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According to North korean Defectors, Radiation Is Leaking From Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site

North Korean Defectors Say Radiation Is Leaking From Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, Gizmodo, Tom McKayNorth Korea’s infamous nuclear test site, a facility in Punggye-ri in Kilju County, has long been reported to maintain the standards one might expect for a pariah government low on everything but zeal and weaponry. Outsiders can only get a limited picture of the country, let alone the test site, thanks to its isolation from the rest of the world. But concerns have included tunnel collapses at the facility and the possibility Mount Mantap, where it is located, could implode under stress from repeated nuclear tests and release large amounts of radiation.

Per NBC News, some defectors say that radiation emanating from the Punggye-ri test site could be the cause of “ghost disease” ravaging the area, causing sicknesses like leukemia and birth deformities. Some 30 people who lived in the region are being tested by the South Korean government for signs of radiation poisoning, but so far authorities haven’t publicly released any information indicating the claims are true.

“We thought we were dying because we were poor and we ate badly,” defector Lee Jeong Hwa, who fled North Korea in 2013, told NBC News. “Now we know it was the radiation.”……https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/12/north-korean-defectors-say-radiation-is-leaking-frompunggye-ri-nuclear-test-site/

December 4, 2017 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Just say no to a nuclear waste dump anywhere near the Great Lakes: the message from many officials and residents

Officials continue fight against nuclear waste dump on shores of Lake Huron, Many local leaders sign opposition letter Voice News  By Jim Bloch | For The Voice, 3 Dec 17

    Just say no to a nuclear waste dump anywhere near the Great Lakes.

Especially the one proposed for the shores of Lake Huron in Kincardine, Ontario, Canada, about 110 miles uplake from Port Huron.

That’s the message delivered by more than 100 mayors, township supervisors and other elected officials in the region to Catherine McKenna, Canada’s minister of the Environment and Climate Change.

 Of the 104 signatories, 14 hail from St. Clair County or nearby communities.

“Madame Minister, we the undersigned request that you act to protect North America’s most precious resource (the Great Lakes) and the health and safety of the millions of people who rely on your leadership by rejecting Ontario Power Generation’s application for its Deep Geological Repository in Kincardine, Ontario,” said the group.

OPG is proposing to excavate huge cavern out of a band of limestone more than 2,200 feet below the earth’s surface, framed by shale on the top and granite below, that has been stable for 450 million years, and store the nuclear waste there.

The site, next to Bruce Energy’s eight nuclear reactors, is about six-10ths of a mile from Lake Huron. The DGR is projected to hold 200,000 cubic meters of waste, some of which will remain toxic for at least 100,000 years, roughly 10 times longer than the Great Lakes have been in existence. Putting so much poisonous waste so close to the lakes amounts to madness, critics contend, especially given that all major underground burial sites for nuclear waste to date have leaked.

McKenna has asked OPG for additional information three times following the decision Joint Review Panel to recommend the project in 2015, which the company supplied — and some of which the mayors challenge in their letter.

McKenna’s delay in making a final decision on the project seems to hinge on getting feedback from the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, which is still undecided about the dump.

The chiefs and councils of SON wrote to McKenna in July reminding her of “OPG’s commitment that it will not move forward with the DGR Project until the SON communities are supportive of it…Through the process, ‘Anishnaabekiing, Anishnaabe Inwewin, Anishnaabe Naaknigewin — Our Territory, Our Voice, Our Decisions,’ members of the SON communities are becoming better acquainted with nuclear waste issues in order to be able to make a well-informed decision on whether they can support the DGR Project or not.”

In her response, McKenna suggested that her final decision may differ from the recommendation of the SON.

“I will make a decision based on science and traditional knowledge, taking into account the Joint Review Panel Report and the report by the Agency on the additional information, including the views of Indigenous Peoples, the public and other stakeholders,” McKenna said in her August response to the SON.

The signatories

Frank Fernandez, who helped organize the letter-writing drive on behalf of the Canadian-based Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump, said the signees represent nearly 16 million residents hailing from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and Ontario, Canada.

“We are deeply concerned that Ontario Power Generation is proposing to bury nuclear waste in close proximity to the Great Lakes,” the letter states. “The Great Lakes are critically important resources to both Canada and the United States and supply drinking water to 40 million people including to the citizens we represent. The Great Lakes support fishing, boating, recreation, tourism, and agriculture and are the life-blood of a $6 trillion Great Lakes region economy.”……… Jim Bloch is a freelance writer. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com. http://www.voicenews.com/news/officials-continue-fight-against-nuclear-waste-dump-on-shores-of/article_1de2f9fa-5605-5688-afdc-bc54ef98c926.html

December 4, 2017 Posted by | Canada, opposition to nuclear, wastes | Leave a comment

South Africa’s Energy Minister agrees to follow proper process, on nuclear power development

Business Report 29th Nov 2017, A court challenge to block the South African government from rushing
through a nuclear procurement deal was postponed on Wednesday after Energy
Minister David Mahlobo agreed to follow proper process.

Earthlife Africa Johannesburg (ELA-JHB) and the Southern African Faith Communities’
Environment Institute (SAFCEI) in April won a Cape Town high order stating
that nuclear procurment would not be legal without involving the National
Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) and public participation. “SAFCEI
and ELA came back to court to ask the minsiter of Energy and Eskom to agree
to abide by the court ruling we got in April which said that they may not
procure nuclear energy without proper process and that includes involving
all of us – public participation – in the decision-making process,” SAFCEI
executive director Francesca de Gasparis said.
https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/energy/ngos-take-on-sa-energy-minister-on-nuclear-power-12194414

December 4, 2017 Posted by | politics, South Africa | Leave a comment

UK: Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit calls for windfarms: wind energy now cheapest form of electricity

No new onshore wind projects have been given contracts in the UK since a
change of government in 2015. The few still being built were awarded
contracts beforehand.

