Japan Earthquake | Page 2110
Interesting article from 1978 Atomic Science Journal, evidence on low level radiation causing cancers books.google.comby lillymunster 8/9/2011 6:48:09 PM- Starting to see it retweeted by some of the JP newsbotsby lillymunster 8/9/2011 6:51:00 PM
Activists protest fourth nuclear plant
Following the release of a paper by a nuclear engineer questioning the safety of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao , New Taipei City, and an announcement by President Ma Ying-jeou that operations at the plant would start in 2014, environmental groups rallied outside the Presidential Office yesterday and urged the president to call off the plant’s construction.
Holding up banners with slogans such as “The Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is the most dangerous nuclear power plant” and “Stop the construction now,” dozens of activists demonstrated in front of the Taipei First Girls High School about 100m from the Presidential Office in Taipei.
“The safety of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is being questioned again since Lin Tsung-yao, a nuclear engineer and a member of the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Facility Safety to the Atomic Energy Council, released a paper questioning the safety of the power plant,” Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary--general Hung Shen-han told protesters and journalists at the scene.
“He went as far as to warn that the ongoing construction of the power plant was a ‘total failure,’” Hung said.
In the paper, titled Essay on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四論), Lin wrote that since the construction was outsourced to several different companies, there were some serious “connectivity” issues that led to not only errors and mistakes in construction, but also problems during trial operations, including unexpected stops of the reactor.
More: www.taipeitimes.comby joniver 8/9/2011 6:51:07 PM- Enenews and Fairewinds have picked it up too. Will be interesting to see what ends up in JP mainstream media when morning hitsby lillymunster 8/9/2011 6:52:12 PM
- Protest against nuclear centre
A GROUP of four people showed their angst against the idea of a nuclear power plant in our region during the opening of the New England Nuclear Energy centre’s opening on Saturday morning.
Enaowyn O’Sirideain, Rachel Christie, Chris Wharton and Anita Stewart had signs and aired their concerns in the middle of Grey St.
After their protest, a Facebook page entitled the Stand Against Nuclear Energy SANE New England Group was created and yesterday afternoon it had 511 members.
At 11am today, the group has organised a meeting for anyone who wants to get involved in the stand against nuclear energy.
“Our support will keep growing; we do have a voice and we will use it.” To find out more about the meeting today, contact Enaowyn O’Sirideain on 0488 961 491 or 6732 5194.
More: www.gleninnesexaminer.com.auby joniver 8/9/2011 6:59:21 PM 
Residents in Namie Angered Over Withheld Radiation Forecasts
www.nukene.wsby Edano 8/9/2011 7:05:19 PM- Japanese LDP Member Touts Anti-Nuclear Action in Campaign
Taro Kono, an outspoken opponent of nuclear power in the business-oriented Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said Aug. 9 that Japan should shift to renewable energy by 2050 by reducing energy consumption and filling any power shortage with natural gas.
"I think it's time for the LDP to leave power companies, join with the general public and seriously present an alternative to the (current) energy policy," Kono, an LDP member of the powerful House of Representatives, said during a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ) in Tokyo.
"Our strategy should be to reduce energy consumption first, then cover (any shortfall) with renewable (energy) as much as possible. And if there is still a gap, let's use natural gas," he said of his energy program, aimed at eliminating dependence on nuclear energy.
An advocate of a nuclear-free energy policy even before the onset of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, Kono, 48, challenged his own party to drop its pro-nuclear policy -- a change which he said could force the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to change its current energy policy. But he said he is not optimistic about such a change happening anytime soon. www.scoop.itby Edano 8/9/2011 7:07:27 PM - Japan nuclear crisis: U.S. sends nuclear experts to help save crippled Fukishma from meltdown
Japan nuclear crisis: U.S. sends nuclear experts to help save crippled Fukishma from meltdown | Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear News | Scoop.it
A group of U.S. nuclear experts has signed up to join the brave workers toiling to control the dangerous levels of radiation spewing from the crippled plant.
The first team, of no more than ten, is due to fly out to Tokyo on Sunday after a Massachusetts recruitment firm responded to a desperate plea for help from the plant's owners.
