Climate change already impacting Bangladesh coastal communities
Rising salinity threatens Bangladesh’s coastal communities – experts Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation – Tue, 13 Oct 2015 Author: Pantho Rahaman Reporting by Pantho Rahaman; editing by Jumana Farouky and Laurie Goering -the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women’s rights, trafficking and corruption. Visitwww.trust.org/climate
“……..Climate change-induced alterations to sea level, temperature and rainfall are affecting freshwater supplies in low-lying coastal areas around the world, scientists and environmentalists say.
With more than a quarter of its population living in 19 districts facing or near the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh is especially vulnerable, they say.
If access to fresh water continues to decrease at current rates in Bangladesh, experts warn, the country faces worsening drinking and irrigation water scarcity in the next few decades.
“Left unattended, 2.9 million to 5.2 million poor (people) in southwest coastal Bangladesh will face serious river salinity problems by 2050,” said Susmita Dasgupta, the lead environmental economist of the World Bank’s research department, in an email interview.
A DIRE PICTURE
A study by the World Bank and Bangladesh’s Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) published last year paints a dire picture of the future of freshwater supplies for the country’s coastal communities.
In a worst case scenario, the study predicts that the area served by freshwater rivers – those whose salt levels measure less than 1 part per thousand – in the country’s 19 coastal districts will drop from 41 percent to 17 percent by 2050.
Researchers believe sea-level rise, rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and a reduction of water flow in the country’s rivers could add to river salinity.
Losing freshwater could mean “significant shortages of drinking water” and a lack of irrigation water for dry-season agriculture, the study said.
“The impact of the increase in salinity is already being felt by the local communities, as they now have to purchase water from water treatment plants run by commercial operators,” said Ainun Nishat, a noted Bangladeshi environmentalist and one of the researchers on the World Bank study.
A dramatic decrease in the area served by freshwater rivers would also do damage to the region’s fishing industry, which supports approximately a half million families, researchers said…..
Of Bangladesh’s 19 southwestern coastal districts, the study pinpointed nine already in danger of being unable to protect their freshwater resources.
Even in the best case, by 2050 four districts – Barguna, Jhalokoti, Khulna, and Patuakhali – may no longer have regular access to fresh water from rivers. And in a worst-case scenario, Pirojpur district could lose 100 percent of its fresh river water, while Bagerhat and Barisal could lose over 90 percent, the study said.
In addition, the study said, five districts will suffer a serious shortage of water for dry-season agriculture.
“This worrying change might lead to a migration of people from southwestern Bangladesh,” Nishat said……http://www.trust.org/item/20151013101601-r0cyw/?source=jtDontmiss
No evacuation plan, yet PM Abe restarts another Sendai nuclear reactor
Last year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would not allow a reactor startup unless its safety is completely confirmed. But the process of approving reactor restarts at the Sendai nuclear power plant has not been in line with his pledge at all
Safety put on the back burner as another nuclear reactor is restarted, Asahi Shimbun, 14 Oct 15 Kyushu Electric Power Co. is set to restart the No. 2 reactor at its Sendai nuclear power plant in Satsuma-Sendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, on Oct. 15. In August, the plant’s No. 1 reactor became the first to resume operations under new safety regulations that went into force in July 2013.
Some areas near the plant may not even have a dependable evacuation route in the event of a disaster. Furthermore, no evacuation drills for residents have been undertaken.
The electric utility’s plan to restart the idled reactor was given the green light by the Nuclear Regulation Authority. The nuclear watchdog body has no authority, however, to examine evacuation plans.
A reactor should not be restarted under such circumstances. Continue reading
Second nuclear reactor started at Sendai, despite public opposition
Japan restarts second nuclear reactor despite public opposition, Guardian, 15 Oct 15
Number-two reactor at Sendai has gone on line more than four years after a quake-sparked tsunami swamped a plant at Fukushima. Japan on Thursday restarted a second nuclear reactor after a shutdown triggered by the 2011 Fukushima crisis, as the government pushes to return to a cheaper energy source despite widespread public opposition.
Utility Kyushu Electric Power said it restarted the number-two reactor at Sendai, about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) southwest of Tokyo at 10.30am (0130 GMT).
The same power plant’s number-one reactor was restarted in August, ending a two-year nuclear power hiatus. Engineers will now spend several days bringing the newly restarted reactor up to operational level before running it commercially from November…….
