Uranium Film Festival arrivng In USA
Uranium Film Festival to hit Duke City first “ABQ Journal, By Adrian Gomez / Asst. Arts Editor, Reel NM “…….The traveling festival will make its first stop in the United States in the Duke City on Wednesday, Nov. 27 and Thursday, Nov. 28. It will then move on to Santa Fe and Window Rock, Ariz., before heading to New York City and Washington, D.C., in February.
The festival highlights more than 40 films from 15 countries that explore not only the radioactive element called uranium, but nuclear practices as well.
Lopez, a coordinator for the festival, says the films are documentaries, experimental and animated films, new comedies, fiction and science-fiction films……..
The festival was founded by Norbert G. Suchanek of Germany, who now lives in Brazil. It is dedicated to showing films that highlight the entire Nuclear Fuel Chain – from uranium mining, nuclear power plants and uranium bullets to Hiroshima, Fukushima and Fallujah.
At the festival, Suchanek and Marcia Gomes de Oliveira, executive director, will present discussions along with producers and directors of the films.
One of the films to be showcased will be Santa Fe resident Adam Jonas Horowitz’s documentary “Nuclear Savage: The Islands of Secret Project 4.1.” The film will screen at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 27.
Also being shown is the film “Atomic Bomb Home” by Japanese filmmaker Katsumi Sakaguchi. It will screen at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 28.
The documentary observes people living in the Genbaku Home (Atomic Bomb Home), a nursing home in Nagasaki, Japan, for aged atomic bomb victims. They put on re-enactments of Aug. 9, 1945 in Nagasaki to hand on their memories and prayers to peace.
Lopez says it’s films like the ones being screened that will help open people’s eyes to this subject…….http://www.abqjournal.com/307924/news/uranium-film-festival-to-hit-duke-city-first.html
One court win for nuclear power doesn’t solve the unsolvable radioactive trash problem
they must just stop making this radioactive trash
Nuclear Power’s $750 Million Reprieve Doesn’t End Dilemma, Bloomberg, By Brian Wingfield & Andrew Zajac – Nov 20, 2013 Nuclear power plant operators won a significant victory yesterday when a federal appeals court said the U.S. should stop collecting $750 million a year for a spent-fuel repository it has never built.
Left unsettled is an issue that has vexed the industry and political leaders for decades: where to dispose of 70,000 metric tons of atomic waste now in temporary storage at power plants across the country. “There’s nothing in this opinion that’s going to move a single fuel rod a single foot from where it’s sitting now,” Peter Bradford, a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission member and professor at Vermont Law School, said in a phone interview.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled that the Energy Department must take steps to suspend collection of the nuclear-waste fee from utilities because the government has provided no alternative to a canceled project at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, for which the funds are collected.
Exelon Corp. (EXC), the largest nuclear-power operator in the U.S., would benefit most from the decision, ……
The ruling directs the department to ask Congress to change the fee to zero until it complies with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which established Yucca Mountain as the nation’s nuclear-waste repository, or until lawmakers enact an alternate plan to store spent fuel. It is now managed by reactor owners at about 75 operating and closed reactors throughout the U.S.
Government Incentive
Industry specialists said the decision may provide some incentive for the government to address lingering waste-storage options…….http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-20/nuclear-power-s-750-million-reprieve-doesn-t-end-dilemma.html
Renewable energy now a mainstream power source to tackle climate change
Tackling the Climate Crisis With the Reality of Renewable Energy, Susan Casey Lefkowitz HUFFINGTON POST 11/21/2013 Climate change is being felt in rising world temperatures and sea levels, as well as in high-cost weather events. It can feel so disempowering to be overpowered by the weather. Yet when we look around the world, the potential for clean energy that is the solution to fighting climate change is very real. That’s empowering. That’s a strong message for our leaders as the climate talks in Warsaw conclude.
Take renewable energy as an example. Renewable energy has become a mainstream, major power source and not just an aspiration for the future. Renewable energy is gaining traction from the U.S. to Chile and from India to China. But it needs elimination of cost, policy and trade barriers to make the next leap forward. That is what we should be asking for as we demand clean power.
We can rightly demand rapid acceleration of clean power from our governments and we can help make it happen ourselves. We know that we cannot credibly fight climate change and still allow global fossil fuel subsidies to continue at roughly six times the amount of incentives for renewable energy. Having the reality of clean energy within our grasp, helps make it crystal clear that we cannot let predictions that fossil fuels will continue to be king in the market come true. What we can and must do, is to invest in what we know will make a difference: stop our dependence on fossil fuels, make our economy more energy efficient and get power from the wind, sun and other renewable resources that never run out.
