Barack Obama has been accused of reneging on his disarmament pledges after it emerged the administration was planning to spend billions on upgrading nuclear bombs stored in Europe to make the weapons more reliable and accurate.
Nuclear North Korea entreats Mongolia for help in feeding its people
During the annual April 15 birthday celebration for North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, Pyongyang didn’t distribute food to the northernmost province. This is a bit shocking as Il Sung’s birthday is the biggest holiday of the year.
Robert Marquand / April 22, 2013
Christian Science Monitor
A food shop keeper sweeps the sidewalk with a broom while people line up outside a shop in Pyongyang, North Korea, last week. The ambassador from Pyongyang to Ulan Bator officially has claimed that a ‘severe food shortage’ may be in the offing, and his country is seeking relief.
Alexander F. Yuan/AP
Koreans and nearby Mongolians share an ancient ethnic and lingual heritage, and now it appears North Korea is hoping those ties will help them borrow a bit of needed butter and sugar.
he ambassador from Pyongyang to Ulan Bator officially has claimed that a “severe food shortage” may be in the offing, and his country is seeking relief.
North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un has been threatening nuclear war, raising tensions, using scant fuel resources to drive his mobile rocket launchers around in anticipation of another test; last week Mr. Kim shut a joint North-South industrial park at Kaesong that earns hard currency.
But when it comes to actually feeding people at a time of expected shortfall in the corn crop, Kim is apparently hoping that Mongolians will take pity.
Koreans and Mongolians trace their linguistic heritage to the Altaic family of languages – of which China is not a part – and there is a robust back and forth of tourists and trade between Seoul and Ulan Bator on East Asian Airlines, with Koreans often fascinated by their roots among the plains peoples.
The Wall Street Journal today reported that:
“North Korea may face (a) severe food shortage,” [North Korean] Ambassador Hong Gyu told [Mongolian] President [Tsakhiagiin] Elbegdorj, according to the account. Mr. Hong then asked for Mongolia to consider the possibility of delivering food aid to North Korea, the Journal reported.
For years, photos of malnourished children and adults with stunted growth have been synonymous with reported conditions inside the secretive kingdom of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, which has been run by the Kim family dynasty for more than 60 years.
Obama accused of nuclear U-turn as guided weapons plan emerges
April 21, 2013
Plan to spend $10bn on updating nuclear bombs goes against 2010 pledge not to deploy new weapons, say critics
Image source ; http://transitionvoice.com/2011/03/the-end-of-nuclear-and-its-timing/
Plan to spend $10bn on updating nuclear bombs goes against 2010 pledge not to deploy new weapons, say critics
- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 21 April 2013 13.47 BST
Nearly 200 B61 gravity bombs would be given new tail fins that would turn them into guided weapons delivered by stealth F35 fighter-bombers. Photograph: EPA
Did Chavez’ Pick Steal the Election in Venezuela?
…..Secretary of State Kerry’s challenge to Maduro’s 270,000-vote victory margin struck me as particularly poignant. Because in 2004, besides Chávez, I gave another presidential candidate evidence of the Bush gang’s ballot banditry: Senator John Kerry. Kerry lost to Bush by a slim 119,000 ballots in Ohio, blatantly stolen, but Kerry refused to call for a recount. It took him two years to publicly acknowledge our findings – when he introduced, with Senator Ted Kennedy, legislation to fix America’s corrupted voting system, then let the proposed law die of neglect.
Chávez knew, and Kerry will never learn, that democracy requires more than a complete count – it requires complete courage……
By Greg Palast for Vice Magazine – Leer el artículo en español aquí.
Tuesday, 23. April 2013
The guy in the cheap brown windbreaker walking up the dirty tenement steps to my New York office looked like a bus driver.
Nicolas Maduro, elected President of Venezuela last Sunday, did indeed drive a bus, then led the drivers’ union, then drove Chávez’ laws through the National Assembly as Venezuela’s National Assembly chief.
And this week, the US State Department is refusing to accept the result, suggesting Maduro hijacked the vote count. But did he?
Maduro came to me that day in 2004 on a quiet mission, sent by President Hugo Chávez to give me information I needed for my investigation for Rolling Stone – and to get information from me that might save Chávez’ life.
For one more week you can download Palast’s short documentary, The Assassination of Hugo Chávez, originally filmed in Venezuela for BBC, without charge.
The central topic was the “Invisible Ring”. Venezuelan intelligence had secretly taped US Embassy contractors in Caracas talking in spook-speak: “That which took shape here is a disguised kind of intelligence… which is annexed to the third security ring, which is the invisible ring.”
