プルトニウムをため込みながら世界に非核化を訴える、日本の矛盾 via + Globe

Posted on 2019/09/07 by yukimiyamotodepaul

「核の夢　二つの世界」連続インタビュー⑤
日本は原発から出る使用済み核燃料を再処理してプルトニウムを取り出し、再び燃料にする核燃料サイクルを推進している。ただ、プルトニウムは核兵器の材料に使われるため、再処理に批判的な意見も少なくない。核兵器廃絶と同時に「脱原発」の立場をとる国際交流NGO「ピースボート」の川崎哲（あきら）共同代表（50）に、日本が大量に保有するプルトニウムの問題点を聞いた。（聞き手・構成＝渡辺志帆）

――川崎さんは、2017年にノーベル平和賞を受賞した国際NGO「核兵器廃絶国際キャンペーン（ICAN）」の活動で知られています。ICANも「脱原発」の立場なのでしょうか。
ICANは世界の500以上の団体が加盟し、原発に対する意見も様々だ。そのためICANは原発について賛否の立場を取っていない。ただ、ウラン採掘への反対運動から反核運動に発展したオーストラリアの団体は、核兵器も原発も、両方だめという立場。英国も、伝統的に反原発と反核運動の親和性が高い。
私は「脱原発」を、ピースボートと個人の立場で訴えている。

――なぜ川崎さんは原発に反対なのですか。
原発の燃料に使うプルトニウムや濃縮ウランは「核兵器の材料」にもなる。つまり原爆につながる問題ということだ。

(略）

――日本が再処理したプルトニウムを国内外に約46トンを保有していることが問題になっています。
日本だけが特別にプルトニウムをため込んでいる。他にプルトニウムを大量に保有している国は核保有国。それも褒められたことではないが、一応は理解できる。核兵器の材料なんだから。でも核兵器を持っていないし、「造らない」と言っているにもかかわらず、なぜ日本はプルトニウムをため込むのか。原発で消費する見通しもないのに。合理的な説明がつかない。

（略）

また、保有プルトニウムのうち約9トンは国内にある。米国では核兵器と同じように武装して守られているというが、日本の防護体制はきわめて弱いし、テロ対策も不十分。そうした問題を早く解決しないといけない。

――それでも日本がプルトニウムを手放さないのはなぜでしょうか。
（核燃料サイクルを断念すると）中間貯蔵施設のある青森県が（国の約束に反して）最終処分場になるという「パンドラの箱」を開けたくないから、という説明もありうるが、疑問が残る。

（略）

私としては、「核兵器は非人道的である」と価値観を転換させた上で、「核技術も、危険で、恐ろしくて、悪いものである」というところへもっていきたい。
――日本は「アプローチが違う」として核兵器禁止条約は批准していません。米国の「核の傘」に守られているという現実もありますが、日本にできることはありますか。
核兵器禁止条約が発効した後、たとえ日本が批准していなくても、条約加盟を隠れ蓑にして核兵器開発を企てる国が現れないよう、検証方法の強化を提案することはできる。締約国会議に参加して、建設的な議論に参加することが期待されている。

全文はプルトニウムをため込みながら世界に非核化を訴える、日本の矛盾

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Bikini Atoll Is Not A Beer: Pacific Islanders Speak Out via The Asia-Pacific Journal

Posted on 2019/09/07 by yukimiyamotodepaul

Laray Polk

Pacific Islanders are speaking out after a Texas-based company, the Manhattan Project Beer Co, named one of its handcrafted beers, Bikini Atoll. Based on news coverage and responses on social media, people around the world are listening. An online petition asks CEO Jeff Bezos and other distributors to stop selling Bikini Atoll. It currently has 6,000 signatures. On Aug. 15, the Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission (NNC) released an official statement calling on the Manhattan Project “to engage in dialogue with the people of Bikini to hear directly from community members about their reactions to their product.” 

