Nuclear power nightmare unfolding in Karachi?
Outcry and fear as Pakistan builds new nuclear reactors in dangerous Karachi WP, By Tim Craig March 5 KARACHI, Pakistan — World leaders have fretted for years that terrorists may try to steal one of Pakistan’s nuclear bombs and detonate it in a foreign country. But some Karachi residents say the real nuclear nightmare is unfolding here in Pakistan’s largest and most volatile city. Continue reading
Nuclear restarts in Japan could be years away, due to legal battles
Japan court battles could delay nuclear restarts further
*Injunctions could delay nuclear restarts by years
* Activist lawyers to contest every unit that passes safety checks
* Judge in Takahama case same that ruled against Ohi restart
By Mari Saito and Kentaro Hamada TOKYO, March 5 (Reuters) – The fight over restarting Japan’s nuclear industry is moving to the courts, where power companies face the risk of further delays in firing up idled reactors if judges side with local residents worried about nuclear safety.
Four reactors owned by two utilities cleared regulatory safety checks in recent months, potentially soon ending more than a year without atomic power in Japan, the first such spell in the four decades the nation has been using nuclear energy.
And while ruling politicians and Japan’s bureaucracy are pushing the restarts, the judiciary – which typically sided with power companies before the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster – may be shifting its attitude.
Judges are now considering injunctions that could halt the restarts and indefinitely extend the countrywide shutdown of Japan’s 48 reactors that followed Fukushima, posing a threat to power companies already surviving on government support.
“Japan’s courts have always been hesitant to properly check the state and its legislative process,” but the shift in public opinion against nuclear power may have turned some judges in favour of residents, said Hiroshi Segi, a former judge turned critic of Japan’s judicial system.
The court decisions, which might come this month – four years after the earthquake and tsunami that knocked out the Fukushima reactors – could mean months, even years of delays and hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for Kansai Electric Power and Kyushu Electric Power…..
The plaintiffs contend the utilities are underestimating the earthquake risks at Sendai and Takahama and not meeting tougher post-Fukushima standards. Residents also say the government has not set credible evacuation plans in case of a nuclear accident.
Kaido’s team of anti-nuclear lawyers are planning to seek injunctions on every plant that wins regulatory approval.
“Judges must know that their decision could stop the next nuclear accident,” Kaido said…….
DIM PROSPECTS
The lead judge in the Takahama case, Hideaki Higuchi, ruled against restarting Kansai Electric’s Ohi plant in May last year, a rare victory for activists.
“I think residents could win the (Takahama) shutdown in Fukui District Court,” said Akihiro Sawa, a former official with the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry, which oversees electric power companies.
Sawa, now a research director at the 21st Century Public Policy Institute, affiliated with Japan’s biggest business lobby, said he has been warning utility executives to take the lawsuits seriously…….
In the Ohi decision last May, the Fukui court judge said protecting residents’ health from a potential nuclear accident was more important than any financial gains the country may get from restarting stalled plants.
“I am hopeful that the Sendai judge will feel the same,” Kaido said. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/04/japan-nuclear-idUSL1N0VR09720150304
Two new big solar projects for Japan
Eurus Energy brings two Japan projects online in Fukushima and Miyagi regions http://www.pv-tech.org/news/eurus_energy_brings_two_more_japan_projects_online By Liam Stoker – 04 March 2015 Operations at two new large-scale solar projects in the earthquake-affected Japanese prefectures of Miyagi and Fukushima have been started by Eurus Energy Group.
The new mega-solar projects – the Eurus Tenmyo Solar Park in Miyagi and the Eurus Yabukinakajima Solar Park in Fukushima – will have a total output of 14 MW and 8MW respectively, making them the largest solar plants in their respective prefectures.
The projects have both been eligible for subsidies under the Projects for Developing and Implementing Measures for Promotion of Power Generation Facilities Based on Renewable Energies, a plan prompted by the region’s earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster in April 2011.
The feed-in tariff introduced in July 2012 to trigger more PV development has resulted in Japan establishing a significant solar pipeline, with these two projects the latest to contribute towards the country’s PV boom that has placed it in the top three solar nations in the world in terms of deployment.