But the public is largely opposed to atomic energy after the Fukushima crisis sent radiation over a wide area and forced tens of thousands from their homes – many of whom will likely never return – in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986…….http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/15/japan-restarts-second-nuclear-reactor-despite-public-opposition
USA in Talks on Deal to Limit Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal
U.S. Exploring Deal to Limit Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal, NYT By DAVID E. SANGER OCT. 15, 2015 WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is exploring a deal with Pakistan that would limit the scope of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, the fastest-growing on earth. The discussions are the first in the decade since one of the founders of its nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, was caught selling the country’s nuclear technology around the world.
The talks are being held in advance of the arrival of Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, in Washington next week. They focus on American concern that Pakistan might be on the verge of deploying a small tactical nuclear weapon — explicitly modeled on weapons the United States put in Europe during the Cold War to deter a Soviet invasion — that would be far harder to secure than the country’s arsenal of larger weapons.
But outside experts familiar with the discussions, which have echoes of the Obama administration’s first approaches to Iran on its nuclear program three years ago, expressed deep skepticism that Pakistan is ready to put any limitations on a program that is the pride of the nation, and that it regards as its only real defense against India………http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/world/asia/us-exploring-deal-to-limit-pakistans-nuclear-arsenal.html?_r=0
Expansion of South Korea’s massive Kori Nuclear Power Plant near 3.4 million people – an insane plan
The insane plan to expand the world’s biggest nuclear plant http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/nuclear-reaction/nuclear-kori-korea-protest-busan/blog/54400/ [excellent photos] by Daul Jang – 13 October, 2015 Over 3 million people live within 30 km of what is set to become the largest nuclear power plant in South Korea and the world. So why is the government expanding nuclear and locking out safe, clean renewables?
Two inflatables with ten courageous and committed activists from around the world departed this morning to protest the expansion of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant, near Busan. They are taking action to highlight the risk of nuclear power and the urgent need to transition to clean, safe renewables.
The situation at Kori is insane, and it’s only getting worse. Here’s why the need for action is so urgent.
1. When the next unit is expected to go online next month, it will become the world’s largest nuclear power plant in terms of installed capacity (6860MW) with 7 reactors in operation.
2. What is most disturbing is that there are around 3.4 million people living within the 30km zone around the plant. This compares to 160,000 in the case of Fukushima.
3. When the two planned reactors start operation by 2020, it will become the only nuclear power plant with 10 reactors and more than 10,000 MW in the world.
4. More reactors = more risk. One of the critical lessons from the disastrous Fukushima disaster is that multiple reactors means increased risk.
5. Since beginning operation in 1978, the plant has continuously encountered problems including malfunctions, lack of safety regulations and poor maintenance. In February 2012 a complete station blackout was deliberately concealed by the high level decision makers at the Kori plant, only to be reported to the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSCC), South Korea’s regulatory body, a month later.
We aim to expose the intolerable risk of adding two more reactors to the world’s largest nuclear power plant and the threat it poses to the general public and the citizens of Busan. The future is renewables. We’ve already helped convince one big company in South Korea to switch to 100% renewable energy – so what is the South Korean government waiting for? Out with the old, and in with the new!
It’s time to switch on renewables and abandon costly, dangerous nuclear.
Daul Jang is the Project Leader for the Climate and Energy Campaign at Greenpeace East Asia in Seoul.
Record low price for solar power to be sold by Indian Government
Indian government plans to sell solar power at record low price of $0.07 per unit. News Forage, 13 Oct 15, India’s strategy of a foreign currency-denominated tariff plan for solar energy is aimed at providing solar power at a new low of Rs.4.75 per unit to the states. Continue reading
Continuing struggle to rid Okinawa of USA military bases
Struggle against U.S. bases continues in Okinawa http://happening-here.blogspot.com.au/ The elected governor of the Japanese-controlled island of Okinawa has said no, again, to further construction of a new U.S. base. Okinawans have been trying to reclaim their territory for decades. The island is part of the Ryukyu archipelago which the U.S. conquered at the end of World War II. Japan recovered sovereignty, but although since 1945 Japan has been ostensibly a nuke-free zone, the U.S. has been allowed to bring nuclear armed vessels to Okinawa if not the Japanese mainland.
The 1.3 million Okinawans have repeatedly elected officials who promise to oust the U.S. military. These local officials have then been overruled from Tokoyo repeatedly.
The U.S. Marines are not considered good neighbors on the island: they are seen as the source of drunken louts and rapists who usually enjoy impunity from the local justice system.
