Monday, March 28, 2016

Nuclear Hotseat #249: Three Mile Island 37th Anniversary SPECIAL – Eric Epstein of TMI Alert



Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident – 37 Years Later

Historical Audio ŸŸ-Ÿ First-Person AccountsOfficial Errors – Mutations and Deaths – Lack of Accountability

What it was like on the ground at the first major commercial nuclear power reactor accident in US history… and what has happened in the 37 years since.

Featuring:

  • Eric Epstein of Three Mile Island Alert
  • Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Energy Education
  • Peter Bradford, former Commissioner at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown
  • Middletown resident Mary Stamos
  • Walter Cronkite and members of the mainstream broadcast media

LISTEN: Nuclear Hotseat #249: Three Mile Island 37th Anniversary SPECIAL – Eric Epstein of TMI Alert




Nuclear Power Plants: Pre-Deployed WMDs

Karl Grossman's new piece in COUNTERPUNCH –

"Pre-deployed weapons of mass destruction. That’s what nuclear power plants are. And that’s another very big reason—demonstrated again in recent days with the disclosure
that two of the Brussels terrorists were planning attacks on Belgian nuclear plants—why they must be eliminated."

read: Nuclear Power Plants: Pre-Deployed WMDs

▶ NO NUKES DAY 2016 デモ行進[渋谷コース] - 2016.3.26



NO NUKES DAY 2016 デモ行進[渋谷コース] - 2016.3.26 - YouTube
Published on Mar 27, 2016 by rioakiyama
2016年3月26日(土)に東京都渋谷区で行われた『NO NUKES DAY 2016』デモ行進[渋谷コース]の記録映像です。

3万5000人が参加した集会の後、3コースに分かれてデモを行いました。
この映像は渋谷コースです。

撮影・編集:秋山理央
機材:SONY HDR-PJ790V、Hague Mini Motion-Cam

秋山理央
http://ar-journal.tumblr.com/
http://twitter.com/RIO_AKIYAMA
http://rfourth.jp/demo/shushi.html
メールフォーム
http://form1.fc2.com/form/?id=698764


Monday, March 21, 2016

3.25 #NuclearIsDirty Webinar: Canaries in the Uranium Mine: The Abandoned Uranium Mine Crisis and the Campaign to Clean Them Up | Registration


As part of our #NuclearIsDirty roll-out series, NIRS is hosting a webinar on a vast but little-known environmental justice problem: abandoned uranium mines, or AUMs. There are 15,000 abandoned mines throughout the Midwest and Western U.S., disproportionately on or near First Nations communities and their drinking water supplies.

On Friday's webinar, we will hear from indigenous activists about the toxic wastes of uranium mining, the environmental justice and public health impacts, and their efforts to remediate these sites and protect their communities: 

Klee Benally, Diné - Clean Up the Mines organizer 


Charmaine White Face, Lakota - Defenders of the Black Hills 
Petuuche Gilbert, Acoma - Laguna and Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment 

Last week, we featured a briefing on the Church Rock mill tailings disaster, the largest single radiological release in U.S. history. Listen to or share the recording here: 
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/week1-briefing-churchrock-20160317.mp3 

But Church Rock was not an "accident" because it is just the tip of the dirty, radioactive iceberg. Uranium extraction is an inherently dangerous and destructive industry, creating vast amounts of radioactive and toxic waste before a single fuel rod ever goes into a reactor.  

First Nations communities in the rural Midwest and Western US have habitually been targeted for uranium and other dirty mining and resource extraction. In some communities, ambient radioactivity is as high or higher than in Chernobyl and Fukushima exclusion zones. Communities are fighting back. Navajo have won and defended a ban on uranium mining on their territory for over 10 years. And now Diné, Lakota, Acoma, and other First Nations activists are leading the Clean Up the Mines campaign. The goal: to remediate the 15,000 abandoned uranium mines and protect communities and their water.