It comes down to our energy choices. Dependence on fossil fuels makes no sense in a world of changing climate. We can’t have an “all of the above” policy that includes expansion of fossil fuels and still fights climate change. We can’t subsidize fossil fuels and still fight climate change. In a time of a changing climate, demanding clean power makes sense.
In October, the World Energy Council and Bloomberg New Energy Finance came out with a new report demonstrating that renewables, especially mature renewable technologies such as wind and solar, are cost competitive with fossil fuels. The report found that the global share of generation output from renewable technologies is expected to continue to rise. Wind and solar are the most dominant renewables in the market and their costs are expected to continue to decrease to make them increasingly competitive.
We are finding the same in our work with partners around the world………
Clean energy doesn’t have to be a niche market that governments help out while still subsidizing and supporting coal, oil and gas. We can make the switch with a serious change in our incentives, policies, and political will to accelerate the place of renewable energy in our economies. We have a lot of good examples of how well it is already working. Internationally and at home, we need stronger political commitments to demand clean power and fight climate change by moving away from fossil fuels and embracing clean energy. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-caseylefkowitz/tackling-the-climate-crisis_b_4309405.html
UN experts to visit Fukushima again, check on shutdown plan
UN nuclear experts to revisit Fukushima to review shutdown plan, 7 News November 20, 2013 Vienna (AFP) – UN nuclear experts will visit Japan again next week to review government efforts to shut down the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant and prevent further worrying leaks, the IAEA said Tuesday.
“An IAEA expert team will visit Japan this month at the request of the Japanese government to review the efforts and plans to decommission TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.
The 19-strong mission will take place from November 25 to December 4, it said……http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/19920209/un-nuclear-experts-to-revisit-fukushima-to-review-shutdown-plan/
Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and the myth of smaller, better nuclear power plants
“Chernobyl Was Transparent Compared to Fukushima”: Harvey Wasserman on Ongoing Crisis TRUTH OUT, 19 November 2013 By Laura Flanders, “……..LF: What about the next generation of nuclear power plants? Obama tells us there are two new ones in the works that will be better, safer, smaller, a whole different generation.
HW: It’s a myth. They are saying the same stuff about those nuclear plants that they said about the original ones, 50 years ago. It’s not going to happen. The money isn’t there; we’ve seen those technologies; they’ve failed. You know Bill Gates and Paul Allen from Microsoft put in a few 100 million dollars, pocket change to them; they will write it off of their taxes; they’ll spend and spend and spend public money; it’ll fail, and we’ll have to clean up the mess. The reality is that renewables do work; nuclear power is a disaster, and it will continue to be a disaster, and thankfully we have the Solartopian options in hand.
LF: Do you have a message to the athletes; should they go to Tokyo?
HW: I was in Japan in the mid-70s. I actually wrote an article about Fukushima in 1977 in the progressive magazine, and everyone in Japan was saying, why are you building a nuclear plant in an earthquake-tsunami zone? TEPCO and the Japanese said, don’t worry it won’t happen, we can handle it. Now they are saying the same thing about a new generation of reactors. There is every reason not to believe them. …….http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/20116-chernobyl-was-transparent-compared-to-fukushima-harvey-wasserman-on-the-ongoing-crisis
It’s just getting worse – the Hanford nuclear cleanup
Hanford nuclear site clean-up: The mess gets worse NBC News InvestigAtions, By Rebecca LaFlure, The Center for Public Integrity 18 Nov 13 The government’s multi-billion-dollar effort to clean up the nation’s largest nuclear dump has become its own dysfunctional mess.
But progress has been slow, the project’s budget is rising by billions of dollars, and a long-running technical dispute has sown ill will between the project’s senior engineering staff, the Energy Department, and its lead contractors.
The waste is a legacy of the Cold War, when the site housed nuclear reactors churning out radioactive plutonium for thousands of atomic bombs. To clean up the mess, the Department of Energy (DOE) started building a factory 12 years ago to encase the nuclear leftovers in stable glass for long-term storage. But today, construction of the factory is only two-thirds complete after billions of dollars in spending, leaving partially constructed buildings and heavy machinery scattered across the 65-acre site, a short distance from the Columbia River.
Technical personnel have expressed concerns about the plant’s ability to operate safely, and say the government and its contractor have tried to discredit them, and in some cases harassed and punished them. Experts also say that some of the tanks have already leaked radioactive waste into the groundwater below, and worry that the contamination is now making its way to the river, a major regional source of drinking water.
