Fukushima nuclear plant now under danger of typhoon
Typhoon Man-yi complicates Fukushima nuclear cleanup (+video), Christian Science Monitor Typhoon Man-yi brought heavy rain and wind to Japan Monday, raising concerns over the fragile cleanup at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Workers already struggle to contain contaminated wastewater, and rain from Typhoon Man-yi adds to the complications at Fukushima. By David J. Unger, Staff writer / September 16, 2013 The last thing cleanup workers at Fukushima need is a typhoon, but a typhoon is what they’re getting. Heavy rain and winds clocking in at 100 miles per hour slammed into Japan Monday. Typhoon Man-yi caused at least two fatalities and stirred fears at the crippledFukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. On a typical day, workers have struggled to contain the 400 tons of contaminated water they pump out of the plant. Added rain from Typhoon Man-yi makes matters more complicated.
“The typhoon has little chance of destabilizing the reactors, but it will certainly add more water to a site already crowded with hastily assembled steel storage tanks and relatively poor oversight,” Daniel Aldrich, a political scientist at Purdue University who has been following the Fukushima disaster, wrote in an e-mail.
As rain fell, workers pumped accumulating water from around those storage tanks into the Pacific Ocean in an effort to prevent flooding and radioactive contamination. That rainwater was untainted, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), the plant’s operator. But Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said such a discharge could be subject to nuclear safety rules and was checking radiation levels.
The company also added new walls around the storage tanks to prevent future leaks in the run-up to the typhoon. Workers weighed down cranes and other materials to minimize wind damage. …… http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2013/0916/Typhoon-Man-yi-complicates-Fukushima-nuclear-cleanup-video
Japan now 100% nuclear power free
100% nuclear free: Japan shuts down its last reactor Tree Hugger, Michael Graham Richard September 16, 2013 On Monday (Sunday locally), Japan switched off the last of its operating nuclear reactors and became 100% nuclear-free for the first time in decades, apart from soon after the devastating 2011 Tsunami. Kansai Electric Power took offline the No. 4 reactor at its Oi nuclear plant in the western prefecture of Fukui at 1:33 a.m. (1633 GMT Sunday) for inspection. Right now there is no scheduled date for the reactor to be turned back on.
This is impressive because nuclear power used to supply about 1/3 of Japan’s electricity, which is a lot because the country is still the world’s third biggest economy.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has openly backed a return to the widespread use of atomic energy, but the public remains divided over his support, with opponents concerned on safety grounds……..http://www.treehugger.com/energy-policy/japan-shuts-down-its-last-nuclear-reactor-goes-100-nuclear-free.html
Warren Mundine – an honorary white, and Tony Abbott’s best mate
Warren Mundine: The white sheep of the family? Warren Mundine’s new “bromance” with Tony Abbott has surprised some, but not Dr Gary Foley, who has watched Mundine steadily tread a path to the Right for years. Independent Australia, 17 Sept 13, IT WOULD SEEM at the present time that the former National President of the ALP, Mr Warren Mundine, has momentarily eclipsed the Cape York Crusader Noel Pearson as the Aboriginal Man of the Moment.
Whilst Mr Mundine may lack the intellectual firepower of Noel Pearson, he has nevertheless elbowed his way to the front of the pack with his dazzling late-life conversion to the cause of all things Tony Abbott. Mundine’s strategic realignment to become best buddies with Abbott at the beginning of the 2013 Federal election campaign may have been a surprise to some, but only those who have not been taking notice of Mundine’s mundane comments on Aboriginal matters over the past few decades…….. http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/warren-mundine-the-white-sheep-of-the-family/
Christina’s note : It should also be noted that Warren Mundine is co-convener of the Australian Uranium Association’s Indigenous Dialogue Group, and has been promoting the nuclear industry recently. Unfortunately he turns a blind eye to the industry’s crude racism, a problem that ought to be core business for the Indigenous Dialogue Group.
Most alarming of all, Mundine advocates the “full nuclear cycle”. That means Australia not only having nuclear power, but taking in nuclear waste from overseas countries.
Mundine says that Australia has “a legal framework to negotiate equitably with the traditional owners on whose land many uranium deposits are found”. He ought to have noted that legislation was passed specifically to exempt the Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory from the Aboriginal Land Rights Act.
Community solar energy kicks off in a New South Wales pub at Boggabri
Boggabri pub leads the way in community solar “revolution”http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/boggabri-pub-leads-the-way-in-community-solar-revolution-33313 By Emma Fitzpatrick on 16 September 2013 A new community-based solar investment company has completed its first community-funded solar installation – at a pub in the heart of a NSW coal-mining region – and says it is revolutionising small scale solar power generation in Australian communities.
