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NHK Special Report: Nuclear Safety Standards: Can the NRA Deliver?

 

MissingSky101

Published on 21 Jun 2013

NHK: Today’s Close-Up
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has adopted new safety standards that will come into force in July. They require nuclear plant operators to take measures against earthquakes and tsunami, and to prevent severe accidents. This edition focuses on the difficulties in implementing the revised guidelines, and on ways to improve the effectiveness of Japan’s regulatory system.

air date 6/21/13

June 22, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

German Car Manufacturers Generating Own Power As Nuclear Phase-Out Continues

German Car Manufacturers Generating Own Power As Nuclear Phase-Out Continues

BMW currently gets approximately 28 percent of its energy from renewable power, with the ultimate goal of 100 percent

Germany has been one of the world leaders in renewable energy in both solar and wind power, somewhat ironic considering the country’s reputation for a cool, overcast climate for much of the year. But the push for energy self-sufficiency for Germany’s auto industry has been given an added urgency since the announced phase-out of nuclear power by chancellor Angela Merkel following the March 2011 nuclear reactor failure in Japan following the devastating tsunami and earthquake.

According to Bloomberg, Germany has some of the highest energy costs in Europe, largely due to renewable energy surcharges. This has prompted many car builders in Germany  to build their own power plants to better control energy costs as utility-provided power gets increasingly expensive.

In the companies’ bids to become energy self-sufficient, the auto industry is looking at both renewable and conventional sources for power. BMW is adding four wind turbine towers near its Leipzig plant which builds the X1 crossover and is scheduled to build the i3 electric car. The windmills are expected to provide a fourth of the plant’s total power.

Daimler and Volkswagen are both planning on bringing gas-powered plants online within the next few years to provide more of their own power. Total power consumption of Volkswagen’s combined German manufacturing facilities surpasses that of the entire island nation of Jamaica. VW already produces 63 percent of its own power.

BMW currently gets approximately 28 percent of its energy from renewable power, with the ultimate goal of 100 percent. However, the inconsistent nature of renewables, and an inadequate energy storage infrastructure is prompting companies to invest in gas-powered plants

http://www.bmwautostore.com/german-car-manufacturers-generating-own-power-as-nuclear-phase-out-continues/

June 22, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Venezuela – A nuclear cover up? 2 charged with spying in USA

 

….At the start of the investigation, some scientists familiar with Pedro Mascheroni’s work had argued that there was nothing classified or secret about the information….

Today, President Hugo Chavez ordered that Venezuela’s non-existing Nuclear program be frozen because of the problems in Japan.  2011

Image and quote source ; http://devilsexcrement.com/2011/03/15/chavez-freezes-venezuelas-non-existing-nuclear-program/

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A former Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear physicist and his wife pleaded guilty Friday to charges that included communicating classified nuclear weapons data, federal prosecutors said.

Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, 77, and Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 70, entered their pleas in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque. The couple had initially pleaded not guilty in 2010 after they were indicted on charges of violating the Atomic Energy Act.

The two were accused of offering to help develop a nuclear weapon for Venezuela through dealings with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a representative of the Venezuelan government.

Prosecutors said the Mascheronis held security clearances that allowed them access to classified data while they were employed by the northern New Mexico lab. That data included information on the design, manufacture or use of atomic weapons, and the use of nuclear material in the production of energy.

The U.S. government did not allege that Venezuela or anyone working for it sought U.S. secrets.

Under the plea agreement, Pedro Mascheroni faces up to 5 1/2 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release. His wife could be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison and nine years of supervised release.

The court still has to approve the agreements, and sentencing hearings for the couple have yet to be scheduled.

Pedro Mascheroni, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina, worked in the nuclear weapons design division at Los Alamos from 1979 until he was laid off in 1988. His wife, a technical writer, worked there between 1981 and 2010.

Pedro Mascheroni was under investigation for about a year before he and his wife were indicted. In October 2009, the FBI seized computers, letters, photographs, books and cellphones from the couple’s Los Alamos home. In an interview with The Associated Press at the time, he said he believed the U.S. government was wrongly targeting him as a spy, and he denied that accusation.

