CT scan service shut following radiation leak
The hospital has closed its services upon the recommendation of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology as a monitoring team from NAST found higher level of radiation in areas around the CT scan room. It has suggested that the hospital adopt protection measures against radiation leakage. The hospital had fixed a new CT scan machine six months ago.
Immediate exposure to high level of radiation will harm blood and skin cells. Effect of radiation on gonads, one of the reproductive organs in a male or female can lead to birth defects in babies, said Dan Bahadur Karki, president of Nepal Radiologist Association.
Skin burns can occur when exposed to higher level of radiation. A long term exposure to radiation could result in cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The early symptoms of sickness from radiation are nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Radiation leakages can occur in hospitals due to defects in X-ray machines or when proper shielding of the X-ray room is not maintained. To prevent radiation leakage lead shielding is necessary, said Buddha R Shah, a senior scientist at Physical Science Laboratory, Faculty of Science, NAST.
The hospital is unsure of resuming the services any time soon as it lacks enough budget for repair and maintenance of the CT scan room. “It costs around 20-25 lakh to maintain the room. We don’t have enough budget. It takes two to three months for any maintenance work at the hospital incurring a cost of above Rs five lakh as the hospital administration has to go through a tender process,” said Kedar Century, director at the hospital………https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/ct-scan-service-shut-following-radiation-leak/
China’s new solar thermal power plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 350,000 metric tonnes yearly
Energy Live News 21st June 2019 China’s first 100MW molten salt solar thermal power plant has
successfully hit its maximum power levels. Built by Beijing Shouhang IHW
Resources Saving Technology, the three billion yuan (£345m) project in
Dunhuang uses 12,000 mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a receiver, which
is then used to heat the molten salt. It is capable of generating 390
million kWh of clean power each year, enough to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions by 350,000 metric tonnes – engineers at the facility say it has
already reached or exceeded its designed values.
Why India’s Hypersonic Missile Could Trigger A Nuclear War
New missile, new threats? National Interest, by Michael Peck, 21 June 19 1ndia’s test of a hypersonic missile signifies more than the advance of Indian weapons technology.
It also is one step closer to triggering a nuclear war with Pakistan.
Ironically, the first launch of the Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle, or HSTDV, was a failure. The HSTDV, which is shaped almost like a sailing ship, is supposed to be a testbed for developing future hypersonic weapons such as cruise missiles. It is launched atop an Agni 1, an Indian ballistic missile…….
While that doesn’t necessarily mean the HSTDV has a problem, it’s not good news for India’s strategic nuclear deterrent. “The Agni 1 is a nuclear-capable missile that is in service with the strategic forces and has been successfully tested several times in the past,” noted the Economic Times. “Its failure to reach the desired altitude is a reason for concern and is being studied.”
Yet unproven or not, the existence of an Indian hypersonic project is an ominous step for India’s cold war with its neighbor Pakistan. Hypersonic missiles—defined as rockets with a velocity of at least Mach 5, though Russia and America are developing Mach 20 weapons—are dangerous because of their speed. Though the weapons have yet to be tested in combat, the U.S. military is concerned that Russian and Chinese hypersonic weapons may travel so fast that they can’t be intercepted. At the tactical level, this means that aircraft carriers and air bases could be destroyed by a salvo of missiles.
But on the strategic level, hypersonic weapons are truly frightening. A hypersonic missile can deliver a nuclear warhead more quickly than a ballistic missile. Or, a hypersonic missile armed with a conventional warhead might be able to destroy an opponent’s nuclear missiles in a first strike, but without the attacker having to resort to nuclear weapons.
Whether or not such a strike would be successful, or whether anyone would be confident enough to risk a nuclear exchange by using hypersonics, isn’t the point. Unlike the United States versus Russia and China, whose homelands are separated by thousands of miles of ocean, the distance between New Delhi and Islamabad is just over 400 miles. A Mach 5 or 10 weapon missile launched from India or Pakistan could hit its target in minutes (Russia’s Avangard hypersonic glider reportedly has a speed of Mach 20, with the United States working on a weapon equally as fast).