Registration


#NuclearIsDirty ... From the Start! In the first "episode" of the rollout series we are focusing on the roots of nuclear power, the problems that are the very foundation of the nuclear industry: 
- Uranium mining and the mountains of waste generated just to produce nuclear fuel.
- Environmental justice, and the targeting of vulnerable communities throughout the fuel chain.
- The dangers of radiation exposure, and its disparate impacts on women and girls...


more: http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5502/t/0/blastContent.jsp

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Fukushima's organic farmers still battle stigma | The Japan Times


Close monitoring: At Orgando, a restaurant and mini-market in Tokyo, organic produce grown by Fukushima farmers is labeled with the amount of radioactive isotopes it contains to ease consumers fears. | © ORGANDO

“All publicity is good publicity.” Nowhere does this specious PR maxim ring more hollow than in Fukushima Prefecture. As if the horrors of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant weren’t traumatic enough, the region’s economic and agricultural recovery has been severely hampered by the reputational damage it has suffered since 3/11. If you think that’s difficult, try farming organically in Fukushima.
Falling prices and an aging agrarian population have made things tough for farmers all over Japan, but the presence of the word “Fukushima” on a supermarket label is often enough to discourage shoppers from buying produce, organic or not, grown in the area. Regardless of how far from contaminated areas it was grown — Fukushima is Japan’s third-largest prefecture — the region’s produce can’t easily shake the stigma of radiation...

more: Fukushima's organic farmers still battle stigma | The Japan Times


Tuesday, March 15, 2016

#NuclearIsDirty | GreenWorld | NIRS


From the beginning of the nuclear fuel chain exemplified here by Australia’s Ranger uranium mine, to the end of the chain characterized by lethal radioactive waste with no scientifically-defensible storage method, nuclear energy is dirty energy.


NIRS is launching a new campaign today, called #NuclearIsDirty. Over the next twelve weeks, we will be rolling it out through a series of online events, publications, and social media forums. #NuclearIsDirty is a forum to inform the public of the real environmental impacts of nuclear power, from the mining of uranium and production of reactor fuel, all the way through to the long-term storage and management of radioactive waste.
The rollout series will follow the story of that nuclear fuel chain, combining technical information with testimony from real people whose communities are affected. As you know from our commentary and advocacy in the pages of GreenWorld, NIRS is committed to a nuclear-free, carbon-free world, and strong action on global warming and climate justice. We believe the transition to 100% renewable energy is not just possible, it is necessary.
The human and environmental costs of nuclear power are not abstract... 

more: #NuclearIsDirty | GreenWorld

Nuclear is Dirty: By all rights, nuclear power is on its way out. And that is thanks to the actions of thousands of activists like you, all across the country. Last week's fifth anniversary of the ongoing Fukushima Dai-Ichi disaster was the warning; this week's kick-off of NIRS' #NuclearIsDIrty! campaign is the answer.



Monday, March 14, 2016

▶ intro - #nuclearisdirty | NIRS



nukesaredirtyintro - YouTube
Published on Mar 14, 2016 by nirsnet
Nuclear power is dirty--from cradle to grave. At the beginning of the fuel chain, uranium mining, milling, processing and enrichment cause widespread environmental devastation and produces enormous quantities of radioactive and toxic waste. Nuclear reactor operation results in routine releases of dangerous radioactivity into our air and water, and, as shown at Chernobyl and Fukushima, major reactor accidents can make areas of our planet permanently uninhabitable. The radioactive waste generated by reactors is nearly instantly lethal, and will remain hazardous for millenia. And, to date, there is no scientifically-defensible, publicly-acceptable solution for radioactive waste storage.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Statistically assessing of the risks of commercial nuclear energy | Scientists for Global Responsibility


As we approach the 5th anniversary of the Fukushima emergency and 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Spencer Wheatley, Prof Benjamin Sovacool and Prof Didier Sornette argue that the risks of another major nuclear accident are much greater than the industry believes.

