After years of setbacks, Japanese unfit for nuclear energy projects - The Mainichi

According to a well-known joke about the national traits of Europeans, it is heaven if the chefs are French, the engineers are German and the bankers are Swiss and it is hell if the chefs are British, the engineers are French and the bankers are Italian."

After years of setbacks, Japanese unfit for nuclear energy projects - The Mainichi

what next: People's Climate Movement ::: March on April 29 ::: Lets Do This!

Join the People’s Climate Movement this April 29th in Washington, D.C. and across the country to stand up for our communities and climate.

Throughout the first 100 days in office, the People's Climate Movement is organizing a country-wide arc of action, culminating on April 29th in Washington DC in a powerful mobilization to unite all of our movements. To change everything, we need everyone.

People's Climate Movement 2017

Tell Your Senators to Oppose Dirty Perry! NIRS

Tell Your Senators to Oppose Dirty Perry! NOW is the time. Call and write to your Senator TODAY to VOTE NO to Rick Perry for DOE Secretary!

Tell Your Senators: Please vote NO against Rick Perry for Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary. Keep Nuclear Waste off our Roads, Waterways, Rails—Stop Perry from heading US DOE!

VOTE NO to Rick Perry for Department of Energy Secretary because:

1)  He is a Climate Change Denier

2)  He has strong Conflicts of Interest with nuclear and fossil fuel companies. Perry only recently stepped off the Board of Dakota Access pipeline owners and has a long history of supporting the WCS nuclear dump.

3)  His support for Waste Control Specialists (WCS) nuclear waste company (whose owner, the late Harold Simmons, was one of Perry’s biggest contributors) and his connections to AFCI (another hopeful dump company) could trigger thousands of shipments of intensely radioactive waste on our roads, rails and waterways, through cities and breadbasket farmlands, putting much of the nation at unnecessary risk for decades, without solving the nuclear waste problem. He is likely to support the private companies’ efforts to profit from moving high level waste across the country, exposing communities and travelers, putting the public at unnecessary risk. US taxpayers would be liable while companies friendly to Perry profit.

4)  Perry has shown that special interests weigh more than the well-being of American taxpayers and environmental justice concerns.

Perry's longstanding ties to WCS would present a conflict of interest in his role as Energy Secretary, and would require that recuse himself from involvement in both that project and development of legislation that may benefit WCS or other proposed Texas nuclear waste storage sites. We cannot have a DOE Secretary whose integrity in developing nuclear waste policy and management programs could be so compromised, the independence of whose judgment on matters of such national importance would constantly be in question, or who would have to abstain altogether from major activities of the agency of which he is supposed to be in charge.

Perry would be the father of the largest hazardous shipping campaign ever: thousands of radioactive trucks and railcars traveling through most of the continental US states, and by barge on rivers, ocean and Great Lakes coasts through some of our largest cities to a site that is supposedly temporary. That is bad policy; it is bad planning and I ask you to hold the Department of Energy to a higher standard. Do not support Dirty Perry for Secretary of Energy.

SIGN NOW

via Nuclear Information and Resource Service

Nuclear Hotseat #292: Chernobyl/Fukushima Mutations – Mousseau + Small Modular Reactors w/Don Safer

Womens March, 2017 | Sheila-Parks

Chernobyl/Fukushima on-the-ground research into radiation mutations completely contradicts nuke industry's "official" line: Dr. Timothy Mousseau is there and shares it all. Plus: Why does TVA/Oak Ridge push so hard for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)? Don Safer of Tenn. Enviro. Council explains the possibilities. Libbe HaLevy's Nuclear Hotseat 292.

LISTEN

Time and money run out for nuclear revival - Climate News NetworkClimate News Network

Nuclear industry faces uncertain future as the building boom instigated by the need for low-carbon electricity is hit by unexpected costs and delays.

It is now clear that solar farms and
wind turbines produce cheaper power
than new nuclear will ever be able to

LONDON, 11 January, 2017 – The prospects for expansion of the nuclear industry worldwide look worse in 2017 than at any time since the first atom stations were built in the 1950s.