NNC’s attempt at outreach and media attention in major outlets (Time, Vice, AP, Navy Times, Honolulu Civil Beat) appears to have had no impact on the company’s decision to shut down the conversation. On Aug. 13, the Manhattan Project posted a statement on social media to say it will not move off the name. It also contains a somewhat contradictory claim. The company says that through its brand and naming, it is “creating awareness of the wider impacts and implications of the United States’s (sic) nuclear research programs and the pivotal moment in world history that is often forgotten.” For exiled Bikinians, and others living in the Marshall Islands, it’s doubtful that “the wider impacts and implications” of the Manhattan Project or its successor, Operation Crossroads, will ever be forgotten. Between 1946 and 1958, the U.S. military conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands.

[…]

The Manhattan Project’s continued refusal to listen to what Pacific Islanders have to say raises several questions. First, is the company legitimately engaged in building awareness through its nuclear-based nomenclature or is this mostly a marketing ploy? Second, if it’s the latter, what types of cultural conditioning might account for its unwillingness to listen and learn from people who live with the consequences of U.S. nuclear testing? The answer to the first question can be ascertained by comparing the company’s stated intent with its marketing materials posted online.

[…]

On the webpage “Our Story,” the company explains how it arrived at its peculiar nomenclature: “The group decided to formalize under the name Manhattan Project, given our creative, collaborative, experimental, and scientific approach to beer making (not to mention the plethora of cool beer names like Half-Life and Superfortress).”

[…]

The ubiquitous image of an atom, for example, did not originate from design culture, but from a structural model developed by Niels Bohr, the founder of atomic physics. Bohr helped develop nuclear weapons at Los Alamos then warned the world post-detonation, “We are in a completely new situation that cannot be resolved by war.”

[…]

Nuclear Positivity 
One place to look for engineered conditioning is in the “messianic word-pictures” of William L. Laurence, a science reporter for the New York Times. In the spring of 1945 Gen. Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project, enlisted Laurence as “a special consultant.” Groves wanted “a journalist with the credibility of the Times to shape America’s first learnings about the bomb.” Laurence agreed to infuse his regularly published articles with a particular slant, as well as write press releases for the U.S. Government.1

In this dual role, he didn’t disappoint. He was the only reporter to have access to Los Alamos, the scientists, and the Trinity detonation. He described the mushroom cloud from the Trinity blast as “a gigantic Statue of Liberty, its arm raised to the sky, symbolizing the birth of new freedom for man.” His purple prose, which often included biblical references, could be described as “nuclear positivity.” That is, finding the sunny side of A-bombs by focusing on the scientific genius of individuals and “present[ing] uranium as a friend to mankind.” 2

Laurence’s influence can be detected in Pres. Harry S. Truman’s speech delivered sixteen hours after the bomb dropped on Hiroshima: “It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.”

[…]

Site selection had to meet certain criteria. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) told Congress “tests should be held overseas until it could be established more definitely that continental detonations would not endanger the public health and safety.” Sites also had to be a U.S.-controlled territory and in a climatic zone with “predictable winds and free from storms and cold temperatures.” According to Vice Adm. Blandy,“It was important the local population be small and co-operative so that they could be moved to a new location with a minimum of trouble.”4

U.S. military planners selected Bikini Atoll on Dec. 21, 1945.5

[…]

“Where Next?”
Two months after the U.S. detonation of the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll, the Marshallese people sent a petition to the UN: “We, the Marshallese people feel that we must follow the dictates of our consciences to bring forth this urgent plea to the United Nations.” The lethal effects of the Bravo test, the petition explains, “have already touched the inhabitants of two of the atolls in the Marshalls, namely, Rongelap and Uterik, who are now suffering in various degrees from ‘lowering of the blood count,’ burns, nausea and the falling off of hair from the head, and whose complete recovery no one can promise with any certainty.”

Read more at Bikini Atoll Is Not A Beer: Pacific Islanders Speak Out

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9.28 被ばく学習会　福島県甲状腺検査は必要ですvia 放射線被曝を学習する会

Posted on 2019/09/06 by nfield

「県民健康調査」検討委員会は７月、２巡目甲状腺検査結果と放射線被ばくとの関連を否定しました。

　さらに、今秋にも予想される新委員の手で、甲状腺検査対象者に送る「お知らせ文」改訂案を審議・決定し、甲状腺検査のメリット・デメリットを強調して、検査を受ける人を減らそうとしています。

