Fukushima Daiichi 2011-2021 — Beyond Nuclear International
Greenpeace report reveals deception and abuse
Fukushima Daiichi 2011-2021 — Beyond Nuclear International
The decontamination myth and a decade of human rights violations
The following is the Executive Summary from the new Greenpeace report. Download the full report.
As a result of a catastrophic triple reactor meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on 11 March 2011, several tens of thousands of square kilometres in Fukushima Prefecture and wider Japan were contaminated with significant amounts of radioactive caesium and other radionuclides. The first Greenpeace radiation expert team arrived in Fukushima on 26 March 2011, and Greenpeace experts have since conducted 32 investigations into the radiological consequences of the disaster, the most recent in November 2020.
This report, the latest in a series, chronicles some of our principal findings over recent years, and shows how the government of Japan, largely under prime minister Shinzo Abe, has attempted to deceive the Japanese people by misrepresenting the effectiveness of the decontamination programme as well as the overall radiological risks in Fukushima Prefecture. As the latest Greenpeace surveys demonstrate, the contamination remains and is widespread, and is still a very real threat to long term human health and the environment.
The contaminated areas comprise rice fields and other farmland, as well as a large amount of forest. Many people who lived in these areas were employed as farmers or in forestry. Residents gathered wood, mushrooms, wild fruits and vegetables from the mountain forests, and children were free to play outdoors in the woodlands and streams. Since the disaster, tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their ancestral lands. The harm extends far beyond the immediate threat to health – as well as destroying livelihoods, it has destroyed an entire way of life.
Because of the government’s actions, many thousands of evacuees have been forced to make an impossible choice: to return to their radioactively contaminated homes or to abandon their homes and land and seek to establish a new life elsewhere without adequate compensation. This amounts to economic coercion and may force individuals and families to return against their will due to a lack of financial resources and viable alternatives. Given that these people lost their livelihoods, communities, and property as a result of a nuclear disaster they had no part in creating, this is grossly unjust.
Key findings………..https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/72759838/posts/3219595498
War Mongering for Artificial Intelligence
The testimony is generously spiked with the China threat thesis
the note of warning in not being too morally shackled becomes a screech.
War Mongering for Artificial Intelligence, https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/03/02/war-mongering-for-artificial-intelligence/ BY BINOY KAMPMARK-2 March 21,
The ghost of Edward Teller must have been doing the rounds between members of the National Commission on Artificial Intelligence. The father of the hydrogen bomb was never one too bothered by the ethical niggles that came with inventing murderous technology. It was not, for instance, “the scientist’s job to determine whether a hydrogen bomb should be constructed, whether it should be used, or how it should be used.” Responsibility, however exercised, rested with the American people and their elected officials.
The application of AI in military systems has plagued the ethicist but excited certain leaders and inventors. Russian President Vladimir Putin has grandiloquently asserted that “it would be impossible to secure the future of our civilization” without a mastery of artificial intelligence, genetics, unmanned weapons systems and hypersonic weapons.
Campaigners against the use of autonomous weapons systems in war have been growing in number. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres is one of them. “Autonomous machines with the power and discretion to select targets and take lives without human involvement,” he wrote on Twitter in March 2019, “are politically unacceptable, morally repugnant and should be prohibited by international law.” The International Committee for Robot Arms Control, the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots and Human Rights Watch are also dedicated to banning lethal autonomous weapons systems. Weapons analysts such as Zachary Kallenborn see that absolute position as untenable, preferring a more modest ban on “the highest-risk weapons: drone swarms and autonomous chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons”.
The critics of such weapons systems were far away in the Commission’s draft report for Congress. The document has more than a touch of the mad scientist in the bloody service of a master. This stood to reason, given its chairman was Eric Schmidt, technical advisor to Alphabet Inc., parent company of Google, which he was formerly CEO of. With Schmidt holding the reins, we would be guaranteed a show shorn of moral restraint. “The AI promise – that a machine can perceive, decide, and act more quickly, in a more complex environment, with more accuracy than a human – represents a competitive advantage in any field. It will be employed for military ends, by governments and non-state groups.”
