Typhoon on its way to Fukushima nuclear plant area
Once-In-A-Decade Typhoon Heads For Japan Nuclear Plant Earth Changes Media August 22, 2014 Tokyo (AFP) – A typhoon described as the “strongest in 10 years” closed in on Japan on Wednesday, on a path that will take it towards the precarious Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Tokyo and surrounding areas were hit by violent winds and heavy rains in the early hours of Wednesday morning as Typhoon Wipha moved northeast off the coast of central Japan.
Thousands were evacuated from their homes in the neighbouring prefecture Chiba and power outages were reported.
Record rainfall of around 118.5 millimetres (4.7 inches) per hour was recorded on Izu Oshima Island, which lies in the Pacific, 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of central Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, according to Kyodo news agency.
Three homes on the island had been washed away by a swollen river, Kyodo reported, citing police.
The weather bureau warned the typhoon could make landfall in the densely populated Kanto region, which includes Tokyo, later in the morning.
Typhoon Wipha, packing winds of nearly 200 kilometres (125 miles) per hour near its centre, was moving northeast at around 55 kilometres per hour in the early hours of the morning, Kyodo said……..TEPCO bracing for impact
Japanese airlines announced the cancellation of 500 flights on Wednesday, while 30 high-speed trains and 100 other trains were cancelled, rail companies said.
Automaker Nissan said it had told employees across Kanto to stay at home for the morning to ride out the storm……
As the weather agency issued warnings of torrential rain and strong winds, the operator of the Fukushima plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), said it was bracing for the storm after a series of leaks of radiation-polluted water.
“We are making preparations for proper management of contaminated water…. We will patrol places that could have inflows of water (from the storm),” a company spokesman said.
Cables and hoses have been bundled together, while ground and off-shore works have been halted, he said……..
The nuclear plant was badly damaged by the tsunami that hit in March 2011. Critics say it remains in a fragile state and at the mercy of extreme weather or other natural hazards…….http://earthchangesmedia.com/once-in-a-decade-typhoon-heads-for-japan-nuclear-plant
Australia should wean other countries onto renewables and off nuclear power says former PM of Japan
Former Japanese PM Naoto Kan urges Australia to wean world off uranium, focus on renewables http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-22/move-towards-renewables-former-japanese-pm-tells-australia/5691118 By Kate Wild and Xavier La Canna
Japan’s prime minister during the Fukushima disaster says Australia should be trying to wean other countries away from nuclear power, not increase exports of uranium.
Naoto Kan, who was prime minister from June 2010 to August 2011 is in Australia to lobby for a greater use of renewable energy sources.
He said the world was moving away from nuclear power, and Australia should not get in the way of that.
“Rather than looking at making contributions through exporting and making it more possible for more countries to be relying on nuclear power, all countries including Australia should be making efforts to do what can be done to reduce such dependence on nuclear power,” Mr Kan said.
“I hope that Australia can be exporting not uranium or coal for example, but electricity created through renewable sources,” he said.
When he was Japanese PM, representing the Democratic party of Japan, a tsunami caused a nuclear incident in which three nuclear reactors melted down at the Fukushima nuclear power plant and forced widespread evacuations.
“We were very close to the scenario of having to evacuate people in a 250 kilometre radius,” he said.
“This would have included also Tokyo, which would mean 40 per cent of the entire Japanese population – close to 50 million people.”
His party initiated policies to see nuclear power phased out in Japan by the 2030s, but this policy was overturned by the Liberal Democratic Power, which regained office in 2012.
Australia is thought to have the world’s largest uranium resources, and mines exist in the Northern Territory and South Australia, while Queensland recently lifted a 30-year ban on uranium mining.
Western Australia is also looking to develop its uranium industry.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott will soon travel to India to finalise a deal for Australia to sell uranium to their energy-hungry economy for the first time.
Life in a Fukushima world
http://asaablog.tumblr.com/post/94878108901/life-in-a-fukushima-world Asian Currents, By Adam Broinowski, 21 Aug 14 The focus of sovereign intervention in response to the nuclear meltdowns since 3/11 risks long-term consequences for short-term gains.