Canadian Solar, which has significantly stepped up its interest in various segments of the Japanese PV market, has supplied modules for the Miyagi-based solar park while Japan’s Kyocera Corporation has supplied modules for the Fukushima-based project, a development that comes despite last month’s news that the electronics firm’s solar module sales revenues in Q4 2014 had been weaker than expected.
Power generated from the two projects is to be sold to Tohoku Electric Power Company while their completion has taken Eurus’ solar capacity in the country to 84 MW.
New study to begin on Fukushima radiation effects
Colorado State to team up with Japan to study Fukushima nuclear accident By Danielle Haynes 
FORT COLLINS, Colo., March 5 (UPI) — Colorado State University, in conjunction with Fukushima University in Japan, are funding a study of the effects of a nuclear accident in the Japanese city following a 2011 earthquake.
The two schools are combining to hire an authority on nuclear and radiation risks, CSU alumnus Thomas Hinton, to how radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident has affected wildlife and the environment……http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2015/03/05/Colorado-State-to-team-up-with-Japan-to-study-Fukushima-nuclear-accident/5031425582689/
A swamp of radioactive material around crippled Fukushima nuclear facility
Area around Fukushima plant is now a ‘swamp of radioactive material’ Friday, August 01, 2014 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer(NaturalNews) Speaking on a radio program, Kyoto University assistant professor Hiroaki Koide commented that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has become like a swamp filled with radioactive material.
Koide was referring to the fact that, ever since the meltdowns triggered by a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has been relying on a constant influx of water to keep the plant cool. The process of flowing past the reactors renders the water radioactive, however, so radioactive water has been accumulating at the plant for years. In that time, multiple leaks have caused the contaminated water to spill into the surrounding area, creating a sort of radioactive swamp…… : http://www.naturalnews.com/046266_Fukushima_radioactive_material_contamination.html#ixzz3TZCDovhe
South Korea marketing nuclear reactors to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, South Korea sign MOU on nuclear power Wed Mar 4, 2015 Reuters) – Saudi Arabia and South Korea have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate on the development of nuclear energy, Saudi state news agency SPA said, building on a deal signed in 2011.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye met with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Tuesday in Riyadh during an official visit, SPA said.
The MOU calls for South Korean firms to help build at least two small-to-medium sized nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia, the South Korean presidential office said in a statement.
“If the two units go ahead, the cost of the contract will be (near) $2 billion,” the statement said……http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/04/saudi-south-korea-nuclear-idUSL5N0W61GM20150304
Potential for growth in Japan’s solar industry
Key Japanese takeaways from PV Expo, Japan solar
Panasonic is hoping its new home energy management system products will educate consumers and their families on energy use, in turn driving wider social acceptance of the technologies and their uses. PV Tech Andy Colthorpe. 5 Mar 15
As regular readers of the site will have seen already, PV Tech was at Tokyo’s PV Expo last week. Japan has been relatively ambitious with regards to solar for many years, even ahead of the introduction of the feed-in tariff (FiT) in July 2012. Thin-film manufacturer turned vertically integrated solar services provider Solar Frontier, for instance, was established as a subsidiary of petrochemical company Showa Shell in response to the OPEC oil price shock of the 1970s.
The boom that came with the introduction of the feed-in tariff (FiT), however, turned this primary focus on R&D into the development of enough gigawatts of utility-scale PV to put Japan in the top two or three solar nations on the planet in terms of deployment.
Much has been made of the grid connection and land shortage issues now facing utility-scale solar in particular, not least by PV Tech. There is an understanding that once the currently existing pipeline of projects is deployed, Japanese utility-scale PV, or megasolar as it is known in the country, will cease to go ahead in any significant numbers. That said, the pipeline stands at more than 50GW, which is a lot of solar in anyone’s book. Project investment and project rights trading are keeping the megasolar sector busy along with actual construction and design activities.
