Another complaint filed over Fukushima disaster against Tepco, ex-nuclear body
“FUKUSHIMA — A criminal complaint was filed by 13,000 people nationwide Thursday against 33 senior officials of Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the government's now-defunct Nuclear Safety Commission over the meltdown disaster at Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 power plant that was triggered by the March 11, 2011 megaquake and tsunami….” http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121116b4.html
Reuters) – Tokyo Electric Power Co sees no imminent resumption of operations at the world's biggest nuclear plant, shut down after last year's Fukushima disaster, further raising its costs as it spends more on fossil fuels to generate electricity.
“A wall to protect the 8,212-megawatt Kashiwazaki-Kariwa station's seven reactors against tsunamis will not be finished until June next year, said Shiro Arai, deputy site manager….” http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/11/13/us-tepco-nuclear-idUKBRE8AC0IN20121113
It should warn us off nuclear power… but many more people need to wake up and get involved, or the government and it's corporate "puppeteers" will continue to do what they want.
“FUKUSHIMA's tsunami aftermath has quashed consideration of nuclear power in Australia, with the government's energy white paper arguing there is no compelling economic case and insufficient community acceptance. The Coalition will not contest the conclusion when the long-awaited white paper is released on Thursday, setting policy directions for the next two decades.
“The bipartisan reluctance to debate nuclear power comes despite the fact that some senior Labor and Coalition figures privately support the idea.
“The Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, has said it should remain '’a live debate'’. The Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, said before he re-entered politics: '’I support nuclear power because I take global warming so very seriously. [It] should certainly play a role in Australia's future mix of energy sources.'’….'
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/after-fukushima-neither-side-sees-a-nuclear-future-20121106-28w57.html#ixzz2CYHOOEUU
1939-1945: Monsanto conducts research on uranium for the Manhattan Project in Dayton, Ohio. Dr. Charles Thomas, who later served as Monsanto's chairman of the board, was present at the first test explosion of the atomic bomb. During World War II, Monsanto played a significant role in the Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb. Monsanto operated the Dayton Project, and later Mound Laboratories in Miamisburg, Ohio, for the Manhattan Project, the development of the first nuclear weapons and, after 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission.
On June 8, 2012, Riverkeeper and our allies won a landmark U.S. Court of Appeals decision nullifying the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “Waste Confidence Rule,” which has allowed each U.S. nuclear reactor to store highly radioactive nuclear waste on site. The now-invalidated rule presumed that waste stored at reactors would go to a national nuclear waste dump someday and that the storage of spent fuel at individual reactors is temporary and causes “no significant environmental impact.”
Thanks much Vic. Perhaps you (me and others) who contribute could post a talking points message here to facilitate and encourage others to send a message as well.
kez, like your avatar btw. I am a member of Beyond Nuclear, which is one of the allies that Riverkeepers mentions and am doing an action thru them. They DO have some talking points regarding thoughts folks might want to include in a letter to the new C Chair, Allison McFarlane (not sure of the spelling). Let me relook at those and get back with you. Perhaps the notices, hearings, etc. forum would be the best place to continue this, then? Let me know and we can move this conversation over there.
Peace
kez, here is the Beyond Nuclear response and their suggestion of what to include in an email to Chairwoman MacFarlane. It is all very legalese because this is basically a legal point being made.
What i'm planning on saying is that – Chairwoman MacFarlane, congrats on appointment. Now – 1) The NRC's open comment period was mute because it had not placed an item or action out on the table for me to comment upon, but, in the most general of terms. Waste will be stored safely onsite is not an action. How precisely this is to be done is the action. 2) an EIS, environmental impact statement becomes impossible with such a vague and broad scope, and the NRC, itslef, by law, reuires that such an EIS is completed. Therefore, let's step back and try this again with more specificity, ore concrete descriptions of the NRC's proposed waste storage plans. Thanks you for your time and consideration.
Thanks again Vic. Umm .. I just kinda did a gut response and don't get the legalese.
If this thread sparks any other interest then let's move to activism page I agree. Best regards and thanks for caring.
Here's my response:
Docket ID NRC-2012-0246 2
I urge the NRC to consider the dangerous practice of stacking tons of spent fuel at nuclear sites in aging and overcrowded fuel pools with no option of permanent safer storage alternatives an extinction level event (ELE) waiting to happen.
Finland is building permanent storage underground designed to withstand THE NEXT ICE AGE.
It is absolutely negligent that the United States has NO long term (thousands of years) storage plan for nuclear waste.
The NRC and entire nuclear power industry should be focused on this issue prior to any go forwards in relicensing or new plants being built. And it should be done at their corporate expense, not at the ratepayer's or taxpayer's expense. Not funded by governmental corporate loopholes.
It is a shameful practice that goes beyond the Superfund toxic cleanup sites. Because those sites, even after poisoning, making ill, and even probably killing nearby residents can actually be mitigated and cleaned up.
A fuel pool disaster, as many of us have learned from the dire situation at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan, once critical HAS NO KNOWN TECHNOLOGY TO MITIGATE.
It is an unstoppable chain reaction.
It is beyond my scope of imagination that this risk has been so…
Excellent, kez! I don't get the legalese either, but, since the real issue is the waste storage, i think that people showing their concerns is what will help the Chairwoman make a decision not a technical legal question alone. She will need to consider both in her new role. So, i think your gut was the right thing to follow here!
I was looking at a recent photo of Chernobyl, Pripyat, Ukraine and it was a bit overcast in the photo.
For comparison purposes I wondered what it might look like if I ran it through the Photo Editor Filter like I have previously done on the Web Cam screen shots of Fukushima Daiichi in an attempt to highlight emissions.
Notice anything?
Looks similar to the Fukushima Filtered screen shots.
Looks like something is venting heavily off to the side to me.
Did Chernobyl have a spent fuel pool?
Something sure looks 'hot'! hmm…?
"After his company collected over $2.5 million in safety bonuses, a former safety manager for the Shaw Group now faces up to $8 million in fines and 10 years in prison for generating false injury rates at three nuclear facilities."
" After a 12-day trial in U.S. District Court, a federal jury in Chattanooga, TN, convicted 55-year-old Walter Cardin, of Metairie, LA, on eight counts of major fraud for falsifying safety records in order to collect bonuses.
"Cardin was the safety manager for the Shaw Group's subsidiary, Stone & Webster Contruction, which had contracted with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to provide maintenance and modifications at three nuclear facilities and construction for a reactor restart." http://www.paintsquare.com/news/?fuseaction=view&id=8729
This is really good news. Not that he faked records, but that the community will receive justice and that someone is realizing the horrible danger of faked safety reports.
High radiation exposure level in Fukushima resident puzzles experts
November 19, 2012
“…The resident in the northern part of Fukushima Prefecture, who spent a lot of time outdoors, had a reading of 11 millisieverts, compared with the previous maximum of 7 millisieverts for residents of areas far from the crippled nuclear plant, which were considered relatively free of risk….” http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201211190088
Warning over nuclear plant
2012-11-11 11:24
“Tokyo – Japan's only working nuclear power plant sits on what may be a seismic fault in the earth's crust, a geologist has warned, saying it is "very silly" to allow it to continue operating.
“Mitsuhisa Watanabe says the earth's plates could move underneath the Oi nuclear plant in western Japan, causing a catastrophe to rival last year's atomic disaster at Fukushima – although some of his colleagues on a nuclear advisory panel disagree.
"I’t is an active fault. The plates shifted some 120 000 to 130 000 years ago for sure,’ Watanabe, of Tokyo's Toyo University, told AFP.
"’In research that I have conducted on active faults in Japan and overseas, structures built above them were all damaged’ when they moved and caused an earthquake, he said….” http://www.news24.com/Green/News/Warning-over-nuclear-plant-20121111
Fukushima Watch: Where to Draw the Evacuation Line?
Data from the simulations released Wednesday show that accumulated radiation levels could hit 100 millisieverts within seven days in areas located over 30 kilometers away from four of the 16 nuclear plants reviewed. Evacuating people from areas hit by doses exceeding 100 millisieverts in the first week of an accident is another IAEA recommendation. http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/10/24/fukushima-watch-where-to-draw-the-evacuation-line/
“…The levels found ranged from 4,400 becquerels per kilogram to 11,400 becquerels per kilogram, against the maximum ‘safe’ level of 100 becquerels per kilogram.
