‘You didn’t bring us one number’: Hazelwood school board members demand sampling data from Jana preliminary results via KSDK

Posted on 2022/11/10 by yukimiyamotodepaul

On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its own findings saying Jana Elementary was safe.

Author: Justina Coronel (KSDK)

FLORISSANT, Mo. — It’s news one would be eager to hear: “There’s no harm to students at your school when it comes to radioactive contamination.”

However, when this contradicts another recent report, it creates confusion and even more concerns.

This is the case for Jana Elementary in Florissant, Missouri.

On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its own findings saying Jana Elementary was safe.

This is after an independent group called the Boston Chemical Data Corporation released a report in October, saying it found high levels of radioactive contamination within and around the school.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers results

After two weeks of testing, the agency shared preliminary results showing no presence of radioactive material above the expected range of background levels(the level of radioactivity Mother Nature already provides).

The results showed nearly 1,000 samples, readings, and swipes were done and isotopic uranium, thorium, radium, and lead (Pb)-210 were tested.

In front of the Hazelwood School Board were the members of the environmental program, called Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, or better known as FUSRAP. 

[…]

Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, located north of downtown St. Louis, processed a majority of the uranium for the building of the first atomic bomb.

The waste from Mallinckrodt was transported and stored at a site north of St. Louis Lambert International Airport from 1947 until the late 1960s.

It was then purchased by Continental Mining and Milling Company and moved to a site half a mile away.

[…]

Environmental lawyers Celeste Brustowicz with Cooper Law Firm and Kevin Thompson with Thompson Barney Law Firm paid the Boston Chemical Data Corporation to test the area, including Jana Elementary.

Their findings were released in October and it reported high levels of radioactive contamination in and around Jana. 

It showed high numbers of different contaminated elements, including (Pb)- 210, which is lead.

Concerns

These two reports show a striking contrast.

That’s why on Wednesday morning, the new information from the federal agency faced some push back.

Board President Betsy Rachel said, “I’m a little concerned and why there are no numbers being presented here.”

[…]

But the school is also conducting its own independent report, awaiting for results in order to compare.

As for the Jana PTA along with its president, they continue to fight for more answers.

“We at Jana and this north St. Louis County community will not continue to stand by, we are the adults in the room and we are going to act like it one way or another,” Ashley Bernaugh said. 

There were no decisions made by the board on Wednesday and the school remains closed.

Read more at ‘You didn’t bring us one number’: Hazelwood school board members demand sampling data from Jana preliminary results

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12.1 trillion yen spent so far on Fukushima nuclear disaster via The Asahi Shimbun

Posted on 2022/11/09 by nfield

By Takaoki Yamamoto

Around 12.1 trillion yen ($82 billion) has already been spent to deal with the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to sources at the Board of Audit of Japan.

That means more than half of the government’s total estimated cost of 21.5 trillion yen, including compensation payments and reactor decommissioning expenses, has been used in the 11 years since the meltdowns occurred.

However, the nuclear decommissioning process is not going smoothly, and there are fears that the planned discharge of treated radioactive water from the plant into the sea could damage the reputations of the disaster-affected areas.

Expenses could still expand, and the BOA on Nov. 7 asked the government to review its projected cost.

The BOA also asked the government to explain how the public would bear the cost if it is reviewed.

The government, however, said the cost will likely not increase.

“We sincerely listen to various views but at least at the moment, we do not believe the cost will surpass the estimated figure, and we do not plan to review it,” said an official for the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

The BOA studied costs incurred up until fiscal 2021.

The breakdown was: 7.1472 trillion yen for damages paid to people affected by the disaster; 2.9954 trillion yen for decontamination-related costs; 268.2 billion yen related to temporary storage facilities for contaminated materials; and 1.7019 trillion yen for nuclear decommissioning work and dealing with contaminated water.

The BOA in 2018 calculated the total cost incurred until the end of 2017 was around 8.6 trillion yen.

