nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

USA’s Aerial Radiological Survey – testing radiation levels in the atmosphere

Now You Know: That Thing in the Sky is Testing for Radiation, Seattlest 13 July 11  If you’ve recently spied a startlingly low-flying beast in the sky, don’t worry–it’s not Google trying to get a more recent photo of your back yard, and it’s not a search party looking for bad guys in your neighborhood. It’s just trying to get a read on how much radiation you might exposed to.

Yesterday, the Washington State Department of Health launched the Aerial Radiological Survey for King and Piece Counties. The survey, which is being conducted by a helicopter that flies in a grid pattern at about 300 feet above the ground, will last until July 28. It is being funded by the Department of Homeland Security, and can “detect the presence of radioactive materials that emit gamma radiation such as cesium and radioactive iodine.” The goal of the project is to establish a radiation baseline–that is, how much radiation each area is exposed to right now, in a time of normal levels.

The project, says the DOH, has been in the works since 2009. But, we imagine, since the Fukushima nuclear disaster across the pond in Japan, the information being gathered is more critical than they could have predicted. Having a baseline for what is “normal” will be massively helpful in the future, when determining what is dangerous, and what is abnormal….http://seattlest.com/2011/07/12/now_you_know_that_thing_in_the_sky.php

— 

July 13, 2011 Posted by | environment, technology, USA | 1 Comment

Wildfires in Nevada nuclear bomb test areas

Lightning sparked blazes at nuclear test areas, BY TREVON MILLIARD, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL,  Jul. 9, 2011, Wildland firefighters battled more than just the usual Nevada brush blaze this week. They had to contend with the possibility of radiation.

Lightning sparked two fires Tuesday within the Nevada National Security Site, the former nuclear test site 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. By Friday, the fires had consumed more than 6,000 acres, with the smaller blaze fully contained and the larger only 25 percent contained.

Crews have not only been watching winds and weather, but are monitoring radiation levels in the air, making certain the flames don’t stir up remnants of decades-old detonations. One of the fires is “several miles” from the location of an above-ground test, a safe distance according to Dante Pistone, a spokesman at the test site’s operations center…….

From 1951 until 1992, there were 928 nuclear tests involving 1,021 detonations at the test site. Of these, 100 were above ground and could be affected by disturbances such as wildfires…….http://www.lvrj.com/news/lightning-sparked-blazes-at-nuclear-test-areas-125260084.html?ref=084—

July 9, 2011 Posted by | environment, USA | Leave a comment

Uranium mining gets an unlikely enemy, American hunters!

Elk, not uranium, Salt Lake Tribune, John Pollard Co-chair, Utah Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, 7 July  Sportsmen from Utah and across the American West know about the prized elk hunting near the Grand Canyon. Field and Stream magazine named its “monster elk” among the nation’s top hunts on public lands.

These elk, and our hunting and fishing heritage, survive thanks to volunteer labor, an uncontaminated water supply and public access. Now we can add to that list Ken Salazar. The secretary of the Interior has signaled his intention to halt new uranium mining on these public lands near the Grand Canyon for another 20 years.

Let’s hope that is the case. Uranium can be found elsewhere; the “monster elk” cannot, http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/52146664-82/elk-public-uranium-canyon.html.csp

—

July 9, 2011 Posted by | environment, USA | Leave a comment

More radiation problems predicted for Japan

Specifically, Mr. Kosako said the government set a relatively high ceiling for acceptable radiation in school yards, so that only 17 schools exceeded that limit. If the government had set the lower ceiling he had advocated, thousands of schools would have required a full cleanup. With Mr. Kan’s ruling party struggling to gain parliamentary approval for a special budget, the costlier option didn’t get traction, he said.

“When taking these steps, the only concern for the current government is prolonging its own life,” Mr. Kosako said……

He said he is especially concerned with contamination of the ocean by the large amounts radioactive material from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactors dumped into surrounding waters.

Radiation Expert Predicts More Threats, WSJ By YUKA HAYASHI, 2 July 11, Tokyo

In his first media interview since resigning his post in protest in April, Toshiso Kosako, one of the country’s leading experts on radiation safety, said Mr. Kan’s government has been slow to test for dangers in the sea and to fish, and has understated certain radiation threats to minimize clean-up costs. In his post, Mr. Kosako’s role was to advise the prime minister on radiation safety.