(“Invisible Ring”? Someone at the State Department has read too many Alan Furst novels.)
On the grainy film, they worried that “Mr Corey” (a code name we easily cracked) would blow his cover and begin barking, “I am from the CIA! I am from the CIA!”
“Mr Corey” was certainly not from the CIA, an agency holding on to one last fig-leaf of discretion. This crew was far more dangerous, from a spy-for-hire corporation, Wackenhut Inc. I’d been tracking Wackenhut for years, ever since their spies – more Austin Powers than James Bond – were arrested while on a black-bag job for British Petroleum. They’d attempted to illegally tape a US Congressman by running a toy truck with a microphone through the ceiling vents over the lawmaker’s head.
But even clowns, when heavily armed, can be deadly. In 2002, Chávez was kidnapped with the blessing of the US Ambassador right out of the presidential palace and flown by helicopter over the Caribbean where, Chávez later told me, the President assumed he’d be invited for a swim from 2,000 feet. Instead, just 48 hours later, Chávez was back at his desk.
But Washington wouldn’t quit the coup business. New documents revealed several interlocked methods (“rings”) for overthrowing Venezuela’s elected government.
What nuclear conspiracy theories?
….To accuse greenies of being responsible for the death and suffering resulting from Fukushima places Russell alongside LaRouche, Kemeny and other comedians and demagogues. But there’s nothing funny about his distinction between the easily-preventable Fukushima nuclear disaster and “real problems“, or his distinction between the suffering of Fukushima evacuees and “actual suffering“, or his description of the Fukushima disaster as “benign“.
Those statements are disgusting and disgraceful……
22 April 2013
Jim Green
Conspiracy theories conjured up by nuclear advocates are mostly harmless fun. But not when they involve trivialising the suffering of victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Political demagogue Lyndon LaRouche is the most colourful of the conspiracy theorists. Here’s his take on the anti-nuclear movement:
“This utterly depraved, dionysian cult-formation found its echoed, more violent expression in late 1980s Germany, where the anti-nuclear, fascist rioting reached near to the level of outright civil war …”
Australia’s Leslie Kemeny (think Lord Monckton) agrees: “Radical green activism and global terrorism can form dangerous, even deadly, alliances. The ‘coercive utopianism’ of radical greens, their avid desire for media publicity and their hidden socio-political agendas can produce societal outcomes that are sometimes violent and ugly.”
Kemeny believes the anti-nuclear movement is “supported by immense funds from affluent right-wing interests” and is also tied to the “political left”. Go figure. With such a grab-bag of extreme − and extremely contradictory − views, Kemeny might be considered a good candidate for Bob Katter’s political party … but he’s already joined Fred Nile’s.
– 22 April 2013 – Dungeness B – Netherlands hit?
This has been going on for a month .. releasing alpha and beta particles/gases.. hitting the Netherlands… winds on coast fair but inland wind is low hence the risk of pollution buildup..
I advise that you check your local pollution alerts and open your windows to let the gases etc blow through and not collect.. same procedure for radon.. open your doors and windows imo.. unless Dungeness B melts down/through/out
The gieger was clicking away merrily during the early hours.. I decided to do a video and got a 0.75 mcSv/h spike. Since i did this video the range has been 0.05 mcSv/h to 0.19 mcSv/h .. The average is 0.11 to 0.12 mcSv/h … the range is larger than normal.. the average should be 0.09 to 0.10 (since the releases of the Budapest isotope institutes reactor in 2011 after Fukushima)
Low level wind chart (you can check the historical weather patterns too!) the winds are blowing toward the netherlands.. inland european air is still leaving a chance for this pollution to collect in homes over time..
http://magicseaweed.com/UK-Ireland-MSW-Surf-Charts/1/?imageScale=wind&chartType=WMAG#?chartType=WMAG&_suid=136661344937309910266924262503
Click on EURDEP public map and click “I accept” choose the different isotopes on the menu on the right of the map.
http://eurdep.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Basic/Pages/Public/Home/Default.aspx
UK Dungeness B nuclear plant- Katie Price ex, Peter Andre’s beach walk in radiation! and related shocking new scientific term “potato syndrome” = 850 bequerels/litre!!
https://nuclear-news.net/2013/04/21/katie-price-ex-peter-andres-beach-walk-in-radiation-and-related-shocking-new-scientific-term-potato-syndrome-850-bequerelslitre/
Update Gieger reading
Cleaner air in London – A musical gieger interlude in CPM minor!
