Fukushima anniversary week – nuclear news

The global nuclear lobby will be glad when March is over. They were glad to see the end of January – too much public interest then in the U.N. Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

March is worse, especially because of the 10 year anniversary (11th March) of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown, with clean-up nowhere in sight. The half-hearted hype is now on for the Olympic Games in July. The whole plan was for the Games to demonstrate that the nuclear catastrophe was actually nothing much to worry about, and yet again, to promise a ‘nuclear renaissance’.

International Women’s Day – today 8th March, is a bit of a worry for the nuclear industry.  Ionising radiation is more damaging to women than to men, and polls consistently show that women oppose nuclear power.  Women are rarely part of decision-making, and when they are –  shock horror!  With nearly equal female representation in Switzerland’s parliament – it decided to shut down the nuclear industry.   In Germany, that very strong Chancellor Angela Merkel, was a supporter of nuclear power – but after the Fukushima catastrophe, she changed her mind.  It’s all a dilemma for the nuke lobby –   trying to get some (preferably  young and glam) women into the nuclear career,  – but oh dear, they might put too much emphasis on health, children’s future, etc – and hysterically change their mind, as Merkel did.

1st March – Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day.  This day commemorates for Pacific islanders, the nuclear colonialism, that brought atomic bomb testing, radiatio-induced cancers, and continuing environmental pollution to their previously pristine lands and waters.  Today, militaristic colonialism is still in full swing across the region, and is still resisted.

CLIMATE.  I cannot resist referring you to the wonderful Katherine Hayhoe, interviewed on Radio Ecoshock. This woman, who is also a religious communicator, has the gift of explaining climate change entertainingly and with clarity.

Some bits of good news The first real-world data for COVID vaccines is in – and it’s really good news.   

In a Japanese village ravaged by tsunami and nuclear disaster, two farmers grow indigo to rebuild community and heal

 

AUSTRALIA

Australia dodged a bullet in not getting nuclear power – Ian Lowe.   Australian Strategic Policy Institute – a stooge for weapons industries and China-haters. Australia’s purchase of vastly expensive French nuclear-powered submarine design, adapted to diesel, now to be scrapped?

Many people, both inside and outside Kimba, want a judicial review of the government’s nuclear waste dump decision.

Transnational Memory and the Fukushima Disaster: Memories of Japan in Australian Anti-nuclear Activism.

INTERNATIONAL

Nuclear Games.

Elon Musk and Bill Gates: beware of gurus toting solutions to climate change.

Nuclear energy proponents downplay its unresolved moral and ethical concerns.  Despite the problems, small nuclear reactor salesmen aggressively marketing: it’s make or break time for the nuclear industry.

Some bits of good news The first real-world data for COVID vaccines is in – and it’s really good news.   

In a Japanese village ravaged by tsunami and nuclear disaster, two farmers grow indigo to rebuild community and heal

ANTARCTICA.  Ominous news; Antarctic ice is melting at an accelerating rate.

JAPAN.

Ex-PMs Kan, Koizumi urge Japan to quit nuclear power generation .    10 years after Fukushima nuclear disaster, – poor prospects for nuclear revival in Japan.

• Fukushima. Reuters gives a timeline of events: Fukushuma 2011 – 2021 –Heroism of Fukushima’s nuclear emergency workers.
• Fukushima nuclear decommissioning not really under control- persistent highly radioactive debris remains.  Japan’s daunting task – to decommission Fukushima nuclear plant, over many decades. Fukushima wrecked nuclear plant: area remains a health and environmental disaster.  Fukushima resident still can’t return home 10 years after nuclear disaster. Most 2011 quake, Fukushima crisis survivors back ending nuclear power.
• Fukushima’s Olympic makeover: Will the ‘cursed’ area be safe from radioactivity in time for Games?  Fukushima Daiichi 2011-2021: The decontamination myth and a decade of human rights violations.–
• Lawsuit over the exposure to radiation of residents of Litate, after Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
• The man who saves forgotten cats in Fukushima’s nuclear zone .
• Isolated and alone – Suguru’s story reveals bullying, ostracization and government whitewash

UK.

Opinion poll – 77% of Ayshire public support a total ban on all nuclear weapons.

Hinkley Point B nuclear station to close ‘early’ due to aging graphite blocks.

Concern about the marketing of radioactively contaminated scrap metal.

Proposed Cumbrian coalmine. But is the real purpose a high level nuclear waste dump?.

How Scotland’s Dunoon became an American nuclear base, and a target.  Scottish Council calls on big pension fund to stop investing in weapons makers.

USA. 

• Food for thought –  The war-mongering lobby embraces AI (artificial intelligence) 
• Biden’s illegal bombing of Iranian-backed militias in Syria jeopardises nuclear negotiations.  The American media sanitises the Biden administration’s killings in Syria.
•  Biden’s first budget should reduce excessive expenditure on nuclear weaponry. Why the US wastes $billions on nuclear weapons it doesn’t need. Bill in U.S. Congress to stop new nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile.  Battle coming in U.S. Congress over spending on nuclear weapons.
• Nuclear workers plagued by leukaemia, cancers and other illnesses.
•  Ohio Senate votes unanimously to repeal nuclear plant bailout.  Nuclear power bailout Bill to be eliminated by Ohio law-makers. Public Service Enterprise Group trying to force ratepayers to act as guarantors for nuclear power debts.  Montana legislatures to review the law restricting nuclear developments.
• Michigan Attorney General wants review of nuclear plant license transfer to Holtec.
• Washington State and others want to overturn Trump rule that weakens Hanford nuclear waste rule.
• The Trump personality cult is still a threat.

IRAN.  UN’s nuclear watchdog agency will not be ‘bargaining chip’ in Iran nuclear deal.  President Rouhani says that Iran is prepared to fulfil nuclear deal commitments.

GERMANY.  Germany to pay nuclear operators 2.4 bln euros for plant closures.  Widespread public support for Germany’s nuclear phaseout, as renewable energy expands.

ALGERIA.  French report on the unfairness of France’s nuclear history in Algeria.

RUSSIA. Russia’s most high-tech multi-purpose nuclear submarine further delayed.

CHINA.  China to ramp up its nuclear weapons, in the interests of its own survival.

FRANCE.  Safety expert recommends shutdown of several of France’s old, dubiously safe, nuclear reactors.  France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) has safety concerns about Flamanville nuclear power plant .  A new setback for France’s Flamanville nuclear reactor.

SWITZERLAND.  Women in government – the key to getting rid of nuclear power.

LUXEMBOURG. Hopes in Luxembourg for the closure of Cattenom nuclear power plant.

ARMENIA. Armenia should shut down, not repair, its dangerous nuclear power station.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa, with no way to deal with radioactive waste, must not develop new nuclear power.

PACIFIC ISLANDS.  Nuclear Free And Independent Pacific Day 2021.

TURKEY.  Dust with French nuclear test residue threatens Turkey.

IRAN.  Iran’s foreign minister says Tehran will offer a constructive plan for nuclear talks.

INDIA.  In India, Google and Facebook help a vicious government campaign against environmental activists.