Beyond that, of course, it will be all about the diversification of the maturing industry, whether Japan’s commercial rooftop sector will pick up where megasolar left off, and whether Japanese households will keep installing their own systems. The former remains to be seen, while the forthcoming energy market deregulation process and the activities of both solar energy services companies and their partners in the house construction industry could drive the latter to new heights……http://www.pv-tech.org/editors_blog/key_japanese_takeaways_from_pv_expo_tokyo
Fukushima company to build 400 unmanned surveillance aircraft
DRONES TO BE MASS-PRODUCED IN FUKUSHIMA http://fukushimaupdate.com/drones-to-be-mass-produced-in-fukushima/
Kikuchi Seisakusho plans to produce 400 unmanned surveillance aircraft at its plant in Minamisoma in Fukushima Prefecture. “Fukushima is a suitable production site given its need to measure radiation,” said Nonami, a professor at Chiba University. “We also hope that production will help the region’s recovery.”
The drone, 50 centimeters in height and 90 centimeters in diameter, can fly for up to 30 minutes at a time at speeds of up to 36 kph. With six propellers, it weighs only about three kilograms but can carry loads of up to six kilograms. It will be priced at around ¥2 million to ¥3 million.
The drone made a demonstration flight Friday, taking photos from 20 meters above the ground. A larger drone currently under development, with the capacity to carry loads of up to 30 kilograms, was also shown.
The use of drones is expected to spread for tasks such as measuring radiation, shooting movies and monitoring social infrastructure such as bridges, as well as for work related to the decommissioning of reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
The United States is considering regulating the use of drones to protect privacy and ensure safety. A similar debate may also take place in Japan ahead of their full implementation.
“Radioactive cover-up” at Fukushima — Experts believe “other sources of contamination” are flowing into ocean
March 1, 2015
Asahi Shimbun, Feb 28, 2015 (emphasis added): The nation’s nuclear watchdog body slammed [TEPCO] over its failure to disclose information on the leakage of radioactive rainwater into the sea… TEPCO President Naomi Hirose… apologized profusely… TEPCO became aware more than a year ago that the concentration of radioactive materials in the water flowing… was high [first disclosing it to regulators] January 2014… TEPCO continued to conceal details, including the fact that the concentration became high whenever it rained… However, TEPCO had decided long ago there was no need to monitor rainwater for radioactive materials.
NHK transcript, Feb 27, 2015 : Experts and local government officials visited the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to examine sources of contaminated water flowing into the sea… Experts urged the operator to investigate whether rooftops of other reactor buildings are also sources of tainted water.
Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb 26, 2015: NRA chief slams TEPCO for data reporting delay… after rainwater contaminated with high-level radioactive materials leaked… into the sea… TEPCO reported in January last year that the radioactivity concentration in that trench was higher… TEPCO at last announced… high-level radioactivity [in water] on the rooftop of the No. 2 reactor building… might be one of the sources of contamination… The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry… pointed out the likelihood of there being other sources of contamination… The Fisheries Agency on Wednesday conducted an emergency hearing with TEPCO officials… and told the utility firm to take measures to minimize damage impacting marine products… “We urge TEPCO to make details clear.”
Japan Times, Feb 26, 2015: [Tepco] admitted Thursday that its latest problem with radioactive water has shattered the trust it was building in Fukushima… and that the decommissioning of the Fukushima No. 1 plant might be delayed [after] the surge in radiation detected in the water draining into the sea… The utility said the source of the contamination is the roof of the No. 2 reactor building, which… remains heavily contaminated.
Naohiro Masuda, head of Tepco’s unit in charge of scrapping Fukushima Daiichi: “The trust of the people in Fukushima is the most important thing… we have damaged that trust… Due to the damaged trust, all of the schedules for the decommissioning tasks could be delayed.”
Arirang, Feb 26, 2015: Tokyo under fire for alleged cover-up of radioactive water — [TEPCO] is under heavy fire for staying silent over a radioactive leak… flowing into the Pacific Ocean.
Source: Enenews
March 14 in Taiwan – anti nuclear marches in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan
Anti-nuclear protest march scheduled for March 14 Central News Agency By Zoe Wei and Evelyn Kao2015-03-01 Taipei, A national anti-nuclear alliance calling for energy reforms is set to hold a protest march around Taiwan on March 14 to mark the fourth anniversary of Japan‘s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Stop Nukes Now , formed by 126 anti-nuclear organizations, announced that the march will take place simultaneously in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan to convey people’s hope for the government to abolish nuclear power and reform Taiwan’s energy network.
