1,100 union workers to strike at nuclear weapons plant
Frank Munger, Aug 29, 2015 Union workers at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant — a sister plant to Y-12 in Oak Ridge — this week rejected a final contract offer and voted to go on strike, effective at midnight Friday…… http://www.knoxnews.com/news/local-news/1100-union-workers-to-strike-at-nuclear-weapons-plant_52487665
Red Cross Red Crescent call for binding international agreement on nuclear disarmament
Red Cross Red Crescent reiterates its call for Nuclear Disarmament, Red Cross and Red Crescent 28 
August 2015 Mihoko Goto, Japanese Red Cross Hler Gudjonsson, IFRC
At the 25th United Nations Conference on Disarmament Issues in Hiroshima, Japan, which ended today, representatives of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement emphasized the need for governments to take urgent action to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons through a binding international agreement.
In his speech at the conference, IFRC President Konoe reminded participants that the Movement stands united in working towards the crucial goal of eliminating the threat of nuclear war, stating that, “nuclear weapons and their terrible humanitarian consequences threaten the existence of each and every one of us. In the eventuality of nuclear detonation, no international capacity exists or could ever exist to assist those affected or to protect those delivering assistance.”
Thousands of people are still receiving continuous medical care for radiation related diseases at the two Red Cross atomic bomb hospitals in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Former Director of the hospital in Hiroshima, Dr. Masao TOMONAGA, stressed the urgent need to transfer the experiences from the atomic bombings in 1945 to the next generation while the last survivors are still alive. “I am determined to do whatever I can, since I am also a Hibakusha (atomic bomb victim).” Dr Tominaga stated in his speech……..
At the Conference, which took place only weeks after the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, participants expressed anxiety over the lack of progress in disarmament. These worries are in part triggered by the failure of States to reach agreement on a substantive final declaration at the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in New York in May this year.
The IFRC’s President Konoe, spoke of his renewed determination to mobilize the entire Red Cross Red Crescent movement to ensure greater progress towards nuclear disarmament. Since the end of the Second World War, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement has been calling for the prohibition of nuclear weapons, and in 2011 the appealed to governments to ensure that nuclear weapons are never again used………. http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/news-stories/asia-pacific/japan/red-cross-red-crescent-reiterates-its-call-for-nuclear-disarmament–69280/#sthash.IBq3qDiB.dpuf
Significant levels of thorium 230, a radioactive isotope found in USA residential area
Recently found in American backyards: nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project http://qz.com/490331/recently-found-in-american-backyards-nuclear-waste-from-the-manhattan-project/ The US Army Corps of Engineers announced last week (Aug. 19) that a residential area in Missouri’s St. Louis County is contaminated with radioactive waste. Significant levels of thorium 230, a radioactive isotope, were discovered in public parks and private yards that have been touched by floodwaters from Coldwater Creek, a tributary of the Missouri River.
Around 2011, residents in the area began suspecting that their community had turned into a cancer cluster, with higher-than-averagerates of cancer and other illnesses due to contamination from the creek. As Al Jazeera reported in series of articles this April, the residential yards and public parks subject to Coldwater Creek flooding had never been tested for radioactive isotopes. Testing at sites directly alongside the creek only began in June of this year, followed by the more recent investigations of contamination in areas subject to the creek’s floods.
Nuclear weapons – prolonging the Cold War theatre of the absurd
Rutherford H. Platt: A nuclear theater of the absurd, GazetteNet.com By RUTHERFORD H. PLATT Friday, August 28, 2015 NORTHAMPTON — Doctors Andrew Larkin and Ira Helfand in their columns marking the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima (Gazette, Aug. 6) remind us once again that this planet remains on the slippery slope to self-annihilation.
Amid a whirlwind of competing threats — climate change, natural disasters, economic instability, epidemics, racism, and the international immigration crisis — it is so easy to ignore that we remain on the precipice of nuclear catastrophe from accident, miscalculation, or deliberate intent…….. the biggest absurdity of all is why we allow our government to continue waging the Cold War at endless cost to the nation and at the risk of all humankind. http://www.gazettenet.com/home/18341787-95/rutherford-h-platt-a-nuclear-theater-of-the-absurd
Mass climate action is needed as world readies for December Paris conference
Tutu, Klein and Chomsky call for mass climate action ahead of Paris conference, Guardian, Emma Howard, 26 Aug 15 Artists, journalists, scientists and academics among 100 signatories calling for mobilisation on scale of slavery abolition and anti-apartheid movements Desmond Tutu, Vivienne Westwood, Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky are among a group of high-profile figures who will issue a mass call to action on Thursday ahead of the UN’s crunch climate change conference in Paris in December.
They call for mass mobilisation on the scale of the slavery abolition and anti-apartheid movements to trigger “a great historical shift”.
