tagged w/ Nuclear Power
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(NaturalNews) Virtually all the numbers you're seeing about the radioactivity coming out of Fukushima are based on iodine-131 which only has a half-life of 8 days, not the far more dangerous cesium-137 which has a half-life of 30 years. So while the mainstream media reports that "radiation levels are falling rapidly" from the 7.5 million times reading taken a few days ago, what they're not telling you is that the cesium-137 radioactivity will take 30 years just to fall by 50 percent.(NaturalNews) Virtually all the numbers you're seeing about the radioactivity... more
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Friday, July 1, 2011
Radiation in Japan: Professor Kosako: "Come the harvest season in the fall, there will be a chaos"
Professor Toshiso Kosako of Tokyo University, who resigned in protest against the Kan Administration's policy to allow 20 millisieverts/year external radiation exposure for children which he called unacceptable and unconscionable, gave an interview for the first time since his resignation to Wall Street Journal (or so it looks).
Kosako says:
There will be chaos and scandal when the rice is harvested in the fall, as it will contain radioactive materials;
Japan is looking like a developing country in East Asia without democracy;
The government uses the high ceiling for radiation in schools so that it doesn't need to spend money to ameliorate the situation;
The government hasn't done enough to investigate ocean contamination.
So far, I am unable to find the equivalent Japanese article in the Japanese version of WSJ. Interesting by itself, but not surprising as the paper has put out dramatically different versions of the same news in Japanese and in English.
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From WSJ (Yuka Hayashi, 7/1/2011):
TOKYO—A former nuclear adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan blasted the government's continuing handling of the crisis, and predicted further revelations of radiation threats to the public in the coming months.
In his first media interview since resigning his post in protest in April, Toshiso Kosako, one of the country's leading experts on radiation safety, said Mr. Kan's government has been slow to test for possible dangers in the sea and to fish and has understated certain radiation dangers to minimize what it will have to spend to clean up contamination.
And while there have been scattered reports already of food contamination—of tea leaves and spinach, for example—Mr. Kosako said there will be broader, more disturbing discoveries later this year, especially as rice, Japan's staple, is harvested.
"Come the harvest season in the fall, there will be a chaos," Mr. Kosako said. "Among the rice harvested, there will certainly be some radiation contamination—though I don't know at what levels—setting off a scandal. If people stop buying rice from Tohoku, …we'll have a tricky problem."
Mr. Kosako also said that the way the government has handled the Fukushima Daiichi situation since the March 11 tsunami crippled the reactors has exposed basic flaws in Japanese policymaking. "The government's decision-making mechanism is opaque," he said. "It's never clear what reasons are driving what decisions. This doesn't look like a democratic society. Japan is increasingly looking like a developing nation in East Asia."
Specifically, Mr. Kosako said the government set a relatively high ceiling for acceptable radiation in schoolyards, so that only 17 schools exceeded that limit. If the government had set the lower ceiling he had advocated, thousands of schools would have required a full cleanup. With Mr. Kan's ruling party struggling to gain parliamentary approval for a special budget, the costlier option didn't get traction.
"When taking these steps, the only concern for the current government is prolonging its own life," Mr. Kosako said.
Mr. Kan's office referred questions about Mr. Kosako's remarks to a cabinet office official, who declined to be identified. The official said the government is making "utmost efforts" to improve radiation monitoring in the sea and working closely with fishermen and others.
"Particularly close attention is paid to the safety of rice as Japan's staple food," the official said, adding that the government would suspend the shipment of crops if radiation exceeding a set standard is detected.
As for schools, the official said the government was working to lower the ceiling for acceptable radiation, and "is also considering additional steps. "
Mr. Kosako, a 61-year-old Tokyo University professor who has served on a number government and industrial panels, stepped down from Mr. Kan's nuclear-advisory panel on April 30, fueling concerns about the government's handling of the accident. Saying that many of his recommendations were ignored, the scientist described the government's ceiling on schoolyard radiation levels as "unacceptable." The image of him wiping tears at a press conference as he said he wouldn't subject his own children to such an environment was widely broadcast.