　９月28日（土）午後、第５２回被ばく学習会

「福島県甲状腺検査は必要ですーお知らせ文改訂案撤回に向けてー」を開催します。

http://anti-hibaku.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2019/08/post-476ab8.html

　検査不要論が登場してきた経緯を振り返り、甲状腺検査を受ける当事者のお話、

福島の甲状腺がん団体からのメッセージ、そして甲状腺検査デメリット論の問題点を通じて

お知らせ文改訂案の不当さをあきらかにしていきます。

皆さま、ぜひご参加ください。

9.28 被ばく学習会「福島県甲状腺検査は必要ですーお知らせ文改訂案撤回に向けてー」

日　時：９月２８日（土）1時開場　1時15分～5時15分

会　場：文京区アカデミー茗台７階・学習室Ｂ

文京区春日2-9-5

地下鉄丸の内線「茗荷谷」駅８分　

都営バス都02系統「小石川四丁目」より徒歩3分

茗台中学校と同じビル、隣りの入口から

http://bit.ly/2m2MxfC

内　容：◆甲状腺検査の8年：検査不要論へ　田島直樹（放射線被ばくを学習する会・講師）

◆当事者の立場から　鴨下祐也さん（ひなん生活をまもる会）

◆メッセージと電話：担当 田島直樹

千葉親子さん（福島・あじさいの会）

武本　泰さん（福島・311甲状腺がん家族の会）

◆NO! 甲状腺検査のデメリット論　瀬川嘉之さん（高木学校、放射線被ばくを学習する会・世話人）

資料代：1000円

申込先：anti-hibaku@ab.auone-net.jp　

      　電話：090-3577-4844（温品；ぬくしな）

ＰＤＦ：http://anti-hibaku.cocolog-nifty.com//blog/files/20190928tirasi.pdf　

全文

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Reed ’21: The Hidden Dangers of Nuclear Energy via The Brown Daily Herald

Posted on 2019/09/06 by yukimiyamotodepaul

By ANDREW REED 

[…]

The increased safety of nuclear reactors threatens to obscure the inherent dangers of their very existence. And as fossil fuels continue their terminal decline toward extinction, countries currently not operating reactors will operate them in the future. As more nuclear material is produced and more reactors come online the risks of nuclear war or nuclear terrorism only increase.

Reactors require fuel — uranium, but not the kind you can dig out of the ground. Current nuclear reactors require uranium-235 (U-235), an isotope which accounts for 0.7 percent of the uranium you can mine. Reactors generally require between 3-5 percent U-235 in order to sustain a chain reaction. You get to that magic number by separating the U-235 isotope in a process called enrichment. Unfortunately, the processes and materials used to enrich uranium to the reactor-grade threshold are the same as those used to reach the weapons-grade-enrichment threshold — 90 percent, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. 5 percent vs. 90 percent may seem like a massive gulf — but, unfortunately, once you’ve gone from 0.7 percent to 5 percent, you’ve already done about three-quarters of the work. Furthermore, one of the byproducts of producing energy from a nuclear reactor is, in part, plutonium-239, another material that can be used to make a nuclear weapon.

Now you can see the problem — “going green” through nuclear energy can be a wonderfully benign and even altruistic disguise for a weapons program. If you think I’m being overly pessimistic, this was exactly the cover story used when Iran tried to acquire the bomb in 2003, and when North Korea did acquire the bomb in 2006. It’s only a matter of time until another nation successfully turns their nuclear energy program into a weapons program. And as the use of nuclear energy becomes safer and cheaper and its use increasingly ubiquitous, we’re looking at a world where many more countries have, at the very least, capability to manufacture nuclear weapons. And when that happens, the probability of nuclear war increases. The chances of it happening in a given year may be small, but one day our luck is going to run out.

Moreover, as countries increasingly rely on nuclear energy, two other risks begin to materialize — nuclear theft and sabotage. 

