nuclear-news

Talks will succeed if West recognizes Iran’s right to nuclear energy: Larijani, Tehran Times, 23 Sept 12TEHRAN – Military action against Iran would be “highly costly” for the United States and threats issued by U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney are only campaign rhetoric and can be largely ignored, Iranian Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani told the Financial Times in an interview published on Saturday.  Continue reading →

September 24, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Nuclear power a dangerous option for Bangladesh

Risks of nuclear option for power, Daily Star,  September 24, 2012 “…the present government has signed an agreement with Russia for setting up a nuclear power station shortly. Recently the prime minister talked about establishing more such stations in Bangladesh in order to get adequate electricity to meet the country’s demand.

But it has a worrying aspect also. Japan has announced that it will abandon all its nuclear power by 2030. It is true that the lives of the people are more valuable than development.

Bangladesh is a poor country; its scientific and technological know-how is inferior to Japan. This tiny country contains about 16 crore people. If any accident occurs over-populated country, the result will be extremely disastrous. Many people are in doubt about
the effectiveness of Russian technologies also. So, we should think a hundred times before beginning such risky mission.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=250927

September 24, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | 3 Comments

Saudi Arabia emerges as top solar producer
http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-09-23&val=511160&cat=energy[Arab News (Saudi Arabia)] Al Bawaba Ltd. The Kingdom is one of the world’s most productive solar regions with some of the highest summer temperatures ever recorded on earth, said Jean-Claude Estival, renewable energy business manager of Schneider Electrical projects in France during his visit to Riyadh last week. Continue reading →

September 24, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

India welcomes international nuclear salesmen

India to host meet for global n-energy players, Daily News, September 23rd 2012,  Mumbai,  — India will Tuesday host a global meet on nuclear energy here that will offer networking and marketing opportunities for international firms and agencies, an official said Sunday.

The three-day 4th India Nuclear Energy Summit (INES-2012) will see participation from all top players in the nuclear power generation sector, apart from debates and speeches by leading experts on a variety of issues concerning the industry. Continue reading →

September 24, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Safecast measuring radiation, now measuring air quality

After tracking radiation levels in Fukushima, Safecast is measuring air quality in the States Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard, By Adrienne LaFrance-21/09/2012 Knight News Challenge funding will help Safecast spearhead data collection in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Detroit. When a nuclear crisis came on the heels of the March 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan, there was an outcry from those seeking accurate information about radiation levels in various prefectures.

The situation prompted a group of friends to launch a crowdsourced Geiger-counting effort  — which eventually grew  into Safecast, a network for collecting and mapping radiation measurements across the world.

Now, with a $400,000 Knight News Challenge grant, Safecast will expand its efforts into air quality testing — starting in Detroit, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. Safecast cofounder Sean Bonner  says the project will help identify good and bad air quality on a granular,
neighborhood-by-neighborhood level. He’s also hoping to track changes in air quality over short periods of time….. http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/09/after-tracking-radiation-levels-in-fukushima-safecast-is-measuring-air-quality-in-the-states/

September 24, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Healthy Child, Healthy World should be concerned about nuclear radiation

From a contributor to Christina Macpherson’s Facebook page Dear Friends, as a mother of young children I am concerned about the damage nuclear power has done to children around Chernobyl and in Fukushima, Japan and the fact that if one of our 104 aging reactors goes it can do the same thing to our kids.

I have posted about this on a FB site called Healthy Child Healthy World as they have many parents following them and all those people have a right to know the truth too. You would think this would be a concern of HCHW too, right? I mean if a nuclear power plant explodes here in the states, our kids would endure the same suffering. I went to go post today and guess what, it appears that we cannot post. Would somebody mind asking them why this is the case? Maybe it is just a FB glitch.

September 23, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | 6 Comments

Japanese govt fumbling over energy policy, as election nears

Japan pays lip service to nuclear phase-out Winnipeg Free Press, 21 Sept 12 By: The Economist With doubts running high about how long the Japanese government can survive, its decision last week to phase out nuclear power by the end of the 2030s looked half-baked. Sure enough, on Sept. 19 it dropped any pretense of a deadline, leaving open the possibility that at least two reactors under construction could operate until the 2050s.

