Earthquake, after shocks continue in Fukushima area
Fukushima nuclear plant stable despite new earthquake, :Herald Sun, October 10, 2011 AN EARTHQUAKE hit Japan’s Fukushima area today, but officials say the region’s crippled nuclear plant remains stable.
The 5.5-magnitude offshore quake struck at 11.45am (1345 AEDT) off Fukushima prefecture in the country’s north, at a depth of 30.2km, the US Geological Survey said…. Hundreds of powerful aftershocks have shaken the region since the March quake. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/fukushima-nuclear-plant-stable-despite-new-earthquake/story-e6frf7lf-1226163131977
TEPCO now owes $50 billion in Fukushima nuclear compensation
N-disaster price: Tepco to pay $50 bn? Hindustan Times , Aizuwakamatsu, October 10, 2011 “…….Seven months after the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi, Tepco, which operated the facility, owes $50 billion in compensation to the tens of thousands who lived close to the plant. The payments could send the company into bankruptcy, a government panel recently said. At minimum, they will handcuff the utility giant for years, forcing it to cut jobs, sell its assets and perhaps raise electricity rates for its 29 million customers….
The The Kudankulam anti nuclear protest is spreading through the region
Protests in Kerala against Kudankulam N-plant THE PIONEER , 09 OCTOBER 2011 The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is not an issue confined to the Tamil Nadu boundaries anymore. Protests are fuming in Kerala also against the Central decision to go ahead with the project. Scientists and environmentalists are pointing out that Kerala is bound to suffer tragedies if any eventuality occurs at the nuclear plant. Continue reading Real radioactive cleanup from Fukushima area is a long way off
With challenges such as the designation of temporary radioactive waste dumps and interim storage facilities yet unsolved, the road to true decontamination remains a long one.
True radiation decontamination still a long way away, Mainichi Daily News,. Japan October 7, 2011 Though the government last month lifted the “emergency evacuation preparation zone” designation of some areas greatly affected by the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, radiation decontamination efforts are still taking place in areas with high levels of radiation.
The three main decontamination methods that have been highly publicized through media reports are: the stripping away of surface soil from school playgrounds and athletic fields, the removal of mud accumulated in gutters, and the washing of roofs using high-pressure water cleaners. While the first method is considered effective, the remaining two have been found to be effective only to a certain point, and some especially warn against overestimating the effects of high-pressure water cleaners. Continue reading
USA puts the pressure on India to buy US nuclear reactors
US puts onus on India for implementation of nuclear deal, Economic Times 9 OCT, 2011, WASHINGTON: Putting the onus on India, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today said the US has made clear the steps New Delhi needs to take “to allow us to move forward” on implementation of bilateral civilnuclear deal.
“We remain fully committed to expanding the civil nuclear cooperation with India and have made clear the steps that India needs to take to allow us to move forward,” she told PTI when asked if India’s nuclear liability bill was an irritant in the bilateral relations. …
India’s liability regime has been a bone of contention between it and many of its nuclear partners, including the US, which have expressed reservations about some aspects of the domestic law that they fear will impose huge penalty on foreign suppliers in case of nuclear accidents.
However, Indian officials have maintained that the law was in accordance with international standards but India was ready to allay any apprehension in this regard. …
Koodankulam anti nuclear protest – 7.000 people fasting
the fast was only “a beginning of their long struggle” against nuclear power and it would be intensified if the KNPP was not scrapped.
Over 7,000 people observe fast against nuclear project Economic Times, 9 Oct 11, TIRUNELVELI (TN): Breaking the brief truce, more than 7,000 people today observed a token fast against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant(KNPP) and vowed to intensify the struggle if the government did not scrap it. The renewed protest comes two days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured a multi-party delegation including the anti-KNPP activists that an expert group would be set up to allay their safety concerns.
Slamming Singh’s letter to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa seeking her support to ensure timely implementation of the Indo-Russian project, protesters said it only showed the Centre was not concerned about the safety of people. The fast at Idinthakarai near Koodankulam in the district was led by Co-ordinator of People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy S P Udhayakumar, a member of the delegation that had met Singh.
