Nuclear Hotseat #122: Puncturing Pandora's Propaganda w/Beyond Nuclear's Linda Gunter | Nuclear Hotseat

Japan’s PM Abe-Baby (center) and friends chow down on Fukushima seafood

INTERVIEW: Beyond Nuclear’s Linda Gunter, Physicians for Social Responsibility’s John W. Rachow and nuclear physicist Dr. M.V. Ramana give us the facts to counter CNN’s November airings of the pro-nuclear propaganda film “Pandora’s Promise.” Listen to learn how you can be ready to counter the lies, distortions, omissions and pro-nuclear spin-speak by using the information they provide for your op-eds, letters to the editor and more.

LISTEN NOW > Nuclear Hotseat #122: Puncturing Pandora's Propaganda w/Beyond Nuclear's Linda Gunter | Nuclear Hotseat

LINK TO BEYOND NUCLEAR’S “PANDORA’S FALSE PROMISES” DOCUMENTS – 2-page hand-out and full report:

http://www.beyondnuclear.org/pandoras-false-promises/

PLUS:

• Fukushima‘s radiation releases continue to spike;
• Highly radioactive rainwater overflows TEPCO‘s Fukushima dams after rainfall as TWO typhoons bear down on Japan promising more of the same;
• The world’s voices rise demanding that Fukushima be managed by an international coalition of experts instead of just TEPCO;
• Pink salmon turns canary yellow in British Columbia;
• Koodankulam NPP starts up despite six years of community protests;
• and Japan’s capitalists set to make a killing by selling lead-lined underwear and wetsuits.

LINKS: “The Ocean is Broken” – http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2013/10/21/environment-ocean-broken/

• Sign Harvey Wasserman’s PETITION FOR GLOBAL INTERVENTION AT FUKUSHIMA:  http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/the-world-community-must
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• Full article:  FDA Refuses to Test Fish for radioactivity: http://birthofanewearth.blogspot.com/2013/08/fda-refuses-to-test-fish-for.html

Nuclear Hotseat #120: Nuclear Self-Deception w/ Dennis Riches & Great Lakes Nuke Dump w/Michael Leonardi | Nuclear Hotseat

INTERVIEWS:

• Dennis Riches, Tokyo resident and blogger at Nuclear Free by 2045 (nf2045.blogspot.com), on the psychology of nuclear self-deception, post-Fukushima life in Japan, and why he didn’t return to Canada with his wife and kids after the disaster began.
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• Michael Leonardi of Toledo Coalition for Safe Energy and the Coalition Against Nukes, on his experiences both before and after testifying against the Ontario Public Power’s proposed nuclear waste dump less than one mile from Lake Huron.  How safe from nuclear radiation would that make this 21% of the Earth’s fresh drinking water?  Listen and learn.

PLUS:

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• FDA “decision” to test or even ban foods from Japan is non-binding and essentially meaningless (SMOKE AND MIRRORS ALERT!);
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• North Carolina Utilities Commission gives Duke Energy permission to continue to gouge ratepayers for its nuclear debacles w/a 5% rate hike and guaranteed 10.2% profits;
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• Sweden’s Oskarshamn-3 reactor, located 211 miles south of Stockholm, shut down by raging jellyfish activists:
  • More cracks found in Davis-Besse containment vessel but the NRC thinks that’s just safe as safe can be!;
  • 
    
  • Nosebleed epidemic in Japan w/over 5,000 tweets in two days;
  • 70% of kids in Kanto region, south of Fukushima, have cesium in their urine;
  • 
    
  • 2011 increase in Japanese birth defects documented – more than 100 babies w/polydactyly – extra fingers or toes – waiting for operations
  • 
    
  • Michio Kaku labels TEPCO the equivalent of the Three Stooges:
    - Wo wo wo wo wo…!
  • 
    

LISTEN NOW > Nuclear Hotseat #120: Nuclear Self-Deception w/ Dennis Riches & Great Lakes Nuke Dump w/Michael Leonardi | Nuclear Hotseat

What's safe to eat? How can we know? | WHOI : Oceanus : Seafood Safety and Policy

The first trial sale of octopus caught off Fukushima began in June 2012, 15 months after the Dai-ichi nuclear plant explosion. (Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images)

In Japan, a nation that eats prodigious amounts of seafood, one question sits high on the list of public concerns: Is seafood caught after the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe safe for human consumption?

> WHOI : Oceanus : Seafood Safety and Policy

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Kindergarten Fukushima Science Project Says it All: “Now tuna fish in California have cesium. YUK!”

...focused on the fact that this deadly radiation is now contained within the bodies of tuna and other edible fish in the great Pacific...

Kindergartener, Savanna Urry was busy presenting her drawings, a poster setup, and an exclusively iPad shot and edited video, that all featured the nuclear topic, and focused on a very plain and daunting fact: The fact that deadly, and highly carcinogenic plutonium and cesium isotopes were spewed, and continue to be spewed into the Pacific Ocean to this very day from the world’s first, full blown, (triple) nuclear core MELT-THROUGH (many magnitudes more destructive than a traditional nuclear MELTDOWN because it enters groundwater tables). The project additionally featured and focused on the fact that this deadly radiation is now contained within the bodies of tuna and other edible fish in the great Pacific and beyond.

more/video: Kindergarten Fukushima Science Project Says it All: “Now tuna fish in California have cesium. YUK!” | EnviroNews

One U.S. Nuclear Reactor Uses as Much Water as All of D.C.