“The findings have prompted a government investigation into the physiological basis for contamination and why radiation readings in some specimens remain hundreds of times over the official safe limit, The Asahi Shimbun reported….”
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/11/17/High-radiation-found-in-Fukushimas-fish/UPI-13751353177264/#ixzz2ChWzr61w
"Let veterans know of health risks from depleted uranium exposure"
"On Veterans Day, how I would have loved to thank my son, Aaron Barnes. But I couldn't because he died a year ago.
I have told his story several times in this forum so I will keep it short. Aaron served 26 months in Iraq, continually exposed to depleted uranium and other chemicals. A year after he came home, he became ill and never got well."
They use depleted uranuim in the A-10 warthog nose mounted cannons ammunition in 50mm rounds. Designed for destroying tanks but they use it on any enemy positions all the time. Not only have we poisioned our troops that were in the middle east that were in combat. The Iraqi people are stuck with contaminated land and they are having severe health problems, especially the young and the women. Depleted uranium is spent fuel waste usually disposed of at nuclear waste facilities but the defense industry decided they liked its explosive characteristics so much they have been using it all over the middle east in combat areas for quite some time. The same poisining to anyone living near plutonium weapons plants like – Savannah RIver Site in South Carolina, Hanford in Washington State and Rocky Flats in Denver Colorado. First the uranium is mined (lots from australia) then processed into yellow cake, then procesed into plutonium which then goes into nuclear bombs and fuel rods for nuclear power plants. After the plutonium is used up like spent fuel rods, it becomes depleted uranium which the military adopted for its light weapons programs. Bigger bang on impact. The gift that never quits killing.
OMG! Local Spokane station, nbc affiliate even, is going to do a news story on tsunami debris arrival on the west coast! I can't wait, KHQ in about 55 minutes! I have been squaking about this for some time, no denying it as it washes ashore, radioactive?
Wonder what they will say. I guess I could google scoop them and search around, but, I don't want to steal this minor triumph of actual "news" reporting from them, and since I would really like to see the spin, I will wait up to watch, with baited breath.
Certainly, we will be able to see to what level the shit has hit the fan, based on what we hear, or don't hear, tonight, on the mainstream, GE owned station.
Could be time GE threw itself on it's own sword or all might be lost.. denounce nuclear power technology now, beg forgiveness, pretend ignorance and turn your short term capital goals toward decommission, dismantle, shut down, and storage. GE has strained the species to the breaking point, and benefits by saving us from the very sickness it has wrought, increases in this division should be more than enough to keep all you cronies enormously wealthy..consider it an offset, or risk letting an increasingly nuclear aware populous turn against your other corporate endeavors(boycott)and let Mother Earth's rumblings teach your industry a few trillion more lessons. What a day(night) this might be, of course, it is only the 11:00 news..
C, the thing about the debris is that without actual testing, there is no way to tell if the fallout came down on it or was carried beyond it before falling into the Pacific or maybe didn't even fall until reaching the West Coast of US. Some of the debris might be contaminated and some might be clear. It was already well out to sea days before the reactor explosions and no one was tracking the plumes. What we do know is that an enormous amount of it fell directly into the Pacific right off the eastern Japanese coastline and got caught up in the circular currents there. Some folks guesstimate than 50% went into the ocean, some aerolized to travel east with the jet stream and much remained to fall around Tokyo. Others guesstimate that 80% went right into the sea with the rest thrown into the air, some to head east and some to swirl and be dumped in various parts of the island. It's hard for me to visualize each piece being tested. What a hassle someone will think, so maybe random sampling?
Hi Vic, yes, no testing, however, buckey balls of plutonium are known to have been formed and they move much further and quicker than ever even contemplated, hence the weapons grade plutonium reported on fresh cow pies in Southern California.. I go back to that ship that showed up rather quickly, no boarding, not even to check to see if someone might be on it, no towing for salvage, a missile and down to Davy Jones locker.. why? It had to be radioactive. Salvage alone would have netted someone big money, or why not return the ship to it's owner?? Too radioactive to do anything with but sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Sadly the local news did not say anything new only reported that the debris field is a scant 400 miles off the west coast..
Oh, yes, the buck balls. The floating wharf was no higher than background radiation that washed up in Florence, Oregon. Given the size of the debris field, some will be contaminated and some won't be. I really, really hope they check it all before sending people to start picking up the stuff as it washes in. The Oregon coast is a magical, beautiful, free place with public beaches and i hate the thought of it becoming irradiated.
CONNECTICUT – "The Millstone Power Station violated safety requirements by not having adequate documentation in place for the steps that plant staff would follow during an emergency to test the radioactivity level of coolant water." http://www.theday.com/article/20121119/NWS01/121119728/1070/FRONTPAGE
"Shintaro Ishihara, the leader of a newly formed opposition party, says Japan should study the procedures and impacts of possessing nuclear arms, in case the country decides to acquire such weapons."
Important Note:
This is outside the exclusion zone.
"One day my exploration of Fukushima brought me to what looked like an old barn in an area that was evacuated, outside the total exclusion zone and therefore accessible. Curious to know what the reading was at the barn I tested the ground level radiation: the counter read 47μSv/h (microsieverts per hour). My heart stopped for a moment, terrified. By comparison, a recent reading in Brooklyn, N.Y. was 0.2μSv/h."
The reality easily explained. -
"If a young child made his or her secret hiding place where a hotspot reached 47 microsieverts every day for a year, the health risk from RADIATION poisoning would be SEVERE and LIFE-THREATENING."
U.S. to fund small, modular nuclear reactors
Wendy Koch, USA TODAY
The Department of Energy announces funding Tuesday to develop a new generation of smaller, less costly nuclear reactors.
(Photo: Mark Wilson Getty Images)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
U.S. government co-funds the development of small modular reactors
It aims to get these nuclear reactors into the U.S. market by 2022
The portable reactors promise lower upfront costs and use in remote areas
6:31PM EST November 20. 2012 – To develop a new generation of nuclear power, the Obama administration announced Tuesday that it will fund up to half the cost of a five-year project to design and commercialize small, modular reactors for the United States.
The Department of Energy said it aims to have these reactors, which have attracted private funding from investors including Bill Gates, in operation by 2022. It said it will negotiate the project's total cost with Babcock & Wilcox, an energy technology company based in Charlotte, that will lead the project in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority and Bechtel International. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/20/obama-doe-fund-modular-nuclear-reactors/1717843/
This is really horrible news. It will ensure that everyone will be exposed to killing radiation. No one will be able to get away from these. They are putting 2,000 to 4,000 of these around just the US alone. They will be built in China. We know how the Chinese care about keeping people alive and their care for the environment and their use of non toxic wonderfully made products (sarcasm). The US taxpayer is being made to fund their own death. There is no place for governmental subsidies to nuclear power.
SP: There's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.
"The same summary records doubt that SMRs can compete in a market increasingly dominated by cheap natural gas. Nuclear Consultant Philip Moor told Senate staff that SMRs can compete if natural gas costs $7 to $8 per million BTU—gas currently costs only $2 per MBTU—or if carbon taxes are implemented, a scenario political experts deem unlikely.
“Like Mr. Moor, Mr. Genoa also sees the economic feasibility of SMRs as the final challenge. With inexpensive natural gas prices and no carbon tax, the economics don’t work in the favor of SMRs,” according to the summary."
"….The last panelist, Dr. Lyman, provided a more skeptical viewpoint on SMRs, characterizing public discussion on the topic as “irrational exuberance.” Lyman argued that, with a few exceptions, safety characteristics were not significantly better than full‐size reactors, and in general, safety tended to rely on the same sorts of features. Some safety benefits, he stated, also declined as reactor power approached the upper bound of the SMR category…."