Udhayakumar told reporters the fast was only “a beginning of their long struggle” against nuclear power and it would be intensified if the KNPP was not scrapped.
After meeting the Prime Minister, the activists had claimed it was their first victory. But now they are irked by Singh’s letter to Jayalalithaa seeking her help to complete KNPP. Udhayakumar said the contents of the letter, dashed off on the same day when they met Singh, only showed that the “Centre is not concerned about the safety and security of the Tamils.”
Despite the state cabinet’s resolution for halting work on the project, the Centre had chosen to go ahead with it. “This is painful,” he said. People, including fishermen, from 13 villages participated in the fast today. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/over-7000-people-observe-fast-against-nuclear-project/articleshow/10289655.cms
Renewed protest against Koodankulam and Kalpakkam nuclear facilities
Anti-nuke activists protest against power plants in TN Indian Express 8 Oct 11, Over 300 anti-nuclear activists today staged a protest here against the Koodamkulam atomic power plant in Koodankulam even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a state delegation that he would depute a panel to address the safety concerns of local population.
The protestors, under the banner of People’s Coalition Against Nuclear Power Plants, also demanded that the Madras Atomic Power Station in Kalpakkam near here be gradually phased out.
“We want the Koodankulam project to be scrapped and the Kalpakkam plant to be gradually phased out. When the whole world is going for solar driven energy, why are we going behind nuclear which is not safe?” asked Convenor of the coalition S D Rajendran, who led the protest.
He wanted the government to make public how Kalpakkam nuclear plant was handling it effluents. “There are people including children who suffer from cancer in areas around Kalpakkam and the fish catch in the sea near the plant is dwindling,” Rajendran alleged. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/antinuke-activists-protest-against-power-plants-in-tn/857031/
Nuclear power and democracy in conflict in India
Safety record at Kalpakkam facility
*In 1987, a refuelling accident ruptured the reactor core.
*In 1991, workers were exposed to a radioactive heavy water leak.
*In 1999, another leak exposed 42 workers.
*In 2002, 100 kg of radioactive sodium leaked.
*In 2003, high-level radioactive waste was released into a work area, exposing six workers to nuclear radiation.
How pertinent is the nuclear option? Deccan Chronicle October 8, 2011 , By R. Mohan Democratic protests against nuclear plants are the flavour of the season.What began in Jaitapur has come down south to Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu and protests are bound to spread across the country to wherever nuclear power plants are being planned.
There is a fundamental conflict here between the aims of the government to arm the country with clean nuclear energy and the people’s fears over nuclear power plant catastrophes fanned further by the Fukushima experience. Continue reading
AREVA ahead in the scramble to sell off nuclear reactors to India
Areva In ‘Full-Scale’ Talks To Build Nuclear Power Plants In India, WSJ, By Eric Yep MUMBAI (Dow Jones)-–Areva S.A. (ARVCY) is “in the middle of full-scale discussions” to build nuclear power plants in India, said Arthur De Montalembert, chairman of its local unit, despite its U.S. rivals going slow on their Indian plans due to concerns over a nuclear liability law.
Areva’s talks with Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd. may give an edge to the French state-controlled nuclear equipment supplier over its U.S. rivals, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Westinghouse Electric Co., whose plans were delayed after the Indian government adopted the law that makes both equipment suppliers and plant operators liable to accident compensation claims.
Equipment suppliers, which are eyeing India’s multi-billion-dollar nuclear power market, have sought changes in the law. Continue reading
India’s Prime Minister cannot be trusted about nuclear power
The disaster potential of nuclear power plants is of concern to the entire nation and not the people of Kudankulam or Jaitapur alone. The Prime Minister disallowed the demand for a national debate when he slyly negotiated the India-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement …
India,…, must reassess its policy.
