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Anxious moments for reporters at Fukushima nuclear plant

Reporters at damaged reactor plant told to stay in the bus, SMH Martin Fackler  November 14, 2011 The most striking feature at this crippled plant was not the blasted-out reactor buildings, or makeshift tsunami walls, but the chaotic mess……

 

In a country as compulsively tidy as Japan, the fact the scene has changed so little was as telling a sign as any of the tasks workers have faced while struggling to regain control of the plant’s three badly damaged nuclear reactors…..

The dosimeters of the journalists on the bus buzzed constantly, recording levels that ticked up with each passing kilometre: 0.7 microsieverts in Naraha, at the edge of the evacuation zone; 1.5 at Tomioka, where the welcome centre for Fukushima Daiichi told Japanese visitors that nuclear power was safe. Saturday’s level was 13 times the recommended maximum annual dosage for civilians.

At the plant, journalists, outfitted in full contamination suits, were kept aboard the bus in recognition of the much higher radiation levels there….. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/reporters-at-damaged-reactor-plant-told-to-stay-in-the-bus-20111113-1ndty.html#ixzz1djZqdYBO

November 14, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Scathing criticism of Koch brothers and climate change denialists

THEY’RE LIKE SMOKERS: Malcolm Turnbull turns on climate change sceptics, Perth Now November 06, 2011 Turnbull highlights new study by climate sceptics It still found the planet was 1C warmer than in 1950s FORMER Australian Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull has compared climate change sceptics with people who refuse to admit smoking causes lung cancer.

Mr Turnbull, who lost the Liberal leadership almost two years ago when he backed Labor’s old emissions trading scheme, has seized on a US study showing global temperatures are rising….. In his attack on climate-change deniers, Mr Turnbull highlighted a study of the world’s surface temperatures by Richard Muller, which was partially bankrolled by a foundation connected to global warming deniers.

But despite drawing funding from industrialist brothers David and Charles Koch, the study by the University of Berkeley in California, still found the Earth was 1C warmer than in the 1950s. ”One of the big financiers of the anti-climate change movement is a family called Koch, K-O-C-H, and they put a lot of money into these climate sceptic organisations and they’ve got big interest in fossil fuels,” Mr Turnbull told the Seven Network on Sunday.

Mr Turnbull said the backers of the study “presumably” hoped to demonstrate climate science was not reliable, and used the results to criticise people who continually question global warming. ”They’re like the guy who gets told by his doctor to stop smoking, lose weight and decides not to do that,” he said. ”He met a mate down the pub who said his Uncle Ernie had lived ’til 95 but he smoked a packet every day. It’s ridiculous.”….
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/special-features/theyre-like-smokers-malcolm-turnbull-turns-on-climate-change-sceptics/story-e6frg19l-1226186990042

November 13, 2011 Posted by | general | 2 Comments

Taxpayers and ratepayers petition NRC on nuclear safety

Taxpayers and Ratepayers United, et al.; Environmental Impacts of Severe … Middle East North Africa Financial Network – ‎11 Nov 11 (Nuclear Regulatory Commission Documents and Publications/ContentWorks via COMTEX) — SUMMARY: The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) has received 15 petitions for rulemaking (PRMs), each dated August 10, August 11, …http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?storyid=%7B0448c247-6832-40a7-ae0e-028ca23f029c%7D

November 11, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Israel showed Iran the way to be deceptive about nuclear weapons

 “Hello Israel, might we talk about your nukes?”, ..

Now the international community has indicated that it is losing patience, I have some small hope that Israel too may do the unexpected, and bring its nukes to the negotiating table. Israel has the trump card in this; may Iran and the Arabs respond in kind. Relations in the Middle East are tense enough without the need for WMD.

Remember, Tehran’s nuclear ambiguity was learnt from Israel, Crikey.com November 10, 2011 –  by NAJ Taylor Consider this: you are a willing outcast, with few solid friends and many formidable enemies. How do you survive? By trying to convert enemies to friends, or by instilling fear in your many enemies?

More than any other state on earth, Iran is presently keeping her enemies on their toes – expertly.

