"Mission Accomplished" delusion | Radioactive Dumping

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TEPCO Believes Mission Accomplished & Regulators Allow Radioactive Dumping in Tokyo Bay

Is the Japanese government and the IAEA protecting the nuclear industry and not the people of Japan by claiming that Fukushima is stable when it is not? Fairewinds’ chief engineer Arnie Gundersen outlines major inconsistencies and double-speak by the IAEA, Japanese Government, and TEPCO claiming that the Fukushima accident is over. Dynamic versus static equilibrium, escalated dose exposures to the Japanese children and nuclear workers, and the blending of radioactive materials with non-contaminated material and spreading this contaminated ash throughout Japan are only a small part of this ongoing nuclear tragedy.

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Fairewinds updates on Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

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see also
whats up: China Syndrome | No cold shutdown possible at Fukushima

there can and will be
no cold shutdown
of the Fukushima plant

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NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW

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FUKUSHIMA UPDATE | The Fukushima Updates blog

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RECENT FROM "FUKUSHIMA UPDATE"

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Fukushima Update | Tracking Japan's nuclear crisis
a project of Green Action Japan

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Fukushima ocean radiation could pose sleeper threat

Scientists have determined that the unprecedented release of radioactivity into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima nuclear disaster poses no direct exposure threat to people, but caution that the accumulated fallout lying in sediment is a potential danger for decades to come.

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Japan Split on Hope for Vast Radiation Cleanup

The debate over whether to repopulate the area, if trial cleanups prove effective, has become a proxy for a larger battle over the future of Japan. Supporters see rehabilitating the area as a chance to showcase the country’s formidable determination and superior technical skills — proof that Japan is still a great power.

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Nuclear Disasters and the Danger of a Marginalized Media

As all we know, Japan has not gotten it right, and has not rebuilt any public trust. TEPCO and the Japanese regulatory body have at times been incorrect in their assessments of the situation at Fukushima Daiichi. And on numerous occasions TEPCO has communicated misinformation to the government and the public. They have often delayed needed action. The media, the group meant to bring accountability, were only allowed into the Fukushima plant area earlier this month, eight months after the accident.

My concerns about media independence and nuclear transparency do not stop in Japan. How can we be assured of transparency in any case when the government and nuclear power industry are both responsible for and have a large stake in finding plausible solutions to nuclear crises? This colluded power consolidation marginalizes the public interest. What chance does public health stand when it depends on the fall of a nuclear company in bed with the government?

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Japanese Nuclear Accident Simulations Severely Underestimate Radiation Risks

Tokyo, Japan, November 29, 2011 – Greenpeace today renewed its demand for the Japanese government to keep its nuclear reactors offline as simulation maps of potential accidents at Japan’s nuclear plants – used in the development of nuclear emergency response efforts – are completely inadequate, and have not been updated since the Fukushima disaster.

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Aileen interview on Free Speech Radio

Eight months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, thousands of people – including children – remain in contaminated areas and citizens groups continue to push the government to assist in evacuations and clean up.

A new study out this week from the National Academy of Science warns that soil samples in the northeast of the country show unsafe levels of radiation for farming and on Thursday, Japan said it was restricting rice exports from Fukushima after grain was found to contain radioactive contamination higher than safety levels.

For more, we go to Kyoto, Japan to speak with Aileen Mioko Smith. She’s the executive director of Green Action Japan, a citizens group that has been monitoring the issue since the Fukushima disaster began in March this year...

Listen to interview

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The Fukushima Updates blog is a project of Green Action Japan.

Founded in 1991, Green Action is a Japanese citizens organization (NGO) campaigning to stop Japan’s plutonium program. Based in Kyoto, Green Action provides timely information in Japanese and English about nuclear fuel cycle issues. We believe Japanese energy policy should shift away from nuclear fuel cycle development to advancement of conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy sources.

Collaborating with other citizen groups, Green Action has successfully campaigned to bring about a de facto moratorium on Japan’s program to use plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in Japanese commercial nuclear power plants. We continue to oppose government and utility plans to implement this ‘pluthermal’ program.

Green Action is also campaigning to prevent the start-up of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan. If operated, this plant would separate out as much as 7 or 8 tons of nuclear weapons usable plutonium a year. We also work with other citizen groups to build national opposition to Japan’s fast breeder reactor, Monju. Green Action is the international office for and co-founder of Stop Nuclear Waste Campaign.