The meltdowns of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) since the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011 (3/11) have exposed not only the dangers of nuclear power but the visibility of the power structure that supports it.
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
The focus of sovereign intervention has demonstrated the major priorities of this power structure, while local responses have sought to increase public knowledge of the nuclear industry and the health dangers from radiation exposures. Given the myriad factors in play, it is useful to consider the disaster in terms of immunity.
Three main forms of immunity are applicable to the disaster. Continue reading
Treasure Island has 2 more higher radiation readings
Two more elevated radiation readings on Treasure Island SF Gate, August 20 By Marisa Lagos The U.S. Navy has completed its surveys of Treasure Island and found two more locations where higher-than-usual radiation levels were detected — one under an occupied house, a city official said Wednesday……http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2014/08/20/two-more-elevated-radiation-readings-on-treasure-island/
Hearings on uranium mining now going on in Rapid City
Uranium mine hearings begin in Rapid City, Argus Leader, Associated Press August 19, 2014 RAPID CITY — A licensing board of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will begin the first of three days of hearings in Rapid City on Tuesday for a proposed uranium mine in western South Dakota.
The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hold its hearings on challenges to the proposed Dewey-Burdock uranium mine at the Alex Johnson Hotel. The mine is being proposed by Powertech Uranium Corp.
Environmental opponents say the mine could pollute or drain the region’s aquifers. Native American opponents say it could hurt cultural and historical sites in the Black Hills………http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2014/08/19/uranium-mine-hearings-begin-rapid-city/14274939/
A call to Mr. Putin and Mr. Niinistö for peace, and for non-nuclear energy
Mr. Putin and Mr. Niinistö – the World is Waiting for a Peaceful Solution for Ukraine, Solar Wind Pronet – linking the renewable thinking 15 Aug 14 “…..According to YLE-news, Finnish president Sauli Niinistö will be meeting the president of Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin tomorrow in Sochi, Russia. ……..
And about the energy issues, Mr. Putin: You know very well as every wise leader on this planet today that oil, gas, coal and nuclear power are each a no option to mankind if we like to survive. We have perhaps five to fifteen years to turn the CO2 -emissions into a sustainable level. And there we need renewable energy, masses of renewable energy. Russia is a great country with massive potential to produce renewable energy and also manufacture means to generate it for others. Russia could be among the leaders in new technology. But for that we need international co-operation. Finland have clean technology know-how, so does Germany and many other European countries. But as well we need China and the U.S.A. to join the common fight against greenhouse effect. And in the future African countries as well as India, Australia and Southern America will be joining the front to fight climate change.
The Ukrainian people including Russian speaking East and South-East Ukraine need an energy change. Being dependent on Russian natural gas is no good for Russia nor for Ukraine in the long run. They need heating and power for winter and it could be organized by international co-operation including Russian efforts.Bio-energy and solar and wind power should be the main power mix of the future Ukraine. Natural gas could be as backup for some decades. Building solar and wind power takes only a few years and it will be boosting local economy greatly giving working opportunities to tens of thousands. Russia could be part of the solution and learn how to make the energy change that is needed also in Russia.Time for oil, coal and gas economy is simply running out, and you know it, Mr. Putin.
The world is creating the energy change to renewables quicker than anybody thought, people around world are more than ready for it:………
But we need to stop fighting in Ukraine first……….
And Mr. Niinistö:
I hope you will have a good meeting with president Putin! I hope that you will appreciate the opinion of Finnish people when according to new opinion polls 2/3 of Finnish people are against the building of Hanhikivi-1 nuclear reactor. People in Finland want to see renewable energy projects – surely in co-operation with Russian companies also. And Finnish people is surely wishing for a peaceful solution to Ukrainian crises – a solution that is acceptable for both Ukraine and Russia.
Good Luck for both Mr. Presidents! http://solarwindpronet.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/mr-putin-and-mr-niinisto-world-is.html
The true costs of our consumer capitalism must include wastes
Mendaciousness—Capitalism and the Testimony of Integrity, Through the Flaming sword, August 15, 2014“………..Waste lies. We do the same thing with the true cost of our waste management. Capitalism does not figure into its pricing the real, final cost of disposing of its wastes safely, which ought to be part of its overhead, and never is. And when—or, to be realistic,if—the bill ever comes due for cleanup, capitalists inevitably try to squirm out of paying; it hurts profits and equity value.
