Nuclear Power

Desastre de Fukushima

Source : Rebelion | 25 August 2011

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Puede que los residentes no vuelvan a sus hogares por causa de la radiación
Justin McCurry
Guardian
Traducido del inglés para Rebelión por Carlos Valladares

El gobierno japonés va a reconocer por primera vez que los niveles de radiación serán demasiado altos para permitir a los refugiados volver a sus hogares.
Según informan medios de comunicación japoneses, se va a comunicar a los residentes que viven cerca de la damnificada central nuclear de Fukushima que es posible que sus hogares no puedan volver a ser habitables durante decenios.
Se espera que el primer ministro japonés, Naoto Kan, visite el área este próximo fin de semana para comunicar a los evacuados que no podrán volver a sus casas, ni siquiera en el caso de que los trabajos para estabilizar los reactores dañados concluyan con éxito.
El comunicado de Kan será el primer reconocimiento oficial de que la radiación sufrida por las áreas cercanas a la planta puede provocar un peligro extremo para sus habitantes al menos durante una generación, lo que significaría en la práctica que una parte de ellos nunca más volvería allí.
Una fuente cercana al gobierno japonés, en declaraciones recogidas por los medios locales, ha revelado que puede que se de el caso de que se cierre la zona por “varios decenios”. Nuevos informes muestran que se dan niveles de radiación peligrosos fuera del área de exclusión de 20 km., aumentando la posibilidad de que ciudades enteras sean declaradas no habitables.

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De Nagasaki a Fukushima: el legado nuclear de Japón

Source : Amy Goodman - Democracy Now (by Rebelion) | 12 August 2011

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Los niveles de radiación en los reactores nucleares de Fukushima, en Japón, aumentaron en las últimas semanas, alcanzando niveles registrados de hasta 10.000 milisieverts (mSv) por hora en un mismo lugar. Este fue el nivel máximo informado por la Compañía Eléctrica de Tokio, o TEPCO, la desprestigiada empresa propietaria de la central nuclear, aunque cabe aclarar que ese número es tan alto como permite medir el Contador Geiger. En otras palabras, los niveles de radiación literalmente sobrepasan todas las mediciones.
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Japan orders 'stress tests' of nuclear plants

Source : Al Jazeera | 06 July 2011

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Checks on 54 reactors intended to reassure public the facilities are safe after Fukushima accident sparked by tsunami

The accident at Fukushima Daiichi is the worst since Chernobyl 25 years ago [Reuters]

Japan has said it will run "stress tests" on all its nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi atomic accident sparked by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The ongoing crisis, the world's worst atomic accident since Chernobyl 25 years ago, has ignited debate in Japan about the safety of nuclear power, which before the disaster accounted for one third of its electricity needs.
The centre-left government ordered a round of initial tests on the country's other atomic power plant after the disaster, and said on Wednesday the new stress tests aimed to reassure the public that the facilities are safe.
"The safety of nuclear power plants has been secured, but this is to gain a further sense of security among the people," Banri Kaieda, Japan's economy and industry minister, said.

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Parar los vertidos y cerrar la central

Source : Gara | 23 June 2011

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Sobre la contaminación térmica que produce en el río Ebro la central nuclear de Garoña
Editorial de Gara

Greenpeace difundió ayer un informe sobre la contaminación térmica que la central nuclear de Garoña produce en las aguas del Ebro, y los datos que ofreció son alarmantes. Los más de diez grados centígrados de diferencia registrados en febrero de este año entre tramos anteriores a la central y los inmediatamente posteriores merecen tal calificativo. Además, la variación térmica es aún más intensa, de casi 18 grados, respecto de la muestra obtenida a diez kilómetros de Frías, localidad situada a mayor distancia de Garoña, aguas arriba. Nada que ver con las mediciones obtenidas en mayo, sin actividad de la central. El informe es conclu- yente y muestra los problemas de refrigeración que padecen unas instalaciones obsoletas que vulneran las condiciones de autorización de vertido de aguas que exige el Ministerio de Medio Ambiente.

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El encubrimiento en Fukushima

Source : Alejandro Nadal - La Jornada | 10 June 2011

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En los días que siguieron el desastre de la planta en Fukushima, el lobby pro-nuclear dio un giro positivo a las malas nuevas. Se dijo entonces que si la planta había resistido un terremoto de 9 grados, eso significaba que la tecnología nuclear era realmente segura. Seguía después una retórica sobre cómo el tsunami había rebasado todas las predicciones y que habría que tener cuidado con el diseño y localización de nuevas plantas, etcétera. Pero el mensaje era claro: no había por qué sobredimensionar el episodio y que el renacimiento de la industria nuclear continuaría.
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Nuclear Phaseout Is an 'Historic Moment'

Source : Der Spiegel | 31 May 2011

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The World from Berlin

A radiation protection worker walks over a bearing basin containing nuclear fuel elements at Germany's Biblis nuclear reactor.