Nuclear weapons expansion in North Korea
North Korea’s Nuclear Expansion, NYT By THE EDITORIAL BOARDFEB. 27, 2015 North Korea could be on track to have an arsenal of 100 nuclear weapons by 2020, according to a new research report. The prediction, from experts on North Korea, goes well beyond past estimates and should force renewed attention on a threat that has been eclipsed by other crises.
At the moment, the United States and five other major powers are negotiating an agreement that would constrain the nuclear program in Iran, which does not possess any nuclear weapons. North Korea, on the other hand, is estimated to have already produced 10 to 16 weapons since 2003.
The new assessment comes from Joel Wit, a former American negotiator with North Korea who is now a senior fellow with the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security. They conclude that North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs have been growing since 2009 and are now “poised for significant expansion over the next five years.” That poses serious threats for other countries in Asia and for the United States.
Details about the programs are hard to come by given North Korea’s closed system. As a result, the researchers have outlined possible scenarios for the next five years, ranging from 20 nuclear weapons to 100, which would put North Korea on a par with India, Pakistan and Israel. Independently, China has also estimated the program to be capable of producing the higher range of weapons, another expert on North Korea told The Times.
North Korea already has 1,000 ballistic missiles including the medium-range land-based Nodong missile, which is mobile and accurate enough to attack cities, ports and military bases in Japan and South Korea. The country may also possess limited long-range missiles that can reach targets in the United States, the report said. It has also succeeded in miniaturizing nuclear weapons so they can fit on both medium-range and long-range missiles………….http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/27/opinion/north-koreas-nuclear-expansion.html?_r=0
New report on remarkable rise in cancer incidence near Fukushima nuclear power plant
Cancer Rates Soar By 6000% Near Fukushima Site, New Report Shows http://yournewswire.com/cancer-rates-soar-by-6000-near-fukushima-site-new-report-shows/#sthash.vDZTGCNV.dpuf by Sean Adl-Tabatabai 27 Feb 15 Cancer rates in areas surrounding the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan have soared by 6000% according to reports, yet the government and media are carrying on as if its business as normal.
According to Naturalsociety.com:
As reports from individuals like Chieko Shiina, a supporter of the Fukushima Collaborateive Clinic talk about exploding rates of thyroid cancer in children, as well as an epidemic of leukemia, heart attacks, and other health problems, the Abe-led government and US continue to sweep the fall out of the Fukushima disaster under the rug.
Cancer rates have exploded at an increase of almost 6000% in areas near the reactor meltdown. Aside from people-on-the-street interviews that a rare media outlet like “Hodo station” will report on, mainstream media stays completely silent. One Japanese resident,Carol Hisasue, laments that as the incident has disappeared from the media, it has also disappeared from people’s consciousness.
So why does Fukushima continue to be a see no evil, hear no evil event? You can watch an over hour-long report that goes into detail, but to sum it up, people can’t even turn on their gas-stoves near Fukushima because “it would be like burning radioactive fuel in their kitchens.” The contamination levels are too ridiculous to even comprehend.
No matter if the accident was caused by a purposeful nuclear attack, an act of weather warfare (as some conspiracy analysts have suggested), or by the sheer greed of the nuclear industry who built it, it is essentially a massive nuclear weapon on fault lines. The Japanese government and TEPCO are guilty of crimes against humanity, and their neglect is compounded by a complete disregard, not only for human life, but for all life upon this planet.
The US is also responsible. After the spotlight was put on failing plants across the United States that continue to leak radiation into our air, water, and soil every day, the multi-billion dollar, US taxpayer-subsidized contracts of the nuclear industry came into question. And you can be sure any real inquiry into the infrastructure of our nuclear plants was hushed up as quickly as concerns were raised.
The World Health Organization once warned that cancer rates could soar 50% in less than 20 years – but we’ve already surpassed that estimate, which once seemed catastrophic, exponentially.
