via Wall Street Journal / May 6, 2014 / Three years after the meltdown at Fukushima, the future of nuclear energy in East Asia is coming into view. Voters everywhere remain jittery about safety, but Japan and South Korea continue to invest in new capacity. The exception is Taiwan, which may soon exacerbate its own economic and strategic vulnerabilities by abandoning domestic nuclear-power production. Large street protests and a hunger … Continue reading →
Continue readingIssues involving Storage and Transportation of High Burnup Nuclear Fuel
Marvin Resnikoff, Ph.D.
San Juan Capistrano Community Center
• Little technical support for NRC approval of high burnup fuel (HBF). Experiment taking place in the field.
• Total amount of HBF unknown. At a minimum, the NRC should survey utilities.
• HBF will postpone storage up to 20 years; 32 PWR canister extends cooldown period.
• Cladding defects are a major problem for HBF; HBF may not be retrievable. HBF should be canned.
• Because of corrosion, long-term storage may not be possible in a salt environment.
• Side impact rail accidents may shatter HBF cladding.
• Long duration, high temperature fires may involve oil tankers that travel the same tracks. NRC has not properly quantified the statistical likelihood.
PLEASE Turn off a light for Fukushima USA / San Onofre
via Enformable.com / May 5, 2014 /Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Francois Hollande met during a summit meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday and agreed that the two countries will work to promote the research and development of fast breeder reactors. According to Japanese sources with knowledge of the agreement, Japan will provide technical assistance on France’s fast breeder reactor development projects. France has … Continue reading →
Continue readingA novel by Darragh McKeon, All That Is Solid Melts Into Air, has been published in the U.S. by Harper Collins and will be featured at a Beyond Nuclear special book event on Monday, May 19th at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC.
A theater…
John LaForge of Nukewatch in Luck, WIJohn LaForge of Nukewatch Wisconsin has published an article at CounterPunch entitled “A Rhetorical Outburst: Canadian ‘Experts’ Comfy with Radioactive Pollution of Great Lakes.”
It is John’s response t…
via NewsOnJapan.com / May 2, 2014 / Fukushima prefectural police said Thursday that two senior officers have committed suicide this week. In the first case, which occurred on April 28, Yoshikuni Tasaki, 51, an inspector, hanged himself inside an office at a police building. Fuji TV quoted police as saying that Tasaki left a note in which he said he was exhausted from work. In the second case, which occurred … Continue reading →
Continue readingAs reported by KNDO, a whistleblower at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation has revealed that a pipe explosion occurred at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) two weeks ago, but was not publicly reported. The PFP played a role in fabricating the weapons-gr…
Continue readingU.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, Chairwoman, Environment and Public Works CommitteeFive Democratic U.S. Senators have written U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane, uring that NRC’s rubberstamp of exemptions from emergency p…
Continue readingThe Brothers Reuther. From left to right, Roy, Walter, Victor. Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.It is fitting, on International Workers’ Day, to pay tribute to Walter Reuther.
Reuther’s biographer, Nelson Lichtenstein (The…
via Goddard’s Journal / April 24, 2014 / Critique of two studies claiming 14,000 deaths and disease in North American caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Letter by Yuri Hiranuma to the journal that published the congenital-hypothyroidism study : http://fukushimavoice-eng2.blogspot.jp/2014/04/a-letter-to-editor-regarding.html The journal rejected the letter w/o explanation. The journal publisher is on Beall’s “List of Predatory Publishers 2014″ : http://scholarlyoa.com/2014/01/02/list-of-predatory-publishers-2014/ The two studies critiqued Mangano J, Sherman J, Busby … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia business-standard.com / April 30, 2014 / The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said today it booked a USD 4.3 billion annual net profit owing to an electricity rate hike and a massive government bailout following the 2011 disaster. Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) was teetering on the brink as cleanup and compensation costs stoked huge losses and threatened to collapse the sprawling utility until Tokyo stepped with a … Continue reading →
Continue readingThe UN IAEA’s official radioactivity hazard warning signNIRS has published a press release entitled “NRC Fails to Document Claim Made in Denial of NIRS’ Emergency Planning Petition that ‘Majority’ of Nuclear Emergency Drills Include Natural Disaster…
Continue readingDavid Kraft, Director, Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) of ILThe Chicago Tribune reports that Exelon CEO Chris Crane denies the largest nuclear utility in the U.S. is seeking a bailout from the State of Illinois in order to stabilize its flagg…
Continue readingStatement of Tyson Slocum, Director, Public Citizen’s Energy ProgramApril 30, 2014Contact: Tyson Slocum (202) 454-5191Karilyn Gower (202) 588-7779″Today’s announcement of a debt-laden acquisition of D.C.-based Potomac Electric Power Co (PEP…
Continue readingNuclear Reactors, On Fault Lines In Tsunami Hazard Zones Equal Fukushimas Decommission Diablo Canyon |
The two Diablo Canyon nuclear power reactors (Diablo Canyon) in San Luis Obispo (SLO) County are aging. They began operation in 1984 and 1985, respectively.