In his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on February 23, Schmidt was all about “fundamentals” in keeping the US ascendant. Continue reading
Nuclear workers plagued by leukaemia, cancers and other illnesses
Some workers developed cancer, leukemia and other illnesses. The same held true for workers at other nuclear facilities across the nation.
The number of potentially eligible workers across the nation is uncertain. Likewise, the number of employees potentially affected at West Valley could be in the thousands when accounting for temporary workers.
“This was particularly troubling if the same workers were hired repeatedly as temporaries and received high doses each time,”
In addition, the exposure of growing numbers of individuals increased the possibility of genetic consequences for the entire population.”
Cancer plagues West Valley nuke workers https://www.investigativepost.org/2021/03/01/cancer-plagues-west-valley-nuke-workers/
“What we were doing was insane. We were dealing with so much radiation,” he told Investigative Post from his home in New Hampshire.
“I’ve got absolutely no joints left in my knees — my knees are gone, my ankles are gone and my hips are gone,” he said.
“I wonder if it’s from working in that bathtub full of radiation.”
Pyles was one of about 200 full-time employees who operated the former Nuclear Fuel Services reprocessing facility five decades ago in the hamlet of West Valley, where the company partnered with the federal government to recycle used radioactive fuel. Other workers were hired to contain and dispose of the dangerous waste the operation left behind.
Some workers developed cancer, leukemia and other illnesses. The same held true for workers at other nuclear facilities across the nation. As a result, Congress established the Energy Employees Occupational Illness and Compensation Program in 2000.
An Investigative Post review of the program found the government has paid $20.3 million over the last two decades in cases involving at least 59 people who worked at the West Valley site.
In all, individuals have submitted claims involving 280 employees who worked at the bygone reprocessing facility or during the ongoing $3.1 billion taxpayer-funded cleanup. An undetermined number of claims have been denied; the rest are being adjudicated.
Pyles said he was unaware of the program. He isn’t alone.
The Department of Labor’s Office of the Ombudsman has repeatedly criticized outreach efforts in its annual oversight reports. Most of it has been in the form of events held near former sites. Given the passage of time and people’s movement, reaching more eligible workers is a challenge.
The workforce at West Valley involved more than full-timers. About 1,000 temporary laborers were hired by the company in any given year, according to government and media reports from the time.
The use of temporary workers was a common labor practice at the time, but few operations needed to “raise quite so large an army” as Nuclear Fuel Services, according to a Science Magazine report from the era.
The industry had a nickname for them: “sponges.”
They were hired to “absorb radiation to do simple tasks,” according to Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a radiological waste consultant who co-authored a study of West Valley.
While working at a site like West Valley does not guarantee later illnesses or genetic complications for offspring, each exposure to radiation increases the likelihood of cancer, Resnikoff said.
“It’s what I guess I would call a meat grinder,” he said.
Exposure to radiation
Decade after Fukushima disaster, decontamination work remains incomplete in 85% of regions — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Greenpeace says Japan should suspend returning residents to the afflicted region Mar.5,2021 Decontamination work remains incomplete in 85% of regions where the Japanese government claims to have removed radioactive contaminants from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster, an international environment group’s analysis shows. In a report titled “Fukushima Daiichi 2011-2021,” published on Thursday ahead of […]
Decade after Fukushima disaster, decontamination work remains incomplete in 85% of regions — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Explainer: What is battery storage? And why is it coming to a grid near you? — RenewEconomy
What is battery storage? What can it do? And where will batteries be used in Australia over the next decade? The post Explainer: What is battery storage? And why is it coming to a grid near you? appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Explainer: What is battery storage? And why is it coming to a grid near you? — RenewEconomy
March 7 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Biden Faces Steep Challenges To Reach Renewable Energy Goals” • President Joe Biden wants to change the way the US uses energy by expanding our renewable capacity, but he will need to navigate a host of challenges – including dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and restoring hundreds of thousands of lost jobs – […]
March 7 Energy News — geoharvey
Kimba nuclear dump project is a futile exercise that will be rejected by the International Atomic Energy Agency
Peter Remta, 4 Mar 21
For the past three years I have had to accept the disingenuous and ignorant comments by the federal government including the responsible ministers which quite frankly are at times personally offensive
I have been particularly disappointed by the comments of the present responsible minister Keith Pitt who from shortly after his appointment publicly stated that the whole Napandee community was highly accepting and in favour of the government’s nuclear waste facility in its locality when Napandee is no more than a farm with a population of the owner and his wife who are selling part of the property to the government for the facility.
