Bellona’s St. Petersburg office meets with Norwegian PM Stoltenberg over Russian NGO crackdowns
Charles Digges, 05/04-2013
Bellona.org
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenburg today met with representatives of the Environment and Rights Center (ERC) Bellona to discuss onerous fines the Russian Prosecutor General is hinting it will levy against the organization and the situation of Russian NGOs in general.
The meeting, which took place at the Norwegian consulate, comes quickly on the heels of a meeting ERC Bellona’s Executive Director Nikolai Rybakov had with prosecutors on Wednesday, where they hinted ERC Bellona could be fined some $20,000. Prosecutors said then that they were still compiling evidence and told Rybakov a final decision on the fine would be made next Wednesday.
Rybakov said that Stoltenberg, who is in St. Petersburg to attend the meeting of Baltic Sea Countries later on Friday, promised to bring up the concerning situation of Russian NGOs with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is also attending the meeting.
Bellona’s General Director Nils Bøhmer in Oslo said that, “It is vitally important that Prime Minister Stoltenberg take a vigorous position defending not only Bellona’s work, but the work of thousands of other NGOs in Russia.”
“We are not spies,” he added. “Our work is centered on 20 years of supporting Russian citizens’ rights to a clean environment.”
A month of ‘unannounced inspections’
ERC Bellona is just one of thousands of NGOs that have been swooped on by a variety of Russian official bodies from the tax inspectorate to health and fire officials over the last month, apparently as part of a new enforcement effort of Russia’s new laws requiring civil society organizations engaged in vaguely defined “political activity” to register with the Ministry of Justice as “foreign agents.”
Japan – Spent nuclear fuel reprocessing costs nearly triples, a blow to utilities!
“Britain plans to shut down its reprocessing plant after the last shipment of radioactive waste to Japan is finished,” Sawai said. “Japan should abandon the planned reprocessing activity and rather ponder how to restore and manage spent nuclear fuel.”
April 08, 2013
By SHIN MATSUURA/ Staff Writer
Source : The Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201304080007
The cost for overseas reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from Japanese nuclear power stations has nearly tripled since 1995 because of problems at a contracted British plant, which is likely to further hurt utilities and be passed along in rate hikes for electricity users.
Image source ; http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/chart?symbol=9501.T
The cost surged apparently because the plant is plagued with a slew of problems, including leakage of waste liquid.
The current cost at the plant that Japanese utilities commissioned for reprocessing is 122 million yen ($1.28 million) per container of vitrified high-level radioactive waste. That compares with 44 million yen in 1995, when the shipment of such waste from France back to Japan started.
The overall cost for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel into 790 more containers of waste that are scheduled to be returned to Japan is expected to be around 100 billion yen.
A rise in reprocessing costs is will strain utilities’ balance sheets further, and to be passed on to consumers, according to experts.
Shipments of spent nuclear fuel from Japanese power stations to reprocessing plants in Britain and France started in the 1970s to extract plutonium and make nuclear fuel out of it. Large amounts of high-level radioactive waste, which is left over in the reprocessing work, is shipped back to Japan.
Ma Zhaoxu Attends Talks on Iran Nuclear Issue in Almaty
8 April 2013
From April 5 to 6, 2013, a new round of talks on the Iran nuclear issue was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Six countries on the Iran nuclear issue – the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany as well as Iran attended the talks. China’s Assistant Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu led the Chinese delegation.
Ma pointed out that this round of talks is constructive and significant. For the first time the two parties conducted sincere, in-depth and substantive discussions on the solution to the Iran nuclear issue. They have common concerns while differences still exist in their stances. The Chinese side expects that all relevant parties, by continuing to narrow the gaps and gradually expand consensus during negotiations, would provide conditions where a comprehensive and long-term solution to the issue is possible. China is consistently committed to talks of peace and is ready to work with all sides to make continued and constructive efforts toward that end.
During the meeting, Ma also met with representatives of the U.S., Russia, Iran and France.
Breaking! EDF ‘in big trouble’ says French nuclear expert
Mr Schneider said that EDF with debts of €39bn (£33.3bn) might not have the cash to put into Hinkley and added: “It’s not certain it will go ahead.
“There are a long list of issues that need to be agreed, not only the strike price. Even if there is an agreement the financing package has to be put together. It’s a very long-term investment of very uncertain levels of realisation.”
