To 15th March – Australian and international nuclear news

The Fukushima anniversary is over. A sigh of relief?  We can now all forget about it? Not really. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8njLkMigH4&t=10s

Numerous well-researched articles on the event conclude that Japan’s struggle with the aftermath has no end in sight. A hastily released ”comforting ” health report from The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has been criticised as unconvincing and inconsistent. The Japanese government, and the  global nuclear lobby doggedly persist in planning for the ”Recovery Olympics” in Tokyo in July.  But in view of the pandemic and the lingering radiation, that may not be a done deal

Meanwhile – global heating plugs along – without much publicity – Siberia’s warming shows climate change has no winners.   Without changes to mitigate global warming, summer could last nearly six months, study finds.

Global coronavirus cases are beginning to rise again, and there are a number of nations where the situation is worsening by the day.

 

A bit of good news – USA – Fauci Agrees We Can Reach Normalcy by Fourth of July.

AUSTRALIA

Australian uranium fuelled Fukushima .  Australia must learn the lessons of Fukushima.– Time that Australia looks beyond uranium mining, and towards rehabilitation of the environment.  Time for Australia to clean up uranium mining damage, and end this toxic industry – Western Australia could lead the way.

Refuting Senator Matt Canavan’s inaccurate hype about small nuclear reactors.  New South Wales Energy Minister ”excited about the opportunities” for nuclear power. – Energy minister backs nuclear option. MP Josh Wilson’s excellent submission Senate, about nuclear wastes.

INTERNATIONAL

Fukushima: “How Japan was blinded to the predicted certainty of disaster“.     10 years after Fukushima – still nuclear regulatory capture, and poor safety culture.  Whitewashing of Fukushima meltdown by United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation.

Nuclear power faces a wobbly future.  Ten years on from Fukushima, nuclear power continues to struggle with deeper problems.  Nuclear power is unpopular: promoted only by those with vested interests.

Billionaire Bill Gates’ nuclear ambitions would make climate disaster worse.

Global nuclear industry in decline since 1996, even without Fukushima disaster.

The long-term problem of ”peaceful” plutonium.

The radiation danger to astronauts– cancer, heart disease -an ethical problem.  Space radiation – harmful to astronauts, not only with cancers, but also with heart and blood vessel effects.  Low doses of radiation used in medical imaging lead to mutations in cell cultures.

The growing threat of space debris.

How the world came close to nuclear war catastrophe.

‘Every euro invested in nuclear power makes the climate crisis worse‘.  Small modular reactors not the solution, says German nuclear authority .

Need to establish compensation schemes for future nuclear accidents.

So-called ”cloud” computing means huge electricity use in data so-called ”farms”.

JAPAN.

The truth about Fukushima today – and the cover-up – Thomas A Bass.   Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Nearly ‘Ended The Japanese State’. Harm done to people by the Fukushima evacuation, but radiation was still the root cause of all this.    The Asahi Shimbun continues to warn against nuclear power -Japan’s risk of another “Fukushima -type” disaster.

Japan’s Nuclear Clean-Up Has No End in Sight.   1.2 million tonnes of contaminated water and nowhere to put it – Fukushima’s continued legacy.   Review of film ”Fukushima 50”.       The thought of the Olympics – the only hold-up to emptying contaminated water to the ocean.

Impossible timetable set for returning Fukushima nuclear site to ‘greenfield”.  Japanese government hopes that not-yet-designed robots might clean up Fukushima nuclear mess.  Part of Tomioka, 6 miles from Fukushima, is still a no-go zone.    Radiation from Fukushima meltdown collects in timber in affected region.

Tokyo Olypics: is it safe to promote Japan’s so-called “recovery” by sending athletes into a nuclear exclusion zone?  United Nations Scientific Committee on Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) report on Fukushima health effects -rushed, inadequate, inconsistent.

Cash-strapped Japanese nuclear company funds road plans near idle nuclear plant.

Japan’s main opposition party -”Japanese society is viable without operating nuclear power plants”.

FRANCE. French Nuclear tests: revelations about a cancer epidemic.

PACIFIC ISLANDS.  France has consistently underestimated the devastating impact of its nuclear tests in French Polynesia.  110, 000 people in French Polynesia affected by the radioactive fallout from atomic bomb tests.  Time to clean up Bikini Atoll, to right the nuclear wrongs done to the Pacific islands people.

USA.

• Investigative journalism – Can the Energy Department store 50 tons of weapons-grade plutonium for 10,000 years?     Biden on horns of a dilemma for Iranian nuclear deal.   This is how the biggest arms manufacturers steer $millions to influence U.S,. policy.  USA’s new $100billion nuclear missile – a white elephant?
• Ohio House passes its version of Bill rescinding nuclear subsidies.
• Report: Cancer death rates rising near Fermi nuclear plant .
• Problem in accepting higher level radioactive wastes in Texas.

GERMANY.  Germany pledges to work towards a nuclear-free Europe.   The Greens are likely to be propelled into government in the national vote.

UK. Nuclear power losing out in the UK – not a good omen for the global nuclear industry.      Trident nuclear warhead numbers set to increase for first time since cold war, despite commitment to decrease nuclear weaponss stockpile.  Safety breaches at Sellafield have raised fears of a Chernobyl-style disaster.

CHINA.  China maintains only a lean nuclear weapons force – aimed at survival if attacked..

TURKEY. Anxieties over Turkey’s new Russian-backed nuclear plants.  Turkey’s nuclear ambitions bring fears of a ”new Chernobyl” in the region.   – Turkey’s nuclear power plant could prove irresistible to terrorists.

NEW ZEALAND. New Zealand groups oppose launch of U.S. military nuclear satellite.

TAIWAN.  Nuclear power not an option for Taiwan.  Taiwan environmentalists to hold anti-nuclear rally in June.

SLOVENIA.  Slovenia’s hazardous old nuclear reactor in an earthquake zone,