清水建設・福島第一原発電所内作業所長の「不可解すぎる死」via 週刊現代

清水建設の男性職員A氏(58歳)が東京都内の社員寮の一室で死亡しているのが発見されたのは、9月8日の朝のことだ。

A氏は、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所内の工事を請け負う作業所の所長を務めていた。下請けのB社と共謀し、作業費用として約3900万円を架空請求した疑いで、社内調査を受けている真っ只中の不可解な「急死」だった――。

(略)

「A所長が行っていたのは作業人員の水増しです。作業員の『日報』や『健康管理チェック表』に、実際には下請けのB社には存在しない複数の作業員の名前を記載し、作業に従事しているように見せかけていた。

現場でも誰ひとり知らない名前だったから、B社の作業員に確認したところ『A所長の命令でそういうことになった』と。

原発の敷地内での作業では、東京電力から線量計の貸し出しを受ける必要があります。なので、架空の作業員は『敷地外』で作業していることになっていました」

ずさんな方法に思われるが、これだけで3900万円もの金額が水増しされていた。
東京電力福島第一原発事故後の5年間で、復興のために投入された予算は実に29兆円にのぼる。

復興庁が発表した今年度の復興特別所得税の歳入予定額は約3800億円。この所得税の増税は、’37年まで、実に20年以上も継続される予定になっている。

庶民に負担を強いる巨額な「公共投資」にもかかわらず、「聖域」扱いの復興事業には国や自治体のチェック機能が働かない。従って、業者による不正が次々と発覚している。

(略)

もともと、原発の多い福島はゼネコンと地元建設業者の談合秩序が長らく保たれてきた土地です。しかし、’00年代に談合摘発が連続して起き、ようやく競争原理が導入された矢先に震災という緊急事態が発生して、ゼネコンと地元業者の不透明な関係が再び強まっています」

実際、福島第一原発近辺での「サバき」にも、幅を利かせている業者がいるという。

(略)

A所長のもとで働いていた清水建設のある職員が複雑な胸中を語る。

「所長は社員とも作業員とも同じ目線で会話のできる人でした。一般の人にはわからないと思いますが、どこの現場にも必要不可欠な『配慮』というものがある。

この仕事を知っている人なら誰もが、この配慮の必要性に納得するはずです。本社も認めている以上、所長が水増し請求に関与していたのは事実でしょう。でも、所長はあのカネで私腹を肥やしていたわけではない、そう信じる人は少なくありません」

全文は清水建設・福島第一原発電所内作業所長の「不可解すぎる死」

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Study Shows Public Approval of Nuclear Weapons Usage via The Harvard Crimson

American public approval of nuclear weapons use remains strong despite equal diplomatic alternatives, Stanford political scientist Scott D. Sagan argued at the Kennedy School on Wednesday morning.

To a crowded room with over 40 attendees, Sagan described the results of an August 2017 study analyzing American willingness to use nuclear weapons against Iran today. While many scholars have suggested the presence of a “nuclear taboo” among the general public, Sagan’s findings indicate otherwise.

“The basic finding was that 60 percent of the public supported the decision to use atomic bombs on 100,000 [Iranian civilians],” rather than sacrificing 20,000 American soldiers in a ground attack, Sagan said. “When two million Iranian civilians are killed for 20,000, still almost 60 percent of the respondents approved of using a nuclear air strike. It’s statistically insignificant, but politically, I think, very significant that people didn’t drop off, even at killing two million people.”

The study included an additional scenario, in which an equally effective diplomatic option was added as a third course of action.

“The good news is that just over 40 percent supports the diplomatic option. The bad news is that 40 percent of the public still wants to drop [nuclear] bombs,” Sagan said.

Sagan’s study also found that Republicans, older people, and those in favor of the domestic death penalty were the most “hawkish.” Surprisingly, Sagan said, there was no significant difference between women and men.

“There’s a theory, we think, but we don’t know, that women are in almost all polls more dove-ish than men. And the reason, we think, is that the reason why women are more dove-ish is that they want to protect their loved ones,” Sagan said. “When it came to a trade-off, when it came to protecting U.S. GIs and innocent people, the protection of U.S. GIs overwhelmed their other views.”

[…]

“Public opinion on the use of nuclear weapons is essential to understand, more so today than it ever has as the world becomes more conflictual and we have crises, for instance, in the Korean peninsula and more states that are closer to the use of nuclear weapons,” Malin said.

[…]

“Nuclear warfare is a really fundamental issue and trying to understand what people think about that is very important,” Bunn said. “To me, it is shocking that people are so willing even when it is not essential to do so.”

Read more at Study Shows Public Approval of Nuclear Weapons Usage 

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The enormous cost of more nuclear weapons via Salon

Is the expansion of our nuclear arsenal in America’s best interest, or is it just Trump’s latest boastful display?