He said in the interview that he approached Venezuela after the United States rejected his theories that a hydrogen-fluoride laser could produce nuclear energy.

https://i0.wp.com/www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/trw.jpg

According to prosecutors, Pedro Mascheroni delivered to a post office box in November 2008 a disk with a coded 132-page document on it that contained “restricted data” related to nuclear weapons. Written by Pedro Mascheroni and edited by his wife, the document was titled “A Deterrence Program for Venezuela” and laid out his nuclear weapons development program for the South American nation.

Pedro Mascheroni stated the information he was providing was worth millions of dollars, and that his fee for producing the document was $793,000.

He later provided more information and received cash from the agent.

At the start of the investigation, some scientists familiar with Pedro Mascheroni’s work had argued that there was nothing classified or secret about the information.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/energy/article/NM-physicist-wife-plead-guilty-in-nuke-case-4615549.php

ISOTOPE SEPARATION WITH THE cw HYDROGEN FLUORIDE LASER

Date of Publication: Dec 1970

“…A cw hydrogen fluoride laser has been used successfully to separate deuterium from hydrogen by specific photocatalysis of the reaction of methanol with bromine. The strong absorption of H3COH was demonstrated for the HF laser lines P1(5), P1(6), and P1(7) while no absorption by deutero‐methanol of the HF beam was observed. Excitation of H2COH by the absorbed beam increased the rate of H3COH removal by reaction with bromine. Irradiation, at 90 W for 60 sec, with the cw hydrogen fluoride laser of a 1 : 1 H3COH : D3COD gas mixture in the presence of bromine produced isotope enrichment to greater than 95% D3COD….”

 
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4842254&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D4842254
 

Space Based Laser [SBL]

The potential to intercept and destroy a missile over enemy territory soon after launch, rather than over friendly territory, makes the development of a boost phase intercept (BPI) capability very desirable. In concert with ground based theater missile defense (TMD) systems already under development, the U.S. continues to investigate BPI concepts for BMD systems.

SBLRD Characteristics
Weight: 17,500 kg Length: 20.12 m
Diameter: 4.57 m Mirror Diameter: 4.0 m

  • Hydrogen fluoride chemical energy powered laser.
  • On board surveillance capabilities.
  • Super reflective mirror coatings allowing for uncooled optics.
  • Concurrent NMD / TMD capability.

http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/sbl.htm

 

June 22, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

US state on alert after nuclear waste leak problem gets even worse!

A spokeswoman for Washington state’s Ecology Department explained why the new finding was so disturbing.

“Until last night, it was thought the leak was contained in the outer shell, but workers detected elevated radioactivity levels within the leak detection pit,” Erica Holmes said.

  • AAP
  • June 22, 2013 10:56AM

 

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/us-state-on-alert-after-nuclear-waste-leak/story-fn3dxix6-1226667944412

 

HEIGHTENED radioactivity levels have been found outside a nuclear waste tank in the US state of Washington, officials say, in a new alert about a site used to make Cold War-era bombs.

Image source ; http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2012/08/27/whats-inside-the-suspect-nuclear-waste-tank-at-hanford/

Governor Jay Inslee said there was no immediate public health threat, but urged federal authorities to accelerate action to deal with leaks at the Hanford site, which he sounded the alarm about four months ago.

In February, Inslee said that at least six tanks containing radioactive waste were leaking, based on decreasing levels within them, but no elevated radioactivity levels were recorded outside of the containers themselves.

Now, higher radiation levels have been recorded in a pit next to a double-shell tank at the the site, he said – suggesting that waste material has leaked through both shells containing them.

Inslee said that federal experts “discovered what appears to be an elevated contamination level reading in the leak detection pit outside and adjacent to the Hanford double-shell tank AY-102”.

“This is most disturbing news for Washington. It is not clear yet whether that contamination is coming directly from the outer shell of the AY-102 but it must be treated with the utmost seriousness,” he said.

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June 22, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

World Bank: Money Laundering Criminals – Interview with Whistleblower Karen Hudes

breakingtheset

Published on 21 Jun 2013

Abby Martin talks to Karen Hudes, former senior executive at the World Bank, about her experience blowing the whistle on the high level corruption within the international financial system and how her story was censored.

Includes the 900 million dollar fraud – World corruption!

