USA Nuclear weapons complex in disarray
3/07/2013
By Jay Coghlan
Nuclear Watch New Mexico
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has recently released Fiscal Year 2012 Performance Evaluation Reports on its contractors at its eight nuclear weapons sites, following Nuclear Watch New Mexico’s successful lawsuit for FY 2011 Reports. These assessments are the scorecards for Performance Evaluation Plans negotiated between the government and its nuclear weapons contractors, which awards the contractors hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars. Public access to these reports is of increasing importance as federal oversight is being continuously diminished. The trend of soaring contractor profits paired with decreasing accountability should be reversed, especially given sequester budget cuts that will further handicap federal oversight.
Nuclear Watch New Mexico has released an analysis and selected excerpts of the FY 2012 NNSA Performance Evaluation Reports. In summary:
In June 2012 the House Energy and Commerce Committee issued a press release entitled “Committee to Examine Eroding Oversight at Nation’s Most Critical Nuclear Sites – “Hands Off, Eyes On” Approach Raises Bipartisan Concerns“ and asked the Government Accountability Office to report on the effectiveness of NNSA’s contractor assurance system.
VIDEO: TSA chase down nuclear patient with handheld gieger counters
March 15, 2013 10:02 PM
(CBS) — It was stunning for those who watched Thursday night as federal agents investigated a possible nuclear threat at Chicago’s Ogilvie Transportation Center.
CBS 2′s photojournalist Lana Hinshaw-Klann happened to be at the scene and used a cell-phone camera to record agents in action. Reporter Dave Savini looks into what agents were looking for and what they found.
Sources say the agents were members of the elite TSA VIPR team on the 5:04pm Union Pacific West line. They were carrying hand-held nuclear-detection devices that picked up a reading.
VIPR teams were created after the 2004 bombing of a train in Madrid, Spain, to protect U.S. transportation.
At the Ogilvie station, officers held the train and searched for a person or bag that posed a potential nuclear threat.
Jerry Jones, a Chicago lawyer, was heading home on that train. He says the federal officers narrowed the trouble to the area where he was sitting.
“I had no idea I was the center of the activity,” he says.
The special security team must have picked up on him as he entered the station and walked up the stairs, Jones says. Little did he know a nuclear stress test he had at a hospital earlier in the day had set off silent alarms and sent security scurrying.
Scientists predict earthquake expected anytime on US West Coast – Nuclear reactors and waste dumps at risk?
“…Portland General Electric says the storage site is built to withstand a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, a tsunami or a Columbia River dam break. The containers rest 45 feet above sea level and are under 24-hour security….”
“…The quake had a magnitude between 8.7 and 9.2, and geologists in 2010 predicted that there is a 37 percent change of another such quake occurring within 50 years…”
Published time: March 15, 2013 16:45
Researchers say a massive earthquake and tsunami could soon strike the Northwest US coast, killing more than 10,000 people, flooding entire towns, and causing economic damages totaling $32 billion.
An alarming report published by the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission warns about the dire effects of the quake and claims that it is imminent and could strike anytime. The report, which was compiled by a group of more than 150 volunteer experts, was requested by the Oregon legislature in order to adequately prepare for the looming disaster.
The last high magnitude earthquake in the region occurred in the year 1700 in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The quake had a magnitude between 8.7 and 9.2, and geologists in 2010 predicted that there is a 37 percent change of another such quake occurring within 50 years. The new report claims that there is a 100 percent chance of a monster earthquake occurring in the region – but scientists don’t know when.
“This earthquake will hit us again,” Kent Yu, an engineer and chairman of the commission, told lawmakers. “It’s just a matter of how soon.”
Jay Wilson, vice chairman of the commission that put together the report, told AP that “we’re well within the window for it to happen again.”
With no time frame for the predicted earthquake, Oregonians need to be constantly prepared for one. The report warns of death and devastation ranging from British Columbia to Northern California, the worst of which will strike Oregon.
