British anti-nukes campaigners are pressuring the government to change course on replacing its Trident nuclear weapons system at an annual cost of £3 billion and rather spend the money on housing.
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) said £3 billion is enough to build 30,000 homes in Britain every year that would fully eliminate the country’s need to build extra homes for social housing while creating 60,000 new jobs each year.
“Around 30,000 extra homes need to be built in the UK every year to meet the need for social housing. This would cost about £3 billion annually. £3 billion is what this country is currently spending every year on nuclear weapons,” the campaign group said.
“It’s a straight swap, homes or bombs. That’s why we’re calling on the government to get rid of Trident and build homes instead,” it added.
The CND has also launched a letter-writing campaign to British Chancellor George Osborne ahead of the December 5 parliamentary announcement on the way forward for the economy to pressure him to change policy on Trident.
This comes as Britain is pushing full steam ahead with a Trident replacement plan that the CND earlier estimated to cost the country more than £100 billion.
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November 29, 2012
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Evidence proves that the graph trumpeted by AP as evidence of Iran’s nuclear weapons program is an obvious sham
An article published by
Associated Press about Iran’s nuclear program has sparked controversy (screen shot of AP story)
It’s important to return to the story about AP’s nuclear Iran “exclusive” which I wrote about yesterday. Although it was intuitively obvious that the graph trumpeted by AP as scary and incriminating of Iran’s nuclear program was actually a farce, there is now new, overwhelming, very compelling scientific evidence that is the case. Whether as victim or recklessly culpable participant, AP helped perpetrate a dangerous hoax, and owes an explanation and accounting for what took place, including identifying the “officials from a country critical of Iran’s atomic program” who made false claims about what this is.
To begin with, the graph AP touted as reflecting some sort of nefarious, highly threatening and complex nuclear calculation is, in fact, widely available all over the Internet in the most innocuous places. Just consider this side-by-side comparison of the AP graph on the left, with the graph on the right on this harmless site designed to teach beginner users how to use Microsoft Excel:
At the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS), Yousaf Butt and Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress on Wednesday night wrote: “Graphs such as the one published by the Associated Press can be found in nuclear science textbooks and on the Internet.” Similarly, Prof. Muhammad Sahimi, a professor of chemical engineering at USC and expert in Iran’s nuclear program, told Richard Silverstein of Tikun Olum that “too many graphs like this can be generated by a competent undergraduate student.” So what AP presented to the world as some sort of highly complex, specialized document was, in fact, nothing more than a completely common graph easily found in all sorts of public venues.
Even worse, the calculations reflected on this graph are patently ridiculous. Butt and Dalnoki-Veress document that the graph “does nothing more than indicate either slipshod analysis or an amateurish hoax” [emphasis added]. That’s because, they explain, “the diagram features quite a massive error, which is unlikely to have been made by research scientists working at a national level”; namely:
“The image released to the Associated Press shows two curves: one that plots the energy versus time, and another that plots the power output versus time, presumably from a fission device. But these two curves do not correspond: If the energy curve is correct, then the peak power should be much lower – around 300 million ( 3×108) kt per second, instead of the currently stated 17 trillion (1.7 x1013) kt per second. As is, the diagram features a nearly million-fold error.”
This error is patently obvious to anyone versed in nuclear physics. Nima Shirazi yesterday spoke with Dr. M. Hossein Partovi, who teaches coursesin thermodynamics and quantum mechanics at Sacramento State, and he echoed the BAS scientists:
“[Dr. Partovi], noting that the graph is plotted in microseconds, explains that ‘the graph depicted in the report is a nonspecific power/energy plot that is primarily evidence of the incompetence of those who forged it: a quick look at the energy graph shows that the total energy is more than four orders of magnitude (forty thousand times) smaller than the total integrated power that it must equal!'”
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November 29, 2012
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ASTANA. November 29, 2012, 20:52. BNews.kz
The former head of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi sent a letter in 1992, which pledged billions of dollars for the maintenance of nuclear weapons in Kazakhstan, the UN Deputy Secretary K.Tokayev said at Nazarbayev’s readings today.