Green Action networks regularly with domestic and international citizen groups to address pertinent issues concerning Japan’s plutonium program. We petition and hold negotiations with government agencies and electric utilities, initiate or participate in legal action, inform and lobby policymakers, brief and alert media and countries on the route of Japanese nuclear shipments, send delegations abroad, and invite international speakers to Japan. We also address policy change at government roundtables and symposia.

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Fukushima Update | Tracking Japan's nuclear crisis

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See also
• TOP OF BLOG for more recent posts
• LINKS PAGE
• VIDEOS PAGE
• recent Fukushima & related updates for nuclear news, background info, links and actions -

webcasts | FREEZE OUR FUKUSHIMAS | Strong Children Japan
Unthinking the Thinkable | Nukespeak | Marginalized Media
China Syndrome | No cold shutdown possible at Fukushima
NUCLEAR VIDEOS: The Retrosic - bomb & "Victory At Sea"
Beyond Nuclear - Radiation & Health What's New - Cancer panel to issue final report. *** Please give comments!
telling the truth about radiation
"DON'T DIG HERE" | Musicians United for Safe Energy | Nukes, Earthquakes & Hurricanes
Atomic Cover-Up: The Hidden Story Behind the U.S. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Truth About Nuclear Power | Lethal Levels of Radiation
Diablo Canyon | Need To Know | It Can Happen Here
You can't see it, and you can't smell it either | Nuclear Nightmare Unfolding
Three Nuclear Meltdowns, Radiation Leaked into Sea; U.S. Waste Poses Deadly Risks
Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe Update | Related News
Nuclear Safety is an Oxymoron | How will broken-melting-fuming-leaking Fukushima Daiichi weather Monster Typhoon?
What's going on at Japan's damaged nuclear power plant?
End the nuclear loan program now | Quaint Vermont fixer-upper
Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown Confirmed
abolish atomic - new art | news from Beyond Nuclear | TAKE ACTION
Learning from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster? | Unsafe at Any Dose
We do not want atom!
Fallout? | Delay Licensing! | Evacutation? | Taxes?
NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW - Flyer
Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 | Downwinders | Nuclear Law
25th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster | NUCLEAR "SAFTEY" = NUCLEAR THREAT
Anti-nuclear movement | California Nukes
Arnie Gundersen on Current Fukushima Daiichi Situation
Deepak Chopra homebase: Fukushima ~ Indian Point, NY
Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth
Fukushima a "Ticking Time Bomb"
Nuclear Catastrophe in Japan “Not Equal to Chernobyl, But Way Worse”
Nuclear Power = Crime Against Humanity
Obama: No Money for Nukes!
Pacifica Nuclear Teach-in | The Code Killers by Ace Hoffman
Nuclear Obama, Radioactive Boars & Frogs of Fukushima
fukushima plutonium
Fukushima still fuming - nuclear catastrophe update
MARCH ARCHIVE

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CHECK FOR NEWS
• google news ~ "Fukushima + nuclear"
• top of blog
• news feeds below

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Fukushima "China Syndrome?"

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Fukushima - Could it Have a China Syndrome?

Fairewinds' Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen discusses whether the accidents at Fukushima were a meltdown, a melt-through, or a China Syndrome. Whatever the accidents are named, thousands of tons of water contaminated with plutonium, uranium, and other very toxic radioactive isotopes are flooding the site, the surrounding water table, and the ocean.

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Fairewinds updates on Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

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NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW

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webcasts | FREEZE OUR FUKUSHIMAS | Strong Children Japan

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NEWS from BEYOND NUCLEAR - Three Important Upcoming Webcasts; Denmark Going Beyond Nuclear

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NRC webcast of public meeting on Beyond Nuclear North Anna Emergency Enforcement Action

On Monday, December 12, 2011 from 2:30 to 4:30 PM EST, NRC is meeting with Beyond Nuclear and joint petitioners who have called for emergency enforcement action for full public hearings rights on license changes to Virginia’s North Anna nuclear power plant following the August 23, 2011 earthquake. The meeting will be webcast and a telephone bridge line is being provided for up to 100 toll free lines for the public to listen in. Details for linking to webcast and toll free telephone bridge line can be viewed by clicking on December 12 in NRC homepage calendar for public meetings.