The top graph is the reaction to the news and the bottom graph shows you the dire situation over the last year (even with all the “good” news)
Telegraph
8 April 2013
Financial problems facing EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 – news) could force the French energy giant to pull out of the £14bn project to build the first of a new generation of nuclear power plants in Britain, a French expert has warned.
Mycle Schneider, a former energy adviser to the French government, questioned whether EDF could finance the investment.
“EDF is in big trouble. The whole of the nuclear power industry in France is in big trouble,” he said.
His comments, on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, came as David Cameron prepared to raise the nuclear power issue with the president of France, Francios Hollande, during his lightning tour to try to win support for EU reforms.
President Hollande is seen as a pivotal figure because he wants state controlled EDF to curb its nuclear power ambitions and invest heavily in improving safety at plants in France as well as giving a higher priority to renewable energy.
Negotiations on a deal between EDF and the Government over the construction of a massive plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset are deadlocked because the two sides have failed to agree on a price for electricity and a range of other guarantees.
EDF is also trying to find a partner to fill the gap left by Centrica (LSE: CNA.L – news) which has abandoned nuclear power.
Lord Deighton, Treasury Commercial Secretary and former chief executive of the London Olympic organising committee, has been given the task of hammering out an agreement the Government regards as crucial to meet its nuclear power ambitions to reinforce the electricity generating network and avoid the “lights going out.”
Mr Schneider said that EDF with debts of €39bn (£33.3bn) might not have the cash to put into Hinkley and added: “It’s not certain it will go ahead.
“There are a long list of issues that need to be agreed, not only the strike price. Even if there is an agreement the financing package has to be put together. It’s a very long-term investment of very uncertain levels of realisation.”
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/edf-big-trouble-says-french-104450052.html
There is a slight Problem with Mangano, Sherman Paper on Congenital Hypothyroidism in the US and Radiation from Fukushima
http://ex-skf.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ot-slight-problem-with-mangano-sherman.html
Sunday, April 7, 2013
From “Elevated airborne beta levels in Pacific/West Coast US States and trends in hypothyroidism among newborns after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown”, by Joseph J. Mangano, Janette D. Sherman, page 3 (link):
A national study conducted by the National Geological Survey examined concentrations of wet depositions of fission-produced isotopes in soil at sites across the US, for several radioisotopes, between March 15 and April 5, 2011. Results showed that for I-131, the highest depositions, in becquerels per cubic meter, occurred in northwest Oregon (5100), central California (1610), northern Colorado (833), coastal California (211), and western Washington (60.4). No other station recorded concentrations above 13. Similar results were observed for Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 [42]. All the cited locations are on or near the Pacific coast, with the exception of Colorado, in the western US.
Cubic meter??? That would be indeed catastrophic.
However, from “Wet Deposition of Fission-Product Isotopes to North America from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Incident, March 2011” by USGS, as cited by the authors (link):
Variable amounts of 131I, 134Cs, or 137Cs were measured at approximately 21% of sampled NADP sites distributed widely across the contiguous United States and Alaska. Calculated 1- to 2-week individual radionuclide deposition fluxes ranged from 0.47 to 5100 Becquerels per square meter during the sampling period.
It was “square meter”.
Open file report by USGS: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1277/
Table 2 on pages 17 and 18 of the USGS report shows I-131, Cs-134, Cs-137 deposition. Many places have only Cs-137 detected, some places with I-131 and Cs-137, some with I-131 and Cs-134. For locations that have both Cs-134 and Cs-137, the ratio is mostly not in line with those of Fukushima-origin (Cs-134:Cs-137=1:1 to =1:1.2)
1,090 picocurie is 40.33 becquerels. 40.33 becquerels/liter was calculated into 5,100 becquerels/square meter, with the conversion factor of about 126.
Fukushima Leaking Even MORE Radioactive Water, Squishing Sludge update 4/7/13
Published on 7 Apr 2013
Dang, I’m running out of inventive titles for this Nuclear Catastrophe at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan (and the world). It occurs to me that Japan Wants someone to Bomb it into the Ocean so they don’t have to Deal with it any more. TEPCO gave up on it LONG ago (a day or so after the Earthquake/Tsunami) and wanted to throw it’s hands up and walk away. From their actions, they are simply going through the motions of trying to “fix” the triple plus meltdown hoping either someone bombs it into the Pacific Ocean, or Mother Nature shakes it into the pacific ocean.