Emergency declared at U.S. nuclear plant after lightning strike — “Venting of Unit 1 primary containment” — ‘Normal’ radiation levels reported — NRC mobilizes response center
http://enenews.com/emergency-declared-at-u-s-nuclear-plant-after-lightning-strike-venting-of-the-unit-1-primary-containment-normal-radiation-levels-have-been-reported-nrc-mobilizes-incident-response-ce
Published: April 18th, 2013 at 12:38 pm ET
By ENENews
LaSalle News Tribune: Exelon Generation’s La Salle County Generating Station declared an Unusual Event at 3:11 p.m. today, after both units automatically shut down when power from the switchyard into the site was interrupted during a severe thunderstorm. […] Technical experts are working to restore power to the switchyard. […] LaSalle Generating Station is located about 75 miles southwest of Chicago […]
Morris Daily Herald: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region III staff is monitoring the La Salle nuclear power plant after a lightning strike knocked out offsite power to both Units 1 and 2. The NRC has mobilized its Incident Response Center in Region III, located in Lisle, Ill., and is monitoring the events along with the resident inspector onsite. […] An Unusual Event is the lowest levels of the NRC’s four level emergency classification system. […]
NRC: Event Notification Report for April 18, 2013: “In addition to information [previously provided], LaSalle Unit 2 received a high drywell pressure signal [1.77 psig] due to loss of containment cooling from the loss of power. […] There is no evidence of reactor coolant leakage. There was no additional ECCS systems discharging into the RCS [Reactor Coolant System]. […] two Unit 2 primary containment vent and purge valves were opened to vent the Unit 2 containment. Once Unit Two containment pressure reached 1.77 [psig], these two vent valves isolated as expected. “Due to the loss of offsite power, the Station Vent Stack Wide Range Gas Monitor (WRGM) and the Standby Gas Treatment Wide Range Gas Monitor (VGWRGM) also lost power. Manual sampling has been implemented and power is restored to the VGWRGM, however the VGWRGM has not been declared operable yet. Normal radiation levels have been reported from the manual sampling. […]
UPDATE AT 0057 EDT ON 04/18/13: “After the Unit 2 primary containment vent and purge system isolated on the Unit 2 containment High Pressure signal, Venting of the Unit 1 primary containment was commenced. At 2005 CDT, Unit 1 primary containment pressure reached the Group 2 primary containment isolation system setpoint (1.77 PSIG) causing the primary containment vent and purge valves being used to vent the Unit 1 containment to isolate. Unit 1 primary containment venting was being performed through the Standby Gas Treatment system which is a filtered system. […]
Video of radiological drill at LaSalle Nuclear Power Station
Earthquake in Sichuan, China: Threat of Secondary Disasters Including Nuclear, Says South China Morning Post
http://ex-skf.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/earthquake-in-sichuan-china-threat-of.html
Monday, April 22, 2013
From South China Morning Post (4/22/2013):
Aftershocks from Sichuan earthquake pose threat of secondary disasters
Authorities issue warnings amid potential for mudslides, damage to dams and nuclear plants
Secondary disasters such as mudslides and dam-related crises may occur in the days or even months after Saturday’s earthquake, threatening the safety of residents and rescuers, geologists warn.
Fan Xiao, chief engineer at the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau in Chengdu, said yesterday the banks along the Qingyi River, in one of the most geologically unstable regions of the province, had taken a big hit.
Known for its high mountains and deep valleys, the area was already unstable before the earthquake, with villages and roads sitting almost in the path of potential landslides, Fan said. And shockwaves from the earthquake could profoundly increase structural instability in the region.
“Residents and rescuers must be highly alert to the dangers of mudslides, especially after rain,” he said. “There will be lots of rain in the coming months.”
…
Sichuan is also known for its nuclear facilities, many of which are for military purposes. The China National Nuclear Power Corporation announced on its website that its nine nuclear facilities in Sichuan experienced various levels of shockwaves at the weekend, prompting safety checks. There had been no reports of leaking pipes or collapsed buildings at the facilities.
As of 6pm yesterday, the quake zone had experienced 1,642 aftershocks – the strongest with a magnitude of 5.4.
(Full article at the link)
Looking at the photo in the article (above), I do see the challenge for the rescue workers.
China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) announced on April 21 that “Sichuan-based nuclear power facilities are safe and no abnormalities have been detected in environmental radiation monitoring following a 7.0-magnitude quake” (Xinhua, quoted by China.org.cn website).
(Hmmm. This too sounds very familiar.)
