Russia getting annoyed with delays in selling its nukes to India
Russia running out of patience as nuclear plant row intensifies, Daily Mail, By M C RAJAN 16th February 2012 Russia seems to be stuck in a catch-22 situation. The ongoing anti-nuke stir in Southern Tamil Nadu has placed the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in a limbo.
It is only now that Russia has realised that the going might get tough. Continue reading
Fukushima in danger of new big earthquakes
Big quake risk said greater at Fukushima Outcome Magazine, TOKYO, Feb. 14 (UPI) — The risk of strong earthquakes at the Fukushima nuclear plant increased after the magnitude-9 tremor that hit Japan last March, scientists report.
A study using data from more than 6,000 earthquakes shows the March 11, 2011, tremor caused a seismic fault close to the nuclear plant to reactivate, a release from the European Geosciences Union said Tuesday. “There are a few active faults in the nuclear power plant area, and our results show the existence of similar structural anomalies under both the Iwaki and the Fukushima Daiichi areas,” study leader Dapeng Zhao, a geophysics professor at Japan’s Tohoku University, said.
The number of earthquakes in Iwaki increased greatly after the March earthquake, he said. “Given that a large earthquake occurred in Iwaki not long ago, we think it is possible for a similarly strong earthquake to happen in Fukushima,” Zhao said…. http://outcomemag.com/world/2012/02/14/big-quake-risk-said-greater-at-fukushima/
Japan: push for a referendum on nuclear power
The anti-nuclear side has won all three referendums already held.
Japan group seeks local referendum on nuclear power * Osaka city assembly to decide on nuclear plebiscite
* Osaka mayor anti-nuclear but lukewarm on referendum
* Activists battle apathy a year after Fukushima crisis
By Yoko Kubota TOKYO, Feb 14 (Reuters) – A group of Japanese activists submitted a petition to the western city of Osaka on Tuesday seeking a referendum on scrapping atomic power, a step some hope will boost a campaign that appears to be flagging a year after the Fukushima disaster….. Plebiscites are rare in Japan Continue reading
15 tonnes of water hourly, as Fukushima nuclear reactor hots up again
Fukushima reactor heats up again, ABC News, By Mark Willacy in Fukushima The operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant has begun injecting more water into one of the reactors, after the core temperature rose above Japan’s safety limit.
A gauge inside Fukushima’s reactor number two showed the temperature rising to 82 degrees Celsius over the weekend, its highest level since the reactor was put into a state of cold shutdown two months ago. Operator TEPCO insists there has been no nuclear reaction and that the reactor can be controlled.
Responding to the increase, the operator began injecting 15 tonnes of water an hour into the reactor in a bid to get the temperature down. TEPCO says it has not detected any xenon gas, which is created when a
nuclear reaction has been triggered.
The company suspects that cooling water has not been flowing freely into the the number two reactor, causing the
In Japan thousands rally for “Sayonora to nuclear plants,”
Thousands rally against nuclear power in Japan Business Recorder FEBRUARY 12, 2012 Thousands demonstrated in Tokyo on Saturday against nuclear power generation, 11 months after a massive earthquake and tsunami sparked reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Kenzaburo Oe, the 1994 Nobel prize winner for literature, told a central rally at Yoyogi Park, “Radioactive waste from nuclear power plants will be borne by generations to come.” Continue reading
Where to put Japan’s 22 metric tons of perhaps radioactive debris?
Radiation concerns keep municipalities from helping with disaster-area debris, Mainichi Daily News, 14 Feb 12, Concerns about radiation are preventing the massive amount of debris left in areas hit by the March 2011 tsunami from being sent to other areas for processing…..
According to the Ministry of the Environment, 22.52 metric tons of debris remained in the three prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima as of Jan. 31. The national government hopes to have debris from Iwate and Miyagi processed in other municipalities, as the amount
is 11 to 19 times the regular amount of waste generated in each of the prefectures in one year…. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120213p2a00m0na017000c.html
USA and North Korea to resume talks
U.S. to Meet North Koreans for New Talks By STEVEN LEE MYERS NYT, February 13, 2012 WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced on Monday that it would hold its first talks with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program since the death of the
country’s leader, Kim Jong-il, in December.
The talks, to be held in Beijing on Feb. 23, will be the third since last summer to explore the
possibility of resuming negotiations to get North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arsenal. They will offer a chance to gauge whether Mr. Kim’s son and successor as supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, is more open, to diplomacy.
The United States, along with South Korea, Japan, Russia and China, has called on North Korea to suspend activities at its nuclear sites and allow international inspectors to verify a freeze as a condition for resuming talks on a broader agreement that would provide economic
and other assistance in exchange for dismantling the weapons program…. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/world/asia/united-states-to-hold-talks-with-north-korea-on-nuclear-program.html
Booming business for Japan’s nuclear companies, as taxpayers foot the radioactive cleanup bill
Report From Japanese Nuclear Industry Insiders: Business is Booming, Rocket News 24, February 10, 2012 A lingering topic of the Fukushima incident has been how to go forward. Should nuclear plants in Japan be improved or discontinued.
