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The inherently arrogant nature of the electric power industry in Japan came to light recently when Kyushu Electric Power Co. tried to influence a public hearing on whether to allow the company to resume operation of its Genkai nuclear power stations in Saga Prefecture. Kyushu Electric urged its employees and subcontractors to submit a large number of emails in support of resumption.

Observers view this as a typical example of the power industry boasting of its ability to manipulate public opinion. The incident also revealed how naive the industry is, as the utility failed to take any precaution to prevent its tactics from becoming publicly known. One critic drew an analogy between the actions of Kyushu Electric and the plot in "Emperor's New Clothes," Hans Christian Andersen's famous short story.

One factor behind such arrogance is the fact that each of the 10 companies of the power utility industry occupies a prominent position in the commerce of its respective region, where it enjoys a monopoly of supplying electric power.

Six months after the Fukushima disaster, the repercussions of history’s second-largest nuclear meltdown are still being felt, not only in Japan but around the world. Predictably, people are rethinking the wisdom of relying on nuclear power. The German and Swiss governments have pledged to phase out the use of nuclear power, and Italy has shelved plans to build new reactors. Public debate on future nuclear energy use continues in the United Kingdom, Japan, Finland, and other countries.So far, it is unclear what the reaction of the Korean government will be. Certainly, the public backlash to nuclear energy that has occurred elsewhere in the world is also evident in Korea; according to one study, opposition to nuclear energy in Korea has tripled since the Fukushima disaster. However, there are countervailing considerations here as well, which have caused policy-makers to move cautiously. Korea’s economy is often seen as particularly reliant on the use of nuclear power due to its lack of fossil fuel resources, while Korean companies are some of the world’s most important builders (and exporters) of nuclear power stations.

There are three primary reasons why nuclear power is safer and greener than power generated using conventional fossil fuels. First ― and most importantly ― nuclear power does not directly result in the emission of greenhouse gases. Even when you take a life-cycle approach and factor in the greenhouse gas emissions from the construction of the plant, there is no contest. Fossil fuels ― whether coal, oil, or natural gas ― create far more global warming.

The negative effects of climate change will vastly outweigh the human and environmental consequences of even a thousand Fukushimas. This is not the place to survey all the dire warnings that have been coming out of the scientific community; suffice it to quote U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s concise statement that climate change is the world’s “only one truly existential threat … the great moral imperative of our era.” A warming earth will not only lead to death and displacement in far-off locales, either. Typhoons are already hitting the peninsula with greater intensity due to the warming air, and a recent study warns that global warming will cause Korea to see greatly increased rates of contagious diseases such as cholera and bacillary dysentery.

1. Nuclear power involves radiation exposure at all stages of its fuel cycle: from uranium mining and fuel fabrication to reactor operation and maintenance; to spent-fuel handling, storage and re-processing. 2. Reactors leave a toxic trail of high-level radioactive wastes which remain hazardous for thousands of years.

3. The half-life of plutonium-239 produced by fission is 24,000 years. We have neither any way of storing nuclear wastes safely for such long periods nor nuetralising or disposing of them. Should we burden posterity with such a legacy?

4. Nuclear power is exorbitantly expensive if all the hidden costs are taken into account. That is why the private sector has not come forward to set up a nuclear power plant. 5. The industry claims nuclear power is safe but it is not. That is why it expends considerable effort in lobbying for laws to limit the operator’s or supplier’s liability for accidents to artificially low levels.

Following is an excerpt from the Government Accountability Office's description of the chronology of efforts in this direction:

Nuclear energy, which supplied about 20 percent of the nation’s electric power in 2010, offers a domestic source of energy with low emissions but also presents difficulties — including what to do with nuclear fuel after it has been used and removed from commercial power reactors. This material, known as spent nuclear fuel, is highly radioactive and considered one of the most hazardous substances on earth. The current national inventory of nearly 65,000 metric tons of commercial spent nuclear fuel is stored at 75 sites in 33 states and increases by about 2,000 metric tons each year.

In June 2008, DOE submitted a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) seeking authorization to construct a high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain. NRC has regulatory authority to authorize construction of the repository. DOE planned to open the repository in 2017, but later delayed the date to 2020.