"Small modular reactors can be constructed in factories and installed underground, which improves containment and security but may hinder emergency access"
Fukushima Daiichi NPP is the invisible elephant in the room which they conveniently try to ignore and sweep under the rug. The problem the nucleocrats have is twofold: the "elephant" is getting bigger daily; and the Internet has supplanted main stream media.
They know the elephant is growing, but they can't grasp they have lost their Nazi-like grip on media information. The groundswell of truth firing across the Internet will defeat the nucleocrats. The original reason for the Internet (survive nuclear war) has morphed into something far more useful. It threatens to destroy their credibility and create an underground movement that will topple the nucleocrats. When the Fukushima elephant begins to awaken in board rooms and households across the globe… It will mark the death blow to an archaic industry. The next generation of politicians will abandon the nucleocrats like they are lepers.
This is unsettling indeed – feels like it's sneaking through, although it's only just appeared as general news item and 'in operation by 2022' should mean we've got some time to act.
Unfortunately, when I included 'small modular' among search words I got lots of hits that suggest positive, welcoming, attitudes – both from general public and from industry. To public that's not been paying attention, these probably sound like they'll be "manageable" in all respects, risk of 'terrorist attack' will be minimized, and it will be so wonderfully 'clean' – thus dealing with carbon/climate problem.
One problem with Obama, most of congress, and most of business leadership IMO is that they completely worship "industrial efficiency profit models" as their concept of what causes a society to thrive and prosper. None seem to have life experience to inform them otherwise. They also lack an affinity for earth – Gates and his ilk are in key advisory roles when we need wisdom of serious, informed, naturalists.
So – IMO – it's up to us to write, phone, appear – with the missing information, blitz style!
Nuclear energy production and radiation is exponential. The bigger the reactor, the exponentially higher the radiation. The smaller the reactor, the exponentially smaller the radioactive contamination. One of those things of quantum physics. I don't recall the ratio, but, it should be easy enough to find on Google. This may be a motivator in why they are experimenting with smaller modular reactors. Of course, we still have no way to really deal with them, but, this may be one development for the nuke industry to keep itself in the energy game as the US moves away from "the grid" and starts creating localized power production infrastructure. M123, you are so right in understanding that Obama, Gates, et al will see this as flexible nuclear energy that can segue with energy diversification on a local level. They really, really, really don't believe green energy is all that possible given the American appetite for energy consumption. Germany showed the world that it could recently, yet, no one is as piggy as the US when it comes to eating every watt on the table.
The way the country is going, there is no way in my opinion we will make it to 2022, no way at all not with everyone wanting to secede and the radiation from fuku and the whole thing in fukushima going down and the sinkhole and 100 nuclear explosions in Louisiana, an emergency and they cant get anyone to work there because of the holidays. Like I believe that!
this is a very skewed docu of reality after just watching this. downplaying for the most part and scraping the surface slightly with a few references to the serious problem of being contaminated.
The Liberal Democratic Party in Japan is PRO-nuclear.
According to news reports, they are likely to win in Japan's Dec. 16 election.
"Japan dissolved parliament's lower house on Friday for a Dec. 16 election that is likely to return the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to power with a conservative former prime minister at the helm."
"Japanese exports fall for fifth straight month"
Never mentioned about radiation! It's because of strong Yen apparently. Hard to believe. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20422084
Don't buy a Japanese car. Even a brand new car might come with an air-filtre already filled with cesium and plutonium! Second hand cars? Forget it! Too iffy.
I am not too sure if I want to play Japanese piano or keyboard anymore for that reason. You don't know which materials e.g. wood, plastic, metals might be contaminated and thought of radioactive dusts released while you hit the keys put me off.
Hi JustmeAlso and VicFromOregon – I posted a note on this above (Nov 21), was ready to raise protest. I very much trust Vic's thoughts and got a reply that has made me realize I need to learn more. (BTW – couldn't remember where I posted to Vic, your note brings me back to the topic and my questions – Thanks!!)
See above for my yesterday concerns. Vic answers: "Nuclear energy production and radiation is exponential. The bigger the reactor, the exponentially higher the radiation. The smaller the reactor, the exponentially smaller the radioactive contamination."
My new questions include: Is this any kind of a gift horse, comparatively speaking, (to existing reactor designs)?
My fear is that it's seductively reassuring. It will be harder to persuade pro-nuke minds that it's a problem, including popular opinion that just wants electricity. It's still reliance on, use of, nuclear, may have same implications re weapons programs and waste material disposal, plus hazards at mining end of uranium use.
I do need to learn more – meant to get back to Vic with questions I've raised here. I also understand they're to start producing 2022, which buys us some time.
Thanks for posting – I hope ENEers begin to share questions/info on these, I need to learn!
Maggie123,
the only solution is to extirpate the nuclear industry all together.
Diluting the major problems of big or bigger reactors into portable and even nuke batteries is all still business driven exploitation for profit without respect for life.
JustmeAlso – I do so love all living forms, have a special fondness for each I come across, including mosses, mushrooms, and lichens. I have two small rocks, each sporting assorted lichen growth, that I keep as "house plants" and have in the past given "lichens as house plants" to others. It's said that if you water them (I soak them in bowls of water a fewX a year) and give them access to sunlight, they do indeed continue to thrive. (More frequent misting might be better than my soaking method.) It's Thanksgiving here today – I hope your day is/has been fine. You've reminded me of aspects of earth's beauty often overlooked. Thank you!
wow, Maggie, thank you to! I did follow the school of agriculture. But, i do say, growing lichen must demand a certain professional approach of which i know nothing of.
I thought Bill Gates was so rich he didn’t need to steal money from the US government to kill off the rest of the planet:
“To develop a new generation of nuclear power, the Obama administration announced Tuesday that it will fund up to half the cost of a five-year project to design and commercialize small, modular reactors for the United States….
“Small modular reactors (SMRs) are typically about one-third the size of current nuclear power plants….” http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/20/obama-doe-fund-modular-nuclear-reactors/1717843/
My take on Gates and his ilk is that they have a belief system that has served them so well for so many years (all or most of their lives) that they can't imagine themselves as anything but ideal leaders/thinkers for the rest of society.
A most troubling aspect of what I suspect is their b.system is that it does not include even a trace of a scientist's or academic's rigor to seek evidence that may disprove a belief, as well as hope for supporting evidence.
I woke to this in Gates/Obama on issue of their enthusiasm for charter schools, including and maybe especially profit-driven charter schools. Research does not support their passion for this initiative. C.schools turn out to be at best "the same" as public and very often worse. Same old practice of seeking to use public facilities and infrastructure, blended with trimming costs to maximize profit, is neither honest nor sound educational administration. (Charter schools run by truly community service dedicated non-profits are more likely to do well; as, of course, are well-funded private exclusive schools!)
Meant to finish off back on your topic – sorry! My point was that the b.system I think Gates and ilk hold prevents them from even wondering if they've studied the evidence for their 'visionary' ideas. In fact, self-identification as 'a uniquely capable and competent societal visionary' is part of the b.system, I suspect.
Gates in particular has a long career of praise for his visionary, cutting edge, leadership. It's often said that those excessively praised eventually come to believe whatever it is they hear about themselves. It's up to us to gather data and provide the critical thought they neglect, IMO. So we have to 'pester' them.
BTW, there are a few additional notes on SMR's above also. I just realized we're in the nuclear general discussion forum.
A special Thank You to all the Newsers out there. Setting here reflecting on all I have to be thankful for and you guys are near the top of the list. From the Administration down to Weeman and everyone in between. So many of you have dedicated so much time and hard work keeping the world informed on these very important matters. I often wonder how some of you keep it up. Please enjoy your day and Thank you again. Dogleg
Admin – It's wonderful to grab a chance to say Thank You, and to let you know how grateful I am, (we are), for your inspired website, and all the effort you put into it. A toast!
Swiss nuclear reactor shuts down due to defect
November 21, 2012 Switzerland's oldest nuclear power plant Beznau is seen in 2011 near Doettingen, northern Switzerland. A reactor at the Swiss nuclear plant shuts down automatically due to a defect, the operator said, stressing that the procedure had been completely safe. A reactor at a Swiss nuclear plant shuts down automatically Wednesday due to a defect, the operator said, stressing that the procedure had been completely safe.