I think my updates from now on should just be: “Fukushima, still fucked today. It’s just more fucked today than yesterday” and leave it at that. It’s all the same in the end, right?
Yes, MORE leaking radioactive water tanks with a lot of radioactive Strontium ETC.
Ooh, someone figured out how to reduce radioactive sludge to be smaller. Pop Quiz, where did the other radioactivity go to? Is it just more concentrated in volume, or did it “evaporate” back into the atmosphere? After all, BURNING the radioactive debris is “fair game” … and TEPCO already admitted to hoping it would “evaporate” due to storage problems! Did I mention nobody has offered to “take” said reduced radioactive sludge?
PM Abe (albeit an unfair election by the pronuclear – still being contested) insists on REBUILDING the Fukushima area – and “the future of Japan Depends on it’s rebuilding of the area?!!!! WTF. I swear they said that a while ago, if you can only imagine!!!
North Korea posturing to shot a missile at Japan. Just think about all the targets it could hit with all the Nuclear power plants there. (I’m biting my tongue here at the keyboard).
Ooh, here’s a good one, a single fish got the fuck out of Japan safely and hit the Oregon shores. And people were kind enough to put it in an aquarium and google at it.
Joni Mitchell Big Yellow Taxi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWwUJH…
Embassy evacuations due to North Korea threats.
Latest Headlines:
http://enenews.com/
US Reviews New Preconditions For The Iran Uranium Swap because of shortage of medical isotopes
…..Currently, Canada’s only source of the isotope is the reactor in Chalk River, Ont., which produces about a third of the world’s supply. But the reactor has been plagued with safety and operational problems, leading to worldwide shortages, and its license is set to expire in 2016………
Image source ; http://seekingalpha.com/article/1317151-medical-isotope-producers-could-be-lucrative-investment-ventures?source=google_news (diagram only shows Canada producing 4 percent instead of 33 percent ???)
Noam Chomsky in conversation with Jonathan Freedland
From 1.36 mins for Chomsky`s statement on the Brasil/Turkey brokered deal
Iran’s Proposed Nuclear Fuel Swap
2010
In a deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil, Iran has agreed to turn over more than half (2,640 pounds) of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for 265 pounds of medium-enriched fuel for medical isotopes for treating Iranian cancer patients. Under the terms of the agreement, the fuel will remain the property of Iran but will be monitored by the UN. David Cortright, a nuclear policy expert, says the swap is a positive development that the U.S. should support…
http://kroc.nd.edu/newsevents/quickquestions/iran-s-proposed-nuclear-fuel-swap-621
US Reviews New Preconditions For The Iran Uranium Swap
- US Intelligence
- April 7, 2013
Brokering a deal to swap Iranian uranium stockpiles, Brazilian and Turkish leaders started a collision between Tehran and Washington; utimately starting a fourth round of sanctions. Securing a crucial agreement with all the permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United States was moving into it’s fourth round of sanctions. Addressing the reporters the P-5 (US, Russia, China, Britain, and France) spoke to them after a closed door meeting drafting a resolution that was presented to the council’s 10 non permanent members.
Alu scholars selected a case in which to analyze their international relations elective. They were given a short time frame with which to come up with varied solutions. The solutions were then ran thru simulation to test the results.
The Brazil–Turkey initiative allows Iran to move ahead with it’s uranium enrichment. The P5 had reached a point of no return. Turkey and Brazil, both being non permanent members met with Iran and signed an agreement to ship 1.2 tons of low enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange later for 120kg of enriched isotope for it’s medical nuclear reactor in Tehran. Considered a breakthrough, in the aftermath of the long stalled negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, it failed to allay western concerns the Turkey is working secretly violating international agreements to seek nuclear weapons technology.
The Brazilian and Turkish leaders claimed a diplomatic goal and filed a motion for the sanctions to be lifted; this was followed by a draft resolution by the US to all their members of the Manhatten based chamber the next day. A New York based Foreign Council analyst Steven Cook stated, “The central thrust of US diplomacy has been that Iran is not trustworthy, that Iranian intentions regarding weaponization are clear and the deal isn’t as good as the Turks and the Brazilians were making it out to be.”
Mining Corporations seek radioactive rethink of risk assessment! Profit before health?