Ziggy Switkowski, former chair of ANSTO (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) and a proponent of nuclear power for Australia, claimed "the best place to be whenever there's an earthquake is at the perimeter of a nuclear plant because they are designed so well", and then quickly added: "On the other hand, you know, if the engineers do lose control of the core, then the answer becomes different."

Strident nuclear advocate Professor Barry Brook gave assurances in his running commentary that seemed ironically prescient of what was about to happen, stating ''I don't see the ramifications of this as damaging at all to nuclear power's prospects'' and that ''it will provide a great conversation starter for talking intelligently to people about nuclear safety''.

Other arguments trotted out by pro-nuclearists about how safe nuclear power is demonstrated their chutzpah more than their good judgment. My favourite: the justification for nuclear power is that it kills fewer people than the coal industry. Ignoring the false choice this proposition entails, what does it say about the safety culture of the nuclear industry when one of its selling points is that it kills fewer people than the competition?

Plant Status After a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck offshore from Fukushima in the early hours of July 25, Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported there were no problems with any of the systems used to stabilize the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi and no injuries. TEPCO checked the systems for water and nitrogen injection into reactors 1, 2 and 3, the water treatment facility, and the used fuel pool cooling systems for reactors 2 and 3. The Japan Atomic Industry Forum said temperatures at the bottom of Fukushima Daiichi reactor 1 have remained below 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit) for six consecutive days through July 24. TEPCO says it achieved the lowered temperature by raising the amount of water injected into the reactor. The company has begun implementing step 2 of its recovery plan for the reactors, which includes maintaining temperatures at the bottom of reactors 1, 2 and 3 below 100 degrees Celsius. The stable operation of the circulatory water injection system is crucial to achieving that goal. TEPCO said a faulty circuit breaker was the cause of a five-hour loss of electrical power to reactors 3 and 4 July 22. Power for contaminated water treatment and for the reactors’ used fuel pool cooling was eventually restored via an alternate source. TEPCO says there was no major increase in the temperature of the pools

The company is working to improve switching systems among external power supplies. Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues A July 28 public Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting will focus on the agency’s near-term task force recommendations for safety enhancements at U.S. nuclear energy facilities after the Fukushima accident. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano today toured the Fukushima Daiichi site, where he met with TEPCO personnel and gave an interview on location describing his visit. Amano is to meet Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and government ministers to discuss the outcomes of the June IAEA ministerial conference on nuclear safety. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said it will take months to complete the first of two-stage “stress tests” it has ordered all Japanese nuclear power reactor operators to conduct before shutdown reactors can restart. NISA said it does not anticipate any of the 22 reactors that were halted for regular safety checks to resume operations this summer. The tests involve computer simulations of the reactors’ responses to emergencies such as earthquakes, tsunamis and loss of off-site power.

As TEPCO moves into the second stage of its recovery plan at Fukushima, the joint office it operates with the Japanese government to conduct and review its activities will be restructured. A new radiation and health management team will be established, and two other teams will be incorporated into a “medium-to-long term countermeasures” team. Media Highlights The New York Times editorialized on July 24 on the U.S. response to the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The opinion piece discussed steps taken by the nuclear energy industry and recommendations made by the NRC’s Fukushima-focused task force. Upcoming Events NEI will brief financial analysts in New [...] ...read more

A furnace used to treat low grade nuclear waste has exploded at a nuclear site in southern France, killing one person and injuring four others. France’s Nuclear Safety Authority said on Monday there were no radioactive leaks from the explosion at the waste treatment site at Marcoule run by EDF, the operator of France’s 58 nuclear power stations.

Nonetheless, the accident is likely to amplify emerging concerns over the safety

French public opinion has remained largely favourable to nuclear power, which provides 78 per cent of the country’s electricity, polls showed a growing proportion of people questioning the role of nuclear power after the Japanese catastrophe.

A nuclear industry trade journal reports "Looming elections and upcoming energy reviews have thrown the prospect of a possible French nuclear retreat firmly into the spotlight, with recent progress on the country’s offshore wind plans only fueling speculation further." The prolonged and deepening global financial crisis, rising nuclear power plant construction costs and a dramatic shift in public opinion following the nuclear catastrophe in Japan are brewing in a perfect storm for nuclear collapse in, of all places, Sarkozy's France. 