The job requirements are simple: a passport, nuclear expertise - and a family willing to let you travel halfway round the world to work at a radioactive site.
www.scoop.itby Edano 8/9/2011 7:09:33 PM - save from meltdown ???by Edano 8/9/2011 7:10:19 PM
- Is that from March?by lillymunster 8/9/2011 7:10:36 PM
- no, today :)by Edano 8/9/2011 7:10:48 PM
- Tanaka Mitsuhiko, a former nuclear power plant designer and science writer asserts that at least the Number One reactor melted down as a result of the earthquake damage. He describes it as a loss of coolant accident (LOCA). "The data that TEPCO has made public shows a huge loss of coolant within the first few hours of the earthquake. It can't be accounted for by the loss of electrical power. There was already so much damage to the cooling system that a meltdown was inevitable long before the tsunami arrived."
He says the released data shows that at 14:52 on March 11th, before the tsunami had arrived, the emergency circulation equipment of both the A and B systems automatically started up. "This only happens when there is a loss of coolant." Between 15:04 and 15:11 the water sprayer inside the containment vessel was turned on. Tanaka says that it is an emergency measure only done when other cooling systems have failed.
By the time the tsunami arrived and knocked out all the electrical systems, circa 15:37, the plant was already on its way to melting down.
www.scoop.it
interesting site !by Edano 8/9/2011 7:17:14 PM - LAS VEGAS — A security researcher has uncovered a slew of vulnerabilities in Siemens industrial control systems, including a hard-coded password, that would let attackers reprogram the systems with malicious commands to sabotage critical infrastructures and even lock out legitimate administrators.
Stuxnet was discovered on systems in Iran last year and is believed to have been aimed at destroying uranium-enrichment centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear facility in that country. It targeted Siemens Simatic Step7 software, which is used to monitor and program Siemens PLCs.
It then intercepted legitimate commands going from the Step7 system to PLCs and replaced them with malicious commands aimed at sabotaging processes controlled by the PLC; in this case the spinning of centrifuges.
The newly discovered vulnerabilities go a step further than Stuxnet, however, in that they allow an attacker to communicate directly with a Siemens PLC without needing to compromise, or even use, the Step7 software.
As for the hard-coded password, “Basisk,” that he found in the S7-300 firmware, Beresford says it was obfuscated by a basic shift sequence that involved swapping characters and shifting them to the right. It took him two and a half hours to decode the password. Beresford could only confirm that the hardcoded password existed in a specific version of the firmware on his S7-300 PLC — firmware version 2.3.4.
Siemens has acknowledged that the password existed and said that developers had put it in the system for testing purposes, but then forgot to remove it.
Finally, Beresford also found an Easter egg in two versions of the S7-300 PLC firmware — versions 2.3.2 and 2.3.4. It’s an html file that depicts a handful of dancing chimpanzees and a German proverb that is the equivalent of the English phrase, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
Siemens was not aware the Easter egg was in the firmware. “They weren’t exactly happy,” Beresford said. “Considering where these devices are deployed, they didn’t think it was very funny.”
www.scoop.itby Edano 8/9/2011 7:21:18 PM - Isn't that Siemens system what most power plants run on?by lillymunster 8/9/2011 7:26:07 PM
- Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Reference Materials
Posted by Lucas Whitefield Hixson at news.lucaswhitefieldhixson.com
interesting graphics compilation, no BSby Edano 8/9/2011 7:26:14 PM - @lillymunster yes, it is :)by Edano 8/9/2011 7:26:41 PM
NHK Newsline TEPCO Finds Over 340 Faults Around Fukushima
sorry, if this is not news [yes, it is veeery old]by Edano 8/9/2011 7:30:28 PM- Nuclear Waste to be Transported through Greater Sudbury?
It seems that two northeastern Ontario communities are in the running to host Canada’s first underground permanent burial site for radioactive nuclear waste. Now, most people might think hosting this kind of site would have to done against any community’s will, but the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), in charge of site-selection, has actually been working with a number of Ontario communities (and a few in Saskatchewan) which have expressed a willingness to accept spent fuel rods from Canada’s nuclear plants.
The long and short of it for Sudbury has been that although a storage site on the Canadian Shield would be ideal from a long-term storage perspective (due to the Sheild’s geologic composition, and it being relatively free of tectonic pressures), burying nuclear waste in proximity to mineral deposits such as those found in the Sudbury basin could create issues for mineral extraction. Better to create an underground storage facility in locations where mineral extraction isn’t expected to occur. So that eliminates Sudbury and places like Timmins and Kirkland Lake from the running.