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Petition to suspension of operating license for North Anna Power Station due to concerns about damage to reactors from the 8/23/11 earthquake.

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NRC to webcast Beyond Nuclear presentation to Commission on status of fire protection at reactors

On Tuesday, December 13, 2011, beginning at 9 AM EST, Beyond Nuclear Director of Reactor Oversight, Paul Gunter, will be testifying before the Chairman and Commissioners of the US NRC on what we believe to significant decades old fire protection risks at US reactors. These same risks potentially threaten control room operations for safe shutdown and cooling of reactors similar to the failure that led to the explosions and meltdowns at Fukushima. Go to this NRC link to view the webcast and Beyond Nuclear at the meeting.

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Senate Committee webcast of hearing with NRC Commissioners on Fukushima and US reactors

We hear that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will be meeting with the Chairman and the Commissioners of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday, December 15, 2011 to discuss the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe and implications for US reactors. Click on this link at EPW to watch for information on the time to link up with the live webcast from Capitol Hill.

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Denmark aims for 100% renewable energy by 2050!

Following on the heels of Germany, Denmark – already the global leader in wind power – has declared its intention to go from 20% to 50% wind power by 2020 and 100% renewable energy generation by 2050. Denmark will also take over the presidency of the European Union on January 1 and plans to push for ambitious climate and energy goals.

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> Beyond Nuclear - Home

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FREEZE OUR FUKUSHIMAS!

Beyond Nuclear - FREEZE OUR FUKUSHIMAS

"Freeze Our Fukushimas" is a national campaign created by Beyond Nuclear to permanently suspend the operations of the most dangerous class of reactors operating in the United States today; the 23 General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors, the same flawed design as those that melted down at Fukushima-Daiichi in Japan.

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Become a co-petitioner to NRC and support the Beyond Nuclear call for the suspension of the 23 Fukushima-style reactors operating in the US.

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Strong Children Japan

Portraits of Japanese children and young people living with the ongoing consequences of the Fukushima Daichi nuclear accident, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 11th 2011. The images and words are made by the children, combined with their portrait by Japan-based English artist Geoff Read done according to their instructions. The aim is to enable them to share their important experiences and thoughts with the world.

"There is a smile in the middle of sunflowers.
I think everyone smiles when they see them."

Yamato is 13 and lives in Fukushima

The writing on the picture is a haiku about the importance of living cheerfully, like sunflowers. Sunflowers have been planted in high radiation areas of Fukushima in an attempt to remove radiation from the soil, so they are becoming a symbol of regeneration.

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Strong Children Japan

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See also
• LINKS PAGE
• VIDEOS PAGE
• TOP OF BLOG for more recent posts
• recent Fukushima & related updates for nuclear news, background info, links and actions -

whats up: China Syndrome | No cold shutdown possible at Fukushima
Unthinking the Thinkable | Nukespeak | Marginalized Media
NUCLEAR VIDEOS: The Retrosic - bomb & "Victory At Sea"
Beyond Nuclear - Radiation & Health What's New - Cancer panel to issue final report. *** Please give comments!
telling the truth about radiation
"DON'T DIG HERE" | Musicians United for Safe Energy | Nukes, Earthquakes & Hurricanes
Atomic Cover-Up: The Hidden Story Behind the U.S. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Truth About Nuclear Power | Lethal Levels of Radiation
Diablo Canyon | Need To Know | It Can Happen Here
You can't see it, and you can't smell it either | Nuclear Nightmare Unfolding
Three Nuclear Meltdowns, Radiation Leaked into Sea; U.S. Waste Poses Deadly Risks
Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe Update | Related News
Nuclear Safety is an Oxymoron | How will broken-melting-fuming-leaking Fukushima Daiichi weather Monster Typhoon?
What's going on at Japan's damaged nuclear power plant?
End the nuclear loan program now | Quaint Vermont fixer-upper
Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown Confirmed
abolish atomic - new art | news from Beyond Nuclear | TAKE ACTION
Learning from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster? | Unsafe at Any Dose
We do not want atom!
Fallout? | Delay Licensing! | Evacutation? | Taxes?
NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW - Flyer
Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 | Downwinders | Nuclear Law
25th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster | NUCLEAR "SAFTEY" = NUCLEAR THREAT
Anti-nuclear movement | California Nukes
Arnie Gundersen on Current Fukushima Daiichi Situation
Deepak Chopra homebase: Fukushima ~ Indian Point, NY
Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth
Fukushima a "Ticking Time Bomb"
Nuclear Catastrophe in Japan “Not Equal to Chernobyl, But Way Worse”
Nuclear Power = Crime Against Humanity
Obama: No Money for Nukes!
Pacifica Nuclear Teach-in | The Code Killers by Ace Hoffman
Nuclear Obama, Radioactive Boars & Frogs of Fukushima
fukushima plutonium
Fukushima still fuming - nuclear catastrophe update
MARCH ARCHIVE