A senior U.S. Energy Department official on Wednesday disputed reports that the Obama administration has sought Mongolian support for construction of a storage site for international spent nuclear fuel in the Central Asian nation (see GSN, March 30).

The assertion -- made by a high-ranking official who asked not to be named in addressing a diplomatically sensitive issue -- directly countered remarks offered last spring by a veteran State Department official who leads U.S. nuclear trade pact negotiations. The diplomat, Richard Stratford, told a Washington audience in March that Energy Department leaders had made initial contacts with their counterparts in Ulaanbaatar about potential cooperation on a range of nuclear fuel services that Mongolia would like to develop for international buyers.

Among the possible features of a joint project, Stratford said, could be the creation of a repository for U.S.-origin fuel that has been used by Washington's partners in the region, potentially including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. If brought to fruition, the proposal would be "a very positive step forward," he said at the time, because no nation around the globe thus far has successfully built a long-term storage facility for dangerous nuclear waste. The Obama administration in 2009 shuttered plans for a U.S. storage site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada -- which would have been the world's only permanent repository -- after prolonged debate over potential environmental and health hazards (see GSN, Sept. 13).

Following criticism from opposition parties, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is striving to sweep away speculation that he has turned back in favor of nuclear power. In an Oct. 5 meeting of the House of Representatives special committee on recovery from the quake and tsunami, Noda rejected the suggestion that he was aspiring to export nuclear power overseas, stating, “We’re not going to rush forward and form new agreements (with other countries) or engage in marketing efforts.” End Extract http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111006p2a00m0na014000c.html

Throughout the Eighties nuclear energy continued to be a subject of intense controversy, however the conflict had shifted to the local level where planned and unfinished nuclear projects offered manifold targets for attack. This period was typified by widespread changes in how the antinuclear movement was organized, and completed the shift from a concentration on nuclear weapons to that of nuclear power. So effective was this that when the Chernobyl accident occurred in 1986, the impact on public opinion was surprisingly small. Most people had made up their minds on nuclear power and entrenched attitudes are difficult to change. In part II of this series we will examine the paths that the movement took post-Chernobyl to the present dwelling on the various changes in structure and how it has impacted the movement’s agenda.

One of the greatest strengths of the antinuclear movement in North America and the bulk of the Anglosphere has been its autonomy—from business, political parties, and in most cases, the State. Thus the antinuclear power movement has been largely autonomous from partisan party politics. This autonomy from electoral politics has enabled it to escape the inevitable dilution of its demands that is characteristic of broad movements of this sort. This is quite different from what happened in Europe. In Germany the Green Party evolved directly from the antinuclear power movement, but was later able to tap enough support to elect several representatives to the Bundestag, while on the other hand France seems to have largely embraced nuclear energy, and the movement there is weak and disorganized.

Anti-nuclear forces in the Pacific region suffered two significant onslaughts in 1985. In April in Australia, an unholy alliance united to attack the young Nuclear Disarmament Party. In New Zealand, which was already in dispute with the US over nuclear ship visits, French secret service agents blew up the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in July, killing photographer Fernando Pereira. The Rainbow Warrior had been engaged in a battle against French nuclear testing in the Pacific.

Georgia Power company stock

On a professional level, there is a lot riding on the success of the project to add two new Westinghouse AP1000 reactors to the Vogtle site in eastern Georgia along the Savannah River. It is one of only two remaining projects that is actually moving forward out of the finalists for the first round of loan guarantees initially authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. It is the only project to have actually been awarded a conditional loan guarantee and the one that is most at risk of having a significant schedule interruption if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission dallies even longer in its review process for the completed design certification license application