It takes the same amount of water required by a city of 5 million to fuel a typical U.S. nuclear power plant for one hour: 30 million gallons, Fast Company reports. Charles Fishman, author of the book The Big Thirst, notes that "the U.S. has 104 nuclear power plants--more than any other country, a quarter of all plants worldwide." As the world's largest energy consumer, "49% of the water used in the U.S. goes to generate electricity," Fishman notes. That's "the single largest use of water" in the country.

One U.S. Nuclear Reactor Uses as Much Water as All of D.C. - Technology - The Atlantic Wire

Charlie the tuna glows in the dark?

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Charlie the tuna glows in the dark? - YouTube

Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear joins Thom Hartmann. Now on to a story that - tragically - just won't go away: The Fukushima Nuclear crisis. Radioactive fish are now swimming in U.S. waters. Scientists have - for the first time - discovered Bluefin tuna that were contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan last year - swimming off the coast of California. Radioactive cesium ten times above the normal level was found in the fish - though health officials say the levels are too low to be considered a health threat. Then again - no amount of radiation is good for you. Meanwhile - back at the crippled nuclear plant - a bulge was detected in the walls of reactor four - increasing fears that the structure holding tens of thousands of highly radioactive spent fuel rods is not sound. Should the reactor four building give way - it could trigger a nuclear disaster even worse than Chernobyl.

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Deaths of ringed seals in Alaska | Fish Eaters

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seals deaths could be related to fukushima

Since mid-July, more than 60 dead and 75 diseased seals, most of them ringed seals, have been reported in Alaska, with reports continuing to come in. During their fall survey, scientists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also identified diseased and dead walruses at the annual mass haul-out at Point Lay.

is this from fukushima nuclear catastrophe radiation poisoning? - it could be.

my heart sunk when i saw the seal photos, like it hadn't since i watched the second reactor explosion... visions of dying sea life back then, and now here it is?

Unit 3 of Fukushima I explodes due to the ignition of built up hydrogen gas, on March 13, 2011. This is the reactor which has the extremely dangerous plutonium-laced MOX fuel... (photo enhanced for contrast and enlargement with several layers of noise, sharpening and blurring)

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see whats up: SECOND Fukushima Explosion: Japan Nuclear Plant Rocked By Hydrogen Explosion

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Is radiation causing Arctic Alaska ringed-seal deaths? | Alaska Dispatch | Alex DeMarban | Dec 23, 2011

The University of Alaska Fairbanks' Institute of Marine Sciences is launching an investigation into whether radiation, including possibly from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power-plant disaster in Japan, has harmed or killed more than 100 ringed seals off Alaska's coasts...

The work so far has yielded at least one important clue: "Tests indicate a virus is not the cause," said a recent press release from NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...

John Kelley, with the Institute of Marine Sciences at UAF, said he's just received a large batch of tissue from afflicted ringed seals and will soon begin the university's hunt for radiation as a possible cause...

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SFOS News: SFOS tests ringed seals for Fukoshima radiation | UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences

January 1, 2012 | Fairbanks, Alaska — With more than 135 dead and diseased ringed seals found off the Alaskan coast since July 2011, SFOS Professor Emeritus Dr. John Kelley is leading efforts to test ringed seals for radiation stemming from the March 2011 Fukoshima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan.

i have requested updates from the staff of the marine mammals division

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UPDATE Feb 17, from NOAA's NMFS:

see > whats up: update on diseased seals: Preliminary Assessment of Radionuclide Exposure

"At this point, scientists do not believe that radiation is a primary factor in this UME or that radiation is causing the symptoms and deaths in pinnipeds."

UPDATE Feb 8, from NOAA's NMFS:

"Thank you for your interest in this topic. As you know, NOAA is working collaboratively with many marine mammal experts throughout Alaska and the United States, as well as with a number of international scientists on this Unusual Mortality Event. We just posted an update at our website for this disease: http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/protectedresources/seals/ice/diseased/default.htm

"Our team continues to test for a wide variety of possible causes and contributing factors such as bacterial, viral, fungal or toxic agents. In response to your question about possible link to the Fukushima nuclear event, our scientists believe this is highly unlikely. However, we do have scientists at two separate labs analyzing tissue samples for the possibility of radiation exposure. This is a rather complicated process, which includes drying the tissue samples by a particular method before radiation testing can be conducted--which explains the length of time involved in conducting these tests." - Public Affairs Officer, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Region - - ( thank you! )

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UPDATE Jan 20:

so far it appears that the NOAA press release is still current with no new info available regarding the cause of the disease - radiation testing is underway. i have received the following via email:

"The NOAA press releases are the most recent information on the diseased seals. News articles also reported on lack of a Fukushima signal in air filter surveys. WE have some tissue for analysis of radioactivity, but those results will not be available for at least a couple of months."