This is especially important for wastes that do not biodegrade, but remain toxic and present in the body and bloodstream and organs of Mother Earth more or less permanently. And because Mother Earth is us—because our very bodies come from her—these wastes remain toxic and present in our bodies and bloodstreams and organs, as well.
The great killer disease of the industrial age was tuberculosis, the destruction of human lungs caused by the use of coal as a fuel. The great killer disease of the post-industrial age is cancer, the mutation of cells by toxic foreign substances. Thus some serious percentage of our healthcare costs should be included in the overhead cost of waste management.
Capitalism pretends that the only cost it must bear for managing its prodigious waste stream is the immediate one of getting it some distance away from its producer and providing for some minimal treatment before it gets poured back into Earth’s bloodstream or buried in her soil-flesh.
The superfund put aside for the treatment of “superfund” sites should be the model for the entire economic system. The goal should be zero toxic, non-recyclable waste returning to Mother Earth, zero toxic substances in our own bodies and those of our children—and a massive escrow account fed by some meaningful percentage of every economic transaction set aside to solve these so-far unsolvable problems in the future and to fund research and care for a public health increasingly threatened by capitalist dung.
The true cost of eliminating carbon dioxide, or uranium waste, or the 50,000 or so chemicals that we have never even tested for toxicity, would be staggering. So we just don’t think about it. Let the great-grandchildren deal with it.
In fact, if we really did account properly in our pricing for the destruction of natural capital and the remediation of capitalist waste, the system would collapse. Short-term greed is the main reason we don’t deal with these issues, but the reason we don’t even talk about it is the existential threat to the system itself that transitioning to an honest economic system represents…….http://throughtheflamingsword.wordpress.com/2014/08/15/mendaciousness-capitalism-and-the-testimony-of-integrity/
Indian Point nuclear reactor in “stable hot shutdown”
Nuclear reactor at Indian Point shuts down Capital, ALBANY—One of the two nuclear reactors at the Indian Point Energy Center shut down Wednesday morning after the system tripped for an unknown reason, officials said.
Indian Point Unit 3 shut down automatically at 11:57 a.m., spokesman Jerry Nappi said. The plant remains in “stable hot shutdown” while the cause of the trip is under investigation, he said……..
The aging Westchester County facility has beentargeted by Governor Andrew Cuomo for closure because of its proximity to New York City. The state has been planning alternatives that would help take it offline, and the Department of Environmental Conservation recently proposed shutting it down for up to three months to protect fish in the Hudson River. …http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/08/8550729/nuclear-reactor-indian-point-shuts-down
A fraudulent choice between a healthy community and uranium jobs
The source of the real fraud against Southside : uranium mining Piedmont Residents in Defense of the Environment Mary Rafferty , February 27, 2011 The real “fraud” in the ongoing debate over lifting Virginia’s uranium mining ban is the false choice posited between healthy communities on the one hand and energy independence and jobs on the other.
The truth is in order to rebuild our local economy, Southside Virginia must embrace clean and healthy solutions for job creation in a way that strengthens our community for this and future generations. We don’t have to choose between a vibrant economy and a healthy environment.
We can rebuild our economy by creating jobs in the energy solutions of today not the disasters of yesterday.
In order to set the record straight, here are a few plain facts about the economic and health consequences of uranium mining in Southside Virginia.
» Uranium mining would harm our health: Uranium mining could put the health of Southside Virginia citizens in significant danger.
Thousands of people in communities out West, where mining and milling operations are currently conducted, are struggling with cancer and diabetes due to their prolonged exposure to uranium mill tailings waste. And while independent researchers continue to determine the full effects exposure to uranium waste has on human health, studies have linked exposure to uranium tailings waste to increased rates of cancer, kidney failure, leukemia and diabetes.