This morning, the Wall Street Journal published Rebecca Smith’s article titled Georgia Eyes Cost Buffer for Nuclear Plant that described how the public utility commission is considering changing the cost recovery rules because they are being pressured by people who think that the project is in danger of a cost and schedule overrun. The company leaders testified that they would have chosen a natural gas project as being “more cost effective” (for the company) if they had known that there was a possibility of the rules of the game being changed six years after the project decision was made

this is a June 29 Des Moines Register editorial, telling readers "Don't be irrational, don't be hysterical, and don't you dare be anti-nuke". And don't listen to those "baseless rumors": Nuclear plants need scrutiny, not hysteria "Right now the plants are safe."That's what the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said of the two nuclear power plants along the Missouri River in Nebraska after recent flooding. There have been no "nuclear releases." Vital systems to ensure safety are protected. Flood waters are not expected to become unmanageable

Gov. Terry Branstad said that state officials are monitoring the plants and that the public should not worry.Yet some people worry

A healthy dose of concern about nuclear energy is necessary to help keep this country's power plants are safe. The United States must remain dedicated to rigorous scrutiny of plant safety regulations and emergency measures

Centre's Principal Scientific Adviser R Chidambaram today sought to allay fears of anti-Koodankulam nuclear power project protestors, saying the reactors there are very safe and scientists have looked at all its safety aspects."The reactors at Koodankulam are very safe. Our scientists have looked at all safety aspects of the project and ensured it is a very safe reactor. So I hope all opposition against it will be over and the project will come up in due course," he told reporters on the sidelines of a programme here.He said both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha had already stated that scientists would address the fears of locals over the project.Stating that nuclear power was an inevitable option to meet India's energy needs, he said the plant on being commissioned, would add 2,000 MW power to the national grid.

"Large developing countries have to look at all sources of power. To my mind, nuclear energy is an inevitable option for satisfying India's energy needs," he said."India and China are going for nuclear power as these countries are energy stressed," he said."There are two parameters which can be used to define the human development index -- percapita electricity consumption and female literacy," he said."If you look at the present level of percapita electricity consumption, in my calculation you have to raise it six to eight times before India can become a developed country in the fullest sense of the term," he said.He said when any energy producing system was introduced, part of the production would go to industry, urban consumption, small towns and villages, resulting in better drinking water facility and sanitation. It was in this context that one has to look at the need for nuclear power, he said.

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) — Kyushu Electric Power Co. angered industry minister Yukio Edano on Friday as it watered down a third-party finding that the Saga governor was behind a scandal of misrepresentation of public opinion on its nuclear power business in the region, in a final report on the problem. Kyushu Electric submitted the report to the government the same day making no clear reference to whether the governor bears any responsibility for the problem, prompting Edano to brand it “out of the question” and say his ministry may urge the company to refile it.

An investigative panel headed by lawyer Nobuo Gohara said last month senior officials of Kyushu Electric tried to manipulate a state-sponsored TV program in June to make local communities appear supportive of restarting reactors at its Genkai power plant in Saga Prefecture.

The Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis highlighted not only Japan's dependency on nuclear energy, but also how strongly the public felt about it. Sept. 19 saw the nation's largest-ever antinuclear-energy demonstration in Tokyo's Meiji Park, and other protestors — including musicians, celebrities and artists — have been voicing their opinion through marches, activities and announcements.

Artist collective Chim↑Pom have already received a fair amount of press about their activities. They added, guerrilla-style, an image of a burning Fukushima power plant to Taro Okamoto's "Myth of Tomorrow" mural at Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, and then made a sand sculpture of a child wearing a gas mask in a Fukushima Prefecture playground that had been deemed unsafe for children. Now they're making a more intimate statement with "K-I-S-S-I-N-G" at the Container in the Nakameguro district of Tokyo. The exhibition — which manages to squeeze a video installation, a large photograph and a set of drawings into a freight-container space — is, say Chim↑Pom, "an allegory that uses lightbulbs to express the anxiety or loneliness people are still suffering since the earthquake (of March 11)." The door welcomes visitors with a red kiss mark from the lips of Ellie, the only female member of the collective, who has also written "XOXO Chim↑Pom" there in red lipstick. Immediately, there's a sense of intimacy, emphasized further by the tiny exhibition space.

