Happy new year everyone!- Brandenburgische Konzert No.3, G-Dur, Allegro, Johann Sebastian Bach.
courtesy of
Royal Dutch Shell PLC – slightly unofficial website… Kulluk and that sinking feeling..
This issue transcends all geographical (and constituency) boundaries.
In September 2011, The Independent published an article under the headline: “Oil exploration under Arctic ice could cause ‘uncontrollable’ natural disaster. One of the world’s leading polar scientists has warned: “If there is serious oil spill under ice in the Arctic it will be very hard, if not impossible to stop it becoming an environmental catastrophe…”
What should be given the greatest weight in deciding if Shell can be trusted to drill in the Arctic Ocean – Shell’s promises about being able to react quickly and effectively to any incident/disaster arising from its pioneer Arctic drilling commencing in July, or its horrendous track record ofenvironmental pollution on an epic scale and deceiving host governments?
Shell won the rights to drilling rights in the USA after spending millions of dollars lobbying the Federal government.
Failures that led to the Kulluk’s demise
Tony Hopfinger, Suzanna Caldwell | Jan 01, 2013
A drilling rig operated by Royal Dutch Shell that had been adrift off and on in rough seas since Thursday ran aground near Kodiak Island in Alaska on Monday night, raising concerns about a possible fuel spill.
The Kulluk — a $290 million offshore oil rig operated as part of Shell’s Arctic drilling efforts in summer — washed up shortly before 9 p.m. at Ocean Bay on Sitkalidak Island, located close to Kodiak Island’s southeast shores.
The trouble started late Monday afternoon when a Shell tugboat — one of two vessels pulling the Kulluk — lost a line to the drilling rig. The second tug, the Alert, struggled to continue towing the Kulluk due to “severe engine problems.” The Alert’s crew was ordered to separate from the rig at 8:10 p.m. “to maintain the safety of the nine crewmembers aboard the vessel,” according to state environmental regulators and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The concern now is for the condition of the Kulluk, which is carrying an estimated 150,000 gallons of diesel and 12,000 gallons of lube oil and hydraulic fluid, Coast Guard officials told reporters Monday night at a news conference in Anchorage.
Fireproofing ‘inadequate’ at Japan nuclear reactors
By Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, January 1, 2013 8:01 EST
Image courtesy of http://www.dianuke.org
Japanese regulators have found inadequate fireproofing at more than one fifth of the nuclear reactors that went offline after the 2011 Fukushima crisis, a major daily said on Tuesday.
The finding could delay their restart by several years in some cases, the Mainichi Shimbun said.
More than 10 of Japan’s 50 reactors, excluding those at Fukushima, have flaws in fireproofing, the paper quoted sources at the industry ministry and the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) as saying.
The Mainichi said these include the use of combustible electrical cables and equipment and machines sited too close together, potentially allowing a fire to spread even though the equipment is indispensable for maintaining safety.
The industry ministry has been investigating the issue while the NRA will soon conduct hearings with power companies, it said.
At some reactors the work to replace cables and renovate facilities could mean a delay of several years in restarting them, it quoted industry
If renovation is too costly, the reactors could be decommissioned, the sources said.
All but two of the nation’s reactors remain offline after they were shut for safety checks in the wake of the March 2011 Fukushima meltdowns, sparked by a quake and tsunami.
The pro-business Liberal Democratic Party-led government said last week it would give the green light to restarting any reactors deemed safe by regulators.
New prime minister Shinzo Abe has also voiced his willingness to build new reactors.
Raw Story (http://s.tt/1xQ44)
“…..The Dianuke website (where the image is from) is down.. here is the message on the page
DiaNuke.org has been facing hacking/phishing and virus attacks recently and its smooth functioning has been effected.
We are trying to fix it and hope to be back soon.
Meanwhile, you are welcome to contact us on editor@dianuke.org …..”
@dianuke Get well soon! from us here at nuclear-news.net
ONE FOOT MORE TO MELTDOWN – A nuclear “near miss” USA
Posted on 31st December 2012
It seems we came within 1 foot of our very own Fukishima during Hurricane Sandy. If the sea level had been 1.2 feet higher it would have breached the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant’s flood defenses and shut down their diesel powered generators that were required to cool the plant. This is exactly what happened at Fukushima. Oyster Creek is an identical design to Fukushima. How come we haven’t heard about this in the MSM? I’m no expert, but when a category 1 hurricane surge can come within 1 or 2 feet of breaching a nuclear power plant, someone should be worried. Are you?