And there may be more to this story yet which the mainstream media hasn’t been following up on, as reported on August 4, 2011, in the Straight.com: “Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe brings big radiation spikes to B.C.” Reports about other nuclear leaks and minor incidents have been all over the alternative media since the Japanese tsunami. That the nuclear industry seems to first resort to information management and spin at the time of a nuclear incident has led to increasing public distrust with the industry.
More: www.thesudburystar.comby joniver 8/9/2011 7:38:52 PM - TVA Faces "Insurmountable" Obstacles to Completing Stalled Bellefonte Reactor in Alabama
Efforts by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to resume construction at the long-shuttered, nearly forty-year-old Bellefonte nuclear reactor Unit 1 in Jackson County, Alabama, are unlikely to be successful due to seven major problems, including water damage to the reactor site foundation, compromised radiation containment in the unfinished reactor, and a lack of records about what exactly went on when the critical systems in the unfinished plant were cannibalized while the project lay dormant. The TVA Board is set to vote on this risky proposal at their August 18, 2011 meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Those are among the key findings of a new report prepared for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) by Arnold Gundersen.
The Fairewinds' report highlighted numerous large challenges that TVA faces including:
* Bellefonte is already 40 years old in regard to the age of its concrete and steel.
* Bellefonte has a unique reactor design that has never received an operating license in the U.S., and with which the nuclear industry and NRC have little actual experience making it unlikely to have lessons learned from similar nuclear power plants.
* Due to aging concrete, groundwater intrusion, and compromised tendons the TVA Bellefonte reactor Unit 1 containment may be significantly compromised in a manner that will be entirely undetectable until it fails under stress.
* Bellefonte has numerous structural and Quality Assurance (QA) flaws that will most likely be insurmountable. Other nuclear plants that have experienced less severe QA flaws than those at Bellefonte Unit 1 have been canceled.
* In the post-Fukushima environment where significant radiation has been released due to a nuclear accident, it is foolhardy to take more risks in public health and safety by utilizing a more challenging nuclear power plant design that has few industry learned lessons upon which to rely.
More: www.prnewswire.comby joniver 8/9/2011 7:52:31 PM - Huh? The TVA is actually pushing to resume construction on this antiquated cannibalized nuclear power plant? Have they lost their minds!by joniver 8/9/2011 7:52:54 PM
- by joniver via I1235.photobucket 8/9/2011 7:53:58 PM
- Rather odd that funding for Low Dose Radiation research will be cut when we need it the most?by joniver 8/9/2011 7:58:25 PM
- @joniver Yes. :-)
They were claiming how everything is just peachy and Fuku means nothing, everything at their NPPs is totally safe, a few weeks ago.by lillymunster 8/9/2011 8:02:06 PM - @lillymunster I've been wondering if you put together that "Liar Liar Pants on Fire" section.by joniver 8/9/2011 8:06:03 PM
Old-timers like Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne to younger artists like Jason Mraz and Tom Morello, all performed for Musicians United for Safe Energy benefit at Shoreline Amphitheatre Sunday.
Under a clear blue Bay Area sky, dozens of artists from across musical genres like Bonnie Raitt, Crosby Still & Nash, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Kitaro and Jason Mraz rocked Shoreline Amphitheatre on Sunday with one goal in mind—end the use of nuclear energy.
"I came because of the entertainment and also because we gotta make big changes in our country and the world," said David Lee, who with his wife had made the trip down from Russian River. "We need to use solar more, wind, anything but nuclear."
Between songs, Grammy award-winning artist Tom Morello blamed corporate America for "caring more about their short-term profit margin" than the needs of the people and the planet. That and similar messages from the artists resonated with San Francisco's John Masters.
"Green technlogy is America's future," said Masters seated in row V. "Lobbyist for big oil companies that are opposed to alternative forms of energy want to continue in what they are doing for as long as possible at the expense of destroying the planet."
Master's showed off a card he received from one of the booths at the "Green Village," where anti-nuclear organizations and renewable energy advocates talked about their efforts. This group, Sirona, wanted to build solar panels in Haiti and also plant trees.
