Keep Virginia free of the stigma of uranium mining, say legislators
River commission wants uranium ban to remain http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/27/4761642/river-commission-wants-uranium.html#storylink=cpy The Associated Press, Aug. 27, 2012, BOYDTON, Va. –– A commission composed of legislators from Virginia and North Carolina is urging Virginia to keep a 30-year ban on uranium mining in place.
The resolution was approved Monday by the Roanoke River Basin Bi-State Commission, an advisory panel that makes recommendations to government officials on the use and stewardship of the Roanoke River Basin.
Andrew Lester of the Roanoke River Basin Association praised the commission, saying the “stigma” of uranium mining would be harmful to the region’s agricultural and tourism industry in Southside Virginia.
Virginia Uranium Inc. is seeking to end the ban so it can mine one of the richest deposits of the radioactive ore in the world. ..
Canada’s Liberal Party being secretive about plans for uranium mining in Quebec
Uranium, asbestos, metros and a boat colour campaign quarrels http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/uranium-asbestos-metros-and-a-boat-colour-campaign-quarrels-1.934969#ixzz259lPPD00 Aug. 29, 2012 MONTREAL – The three major parties were out hustling for votes on day 29 of the election campaign, but it was one of the smaller groups that was on the attack Wednesday.
The tiny Quebec Solidaire was on the offensive against the Liberals’ Northern Plan, which, it says, involves inadequately disclosed plans to mine uranium.
QS co-spokesman and Mercier MNA Amir Khadir said that the extension of Highway 167, financed mostly by the province, is aimed at helping extract and transport uranium, as is a railroad to Kuujjuaq, partially funded by the Caisse de depot.
Khadir argued that the Liberals have presented the Northern Plan as a method to mine gold and diamonds as well as other safer goods…..
Iran’s leader says Iran committed to nuclear weapons free Middle East
Iran committed to Mideast free of nuclear weapons, Leader tells NAM, Tehran Times, 30 Aug 12, TEHRAN – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei insisted on Thursday that Iran has never been seeking to produce nuclear weapons. However, the Leader said Iran “will never give up” its right to a peaceful use of nuclear energy.
“I stress that the Islamic Republic has never been after nuclear weapons and that it will never give up the right of its people to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,” the Leader said in an inaugural speech to the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran.
The Leader added, “The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the use of nuclear, chemical and similar weapons as a great and unforgivable sin. We proposed the idea of ‘Middle East free of nuclear weapons’ and we are committed to it.”
Elsewhere in his speech the Leader advised the United States to stop supporting Israel, saying “this regime has created countless problems” for the U.S….
http://tehrantimes.com/politics/101048-iran-committed-to-mideast-free-of-nuclear-weapons-leader-tells-nam
Notorious A Q Khan to enter Pakistan politics
Pakistani scientist accused of leaking nuclear secrets starts political movement MUNIR AHMED ISLAMABAD, Globe and Mail, Pakistan — The Associated Press , Aug. 29 2012 The man who made Pakistan into a nuclear power and later admitted to leaking atomic secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya is going into politics, aiming to shake up the country ahead of national elections. Continue reading
Report from Japan’s nuclear inquiry panel avoids policy recommendations
Panel avoids tough nuclear power questions / Report refrains from policy suggestions; some members say they needed more time for discussions Daily Yomuiri, Ryosuke Yamauchi and Hironori Kanashima / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers, 30 Aug 12,
A summary report by a government panel of experts that analyzed recent public polls on future nuclear power dependency refrained from making concrete suggestions on a future energy policy, but said most people want to move away from nuclear power. Continue reading
A new breed of anti nuclear protestors in Japan
Anti-nuclear protests signal new activism in Japan Knox News, MARI YAMAGUCHI – Associated Press August 26, 2012 TOKYO (AP) — This is Japan’s summer of discontent. Tens of thousands of protesters — the largest demonstrations the country has seen in decades — descend on Tokyo every Friday evening to shout anti-nuclear slogans at the prime minister’s office. Many have never protested publicly before.
The government’s much-criticized handling of the Fukushima nuclear crisis has spawned a new breed of protesters in Japan. Drawn from the ranks of ordinary citizens rather than
activists, they are a manifestation of a broader dissatisfaction with government and could create pressure for change in a political system that has long resisted it.