They are the only California nuclear power reactors still operating to produce electricity, after the San Onofre reactors were closed in June 2013. In 2010, 465,521 people lived within 50 miles of the plant.
As of 2010, the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant held 1126 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste, containing more radioactivity than that released during the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Diablo Canyon emitted more highly-toxic liquid tritium into the environment than any U.S. plant during the late 2000s.
A 2013 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists concluded that the discovery of “a previously unknown earthquake fault line running as close as 2,000 feet from Diablo Canyon’s two reactors…could cause more ground motion during an earthquake than the plant was designed to withstand. Since this new fault was discovered, the NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] has not demonstrated that the reactors meet agency safety standards.”
Average radioactive Strontium-90 (Sr-90) levels in baby teeth from San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties were 30.8% greater than the Sr-90 levels in all California baby teeth tested. In the state of California, Sr-90 levels in baby teeth rose steadily, increasing 50.2% in children born in the late 1990s vs. the late 1980s. Nuclear power plants are the only current source of Sr-90 emissions into the environment.
Major findings about local health patterns around the Diablo Nukes include:
1. Since the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant opened in the mid-1980s, San Luis Obispo County has changed from a relatively low-cancer to a high-cancer county.
2. Due to increases in the San Luis Obispo County cancer rate during 2001-2010, an additional 738 people were diagnosed with cancer.
3. Cancer incidence in San Luis Obispo County rose from 0.4% below to 6.9% above the average for the state of California during the time period of 1988-1990 to 2003-2010. The current cancer rate is the highest of all 20 counties in southern California.
4. After Diablo Canyon began operating, significant rapid increases occurred for the incidence of thyroid and female breast cancer in San Luis Obispo County, both highly radiosensitive cancers.
5. After Diablo Canyon began operating, infant mortality in San Luis Obispo County rose significantly.
6. After Diablo Canyon began operating, child/adolescent cancer mortality in the county rose rapidly.
7. Melanoma incidence in San Luis Obispo County soared from 3.6% above to 130.2% above the state incidence rate during the period from 1988-1990 to 2003-2010, and is now the highest of all California counties.
8. Cancer mortality for people of all ages in San Luis Obispo County rose from 5.1% below to 1.4% above California from 1988-1990 to 2008-2010, making SLO the 25thhighest county in the state (up from 43rd highest).
9. The ratio of babies born at very low-weight (below 3 pounds, 4 ounces) rose 45.0% higher in the 9 San Luis Obispo County zip codes closest to Diablo Canyon, versus the other more distant 10 county zip codes.
10. The ratio of all-cause mortality rose 47.9% higher in the 9 San Luis Obispo County zip codes closest to Diablo Canyon, versus the other more distant 10 county zip codes.
11. In the 10 zip code areas in Santa Barbara County closest to Diablo Canyon, there was a greater rise in the rates of infant mortality (61.7%), low weight births (40.2%) and total mortality (19.1%), than in the 5 zip codes areas in the city of Santa Barbara, located approximately 90 miles from the reactors.
12. The major findings of this report show increases in various rates of disease and death in San Luis Obispo County, as compared to the state of California, since the 1980s (before plant startup and during its early years of operation). This includes increases in infant mortality, child/adolescent cancer mortality, cancer incidence for all ages (especially thyroid, female breast, and melanoma), and cancer mortality for all ages.
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PLEASE Turn off a light for Fukushima USA / San Onofre
via undercurrentnews.com / April 29, 2014 / Scientists claim to have found slightly elevated levels of radioactivity in US West Coast albacore tuna caused by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, according to Oregon State University (OSU). Researchers from OSU said in new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology the increase of radiation has been minute. In fact, it would be needed to consume more than 700,000 … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Asahi Shimbun / April 29, 2014 / Nearly half of households that evacuated following the Fukushima nuclear disaster have been split up while close to 70 percent have family members suffering from physical and mental distress, a survey showed. The number of households forced to live apart exceeds the number that remain together, according the survey, the first by the Fukushima prefectural government that attempted to survey all households … Continue reading →
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Continue readingfrom The Corbett Report: The Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Agency is currently considering applications from 8 different utilities companies to restart 17 of the nation’s 54 nuclear reactors, which have been taken offline in the wake of the Fukushima crisis. Today we talk to Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action Japan about the anti-nuclear movement in Japan and their efforts to stop the reactor restarts from happening.