- and -
"...have just returned from the Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage and there were a number of presentations on the topic of the seal disease outbreak in the Arctic. It appears that the number of cases is going down, but it is unclear if this is due to a decrease in the actual disease outbreak or a lack of harvest during the winter months by subsistence hunters. Thus far all tests have been negative, so a cause has not yet been established. There a several analyses still pending.

"If you are interested in updates, NOAA has a listserve right now where information on the disease outbreak is being distributed.

"Send a blank email to:
subscribe-arctic_seal_disease@listserver.afsc.noaa.gov"

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...Seals and walruses suffering from this disease have skin sores, usually on the hind flippers or face, and patchy hair loss. Some of the diseased mammals have exhibited labored breathing and appear lethargic. Scientists have not yet identified a single cause for this disease, though tests indicate a virus is not the cause...

Necropsies and laboratory tests to date have found skin lesions in most cases, as well as fluid in the lungs, white spots on the liver, and abnormal growths in the brain. Some seals and walruses have undersized lymph nodes, which may indicate compromised immune systems.

Testing continues for a wide range of possible factors that may be responsible for the animals’ condition, including immune system-related diseases, fungi, man-made and bio-toxins, radiation exposure, contaminants, and stressors related to sea ice change.

Walruses and ringed seals in Russia, and ringed seals in Canada, have reportedly suffered similar symptoms. While it is not clear if the disease events are related, the timing and location of the disease suggests the possibility of transmission between the populations, or shared exposure to an environmental cause...

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News Release: Deaths of ringed seals in Alaska declared an unusual mortality event; walrus pending

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more > what next: Deaths of ringed seals in Alaska | Fukushima | Nanuuq's Prey: Ice Seals

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Fish Eaters Threatened by Fukushima Radiation

Evidence has emerged that the impacts of the disaster on the Pacific Ocean are worse than expected.

Since a tsunami and earthquake destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant last March, radioactive cesium has consistently been found in 60 to 80 per cent of Japanese fishing catches each month, as tested by Japan's Fisheries Agency.

Overall, one in five of the 1,100 catches tested in November exceeded the new ceiling of 100 becquerels per kilogram. (Canada's ceiling for radiation in food is much higher: 1,000 becquerels per kilogram.)

"I would probably be hesitant to eat a lot of those fish," said Nicholas Fisher, a marine sciences professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Cesium was especially prevalent in certain of the species:

• 73 per cent of mackerel tested

• 91 per cent of the halibut

• 92 per cent of the sardines

• 93 per cent of the tuna and eel

• 94 per cent of the cod and anchovies

• 100 per cent of the carp, seaweed, shark and monkfish

Some of the fish were caught in Japanese coastal waters. Other catches were made hundreds of kilometres away in the open ocean.

There, the fish also can be caught by fishers from dozens of other nations who fish in the waters of the Pacific.

Yet, Japan is the only country that appears to be systematically testing fish for radiation and publicly reporting the results. - The Vancouver Sun (reproduced on ReaderSupportedNews) *

Beyond Nuclear note: Although this story is about seafood concerns in Canada, it is worth noting that the US allowable contamination level is greater that both Japan and Canada, and that the US imports seafood and other foodstuffs from Japan. The Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) of the United States is allowing a contamination level of 1200 Bq/kg of just Cesium 134 and Cesium 137 to be present in food imports from Japan that are not banned outright. Foods banned outright seem mainly limited to only select items grown in the localized areas of contamination within Japan.

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Beyond Nuclear

> Canada: Fish Eaters Threatened by Fukushima Radiation | Reader Supported News

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UPDATE 2/17: whats up: update on diseased seals: Preliminary Assessment of Radionuclide Exposure: "At this point, scientists do not believe that radiation is a primary factor in this UME or that radiation is causing the symptoms and deaths in pinnipeds."

more > what next: Deaths of ringed seals in Alaska | Fukushima | Nanuuq's Prey: Ice Seals

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NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW

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No New Nukes! | FUKUSHIMA NOT "SHUT DOWN"

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No New Nukes! | Greenpeace

How can we possibly be thinking about building new nuclear reactors? Just one of the following would be reason enough for "No New Nukes!"

An Economic Disaster

If the nuclear industry and Wall Street financiers are unwilling to assume the economic risk of constructing new nuclear power plants, why should the American taxpayer?

Perhaps the Senate is betting that these new reactors will be better than the one hundred and three reactors that already exist? But consider the economic and safety meltdown experienced by the nuclear industry over the past thirty years. The Department of Energy (DOE) compared nuclear construction cost estimates to the actual final costs for 75 reactors. The original cost estimate was $45 billion. The actual cost was $145 billion! Forbes magazine recognized that this "failure of the U.S. nuclear power program ranks as the largest managerial disaster in business history, a disaster of monumental scale." According to Forbes, "only the blind, or the biased, can now think the money has been well spent." Despite the $100 billion cost overrun, Senator Pete Domenici wants to again give the nuclear industry billions in taxpayer dollars and guaranteed loans.

However, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the prospects for a second generation of nuclear reactors are equally abysmal. According to the CBO, the Department of Energy could provide loan guarantees for up to 50% of the construction costs for seven new nuclear power plants. However, the CBO considers the risk of default on these loans to be very high - well above 50 percent. It is little wonder that the three nuclear corporations that are attempting to site new nuclear reactors, Dominion Resources, Entergy and Exelon have stated that the numbers for new nuclear construction just don't add up.

The Most Dangerous Means to Boil Water

But bad economics is only part of the problem. The government's nuclear advisers have determined that these new nuclear designs constitute "a major safety trade-off" because they lack containment domes, the last line of defense protecting the public from a catastrophic release of radiation.

Nuclear power already is the most dangerous and expensive means yet devised to boil water. But when you add to this danger the threat of a terrorist attack, the continued support of nuclear power becomes unconscionable...

> more

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TAKE ACTION

• Put an end to the NRC's rubber stamp! (Greenpeace)

• Tell President Obama: End the nuclear loan program now! (NIRS)

• Call for a halt to reactor construction and ultimately, an end to nuclear power in the U.S. (Friends of the Earth)

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• 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.

• Act Now | NukeFree.org

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Redefining “Cold shutdown” doesn’t hide the truth about Fukushima | Greenpeace

A satellite image shows damage at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant In Fukushima Prefecture after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami (© DigitalGlobe)

The Japanese authorities stated last Friday that Fukushima is in a state of "cold shutdown. This is not true. At first glance, the announcement that the stricken nuclear reactors are now “stable”sounds like some rare good news from the disaster zone. Not at all. As we all know, first impressions can be deceptive.

The industry definition of “cold shutdown” means that the temperature inside a nuclear reactor has stabilized below 95℃ from the hellish temperatures of the nuclear fission process. In the case of Fukushima, this suggests the crisis is over. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, the Japanese authorities have cheated by redefining “cold shutdown” to suit the situation at Fukushima. Only operating nuclear reactors can be put into a state of “cold shutdown”. Reactors that have suffered meltdowns – like those at Fukushima – cannot be. The 260 tons of nuclear fuel inside the Fukushima reactors melted and burned through the steel floors of the containment vessels and into the thick concrete under pads. The melted fuel is far from under control. This means the temperature inside the reactor can’t be regulated by conventional means. Nobody at Fukushima actually knows what state this highly radioactive molten fuel is in or what temperature it is at because it’s obviously far too dangerous to go in and find out.

Also, tens of thousands of tons of water that was pumped into the reactors in the attempt to cool them remains inside and is highly radioactive. The authorities have no idea what to do with it. It’s leaking into the environment with some of it reaching the Pacific Ocean. Last week, Fukushima’s operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) had to abandon plans to dump it in the ocean after protests by local fishermen. Right now, there’s nowhere for it to go, other than to leak into the sea and groundwater.

So, we don’t have a “cold shutdown” at Fukushima...

> more

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Search results | Greenpeace: Nuclear

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See also

"Mission Accomplished" delusion | Radioactive Dumping

Fukushima "China Syndrome?"

China Syndrome | No cold shutdown possible at Fukushima

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whats up: 25th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster | NUCLEAR "SAFTEY" = NUCLEAR THREAT

All nuclear reactors and their waste should be declared illegal, and can be considered crimes against humanity and the ecosphere - all governments and corporations and their officers should be made directly liable for the immediate decommissioning of all nuclear power plants, and for the security, clean up and management of the eternal quagmire of nuclear waste that they have created.

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whats up: Nuclear Power = Crime Against Humanity

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whats up: Nuclear Safety is an Oxymoron | How will broken-melting-fuming-leaking Fukushima Daiichi weather Monster Typhoon?

"nuclear power kills - it is not clean, it is not cheap, and it is immoral - anyone who says that it is safe is either lying, making money, misinformed and/or delusional"

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• LINKS PAGE
• VIDEOS PAGE
• TOP OF BLOG for more recent posts

• recent Fukushima & related updates for nuclear news, background info, links and actions -

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"Mission Accomplished" delusion | Radioactive Dumping
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Fukushima "China Syndrome?"
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Unthinking the Thinkable | Nukespeak | Marginalized Media
China Syndrome | No cold shutdown possible at Fukushima
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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
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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
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We do not want atom!
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NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW - Flyer
Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 | Downwinders | Nuclear Law
25th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster | NUCLEAR "SAFTEY" = NUCLEAR THREAT
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Arnie Gundersen on Current Fukushima Daiichi Situation
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Pacifica Nuclear Teach-in | The Code Killers by Ace Hoffman
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fukushima plutonium
Fukushima still fuming - nuclear catastrophe update
MARCH ARCHIVE

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CHECK FOR NEWS
• google news ~ "Fukushima + nuclear"
• 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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Nuclear Safety is an Oxymoron | How will broken-melting-fuming-leaking Fukushima Daiichi weather Monster Typhoon?