Corinna and Ken Kaufman, seated in row O, also did a little networking of their own. They got the business card of Aileen Miyoko Smith, who works with the Green Action Network in Japan, to see what they could do locally.
"I want [Ken] to produce shows similar to this and raise money, spread the word," said Corinna, who drove down from Novato.
But they came to have a good time, too.
"It's fantastic," she said about the show. "Absolutely fantastic."
The combination of artists also pleased M.J. Rubio from Alameda. He danced straight and raised his hands up through every Doobie Brothers song.
"Doobie was a crowd pleaser. They really got the crowd-going," Rubio said, from a few rows back. "It's a great mixture of old and young acts, like Jason Mraz, who's not just a typical pop singer. He was very talented."
Robin Johnson, who lives in Hawaii but happened to be in the Bay Area, decided to purchase tickets because she loves Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt.
"I never mind spending money for concerts like this because it's for a benefit," she said, from her seat in row N. "It's like a mini-Woodstock."
More: mountainview.patch.comby joniver via I1235.photobucket 8/9/2011 8:07:21 PM- Free Download: Scariest Horror Flick Ever Made
Into Eternity
documentaryheaven.com
New Zealand has a world reputation for surreal and gruesome horror movies. However I’ve never seen anything to compare with a recent Danish documentary called Into Eternity.
Yes, documentary. Into Eternity is an eerie account of Onkalo, the world’s first permanent nuclear waste repository. So-called “spent” fuel rods from nuclear energy plants remain radioactive for 100,000 years.
The film briefly discusses reprocessing and transmutation as unfeasible. Both reduce, without eliminating, the quantity of permanent radioactive waste. Reprocessing reduces the amount of nuclear material by transforming it into plutonium, which takes one million years to degree. At present transmutation, which involves bombarding the waste with neutrons, in a particle reactor is only a theoretical option and has never been tried.
The Finnish and Swedish governments are collaborating to dispose of their own nuclear waste (6,000 tons) in a huge system of underground tunnels blasted out of solid bedrock in Olkiluoto Finland. Work on the facility commenced in the 1990s. Once the spent fuel rods have been deposited, Onkalo will be cemented over, backfilled and decommissioned more than a century from now.
No person working on the facility today will live to see it completed.
After outlining the immense danger posed by 250,000 – 300,000 tons of nuclear waste that will remain radioactive for 100,000 years, the film centers mainly around the debate over marking Onkalo to prevent future generations from inadvertently drilling into it. This is essential, as a new Ice Age is anticipated in 60,000 years, which will likely obliterate all Finnish cities for 10,000 years or so. Most ancient language are forgotten in a matter of centuries. Beowulf and other literature written 1,000 year ago in Old English is virtually unreadable today.
More: blogs.alternet.orgby joniver 8/9/2011 8:14:14 PM - i prefer japanese horror films :)by Edano 8/9/2011 8:25:46 PM
- @joniver have not done that. Is the in-box of candidates overflowing? :-)by lillymunster 8/9/2011 8:28:10 PM
How I Spent My Sunday In Fukushima … Detecting 16,000 CPM!!! On my last transatlantic flight I measured over 800 CPM on the flight. Seeing over 1000 CPM in the car was a bit shocking, opening the door and putting the device on the ground in the middle of the street and seeing it climb, in a matter of seconds, to almost 16,000 CPM was, well, I still don’t even know how to describe it. I was completely taken aback by this. We were maybe one city block from where the officers were standing – outside and unprotected and decided we needed to go back and talk to them..... www.infiniteunknown.netby Majj 8/9/2011 8:28:19 PM- The Safecasting drives officially started after my last trip to Japan, so I’ve been watching from afar as Pieter and an ever growing volunteer team of total heros have set out time and time again to try and map the radiation levels in the areas surrounding the Fukushima plant, as well as the rest of Japan. Knowing that I was going to be back in Tokyo for a number of Safecast meetings and the Radiation Seminar at the same time that Miles O’Brien and Xeni Jardin were going to be working on a story for PBS News Hour that had some focus on Safecast, organizing a drive seemed like an obvious option. blog.safecast.orgby Majj 8/9/2011 8:29:49 PM
Kan calls for study on scrapping Monju fast-breeder reactor
mdn.mainichi.jpby elainekirk 8/9/2011 8:40:24 PM- Reporter from the no-go zone no1.fccj.ne.jpby lillymunster 8/9/2011 9:02:55 PM
- @lillymunster oh that made me well upby elainekirk 8/9/2011 9:11:28 PM
- Symposium urges phase-out of nuclear energy
A symposium on ending the use of nuclear energy in Japan was held in Tokyo on Tuesday evening.
