Nuclear deal unlikely unless Iran releases US prisoners: Report
Nuclear deal unlikely unless Iran releases US prisoners: Report
US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley tells the Reuters news agency agreement ‘hard to imagine’ while four ‘innocent Americans held hostage’. Ajjazeera, The United States is unlikely to strike a deal with Iran to save the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement unless Tehran releases four US citizens Washington says it is holding hostage, the lead US nuclear negotiator told the Reuters news agency on Sunday.
US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley repeated the long-held US position that the issue of the four people held in Iran is separate from the nuclear negotiations. He moved a step closer, however, to saying that their release was a precondition for a nuclear agreement…………….
In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on espionage and security-related charges.
Rights groups have accused Iran of taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage, while Western powers have long demanded that Tehran free their citizens, who they say are political prisoners.
Tehran denies holding people for political reasons……………………
The indirect talks between Iran and the United States on bringing both countries back into full compliance with the landmark 2015 nuclear deal are in their eighth round. Iran refuses to hold meetings with US officials, meaning others shuttle between the two sides……………………… https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/24/iran-nuclear-deal-unlikely-without-us-prisoner-release-report
Iran ‘will consider’ direct talks with US, says foreign minister
Iran ‘will consider’ direct talks with US, says foreign minister, US administration says direct talks are ‘urgently needed’ to facilitate communication to restore the Iran nuclear deal. Aljazeera, 24 Jan 22, Tehran is willing to engage in direct talks with Washington if negotiations to revive the Iranian nuclear deal reach an advanced stage that requires such dialogue, Iran’s foreign minister has said.
Hossein Amirabdollahian’s remarks on Monday came as United States officials have been urging direct negotiations to restore the 2015 accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)……….
Iran had previously ruled out direct meetings with the US. Instead, the two sides have been negotiating indirectly in Vienna to revive the deal, which saw Iran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting international sanctions against its economy………………..
Biden has pledged to restore the deal, but several rounds of talks in the Austrian capital have failed to secure a path back into the agreement so far.
The US administration says preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon is one of its foreign policy priorities, but Tehran has denied it is seeking nuclear weapons…………………. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/24/iran-will-consider-direct-talks-with-us-says-foreign-minister
Swedish government to decide on construction of nuclear waste dump.
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Why does nobody ever suggest stopping making radioactive trash?
Swedish government to decide construction of spent nuclear fuel repository https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/swedish-government-to-decide-construction-of-spent-nuclear-fuel-repository/
By Charles Szumski | EURACTIV.com 24 Jan 22, The government this week will announce its decision regarding the construction in the northern Uppland region of a repository for nuclear fuel that has been removed after being used in a nuclear reactor.
Environment Minister Annika Strandhäl promised on 20 January that the government would announce its decision this week. Spent nuclear fuel has been a hot topic discussed by Swedish scientists and politicians for the last 35 years.
Anti-radiation pills handed out in case of nuclear emergency at BAE Systems
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Anti-radiation pills handed out in Barrow in case of nuclear emergency at BAE Systems
The Mail. BY Eleanor Ovens @EOvensNews, 24 Jan 22, Reporter NEARLY 13,000 anti-radiation pills have been handed out in Barrow in case of the ‘unlikely event’ of a nuclear emergency.Records reveal that childcare facilities and care homes situated near BAE Systems have received iodine tablets should submarine reactors go into meltdown…….
According to Declassified UK, BAE expects people 400 metres downwind of a submarine would need to take iodine in the ‘first few hours’ of a ‘radiation emergency’……
A spokesman for Cumbria County Council told The Mail BAE Systems have a contract with UKHSA (previously Public Health England) and NHS England to distribute iodine tablets to business and residents in the area around the BAE Systems site in Barrow…………. https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/19865424.anti-radiation-pills-handed-barrow-case-nuclear-emergency-bae-systems/
Anniversary Of The Night Nuclear Bombs Fell Near Goldsboro
Anniversary Of The Night Nuclear Bombs Fell Near Goldsboro https://www.goldsborodailynews.com/2022/01/24/anniversary-of-the-night-nuclear-bombs-fell-near-goldsboro/January 24, 2022 Ken Conners
It’s the 61st anniversary of the big bang that, fortunately, never happened.
Around midnight on January 24th, 1961, a B-52G aircraft based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base experienced a fuel leak and broke up in midair over Wayne County.
Five crewmen were able to successfully eject or bail out of the aircraft, but three did not survive the crash.
Two Mark 39 nuclear bombs being carried on the bomber plummeted to the earth, landing with the wreckage in the farmlands of Faro, about 12 miles north of Goldsboro.