So tell me – why are we in such a hurry to forget Fukushima, and why are plans being drawn up to build more nuclear reactors in the US using taxpayer monies?
– See more at: http://yournewswire.com/cancer-rates-soar-by-6000-near-fukushima-site-new-report-shows/#sthash.vDZTGCNV.dpuf
Overriding public protests, South Korea renews license of second-oldest nuclear plant,
South Korea renews license of second-oldest nuclear plant, Japan Times, 28 Feb15 SEOUL – The South Korean nuclear regulator said Friday it renewed the operating license of the country’s second-oldest nuclear power plant until 2022, overriding the objections of residents and anti-nuclear groups.
The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said that seven of nine commissioners voted to restart the Wolsong No. 1 reactor located in Gyeongju city, 275 kilometers (170 miles) south of Seoul……..
South Koreans were sharply divided over the fate of the Wolsong No. 1 plant that had operated for 30 years until its license expired in 2012. Residents of Gyeongju and members of environmental groups staged protests near the nuclear watchdog’s office when the commissioners discussed the restart in three meetings since January.
The decision to restart Wolsong No. 1 could galvanize opponents and residents living in the areas of current and future plants, said Suh Kune-yull, nuclear engineering professor at Seoul National University.
“I think there could be a backlash to the nuclear energy industry,” Suh said. “It will become increasingly difficult to extend the life span of other nuclear plants or to build new ones.”…….
Opponents of the Wolsong restart said the plant failed to meet the latest safety standards that came into effect after the reactor first went into operation, and that residents near the power plant want it shut down. …..http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/27/asia-pacific/south-korea-renews-license-of-second-oldest-nuclear-plant/#.VPDfBXyUcnk
India going for $160 billion renewable energy business
India’s Renewable energy sector to generate $160 billion business in five years: Economic Survey By ET Bureau | 27 Feb, 2015 NEW DELHI: Positioning India as a responsible nation committed to sustainable development, the Economic Survey 2014-15 has said the Indian clean energy sector is likely to generate business opportunities to the order of $160 billion for the next five years. …….
It elaborates that in India renewable energy offers very good opportunity for businesses to set and scale up industry, leapfrog technologies, and create volumes. Some of India’s major immediate plans on renewable energy include scaling up cumulative installed capacity to 170 GW that includes 100 GW of solar power by 2022 and establishing a National University for Renewable Energy.
To provide a big push to solar energy, two new schemes — ‘Scheme for Development of Solar Parks………..
Chronology of the radioactive thorium pollution, Bukit Merah, Malaysia
The Star has discovered that 80,000 200-litre drums containing radioactive waste are currently being kept at the dump located in the Kledang Range behind Papan town. The site is about 3km from Bukit Merah and Papan and about 15km from Ipoh. And the waste is thorium hydroxide, not amang.
Chronology of events in the Bukit Merah Asian Rare Earth development http://www.consumer.org.my/index.php/health/454-chronology-of-events-in-the-bukit-merah-asian-rare-earth-developments Eight men — a welder, a shoemaker, a general worker, a pensioner, a barber, a tractor driver, a crane-operator and a cancer victim who was to die shortly — sued Asian Rare Earth in 1985 on behalf of themselves and 10,000 other residents of Bukit Merah and the environs in Perak. They wanted to shut down this rare earth plant in their village near Ipoh because its radioactive waste was endangering their lives.
When the Mitsubishi joint venture plant opened over 1982, the villagers soon began complaining of the factory’s stinging smoke and bad smell which made them choke and cry. Worse was to come. Their health began failing, indicated not only by frequent bouts of coughs and colds, but a sharp rise in the incidence of leukaemia, infant deaths, congenital disease and lead poisoning.
For the first time in Malaysian legal history, an entire community has risen to act over an environmental issue, to protect their health and environment from radioactive pollution.
Below is the chronology of what happened when a radioactive rare earth plant was set up in Bukit Merah. Today, about 30 years later, the Government is allowing a new rare earth plant to be set up by Lynas in Gebeng, Kuantan. This new project should be scrapped if the Malaysian Government puts the health of Malaysians before profits. Continue reading
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of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
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