Their statement, published in the book Stop Climate Crimes, reads: “We are at a crossroads. We do not want to be compelled to survive in a world that has been made barely liveable for us … slavery and apartheid did not end because states decided to abolish them. Mass mobilisations left political leaders no other choice.”…..
There are now less than 100 days until the UN’s Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris, where leaders from more than 190 countries will gather to discuss a potential new agreement on climate change. Last week the EU’s climate commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete warned that negotiations ahead of the conference must accelerate if any agreement is to be meaningful.
Artists, journalists, scientists and academics are among the 100 signatories to the statement alongside activists Vandana Shiva, Nnimmo Bassey and Yeb Sano, the Filipino diplomat who lead a fast of hundreds at the 2013 UN climate change summit in Poland after typhoon Haiyan devastated his country.
They target corporations and international trade, calling for an end to government subsidies for fossil fuels and a freeze on extraction.
“Decades of liberalisation of trade and investments have undermined the capacity of states to confront the climate crisis. At every stage powerful forces – fossil fuel corporations, agro-business companies, financial institutions, dogmatic economists, sceptics and deniers, and governments in the thrall of these interests – stand in the way or promote false solutions. Ninety companies are responsible for two-thirds of recorded greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Genuine responses to climate change threatens their power and wealth, threatens free market ideology, and threatens the structures and subsidies that support and underwrite them,” they state……..http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/26/campaigners-mass-climate-action-paris-conference-noam-chomsky
Can Japan make the switch to renewables?- Japan Scientists’ Association
Fukushima today: A first-person account from the field and the conference table, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 26 Aug 15 Subrata Ghoshroy
“……… A key goal of the conference was the public announcement that the Japan Scientists’ Association formally opposed nuclear power in Japan, and that its opposition was based upon scientific analysis of the accident in Fukushima and its impact. This about-face was a major step; it meant that some of the same Japanese scientists who had been the most forceful and outspoken proponents of nuclear energy now opposed it. To bolster the impact of this statement, the association had to show both the economic and technical feasibility of alternative sources of energy. Consequently, much of the meeting focused on the lessons learned from the experiences of other countries, and the keynote speaker of the conference, professor Juergen Scheffran of Hamburg University, Germany, gave the European perspective on the implications of the transition from fossil and nuclear to renewable energy. The focus was especially on Germany, which is in the middle of its own planned transition to a non-nuclear future.
With that in mind, Reiner Braun, co-president of the International Peace Bureau in Geneva, Switzerland, spoke about the status of the German exit from nuclear power and entrance into renewables. Known as Energiewende in German (literally “energy turn”), it would entail shutting down all nuclear plants by 2022, with seven plants shut down immediately. The renewable energy sector would be expanded at the same time that there was a step-by-step reduction in fossil fuel use; modern natural gas plants are to be used as a transition technology. Structural changes would also be made to the distribution network to account for the decentralized nature of the new energy supply.
Braun, a veteran of the protest movements against nuclear weapons and nuclear power, said it was important to understand why a politically conservative government had made this U-turn. A vast majority of the German people had rejected nuclear energy and there were decades of organized resistance, starting with massive protests against the stationing of NATO’s tactical weapons on German soil. While progress was promising so far, Braun reminded his audience that Energiewende was the “largest technological challenge” faced by the country since the post-WW II reconstruction efforts. The political challenges, meanwhile, were comparable to those encountered after the reunification of the two Germanys after the end of the Cold War.
But there was no doubt it had to be done, or that Japan could learn from observing the German experience. The feeling from the meeting was best summed up by the conference chair, Tsuyoshi Kawasaki, an expert on climate science and an emeritus professor at Tohoku University. Kawasaki ended his brief remarks with the words: “The Japanese Scientists’ Association believes that human beings and nuclear power cannot coexist.”
…………Editor’s note: The conference was organized in collaboration with the International Network of Engineers and Scientists; other conference organizers included Keiiji Ujikawa, (an economics professor at Yokohama National University, Shinjiro Hagiwara (an emeritus professor of economics at the same institution), and Fujio Yamamoto, (an emeritus professor of mechanical engineering at Fukui University.)
The author had made a video presentation earlier about his visit to Fukushima at a meeting in Boston. http://thebulletin.org/fukushima-today-first-person-account-field-and-conference-table8683#.Vd6Rj7YbwEs.twitter
Under pressure from banks, Japan pursuing unfeasible Fukushima nuclear cleanup
This Former Nuclear Industry Executive Claims the Fukushima Cleanup Plan Is Infeasible, VICE, August 12, 2015 by Thomas Marsh “………….Arnie Gundersen: I can’t reveal my sources, but they are very significant diplomats who have told me that the pressure on the Diet (Japanese parliament) from the electric companies is astronomical. The companies that own the plants want to get their money back, but these plants have been shut down for five years and the staff of approximately seven hundred people have been retained; and the taxes have been paid, and the towns that they are in haven’t seen any decline in their economy… even though these plants aren’t generating revenue. So where does the money come from?
