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Japan about to censor Internet news on nuclear radiation?

On June 17, 2011 the Japanese Parliament passed “The Computer Network Monitoring Law” . Prof. Ibusuki of Seijo Univ. Law Dept. comments that “The Computer Network Monitoring Law will enable the police to monitor anyone’s internet activity without restriction.”…

The question is, will METI draw the line at “clarifying” erroneous information, or will it act to clamp down and suppress sources of information that it finds inconvenient?

New Japan Law Cleanses Bad Nuclear News, UK PROGRESSIVE,  | JULY 24, 2011  Friday, July 15, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (METI) – Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, opened a call for bids (tender) regarding the “Nuclear Power Safety Regulation Publicity Project”, for contractors to monitor blogs and tweets posted about nuclear power and radiation……. Continue reading →

July 24, 2011 Posted by | civil liberties, Japan | 4 Comments

Military Industrial Complex makes sure NASA uses nuclear, not solar, technology

There’s more to it. For many decades there has been a marriage of nuclear power and space at NASA.   The use of nuclear power on space missions has been heavily promoted by the U.S. Department of Energy and its predecessor agency, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and the many DOE (previously AEC) national laboratories including Los Alamos and Oak Ridge. This provides work for these government entities. Also, the manufacturers of nuclear-powered space devices–General Electric was a pioneers in this–have pushed their products. Further, NAS has sought to coordinate its activities with the U.S. military. The military for decades has planned for the deployment of nuclear-powered weapons in space.

What Could Truly End the Space Program: A Nuclear Disaster Overhead , OpED News, By Karl Grossman 21 July 11,“…..As to why the use of a plutonium-powered rover on Mars–considering that NASA has successfully used solar-powered rovers on Mars–the NASA Environmental Impact Statement says that a “solar-powered rover”would not be capable of operating over the full range of scientifically desirable landing site latitudes” on this mission. Continue reading →

July 21, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

USA’s radioactive rainwater from Fukushima nuclear disaster

High levels of radiation detected in Northwest rainwater, by GARY CHITTIM / KING 5 News, July 11, 2011, SEATTLE — A Seattle nuclear watchdog group is accusing the federal government of failing to keep the public informed of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

In the days following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the U.S. began monitoring radiation from Japan’s leaking nuclear power plants.

Most of the public attention went to the air monitoring which showed little or no radiation coming our way. But things were different on the rain water side.

“The level that was detected on March 24 was 41 times the drinking water standard,” said Gerry Pollet from Heart of America Northwest. He reviewed Iodine 131 numbers released by the Environmental Protection Agency last spring.

“Our government said no health levels, no health levels were exceeded.When in fact the rain water in the Northwest is reaching levels 130 times the drinking water standards,” said Pollet.Elevated rain water samples were collected in Portland, Olympia and Boise — which had the highest….http://www.king5.com/news/environment/High-levels-of-radiation-detected-in-Northwest-rainwater–125391598.html

July 12, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear power loses even more credibility as Japan’s crooked email scandal is exposed

There can be no doubt that the sending of the e-mails under the guise of ordinary residents of the prefecture was perpetrated systematically….Making the problem worse is the fact that the company at first tried to cover it up.

E-mail scandal could amplify distrust of N-power, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 11 July , If they thought they could use the deception to increase support for restarting nuclear reactors, the idea was extremely ill-advised.

This is in reference to the e-mail scandal involving Kyushu Electric Power Co., in which the utility sought to manipulate public opinion to favor reactivation of its Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture. Continue reading →

July 11, 2011 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Disgrace for Kyushu Electric, as deceitful nuclear power promotion exposed

part of the e-mail instruction read: “Send opinions and questions …which could win sympathy from the prefecture residents.”     It also said, “Use personal computers from home.”…

Kyushu Electric president to resign over pro-nuke e-mails, Asahi.com 8 July 11, Toshio Manabe, president of Kyushu Electric Power Co., said July 7 that he intends to resign after the utility was found to have instructed employees to manipulate public opinion on nuclear power.

Manabe said he will take responsibility for instructing employees to send “pro-nuclear power” e-mails to organizers of a public hearing broadcast on television in late June. Continue reading →

July 11, 2011 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | 1 Comment

Nuclear Regulatory Commission keeps the public in the dark about radioactive leaks

NRC, nuke industry criticized for skirting public . The Sacramento Bee, 10 July 11, MONTPELIER, Vt. — When a nuclear watchdog group asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a study on leaks of radioactive water at the Vermont Yankee plant, it was told the NRC had seen the report but had never officially taken custody of it – so it wasn’t public. By DAVE GRAM, Associated Press

Critics say it’s a style of communication between regulator and regulated that cuts out the public and even state regulators – trying to track leaks of tritium, a radioactive form of water linked with cancer when ingested in high amounts.

