16 British nuclear power plants are prone to drone hacks
Nuclear reactors highly vulnerable to drone attacks A newly published report warns that some 16 British nuclear power plants are prone to drone hacks.
A study conducted by leading British nuclear expert reveals that 16 operational nuclear reactors are not designed to cope with threats posed by “near-cyborg technology.”
In his report which also included possible threats against French nuclear facilities, John Large warned that unmanned aircraft can navigate barriers that are dated and belong to a “different age.”………http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/12/24/391683/uk-nuclear-plants-prone-to-drone-strike/
Fukushima radiation may be the cause of newly detected thyroid cancers in Fukushima children
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster May Cause Childhood Thyroid Cancer: Reports Sputnuk News, 24 Dec 14 Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear incident may be the reason for four cases of thyroid cancer detected in children in the local area. MOSCOW, December 24 (Sputnik) – The 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster may be behind another four children being affected by thyroid cancer, Xinhua reported Wednesday, citing local media reports.
In August, Japanese researchers, using data from the first survey conducted into the potential health impacts caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, concluded that 57 children had thyroid cancer as a direct result of radiation leaked by the reactors.
However, a further four children, then aged from between six and 17, but not counted by the first survey, have been included in a second survey as also suffering from the disease, according to Xinhua………http://linkis.com/sputniknews.com/scie/NJDbQ
US Republicans increasingly supporting renewable energy
 Could a GOP Congress Back Renewable Energy? Institutional Investor – Dec 24, 2014
Does a favorable political climate for the coal sector strike a blow to alternative energy? Not necessarily. Republicans, especially those at the state and local levels, are increasingly supporting solar and other renewable energy sources as consistent with their …
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Momentum is building for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons!
Significantly, and to help move the work forward, the Austrian Foreign Minister added to the Chair’s report by announcing a pledge by Austria to work for a nuclear weapons ban, described as “taking effective measures to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons” and “to cooperate with all stakeholders to achieve this goal.!
Time to Ban the Bomb http://globalhousework.blogspot.com.au/ by Alice Slater, 23 Dec 14 Global Momentum is building for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons! While the world has banned chemical and biological weapons, there is no explicit legal prohibition of nuclear weapons, although the International Court of Justice ruled unanimously that there is an obligation to bring to a conclusion negotiations for their total elimination. The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), negotiated in 1970 required the five existing nuclear weapons states, the US, Russia, UK, France and China (P-5) to make “good faith efforts” to eliminate their nuclear weapons, while the rest of the world promised not to acquire them (except for India, Pakistan, Israel, who never signed the NPT). North Korea relied on the NPT Faustian bargain for “peaceful” nuclear power to build its own bomb, and then walked out of the treaty.
More than 600 members of civil society, from every corner of the globe, with more than half of them under the age of 30 
attended a fact-filled two day conference in Vienna organized by the International Coalition to Ban Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), to learn of the devastating consequences of nuclear weapons from the bomb and from testing as well, and of the frightening risks from possible accidents or sabotage of the nine nuclear arsenals around the world. The meeting was a follow up to two prior meetings in Oslo, Norway and Nayarit, Mexico. ICAN members, working for a treaty to ban the bomb, then joined a meeting hosted by Austria for 158 governments in the historic Hofburg Palace, which has served as the residence of Austrian leaders since before the founding of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Continue reading
Steep costs, constant uncertainty, make nuclear power an impractical answer to climate chnage
Nuclear: Carbon Free, but Not Free of Unease NYT, By HENRY FOUNTAIN DEC. 22, 2014 “………The industry’s recent struggles represent something of a reversal from the previous decade, when there was talk of a nuclear revival in the United States after nearly 30 years without any new reactor construction permits being issued. Even then, however, some experts questioned just how much nuclear power could grow in the United States and abroad, and how much it could contribute to the effort to reduce carbon emissions.
In a report she prepared in 2009, Ms. Squassoni wrote that in light of steep construction costs, only a handful of new reactors would come on line by 2015, even in the best of circumstances.
“If you really wanted to reduce carbon emissions through nuclear, it was going to be incredibly expensive,” she said. “You’d have to build an incredible number of power plants.”
Now plants are even more expensive, in part because of new safety requirements in the wake of Fukushima. So-called small modular reactorshave been proposed as a lower-cost alternative. There are many different designs — at least one is meant to run on waste fuel — but the federal Department of Energy has provided significant development money only for two designs that are smaller variations of the most common kind of reactor.
Ashley Finan, an analyst with the Clean Air Task Force, which focuses on technologies to fight climate change, said that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had not made it easy for alternative designs to win backing from private investors.
“There’s a lack of a clear and predictable regulatory pathway,” Dr. Finan said. “You’re really not able to attract funding without a clear regulatory process.”
As a result, small modular reactors are many years from reality in the United States. Overseas, there are only a few isolated small-reactor projects underway, including one under construction in China………
Peter A. Bradford, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said that in discussions of adding more nuclear power to help curb emissions and fight climate change, the issue of safety takes on a new dimension.