The UN Deputy Secretary Tokayev remembered this fact of the political history of the young Kazakhstan today at the First Nazarbayev’s readings “I clearly remember several episodes of the dramatic history of the young state. In the beginning of 1992 Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry received a letter for Kazakhstan President from the leader of Libyan revolutioner Muammar Gaddafi, who called (Kazakhstan) to keep its nuclear arsenals at the territory of the country as ‘the first Islamic nuclear bomb’ and promised to provide a multi-million aide for its maintenance. This message must be somewhere in the archives and in my view it would be better to disclose it, so that our people and future generations and researches get a better picture of the dynamics of that difficult time,” Mr. Tokayev said.
“Such generous promises from a rich country’s leader could seem very attractive for any irresponsible politician, especially since Kazakhstan was facing very complicated economic problems after the collapse of the Soviet Union generous promises of rich nations could seem very attractive, but a real statesman is different from a common politician because he does not think in terms of immediate opportunistic benefits. He is governed by strategic considerations. Our nation’s leader has a political long-sightedness, he looks forward and sees a lot,” the UN Deputy Secretary said.
November 29, 2012
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“The plan is to ship away some 21,000 spent nuclear fuel elements that today are stored in bad condition at the storage in Andreeva bay. The spent fuel comes from the reactors of Soviet subs and were placed there in the 70`s and 80`s.”
By
November 26, 2012
“It is our assessment that efforts related to a safe shipping lane between Andreeva bay and Murmansk is an important contribution to the safety of the entire operation,” says Norway’s top nuclear safety official Ole Harbitz.
Simultaneously as Russia deploys several new multi-billion nuclear submarines near its Arctic border to the west, Norway is analyzing how to upgrade the shipping lane inside territorial waters outside the coast of the Kola Peninsula.
The aim of the project is to improve sea safety for transport of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste from Andreeva bay in the west, via the Saida bay to Atomflot base in Murmansk. This is the very same coastline where all of the Russian Northern fleet’s nuclear powered submarines are based, from Litsa to Severomorsk.
Norway’s Foreign Ministry granted the first NOK 200,000 (€27,300) to this project in May this year. The money comes via the long-lasting Norwegian grant program for improvements of nuclear safety in Russia.
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November 29, 2012
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[NOTICE!!! This information not confirmed!] Iranian nuclear officials are being secretive about the nature of an incident in the Iranian Isfahan nuclear plant that sent many staff members to nearby hospital emergency rooms Wednesday. The head of Iran’s Medical Emergency Agency told reporters that staff members of an Isfahan Nuclear plant “have observed some symptoms.” He stressed that all medical emergency units in Iran should be ready to “confront nuclear incidents.” “Those who have been around UCF Isfahan, have shown symptoms and are receiving treatment,” said Gholamreza Masoumi to Iranian state-run news agencies. He did not mention a specific time for the incident nor did he volunteer any details about the nature of it. “We have not yet had any incident outside nuclear designated areas,” he said. Masoumi said that the agency has been training the medical emergency unit staff on providing treatment for nuclear incidents. Masoumi told Mehr news agency that recently the Iranian government has formed a “Nuclear Emergency” task force to provide services that would be needed following nuclear incidents. Furthermore, Nuclear Emergency centers in provinces where nuclear sites are located will receive a boost. Masoumi stressed that there has never been an incident of nuclear leakage at any Iranian nuclear plant. Radio Free Europe reported that following the publication of this incident, Mehr news removed the article from its website, however, on June 28, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Freidoon Abbasi, tried to play down the incident. “Any kind of incident may occur in any plant,” said Abbasi to Iranian Fars News. “However it does not mean that such events lead to spread of radioactive material.”
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=NC-20121129-37344-IRN
Workers of Iran’s Isfahan nuclear facility experience health problems
Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 28 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
Some of the workers of Iran’s Isfahan uranium conversion facility (UCF) have been experiencing some health problems at work, the head of Iran’s emergency services, Gholamreza Massoumi said, Mehr reported on Tuesday.
Massoumi did not specify what kind of health problems the workers experienced.
There has also been no announcement made from the Isfahan’s facility itself.
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November 29, 2012
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“There is at the parliament a powerful group of parliamentarians and senators who are pro-nuclear, with some formerly from EDF,” she said, referring to the state utility that is Europe’s biggest electricity producer. “They are so close to the (nuclear) lobby that they are called ‘EDF allies’.”