Statistically assessing of the risks of commercial nuclear energy | Scientists for Global Responsibility




Saturday, March 12, 2016

EDITORIAL: Despite utilities’ attempts, nuclear safety myth can never be revived - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun


Japan should become a society that is not dependent on nuclear power generation as quickly as possible.
Five years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated wide areas in the northeastern Tohoku region on March 11, 2011, triggering the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Our editorials will continue arguing for a nuclear-free future for Japanese society...

more: EDITORIAL: Despite utilities’ attempts, nuclear safety myth can never be revived - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun


Kakrapar Nuclear Plant Is Likely Undergoing A Loss-Of-Coolant Accident | DiaNuke.org


The Kakrapar Unit-I nuclear reactor in Gujarat is undergoing a moderately large leakage of heavy water from its Primary Heat Transport (PHT) system since 9.00 AM on March 11,2016. From the very limited information released by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) of the government , as well as from the conversations I had with press people who have been in touch with nuclear officials, few inferences can be drawn...

>>> Kakrapar Nuclear Plant Is Likely Undergoing A Loss-Of-Coolant Accident: Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan
 || updates –
DiaNuke.org


Thursday, March 10, 2016

Fukushima: The misery piles up | Pursuit by University of Melbourne




Five years on from the Fukushima nuclear disaster there is now an emerging thyroid cancer epidemic and 174,000 people are still displaced


Fukushima: The misery piles up | Pursuit by University of Melbourne

Nuclear Scars | Greenpeace International




It is 30 years since the beginning of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It is also five years since the Fukushima disaster began. To mark these anniversaries, Greenpeace has commissioned substantial reviews of scientific studies examining the continued radioactive contamination in the affected areas, and the health and social effects on the impacted populations. We have also carried out radiation field work to expose the unrelenting crises in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Japan that thousands of people still live with on a daily basis.

more / download report (pdf): Nuclear Scars | Greenpeace International

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

★0311再稼働反対!首相官邸前抗議 | 首都圏反原発連合




NO NUKES! ENERGY AUTONOMY!
0311再稼働反対!首相官邸前抗議

福島原発事故から5年、金曜官邸前抗議開始から4年。
脱原発社会の実現への新たなる決意を込め、3月11日は首相官邸前抗議と国会正門前大集会へ!
<日時>
2016年3月11日(金)18:00〜20:00
<場所>
首相官邸前&国会正門前(南庭側)
首相官邸前エリア:コール中心の抗議を行います。
国会前大集会:著名人や政治家をゲストスピーカーに迎えた集会です。
<主催>
首都圏反原発連合 -Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes-

*アクセス
<首相官邸前・国会正門前>
最寄り駅:東京メトロ丸ノ内線・千代田線「国会議事堂前駅」、東京メトロ南北線・銀座線「溜池山王駅」、東京メトロ有楽町線・半蔵門線・南北線「永田町駅」、東京メトロ丸ノ内線・千代田線・日比谷線「霞ヶ関駅」、東京メトロ有楽町線「桜田門駅」

★0311再稼働反対!首相官邸前抗議 | 首都圏反原発連合


New #petition: Stop #Hinkley nuclear plant and spend the money on renewable instead | Greenpeace UK