The ambiguity has much to do with the general election which Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has promised to call soon. Polling indicates that, since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, public opinion has turned firmly against nuclear energy. Big business argues, however, that Japan’s economy will suffer if the phase-out occurs too quickly. Local governors whose prefectures host nuclear-power plants also complain about the strategy.

For the time being, the government’s policy appears to be to pay lip service to a phase-out that it is too timid to implement, while also scrambling for alternative sources of energy. Even before the nuclear disaster, Japan was the world’s biggest importer of liquefied natural gas, and now it consumes nearly a third of global output. But ensuring reliable supplies, as well as securing a good price, is becoming a foreign-policy headache….
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/Japan-pays-lip-service-to-nuclear-phase-out-170739926.html

September 22, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Measuring radiation risk of Japanese foodstuffs to Europe

Radiation Risk by Consumption of Contaminated Food after the Catastrophe at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant German Society for Radiation Protection www.strahlentelex.de (Gesellschaft für Strahlenschutz e.V.) Thomas Dersee / 12. April 2011 
The German Federal Minister for Nutrition, Agriculture and Consumer Protection has announced that the European Commission and the EU member states have agreed on April
8 to adopt the valid Japanese allowable limits for maximum contamination by radionuclides
as new limits for food and animal feed from Japan imported into the European Union.
The respective contamination limits are as follows, in Becquerel per
kilogram (Bq/kg)…….
http://www.strahlentelex.de/RadiationRisk_EU_042011_engl.pdf

September 22, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Businesses Increasingly Using Renewable Energy Options to Cut Costs SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 Clean Technica BY NATHAN    According to a new report from the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and Vestas, a growing number of green businesses are beginning to source their power exclusively from renewables instead of just making a small token purchase. The new report, the 2012 Corporate Renewable Energy Index (CREX), is a ranking of over 300 global companies based on their voluntary sourcing of renewable energy, and the reasons for why they do it.

The companies ranked in the CREX have tended to fall into two extremes, but there is a newly emerging group that is choosing to get 100% of its energy from renewable sources.Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1o1dB)

http://cleantechnica.com/2012/09/21/businesses-increasingly-using-renewable-energy-options-to-cut-costs/
Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1o1dB)

September 22, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Steel plates sent to Plant Vogtle fail NRC inspections, The Augusta Chronicle, By Rob Pavey Staff Writer, Sept. 20, 2012 At least 211 steel plates built for use in Plant Vogtle’s new reactors failed inspections by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Continue reading →

September 22, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Fukushima: genetic effects the same as those in Chernobyl

Wertelecki: There’s a team of experts on birds and ornithology form France, very distinguished Danish ornithologist who found in Chernobyl area very, very major disturbing findings that exactly the same is happening in Fukushima.

In other words these birds cannot migrate because they become exhausted… they find microcephaly just like we do, they find all kind of instability like random spotted changes to fur, which are local mutations of course on so on and so on.

AUDIO  Top Genetics Expert: Japan’s path closely resembles Chernobyl’s — “Very, very major disturbing findings” (VIDEO)   http://enenews.com/top-genetics-expert-japans-path-closely-resembles-chernobyls-very-very-major-disturbing-findings-audio  September 18th, 2012  By ENENews

 Title: Dr. Wladimir Wertelecki on birth defects caused by Chernobyl and how nuclear power devastates human health Source: If You Love This Planet Radio with Dr. Helen Caldicott Date: Sept 14, 2012 Continue reading →

September 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Key indicators show the decline of the nuclear industry

Campaign Against Nuclear Waste in Namibia (CANWIN) http://www.facebook.com/CANWIN2 The market niche that nuclear power once held is disappearing. The key nuclear indicators—including the number of operating reactors, installed capacity, power generation, and share of total electricity generation—all show that the global nuclear industry is in decline. In 2012, nuclear power’s competitors—most notably, wind and solar generation—are rapidly gaining market share as long lead times, construction delays, cost overruns, and safety concerns have combined to make nuclear power a risky investment that the markets are increasingly unwilling to make. To renew the aging world nuclear fleet, nuclear utilities would need to surmount a number of major problems, including a short-term manufacturing bottleneck, a shortage of skilled workers, regulatory uncertainty, a skeptical financial sector, and negative public opinion. The aftermath of the Fukushima disaster and the world economic crisis have only exacerbated these problems. The authors write that a realistic scenario that leads to an increase in nuclear’s share of the world’s electricity is hard to imagine.