‘Manning testimony recording could be a direct leak from the government’
“…What is now the focus is his motivation and he obviously was not motivated to aid the enemy, or to harm the US – he made that very clear. He chose cables and videos that had no national security concerns and he released them so we could have this conversation. And I think it is a disgrace every day that he is in jail. It is a disgrace to our military. It is a disgrace to the promises that Obama made in 2008….”
Published time: March 14, 2013 00:34
RT
The quality of the audio recording of Bradley Manning’s plea speech suggests that the tape could have been leaked by the government itself rather than some rogue journalist, WikiLeaks activist Clark Stoeckley told RT.
RT: The media reported what Manning said during the hearing, why is it so significant to actually hear him say it in his own voice?
Clark Stoeckley: I think it is very important for people to hear Manning’s own voice. So far everything has been processed through journalists and finally we get to hear his tone and the conviction in his voice. We can hear that he is a very brave, intelligent young man. And I think this is a very great thing that this has been released to the world.
RT: Is it going to effect the trial in any way, because it was not supposed to be leaked, is it?
CS: Correct. The court rules say, and every time I go as a journalist, I have to sign a peace of paper that says that I won’t to any recording. I will clarify: I definitely did not record this. I did not leak it. I’m sure that they are going to be clamping down on us.
But I am suspicious as to whether they leaked this audio or not. The audio to me sounds like it came from the courtroom rather than press room. There is a lot more chatter in the pressroom and I do not hear that in the audio. And it is also a lot crisper and clearer than what I heard in the pressroom. It sounds like it could be a direct recording from the government.
RT: What is the reason for the trial to be held in total secrecy? Surely it would be better for openness and trust to hear what is going on when it is going on?
CS: I believe that is the fact. In fact this morning I started a petition on the whitehouse.gov website to petition the Obama administration to allow CSPAN to televise the trial. I know that, it is probably not likely but I think it would be symbolic of the fact that Americans want to see what is going on.
This is the largest leak case in US history and whether your opinion of Manning as a traitor or a hero it is still of great public interest and relevance.
I believe, it should be available for lawyers, law students, scholars, historians and the general public, especially those who can’t make it to Fort Mead, Maryland.
RT: Manning said the main reason behind the leaks is to in some way bring change to US foreign policy. Will he succeed in the end of the day?
CS: I do not know if he will succeed in that but he definitely has succeeded in starting a conversation and a worldwide debate. And so yes, he has succeeded in that. I do not know if our government is open for change and think there is an old guard that keeps the things the old way, but what is ironic here is that Manning has just been nominated for his third Noble Peace Prize meanwhile he is being charged with aiding the enemy. That does not look good for the Obama administration or our military or our government in any way.
RT: But leaking military information can jeopardize people’s safety, can’t it?
CS: It certainly could but we have not seen any evidence of that in this trial. There has been no evidence whatsoever of any kind of harm done, just simple embarrassment. And I believe that is why Bradley, without any type of provocation, he spoke from the heart, he spoke truthfully. He made it very obvious that he is a truth teller and he is not beating around the bush and he explained why he did this, which really removed the necessity by the prosecution to place him doing the actual crime himself. So he has taken full responsibility for that.
What is now the focus is his motivation and he obviously was not motivated to aid the enemy, or to harm the US – he made that very clear. He chose cables and videos that had no national security concerns and he released them so we could have this conversation. And I think it is a disgrace every day that he is in jail. It is a disgrace to our military. It is a disgrace to the promises that Obama made in 2008.
Video on link
http://rt.com/op-edge/manning-testimony-government-leak-236/
New Japanese nuclear regulatory agency must assert its opinion as confusion around Fukushima disaster still lingers
“…For the time being, only solar has yielded effective results. Wind power would also be effective, but Matsumoto said that Japan has made few inroads on the wind path, though he expects wind power facilities to grow under the new administration…..”
http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2013/fuku_series_last
Charles Digges, 14/03-2013
Bellona
TOKYO – By its own understated account, the nuclear regulatory body that was reconstituted in Japan is suffering from a public relations crisis, given its goals of openness and honesty that are meant to supplant the crony system of the past nuclear regulator, whose close ties to industry led to oversights that made the Fukushima Daiichi disaster possible, according to a Japanese officials.