The answer is that two or so billion dollars has been lent by banks to keep the utilities afloat, because utilities don’t have two billion dollars in cash sitting around. Now, it’s payback time for the bankers, and between the banks who want their two or three billion back, and the utilities that want their investment—which is probably in the order of $10 or $20 billion—back, then the pressure on the Diet is astronomical. Big money is pushing very hard to get these reactors started back up.
So you say they’ve proposed a 30-year cleanup, and you don’t think this is possible, correct?
No, I’m sure it’s not. A normal, clean power plant takes about ten years to decommission, and by “clean” I mean where literally the workers are working in street clothes most of the time. There are very few places in the plant where they’d have to put on what we call PCs—protective clothing. The white uniforms you see all over Fukushima… I’ve worked in nuclear power plants and only once or twice have had to wear those.
You can literally walk through most power plants in your street clothes, and the reason they have to wear them outside at Fukushima is because the radiation fields are so high. What’s happening now is that the ground is highly radioactive. In some areas where the radiation level is so high they’ve even put steel plates on top of the ground so that people could walk there. That’s not a normal decommissioning………
It’s a show. This is all about showing the Japanese that it’s not too bad, and we can run our other 40 or so plants fine, trust us. It’s definitely symbolic for the Japanese, but the real reason is the banks want their money back…….http://www.vice.com/read/japan-fukushima-clean-up
Tepco bid to restart Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant stymied by governor
Japan Times, 25 Aug 15
BLOOMBERG Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s road back to becoming a nuclear power utility remains uncertain amid staunch local opposition to restarting the facility at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture. …. (subscribers only) http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/08/24/national/tepco-bid-restart-kashiwazaki-kariwa-nuclear-plant-stymied-governor/#.VdzatiWqpHw
IAEA needs more funds to monitor Iran’s nuclear installations
Nuclear watchdog requests funding boost for Iran inspections http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nuclear-watchdog-requests-funding-boost-for-iran-inspections/article/2570784
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano spoke at a news conference after the agency’s board voted to formally implement the deal, along with the confidential side agreements that detail how Iran will resolve questions about past nuclear work widely believed to have been focused on developing a weapon.
He said the additional money would go to hire more inspectors to work in Iran, along with additional equipment necessary to meet what he called “the most robust safeguard regime in the current world.”
“We will need more inspectors,” but “it will not be a dramatic increase,” he said. “Verification is not done only by inspectors. We have the cameras, we have the seals and we have advanced technology.”
Mismanagement at WIPP plant
Critics blame mismanagement for WIPP delay By Lauren Villagran / Journal Staff Writer – Las Cruces Bureau
PUBLISHED: Sunday, August 23, 2015 Albuquerque Journal
The U.S. Department of Energy says its decision to indefinitely delay reopening a southeast New Mexico nuclear waste repository is due to safety concerns and equipment setbacks, but critics claim the holdup has as much to do with missteps and inadequate oversight.
DOE says it needs more time to ensure a safe recovery from last year’s underground fire and radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, so the March 2016 target to restart some operations is no longer feasible. A new schedule is expected this fall – and is likely to come with increased costs above the original $500 million estimated.
But local watchdogs claim the delays stem from errors made by the site contractor and inadequate oversight by DOE – not just safety concerns.
John Heaton, head of the Carlsbad mayor’s Nuclear Task Force, rattled off a list of issues at WIPP, including ventilation equipment that was damaged en route from the manufacturer, a safety document that has taken more than eight months to rewrite, delays in decisions about how to permanently reconfigure the contaminated underground ventilation system – among other things.
“It’s just really frustrating,” he said. “How would you call it anything but incompetence?……..http://www.abqjournal.com/632748/news/wipp-delay-blamed-on-mismanagement.html
Pilgrim Nuclear plant shutdown – inquiry to begin
Inquiry to begin over Pilgrim nuclear plant’s ‘safe’ shutdown By Nicole Fleming GLOBE CORRESPONDENT AUGUST 23, 2015 The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station on Cape Cod Bay in Plymouth remains closed Sunday after going into an automatic shutdown Saturday afternoon, according to station and government officials.