[…]

Finally, as more and more countries gain access to nuclear materials, the concern for theft grows exponentially. Currently, there’s no good way to recycle nuclear waste, so it must be stored for thousands of years before it is no longer radioactive. The United States alone spends billions of dollars each year protecting its radioactive materials from theft. But with all the capital we have spent on nuclear security, there have been numerous cases of security lapses and even theft in the past few decades — including one last year. In an instance in 2012, a group of Ocean’s Eleven wannabes, led by an 82-year-old nun, descended from the wooded hills surrounding the U.S.’s most secure nuclear complex, cut through a series of three chain-link fences and maneuvered undetected to within 20 feet of the uranium storage building. Lucky for them, the security cameras had been broken for months, and the complex’s new motion detection system had been setting off so many false alarms that the guards just stopped investigating them. Lucky for the rest of us, the intruders’ only desire was to spray paint Bible verses and smear human blood on the walls of the complex.

Read more at Reed ’21: The Hidden Dangers of Nuclear Energy

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「憂慮」とIAEAに伝達　韓国、原発処理水で via 日本経済新聞

Posted on 2019/09/06 by yukimiyamotodepaul

【ソウル=共同】韓国の科学技術情報通信省は5日、東京電力福島第1原発で増え続けている放射性物質トリチウムを含んだ処理水の処分計画を巡り、「隣国として、海洋放出の可能性とこれに伴う潜在的な環境への影響に深刻な憂慮がある」と記した書簡を国際原子力機関（IAEA）に同日送付したと発表した。

同省は書簡で、関連する国際機関や国と協力して積極的な役割を果たすよう要請した。今月中旬のIAEA年次総会に韓国から代表団を派遣し、処理水の処分計画について出席者らに注意喚起する方針も明らかにした。

同省の崔元湖・巨大公共研究政策官は記者会見し「未来世代に負担を押しつけず、国際社会が安全だと確信できるような（処理の）方法を見つけるよう国際社会に要請していく」と述べた。

韓国政府は8月、日本政府に処分計画の情報共有を求めている。日本政府は今月4日、韓国を含む在京大使館関係者向けの説明会を東京で開き、日本政府の小委員会では処分方法の結論は出ていないと伝えている。

続きは「憂慮」とIAEAに伝達　韓国、原発処理水で

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上関町長選　原発推進派の現職が無投票5選 via 毎日新聞

Posted on 2019/09/05 by yukimiyamotodepaul

任期満了に伴う山口県上関町長選が3日告示され、中国電力（広島市）が町内で進める上関原発建設計画の推進派の現職、柏原重海氏（70）＝無所属＝が2回連続の無投票で5選を決めた。

原発建設計画が浮上した1982年以降、町長選は推進派と反対派の一騎打ちの構図が続いてきた。しかし、反対派は、原発に頼らない町づくりを模索する柏原氏が引退表明を撤回し、出馬を決めたことを受け、前回に続き候補の擁立を見送った。

中国電は2009年10月、建設予定地の海域埋め立て工事に着手したが、11年の東京電力福島第1原発事故を受けて中断。現在も再開の見通しは立っていない【真栄平研】

続きは上関町長選　原発推進派の現職が無投票5選

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Elizabeth Warren comes out against nuclear power via Washington Examiner

Posted on 2019/09/05 by yukimiyamotodepaul

by Josh Siegel

Elizabeth Warren said Wednesday she would oppose the building of new nuclear plants in America and work to phase out existing nuclear power from the energy mix.

“In my administration, we won’t be building new nuclear plants,” Warren said at CNN’s climate change town hall. “We will start weaning ourselves off nuclear and replace it with renewables,” she added, saying that she would aim to do so by 2035.

Warren had previously not taken a position on nuclear power in any of her various climate change plans, including a new proposal she issued earlier Wednesday requiring utilities to achieve 100% carbon-neutral power by 2030 and reaching all-renewable electricity generation by 2035.

While few Democratic candidates are explicitly cheering on nuclear power, most recognize that it provides more than half of the nation’s zero-carbon electricity. 

However, Warren and other opponents such as Bernie Sanders cite concerns about storing nuclear waste, and the high cost of building new plants, in opposing it.

Read more at Elizabeth Warren comes out against nuclear power

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「除染作業で被ばく」＝技能実習生、会社を提訴－福島地裁支部 via Jiji.com

Posted on 2019/09/05 by yukimiyamotodepaul

　鉄筋施工技術の習得目的で来日したのに、東京電力福島第１原発事故の除染作業に従事させられ被ばくしたとして、ベトナム人技能実習生３人が４日までに、実習先の会社に計約１２００万円の損害賠償を求める訴訟を福島地裁郡山支部に起こした。

(略）

訴状によると、訴えられたのは福島県郡山市の建設会社「日和田」。３人は２０１５年７月に来日し、実習中だった１６年３月からの約２年間、同市などで除染作業を行ったほか、当時は避難指示解除準備区域で立ち入り禁止だった同県浪江町で下水道配管工事に従事した。

３人の除染作業などは計約３００～４２０日間に及んだが、放射線被ばくの危険性などについて、労働安全衛生法に基づく十分な教育を受けていなかった。会社側は３人に除染作業を行わせたことを認めているという。

原告のグェン・バ・コンさん（３６）は代理人弁護士を通じ、「除染をたくさんやらされました。危険な仕事だとは知らされませんでした。将来、とても健康が心配です」と訴えた。会社側は「担当者が不在でコメントできない」としている。

全文は「除染作業で被ばく」＝技能実習生、会社を提訴－福島地裁支部

当サイト既出関連記事：Vietnamese trainees sue Fukushima firm over decontamination work via Japan Today

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Vietnamese trainees sue Fukushima firm over decontamination work via Japan Today

Posted on 2019/09/04 by nfield

[…]

According to Zentouitsu Workers Union, a Tokyo-based labor union that supports foreign trainees, Hiwada made the plaintiffs conduct decontamination work in the cities of Koriyma and Motomiya in Fukushima Prefecture between 2016 and 2018.

The Vietnamese, who arrived in Japan in July 2015, also did pipe work in the town of Namie while evacuation orders were still in place.

The plaintiffs’ contracts only said they would be engaging in reinforcing steel placement and formwork installation.

Hiwada did not provide them with detailed explanation on decontamination work beforehand, and it did not offer sufficient training either.

“We were not told that it was dangerous work. I am very worried about my future health,” said one of the plaintiffs, a 36-year-old, in a written statement.

In separate instances, foreign trainees have said they were inappropriately involved in decontamination work in Fukushima, including a Vietnamese man who said in March last year that he was hired by a construction firm in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture.

The Justice Ministry and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare have said decontamination work does not fit the purpose of the trainee program.

Read more.

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Whatever America’s energy future, our nuclear waste problem isn’t going anywhere via Washington Examiner

Posted on 2019/09/04 by yukimiyamotodepaul

Electricity affects nearly every aspect of modern life, from the food supply to health, transportation, housing and emergency services. Lives depend on reliable access to electrical power and nuclear power plants generate a fifth of all U.S. electricity. It would take decades to make up their loss if these indispensible plants were closed, not to mention that people would have to live with 20% less energy.

But there’s a larger problem, and the same people wanting to stop nuclear power through the Green New Deal won’t allow the government to fix it: nuclear waste disposal. There are currently 100,000-tons of waste spread over 30 different states, from New Hampshire to California, generated by 98 nuclear reactors at 60 vitally needed nuclear power plants.

And it won’t matter if the Green New Deal becomes reality or not: Even if every nuclear reactor in the U.S. were immediately shut down, nuclear waste would not go away.

[…]

What’s the situation today? It hasn’t changed. In the meantime, taxpayers continue to fork over $800 million a year for temporary storage all over the U.S. because the government isn’t allowed to consolidate nuclear waste. All because of politics.

If the goal is finding the perfect site — a completely risk-free facility, good for millions of years — then no site is viable, not even the already-built Yucca Mountain. It’s the classic example of “better is the enemy of the good enough.” As a result, nuclear waste is still scattered at 60 different locations instead of stored safely at one. There are 60 ways for Murphy’s Law to have its effect, and 60 different sites mean 60 targets of opportunity for terrorists to steal nuclear waste to make a “dirty bomb,” a security nightmare that would cause wide-spread panic.

[…]

Dr. Doug Beason was the Associate Laboratory Director at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, responsible for protecting against nuclear threats. Until recently, he was Chief Scientist of USAF Space Command. His thriller Kill Zone, just released by Forge Books, is about the threat posed by the failure to secure nuclear waste.

Read more at Whatever America’s energy future, our nuclear waste problem isn’t going anywhere

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