The the newly-minted Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), which, together with Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco, and the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), issued nearly laughably conflicting reports about radiation released following the tsunami that hit Fukushima Daiichi on March 11, 2011, have been disbanded, and the NRA is now in charge.
As of July, all of Japan’s nuclear reactors will be subject to new tests, according to Toshihiro Bannai, safety regulations coordinator for international affairs at the NRA, and these tests – which will also take into account public opinion in the areas where Japans’ 50 operable reactors are located – will be stringent.
But the NRA seems to be having a core difficulty in spreading its message: 70 percent of Japan is opposed to a restart of the reactors that have been idled since 3/11 as it had come to be known in local parlance, according to a February 18 poll conducted by Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
The new agency also suffers, says the NRA’s safety regulation coordinator for international affairs, Toshihiro Bannai, from a crossover of officials from NISA, which has a damaging effect on the NRA’s credibility before the public as it struggles to deal not only with reactor restarts, but the ongoing crisis at the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi plant.
“Most are saying that we are nothing but a reconstitution of NISA, which is defunct, and many are saying that we have not changed from the old industry, “ said Bannai in an interview with Bellona here in Tokyo. And he was open about the fact that many of NISA’s employees had to be transferred to the NRA to assure continuity.
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| Toshihiro Bannai, second from left, and his team at the NRA. |
| Nils Bøhmer/Bellona |
But Bannai insisted that there is a new sheriff in town under the NRA’s watch, and that all of Japan’s nuclear reactors – including the two that are in operation at Oi – will undergo more strenuous checks on the NRA’s watch come July when the Agency is able to codify its new standard. The Oi reactors, which were switched on over the summer amid government pleas of an energy shortage, will have to meet new standards to continue operation, and cease operations in September to undergo the NRA’s new testing criteria.
But with the majority of public opinion turned against anything nuclear, the NRA has had a hard time expressing its message. Despite the two press conferences the NRA has held to convey its message, the public remains sceptical of anything relayed to it by a government agency – a new phenomenon amongst the Japanese public.
“The NRA needs to engage in a more concerted effort to express to the Japanese public that it means business about evaluating the suitability of the country’s shut down reactors,” said Nils Bøhmer, Bellona’s general director and nuclear physicist who is here in Japan with other Bellona staff.
“Their goals are admirable and a distinct departure from the past crony system – they just need to present that in a palatable way,” said Bøhmer.
Whole energy system in free fall
Takashi Matsumoto, deputy director of the agency for natural resources and energy at the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry (METI), underscored that the entirely of Japan’ energy strategy was being considered.
He said that Japan’s energy needs were currently being met by oil and liquefied natural as (LNG) imports, the latter of which have led the country’s first trades deficits over the past two years in 31 years.
 |
| METI’s Takashi Matsumoto |
| Nils Bøhmer/Bellona |
Prices for gas to Japan are linked to oil prices, thus the country is paying five to six times more than US priced for the same commodities. Japan will therefore petition for a Fair Trade Agreement with the US to take advantage of enormous shale gas surpluses there. The pursuit of shale gas in the US is still very much an environmental hot potato, posing, as it does, risks to ground water, and high releases of methane gas, the most potent of greenhouse gasses, into the atmosphere.
But Japan, said Matsumoto, is not engaged in the regulatory battles over how shale gas will be controlled by the US Department of Energy (DoE): Japan needs cheap gas now.
“I understand that the DoE is responsible for making decisions about export of this gas – we want to buy cheap gas from the US, and have no say in the regulatory battles there,” said Matsumoto.
Japan leaning more on renewables – in word
Matsumoto said Japan would also be relying more on its renewables sector, but tables he presented to Bellona show that only some 9 to 12 percent of Japan’s energy mix have been accounted for renewables –primarily solar power.
But he also presented data that the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted that the bulk of Japan’s future energy would be coming from gas imports, oil and nuclear energy, implying a switch on of more nuclear power plants in compliance with the new NRA regulations, while at the same time increasing Japan’s carbon footprint.
“Japan had pledged a 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions, but the disaster at Fukushima changed things drastically,” Matsumoto told Bellona. He added that those reduction commitments were made under the ousted government of former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, whose stance was heavily anti-nuclear following the Fukushima disaster.
Matsumoto added that the government will be going into talks about how to handle Japan’s energy mix on March 25, but added that he had no idea when the government would be able to offer a climate change strategy.
Nuclear Controversies (full length) 核電爭議(附中文字幕)
The WHO’s Secrecy Pact about Fukushima Radiation Fallout!
Published on 11 Mar 2013
Thank you Jrae50021 http://www.youtube.com/user/jrae50021 for this upload from Dr. Helen Caldicott’s Foundation Fukushima Symposium.
Nuclear Controversies, by Wladimir Tchertkoff, 51min, 2004
Uploaded on 22 Nov 2011
*中文字幕: 請點擊螢幕右下方的 “CC” 圖標啟動
* Click on the “CC” icon (at the bottom right hand corner of the frame) to turn on/off Chinese subtitles
Nuclear Controversies, by Wladimir Tchertkoff, 51min, 2004
English script:
http://vivretchernobyl.blogspot.com/2……
Commentary:
My friends, you have been lied to about the hazards of radiation your entire life (at least since the 1940s). An ongoing information war rages, and I do have some hope for progress. While the media repeats obvious lies about the death toll in Chernobyl (“43” absurd in the extreme) most regular people just don’t believe what they’re hearing from the pro-nuclear pundits.
This Swiss investigation of the Chernobyl cover-up is must-see viewing for anyone who would ever consider typing a thought about radioactivity. I have transcribed some of the highlights, including admissions by the head of the World Health Organization, front and center…
“Because the IAEA reports directly to the Security Council of the UN, and we all specialized agencies report to the Economic and Development Council. The organization which reports to the Security Council–not hierarchically, we are all equal–but for atomic affairs, military use and civil use, peaceful or civil use they have the authority. They command.”
-Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, former head of UN World Health Organization
The IAEA has the job of promoting atomic energy worldwide. They are not a trustworthy source for information about health effects of radioactivity. The system has been designed such that the organization which promotes atomic power has supremacy over the health monitoring organizations, and the WHO can simply be blocked from investigating, as happened here:
“In 1995 the Director General of WHO, Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, tried to inform on Chernobyl by organizing in Geneva an international conference with 700 experts and physicians. This tentative was blocked. The International Agency for Atomic Energy blocked the proceedings which were never published. The truth on the consequences of Chernobyl would have been a disaster for the promotion of the atomic industry.” (Nuclear Controversies)
In my recent article, The UN Would Never Lie to George Monbiot, I explored this IAEA role in more depth. A 2006 IAEA “study” on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl meltdown claimed it had a “consensus” of “100 leading scientists.” How does this measure up to the “700 experts and physicians” that the IAEA had a hand in silencing a decade before?
The “consensus” myth is a Big Lie. Those that repeat the IAEA’s arguments without investigating this matter fully are either incompetent (which is the generous assessment) or downright evil. Children are sick and dying because of the failure of governments to acknowledge that radioactivity — even in very small doses — destroys life, creates deformities in the body, causes cancers and myriad other conditions. Children across the region are suffering horribly. Up to one million have died as a result of Chernobyl, as of 2006 (Yablokov et. al.).
If you’re not going to watch NUCLEAR CONTROVERSIES right now, then here are the highlights. Use them well.
“The representative for the International Agency for Atomic Energy (A. Gonzales) maintains that the Chernobyl catastrophe caused 31 deaths of a few hundred highly irradiated individuals and 2,000 thyroid cancers in children. This UN agency recognizes only validated data, validated by the laboratories of Los Alamos and the French Atomic Energy Commissariat, CEA, two atomic bomb makers.”
“Nesterenko is the only scientist who systematically measured the internal artificial radioactivity (of children in the contaminated zone). His measures show that contamination is 8 times higher than that published by the Minister of Health, who tried to stop him.”
“According to Professor Bandazhevsky over 50 bequerels per kilo body weight lead to irreversible lesions in vital organs.”