In reality Napandee is better referred to as Kimba as the actual generic location
Regrettably from then on Pitt has continued with his ill informed and deceptive comments including his endorsement of the senior government officials who have also provided wrong and misleading information for the community
It is quite clear that the Kimba proposal will not get the necessary legislative approval even though Pitt has put implementing bill on the Senate order of business list on several occasions but never brought it on for a vote knowing full well that it would be defeated to the government’s embarrassment
While there are numerous technical and justifiable objections to the government’s proposals perhaps the most important is that the Kimba facility will not get the necessary licences for its construction and operations
It is considered at an international level that the Australian government and the regulatory entity of ARPANSA have fallen down badly on the licensing and other requirements in that regard and hence the International Atomic Energy Agency will demand a peer review by an external group which will take the whole process out of the government’s hands and lead to a swift rejection of the licence applications
No strong and effective relations and connections with leading experts in the field of nuclear waste are available to the government for its waste disposal plans
What is more the general view internationally is that Australia is lacking in any realistic expertise in nuclear engineering covering the storage and disposal of waste despite being so proficient in the mining of uranium and other radioactive materials
The Kimba proposal is a futile and purely politically driven exercise
Energy Insiders Podcast: Adam Bandt’s climate and energy action plan — RenewEconomy
Greens leader Adam Bandt joins Energy Insiders to discuss his party’s policies, the Coalition’s “deliberate” misinformation program, and the chances of striking a deal with Labor. The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Adam Bandt’s climate and energy action plan appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Energy Insiders Podcast: Adam Bandt’s climate and energy action plan — RenewEconomy
Decade after Fukushima disaster, decontamination work remains incomplete in 85% of regions — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Greenpeace says Japan should suspend returning residents to the afflicted region Mar.5,2021 Decontamination work remains incomplete in 85% of regions where the Japanese government claims to have removed radioactive contaminants from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster, an international environment group’s analysis shows. In a report titled “Fukushima Daiichi 2011-2021,” published on Thursday ahead of […]
Decade after Fukushima disaster, decontamination work remains incomplete in 85% of regions — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
Decades-long challenge to scrap Fukushima plant by 2051 in a bind — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
March 1, 2021 The decades-long challenge to scrap the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, crippled by the massive earthquake and tsunami disaster that struck northeastern Japan in 2011, is becoming more complex as recent remote-controlled probes have highlighted just how damaged the reactors are. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., operator of the six-reactor nuclear complex, […]
Decades-long challenge to scrap Fukushima plant by 2051 in a bind — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
1. Figures for the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima disaster: Fukushima Daiichi — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
An article from ACRO translated by Hervé Courtois February 22, 2021 As we approach the tenth anniversary of the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima power plant, here is a numerical assessment based on the media, official sites and the 2,700 articles on this site. Updates will be made regularly. Situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear […]
1. Figures for the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima disaster: Fukushima Daiichi — Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
March 5 Energy News — geoharvey
Science and Technology: ¶ “Humans, Not Nature, Are The Cause Of Changes In Atlantic Hurricane Cycles, New Study Finds” • The idea of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation may have been dealt a deadly blow by Michael Man, who had named it. He concludes the AMO is likely an artifact of climate change in the modern […]
March 5 Energy News — geoharvey
Australia dodged a bullet in not getting nuclear power – Ian Lowe.
An obvious conclusion flows from the Fox Report’s 1976 comment about a lack of objectivity. We are not objective observers of the world: we all see reality through the lenses of our values and our experience. We all have a tendency to see what we would like to see…….
The probability that any person will be favourably disposed to the idea of nuclear power can be predicted from their values and from their view of the sort of future they would like to see. Fellows of the Academy of Technology and Engineering tend to favour a high-tech future, while conservationists are much more likely to favour small-scale local supply systems.