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CHECK FOR NEWS
• google news ~ "Fukushima + nuclear"
• top of blog
• news feeds below

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-!- fukushima nuclear power plant japan nuclear crisis nuclear disaster radiation catastrophe radioactive fallout nuclear energy safety hazard environment ecology pollution -!-

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NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW

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China Syndrome | No cold shutdown possible at Fukushima

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there can and will be
no cold shutdown
of the Fukushima plant

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Is there a China Syndrome at Fukushima?



Dec 6, 2011: Paul Gunter, Beyond Nuclear joins Thom Hartmann. The crisis at Fukushima continues. Over the weekend - the crippled Japanese nuclear plant spewed even more highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean - roughly 45,000 liters in all. According to a French nuclear research institute - since the Fukushima nuclear crisis began in March - the plant has leaked more radioactive material into the ocean than has ever happened before in the history of the planet. And he claims that after more than 8 months since an earthquake and tsunami triggered this crisis - it's inevitable that nuclear fuel has leaked into the groundwater - meaning the "China Syndrome" is officially upon us. He also warned that if underground water gets overheated - it could trigger a hydrovolcanic explosion. So what does all this mean? Time to ditch nuclear power - the most expensive and dangerous form of energy on Earth.

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Beyond Nuclear - Home

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Fukushima’s Cold Shutdown Condition | Nukespeak

“I just checked in to see what condition my condition is in.”

One of the truly scary but perversely enjoyable characteristics of nuclear developers is their penchant for making it up as they go along – and then creating new Nukespeak words and concepts to describe what they’re up to as they do.

The latest example concerns the situation at Japan’s still-dangerous Fukushima Daiichi plant and comes to us via the Nuclear Energy Institute and its “Ask an Expert” question-and-answer page:

Question: What is “cold shutdown?”

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NEI - Question: What is “cold shutdown?”: "TEPCO understood this important nuance to achieving 'cold shutdown' early on this year when it developed its initial recovery plans and developed a new term, “cold shutdown condition,” which applies to how they are bringing the reactors to stable condition."

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it is “the term used to define a reactor coolant system at atmospheric pressure and at a temperature below 200 degrees Fahrenheit following a reactor cooldown.”

“In non-nuclear speak,” the NEI’s anonymous expert helpfully explains, “it basically means the conditions within the nuclear reactor are such that it would be impossible for a chain reaction to occur.

Of late, news outlets have reported that Fukushima Daiichi may be in “cold shutdown” as soon as sometime this month. In actuality, however, as the NEI notes, “there is a difference between the traditional ‘cold shutdown’ of a nuclear plant and what is happening at Fukushima.”

When a reactor is in cold shutdown, the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) can be opened to add water to the cavity above it as a shield during either refueling or defueling. But at Fukushima Daiichi, cold shutdown is not been possible since the RPVs have been breached and will not hold water. Moreover, we now know that at least some melted fuel escaped, coming to within one foot of escaping primary containment on the floor below.

So there can and will be no cold shutdown of the Fukushima plant. Realizing that it was impossible, beleaguered utility executives at TEPCO, the plant operator, “developed a new term, cold shutdown condition,” the NEI reports.

Here’s how TEPCO defines it: “Temperature of RPV bottom is, in general, below 100 degrees Celsius. Release of radioactive materials from PCV is under control and public radiation exposure by additional release is being significantly held down.”