ClearSky Solar Investment works off trust-based investor model, planning to link local investors with high quality solar projects. The company is one of many eyeing up to several hundred community solar projects around the country. The company has completed its first project, a 15kW system at the Royal Hotel in Boggabri, NSW. The project, which comprises 60 250W Trina solar panels and a 15Kw SMA inverter, and was completed on June 10. It had about 10 investors, an agreed investor term of 7 years, and a planned total term yield of 171 per cent.
Under the model, investors own the modules and sell the output of the system to a local consumer – usually the landowner. Each project has a maximum of 20 investors and a minimum investment of around $2500 or $5000, depending on the size of the project and the number of investors. Continue reading
Adelaide’s 100% solar powered bus – a world first!
The World’s First 100% Solar Powered Bus http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3945 17 Sept 13, The world’s first solar powered bus is located in Adelaide, South Australia – which makes it especially heaps good*.
Tindo – the name of Adelaide City Council’s electric solar bus – is the first in the world to be recharged using 100% solar power. Continue reading
Japan’s fast breeder nuclear reactor Monju complex cut off by avalanche
Landslide at MOX-fueled Japan Nuclear Plant — AP: Emergency data transmission from Monju stops as typhoon hits — Kyodo: Can’t access site due to mudslides, reactor temperatures unknown nenews.com/landslide-at-mox-fueled-japan-nuclear-plant-ap-emergency-data-transmission-from-monju-stops-as-typhoon-hits-kyodo-cant-access-site-due-to-mudslides-reactor-temperatures-unknown
Associated Press, Sept. 16, 2013: At Japan’s Monju test reactor site in Fukui, which is currently off-line, an emergency data transmission system went down, apparently due to storm damage, regulators said Monday, an indication of risk management issues at Japanese nuclear facilities even after the Fukushima crisis.
Kyodo News, Sept. 16, 2013: Data transmission from Monju reactor stopped […] There are no prospects for restoration of data transmission for now, with the reactor site in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, inaccessible due to mudslides and fallen trees caused by the typhoon, it said. The Monju reactor has effectively been prohibited from operation because of lax safety management by the operator.
Kyodo News, Sept. 17, 2013: […] Heavy rain attributed to a typhoon caused a landslide near a tunnel entry point within the compound of the prototype fast-breeder reactor complex in Tsuruga city, according to the regulation agency’s secretariat. The cable damage is suspected near that area, it said. Restoration of the transmission of data such as reactor temperatures is expected to take some time […]
See also: Asahi: MOX reactor to restart this month in Japan — Nine fault lines run underneath
Every corporation sponsoring the International Olympic Committee IOC is connected with the nuclear industry,
Tokyo Olympics Bid was Fixed by the International Olympic Committee’s Nuclear Lobby Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s blatant lies about Fukushima radiation leaks being under control By Yoichi Shimatsu Global Research, September 16, 2013 The lame acquiescence of International Olympic Committee to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s blatant lies about Fukushima radiation leaks being under control” is an act of reckless negligence on the health risk to young athletes aiming for a spot at the 2020 Olympics……..
The Nuclear Grip…….. Every corporation on the IOC global sponsor list is, in fact, connected with the nuclear industry, and some directly with the melted-down of the Fukushima plant. Here’s a look at the list:
GE (General Electric): builder of Fukushima Mark 1 reactors Nos. 1,2 and 6; and designer of MOX (mixed oxide of uranium and plutonium) shroud for reactors Nos.3 and 4. The tritium-enhanced explosion at Reactor 3 massively contaminated the Kanto region, including Tokyo’s watershed. Continue reading
New Australian government keen to sell uranium to India
Australia says no change on Uranium issue, keen to seal N pact Business Standard, 16 Sept 13, Australia today said the next round of talks with India on civil nuclear cooperation were expected to be held by year-end even as it assured that previous government’s decision to supply uranium will not be reversed by its new dispensation.
Noting that the last two rounds of talks to firm up a safeguard agreement for sale of uranium held earlier this year had gone “very well and it was positive and constructive from both sides”, Australian High Commissioner Patrick Suckling said the intension was towards early conclusion of the pact.
“We feel we have made good progress (on the civil nuclear pact). But we have not put a time-frame for the negotiations to conclude because sometimes even the straight-looking issues become complex,” he told reporters here.
“The intension of both the sides is to try and finish the safeguard agreement as fast as possible,” he said….http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/australia-says-no-change-on-uranium-issue-keen-to-seal-n-pact-113091600875_1.html
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 