Fukushima’s contract workers exposed to radiation
What is clear is that the contract laborers are routinely exposed to the highest level of radiation….the whole system is opaque, thus complicating the procedure for workers who need to apply for occupational hazards compensation.
Dying for TEPCO? Fukushima’s Nuclear Contract Workers, The Asia Pacific Journal , Paul Jobin, 28 April 11, Liquidators recruited by ads In the titanic struggle to bring to closure the dangerous situation at Fukushima Nuclear Plant No1, there are many signs that TEPCO is facing great difficulties in finding workers. At present, there are nearly 700 people at the site. As in ordinary times, workers rotate so as to limit the cumulative dose of radiation inherent in maintenance and cleanup work at the nuclear site. But this time, the risks are greater, and the method of recruitment unusual. Continue reading
University of Chicago Doubts Future of Nuclear Power in U.S.
Safer Nuclear Reactors Impeded By Marketplace, Expert Says, Forbes, by Jeff McMahon, Apr. 22 2011 University of Chicago Panel Doubts Future of Nuclear Power in U.S.
Safer nuclear reactors have been available for years, but the energy market prefers less expensive conventional designs, a nuclear energy expert from Argonne National Laboratory said Thursday.……http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffmcmahon/2011/04/22/safer-nuclear-reactors-impeded-by-marketplace-expert-says/
Desperate marketing tactics of Nuclear Suppliers Group
Trying desperately to keep itself alive at whatever cost and whatever risk to present and future human and other life on the planet, the nuclear industry has retreated into its laager mentality with technology gimmicks ranging from thorium and other non-uranium fuelled reactors, fusion reactors, and fast breeder reactors. Although no commercial – that is non subsidized and large scale – versions of these quick fixes exist, the high tech sheen on these claimed alternatives is enough to beguile some weak minded, uninformed and gullible persons. Nuclear power should be given another try, they say !
The Nuclear Power Mercantilist Myth :: The Market Oracle :: By Andrew McKillop, 19 April 11,“…The now 46-nation NSG-Nuclear Suppliers Group is mainly OECD membership but also includes Argentina, Brazil, China, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Turkey and Ukraine, as well as some other small non-OECD countries but specifically does not include India. This traces to the 1975 founding of the NSG, in the wake of India’s 1974 test explosion of an atom bomb, and the alarmed but confused attempt by leaderships of the old nuclear nations to lock down nuclear technology but also promote nuclear power. The permanent and basic linkage between nuclear weapons, and nuclear power had been made clear for all to see by the Indian test, but business had to go on as usual. Continue reading
US Nuclear Regulators as US Nuclear Marketing Men
the cables — from 2006 to early 2010 — show that the NRC’s role in promoting its regulatory model around the world can easily turn it into an advocate for U.S. nuclear technology, whether its officials realize it or not…..
U.S. nuclear regulator a policeman or salesman? (Reuters), 18 April 11, – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission exists to police, not promote, the domestic nuclear industry — but diplomatic cables show that it is sometimes used as a sales tool to help push American technology to foreign governments. Continue reading
Grim health outlook for Fukushima nuclear cleanup workers
Children born to liquidator families were seriously affected with birth defects and thyroid diseases, including cancer, and loss of intellect. As for other children, based upon the work of multiple researchers, it is estimated that in the heavily contaminated areas of Belarus, only 20 percent of children are considered healthy,
Is the Fukushima nuclear plant breakdown worse than Chernobyl? | San Francisco Bay View, by Janette D. Sherman, M.D., 16 April 11“………Key to understanding effects is the difference between external and internal radiation. While external radiation, as from x-rays, neutron, gamma and cosmic rays, can harm and kill, internal radiation – alpha and beta particles – when absorbed by ingestion and inhalation release damaging energy in direct contact with tissue and cells. Continue reading
Hanover International Trade Fair heralds the post nuclear economy
“This is a market that keeps expanding,”…“Growth is in renewables.”
German Firms Move Toward Postnuclear Economy NYTimes.com By JUDY DEMPSEYApril 14, 2011 HANOVER, Germany — Josef Mehrer, a family-owned German company established more than 120 years ago, has survived by adapting with the times….In the early 1990s, the company placed a bet on the renewable energy sector Continue reading
Giant Siemens company may be the first to dump nuclear projects
The second thoughts at Siemens show how swiftly the accident at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan has upended the nuclear-energy revival that the company and its rivals had expected
Siemens Rethinks Nuclear Ambitions – WSJ.com* APRIL 15, 2011 By VANESSA FUHRMANS German engineering giant Siemens AG is considering whether to abandon its goal of becoming a major player in the atomic-power industry, according to people familiar with the matter, as Japan’s nuclear crisis continues to unfold. Continue reading
Public pays for “rare event” of a nuclear disaster
If TEPCO were to be held fully responsible for the entire long term costs of the disaster, they would probably go insolvent. In a capitalist system, this ought to happen, otherwise we perpetuate the endemic problem of short-term and sociopathic behaviour on the part of corporations who operate in the knowledge that they’ll never really be held accountable for the negative consequences of their operations…..