An NRC spokeswoman confirmed the agency routinely sees industry reports that it does not share on its public web site. Raymond Shadis of the New England Coalition said the result is an agency making regulatory decisions based on information the public doesn’t get to see…..

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/10/3759812/nrc-nuke-industry-criticized-for.html

July 10, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Overview of nuclear problems – Britain, Japan ,France, USA

 

 

The Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant is still surrounded by floodwaters. Because there is so little information being released, it is difficult to assess the situation….

Nuclear Problems In Britain, Japan, France and the U.S.  WASHINGTON’S BLOG,  JULY 8, 2011

UK

The British government has finally admitted widespread contamination from the Sellafield plant.

The Guardian reports:

Radioactive pollution from the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria has led to children’s teeth across Britain being contaminated with plutonium.

The Government has admitted for the first time that Sellafield ‘is a source of plutonium contamination’ across the country. Public Health Minister Melanie Johnson has revealed that a study funded by the Department of Health discovered that the closer a child lived to Sellafield, the higher the levels of plutonium found in their teeth…. Continue reading →

July 9, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Allegations of corruption against Pakistan’s nuclear scientist Khan

Pakistani nuclear scientist Khan accused of graft, The National, Tom Hussain, Jul 9, 2011 ISLAMABAD  The disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, allegedly embezzled money from the country’s clandestine programme, and sought to sabotage technology acquisition deals for personal financial interest, a former chief diplomat said.

“He siphoned off a lot of money from every deal,” said Akram Zaki, the secretary general to Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs from 1992 to 1993, and a former senator.

“And the deals in which he didn’t get his finger, he tried to scuttle … even if they were national-interest [projects].”

His comments, in a recent interview with The National, were made before a Washington Post report on Thursday saying Mr Khan had leaked 1998 documents purporting to show Pakistani generals accepted more than $3.5 million (Dh12.9m) in bribes to allow the export of nuclear weapons technology to North Korea.

Mr Khan, the founding father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, was arrested in December 2003 after a shipment of nuclear weapons-making equipment, bound for Libya, was seized off the coast of Egypt. He was pardoned after making a televised apology to Pakistanis, but kept under house arrest until 2009.

International investigators and Pakistani officials have said Mr Khan had illegally exported some 200 uranium enrichment centrifuges to Iran and North Korea…….http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/south-asia/pakistani-nuclear-scientist-khan-accused-of-graft.

July 9, 2011 Posted by | Pakistan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Atomic Energy Society of Japan critical of govt’s lack of transparency on Fukushima

Japan nuclear group says vital info still has not been released, such as temperatures of the molten nuclear fuel and lower section of pressure vessels, ENE News July 8th, 2011 , Nuclear accident disclosure, Japan Times, July 8, 2011:

The Atomic Energy Society of Japan […] issued a statement criticizing the government, Tokyo Electric Power Co. and other related institutions for delays and insufficiency in their disclosure of information concerning the accidents at Tepco’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant […]

Since the Atomic Energy Society of Japan is regarded as close to Japan’s nuclear power establishment, the criticism bears importance all the more. […]

The following point is especially important. The society notes that there is the possibility that the damage to people’s health from radiation exposure has increased because the government, Tepco and other related institutions did not properly disclose information on the status of the nuclear accidents and the environmental contamination by radioactive substances. […]

The society notes that such vital information as the temperature of the lower section of the pressure vessels, the volume and temperature of the coolant water in the lower part of the pressure vessels, and the temperature of the molten nuclear fuel have yet to be released. […]http://enenews.com/japan-nuclear-group-vital-info-released-temperatures-molten-nuclear-fuel-lower-section-pressure-vessels

July 8, 2011 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Emails reveal how UK govt and nuclear industry conspired to downplay Fukushima disaster

“There is  a risk that this event could impact on the global industry.  We need to ensure that the anti nuclear chaps and chapesses do not gain ground on this. we need to occupy the territory and hold it… We need to get into context – show that the events in Japan…. are all part of the safety processes of this 1960s reactor. We also need to pull out the additional safety of Gen III…

Should also highlight and show that this is what has happened even with the 1960s reactor in Japan, radiation release has been controlled – the reactor has been protected.

We really need to show the safety of nuclear. We need to quash any stories trying to compare this to Chernobyl…    We do not want to be on the back foot with this. People at new build sites are likely to be following closely…. The mitigation with nuclear is so high that the risk is minimal – as demonstrated in Japan”    

  UK  government and nuclear industry email correspondence after the Fukushima accident, guardian.co.uk, 30 June 2011

Emails released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the level of coordination between government departments and the nuclear industry during the Fukushima crisis.