June 22, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

POLICE RIOTS in LONDON & BRAZIL – JUNE 2013

nuckelchenblogde

Published on 21 Jun 2013

June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nuclear War – Robert Stone versus Robert F. Kennedy, Jr

Andrew Revkin

Published on 19 Jun 2013

After a Jacob Burns Film Center screening of “Pandora’s Promise,” a new documentary defending nuclear energy, the director, Robert Stone, engaged in a vigorous (this is an understatement!) debate with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the environmental activist and lawyer and solar-energy investor. (Posted with permission for Dot Earth.)

June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Nukes in Europe: Secrecy Under Siege – by Hans M. Kristensen

 

 

 

The Cold War practice of NATO and the United States refusing to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons anywhere is under attack in Europe. This week, two former Dutch prime ministers publicly confirmed the presence of nuclear weapons at Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands, one of six bases in NATO that still host US nuclear weapons.

http://blogs.fas.org/security/2013/06/secrecyundersiege/

June 13, 2013

lubbersThe first confirmation came in the program How Time Flies on the Dutch National Geographic channel where former prime minister Ruud Lubbers confirmed that there are nuclear weapons at Volkel Air Base. “I would never have thought those silly things would still be there in 2013,” Lubbers said, who was prime minister in 1982-1994. He even mentioned a specific number: 22 bombs.

vanagtThe second confirmation Lubbers was joined yesterday by another former Dutch prime minister, Dries van Agt, who also confirmed that the weapons are there. “They are there and its crazy they still are,” said va Agt, who was prime minister in 1977-1982.

As readers of this blog are aware (and anyone who have followed this issue over the years), it is not news that the US stores nuclear weapons at Volkel AB. But it is certainly news that two former Dutch prime ministers are now confirming it.

It is not a formal Dutch break with NATO nuclear secrecy norms but it is certainly a big crack in the dike that makes the Dutch government’s continued refusal to confirm or deny nuclear weapons at Volkel AB look rater, well, silly.

The instinct of the bureaucracy will be to ignore the statements to the extent possible and retrieve into past policies of neither confirming nor denying the presence of nuclear weapons. But the new situation also presents an opportunity to break with the past and attempt to engage Russia about increasing the transparency of non-strategic nuclear weapons in Europe. 

Privileged Information

Information about US nuclear weapons at Volkel AB is privileged information that Lubbers and van Agt would have had access to on a highly confidential basis as prime ministers under the bilateral US-Dutch nuclear weapons storage agreement code named Toy Chest (no pun intended).

After leaving office, Lubbers and van Agt would have had to rely on other people with access to such information to be told. A nod would be sufficient to confirm the general presence of weapons, but the specific number would be harder to get. Why Lubbers says 22 is unclear; perhaps that’s the number he recalls from 1994.

Back then, the Clinton administration’s 1994 Nuclear Posture Review decided to retain 480 nuclear bombs in Europe. How many of those were at Volkel AB is unknown, but when President Clinton six years later in December 2000 signed Presidential Decision Directive/NSC-74 that authorized continued deployment of 480 nuclear weapons in Europe, 20 of those were for Volkel AB.

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June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Kazatomprom nuclear corporation plans to build a 36MW solar power station

Construction of solar plant in Western Cape begins

Image source ; http://thenetworks.co.za/2013/01/construction-of-solar-plant-in-western-cape-begins/

Staff Report

2013-06-20

SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan – Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan’s state-owned nuclear holding company, plans in 2014 to start building a 36MW solar power station in South Kazakhstan Oblast (SKO), CA-News.org reported June 19, citing a discussion between SKO Governor (Akim) Aksar Myrzakhmetov and Kazatomprom Board Chairman Vladimir Shkolnik.

The project is part of Kazakhstan’s plan to raise the amount of renewable energy resources in the country to 50 per cent by 2050, according to Ministry of Environment Protection. Currently about 15 per cent of Kazakh energy resources are renewable, mostly hydro-power.

Kazatomprom also will finance construction of a 200-pupil vocational high school in Shymkent within a couple of years, Shkolnik said.

http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/newsbriefs/2013/06/20/newsbrief-15

June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

India WILL have to wait to join sensitive nuclear export body

….The diplomats declined to comment on which countries remained sceptical. After an informal meeting in March in Vienna, participants said Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland seemed to be among those still having doubts.

