Group items tagged

"Days after several persons were hospitalised after exposure to radioactive waste at a West Delhi scrap market, it emerges that the only data available with the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) is almost three years old. And even that is alarming: 5,300 tonnes of hazardous waste was generated in the Capital every year, according to the survey last conducted in 2007. The state pollution control body has no information on generation of hazardous waste for 2008 and 2009, DPCC's reply to an appeal filed by environmentalist V K Jain under the Right to Information Act reveals. "

IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--A survey of more than 1,000 children and babies living near the quake-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has produced an alarming finding: 45 percent of them suffered internal exposure to radiation following the accident there. Most children absorbed relatively low levels of radiation in their thyroid glands, according to officials who explained the results to residents in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on Aug. 17. Tests conducted in Iwaki city, Kawamata town and Iitate village between March 24 and 30 found that 26 percent of under-16s absorbed 0.01 microsievert per hour, while 11 percent absorbed 0.02 microsievert per hour. At least one child recorded radiation of 0.10 microsievert per hour, but officials said that level did not pose a health risk.

"Cesium that has fallen and been disturbed from the ground surface- 10 times more internal exposure compared to direct inhalation - JAEA Analysis Japan Atomic Energy Agency [JAEA] (Toukai Village, Ibaragi Prefecture) compiled analyses showing that the amount of internal exposure to radioactive cesium from particles that had landed on the ground once and then been disturbed and re-floated was 10 times larger than that of inhaling the airborne particles directly. [This study] will be presented on September 22nd at the Japan Atomic Power Conference that's presently being held in Kitakyushuu City. The JAEA Safety Research Center's research fellow Kimura Masanori (Radiological Protection) points out that "an emphasis needs to be placed to prevent re-floating from the ground surface". Using the survey data of TEPCO and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology collected in Minamisouma City, Fukushima Prefecture, the amounts of internal exposure to Iodine-131, Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 caused by airborne particles (March 20-May 19) and that of re-floated particles (April 3-June 4) were calculated."

"he nuclear power plant near the epicenter of the Aug. 23 Virginia earthquake experienced more shaking than it was built to withstand, officials said Thursday. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the North Anna (Va.) Power Station can handle shaking of as much as 18 percent of the force of gravity. The U.S. Geological Survey measured shaking of 26 percent the force of gravity at the plant on the day of the 5.8-magnitude earthquake, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Dominion Virginia Power officials said inspections revealed there has been no damage to "safety-related" structures at the plant, despite the data. Nuclear power plants are often built with a large safety margin, according to nuclear experts. The NRC has not completed its inspection of the facility and has not said when it will give approval for the plant's reactors to restart."

Utility officials and regulators next week will review an analysis of what caused a crack in the concrete wall of the Crystal River nuclear plant's containment building. Progress Energy also will present repair plans for the crack discovered Oct. 2 as the utility was cutting a hole in the containment building wall to replace two generators. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will also share its findings of what caused the concrete in the 42-inch-thick wall that surrounds the nuclear reactor to crack. The NRC sent its own team of inspectors to survey the plant.

"Radioactive caesium and iodine has been deposited in northern Japan far from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, at levels that were considered highly contaminated after Chernobyl. The readings were taken by the Japanese science ministry, MEXT, and reveal high levels of caesium-137 and iodine-131 outside the 30-kilometre evacuation zone, mostly to the north-north-west. Iodine-131, with a half-life of eight days, should disappear in a matter of weeks. The bigger worry concerns caesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years and could pose a health threat for far longer. Just how serious that will be depends on where it lands, and whether remediation measures are possible. The US Department of Energy has been surveying the area with an airborne gamma radiation detector. It reports that most of the "elevated readings" are within 40 kilometres of the plant, but that "an area of greater radiation extending north-west… may be of interest to public safety officials"."

"The governor of Shizuoka Prefecture, a major tea leaf production region in Japan, urged the health minister Thursday to revise the provisional limit of radioactive substances in the product. Shizuoka Gov. Heita Kawakatsu said the maximum level was unreasonable and a recent test showed tea leaves and processed tea in the area as being safe during a meeting with health minister Ritsuo Hosokawa, who promised to make public the results and check the limit's validity. The survey was conducted under an instruction from the ministry of health, labor and welfare. "The government applied the limit set for foods to tea, 95 percent of which is used for drinking. That was the cause of the confusion," Kawakatsu said. "Confusion and anger are swirling in the tea industry in our prefecture.""

"Around 45 percent of children in Fukushima Prefecture checked by the prefectural and central governments in late March experienced thyroid exposure to radiation, although in all cases in trace amounts that didn't warrant further examination, officials of the Nuclear Safety Commission said Tuesday. The survey was conducted on 1,080 children from newborns to age 15 in Iwaki, Kawamata and Iitate from March 26 to 30 in light of radiation leaking from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Among children who tested positive for thyroid exposure, the amounts measured 0.04 microsievert per hour or less in most cases. The largest exposure was 0.1 microsievert per hour, equivalent to a yearly dose of 50 millisieverts for a 1-year-old."

"The Danville Regional Foundation (DRF) announced Friday it has received proposals from two nationally-known groups, Resources for the Future and RTI International, to conduct an independent socioeconomic study on the regional impact of uranium mining. Abstracts of these proposals can be found online (http://danvilleregionalfoundation.org/Uranium/uranium-proposal-abstracts) and available for public comments for 30 days through DRF's Uranium Blog (http://danvilleregionalfoundation.org/Uranium/). Registered public comments submitted online will be reviewed and used in selecting the organization to conduct the study. Selection is expected to be announced in August with the final study due by year-end 2011, according to a DRF news release. The proposed study will examine the potential effects of uranium mining and milling, and long-term waste management on people, institutions and economies within 50 miles of the proposed site. Specific means of determining the socio-economic benefits and risks, such as impact on property values, taxes and institutions, are outlined in the abstracts, the release stated. In the state of Virginia, there are currently four uranium mining, milling and tailings storage studies currently under way or planned. Each has different purposes, it continued. A brief summary is online (http://danvilleregionalfoundation.org/news/documents/Uranium-Studies-FINAL.pdf) "

A national poll of 800 residents conducted by the Polling Institute at Sacred Heart University found a pretty even split between those who think nuclear energy is very safe or somewhat safe (46.1 percent) and those who think it's very dangerous or somewhat dangerous (44.7 percent).. According to info distributed to the news media, Sacred Heart (based in Fairfield, Conn.) institute's poll found that a majority see nuclear waste as a danger, while they viewed wind as being the safest energy source. Also, about a third of the respondents thought that an increase in nuclear energy would lead to more nuclear weapons. Most of the polled indivdiuals supported the EPA's designation of CO2 as a public health threat. In a statement, Dr. Josh Klein, assistant professor in Sacred Heart's Department of Criminal Justice, said, "Americans are split about whether nuclear power is safe or not, and many people have specific security concerns about nuclear power. The two dangers that concern a majority of Americans are the problems with radioactive waste storage, a top criticism of nuclear power, and possible plant meltdowns.''