By Muriel Boselli
PARIS | Thu Nov 29, 2012 11:26am GMT
(Reuters) – For decades, the elite engineers turned out by Paris’s grand Corps des Mines academy were faithful followers of the pro-atomic creed that transformed their country into the most nuclear-reliant nation in the world.
But a new generation of Mines graduates is starting to question that policy. It is a change of mindset that could aid efforts by President Francois Hollande to cut reliance on nuclear power from 75 percent to 50 percent of the electricity mix by 2025.
“Noone at the Corps des Mines questions the need for nuclear power in the energy mix, however the younger generation is more concerned about the environment and leaving room for other energy sources,” said Francois Bordes, a 40-year old Corps des Mines graduate who advises businesses on energy efficiency.
Bordes is part of a generation of Mines engineers who believe atomic energy has a role to play – but not the dominant one given it by elders who helped build the world’s second-largest nuclear programme after the United States.
“There is a generation gap between Mines members who had key jobs during the three booming post-war decades and those who started out in the past 15 years,” Bordes added.
The Corps des Mines was founded in 1794 to turn France’s now-exhausted coal mines to the advantage of Europe’s industrial revolution. But after World War Two it won a new raison d’etre when Corps des Mines engineer Pierre Guillaumat worked with De Gaulle to create the state-funded CEA nuclear research body.
It became an example of French post-war “dirigisme” – the policy under which the state seeks to direct the economy – determining how nuclear energy was used for civilian and military purposes, with the development of France’s atomic bomb.
“A RISKIER WORLD”
The construction of 58 nuclear reactors prompted successive French governments to investmassively in electric heating to absorb the supplies. France became the world’s top electricity exporter.
Now some Mines graduates say the heavy dependence on one energy form means France struggles to cope with seasonal demand spikes.
“We believed for too long that nuclear energy was cheap and that we could, for example, massively develop electric heating as a result. This is nonsensical,” said Vincent Le Biez, a 27- year-old Mines graduate.
Alumni include Anne Lauvergeon, ex-head of nuclear giant Areva, current head of France’s nuclear energy watchdog ASN, Pierre-Franck Chevet, his predecessor Andre-Claude Lacoste, and Jacques Repussard of the IRSN nuclear safety institute.
The nuclear industry’s image was tainted in the eyes of the French public after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, when the nuclear watchdog insisted radioactive contamination from the accident had not spread to French territory.
In fact it released vast quantities of radioactive material over the whole of Europe and France was no exception. For many French, the episode created the perception of an invisible pro-nuclear lobby pushing its interests against those of the nation.
France’s nuclear lobby is hard to pin down because it is intricate. Its critics tend to be anti-nuclear NGOs or green politicians with no ministerial experience. A rare exception is Corinne Lepage, former ecology minister under Alain Juppe’s government between 1995 and 1997.
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November 29, 2012
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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a daily column that runs on Page 1 of the vernacular Asahi Shimbun.
November 28, 2012
Using a calculator, I found that Lake Biwako occupies less of Shiga Prefecture than I thought. On a map, its blue expanse appears to cover a third of the prefecture. But in fact the lake occupies slightly less than 17 percent. Its significance as a water supply for 15 million residents along the Yodogawa river makes the lake look larger than it is.
Yukiko Kada, 62, is the governor of Shiga—and the guardian of Lake Biwako. She has announced the formation of a party, Nippon Mirai no To (Japan Future Party), with the banner of “moving on from nuclear power.” Kada, also an environmental sociologist, has retained a strong attachment to the lake since her student days at Kyoto University. Her motivation in forming the new party is a sense of crisis: that if a major accident occurs at one of the nuclear reactors on Wakasa Bay in neighboring Fukui Prefecture, Lake Biwako would be contaminated with radioactive materials—and so would the water it supplies.
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November 28, 2012
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25 NOVEMBER 2012
“The first victims of a serious nuclear accident are and will be children, with an increase in allergies and an aggravation of infectious diseases, which become chronic and involve serious complications…
“The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cannot admit that these serious and common illnesses were caused by ionising radiation, because once known, it would prevent the development of the nuclear industry throughout the world. The IAEA… denies the health catastrophe and gives priority to economic considerations; its statutes forbid attributing to, or associating serious illness with, radiation. Incorrect estimates delay the evacuation of communities that have been highly exposed to radiation. It was almost incomprehensible that at Fukushima there was no distribution of stable iodine to the population that would soon be under threat.”