Okinawans are Japan’s largest minority group.
I have written previously about Okinawa’s special place and its irritants to the U.S. empire here and here.
Anxious about 2020 Olympics, Tepco to hasten ice wall project at Fukushima nuclear station
Tepco Expects to Begin Freezing Fukushima Ice Wall by Year End http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-10/tepco-expects-to-begin-freezing-fukushima-ice-wall-by-year-end Stephen Stapczynski October 10, 2015
-
Aim to resolve contaminated water issue by 2020 Olympics
-
About 300 tons of water a day flow into radioactive reactor
-
Tokyo Electric Power Co. expects to begin freezing a soil barrier by the end of the year to stop a torrent of water entering the wrecked Fukushima nuclear facility, moving a step closer to fulfilling a promise the Japanese government made to the international community more than two years ago.
“In the last half-year we have made significant progress in water treatment,” Akira Ono, chief of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, said Friday during a tour of the facility north of Tokyo. The frozen wall, along with other measures, “should be able to resolve the contaminated water issues before the Olympic games.”
Solving the water management problems would be a major milestone, but Tokyo Electric is still faced with a number of challenges at the site. The company must still remove highly radioactive debris from inside three wrecked reactors, a task for which no applicable technology exists. The entire facility must eventually be dismantled.
- Currently, about 300 metric tons of water flow into the reactor building daily from the nearby hills. Tepco, as the nation’s biggest utility is called, has struggled to decommission the reactors while also grappling with the buildup of contaminated water.
Even four years after the meltdown and despite promises from policymakers, water management remains one of Tepco’s biggest challenges in coping with the fallout of Japan’s worst nuclear disaster.
The purpose of the ice wall — a barrier of soil 30 meters (98 feet) deep and 1,500 meters long which is frozen to -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) — is to prevent groundwater from flooding reactor basements and becoming contaminated.
-
Public Trust Needed
“As the radiation levels decrease via natural decay, water management becomes the main issue,” Dale Klein, an independent adviser for Tepco and a former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said by e-mail. “It is a very important issue for the public, and good water management is needed for Tepco to restore the public’s trust.”
- Tepco is currently testing the freezing system, aiming to have the fence fully operational by the end of December, company spokesman Yuichi Okamura said.
At the moment, the deluge of groundwater entering the reactor buildings is purified, lowering its radioactive content. The water is then stored in one of numerous barrels at the site, each of which can hold 1,000 tons of water.
To make room for the 1,000 or so barrels required to hold the water, Tepco flattened a 500 square meter (5,382 square foot) bird sanctuary on the outskirts of the facility. The company doesn’t have government approval to release the water into the ocean, and there’s no clear plan for its disposal, Tepco’s Okamura said.
- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised in 2013 that the government would take the lead in resolving the water management issues at the Fukushima site ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Two years later, hundreds of tons of water continue to pour into the reactor building, while tainted water at other parts of the site overflows into the ocean.
Water Overflow
Since January, slightly tainted water has spilled from a drainage system into the ocean on nine occasions, according to company spokeswoman Yukako Handa.
The company aims to end these leaks by reconfiguring a drainage system and building a wall running 30 meters into the seabed. The drainage work will be completed next year, and the sea wall will be completed this month.
The proposed ice wall has never been done on such a scale, and there could be operational issues due to the complicated nature of the project, according to Lake Barrett, former head of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Civilian Nuclear Waste Management.
“Some of these areas may have different freezing and sealing capabilities,” he said by e-mail. “These types of problems were encountered when Tepco tried and failed to seal the seawater trenches by freezing.”
China keen to market nuclear technology overseas
Eyeing future exports China aims to become world’s top nuclear power producer by 2030 TETSUYA ABE, Nikkei staff writer BEIJING, 10 October 15 — Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government is poised to greatly expand the country’s nuclear power generation, with plans to build six to eight new reactors a year over the next five years.
Under its 13th five-year national development plan, which starts in 2016, China will invest 500 billion yuan ($78.7 billion) to introduce domestically developed reactors. The new five-year plan is to be formally adopted at next spring’s annual session of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament……….