Having spent the past two months focusing on teaching radiation-safety courses at his university, Mr. Kosako said he is now ready to begin speaking his mind again, starting with foreign audiences. Over the coming weeks, he will be giving speeches in the U.S. and in Taiwan.
He said he is especially concerned with contamination of the ocean by the large amounts radioactive material from the damaged reactors dumped into surrounding waters. The government has released only sketchy information about what's drained into the sea as a result of efforts to cool the smoldering Fukushima Daiichi reactors. Mr. Kosako has urged more seawater monitoring, more projections of the spread of polluted water and steps to deal with the contamination of different types of seafood, from seaweed to shellfish to fish.
"I've been telling them to hurry up and do it, but they haven't," he said.
As he resigned, Mr. Kosako submitted to government officials a thick booklet that contained all the recommendations he had offered during his six-week tenure. A copy of the booklet was obtained by The Wall Street Journal from an independent source.
From the time of his appointment on March 16, Mr. Kosako and some of his colleagues were offering recommendations touching on a broad range of topics. It was weeks before the public learned of some of them, such as a March 17 call for using the government's SPEEDI radiation-monitoring system to project residents' exposure levels using the "worst-case scenario based on a practical setting."
On March 18, they urged the government's Nuclear Safety Commission to re-examine the adequacy of the government's initial evacuation zones, based on such simulations by SPEEDI.
The SPEEDI data weren't released to the public until March 23, and the evacuation zones weren't adjusted until April 11. Critics say the delay in the adjustment may have subjected thousands of Fukushima residents to high levels of radiation exposure.
Professor Kosako had been considered a pro-nuke "government scientist" until his resignation. Maybe he is still pro-nuke, but it was during his press conference at the end of April when he announced resignation that many people were made aware of this thing called WSPEEDI, which can predict radioactive fallout dispersions globally, not just Japan. Only after that revelation by the professor, the government decided to quietly sneak in the WSPEEDI simulation results sometime in mid May on the Ministry of Education website. They showed a very extensive contamination in Tohoku and Kanto.Friday, July 1, 2011
Radiation in Japan: Professor Kosako: "Come the harvest... more
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According to these numbers, even rooftop solar is more dangerous!
On a per TWh basis at least.
The writer suggests that integrating solar into roof-tiles, or requiring professional installation would address those dangers.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/deaths-per-twh-by-energy-source.htmlAccording to these numbers, even rooftop solar is more dangerous!
On a per TWh basis... more
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JoFerg
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11 months ago
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Radioactive cesium leaking from the tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is estimated to reach the West Coast of the United States in five years after its density declines considerably, according to a semi-governmental research institute.
The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has compiled a map predicting how cesium-137 will spread throughout the Pacific Ocean in the long term. Cesium-137, whose half life is 30 years, is one of the radioactive substances leaking from the crippled nuclear power station.
It estimates that cesium-137 from the plant will spread in the shape of an ellipse -- as far as about 4,000 kilometers off the coast of Japan -- in one year. It then predicts the substance will reach Hawaii three years later and the U.S. West Coast five years from now. However, the agency says that by that time, its density will have declined significantly.Radioactive cesium leaking from the tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is... more
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Ministers have announced plans for the next generation of UK nuclear plants.
The government confirmed a list of eight sites deemed suitable for new power stations by 2025, all of which are adjacent to existing nuclear sites.
The sites are: Bradwell, Essex; Hartlepool; Heysham, Lancashire; Hinkley Point, Somerset; Oldbury, South Gloucestershire; Sellafield, Cumbria; Sizewell, Suffolk; and Wylfa, Anglesey.
More info at the linkMinisters have announced plans for the next generation of UK nuclear plants.
The... more
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pdy
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11 months ago
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During the early stages of the Cold War, the Atomic Energy Commission had to make a choice between uranium and thorium as the primary fuel source for nuclear power. Perhaps there was only enough money to fund the research and development of one, at the peril of the other. More likely, the reason was far simpler: the uranium decay cycle produces plutonium, and the thorium decay cycle does not.
http://open.salon.com/blog/pjl21/2011/05/24/thorium_greener_cleaner_safer_energyDuring the early stages of the Cold War, the Atomic Energy Commission had to make a... more
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8pmKsYhqH8&feature=player_embedded
Nuclear accidents - like oil spills and financial meltdowns - happen because big companies push to make more money by cutting every safety measure in the books.
The accident at Fukushima was predictable.
Likewise, the potential problem at the Fort Calhoun reactor in Nebraska was predictable. (For background, see this and this.)
As Ketv reported in March:
Fort Calhoun's nuclear power plant is one of three reactors across the country that federal regulators said they are most concerned about.
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Last year, federal regulators questioned the station's flood protection protocol. NRC officials said they felt the Omaha Public Power District should do more than sandbagging in the event of major flooding along the Missouri river.
OPPD officials said they have already made amends and added new flood gates.
"We updated our flood protection strategy and have tested and re-tested our new strategy. The issue is operationally resolved, and at no time was there a threat to public safety or was public health at risk," OPPD President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Gates said.
The New York Times noted yesterday:
Last year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission cited the Fort Calhoun plant for not being adequately prepared for floods and rated the safety violation in the “yellow” category, the second most serious. The agency ordered changes because it said that under the plan in place at the time ...
After initially contesting the findings, the plant’s operators, Omaha Public Power District, said that the problems had been resolved.
The Daily Mail writes today:
A nuclear plant was inches away from being engulfed by the bloated Missouri River after several levees in the area failed to hold back its surging waters, raising fears it could become America's Fukushima.
Dramatic pictures show the moment the plant was threatened with being shut down today, as water levels rose ominously to within 18 inches of its walls.
The river has to hit 902 feet above sea level at Brownville before officials will shut down the Cooper Nuclear Plant, which sits at 903 feet. It stopped and ebbed slightly yesterday, a reprieve caused by levee breaches in northwest Missouri - for now.
Flooding is a major concern all along the river because of the massive amounts of water that the Army Corps of Engineers has released from six dams. Any significant rain could worsen the flooding especially if it falls in Nebraska, Iowa or Missouri, which are downstream of the dams.
The river is expected to rise as much as five to seven feet above the official 'flood stage' in much of Nebraska and Iowa and as much as 10 feet over in parts of Missouri. The corps predicts the river will remain that high until at least August.
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The river has risen at least 1.5 feet higher than Fort Calhoun's 1,004-foot elevation above sea level. The plant can handle water up to 1,014 feet, according to OPPD. The water is being held back by a series of protective barriers, including an 8-foot rubber wall outside the reactor building.
(See the Daily Mail article for photos.)
Likewise, the Cooper nuclear reactor - also in Nebraska - is threatened by the flooding as well.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports that flooding has already caused oil to spill: (read the remainder at Washington's Blog)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8pmKsYhqH8&feature=player_embedded
Nuclear... more
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Once again, our American media is MIA on vital news, while we all are subjected to endless Bieberisms. Sadly, we must turn to Al Jazeera English for news that TEPCO (Tokyo Electric) has publicly reported.
A quick quote from the full piece, here: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/201161664828302638.html
Scientific experts believe Japan's nuclear disaster to be far worse than governments are revealing to the public.
Even though the plant is now shut down, fission products such as uranium continue to generate heat, and therefore require cooling.
"The fuels are now a molten blob at the bottom of the reactor," Gundersen added. "TEPCO announced they had a melt through. A melt down is when the fuel collapses to the bottom of the reactor, and a melt through means it has melted through some layers. That blob is incredibly radioactive, and now you have water on top of it. The water picks up enormous amounts of radiation, so you add more water and you are generating hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive water."
Independent scientists have been monitoring the locations of radioactive "hot spots" around Japan, and their findings are disconcerting.
"We have 20 nuclear cores exposed, the fuel pools have several cores each, that is 20 times the potential to be released than Chernobyl," said Gundersen. "The data I'm seeing shows that we are finding hot spots further away than we had from Chernobyl, and the amount of radiation in many of them was the amount that caused areas to be declared no-man's-land for Chernobyl. We are seeing square kilometers being found 60 to 70 kilometers away from the reactor. You can't clean all this up. We still have radioactive wild boar in Germany, 30 years after Chernobyl."
Read the full story here: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/201161664828302638.htmlOnce again, our American media is MIA on vital news, while we all are subjected to... more
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Italy’s voting public have overturned no less than four laws by the Berlusconi government in today’s referendum. In the wake of Fukushima the public’s clear ballot against a revival of nuclear energy in Italy comprehensibly takes up a prominent position in news headlines. The ballot is also being seen as one of a number of heavy blows Berlusconi’s fragile coalition has been dealt recently, after two serious regional defeats in Naples and Milan.
snip
The law on water privatization is a part of so called “Ronchi Decree”, named after Andrea Ronchi, minister of communitarian politics in the current Berlusconi government, which has become a law in 2009. The decree revises community service practices and envisaged to give way to a de facto privatization and capitalization on public water services by private stakeholders by guaranteeing “non-discrimination and equal treatment” to private companies who wish to participate in the public water services sector. Futhermore, public water service companies who were already listed on stock exchange were allowed to be owned by only less than a third, whereas 70% had to be in the hands of private investors.
A broad social movement subsumed in the “Italian Forum of Water Movements” consisting of 150 communities and political organizations called for a halt of broad liberalization of public services and the capitalization on something most Italians seem to see as a public good. Their campaigning work has reached a considerable amount of concerned voters: The ballots of today’s referendum are extremely articulate: 96% of those who went to vote (which were in turn 57% of the voting public) refused to accept the Ronchi Decree, the ballots agains nuclear energy and legal immunity for politicians were equally high.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1BJhY-EzrkItaly’s voting public have overturned no less than four laws by the Berlusconi... more
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Almost three months after the earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear disaster in Japan, new radiation "hot spots" may require the evacuation of more areas further from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency recently admitted for the first time that full nuclear meltdowns occurred at three of the plant’s reactors, and more than doubled its estimate for the amount of radiation that leaked from the plant in the first week of the disaster in March. “What they failed to mention is that they discharged an equally large amount into the ocean,” says our guest Robert Alvarez, former senior policy adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Energy. “As [the radiation] goes up the food chain, it accumulates. By the time it reaches people who consume this food, the levels are higher than they originally were when they entered the environment.” Alvarez also discusses his new report on the vulnerabilities and hazards of stored spent fuel at U.S. reactors in the United States. Then we go to Tokyo to speak with Aileen Mioko Smith, executive director of the group Green Action. She says citizens leading their own monitoring efforts are calling for additional evacuations, especially for young children and pregnant women. [includes rush transcriptAlmost three months after the earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear disaster... more
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WORLDbytes reporters hit the streets to investigate what the British public think about nuclear power after media scares of a Fukushima meltdown in Japan. Their findings are salutary and a lesson in never underestimating the public or treating their views with contempt. Savvy citizens may worry about waste but few have completely swallowed the nuclear doom mongering now evident in Germany. Eloquent insights on the press preoccupation with Fukushima where no one died, versus the horrific death and destruction caused by the Tsunami abound. For some, fear of climate catastrophe is pitted against nuclear catastrophe and nuclear power has become the ‘lesser evil.’ Perhaps a bigger problem is the idea we should settle for less energy in general.WORLDbytes reporters hit the streets to investigate what the British public think... more
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Los Angeles Times...
Japan says it was unprepared for post-quake nuclear disaster
In its report, Japan says, it needs to revise its nuclear safety preparedness and response in light of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crisis. It also says the damage and radiation leak were worse than previously thought.
associated press
June 8, 2011
tokyo —
— Japan acknowledged Tuesday that it was unprepared for a severe nuclear accident like the tsunami-generated Fukushima disaster and said damage to the reactors and radiation leakage were worse than it previously thought.
In a report being submitted to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, the government also acknowledged reactor design inadequacies and a need for greater independence for the country's nuclear regulators.
The report says the nuclear fuel in three reactors probably melted through the inner containment vessels, not just the core, after the March 11 earthquake, and the tsunami knocked out the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's power and cooling systems. Fuel in the Unit 1 reactor started melting hours earlier than previously estimated.
The 750-page report, compiled by Japan's nuclear emergency task force, factors in a preliminary evaluation by a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency and was to be submitted to the IAEA as requested.
"In light of the lessons learned from the accident, Japan has recognized that a fundamental revision of its nuclear safety preparedness and response is inevitable," the report says. It also recommends a national debate on nuclear power.
The report says the "inadequate" basic reactor design — the Mark-1 model developed by General Electric — included the venting system for the containment vessels and the location of spent fuel cooling pools high in the buildings, which resulted in leaks of radioactive water that hampered repair work.
GE declined to comment on the specific conclusions of the report.
Hundreds of plant workers are scrambling to bring the crippled reactors to a "cold shutdown" by early next year and end the crisis. The accident has forced more than 80,000 residents to evacuate from neighborhoods around the plant.Los Angeles Times...
Japan says it was unprepared for post-quake nuclear disaster... more
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A malfunction led to the sudden shutdown of one of the nuclear reactors at Exelon’s Limerick Nuclear Generation Station early Sunday morning.
Exelon said in a press release that Unit 2 shut down Sunday at 5:02 a.m. “after the turbine tripped following scheduled testing and maintenance on an electrical system in the non-nuclear section of the plant.”
The company also said no one is hurt and the public should not be worried. Exelon is still determining the cause of the issue....
continued at:
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/the-feed/item/20533-exelon-nuclear-reactor-shuts-down-unexpectedly-in-limerickA malfunction led to the sudden shutdown of one of the nuclear reactors at... more
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Dagum
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12 months ago
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The New York Times...
May 30, 2011
In Japan, a Culture That Promotes Nuclear Dependency
By MARTIN FACKLER and NORIMITSU ONISHI
PART ONE...
KASHIMA, Japan — When the Shimane nuclear plant was first proposed here more than 40 years ago, this rural port town put up such fierce resistance that the plant’s would-be operator, Chugoku Electric, almost scrapped the project. Angry fishermen vowed to defend areas where they had fished and harvested seaweed for generations.
Two decades later, when Chugoku Electric was considering whether to expand the plant with a third reactor, Kashima once again swung into action: this time, to rally in favor. Prodded by the local fishing cooperative, the town assembly voted 15 to 2 to make a public appeal for construction of the $4 billion reactor.
Kashima’s reversal is a common story in Japan, and one that helps explain what is, so far, this nation’s unwavering pursuit of nuclear power: a lack of widespread grass-roots opposition in the communities around its 54 nuclear reactors. This has held true even after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami generated a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi station that has raised serious questions about whether this quake-prone nation has adequately ensured the safety of its plants. So far, it has spurred only muted public questioning in towns like this.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has, at least temporarily, shelved plans to expand Japan’s use of nuclear power — plans promoted by the country’s powerful nuclear establishment. Communities appear willing to fight fiercely for nuclear power, despite concerns about safety that many residents refrain from voicing publicly.
To understand Kashima’s about-face, one need look no further than the Fukada Sports Park, which serves the 7,500 mostly older residents here with a baseball diamond, lighted tennis courts, a soccer field and a $35 million gymnasium with indoor pool and Olympic-size volleyball arena. The gym is just one of several big public works projects paid for with the hundreds of millions of dollars this community is receiving for accepting the No. 3 reactor, which is still under construction.
As Kashima’s story suggests, Tokyo has been able to essentially buy the support, or at least the silent acquiescence, of communities by showering them with generous subsidies, payouts and jobs. In 2009 alone, Tokyo gave $1.15 billion for public works projects to communities that have electric plants, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Experts say the majority of that money goes to communities near nuclear plants.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg, experts say, as the communities also receive a host of subsidies, property and income tax revenues, compensation to individuals and even “anonymous” donations to local treasuries that are widely believed to come from plant operators.