Fukushima: precious time has been lost
by Dr. Michel Fernex, Emeritus Professor, Basel Faculty of Medecine and Former Consultant, World Health Organization, 2 August 2012
“What should WHO have done after Chernobyl ?” asked Dr Nabarro in 2002 when he was Acting Director-General of the World Health Organization. I replied immediately, and then confirmed it in writing: “Convene a Scientific Working Group on Ionising Radiation and Genetics” like the one in 1956, and add the words “and Genomic Instability”.
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November 28, 2012
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“Above all, the capping of nuclear liability for protecting the interest of nuclear suppliers and the virtual impossibility of extending insurance coverage, speak of the incalculable and unfathomable magnitude and range of risk in the affair”
The Hindu
No plans to make Kolar gold mine a nuclear dump yard
TNN | Nov 28, 2012, 01.22 AM IST
NEW DELHI: Kudankulam nuclear power plantoperator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd(NPCIL) on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it has not identified the abandoned Kolar gold mine as a dump yard for spent nuclear fuel.
NPCIL executive director Ashok Chauhan said its earlier affidavit narrating the development of an underground chamber in Kolar gold mine had led to unwarranted speculation in a section of media about converting it into a site for storage of nuclear waste.
The NPCIL had said in its November 7 affidavit, “Keeping in line with the international developments, the initial focus of work in the 1980s mainly centred on setting up generic underground research laboratory (URL) in one of the abandoned mines in India and resulted in the development of an underground chamber in Kolar gold mine located in south India.”
It said permanent geological disposal of vitrified high level radioactive waste in specifically designed geological repository (DGR), located at a suitable depth in a carefully selected site constituted the end point of management of spent fuel.
Answering allegations by petitioner G Sundarrajan through advocate Pranav Sachdeva about lack of preparedness to store spent fuel from KNPP, the NPCIL said the need for managing KNPP would arise only a few decades from now.
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November 28, 2012
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Are nuclear reactors safe from hacking?
It doesnt look like it.......
HAVING DESIRES TO HELP IAEA CONTINUE ITS INTERNATIONALLY FAIR HUMANITARIAN DUTIES
AND CONSIDERING STUXNETIZING NUCLEAR STUFF IS GETTING EASIER EVERYDAY......
[...]
The IAEA was doing “everything possible to help ensure that no further information is vulnerable,”
[…]
WE ASK THESE INDIVIDUALS TO SIGN A PETITION DEMANDING AN OPEN IAEA INVESTIGATION INTO
ACTIVITIES AT DIMONA . WE WOULD LIKE TO ASSERT THAT WE HAVE EVIDENCES SHOWING THERE
ARE BEYOND-HARMFUL OPERATIONS TAKING PLACE AT THIS SITE AND THE ABOVE LIST WHO
TECHNICALLY HELP IAEA, COULD BE CONSIDERED A PARTNER IN CRIME SHOULD AN ACCIDENT
HAPPEN THERE . IN SUCH CASE , MANY PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO AT LEAST ASK SOME QUESTIONS
AND PARASTOO WILL PUBLISH WHEREABOUTS OF EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE INDIVIDUALS ALONGSIDE
WITH BITS OF HELPFUL PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DETAILS .......
[…]
Tue Nov 27 2012 19:59:00
VIENNA The International Atomic Energy Agency acknowledged Tuesday that one of its servers had been hacked after a previously unknown group critical of Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons program posted contact details for more than 100 experts working for the UN nuclear watchdog.
A group called Parastoo — Farsi for the swallow bird and a common Iranian girl’s name — claimed responsibility for posting the names on its website two days ago.
Israel is commonly acknowledged to possess nuclear weapons, but has neither confirmed nor denied its status. It says Iran is secretly working to make nuclear arms — something Tehran denies — and describes the Islamic republic as the greatest threat to the Mideast. But Iran and Arab countries say the Jewish state’s nuclear capacities pose the greatest menace.
Chastising Israel for its “nuclear arsenal,” the hackers urged the experts whose names they published to sign a petition demanding an “open investigation” into Israel’s nuclear program.
IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said the agency “deeply regrets this publication of information stolen from an old server.” She said the server had been shut down some time ago and agency experts had been working to eliminate any “possible vulnerability” in it even before it was hacked.