Toshiba, the giant Japanese company that owns the American reactor designer Westinghouse, is the latest company to face financial difficulties due to unforeseen cost overruns and delays that run into billions of dollars.

Westinghouse Electric’s troubles began after it bought construction contractor CB&I Stone & Webster and then had to write down the value of the acquisition by billions of dollars because of problems with building four new reactors for US utilities...

READ: Time and money run out for nuclear revival - Climate News NetworkClimate News Network

Nuclear Power is Not Clean and Green, Period | DiaNuke.org

…Nuclear power lobbyists and their marketing firms want us to believe that humankind’s current CO2 atmospheric releases would have been much worse were it not for those 438 power plants now operating. How much worse? The World Nuclear Association industry trade group estimates that an additional 1.1 gigatons of CO2 would have been created in 2015 if natural gas plants supplied the electricity instead of those 438 nukes. Worldwide, all those nuclear power plants made only a 3 percent dent in yearly CO2 production.Put another way, each of the 438 individual nuclear plants contribute less than seven thousandths of one percent to CO2 reduction. That’s hardly enough to justify claims that keeping your old local power plant running is necessary to prevent the sea from rising…

…Let’s not recreate the follies of the 20th century by recycling this atomic technology into the 21st century. The evidence proves that new nuclear power plants will make global climate change worse due to huge costs and delayed implementation periods. Lift the CO2 smoke screen and implement the alternative solutions that are available now — faster to implement and much less expensive.

READ: Nuclear Power is Not Clean and Green, Period | DiaNuke.org

A report of 1/11/17 NNA Rally・1/11/17 抗議集会事後報告 | No Nukes Action Committee (SF)

Our 54th and the very first of 2017 Every 11th of Monthly Rally went on the cloudy day, just on the next day of heavy rainy day. It was very fortunate that the sky was cooperating.

There were eight strong activists. And we made sure this protest will go on.

The half of us spoke out.  One of them was Don from Abalone Alliance and Ricardo from Puerto Rico.

The letter to PM Abe was written and read by Steve Zeltzer. Attached please see the bottom.

Unfortunately there was no internet Ustream by IWJ.SF office at this time. Though we are expecting to have the video shooting at 2/11.

We’ll see you again at the next 2/11 Rally!

*

干ばつに続き洪水と両極端な天候の中、前の日の雨がやっと収まり、１月１１日は曇りの中を８人が集まり、今年も政府への抗議を続けていくことを確認しました。なぜなら６年近くたった今も、福島第一は事故収束に困難をきたし、健康被害が増加し、当初の予想をずっと上回り原発処理費が２１・５兆円も必要だといわれています。　いろいろなことが滞ったままなのです。それでも、政府は大多数の国民の声を押しつぶし、再稼働、原発輸出を推進しています。

プエルトリコからの活動家もスピークアウトをし、不正義への抗議の重要さを訴えました。

今回は都合により、IWJ・SF支局さんのインターネット中継はありませんでした。

毎回首相あてに手紙を書いていますが、今回はステイーブ・ゼルツアーが書き、朗読しました。添付を参照ください。

それでは次回２月１１日にはもっと多くの人が参加してくれることを願います。

『沈黙は容認なり』

reported by NNA member Chizu Hamada

− letter to PM Abe −

 1/11 NNA Letter To PM Abe

Dear PM Abe,

We are here to day at the San Francisco Japanese consulate on January 11, 2017  to call for the immediate halt of the restarting of Japan’s remaining nuclear plants. The Fukushima nuclear plant contamination and clean up continues more than five years after the disaster.
You have also told the people of Japan that the area around the plant has been decontaminated yet radioactive material continues to spew out of the plant and even the rain of Fukushima is contaminated.

Even with these facts you and your government are demanding that the children and families return to Fukushima and they will lose their housing subsidies. This is unconscionable. Although there have already been over 175 cases of thyroid cancers you now want young children and their families and yet you want these children and family to return. Although the government is now really the owner and operator of TEPCO you are allowing subcontractors  including even Yakuza to employ clean-up workers who have not been properly trained on working with radioactive material. Many of these workers are not properly protected and will be contaminated and end up with cancer and other diseases without government compensation. We demand an end to the use of private contractors by your government.

You have also told the International Olympic committee that the problem at Fukushima  is over yet even though  the government’s budget for this clean up is exploding with no end in sight. The billions of dollars for so called "decontamination" have gone to contractors that are the same funders of your party and government.

Your continued reliance on nuclear power has also created a financial crisis for Toshiba which purchased the Westinghouse nuclear division. It is now virtually bankrupt because of the massive expenditures to make the unsafe and inefficient plants work  in the United States. The reliance and support for nuclear power are unsustainable.  We support energy efficiency based on non-fossile fuel technology like solar panels and other renewable products. We also warn not only the Japanese people but the American people that these nuclear plants are virtual time bombs with a highly dangerous accumulation of thousands of used waste material and rods with no place to go. There is no solution to the disposal of this nuclear waste at all the plants in Japan and the US and the continued operation of these plants will only add to the nuclear waste and contamination. We also oppose the growing militarization of Japan and the Asia Pacific. We do not need more bases in Japan whether they be US bases in Okinawa or other bases in the region.

The use of secrecy laws and a proposed "conspiracy laws" as well  to silence political opposition and to intimidate those opposed to nuclear power must be stopped. We know that these laws have already been used to intimidate the threaten journalists in Japan in according to the U.N. Special Rapporteur David Kaye who reported that journalists and free speech rights are under attack. "Japanese journalists were feeling pressured to avoid sensitive topics, and that some told of being sidelined because of complaints from politicians. "The independence of the press is facing serious threats — a weak system of legal protection, persistent government exploitation of a media lacking in professional solidarity," We call for the cancellation of these laws and the right of journalists and the media to fully cover the real conditions of Fukushima.

Today we also stand with the majority of people of Japan who have opposed the continued restarting of these nuclear power plants. Even two former prime ministers Koizumi and Kan have opposed the restarting of these plants because they understand that another Fukushima type disaster could destroy Japan completely. One has to wonder how you and your government could take a gamble that could possibly destroy the entire country. Japan is a small island and there is no place to escape.

We stand for the defense of the people of Japan, our world environment and the survival of the planet. Our voices will not be silenced.

Steve Zeltzer

No Nukes Action Committee

A report of 1/11/17 NNA Rally・1/11/17 抗議集会事後報告 | No Nukes Action Committee

Tell President-Elect Trump: Stop the $100+ Billion Nuclear Bailout!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN

Act Now for 100% Clean Energy!

With the election results in, we know that hard times for climate action and clean energy are ahead. But this election was not a referendum for climate denial and dirty energy. We need to mobilize now to stop the bad ideas that are coming.

Dirty energy corporations are already trying to get a jump on the political transition in order to block the shift to renewable energy, including pushing a massive bailout to prop up dirty, old, dangerous nuclear power plants—and they want the next President to make it a national policy, costing $280 billion by 2030.

For the same money, we could get four times more renewable energy than nuclear power, and accelerate the transition to a 100% renewable energy economy--carbon-free AND nuclear-free.

Join us in calling on President-elect Trump, and every state governor, to end subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear power—and to oppose the nuclear power bailout. This outrageous scheme is starting at the state level, and the industry began pushing presidential candidates take it nationwide even before the election.

The United States can make energy a force for good, both domestically and abroad:

Making sure our kids have clean, healthy air, land, and water.

Creating millions of good jobs and building a prosperous, stable economy.

Making energy affordable, so no one has to choose between the power bill and the grocery bill.

We need to begin pushing President-elect Trump, and our state governors, to say no to the nuclear power bailout, and put our energy dollars to work creating millions of jobs through a clean energy revolution.

SIGN NOW

Call for Endorsement of and Participation in Anti-Nuke Fukushima Action on March 11 | No Nukes Action Committee

1/11 SF Japan Consulate Speak-Out Stop Restarting Japan's Nuclear Reactors Evacuate Children and Families From Fukushima
Wednesday January 11, 2017 3:00 PM
San Francisco Japanese Consulate
275 Battery St./California St.
San Francisco

On Wednesday January 11, 2017, there will be a speak out against the restarting of more than 40 of Japan's nuclear power plants. The government has told the residents of Fukushima that it is safe but independent surveys show that it is still highly contaminated. Over 175 children have already been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and this is expanding. While the government is subsidizing Tokyo Electric Power Company which has had to be nationalized the Abe government is telling families and children that they have to return to Fukushima or their subsidy will be cut. The are economically pressuring the refugees to return to a dangerous contaminated area in order to pretend that they have "decontaminated" Fukushima. Even former prime ministers Koizumi and Kan are against restarting the nuclear power plants but the government is pushing ahead.

Railroad workers who area with rank and file rail unions Doro-Mito (National Railway Motive Power Union of Mito) and Doro-Chiba (National Railway Motive Power Union of Chiba) are also protesting the plans to re-open the rail lines even with the contamination and there have been strikes and protests against this policy.

They also have passed a "secrecy law" that is being used to intimidate and silence reporters and citizens from speaking out and investigating the growing and continuing Fukushima disaster. The cost is monumental yet they are taking action that will lead to another Fukushima with Japan being located on the "ring of fire" where massive earthquakes are certain to hit again.

The Abe government also told the International Olympic Committee and the people of the world that the Fukushima "problem" had been solved. This flagrant and blatant falsification has been exposed again and again following the declaration from the Abe government including the continuing massive costs of supposedly "cleaning up" the catastrophe.

The Abe government is also preparing a "conspiracy bill" that will be used to silence all those who even opposed nuclear power. The people of the United States need to stand with the people of Japan in their efforts to keep the plants shut down and the protection of families and children in Fukushima.

Speak Out and Rally initiated by
No Nukes Action Committee
http://nonukesaction.wordpress.com/

written by NNA member Steve Zeltzer

Call for Endorsement of and Participation in Anti-Nuke Fukushima Action on March 11 | No Nukes Action Committee

As a U.S. Business, Nuclear Power Stinks @POWERmagazine

Regardless of one’s views of the social values of nuclear power — compelling cases can be made all around — as a business proposition nuclear stinks. 

The latest evidence comes from the giant Japanese conglomerate Toshiba, which saw a third of its market value vanish in two days of trading (20% in one day, a free-fall stopped only by a limit to trading losses imposed by the Japanese stock market). Credit rating agencies promptly downgraded the company’s debt...

more: As a U.S. Business, Nuclear Power Stinks

Great Lakes-Nuclear Waste story | The Modesto Bee

Company stands by plan to bury nuke waste near Lake Huron

A Canadian company that wants to bury waste from nuclear power plants less than a mile from Lake Huron says a study of alternative sites has found none better than a location already being considered

By JOHN FLESHER

AP Environmental Writer

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A Canadian company that wants to bury waste from nuclear power plants near Lake Huron said Tuesday a study of alternative sites had found none better than a location already targeted, which has drawn strong opposition on both sides of the border.

Ontario Power Generation said it had submitted additional studies ordered nearly a year ago by the Canadian Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, which twice has delayed a ruling on the company's underground disposal plan. The agency said recently it expects to make a decision this summer or fall.

The company's preferred site is on the grounds of the Bruce Power Generating Station near Kincardine, Ontario, the world's largest nuclear power complex, which has eight reactors. The proposal calls for burying low- and intermediate-level waste such as clothing, brooms and discarded machinery — some of which could remain dangerously toxic for thousands of years — about 2,230 feet underground.... [more]

… "Water is Life," said Beverly Fernandez, the group's spokeswoman. "No matter what process is followed, burying radioactive waste beside the Great Lakes, the irreplaceable drinking water for 40 million people, will always be a bad idea."

FULL ARTICLE: Correction: Great Lakes-Nuclear Waste story | The Modesto Bee