Anti science, climate humbuggery rises on release of IPCC Climate Report
Climate change denialists standing on thinning ice paul.syvret@news.com.au http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-climate-change-denialists-standing-on-thinning-ice/story-fnihsr9v-1226730180853 1 Oct 13
IMAGINE the fury of a category five cyclone bearing down on north Queensland. The storm is still a couple of hundred kilometres offshore and tracking slowly west, although meteorologists are unsure where and when exactly it will cross the coast and what sort of a punch it will be packing when it does make landfall. Forecasting the precise movements of such a powerful and destructive weather system is not, after all, an exact science.
On the logic of climate change deniers, who argue the world needs to take no action to combat global warming yet because “the science isn’t settled”, in this scenario the good burghers of coastal towns should take no precautions against the looming tempest because there is no absolute guarantee they’ll experience anything more inclement than a spot of rain.
Indeed, perhaps those people in the possible path of the cyclone should turn off their televisions lest they inadvertently catch a weather bulletin – after all, what you don’t know can’t hurt you, right? All together now, put your hands over your ears and start chanting “na-na-na-na-naaah” and watch on quietly while we abolish the Climate Commission.
The deniers contend that “only” about 97 per cent of the world’s scientific community accept the human influence on possibly catastrophic global warming, thus the jury is out. On this basis then the science on evolution is not yet settled either and news media and indeed our schools should be giving equal weight to the views of intelligent design theorists. Actually, while we are being biblical for a moment, one could view Noah’s ark as the first recorded attempt at Direct Action in the face of climate change, although attempts at a similar solution today may run foul of the Stop the Boats humbuggery.
Seriously though, climate humbuggery is in plentiful supply right now with the release of the long-awaited report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Continue reading
Iran ready to negotiate about limiting its uranium enrichment
Iranian Official Says Tehran Ready To Discuss Limits To Uranium Enrichment http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-uranium-enrichment-limits/25121320.html 29 Sept 13 Iran’s deputy foreign minister says Tehran is willing to discuss limits to its uranium enrichment but will not suspend the process completely. Abbas Araqchi said in a September 29 interview with state-run TV that “the frameworks, level, amount, form, and place of enrichment are liable to negotiation.”
But he said Tehran would only negotiate if the West recognized its “right to enrichment.”
Araqchi’s comments come after Iranian officials held talks with representatives from the major powers last week on the framework for October 15-16 negotiations on its nuclear program scheduled in Geneva.
Western countries want Iran to suspend all enrichment of uranium beyond the level required to fuel nuclear power plants and close its underground enrichment facilities.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is designed for peaceful purposes, and not to build an atomic bomb.
Safety violations at nuclear power plant
3 contractors violated radiation rules at nuke plant By Steve Mocarsky – smocarsky@civitasmedia.com September 26. 2013 HARRISBURG — Three contractors violated radiation protection requirements at the nuclear power plant near Berwick in 2011 and 2012, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced on Thursday……. http://www.timesleader.com/news/local-news/865691/3-contractors-violated-radiation-rules-at-nuke-plant
Optimism after US – Iran nuclear talks
US and Iran upbeat after nuclear talks in New York http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0926/476506-iran-nuclear-talks/ US and Iranian officials emerged upbeat from a meeting on Iran’s nuclear programme.
However, both sides also sounded a cautionary note, with the US saying there was more work to do and Iran insisting on quick sanctions relief.
“Needless to say, one meeting and a change in tone, which was welcome, doesn’t answer those questions yet and there is a lot of work to be done,” said US Secretary of State John Kerry.
He was speaking after holding bilateral talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Mr Zarif said the sanctions are counter-productive and have to be removed “as we move forward”.
Their talks followed a meeting between Iran and major powers about Iran’s nuclear programme, which the US and its allies suspect aims to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran denies this and said the programme is for purely peaceful and civilian uses.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the tone and spirit of the meeting between the six powers and Iran was “extremely good”.
Mr Zarif, Mr Kerry and Mr Hague were joined in the meeting by their counterparts from France, Russia, China and Germany.
It took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Full scale campaign now on to discredit Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Scientist laments concerted effort to discredit IPCC GRAHAM LLOYD THE AUSTRALIAN SEPTEMBER 25, 2013 A FULL-SCALE effort was under way to discredit the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change before its fifth report on the state of climate change science was released on Friday, a leading Australian climate scientist said yesterday. (registered readers only) http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/scientist-laments-concerted-effort-to-discredit-ipcc/story-e6frg6xf-1226726494272#
Nuclear industry busy drumming up support wherever it can
First US nuclear power closures in 15 years signal wider industry problems by Elizabeth Douglas, theguardian.com, Wednesday 25 September 2013
“…….In the United States, the nuclear industry and its backers have begun appealing to the public for support.