By this definition, the Fukushima Daiichi reactors will reach cold shutdown condition soon – “once they are below boiling point and are no longer releasing significant amounts of radiation into the atmosphere.”

Do you suppose this newly defined condition at Fukushima has anything to do with the fact that reaching cold shutdown at Fukushima Daiichi is impossible – but that TEPCO expects to reach the newly created cold shutdown condition by the end of the year?

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Fukushima’s Cold Shutdown Condition | Nukespeak

Nukespeak | Nuclear Language, Myths and Mindset
Nukespeak is the language of the nuclear mindset — the worldview or system of beliefs of nuclear developers and enthusiasts.

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See also
• LINKS PAGE
• VIDEOS PAGE
• TOP OF BLOG for more recent posts
• recent Fukushima & related updates for nuclear news, background info, links and actions -

Unthinking the Thinkable | Nukespeak | Marginalized Media
NUCLEAR VIDEOS: The Retrosic - bomb & "Victory At Sea"
Beyond Nuclear - Radiation & Health What's New - Cancer panel to issue final report. *** Please give comments!
telling the truth about radiation
"DON'T DIG HERE" | Musicians United for Safe Energy | Nukes, Earthquakes & Hurricanes
Atomic Cover-Up: The Hidden Story Behind the U.S. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Truth About Nuclear Power | Lethal Levels of Radiation
Diablo Canyon | Need To Know | It Can Happen Here
You can't see it, and you can't smell it either | Nuclear Nightmare Unfolding
Three Nuclear Meltdowns, Radiation Leaked into Sea; U.S. Waste Poses Deadly Risks
Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe Update | Related News
Nuclear Safety is an Oxymoron | How will broken-melting-fuming-leaking Fukushima Daiichi weather Monster Typhoon?
What's going on at Japan's damaged nuclear power plant?
End the nuclear loan program now | Quaint Vermont fixer-upper
Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown Confirmed
abolish atomic - new art | news from Beyond Nuclear | TAKE ACTION
Learning from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster? | Unsafe at Any Dose
We do not want atom!
Fallout? | Delay Licensing! | Evacutation? | Taxes?
NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW - Flyer
Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 | Downwinders | Nuclear Law
25th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster | NUCLEAR "SAFTEY" = NUCLEAR THREAT
Anti-nuclear movement | California Nukes
Arnie Gundersen on Current Fukushima Daiichi Situation
Deepak Chopra homebase: Fukushima ~ Indian Point, NY
Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth
Fukushima a "Ticking Time Bomb"
Nuclear Catastrophe in Japan “Not Equal to Chernobyl, But Way Worse”
Nuclear Power = Crime Against Humanity
Obama: No Money for Nukes!
Pacifica Nuclear Teach-in | The Code Killers by Ace Hoffman
Nuclear Obama, Radioactive Boars & Frogs of Fukushima
fukushima plutonium
Fukushima still fuming - nuclear catastrophe update
MARCH ARCHIVE

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CHECK FOR NEWS
• google news ~ "Fukushima + nuclear"
• top of blog
• news feeds below

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-!- fukushima nuclear power plant japan nuclear crisis nuclear disaster radiation catastrophe radioactive fallout nuclear energy safety hazard environment ecology pollution -!-

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NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW

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Unthinking the Thinkable | Nukespeak | Marginalized Media

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Nukespeak co-author Rory O’Connor joins long-time anti-nuclear campaigner and author Harvey Wasserman for the first studio interview on Wasserman’s Green Power & Wellness Show on the Progressive Radio Network. O’Connor and Wasserman review recent developments from the on-going catastrophe in Fukushima, and the close-call for 2 U.S. reactors in North Anna, Virginia, when a late-August earthquake was stronger than the plants were designed to handle.

LISTEN: http://media18.podbean.com/pb/940c77e9dce07246f11e1b043cd6ef56/4edfaea7/blogs18/419776/uploads/Wasserman120611.mp3

O’Connor notes that there were historic stones along the eastern coast around Fukushima warning of the danger of a major earthquake and tsunami on the scale of the events at Fukushima this March. But the utility (TEPCO) chose to build tsunami barriers that were far lower than these historic events. O’Connor says that this failure is an example of the nuclear mindset at work, a belief by the designer that such a severe event was unthinkable, and therefore unnecessary to design for.