Switzerland's Beznau nuclear plant will soon boast the "dubious record" of being the oldest nuclear plant in the world and should be shut down, a group of environmental organisations said Thursday.
They said there are cracks in the mantle of the reactor and in the steel containment shell, something strongly denied by Axpo, the energy company that operates Beznau. "As a precaution the lid of the reactor is to be changed, but there is no crack," said an Axpo spokeswoman.
Beznau is scheduled for decommissioning in 2019 after 50 years of operation.
Swiss incident shows Davis-Besse hole is not unique
In 1971, thirty years before a hole was found in the reactor vessel head at Davis-Besse in the US state of Ohio, a similar hole was found in Beznau-1 in Switzerland
The NRC has ignored the problem of holes due to boric acid corrosion for an amazing 30 years!
The cracking problem is probably even more widespread than the NRC admit. There is evidence that hundreds of cracks in the world's PWRs go undetected because best available inspection technology is not used.
For 23 years up to 1994, Beznau only had a provisional license because of "serious faults established at the end of its construction in 1971" -presumably the "hole" was one of them.
Many thanks to Thomas Clements: "SRS Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Program to Go Cold Turkey in Lame Duck Session as Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Balks at MOX Use?
By Thomas Clements | Nov 21, 2012 Columbia, SC – The Tennessee Valley Authority, the main nuclear utility that the Department of Energy is pursuing for use of plutonium fuel (MOX) made from surplus weapons plutonium, continues to stand up to DOE pressure to test and use the experimental MOX fuel. …“The House cut $169 million from MOX in its budget deliberations earlier this year and we are hopeful that this cut will be adopted by the full Congress. As disposition of plutonium as waste is estimated to be under $5 billion, it’s clear that the MOX program has sadly devolved into a transfer of tax payer wealth to corporations such as AREVA,” said Clements. http://aikenleader.villagesoup.com/p/srs-plutonium-fuel-mox-program-gets-cold-shoulder-from-tennessee-valley-authority-tva/928099
Nuclear Hangover: Ghost of Past Power Struggle Haunts Sandy's Victims Today
The saga of Long Island Power Authority's high rates and poor service serves as a cautionary tale for the rest of the nation: Nuclear power, beyond being dirty and dangerous, is an absurdly expensive way to generate electricity.
New WMDs–Conservatives want new nuclear weapons, raising the spectre of new Nevada tests
The results of the election have preserved the status quo on the defunct project to build a dump for high level nuclear wastes in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. But another nuclear issue threatens to intrude in the Silver State—revival of nuclear testing.
You might say "some Conservatives want new nukes."
Here is Dirty Harry Reid giving thanks to those who have made what we have possible…by the way, he isn't a Conservative.
CBuck, Aftershock – Lol! Definition of "Conservative" seems fluid! I'd go for Eisenhower as traditional American conservative. Which got me thinking – most of my adult politically aware life was in Canada where John Diefenbaker (another shaped by prairie life) had qualities that even his political enemies much admired.
To anyone interested, but especially Canadians on this American Thanksgiving Day – I offer "Dief is the Chief" (Stringband) at http://www3.telus.net/oldfolk/jukebox.htm#dief. Scroll down on page to find 'play' button and link to songwriter's piece on the Dief song.
March 2014 – at 3 years
The west coast of Canada and the USA will be engulfed.
March 2020 – at 9 years
Appears to reach maximum contamination!
(Assuming things don't get worse.)
Note: The GEOMAR | Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel is one of the leading institutions in the field of marine research in Europe. The Institute is the study of the chemical, physical, biological and geological processes in the ocean and its interaction with the seabed and the atmosphere.
Interesting… But presumably the plume should reflect the interconnection of all the water bodies interlinking with the Pacific?
Difficult science projection for the future, but I have little doubt some of the contamination will reach tens of thousands of miles from Japan in two decades.
I have had more than 40 full abdominal CT scans in less than 10 years. I have been told each one is worth 20 or chest x-rays. How much radiation have I endured and what can this do to me??
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Another complaint filed over Fukushima disaster against Tepco, ex-nuclear body
“FUKUSHIMA — A criminal complaint was filed by 13,000 people nationwide Thursday against 33 senior officials of Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the government's now-defunct Nuclear Safety Commission over the meltdown disaster at Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 power plant that was triggered by the March 11, 2011 megaquake and tsunami….”
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121116b4.html
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CPM-703: After Fukushima – video
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2012/nov/16/cpm-703-after-fukushima-video
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Reuters) – Tokyo Electric Power Co sees no imminent resumption of operations at the world's biggest nuclear plant, shut down after last year's Fukushima disaster, further raising its costs as it spends more on fossil fuels to generate electricity.
“A wall to protect the 8,212-megawatt Kashiwazaki-Kariwa station's seven reactors against tsunamis will not be finished until June next year, said Shiro Arai, deputy site manager….”
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/11/13/us-tepco-nuclear-idUKBRE8AC0IN20121113
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Fukushima should warn us off nuclear power, says eco-theologian
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=21443
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It should warn us off nuclear power… but many more people need to wake up and get involved, or the government and it's corporate "puppeteers" will continue to do what they want.
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“FUKUSHIMA's tsunami aftermath has quashed consideration of nuclear power in Australia, with the government's energy white paper arguing there is no compelling economic case and insufficient community acceptance. The Coalition will not contest the conclusion when the long-awaited white paper is released on Thursday, setting policy directions for the next two decades.
“The bipartisan reluctance to debate nuclear power comes despite the fact that some senior Labor and Coalition figures privately support the idea.
“The Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, has said it should remain '’a live debate'’. The Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, said before he re-entered politics: '’I support nuclear power because I take global warming so very seriously. [It] should certainly play a role in Australia's future mix of energy sources.'’….'
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/after-fukushima-neither-side-sees-a-nuclear-future-20121106-28w57.html#ixzz2CYHOOEUU
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Monsanto and the atom bomb:
1939-1945: Monsanto conducts research on uranium for the Manhattan Project in Dayton, Ohio. Dr. Charles Thomas, who later served as Monsanto's chairman of the board, was present at the first test explosion of the atomic bomb. During World War II, Monsanto played a significant role in the Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb. Monsanto operated the Dayton Project, and later Mound Laboratories in Miamisburg, Ohio, for the Manhattan Project, the development of the first nuclear weapons and, after 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission.
http://bestmeal.info/monsanto/company-history.shtml
The person in charge of the trinity test
general Groves:
http://www.lanl.gov/history/people/L_Groves.shtml
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Speak Out On Nuclear Waste / Please consider contributing your thoughts
http://www.riverkeeper.org/news-events/news/stop-polluters/power-plant-cases/indian-point/speak-out-on-nuclear-waste/
On June 8, 2012, Riverkeeper and our allies won a landmark U.S. Court of Appeals decision nullifying the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “Waste Confidence Rule,” which has allowed each U.S. nuclear reactor to store highly radioactive nuclear waste on site. The now-invalidated rule presumed that waste stored at reactors would go to a national nuclear waste dump someday and that the storage of spent fuel at individual reactors is temporary and causes “no significant environmental impact.”
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Sure thing, kez. Happy to do it.
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Thanks much Vic. Perhaps you (me and others) who contribute could post a talking points message here to facilitate and encourage others to send a message as well.
Regards.
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kez, like your avatar btw. I am a member of Beyond Nuclear, which is one of the allies that Riverkeepers mentions and am doing an action thru them. They DO have some talking points regarding thoughts folks might want to include in a letter to the new C Chair, Allison McFarlane (not sure of the spelling). Let me relook at those and get back with you. Perhaps the notices, hearings, etc. forum would be the best place to continue this, then? Let me know and we can move this conversation over there.
Peace
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kez, here is the Beyond Nuclear response and their suggestion of what to include in an email to Chairwoman MacFarlane. It is all very legalese because this is basically a legal point being made.