Declassified information eventually showed one of the bombs came very close to detonating with 3 of 4 arming mechanisms being tripped in the crash. One of the bombs was recovered while portions of the second sank into a muddy field never to be seen again.
Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons
Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons
Nominations are open for the Third Annual Gorbachev/Shultz, Voices Youth Award 2022, NEWS PROVIDED BY Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons Third Annual Voices Youth Award will be given to a youth who, or organization which, has pioneered or been part of exemplary programs and actions to engage youth in the local, regional or global movement to abolish nuclear weapons. The award honors the legacy of former U.S.S.R. President Mikhail Gorbachev and former U.S.A. Secretary of State George Shultz in their efforts for nuclear disarmament
This past year, Sahil Shah was selected winner of the second Voices Youth Award 2021 in recognition of his outstanding efforts to help abolish nuclear weapons. Sahil is a Policy Fellow at the European Leadership Network (ELN) and leads the organization’s efforts to stabilize and strengthen nuclear and regional security diplomacy with Iran and its neighbors. To learn more about Sahil’s work visit www.voices-uri.org/youth-award…………………………..
Submissions for nominations must be received by June 30, 2022, 5:00 PM, PST. The winner will be announced on August 6, 2022, in coordination with the yearly commemoration of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons is part of United Religions Initiative (URI) the largest grassroots interfaith network in the world: building bridges through working together on practical projects that enhance civil communities and understanding between people of different religious and cultural traditions. URI has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. At present URI has 1,091 Cooperation Circles in 111 countries with over one million members and yearly impacts over 50 million people globally.
Contact: Julie Schelling
P: 347.719.1518
Email: 328187@email4pr.com https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/voices-for-a-world-free-of-nuclear-weapons-301466013.html
Cleared by U.S., Estonia to deliver “dozens and dozens and dozens” of Javelin missiles to Ukraine, howitzers could follow — Anti-bellum
“I just authorized, myself, the provision of American-origin military equipment that’s with third countries – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – to get to Ukraine.” Blinken, January 23. Estonia’s Ambassador: Dozens of Javelin missiles ready for dispatch to Ukraine Estonia will hand over American Javelin anti-tank missile systems to Ukraine as soon as possible after receiving […]
Cleared by U.S., Estonia to deliver “dozens and dozens and dozens” of Javelin missiles to Ukraine, howitzers could follow — Anti-bellum
Daily Mail: Biden poised to deploy 50,000 U.S. troops, warplanes, warships to Eastern Europe — Anti-bellum
Daily MailJanuary 24, 2022 Excerpts. Full story here. (The NATO Response Force has recently been tripled in size to 40,000 rapidly-deployable, combat-ready troops and its Very High Readiness Joint Task Force consists of 20,000, as stated by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby in the video below.) Biden is poised to deploy US forces: President is in […]
Daily Mail: Biden poised to deploy 50,000 U.S. troops, warplanes, warships to Eastern Europe — Anti-bellum
TEPCO reports coolant solution leakage at Fukushima nuclear plant
23-Jan-2022
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, has discovered that a coolant solution used to create an ice wall halting groundwater seepage into the reactor buildings has leaked from two storage tanks, Reuters reported on Sunday.
The company claims that there has been no impact on the wall or the environment, according to the report.
Still, it underscores the unpredictable challenges in the clean-up of the site, nearly 11 years after an earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan’s northeastern coast, causing the world’s worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl accident in 1986.
On Sunday, TEPCO spokesperson Tsuyoshi Shiraishi said about four tonnes of a calcium chloride solution used to maintain the ice wall had leaked for the eighth time.
In the last such accident in December 2019, 16 tonnes spilled, likely due to metal fatigue resulting from vibrations caused by construction vehicles, Shiraishi said, adding that TEPCO is “now confirming the reason.”
There was no immediate impact on the wall’s function as it takes several months for the wall to thaw in the absence of coolant, he said.
Work on the underground frozen wall around unit 1-4began in June 2014 to block the flow of groundwater into the plant’s basements, according to China Media Group.
The 1.5-kilometer wall, which became operational in 2017, is made up of 1,568 pipes filled with a refrigerant and inserted 30 meters underground, turning the soil into a solid mass.
Only last year, Japan’s government approved the release of over 1 million tonnes of irradiated water from the site after treatment, starting around spring 2023. TEPCO last month said it would build a tunnel reaching into the sea for the operation.
Separately, a group of six men and women is set to file on January 27 a lawsuit against TEPCO claiming they developed thyroid cancer due to exposure to radiation from the Fukushima disaster, the Mainichi newspaper reported.