Here is an excerpt from Nukespeak about the eerie markers of past earthquake/tsunami disasters which TEPCO and the Japanese nuclear industry regulators ignored:

The stone tablet on a forested hillside had a stark warning carved on it: “Do not build your homes below this point!”

Residents of the village of Aneyoshi say this message from the past— carved in stone by their ancestors—kept them and their tiny hamlet safe when a deadly tsunami struck on March 11, 2011. Although the tsunami and the massive earthquake that preceded it wiped out hundreds of miles of Japanese coast, the waves stopped 300 feet below the stone of Aneyoshi. “They knew the horrors of tsunamis, so they erected that stone to warn us,” said village leader Tamishige Kimura.

Such centuries-old tsunami stones, some up to 10 feet tall, are common along Japan’s northeastern shore, offering silent but still telling testimony to the destruction that killer waves have already visited upon the earthquakeand tsunami-prone nation. But other than in a few isolated places like Aneyoshi, the warnings from the past went largely unheeded. As Martin Fackler reported in the New York Times, “modern Japan, confident that advanced technology and higher seawalls would protect vulnerable areas, came to forget or ignore these ancient warnings, dooming it to repeat bitter experiences...”

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Unthinking the Thinkable | Nukespeak

LISTEN: http://media18.podbean.com/pb/940c77e9dce07246f11e1b043cd6ef56/4edfaea7/blogs18/419776/uploads/Wasserman120611.mp3

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Nukespeak | Nuclear Language, Myths and Mindset

Nukespeak is the language of the nuclear mindset — the worldview or system of beliefs of nuclear developers and enthusiasts.

The word “Nukespeak” is a tribute to George Orwell, who in his novel 1984, used the term “Newspeak” as the name of the language of Big Brother and the totalitarian state. Unlike a living language, the state was constantly removing words from common usage, with the ultimate goal to make it (literally) impossible for a citizen to think a seditious thought.

In the world of “Newspeak,” vast numbers of people spent their days frantically revising the records of the past in order to make those records correspond with the political reality of the present: “He who controls the past, controls the future.”

In 1984, the authorities did everything they could to eliminate all references to the events in the past that might be embarrassing in light of subsequent political change. George Winston, who labored at revising newspaper accounts of the past, had a special tube at his desk. Once he finished working on a copy of a document from the past, he dropped the original into “the memory hole,” where it would be whisked away to be burnt and never seen again. In the world of nuclear technology, an ever-more elaborate system of classification has served as a “memory hole,” allowing politicians and the military to prevent the public from ever knowing about the plague of accidents and near-misses that could have lead to the accidental detonation of nuclear weapons, or the meltdown of nuclear reactors.

This blog has two authors: Richard Bell and Rory O’Connor. Bell and O’Connor are the co-authors (along with Stephen Hilgartner) of Nukespeak: Nuclear Language, Myths, and Mindset, published in hardback by Sierra Club Books in 1982, and in paper by Penguin Books in 1983. The three co-authors were recipients of the 1982 George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language, an annual award sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English.

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Nuclear Disasters and the Danger of a Marginalized Media | Fukushima Update

By Akio Matsumura

As all we know, Japan has not gotten it right, and has not rebuilt any public trust. TEPCO and the Japanese regulatory body have at times been incorrect in their assessments of the situation at Fukushima Daiichi. And on numerous occasions TEPCO has communicated misinformation to the government and the public. They have often delayed needed action. The media, the group meant to bring accountability, were only allowed into the Fukushima plant area earlier this month, eight months after the accident.

My concerns about media independence and nuclear transparency do not stop in Japan. How can we be assured of transparency in any case when the government and nuclear power industry are both responsible for and have a large stake in finding plausible solutions to nuclear crises? This colluded power consolidation marginalizes the public interest. What chance does public health stand when it depends on the fall of a nuclear company in bed with the government?

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Full article

...As long as nuclear power plants continue to run, we need a gentleman’s agreement wherein governments and companies operating the nuclear power plants open the gates for the international media to visit the accident site immediately. The media is a necessary and often missing link between government and the people in the Rock Paper Scissors game of political consensus, political will and political action. International media and the many outlets they have should always serve the people, not only when the government and nuclear company find it convenient...