The IAEA was doing “everything possible to help ensure that no further information is vulnerable,” she said.
The Associated Press
http://www.thespec.com/news/world/article/844301–un-nuclear-agency-s-server-hacked-by-anti-israel-group
And here is the statement and letter requesting an investigation on Isreals hidden nuclear programme
[…]
25 November 2012
Parastoo Hacks IAEA
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November 28, 2012
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Even when the shelter is in place, the area around the reactor building will remain hazardous. The shelter is aimed only at blocking radioactive material from escaping when the reactor is being dismantled; it won’t block radiation itself.
But when the dismantling and cleanup work is complete, the radiation danger will decline. How long that would take is unclear…
[…]
But I think this (shelter) will be so impressive that even in 100 years people will come to look at it,” he said.
[…]
- Jim Heintz
- Tue Nov 27 2012 18:17:00
CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER STATION, UKRAINE — Workers have raised the first section of a colossal arch-shaped structure that eventually will cover the exploded nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power station.
[…]
…..Upon completion, the shelter will be moved on tracks over the building containing the destroyed reactor, allowing work to begin on dismantling the reactor and disposing of radioactive waste.
[…]
The shelter, shaped like a gargantuan Quonset hut, will be 257 metres by 150 metres (843 feet by 492 feet) when completed and at its apex will be higher than the Statue of Liberty.
[…]
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November 28, 2012
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZuoeKlqPoA&feature=player_embedded#!
Published on Nov 26, 2012 by MissingSky101
“Coexisting with Nature”
Japanese Canadian science broadcaster and environmentalist David Suzuki meets Japanese environmental and energy researchers who are showing the way to an environmentally sustainable future after the March 2011 natural and nuclear disasters.
TOMORROW beyond 3.11
August 27
David Suzuki
More on Magnesium driven steam generation here..
Researching the Ultimate Fireless Steam Locomotive – Part II
Chemical Thermal Energy Storage
Over the past decade, research was undertaken in Japan into high-temperature chemical thermal energy storage using metallic oxides. This research was aimed at storing thermal energy at thermal power stations during off-peak periods, then using that stored energy to generate extra electric power during peak demand hours. A team of research scientists based at the Tokyo Institute of Technology included Dr Yukitaka Kato, Dr Yamashita and Dr Yoshizawa who undertook research into the thermal reaction of magnesium oxide with steam. Another research team that included Dr Matsuda, Dr Kyaw, Dr Masanobu and Dr Hasatoru at Nagoya University based their investigation on the thermal reaction of calcium oxide and carbon dioxide. Information pertaining to this research can be accessed online at http://www.scej.org/ronbun/JCEJe/e29p0119.html . (LINK dead)
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November 27, 2012
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http://www.bradleymanning.org/
“Manning was held in ‘the functional equivalent of solitary confinement: ‘Confined to a six-by-eight-foot cell, with no window or natural light, for more than 23 and a half hours each day. He was awakened at 5 a.m. each morning and required to remain awake until 10 p.m., his lawyers say. He was not permitted to lie on his bed or lean against the cell wall. He was not allowed to exercise in his cell.
If guards found him asleep during five-minute checks, they awakened him.”
Tue Nov 27, 2012 3:4AM
Three months before Bradley Manning is scheduled to face a court martial, and more than two years after his arrest, lawyers for 24-year-old Army Private First Class say the intelligence analyst accused of releasing classified documents to Wikileaks has already been punished for yet unproven charges, including violation of the Espionage Act and aiding the enemy.
Manning is accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of classified documents which were published on Wikileaks that show the killing of unarmed civilians and two Reuters journalists by a U.S. Apache helicopter in Iraq, McClatchy reports.
The exposed Baghdad attack left 12 dead. In a video, the American helicopter crew can be heard laughing and referring to Iraqi dead as “dead bastards”.
Manning is also accused of sharing the Afghan War Diary, the Iraq War Logs and a series of embarrassing U.S. diplomatic cables, in violation of military regulations, which the website BradleyManning.org says “have illuminated such issues as the true number and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq, along with a number of human rights abuses by U.S.-funded contractors and foreign militaries, and role that spying and bribes play in international diplomacy.”