No Damages to Nuclear Plants after 6.8 Magnitude Earthquake ‘according’ to TEPCO and Trade Ministry
The world’s societies on the brink of unmanageable climate chaos
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No System of Government Designed by Human Beings Can Survive What the Climate Crisis Will Bring https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a28102591/india-drought-chennai-climate-change-five-years-transform/, The window to prevent the worst of it is closing. Fast. BY CHARLES P. PIERCE, JUN 19, 2019 It is a long held belief here in the shebeen that, thanks to those clever Chinese climate hoaxsters, the next world wars are going to be fought not over oil, but over water. This is especially true in places like India, which is currently in the middle of a murderous heat wave in which temperatures regularly top out at 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and where hugely populated cities are running out of water.
From the BBC: Residents have had to stand in line for hours to get water from government tanks, and restaurants have closed due to the lack of water. “Only rain can save Chennai from this situation,” an official told BBC Tamil. The city, which, according to the 2011 census, is India’s sixth largest, has been in the grip of a severe water shortage for weeks now. As the reservoirs started to run dry, many hotels and restaurants shut down temporarily. The Chennai metro has turned off air conditioning in the stations, while offices have asked staff to work from home in a bid to conserve water.. The water crisis has also meant that most of the city has to depend solely on Chennai’s water department, which has been distributing water through government trucks across neighborhoods. “The destruction has just begun,” an official said. “If the rain fails us this year too, we are totally destroyed.” And, as the Times of London reports, the combination of heat and drought not only is killing people, but also is emptying villages in the northern part of India. (Gee, I wonder where everyone will go and how welcome they’ll be when they get there?) And things among the people who have stayed so far are getting ugly. In the worst-hit areas many villages starved of water have been abandoned until the arrival of the monsoon brings relief, after weeks of temperatures topping 50 degrees. In the northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan fighting has broken out over scarce water supplies, with police deployed to protect water trucks and wells. People have the misapprehension that we can recover from this state just by reducing carbon emissions, Anderson said in an appearance at the University of Chicago. Recovery is all but impossible, he argued, without a World War II-style transformation of industry—an acceleration of the effort to halt carbon pollution and remove it from the atmosphere, and a new effort to reflect sunlight away from the earth’s poles. This has to be done, Anderson added, within the next five years. “The chance that there will be any permanent ice left in the Arctic after 2022 is essentially zero,” Anderson said, with 75 to 80 percent of permanent ice having melted already in the last 35 years. This is a part of the new normal, and it’s coming soon to a theater near you. But, not to worry. According to this guy, if we don’t turn things around on those clever Chinese climate hoaxsters in the next half-decade, we’re all screwed anyway. From those noted tree-hugging libs at Forbes: “We have exquisite information about what that state is, because we have a paleo record going back millions of years, when the earth had no ice at either pole. There was almost no temperature difference between the equator and the pole,” said James Anderson, a Harvard University professor of atmospheric chemistry best known for establishing that chlorofluorocarbons were damaging the Ozone Layer. “The ocean was running almost 10ºC warmer all the way to the bottom than it is today,” Anderson said of this once-and-future climate, “and the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere would have meant that storm systems would be violent in the extreme, because water vapor, which is an exponential function of water temperature, is the gasoline that fuels the frequency and intensity of storm systems.”… No system of government devised by human beings can withstand what’s coming, any more than overbuilt coastal enclaves can. |
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Devastating future for Himalayan region, as melting of glaciers has doubled since year 2000
Himalayan glacier melting doubled since 2000, spy satellites show, Ice losses indicate ‘devastating’ future for region and 1 billion people who depend on it for water, Guardian, Damian Carrington Environment editor, @dpcarrington
Thu 20 Jun 2019 The melting of Himalayan glaciers has doubled since the turn of the century, with more than a quarter of all ice lost over the last four decades, scientists have revealed. The accelerating losses indicate a “devastating” future for the region, upon which a billion people depend for regular water.