China is also believed to have reservations, influenced by its ties to its ally Pakistan, India’s arch geo-political rival, which has also tested atomic bombs, analysts say…..

VIENNA | Thu Jun 20, 2013 4:55pm IST

http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/06/20/nuclear-india-nsg-idINDEE95J0A620130620

(Reuters) – Some states still appear to be sceptical about letting nuclear-armed India into an influential body regulating sensitive atomic trade, diplomats said on Thursday, suggesting Indian membership may not be imminent.

The United States, Britain, France are among countries pushing for allowing India – a growing market for such commerce – to join the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a move that would boost the Asian nation’s status as an atomic power.

But others worry about the implications for wider efforts to prevent the spread of atomic bombs if a country that has refused to sign a global anti-nuclear weapons pact were to enter a group which has a key role in countering proliferation of these arms.

If India joined the group, set up in 1975 to ensure that civilian nuclear technology exports are not diverted to make atomic arms, it would be the only member that is outside the 189-nation nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

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June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Poland WILL delay launch of nuclear plants with 3rd largest shale gas reserves

…Optimistic estimates suggest that Poland could have up to 1.92 trillion cubic metres (67.8 trillion cubic feet) of exploitable deposits, possibly the third largest reserves in Europe after Norway and the Netherlands….

Photobucket

Jun 18, 2013

With a population of 38 million, Poland uses about 14 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year, of which 60 percent is imported from Russia.

Poland relies on coal-fired plants—fuelled mostly by its own plentiful supplies—for 90 percent of its electricity and is keen to find alternatives which could help it limit in line with EU limits.

In a bid to diversify its gas sources, it is building its first sea terminal for liquefied gas (LNG), gas storage facilities and connecting its distribution system to neighbouring countries.

Warsaw had also planned for its first two to come online by 2024 to feed the needs of its growing energy market.

“I’m not ruling out nuclear in our energy mix, but later than planned,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters in Warsaw.

“This is primarily due to the expected growth of natural gas as an energy source, including domestic shale gas,” he added.

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June 21, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nuclear power down in 2012

 

https://i0.wp.com/www.world-nuclear-news.org/uploadedImages/wnn/Images/Nuclear_Electricity_Production.png

It will take significant restarts in Japan and new build in China for nuclear power to regain its production levels in the next few years (Image: World Nuclear Association)

20 June 2013

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN_Nuclear_power_down_in_2012_2006131.html

Nuclear power generation suffered its biggest ever one-year fall through 2012 as the bulk of the Japanese fleet remained offline for a full calendar year.

Data from the International Atomic Energy Agency showed that nuclear power plants around the world produced a total of 2346 TWh in 2012 – some 7% fewer than in 2011. The figures illustrate the effects of a full year of mostly-suspended operation in Japan, the loss of eight units in Germany as well as other operational issues around the world.

With a total of 48 operable Japanese reactors producing no power during the year, 2012’s nuclear generation was the lowest since 1999. Problems for Crystal River, Fort Calhoun and the two San Onofre units in the USA meant they produced no power, while in Belgium Doel 3 and Tihange 2 were out of action for half of the year.

Compared to the last full year before the Fukushima accident, 2010, the nuclear industry produced some 11% less electricity in 2012.

Capacities

 
Three new reactors started up during 2012: South Korea’s Shin Wolsong 1 and Shin Kori 2, as well as Ningde 1 in China. In Canada two older units came back into operation after refurbishment, Bruce A1 and A2. All this oncoming capacity totalled 4501 MWe, easily outweighing the retirements of the UK’s Oldbury 1 and Wylfa 2, and Canada’s Gentilly 2, which between them generated 1342 MWe. Across the rest of the global fleet, uprates added about 990 MWe in new capacity.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News

June 20, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

One hour with the Economic Hitman – John Perkins

 

Truthloader

Streamed live on 20 Jun 2013

Tonight on Truthloader, we have John Perkins as a guest. He was recruited by the NSA to go into developing countries and economically ruin them so the US could claim their resources. He wrote the book, “Confessions of an Economic Hitman”.