Now, an independent think tank — the Energy and
Climate Intelligence Unit — is arguing that construction of new onshore
wind farms could save electricity consumers as much as £1.5 billion
(€1.7 billion/$2 billion) over five years. Onshore wind is now the
cheapest form of electricity generation and can deliver savings even when
taking into account the costs associated with managing variability.

The report notes that a Spanish auction in May 2017 delivered onshore wind at
€43/MWh ($51/MWh) and suggests that around 1GW in the UK could be
delivered by the 15-year contracts for difference (CfD) currently used at
£49.40/MWh ($65/MWh) or less.

This is lower than the current estimate for new gas-fired generation of £66/MWh ($87/MWh). Assuming an average load
factor of 0.31 for onshore wind in the UK, 1GW would deliver 2.7TWh of
energy.

The report estimates the costs of delivering 2.7TWh by other means,
including the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, a recently-contracted
biomass project, offshore wind, combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGT) and
small modular reactors (SMR). The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit
report compares the annual generation costs from these sources.

They rangefrom £166 million in the case of onshore wind and £198 million for
offshore wind, to £271 million for Hinkley Point and £308 million in the
case of the biomass plant. The estimates for wind include an allowance for
an “integration cost” of £10/MWh ($13/MWh). This covers the costs of the
measures needed to cope with variability.
https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1451012/wind-economics-uk-consumers-miss-big-savings

December 4, 2017 Posted by | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

European citizens lodge a complaint against EDF and French govt on nuclear unsafety

Greenpeace 2nd Dec 2017, [Machine translation] Nuclear: European citizens lodge a complaint against
EDF and the French state. Citizens from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and
Switzerland, and many French people gathered today in five cities in France
to denounce the lack of protection of nuclear facilities in France and the
risks involved. They filed a complaint against EDF and the French state for
endangering the lives of others.
https://www.greenpeace.fr/espace-presse/nucleaire-citoyennes-citoyens-europeens-portent-plainte-contre-edf-letat-francais/

December 4, 2017 Posted by | EUROPE, Legal | Leave a comment

New Book: Righteous Anger: One Woman’s Action For Peace 1983-1993

 

 

North Somerset Times 3rd Dec 2017, A Yatton woman’s life at Greenham Common and opposing nuclear weapons has
been revealed in a new book. Righteous Anger: One Woman’s Action For
Peace 1983-1993 sheds light on Juley Howard’s life and she believes
fighting for just causes has never been more applicable with the world
‘facing an uncertain future’.
http://www.northsomersettimes.co.uk/news/life-of-juley-howard-at-greenham-common-to-be-revealed-in-book-1-5304283

December 4, 2017 Posted by | resources - print | Leave a comment

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency to review radiation monitoring in Hawaii

Radiation concerns at Pohakuloa revisited: Feds to review issues raised by Kona resident, December 3, 2017 By TOM CALLIS Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Federal regulators will give parts of Pohakuloa Training Area’s radiation monitoring plan another look in response to a petition from a Hawaii Island resident.

A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency review board agreed last month to review some of the concerns raised by retired geologist Michael Reimer, including frequency of sediment sampling, number of sediment sampling sites and data evaluation methods for depleted uranium.

Reimer, of Kailua-Kona, also asked for continued air monitoring and soil sampling, though they will not be part of the NRC’s review because those steps were previously considered……….

Reimer said depleted uranium is most dangerous when ingested or inhaled, which is why he thinks continued air sampling is needed……http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/local-news/radiation-concerns-pohakuloa-revisited-feds-review-issues-raised-kona-resident

December 4, 2017 Posted by | environment, USA | Leave a comment

The potential health effects to coastal populations of the dumping of 330,000 tons of radioactively contaminated mud on the coast of Wales, 2.8km from Cardiff.

Screenshot from 2017-12-04 00:49:00

Dr Busby was asked by individuals in Wales to comment on the proposals by the French nuclear company to dredge up 300,000 tons of radioactive mud from the sea bed near Hinkley Point nuclear power station in Somerset, England, and dump it in the Bristol Channel 2.8km from the Welsh Capital, Cardiff.

Dr Busby has carried out many studies of the cancer and infant mortality effects of living near the contaminated coast near Hinkley Point and the Bristol Channel, including the Welsh coast since 2000. In a new report [link] he shows that if this proposal is allowed by the Welsh Assembly government, the result will be a measurable increase in cancer and ill health in Cardiff and other communities of Wales living near the coast and the tidal rivers Taff and Usk.

He points out that there is no valid reason to dump this material near Wales except to keep it from the holiday beaches in England. He recommends that the dredging is not permitted to go ahead as it will increase cancer rates on both sides of the Bristol Channel, as is shown by the epidemiological cancer mortality studies his group carried out from 1999 to the present day.

SNIP

7. Conclusions and recommendations
Exposure to radioactive material which has a quantifiable probability of causing harm to health must be justified in relation to benefits to balance the harm. In this case, no benefits would accrue to Welsh populations; indeed, the people living near the estuaries would suffer significant harm. It is therefore recommended that the Welsh Assembly oppose the dumping of this material close to the city of Cardiff and indeed close to any part of the Welsh coast

END SNIP

Report source; http://www.greenaudit.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Dumping-radioactive-mud-near-Cardiff.pdf

December 4, 2017 Posted by | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

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