Group items tagged

Occupy Kasumigasaki” Movement Camps Continues in front of METI, PanOrient News, November 5, 2011: “Women representatives from all over Japan are camping in Kasumigaseki district in Tokyo to express their objection to the nuclear power plants in Japan in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.” “Tents belonging to various civil anti-nuclear movements are pitched on the sidewalk corner facing the building of Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry. The women’s movement started on October 30, and continues through November 5.”

“The activists held banners saying ‘We Are Anti-Nuclear,’ and ‘Don’t Restart Nuclear Plants.’” “One of the banners said “Occupy Kasumigasaki,” the district in Tokyo where government buildings are concentrated.” “The anti nuclear energy movement is gaining more support among Japanese civilian groups” [...]

Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced Wednesday that there is the possibility that criticality, a sustained nuclear chain reaction, had occurred "temporarily" and "locally" in the No. 2 reactor of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. It detected radioactive xenon-133 and xenon-135, products of uranium or plutonium fission, in gases collected Tuesday from the reactor.

Because the half life of xenon-133 is 5.25 days and that of xeon-135 is 9.14 hours, criticality is very likely to have occurred just before the gases were analyzed. Although more than seven months have passed since the start of the nuclear fiasco, clearly the reactor has not yet been stabilized. Tepco's plan to achieve "cold shutdown" of the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 reactors by the end of this year may face difficulty

The fact that Tepco cannot deny the possibility of criticality irrespective of its scale is a grave situation. The conditions are similar in the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 reactors. It is thought that nuclear fuel in them melted and has collected in the bottom of both the pressure and containment vessels. Tepco should make serious efforts to accurately grasp the conditions of nuclear fuel inside the reactors.

It has been two years since Mohamed ElBaradei stepped down as head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, but the Nobel peace laureate still has nuclear technology very much on his mind.

But Mr. ElBaradei doesn't subscribe to the widely held view that Fukushima has killed off the nuclear industry for the foreseeable future. In fact, he argues countries exiting nuclear-power generation are the exception rather than the rule. "There will be, in the short term, a slowdown in some countries. But others like France, India or China [won't see] an impact on their [nuclear] programs," he says.

He also points to some nuclear newcomers, such as the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

Radioactive Wolves, the first episode of the 30th season of PBS’s Nature, documents current conditions in the area that was forcibly evacuated following the uncontrolled radioactive material releases caused when the operators at the Chernobyl nuclear power station conducted a poorly planned experiment and blew up their power plant.In the absence of human beings, the remaining creatures seem to be doing just fine. I believe that is because it is hard to teach animals to be afraid of radiation; they do not watch many scary movies or news programs featuring breathless commentators interviewing publicity seeking “experts” whose main claim to fame is a lack of actual nuclear plant operating experience. Even long-lived creatures like catfish and eagles show few signs that they are constantly eating contaminated food from an area that has been officially declared to be unfit for habitation.

It should be difficult for a thinking person to watch this show without asking some of the following questions: If radiation is so dangerous, why doesn’t it seem to affect other mammals? If radiation is so dangerous, why do the plants and animals look so normal and healthy? Is there any logical reason to be more fearful of radiation than other risks? If radiation is not as dangerous as some people claim, why were so many people forced to leave their homes and livelihoods? Who benefits by working so hard to make people afraid of radiation and nuclear energy? A long time ago, I read a lengthy technical article that provided the details of the events leading up to the explosion. It was difficult to imagine how any trained operator could keep moving down the path that was taken without calling a halt to the evolution to ask hard questions and demand adequate responses.

By the end of the article, I was more than a little suspicious that the politically appointed person driving the actions actually wanted to damage the plant. At the time I could not understand why anyone would do such a thing. That was before I realize how financially rewarding it can be for the establishment hydrocarbon industry to put nuclear energy into a negative light and before I understood just how important selling oil and gas to Europe was to the Soviet Union and how important that activity remains for Russia.I have read a few articles recently about efforts in Belarus to resettle parts of the evacuated areas, but information about the progress of those efforts is difficult to find. In the post Fukushima world, it is important to learn as much as we can about the measured long-term effect of radioactive materials released into the environment. Reactor accidents are events worth avoiding, but it is becoming more evident that the actual results are within the limits of the risk that is routinely accepted in many other industries.If that is true, more people should become comfortable with the prospects of using nuclear energy to benefit mankind and to make life more comfortable and prosperous for us all. The reality seems to be that nuclear accidents are not only rare events, but the consequences that result from a rare, but possible, failure are acceptable.

(Reuters) - Japanese utilities will largely avoid power shortages this winter despite prolonged reactor shutdowns amid public concerns over nuclear safety, but hurdles remain for next summer, the government said on Tuesday.

It also unveiled ways to bridge the gap next summer, when peak-hour demand is expected to exceed supply by 16,560 megawatts, compared with the biggest gap this winter of 2,530 MW in one area, if no reactors restart by then.

Utilities plan to secure additional fossil-fuel capacity of 4,090 MW by next summer, but other plans depend on how far policy initiatives, such as fiscal spending, can encourage energy conservation and the use of solar and wind power, leaving the risk of rolling blackouts.

for the damage from "baseless rumor" that the bamboo shoots from his farm may be contaminated with radioactive materials from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.The information is from a radio talk show in Japan on October 26, and it is all over Twitter in Japan today. The radio show comment is captured here. (Link in Japanese)333 yen is about US$4.37, or 3.15 euro, or 2.73 pound sterling. 135 Thai Baht, 27.87 Chinese yuan, or 2.76 IMF Special Drawing Rights. It is enough to buy Big Mac (320 yen).