“The plant is currently in a safe, stable shutdown condition and there is no impact on the health and safety of the public or plant employees,” said Lauren Burm, a spokeswoman for Entergy Corp., the company that operates Pilgrim, in a statement……This is the Pilgrim station’s third automatic shutdown since Jan. 1. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2015/08/23/pilgrim/167XSkCzXsipC7rRILcV2L/story.html
First peacetime deaths from nuclear weapons
The Strange Story of the First People to Die From Nuclear Weapons During Peacetime, TIME, Lily Rothman @lilyrothman Seventy years ago, a young physicist made a tragic mistake
The first wartime deaths from nuclear weaponry were vast in number and world-changing in scope. The first peacetime deaths from that same technology were far quieter incidents, free of violence but still illustrative of the awful power of the bomb………http://time.com/3964701/atomic-bomb-deaths-peacetime/
Nuclear power – a very bad plan for South Africa
Why SA mustn’t go nuclear August 19 2015 IOL Business Report
By Vladimir Slivyak Russia – According to Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, the South African government has entered into a nuclear energy procurement process likely to be completed as early as 2016. So far, South Africa has signed Intergovernmental Framework Agreements on nuclear co-operation with Russia, France, China, South Korea and the US.
The agreement with Russia is very advanced compared to the others. This leads to the assumption that the procurement process will result in risky Russian reactors with a total capacity of 9.6 GW.
The risk of nuclear power to South Africa comes from the high costs of nuclear construction. It also comes with decommissioning nuclear plants, and safety concerns regarding the Russian nuclear industry.
Nuclear energy is expensive
Today, a 1 000 MWt reactor costs at least $6 billion. But the real question is, does nuclear technology produce cheap electricity? Two recent South African studies have found that nuclear generated electricity will be more expensive than the electricity generated by new coal plants, solar photovoltaic panels and wind.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research projects the levelised cost of electricity from nuclear power to be R1/kWh, R0.80/kWh from new coal, R0.80/kWh from solar photo voltaic, and R0.60/kWh from wind in today’s prices.
Analysis by another South African institute also projects that the levelised cost of nuclear energy to be higher than most other technologies. Both studies are inclusive of capital‚ finance‚ maintenance and fuel costs.
As the projected costs of electricity reveal, committing to a nuclear future now is senseless. A report by a Swiss-based banking firm claimed: “We believe solar will eventually replace nuclear and coal, and be established as the default technology of the future to generate and supply electricity.”
Africa joins the renewable revolution…….
The future doesn’t look good for nuclear
Despite the nuclear industry’s enormous state funding and political support, the contribution of nuclear to the world’s primary energy production has dropped from 8% in 2000 to around 4.4% in 2014………
Accidents are a very real threat
Russia and the previous Soviet Union has experienced many problems as a consequence of nuclear power development……..
It is not only Russian nuclear industry which had terrible nuclear accidents. Reactors were melting in Fukushima in Japan; Three Mile Island in the US; Sellafield in the UK. There are dozens of smaller but still very dangerous events. But Russian industry definitely occupies one of the top places in this list.
From this, it is no surprise that when the agreement was signed between South Africa and Russia, this clause was included:
In the case of a nuclear accident, South Africa will accept all of the liability.
Russian nuclear federation Rosatom has launched a large public relations campaign in South Africa with the intention of convincing the public that nuclear power is the solution to the electricity crisis. Rosatom’s campaign makes use of several well-known nuclear lobbyists and deliberately misrepresents key information, such as the real cost of nuclear power and the status of the global nuclear industry.
The Nkandla scandal is a drop in the ocean compared with the pending Russian nuclear deal. South African civil society must take a stand now towards the future it wants before it is too late.
Vladimir Slivyak is a senior lecturer of Environmental Policy at the Russian National Research University’s Higher School of Economics…..http://www.iol.co.za/business/opinion/why-sa-mustn-t-go-nuclear-1.1902495#.VdT7EbKqpHw.
Germany’s nuclear phaseout makes economic sense
Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power is fundamentally sensible from an economic perspective, Energy Transition 14 Aug 2015 by editor Germany has made a formal commitment to phase out the use of nuclear power by 2022. Erik Gawel and Sebastian Strunz write on the implications of the strategy for Germany’s future energy mix and whether the approach adopted in the country could function as a model for other European states. They argue that while the target is undeniably challenging, long-term it is both economically sensible and feasible to phase out both fossil fuels and nuclear energy in favour of renewables……..http://energytransition.de/2015/08/german-nuclear-phase-out-is-economically-sensible/
TEPCO’s problem of finding exact location of molten nuclear fuel
All Nuclear Fuel Has Melted At Fukushima, Say TEPCO The Tokyo Electric Power Company Tells All Neon Nettle |@Neon Nettle 24th March 2015 The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) are claiming that almost all the fuel inside one of the Fukushima nuclear plant’s reactors has melted.
Japantoday.com reports:
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the technology, which uses elementary particles called “muon” to create x-ray style images, gave the most concrete evidence yet the fuel had dropped to the bottom of No. 1 reactor.
The data, though largely expected, should help TEPCO as it continues its effort to decommission the plant four years after an earthquake and tsunami caused one of the worst nuclear meltdowns in living memory.
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