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/radioactive-waste-whatsnew/2012/11/15/urge-nrc-chairwoman-macfarlane-to-withdraw-legally-deficient-1.html
What i'm planning on saying is that – Chairwoman MacFarlane, congrats on appointment. Now – 1) The NRC's open comment period was mute because it had not placed an item or action out on the table for me to comment upon, but, in the most general of terms. Waste will be stored safely onsite is not an action. How precisely this is to be done is the action. 2) an EIS, environmental impact statement becomes impossible with such a vague and broad scope, and the NRC, itslef, by law, reuires that such an EIS is completed. Therefore, let's step back and try this again with more specificity, ore concrete descriptions of the NRC's proposed waste storage plans. Thanks you for your time and consideration.
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Thanks again Vic. Umm .. I just kinda did a gut response and don't get the legalese.
If this thread sparks any other interest then let's move to activism page I agree. Best regards and thanks for caring.
Here's my response:
Docket ID NRC-2012-0246 2
I urge the NRC to consider the dangerous practice of stacking tons of spent fuel at nuclear sites in aging and overcrowded fuel pools with no option of permanent safer storage alternatives an extinction level event (ELE) waiting to happen.
Finland is building permanent storage underground designed to withstand THE NEXT ICE AGE.
It is absolutely negligent that the United States has NO long term (thousands of years) storage plan for nuclear waste.
The NRC and entire nuclear power industry should be focused on this issue prior to any go forwards in relicensing or new plants being built. And it should be done at their corporate expense, not at the ratepayer's or taxpayer's expense. Not funded by governmental corporate loopholes.
It is a shameful practice that goes beyond the Superfund toxic cleanup sites. Because those sites, even after poisoning, making ill, and even probably killing nearby residents can actually be mitigated and cleaned up.
A fuel pool disaster, as many of us have learned from the dire situation at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan, once critical HAS NO KNOWN TECHNOLOGY TO MITIGATE.
It is an unstoppable chain reaction.
It is beyond my scope of imagination that this risk has been so…
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Excellent, kez! I don't get the legalese either, but, since the real issue is the waste storage, i think that people showing their concerns is what will help the Chairwoman make a decision not a technical legal question alone. She will need to consider both in her new role. So, i think your gut was the right thing to follow here!
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[Video] Am-241 measured in Edogawaku Tokyo
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/11/video-am-241-measured-in-edogawaku-tokyo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FukushimaDiary+%28Fukushima+Diary%29
Strontium-90 measured from west of Tokyo
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/11/strontium-90-measured-from-west-of-tokyo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FukushimaDiary+%28Fukushima+Diary%29
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Tepco may be hiding unknown explosion occurred on 3/16/2011
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/11/tepco-may-be-hiding-unknown-explosion-occurred-on-3162011/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FukushimaDiary+%28Fukushima+Diary%29
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I was looking at a recent photo of Chernobyl, Pripyat, Ukraine and it was a bit overcast in the photo.
For comparison purposes I wondered what it might look like if I ran it through the Photo Editor Filter like I have previously done on the Web Cam screen shots of Fukushima Daiichi in an attempt to highlight emissions.
Here's what I saw.
Chernobyl – Pripyat, Ukraine
(a different view)
See Thru the FOG Video #20 in a series
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2JqBdInCyU
Notice anything?
Looks similar to the Fukushima Filtered screen shots.
Looks like something is venting heavily off to the side to me.
Did Chernobyl have a spent fuel pool?
Something sure looks 'hot'! hmm…?
[a re-post from Web Cam Forum 2012-11-18]
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"Nuke Manager Faked Safety for Bonuses"
"After his company collected over $2.5 million in safety bonuses, a former safety manager for the Shaw Group now faces up to $8 million in fines and 10 years in prison for generating false injury rates at three nuclear facilities."
http://www.paintsquare.com/news/?fuseaction=view&id=8729
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" After a 12-day trial in U.S. District Court, a federal jury in Chattanooga, TN, convicted 55-year-old Walter Cardin, of Metairie, LA, on eight counts of major fraud for falsifying safety records in order to collect bonuses.
"Cardin was the safety manager for the Shaw Group's subsidiary, Stone & Webster Contruction, which had contracted with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to provide maintenance and modifications at three nuclear facilities and construction for a reactor restart."
http://www.paintsquare.com/news/?fuseaction=view&id=8729
This is really good news. Not that he faked records, but that the community will receive justice and that someone is realizing the horrible danger of faked safety reports.
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High radiation exposure level in Fukushima resident puzzles experts
November 19, 2012
“…The resident in the northern part of Fukushima Prefecture, who spent a lot of time outdoors, had a reading of 11 millisieverts, compared with the previous maximum of 7 millisieverts for residents of areas far from the crippled nuclear plant, which were considered relatively free of risk….”
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201211190088
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Japan's Post-Fukushima Nuclear Energy Conundrum
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/12493/japans-post-fukushima-nuclear-energy-conundrum
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Warning over nuclear plant
2012-11-11 11:24
“Tokyo – Japan's only working nuclear power plant sits on what may be a seismic fault in the earth's crust, a geologist has warned, saying it is "very silly" to allow it to continue operating.
“Mitsuhisa Watanabe says the earth's plates could move underneath the Oi nuclear plant in western Japan, causing a catastrophe to rival last year's atomic disaster at Fukushima – although some of his colleagues on a nuclear advisory panel disagree.
"I’t is an active fault. The plates shifted some 120 000 to 130 000 years ago for sure,’ Watanabe, of Tokyo's Toyo University, told AFP.
"’In research that I have conducted on active faults in Japan and overseas, structures built above them were all damaged’ when they moved and caused an earthquake, he said….”
http://www.news24.com/Green/News/Warning-over-nuclear-plant-20121111
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Fukushima Watch: Where to Draw the Evacuation Line?
Data from the simulations released Wednesday show that accumulated radiation levels could hit 100 millisieverts within seven days in areas located over 30 kilometers away from four of the 16 nuclear plants reviewed. Evacuating people from areas hit by doses exceeding 100 millisieverts in the first week of an accident is another IAEA recommendation.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/10/24/fukushima-watch-where-to-draw-the-evacuation-line/
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Trout caught in Fukushima Prefecture contains radioactive cesium110 times over limit
18 Nov, 2012
http://in.news.yahoo.com/trout-caught-fukushima-prefecture-contains-radioactive-cesium110-times-111957539.html
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High radiation found in Fukushima's fish
“…The levels found ranged from 4,400 becquerels per kilogram to 11,400 becquerels per kilogram, against the maximum ‘safe’ level of 100 becquerels per kilogram.
“The findings have prompted a government investigation into the physiological basis for contamination and why radiation readings in some specimens remain hundreds of times over the official safe limit, The Asahi Shimbun reported….”
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/11/17/High-radiation-found-in-Fukushimas-fish/UPI-13751353177264/#ixzz2ChWzr61w
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Dr Busby has new video on youtube showing tokyo highly radioactive – where can they go? 14 million people there.
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A mother's message on depleted uranium —->
"Let veterans know of health risks from depleted uranium exposure"
"On Veterans Day, how I would have loved to thank my son, Aaron Barnes. But I couldn't because he died a year ago.
I have told his story several times in this forum so I will keep it short. Aaron served 26 months in Iraq, continually exposed to depleted uranium and other chemicals. A year after he came home, he became ill and never got well."
http://www.pjstar.com/opinions/forum/x1671794004/Forum-Let-veterans-know-of-health-risks-from-depleted-uranium-exposure
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They use depleted uranuim in the A-10 warthog nose mounted cannons ammunition in 50mm rounds. Designed for destroying tanks but they use it on any enemy positions all the time. Not only have we poisioned our troops that were in the middle east that were in combat. The Iraqi people are stuck with contaminated land and they are having severe health problems, especially the young and the women. Depleted uranium is spent fuel waste usually disposed of at nuclear waste facilities but the defense industry decided they liked its explosive characteristics so much they have been using it all over the middle east in combat areas for quite some time. The same poisining to anyone living near plutonium weapons plants like – Savannah RIver Site in South Carolina, Hanford in Washington State and Rocky Flats in Denver Colorado. First the uranium is mined (lots from australia) then processed into yellow cake, then procesed into plutonium which then goes into nuclear bombs and fuel rods for nuclear power plants. After the plutonium is used up like spent fuel rods, it becomes depleted uranium which the military adopted for its light weapons programs. Bigger bang on impact. The gift that never quits killing.