Link to the books wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessi…

Image source ; http://www.opednews.com/articles/After-Haiti-A-Conversatio-by-Elizabeth-Ferrari-100326-873.html

June 20, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Fukushima Rad News 6/20/13: Nuclear Emergency Response Center Opens; Robot Surveys Fuku Reactor

MissingSky101

Published on 20 Jun 2013

Robot carries out survey inside Fukushima reactor
A remote-controlled robot with a 7-meter-long arm has carried out a survey inside a reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Nuclear emergency response center opens
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority has unveiled its new emergency response center.
The facility is designed to be an improvement on the old response center run by the authority’s predecessor, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. The agency’s crisis response during the Fukushima accident was severely criticized.

US releases new guidance on nuclear arms
The US administration has released new guidance on nuclear weapons for the first time in 11 years, calling for reducing reliance on nuclear weapons while maintaining a credible deterrent.
The Defense Department on Wednesday released a report on the US Nuclear Weapons Employment Strategy.

Ohi reactors likely to remain online beyond July
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority will allow the country’s only 2 running reactors to stay online after new nuclear safety guidelines take effect in July.
The guidelines for the first time oblige utilities to beef up measures against serious accidents like the one that occurred in Fukushima 2 years ago.

Obama calls for further arms cuts
US President Barack Obama is calling for further reductions to US and Russian strategic nuclear weapon stockpiles.
Obama addressed about 6,000 people in front of the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin on Wednesday.
He stressed the importance for the Untied States and European nations to work together to address global issues, including climate change, terrorism and the economy.

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June 20, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Shocking new study shows damage from radiation more damaging than at first thought! – Prof.Chris Busby

….This density of events occurring at low doses suggests a mechanism to explain experimental results that show Tritium is a greater mutagenic hazard than ICRP would expect….

Posted by nuclear-news.net

By Arclight2011Part2

20th June 2011

H/t Richard Bramhall ( http://www.llrc.org )

A new review shows the conventional radiation risk model cannot be used to predict health effects of radioactivity inside the body.

On May 22 2013 InTech (http://www.intechopen.com) published a review of evidence that DNA damage caused by inhaling and ingesting man-made radioactivity is having serious health effects. This is the first time such a wide-ranging review of the genetic mechanisms of harm from nuclear discharges has been published in the scientific literature.

The review, by Professor Chris Busby, is entitled “Aspects of DNA damage from internal radiation exposures

[1]. It is in a book called “New Research Directions in DNA Repair”.

[2] It vindicates the belief that incorporated (internal) radioactivity is more dangerous than predicted by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Much of the information reviewed has been in the literature for decades but has been sidelined or ignored.

The evidence shows that ICRP’s use of “absorbed dose” is invalid for many radionuclides when they are internal. “Absorbed dose” is based on an external irradiation paradigm and therefore averages the energy of radioactive decays across large volumes of body tissue.

By contrast, some forms of radioactivity expose DNA to high densities of ionisation. The review defines and discusses situations where genetic damage is massively more likely than from external radiation at the same “dose”;

1) biochemical affinity for DNA,

2) transmutation,

3) hot particles,

4) sequential emitters (“Second Event Theory”),

5) low energy beta emitters, and 6) the “Secondary Photoelectron Effect”:

  1. Some substances (for example Strontium-90 and Uranium) have high biochemical affinity for DNA so a large proportion of what is inside the body will be chemically bound to DNA. For this reason the radiation events associated with them are massively more likely to damage DNA structures than the same dose delivered externally.
  2. Transmutation, where the radioactive decay of a radio-element changes it into a different element (e.g. Carbon-14 changing to Nitrogen), has mutagenic effects far greater than would be expected on the basis of “absorbed dose”. This has been known since the 1960s but it has been ignored by risk agencies such as ICRP, UNSCEAR and BEIR.
  3. Hot particles, especially those which emit very short-range alpha radiation, have obvious implications for high local doses to tissue where they are embedded.

Image

  1. The “Second Event Theory” concerns the decay sequences of some radionuclides which decay to a short-lived daughter. Strontium 90 decaying to Yttrium 90 is an example; the Yttrium 90 has a half-life of 2½ days so the theory is that the first event (decay of Strontium 90) may damage a cell’s DNA which then sets about repairing itself. The repair process is known to be very radiosensitive and there is a finite probability that the second event (the subsequent Yttrium decay) inflicts further damage which cannot be repaired.

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June 20, 2013 Posted by | 2 WORLD, radiation, Reference | 5 Comments