An analysis by the Arms Control Association of U.S. government budget data projects the total cost over the next 30 years of the proposed nuclear modernization and maintenance at between $1.25 trillion and $1.46 trillion. This expenditure is not included in our defense budget of $700 billion, which leads the world in military spending and represents more than the spending of the next seven countries combined – three times what China spends and seven times what Russia spends on defense.

To put this into perspective, this number exceeds the combined total federal spending for education; training, employment, and social services; agriculture; natural resources and the environment; general science, space, and technology; community and regional development (including disaster relief); law enforcement; and energy production and regulation.

With climate change deemed by the Pentagon as an immediate national security threat, healthcare costs rising, and an increasing number of natural disasters, one might think nuclear weapons would lose their place as the top recipient of federal spending. But this is far from the case and there is a reason why.

[…]

As former Secretary of State George Shultz so eloquently put it, “proliferation begets proliferation.” One state’s nuclear acquisitions only drive its adversaries to follow suit. The reality is adding to our nuclear arsenal will only force our international opponents to defensively order a mad dash for the bomb.

[…]

This cold war era mindset relies on the relationship between acting and reacting. With the recognition that retaliation is likely, if not guaranteed, nuclear weapons are supposed to restrain the possibility of action on behalf of nuclear leaders. They are supposed to make them cautious, regardless of which states we are talking about or how many weapons they might possess.

According to a 2017 report by the Arms Control Association, The United States currently maintains an arsenal of about 1,650 strategic nuclear warheads deployed on Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs), and Strategic Bombers and some 180 tactical nuclear weapons at bomber bases in five European countries.

Read more at The enormous cost of more nuclear weapons

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<衆院選 明日への1票>(中)子育て 原発 積極的に議論して 大里千恵子さん(31)via 東京新聞

(抜粋)

ただ、子育て支援や経済政策よりも、選挙戦で各党に議論してほしいのは、原発の再稼働の是非だ。

 自宅が、日本原子力発電東海第二原発(東海村)から約十五キロ。放射能漏れの大きな事故が起きれば、子ども二人を抱え、避難を迫られることになる。だからこそ、再稼働の行方は常に気になっている。

 原発の怖さを実感したのは、やはり東京電力福島第一の事故だった。自宅の庭で放射線量が急激に上昇し、食べ物にしても産地を選び購入するなど、神経を擦り減らした。当時はまだ、子どもは生まれていなかったが、もし幼児を抱えていたら-。

 「あんな思いをもうしたくない。子どもを持つ母親なら、誰もが思うことではないでしょうか」

 その記憶がまだ生々しい中、東海第二の再稼働が少しずつ近づいている。

 東海第二は来年十一月に、寿命の四十年を迎え、運転延長に向け準備が進む。さらに、原子力規制委員会による新規制基準に基づく審査も大詰めを迎える。

 それなのに、事故が起きたときの現状の避難計画案は心もとない。

 案では、一定レベルの放射能漏れが予測されるまでは、屋内退避が指示される。「小さい子がいるのに、自宅待機を続けるのは不安だし、そこから『避難しろ』と言われてもすぐには難しい。渋滞などもあって、被ばくから逃げきれないのではないか」

 原発に関心を持ったもう一つの理由として、知人の紹介で、福島の事故で避難した被災者支援に取り組む団体の事務局で働くことになったことを挙げた。

 福島では、いまだに五万人以上が故郷に戻れず、県内にも約三千五百人が避難生活を続ける。「事故は収束していないのに、なぜ再稼働するのか」。多くの避難者の声を聞き寄り添うようになり、そんな思いが強くなった。

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9条改憲に反対=原発全廃、消費増税を中止-共産公約【17衆院選】via Jiji.com

 共産党は4日、衆院選の公約を発表した。憲法について、安倍晋三首相が提起した9条改正に反対し、「前文を含め全条項を守る」と強調。全原発の廃炉や、2019年10月に予定される消費税率10%への引き上げ中止を訴えた。

公約では、首相が憲法9条1、2項を維持して自衛隊の根拠規定を加える案を提示したことについて、「(戦力不保持の)2項が死文化し、無制限の海外での武力行使が可能になる」と厳しく批判した。

また、集団的自衛権行使を認める安全保障関連法と、「共謀罪」の趣旨を盛り込んだ改正組織犯罪処罰法、特定秘密保護法の三つの法律を「違憲立法」と位置付け、廃止を主張した。

原発再稼働を認めず、「全ての原発で廃炉プロセスに入る」と明記。米軍普天間飛行場(沖縄県宜野湾市)の名護市辺野古移設の中止も求めた。

(略)

核廃絶に向け、7月に国連で採択された核兵器禁止条約の署名も求めた。

全文は9条改憲に反対=原発全廃、消費増税を中止-共産公約【17衆院選】

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Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian | The Trump Presidency, or How to Further Enrich ‘The Masters of the Universe’ via Reader Supported News (Tom Dispatch)

[…]

Not all of the damage can be blamed on the con man who is nominally in charge, on his outlandish appointments, or on the congressional forces he has unleashed. Some of the most dangerous developments under Trump trace back to Obama initiatives — initiatives passed, to be sure, under pressure from the Republican Congress.