- by: Annabel Hepworth
- From: The Australian (subscription only)
- April 08, 2013 12:00AM
URANIUM miners have demanded changes to laws so that the “mild” radioactivity that is unique to the sector is no longer a trigger for federal environmental assessments.
The Australian Uranium Association — whose members include BHP Billiton and the operator of the Ranger mine at Jabiluka in the Northern Territory, ERA — says that uranium mining and the milling that makes yellowcake should no longer be defined as a “nuclear action” under the federal law known as the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
…..Australia is obliged to provide for safe and secure management of radioactive waste under the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, and report on the implementation of its obligations every three years………….This total does not include uranium mining wastes, which are disposed of at mine sites.
Over half the volume of Australia’s current low level and short-lived intermediate level waste is some ten thousand drums of lightly contaminated soil – a legacy of CSIRO research into processing radioactive ores during the 1950s and 1960s. …….
…….Under the current international guidance, there is not a precise boundary between each of the waste categories, as limits on the acceptable level of activity concentration will differ between individual radionuclides or groups of radionuclides. Waste acceptance criteria for a particular near surface disposal facility will be dependent on the actual design of and planning for the facility………
…….Previously, a contact dose rate of 2 mSv/h was generally used to distinguish between LLW and ILW…….
,,,,,,Waste is often stored indefinitely in facilities that were not designed for long term storage of such material. Such storage, while currently safe, is not ideal. In many cases, storage facilities were not designed for this use and are nearing capacity.,,,,,,
Radioactive waste is a subset of the much broader category of hazardous wastes.
Current global hazardous waste production is approximately 400 million tonnes per annum.
Radioactive waste from nuclear power plants and the fuel cycle support facilities comprises approximately 0.4 million tonnes per annum, or approximately 0.1% of global hazardous waste. Low level and short-lived intermediate level waste is already being disposed of in many countries. Over three quarters of all radioactive waste (on a volume basis) has already been sent for disposal.
Because of the wide variety of nuclear applications, the amounts, types and even physical forms of radioactive wastes vary considerably. They include solid, liquid and gaseous wastes. Some wastes (such as the small radioactive sources found in smoke detectors) carry little or no safety or security risk; however, some other wastes are highly radioactive and must be managed appropriately to address safety and security issues. Internationally, the major source of radioactive waste has been from the development and production of fissile materials for weapons manufacture, especially dating from the cold war period (often referred to as ‘legacy wastes’). The major sources of non-military waste internationally are fission products and contaminated and activated materials from nuclear power generation, including various process wastes arising from parts of the nuclear fuel cycle such as reprocessing, and the decommissioning of nuclear facilities.
ANSTO conducts extensive research in the area of radioactive waste and has developed wasteforms to treat radioactive wastes using a technology called HIP (hot-isostatic pressing) under the ANSTO Synroc brand. The waste is combined with a ceramic material and using the high pressure and temperature of the HIP, it is compressed and sealed into a ceramic wasteform. This process is designed to safely encapsulate the waste for tens of thousands of years. The product is then stored inside shielded containers. …..
Australia has accumulated approximately 4,000 cubic metres (m3) – less than the volume of two Olympic swimming pools – of low level and short-lived intermediate level radioactive waste from over fifty years of research, medical and industrial uses of radioactive materials.
Fukushima Rad News 4/6/13: Radioactive Water Seeping Into the Ground?; Strontium Detected In Spill
Published on 6 Apr 2013
TEPCO: Radioactive water may seeped into ground
Tokyo Electric Power Company says a small amount of radioactive water may have seeped out of an underground water storage facility at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The water contained strontium.
The utility spokesperson says that on Friday engineers detected a radioactive substance in the water between the layers of waterproof sheets covering the storage facility. The level of radioactivity is considered by the utility to be low.
RADIATION EFFECTS IN ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
http://nuclearpowertraining.tpub.com/…
http://nuclearpowerradiation.tpub.com…
TEPCO removing radioactive water
Tokyo Electric Power Company has begun transferring radioactive water from a leaking storage tank at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The company says radioactive strontium and other substances were detected on the ground around a storage tank from Wednesday to Friday.
Abe promises to rebuild disaster-hit area
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his government will do all it can to help rebuild areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan on March 11th, 2011.
Abe visited the stricken areas on Saturday. It was his 5th such visit since taking office in December.
New Fukushima facility shrinks nuclear sludge
The city of Fukushima now has Japan’s first facility capable of reducing the volume of the radioactive sludge from the 2011 nuclear disaster.
The facility was installed by the Environment Ministry in a municipal sewage treatment plant. A ceremony was held in the city on Saturday.
Removal of radioactive water continues
Tokyo Electric Power Company is working to transfer radioactive water from a leaking storage tank at its damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Radioactive water stored in a large underground tank was found to be leaking between Wednesday and Friday.
The utility estimates that 120 tons have leaked so far.
This is the same amount that leaked from storage tank plumbing in March of last year. The leakage is likely to continue, making it the largest leak since the government announced that the reactors had been brought to a state of cold shutdown in December of 2011.
Workers using 4 pumps started to transfer the water to an adjacent tank on Saturday morning.
To shorten the time for the operation, they later began to transfer the water to another tank south of the one that is leaking. Five pumps are being used to transfer 200 tons per hour. TEPCO says it will take more than 3 days to complete the work.
TEPCO estimates that 710 billion becquerels of radioactive strontium, or about 3 times more than the annual allowable limit at the complex, has leaked.
The utility says the contaminated water has not flowed into the ocean, but the leakage is expected to continue until the transfer is completed.
TEPCO is planning to monitor the state of leakage and its impact on the environment by measuring levels of radioactive materials in the soil around the tank.
Apr. 6, 2013 – Updated 17:38 UTC
100 tones of contaminated water may have already leaked to the ground
Photos
http://fukushima-diary.com/2013/04/10…
http://fukushima-diary.com/2013/04/le…
http://fukushima-diary.com/2013/04/71…
http://www.cbs8.com/story/21840275/se…
Fukushima: Massive Leaks Continuing On a Daily Basis … For Years On End
You may have heard that Tepco — the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plants — announced a large leak of radioactive water.
You may have heard that the cooling system in the spent fuel pools at Fukushima has failed for a second time in a month.
This is newsworthy stuff … but completely misses the big picture.
Japanese experts say that Fukushima is currently releasing up to 93 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium into the ocean each day.
http://peakoil.com/enviroment/fukushi…
RADIATION EFFECTS IN ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
http://nuclearpowertraining.tpub.com/…
Hanford Waste Plan Under Debate In New Mexico
http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-h…
VIDEO: Plymouth selectman asks NRC to organize meeting of 104 nuke towns
Read more: VIDEO: Plymouth selectman asks NRC to organize meeting of 104 nuke towns – News – Plymouth, MA – Wicked Local Plymouth http://www.wickedlocal.com/plymouth/n…
“Radiation epidemic” killing So. California sea lions? Gov’t experts now checking animals for contamination from Fukushima Daiichi
Published: April 6th, 2013 at 10:21 am ET
By ENENews
Image source ; http://fox5sandiego.com/2013/04/01/sea-lion-pups-washing-up-on-socal-beaches-at-alarming-rate/#axzz2PmiHzCp7
(Subscription Only) Title: NOAA investigates: natural die-off, radiation?
Source: The Orange County Register
Author: ERIKA I. RITCHIE
Date: April 6, 2013 at 1:46a ET
NOAA investigates: natural die-off, radiation?
A team of experts assembled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency is looking into radiation from Japan’s nuclear disaster as one of several possible causes of the ongoing sea lion stranding along Southern California beaches. […]
Sea lions keep washing ashore, many in more critical condition than in the weeks before.
[…] All sea lions present similar symptoms, including dehydration and starvation. Some are also showing secondary infections. In Ventura County, mammal centers are finding a high amount of lice. […]
“The radiation epidemic could be a potential cause,” [Sarah Wilkin, NOAA’s California stranding coordinator] said. “We need to look at what’s different in 2013 as compared to 2012, 2011 and 2010. “We will work with lab tests that look at radionuclide signatures. Scientifically, we don’t think radiation is the cause but without testing and data we can’t say for sure. We need to rule it in or out.” […]
“Marine mammals are sentinels of the eco system,” Wilkin said. […]
Watch video from the Orange County register here
Update and clarification on Japanese deep sea waste dumps
Op-Ed by Arclight2011
7 March 2013
One of the overlooked subjects concerns the undersea waste dumps located approximately 200 Km off the Japanese coast. These dumps need monitoring for more than just cesium.