“You can’t rationally bet a big part of your climate change abatement plan on a technology that you may suddenly find you don’t want to use anymore,” Mr. Bradford said. A major accident, for example, might force the entire industry to shut down, at least temporarily. “There’s no other low-carbon alternative with the potential to develop a large hole like that.”……http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/23/science/nuclear-carbon-free-but-not-free-of-unease-.html?_r=0
New post by computer hacker being investigated by S.Korea’s nuclear operator
S.Korea’s nuclear operator says investigating new post by hacker http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/23/southkorea-cybersecurity-threat-idUSL3N0U71XS20141223 SEOUL Tue Dec 23, 2014 Dec 23 (Reuters) – South Korea’s nuclear power plant operator said on Tuesday it was investigating a new threat posted on a Twitter account that a fresh batch of data had been stolen from the agency.
The Twitter account
had previously been used to claim the theft of data last week.
The user, self-described as the chairman of an anti-nuclear group, demanded the shut down of some of the country’s 23 nuclear reactors and urged local residents to flee the areas in a post that included a few sets of data.
“We have not yet opened the newly posted files,” an official at Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd (KHNP) said by telephone, citing concerns about the safety of the data. “It will take some time to verify the data they posted.” The KHNP said on Monday that its computer systems had been hacked but only non-critical data had been stolen. Operations were not at risk, it said. (Reporting by Meeyoung Cho and Sohee Kim; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Continuing opposition to India’s Kudankulam nuclear facility
Activists, however, have been calling for Kudankulam’s shutdown. “We are really afraid,” said Anthony Rayappan Suresh, a fisherman working along the shoreline in Idintha Karai and wearing a skull-and-bones antinuclear T-shirt. “We’ve seen the earlier tsunami, and this plant is not that safe.”
India’s Nuclear Ambitions Rattle Tsunami-Hit Coast Locals Fear Fukushima Scenario at Plant on Shores Ravaged in ‘04 By JESSE PESTA and R. JAI KRISHNA, WSJ Dec. 21, 2014 IDINTHA KARAI, India—Here along India’s southern coast—ravaged by tsunami waves 10 years ago—the country’s newest nuclear plant towers over the shoreline.It is one of India’s biggest nuclear plants, and in the coming weeks it is expected to officially start selling power into the Indian grid. The Russian-designed, 2,000-megawatt Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project is part of an aggressive nuclear expansion as India struggles to solve severe power shortages.
It comes a decade after the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami, in which 228,000 people were lost across countries on the Indian Ocean’s rim, and amid concern about nuclear plants on tsunami-prone shorelines since the 2011 meltdown in Fukushima, Japan.
Just this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited India and agreed to supply at least 10 more reactors over two decades. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the two leaders “outlined an ambitious vision for nuclear energy” during the visit and pledged the “highest standards of safety.” Continue reading
Israeli government is well aware that Iran is honoring the interim nuclear agreement
Speaking in an interview with CNN’s Candy Crowley, the president defended his diplomacy-focused foreign policy, saying that “where we can solve problems diplomatically, we should do so.” Obama said the American-led effort to reach a negotiated solution to defusing Iran’s nuclear program was an example of a successful diplomatic campaign.
“You look at an example like Iran, over the last year and a half, since we began negotiations with them, that’s probably the first year and a half in which Iran has not advanced its nuclear program in the last decade,” Obama told the news outlet.
The American leader said Iran’s halted progress was “not just verified by the United Nations and the… IAEA and ourselves,” but that “even critics of our policy like the Netanyahu government in Israel, their intelligence folks have acknowledged that, in fact, Iran has not made progress.”
Obama’s remarks were supported by a confidential IAEA report leaked last week which said Iran is honoring the interim nuclear agreement reached last year with the P5+1 world powers.
The document, obtained by Reuters on Friday, showed that Tehran was not enriching uranium above a five-percent concentration, and that it has not made “any further advances” at two enrichment facilities and a heavy water reactor which was under construction.
Read more: Obama: Israel knows Iran’s nuclear program halted | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-israel-knows-irans-nuclear-program-halted/#ixzz3Mquj29GG
South Korea: nuclear data leak is a grave situation, says President Park
South Korean president says nuclear data leak a ‘grave situation’, not ruling out North Korea link, ABC News 23 Dec 14 A recent series of leaks of data from South Korea’s nuclear operator was a “grave situation” that was unacceptable as a matter of national security, president Park Geun-hye says.
Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd (KHNP), which runs South Korea’s 23 nuclear power reactors, said on Monday its computer systems had been hacked, raising alarm in a country that remains at war with North Korea……..
“Nuclear power plants are first-class security installations that directly impact the safety of the people,” Ms Park said at a cabinet meeting, according to her office.