Earlier this year, movie director Robert Stone released “Pandora’s Promise,” a film that makes the case for the broad adoption of nuclear energy as the primary solution to climate change. It primarily features the testimony of former opponents of nuclear power who, like Stone, have become supporters. Some reviewers have labeled it an advocacy film because it lacks balancing voices, sidesteps critical cost questions and largely dismisses concerns about safety and nuclear waste.
The nuclear industry may also look for support among communities where struggling plants are based. Since many nuclear plants operate in less populated areas, they are often a key contributor to the regional economy, providing tax revenue and hundreds of high-paying jobs. They also typically provide large amounts of electricity that can’t easily be replaced on short notice.,,,,,,,,
A more concerted approach to energy efficiency could lessen the need for new power plants. Fear of storm-induced power outages and other grid problems could accelerate a move away from large, centralized power plants (like nuclear reactors) that supply electricity through long-distance transmission lines.
A small but growing number of corporations, for example, are pursuing large onsite power-generation to cut utility costs and be assured of power in a crisis. A widespread shift toward such small-scale power production closer to homes and businesses would make nuclear power less attractive. ……
“If Japan’s able to replace nuclear power with other sources, then that developing infrastructure will make those alternatives cheaper elsewhere as well,” said Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists…..http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/24/us-nuclear-power-closures
Sept 26 High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament
High Opportunity for Nuclear Disarmament at High-Level Meeting, HUFFINGTON POST, Jonathan Granoff President, Global Security Institute, 09/23/2013 Every nation in the world has been invited to participate at the highest political level in the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament scheduled for Sep. 26. This has never happened before. We have never been at such a moment of crisis and opportunity.
The crisis arises because the rational route forward which has been identified by the vast majority of the world’s countries in support of advancing a convention banning nuclear weapons or, as the secretary general has also suggested, a framework of legal agreements achieving elimination, has not been supported by the U.S. or Russia, two states with more than 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.
Thus, progress toward disarmament lacks the galvanizing focus preliminary negotiations on a treaty would provide. It is also a moment of opportunity since except for India and Pakistan, no states with nuclear weapons are actually hostile to one another…….
A thaw between USA and Iran?
Is nuclear power really the core of Iran’s identity? Christian Science Monitor, 22 Sept 13,Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, woos the US with a plea to acknowledge Iran’s alleged core identity in its nuclear program. President Obama can point to Iran’s conflicting identities as the country’s source of weakness.
By the Monitor’s Editorial Board / September 22, 2013 Americans will get a closer look at Iran’s new president this week. Elected last June in a surprise win, Hassan Rouhani is in New York for the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly. President Obama might also size up the Scottish-educated Muslim cleric if they hold talks. The two have already exchanged letters. A warming is in the air…….http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2013/0922/Is-nuclear-power-really-the-core-of-Iran-s-identity
Nuclear free USA – a good business plan for America
Should the U.S. Go Nuclear-Free? The Motley Fool, By Justin Loiseau September 20, 2013 For the second time since the Fukushima disaster and the third time in over 40 years, Japan is entirely nuclear-free. With proponents and opponents battling fiercely over the future of nuclear power in Japan, let’s take a look at whether the United States should be nuclear-free….
….With the recent rise of natural gas and renewables, a decline in nuclear might not seem so bad. Natural gas has already surpassed coal as our largest source of electricity, and wind power alone is expected to triple capacity in the next three years. Crude oil is a relic of the past for electricity, and we’ve managed fine with recent coal closures………
If the United States said no to nuclear, we’d be in a tight spot. Nuclear provides cheap baseload electricity with enviable consistency. But there are advantages to a nuclear-free nation. If supportive policy jumps in to save the day, the generation gap could put the U.S. on a fast track to ramping up alternative energies. Duke Energy’s (NYSE: DUK ) recent win for wind energy storage would need a massive influx of R&D to expand beyond a 36 MW battery, and new energy sources like Dominion‘s (NYSE: D ) long-term lease for offshore wind would need a timelier timeline than ten years from now.