Recent evidence shows us the approximate position of these dumps and I have been collecting the data together to find out if these dumps were affected by the great earthquake of March 2011 that caused 3 meltdowns at Fukushima Daichi.
The first evidence to look at is from Ian Fairlies presentation from the Helen Caldicott Symposium in New York. Below is a diagram of the area most impacted by the initial Large earthquake.
(It might be worth noting that the area of extreme shaking stops at the coast, leaving the nuclear power stations seemingly unaffected. I am only suspicious as Ian Fairlie also used data from Richard Wakeford (a Professor and ex BNFL sellafield) as evidence for the dose measurements. So, the dose measurements found on this PDF are likely an underestimate. There are many reasons to distrust Richard Wakeford to go into here. Please google his name for details in alternate news blogs, LLRC and Green Audit etc. Also, google his name with Chris Busby for interesting information.)
Next is the diagram of the dumps themselves. You will notice that area A3 and A2 seem to be possible targets from the heavy shaking area.
Next is the deposition of Cs 134 and 137 found by the recent released evidence from this report
Horizontal distribution of Fukushima-derived radiocesium in
zooplankton in the northwestern Pacific Ocean
Received: 31 December 2012 – Accepted: 27 February 2013 – Published: 2 April 2013
The area near Waste Dump A2 has a proportionally higher levels of cesium 137 Graphic D on Figure 2
The currents took the radioactive effluent North East following the main current shown here;
There was this curious quote from a report.
“…Activity concentrations of radiocesium in zooplankton might be influenced not only environmental radiocesium activity concentration but also other factors that is still unknown….”
and this quote too!
“….……Regardless of how it got there, “there must be some loaded organic material somewhere in the sediment”, Kanda says…….”
And of course there was more than one earthquake and the other dumpsites A3 and A4 may also be effected.
Watch the visualisation video next to the above pictures to match hits on the dumps…..”
2011年の日本の地震 分布図 Japan earthquakes 2011 Visualization map
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKp5cA2sM28
Links to resources
http://www.env.go.jp/en/wpaper/1992/eae210000000000.html#1_1_1_3
http://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/10/6143/2013/bgd-10-6143-2013.pdf
http://www.totalwebcasting.com/tamdata/Documents/hcf/20130312-1/FairlieFukushimaNYCMarch12.pdf
http://www.nature.com/news/ocean-still-suffering-from-fukushima-fallout-1.11823
“….The oceans may have become ticking time bombs after years of U.S. military dumping have gone almost virtually unregulated, according to government documents. Legislation on the books for this fiscal year requires that the secretary of defense issue a yearly report naming the location and quantity of the dumped military munitions in U.S. waters. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 also mandates sampling and water analysis be done around the disposal sites selected by the secretary. The size of the dump sites as well as the types and quantities of military munitions should also be identified. “The U.S. Army and DoD (Department of Defense) are working deliberately with other federal agencies to verify locations and dates of military sea disposal operations,”……”
“…..”The question always comes up that if there is no release of the munitions, is it worth the risk to pull it up and treat it,” said Siegel. “The answer isn’t clear. We don’t want to risk exposing people to ordnances unless there is a fairly present risk of danger.” The question of whether or not to pull up these sunken canisters continues to baffle and concern environmentalists, politicians, government officials and the general public. “With the initial breach of these canisters, the local impact on the biological communities will be quite high,” said McClain. “Do I think something should be done? Yes. Do I know what should be done about it? No.”…..”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2007/07/underwater-tick/
And here is a map of undersea dump sites.. The Japanese sites are claimed to be unknown on this interactive map.
http://cns.miis.edu/stories/090806_cw_dumping.htm
……The team will publish all study results, Wilkens says. That’s particularly important because the issue of chemical weapons in the oceans has been kept largely under wraps in many countries, Brewer says. “The topic has pretty much been a black hole.”……. Brewer and Noriko Nakayama of the University of Tokyo wrote in a 2008 article in Environmental Science & Technology. Researchers routinely sample the water column in most of the known dumping areas, “often within a few meters of the seafloor” and “without regard for or knowledge of the disposed materials,” the duo wrote. ……. But no one knows exactly where the weapons are……
….. The records usually don’t contain coordinates. In some cases, historical information only specifies “Atlantic Ocean” or “Pacific Ocean,” according to a 2007 Congressional Research Service report……
http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/danger-deep-chemical-weapons-lie-our-coasts
“….Finally, the Russians were dumping unprocessed nuclear waste into The Sea of Japan. As late as October 1993, the Russians confirmed that one of their ships discharged 900 tons of radioactive water from scrapped nuclear submarines….”