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They use spent u238 in all shell casing's. It's terrible.
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OMG! Local Spokane station, nbc affiliate even, is going to do a news story on tsunami debris arrival on the west coast! I can't wait, KHQ in about 55 minutes! I have been squaking about this for some time, no denying it as it washes ashore, radioactive?
Wonder what they will say. I guess I could google scoop them and search around, but, I don't want to steal this minor triumph of actual "news" reporting from them, and since I would really like to see the spin, I will wait up to watch, with baited breath.
Certainly, we will be able to see to what level the shit has hit the fan, based on what we hear, or don't hear, tonight, on the mainstream, GE owned station.
Could be time GE threw itself on it's own sword or all might be lost.. denounce nuclear power technology now, beg forgiveness, pretend ignorance and turn your short term capital goals toward decommission, dismantle, shut down, and storage. GE has strained the species to the breaking point, and benefits by saving us from the very sickness it has wrought, increases in this division should be more than enough to keep all you cronies enormously wealthy..consider it an offset, or risk letting an increasingly nuclear aware populous turn against your other corporate endeavors(boycott)and let Mother Earth's rumblings teach your industry a few trillion more lessons. What a day(night) this might be, of course, it is only the 11:00 news..
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C, the thing about the debris is that without actual testing, there is no way to tell if the fallout came down on it or was carried beyond it before falling into the Pacific or maybe didn't even fall until reaching the West Coast of US. Some of the debris might be contaminated and some might be clear. It was already well out to sea days before the reactor explosions and no one was tracking the plumes. What we do know is that an enormous amount of it fell directly into the Pacific right off the eastern Japanese coastline and got caught up in the circular currents there. Some folks guesstimate than 50% went into the ocean, some aerolized to travel east with the jet stream and much remained to fall around Tokyo. Others guesstimate that 80% went right into the sea with the rest thrown into the air, some to head east and some to swirl and be dumped in various parts of the island. It's hard for me to visualize each piece being tested. What a hassle someone will think, so maybe random sampling?
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Hi Vic, yes, no testing, however, buckey balls of plutonium are known to have been formed and they move much further and quicker than ever even contemplated, hence the weapons grade plutonium reported on fresh cow pies in Southern California.. I go back to that ship that showed up rather quickly, no boarding, not even to check to see if someone might be on it, no towing for salvage, a missile and down to Davy Jones locker.. why? It had to be radioactive. Salvage alone would have netted someone big money, or why not return the ship to it's owner?? Too radioactive to do anything with but sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Sadly the local news did not say anything new
only reported that the debris field is a scant 400 miles off the west coast..
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Oh, yes, the buck balls. The floating wharf was no higher than background radiation that washed up in Florence, Oregon. Given the size of the debris field, some will be contaminated and some won't be. I really, really hope they check it all before sending people to start picking up the stuff as it washes in. The Oregon coast is a magical, beautiful, free place with public beaches and i hate the thought of it becoming irradiated.
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PENNSYLVANIA – Susquehanna Unit 2 shut down due to hydraulic oil leak
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/20/utilities-operations-ppl-susquehanna-idUSL4N0903FL20121120
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CONNECTICUT – "The Millstone Power Station violated safety requirements by not having adequate documentation in place for the steps that plant staff would follow during an emergency to test the radioactivity level of coolant water."
http://www.theday.com/article/20121119/NWS01/121119728/1070/FRONTPAGE
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"Ishihara: Japan should consider nuclear arms"
"Shintaro Ishihara, the leader of a newly formed opposition party, says Japan should study the procedures and impacts of possessing nuclear arms, in case the country decides to acquire such weapons."
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20121120_31.html
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ugh! http://news.yahoo.com/nuclear-one-two-punch-could-knock-dangerous-asteroid-160319627.html
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The Children of Fukushima (PHOTOS)
11/20/2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/newsmotion/the-children-of-fukushima_b_2166067.html?utm_hp_ref=world
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So much has been/will be lost.
Important Note:
This is outside the exclusion zone.
"One day my exploration of Fukushima brought me to what looked like an old barn in an area that was evacuated, outside the total exclusion zone and therefore accessible. Curious to know what the reading was at the barn I tested the ground level radiation: the counter read 47μSv/h (microsieverts per hour). My heart stopped for a moment, terrified. By comparison, a recent reading in Brooklyn, N.Y. was 0.2μSv/h."
The reality easily explained. -
"If a young child made his or her secret hiding place where a hotspot reached 47 microsieverts every day for a year, the health risk from RADIATION poisoning would be SEVERE and LIFE-THREATENING."
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Fukushima Radiation: NHK Documentary: "Their Fate In Their Hands"; via A Green Road http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/11/blog-post.html
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U.S. to fund small, modular nuclear reactors
Wendy Koch, USA TODAY
The Department of Energy announces funding Tuesday to develop a new generation of smaller, less costly nuclear reactors.
(Photo: Mark Wilson Getty Images)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
U.S. government co-funds the development of small modular reactors
It aims to get these nuclear reactors into the U.S. market by 2022
The portable reactors promise lower upfront costs and use in remote areas
6:31PM EST November 20. 2012 – To develop a new generation of nuclear power, the Obama administration announced Tuesday that it will fund up to half the cost of a five-year project to design and commercialize small, modular reactors for the United States.
The Department of Energy said it aims to have these reactors, which have attracted private funding from investors including Bill Gates, in operation by 2022. It said it will negotiate the project's total cost with Babcock & Wilcox, an energy technology company based in Charlotte, that will lead the project in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority and Bechtel International. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/20/obama-doe-fund-modular-nuclear-reactors/1717843/
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This is really horrible news. It will ensure that everyone will be exposed to killing radiation. No one will be able to get away from these. They are putting 2,000 to 4,000 of these around just the US alone. They will be built in China. We know how the Chinese care about keeping people alive and their care for the environment and their use of non toxic wonderfully made products (sarcasm). The US taxpayer is being made to fund their own death. There is no place for governmental subsidies to nuclear power.
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%^&*&%^&%*$&^%*^$^.
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This is why some people think that Obama is without any morals. How can he do this to his own children?
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Yes, crimes against humanity yet to be born, and all other creatures.
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Re: SMRs
SP: There's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.
"The same summary records doubt that SMRs can compete in a market increasingly dominated by cheap natural gas. Nuclear Consultant Philip Moor told Senate staff that SMRs can compete if natural gas costs $7 to $8 per million BTU—gas currently costs only $2 per MBTU—or if carbon taxes are implemented, a scenario political experts deem unlikely.
“Like Mr. Moor, Mr. Genoa also sees the economic feasibility of SMRs as the final challenge. With inexpensive natural gas prices and no carbon tax, the economics don’t work in the favor of SMRs,” according to the summary."
"….The last panelist, Dr. Lyman, provided a more skeptical viewpoint on SMRs, characterizing public discussion on the topic as “irrational exuberance.” Lyman argued that, with a few exceptions, safety characteristics were not significantly better than full‐size reactors, and in general, safety tended to rely on the same sorts of features. Some safety benefits, he stated, also declined as reactor power approached the upper bound of the SMR category…."
"Small modular reactors can be constructed in factories and installed underground, which improves containment and security but may hinder emergency access"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2012/05/23/small-modular-reactors-by-2022-but-no-market-for-them/
SP: Stay the course…the final act has not been performed. Many things can yet happen to totally expose the world-killers.
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Fukushima Daiichi NPP is the invisible elephant in the room which they conveniently try to ignore and sweep under the rug. The problem the nucleocrats have is twofold: the "elephant" is getting bigger daily; and the Internet has supplanted main stream media.
They know the elephant is growing, but they can't grasp they have lost their Nazi-like grip on media information. The groundswell of truth firing across the Internet will defeat the nucleocrats. The original reason for the Internet (survive nuclear war) has morphed into something far more useful. It threatens to destroy their credibility and create an underground movement that will topple the nucleocrats. When the Fukushima elephant begins to awaken in board rooms and households across the globe… It will mark the death blow to an archaic industry. The next generation of politicians will abandon the nucleocrats like they are lepers.