Earlier this month, Manning acknowledged that he was the source of the documents as “an act of conscience,” and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He faces 22 charges and is scheduled for a court martial in February 2013.
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November 27, 2012
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US critiques ASEAN Human Rights Declaration
Monday, 26 November 2012
Stuart White
Phnom Penh Post
The US Department of State issued a statement yesterday saying that while it “in principle, supported” ASEAN’s efforts to codify human rights, last week’s newly signed Human Rights Declaration had the potential to jeopardise human rights as enshrined in well-established international declarations.
“While part of the ASEAN Declaration adopted November 18 tracks the [Universal Declaration of Human Rights], we are deeply concerned that many of the ASEAN Declaration’s principles and articles could weaken and erode universal human rights and fundamental freedoms as contained in the UDHR,” said State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland in the statement.
Nuland went on to cite many of the concerns already raised by civil society groups, including “the concept of ‘cultural relativism’,” “novel limits to rights,” and language implying that “individual rights are subject to group veto”, before noting that ASEAN “has an opportunity” to strengthen the statement through cooperation with civil society.
Nay Vanda, deputy head of the human rights section of the rights group Adhoc, echoed Nuland’s suggestion, adding that there should be more consultation with civil society.
Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for its Asia Division, Phil Robertson, called the US’s statement “well conceived”.
However, he said: “I think the US is too optimistic that ASEAN is prepared to fix the problem because ASEAN has treated the views of its peoples and civil society groups with contempt throughout the AHRD draft process.”
Asean stumbles again on South China Sea
NOVEMBER 26, 2012
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS
Richard Heydarian
MANILA, Nov 24 (IPS) – Against the backdrop of growing territorial tensions in the South China Sea, inflamed by a more explicit Sino-American rivalry in the Pacific theatre, the recently-concluded ASEAN Summit in Cambodia represented the best chance at bolstering regional security through peaceful, multilateral mechanisms.With the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) gathering coinciding with the pan-regional East Asia and ASEAN+3 Summits, Cambodia, as the current chair of the ASEAN, took centre-stage in a broader international gathering, which brought together leading Pacific powers such as the U.S., China, Japan and India.
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November 27, 2012
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“.. Only 0.6% of the total Sr was found in polished rice, while more than 99% was found in the non-edible components, of which 87% was present in the straw. These findings suggest that 90Sr in the non-edible parts could have been transferred to humans through the soil-plant system and/or feed-livestock pathway. The soil-to-plant transfer factor of 90Sr in polished rice was 0.0021 +/- 0.00007, which was two orders of magnitude lower than that in the straw…”
By TOMOKO OTAKE
Staff writer
October 14, 2012
At the end of March 2011, a few weeks after the Great East Japan Earthquake, 20 rice farmers affiliated to J-Rap, an agricultural distribution company in Sukagawa, central Fukushima Prefecture, got together to assess the situation.
 |
| Breaking new ground: Toshihiko Ito, head of the Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture-based agricultural company J-Rap, stands by one of its paddies where his innovative techniques appear to be succeeding in greatly reducing radiation in the rice. TOMOKO OTAKE |
With no one seeming to have much idea what was really happening or what to expect next, the atmosphere was overwhelmingly gloomy, and many farmers were in despair over the prospects for producing any rice that year.
Heading up their concerns was the then unknown amount of radioactive material that had been and was still being released following explosions and three reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Though winds had no doubt dispersed the contamination across massive swaths of eastern Japan, it seemed only logical to the farmers that their fields just 50 km southwest of the plant would have received a hefty dose — though back then, none of them had heard of iodine-131, cesium-134, cesium-137, microsieverts, becquerels or any of the radiation terminology they would soon grapple with.
But it wasn’t just radiation they had to worry about, because the magnitude 9 earthquake on March 11 had damaged the area’s irrigation systems, and many of them feared water supplies to their paddy fields would not be restored in time for the seedling planting season starting in May.
“Everyone was looking downcast,” Toshihiko Ito, head of J-Rap, said of that first meeting at the company’s Sukagawa base. In addition to 20 members present then, J-Rap also has 50 full-time farmers and 180 part-time farmers as members of the group, which specializes in no- or low-pesticide farming and whose members share agricultural equipment, a milling factory and a distribution network.
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November 26, 2012
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nuclear-news 