Effects of Fukushima fallout on West Coast kids – Kevin Kamps
Published on 5 Apr 2013
Beyond Nuclear’s Kevin Kamps talks with Sam Sacks on RT’s The Big Picture about the effects of Fukushima fallout on West Coast kids.
See full video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=…
Rohingya Genocide in Myanmar | Interview with Assed Baig
……..He looked around to his classmates in the small open space opposite a mosque in the mainly Muslim district of Mandalay. I showed him some pictures from a local journalist; two of them were of dead teenagers. He put his hand up to the camera touching the screen,
“that’s my friend,” he said.We showed him another and he struggles to speak“and this one, those are Osama and Karimullah,”he paused; his friends surrounded the camera and inspected the pictures of bodies on the ground, in unnatural poses……
……The monks that asked to be worshipped were young. Noor Bi was even beaten whilst she was holding her three-year-old son causing her to drop him. Her son was saved by a Buddhist woman who sheltered him and took him to safety……
Published on 5 Apr 2013
Abby Martin talks to independent journalist, Assed Baig, about the ongoing genocidal crisis of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar who the UN has coined one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.
LIKE Breaking the Set @ http://fb.me/BreakingTheSet
FOLLOW Abby Martin @ http://twitter.com/AbbyMartin
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Eye witness accounts of Meiktila massacre; Beaten, burnt and stabbed
Russia still keeping Norway in the dark about secret radwaste shipments to Murmansk
…..Bøhmer insisted on the transparency to Norwegian officials of nuclear shipments off Norway’s coast, even through international waters.
“There are two things that are critical for nuclear transports off Norway’s coast,” he said.
“First is that the vessels in question have a good track record for transporting radioactive materials.
Second is that Norwegian authorities be notified before such cargoes so that the coast guard can track them and effect efforts to help in the event that anything goes wrong.”
[…]
But the Russian government persistently flouts notifying Norway about these shipments. The first such hushed shipment from Poland took place in 2009…..
Charles Digges, 04/04-2013
http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2013/secret_radwaste_shipments
A secret cargo of spent nuclear fuel from Poland arrived at the Atomflot port in Murmansk on Monday aboard the Mikhail Dudin in another delivery that skirted the coast of Norway, causing officials here consternation over not being notified of radioactive cargo off their coast.
Such muffled cargos to Murmansk have raised hackles with the Norwegian government, the environmental community, and Murmansk’s population of 300,000 before.
But according to Andrei Zolotkov, director of Bellona Murmansk, the transports are part of a US-Russian agreement called the Global Partnership, which repatriates spent research reactor fuel from the former Soviet Bloc.
Zolotkov did, however, raise questions as to whether the Mikhail Dudin was certified to carry such cargos and said he had yesterday sent an inquiry to Atomflot. He said such inquiries typically take several days to answer. The Mikhail Dudin delivered some 82 tons of spent nuclear feul to Murmansk, according to Norwegian media.
Yet, while other environmental organizations in the Murmansk area decried the secret shipment, Zolotkov insisted that keeping shipments like the one delivered earlier this week under wraps was essential to avoid acts of terrorism.
“There is nothing unusual about this shipment at all, and no reason for anyone to turn it into a scandal,” said Zolotkov by telephone from Murmansk today.
Nils Bøhmer, Bellona’s general manager and nuclear physicist, however, said that the transports must at least be disclosed to Norwegian authorities so they can help if anything goes wrong.
But the director of Norway’s Radiation Protection Authority Ole Harbitz told the Barents Observer news portal that he had received no information about the Mikhail Dudin’s shipment as it traversed the Norwegian coast last week – and this is far from the first time this has happened.
The spent nuclear fuel is expected to be delivered from Atomflot by rail to the Southern Urals reprocessing site at Mayak.
Shipments small worry compared to other dangers
Zolotkov explained that other radiological hazards surrounding Murmansk Harbor dwarfed the spent fuel transports.
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