Nuclear Power Plant Flood Risk: Sandy Was Just a Warm-Up
By Heather Rogers, Remapping Debate
As Hurricane Sandy approached the East Coast late last October, more than a dozen nuclear power plants from North Carolina stretching up to New England were in its wide-ranging path. On Oct. 29, the night that the eye of the storm made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey, five nuclear plants were forced to either reduce power or make emergency shutdowns.
The most serious event was at the Oyster Creek Generating Station located in Lacey Township, near Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, about 40 miles north of Atlantic City. Amid 75-mile-an-hour winds, power to the region was knocked out, including at the Oyster Creek plant, just before 7 p.m. The plant’s backup diesel generators kicked on to keep its crucial cooling equipment functioning. Nevertheless, by 9 p.m. the plant’s pumps were facing another danger: rising floodwaters. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) spokesperson Neil Sheehan said that Sandy brought a surge of 7.4 feet to Oyster Creek. The plant is obligated to prepare for the consequences of flooding at 8.5 feet, he said, and, at 9.0 or 9.5 feet — Sheehan wasn’t sure — the plant’s pump motors would begin to be flooded.
The storm surge led the plant to declare an “Alert” — the second step in theNRC’s four-tiered emergency action system.
David Tillman, spokesperson for Exelon, the utility company that owns Oyster Creek, would not answer specific questions about the evening Sandy hit the plant (such as the height to which the water level rose, the height of the pump motors, or the actions taken by the plant in response to the alert). Characteristically for the industry, he insisted that everything worked perfectly and that there were no problems.
The buffer that existed this time may be of little comfort in the future. For all the damage it caused, Sandy was only a Category 1 hurricane — Hurricane Katrina, by comparison, was a Category 3. Given the challenges even Sandy brought to the Northeast’s nuclear power plants, Remapping Debate decided to investigate the extent to which these facilities are prepared to deal with the flood risks widely expected to increase as a result of global warming.
What would be the consequences were a nuclear power plant to flood?
To grasp what a flood at a coastal nuclear power plant such as Oyster Creek would mean, Dave Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union for Concerned Scientists, told Remapping Debate it is worth reflecting on Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant disaster in 2011. First, the plant — which ran on General Electric Mark I reactors, the same design as at Oyster Creek and 22 other nuclear plants in the U.S.— lost outside power due to the earthquake. Its backup generators switched on, and “the plant weathered [the earthquake] pretty well,” Lochbaum said. But then the floodwaters arrived, exceeding the facility’s sea wall. “That plant wasn’t unaware of the flooding potential, but the magnitude of the challenge they faced was just more than they could handle,” he said. Because the backup generators and pumps were flooded, there was no means by which to keep the reactors and spent fuel pools cooled.
Once that happens, explained Michael J. Reilly, director of the Division of Planning and Response at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, “it’s just a matter of time before the heat and the pressure build up and then you have a reactor accident.”
In the worst-case scenario, overheating in the reactor can trigger a hydrogen explosion, which can in turn lead to a breach of the containment structure, the reinforced building in which the reactor core is housed. This would lead to an uncontrolled release of radiation into the atmosphere.
Activists plan three-day cultural fest at Kudankulam
TNN | Jan 1, 2013, 05.41 AM IST
Image courtesy of http://www.demotix.com/news/1546945/london-protest-calls-end-indian-nuclear-power/all-media
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Activists of over 70 groups involved in various struggles across India will express solidarity with theKudankulam anti-nuclear plant protest by spending the New Year in Idithankara and other coastal hamlets in the region. A three-day cultural festival has been organized in this connection.
These activitists include those involved in the anti-Posco movement, Plachimada, Bhopal gas tragedy, Jaitapur and the like. The victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 and the water contamination by Dow Chemicals in Bhopal will be the special guests . They will be joined by adivasi groups and cultural teams from across India.
Shankar Mahanand, award winning playwright and convener of Sanskrutik Andolan, Odisha who was instrumental in leading a cultural yatra for peace and harmony after the Kandhamal riots in the state and Jharkhand mines area coordination committee general secretary Surinder Tirkey will also take part in the programme.