And while there have been scattered reports of food contamination—of tea leaves and spinach, for example—Mr. Kosako predicted there will be broader discoveries later this year, especially as rice, Japan’s staple, is harvested. Continue reading →

July 2, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Radioactive tritium leaking from 75% of USA’s nuclear plants

 

 

The leaks sometimes go undiscovered for years, the AP found. Many of the pipes or tanks have been patched, and contaminated soil and water have been removed in some places. But leaks are often discovered later from other nearby piping, tanks or vaults. Mistakes and defective material have contributed to some leaks. However, corrosion – from decades of use and deterioration – is the main cause. And, safety engineers say, the rash of leaks suggest nuclear operators are hard put to maintain the decades-old systems.

Nearly 50 US Nuclear Power Plants Are Leaking Tritium, Somewhere around 75 per cent of US nuclear power plants have been found leaking the radioactive element Tritium into the ground to various extents. Corroded piping buried underground seems to be the main problem, and a problem that can affect groundwater if ignored., GIZMODO y Adrian Covert on June 22, 2011  Continue reading →

June 22, 2011 Posted by | environment, USA | Leave a comment

Oceans give a warning of the planet’s ecology in danger

These symptoms, moreover, could be the harbinger of wider disruptions in the interlocking web of biological and chemical interactions that scientists now call the Earth system….

 we are also probably the last generation that has enough time to deal with the problems,

Oceans in distress, mass extinctions. The Age, Marlowe Hood ,  June 21, 2011 Pollution and global warming are pushing the world’s oceans to the brink of a mass extinction of marine life unseen for tens of millions of years, a consortium of scientists warn.

Dying coral reefs, biodiversity ravaged by invasive species, expanding open-water “dead zones,” toxic algae blooms, the massive depletion of big fish stocks — all are accellerating, they said on Monday in a report compiled during an April meeting in Oxford of 27 of the world’s top ocean experts. Continue reading →

June 21, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, oceans | Leave a comment

At last, Grand Canyon to be protected from uranium mining

The moratorium will “reverse a century-long history of damage to the Grand Canyon from uranium mining,” 

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO BAN URANIUM MINING AT GRAND CANYON, FORBES, OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON Standing at the south rim of the Grand Canyon this morning, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the Obama administration will enact a 20-year ban on new uranium mining in the last remaining unprotected lands surrounding the place President Theodore Roosevelt called “the one great sight which every American should see.”

Mining companies had filed thousands of claims in recent years, but it is unlikely that any of the 3,500 mining claims in the area will receive federal permits when the 20-year ban goes into effect. In March, Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) issued permits to three uranium mines on the land – provoking an outcry by native peoples, hunters, hikers, tourism groups and environmental organizations. Continue reading →

June 21, 2011 Posted by | environment, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

New uranium mining on Grand Canyon stopped for 20 years

20-year ban planned on new Grand Canyon uranium mining, LA Times 20 June 11By Neela Banerjee, The Obama administration announces the proposed ban for 1 million acres of land bordering the Grand Canyon, an area where uranium mining claims have spiked 2,000% in the last seven years.

Mining claims around the Grand Canyon are among the thousands filed by companies along the borders of numerous national parks and wilderness areas.Critics say an outmoded 1872 law is driving the increase in claims in such sensitive places. The law allows corporations to stake out rights to federal lands for mining without a competitive bid and to extract resources without paying royalties.

The ban would strengthen a moratorium on new mining claims and activity, which the administration placed on Grand Canyon border lands two years ago in response to the jump in uranium stakes.Interior Department officials said the agency initially would extend the current moratorium another six months, until December, in order to complete the steps necessary to establish the 20-year ban. Mines currently in operation would not be affected.

Environmentalists, some lawmakers and water utilities serving metropolitan areas in the southwest, including Los Angeles, said the decision would protect the critical Colorado River watershed from possible contamination from uranium mining and would prevent the Grand Canyon panorama from being gradually industrialized…….http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/sc-dc-0621-grand-canyon-20110620,0,1196854.story

June 21, 2011 Posted by | environment, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Radiation travelling far and wide in Japan

Elevated radiation levels widespread in eastern Japan, Unsafe levels of radioactive contamination have been reported from multiple sources throughout vast areas of eastern Japan in locations far away from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Smart Planet By David Worthington | June 17, 2011 

Science Magazine cites data from the prefectural government of Iwate revealing radioactive cesium has traveled over 100 miles away from Fukushima. Pastoral grasses are contaminated beyond safety standards

Japanese scientists have begun to track background radiation levels independently, according to the magazine’s report. Levels are exceeding acceptable safety limits in many locations.

