Pacific Ocean is threatened. The reaction of the international community can easily be foreseen.

Recent publications containing anti-Tokyo Olympic Games assertions are noteworthy. Mr.Takao Saito, renowned journalist, published last month a book entitled “How to educate the people” in which he reviews all the violations of the initial official commitments of the Tokyo Olympic Games. Mr.Makoto Sadaka, famous critic, has recently published an article in which he criticizes Dentsu as playing a central role in suspected corruption cases regarding nuclear reactors and the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Fukushima and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are closely related.

The former helps to play down the consequences of the latter, preventing Japan from consecrating maximum efforts to bring Fukushima under control. It is simply scandelous to organize Olympic baseball and football games in Fukushima without reassuring its safety as required by civil society. The IOC is increasingly criticized for this.

The Olympic Games seems to stand at crossroads. Rome, Boston Hamburg and Bulgaria have withdrawn candidature for the 2024 Olympic Games. Paris and Los Angeles are retained for 2024 and 2028.In addition to enormous financial burden, immigrants and terrorism remain serious discouraging problems for the two cities.

The large scale cyber attack that took place in Europe on June 27 damaged the automatic radiation surveillance system of Chernobyl nuclear reactors in Ukraine. The world is thus seriously warned against the vulnerability of nuclear reactors.

The world is yet to learn the destructive power of nuclear energy in all directions (states,companies,organizations, individuals).

The pitiful downfall of TOSHIBA undeniably symbolizes the beginning of the end of the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The mainstream of the world still permits and promotes the existence of more than 440 nuclear reactors, now considered as the most serious threat to security.

This mainstream undeniably needs a change.

It is the law of history.

 

—————————————

Subject: Retreating from the Tokyo Olympic Games
Date: 05:23 AM EDT, 06/17/17
From: “mitsu”

Dear Friends,

The results of the nation-wide referendum among the listeners
conducted on 17 June by the Hiroshi Kume’s wide-show program entitled
“Should we retreat from the the Tokyo Olympic Games 2010 ?”
are extremely impressive.

All age categories except “under 19 years old” have overwhelmingly
supported the retreat from the 2020 Olympic Games.

The results could not but have a far reaching impact on this vital issue.

The future of Fukushima depends on it.

This development coincides with another significant one.

In a surprise move, the International Olympic Committee announced on 16 June
that it was ending its Olympic sponsorship deal with McDonald.

The fast-food giant pulled out of its current, estimated £40-million-a-year, deal with
the International Olympic Committee more than three years early,
citing a “focus on different priorities”,severing a relationship that dated to 1976.

A new page is being opened as regards the Olympic Games 2020.

 

July 24, 2017 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Donald Trump could pardon himself – what a mess that would be

Yes, Trump Could Pardon Himself. Then All Hell Would Break Loose, It’s never been tried. Here’s how it could blow up his presidency, or blow up the system. Politico, By RICHARD PRIMUS July 21, 2017 This week’s eye-popping constitutional question: Can President Trump pardon himself for criminal wrongdoing? With the Russia scandal swirling more intensely around the White House every week, the Washington Post reported Friday morning that the president might be considering pardoning himself and members of his family as a way of fending off legal consequences for whatever special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation turns up.

A self-pardon would be something new in American history — and just the kind of departure from prior norms that typifies Trump. The Constitution doesn’t specify whether the president can pardon himself, and no court has ever ruled on the issue, because no president has ever been brazen enough to try it. Among constitutional lawyers, the dominant (though not unanimous) answer is “no,” in part because letting any person exempt himself from criminal liability would be a fundamental affront to America’s basic rule-of-law values.

But as a practical matter, it’s not a panel of legal experts that will decide this issue. It probably won’t be a court, either. Instead, the answer will be fought out at the highest levels of American politics. And in real life, if the president signed a document with the words “I pardon myself”—which he certainly could—it’s impossible to know what would happen next.

Given the political firestorm that a self-pardon might provoke and the broader norm-smashing context of the Trump administration, an attempted self-pardon could do anything from keeping Trump out of jail to bringing down his presidency and landing him in the dock. Or it could do nothing at all—which would be troubling, too. All we can know for sure is that it would take our system, once again, into uncharted territory.

Here’s one possible scenario. Suppose the president announces a self-pardon, and Republicans in Congress follow the script they’ve used until this point: They express concern at the behavior but make no serious move to punish the president for it. The legal effect of the pardon would then go untested for years. A pardon is a shield against a prosecution, and in the absence of a potential prosecution it has no work to do. As long as Trump is president, there won’t be any prosecution to put it to the test, because a sitting president probably can’t be prosecuted for a crime. Again, this isn’t a certainty—the Supreme Court has made clear that a sitting president can be sued in a civil suit, as Bill Clinton was by Paula Jones—but the dominant view on the criminal side is that a President must be impeached and removed from office before he can be a criminal defendant. So while Trump remains president, an attempted self-pardon would be like an umbrella that hasn’t been taken out in the rain: We don’t know yet whether it works, or how well………

another possible future, if Trump announces a self pardon: It could be the moment that Republicans in Congress decide he has finally stepped over the line. To be sure, Congress has shown no inclination to remove the president to this point, and maybe it never will. But as the Supreme Court noted long ago, a pardon suggests the existence of illegal behavior—and a self-pardon itself would represent such flagrant disrespect for rule-of-law values that if anything could push Congress toward impeaching and removing the president, this might.

In that case, Congress wouldn’t just be stripping Trump of his presidency: In all likelihood, it would be converting his ostensible pardon from a shield against prosecution into one more reason to move against him. After all, the decision to impeach would, in itself, all but establish that self-pardons are inconsistent with American constitutional norms. …..http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/21/yes-trump-could-pardon-himself-then-all-hell-would-break-loose-215405

July 24, 2017 Posted by | politics, USA | 1 Comment

As if Scott Pruitt were not bad enough, now a coal lobbyist to be added to the EPA

Trump to tap longtime coal lobbyist for EPA’s No. 2 spot, WP  July 21 17President Trump will nominate a prominent coal lobbyist and former Senate aide, Andrew Wheeler, to serve as the Environmental Protection Agency’s deputy administrator, according to two senior administration officials.

Wheeler, a principal at Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting, is a lobbyist for coal giant Murray Energy and served as a top aide for Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) when Inhofe chaired the Senate Environment Committee. He has represented Murray Energy — whose chief executive, Bob Murray, is a prominent supporter of the president — since 2009.

In addition to tapping Wheeler, according to the officials, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is preparing to pick three conservatives to head three key divisions within the agency. Trump will nominate Bill Wehrum as associate administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, Matt Leopold to serve as EPA general counsel and David Ross as assistant administrator for Office of Water……..

Tiernan Sittenfeld, the League of Conservation Voters’ senior vice president for government affairs, said in email, “With these nominations, President Trump is once again catering to his polluter allies and prioritizing their profits over our kids’ health.”……https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/21/trump-to-tap-longtime-coal-lobbyist-for-epas-number-two-spot/?utm_term=.ada170b0c8ef

July 24, 2017 Posted by | climate change, politics, USA | Leave a comment