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India’s anti nuclear protestors are determined despite police crackdown

Police crackdown fails to stop anti-nuclear protests Villagers oppose construction of power plant By Akhel Mathew, March 22, 2012 hiruvananthapuram: The villagers at Idinthakarai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, about 120 km from here, have continued their protest against commissioning of the nuclear power plant in their neighbourhood, despite a police crackdown on the protesters on Sunday night.

The villagers are agitating against the 2,000MW nuclear plant that is nearing commissioning by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India. The project, named the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, was conceived in 1988 but has run into trouble on many occasions, and protests reached a crescendo last year, with villagers resorting to a
chain-fasting agitation……. http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/police-crackdown-fails-to-stop-anti-nuclear-protests-1.998004

March 22, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Extreme weather events now convincing Americans on climate change

Extreme Weather Makes a Convincing Case for Climate Change Environmental News Network  (ENN)  21 March 12, The subject of extreme weather is of great importance because it provides a tangible illustration of climate change.

The average person understands that the increasing number of record-breaking heat waves and tornadoes are more than isolated weather events, they reflect a changing climate.
This point was born out in a recent study, which showed that more Americans are accepting the reality of climate change. According to a Brookings Institute poll, extreme weather is one of the most compelling reasons why more Americans are accepting climate change.

The poll indicated that of those who believe in global warming, almost half said that they were primarily convinced by personal observations of warmer temperature or weather changes. http://www.enn.com/climate/article/44162

March 22, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

An attack on Iran would cause them to develop nuclear weapons

Iran will produce nuclear weapons if attacked: Russia Google News By Dmitry Zaks (AFP) –21 March 12, MOSCOW — Russia warned Tuesday that Iran would have no option but to develop nuclear weapons if it came under attack from either the United States or Israel over its contested atomic programme.

“The CIA and other US officials admit they now have no information about the Iranian leadership taking the political decision to produce nuclear weapons,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Moscow’s Kommersant FM radio.
“But I am almost certain that such a decision will surely be taken
after (any) strikes on Iran,” Lavrov said…..
Lavrov argued that Russia was not defending an ally but trying to avert a broader conflict or possible nuclear arms race from breaking out in the region.

He added that Israel’s threats against Iran were only pushing other nations on poor terms with the West to consider pursuing their own nuclear weapon drives. “This happening… around Iran are forcing a lot of Third World countries to pause and realise that if you have a nuclear bomb, no one will really bother you. “You might get some light sanctions, but people will always coddle you, they will court you and try to convince you of things,” Lavrov
said…. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article ALeqM5i25pBIKzb20mmapAw75iuwAa8ucA?docId=CNG.886eb52df8eb9735aee24d498123d774.c1

March 21, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Protestors, police gear up for Vermont Yankee’s probable new licensing

 Big protest planned at Entergy nuclear plant Bloomberg BRATTLEBORO, VT. 21 March 12 A new license term for Entergy Corp.’s Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is expected to be greeted this week with big protests.

Anti-nuclear activists say hundreds are expected for an event at midday Thursday in which protesters will march from the town common in Brattleboro to the local corporate offices of Entergy. Organizers say they’re planning for some of the participants to be arrested. Brattleboro Police Chief Eugene Wrinn says his force is coordinating with the Vermont State Police and Windham County sheriff’s office in preparing for the event…. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-03/D9TJL2M80.htm

Citizens groups to hold retirement party for Entergy’s Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant Vt Digger, On Wed, March 21, 2012 several organizations that have been working to replace Vermont Yankee upon its scheduled retirement will hold a retirement reception in Room 10 at the Vermont Statehouse at 5 pm.
Activists and legislative dignitaries will meet to recognize the end of Vermont Yankee’s service to the Vermont electrical grid. After 40 years, the state’s original Certificate of Public Good will expire. Decisions regarding the continued operation of the plant have yet to
be determined….. .  http://vtdigger.org/2012/03/20/citizens-groups-to-hold-retirement-party-for-entergys-vermont-yankee-nuclear-power-plant/

March 21, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Obama scathing about critics of renewable energy

Obama Blasts Renewable Energy Critics United States President Barack Obama has blasted critics of renewable energy, referring to them as ‘professional politicians’ and comparing them to those who once believed the earth was flat.