"Shaken by anxiety and loneliness, people came to rediscover their close relationships," says Chim↑Pom on discussing the effect of the Great East Japan Earthquake. "There's been an increase in marriage and there may be fewer divorces from now on. Lovers are happy: They are reminded of the fantastic time they can share caring for each other. 'K-I-S-S-I-N-G' conveys those feelings that we can't put into words." The video, which is projected behind a display of broken lightbulbs, shows a pair of lightbulbs circling each other, "courting" and "cuddling." Chim↑Pom say the incandescent bulbs are an obvious reference to electricity issues — because such bulbs are now being replaced by more electricity-efficient LED versions, they serve as a stronger visual link to the nuclear energy that Japan has relied on for decades. The bulbs break and burst into flames when they kiss onscreen.

Japan Times reports on a “Citizens’ conference” on radiation here. This was a gathering of people not qualified in any way with the purpose of spreading fear. I am pleased to read about it, since it gives me another great occasion to link to Rod Adams’ essential “Atomic Insights” blog. One of the “experts” speaking at the conference cited the Yablokow report on Chernobyl. Anybody who wants to assess the credibility of said report needs to read the review of by M.I. Balonow of the Institute of Radiation Hygiene, St. Petersburg, published in full at Atomic Insights.

That review states that the Yablokow report is “science fiction rather than science”. I recall blogging about how this pamphlet managed to be included in a formerly respected Journal published by the New York Academy of Sciences without peer review. The conference also had one Sebastian Pflugbeil as a speaker. His Wikipedia page shows that he is famous as a former East German politician, with no publications in the relevant field of radiation protection. His qualification as “president of the German Society of Radiation Protection” is rather less impressive once you realize that anyone is free to found this kind of society and call it “German Society of Radiation Protection”. According to the German Wikipedia page, this “German Society” was founded in 1990 and has about 50 members. When asked about what dose rate would justify an evacuation in his opinion, Pflugbeil answered that he does not know, since he only is informed about the effects of radiation in Germany. That answer does not exactly inspire confidence that he knows what he is talking about.

Another conference involving citizens and scientists is planned for next year. I am looking forward already to the opportunity to point againt to the above review of the Yablokow science fiction.

A shocking report prepared by Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAAE) on information provided to them by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states that the Obama regime has ordered a “total and complete” news blackout relating to any information regarding the near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant [photo top left] located in Nebraska. According to this report, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant suffered a “catastrophic loss of cooling” to one of its idle spent fuel rod pools on 7 June after this plant was deluged with water caused by the historic flooding of the Missouri River which resulted in a fire causing the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to issue a “no-fly ban” over the area.

Though this report confirms independent readings in the United States of “negligible release of nuclear gasses” related to this accident it warns that by the Obama regimes censoring of this event for “political purposes” it risks a “serious blowback” from the American public should they gain knowledge of this being hidden from them. Interesting to note about this event was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chief, Gregory B. Jaczko, blasting the Obama regime just days before the near meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant by declaring that “the policy of not enforcing most fire code violations at dozens of nuclear plants is “unacceptable” and has tied the hands of NRC inspectors.”

This report further notes that the “cover-up” of this nuclear disaster by President Obama is being based on his “fantasy” of creating so-called green jobs which he (strangely) includes nuclear power into as his efforts to bankrupt the US coal industry proceed at a record breaking pace.

ScienceDaily (May 5, 2011) — The recent nuclear accident in Fukushima Daiichi in Japan has brought the nuclear debate to the forefront of controversy. While Japan is trying to avert further disaster, many nations are reconsidering the future of nuclear power in their regions. A study by Behnam Taebi from the Delft University of Technology, published online in the Springer journal Philosophy & Technology, reflects on the various possible nuclear power production methods from an ethical perspective: If we intend to continue with nuclear power production, which technology is most morally desirable?

Dr. Taebi said, "Discussions on nuclear power usually end up in a yes/no dichotomy. Meanwhile the production of nuclear power is rapidly growing. Before we can reflect on the desirability of nuclear power, we should first distinguish between its production methods and their divergent ethical issues. We must then clearly state, if we want to continue on the nuclear path, which technology we deem desirable from a moral perspective. Then we can compare nuclear with other energy systems. The state of the art in nuclear technology provides us with many more complicated moral dilemmas than people sometimes think."