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question:
isn't "nuclear safety" an oxymoron?

things to keep in mind while pondering this question: nuclear power kills - it is not clean, it is not cheap, and it is immoral - anyone who says that it is safe is either lying, making money, misinformed and/or delusional

re delusion: The psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers was the first to define the three main criteria for a belief to be considered delusional in his 1917 book General Psychopathology. These criteria are:

• certainty (held with absolute conviction)
• incorrigibility (not changeable by compelling counterargument or proof to the contrary)
• impossibility or falsity of content (implausible, bizarre or patently untrue)

but, can't nuclear power save us from global warming?

humanity could probably survive global warming and climate change, but is helpless when facing radioactive environmental pollution and the subsequent genetic mutation and cancers it causes

- why use something which is so inherently dangerous in the first place, especially when there are viable alternatives? - why use something which even requires such ultra-extreme, costly and ultimately fallible "safety measures?" - why use something with terrible potential to poison the entire planet for all future generations?

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G8 leaders want tougher nuclear safety rule

From L-R, G8 leaders, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, President Barack Obama and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso are seen during a round table meeting at the G8 summit in Deauville, northern France May 26, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Markus Schreiber/Pool

(Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Eight want more stringent international rules on nuclear safety following the disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday.

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Forget about Fukushima: Riding the Wave of Nuclear Renaissance, China, India, South Korea

Law in Action: "The biggest drop in prices of uranium in two years may be ending as China and India plan atomic power developments that will more than double global production even after Japan’s nuclear disaster. The radioactive metal has slumped 8.7 percent this year, the most since 2009, after tumbling as much as 27 percent as governments reviewed nuclear plants following the Japanese crisis in March, according to prices from MF Global Holdings Inc. China and India will lead a 46 percent increase in consumption by the world’s five biggest atomic-power developers by 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Soaring energy demand from the world’s fastest-growing economies is buoying uranium and prospects of miners from Cameco Corp. to Paladin Energy Inc. even after radiation leaks from Japan’s 40-year-old Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant sparked the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. China’s Nuclear Energy Association said May 12 it will boost atomic capacity as much as eight times by 2020. A day later, India’s Atomic Energy Commission said it will increase production 13-fold by 2030.

“The question is whether what happened in Japan with older-generation reactors justifies not building newer, safer reactors, and to me the answer is no,” Spencer Abraham, a former U.S. energy secretary who is now non-executive chairman of Areva SA, the largest nuclear-equipment producer, said in a May 17 telephone interview from Washington. “China recognizes they can’t satisfy the growth in electricity demand in a single dimension and they really need a diverse group of sources.”

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FUKUSHIMA UPDATE

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Unit 3 of Fukushima Daiichi
Cryptome Nuclear Power Plants and WMD Series

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Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan 'unready for typhoon'
BBC News | 28 May 2011

Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is not fully prepared for heavy rain and winds of a typhoon heading towards the country, officials admit.

Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), which runs the plant, said some reactor buildings were uncovered, prompting fears the storm may carry radioactive material into the air and sea. - Typhoon Songda is expected to hit mainland Japan as early as Monday.

"We have made utmost efforts, but we have not completed covering the damaged reactor buildings," a Tepco official said on Saturday. - "We apologise for the lack of significant measures against wind and rain," the official added.

Tepco has been pouring anti-scattering agents - such as synthetic resins - around the damaged buildings of reactors one and four. - But some of the buildings still remain uncovered after they were damaged by hydrogen explosions soon after the quake and tsunami struck.

A special adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan criticised Tepco, saying that the current safety measures "cannot be said to be appropriate". - Adviser Goshi Hosono added: "We are now doing the utmost to prevent further spreading of radioactive materials".

Typhoon Songda - with winds up to 216km/h (134mph) - was moving north-east and could hit Japan on Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.- It was unclear whether Fukushima could be directly in the path of the storm.

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Supertyphoon headed for Japan could hit Fukushima nuclear site

Beyond Nuclear | May 27, 2011: "Typhoon Songda has been upgraded to a supertyphoon after hitting the Philippines and is on track for Japan, with the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in its pathway. The U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center currently predicts that the typhoon could pass over the Fukushima nuclear site on Monday, Japan time. TEPCO is reportedly planning protective measures but has not announced them. Bloomberg News has reported on this situation."

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TYPHOON UPDATE

May 29/30 -

Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)

