Fukushima city cleanup begins, with no long term solution in sight
Nor has Tokyo offered any long-term solution for the radioactive waste that is quickly accumulating around the prefecture
In Fukushima City, Decontamination Begins. But What to Do with the Radioactive Waste?, TIME, With reporting by Terrence Terashima, by Krista Mahr , August 9, 2011“…..Nearly five months after March 11, the physical process of cleaning up the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl has begun. Untold numbers of buildings, sidewalks, trees, gardens, parks, streets, school yards and gutters were dusted in radioactive particles after the earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Though a circle within a 20-km radius of the plant and some other high-radiation spots remain evacuated, a much larger area is still home to tens of thousands of people who want those particles out of their lives as soon as possible. Continue reading
Switching support to renewable energy? – Japan’s largest union wavers
Will Japan’s Largest Union Support Renewable Energy? In These Times, 11 Aug 11 By Akito Yoshikane, The Japanese Trade Union Confederation, also known as Rengo, said the country’s nuclear energy policy and the union’s support of it should bequestioned going forward. At an anti-nuclear gathering last Thursday in Hiroshima, the union’s secretary general told reporters, “We have to start discussions concerning nuclear energy from the beginning to decide what we should do in the future.”
That is a change from last August when the union promoted atomic power. …..
TEPCO nuclear company near financial disaster, even with government bailout
TEPCO teetering on financial edge, Chiaki Toyoda and Tadaaki Inoue / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers, 11 Aug 11The harsh business environment facing Tokyo Electric Power Co. has been brought to the fore after the utility posted a record quarterly group net loss, logging a 571.7 billion yen deficit for the April-June period due to the crisis at its Fukushima No. 1nuclear power plant.
TEPCO will receive financial support from a new organization to be set up later this month by the government, which will be tasked with securing funds for the utility to pay compensation to people affected by radiation from the crippled plant.
Yet the utility’s business operations will be precarious, Continue reading
India’s National Green Tribunal wants study of nuclear radiation’s effects
The occurrence of adioactive substances from the sites of Thermal Power Plants in India have been been reported widely. A recent study by National Geophysical Laboratory found high quantity of nuclear radiation in Chandraapur Thermal power plant in Maharashtra. …..
The tribunal has also asked the ministry to study the impact of radiaton on local population who live in close vicinit of the thermal plant. “We have been informed that there is large population residing within 2 to 3 KM from the project site,” the bench said….http://www.hindustantimes.com/Green-tribunal-asks-govt-to-study-nuclear-radiation/Article1-730553.aspx
For the first time, atomic bomb survivors oppose nuclear power, as well as nuclear weapons
“They convinced us that nuclear power was different from nuclear bombs,” said Mr. Yamada, 80, who was in junior high school when Nagasaki was bombed. “Fukushima showed us that they are not so different.”
Atomic Bomb Survivors Join Opposition to Nuclear Power, New York Times, By MARTIN FACKLER, August 6, 2011, NAGASAKI, Japan — In 1945, Masahito Hirose saw the white mushroom cloud rise from the atomic bomb that incinerated this city and that left his aunt to die a slow, painful death, bleeding from her nose and gums. Still, like other survivors of the attacks here and in Hiroshima, he quietly accepted Japan’s postwar embrace of nuclear-generated power, believing government assurances that it was both safe and necessary for the nation’s economic rise.
That was before this year’s disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northern Japan confronted the survivors once again with their old nightmare: thousands of civilians exposed to radiation. Aghast at the catastrophic failure of nuclear technology, and outraged by recent revelations that the government and power industry had planted nuclear proponents at town hall-style meetings, the elderly atomic bomb survivors, dwindling in numbers, have begun stepping forward for the first time to oppose nuclear power. Continue reading
The lies that produced the atomic bombing of hiroshima
Truman referred in his diary to “the telegram from Jap Emperor asking for peace.”………The United States Strategic Bombing Survey concluded that, “… certainly prior to 31 December, 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November, 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped
Truman Lied, Hundreds of Thousands Died, The Real News. David Swanson, 6 Aug 11, On August 6, 1945, President Harry S Truman announced: “Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British ‘Grand Slam’ which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.”
When Truman lied to America that Hiroshima was a military base rather than a city full of civilians, people no doubt wanted to believe him. Continue reading
Fukushima’s children and radiation
Hiroshi Ueki, 40, a former kindergarten worker, moved his wife and two sons, aged one and four, to Matsumoto in the mountainous prefecture of Nagano, 280 kilometres away.
Remembering family life in their home town, he said, “everyday I used to tell my sons: ‘Don’t touch this. Don’t eat that. Don’t take your mask off’.”
“When we got to Nagano, my son was still asking me: ‘Dad, can I touch this flower? Can I touch that car? Can I play in the rain?’ When I heard him say that, I was almost crying.”