According to the China Nuclear Energy Association, there are 25 nuclear reactors operating in the country and a further 26 under construction. Under its current five-year plan, China has frozen new nuclear projects, in principle, in the wake of the 2011 nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
In addition to unfreezing new projects, China will lift a ban on nuclear projects in inland areas and promote the introduction of domestically developed reactors under its next five-year plan. China hopes to make nuclear reactors a major infrastructure export in the future, along with high-speed trains. http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/China-aims-to-become-world-s-top-nuclear-power-producer-by-2030
USA worries about Pakistan’s nuclear agendas
India, Pakistan’s Nuclear Agendas Concern U.S., Value Walk, Brinda Banerjee October 10, 2015 A high-ranking official from within the Obama administration has recently likened India and Pakistan to North Korea and Iran in a conversation regarding the countries’ nuclear capabilities. The comment was made in a discussion about countries that are actively pursuing nuclear development and growth even as the international community remains apprehensive about weapons proliferation and the potential fallout of the same.
Addressing a seminar at Oslo, Norway, U.S. official Frank Rose recently said, “India and Pakistan are adding to their arsenals; North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs remain a concern to all; and Iran, despite the landmark nuclear deal, continues its ballistic missile programs”. Mr. Rose currently serves as the Assistant Secretary of State at the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance of the United States Department of State.
At present, India possesses between 80 and 100 nuclear warheads while Pakistan’s stockpile is estimated at between 100 and 120 nuclear warheads. Assessments based on Pakistan’s nuclear development goals reveal that the country is poised to own the third-largest supply of nuclear weapons within the next ten years.
At present, Russia and the United States have the biggest nuclear weapons supplies in the world, with both Moscow and Washington totaling in at approximately 1,600 each. China, France and the United Kingdom follow suit with 250, 300 and 225 nuclear warheads respectively.
Security experts interpret Pakistan’s ever-expanding nuclear arsenal as a cause for concern given the country’s history of proliferation. Talk of Pakistan and the nuclear issue is incomplete without mention of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who was found guilty of selling nuclear weapons technology and information on the black-market to bidders in Iran, Libya and North Korea. The country’s record with nuclear technology, its experiences with internal security challenges and extremism and the historic rivalry with India have all caused the international community to worry about regional security and international fallout should nuclear growth in the region be allowed to continue unchecked.
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty And Proliferation Concerns
While the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is the overarching international regulation by way of which the global community aims to prevent nuclear proliferation, the agreement has not been fully effected. This is, due in part to the reluctance of some states to fully agree to the covenant.
The United States and Iran are amongst the countries that have signed the CTBT but are yet to ratify it. Other states that have signed the treaty but not ratified it include China, Egypt and Israel. India, North Korea and Pakistan are the three countries that have not signed the agreement. Signing began in the year 1996; since then, only three countries have been conclusively known to have carried out nuclear testing: India, North Korea and Pakistan. India and Pakistan both conducted two rounds of nuclear tests in 1998 while North Korea organized its tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013……….
U.S. Considers Nuclear Accord With Pakistan, India Objects
The United States is reportedly exploring options for a nuclear arrangement with Pakistan. The deal, if it were to be realized, would witness a definite capping of Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile in return for a greater supply of nuclear material. The deal will allow the U.S. access to Pakistan’s nuclear production facilities and raw materials. For Pakistan, the tradeoff will include the U.S.’ assistance in purchasing nuclear materials and necessary capabilities from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which at present does not transact with countries that have not signed the Non Proliferation Treaty.
While Pakistan has demanded a “non-discriminatory approach on nuclear issues” in its pursuit of a nuclear agreement like the one India enjoys with the United States, Islamabad has not been as successful in realizing its ambitions.
However, The Washington Post has reported that Pakistan’s wishes may soon be realized and while the White House is yet to lend credence to these allusions, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s upcoming trip to the United States may indeed spell a new era for Pak-U.S. strategic ties. http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/10/india-pakistans-nuclear-agendas-concern-u-s/
Nuclear power building – UK’s worry of China’s poor health and safety record
nuclearnews No 2 nuclear power Oct 15 ..…….. it is China’s poor health and safety record which is most worrying. With the power of the Chinese Government and the UK Government’s enthusiasm for Chinese money the concern is that the UK’s nuclear regulators will be sidestepped.
China’s health and safety standards have been thrust into the spotlight this year by a series of chemical explosions. An explosion at a chemical plant in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong shortly before midnight on 31st August 2015 was the second to occur at a chemical plant in Shandong province in a matter of days.