Iran categorically and emphatically state to domestic and international audiences that they have no intention of acquiring nuclear weapons capability, and yet a significant amount of Western intelligence, including that by the peak UN body only yesterday, has contended for some time (to the chagrin of Tehran) that they do…. Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Radiation problem, and likely accidents cast a gloom over nuclear energy

a worker involved in the Fukushima City decontamination project: “It is not much fun being part of a medical experiment.”

Nuclear energy: A hotter topic than ever, Ft.com By Mure Dickie and Clive Cookson, 9 Nov 11 Uncertainty about radiation danger is not a problem for Japan alone. Atomic plants around the world are ageing fast, and more are being built in developing countries where there is often limited public oversight and high levels of corruption. It would be foolish for the world to assume that this crisis will be the last….. Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Possibility of further uncontrolled fission at Fukushima

A German Professor who is an expert on radiation warns that there is a real possibility of a mini Atomic Bomb from an uncontrolled nuclear fission at Fukushima. Grant Lawrence–Bodhi Thunder Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

America’s bloated military spending, with trivial cuts planned

our military is not bloated because the U.S. faces threats to its security. It is bloated because of the military-industrial-Congressional complex that President Eisenhower warned about more than fifty years ago….
Planned Pentagon Cuts Are Trivial, HUFFINGTON POST, by Aaron Belkin: 11/6/11  Poor, poor Leon Panetta. Our Secretary of Defense has to find a way to cut $45 billion per year out of our $700 billion military budget. That’s right, five percent. Continue reading →

November 10, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Need for Japan to monitor health of workers and others exposed to Fukushima radiation

Fukushima health concerns Japan Times, 8 Nov 11 As efforts to end the nuclear disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant drag on, it is important for the central and local governments to step up their efforts to closely examine the health conditions of people concerned and to decontaminate areas contaminated by radiation.

 The people who have been most affected by radiation from the Fukushima plant are workers, both from Tepco and from subcontractors, who have been trying to bring the radiation-leaking plant under control. Continue reading →

November 8, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

“Occupy” joins forces with clean energy movement, against dirty politics

Occupy Asheville marching in solidarity with renewable energy conference this afternoon Mountain Express By David Forbes on 11/06/2011 Occupy Asheville Stands in Solidarity with SE Student Renewable Energy Conference Asheville, NC- Occupy Asheville is participating in a solidarity action on Sunday, Nov. 6th with the Southeastern Student Renewable Energy Conference that was held this weekend at UNCA.

Occupy Asheville will be fielding a group of ‘1%ers’ and a radical cheerleading squad.
The march is gathering on Montford Ave., next to Todd’s Tasties , at 12:45 pm.

Occupy Asheville recognizes the correlation of our struggles. Dirty energy is inextricably linked to the dirty money influencing our political structures. Our common goals will be won together or not atall.
Occupy Asheville will hold an emergency General Assembly at Pritchard Park following the action to discuss Saturday’s arrests and our reaction.

Occupy Asheville is dedicated to liberating public space in peaceful protest and coordinating networks of resistance to corporate dominance with our sister cities across the nation and globe. http://www.mountainx.com/article/37191/Occupy-Asheville-marching-in-solidarity-with-renewable-energy-conference-this-afternoon

November 7, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

7 billion people can benefit from renewable energy


The 2011 Human Development Report will serve as a blueprint for action ahead of next year’s Earth Summit, the United Nations Conference on Regional Development, to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012. ….

Renewable Energy Vital To Provide Power For 7 Billion+ by Energy Matters, 5 Nov 11 This week saw the world’s population hit the seven billion mark and with it came increased anxiety over shortages of food and natural resources in developing nations. It’s fitting that in the same week the United Nations Development Programme has called on the international community in its 2011 Human Development Report to use renewable energy sources as a way to promote environmental sustainability and equity.  Continue reading →

November 5, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

The international nuclear war machine rolls on, costing $billions

still the warheads are engineered. Billions of dollars are found, are always found, for weapons. Is this a higher duty to a citizenry than the health, education and wellbeing of that citizenry?

There are far more people in the world now than in 1945 – 7 billion from this week – and you can’t do anything with a warhead but die from it.