The scientists combined declassified US spy satellite images from the mid-1970s with modern satellite data to create the first detailed, four-decade record of ice along the 2,000km (1,200-mile) mountain chain.
The analysis shows that 8bn tonnes of ice are being lost every year and not replaced by snow, with the lower level glaciers shrinking in height by 5 meters annually. The study shows that only global heating caused by human activities can explain the heavy melting. In previous work, local weather and the impact of air pollution had complicated the picture……. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/19/himalayan-glacier-melting-doubled-since-2000-scientists-reveal
Allegations that a former employee has leaked nuclear information from South Korean firm to UAE and other countries
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Korea’s nuclear reactor technologies allegedly leaked to UAE, US By Shin Ji-hye, Jun 18, 2019 – The South Korean government is reportedly looking into allegations of leaks of key nuclear reactor technologies to other countries. According to multiple local news reports Tuesday, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission and the National Intelligence Service are verifying the authenticity of a tipoff delivered to the NSSC through a nuclear safety ombudsman system.
Based on the tipoff, one retiree from state-run nuclear operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power has allegedly leaked “critical” nuclear reactor technologies to the US and the United Arab Emirates. The retiree had reportedly moved to the UAE’s Nawah Energy Company in 2015. He is alleged to have provided blueprints, production technologies and detailed documents of an APR-1400, an advanced pressurized water nuclear reactor designed by the Korea Electric Power Corp., according to the reports. ….http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190618000628 |
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Chinese President Xi to North Korea prior to G20 conference
Japan: 6.8 magnitude earthquake – bungled report causes unnecessary nuclear scare
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QUAKE SHOCK Japan earthquake – Tsunami warning lifted after 6.8-magnitude tremor strikes near nuclear power plant and sparks power cuts, The Sun By Jon Lockett18 Jun 2019 JAPAN has lifted an emergency tsunami warning after a 6.8-magnitude undersea earthquake struck near a huge nuclear power plant.Thousands of families lost electrical power and bullet train services were suspended on Tuesday, but there were no reports of serious injuries or damage.
Initial reports of waves crashing against the shore held chilling echoes of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster – sparked just 80 miles away after it was hit by monster waves. Tsunami warnings were issued for the Yamagata, Niigata and Ishikawa regions. But only a minor swelling of the sea was observed in several cities about half an hour after the earthquake struck, 53 miles northeast of the island of Honshu……. Bullet train service was suspended in parts of the region because of power outages and for safety checks. About 9,000 households in Yamagata and Niigata lost power, according to Tohoku Electric Power Co. All seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata were off line and no abnormalities were reported. Two other nuclear power plants in the affected region were also intact, according to the Nuclear Regulation Authority…….https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9318581/japan-earthquake-tsunami-warning/ |
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Get your fax right: Bungling officials spark Japan nuclear scare, https://phys.org/news/2019-06-bungling-japan-nuclear.html Bungling Japanese officials sparked a nuclear scare after a violent, late-night earthquake by ticking the wrong box on a fax form—inadvertently alerting authorities to a potential accident.
Employees of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), operator of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata—where the 6.4-magnitude quake struck—faxed a message to local authoritiesseeking to allay any fears of damage.
But TEPCO workers accidentally ticked the wrong box on the form, mistakenly indicating there was an abnormality at the plant rather than there was no problem.
One official filled out the form, and it was checked by a colleague before being sent.
Many Japanese government departments and companies still rely on fax machines for communication.
TEPCO’s Tokyo headquarters noticed the mistake, and a correction was published 17 minutes after the original release, the firm’s Tokyo-based spokesman told AFP.
Kashiwazaki city mayor Masahiro Sakurai saw the incorrectly filled-out form and immediately directed staff to check what was happening.
The mayor hit out at TEPCO, which also operated the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant—site of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl—when an earthquake and tsunami struck in 2011.