“On June the 18th Yuri Bandazhevski, author of more than 400 scientific publications and 8 monographs, owner of 7 patents, member of 5 academies, recipient of 5 international awards was condemned by the military court of the Supreme Court of Belarus to 8 years in a work camp for alleged corruption. One year of inquiry could produce no proof against him.”
“Today out of 100 children in Belarus, ony 20 can be declared to be healthy. Before the Chernobyl catastrophe the number was 80 out of 100. The IAEA, the UNSCEAR and the World Health Organization, who do not study the effects of the internal contamination by incorporated radionuclides, have no explanation for the increased incidence of somatic pathologies in those children.”
Joe Giambrone
http://politicalfilm.wordpress.com/au…
This video looks at the issues of abandoned and contaminated animals left in the contaminated zones of Fukushima prefecture. There is also comment from local citizens, the Safecast monitoring group explaining the issues of young chidren. Also, there is some information concerning the situation of evacuees..
the commentry by Chris Courne on his blog is worth a read too!
UK – Message to the Boys & Girls in Blue – from El Spaniardo
Published on 14 Mar 2013
by white rabbit
Not to be construed as legal advice in anyway shape or form. We love the Police – Brave guys & gals, we also love Police Squad & Z Cars! Go get the album, dvd, etc. For entertainment purposes only – we trust this message will be received by our hardworking Constables in the manner it was intended. Big love to all…
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Category
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Licence
Standard YouTube Licence
2nd Year Anniversary of the Fukushima ; Human Chain of Solidarity in Paris
Saturday March 9, under a beautiful blue Parisian sky, a human chain, organized through the initiative of the Sortir du Nucléaire Network with the participation of 31 humanitarian, environmental organizations, linked together.
Each organization was allocated one of the 18 key points such as the headquarter of Areva in La Défense, west of Paris, the Opera district where KEPCO’s Paris bureau is located and the Ministry of Finance in Bercy, east of Paris where they kicked off the human chain. About 20 000 participants formed a human chain between La Defense and Bercy, 36 km, connecting nuclear industry, nuclear policy makers and nuclear financing banks…..
More here with videos etc!
EDF have dropped their £5 million lawsuit against Activists!!
The power of petitions!
Dear Arclight2011
We have some wonderful news from Claire! EDF have dropped their £5 million lawsuit against her and her friends. Here’s a message from the 21 No Dash For Gas protesters we wanted to pass right on to you:
| You did it! You forced EDF – a powerful energy company – to drop its £5 million lawsuit against 21 protesters.
We received written confirmation today from EDF’s lawyers that they will not be continuing with their civil claim. We wanted so much to share this amazing news with you and thank you for signing the petition (nearly 65,000 of you!) that Claire’s parents, Russ and Barbara, agreed this email better come from us, No Dash For Gas. Thanks to you we get to keep our homes and are safe from bankruptcy by EDF. But while this is a huge victory, climate-changing emissions are still rising every year, so there’s a lot more to fight for. As one supporter, author Naomi Klein puts it: “Our governments have been negotiating about the climate crisis for 23 years. In that time, global emissions have soared by 54%. Clearly the official, respectable, legal means of dealing with this crisis, aren’t working. That means that what used to be radical is now rational.” On March 20th we’ll be sentenced for our part in shutting down EDF’s gas power station. EDF’s is the first in a government-sanctioned wave of 40 new gas plants that the government’s own Committee on Climate Change says would bust our legally binding carbon emission reduction targets. This would lock us into decades of rising bills, fuel poverty, dirty energy and a climate changed forever, which is why we were willing to risk jail to stop it. This spring and summer we’ll be working hard to stop this reckless dash for gas and we would love you to get involved (don’t worry it’s not all about climbing chimneys!). But if some of us are sentenced to prison for our part in shutting down EDF’s power station, it would be great if you could show your support by spending the evening with us at EDF’s London headquarters (40 Grosvenor Square) from 5pm on 20th March – because this would be the first time that climate campaigners have been jailed in this country. Please come to the vigil and please invite your friends to join the facebook group. Thank you, again, for your actions. We hope you’ll keep in touch so we can do more together. You can keep up with us through our website http://www.nodashforgas.org.uk on twitter @nodashforgas and on Facebook. We are honoured to call you friends. Thank you Tom, Danni, Paul, Dan, Ali G, Ali B, Danny, Ewa, Graham, Aneaka, Rachel, Tina, Ali C, Claudia, Dave, Richard, Hannah D, Riley, Hannah L, Lawrence and Claire P.S. We wanted to share this website with you,set up by some supporters in response to the hundreds of people who said they were dumping EDF. Maybe you could share it with your friends? |
As parents this is a wonderful day. Thank you so much for standing with our daughter, Claire, and all those who protested against EDF.