Coolant solution leaks at Fukushima Daiichi plant
The frozen wall was a temporary solution for maximum 7 years and the time has run out anyway.
Jan. 22, 2022
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says coolant solution used to create a frozen soil wall around reactor buildings has leaked.
The underground barrier is meant to block groundwater from flowing into the reactor buildings that were damaged as a result of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Tokyo Electric Power Company has been using a calcium chloride solution to maintain the barrier. The firm has been storing the liquid at minus 30 degrees Celsius in four tanks.
TEPCO says liquid levels in two of the tanks dropped on January 16. It says its workers found a pool of the solution near the wall and estimated roughly 4 tons of it had leaked.
The utility says the wall remains capable of keeping groundwater out as it takes several months before the barrier begins to thaw. It adds that the solution does not harm the environment.
TEPCO says the pipe circulating the solution may have been partially damaged. It says it will pinpoint the damaged section and fix it as soon as possible.
Japan’s Tepco hit by setback in clean-up of crippled Fukushima nuclear plant
Good faith does not exist in Tepco’s dictionary!
TOKYO, Jan 23 (Reuters) – The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has found that a coolant solution, used to create an ice wall halting the seepage of groundwater into reactor buildings, has leaked from two storage tanks.
The leakage has had no impact on the wall or environment, said Tokyo Electric Power Co Holdings Inc (Tepco) (9501.T).
Still, it underscores the unpredictable challenges in the clean-up of the site, nearly 11 year after an earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan’s northeastern coast, causing the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986.
Only last year, Japan’s government approved the release of over 1 million tonnes of irradiated water from the site after treatment, starting around spring 2023. Tepco last month said it would build a tunnel reaching into the sea for the operation. read more
On Sunday, Tepco spokesperson Tsuyoshi Shiraishi said about four tonnes of a calcium chloride solution used to maintain the ice wall had leaked in what was the eighth such leakage.
“We’re now confirming the reason,” he said.
The last leak in December 2019 saw 16 tonnes spilled, likely due to metal fatigue resulting from vibrations caused by construction vehicles, Shiraishi said.
There was no immediate impact on the wall’s function as it takes several months for the wall to thaw in the absence of coolant, he said.
Separately, a group of six men and women is set to file on Jan. 27 a lawsuit against Tepco claiming they developed thyroid cancer due to exposure to radiation from the Fukushima disaster, the Mainichi newspaper reported.
The plaintiffs, who were minors living in Fukushima prefecture at the time of the 2011 disaster, are seeking 616 million yen ($5.42 million) in compensation from the electricity provider, the Mainichi said.
If the complaint was served, Tepco would respond in good faith after hearing the contents of the claims and arguments in detail, the firm said in a statement.
Leakage of 4 tons of liquid at minus 30 degrees Celsius at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
The frozen wall was a temporary solution for maximum 7 years and the time has run out anyway.
January 23, 2022
There was a problem at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant where about 4 tons of liquid leaked out of a pipe that was injected into the ground to freeze the ground as part of the “frozen earth wall” that forms an “ice wall” around the buildings to prevent the inflow of underground water. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) believes that a part of the pipe may have been damaged, and has decided to hurry to identify the location and repair it.
According to TEPCO, on January 16, the water level dropped in two of the four tanks that contain liquid at minus 30 degrees Celsius, which is used to freeze the ground around the buildings at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, and when they checked the area around the frost wall, they found a place where this liquid had accumulated.
The leaked liquid is a calcium chloride solution that acts as a “refrigerant” to freeze the ground, and it is estimated that about 4 tons of the liquid leaked from the water level of the tanks.
Even if the refrigerant leaks out, there is still a few months before the freezing wall itself starts to melt, so it is still functioning to prevent the inflow of groundwater, according to the report.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) believes that part of the pipe may have been damaged, and is hurrying to identify the location and repair it.
The freezing wall has been in operation since 2016, but last year some parts of the freezing wall experienced problems with the underground temperature remaining above 0 degrees Celsius, and TEPCO is investigating the cause and taking countermeasures.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20220123/k10013445291000.html?fbclid=IwAR06soHF-koVniJxnYVyMeADSSul3AXZTrGbMAW7folqVBtmfgk93cS5TLs
Call for Japan to join nuclear ban treaty on 1st anniversary
January 23, 2022
Supporters of a U.N. treaty banning nuclear weapons gathered Jan. 22 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to mark the first anniversary of the pact going into force, stepping up their calls on Japan to sign it.