World takes a step back under the clouds of nuclear gloom, SMH, Warwick McFadyen November 5, 2011 THERE comes a time when memory fails, when remembrance of things past fades into the ether. A decade into the 21st century we have arrived at that denuded place. How else to explain the recent disclosures that the world is embarking on a new era of spending on nuclear weapons? Continue reading →

November 5, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Support for UK’s nuclear test veterans in their legal fight for justice

Nuclear test veterans get backing, Google News (UKPA) – 4 Nov 11 Veterans minister Keith Brown has written to the UK Government, raising concerns of Scottish nuclear test veterans before the next stage of their legal battle for compensation. The UK Supreme Court has given veterans permission to further argue their right to seek damages for illnesses allegedly caused by exposure to radiation during nuclear testing.

Mr Brown led a debate in Holyrood outlining the Scottish Government’s initiatives for veterans before Remembrance Day. SNP MSP Kevin Stewart said: “I’m glad that the minister has outlined all that the Scottish Government is doing for veterans but it seems that the UK Government are failing on certain issues.

“We now have the military covenant but we still have veterans who have to fight through the courts for their rights, and I`m thinking particularly of nuclear test veterans. I wonder what the minister thinks of the fact that certain veterans have to fight the UK Government in court to get their rights.”…. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5ghwZq4FalFCtciulDe5hIdBOzFCg?docId=N0436821320317726729A

November 4, 2011 Posted by | general | 1 Comment

The unwisdom of a pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilitiesar

the most damning case against pre-emptive over-reaction is that, for all the horror that underpins the nuclear military option, not one of the 50,000 or so warheads held by the two superpowers at the insane height of the cold war was ever fired in anger….

let’s not start any more avoidable wars …..as the cold war showed, patience works.
It’s best to play the Iranians at the long game.

Iran’s nuclear ambitions: let’s not do anything rash, Guardian UK ,  by Michael White   3 November 2011  Should the US seek to destroy Tehran’s atomic sites? No. The security case is not made and the risks are disproportionate….. Continue reading →

November 4, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

USA Republicans fight for uranium mining in Grand Canyon

Chasm wide on Grand Canyon uranium mining, GOP tries to stop  moratorium, Washington Times, By Valerie Richardson, 3 Nov 11 The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide and a mile deep, which is roughly the size of the gap between the Obama administrationand Western Republicans on the issue of uranium mining in Northern Arizona.Western Republicans are fighting to stop Interior Secretary Ken Salazarfrom slapping a 20-year moratorium on any new mining claims for yellowcake uranium on 1.1 million acres of land around the Grand Canyon National Park. A two-year ban instated in 2009 is scheduled to expire in December.

A House Natural Resources subcommittee held a hearing Thursday on the Republican-sponsored Northern Arizona Mining Continuity Act of 2011, which would block the effort to ban uranium mining in the region.

Robert Abbey, director of the Bureau of Land Management, said at the hearing that the area is too sensitive to accommodate expanded mining. The Colorado River, which runs through the canyon, delivers water to 26 million people in seven states, raising the stakes for any contamination that might result from a mining mishap.

He said that a U.S. Geological Survey report evaluated 1,014 water samples from 428 sites in the region and found that about 70 sites had contamination levels exceeding the primary or secondary maximum for some elements, including uranium…

November 4, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Michael Douglas joins push for Nuclear Non Proliferation

Michael Douglas and Ellen Tauscher team up for nuclear zero FP  By Josh Rogin  Thursday, November 3, 2011  Actor Michael Douglas has been in Washington all week to advocate for nuclear non-proliferation and funding for diplomacy in today’s budget-cutting environment. He and Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher sat down on Thursday at the State Department for an interview with The Cable.

“I’m here to see if anything can be accomplished in the area of nuclear disarmament before the elections,” Douglas said in our interview. “You get a message constantly that nothing is going to be done between now and [the election]… but I don’t think we can wait around for a year and half.”

Calling himself a “messenger of peace” in the area of disarmament, Douglas said he was “try[ing] to see if Congress won’t calm down a little bit” in its efforts to cut funding for nuclear non-proliferation programs. Continue reading →

November 4, 2011 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

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