Probability and responsibility at Fukushima, Crikey, April 14, 2011 – , by John Hepburn In the long run, the least likely event will occur. Such is the nature of probability, and the nature of risk. Continue reading
Who should really be doing the risky cleanup work at Fukushima?
what if there was a kind of conscription, where the names of directors and shareholders were put into a hat, to be randomly selected for frontline roles helping to cool the reactor? What about staff at the banks that financed the plant? Should they be in the conscription pool as well?
Probability and responsibility at Fukushima, Crikey, April 14, 2011 – , by John Hepburn “……It seems to me that it is these workers who are actually the ones who are really taking the responsibility for Fukushima. They are the ones who will live with the consequences. And I think it is useful to ask, who SHOULD be doing this dangerous work? Continue reading
In-depth analysis of the Global Investment in Renewable Energy.
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5bcf5b/global_investment
Research and Markets: Global Investment in Renewable Energy , | Business Wire, 11 April 11, The world’s hunger for energy and power is growing at a rapid pace. However, conventional fuels such as natural gas and coal only have a limited supply to provide for our insatiable demand for energy. So what happens when these conventional sources of energy run out? The world is going to become more and more dependent on renewable energy resources. Therefore, foreseeing this near future event, governments around the world are already developing and investing in renewable energy sources. Continue reading
Japan’s nuclear industry’s future looking gloomy
The Japanese government last June highlighted exports of nuclear-power plants as a pillar of its economic growth strategy….All that now is in doubt. Interest in the companies’ hardware—and nuclear power in general—has fallen sharply as a result of the Fukushima disaster.
Japan’s Nuclear-Reactor Industry Faces Challenge – WSJ.com, Chester Dawson, 12 April 11, As Japanese manufacturers consider moving some operations offshore, another industry is facing yet another challenge……. Before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Japanese companies had hoped to export ¥20 trillion, or about $230 billion, a year in nuclear plants and other infrastructure-related business, according to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Continue reading
Nuclear ‘renaissance’ turning into nuclear stillbirth
Before Fukushima, a “nuclear renaissance” — as it was termed in the press — seemed well underway, except for this point: Nuclear power, as a total of world energy supply, has been in steady decline for the past decade.
Japan: The ‘nuclear renaissance’ that wasn’t | Finance Business News, CNN) 11 April 11, — A month after a devastating earthquake sent a wall of water across the Japanese landscape, the global terrain of the atomic power industry has been forever altered.The ongoing drama at the power plant in Fukushima — a name now ranked alongside Three Mile Island and Chernobyl as history’s worst nuclear accidents — has erased the momentum the nuclear industry has seen in recent years……
Before Fukushima, a “nuclear renaissance” — as it was termed in the press — seemed well underway, except for this point: Nuclear power, as a total of world energy supply, has been in steady decline for the past decade.
From 2000 to 2008, nuclear energy dropped from 16.7% to 13.5% of global energy production, according to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2009. The 2010-11 preliminary report, expected to be released Wednesday, will show the downward trend has continued, according to study author Mycle Schneider. While nuclear energy production has steadily increased, its piece of the global electricity pie is shrinking compared to traditional sources such as coal and alternatives like wind and solar power…
Japan: The ‘nuclear renaissance’ that wasn’t | Finance Business News
License application withdrawn for Diablo nuclear plant
PG&E withdraws license renewal application for San Luis Obispo nuclear plant, PolitiCal | Jack DolanApril 11, 2011 Pacific Gas & Electric asked federal regulators to hold off on granting them a new license to run the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in Central California until the company can complete a new round of seismic safety studies.
The company, which runs two reactors at the coastal site south of San Luis Obispo, cited “considerable public concern” about nuclear reactors situated in earthquake zones after a massive quake and tsunami crippled the Fuskushima Daichi plant in Japan last month…….In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey revealed that it had discovered a previously unknown fault less than a mile from Diablo Canyon. Another fault, about three miles offshore, had been discovered in the early 1970s. Geophysicists are concerned that movement of one fault could trigger an earthquake along the other, potentially compounding any damage to the nuclear plant…..PG&E withdraws license renewal application for San Luis Obispo nuclear plant | PolitiCal | Los Angeles Times
Dangerous nuclear work done by low paid contract workers
thousands of untrained, itinerant, temporary labourers who handle the bulk of the dangerous work at nuclear power plants here and in other countries,….
Japan’s two-tiered work force, with an elite class of highly paid employees at top companies and a subclass of labourers who work for less pay, have less job security and receive fewer benefits. Such labour practices have both endangered the health of these workers and undermined safety at Japan’s 55 nuclear reactors
Lured to work with radiation, Hiroko Tabuchi Interviews with past and current workers at Fukushima Daiichi and other plants in Japan paint a bleak picture of what happens on the nuclear circuit. Hiroko Tabuchi The Hindu 11 April 11, “ ….
Untrained labour Continue reading
Safety fears stop Turkey-Japan nuclear talks
Turkey, Japan suspend nuclear plant talks amid safety concerns, 11 April 2011, Monday / TODAY’S ZAMAN , İSTANBUL Turkey, Japan suspend nuclear plant talks amid safety concerns
1 This Month
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
-
Archives
- October 2026 (39)
- September 2026 (339)
- August 2026 (330)
- July 2026 (355)
- June 2026 (287)
- May 2026 (306)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (267)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