Standing in front of the symbolic Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, 10 or so members of a Hiroshima-based group calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons hoisted a banner that read the “whole world should join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”
“Unless Japan, the only country in the world to have been ravaged by atomic bombing, speaks out in the international community, it will be impossible to eliminate nuclear weapons,” said Shuichi Adachi, a lawyer representing the group.
Participation in the rally was kept to a minimum as a safety precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tomoyuki Mimaki, a representative of the association of A- and H-bomb sufferers in Hiroshima Prefecture, expressed disappointment with a joint statement released Jan. 21 by Tokyo and Washington on the issue of nuclear weapons.
“They treated the question with kid gloves,” he said dismissively, noting that although the statement encouraged the world’s political leaders and youth to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it made no reference to the treaty.
Mimaki, 72, said he sent a letter to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is from a constituency in Hiroshima, urging Japanese representatives to attend the first meeting of signatory countries of the treaty in Austria in March as observers.
Attendance on the part of Japan, he said, is indispensable as Kishida has pledged that Tokyo will work as an intermediary between the nuclear and nonnuclear powers.
In Nagasaki, about 150 nuclear-bomb survivors and their supporters gathered in the Peace Park to press the Japanese government to join and ratify the treaty.
“The government continues to ignore the treaty even though many countries have signed it,” said Shigemitsu Tanaka, president of the Nagasaki Atomic-bomb Survivors Council. “We want to get the public become familiar with the treaty so we can join forces in applying pressure on the government.”
Fifty-nine countries and territories have ratified the treaty.
But the nuclear powers as well as Japan, which is protected under the U.S. nuclear umbrella for its defense purposes, have refrained from doing so.
According to the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, 627 assemblies, or 35 percent, of the 1,788 local governments, including those at the prefectural level, had adopted a resolution as of Jan. 12 calling on the Japanese government to sign and ratify the treaty.
The figure included 90 or so local governments that adopted the resolution after the treaty went into force in 2021.
“The resolution adopted by local governments reflects public opinion and thus is more visible,” said Shiro Maekawa, an official of the council who tracks the trend among local governments on the issue. “The Japanese government should hear what the public says.”
Trickle of residents return to Fukushima’s last deserted town
Jan. 21, 2022
TOKYO – Five former residents of the last remaining uninhabited town near Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant returned on Thursday to live there for the first time since the 2011 disaster.
Following extensive decontamination, numerous areas around the plant in northeast Japan have been declared safe after a huge earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown over a decade ago.
TV footage showed the returnees inspecting the buildings, with one testing a tap outside his house.
“It’s out! This is the first time in 10 years and 11 months that running water comes out,” he said.
Futaba, whose population of around 5,600 was forced to flee over radiation fears, had been the final deserted municipality in the Fukushima region.
But restrictions were lifted in a small part of the town in March 2020 and the government is preparing to lift the cordon on a wider area later this year.
A local official told AFP that five people from four households are returning to live in Futaba on a trial basis, the first of just 15 people who have applied to a scheme, working towards a permanent return to the town.
The group had already been back to visit Futaba, but Thursday marks the first time they will stay overnight.
They can live there as part of the trial until at least June, when the wider cordon is expected to be lifted and their residence can become permanent, the official said.
The scheme “aims to ensure that residents will be able to live without problems, by, for example, checking if the sewers function well and there are facilities to support everyday life”, a cabinet office official in charge of supporting Fukushima residents told AFP.
More than 18,400 people died or remain missing after the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 which sparked the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The government has undertaken an extensive decontamination programme in the region, literally scraping layers of topsoil, among other methods to remove radiation.
It has gradually declared areas safe for residents to return, with just 2.4 percent of the prefecture still covered by no-go orders as of last year.
But in some places, evacuees have been reluctant to return even after measures are lifted, worried about persistent radiation or fully resettled in other places.
Beer made with Fukushima rice launched in HK
Beer anyone? NO THANKS!
Jan. 21, 2022
A brewery in Hong Kong has unveiled a craft beer made with rice grown in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Hong Kong restricts imports of many agricultural products from the prefecture following the 2011 nuclear accident, but rice is allowed in.
The company invited the media and Consul-General of Japan, Okada Kenichi, to a launch event on Kowloon Peninsula on Thursday.
It produced the beer at the request of Fukushima Prefecture and Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, or JA.
It is made with a brand of rice called “Ten-no-tsubu”.
JA says Hong Kong imports 3 tons of Ten-no-tsubu rice every year. The craft beer will be sold at events promoting foods from Fukushima Prefecture.
The head of JA’s Hong Kong office says he wants people there to learn about the rice brand, so it will lead them to buy other food products from the prefecture.
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