The government has repeatedly revised its estimate of the cost.

In 2016, it nearly doubled its estimate from 11 trillion yen to 21.5 trillion yen.

Expenses for damages, decontamination work, or activities related to temporary storage facilities are categorized as “compensation costs.”

The government pays the “compensation costs” with money borrowed from financial institutions or through other means.

Such debts are paid back using revenue from electricity companies across Japan collected through electricity bills or tax revenue.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the stricken plant, and other parties published an “estimated compensation cost” of 12.5865 trillion yen as of April.

However, this figure doesn’t include projected damages to compensate businesses and others for reputational damage caused by the treated water being discharged into the sea.

Also, seven court rulings have ordered the government and TEPCO to pay damages to those who fled the disaster more than the figures recommended in the interim guidelines published by the Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage Compensation.

The committee was established within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

These seven rulings have been finalized. If the guidelines are reviewed, the recommended figures for damages could increase.

A BOA official said these two points–damages for reputational damage and damages for evacuees–could raise the cost to deal with the accident, including the amount the public will have to bear.

TEPCO pays for all nuclear decommissioning work and dealing with contaminated water.

According to the BOA, the breakdown of the costs in this area in the 11 years after the accident was: 195.7 billion yen for removing nuclear fuel from spent fuel pools; 182.1 billion yen for dealing with contaminated water and treated water; and 37.1 billion yen for removing melted fuel debris from nuclear reactors.

Removing fuel debris is said to be the most difficult task in the process of decommissioning, and the government estimates the cost for this process will reach 1.37 trillion yen by 2031.

TEPCO, in fact, abandoned the planned removal work this year because robotic arms used for the task haven’t been developed as quickly as predicted.

The utility now aims to start that work in the second half of fiscal 2023.

It was TEPCO’s second postponement of the work, which was initially scheduled to start in 2021.

TEPCO has saved funds every year for decommissioning the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The balance was 585.5 billion yen as of the end of fiscal 2021.

[…]

Read more.

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The Day the Sun Rose Twice: A Tour of Atomic New Mexico via The New York TimesThe Day the Sun Rose Twice:  Tour of Atomic New Mexico

Posted on 2022/11/08 by yukimiyamotodepaul

The Southwestern state was central to the development of nuclear weapons. When the testing ground for the first detonation recently reopened for visitors, a writer decided to confront that difficult history.

By Nina Burleigh

  • Published Nov. 4, 2022Updated Nov. 8, 2022, 12:49 p.m. ET

They say the sun rose twice over a corner of southern New Mexico on July 16, 1945. The first sunrise was produced by the detonation of a new weapon its makers had nicknamed “the gadget.” The actual sun rose 10 minutes later, dawning on a new era in human history.

The world’s first atomic bomb exploded that morning, launching the nuclear age, and foreshadowing the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki within the month.

[…]

The detonation site itself is known as Trinity Site, and it lies within the White Sands Missile Range, a 3,200-square-mile area of forbidden high desert, on a plateau of creosote and sand deep between two knife-sharp mountain ranges. The test site has traditionally been open to visitors two days a year, in spring and fall, but the pandemic put a temporary halt to any visits.

This fall, the United States Army announced that it would resume public visits, with the first open house scheduled for the second weekend of October. Against the geopolitical backdrop of the war in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s nuclear rhetoric, there’s no time like the present to think about our nuclear history, and I decided to make Trinity Site my first stop on an atomic tour of the state. The bomb project’s lead scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, named it Trinity after a John Donne poem about humanity, faith and submission to God.

The New Mexico landscape is eerily apropos to an atomic tour. Relics of primordial geological violence are everywhere: plunging rifts and canyons, volcanic calderas, ancient lava flow and a vast, surreal, white desert, almost lunar. Before 8 a.m. in the morning, a line of cars already snaked down the one-lane blacktop to the White Sands gate, where soldiers in Day-Glo yellow vests checked driver’s licenses for names on the foreign terrorist list.

A Sunday-market vibe prevailed. Under a cobalt October sky, picnic tables, dogs on leashes, gamboling children. Volunteers grilled hot dogs and brats, and sold chips, candy, soda and water under a tent. Mushroom cloud T-shirts and other atomic swag could be had at another. Everyone ambled toward the precise spot where the gadget, a plutonium core surrounded by TNT, was detonated on a high platform.

All that’s left of the 100-foot tower that evaporated that morning is a 2-inch stub of concrete, but a 12-foot obelisk with a plaque commemorates the date and detonation site. There the crowd coagulated, like at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, awaiting selfie turns.

Between selfies and noshing on brats and chips, visitors rock-hunted, peering down at the sand between tufts of hardy grass for bits of the sage-green substance called trinitite. Trinitite was formed when sand, sucked up and liquefied by the blast, fell back to earth. It is against federal law to take it home, but bits are for sale at a nearby rock shop, for $30 to $60 a gram.

[…]

One Army engineer, Roger Rasmussen, speaking to the Voices of the Manhattan Project, remembered the light coming through his closed eyelids. “We stood up and looked into this black abyss ahead of us. There was this beautiful color of the bomb, gorgeous. The colors were roving in and out of our visual range of course. The neutrons and gamma rays and all that went by with the first flash while we were down. There we stood, gawking at this.”

Radioactive fallout plumed over the area but the public was never warned, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a publication founded in 1945 by nuclear physicists concerned about the dangers of atomic weapons. The army publicly blamed windows blown out for 120 miles around on a munitions depot accident. Health data was never collected and descendants of some of the nearby rural inhabitants are still seeking compensation for what they say are generations of cancer.

[…]

New Mexico’s atomic tour continues farther north. At Santa Fe, the state capital, tourists visit the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, browse art galleries selling native and modern American art, and shop for silver and turquoise jewelry, but are often oblivious to the city’s history as a setting in a critical game of nuclear espionage with the Russians. The former C.I.A. officer Bruce Held has written “A Spy’s Guide to Santa Fe and Albuquerque,” identifying the sites around town (including a bridge and the landmark Spitz Clock near the main plaza) where American spies for the K.G.B., using code names like Star and Bumblebee, dead-dropped papers and notes in invisible ink, or handed them off at clandestine meetings.

[…]

Trinity Site visits are free to the public, but identification is required. The next Trinity Site open houses are April 1 and Oct. 21, 2023.

White Sands National Park costs $25 for a weekly entry pass; open daily except Christmas, and hours vary throughout the year.

Three Rivers Petroglyph site charges a $3 parking fee and is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. April to October, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. October to April. Non-campers must be out by 10 p.m. year-round. Check website for trail updates.

The outdoor White Sands Range Missile Museum exhibits are free, but identification is required for entry. Consult the website for news about the opening of the indoor museum in December.

Manhattan Project Historical Park has its visitors center and tour exhibits in Los Alamos. The public does not need to register for Trinity Site, but they do for some areas of the Manhattan Project sites. Check website for tours and registration requirements.

Read more at The Day the Sun Rose Twice: A Tour of Atomic New Mexico

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原発廃炉に必要な製品の製造会社 東京電力が楢葉町に設立 via NHK News Web

Posted on 2022/11/06 by nfield

東京電力は、原子力発電所の廃炉に必要となる製品を製造する子会社を楢葉町に新たに設立し、福島第一原発の廃炉を進めるとともに、浜通りの復興に貢献していきたいとしています。

「復興と廃炉の両立」を掲げる東京電力は、大阪に本社がある機械メーカー「日立造船」と共同で、先月２０日付けで、楢葉町に廃炉に必要となる製品の製造を行う新しい子会社を設立しました。