“When a real earthquake is happening, not a drill, this is a massive error,” Sakurai told local reporters, according to the Mainichi Shimbun daily.
“It is extremely poor on their part to make errors in the most important and basic information at a time of crisis,” he said, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
TEPCO apologised and vowed not to make the same mistake.
The late-night quake prompted a tsunami advisory, but only small ripples of 10 centimetres (three inches) were recorded.
The government said up to 26 people were injured—two seriously, although not life-threatening.
AECOM signs agreement with Toshiba to perform nuclear decommissioning services in Japan
NRA safety license for Sendai reactors legal, Fukuoka court finds, dismissing volcano risk lawsuit
G20: Japan proposes framework for nuclear waste,
G20: Japan proposes framework for nuclear waste, https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190616_14/ Japan has used the G20 meeting to propose setting up an international framework for cooperative research into how to dispose of high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants.
The Group of 20 energy and environment ministers are in the town of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, for the second and final day of their meeting.
Japan’s industry minister, Hiroshige Seko, chaired a session on energy in the morning. He brought up the idea of the international framework.
He said it is important to share experience and knowhow to accelerate efforts to solve a common issue for countries that use nuclear energy.
Many countries have found it difficult to draw up concrete plans for final waste disposal. Only Sweden and Finland have decided on disposal sites.
Many nations, including Japan, have not even begun studying potential sites.
The proposal calls for countries to share what they are doing regarding the selection of disposal sites and to promote cooperation and the exchange of human resources.
The first meeting on the framework is planned for October in France.
Ministers are expected to issue a joint statement on Sunday after the conclusion of the G20 meeting.
VCK Chief Thol. Thirumavalavan opposes Nuclear fuel storage facility in Kudankulam plant
  Nuclear fuel storage facility in Kudankulam plant opposed https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/160619/nuclear-fuel-storage-facility-in-kudankulam-plant-opposed.html
DECCAN CHRONICLE.Jun 16, 2019 Chennai: VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan has opposed the construction of Away From Reactor (AFR) Spent Fuel Storage facility within the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tirunelveli saying it is totally against the rules and regulations. “Away from reactor means away from the campus. They have to choose a proper place which does not affect the people. They have to choose a place which is not affected by any natural calamity. But that is not possible now. So they are trying to construct Away From Reactor (AFR) Spent Fuel Storage facility within the campus which is dangerous,” he said.
He said the opposition parties including the DMK are opposed to the construction of Nuclear waste plant within the campus as it is totally against the rules and regulations. “So we will hold a demonstration on June 25 against it,” he told reporters here on Saturday. Leaders of other parties including CPI and Muslim League were present on the occasion. If possible, he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and prevail upon him to halt the construction of the AFR. Director of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) Sanjay Kumar has said that all nuclear power stations in operation in India and other countries had facilities to store new as well as spent (used) fuel on the premises of the plant. The scheme for the storage of spent fuel in a nuclear power plant was two-fold — one facility is located within the reactor building/service building, generally known as the spent fuel storage pool / bay, and the other is located away from the reactor, called the Away From Reactor (AFR) Spent Fuel Storage Facility, but within the plant’s premises, he had said.
Meanwhile, ahead of a scheduled public hearing on July 10, anti-nuclear groups have opposed the proposal to set up an ‘AFR’ facility on the premises of the KKNPP.
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Japan’s restarted nuclear reactors could be forced to shut down for safety measures to be implemented
World Nuclear News 13th June 2019 Nuclear power reactors in Japan that have resumed operation could be forced
to temporarily shut down again if back-up safety measures are not in place
by specified deadlines under new rules approved by the country’s Nuclear
Regulation Authority (NRA). Operators of restarted units have already said
they expect delays in the completion of such facilities.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Safety-upgrade-delays-could-take-Japanese-units-of
Living with a nuclear North Korea: how to move beyond the impasse
Demanding complete denuclearization has long been a diplomatic dead-end. Markus Bell and Geoffrey Fattig ,June 13th, 2019
Three months after the breakdown of the Hanoi Summit, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has tested the waters of acquiescence by conducting two rounds of missile tests. In the past, a new round of United Nations sanctions would have followed such launches, escalating rhetoric and mutual condemnation.This had been the pattern, at least until President Trump veered off script by contradicting his National Security Advisor, John Bolton on the issue of whether the missile launches violated existing UN sanctions. During a recent visit to Japan, a presidential tweet dismissed the launches as small weapons that “disturbed some of my people…but not me.”Apart from the rather surreal aspect of witnessing an American President side with the leader of North Korea over his own advisors, it could be argued that Trump is actually the realist in the room, while the hawkish Bolton and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo are the ones living in a fantasyland.