September 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Significant increase in ionising radiation around Tokyo

Japan Scientists: Radiation dose has been “significantly increased” around Tokyo metropolitan area after Fukushima http://enenews.com/japan-scientists-radiation-dose-has-been-significantly-increased-around-tokyo-metropolitan-area-after-fukushima 
 September 19th, 2012  
By ENENews   Title: MEASURES AGAINST INCREASED ENVIRONMENTAL RADIATION DOSE BY THE TEPCO FUKUSHIMA DAI-ICHI NPP ACCIDENT IN SOME LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN THE TOKYO METROPOLITAN AREA 
Source: Radiation Protection Dosimetry (Oxford Journals)
Author: Iimoto T, Fujii H, Oda S, Nakamura T, Hayashi R, Kuroda R, Furusawa M, Umekage T, Ohkubo Y.
Date: 2012 Aug 26

Abstract The accident of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant of Tokyo Electric Power Cooperation (TEPCO) after the great east Japan earthquake (11 March 2011) elevated the background level of environmental radiation in Eastern Japan.

Around the Tokyo metropolitan area, especially around Kashiwa and Nagareyama cities, the ambient dose equivalent rate has been significantly increased after the accident. Responding to strong requests from citizens, the local governments started to monitor the ambient dose equivalent rate precisely and officially, about 3 months after the accident had occurred. The two cities in cooperation with each other also organised a local forum supported by three radiation specialists.

In this article, the activities of the local governments are introduced, with main focus on radiation monitoring and measurements. Topics are standardisation of environmental radiation measurements for ambient dose rate, dose mapping activity, investigation of foodstuff and drinking water, lending survey meters to citizens, etc. Based on the data and facts mainly gained by radiation monitoring, risk management and relating activity have been organised. ‘Small consultation meetings in kindergartens’, ‘health consultation service for citizens’, ‘education meeting on radiation protection for teachers, medical staffs, local government staffs, and leaders of active volunteer parties’ and ‘decontamination activity’, etc. are present key activities of the risk management and restoration around the Tokyo metropolitan area.

September 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Japan’s Nuclear Dilemma

Nuclear or not to nuclear: Japan struggles with the question Guardian By Mark Halper | September 20, 2012, they say a week is a long time in politics. Make that 5 days.

That’s how long it took the Japanese government to back off its statement last Friday that it would completely phase out nuclear power by 2040.

“We are going to begin an extremely difficult challenge,” declared Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in announcing the plan as reported by The Guardian newspaper on Sept. 14   . ”No matter how diffiicult it is, we can no longer put it off.”

Well, it seems there’s extremely difficult, and then there’s really, really extremely difficult. By yesterday, the language from Tokyo had transformed from bold determination into sheepish second thoughts. “Japan has effectively abandoned a commitment to end its reliance on nuclear power by 2040,” The Guardian wrote . The about face came as Japan’s Cabinet “gave only a vague endorsement” of a report that provided the basis for last Friday’s no-more-nukes declaration.

The report had called for renewable energy like wind and solar to comprise 30 percent of the country’s energy mix – the same proportion that nuclear had contributed prior to shut downs following the Fukushima meltdowns last year, and an eightfold increase from 2010 renewables levels. The plan also relied on sustainable fossil fuel technologies, professing that, “We will launch all possible policy measures to achieve a nuclear-free society by the 2030s.”

But as The Guardian noted, the Cabinet’s tepid endorsement yesterday “dropped any mention of plans to complete the phase-out some time in the 2030s.”….. The prevarication reflects strong public opposition to nuclear, versus pressure from business and industry which says that the shut down will drive up energy costs and force companies to relocate operations to foreign countries….. http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/nuclear-or-not-to-nuclear-japan-struggles-with-the-question/635

September 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

EDF attacks France’s plans to shut down Fessenheim nuclear power station

EDF nuclear execs protest Fessenheim closure plan PARIS, Sept 20  Sep 20, 2012   (Reuters) – EDF’s nuclear plant managers have assailed government plans to close the state-controlled company’s Fessenheim nuclear power station in a letter of support to the facility’s workers, French media reported…

. The facility, which went into service in 1977, is France’s oldest nuclear power plant and has been a frequent focus of safety concerns since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan that triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Last week, environmental groups called for its early closure after a steam leak at the plant triggered a brief fire alert.

September 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment