*** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and links

And why would He poison all of us for the mistakes of the Japanese..?

Please proselytize elsewhere. This is not the place for that.

indeed.....

TEPCO yet to pay 10.5 billion yen decontamination costs to state

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has not paid back to the government 10.55 billion yen that has been spent to clean up radiation-contaminated land around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, government officials said Friday.

The sum is part of a total of 14.9 billion yen the Environment Ministry has asked TEPCO to pay by February based on a special law on decontamination, enacted after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi complex disaster.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
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Japanese utilities unable to devise plan on use of plutonium

A group of Japan's major utilities has given up on devising by the end of March a plan on how to use about 0.6 tons of fissile plutonium to be extracted by reprocessing spent nuclear fuel in the fiscal year starting from April, sources close to the matter said Thursday.

The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan cannot meet the March 31 deadline because prospects remain unclear as to the resumption of the country's nuclear power reactors, including those that use fuel containing plutonium, in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi complex disaster, according to the sources.

Keeping stockpiles of plutonium without making clear their use could invite criticism from the international community as the material can be diverted to nuclear weapons.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
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Uranium mine workers in Niger stage 'indefinite' strike

More than 600 people working at a Chinese-operated uranium mine in northern Niger on Thursday began an "indefinite" strike action to protest their working conditions, a union official said.

Union spokesman Alassane Idrissa told AFP that after having staged an initial 72-hour cautionary strike, the action on Thursday rolled into an "indefinite" protest to demand "better life and working conditions" for the Niger staff at the Azelik site which is exploited by China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

Niger is the world's third largest uranium producer, but the landlocked sub-Saharan country's remains one of the world's least developed nations.
[link to www.nuclearpowerdaily.com]
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Atomic Energy of Canada nearly doubles nuclear liability estimate

Around the world, the costs of operating nuclear reactors are continuing to climb almost as much as the additional liability costs are.  The Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd released a statement late Tuesday night which raised the estimate of its  costs and liability for nuclear decommissioning and waste management from C$3.6 billion to C$6 billion, which was largely affected by costs from the Chalk River Research Reactor.

This summer, the AECL is planning to ship over 23,000 litres of highly radioactive waste, including weapon’s grade enriched-uranium, from the Chalk River Laboratory to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.  The uranium was originally shipped to Canada in order to make medical isotopes and an agreement was made between the United States and Canada to return the weapons-grade uranium after processing.
[link to enformable.com]
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China, Pakistan reach secret nuclear reactor deal for Pakistan

China and Pakistan reached a formal agreement last month to construct a third nuclear reactor at Chashma that the Obama administration says will violate Beijing’s promises under an international anti-nuclear weapons accord.

According to U.S. intelligence and diplomatic officials, the secret agreement for the Chashma 3 reactor was signed in Beijing during the visit by a delegation from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission from Feb. 15 to 18.

The agreement calls for the state-run China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) to construct a 1,000-megawatt power plant at Chashma, located in the northern province of Punjab, where two earlier Chinese reactors were built.
[link to www.washingtontimes.com]
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Feds: SC reactor fuel plant cost rises $3 billion to $7.7 billion

COLUMBIA, SC — The price tag for a South Carolina project intended to turn weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for nuclear reactors has risen by nearly $3 billion, according to the federal General Accountability Office.

David Trimble, the GAO's natural resources and environment director, said Wednesday in written testimony submitted to a congressional committee that the National Nuclear Security Administration project is now estimated to cost $7.7 billion. In 2008, its cost had been estimated at $4.9 billion.

Trimble also said the project wouldn't be complete until November 2019 – more than three years later than originally expected.

The MOX plant would blend weapons-grade plutonium to create commercial nuclear reactor fuel and would be the first of its kind in the United States. It's being built at the Savannah River Site, a former nuclear bomb plant whose reactors have been shuttered for more than a decade.
[link to www.thestate.com]
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Obama names nuclear chief Macfarlane to new term

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has nominated Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Allison Macfarlane to a new five-year term.

Macfarlane, a geologist, took over the agency last summer after its former chairman, Gregory Jaczko, resigned amid complaints about an unyielding management style that fellow commissioners and agency employees described as bullying.
[link to www.miamiherald.com]
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:raindrops::raindrops::raindrops:

This one is for you Bug

[link to fukushimaemergencywhatcanwedo.blogspot.com.au]

so much for their recent bullshit research..............