Although no casualties were reported, the blast happened about a fortnight after explosions in the port city of Tianjin, northern China, which killed over 145 people. In the wake of the Tianjin blast, the Communist Party has sacked the head of China’s safety regulator, who was previously the vice mayor of the city. Shortly after, 12 government officials and company executives were detained. (6)
According to Ben Chu, author of ‘Chinese Whispers: Why Everything You’ve Heard About China is Wrong, the disaster in Tianjin was the latest consequence of a system that places personal profit before public safety. He says in China today behind every industrial accident lies a reeking morass of corruption.
Chinese state media reported that the son of a former local police chief was secretly a joint owner of the Tianjin warehouse that went up in a devastating fireball last week, killing 145 people, injuring 674 and damaging some 17,000 homes. He used his official connections to obtain licences for the warehouse, even though it flagrantly breached regulations prohibiting the storage of hazardous chemicals (sodium cyanide in this case) near residential areas. (7)
Surge in thyroid cancers in Fukushima
UPI: ‘Skyrocketing’ cancer cases in Fukushima — AP: ‘Alarming’ cancer rates after nuclear disaster — Times: Child cancers up 5,000% — Radiation doses may be “considerably higher” than estimated — Expert: Cancer outbreak shows officials must now prepare for onset of leukemia, other diseases (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/times-child-cancers-5000-after-fukushima-disaster?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
The Times, Oct 8 2015 (emphasis added): Child cancers up fiftyfold after Fukushima disaster— Cases of thyroid cancer among children living close to the Fukushima nuclear power plant have increased fiftyfold since the meltdown in 2011, according to Japanese scientists… in one of the most pessimistic assessments of the health implications of the world’s second-worst nuclear disaster. He urged the Japanese authorities to stop quibbling over the interpretation of cancer statistics, and to muster medical resources. “We need to prepare for leukaemia, breast cancer and (remainder of article only available to subscribers)… Photo Caption: 104 cases of thyroid cancer have been identified, a far higher rate than the national average
AP, Oct 9, 2015: Study shows alarming thyroid cancer rates in children living near Fukushima… “This is more than expected and emerging faster than expected,” lead author Toshihide Tsuda said…
UPI, Oct 8, 2015: Fukushima radiation has been linked to a surge in thyroid cancer among children near the disaster area… A team of Japanese researchers led by Toshihide Tsuda, a professor of environmental epidemiology at Okayama University, said cases of thyroid cancer in Fukushima Prefecture have skyrocketed since March 2011… and the culprit was increased radiation exposure since the Fukushima nuclear disaster…
T. Tsuda, A. Tokinobu, E. Suzuki, E. Yamamoto (Okayama Univ.), Oct 5, 2015:
- Thyroid Cancer Detection by Ultrasound Among Residents Ages 18 Years and Younger in Fukushima… 2011 to 2014
- The highest incidence rate ratio… was observed in the central middle district of the prefecture… incidence rate ratio = 50…
- … estimated doses ranged from 119 to 432 mSv among mothers and from 330 to 1,190 mSv in their infants for those living 45 to 220 km south or southwest, including Iwaki City in the Fukushima Prefecture, Ibaragi Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture.
- … we could infer that the incidence of thyroid cancer in Fukushima rose more rapidly than expected… as estimated by the World Health Organization.
- The radiation burden to the thyroid in Fukushima Prefecture might have been considerably higher than estimated…
- The minimum empirical induction time for thyroid cancer is 2.5 years for adults and 1 year for children, according to the [CDC]. Therefore, we considered it possible to detect thyroid cancer… even within the 2011 fiscal year.
- In Chernobyl, excesses of thyroid cancer became more remarkable 4 or 5 years after… the observed excess alerts us to prepare for more potential cases.
Japan Moving People Back to Fukushima Restricted Zones
Radiation Impact Studies: Chernobyl and Fukushima, Dissident Voice, by Robert Hunziker / September 23rd, 2015 “…….Japan’s Abe government has started moving people back into former restricted zones surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station even though it is an on-going major nuclear meltdown that is totally out of control.
Accordingly, Greenpeace Japan conducted a radiation survey and sampling program in Iitate, a village in Fukushima Prefecture. Even after decontamination, radiation dose rates measured ten times (10xs) the maximum allowed to the general public.