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This is unsettling indeed – feels like it's sneaking through, although it's only just appeared as general news item and 'in operation by 2022' should mean we've got some time to act.
I've just tried to find evidence of an activist group that's featuring this development. Nothing 'front page' at http://www.beyondnuclear.org/ or at http://www.nukefree.org/.
Unfortunately, when I included 'small modular' among search words I got lots of hits that suggest positive, welcoming, attitudes – both from general public and from industry. To public that's not been paying attention, these probably sound like they'll be "manageable" in all respects, risk of 'terrorist attack' will be minimized, and it will be so wonderfully 'clean' – thus dealing with carbon/climate problem.
One problem with Obama, most of congress, and most of business leadership IMO is that they completely worship "industrial efficiency profit models" as their concept of what causes a society to thrive and prosper. None seem to have life experience to inform them otherwise. They also lack an affinity for earth – Gates and his ilk are in key advisory roles when we need wisdom of serious, informed, naturalists.
So – IMO – it's up to us to write, phone, appear – with the missing information, blitz style!
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Nuclear energy production and radiation is exponential. The bigger the reactor, the exponentially higher the radiation. The smaller the reactor, the exponentially smaller the radioactive contamination. One of those things of quantum physics. I don't recall the ratio, but, it should be easy enough to find on Google. This may be a motivator in why they are experimenting with smaller modular reactors. Of course, we still have no way to really deal with them, but, this may be one development for the nuke industry to keep itself in the energy game as the US moves away from "the grid" and starts creating localized power production infrastructure. M123, you are so right in understanding that Obama, Gates, et al will see this as flexible nuclear energy that can segue with energy diversification on a local level. They really, really, really don't believe green energy is all that possible given the American appetite for energy consumption. Germany showed the world that it could recently, yet, no one is as piggy as the US when it comes to eating every watt on the table.
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Get out of America while you can!!
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The way the country is going, there is no way in my opinion we will make it to 2022, no way at all not with everyone wanting to secede and the radiation from fuku and the whole thing in fukushima going down and the sinkhole and 100 nuclear explosions in Louisiana, an emergency and they cant get anyone to work there because of the holidays. Like I believe that!
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Unfortunately, our death will be slower and much more painful and debilitating.
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Ah…always the optimist
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though far from being painful, that one killed me Vic…
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Radiation watcher is losing his eyesight after visiting Fukushima and other hotspots
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/11/radiation-watcher-is-losing-his-eyesight-after-visiting-fukushima-and-other-hotspots/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FukushimaDiary+%28Fukushima+Diary%29
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Wolves(Guinea pigs?) in Chernobyl..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0wuc8SsMMI&feature=g-vrec
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this is a very skewed docu of reality after just watching this. downplaying for the most part and scraping the surface slightly with a few references to the serious problem of being contaminated.
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PBS; Radioactive Wolves In Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Movie Review; via A Green Road
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/04/chernobyl-pbs-radioactive-wolves-in.html
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The Liberal Democratic Party in Japan is PRO-nuclear.
According to news reports, they are likely to win in Japan's Dec. 16 election.
"Japan dissolved parliament's lower house on Friday for a Dec. 16 election that is likely to return the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to power with a conservative former prime minister at the helm."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/16/japan-election-idUSL3E8MG02D20121116
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Anyone still "pro nuclear" has some serious denial issues. (IMO)
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"Japanese exports fall for fifth straight month"
Never mentioned about radiation! It's because of strong Yen apparently. Hard to believe.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20422084
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My wife wanted to buy a new car to replace our old POS, but I said not until we buy a geiger counter. Sad, but true.
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Don't buy a Japanese car. Even a brand new car might come with an air-filtre already filled with cesium and plutonium! Second hand cars? Forget it! Too iffy.
I am not too sure if I want to play Japanese piano or keyboard anymore for that reason. You don't know which materials e.g. wood, plastic, metals might be contaminated and thought of radioactive dusts released while you hit the keys put me off.
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And…..another one
"Turkey Point Supervisor tests positive for alcohol"
http://enformable.com/2012/11/turkey-point-supervisor-tests-positive-for-alcohol/#MYp4K8FPmCrgWFeF.99
ADD IT TO THE LIST of Supervisors or Employees at nuclear power plants testing positive for alcohol, etc.
http://enformable.com/?s=SUPERVISOR
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Bad news:
''Administration awards grant to speed sales of small nuclear reactors''
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/268991-energy-awards-grant-for-nuclear-reactor-commercialization
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And the prize for being the green washer of the day goes to:
http://www.babcock.com/products/modular_nuclear/
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Hi JustmeAlso and VicFromOregon – I posted a note on this above (Nov 21), was ready to raise protest. I very much trust Vic's thoughts and got a reply that has made me realize I need to learn more. (BTW – couldn't remember where I posted to Vic, your note brings me back to the topic and my questions – Thanks!!)
See above for my yesterday concerns. Vic answers: "Nuclear energy production and radiation is exponential. The bigger the reactor, the exponentially higher the radiation. The smaller the reactor, the exponentially smaller the radioactive contamination."
My new questions include: Is this any kind of a gift horse, comparatively speaking, (to existing reactor designs)?
My fear is that it's seductively reassuring. It will be harder to persuade pro-nuke minds that it's a problem, including popular opinion that just wants electricity. It's still reliance on, use of, nuclear, may have same implications re weapons programs and waste material disposal, plus hazards at mining end of uranium use.
I do need to learn more – meant to get back to Vic with questions I've raised here. I also understand they're to start producing 2022, which buys us some time.
Thanks for posting – I hope ENEers begin to share questions/info on these, I need to learn!
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Maggie123,
the only solution is to extirpate the nuclear industry all together.
Diluting the major problems of big or bigger reactors into portable and even nuke batteries is all still business driven exploitation for profit without respect for life.
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Wild mushrooms far from Fukushima show high levels of cesium
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201211210054
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Mushrooms/moss and lichen are three of the indicators people could focus the apparatus on, globally..
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JustmeAlso – I do so love all living forms, have a special fondness for each I come across, including mosses, mushrooms, and lichens. I have two small rocks, each sporting assorted lichen growth, that I keep as "house plants" and have in the past given "lichens as house plants" to others. It's said that if you water them (I soak them in bowls of water a fewX a year) and give them access to sunlight, they do indeed continue to thrive. (More frequent misting might be better than my soaking method.) It's Thanksgiving here today – I hope your day is/has been fine. You've reminded me of aspects of earth's beauty often overlooked. Thank you!
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wow, Maggie, thank you to! I did follow the school of agriculture. But, i do say, growing lichen must demand a certain professional approach of which i know nothing of.
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JustmeAlso – Basic knowledge (offer water, sun) and the patience of 10,000 years!
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URANIUM miner Paladin Energy hopes a new Japanese government will decide to restart the country's nuclear reactors, as the price of uranium hovers around two-year lows.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/breaking-news/paladin-pins-hopes-on-new-japanese-govt/story-e6frf7ko-1226522231616
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I thought Bill Gates was so rich he didn’t need to steal money from the US government to kill off the rest of the planet:
“To develop a new generation of nuclear power, the Obama administration announced Tuesday that it will fund up to half the cost of a five-year project to design and commercialize small, modular reactors for the United States….
“Small modular reactors (SMRs) are typically about one-third the size of current nuclear power plants….”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/20/obama-doe-fund-modular-nuclear-reactors/1717843/
Bill Gates,China’s Nuclear Program and Obama’s Useful-Idiots
http://the-american-journal.com/bill-gates-helps-chinas-nuclear-program/
These people are not only stupid and insane, they are completely evil.
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My take on Gates and his ilk is that they have a belief system that has served them so well for so many years (all or most of their lives) that they can't imagine themselves as anything but ideal leaders/thinkers for the rest of society.
A most troubling aspect of what I suspect is their b.system is that it does not include even a trace of a scientist's or academic's rigor to seek evidence that may disprove a belief, as well as hope for supporting evidence.