“A grave situation that is unacceptable has developed when there should have been not a trace of lapse as a matter of national security.”
She ordered inspections of safeguards at national infrastructure facilities, including the nuclear power plants, against what she called “cyber terrorism”……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-23/south-korea-data-leak-a-grave-situation-says-president/5985910
Suppression of the media in South Korea
Conservative Abe’s secrecy law doesn’t hold a candle to Seoul’s press suppression BY MAKIKO SEGAWA AND MICHAEL PENN THE JAPAN TIMES For people concerned with the weakening of press freedoms under the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, its criticism of the liberal Asahi Shimbun and the new state secrets law, there should still be a sense of relief that media suppression in Japan has not quite reached the levels now being seen in South Korea.
Like Japan, South Korea is currently governed by a decidedly conservative regime — that of President Park Geun-hye and her Saenuri Party, known until early 2012 as the Grand National Party……..http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/12/22/national/conservative-abes-secrecy-law-doesnt-hold-candle-seouls-press-suppression/#.VJfnHfDA
Cancer rate in USA will increase, after Obama lifts the “allowable” level of radiation in drinking water
Obama Increases Allowable Levels of Radiation in Drinking Water http://sooth2012.wordpress.com/
The US governments PAGs ( Protective Action Guides) allow long-term public exposure to radiation in amounts as high as 2,000 millirems. This would, in effect, increase a longstanding 1 in 10,000 person cancer rate to a rate of 1 in 23 persons exposed over a 30-year period. Many experts are expecting elevated cancer rates due to these “allowable” levels of radiation exposure
USA’s nuclear waste dilemma lingers on, as new Congress convenes
Another chapter in saga of radioactive waste disposal begins when new Congress convenes.
With no long-term disposal solution in sight, radioactive spent fuel remains an unaddressed national problem. More than 70,000 metric tons of radioactive spent fuel remains at more than 100 nuclear reactors where the waste was or is still being generated
(Paywall) http://cen.acs.org/signin.html?resource=/content/cen/articles/92/i50/Another-Chapter-Saga-Radioactive-Waste &http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/-3642930410418778504
In South Korea, worries mount about nuclear safety, as prosecutors probe data leak
South Korea investigating data leak at nuclear power plants, Globe and Mail SOHEE KIM AND MEEYOUNG CHO SEOUL — Reuters, Dec. 21 2014 Seoul prosecutors have launched an investigation into a leak of non-critical data at South Korea’s nuclear power operator, the prosecutors’ office said on Sunday, as worries mount about nuclear safety and potential cyber attacks from North Korea.
An official with the prosecutors’ office confirmed media reports that they had traced the location of an IP address linked to the leak and had dispatched investigators to the site…………… http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/south-korea-investigating-data-leak-at-nuclear-power-plants/article22171029/
No to Canadian Nuclear Association: nuclear energy is not sustainable
Nuclear energy is not sustainable http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2014/12/21/nuclear_energy_is_not_sustainable.html Kevin Farmer, Toronto Re: Nuclear power still needed, Letter Dec. 14
In his defence of nuclear power, John Barrett, president of the Canadian Nuclear Association, offers a tired talking point, a false dichotomy and a specious assurance, all of which beg for rebuttal.
Yes, the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow. Therefore, Mr. Barrett concludes that we will always need a backup energy source to compensate for “supply gaps inherent in renewable energy.” Another solution would be better storage media to hold excess capacity during peak generation that can be brought online during lulls.
There is also the revolutionary technology of conservation. But we don’t seem to talk about that anymore even though energy efficiency is better than free since it pays for itself over time and then yields ongoing benefits.
Also, Mr. Barrett makes the bizarre assertion that “the nuclear industry is the only energy provider held fully accountable for its waste, safely stored on site and controlled by professionals — a sharp contrast to emissions from fossil fuel generation.” How exactly is the nuclear industry “accountable” for its waste? Does this accountability make the waste any less radioactive or shorten its radioactive half-life? Nuclear waste, like all of the products of human industry, is already in our environment. It is simply a matter of time before we notice the effects. We cannot impound toxic materials forever and no amount of “accountability” or alleged “control” can change this. We need to realize that we will live sustainably on Earth or not at all. Nuclear energy is not sustainable.
Off Fukushima coast – an earthquake, again
Earthquake strikes off Fukushima Prefecture; no tsunami warning issued, Japan Times, STAFF REPORT DEC 20, 2014 An earthquake with an intensity of 4 on the Japanese scale to 7 rattled the Hamadori area of eastern Fukushima Prefecture at 6:31 p.m. Saturday, the Meteorological Agency said.
The earthquake measured 3 in the Nakadori district of Fukushima as well as in northern, central and southern areas of adjacent Miyagi Prefecture, and in pars of Ibaraki Prefecture further to the north, the agency said on its website……..http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/12/20/national/science-health/moderate-quake-rattles-eastern-fukushima-prefecture/#.VJidisA9
1 This Month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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