By clinging to the notion that North Korea can be made to denuclearize through either increased pressure or sanctions relief, they are ensuring the continuation of a long-running policy failure that has allowed the North Korean regime to further the country’s nuclear program while precluding openings for addressing the egregious human rights situation inside the country.
The prevailing belief among Korea watchers, that Kim cannot be induced or coerced into denuclearizing, means that a nuclear North Korea is essentially a fait accompli— a reality to which all the sanctions, summits and handshakes in the world will not change.
TRADING A NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA FOR HUMAN SECURITY IN EAST ASIA
And it is this point that we recently argued: that the international community’s focus needs to shift from traditional security concerns (the nuclear program) to non-traditional (humanitarian concerns) as an avenue to engage in dialogue on improving living conditions for North Koreans.
Since we published our thoughts others have followed suit in agreeing that it is time to shift strategy toward managing North Korea’s ascent into the nuclear club rather than fruitlessly trying to prevent it.
Insisting on complete denuclearization is a recipe for a continued stalemate in future negotiations. And given Kim’s implied threat to restart nuclear tests next year if a deal with the U.S. cannot be struck, tensions could again rise.
A return to the saber rattling of 2017 would wipe away the trust built through the inter-Korean reconciliation efforts of South Korea’s Moon Jae-in administration that began during the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
This would be especially unfortunate, considering that the current security situation on the Korean peninsula represents the best of a bad set of options.
he past 18 months of relative silence from Pyongyang serves as a blueprint for how to manage socializing North Korea into the international community. In refraining from nuclear tests, North Korea has satisfied one of the conditions of the “Three Nos” proposal outlined by Siegfried Hecker, which remains the most realistic path forward for breaking the impasse.
In the interim, this route leads to an agreement – tacit or otherwise – allowing North Korea to maintain its current arsenal in return for a commitment to freeze its nuclear program and not proliferate weapons technology.
While such an outcome is hardly ideal, it is in keeping with the cold reality of the situation. A nuclear North Korea, socialized to international norms, also raises the possibility that the country will begin to act like a ‘normal state,’ bound to its various international obligations.
Such thinking is in line with Alexander Wendt’s “norm adoption,” whereby states accept established international standards of behavior as they experience the benefits of being integrated into the global community.
THE BENEFITS OF A ‘NORMAL’ NORTH KOREA
What kind of benefits might we see from a ‘normal’ North Korean state? Improvements in human rights are top of the wish list, including, for example, adherence to the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty’s Responsibility to Protect (R2P), which compels member states to prevent crimes against humanity in their territory.
In essence, a resolution of the nuclear issue would provide a fresh opening to engage the regime on human rights, and the subsequent opportunity to improve the lives of average North Koreans. ……..
FACING REALITY
A nuclear North Korea is now a reality, and negotiations that demand the country dismantle its nuclear program are unlikely to succeed.
Although the addition of one more state into the nuclear club is problematic, many of the arguments for denying North Korean ascendance into this group are insufficient, and a rigid adherence to this position by the international community could conceivably result in a second Korean War.
Acknowledging this reality and engaging with the country’s leadership offers an alternate path forward, and one that has the potential for bettering the lives of the people of North Korea. https://www.nknews.org/2019/06/living-with-a-nuclear-north-korea-how-to-move-beyond-the-impasse/
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19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
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Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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