A “citizens’ map” of radiation levels is being maintained by a group of Japanese bloggers. Levels appear highest near Fukushima and toward its northwest. The vicinity around immediate southwest of the reactors shows elevated radiation, and a large pocket of contamination has settled further south in the outskirts of Tokyo……. http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/elevated-radiation-levels-widespread-in-eastern-japan/7160

June 19, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan, Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Japan’s govt changes evacuation system, as “radiation hot spots” are found

places that are outside the evacuation zones but are feared to have concentrations of radiation due to geographical or weather conditions will be designated as “specific evacuation recommendation spots.”…….

Govt refines evacuation system, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 18 June 11 The government has decided to adopt a new system that would recommend evacuation from areas affected by radiation from the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant not by municipality but on a house-by-house basis. Continue reading →

June 19, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Lingering radioactive disaster for Japan’s ‘no go’nuclear zone

The narrow strip of hilly coastal country between Fukushima City – a metropolis of 2 million – and the crippled Daiichi nuclear plant on Japan’s east coast, is a no-go zone occupied by an invisible enemy – potentially life-threatening radiation. It is in the ground, in the atmosphere and in the sewerage…..

‘Exploding clouds of radioactive steam and debris were swept by strong winds across a broad arch of countryside, including Iitate and Minamisoma. Mountain forests, streams, rice fields, school grounds and houses were contaminated

A long wait for solace in a ravaged land, Sydney Morning Herald, Russell Skelton, June 11, 2011 Almost 100 days since the earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan, the nation struggles to give hope to its citizens Continue reading →

June 13, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Continuing radiation emissions into sea and air, from Fukushima

 Highly toxic radioactive iodine, cesium, strontium, plutonium and other toxic man-made radionuclides have leaked unabated since March 12 into the ocean and atmosphere…..The mainstream media is not reporting on this.

Preface Nuclear Toxicity Syndrome, The Intel Hub, By Dr. Mark Sircus –  June 9th, 2011 Arnie Gundersen, widely-regarded to be the best nuclear analyst covering Japan’s Fukushima disaster, indicates that the situation on the ground at the crippled reactors remains precarious and at a minimum it will be years before it can be hoped to be truly contained. Continue reading →

June 10, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, Japan, oceans | 2 Comments

Japan may evacuate more towns, as radiation “hot spots” found

Japan Considers Evacuating More Towns WSJ By YUKA HAYASHI TOKYO, 9 June 11—Japanese government officials said they are considering evacuating more towns affected by radiation, after recent monitoring data showed new “hot spots” of elevated contamination farther away from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Continue reading →

June 10, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Anxiety and fear, as Japanese realise the radiation fallout effects of Fukushima


VIDEO  http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/08/6815027-japans-radiation-fallout-a-monster-you-cant-see?chromedomain=dailynightly  Japan’s radiation fallout ‘a monster you can’t see   World Blog Robert Bazell 8 June  “….as one gets closer to the reactor site, it’s easy to see how much human damage a radiation leak can cause.  As one engineer told me, “When nuclear reactors fail, they REALLY fail.”….. Levels in the air are two to 50 times the normal level. Radiation levels are high even in populous cities of 400,000 or more people – such as Koriyama and Fukushima City – each about 35 miles from the reactors. Most of the radiation escaped in the first few days of the accident and was deposited on the ground –in school yards, on people’s homes and in massive amounts in the farmlands that make up most of the area.  The government monitors the levels in the air at seven sites in Fukushima Prefecture, but radiation falls in particles, and a very high levels can remain in one place, while just a few feet away there’s very little.

No one knows what the long-term effects of the radiation will be. The health dangers of elevated but relatively low levels of radiation remains one of the biggest disputes in medicine. Residents worry about the effects on themselves, and on their children especially.  Farmers fear the crops they are planting this spring will never come to market after the fall harvest.  And everyone knows there is no end in sight to the crisis.  As Hideo Hanai, a cattle farmer, told me “It’s like being chased by a monster that you can’t see.” http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/08/6815027-japans-radiation-fallout-a-monster-you-cant-see?chromedomain=dailynightly

June 9, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Studying the effects of Fukushima radiation in the ocean

The scientists say the effects of radioactive contamination in ocean waters, sediments and fish is not well understood. The Japanese nuclear disaster is the worst release of radioactive materials into an ocean.

Scientific voyage to study Japanese nuclear impact on ocean, MiamiHerald.com, By RENEE SCHOOF, McClatchy Newspapers, WASHINGTON, 4 June 11 — A team of scientists will set out Saturday from Hawaii on a research expedition to study how radioactive contamination from the nuclear power plant crisis in Japan has spread in the Pacific Ocean and what effects it will have on marine life, the food chain and human health. Continue reading →

June 4, 2011 Posted by | Japan, oceans | 1 Comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »