IAEA Head, on Nuclear Safety: ‘We Need To Have A Sense Of Urgency’

0 comments

Posted on 28th June 2011 by admin in Nuclear Energy

, , , , , ,

GEORGE JAHN, Huffington Post,    June 20 2011
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/20/yukiya-amano-iaea-nuclear-safety_n_880479.html

VIENNA — The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday urged a worldwide review of safety measures to prevent new nuclear disasters, but acknowledged that since his organization lacks the authority to enforce  rules any improvements are only effective if countries apply them.

While some countries at the 151-member IAEA’s meeting want any new safety regime to be mandatory, most prefer them to be voluntary and don’t want a regulatory role for IAEA. If the IAEA cannot enforce safety standards, those rules will be only as good as they are being enforced by IAEA nations.

“Even the best safety standards are useless unless they are actually implemented,” Amano said.

Asked outside the meeting if he would like to see the IAEA have the same authority against safety violators as it now has against nuclear proliferators – which includes referral to the U.N. Security Council – he said: “I do not exclude that possibility.”

But he said a sense of post-Fukushima urgency dictated action now under existing rules.

“We have to move by days, weeks, months, and I cannot wait years” – the time it would take to revise the IAEA’s mandate for the 35-nation board – he said. “We need to have a sense of urgency.”

Read Full Article

Related posts:

  1. Nuclear terrorism can cause another Fukushima: expert
  2. Nuclear Energy: SA Government Sticks its Head in the Sand
  3. Scandalous SA Nuclear Industry rides on Fukushima Events to Promote Nuclear Energy
  4. Nuclear Agency Is Criticized as Too Close to Its Industry
  5. Fukushima and Chernobyl Raise Questions about WHO’s Role

Nuclear terrorism can cause another Fukushima: expert

0 comments

Posted on 28th June 2011 by admin in Nuclear Energy

, , , ,

VIENNA, Reuters, Thu Jun 23, 2011
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/23/us-nuclear-security-idUSTRE75M1SU20110623

(Reuters) — Global action to protect the nuclear industry against possible terrorist attacks is urgently needed, a leading expert said, as are safety steps to prevent any repeat of Japan’s Fukushima
accident.

“Both al Qaeda and Chechen terrorist groups have repeatedly considered sabotaging nuclear reactors — and Fukushima provided a compelling example of the scale of terror such an attack might cause,” Matthew Bunn of Harvard University said.

Some countries had “extraordinarily weak security measures in place,” he said in an Internet blog posted this week, without naming them.

“The nuclear industry in many countries is much less prepared to cope with security incidents than with accidents,” wrote Bunn, an associate professor at Harvard Kennedy School who specializes in nuclear issues.

Steps to protect against both sabotage of nuclear facilities and theft of nuclear weapons or the materials to make them were “particularly urgent.”

Read full article

Related posts:

  1. Joint Statement on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster On the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
  2. Fukushima Cores More Damaged Than Thought
  3. Fukushima – a 1 percent risk is 100 percent too high
  4. Nuclear plants must not turn into radiological weapons
  5. Scandalous SA Nuclear Industry rides on Fukushima Events to Promote Nuclear Energy

Eskom Nuclear 1 EIA Meetings – Legal Challenges

0 comments

Posted on 9th June 2011 by admin in Eskom

, , , , ,

Dear Comrades,

Earthlife Africa is hosting (with partners) a series of meeting around
South Africa on the EIA for Nuclear -1, the legal issues, and a possible
legal challenge if the EIA is granted. The Legal Resource Centre will be
making a presentation at each of the meetings, and the idea is that
other organisations share their thoughts on the EIA. Please mark your
diaries for the following dates, formal invitation letters to follow
with venue details.

1) Johannesburg, 18th of July 2011
2) Durban, 22nd of July 2011
3) Cape Town, 26th of July 2011

Towards a nuclear-free future,

Tristen

–
Tristen Taylor
Project Co-ordinator
Earthlife Africa Jhb
Tel: 011 339-3662
Cell: 084 250-2434
Website: www.earthlife.org.za

Related posts:

  1. ESKOM CONTINUES TO DENY NUCLEAR ENERGY FACTS
  2. Eskom Nuclear Draft EIA Report Review – Comment Extension Period
  3. Eskom Environmental Impact Assessment (DEA Ref. No.: 12/12/20/944) – Revised Draft EIA
  4. UNPLUG NUCLEAR! Protect Our Workers! NO NUKES IN AFRICA!
  5. No Amount of Redesign Will Save the PBMR

Tell Government: No More Dangerous Nuclear Plants!

0 comments

Posted on 30th May 2011 by admin in Nuclear Energy

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Demand a Nuclear Moratorium and Stricter Safety Regulations

Thank you for supporting our previous efforts to build a nuclear-free future for our kids. More than ever, the Coalition Against Nuclear Energy needs your help to make that future a reality.

The disaster in Japan continues to unfold – with authorities now admitting three meltdowns and some reports putting Japan’s nuclear disaster on a par with Chernobyl.

