17 April 2011

Radwaste

Letter Marianne Birkby: Nuclear power is not an energy strategy it is a PR strategy. I rang up Eric Robson, chairman of Cumbria Tourism and Gardeners’ Question Time the other day to ask if he would consider supporting the petition to prevent the underground dumping of high-level nuclear waste in Cumbria. Fat chance! Turns out good old Eric is founder of a PR company doing a lot of government work. Mr Robson’s reassuring, lovely old uncle voice features on the government-sponsored video that tries to persuade Cumbrians to keep right on the toxic “steps towards geological disposal.”

Morning Star 15th April 2011 more >>

On 26th April 2011 , 25 years on from Chernobyl, Radiation Free Lakeland will lay three crosses outside Carlisle Cathedral. Windscale-Never Again? Chernobyl-Never Again? Fukushima-Never Again? A letter will be delivered to the pro-nuclear Bishop of Carlisle – Bishop James Newcome. The letter will outline the madness of “geological disposal” in Cumbria, which is being promoted in order to push ahead with new build.

Northern Indymedia 16th April 2011 more >>

Sizewell

New concerns over nuclear energy in the East of England have been raised in the wake of the disasters which struck the power stations in Japan. EDF Energy, the UK’s largest nuclear operator, which runs Sizewell in Suffolk, is keen to show that it could not happen in England. The back-up systems for the pressurised water reactor at Sizewell include four separate diesel generators, which would be used if the electricity failed. There is a 10m (33ft) barrier for sea defences, with a 5m (16ft) metre barrier behind it. If the sea could no longer be used for Sizewell’s cooling system there are two huge “car radiators” to take the heat away. The Japanese government has placed a 20km (12 mile)exclusion zone around Fukushima. There is a 30km (19 mile) stay-indoors zone but the United States exclusion zone is 80km (50 miles). Stop Nuclear Power has superimposed these over East Anglia to show how far they would reach if there was a disaster here. The American zone would extend from Cromer in Norfolk to beyond Colchester in Essex.

BBC 16th April 2011 more >>

Japan

The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has said it expects to bring the crisis under control within nine months.Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it aimed to reduce radiation leaks in three months and to cool the reactors within an extra three to six months.

BBC 17th April 2011 more >>

Independent 17th April 2011 more >>

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which operates Japan’s damaged nuclear plant at Fukushima, said on Sunday that radiation level at the plant will be brought down to a “downward trend” within three months.

IB Times 17th April 2011 more >>

Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to sell its shares in KDDI Corp to help pay for compensation costs stemming from the disaster at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

IB Times 17th April 2011 more >>

Japanese scientists yesterday began experimenting with a special chemical agent to reduce radiation in the sea water around the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors. The mineral zeolite absorbs caesium-137, one of the radioactive materials that have been leaking from the plant since the earthquake and tsunami on March 11. Zeolite was released in sandbags dropped into the Pacific Ocean off the coast, where fishing has been banned because of contamination fears. Engineers also hope to use the mineral to purify thousands of tons of cooling water inside the plant. They were earlier forced to dump more than 10,000 tons of lightly contaminated water into the sea. A giant underwater fence has since been set up to r estrict the flow of toxic waste. Now the challenge is to make safe the water that has been circulating through the reactors to cool the nuclear fuel and prevent a meltdown.

Sunday Times 17th April 2011 more >>

Tokyo Electric Power Co. is considering installing circulating water cooling systems for nuclear reactors and spent fuel storage pools outside the reactor buildings at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday. The new systems would cool nuclear fuel inside the reactors and spent fuel pools in a stable manner. They would involve heat exchangers and circulation pumps to drain reactor coolant water from the containment buildings, cooling it with seawater and then sending it back to the reactors, the sources said. TEPCO appears to have already placed orders for dozens of gasketed plate heat exchangers — each measuring 3 meters high, 1 meter wide and 2 meters long — for such systems, the sources said.

Kyodo news 16th April 2011 more >>

The level of radioactive substances in seawater increased sharply overnight inside a containment fence installed near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday. The utility said the rise suggested that the fence is helping to curb the spread of contaminated water, but the government’s Nuclear Industrial and Safety Agency remained cautious, citing the possibility that radioactive water could still be seeping from the complex.

Kyodo News 16th April 2011 more >>

The accumulated radiation level in Namie, 30 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, in the three weeks through Friday stood at 17,010 microsieverts, according to a tally released by the science ministry Saturday. The accumulated levels during the period starting March 23 stood at 9,850 microsieverts in Iitate and 495 microsieverts in Minamisoma, both near the plant, it said. The readings compare with the level of 1,000 microsieverts that ordinary people in Japan can expect to be exposed to over one year.

Kyodo News 16th April 2011 more >>

Germany

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government says Germany will replace its reliance on nuclear power by increasing renewable energy sources after Japan’s Fukushima disaster. Merkel told reporters that a bill on the overhaul of the energy sector would go before parliament by mid-June. The plan foresees an expansion of the electric grid, investment in renewable energy sources and increased efficiency.

Bloomberg 15th April 2011 more >>

India

WHEN a farmer named Praveen Gawankar and two neighbours began a protest four years ago against a proposed nuclear power plant in this coastal town, they were against it mainly for not-in-my-backyard reasons. They stood to lose mango orchards, cashew trees and rice fields as the government forcibly acquired 2,300 acres to build six nuclear reactors – the biggest nuclear power plant ever proposed anywhere. Now the group of farmers seen support for their protest swell to include a growing number of Indian scientists, academics and former government officials. “We are getting ready for bigger protests,” Gawankar said. While the government vows to push ahead – citing India’s energy needs – newspapers recently reported that the environment minister wrote to prime minister Manmohan Singh to question the wisdom of large nuclear installations. And a group of scientists and academics has called for a moratorium on new projects.

Scotland on Sunday 17th April 2011 more >>

Submarine

The Ministry of Defence has admitted that secret information about the UK’s nuclear powered submarines was made available on the internet by mistake. A technical error meant blacked out parts of an online MoD report could be read by pasting into another document. Details were reported to include expert opinion on how well the fleet could cope with a catastrophic accident.

BBC 17th April 2011 more >>

Daily Star 17th April 2011 more >>

Newcastle Journal 17th April 2011 more >>

Trident

THE leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland has described Britain’s nuclear weapons programme as “shameful” as he urged the government to give it up yesterday. Cardinal Keith O’Brien addressed representatives from churches across Scotland outside the Faslane nuclear base as he joined an Easter witness for peace.