Angela Merkel's government has decided to phase out nuclear power by 2022, in a reversal of its previous policy. German commentators are split over the wisdom of the decision, with one newspaper comparing the move to the fall of the Berlin Wall and another saying it will harm future generations.
"This is nothing more and nothing less than a revolution in energy supply," said Chancellor Angela Merkel. It was September 2010, and she was referring to her government's newly minted energy strategy. That plan included extending the operating lives of Germany's 17 nuclear plants, which had been scheduled to go offline by 2021. All of this had been intended to help Germany meet its ambitious goals for reducing climate-killing CO2 emissions.

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Fukushima and the Radioactive Sea

Source : HARVEY WASSERMAN - counterpunch.org | 27 May 2011

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Chernobyl Times Ten

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 oceonographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, "the impact of Fukushima exceeds Chernobyl."

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Nuclear Insanity

Source : Vandana Shiva - globalresearch.ca | 27 May 2011

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Fukushima has raised, once again, the perennial questions about human fallibility and human frailty, about human hubris and man’s arrogance in thinking he can control nature. The earthquakes, the tsunami, the meltdown at Japan’s nuclear power plant are nature’s reminders of her power.

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Sellafield terror arrests prompt London police raids

Source : The Guardian | 04 May 2011

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Four addresses searched of five men alleged to have been filming near nuclear site in Cumbria

Vikram Dodd and Helen Carter

The Sellafield nuclear site near where five men were arrested under the Terrorism Act. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
Counter-terrorism officers have begun questioning five men from east London alleged to have been filming near the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria.
Meanwhile, police in London staged the first of a series of raids on addresses linked to those detained. The Metropolitan police said four houses in east London had been searched.
The five were arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which says a "constable may arrest without a warrant a person whom he reasonably suspects to be a terrorist".

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Turkish public reluctant about going nuclear, says opinion poll

Source : Hürriyet Daily News | 30 April 2011

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GILA BENMAYOR
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Among women, 67.5 percent opposed the government’s nuclear plans, compared to 60.6 percent of men.

Nearly two-thirds of Turkish citizens oppose the proposed construction of nuclear power plants in Turkey, according to an opinion poll conducted on behalf of the international environmental organization Greenpeace in mid-April.
Prominent business leader Ümit Boyner has also expressed concerns about Turkey’s nuclear drive.
“This is not just an issue about energy. Turkey is a country of earthquakes. There are risks involved. The whole process must be tackled with all the details in sight; it must be managed more transparently. [Building nuclear plants] should not be done in a hurry,” said Boyner, the chairwoman of the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association, or TÜSİAD, an influential lobby group.

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IAEA urges Japan to give more information on nuclear crisis

Source : The Guardian | 18 March 2011

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The message came as trucks doused a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi facility with dozens of tonnes of water in a renewed attempt to cool the reactor

Tania Branigan
Japan nuclear crisis
A radiation testing centre in Koriyama City. The EU's energy chief said the Fukushima plant was 'effectively out of control'. Photograph: Tayama Tatsuyuki/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog has urged Japan to provide more information on its "extremely serious" crisis as the battle to regain control of a failing power plant enters a second week.
Yukiya Amano, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief, told prime minister Naoto Kan that although it had been briefed, "there is the opinion in the international community that more detailed information is needed".

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The High Price of Merkel's Nuclear About-Face

Source : Der Spiegel | 17 March 2011

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Fear's Price Tag

The nuclear power plant at Biblis is to be temporarily shut down -- one of seven plants affected by the emergency moratorium announced by Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to temporarily shut down seven nuclear reactors could cost the industry more than a half-billion euros and result in Germany not meeting its CO2 emission reduction goals. The rest of the world is taking a wait-and-see approach.
First, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a three-month moratorium on her government's plan to extend the lifespans of German nuclear power plants. Now, the chancellor has elected to shut down seven of the country's oldest reactors. At least one of them is to remain offline permanently.

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Blast strikes Japanese plant, core safe; 2,000 bodies found on coast

Source : Today's Zaman | 15 March 2011

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REUTERS/AP
FUKUSHIMA

The Fukushima no. 1 power plant of Tokyo Electric Power Co. at Ckuma
A second hydrogen explosion rocked a stricken nuclear power plant in Japan where authorities have been scrambling to avert a meltdown after last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Infrastructure -- from roads and rail to power and ports -- was crippled across much of the northeast, estimates of the cost of the disaster leapt to as much as $170 billion and analysts said the economy could be knocked back into a recession.

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Fresh blast at Japan nuclear plant

Source : Al Jazeera | 14 March 2011

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At least six injured as new explosion rocks quake-hit Fukushima plant, sparking radioactive fears amid nuclear crisis

A new explosion rocked Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, sending a plume of smoke into the air and touching off fresh concerns of radioactive leak in the quake and tsunami-hit country.
Tokyo Electric Power Co [TEPCO], the plant operator, in a press release on Monday said, it was believed to be a hydrogen explosion at the plant's No.3 reactor and that six workers were injured. The blast was similar to an earlier one at a different unit at the facility.

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