Unquestionably, the aid has enriched rural communities that were rapidly losing jobs and people to the cities. With no substantial reserves of oil or coal, Japan relies on nuclear power for the energy needed to drive its economic machine. But critics contend that the largess has also made communities dependent on central government spending — and thus unwilling to rock the boat by pushing for robust safety measures.
In a process that critics have likened to drug addiction, the flow of easy money and higher-paying jobs quickly replaces the communities’ original economic basis, usually farming or fishing.
Nor did planners offer alternatives to public works projects like nuclear plants. Keeping the spending spigots open became the only way to maintain newly elevated living standards.
Experts and some residents say this dependency helps explain why, despite the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the accidents at the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear plants, Japan never faced the levels of popular opposition to nuclear power seen in the United States and Europe — and is less likely than the United States to stop building new plants. Towns become enmeshed in the same circle — which includes politicians, bureaucrats, judges and nuclear industry executives — that has relentlessly promoted the expansion of nuclear power over safety concerns.
“This structure of dependency makes it impossible for communities to speak out against the plants or nuclear power,” said Shuji Shimizu, a professor of public finance at Fukushima University.
CONTINUED...
PHOTO:
Ko Sasaki for The New York Times
The Chugoku Electric nuclear power plant in Kashima. A third reactor is currently under construction.The New York Times...
May 30, 2011
In Japan, a Culture That Promotes Nuclear... more
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We're taking a daily look at some of the most popular stories from the Current community, and we've rounded up some highlights to share. Check them out and add your two cents:
Faces of the Fallen U.S. members who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring FreedomSubmitted by letsliveinpeace
In honor of Memorial Day weekend, a look at tributes to members of the US military who died in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
30 Years In, We Are Still Learning From AIDSSubmitted by Vierotchka
The New York Times looks back at the early days of the AIDS epidemic -- what began as an unknown disease, a handful of reports of men with rare forms of pneumonia and cancer that typically affected those with compromised immune systems -- and what we can learn from the course of the AIDS epidemic.
As AIDS has become entrenched in the United States and elsewhere, a new generation has grown up with little if any knowledge of those dark early days. But they are worth recalling, as a cautionary tale about the effects of the bafflement and fear that can surround an unknown disease and as a reminder of the sweeping changes in medical practice that the epidemic has brought about.
Germany to quit Nuclear within 10 years!Submitted by alexandrek
Germany has announced that it will cease use of nuclear power by 2022, making it the largest industrial power to move away from the use of nuclear energy.
[Environment Minister] Mr Rottgen said the seven oldest reactors - which were taken offline for a safety review immediately after the Japanese crisis - would never be used again. An eighth plant - the Kruemmel facility in northern Germany, which was already offline and has been plagued by technical problems, would also be shut down for good.
Join the discussion -- or head over to the News group for more popular stories from the community.We're taking a daily look at some of the most popular stories from the... more
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Tehran Times...
30 May 2011
25,000 attend anti-nuclear demo in Berlin
Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating in 21 cities in Germany against the government's energy policy, calling for an end to nuclear power.
Around 25,000 anti-nuclear activists protested in the German capital of Berlin on Saturday. Similar rallies were also held in Dresden, Munich, Hamburg, Gottingen and other cities, where the protesters called for a swift exit from nuclear power, a Press TV correspondent reported.
“We want to clear an indefinite decision that as many nuclear reactors as possible will close and that for others at least we get a precise date for the shutdown,” Thorben Becker of Friends of The Earth told Press TV.
Nuclear power accounts for about a quarter of Germany's energy supply.
In October 2010, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government extended the life-span of nuclear reactors after a previous coalition had agreed to phase-out nuclear energy by 2022.
In response to the nuclear disaster in Japan triggered by a powerful quake and tsunami in March, Merkel reversed her energy policy, ordering the shutdown of the seven oldest reactors in Germany for three months.
A study by the German environment ministry has suggested that a phase-out by 2017 would be possible without causing blackouts.
While protesters gathered at the headquarters of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), labor representatives of Germany's nuclear power plant operators warned of massive job losses in the sector and the International Energy Agency estimated a significant rise in CO2-emmission because of the three-month moratorium.
Experts say it is crucial that Merkel and her CDU present a plan and a date for the nuclear phase-out as soon as possible, as the protests have sent a clear signal to the government that the majority of Germans oppose nuclear energy.
(Source: Press TV)Tehran Times...
30 May 2011
25,000 attend anti-nuclear demo in Berlin
Tens... more
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New readings show levels of radioisotopes found up to 30 kilometers offshore from the on-going crisis at Fukushima are ten times higher than those measured in the Baltic and Black Seas during Chernobyl. “When it comes to the oceans, says Ken Buesseler, a chemical oceanographer At the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, "The impact of Fukushima exceeds Chernobyl."
Fukushima's owner, the Tokoyo Electric Power Company, has confirmed that the fuel in Unit One melted BEFORE the arrival of the March 11 tsunami.
This critical revelation reveals that the early stages of that melt-down were set in motion by the earthquake that sent tremors into Japan from a relatively far distance out to sea.New readings show levels of radioisotopes found up to 30 kilometers offshore from the... more
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WBEZ...
Nuclear energy in Japan in post-Fukushima era
by Worldview May. 25, 2011
Click on Link to Listen to This Story
(Getty Images/Athit Perawongmetha)
http://www.wbez.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/story_image_medium/segment/photo/2011-May/2011-05-25/112053597.jpg
Photo: A dog wanders the abandoned streets of Futaba, a town within the exclusion zone near the Fukushima power plant.
This week, the Tokyo Electric Power Company admitted that three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant suffered meltdowns shortly after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in March.
From the somber legacy of World War II to this latest crisis, nuclear energy in Japan has a complicated history. Now, as bad news continues to emerge out of the Fukushima catastrophe, Japan is forced to do some soul searching about nuclear power, which supplies thirty percent of the nation’s energy.
Norma Field is a professor of Japanese studies at the University of Chicago. Field recently had a conference on nuclear energy in Japan. She dropped by with a longtime critic of Japan’s nuclear energy policies, filmmaker Hitomi Kamanaka. Kamanaka was screening her latest documentary, Ashes to Honey: Toward a Sustainable Future, when the earthquake and tsunami struck in Tokyo.WBEZ...
Nuclear energy in Japan in post-Fukushima era
by Worldview May. 25,... more
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May 23rd, 2011 at 02:35 PM
5/24 @ ??? Sv/hr
5/23 @ 201 Sv/hr
5/22 @ 196 Sv/hr
5/21 @ 36.2 Sv/hr
5/20 @ 46.5 Sv/hr
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5/18 @ 45.4 Sv/hr
Write Obama and your local representatives, and tell them. No Nukes.
Nuclear Power----UNSAFE------UNNEEDED-------UNWANTED-----May 23rd, 2011 at 02:35 PM
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— We’re in uncharted territory for first time ever since humans started using nuclear power
[...] I believe the Reactor Pressure Vessel has a large hole, not the small holes that TEPCO says. [...] much water has leaked (4,000 tons in the reactor building basement) and yet TEPCO says there’s still pressure inside the RPV. It is impossible, given the structure of the reactor.
We’re in the uncharted territory that we enter for the first time ever since the human race started to use nuclear power. [...]
The Suppression Chamber in the reactor building basement is torus-shaped. The location where the corium may have dropped is the center of the torus, and it is concrete. The thing to worry about is how far down the concrete the corium will go.
The water circulation system using water in the building proposed by TEPCO is tantamount to admitting that the Containment Vessel is broken. It is a much more serious situation than I envisioned, [...]
However, if the corium goes into the concrete, no point in talking about circulating water to cool. There will be nothing you can do. The only way may be to entomb the whole building in a concrete coffin. [...]
There is a possibility of further hydrogen explosion, and it is still possible that Fukushima exceeds Chernobyl in terms of magnitude of the disaster.— We’re in uncharted territory for first time ever since humans started... more
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