Some lawmakers say Hanford has been an early — and so far dismaying— test of whether DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz, previously an MIT physics professor, can turn the problem-plagued department around through improved scientific rigor and better management of its faltering, costly projects. They have accused his aides of standing by while a well-known whistleblower was dismissed last month. Meanwhile, DOE officials are considering spending an extra $2 billion to $3 billion to help the plant safely process the waste. Doing so could delay the cleanup’s completion for years, the Government Accountability Office estimated in December.
In an Oct. 9 letter, Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., demanded that Moniz take new steps to ensure that the project’s technical experts are well-treated. Four organizations have reviewed their complaints, he said, and “all have agreed that the project is deeply troubled, and all have affirmed the underlying technical problems.”………http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/18/21482804-hanford-nuclear-site-clean-up-the-mess-gets-worse?lite
TEPCO releases photos of fuel removed from Fukushima Unit 4
Unit 4 Fuel Loaded In Cask At Fukushima Daiichi, Simply Info November 18th, 2013 | TEPCO has released photos of the first fuel successfully removed from the fuel racks at unit 4. NHK reports the removal of some of the unused fuel from the pool to the transfer cask. TEPCO estimates it may take a week to load the first cask of 22 fuel assemblies before they can remove it from the pool…….http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=11770
Hazards of radiation in deep space
UNH scientists document, quantify deep-space radiation hazards Science News18, 2013 – 14:05 in Astronomy & Space Scientists from the University of New Hampshire and colleagues have published comprehensive findings on space-based radiation as measured by a UNH-led detector aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The data provide critical information on the radiation hazards that will be faced by astronauts on extended missions to deep space such as those to Mars. The papers in a special issue of the journal Space Weatherdocument and quantify measurements made since 2009 by the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) radiation detector.
“These data are a fundamental reference for the radiation hazards in near Earth ‘geospace’ out to Mars and other regions of our sun’s vast heliosphere,” says CRaTER principal investigator Nathan Schwadron of the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space (EOS).
The space environment poses significant risks to both humans and satellites due to harmful radiation from galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles that can easily penetrate typical shielding and damage electronics. When this radiation impacts biological cells, it can cause an increased risk of cancer…..http://esciencenews.com/articles/2013/11/18/unh.scientists.document.quantify.deep.space.radiation.hazards
Scotland’s Green Party pushes for Trident nuclear ban
Scottish Greens seek citizen’s wage, halt to oil drilling and Trident nuclear ban ‘Green Yes’ campaign for Scottish independence also proposes state-owned renewable energy, land tax, and cheaper childcare Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent theguardian.com, Saturday 16 November 2013 “.……..Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Greens’ co-convenor and senior member of the Scottish parliament (MSP) at Holyrood, said: “Greens are not nationalists; greens are brought together by a different agenda, by a recognition of the astonishing, unprecedented challenges, not just as a country but as a species, we are facing in the 21st century.”……..
US Secretary of State warns against new sanctions on Iran
Kerry pleads for no new sanctions on Iran as nuclear talks continue By Ted Barrett and Greg Botelho, November 13, 2013 — Washington (CNN) — Secretary of State John Kerry took his case on Wednesday to Capitol Hill, urging Congress not to impose new sanctions on Iran as talks with that country on its nuclear program heat up.
“Our hope is that no new sanctions would be put in place for the simple reason that, if they are, it could be viewed as bad faith by the people we are negotiating with,” Kerry said before entering a closed-door briefing with members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
“It could destroy the ability to be able to get agreement,” he added, “and it could actually wind up setting us back in dialogue that’s taken 30 years to achieve.”……. http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/13/politics/iran-nuclear/
A Cato Institute view on Nuclear Overkill
Ending Nuclear Overkill Cato Institute By CHRISTOPHER A. PREBLE 13 Nov 13 Benjamin Friedman and I have an op-ed in today’s International New York Times (and theNew York Times iPad app, I just checked) which calls for shrinking the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and moving from a triad of delivery systems—bombers, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs)—to a submarine-only monad.
The main focus of the piece is on the strategy that led to the enormous growth of the arsenal in the 1950s and 60s, and the attendant history of the triad. We go into the history to show that the strategy driving our nuclear force posture is outdated and based on inaccurate assumptions. The rationale for the triad is equally dubious given the vast technological gains since ICBMs and SLBMs were first developed and deployed.