How we searched for cesium contamination on Treasure Island
The centre for investigative reporting
Apr 12, 2013
Last summer, the Center for Investigative Reporting began looking into reports of radioactive contamination at the former Treasure Island Naval Station. Along the way, a source told CIR that cesium-137 had been found at the site – yet that alleged finding from 2007 was not in official U.S. Navy cleanup reports reviewed by CIR.
In 2012, the Navy told state regulators there had been no findings of cesium contamination beyond release limits established for the cleanup of Treasure Island. We set out to determine whether significant cesium-137 contamination was present on the island. Part of the reporting involved soil testing by certified laboratories. Here are the steps we undertook:
IAEA says Fukushima cleanup may take more than 40 years – try 140 years!
National Apr. 23, 2013 – 06:55AM JST
TOKYO —
A U.N. nuclear watchdog team said Monday that Japan may need longer than the projected 40 years to decommission its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant and urged its operator to improve plant stability.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency team, Juan Carlos Lentijo, said Monday that damage at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is so complex that it is “impossible” to predict how long the cleanup may last.
“As for the duration of the decommissioning project, this is something that you can define in your plans. But in my view, it will be nearly impossible to ensure the time for decommissioning such a complex facility in less than 30-40 years as it is currently established in the roadmap,” Lentijo said.
The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) have predicted the cleanup would take up to 40 years. They still have to develop technology and equipment that can operate under fatally high radiation levels to locate and remove melted fuel. The reactors must be kept cool and the plant must stay safe and stable, and those efforts to ensure safety could slow the process down.
“You have to adopt a very cautious position to ensure that you always are working on the safe side,” Lentijo said.
The plant still runs on makeshift equipment and frequently suffers glitches.
Just over the past few weeks, the plant suffered nearly a dozen problems ranging from extensive power outages and leaks of highly radioactive water from underground water pools. On Monday, TEPCO had to stop the cooling system for one of the fuel storage pools for safety checks after finding two dead rats inside a transformer box. Earlier this month, a rat short-circuited a switchboard, causing an extensive outage and cooling loss for up to 30 hours.
The problems have raised concerns about whether the plant, crippled by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, can stay intact throughout a decommissioning process. The problems have prompted officials to compile risk-reduction measures and review decommissioning plans.
Lentijo, an expert on nuclear fuel cycles and waste technology, warned of more problems to come.
Baltic NPP project still struggling to secure investors, future selling markets
 |
| As shown in this schematic view of planned power transmission from Baltic NPP (this map, from materials of the Russian Ministry of Energy, has been translated into English by Bellona), the future station’s output is planned to be supplied to substations in Lithuania (Klaipeda and Jurbarkas) and Lithuania’s Kruonis Pumped Storage Plant, as well as to Poland, via Tsentralnaya substation in Kaliningrad Region. |
| Source: Russian Ministry of Energy |
….Yet, there still seem to be no investors eager to get involved with the project. Furthermore, energy companies in neighboring Lithuania look just as hesitant about going into electricity supply contracts to purchase power from the plant, under construction just 10 kilometers from the Russian-Lithuanian border…..
……Baltic NPP director Buchelnikov, at the round table that took place in Neman in late March to discuss prospective building of the second unit at the site, was sparing in his offer of any hard evidence that the efforts to secure sufficient foreign interest for the station have been fruitful……..
MOSCOW – Baltic Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) – a new station that has been under construction in Russia’s westernmost exclave of Kaliningrad Region since 2010 – still has no backing from private investors, nor any sales contracts to export future power to neighboring countries. European Union (EU) states there are no intentions to invest into power delivery infrastructure to buy the plant’s electricity. Two-plus years of meager marketing progress seem to cause doubt as to whether construction of a second unit makes solid economic sense.
For the Baltic Nuclear Power Plant, under construction in Neman District, Kaliningrad Region, the issue of where to sell future electricity is still one of the most pressing. The two-unit 2,300-megawatt project developed for a region that is neither capable of (owing to the aged transmission and distribution infrastructure in place), nor particularly interested (because of sufficient power supplies) in, accommodating the enormous inflexible electricity deliveries of a baseload nuclear power plant apparently envisions producing electricity for no other purpose than selling it for export, either to Lithuania or Poland.
Fukushima Rad News 4/22/13: Rats Stop Spent Fuel Pool Cooling System For A Third Time
Published on 22 Apr 2013
Dead rats halt Fukushima cooling system
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant briefly switched off a spent fuel cooling system on Monday after it found dead rats near a transformer.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says a worker found 2 dead rats in a box of an outdoor transformer connected to the cooling system for a spent fuel pool. One of them had apparently been electrocuted.