» Uranium mining and milling would endanger our water: Virginia’s wet climate makes the proposed site at Coles Hill a risky experiment. Uranium mining and milling sites are typically operated in dry sparsely populated areas. But in Southside Virginia, severe weather events and flooding can overwhelm uranium operations, flushing uranium mill tailing waste into the bordering Bannister River (which flows into the Dan River) as well as local groundwater…….http://prideva.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/the-source-of-real-fraud-against.html
The underestimated psychosocial costs of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe
Cost of Nuclear Disaster, NYTAUG. 13, 2014 EDWIN LYMAN Senior Scientist Union of Concerned Scientists Washington, Aug. 7, 2014 “……The 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan led to the evacuation of some 150,000 people, and most of them may never return to their homes. This disruption of so many lives is undoubtedly having profound psychosocial effects.
Yet in the United States, when evaluating new nuclear reactor safety requirements, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers only the direct monetary costs of such disasters — like the value of condemned land and the cost of decontamination — and ignores the social costs of a large population of permanently displaced people.
The nuclear commission should enhance public safety by broadening its definition of the cost of such human tragedies. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/opinion/cost-of-nuclear-disaster.html?_r=0
Peace statement by Kazumi Matsui Mayor The City of Hiroshima
Hiroshima’s Peace Declaration, Asahi Shimbun August 6, 2014 Kazumi Matsui Mayor The City of Hiroshima “………People who rarely talked about the past because of their ghastly experiences are now, in old age, starting to open up. “I want people to know the true cruelty of war,” says an A-bomb orphan. He tells of children like himself living in a city of ashes, sleeping under bridges, in the corners of burned-out buildings, in bomb shelters, having nothing more than the clothes on their backs, stealing and fighting to eat, not going to school, barely surviving day to day working for gangsters.
Immediately after the bombing, a 6-year-old first grader hovered on the border between life and death. Later, she lived a continual fearful struggle with radiation aftereffects. She speaks out now because, “I don’t want any young people to go through that experience.” After an exchange with non-Japanese war victims, she decided to convey the importance of “young people making friends around the world,” and “unceasing efforts to build, not a culture of war, but a culture of peace.”
The “absolute evil” that robbed children of loving families and dreams for the future, plunging their lives into turmoil, is not susceptible to threats and counter-threats, killing and being killed. Military force just gives rise to new cycles of hatred. To eliminate the evil, we must transcend nationality, race, religion, and other differences, value person-to-person relationships, and build a world that allows forward-looking dialogue.
Hiroshima asks everyone throughout the world to accept this wish of the hibakusha and walk with them the path to nuclear weapons abolition and world peace.
Each one of us will help determine the future of the human family. Please put yourself in the place of the hibakusha. Imagine their experiences, including that day from the depths of hell, actually happening to you or someone in your family. To make sure the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki never happen a third time, let’s all communicate, think and act together with the hibakusha for a peaceful world without nuclear weapons and without war.
We will do our best. Mayors for Peace, now with over 6,200 member cities, will work through lead cities representing us in their parts of the world and in conjunction with NGOs and the UN to disseminate the facts of the bombings and the message of Hiroshima. We will steadfastly promote the new movement stressing the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and seeking to outlaw them. We will help strengthen international public demand for the start of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention with the goal of total abolition by 2020……..http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201408060012
UK: Faults in 2 nuclear reactors result in shut-down
Defects found in boiler units lead to four reactors being taken offline, two at Heysham 1 and two at Hartlepool, for eight weeks Josh Halliday theguardian.com, Monday 11 August 2014 Four nuclear reactors at two large power plants in the north of England are to be shut down temporarily, after inspectors discovered a fault with a boiler unit.
EDF Energy said four reactors at its Heysham 1 and Hartlepool plants were to be shut down while investigations continued looking into the defect.
The outages mean a third of Britain’s nuclear capacity will be offline this week, following temporary maintenance work taking place at two of EDF’s other reactors in Scotland and Kent…….http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/11/nuclear-reactors-offline-fault-power-plants
Federal regulators cite Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant for safety issue
Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant cited for safety issue Miscalculation might have triggered unnecessary evacuation By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun August 8, 2014
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday it had preliminarily classified the mistake by Exelon Generation Co. as one of “low to moderate” safety significance. But an NRC spokesman said it could lead to increased federal scrutiny of the twin-reactor plant in Lusby, 70 miles south of Baltimore…… http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/blog/bs-bz-calvert-cliffs-nuclear-citation-20140808,0,325214.story#ixzz39w4kFJxG
Atomic bombing of Nagasaki remembered
Nagasaki commemorates 68th anniversary of atomic bombing,Global Post 8 Aug 13 Nagasaki began marking the 68th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing Friday, with Mayor Tomihisa Taue expected to urge the government later in the day to take leadership as the world’s only atomic bombed country and realize the quick elimination of nuclear weapons.
In his peace declaration at the memorial event, at which representatives of 44 countries will attend, Taue plans to criticize Tokyo’s recent failure to sign an international statement rejecting any use of nuclear weapons as well as its deal with India to restart talks on nuclear energy cooperation.
Nuclear-armed India is set to send a representative to the event for the first time, while all five nuclear powers — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — that are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are set to be represented, along with de facto nuclear power Israel that is not a signatory, according to the city office.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos who became the first U.S. ambassador to attend Hiroshima’s memorial ceremony in 2010, is to attend the Nagasaki ceremony for the second time.
Taue is also expected to call on the United States and Russia to drastically reduce their nuclear arsenals while urging the Japanese government to enact its three non-nuclear principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on Japanese territory into law and provide better support for aging atomic bomb survivors……. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-
The Hiroshima and Nagasaki message: abolish nuclear weapons
Message from Hiroshima: Abolish nuclear weapons http://peoplesworld.org/message-from-hiroshima-abolish-nuclear-weapons/ by: JOELLE FISHMAN August 7 2014 NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Matsui Kazumi, Mayor of the City of Hiroshima, Japan, witnessed all of his school mates die when the atom bomb was dropped on his populous city 69 years ago on August 6, 1945 at 8:15 am. That horror lives with him today, and shaped the Peace Declaration he delivered this year to cities across the world.
Standing on the New Haven Green, the City of New Haven’s Peace Commission annual vigil heard his declaration along with a proclamation from this city’s Mayor Toni Harp calling for the United States to “lead by example in the area of nuclear weapons reductions so we can work towards President Obama’s goal of controlling nuclear weapons proliferation and abolishing nuclear weapons.”
A United Nations Peace Messenger City, New Haven is also hosting films and a library exhibit to raise awareness of the extreme danger that nuclear weapons pose to the planet. Toward the goal of a nuclear-free world by 2020, the United Nations has declared September 26 as International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. This mobilization comes just one week after the September 21 People’s Climate March which is expected to draw up to a million participants on the eve of a UN conference on global warming.
The reality of the economic, human and environmental cost of nuclear weapons which sap national resources needed by cities and towns and could obliterate all life, led to a ballot referendum in New Haven where 80 percent of voters called for abolition of nuclear weapons.
Al Marder, chair of the Peace Commission, said peace forces are now calling on the United States to send a delegation to the Third Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons to be convened by the United Nations in Vienna, Austria on December 8 “and take part in the discussions of the humanitarian consequences of nuclear disaster and finally negotiate a ban and total abolition of nuclear weapons.”
In the Hiroshima Peace Declaration, Mayor Kazumi said, “Each one of us will help determine the future of the human family. Please put yourself in the place of the Hibakusha (survivors of the A-bomb). Imagine their experiences, including that day from the depths of hell, actually happening to you or someone in your family. To make sure the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki never happen a third time, let’s all communicate, think and act together with the Hibakusha for a peaceful world without nuclear weapons and without war.”
Recalling that Japan is the only nation to have been A-bombed, he said that “precisely because our security situation is increasingly severe, our government should accept the full weight of the fact that we have avoided war for 69 years thanks to the noble pacifism of the Japanese Constitution.”
That section of the Constitution, Article 9, which eliminated armed forces is now being re-interpreted by the current government. In response, a Global Article 9 Campaign has been initiated featuring a Japanese initiated international petition.
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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