“A lot of the folks who are running for a certain office who shall go unnamed, they’ve been talking down new sources of energy,” Obama told a crowd of students at Prince George’s Community College in Washington’s Maryland suburbs on Thursday, according to a report on Australian Associated Press (AAP).

“They dismiss wind power. They dismiss solar power. They make jokes about biofuels. They were against raising fuel standards. I guess they like gas-guzzlers.”…. http://designbuildsource.com.au/obama-blasts-renewable-critics

March 20, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

India’s planned new nuclear power program stalled

Nuclear power capacity failed to rise: Report , Mar 15, 2012,   Chenna : IANS Even though the generation of nuclear power increased by 33 percent this fiscal, no capacity was added against a target of 2,000 MW, the Economic Survey said Thursday…. The anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) agitation has spooked the addition of 2,000 MW new atomic power capacity addition this year.

Atomic power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is building two 1,000 MW reactors with Russian technology at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from here. Villagers who have safety concerns have been protesting against the
plant. They are also concerned about the long-term impact of the nuclear plant on the population. Their agitation, spearheaded by People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy, has put a stop to the project work, delaying the commissioning of the first unit by several months.

In September, the Tamil Nadu cabinet passed a resolution asking the central government to stop all project related work till the fears of the locals about the plant were allayed….
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_nuclear-power-capacity-failed-to-rise-report_1662875

March 16, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

South Koreans becoming more doubtful of nuclear energy

Reactor blackout fans nuclear safety concerns, Korea Herald, By Shin Hyon-hee 2012-03-15  The government came under pressure as a soaring number of Koreans arecasting doubt on atomic energy after plant operators were found to have attempted to conceal power loss at a nuclear reactor in Busan.

Despite no damage or radiation leakage, the accident infuriated the public and anti-nuclear protesters. They raised questions over the public workers’ integrity and whether they are prepared for a longer outage that could result in a disaster like that seen in Japan…..
http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120315001261

March 16, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

An attack on Iran would REALLY make them want nuclear weapons

Want Iran to go nuclear? Bomb them — Rep. Smith, Seattle Pi, 14 March 12, A military strike on Iran by Israel and/or the United States would backfire by assuring that the Iranian regime would push ahead with development of nuclear weapons, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee warned Wednesday.

“Let the sanctions work,” U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., who also sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told a Seattle neighborhood breakfast.

Smith cautioned against what he described as a “rush to war” in sabre-rattling statements heard on the Republican presidential trail. He argued that sanctions by the U.S. and European Union countries are already biting deep into the Iranian economy.

The best hope, said the congressman, is that the Iranian government will decide that the cost to their economy of developing a nuclear weapons capability is too great….
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2012/03/14/want-iran-to-go-nuclear-bomb-them-rep-smith/

March 15, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Dr Helen Caldicott to speak at Occupy EPA on March 30

The rally in front of the Administrator’s office on the EPA lawn will feature national speakers
and leaders, such as Dr. Helen Caldicott, 

Occupy EPA prepare for March 30th rally Press TV 15 March 112, Occupation, civil rights, environmental, and communities groups from around the country will gather on Friday, March 30th to rally and launch the American Spring (AS) with a demonstration at the headquarters of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“What kind of future will our children have if the EPA keeps caving in to corporate demands and allowing exploitation of people and the planet?” said Dr. Margaret Flowers, a pediatrician and organizer for NOW-DC…. Continue reading →

March 15, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Dr Helen Caldicott to speak in Seattle

Nobel Prize Nominee Caldicott here for Japan nuclear crisis anniversary Dr. Helen Caldicott’s appearance Saturday at Temple United Methodist Church in Seattle is part of weekend events scheduled around the one-year anniversary of Japan’s Fukushima tsunami and resulting nuclear crisis. By Carol M. Ostrom,  Seattle Times, 13 March Dr. Helen Caldicott, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and longtime activist who helped start Physicians for Social
Responsibility and Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, will speak at an all-day forum and workshop Saturday. Continue reading →

March 15, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

USA’s nuclear loan guarantees – like blood transfusions for a dying patient

Undeterred by Fukushima, Nuclear Lobby Pushes Ahead with New Reactors, Spiegel Online, 13 March 12, …..The US Department of Energy has $18.5 billion in federal guarantees available for building new nuclear power plants. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the co-winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics, praises the expansion project in Georgia as pioneering. “The Vogtle project will help America to recapture the lead in nuclear technology,” he says.