Watchdog experts evicted from post-Fukushima conferences

This week Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility attorney John Geesman, seismologist consultant Dr. Douglas Hamilton, and outreach coordinator David Weisman traveled to a three day workshop in Oakland, which was a part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission mandated post-Fukushima workshop.

All three members of the watchdog organization were evicted from the building prior to a presentation by GeoPentech, Southern California Edison’s seismic research contractor.

Monitors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were present at the conference, but did not intervene to prevent the eviction of the watchdog experts.
[link to enformable.com]
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Yes, indeed.


[snip]

Preface

Dr. Bandazhevsky’s groundbreaking research on the effects of radioactive cesium upon the children and people of Belarus is not well known in the United States. This is in large part because the government of Belarus chose to persecute him and suppress his work, which threatened to disrupt their plans to repopulate lands grossly contaminated with radioactive cesium. Bandazhevsky was forced to write this study while under house arrest, awaiting many years of subsequent imprisonment and torture. Government agents had already destroyed many of the archived samples, slides and materials that he and his colleagues and students had accumulated during the nine years he was Rector of the Gomel State Medical Institute of Belarus. However, Bandazhevsky had already published much of the statistical data he had obtained in 4 books: Clinical and experimental aspects of the effects of incorporated radionuclides in the body [Russian and English]. Gomel 1995; Pathophysiology of incorporated radioactivity. Gomel, 1997; Structural and functional effects of radionuclides incorporated into the body, Gomel, 1997. Pathology of incorporated radioactivity, Minsk, 1999, as well as numerous articles in the collection of scientific works of the Gomel State Medical Institute. He used much of this previously published information in conjunction with the slides that he had preserved at his residence, in order to write this study. For purposes of clarity, I have added a section, at the bottom of page 6, which provides more details on the methodology used by Dr. Bandazhevsky to obtain Whole Body Counts and the specific activity of 137Cs (cesium-137). This section on methodology is taken from “Chronic Cs-137 Incorporation in Children’s Organs,” published in Swiss Med Wkly 2003; 133:488-490. Dr. Bandazhevsky was the author, but note that he was in prison at the time, and the 2003 study was compiled by his European colleagues using data that they had obtained from Dr. Bandazhevsky during their visits to the Gomel State Medical Institute during the period 1997-1999. Dr. Bandazhevsky has recently confirmed to me that that the methodology described in the 2003 study did in fact describe the methodology used during his nine year research recorded in this study.
Steven Starr, March, 2013

radchicks vid...not sure if been posted...


the comments aint great

rgds rawpaul
: )

something a bloke i know did... radaition or disease? ha!




Scmallenberg Virus is the Canary in the coal mine of the Fukushima Fallout that is raining out across the planet....who do they think they are kidding!!!
Don't do this at home kids!!!
[link to www.defra.gov.uk]
Schmallenberg Virus is a new emerging livestock disease that has been detected in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.
It is similar to some other animal disease pathogens, such as Akabane and Shamonda viruses, which are transmitted by vectors, such as midges, mosquitoes and ticks.
The virus has been associated with brief mild/moderate disease (milk drop, pyrexia, diarrhoea) in adult cattle and late abortion or birth defects in newborn cattle, sheep and goats.
All the evidence currently suggests that the disease was brought into the UK from infected midges blown across the Channel. We have seen no evidence to suggest that it was from imported livestock. We are closely tracking the disease and will continue to work with partners across Europe and the UK to develop our knowledge of the disease.
Schmallenberg Virus is not a notifiable disease but farmers are asked to contact their veterinary surgeon if they encounter cases of ruminant neonates or fetuses which are stillborn, show malformations or are showing nervous disease. Veterinary surgeons should then contact their local AHVLA Laboratory (England and Wales) or SAC Disease Surveillance Centre (Scotland) if they suspect infection with the virus.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control suggests that there is a low likelihood of any risk to public health

3 prefectures to draw up evacuation plan for Mt Fuji eruption

TOKYO — The prefectural governments of Yamanashi, Shizuoka and Kanagawa plan to formulate a prediction of the damage likely to be caused by lava flow, falling rocks and ash clouds as a result of a Mt Fuji eruption.