According to Greenpeace Japan:
The Japanese government plans to lift restrictions in all of Area 2 [2], including Iitate, where people could receive radiation doses of up to 20mSV each year and in subsequent years. International radiation protection standards recommend public exposure should be 1mSv/year or less in non-post accident situations. The radiation limit that excluded people from living in the 30km zone around the Chernobyl nuclear plant exclusion zone was set at 5mSV/year, five years after the nuclear accident. Over 100,000 people were evacuated from within the zone and will never return.2
http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/09/radiation-impact-studies-chernobyl-and-fukushima/
Contradictions in Japanese govt’s nuclear planning
Government Fails to Address Contradictions Over Japan’s Nuclear Future, nippon.com Kikkawa Takeo [2015.10.08] The August 2015 restart of the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Kyūshū ended a two-year shutdown of all nuclear reactors in Japan. As commentators debate whether this will prompt other plants around the country to come back online, the current administration appears unwilling to take responsibility for dealing with contradictions between the need to shut down aging facilities and the nation’s continued reliance on nuclear power……
Many Japanese news organizations predicted at the beginning of 2015 that nuclear energy would make a full-fledged comeback during the year, with operations resuming at Sendai and other nuclear plants one after another. The projections appear to have been slightly too hasty, however, as restarting reactors has proved to be more difficult than anticipated…….
The 2012 revisions to the Act on the Regulation of Nuclear Source Material, Nuclear Fuel Material, and Reactors require all nuclear power plants to be taken out of service after 40 years, with a one-time-only, 20-year extension being granted in exceptional cases when certain conditions are met. The maximum number of years that a plant can remain in operation is thus 60 years. Of the 48 reactors in Japan as of January 2015, only 18 will be under 40 years old at the end of December 2030. If the revisions are strictly enforced, 30 reactors will need to be decommissioned by then. Two reactors are currently under construction—Unit 3 of Chūgoku Electric Power’s Shimane Nuclear Power Plant and Electric Power Development’s Ōma Nuclear Power Plant—but even if they come online, that would still mean just 20 reactors as of the end of 2030. Assuming that these 20 units operate at 70% capacity (which was roughly the average prior to the Fukushima accident), they would only be able to generate 15% of the nearly 1 trillion kWh projected to be required in 2030.
If the 40-year rule is applied strictly, nuclear power will meet just 15% of the nation’s energy needs in 2030. The additional 5%–7% needed to meet METI’s 20%–22% outlook is thus premised on either building new reactors or extending the life of existing ones beyond 40 years. Since the administration has announced that it has no plans now to build additional reactors, one can then conclude that it intends to cover the 5%–7% shortfall by extending the life of existing plants…….
The resumption of operations at Kyūshū Electric’s Sendai plant thus will not trigger a spate of restarts at other plants, and 2015 is hardly likely to mark the full-fledged return of nuclear power in Japan.
(Originally written in Japanese and published on September 22, 2015 http://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00196/
A nuclear power plant project in India is stalled
Nalco’s foray into nuclear energy hits legal roadblock Proposed Rs 12,000-cr nuclear energy plant in a JV with Nuclear Power Corporation in limbo Business Standard, India, Dilip Satapathy | Bhubaneswar October 9, 2015 National Aluminium Company (Nalco)’s plan to foray intonuclear energy generation has hit a legal roadblock.
Though the aluminium major proposed to set up a Rs 12,000 crore nuclear energy plant in joint venture withNuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), it is unable to go ahead with the project with the present act restricting the sector to only a couple of its own fully owned subsidiaries under the Atomic Energy Department…….
Though NPCIL is keen to involve other public sector firms like Nalco, IOCL and NTPC, with whom it has signed MoUs, for setting up of nuclear power plants in a bid to expand its nuclear power footprint in the country, the present act does not allow this.
The Atomic Energy Act, framed in 1962, also prohibits private control of nuclear power generation though it allows them minority investment……….Apart from the fuel supply issue and protests over establishment of nuclear power plants, changes in the act to allow JVs formed by NPCIL with other PSUs to make them workable is another hurdle, the India government has to take care if the country wants to achieve 20 GWe nuclear energy capacity by 2020, sources said.
Besides nuclear energy, the aluminium major has identified renewable energy as its next focused area.
“We have set up wind mills in Andhra Pradesh (50.4 Mw) and Jaisalmer (47.6 Mw) in Rajasthan. We plan to set up solar plants in Rajasthan and Maharashtra (50 Mw each) and Madhya Pradesh (20 Mw). We are also in the processing of installing a 14 Mw wind power mill at Damanjodi,” Chand said. http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/nalcos-foray-into-nuclear-energy-hits-legal-roadblock-115100900777_1.html
-
Archives
- October 2026 (112)
- 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