Hinkley nuclear plant has suffered a further blow. The finance director for EDF, the French energy firm that plans to build the nuclear reactor, has resigned amid rumours that going ahead with the new nuclear plant could leave the company in ruins.
For almost a decade, Hinkley nuclear plant has suffered delay after delay. It's a project that is not only stands to suck up huge amounts of cash, it's directing valuable time and resources away from where the UK should be investing -- renewable energy and energy efficiency.
That's why we've launched a new petition calling on George Osborne to do what he should have done years ago and scrap the project. Here's the email I just sent out to Greenpeace's list.
Hi there,
George Osborne could be about to make a huge mistake.
He's preparing to spend billions on a new nuclear plant at Hinkley in Somerset. If it goes ahead, Hinkley is set to be the most expensive object on Earth [1] – sucking up huge amounts of money that could be spent on renewable energy instead.
But right now we’ve got a chance to stop him. The finance director of EDF -- the energy firm that plans to build the reactor -- just resigned amid concerns that Hinkley could plunge the company into a financial black hole.
It’s going to be pretty embarrassing for George Osborne if he ploughs on when Hinkley’s cost could bankrupt the company building it. So let's seize this moment to turn up the pressure on the chancellor. Let's tell him now’s the time to scrap Hinkley -- and spend consumers’ cash on renewable energy instead.
If George Osborne pushes ahead, Hinkley will be the first nuclear plant built in the UK in two decades. But the chancellor's plans are going nowhere fast. The reactor design is so complicated that no one's sure if it will even work. One nuclear expert went so far as to call it "unconstructable" [2]. And three other power stations -- in France, Finland and China -- that are trying to use the same type of reactor are suffering from huge delays too.
The cost of the project is staggering. Best guesses say Hinkley could pass £24 billion -- easily making it the most expensive power station in world history.
Personally I'm shocked that George 'Austerity' Osborne can keep on backing Hinkley, even as the cost keeps going up and up. Can you help tell him that thousands of us think that backing renewable energy is a better use of our cash? Sign the petition here:
https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/stop-hinkley
While Hinkley nuclear plant has spent almost a decade in limbo, renewable power projects have been far quicker to build. The London Array -- the world's biggest offshore wind farm -- took less than three years to construct. And even if building Hinkley was to begin tomorrow, by the time it's up and running the cost of renewable energy will have dropped even further.
Though George Osborne might tell us we need Hinkley to keep the lights on, we know this is far from the truth. Recent research showed that as soon as 2030, the UK could be powered almost entirely by renewables [3]. The UK is one of the windiest places in Europe, we’ve got huge untapped potential in solar power, and we're surrounded by sea too. If you agree that natural sources of energy like these should top government investment, not more risky and expensive nuclear power, please sign the petition now:
https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/stop-hinkley
Thanks for being involved,
Richard Casson
Greenpeace UK
NOTES
1. http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2014/12/why-is-britain-building-the-most-expensive-object-ever/
2. http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2014/11/20/comment-trouble-hinkleys-reactor-design/
3. http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/replace-coal-power-without-trashing-planet-20151124


New petition: Stop Hinkley nuclear plant and spend the money on renewable instead | Greenpeace UK


Saturday, March 5, 2016

7 engineers at U.S. agency go public with nuclear safety concern | syracuse.com


SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Seven electrical engineers who work for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have taken the unusual step of petitioning the NRC as private citizens in hopes of compelling regulators to fix a "significant safety concern'' that affects all but one of the nation's 100 nuclear plants...
7 engineers at U.S. agency go public with nuclear safety concern | syracuse.com


Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Nuclear Hotseat #245: UN/UNSCEAR Fukushima Lies Exposed – IPPNW’s Dr. Alex Rosen





Nuclear Hotseat #245: UN/UNSCEAR Fukushima Lies Exposed – IPPNW’s Dr. Alex Rosen – ENCORE

http://nuclearhotseat.com/2016/03/02/nuclear-hotseat-245-ununscear-fukushima-lies-exposed-ippnws-dr-alex-rosen-encore/

MARCH 2, 2016

This Week’s Featured Interview:

  • Dr. Alex Rosen, a German pediatrician who is Vice President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).  On behalf of that group, he takes on the United Nations’ UNSCEAR report on Fukushima that drastically, perhaps criminally downplayed the health dangers of that ongoing nuclear disaster.
  • pdf transcript of this interview is available in both English and German if you CLICK HERE
  • The IPPNW’s Critical Analysis of the UNSCEAR report on Fukushima is available in English, German and Japanese translations if you CLICK HERE.

Listen Here:

Numnutz of the Week:

TEPCO starts incinerating more than 66,000 special containers of radioactive workers’ protective suits, gloves, masks with no radioactivity monitoring for the resulting release of particulate matter.  But the  day after the burning starts, to solve their future problems, TEPCO begins allowing workers to be on-site at Fukushima Daiichi WITHOUT any kind of protective clothing.

The Missing Link(s):

COMPLETE / FOR LINKS: Nuclear Hotseat #245: UN/UNSCEAR Fukushima Lies Exposed – IPPNW’s Dr. Alex Rosen – ENCORE