What have been revealed to reporter Hirotoshi Ito by industry insiders are the massive business deals being prepared behind this important social issue.
According to Ito, what we don’t see occurring is what he calls “backspin business” which is profit made off of situations that undo
previous progress. Key players that once had the now-dubious honor of building a strong, clean, and safe nuclear power infrastructure are making preparations to profit from its damage.
For example, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has long struggled with the task of disposing of nuclear waste. Local residents of all TEPCO’s desired locations have been understandably hesitant to accept tons of radioactive material into their neighborhoods.Luckily for TEPCO the wasteland of the likely to be decommissioned Fukushima Daini (Number 2) Reactor is now the perfect place for them to set-up a decontamination factory….
General contractors are also in line to rake in money. Thanks to their friends at the JAEA, three companies, Kashima, Obayashigumi, and Taiseikensetsu were responsible for building 45 of Japan’s nuclear plants. Now they are looking to JAEA for work decontaminating 12 cities in Fukushima Prefecture. The Japanese government has entrusted JAEA with management of clean-up efforts in the area. If you recall, one of JAEA’s previous incarnations, the PNC, was responsible for the Monju Nuclear Plant accident and cover-up. JAEA has since been bogged down in an expensive effort to restart and maintain that plant for over a decade.
One benefit to regular citizens is the trickle-down revenue local business can make from clean-up crews. Beyond that, the largest
investors in this massive project, the Japanese taxpayers, are taking all the risk and getting no dividends. Meanwhile in the words of one TEPCO employee “after the closing and decontamination, [these companies] will be able to put food on the table for decades.”..
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/02/10/report-from-japanese-nuclear-industry-insiders-business-is-booming/
Japanese nuclear corporations clean up financially from radiation clean-up
Even more disturbing to critics of the decontamination program is the fact that the government awarded the first contracts to three giant construction companies — corporations that have no more expertise in radiation cleanup than anyone else does, but that profited hugely from Japan’s previous embrace of nuclear power.
Japan Starts Nuclear Cleanup, With Little Idea of How By HIROKO TABUCHI, NYT February 10, 2012 IITATE, Japan — As 500 workers in hazmat suits and respirator masks fanned out to decontaminate this village 20 miles from the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, their confusion was apparent. “Dig five centimeters or 10 centimeters deep here?” a site supervisor asked his colleagues, pointing to a patch of radioactive topsoil to be removed. He then gestured across the village square toward the community center. “Isn’t that going to be demolished? Shall we decontaminate it or not?”
A day laborer wiping down windows at an abandoned school nearby shrugged at the work crew’s haphazard approach. “We are all amateurs,” he said. “Nobody really knows how to clean up radiation.” Continue reading
Opponents of nuclear power for Gorakhpur village joined by 10 other villages
10 villages join protest against nuclear plant Times of India, Bhaskar Mukherjee, TNN | Feb 11, 2012, FATEHABAD: Protesters against the proposed nuclear power plant in Gorakhpur village got a major support on Friday when 200 villagers from 10 nearby villages came out in the streets of Fatehabad, the district headquarter, to oppose the power plant, expressing security concerns.
The protesters gathered in the local grain market and then marched to the mini secretariat to hand over a memorandum against the plant, signed by 10,000 people, to deputy commissioner M L Kaushik. Villagers including women from Kharakheri, Dhanger, Mochiwali, Khajuri, Chobara, Jandli, Dahman, Kajal Heri, Nehla and Gorakhpur participated in the demonstration.
President of Kisan Sangharsh Samiti Hans Raj Siwach said, “We are on a protest call for the past 546 days but the government does not care. We shall not let the government acquire our agriculture land.” He asked, “Why does the Haryana government want to set up nuclear power plant. Don’t they realize what the Fukushima nuclear disaster did to Japan?”
At least 1,313 acres of land in the village are to be acquired for the nuclear plant. Farmers of Gorakhpur had recently held three officials hostage when they visited the village for taking measurements. The officials were only let go when they promised never to come to the village again. They were forced to write down their promise on paper and sign it.
In the meantime, the residents of the village submitted memorandums against the setting up of the nuclear plant on their land. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/10-villages-join-protest-against-nuclear-plant/articleshow/11843998.cms
Call to replace nuclear proponent Srinivasan with an independent expert on safety panel
‘Remove pro-nuclear Srinivasan from panel’ Press Trust Of India, Hindustan Times, Chennai, February 10, 2012 The anti-nuclear forum spearheading the stir against Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project on Friday demanded removal of former Atomic Energy Commission chief MR Srinivasan from the state expert panel to allay people’s safety concerns, calling him “pro-nuclear”.
People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) said it welcomed constitution of the four-member state panel but pointed out that Srinivasan was a “well-known pro-nuclear person.”