Russ and Barbara Fauset
Breaking! Nuclear stress tests: EP urges full implementation of safety improvements
An amendment adopted by 315 votes to 282 highlights that stress tests are “incomplete” and risks such as secondary events, material deterioration, human errors, and specific flaws inside the reactor vessels were not taken into account. The text says that “even if it is successful a stress tests will not guarantee the safety of a nuclear power plant.”
[…]
while stressing that nuclear operators and waste licensees should be required to have “all financial means in place, through insurance and other financial instruments to enable them to fully cover all costs for which they are liable in respect of damage caused to people and the environment in the event of an accident.”
Plenary Session Energy
− 14-03-2013 – 12:11
All the safety improvements recommended following stress tests on the EU’s nuclear reactors must be carried out urgently, say MEPs in a resolution adopted on Thursday. They also insist that nuclear plant operators must pay for these improvements and bear all the costs for which they are liable in the event of an accident.
Amalia Sartori (EPP, IT), chair of the energy committee and author of the oral question to the Commission debated on Monday, asked which of the stress test findings would be incorporated into the upcoming review of the Nuclear Safety Directive and called for a clear indication of the timing and content of proposals for binding legislation on nuclear insurance and liability.
Urgent implementation of safety improvements
The youth of Fukushima speak at the UK House of Commons
JAN UK
Published on 13 Mar 2013
Fukushima 2 Years On and Implications for UK Nuclear Power Plans
Testimony from a representative youth speaking on behalf of Saving Children from Radiation explains the situation “on the ground” in Japan..
more on Saving the children From Radiation campaign here
http://www.save-children-from-radiation.org/
Analysis: Fukushima two years later – Nils Bøhmer
Nils Bøhmer, 13/03-2013 – Translated by Charles Digges
http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2013/Nils_fukushima_comment
Nils Bøhmer at the entrance to J-Village, a converted sports complex in Fukushima that now serves as the launching pad and decontamination centre for thousands of workers battling the Fukushima crisis.Charles Digges/Bellona
TOKYO– For the past few days, I have been travelling with my colleague Charles Digges in the area surrounding the Fukushimi Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan – the site of one of the world’s largest nuclear accidents, which occurred on March 11, 2011. My impressions of this trip have been manifold, and I will try to summarize some of the most prescient ones.
One of the most indelible impressions I carry away from this experience on a professional level is the sheer geographic extent of the accident, as well as how long the fallout will affect the environment and the people who used to live here.
As yet, much of the zone within a radius of 20 kilometres from the nuclear plant remains completely evacuated because of radioactive contamination. In some parts of the zone, locals are allowed to visit their property during daytime, but are not allowed to overnight in their own homes. Nor can they cultivate their land, which previously bore high quality agricultural products.
Instead, decontamination workers now gather contaminated grass, trees and other agricultural materials in large black trash bags, which are deposited at dozens, if not hundreds, of different collection sites for low-level radioactive waste throughout the Fukushima prefecture. This brush clean up is part of the massive decontamination effort the Japanese government has initiated in an attempt to reduce the impact of the nuclear accident.
Although the Japanese government is investing a great deal of effort into the clean up process, it remains uncertain as to how the effective the travail actually is.
There are still 160,000 people who were forced to abandon their homes. And a shroud of uncertainty hovers over when, if ever, they will be able to return.
For comparison, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that 200,000 people where evacuated from the 30 kilometre radius surrounding Chernobyl, whose 1986 meltdown and explosion has become the benchmark for nuclear accidents ever since.