The predictions are to be used to draw up effective evacuation plans for residents of the three prefectures. Up to 750,000 residents would have to evacuate in Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures in the event of an eruption, according to an earlier government estimate.

The task force has been ordered to update evacuation plans for residents who are expected to be in danger from ash clouds and falling debris in the event of an eruption, NHK reported.
[link to www.japantoday.com]
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CNN airs troubling images of ill California sea lions — “Like walking skeletons” — Unprecedented crisis, exponentially higher numbers — 700 rescued recently (VIDEO)


[link to enenews.com]

Professor Hanington’s: Speaking of Science: Plutonium
[link to elkodaily.com]

[snip]

By 1943, chemists had created enough plutonium to make it the first synthetic element visible with the naked eye. During that time, the nuclear properties of plutonium were also studied. Investigators found when an atom of plutonium is hit by a neutron, it breaks apart by fission and releases a relatively large amount of energy and more importantly, additional neutrons. The idea that these extra neutrons can hit other atoms of plutonium gave rise to the concept of an exponentially fast chain reaction which could, under the right circumstances, result in a nuclear explosion.

As a result of this discovery, the United States, under the exigent conditions of WWII, established the Manhattan Project with the express purpose of developing a plutonium atomic bomb before Nazi Germany did. Those familiar with science history know that the Germans, too, had a well established nuclear program under the direction of physicists Erich Schumann, Otto Hahn and Werner Heisenberg. After all, nuclear fission was discovered by Lise Meitner and Hahn working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin in 1939 — propelling Germany to the forefront in this line of research.

Edison might seek San Onofre license change without public hearing
[link to www.latimes.com]

[snip]

The operator of the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant might request a license amendment before restarting the plant through an expedited process that would not require public hearings before a restart.

Southern California Edison said Friday that it has requested a meeting with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to discuss the possible license amendment. The NRC has not yet responded.

Also Friday, a special NRC panel heard arguments from Edison and Friends of the Earth, an environmental group that has pushed for the commission to require a license amendment with a full trial-like public hearing process before deciding whether to allow the plant to fire up again.

The panel did not rule on the issue Friday, and that proceeding is separate from the one that would take place if Edison submits a license amendment request.

Natural Gas: Killing Coal And Nuclear, and Maybe The Grid
[link to blogs.wsj.com]

[snip]

David Crane, CEO of power generator NRG Energy Inc. NRG +0.19%, says the U.S. natural gas boom is hurting the coal and nuclear industries more than expected.

“Natural gas is in the process of wiping out the coal industry,” Mr. Crane says, speaking at the WSJ’s ECO:nomics conference in Santa Barbara. “It’s a big shock as power generator. It’s wiping out the nuclear industry quicker than we thought.”

Rooftop and other solar-power generators that produce electricity used where the facility is located is the future of solar, not large solar farms in the desert, Mr. Crane says. And someday, the natural gas industry is likely to invent in-home power generation technology that could reduce or eliminate the need for utility power.

“All the natural gas industry needs is a gizmo in your house to convert natural gas into electricity,” Mr. Crane says. It could be a fuel cell, it could be a micro gas turbine.

you should see the roof houses here in aus...... blankated with solar cells, and selling power back to the grid!!!!

my mate owns a solar business in northern new south wales and just bought his second fishing boat... i'm thinking of moving there and working for him.....

We don't allow no watchdogs around here..




Watchdog experts evicted from post-Fukushima conferences
[link to enformable.com]

[snip]

This week Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility attorney John Geesman, seismologist consultant Dr. Douglas Hamilton, and outreach coordinator David Weisman traveled to a three day workshop in Oakland, which was a part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission mandated post-Fukushima workshop. All three members of the watchdog organization were evicted from the building prior to a presentation by GeoPentech, Southern California Edison’s seismic research contractor. Monitors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were present at the conference, but did not intervene to prevent the eviction of the watchdog experts.

Might be a smart play.. ahead of the curve, so to speak.

I think it's very dangerous (not to mention offensive) to blame God for the works of man. Nothing about the events of March 11 was natural or an act of God (save for the evidence of His mercy and compassion that only 20+ thousand people lost their lives). Man toyed with the atom, man built the reactors (in one of the planet's most dangerous places to do so), man put MOX where is absolutely, positively didn't belong, and yes, man caused the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

I notice that you didn't capitalize "Nation." When referencing Japan's "non-existent" relationship with that nation, are you referring to the physical, present day political entity, or the biblical definition?