TEPCO halted the system at the No.2 reactor for about 4 hours until workers confirmed that it was working normally.
Company officials say the pool’s water temperature was 14 degrees Celsius when they restarted the system, and that this is far lower than its internal safety limit of 65 degrees.
Last month, a rat wandered into an outdoor switchboard at the plant and caused a power failure of up to 29 hours at spent fuel pools and some other facilities.
Monday’s trouble occurred as the plant operator is taking steps to keep small animals away from key electrical devices. The utility says it has not yet implemented measures for the transformer at the No.2 reactor.
IAEA ends review of Fukushima decommissioning plan
The International Atomic Energy Agency says the main and most immediate challenge in decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is managing the accumulated radioactive wastewater.
An IAEA team of experts has wound up eight days of checking Japan’s efforts to decommission the crippled plant. The team conducted interviews with government and TEPCO officials and visited the site.
TEPCO refuses to pay for nuclear decontamination – Claims no legal requirement!
…..Tokyo Electric Power Co. refuses to pay 10.55 billion yen ($106 million) for decontamination work around its crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, saying it is under no legal obligation to do so…..AS
…..The ministry has not set deadlines for the payments, meaning there will be no delinquent charges. But if it cannot get TEPCO to pay the amount, the government might be forced to cover the costs with taxpayers’ money…….AS
Published on 22 Apr 2013
TEPCO is refusing to pay for the radiation which poisoned surrounding areas of Fukushima NPP. Despite a law requiring them to do so.
Asahi Shimbun article:
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_n…
Published on 22 Apr 2013
Corrine Lepage, Former French Minister of Environment
Campaign for Evacuation of the Children from the Highly Contaminated Areas
http://fukushima-evacuation-e.blogspo…
Fed up? want a voice? – Anonymous: CISPA Internet Blackout April 22nd
looks like we here an nuclear-news.net want to support our American brothers and sisters.. Normal service will be resumed on Tuesday! Knowledge is fee! Peace!!
Dear citizens of the internet,
We are Anonymous.
Knowledge is free!
The United States Government is again attempting to control and censor the internet. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act has just recently passed the house.
This bill would allow major internet entities such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google to voluntarily share your personal information with the U.S. Government. This will not only effect users in the United States, but also anyone with an account with these companies.
Knowledge is free!
This upcoming Monday, April the 22nd, we invite you to join Anonymous in a internet blackout. We encourage all web developers and website owners to go dark on this date. Display a message as to why you are going dark, and encourage others to do the same.
Knowledge is free!
We hope, just like the successful protest over the Stop Online Piracy Act, we can encourage the senate…
View original post 26 more words
Fed up? want a voice? – Anonymous: CISPA Internet Blackout April 22nd
Dear citizens of the internet,
We are Anonymous.
Knowledge is free!
The United States Government is again attempting to control and censor the internet. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act has just recently passed the house.
This bill would allow major internet entities such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google to voluntarily share your personal information with the U.S. Government. This will not only effect users in the United States, but also anyone with an account with these companies.
Knowledge is free!
This upcoming Monday, April the 22nd, we invite you to join Anonymous in a internet blackout. We encourage all web developers and website owners to go dark on this date. Display a message as to why you are going dark, and encourage others to do the same.
Knowledge is free!
We hope, just like the successful protest over the Stop Online Piracy Act, we can encourage the senate to stop this bill.
Spread the message, and inform the world.
We are Anonymous
We are the people
We are the internet
Knowledge is free!
Fukushima NHK Documentary: “Two Years Later”
Published on 20 Apr 2013
2 years after the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, more than 150,000 people in Fukushima Prefecture are still forced to leave their homes and try to rebuild their lives amid the threat of radiation exposure. We’ll look into the unprecedented challenges they are facing.
Air date 4/19/13
I apologize for the mediocre quality of the video. It is a broadcasting issue, perhaps solar activity and it does happen occasionally. There is a very limited time period to capture these documentaries, only a few times during a 48 hour period and then NHK pulls them down from their site.
1 This Month
10 March A LIVE WEBINAR THE REAL EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR POWER
What the Industry Isn’t Telling Us
1:00 PM Mountain, 2 pm Central, 3 pm Eastern. Live on the Keepers of the Water Facebook page
18 March Webinar @ 1 PM EST: An Assessment of SMR Projects: The Case of Canada
register for the zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_o8BIIOUvQ2ONJR1nta65DQ#/registration
of the week – STOP SMALL MODULAR REACTORS IN CANADA
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