This is a reminder that the future is not somewhere we are going, but something we are creating. From my perspective, nuclear power now looks like an intractable problem we were just lucky to avoid. Most developed nations have nuclear power stations with mountains of accumulated waste, for which there is no effective permanent solution. The urgent task of moving to clean energy supply, mostly from solar and wind, is made more difficult when resources have been sunk into the nuclear power industry. I believe we dodged a bullet.
Griffith Review,by Ian Lowe, March 21, ON MY DESK there sits a well-thumbed copy of the 1976 Fox Report, the first report of the Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry. I grew up in New South Wales, where most electricity came from coal-fired power stations, but miners were often killed or injured and the air pollution from burning coal was obvious. So as a young scientist I was attracted to the idea of replacing our dirty and dangerous coal-fired electricity with nuclear power.
Transnational Memory and the Fukushima Disaster: Memories of Japan in Australian Anti-nuclear Activism
Transnational Memory and the Fukushima Disaster: Memories of Japan in Australian Anti-nuclear Activism https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/index.php/portal/article/view/7094
Alexander Brown https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3582-9658, Jan 28, 2021
Abstract
This paper argues for the importance of transnational memories in framing Australian anti-nuclear activism after the Fukushima disaster. Japan looms large in the transnational nuclear imaginary.
Commemorating Hiroshima as the site of the first wartime use of nuclear weapons has been a long-standing practice in the Australian anti-nuclear movement and the day has been linked to a variety of issues including weapons and uranium mining.
As Australia began exporting uranium to Japan in the 1970s, Australia-Japan relations took on a new meaning for the Indigenous Traditional Owners from whose land uranium was extracted.
After Fukushima, these complex transnational memories formed the basis for an orientation towards Japan by Indigenous land rights activists and for the anti-nuclear movement as a whole.
This paper argues that despite tenuous organizational links between the two countries, transnational memories drove Australian anti-nuclear activists to seek connections with Japan after the Fukushima disaster. The mobilisation of these collective memories helps us to understand how transnational social movements evolve and how they construct globalisation from below in the Asia-Pacific region.fic region.
Nuclear Power’s Prospects Cool a Decade After Fukushima Meltdowns
Nuclear Power’s Prospects Cool a Decade After Fukushima Meltdowns
Disaster at the Japanese reactors marked a turning point for an industry that once promised to give the world a nearly unlimited source of energy WSJ, By Peter Landers, March 3, 2021
OMAEZAKI, Japan—At a seaside nuclear-power plant here, a concrete wall stretching a mile along the coast and towering 73 feet above sea level offers protection against almost any conceivable tsunami. Two reactors are ready to start splitting atoms again to heat water into steam and generate power, the operator has told regulators.
Yet despite safety measures set to cost nearly $4 billion, the Hamaoka plant hasn’t produced a single kilowatt since May 2011, and it has no target date to restart. The paint on billboards is fading and an old “no trespassing” sign outside the barbed wire lies on the ground—signs of creeping neglect.
Even a local antinuclear leader, Katsushi Hayashi, said he spent more time these days fighting an unrelated rail line in the mountains, confident that regulators and public opinion wouldn’t let the plant open any time soon. “Fukushima gave us all the proof we need. It’s dangerous,” Mr. Hayashi said.
The triple meltdowns at Japanese nuclear reactors in Fukushima after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami marked a turning point in an industry that once dreamed of providing the world with nearly unlimited power.
A decade after Fukushima, just nine reactors in Japan are authorized to operate, down from 54 a decade ago, and five of those are currently offline owing to legal and other issues. All of Fukushima prefecture’s reactors are closed permanently or set to do so. Chubu Electric Power Co. , owner of the Hamaoka plant, declined to make an executive available for comment. It has formally applied to reopen two reactors at the plant and told regulators that new measures such as the wall, mainly completed in 2015, make them safe to operate…… (subscribers only) https://www.wsj.com/articles/nuclear-powers-prospects-cool-a-decade-after-fukushima-meltdowns-11614767406
1 This month.
20 September –National Day of Action in Melbourne on the International Day of Peace
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
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Australians deserve the truth
about
AUKUS – https://aukuspublicinquiry.com/
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 