子会社は「東双みらい製造」で、従業員数はおよそ１０人。

出資比率は、東京電力が６７％、日立造船が３３％で、資本金は１５億円です。

東京電力によりますと、楢葉町と富岡町にまたがる福島第二原子力発電所のおよそ１ヘクタールの敷地に２０２５年度に工場を完成させ、その後、製品の製造を開始、２０２７年度から出荷を始める計画です。

まずは、福島第二原発などで使用する使用済み燃料を保管する容器を製造し、将来的には福島第一原発の燃料デブリを保管する容器の製造にも着手したい考えです。

[…]

原文

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福島地裁が「判決文Tシャツ」を問題視　「脱げ」「裏返せ」の末に庁舎外へ追い出す　「納得できない。次回も着ていく」と女性 via民の声新聞

Posted on 2022/10/25 by nfield

福島地方裁判所で26日午後、裁判傍聴に訪れた女性が着ていたTシャツの文言が問題だとして、裁判所職員に庁舎外に追い出される事態が起きた。女性は刃物を振り回したわけでも大声をあげたわけでもない。しかし、裁判所側はTシャツの背面に印刷された判決文の一説を「メッセージ性がある」と判断。「脱げ」、「裏返しにしろ」と迫った挙げ句、「できないのなら敷地外に出ろ」と命じた。女性はやむなく羽織るものを借りて着用して傍聴したが、「他の裁判所では認められているのに、なぜ脱がなければいけないのか。納得できない。次回も着て来る」と怒り心頭。弁護士からも福島地裁の対応に疑問の声があがっている。

【「メッセージ性がある」】
　「判決文が印刷されているから駄目だって。庁舎から出ろって。このTシャツを着て東京地裁でも横浜地裁でも傍聴したのに…」
　避難先の神奈川県から福島県郡山市に一時的に戻っている松本徳子さん（郡山市、60歳）は、裁判所からの指摘に怒りと驚きの表情を浮かべていた。
　この日は、国家公務員宿舎から退去できずにいる区域外避難者に対する〝追い出し訴訟〟（福島県が原告）の第8回口頭弁論が予定されていた。傍聴券を受け取った直後のこと。松本さんも法廷に向かうべく裁判所職員の指示を待っていたところ、女性職員がいきなり背後から近づいてきたという。
　「『このTシャツを脱いでいただけますか？』と言われたんです。どうして？と聞き返したら、『背中にメッセージ性のある文言が書かれているので脱いでください』と。でも、暑いから羽織るものなんか持ってきていない。Tシャツの下は当然、下着です。それでも『脱いでいただかないと…』の一点張りでした」
　松本さんは女性職員と押し問答になり、周囲にいた他の傍聴者も加勢。ロビーは騒然となった。女性職員は譲らず、松本さんに「羽織るものがないのであれば、裏返しにしていただけませんか」と言ってきたという。
　Tシャツは、原発事故で神奈川県内に避難した人々が起こした「福島原発かながわ訴訟」の原告団が2014年につくった。背面に「豊かな国土とそこに国民が根を下ろして生活していることが国富であり、これを取り戻すことができなくなることが国富の喪失である」と白色の文字で印刷されている。これは2014年5月21日、福井地裁の樋口英明裁判長（当時）が関西電力大飯原発3、4号機の運転差し止めを命じる判決文のなかに書かれている一節だ。
　つまり、判決文の一節が印刷されているだけなのだ。「住まいを奪うな」や「避難の権利を認めろ」など、傍聴した裁判の趣旨に沿うように裁判所に訴える内容の文言でもない。
　納得できない松本さんは「それなら結構です」と手元の傍聴券を突き返した。しかし、女性職員は怯むどころか、こう言い放ったという。
　「すみません、裁判所の敷地から出てください」

【「庁舎管理権で判断」】
　裁判所ロビーが騒然とするなか、当該の女性職員は筆者に対し「プラカードだとかメッセージ性のあるもの。それはTシャツも同じです。メッセージの書いてあるものを身につけて構内に入ることはできません」と語気を強めた。Tシャツには判決文のごく一部が印刷されているだけだが、それが「メッセージ」に該当するかを尋ねると、女性職員は「はい」ときっぱり。「判決文ですよ」と重ねて質問したが「はい」と答えるばかりだった。
　閉廷後、男性職員に改めて〝追い出し〟の根拠を尋ねると「服装に関する規程もあります。メッセージ性のあるTシャツとか、そういったものはお控えいただいている」と答えた。「Tシャツに書かれていたのは単なる判決文であって、直接的な『メッセージ』ではないのではないか」と問うたが、男性職員は「なるほど」としか答えなかった。
　傍らにいた別の男性職員は、次のように答えた。
　「判断ということで申しますと、庁舎管理権というものがある。庁舎管理規程のなかで、のぼりとか旗とかの持ち込みを禁じている。『それに類似するもの』というところがありまして、確かに『類似』の範囲は広くなりますが、今回は判決内容ということで、それに該当すると判断。庁舎立ち入りの制限という話になりました。職員からの報告を受けて、庁舎管理者である所長が最終的に判断しました」
　だとすれば、運用でいかようにもできてしまう。極端に考えれば、司法にとって都合の悪い傍聴者を排除できることになってしまう。
　この点について、男性職員は「最終的には庁舎管理権者の判断になってしまいます」としたうえで、「庁舎管理規程上、例示されているものに該当する場合は、われわれは退去を命じなければなりません」とだけ答えた。
　実はこの日、言葉での表現ではなかったが、ロシアのウクライナ侵攻に反対するものを身につけて傍聴した人がいた。しかし、小さくて目立たなかったためか、庁舎外に出るよう命じられることはなかった。

[…]

全文

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Noisy support for an obvious failure via Beyond Nuclear International

Posted on 2022/10/24 by nfield

By Andrew Stirling and Phil Johnstone

At Edinburgh’s Haymarket station, on the route used by COP26 delegates hopping across to Glasgow last November, a large poster displayed a vista from the head of Loch Shiel. In the foreground, a monument to the Jacobite rebellion towers from the spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard. From there, the water sweeps back to a rugged line of hills.

This is one of Scotland’s most iconic views, famous for both its history and its role in the Harry Potter films.

On the poster, written in the sky above the loch are the words: “Keep nature natural: more nuclear power means more wild spaces like these.” At the bottom is a hashtag – #NetZeroNeedsNuclear – with no further mention of who might be behind this advert.

[…]

Of course, all this is par for the course in the creative world of PR. But there are more substantive grounds why nuclear advocates might wish to avoid too much public scrutiny at the moment. One reality, which can be agreed on from all sides, is that this is by far the worst period in the 70-year history of this ageing industry. So how come it is benefitting from growing and noisy support in mainstream and social media? Why are easily refuted arguments still being deployed to justify new nuclear power alongside renewables in the energy supply mix? And why has the media seized so enthusiastically on a few prominent converts to the nuclear cause?

Nuclear loses out to renewables

At current prices, atomic energy now costs around three times as much as wind or solar power. And that’s before you consider the full expense of waste management, elaborate security, anti-proliferation measures or periodic accidents. For more than a decade, nuclear has been plagued by escalating costs, expanding build times and crashing orders. Trends in recent years are all steeply in the wrong direction.

[…]

Among those few countries still pursuing large-scale nuclear new-build programmes, most (like the UK) are either equipped with, or actively chasing, nuclear weapons. But even in the UK (home to one of the proportionally most ambitious nuclear programmes in the world), official data unequivocally shows that renewable energy seriously outpaces nuclear power as a pathway to zero-carbon energy.

In fact, despite misleading suggestions to the contrary by senior figures, background government data has for decades shown that the massive scale of viable UK renewable resources is clearly adequate for all foreseeable needs. Even with storage and flexibility costs included, renewables are available far more rapidly and cost-effectively than nuclear power.

So, for all the breakdancing, it really is a conundrum why persistently bullish government and industry claims on nuclear power remain so seriously under-challenged in the wider debate. It is becoming ever more clear that nuclear plans are diverting attention, money and resources that could be far more effective if used in other ways.

[…]

The media loves nuclear power

In fact, the British media has developed a habit of doggedly repeating claims by the nuclear industry that are, at best, somewhat wishful thinking.

[…]

Environmentalists’ Damascene conversions

One oddly prominent trope pertains to environmentalists who are reported to have changed their minds. In any time, such personal shifts would generally be a peculiar media preoccupation – no other debate in the environmental movement is closely followed in the establishment press. But when the reported changes so consistently favour such a manifestly globally failing policy, it is especially peculiar. Why, when nuclear fortunes are at their lowest ebb in half a century, is the surface impression so much more supportive than it ever has been?

For instance, some of the most prominent examples of the ‘repentant critic’ trope emerged a decade ago, around George Monbiot and Mark Lynas. Each has emphasised repeatedly and loudly that they were once actively critical of nuclear power, but have since changed their thinking to become more favourable.

Speaking to openDemocracy, Monbiot clarified that he is against Hinkley C nuclear power station in Somerset, due to open in 2026, which he called “a white elephant”. But – despite the issues around SMRs mentioned above – he says he “remains enthusiastic about fourth generation modular technologies [like many SMRs]”.

Crucially for Monbiot: “Fukushima woke me up to how low the risk from nuclear was by comparison to other energy sources. A disaster on such a scale… and nobody died.

[…]

Read more.

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Radioactive material found at Missouri elementary school more than 22 times expected amount via CNN

Posted on 2022/10/17 by nfield


By Michelle Watson and Tina Burnside, CNN

An elementary school outside St. Louis was found to have “unacceptable” levels of radioactive contamination stemming from waste dating back to the creation of the first atomic bomb in the 1940s, and residents fear it may be linked to various cases of illness, disease, and deaths in the area.

According to an independent report from the Boston Chemical Data Corporation, “unacceptable” radioactive levels were found throughout the Jana School in Florissant, Missouri.

“The Jana School, like many homes, institutions and businesses in the area, borders Coldwater Creek. This waterway has been contaminated by leaking radioactive wastes from disposal that began shortly after World War II and is not yet cleaned up,” said Marco Kaltofen, the author of the study.

“The wastes in the creek come from residues of the Manhattan Engineering District Project. Many properties in this area get tested with some regularity,” Kaltofen told CNN. “Unfortunately, when Coldwater Creek floods its banks, some of that radioactive material is deposited on neighboring land, such as the school.”

In a statement Friday the school district said it was aware of the report. “Safety is always our top priority, and we are actively discussing the implications of the findings. The Board of Education will be consulting with attorneys and experts in this area of testing to determine next steps.”

A school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday night. The PTA says it is working tirelessly to keep the area safe for its children. It’s asking for letters to be written to community leaders and elected officials. The sample messaging reads:

“The radioactive contamination found inside Jana Elementary School and in the outside play area is an unacceptable threat. I am requesting an immediate cleanup of hazardous waste on Jana Elementary School property and building, in its entirety, to ensure the safety of our children, teachers, and school staff.”

In August of this year, 32 soil, dust, and plant samples were taken from the school for the study. Samples were collected from places throughout the school such as the library, the ventilation system, and classroom surfaces.

[…]

The levels of radioactive lead, known as lead-210, found in the kindergarten playground were “more than 22 times the expected background,” while lead-210 levels on the school’s basketball courts were “more than 12 times the expected background,” the report said.

[…]

Further, greater exposure to radioactive materials can lead to cancer later in life, according to the CDC. A person can spread radioactive materials, like dust, to other people through their clothing.

“People who are externally contaminated can spread the contamination by touching surfaces, sitting in a chair, or even walking through a house. Contaminants can easily fall from clothing and contaminate other surfaces,” the CDC explained.

[….]

History of contamination in area

Jana Elementary School serves just over 400 students in Florissant, Missouri and sits near Coldwater Creek, which was contaminated with uranium processing residues used as part of the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb in the 1940s and 50s, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a federal public health agency.

The radioactive residues were improperly stored and led to the contamination of Coldwater Creek decades ago. The Jana School is bordered on two sides by the creek and one of its contaminated tributaries.

In a 2019 report from the Agency, local residents alleged numerous illnesses and deaths they believed were connected to the site. However, the agency could not determine if any of those illnesses were definitively caused by exposure to the contaminants.

“Radiological contamination in and around Coldwater Creek, prior to remediation activities, could have increased the risk of some types of cancer in people who played or lived there,” states the report.

The US Army Corps of Engineers initially detected radioactive material near school grounds in 2018, according to the independent report, and confirmed its presence with more testing between 2019 and 2021. But the Army Corps testing only included samples from outside the school, instead of on and inside the school property, the report said.

“Our team will evaluate the Boston Chemical Data Corp. report and methods used to create these results. The Boston Chemical Data Corp. report is not consistent with our accepted evaluation techniques and must be thoroughly vetted to ensure accuracy,” said Phil Moser, program manager, US Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP).

[…]

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福島原発で働いて白血病になったのに、被爆と因果関係はないとして、原子力損害賠償法に従わない東電・九電を相手に、福島原発被ばく労災の損害賠償裁判を起こしている「あらかぶさん」のお話via うみたいわ

Posted on 2022/10/17 by nfield
https://youtu.be/3guAXksh8es
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EXPLAINER: Power cuts raise risk at Ukraine nuclear plant via ABC News

Posted on 2022/10/14 by nfield

ByFRANK JORDANS Associated Press

BERLIN — A Ukrainian nuclear power plant that has been surrounded by Russian forces lost power Wednesday morning when a Russian missile damaged a distant electrical substation, increasing the risk of radiation disaster, according to the plant’s operator.

[…]

DISASTER DANGER

[…]

Ukrainian authorities decided several weeks ago to power down the last reactor to reduce the risk of a catastrophe like the one at Chernobyl in 1986, where a reactor exploded and blew deadly radiation across a large vast area.

But the reactor core and used nuclear fuel must still be cooled for lengthy periods to prevent them overheating and triggering dangerous meltdowns like the ones that occurred in 2011 when a tsunami hit the Fukushima plant in Japan.

IODINE SUPPLIES

Some European countries are trying to prepare for the worst and started stockpiling iodine tablets to help protect their populations from possible radioactive fallout.

[…]

In the event of a disaster, the biggest risk outside Ukraine could be to Russia, “depending on which way the wind blows,” said Paul Dorfman, a nuclear expert at the University of Sussex in England.

“The main deposit is likely to be in Ukraine and or Russia, but there could be significant radiation pollution in Central Europe, which is why countries around Ukraine are now thinking very seriously about issuing stable potassium iodide tablets,” he said.

LIMITED POWER SUPPLY

The Zaporizhzhia plant has been receiving external power to ensure the important task of cooling the reactor and spent nuclear fuel can continue, but the connections are at constant risk of disruption due to the conflict.

As power lines and substations have been damaged in fighting, Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom has been forced to repeatedly rely on diesel generators. These generators, which have enough fuel for at least 10 days, have kicked into action when external power has failed — but experts say their repeated use over a short period of time increases the risk of a disaster.

“There are several redundancies and the facilities are now repeatedly on the last one,” said Mareike Rueffer, head of the nuclear safety department at Germany’s Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management.

ONGOING RISK

Shutting down the plant’s last reactor several weeks ago significantly reduced the risk of a radiation disaster by gradually increasing the time it would take for a meltdown to occur. But if cooling fails due to a complete loss of power, meltdowns would still happen eventually, said Rueffer.

Dorfman said that in the worst case, Ukraine could see a situation similar to what happened in Fukushima.

“You’d see a heating of the high level spent fuel ponds. You’d see a hydrogen explosion, as we saw in Fukushima,” he told The Associated Press. “And then you’d see a significant radiation release.”

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U.N. expert says Japan should do more for Fukushima evacuees via Japan Today

Posted on 2022/10/09 by yukimiyamotodepaul

By Mari Yamaguchi TOKYO

A United Nations human rights expert urged Japan’s government on Friday to provide evacuees from the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster with more support, including housing, jobs and other needs, regardless of whether they fled forcibly or not.

Wrapping up an investigation of the evacuees’ human rights conditions, Cecilia Jimenez-Damary said Japan has adequate laws to protect internally displaced people. They include a nuclear disaster compensation law that requires the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), to cover damages, and other government-led revitalization and reconstruction programs. But she said they have not been effectively used to address the vulnerability of the evacuees.

[…]

Thousands of people have filed about 30 lawsuits demanding compensation from both the government and TEPCO for the loss of livelihoods and communities because of the disaster. The Supreme Court in July dismissed four lawsuits, saying the government cannot be held liable because the damage from the tsunami that hit the plant could not have been prevented even if measures had been taken.

Jimenez-Damary said the evacuees have received unequal treatment depending on whether they were forced to leave no-go zones or left voluntarily. Voluntary evacuees are seen as having left unnecessarily and are excluded from TEPCO compensation and many other government support measures.

[…]

She said she was very concerned about the termination in 2017 of housing support for voluntary evacuees in Fukushima that led to the prefectural government filing a lawsuit against people who remained in dorms for government employees despite an order to leave.

Jimenez-Damary, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights of internally displaced persons, met with Japanese officials, experts, human rights organizations and evacuees in Tokyo, Fukushima, Kyoto and Hiroshima during her Sept. 26-Oct. 7 visit to Japan. Her preliminary report is expected early next week, followed by a full report to be issued in June 2023.

She acknowledged efforts by the central and local governments to address the vulnerabilities of evacuees, but said, “I would like to stress that there has to be an improvement.”

Jobless rates among working-age evacuees exceed 20%, substantially higher than the national average of 3%, she said.

Evacuations also broke up one-third of the families that often maintain two households. Mothers who evacuated with their children often became unemployed and separated from their husbands, who stayed behind and secured their jobs, Jimenez-Damary said in a statement released later Friday. Children are often stigmatized and bullied by their classmates, who consider them as unjust recipients of large sums of compensation or spreaders of radioactivity.

She raised concern about the government’s recent shift away from supporting evacuees toward coaxing them into returning to their hometowns after they reopen, or face the loss of their support.

Jimenez-Damary also noted “considerable concern about the continuing effect of radiation exposure, especially to children who are now young adults,” as well as other anxieties suffered by evacuees. She called for continuation of the prefecture-sponsored free thyroid screening to “enable continued monitoring of the issue and provide much needed data to see evolution of health risks over time, with a view to ensure focused treatment programs to those who are suffering.”

[…]

More than 290 people have been diagnosed with or are suspected of having thyroid cancer from a survey of about 380,000 residents aged 18 or younger at the time of the disaster. The occurrence rate of 77 per 100,000 people is significantly higher than the usual 1-2 per million, their lawyers say.

Government officials and experts have said the high rate in Fukushima is due in many cases to overdiagnosis, which might have led to unnecessary treatment. Some even suggest scaling down of the checks.

Read more at U.N. expert says Japan should do more for Fukushima evacuees via Japan Today

Report both in Japanese and English: https://www.jnpc.or.jp/archive/conferences/36392/report

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