Our nation would also need to take a hard look at its power system, decentralizing generation via smart investments in smart grid technology……… http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/09/20/should-the-us-go-nuclear-free.aspx
Nuclear weapons need to abolished, as well as chemical weapons
Eliminating Nuclear Weapons Is Just as Important as Eliminating Chemical Weapons, Huffington Post, Lawrence Wittner, 09/19/2013 The apparent employment of chemical weapons in Syria should remind us that, while weapons of mass destruction exist, there is a serious danger that they will be used.
That danger is highlighted by an article in the September/October 2013 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Written by two leading nuclear weapons specialists, Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris of the Federation of American Scientists, the article provides important information about nuclear weapons that should alarm everyone concerned about the future of the planet. Continue reading
Nuclear industry sees a bleak outlook for its future
Lights out for nuclear power? Japan’s Fukushima disaster and the rise of shale gas have the developed world running from nuclear power Macleans, by Jonathon Gatehouse on Monday, September 16, 2013 The last thing anyone wants to hear regarding a nuclear accident is “unprecedented crisis” and “getting worse.” Yet that was the frank assessment Tatsujiro Suzuki, chair of Japan’s Atomic Energy Commission, gave about the Fukushima power plant in an interview with the BBC earlier this month. ……. the latest government plan—to spend $470 million to turn the ground beneath the plant into an impenetrable “ice wall” via a network of refrigerated pipes—sounds more like a James Bond movie than proven science……..at the disaster site itself, it’s the lingering after-effects that are proving most difficult to overcome.
Lost in the headlines about the leaks and ice walls this month was the latest calamity to befall the business, the closure of Vermont’s only nuclear plant. It was the fifth announced shutdown of a U.S. reactor in the past 12 months alone. Fourteen others are already in the process of being decommissioned. A confluence of factors—Fukushima-driven safety concerns, reinvigorated environmental opposition, cheaper power alternatives and depressed demand for electricity—has governments and utilities backing away from fission. It’s a growing trend that has proponents of nuclear energy suddenly worrying about its future……..
What few saw coming, however, was the rapid emergence of shale gas as a cheap and abundant fuel source. Coupled with a six-year economic slump that has greatly slowed the growth in industrial demand across North America, the new supply has pushed down wholesale electricity prices to the point where nuclear operators are now feeling the squeeze. And when it comes to planning for future needs, gas plants—which can be built in just over a year for less than $1 billion—are proving far more attractive than nuclear stations that cost in excess of $12 billion and take as long as a decade to come online.
The outlook for nuclear is similarly bleak in western Europe……….. even France, a long-time nuclear champion, is moving forward with a plan to reduce fission-derived power from 75 per cent to 50 per cent of its national supply by 2025…..
Most of the Western world’s nuclear facilities are already toward the tail end of their usefulness, having been built in the 1970s and early ’80s. …..
Britain’s Liberal Democrats succumb to the powerful influence of the well funded nuclear lobby
Is it because the nuclear industry still has a lot of cash, a lot of lobbying power (as does the oil and gas industry with fracking), unlike the alternatives – energy conservation and renewable energy? We’re definitely on to something there – this is a government that’s remarkably prone to sway before the push of a well-funded lobbying campaign – whether it’s on plain cigarette packets, alcohol minimum pricing or banking regulation.
Yet it’s really quite simple to dismiss the arguments for nuclear
this is no longer the same party that its activists, members, and voters, have known over the years.
The Lib Dems are wrong on nuclear power – the arguments don’t add up http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/16/lib-dems-nuclear-power Natalie Bennett 16 Sept 13, As Japan and much of the world rows back on nuclear power, why have the Lib Dems made a U-turn to support it? “….The Liberal Democrat party, once one of the champions of opposition to nuclear power and weapons, has just voted at its conference to accept the “limited” use of nuclear power plants.
This came as Japan, once a world champion of the technology, prepared to switch off its last operating nuclear power plant. This reflects what is happening elsewhere around the developed world: Germany has promised to phase it out by 2022; in the US you “can’t even come close to making the maths work on building new nuclear plants”; even France, with its remarkably relaxed attitude towards nuclear risks (a cause of concern for its neighbours) is planning a partial phase-out of nuclear power, closing 24 reactors by 2025. So why is Britain heading in a radically different direction to the rest of the developed world?
There’s one argument that we can dismiss quickly. Yes, this government did pledge to be the “greenest government ever”, but surely even its greatest fan couldn’t continue to make that claim with a straight face, when they are spending not a penny on insulating our leaky, expensive-to-heat homes, when they are refusing to include “decarbonisation by 2030” in the energy bill, despite widespread support not just from green campaigners but also the business community. So it’s not that Britain’s government is “greener” than all the others.
Is it because we have a confused, directionless energy policy that’s marked by inaction, confusion and the lack of an evidence base? Well that’s probably part of the explanation. A large, mass-generating nuclear plant looks like a comfortingly solid solution to a hole – a large lump of concrete in the dyke. Continue reading
Japan shuts down its last nuclear reactor
100% nuclear free: Japan shuts down its last reactor Tree Hugger, Michael Graham Richard September 16, 2013 On Monday (Sunday locally), Japan switched off the last of its operating nuclear reactors and became 100% nuclear-free for the first time in decades, apart from soon after the devastating 2011 Tsunami. Kansai Electric Power took offline the No. 4 reactor at its Oi nuclear plant in the western prefecture of Fukui at 1:33 a.m. (1633 GMT Sunday) for inspection. Right now there is no scheduled date for the reactor to be turned back on.
This is impressive because nuclear power used to supply about 1/3 of Japan’s electricity, which is a lot because the country is still the world’s third biggest economy.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has openly backed a return to the widespread use of atomic energy, but the public remains divided over his support, with opponents concerned on safety grounds……..http://www.treehugger.com/energy-policy/japan-shuts-down-its-last-nuclear-reactor-goes-100-nuclear-free.html
UK’s Liberal Democrats lose credibility as they support nuclear power
Lib Dems criticised over nuclear u-turn Blue and Green, September 16th, 2013 By Nicky Stubbs
The liberal democrat party has come under fire from campaign groups after voting in favour of atomic energy, which it has long opposed…… Nuclear energy is opposed by some green campaign groups, who say that the Lib Dems are “yet again breaking their promises.”
Craig Bennett, policy director at Friends of the Earth said, “Backing for nuclear power punches a huge hole in the Liberal Democrats fast-sinking green credibility.
“Nuclear power comes with massive costs attached. Ed Davey is deluded if he thinks new reactors can go ahead without public subsidy – building them will result in the Liberal Democrats, yet again, breaking their promises.
He added that the Lib Dems, “[…] are fast becoming Tory-lite when it comes to the environment.”
Doug Parr, Greenpeace chief scientist said, “This motion shows how far the Liberal Democrats have slid from their previously principled position on energy and climate. The party now seems prepared to thrust the issues of nuclear waste and funding on to future generations, rather than take on vested interests and put us on the road to dealing with the climate crisis in a clean, safe way.”
Nuclear energy has been the topic of much political debate in recent years, with many arguing that the process is unsafe and dangerous. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, announced in 2011 that she would close down all of Germany’s nuclear plants, in favour of an energy mix that was “safe, reliable and economically viable”. http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2013/09/16/lib-dems-criticised-over-nuclear-u-turn/
New danger for Fukushima as typhoon hits Japan
Japan Typhoon Threatens Fukushima Nuclear Plant http://www.inquisitr.com/951325/japan-typhoon-threatens-fukashima-nuclear-plant/#2eTV0fAD7JBYctRS.99 The Inquiistr 15 Sept The latest typhoon to hit southern Japan struck on Monday, bringing heavy rains. Officials warned of floods and strong winds that could go on to hit the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. Around 200 domestic flights scheduled for Monday were cancelled. Most of the affected flights were those leaving Tokyo; train services were also reduced. The storm was carrying winds up to 144 kilometres (90 miles) per hour overnight Sunday and was moving in a north-northwesterly direction. The Japan Meteorological Agency said.It would probably hit southern parts of the main island Honshu on Monday morning, possibly around 9:00 am (0000 GMT) in Shizuoka prefecture, southwest of Tokyo.
The typhoon was then expected to head northeast towards Tokyo and its surrounding region by around noon and cross the northeast including the Fukushima area, according to its predicted track. At Fukushima, workmen have struggled night and day to contain leakages from the nuclear plant after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. This led to the contamination of groundwater by radioactive materials flowing into the Pacific Ocean. With even more torrential rain expected on Monday, the fear is that contaminated water will seep into the groundwater.
Workers frantically pumped water from around highly radioactive tanks at the plant to lower the risk. The typhoon had already brought heavy rain and strong winds in the south and east before even hitting Japan but no major damage was reported. The weather agency has now issued flood warnings and forecasts that the heavy rain will cause mudslides and high ocean waves to many areas along the Pacific coast. Officials hope that the latest Japan typhoon will not further complicate the work at the Fukushima plan.
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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