July 2, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

Doctor ejected from airport for refusing radiation scanning

Airport Boots Doctor for Refusing Radiation Assault, (NEWSER) 2 July 11– An eye specialist on his way to treat child patients in Switzerland was escorted out of Britain’s Manchester airport by police after refusing a full-body scan. Tony Aguirre declined the scan on both medical and ethical grounds, calling the technology a “radiation assault,” reports the Daily Mail. Fliers at the three British airports that have installed the scanners are not offered the dreaded “pat-down” option offered to American travelers who refuse the scan.

“X-rays are known to cause cancer and I think somebody will get cancer from this body scanner whether it’s me or someone else,” the doctor told officials. The “no scan, no fly” rule “raises the suspicion that perhaps it’s more expensive to do a manual search and that’s why they are forced to go through an X-ray,” he says. The doctor eventually flew to Switzerland from Liverpool airport, which does not have the scanners…..http://www.newser.com/story/122386/airport-boots-doctor-for-refusing-radiation-assault.html
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July 2, 2011 Posted by | civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

US govt part of the system that rubber stamps nuclear plant relicensing

AP IMPACT: NRC and industry rewrite nuke history

By JEFF DONN,  AJC NewsThe Associated Press, 29 June 11 ROCKVILLE, Md. — When commercial nuclear power was getting its start in the 1960s and 1970s, industry and regulators stated unequivocally that reactors were designed only to operate for 40 years. Now they tell another story — insisting that the units were built with no inherent life span, and can run for up to a century, an Associated Press investigation shows.

By rewriting history, plant owners are making it easier to extend the lives of dozens of reactors in a relicensing process that resembles nothing more than an elaborate rubber stamp.

As part of a yearlong investigation of aging issues at the nation’s nuclear power plants, the AP found that the relicensing process often lacks fully independent safety reviews. Records show that paperwork of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sometimes matches word-for-word the language used in a plant operator’s application.

Also, the relicensing process relies heavily on such paperwork, with very little onsite inspection and verification.

And under relicensing rules, tighter standards are not required to compensate for decades of wear and tear.

So far, 66 of 104 reactors have been granted license renewals. Most of the 20-year extensions have been granted with scant public attention. And the NRC has yet to reject a single application to extend an original license. The process has been so routine that many in the industry are already planning for additional license extensions, which could push the plants to operate for 80 years, and then 100………………………………NUCLEAR LIFE RENEWED

Relicensing is a lucrative deal for operators. By the end of their original licenses, reactors are largely paid for. When they’re operating, they’re producing profits. They generate a fifth of the country’s electricity.

…..INDUSTRY, GOVERNMENT AS PARTNERS

Despite the aging problems, relicensing rules prohibits any overall safety review of the entire operation. More conservative safety margins are not required in anticipation of higher failure rates in old plants, regulators acknowledge.

The approach has turned relicensing reviews into routine approvals……..

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/ap-impact-nrc-and-990073.html

June 28, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Claims that USA govt covering up crisis at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant

A shocking report prepared by Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAAE) on information provided to them by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states that the Obama regime has ordered a “total and complete” news blackout relating to any information regarding the near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant located in Nebraska.

US Orders News Blackout Over Crippled Nebraska Nuclear Plant, Salem-News.com,18 June 11 Report notes the “cover-up” of this nuclear disaster by President Obama is based on his “fantasy” of creating so-called green jobs which he (strangely) includes nuclear power into. …….they built this nuclear power plant in the flood plane of the Missouri River, for God’s sake! It reminds us that there are questions over whether nuclear power developers have souls and they don’t even bother making these places on safe high ground. Continue reading →

June 19, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | 1 Comment

The smell of uranium corruption in Virginia lawmakers’ acceptance of extravagant travel gifts

The pitch, in a word, stinks. If state legislators want to educate themselves about uranium mining, that’s commendable. But signing up for $10,000 or more in free travel expenses, although allowable under Virginia law, raises big questions about their integrity…...

A junket powered by uranium, Virginia Uranium Inc., a tiny Chatham-based firm that wants to mine uranium in south central Virginia near Gretna, is flying more than a dozen state legislators to France to drum up momentum to end the state’s ban on uranium mining in next year’s General Assembly.Washington Post 17 June 11By  

The lobbying effort includes all-expenses paid and three days off in Paris so the legislators can visit a closed uranium mine in the city of Bessines in western France, where uranium was extracted for a half a century until the late 1990s. Continue reading →

June 19, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Japan’s’:Nuclear Power Village a cosy closed community of industrialists and govt officials

The nuclear power village is the nickname for a tight circle of government entities, utilities, manufacturers and others involved in the promotion of nuclear power who believe nuclear plants are safe and reject out of hand any opposing views….

But destroying the nuclear village is no easy task. The community involves heavy back-scratching and complex personnel relationships.

NUCLEAR CRISIS: HOW IT HAPPENED / ‘Nuclear power village’ a cozy, closed community, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 16 June 11 Three months have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake triggered a nuclear crisis that shows little sign of ending anytime soon. Continue reading →

June 16, 2011 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

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