Approval could also soon be in the works for two reactor blocks in South Carolina. Indeed, energy suppliers are putting added pressure on the NRC, which has already received applications for some 30 additional reactor blocks.

Still, critics doubt that all of the planned facilities will actually be built. Even under the best of
conditions, a single nuclear power plant costs, per megawatt of capacity, almost twice as much as a coal-fired power plant and almost four times as much as a gas-fired one.

For this reason, Amory Lovins, an energy expert at the Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute, thinks that the supposed renaissance of atomic energy is nothing more than a nuclear-industry fabrication. Indeed, since a significant portion of the financing for nuclear
facilities comes from federal subsidies and private investors are hardly ever involved, Lovins compares the situation to a form of “nuclear socialism.”

“The nuclear industry is in a desperate effort to demonstrate that it is healthy,” he says. “Loan guarantees are not a sign of economic health,” he adds, in the same way that “blood transfusions are not a sign of medical health.”….. http://www.spiegel.de international/world/0,1518,819452-2,00.html

March 14, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Trends in renewable energy, efficiency, and energy storage

5 renewable energy trends to watch in 2012, ZD Net, By  | March 13, 2012,  Summary: Advances in energy efficiency and grid-connected storage projects shape investments over the next 12 months, according to a new report from cleantech research firm Clean Edge. Continue reading →

March 14, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Anti nuclear movement in Japan growing, and broadening

March 11, One Year On: A New Breed Of Anti-Nuclear Protesters?  WSJ, By Mitsuru Obe 11 Mar 12, Musicians in Japan were supposed to keep clear of politics. And TV shows that allowed anti-nuclear messages would likely find themselves short of advertisers. But that seems to be slowly changing.

“……..“Unlike Europeans, Japanese are not used to taking direct political action. But women and young people are stepping forward and taking action,” Tetsunari Iida, Japan’s leading renewable energy advocate, said backstage at the rally.

Mr. Iida said he wants to see a steady growth in people’s involvement in politics, not a short-term burst in popular action. Satoshi Kamata, an investigative journalist who is leading a campaign to collect 10 million signatures for ending Japan’s nuclear power, said the anti-nuclear movement in Japan is broadening in spectrum.

“It is no longer a political issue. It’s about your life. That’s why so many people are now coming out to voice their opposition,” he said. In a rally in Aomori, home to Japan’s nuclear fuel recycling facilities, 1,760 people showed up, a welcome surprise to the organizers who were anticipating only 1,000 people, said Mr. Kamata.

“Opposition to nuclear fuel recycling slowed after the facilities were constructed. But the Fukushima disaster showed the danger of spent fuel. That has rekindled concerns about nuclear power again in Aomori,” he said.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/03/12/march-11-one-year-on-a-new-breed-of-anti-nuclear-protesters/?mod=google_news_blog

March 12, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

India’s nuclear establishment secretive, like Japan’s

Fukushima Disaster: Nuclear power is a risk without independent regulation, The Economic Times, 12 MAR, 2012, “…….After Fukushima, you cannot underplay the risks of nuclear energy. It is now clear that utilities, manufacturers and vendors of nuclear technology were in bed with Japan’s bureaucrats and political parties. The establishment ignored the risks of building reactors in a highly seismic zone. Reactors were bunched up in so-called nuclear villages. Safety checks were ignored, overage plants were allowed to run.

Worldwide, nuclear power is controlled by the state. If the state adopts wink-andnudge policies, the people are at peril. … India’s nuclear establishment is totally opaque and there is no independent regulator….

March 12, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

The undead’s warning to Iowa on a radioactive future

Zombies marched on the Iowa statehouse on Friday night. DES MOINES, Iowa KCC1, 10 March 12, The undead, organized by the Iowa Public Interest Research Group, want lawmakers to kill a nuclear power plant bill.

Protester Sonia Ashe said she doesn’t want Iowa’s future to be nuclear. “We don’t want to have a radioactive future in Iowa,” Ashe said. “We see this as kind of an outrageous way to respond to an outrageous proposal.” http://www.kcci.com/news/30651038/detail.html#ixzz1owNj9M1H

March 12, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

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