This was announced by Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, member of national co-ordination committee, Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), while speaking at a seminar organized by CNDP here on Sunday. He said the government was unnecessarily exposing the coastline and its people to nuclear hazards. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan, Ninan Koshy and R V G Menon also took part in the seminar.
Leader of opposition, VS Achuthanandan, who participated in the seminar titled – ‘Nuclear Power Vs People’s Power’ said, “It has been 500 days since the struggle started. The central government has no clue as what to do with the nuclear waste. They speak of disposing it like garbage, like how the state government said it would dispose of Vilappilsala waste in a quarry,” he said.
Prof Ninan Koshy was a lot more critical of the government and said the Indian government led by a blind believer in nuclear energy was insensitive to the ramifications of Fukushima. “They have slapped sedition cases on the activists. This was the same law that was invoked against Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi by the British. Disloyalty to the government is not disloyalty to the Indian state. When such agitations are termed anti-national and anti-state, it is time to question who forms the state and who forms the nation,” he said.
Speaking at the seminar Prof RVG Menon said “Nuclear energy has peaked out. It has been around since the 1940; an advanced nation like Germany is beginning to invest heavily on alternative energy. But India believes that nuclear energy is the highest blessing of science. The only reason that nuclear power will be cheaper is because it has a lot of hidden social costs.”
Emperor hopes everyone will support Tohoku disaster victims -JT
JAN. 01, 2013
Japan Today
TOKYO —
Image coutesy of http://www.houseofjapan.com
Emperor Akihito on Tuesday urged the nation not to forget the victims of the March 11, 2011 disaster.
In his New Year’s message released by the Imperial Household Agency, the 79-year-old emperor said: “At the dawn of the new year, my heart goes out to the afflicted people, those who cannot return to the places they used to live because of radioactive contamination and those who have to spend the cold harsh winter in temporary housing. I sincerely hope that, in the future, the experience of the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami will be fully utilized in disaster prevention education and town planning so that the country moves toward assuring safety and security in the lives of the people.
“Our country is now going through difficult times because of the earthquake and other factors, but it is my wish that the people’s hearts will always be with the afflicted, and that everyone will support one another to overcome the various challenges. It is my hope that the new year will be better, even a little, for the people of Japan and the people of the world.”
The emperor and other members of the imperial family will make five appearances before the public at the imperial palace on Wednesday. The times are 10:10 a.m., 11 a.m., 11;50 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:20 p.m.
Nuclear power to stay in Germany, says EU commissioner with big hopes on fusion
TODAY @ 09:23
BY EUOBSERVER
Nuclear energy will remain in Germany for the next 40 years, the EU commissioner for energy Guenther Oettinger told German news website RP online. Germany decided in 2011 to close its nuclear reactors by 2022 but Oettinger predicts advances in nuclear fusion could convince the government to change its view.
http://euobserver.com/tickers/118627
Cold Fusion News about Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi E-Cat (Energy Catalyzer)
Published December 29, 2012.
The Swedish TV show World of Science’s documentary about Andrea Rossi made some interesting revelations about the ecat inventor and his work and stirred up a lot of controversy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LHXc7NNMiWo
The program’s reporter Linus Brohult travelled to Italy to interview Rossi and view his ecat low energy nuclear reaction (LENR) technology. Like recent US documentary the Beleivers the World of Science features a clip from the 1997 film The Saint which featured a cold fusion reactor as a plot device. The documentary shows pictures of Martin Fleischman and Stanley Pons back in 1989.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8M0i2fh8lGI
Andrea Rossi is described as an engineer and shown in a coffee shop. The documentary mentions Rossi’s attempts to make biodiesel fuel from garbage in the 1980s. It doesn’t mention the criminal charges filed against Rossi over that effort.
The documentary shows Rossi’s prototype factory in the town of Ferrara outside Bologna. It doesn’t show a new ecat facility as some bloggers have claimed instead it seems to show the same Leonardo Corporation facility that we’ve seen in earlier Rossi videos.
It also has some animation of the ecat that shows the device is heated by a built in electric radiator. The ecat is shown operating and Rossi explains it’s workings. Rossi told Brohult that the reactor was still hot several hours after it had been turned off which indicates a reaction had occurred.
The inside of Rossi’s one megawatt ecat unit was also shown. Rossi explained that the unit contains 100 one kilowatt ecat reactors and could generate as much electricity as a large wind turbine. It should be pointed out here that Rossi himself has admitted he hasn’t been able to generate enough steam with the ecat to generate electricity.
Greek physicist and diplomat Christos Stremmenos is also shown. Stremmenos explains that the technology was developed by Italian physicists before Rossi took over. The physicists presumably include Sergio Focardi whose name is mentioned.
Brohult to his credit does talk to some skeptics including Peter Ekstrom of Lund University who thinks that Rossi’s device would produce deadly gamma radiation if it were for real. Brohult even travelled to Sweden’s Lund University to talk to physicists that are skeptical of ecat. Another scientist named Goran Nybon demonstrated how an electric kettle could be used to create the illusion of generating excess heat. Nybon claimed that ecat is an illusion.
Some Rossi skeptics including Steven B. Krivit of the New Energy Times have alleged that this is what Rossi has done. It should be noted here that there is no evidence to back Krivit’s allegations up they are simply his speculation. The scientists at Lund interviewed by Brohult share Krivit’s view. It should be noted that those physicists have not actually examined the ecat so their claims are also speculation.
Former NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko Visits Fukushima, Meets Evacuees -EXSKF
“What I take away from coming here and talking first hand to people in Japan, that there really is no acceptable situation which people have to be sent from their homes because of a man made technology that is there to provide electricity and do these kind of things. This is not the kind of trade off that we want to have.
It really reinforces in my mind that I think we need a different standard when it comes to nuclear safety and that standard needs really to be that nuclear power plants should only be allowed to operate if we can really guarantee that we wont have to have these large scale evacuations.
I think that’s the goal that we need to shoot for and make sure that bring about and being here and coming here, reinforces in my mind that is really the right approach and i think that that is something we want people to do.”
“we can not stop the accidents…..”
30 December 2012
EXSKF
I haven’t watched the entire program myself, but will do so tomorrow, before NHK finds the video and takes it down.
NHK BS-1 documentary “原発の“安全”を問い直す 米ＮＲＣ前委員長 福島への旅 (NRC former chairman’s trip to Fukushima – to re-examine the safety of nuclear power plants)”, first aired on December 22, 2012. The program is in Japanese, but you can hear Jaczko’s comments in English, and you can catch the interpreter.
Jaczko visited Japan in August this year, soon after he resigned from the NRC.
While walking in Namie-machi with a former resident in Tyvek suits and mask, Jaczko says,
I see many different people with views about nuclear power. Some people try and say that really because no one was killed from radiation or appears to have received lethal doses of radiation that there’s… such hype. But I think it is certainly very difficult to walk around here and see the livelihood that’s just no longer there.
The town is frozen at March 11, 2011.
At the end of the program, Jaczko says,
“In the end, everyone has to keep in mind that the safety of the public is the number one responsibility, whether you are a power plant owner, whether you’re a worker at the power plant, or a local or state or national government official, everyone has to recognize that safety of the people is the most important issue.”
Well, it wasn’t, in case of Japan. What came first and foremost was to tell people it was safe, and kept repeating it like a mantra.
Jaczko certainly does not come across as arrogant, bullying chairman that he was accused of being, by his colleagues.
Video on link
http://ex-skf.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/radioactive-japan-former-nrc-chairman.html
NORWAY WORLD LEADERS IN RENEWABLE ENERGY -sort of?
“…Figures show that 45 % of the energy bought in Norway comes from fossil fuels, while more than 30% comes from nuclear power…”
- Posted on December 27, 2012
- by gasse5
Norway, from which Team Gasse’s Tor Staubo hails, prides itself in being one of the leaders in the Green Energy production. Below is an informative article about how Norwegian consumers are being pushed to demand the implementation of such cleaner energy usage in their own country.
Norway is in a special position when it comes to energy. 95% of the energy produced in Norway comes from hydropower, and the energy prices are the lowest in Europe. Despite of this, Norwegian consumers use less environmentally friendly energy.
Big demand for guarantee of origin
Renewable energy is in big demand in many European countries. More and more Europeans want energy with guarantee of origin. Because of this, Norwegian hydropower is sold on the European market, and Norwegian households buy energy from less environmentally friendly sources, imported from other countries.
In June, the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) announced its updated declaration of energy. Figures show that 45 % of the energy bought in Norway comes from fossil fuels, while more than 30% comes from nuclear power. NVE’s numbers are in sharp contrast to the myth that they mostly use clean hydropower in Norway.
“Norway is in a special position when it comes to renewable energy,” says Finn Erik Arctander , Managing Director of Telinet Energi. “Because most of the electricity in Norway is produced from hydropower, we are used to thinking that the power we use is green energy. The challenge is that we sell much of our renewable power abroad and in return we import electricity from coal and nuclear power.”
To get the renewable energy they want, Norwegian consumers now need to actively demand this from their power supplier.
“We see a big increase in customers that are environmentally conscious. They want origin-guaranteed energy in Norway as well, and they choose their power supplier based on this rather than on price only,” says Arctander. “The good news is that environmentally friendly energy is not more expensive than the energy bought from fossil fuel and nuclear power.”
Green energy just as inexpensive
A brand new overview shows that many of the power suppliers with guarantee of origin have the same low prices, or even lower, than the others. On top of the price list for all power suppliers in the Oslo area, with the lowest prices, we find Telinet Energi, with 100% green energy.
“This list shows that green energy can also be affordable,” says Arctander.
Source: http://www.prnewswire.com; December 21, 2012.
http://gasseracing.com/news-updates/norway-world-leaders-in-renewable-energy/
Norway is opposed to nuclear power?
“….As of 2011, countries such as Australia,Austria, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Israel,Malaysia, New Zealand, and Norway remain opposed to nuclear power….”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-nuclear_movement
Nuclear reactor in Norway helps to make paper!
“…Its small test reactor in the town of Halden is furnishing steam to a nearby paper mill, according to the “Material Testing Reactors” website published by France’s Energy and AlternativeEnergies Commission (CEA). Wikipedia identifies the user as the Saugbrugs paper mill, operated by Norske Skog Corp….”
http://www.norwaynews.com/en/~view.php?73T2654KL84839B2851gi844SQ2888Q076AEk353M7U8
“The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster” – Professor Edward Vajda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcCiagavS3Q
Published on Nov 28, 2012
Edward Vajda, professor of Modern and Classical Languages at Western Washington University, gave a lecture titled “The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012 in the Bellingham City Council Chambers, 210 Lottie St., in Bellingham.
The free, public talk, an installment of the WWU College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Lecture Series, was co-sponsored by the City of Bellingham.
Vajda discussed the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, which arguably remains the world’s worst environmental catastrophe. Vajda worked as a translator and news analyst in the Moscow office of CBS News during the crisis. He will recount his experience in helping cover the story at the time, and also will explain what is known in hindsight about the causes leading up to the disaster. He also will analyze the role played by the tragedy in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and assess its continuing environmental, political and social effects a quarter century later.
Edward Vajda has been a professor at Western since 1987 and currently serves as director of the Linguistics Program. He teaches Russian language, culture and history, as well as general linguistics and courses on Inner Asian and Siberian peoples. Vajda worked as tour guide and interpreter in the former Soviet Union and has traveled extensively throughout the Russian Federation, specializing more recently in language documentation among northern Siberia’s native ethnic communities. Vajda received Western’s Excellence of Teaching Award in 1992 and the Paul J. Olscamp Research award in 2011. Audience questions will be welcomed.
The lecture will be recorded and shown on Bellingham TV Channel 10. For more information on this lecture, please contact Katrina Schaeffer, WWU College of Humanities & Social Sciences, (360) 650-3763, or katrina.schaeffer@wwu.edu
Published on Nov 23, 2012
原発反対! 子どもを守ろう! 命を守ろう! みんなで守れ、子供を守れ、子供こそ宝だ・・・・。
Thank you to ; Ian Thomas Ash, David Zavaglia, Iwakami Yasumi, Mark Willacy, Alain de Halleux, Birdhairjp, Tom Hartman, Jan Hemmer (for all your great input), Greenpeace International and everyone who have devoted so much time to bring out the truth to the small and big screen. These very simple homemade video petitions are dedicated to all victims of 311 and the brave citizens of Tohoku.
このとてもシンプルで手造りのビデオ署名３１１の犠牲者たちに捧げられた。
また東北地方の勇敢な人々に。
Please sign this petition on behalf of the children.
Become part of the solution.
子供達のために署名をおねがいします。
解決策の一部となろう。署名は 福島の子供を守れwww.avaaz.org で
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Protect_the_children_of_Japan_against_radiat…
May all the children of the great nation of Japan be safe from radiation.
素晴らしい国日本の子供たちを放射能から救えます様に。
Evacuate Fukushima 福島の子供を守れ
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Evacuate-Fukushima-%E7%A6%8F%E5%B3%B6%E3%81%AE…
TO contact us; kodomo.wo.mamoru.311@gmail.com
The very best!
Nelson
Evacuate Fukushima 福島の子供を守れ
Live from Arevaland !
WHO and IAEA cover up – Namie-machi and Iidate villages not warned about the high radiation
Fukushima Appeal 福島アピール
http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/it-was-in-fact-well-over-100msvy.html
Image courtesy of http://evacuatefukushimanow.wordpress.com
SATURDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2012
In my previous post it says “The WHO report put the maximum whole-body radiation dose per person in the first four months of the crisis at 50 millisieverts”
It was in fact well over 100mSv/y.!!
This September, after one year and half, Fukushima government and Tepco finally revealed the radiation level of area near Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant at the time of the accident.
Highest point in Futaba-machi was 1590 uSv per hour (=13,928 mSv per year!) at 3pm before 1st explosion at reactor 1 on March 12, 2012.
The level was so high that being there for 40 minutes would expose you to the annual radiation dosage limit. Citizens within 10km radius of Daiichi nuclear power plant were evacuated in early morning on the day but not everybody managed to evacuate before vent was carried at reactor 1around 9am. Mr. Hirose, journalist and been a main figure of anti nuclear campaign in Japan commented in his lecture that we should review evidence of the high radiation level and the evacuation situation.
While central and Fukushima government, Tepco employees, IAEA members and possibly even Radiation Effects Research Foundation (they were there carrying measuring equipment) with protective gears were collecting samples, local people were staying in the shelter without any protections or safety information. Also residents in Namie-machi and Iidate village weren’t told the danger of the radiation for several months although it was over 100 uSv/h (=876 mSv/y) in some places.
Although Namie-machi and Iidate village are about 30km away from Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, unfortunately wind blew towards there and became heavily contaminated area. There was an article “Prometheus’ Trap” – “Men in protective cloth” on Asahi Newspapers written by one of residents in Namie-machi. These men were IAEA members.
Nowhere to use Japan’s growing plutonium stockpile – Japan Today
“….Giving up on using plutonium for power would cause Japan to break its international pledge not to possess excess plutonium not designated for power generation. That’s why Japan’s nuclear phase-out plan drew concern from Washington; the country would end up with tons of plutonium left over. To reassure Japan’s allies, government officials said the plan was only a goal, not a commitment….”
By Mari Yamaguchi
NATIONAL DEC. 30, 2012 – 07:00AM JST
ROKKASHO —
How is an nuclear-powered island nation riddled with fault lines supposed to handle its nuclear waste? Part of the answer was supposed to come from this windswept village along Japan’s northern coast.
By hosting a high-tech facility that would convert spent fuel into a plutonium-uranium mix designed for the next generation of reactors, Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture was supposed to provide fuel while minimizing nuclear waste storage problems. Those ambitions are falling apart because years of attempts to build a “fast breeder” reactor, which would use the reprocessed fuel, appear to be ending in failure.
[…]
There is scant prospect for building a long-term nuclear waste disposal site in Japan.
[…]
If Japan decided that it cannot use the plutonium, it would be breaking international pledges aimed at preventing the spread of weapons-grade nuclear material. It already has enough plutonium to make hundreds of nuclear bombs — 10 tons of it at home and the rest in Britain and France, where Japan’s spent fuel was previously processed.
[…]
“Our nuclear policy was a fiction,” former National Policy Minister Seiji Maehara told a parliamentary panel in November. “We have been aware of the two crucial problems. One is a fuel cycle: A fast-breeder is not ready. The other is the back-end (waste disposal) issue. They had never been resolved, but we pushed for the nuclear programs anyway.” -Seiji Maehara
[…]
Construction at Rokkasho’s reprocessing plant started in 1993 and that unit alone has cost 2.2 trillion yen so far. Rokkasho’s operational cost through 2060 would be a massive 43 trillion yen, according to a recent government estimate.