In the town in the 20km evacuation area, Minami soma shi, more than half of the students of elementary school and junior high school students turned out to be internally exposed. Among 527 samples: 199 → 10 Bq/kg 65 → 10~20 Bq/Kg 3 → 20~30 Bq/Kg 1 → 30~35 Bq/Kg Newspaper says, adults take 100 days to detox it all, children take 30 days to detox it all.

However, this comment is questionable. 30 Bq/Kg means 600 Bq in whole body if the child weighs 20kg. This is only Cs-137, so including Cs-134, it would be about 1,200 Bq. Strontium is likely to be in his body about 300 Bq, so the total can be nearly 1,500 Bq. “children take 30 days to detox it all” It has been longer than 7 months since 311. Children must have been detoxing it everyday.

This number, “1,500 Bq” is after the daily detoxing. so it does not make any sense. Additionally, Strontium is hard to be detoxed from body. Finally, a question remains: what about the rest of the kids?

Up to 18 million tonnes of tsunami debris floating from Japan could arrive on British Columbia's shores by 2014, according to estimates by University of Hawaii scientists. A Russian training ship spotted the junk — including a refrigerator, a television set and other appliances — in an area of the Pacific Ocean where the scientists from the university's International Pacific Research Center predicted it would be. The biggest proof that the debris is from the Japanese tsunami is a fishing boat that's been traced to the Fukushima Prefecture, the area hardest hit by the March 11 disaster.

Jan Hafner, a scientific programmer, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that researchers' projections show the debris would reach Hawaii's shores by early 2013, before reaching the West Coast. They estimate the debris field is spread out across an area that's roughly 3,200 kilometres long and 1,600 kilometres wide located between Japan and Midway Atoll, where pieces could wash up in January.Computer models to track debris pathJust how much has already sunk and what portion is still floating is unknown.

"It's a common misconception it's like one mat that you could walk on," he said. Hafner and the principal researcher in the project, oceanographer Nikolai Maximenko, have been researching surface ocean currents since 2009. When the Japan earthquake and tsunami struck, they applied their research to the rubble sucked into the Pacific Ocean from Japan.

Earthquakes are routinely measured by magnitude, or energy released. But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)requires the nation's 104 nuclear reactors to withstand a predicted level of ground motion, or acceleration — something called g-force. What does that mean, magnitude-wise?

"I don't have what that translates into … unfortunately," NRC spokesman David McIntyre says. The agency released a statement Thursday to clarify its "earthquake measurements and design criteria," but it does not say what ground motion each reactor can handle. This muddiness heightens the concerns of industry critics, who have urged stricter safety rules after reactors at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant nearly melted down due to a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

A task force mandated by President Obama recommended in July that each U.S. plant be re-examined, given ongoing NRC research that shows the seismic risks for Eastern and Central U.S. nuclear power plants have increased. "The Virginia earthquake is now our local 911 call to stop delaying the implementation of stricter safety standards," Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., wrote in a letter this week to the NRC.

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."

Belgium's main political parties have agreed on a plan to shut down the country's two nuclear power stations, but they have not yet set a firm date. A new coalition government is being set up and the nuclear shutdown will be on its agenda, officials say. If alternative energy sources are found to fill the gap then the three oldest reactors will be shut down in 2015. Germany is the biggest industrial power to renounce nuclear energy since Japan's Fukushima disaster in March.

Belgium has seven reactors at two nuclear power stations, at Doel in the north and Tihange in the south. They are operated by Electrabel, which is part of GDF-Suez. The agreement reached on Sunday night confirms a decision taken in 2003, which was shelved during Belgium's political deadlock following the last government's collapse in April 2010. Belgium will need to replace 5,860 megawatts of power if it is to go ahead with the nuclear phase-out.

Minamisoma local government has finally published the result of WBC for 2884 elementary and junior high school students. They announce ONLY 274 of them had cesium 137 ,but the result about cesium 134 is concealed. According to their trustworthy report,only 9 students had more than 20 Bq/ kg,but data about cesium 134 is concealed. The worst case was the 8 years old girl. She had Cesium 134 1192Bq Cesium 137 1723Bq Total 2915Bq

No wonder they did not check other radioactive material ,such as strontium or plutonium.

No life extensions will be granted to Taipower's existing nuclear power plants in a newly announced nuclear energy policy that promises eventually to make the island 'nuclear-free'.

The policy, unveiled at a news conference, states that the Chinshan, Kuosheng and Maanshan nuclear power plants will not operate beyond their planned 40-year lives and that Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant at Lungmen will not begin operations until all safety requirements have been met. Furthermore, the island's oldest two units will face early closure provided both Lungmen units are in commercial operation before 2016.

The new policy had been prepared "in keeping with the principles of no power rationing, maintenance of stable electricity prices and continued reduction of carbon dioxide emissions to meet international goals," said officials. They also noted that the new policy is in line with Article 23 of the Basic Environment Act, which directs the government to make plans that will eventually see Taiwan become nuclear-free. The two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWR) under construction at Lungmen would only be allowed to start up after passing strict safety evaluations both by the government and international nuclear safety organisations. Additional improvements are being carried out at the plant in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis earlier this year, and an operation date is to be announced early in 2012.

Two months after a government ban on beef was lifted, cattle farmers here are growing increasingly desperate as nearby vegetable farmers have halted production due to the ongoing nuclear disaster, leaving nowhere to take the accumulating manure that was previously used as fertilizer.