Thank you for this CP.

Absolutely invaluable information for anyone wanting to know what radiation does to you. Also Dr. Petkau's research.

[link to www.cnic.jp]

[snip]


The ‘simulation analysis’ deception technique


It seems to me that an LOCA occurred due to pipe damage; large amounts of steam blew out into the containment vessel (drywell) heading toward the suppression chamber, but due to the hydrodynamic loads and the ‘sloshing’ at the time of the earthquake, the structures were damaged and the pressure suppression mechanism was lost. As a result, steam volume was not reduced through condensation, and thus the pressure in the containment vessel rose to 0.74 MPa (about 7.4 atm), and this is the answer to the ‘greatest puzzle of the 1F 1 accident.’

Meanwhile, on Sunday, 15 May, TEPCO held an emergency press conference to explain that, as a result of a ‘simulation analysis,’ 1F 1 had experienced a ‘meltdown’ (by this term TEPCO apparently meant that molten fuel rods had fallen to the bottom of the reactor) at quite an early stage.

TEPCO did not really need to explain this as it had already become quite obvious to many people that a meltdown had occurred, but perhaps because this was the moment when TEPCO at last ‘formally’ recognized the fact, this meltdown press conference is still accepted by the general public in a positive and favorable light. In fact, it was clearly a TEPCO ‘trap,’ and most people walked straight into it. In a simulation analysis, you can get any result you want simply by altering the conditions of the analysis (i.e. the input data). However, most people were so surprised by TEPCO’s admission of the so-called ‘high-speed meltdown’ that almost no one thought to ask about the simulation analysis conditions.

Once again, the greatest puzzle of the 1F 1 accident sequence was why the containment vessel pressure rose to 0.74 MPa (about 7.4 atm). TEPCO must naturally have thought at first that it was an LOCA. They probably wondered about what sorts of things could happen to cause the containment vessel pressure to rise to 0.74 MPa. The Mark-I containment vessel’s ‘unresolved safety issue’ must have passed through the analyst’s mind. Certainly, the ‘sloshing’ problem at the time of the earthquake must also have passed through his mind. However, TEPCO would not wish to take up these matters in the simulation analysis, because that would then make an issue out of ‘earthquakes.’ If this were to be presented in a simulation, the ten Mark-I containment vessels still being used in Japan (excluding those used in 1F 1-5) would immediately become a ‘big problem.’

The TEPCO simulation analysis considered no impact from the earthquake. So how did TEPCO manage to arrange for the simulation to achieve the ‘abnormal’ containment vessel pressure rise? Figures 3 and 4 give the answer. Looking at Figure 3, the reactor water level drops precipitously (because the input conditions are set for it to do that, but I will not go into the details here). In this case the fuel rods very quickly melt down. In fact, looking at Figure 4, you can see that it says ‘RPV (reactor pressure vessel) damage’ at about 15 hours after the earthquake struck. That is, a meltdown occurred and a hole opened up ‘somewhere’ in the RPV.

As a result, as the meltdown proceeded in the RPV, the high temperature, high pressure gas blasted violently out through that hole into the containment vessel. Thus the containment vessel pressure rose rapidly (Fig. 4). This is TEPCO’s ‘simulation analysis’ deception technique.

This is nothing but a ‘voodoo simulation’ in which the earthquake issue is cleverly ignored using the smokescreen of the high-speed meltdown. The undeniable gap between the actual measured values for the reactor water level and the result of the simulation is the very piece of evidence that is needed to see through this disgraceful deception.

Mitsuhiko Tanaka (Science writer; ex-RPV designer)

16 million Bq/liter of Cesium-137 in Fukushima Daiichi Spent Fuel Pool No. 1 — More than in June 2011 — Almost 5,000 times Unit 4′s levels
[link to enenews.com]

As we have previously opined..




Study: Up to 900 trillion becquerels of strontium-90 into ocean from Fukushima plant — “Direct discharges of cooling water”
[link to enenews.com]

[snip]

Results of the samples analyzed here evidenced a much stronger influence of direct discharges of cooling water into the sea and the oceanic background concentration, rather than atmospheric deposition.