[…]
The prototype Monju fast-breeder reactor in western Japan had been in the works for nearly 50 years, but after repeated problems, authorities this summer pulled the plug, deeming the project unworkable and unsafe.
[…]
The fourth reactor that used MOX was among the reactors that melted down. Plant and government officials deny that the reactor explosion was related to MOX.
[…]
Meanwhile, the plutonium stockpile grows. Including the amount not yet separated from spent fuel, Japan has nearly 160 tons. Few countries have more, though the U.S., Russia and Great Britain have substantially more.
Russian nuclear vessel Lepse’s urgent dismantlement prevented by traffic jam with historic sub
“It is crucial for work on the Lepse to commence so that it doesn’t sink,”
“Putting the Lepse in dry dock would lessen its nuclear and radioactive dangers by 90 percent,”
MURMANSK – Environmentalists and the population of Murmansk alike three month ago cheered when the Lepse, nuclear service ship and its decades old radioactive cargo were hauled out of the city’s harbor for final dismantlement further north
.Anna Kireeva, Charles Digges,
21/12-2012
The cheers have been muted, however, as it turns out virtually nothing has been done since it was hauled and essentially left bobbing at dockside at Nerpa, a naval shipyard further north on Murmansk harbor – presenting the same radiological risks it posed to Murmansk for more than 20 years.
The reason? One of Russia’s now-famous traffic-jams – with a bit of a twist.
Nerpa’s SR3 dry dock, on which the Lepse was to be housed for dismantlement, is currently occupied by the Leninsky Komsomol, call sign K-3, project No. 627 – otherwise known as the Soviet Union’s first nuclear submarine, and the third to be built in the world.
 |
| The Lepse leaves Murmansk Harbor on September 14. |
| Frederic Hauge |
And it doesn’t look like the submarine is going anywhere anytime soon.
Decommissioned in 1991, the Leninsky Komsomol put to sea in 1962. In 1967 the sub suffered a fire in its hydraulic system while traversing the Norwegian Sea, and the automatic carbon dioxide fire suppression system killed 39 crewmembers. It was suggested in the year of its decommissioning that it be turned into a museum.
Fukushima Nuclear Crisis Update for December 21st to December 28th, 2012
Here’s the latest of our news bulletins from the ongoing crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Nuclear Politics in Japan
Japan’s new Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-led government, headed by Shinzo Abe, who will presumably be named the country’s new Prime Minister, is considering allowing new nuclear reactors to be built and is reconsidering former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s pledge to eradicate nuclear energy by 2040. The move comes despite widespread opposition to nuclear power. “The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) administration took a stand, but I want to review it,” Abe said. During recent campaigning, the LDP said it would take three years to determine whether existing reactors across the country should be restarted, and would take an additional 10 years to “decide…on a sustainable ‘best mix of power generation’ for the future.”
Regarding the government’s decision to halt construction on any new reactors, Toshimitsu Motegi, who was recently tapped to head the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) said, “We need to review the policy. We’d like to make a political decision after we accumulate sufficient specialized expertise.” Three reactors are currently under construction in Japan, with plans for an additional nine in the works. Motegi added, “The government will decide to reactivate [existing] nuclear plants on its own responsibility if they are confirmed safe.”
However, Abe’s hopes for a resurgence of nuclear power in Japan may be an uphill battle. The public is largely opposed to nuclear power and concerns about radiation contamination and residents’ safety remain widespread. The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) will not release revised safety standards for the country’s reactors until July, which means that evaluations will not begin until at least mid-summer. NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said, “The basis of our judgment is scientific. Whatever politicians have to say on the issue, it matters to us not at all.”
Meanwhile, anti-nuclear activists in Japan have vowed to continue protesting nuclear power and raising public awareness about the issue through non-violent, positive demonstrations. The Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes, a group of 13 anti-nuclear groups, has held 36 separate demonstrations in front of the Prime Minister’s official residence since last March. In July, a demonstration attracted more than 100,000 people from all walks of life.
Status of the Fukushima Reactors
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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