Hiroshima Day push against nuclear power and nuclear weapons
Kan Vows to Push for Nuclear-Free Society at Hiroshima Ceremony,Bloomberg, By Sachiko Sakamaki and Yuriy Humber, August 06, 2011, (Bloomberg) –– Prime Minister Naoto Kan vowed in Hiroshima to cut nuclear-power use, speaking at the atomic- bombed city’s first commemorative ceremony since meltdowns in Fukushima reactors led to widespread radioactive contamination.
“The human race shouldn’t forget the horror that fell on Hiroshima 66 years ago, and it should never be repeated,” Kan said today at the Peace Memorial. “I will take sweeping measures to secure safety, reduce reliance on atomic power, and seek a society that doesn’t depend on nuclear energy.”…..Hiroshima Mayor – Speaking before Kan, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged Japan to take concrete steps toward changing its energy policy to focus on renewable sources of electricity “as quickly as possible.”
Japan replaces 3 pro nuclear officials with 3 more pro nuclear officials
“The three successors are people who will not promote reforms nor override objections from the energy industry,”
Kaieda picks bureaucrats from pro-nuclear faction to lead METI, Asahi.com. 6 Aug 11, Banri Kaieda’s “reborn” industry ministry is looking quite similar to highly criticized one that was heavily armed to thwart the energy reforms pushed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
The industry minister on Aug. 4 decided on the replacements for three leading ministry officials who will be dismissed over the series of accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and the manipulation of public opinion at state-sponsored symposiums on nuclear energy. Continue reading
Japan seeking new, independent, nuclear safety authority
Japan Nuclear Agency May Fall Under New Authority, WSJ, By TOKO SEKIGUCHI, 6 Aug 11, TOKYO—Japan’s minister in charge of nuclear safety said Friday that the country’s planned nuclear safety agency may come under the jurisdiction of a different government department from its predecessors, in a move to accelerate its separation from an industry ministry mired in scandals. Continue reading
Atomic bombing did not cause Japan to surrender in 1945
compelling evidence that it was the Soviet entry into the Pacific conflict, not Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that forced Japan’s surrender….
If killing large numbers of civilians does not have a military impact, then what, Wilson asks, is the purpose of keeping nuclear weapons? We know they are dangerous. If they turn out not to be strategically effective, then nuclear weapons are not trump cards, but time bombs beneath our feet..
Why did Japan surrender? Sixty-six years ago, we dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Now, some historians say that’s not what ended the war.What ended World War II?, Boston Globe, By Gareth Cook, August 7, 2011 For nearly seven decades, the American public has accepted one version of the events that led to Japan’s surrender. Continue reading
Pakistan alarm at USA plan for seizing Pakistan’s nuclear weapons
Cat is out of bag, Pakistan Observer, 6 Aug 11, THE fear that were being expressed in the wake of American unilateral action in Abbottabad that Washington could also one day carry out similar operation against Pakistan’s nuclear assets have heightened after disclosure by the NBC News that the US military and intelligence operatives are debating, strategizing, gaming and potentially even conducting drills on entering Pakistan and seizing the nation’s nuclear weapons during a crisis. This is not a mere conjecture as former White House Deputy Counter-Terrorism Director Roger Cressey has also confirmed that the plan is highest priority of the US intelligence and White House. Continue reading
Highest radiation reading possible now stops workers entering Fukushima nuclear reactor 1
The latest reading was taken on the second floor of the No. 1 reactor building and will stop workers entering the area… the highest the Geiger counters used were capable of reading, indicating the level could have been higher,
…….Radioactive soil in pockets of areas outside the exclusion zone around the plant have reached the same level as in Chernobyl following a reactor explosion in the former Soviet Union, the report said….
Tepco Reports Second Deadly Radiation Reading at Fukushima Nuclear Plant, Bloomberg By Tsuyoshi Inajima and Kari Lundgren – Aug 2, 2011 Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported its second deadly radiation reading in as many days at its wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant north of Tokyo.
The utility known as Tepco said yesterday it detected 5 sieverts of radiation per hour in the No. 1 reactor building. On Aug. 1 in another area it recorded radiation of 10 sieverts per hour, enough to kill a person “within a few weeks” after a single exposure, according to theWorld Nuclear Association. Continue reading
Setsuden – Japan finds an nuclear power replacement that might change the world
setsuden – the Japanese word for power conservation…..As setsuni continues to pare back the power requirements of the Japanese economy, maybe the country won’t need the power from the 54 reactors that it might mothball by next year.
If so, setsuden isn’t just an energy solution for Japan..
Setsuden poised to replace nuclear power in Japan, JEFF RUBIN. Globe and Mail, August 3, 2011 Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan was recently quoted as seeing the country as a nuclear-free nation. But unlike similar pronouncements from Germany, which pledges to be nuclear-free by 2022, Japan may become nuclear free literally within a year. Continue reading
Fears of radioactive rice in Japan
Japanese rice crops threatened by radiation. Smart Planet, By David Worthington | August 1, 2011, Local authorities in Japan are working to determine whether the country’s traditional staple crop is contaminated with unsafe levels of radioactive cesium. Continue reading
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1 June Webinar – The High Cost of Nuclear Power – Register
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