Akio Matsumura - Finding the Missing Link

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Akio Matsumura is a renowned diplomat who has dedicated his life to building bridges between government, business, and spiritual leaders in the cause of world peace. He is the founder and Secretary General of the Global Forum of Parliamentarian and Spiritual Leaders on Human Survival with conferences held in Oxford, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Kyoto, and Konya.

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Fukushima Update | Tracking Japan's nuclear crisis

The Fukushima Updates blog is a project of Green Action Japan.

Founded in 1991, Green Action is a Japanese citizens organization (NGO) campaigning to stop Japan’s plutonium program. Based in Kyoto, Green Action provides timely information in Japanese and English about nuclear fuel cycle issues. We believe Japanese energy policy should shift away from nuclear fuel cycle development to advancement of conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy sources.

Collaborating with other citizen groups, Green Action has successfully campaigned to bring about a de facto moratorium on Japan’s program to use plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in Japanese commercial nuclear power plants. We continue to oppose government and utility plans to implement this ‘pluthermal’ program.

Green Action is also campaigning to prevent the start-up of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan. If operated, this plant would separate out as much as 7 or 8 tons of nuclear weapons usable plutonium a year. We also work with other citizen groups to build national opposition to Japan’s fast breeder reactor, Monju. Green Action is the international office for and co-founder of Stop Nuclear Waste Campaign.

Green Action networks regularly with domestic and international citizen groups to address pertinent issues concerning Japan’s plutonium program. We petition and hold negotiations with government agencies and electric utilities, initiate or participate in legal action, inform and lobby policymakers, brief and alert media and countries on the route of Japanese nuclear shipments, send delegations abroad, and invite international speakers to Japan. We also address policy change at government roundtables and symposia.

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See also
• LINKS PAGE
• VIDEOS PAGE
• TOP OF BLOG for more recent posts
• recent Fukushima & related updates for nuclear news, background info, links and actions -

whats up: NUCLEAR VIDEOS: The Retrosic - bomb & "Victory At Sea"
Beyond Nuclear - Radiation & Health What's New - Cancer panel to issue final report. *** Please give comments!
telling the truth about radiation
"DON'T DIG HERE" | Musicians United for Safe Energy | Nukes, Earthquakes & Hurricanes
Atomic Cover-Up: The Hidden Story Behind the U.S. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Truth About Nuclear Power | Lethal Levels of Radiation
Diablo Canyon | Need To Know | It Can Happen Here
You can't see it, and you can't smell it either | Nuclear Nightmare Unfolding
Three Nuclear Meltdowns, Radiation Leaked into Sea; U.S. Waste Poses Deadly Risks
Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe Update | Related News
Nuclear Safety is an Oxymoron | How will broken-melting-fuming-leaking Fukushima Daiichi weather Monster Typhoon?
What's going on at Japan's damaged nuclear power plant?
End the nuclear loan program now | Quaint Vermont fixer-upper
Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown Confirmed
abolish atomic - new art | news from Beyond Nuclear | TAKE ACTION
Learning from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster? | Unsafe at Any Dose
We do not want atom!
Fallout? | Delay Licensing! | Evacutation? | Taxes?
NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW - Flyer
Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 | Downwinders | Nuclear Law
25th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster | NUCLEAR "SAFTEY" = NUCLEAR THREAT
Anti-nuclear movement | California Nukes
Arnie Gundersen on Current Fukushima Daiichi Situation
Deepak Chopra homebase: Fukushima ~ Indian Point, NY
Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth
Fukushima a "Ticking Time Bomb"
Nuclear Catastrophe in Japan “Not Equal to Chernobyl, But Way Worse”
Nuclear Power = Crime Against Humanity
Obama: No Money for Nukes!
Pacifica Nuclear Teach-in | The Code Killers by Ace Hoffman
Nuclear Obama, Radioactive Boars & Frogs of Fukushima
fukushima plutonium
Fukushima still fuming - nuclear catastrophe update
MARCH ARCHIVE

---

CHECK FOR NEWS
• google news ~ "Fukushima + nuclear"
• top of blog
• news feeds below

---

-!- fukushima nuclear power plant japan nuclear crisis nuclear disaster radiation catastrophe radioactive fallout nuclear energy safety hazard environment ecology pollution -!-

---

NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW

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