291500Z POSITION NEAR 34.5N 137.5E. TROPICAL DEPRESSION (TD) 04W (SONGDA), LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 155 NM WEST-SOUTHWEST OF YOKOSUKA, JAPAN, HAS TRACKED NORTHEASTWARD AT 26 KNOTS OVER THE PAST SIX HOURS. THE SYSTEM HAS MADE LANDFALL AND IS TRACKING OVER THE RUGGED TERRAIN OF WAKAYAMA PREFECTURE. THE OVERLAND TRACK OF THE SYSTEM HAS RESULTED IN RAPID WEAKENING. TD 04W HAS NEARLY COMPLETED EXTRA-TROPICAL TRANSITION (XTT) AND HAS DEVELOPED BOTH WARM AND COLD FRONTAL BOUNDARIES. THE CURRENT INTENSITY ESTIMATE IS BASED ON OBSERVATIONS FROM MIE PREFECTURE AND ISE WAN. CHUBU CENTRAIR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (RJGG), UPSTREAM OF THE LLCC, REPORTED SUSTAINED WINDS RANGING FROM 20 TO 30 KNOTS AND GUSTS UP TO 40 KNOTS AS THE SYSTEM APPROACHED. TD 04W IS EXPECTED TO RESUME AN OVER-WATER TRACK WHILE COMPLETING XTT DURING THE NEXT 12 HOURS. THE RESUMPTION OF AN OVER-WATER TRACK WILL HELP MAINTAIN SYSTEM INTENSITY UNTIL IT DEVELOPS INTO A GALE FORCE LOW EAST OF THE CHIBA PENINSULA. THIS IS THE FINAL WARNING ON THIS SYSTEM BY THE JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER (NAVMARFCSTCEN). THE SYSTEM WILL BE CLOSELY MONITORED FOR SIGNS OF REGENERATION.

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Fukushima nuclear reactors not to be affected by Typhoon Songda

BEIJING,May 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Typhoon Songda continued to move along the east coast of Japan on Sunday, causing travel disruption and hazardous conditions for commuters.Songda is Japan's second typhoon this year.

Strong winds and heavy rain thrashed Tokyo, causing flight disruptions at Haneda Airport. Warnings of landslides and flooding were issued in Kagoshima Prefecture early on Sunday, with some road closures. The typhoon is expected to move along the east coast through to Monday where it will weaken to a tropical storm. The troubled Fukushima nuclear reactors were not expected to be affected by the storm.

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TYPHOON UPDATE 5/30/11 -

Deluge could spread Fukushima radiation
ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) | May 30, 2011 7:39am AEST

There are fears a tropical storm off the coast of Japan could wash radioactive material from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the air and sea.

Now downgraded to a tropical storm, former Typhoon Songda is still expected to bring strong winds and torrential rain to Tokyo later this morning, with the Fukushima area also forecast to experience a deluge.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), has apologised for not being prepared for the bad weather.

The company has been pouring synthetic resins over the facility to stop radioactive material from being swept away, but the job is far from complete. - TEPCO and the Japanese government both fear contamination could be washed out of the uncovered reactor buildings.

Live view of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

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TEPCO: High Radiation Level at No.2 Reactor of Fukushima Nuclear Plant Detected

Arirang | Korea for the World, The World for Korea - Arirang.co.kr | MAY 30, 2011: The amount of radioactive material detected around reactor No. 2 at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant increased drastically over the weekend.

TEPCO, the operator of the plant, says it detected levels of radioactive Iodine 131 that were 130 times the legal limit on Friday, BUT levels 600 times the limit were detected on Saturday.
Since Iodine has a half life of 8 days this announcement shows radioactive materials are still leaking from the reactors.

Meanwhile, as heavy rain and strong winds are expected to hit Japan this week, fears are rising that contaminated water could be carried into the air and sea.
And as the Typhoon season is coming to Asia soon, Korea is becoming increasingly concerned about the possible spread of radiation from Japan.

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New leak feared at stricken Japan nuclear plant
Reuters | TOKYO | Thu May 26, 2011 2:46am EDT

Radioactive water appears to be leaking from a waste disposal building at Japan's Fukushima nuclear complex, operator Tokyo Electric Power said on Thursday, in a new setback to the battle to contain radiation from the crippled power plant."

The effort to regain control of the plant relies on pumping massive quantities of water to cool the three reactors that suffered meltdowns and storing the contaminated water in an improvised storage facility. Tepco officials said, however, that the water level in the storage facility had dropped, suggesting a leak.

Environmental groups have focused on the threat to sea and ground water from the accident. Greenpeace said earlier this month it had collected samples of fish, seaweed and shellfish along the Fukushima coast that showed radiation levels above Japanese safety limits.

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Japan slammed as new leak found at stricken nuclear plant
Reuters | TOKYO | Thu May 26, 2011

The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant on Thursday detailed a new leak of radioactive water as Greenpeace slammed the country's 'inadequate response' to a growing threat to sea water and health.

And in an embarrassing reversal, Tokyo Electric Power officials changed a key element of an account of the early response to the crisis it had given on Saturday as part of a government investigation into the accident.

Tokyo Electric said up to 57 tonnes of highly contaminated water had leaked from a storage facility into a trench. It vowed to step up monitoring of groundwater.

The disclosure raises the stakes in a race to complete by next month a system to decontaminate a massive pool of radioactive water at the site that critics see as a growing risk to both the Pacific and groundwater.

In early April, the utility dumped about 10,000 tonnes of radioactive water into the ocean, prompting criticism from neighbors China and South Korea.

Environmental group Greenpeace said seaweed had been found with radiation levels 60 times higher than official limits, raising concerns about risks from contaminated sea water more than two months after the Fukushima-Daiichi plant was hit by an earthquake and tsunami.

"Our data show that significant amounts of contamination continue to spread over great distances from the Fukushima nuclear plant," a statement quoted Greenpeace radiation expert Jan Vande Putte as saying.