The terrifying reality is the same thing could happen in South Africa. Government has nailed its colours to the mast by promising SIX REACTORS as part of its “nuclear fleet”. In addition, Rob Adam of NECSA has promised us “localization” with uranium enrichment, fuel assembly and spent fuel reprocessing. All this despite the opposition from the Civil Society Energy Caucus, faith- labour- and community-based Organisations.

We must urgently work to prevent that. To that end, leading campaigners & activists from NGOs and civil society organisations associated with C.A.N.E., academics and professionals plan to hold a “summit” on 27 and 28 July to tackle the problem. And our budget is virtually non-existent.  It is called a “summit”, because – this is designed expressly for leadership to discuss ways and means of defending our country against the threat of a “nuclear fleet”, which (according to IPAP2 by the Department of Trade & Industries) will cost us R1.3 trillion.

We aim to discuss strategy and tactics over the next two years, as well as budgets for fund-raising purposes.  We will also seek fresh elections for the National Executive to take us forward with a renewed mandate from the Summit.

We seek to ensure that the lessons learned from the nuclear meltdown in Japan are incorporated into S.A. regulations, and ensure our government will impose a moratorium on new licenses for dirty, dangerous and expensive nuclear power plants, and no more secrecy over our nuclear legacy.

Please act now and urge your local politicians and media to support this stand so we can build a safer future for generations of South Africans.

Thanks for taking action. And please also consider making a donation to C.A.N.E. today. It is the only group in South Africa that focuses solely on preventing a nuclear future! Your support will help us build a grassroots movement to close dangerous nuclear plants and create a safe energy future for our children. Your donation will also make it possible for a team to dedicate their time and effort to increase pressure on government and the media, and keep you informed and our website going.

Thank you for working with us for a nuclear-free world.

Related posts:

  1. Nuclear Energy: SA Government Sticks its Head in the Sand
  2. Government Secrecy Around PBMR Closure
  3. Should South Africans waste time with a consultation process on a pre-determined electricity plan (IRP2) that government calls “sausage machine”? You decide…
  4. Government pulls plug on PBMR
  5. Eskom Nuclear 1 EIA – Fatally Flawed and Designed To Confuse

Fukushima Cores More Damaged Than Thought

0 comments

Posted on 18th May 2011 by admin in Nuclear Energy

, , , , , ,

by Dennis Normile, Science Magazine, 17 May 2011,
Source: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/05/utility-fukushima-cores-more.html?etoc&elq=c26607bbddba4088b40dc249cc7d3ab7

TOKYO—Over the last several days, evidence has emerged indicating that the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was far more dire than previously recognized. The main evidence is extensive—rather than partial—melting of the nuclear fuel in three reactors in the hours after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. Despite that bad news, however, today plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. pledged it would still meet the target set 17 April to stabilize the situation by January 2012 so 100,000 residents evacuated from around the plant can return to their homes and the decade-long process of demolishing the reactors can get started.

At first, analysts from Tokyo Electric and the government believed there was only limited damage to the fuel cores. But over the last week, a combination of robotic and human inspections has led to the conclusion that the fuel assemblies in units 1, 2, and 3 were completely exposed to the air for from over 6 hours to over 14 hours and that melting was extensive if not complete. Much of the fuel is now likely at the bottom of the reactor pressure vessels.

Despite extensive melting of the fuel, “we do not believe there is massive damage to the reactor pressure vessel,” Sakae Muto, Tokyo Electric’s chief nuclear officer told reporters this evening. Last week workers found that an estimated 3000 tons of water has leaked from the unit 1 containment vessel into a basement. In its 17 April roadmap, Tokyo Electric envisioned flooding the containment vessel and building a new cooling system to lower the temperature of the core. But the containment vessel now appears to be too leaky for that scheme to work. Instead they will collect water from the basement, purify it, and inject it back into the reactor pressure vessel, from where it will leak back into the basement. It is simpler than a new cooling system, but it will also require additional measures to watch for and counter leaks of contaminated water into the environment, Muto said. They may still build new cooling systems to supplement or replace the water injection scheme.

The 17 April roadmap for containing radiation also called for wrapping the wrecked buildings in tentlike structures of polyester sheets supported on a steel framework. That part of the work is proceeding as planned.

At the same press briefing, Goshi Hosono, a member of the Japanese parliament and a special advisor to the Prime Minister Naoto Kan on the crisis, said the government had decided to establish a mechanism to track the radiation doses and manage the long-term health care of the hundreds of workers battling to bring the crippled reactors under control. “This is not only in the interests of Tokyo Electric and the government but of all the people of Japan,” he said.

Source: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/05/utility-fukushima-cores-more.html?etoc&elq=c26607bbddba4088b40dc249cc7d3ab7

Related posts:

  1. Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor Rise to Highest Since Crisis Began
  2. Fukushima Nuclear Cleanup Plans Hinge on Unknowns
  3. TEPCO admits a meltdown in Fukushima
  4. Fukushima Nuclear leak may exceed Chernobyl, Japan admits
  5. Joint Statement on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster On the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »
lazy-submarginal