In an effort to hasten resettlement of the affected area around Fukushima, the Japanese government has said that evacuees can move home when the annual radiation dosage reaches 20 milliseiverts per year.
This contrasts sharply with limits of 1 milliseivert per year for resettlement set by the Ukrainian and Belarusan governments following Chernobyl. This disparity of Japanese dose limits, if left to stand, will lead to a relatively high dose load for resettling Fukushima residents that will lead to a gradual increase in cancer statistics in the area.
US hostility toward North Korea inflames nuclear war
As the Pentagon pivots to the Asia-Pacific, North Korea is a godsend in its ability to provide Washington with a legitimate pretext to bolster its forces in China’s backyard…..
Wed Mar 13, 2013 7:38PM GMT
Press TV
Nile Bowie
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/03/13/293396/hostile-us-fuels-nwar-on-korean-peninsula/
North Korea has recently announced that it will no longer abide by the UN-brokered armistice that ended the Korean War with a ceasefire in 1953 and authorities have severed its communications hotline with the South, the only diplomatic channel of contact between the two countries. Pyongyang has imposed no-fly and no-sail zones off both its coasts as part of comprehensive military drills that may see the test firing of short-to-medium range missiles. The US-South Korea joint command forces have launched their Foal Eagle field training exercises that will be ongoing until end of April. 200,000 South Korean troops and 10,000 US troops will take part in the exercise, which will include land, air, sea, and special operation drills. North Korea’s state newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, has reported that the North’s army, navy, air force, and anti-aircraft units were “just waiting for the final order to attack.”
Following Pyongyang’s recent threats that it would engage preemptive nuclear strikes against any aggressor, Seoul shot back with its strongest rhetoric yet, stating, “If North Korea attacks South Korea with a nuclear weapon, then by the will of the Republic of Korea and humanity, the Kim Jong-un regime will perish from the Earth.” South Korea’s newly inaugurated President Park Geun-hye has been in office for less than one month and in the current scenario, it has become politically impossible for her to stick to her campaign pledges of taking a softer line on North Korea.
Anti-Nuclear Storm Brewing in Taiwan
Taiwan’s geographical location, which sits on the boundary between two converging tectonic plates, is indeed cause for concern. Additionally, the country is in the proximity of a volcano group. Opponents also cite the fact that Taiwan’s three existing plants are all located in one area, New Taipei City, which makes it even more vulnerable to natural disaster that could lead to a series of chain reactions.
Posted date: March 13, 2013
By Tim Daiss
http://www.energytribune.com/74993/anti-nuclear-storm-brewing-in-taiwan
There is a storm brewing in Taiwan. But this time it’s not a killer typhoon blowing in from the South China Sea or even an earthquake, which often plagues this island country. It’s the fight over the future of nuclear power.
In one corner are environmentalists, academics, an alarmed populace and even Taiwanese celebrities. In the other corner are politicians, government planners and Taipower, the country’s state-owned power utility.
In fact, public outcry against the county’s proposed fourth nuclear plant has reached a fever pitch, prompting a referendum to be held later this year. At stake is a new nuclear plant already about 90 percent completed in New Taipei City. The plant is scheduled to come online by 2015.
However nuclear power is not new in Taiwan. Taiwan currently has three nuclear power plants, and six nuclear power reactors operating. The country’s first reactor, Chin Shan 1, became operational in 1978 and is licensed to 2018. The other five reactors are licensed from 2019 up to 2025, according to the World Nuclear Association.
The latest uproar over nuclear power stems from fears that a disaster like Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown could also happen here. Following Fukushima, Taiwan initiated a comprehensive nuclear safety review, which was completed in September. In addition, Taiwan strengthened its radiation protection capacity and contingency mechanisms, since Taiwan is prone to seismic activity.
People wave slogans during the anti-nuclear demonstration for the anniversary of Japans March 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster and nuclear crisis in Taipei, Taiwan, China, 9 March 2013.
And, it’s this seismic activity that has many Taiwanese up in arms over nuclear power, with protests all over the country.
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
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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