I woke to this in Gates/Obama on issue of their enthusiasm for charter schools, including and maybe especially profit-driven charter schools. Research does not support their passion for this initiative. C.schools turn out to be at best "the same" as public and very often worse. Same old practice of seeking to use public facilities and infrastructure, blended with trimming costs to maximize profit, is neither honest nor sound educational administration. (Charter schools run by truly community service dedicated non-profits are more likely to do well; as, of course, are well-funded private exclusive schools!)
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Meant to finish off back on your topic – sorry! My point was that the b.system I think Gates and ilk hold prevents them from even wondering if they've studied the evidence for their 'visionary' ideas. In fact, self-identification as 'a uniquely capable and competent societal visionary' is part of the b.system, I suspect.
Gates in particular has a long career of praise for his visionary, cutting edge, leadership. It's often said that those excessively praised eventually come to believe whatever it is they hear about themselves. It's up to us to gather data and provide the critical thought they neglect, IMO. So we have to 'pester' them.
BTW, there are a few additional notes on SMR's above also. I just realized we're in the nuclear general discussion forum.
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Living on a planet with nothing else but gold does not quench any thirst or fill any stomach.
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A special Thank You to all the Newsers out there. Setting here reflecting on all I have to be thankful for and you guys are near the top of the list. From the Administration down to Weeman and everyone in between. So many of you have dedicated so much time and hard work keeping the world informed on these very important matters. I often wonder how some of you keep it up. Please enjoy your day and Thank you again. Dogleg
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Yes, thanks to Admin and all! Happy Thanksgiving!
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Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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Admin – It's wonderful to grab a chance to say Thank You, and to let you know how grateful I am, (we are), for your inspired website, and all the effort you put into it. A toast!
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Happy Thanksgiving
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-charlie-brown-thanksgiving-and-card.html
Be grateful for everything… life is precious.
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A Man Takes Hostage a Credit Union in Aichi, Demands Food, Megaphone, and Resignation of the Noda Cabinet
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-man-takes-hostage-at-credit-union-in.html
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awesome story Heart…
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Swiss nuclear reactor shuts down due to defect
November 21, 2012 Switzerland's oldest nuclear power plant Beznau is seen in 2011 near Doettingen, northern Switzerland. A reactor at the Swiss nuclear plant shuts down automatically due to a defect, the operator said, stressing that the procedure had been completely safe. A reactor at a Swiss nuclear plant shuts down automatically Wednesday due to a defect, the operator said, stressing that the procedure had been completely safe.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-swiss-nuclear-reactor-due-defect.html#jCp
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Switzerland's Beznau nuclear plant will soon boast the "dubious record" of being the oldest nuclear plant in the world and should be shut down, a group of environmental organisations said Thursday.
They said there are cracks in the mantle of the reactor and in the steel containment shell, something strongly denied by Axpo, the energy company that operates Beznau. "As a precaution the lid of the reactor is to be changed, but there is no crack," said an Axpo spokeswoman.
Beznau is scheduled for decommissioning in 2019 after 50 years of operation.
http://phys.org/news/2012-02-swiss-environmental-groups-beznau-nuclear.html
Swiss incident shows Davis-Besse hole is not unique
In 1971, thirty years before a hole was found in the reactor vessel head at Davis-Besse in the US state of Ohio, a similar hole was found in Beznau-1 in Switzerland
The NRC has ignored the problem of holes due to boric acid corrosion for an amazing 30 years!
The cracking problem is probably even more widespread than the NRC admit. There is evidence that hundreds of cracks in the world's PWRs go undetected because best available inspection technology is not used.
For 23 years up to 1994, Beznau only had a provisional license because of "serious faults established at the end of its construction in 1971" -presumably the "hole" was one of them.
Nevertheless, the reactor is still operational.
http://www.wiseinternational.org/node/2833
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Many thanks to Thomas Clements: "SRS Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Program to Go Cold Turkey in Lame Duck Session as Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Balks at MOX Use?
By Thomas Clements | Nov 21, 2012 Columbia, SC – The Tennessee Valley Authority, the main nuclear utility that the Department of Energy is pursuing for use of plutonium fuel (MOX) made from surplus weapons plutonium, continues to stand up to DOE pressure to test and use the experimental MOX fuel. …“The House cut $169 million from MOX in its budget deliberations earlier this year and we are hopeful that this cut will be adopted by the full Congress. As disposition of plutonium as waste is estimated to be under $5 billion, it’s clear that the MOX program has sadly devolved into a transfer of tax payer wealth to corporations such as AREVA,” said Clements.
http://aikenleader.villagesoup.com/p/srs-plutonium-fuel-mox-program-gets-cold-shoulder-from-tennessee-valley-authority-tva/928099
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Nuclear Hangover: Ghost of Past Power Struggle Haunts Sandy's Victims Today
The saga of Long Island Power Authority's high rates and poor service serves as a cautionary tale for the rest of the nation: Nuclear power, beyond being dirty and dangerous, is an absurdly expensive way to generate electricity.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/12781-nuclear-hangover-ghost-of-past-power-struggle-haunts-sandys-victims-today
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New WMDs–Conservatives want new nuclear weapons, raising the spectre of new Nevada tests
The results of the election have preserved the status quo on the defunct project to build a dump for high level nuclear wastes in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. But another nuclear issue threatens to intrude in the Silver State—revival of nuclear testing.
http://www.newsreview.com/reno/new-wmds/content?oid=8414116
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You might say "some Conservatives want new nukes."
Here is Dirty Harry Reid giving thanks to those who have made what we have possible…by the way, he isn't a Conservative.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/oct/26/ceremony-marks-dedication-national-atomic-museum/
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aside from Ron Paul, CBuck, you'd be hard-pressed to find a real "Conservative" on Capital Hill. And he's getting out while the get'n is good…
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CBuck, Aftershock – Lol! Definition of "Conservative" seems fluid! I'd go for Eisenhower as traditional American conservative. Which got me thinking – most of my adult politically aware life was in Canada where John Diefenbaker (another shaped by prairie life) had qualities that even his political enemies much admired.
To anyone interested, but especially Canadians on this American Thanksgiving Day – I offer "Dief is the Chief" (Stringband) at http://www3.telus.net/oldfolk/jukebox.htm#dief. Scroll down on page to find 'play' button and link to songwriter's piece on the Dief song.
The song was so popular, it even has it's own Wikipedia page! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dief_Will_Be_the_Chief_Again
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Afterthought – worth noting, Texas and Oklahoma were rural political 'socialist hot spots' when farming communities realized cooperative democratic organization: http://asitoughttobe.com/2011/01/27/agrarian-socialism-in-oklahoma-the-early-twentieth-century-2/.
Conservative principles of both Eisenhower and Diefenbaker embraced value of all peoples. As in Eisenhower: "The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities…" (http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/speeches/ike_chance_for_peace.html),
and in "…Diefenbaker also played a big part of getting free health care; …" http://www.123helpme.com/diefenbaker-a-true-leader-view.asp?id=160061.
(I think of these views as 'conservation of what is most precious')
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Pacific Radiation Contamination Map in 10 Years http://bit.ly/U7xc4H
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The Pacific ocean as of 2012-11-23.
Screen shot from video:
The Quick View -
Ocean at day 623 TODAY
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2099954/Rad%202012-11-23%20Ocean%20623%20Days%200031.jpg
March 2014 – at 3 years
The west coast of Canada and the USA will be engulfed.
March 2020 – at 9 years
Appears to reach maximum contamination!
(Assuming things don't get worse.)
Note: The GEOMAR | Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel is one of the leading institutions in the field of marine research in Europe. The Institute is the study of the chemical, physical, biological and geological processes in the ocean and its interaction with the seabed and the atmosphere.
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Interesting… But presumably the plume should reflect the interconnection of all the water bodies interlinking with the Pacific?
Difficult science projection for the future, but I have little doubt some of the contamination will reach tens of thousands of miles from Japan in two decades.
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I have had more than 40 full abdominal CT scans in less than 10 years. I have been told each one is worth 20 or chest x-rays. How much radiation have I endured and what can this do to me??
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Chelsea – go to Helen Caldicotts website and email her for an accurate answer. Just google her name.
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Thank you.
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