The event was organized by a group of lawyers that plans to file suits to demand the suspension of nuclear power stations across the country.
About 350 people took part in the event, including more than 20 residents from near the Fukushima plant.
A resident of Futaba, a town within 5 kilometers of the plant, criticized Tokyo Electric Power Company for telling them they were safe. He said he thought he might never be able to return to the area when he didn't see a single sparrow during a brief visit.
The representative of the lawyers' group revealed its plans to take legal action in all prefectures hosting nuclear plants to shut them down.
Another participant called on the government and TEPCO to fully disclose information and suspend nuclear plants across Japan as soon as possible.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 06:14 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jpby Edano 8/9/2011 10:09:11 PM - Kan likely to resign this month
Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan is likely to step down this month, as the Diet is expected to pass 2 bills that he cites as conditions for his resignation.
Executives of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito agreed on Tuesday to vote for a bill to issue deficit-covering bonds.
This came after the governing Democratic Party agreed to review a high school tuition waiver program and subsidies for farmers.
The opposition parties are also likely to vote for another bill aimed at promoting renewable energy.
Kan is said to be preparing to announce his resignation soon after the Diet approves the 2 bills.
He has also made some progress with his pet projects.
The government is to revise its energy policy to reduce dependence on nuclear energy, and is working to separate the nuclear safety agency from the economy ministry to improve the agency's functions as a watchdog.
When reporters asked him on Tuesday if he still intends to resign once the key bills are passed, Kan replied that he will take responsibility for his words.
The Democratic Party is considering holding a leadership election around August 28th and a Diet vote to choose Kan's successor before the current session ends on August 31st.
Likely candidates for the election include Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, former land minister Sumio Mabuchi and former environment minister Sakihito Ozawa.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 06:20 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jpby Edano 8/9/2011 10:10:54 PM - @Edano I think Kan is the only stability they have I think if he goes..by elainekirk 8/9/2011 10:22:17 PM
Re Hanford thyroid disease study -- don't put too much stock in it. The deck was a bit stacked. www.youtube.comby bojack54 8/9/2011 10:37:53 PM- @bojack54 will watch that later tyby elainekirk 8/9/2011 10:41:03 PM
- @bojack54 I saw some report about Hanford and if certain things that went on were dangerous, public health issues etc. The report went on to excuse everything they did. :-(by lillymunster 8/9/2011 10:46:36 PM
- Kansai Paint Launches New Paint that Can Cut Power Costs by 40%
www.japanfs.org
Kansai Paint Co., a Japanese manufacturer of paints and coatings, announced on April 26, 2011, that it has developed a new type of paint with high solar reflectance called "Alescool." Simply applying this paint, the company says, can help cut electric power cost of air conditioning by 40 percent during summer in Japan. The paint will go on sale across Japan through Kansai Paint's affiliated sales company.
Alescool is a new coating system that efficiently reflects sunlight (infrared light) with its paint film, thus reducing the thermal heat produced on a roof. Kansai Paint's research into thermal barrier mechanisms led the company to mix a special raw material that is effective in reflecting sunlight not only into its topcoat but also into its undercoat, thus establishing a method to double-block the sunlight.by elainekirk 8/9/2011 11:00:05 PM - I have seen this tweeted so many times today fantastic
e.g. CraigScanlan Craig Scanlan
RT @TIME: Japan just ignored its own radiation forecasts | ti.meby elainekirk 8/9/2011 11:04:01 PM 
@all Good Evening...Good Morning...Hello!by smoss 8/9/2011 11:05:34 PM- Hi Smoss, your unstuck from mod nowby lillymunster 8/9/2011 11:05:50 PM
- @lillymunster Thanks!by smoss 8/9/2011 11:06:57 PM
- @smoss hurrah I missed you hellooooby elainekirk 8/9/2011 11:09:47 PM
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