Continue readingThe infamous 2007 age-related degradation cooling tower collapse at Vermont YankeeReuters reports:
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via Japan Times / April 27, 2014 / Residents of the 20-km hot zone around the meltdown-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have been allowed to stay overnight at their homes after progress with decontamination. Previously, the residents from the village of Kawauchi Village, Fukushima Prefecture (pictured), were allowed to spend only the day inside the evacuation zone. The change means the residents will be free to spend entire days … Continue reading →
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Continue readingvia RT.com / April 21, 2014 / Katsutaka Idogawa, former mayor of Futaba, a town near the disabled Fukushima nuclear plant, is warning his country that radiation contamination is affecting Japan’s greatest treasure – its children. Asked about government plans to relocate the people of Futaba to the city of Iwaki, inside the Fukushima prefecture, Idogawa criticized the move as a “violation of human rights.” Compared with Chernobyl, radiation levels … Continue reading →
Continue readingA newly published study has uncovered alarming indications of biological loss and ecological collapse in the area around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that exploded in Ukraine on April 26, 1986.
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by Yuka Obayashi / via Japan Times / April 20, 2014 / The manager of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant admits to embarrassment that repeated efforts have failed to bring under control the problem of radioactive water, eight months after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the world the matter had been resolved. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant’s operator, has been fighting a daily battle against contaminated water … Continue reading →
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Continue readingvia Press TV / April 15, 2014 / Authorities at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant say the facility’s basements have been mistakenly filled with highly contaminated water. The basements were flooded with about 200 tons of cooling-tank radioactive water after pumps were turned on by mistake. The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), says the water didn’t have a pathway to reach the ocean or leak out to … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / April 12, 2014 / Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday that toxic water found to have leaked last August at one of the huge tanks at the accident-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was far more contaminated than initially announced. After recalculating the radiation level, Tepco said the water contained 280 million becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive materials such as strontium-90, instead of … Continue reading →
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Continue readingBy Maan Pamintuan-Lamorena / via Japan Daily Press / April 11, 2014 / Teaching the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident to elementary school students proved to be difficult as what some textbook publishers found out. Especially if the words “atom” and “radiation” are not yet included in the curriculum guidelines for elementary students. As such, only one out of the six approved science textbooks for primary school use tackled the … Continue reading →
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Continue readingfrom NHK World / April 8, 2014 / The government and Tokyo Electric Power Company will begin pumping up groundwater at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Wednesday. The water is expected to be released into the sea next month. This will mark the start of one of several key measures to reduce the increasing volume of radiation-contaminated water at the facility. According to the plan, clean groundwater that … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Enformable.com / April 7, 2014 / A paper published by the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum focuses on why Fukushima Daiichi experienced a severe accident and other nuclear power facilities like Fukushima Daiini, Onagawa, and Tokai nuclear power plants were not as severely affected by the earthquake and tsunami. One of the findings was that the earthquake damaged all seven of the offsite power systems providing external power to the … Continue reading →
Continue readingBy Andrew DeWit / Asia-Pacific Journal / April 7, 2014 / 60% of Japan’s 48 viable nuclear reactors, are not as yet being considered for application to the Nuclear Regulation Agency (NRA) for restart. All of Japan’s 48 viable nuclear reactors are at present offline, and have been since September of 2013. The Abe cabinet is keen to restart as many of these as possible. But regulatory rules, public opinion … Continue reading →
Continue readingKyle Cleveland Temple University Japan Abstract The nuclear disaster in Fukushima which followed in the wake of the 3/11 Tohoku earthquake and Tsunami has been one of the most significant public health crises in modern history, with profound implications for how nuclear energy is perceived. This paper analyzes the nature of risk assessment in the nuclear crisis, examining how the Japanese government and its constituent institutions in the nuclear industry, foreign governments … Continue reading →
Continue readingby Jeff Kingston / Japan Times / April 5, 2014 / Kyle Cleveland, my colleague at Temple University Japan, recently published a report in the online Asia-Pacific Journal, “Mobilizing Nuclear Bias: The Fukushima Nuclear Crisis and the Politics of Uncertainty” that has drawn widespread media attention. Based on numerous interviews with government officials, military officers and nuclear energy experts, along with documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests to U.S. … Continue reading →
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