Srinivasan was the former chairman and a current member of India’s Atomic Energy Commission. He was also a member of the site selection committee in the 1980s for the KNPP and has been writing and speaking in favor of nuclear power and the Koodankulam project itself, S P Udayakumar, leading the anti-nuclear movement, said in a statement.
He said people had expected that the state expert team would be neutral and independent “but Dr Srinivasan is neither.So it is hard for the PMANE to accept Dr Srinivasan.”
It asked the chief minister to replace Srinivasan with another expert and expand the team with experts in Geology, Oceanography and
Hydrology. PMANE also requested Jayalalithaa to make the State Expert Team meet its own experts, consider their findings and engage in a “genuine dialogue” and listen to the fears and concerns of the people and arrive at a conclusion in a democratic manner on the basis of majority opinion.
He alleged that having failed to allay the fears of the people, the Centre was sending spies into the areas around Koodankulam “to divide
our communities, create fear and panic among the people and instigate violence..”… http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Chennai/Remove-pro-nuclear-Srinivasan-from-panel/Article1-809419.aspx
Tamil Nadu government appoints pro nuclear enthusiast to head nuclear safety panel!
N-expert to head Kudankulam panel, TNN | Feb 10, 2012, CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday constituted a four-member expert committee, headed by former chairman Atomic Energy Commission M R Srinivasan, to look into the safety aspects of the Kudankulam nuclear power project and address the fears of the locals. Srinivasan’s inclusion is significant as he isknown to be a strong votary of nuclear power. He was one of the .architects of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Fukushima nuclear disaster is an ongoing emeergency
Harvey Wasserman, 10 Feb 12, … the biggest shock waves this week were caused by Tama University Professor Hiroshi Tasaka, a key advisor to Prime Minister Naoto Kan during the Fukushima disaster.
Warning that Fukushima is “far from over,” Tasaka said official assurances of the complex’s alleged safety were based on “groundless
optimism.” Tasaka cited more than 1500 fuel rods dangerously exposed to the open atmosphere at Unit Four alone. The waste problem has gone nationwide, he said in a newly published book, as “the storage capacities of the spent fuel pools at the nation’s nuclear power
plants are reaching their limits,”
Tasaka’s statements came as a new temperature spike unexpectedly stuck Fukushina Unit Two. For reasons not yet clear, heat releases in excess of 158 degrees Farenheit spewed from the core, prompting Tokyo Electric to pump in more water and boric acid meant to damp down an apparently on-going chain reaction. Prof. Tasaka and others warn that this in turn will contribute to spreading still more radiation into the water table and oceans.
With bitter debate raging in Japan, the US and elsewhere over the killing power of Fukushima’s emissions, the certification of a new US
reactor design may someday be remembered as a bizarre epitaph for the 20th century’s most expensive failed technology.
Without state ratepayers and federal taxpayers being forced to foot the bill, new reactor construction in the US is going nowhere.
And without a final resolution to the on-going horrors at Fukushima, the entire planet, from Tokyo to Alaska to Georgia and beyond, remains at serious radioactive risk.
Japanese monks store radioactive waste near their temple
Abe said he and the other monks are storing the soil on a hill behind the temple as neither the government nor the nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) are helping with the clean-up.
“No-one else would take the soil. If there’s nobody to take care of it, the decontamination can’t get going because there’s nowhere to get rid of it,” Abe said.
Japan priest fights invisible demon: radiation Feb 10 (Reuters) – On the snowy fringes of Japan’s 
Fukushima city, now notorious as a byword for nuclear crisis, Zen monk Koyu Abe offers prayers for the souls of thousands left dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami nearly one year ago.
But away from the ceremonial drums and the incense swirling around the Joenji temple altar, Abe has undertaken another task, no less
harrowing — to search out radioactive “hot spots” and clean them up, storing irradiated earth on temple grounds….
Radiation, carried on winds and by snow, spread far beyond the 20 km (12 miles) evacuation zone around the plant, nestling in hot spots across the region and contaminating the ground in what remains a largely agricultural region. Continue reading
Chinese County rejects nuclear plant as a “time bomb”
Chinese County Protests Nuclear Plant Construction, VOA, February 9th, 2012 Chinese state media say authorities in eastern China are demanding construction of a local nuclear-power plant be stopped permanently because residents in the earthquake-prone region are at risk.
The state-run Global Times newspaper says a campaign against the plant was launched in the Anhui provincial county of Wangjiang. The paper says the controversy had drawn nationwide attention after a report in November questioning the plant’s safety was posted last week on the Internet.
The newspaper quotes critic and activist Sun Bin as saying “we all believe the plant is a time bomb.” The paper said the November critique pointed out that the facility – located in an adjacent county – sits on a seismic fault zone “with frequent occurrences of earthquakes.” The November report also said fault-zone data was not mentioned in earlier environmental impact reports. Plant construction was suspended for further impact studies last year, after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster…….. http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/02/09/chinese-county-protests-nuclear-plant-construction/
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