But the international system has obviously changed since the days of the Cold War. Potential targets for American nuclear weapons are growing scarcer…….http://www.cato.org/blog/ending-nuclear-overkill
Ontario Power Generation wants rate hike for nuclear power generation
OPG seeks 30% rate hike for nuclear generation OTTAWA CITIZEN, BY KEITH LESLIE, CANADIAN PRESS NOVEMBER 13, 2013 TORONTO — Electricity bills will soar even higher if Ontario Power Generation gets approval for a 30-per-cent increase in the rate it is paid for electricity generated by nuclear power, the New Democrats warned Tuesday.“You’re seeing rates go up faster than they should,” said NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns. “As long as the Liberals see a blank cheque as a parachute to get out of any tough spots, our bills are going to go up.”……..
The reasons for the requested hike “include ensuring obligations for used nuclear fuel management and decommissioning costs are met,” the government-owned utility said in a statement.
“As well, we will make investments in the plants over the next couple of years to set up the long-term operation of Darlington for 30 more years following refurbishment.”……
Opponents of nuclear power say Ontario should shut down its aging reactors and abandon plans to refurbish nuclear generating stations.
A report by the Ontario Clean Air Alliance said that every nuclear project in the province’s history has gone massively over budget, on average by 2.5 times.
If the OPG rate increase is approved, it will cost electricity consumers in the province $755 million a year, said Alliance spokesman Jack Gibbons.
“Cancelling the Darlington rebuild would save consumers more than $1.2 billion a year between 2020 and 2050,” he said……. http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/seeks+rate+hike+nuclear+generation/9159769/story.html
Even at New Nuclear International Conference, admission of nuclear power’s problems
Nuclear power ‘not right for every country’, UAE summit told, The National Caline Malek November 12, 2013 ABU DHABI // Nuclear energy is not right for all countries, experts told a conference in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Climate change and a greater potential for natural disasters means some countries would face higher costs to ensure the safety of their nuclear power plants.
“The reality is that nuclear energy doesn’t always fit every context,” said David Scott, executive director of economic and energy affairs at the Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority…… We can find many instances in which parties have tried to implement nuclear power in the wrong context, which leads to high costs and exposes populations to a greater risk of accident so it’s important to find the right context for nuclear energy.”
Mr Scott was speaking at the New Nuclear International Conference at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.//// “Some countries might have the money but it might be seismically active, so when parties try and force that square peg to fit into a round hole, it creates problems,” he said.
Those problems can lead to significant financial losses once countries eventually realise their power plants are not economically competitive….. different security apparatuses and legal frameworks in different countries can pose a serious challenge to the security of nuclear power…….
Increasing climate change is also a concern.
“It could be something that we will see in the future if sea levels rise around what people project,” Mr Scott said. “There will be certain plants that will start to face a different environment that they were in initially, because of storms and the possibility of flooding which can be problematic. And they will have to invest in very expensive engineering solutions such as creating changes to sea walls and amendments to the plant such as sealing entry ways…..
Nuclear power’s impact on water resources
Water & the nuclear fuel cycle Nuclear Monitor Newsletter Feature: Water & The Nuclear Fuel Cycle WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor #770, October 2013 This issue of the Monitor focuses on the nuclear industry’s contribution to unsustainable water consumption and water pollution. We look at the impacts of nuclear power reactors including their huge water consumption and impacts on aquatic life. We briefly consider the impacts of other stages of the nuclear fuel cycle on water resources. And we have longer articles on climate-related problems as water sources dwindle and heat up, and the related topic of flooding of nuclear plants. http://www.wiseinternational.org/sites/default/files/images/NM770-water-24Oct2013.pdf
Measuring the social costs of disaster evacuatuons
How is a community adapting during resettlement after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake?
ERIC DES MARAIS , 13 November 13 Disaster-induced resettlement is a complex and dangerous prospect for communities, and will likely increase as a result of climate change. While community recovery is widely studied, there is a gap in knowledge that explicitly links ecosystem disruption to social adaptation in post-disaster resettlement scenarios. This study of an agricultural community displaced by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake seeks to determine how the community is adapting in a way that informs both their own resettlement as well as other interventions for sustainable resettlement. https://www.microryza.com/projects/how-is-a-community-adapting-during-resettlement-after-the-2011-great-east-japan-earthquake
1 This Month
petition to oppose the rapid increase of space-military industry threatening Jeju Island and the region.
[Petition by April 19th (KST)] Stop the joint military-Hanwha Systems-Jeju Provincial Government Sea Launch!
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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