What started as relatively small protests in April has swollen rapidly since the government decided to restart two of Japan’s nuclear reactors in June, despite lingering safety fears after the meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant triggered by the March 2011 earthquake
and tsunami. Continue reading
42% of Japan’s lawmakers want nuclear power ended by 2030
ASAHI SURVEY: 42% of Diet members want end to nuclear power August 26, 2012 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN Forty-two percent of Diet members favor a government proposal for abandoning nuclear energy by 2030, showing growing support for a drastic policy shift following last year’s nuclear disaster, an Asahi Shimbun survey found. Continue reading
Prominent Japanese spearhead a Bill to abolish nuclear power
Oe, Sakamoto lead charge for no-reactor bill http://www.japantimes.co.jp text/nn20120824a5.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+japantimes+(The+Japan+Times:+All+Stories) Kyodo
A group led by Nobel literature laureate Kenzaburo Oe, Academy Award-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and other noted celebrities has launched a nationwide network seeking passage of a bill to abolish all nuclear power plants in Japan.
“We must bring an end to nuclear power plants if humankind is to continue living in the next century,” Oe said during a news conference Wednesday in Tokyo. “By speaking out
loud, we can have the bill passed.”
Group members said they want to see the bill that they have compiled
passed as soon as possible before 2025. Oe and Sakamoto have been leading rallies against nuclear power, with the most recent protest on July 16 drawing what organizers said was an estimated 170,000 people to Yoyogi Park.
Other members of the group include Kenji Utsunomiya, former president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, and Tatsuya Murakami, the mayor of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, where the country’s first nuclear reactor was set up in 1957.
In its bill, the group calls nuclear power an extremely fragile system in terms of security, noting the devastating damage that accidents can cause and that no safe method of disposing of nuclear waste has been established.
The group aims to prohibit construction of new nuclear plants and expansion of existing ones, and to abolish all nuclear plants between 2020 and 2025. It also seeks a ban on operation of reactors that are more than 40 years old, as well as a halt to the reprocessing of spent fuel.
Conservatives and right wingers now part of Japan’s anti nuclear movement
“Some in the very right wing of conservative thinkers have become anti-nuclear after 3/11,”.. ”The Friday protests also have some right-wingers. It’s not just lefties,”
“Morality and economic growth are possible without nuclear power,” he concludes.
Nationatalist Japan manga author joins anti-nuclear fight Asahi Shimbun, 25 Aug 12, Japan’s anti-nuclear movement has a new supporter: bestselling nationalist “manga” author Yoshinori Kobayashi, known for his controversial defense of Tokyo’s wartime aggression, has joined the growing ranks of those who want the country to end its reliance on atomic power in the wake of the Fukushima crisis.
The attack from an unexpected quarter comes as Japan tries to decide the role nuclear energy should play in a new national energy portfolio amid growing pressure from voters worried about safety after last year’s Fukushima atomic disaster, the world’s worst in a quarter of a century. Continue reading
The Koodankulam nuclear plant a national issue in India
Koodankulam agitation is national issue http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2012/08/24/koodankulam-agitation-is-national-issue/ India Punchline By M K Bhadrakumar – August 24, 2012 While the attention of the political class is trained on the ‘Coalgate’ scam, it has been left to a Western news agency to highlight that the Comptroller and Auditor General issued yet another report Wednesday criticising the functioning of India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board [AERB] for being an appendage of the government without a mind of its own or a mandate or independent authority and, dismally enough, lacking in a radiation safety policy as such.
The agitation that mushroomed in faraway Koodankulam has reached the Indian capital and the involvement of high-profile activists such as Aruna Roy all but ensures that this issue is not going to go away. The government won’t have the option now to resuscitate the old allegation that the Koodankulam agitators are ‘foreign agents’. The national mood is becoming increasingly receptive to the cause of the agitators. Lest it is forgotten, Roy is a member of the National Advisory Council and an experienced social activist who is able to gauge the national mood.India’s nuclear power projects grinding to a halt
NTPC puts nuclear power projects on hold, Hindu Business Line, RAHULWADKEMUMBAI,Mumbai, AUG. 22: NTPC has put its plans to set up nuclear power projects, jointly with Nuclear Power Corporation of India, on the backburner. The company has also begun to relocate employees assigned for the projects due to uncertainty in the nuclear power arena.
Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) is facing severe delays in setting up plants and NTPC is actually considering exiting the joint venture, said a senior NTPC official, requesting anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue.
Another NTPC official, who also did not wish to be named, said around 40 engineers from NPCIL’s Mumbai office, who were being trained to build nuclear plants, have been pulled out and relocated to NTPC’s other thermal power plants. In all, 74 engineers were stationed across the country.
The official said the rest would be withdrawn in phases. Engineers, who were relocated out of Mumbai, were being trained in plant designing, while those stationed at other plant sites were involved in the commissioning of the under-construction plants. Nuclear projects country-wide have been facing massive opposition. While considerations revolve around the safety of the people living near the plant, NPCIL has also been facing a delay in acquisition of land, all of which have
adversely impacted the project.
In the last two years, the engineers had voiced their concerns about their career and lack of professional growth in the joint venture with the senior-most personnel of NTPC. Prolonged disruption of work at the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu, following protests from anti-nuclear campaigners, had also affected the morale of the engineers. Taking all these factors into consideration they are being withdrawn, the official added….. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article3808172.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home
Zero nuclear energy the favoured choice for Japanese
Japan Citizens Favor Zero Nuclear In Debate Over Energy Options Bloomberg, By Tsuyoshi Inajima and Yuji Okada – Aug 21, 2012 Japan ’s public wants the government to phase out nuclear power according to the results of town hall-like forums to give the public a say in the debate on the nation’s energy supply post-Fukushima.
The forums brought together 286 citizens for two days in early August in Tokyo from thousands surveyed by phone. They were broken into smaller groups to discuss and vote on three energy supply options the government proposed: Zero nuclear, 15 percent nuclear, and 20 percent to 25 percent nuclear.
A total 47 percent opted for zero nuclear, 16 percent favored the nuclear ratio at 15 percent, while 13 percent endorsed 20-25 percent, according to a report by Yasunori Sone , a professor of political science at Keio University and the head of the group that organized the survey for the government. The remainder chose more than one option, said Sone’s report.
The poll results “indicate Japanese citizens are prepared for a policy shift to green energy from nuclear power and consequent lifestyle changes and cost burdens,” according to the report….. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-22/japan-finds-47-of-citizens-support-zero-nuclear-power-option.html
British government’s PR for the nuclear industry – playing down Fukushima risk
The Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith, who sits on the Commons environmental audit committee, condemned the extent of co-ordination between the government and nuclear companies that the emails appear to reveal.
“The government has no business doing PR for the industry and it would be appalling if its departments have played down the impact of Fukushima,” he said.
Revealed: British government’s plan to play down Fukushima Internal emails seen by Guardian show PR campaign was launched to protect UK nuclear plans after tsunami in Japan • Read the emails here Guardian UK, 19 Aug 12,
British government officials approached nuclear companies to draw up a co-ordinated public relations strategy to play down the Fukushimanuclear accident just two days after the earthquake and tsunami in Japanand before the extent of the radiation leak was known. Continue reading
Greens Party in Japan getting organised for elections
Japan Greens hope to ride anti-nuclear wave to parliament, Business Recorder, August 15, 2012 TAKEHIKO KAMBAYASAHI With anti-nuclear sentiment riding high in Japan, a former citizens’ group is trying to make the shift to a full-fledged political party. Greens Japan in late July said it would field candidates in the next elections on an environmental platform that includes weaning the country off nuclear energy. It hopes to become the first officially recognised national-level green political party. Continue reading
Nuclear phaseout a key election policy for Japan’s ruling party
62.6 percent opposed the use of nuclear energy, giving scores between zero and 4, with 17.8 percent saying they think Japan should idle all nuclear plants immediately.
DPJ vow for next poll: a nuclear phaseout, Japan Times 14 Aug 12, Role for Kan urged to draft pre-election energy goals Kyodo Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s party is arranging to make a nuclear phaseout a key policy pledge in the next general election, sources in the Democratic Party of Japan said.
The DPJ’s plan comes amid widespread opposition to the continued use of nuclear energy. Continue reading
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