One seaweed sample showed readings over 60 times above the limits set by the government.

"The concentration of radioactive iodine we found in seaweed is particularly concerning, as it tells us how far contamination is spreading along the coast, and because several species of seaweed are widely eaten in Japan," Vande Putte said.

more

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Greenpeace: Japan nuclear plant radiation accumulating in marine life

This Just In - CNN.com Blogs | May 26th, 2011: Radiation from Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is accumulating in marine life off Japan's coast above legal limits for food contamination, Greenpeace said Thursday.

A Greenpeace crew tests waters off Japan for radiation contamination earlier this month

The environmental group said its findings run counter to Japanese government reports that radiation from the Fukushima plant, damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, is being diluted as time passes.

“Despite what the authorities are claiming, radioactive hazards are not decreasing through dilution or dispersion of materials, but the radioactivity is instead accumulating in marine life,' Greenpeace radiation expert Jan Vande Putte said in a press release."

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Marine life soaking up radiation along Fukushima coast

Greenpeace International: "Two week’s ago we released preliminary results from our marine radiation monitoring work off the coast of Japan, near the melted-down and leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. These results showed worrying levels of radioactive contamination in seaweed – a staple of the Japanese diet.

After having difficulties finding a lab in Japan to do detailed analysis, we sent samples of seaweed, fish, and shellfish collected by our radiation monitoring teams both onshore and on the Rainbow to professional labs in France and Belgium. The results of the details analysis are back – and we can say that the situation in the ocean along the Fukushima coast is worse than we originally thought.

The new data shows that some seaweed contamination levels are not only 50 times higher than safety limits – far higher than our initial measurements showed – but also that the contamination is spreading over a wide area, and accumulating in sea life, rather than simply dispersing like the Japanese authorities originally claimed would happen.

more includes radiation data link

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Arnie Gundersen Gives Testimony to NRC ACRS



The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) held a special ACRS meeting Thursday May 26, 2011 on the current status of Fukushima. Arnie Gundersen was invited to speak for 5 minutes concerning the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident as it pertains to the 23 Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactors (BWR's) in the US and containment integrity. Mr. Gundersen was the first engineer to brief the NRC on the implication of Main Steam Isolation Valve (MSIV) Leakage in 1974, and he has been studying containment integrity since 1972. The NRC has constantly maintained in all of its calculations and reviews that there is zero probability of a containment leaking. For more than six years, in testimony and in correspondence with the NRC, Mr. Gundersen has disputed the NRC's stand that containment systems simply do not and cannot leak. The events at Fukushima have proven that Gundersen was correct. The explosions at Fukushima show that Mark 1 containments will lose their integrity and release huge amounts of radiation, as Mr. Gundersen has been telling the NRC for many years.

Fairewinds video updates

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Japan moves to protect children as new nuclear leak revealed

(Reuters) - Japan will pay schools near the quake-ravaged Fukushima nuclear power plant to remove radioactive top soil and set a lower radiation exposure limit for schoolchildren after a growing outcry over health risks.

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In Japan, Fukushima Parents Grow Angry Over Radiation
NYTimes.com | May 25, 2011

FUKUSHIMA CITY, Japan — The accusations flew on Wednesday at the local school board meeting, packed with parents worried and angry about radiation levels in this city at the heart of Japan’s nuclear crisis."

A girl at a Tokyo rally on Monday held a petition urging protection from radiation. Yoshikazu Tsuno/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images

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Fukushima Risks Chernobyl ‘Dead Zone’

Bloomberg | May 30, 2011: Radioactive soil in pockets of areas near Japan’s crippled nuclear plant have reached the same level as Chernobyl, where a “dead zone” remains 25 years after the reactor in the former Soviet Union exploded.

Soil samples in areas outside the 20-kilometer (12 miles) exclusion zone around the Fukushima plant measured more than 1.48 million becquerels a square meter, the standard used for evacuating residents after the Chernobyl accident, Tomio Kawata, a fellow at the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan, said in a research report published May 24 and given to the government...

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Fukushima Daiichi Unit 5 loses cooling for 15 hours

Beyond Nuclear | May 29, 2011: The Kyodo News has reported that the Fukushima Daiichi Unit #5 atomic reactor, and presumably its high-level radioactive waste storage pool as well, lost cooling for 15 hours yesterday. The cooling water surrounding the nuclear fuel heated to close to the boiling point. Cooling was restored before boiling began. If enough cooling water had boiled away, fuel damage could have resulted. As with Units 1, 2, and 3 reactors -- as well as one or more high-level radioactive waste storage pools at the site, including at Unit 4-- irradiated nuclear fuel exposed to the air due to cooling water boiling and/or drain down, whether it be in a reactor pressure vessel core or high-level radioactive waste storage pool -- can lead to overheating, damage, explosive hydrogen gas generation, and even full-scale meltdown.

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Nitrogen injection into No.1 reactor stops again
NHK WORLD English | Thursday, May 26, 2011

"Nitrogen injection to prevent a hydrogen explosion was stopped for more than 4 hours at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Wednesday."

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TEPCO suspects new leak at Fukushima
NHK WORLD English | Thursday, May 26, 2011

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is inspecting a wastewater disposal facility for possible leaks, after finding that its water level had dropped.

Tokyo Electric Power Company has been removing highly radioactive wastewater from the plant's Number 2 and Number 3 reactors to waste disposal facilities within the compound.

The utility initially planned to transfer 14,000 tons, but it now wants to remove an additional 5,000 tons because there has been no noticeable drop in accumulated water in the reactors.

TEPCO suspended the transfer from the Number 3 reactor on Thursday to check whether the disposal facility could hold more water.

It found that the water level at the facility had dropped by 4.8 centimeters over a 20-hour period, meaning some 57 tons of water had been lost.

TEPCO says there has been no increase in radiation levels in nearby groundwater, but that the water level continues to fall.

The utility plans to begin running a water purifier on an experimental basis in early June.

If a leak is found at the waste disposal facility, it could delay the resumption of water transfer from the Number 3 reactor, raising the risk of radioactive wastewater spilling into the sea or seeping underground from the reactor.

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Containment vessels also damaged

The Daily Yomiuri | May. 26, 2011: "Not only the pressure vessels, but the containment vessels of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant were probably damaged within 24 hours of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s analysis of the nuclear crisis."

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Tepco can't stabilize reactors by year-end: report

TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO) is coming to the view that it will be impossible to stabilize the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by the end of this year, possibly affecting the timing for the government to consider the return of evacuees to their homes near the plant, Kyodo News reported, citing senior company officials."

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RELATED NEWS

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Fukushima DAINI barely averted a catastrophe as well!

Beyond Nuclear: A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) official, testifying at a subcommittee of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) which is overseeing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe review, testified that the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant -- just seven miles to the south of Daiichi -- barely survived the tsunami that devastated its sister plant up the coast. Dr. John E. Kelly, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactor Technologies at DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, presented a powerpoint entitled 'DOE Response to Fukushima Dai-Ichi Accident' at the NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland on May 26th.

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Westinghouse Nuclear Reactor Design Flaw Is Found

The Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant in China, being built in 2009, will hold two of the questioned Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. Feng Li/Getty Images

NYTimes.com | May 20, 2011: WASHINGTON — In a setback for the only model of nuclear reactor for which ground has been broken in the United States, government regulators have found additional problems with the design of its shield building, a crucial component, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Friday.

“They need to be doing the work correctly and completely, and we need to have confidence that that’s what they’re doing,” said one commission official, who said he was not authorized to be quoted by name. “They have additional work they need to do, and a short time to complete it if it’s not going to have a significant impact on their schedule.”

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Robert Alvarez warns about catastrophic risks at U.S. high-level radioactive waste storage pools

Beyond Nuclear: "Robert Alvarez, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and former senior advisor to the Energy Secretary during the Clinton administration, has published 'Spent Nuclear Fuel Pools in the U.S.: Reducing the Deadly Risks of Storage.' The report comes in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, in which one or more high-level radioactive waste storage pools may have already discharged catastrophic amounts of radioactivity into the environment, and several more remain at risk of doing so for lack of cooling water. Alvarez warns that densely-packed high-level radioactive waste storage pools at U.S. nuclear power plants should be off-loaded into outdoor dry casks as a vital national security measure"

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Germany pledges to end all nuclear power by 2022
BBC News

Germany's ruling coalition says it has agreed a date of 2022 for the shutdown of all of its nuclear power plants.

Environment Minister Norbert Rottgen made the announcement after a meeting of the ruling coalition that lasted into the early hours of Monday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel had set up an ethics panel to look into nuclear power following the disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan.

Germany saw mass anti-nuclear protests in the wake of the disaster.

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Germany to decide on nuclear phase-out plans

BERLIN, May 29 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition is expected to formulate a timetable on Sunday for closing Germany's nuclear power plants and a plan for replacing their output.

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South Korea: After Fukushima, nuclear policies must be rethought, South Korean bishops says

Spero News: "The president of the Bishops’ Conference of Korea revisits the issue of atomic energy safety and nuclear waste disposal. In case of accidents, the costs of environmental rehabilitation are greater than any benefits nuclear power can provide. He also expresses solidarity towards fellow Catholics in ..."

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Some 20,000 people participated in the biggest anti-nuclear protests in Switzerland for 25 years

swissinfo | May 22, 2011 : "An estimated 20,000 people participated in the biggest anti-nuclear protest in Switzerland for 25 years on Sunday. Chanting and waving placards, anti-nuclear protesters marched in two groups to the site of Beznau, Switzerland’s oldest nuclear power plant which is located in canton Aargau."

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Swiss cabinet agrees to phase out nuclear power
ZURICH, May 25 (Reuters)

The Swiss government decided on Wednesday to phase out nuclear power by 2034 after the Japan disaster shook public confidence in the industry, but said it will not shut any existing power plants prematurely.

The Swiss government suspended the approvals process for three new nuclear power stations in March pending a review into safety after the disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant.

Last weekend 20,000 people rallied against nuclear power -- the largest demonstration of its kind since the 1980s.

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