Discard this secrecy, THE PIONEER , 08 OCTOBER 2011 PM can’t be trusted on N-power plants The Prime Minister’s response to the protest against the 1000 MWe nuclear power plant which is being set up at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu is typically that of a file-pushing babu: Unimaginative, bureaucratic and non-committal. It is understandable that having single-mindedly pursued the opening up of India’s civil nuclear sector to foreign collaboration, Mr Manmohan Singh should continue to insist that the nation’s deliverance lies in boosting the generation of atomic power. … Continue reading
India’s nuclear power plans derailed by safety fears
“What you see in Koodankulam and Jaitapur will be repeated in other nuclear parks earmarked for reactors from US suppliers,”
India’s nuclear future put on hold, Safety fears derail plan to import reactors., Nature News, 8 Oct 11K. S. Jayaraman An increase in anti-nuclear sentiment after the Fukushima disaster in Japan in March has stalled India’s ambitious plan for nuclear expansion.
The plan, pushed forward by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, aims to use reactors imported from the United States, France and Russia to increase the country’s nuclear-power capacity from the present 4,780 megawatts to 60,000 megawatts by 2035, and to provide one-quarter of the country’s energy by 2050. But now there are doubts that the targets will ever be met if safety fears persist….. Continue reading
Koodankulam anti nuclear struggle will spread beyond the region
The significance of the struggle waged by villagers in the south of Tamil Nadu stretches well
beyond the Koodankulam nuclear project itself.
because the Koodankulam project is closely intertwined with plans for expansion of the Kalpakkam complex, the struggle is bound to reverberate throughout the state of Tamil Nadu and beyond…
Anti-Nuclear Struggle Has Large Fallout, International News magazine, Peter Custers LEIDEN, the Netherlands, Oct 5 (IPS) – The anti-nuclear struggle in India did not gain the same national prominence as the hunger strike waged by Anna Hazare against rampant corruption among India’s top politicians. Yet a landmark it surely was in the history of India’s nuclear programme. Continue reading
TEPCO hides nuclear information from politicians and public
Tepco fights to keep nuclear emergency procedures secret, FT.com By Jonathan Soble in Tokyo, October 4, 2011 Six months after the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station, the Japanese utility that owns the plant is fighting to keep its pre-disaster emergency-response procedures a secret from politicians and the public, arguing they contain valuable trade information. Tokyo Electric Power angered members parliamentary committee last month when it handed over manuals outlining steps that its nuclear plant operators are meant to follow in the case of accidents.
All but a few words of the texts were redacted with black ink.
The storm of controversy that followed – one newspaper columnist compared it to wartime censorship – seems not to have softened the company’s stance. This week it asked Japan’s nuclear safety regulator, which had ordered it to resubmit the manuals without redaction, to allow it to keep much of the material secret. So far only the regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa), has seen the originals, which run to thousands of pages. It has not passed them on to the lawmakers who originally requested them.
Tepco has told Nisa that if the manuals are to be made public, 90 per cent of the content related to “severe accidents” such as that at Fukushima should be kept under black ink. “The manuals contain knowhow that we have built up over a long period of operation,” a company spokesman said on Tuesday…. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2dc211b0-ee78-11e0-a2ed-00144feab49a.html#axzz1a2EVqNGT
High levels of radiation in soil beyond Fukushima’s exclusion zone
Nuclear contamination found beyond Japan no-go zone, Google News, 6 Oct 11, TOKYO — High levels of radioactive contamination have been found in soil in the capital of Japan’s Fukushima prefecture, a study showed Wednesday, prompting calls to make the area a voluntary evacuation zone.Some 307,000 becquerels of caesium per kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of soil was detected in an independent survey conducted on September 14 by a radiological engineering expert and citizens’ groups……
On Friday the government said it would lift five “evacuation preparation” zones between 20 and 30 kilometres from the plant, where residents were not forced to evacuate but were told to be ready to do so in the event of further setbacks at the crippled plant.
Public confidence in the safety of Japan’s nuclear plants has plummeted in the wake of the disaster, with only 10 of the nation’s 54 reactors currently online….. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gPTzBtCcJ2AYbeWbgXB84JLolAiA?docId=CNG.574799ca7aea7d5e54ed792d7efd7168.541
Japan’s auditors call for cut in nuclear subsidies
Auditors Call for Large Cut in Funds for Nuclear Subsidies, Chem Info TOKYO, Oct. 6 (Kyodo) — Government auditors said Wednesday funds set aside for subsidies to municipalities that would host nuclear reactors can be slashed by about 65.7 billion yen as construction projects of reactors have been stalled. Continue reading
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