The most dangerous of these has barely been reported. A very important study in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published in March 2017, reveals that the Obama nuclear weapons modernization program has increased “the overall killing power of existing US ballistic missile forces by a factor of roughly three — and it creates exactly what one would expect to see, if a nuclear-armed state were planning to have the capacity to fight and win a nuclear war by disarming enemies with a surprise first strike.” As the analysts point out, this new capacity undermines the strategic stability on which human survival depends. And the chilling record of near disaster and reckless behavior of leaders in past years only shows how fragile our survival is. Now this program is being carried forward under Trump. These developments, along with the threat of environmental disaster, cast a dark shadow over everything else — and are barely discussed, while attention is claimed by the performances of the showman at center stage.

Whether Trump has any idea what he and his henchmen are up to is not clear. Perhaps he is completely authentic: an ignorant, thin-skinned megalomaniac whose only ideology is himself. But what is happening under the rule of the extremist wing of the Republican organization is all too plain.

[…]

 

 

 

 

Read more.

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原発ADRで和解へ=東電7億円支払い-福島県 via Jiji.com

 東京電力福島第1原発事故で被った人件費や風評対策費として、福島県が計約10億7000万円の支払いを東電に求めていた裁判外紛争解決手続き(ADR)で、県議会は4日、東電が約7億2800万円を支払うことで和解する内容の議案を可決した。東電は支払いに応じる意思を示しており、和解が成立する見通し。

(略)

県によると、原発事故対応による2011年度の超過勤務分の人件費や、風評対策として行った観光道路無料化の費用などを東電が支払う内容の和解案をセンターが提示。原発事故に伴い新設した除染対策課や原子力損害対策課などの人件費は認められなかった。(2017/10/04-19:40)

全文は原発ADRで和解へ=東電7億円支払い-福島県

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WILLIAM GIBSON’S NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL TAKES NUCLEAR ANXIETY TO ITS TERRIFYING END via Wired

LIKE A LOT of children of the 1950s, William Gibson grew up haunted by the specter of the atomic bomb, and enthralled by science fiction stories. His latest project combines his two childhood preoccupations by imagining a very different outcome to World War II—one in which America bombed its allies in the Soviet Union as well as its foes in Japan, and went on to rule the world as its sole nuclear power. And in the 21st century, things gets even darker when a string of nuclear bombs are detonated across the globe, turning the Earth into an irradiated hellscape that can only be escaped through time travel.

This is the universe of the sci-fi legend’s comic book Archangel, which comes out in graphic-novel form tomorrow. “My personal experience of nuclear anxiety was very real and lasted for decades, and with Archangel I was drawing on that experience,” says Gibson. The book, illustrated by Butch Guise, opens with a scene that reads like the logical end of that Cold War nuclear anxiety: a nightmarish montage of the world’s largest cities in ruin, iconic landmarks like Big Ben and the Kremlin destroyed. Although the cause of the chain reaction is unclear, democracy has died in the aftermath, leaving a dictatorial President-for-Life in charge of the wasteland.

[…]

More often, however, science fiction looks to the future—if not the precise shape it will take, then our fears about the changes it will bring. While Gibson’s iconic 1984 cyberpunk novel Neuromancerexplored cultural anxieties about technology and artificial intelligence during the rise of the digital age, Archangel delves into the apocalyptic terror of nuclear weaponry, which has loomed over humanity for more than 70 years.

It’s an anxiety that feels newly urgent due to the growing nuclear threat from the mercurial regime of North Korea, not to mention the tens of thousands of nuclear warheads already stored in countries around the world, some of them thousands of times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The final panels of Archangel also make explicit reference to the current political upheaval in American politics, and what that says about the malevolence of own timeline.

Read more at WILLIAM GIBSON’S NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL TAKES NUCLEAR ANXIETY TO ITS TERRIFYING END

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Nigeria reaffirms Africa’s commitment to nuclear weapons-free world via Vanguard

Nigeria has pledged Africa’s support to the non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction mass (WMD), saying a world free of nuclear weapons is the ideal society it envisaged.

Prof. Tijjani Bande, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, delivered this position on behalf of the African Group at the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly General debate on  disarmament and international security.

The Nigerian envoy said: “The continued existence and possession of nuclear weapons do not guarantee security but an affirmation of the risks of their potential use.

“Our world, including the outer space, must be free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

“It is in this context that the African Group stresses the need for the nuclear weapons States to cease their further modernisation, upgrading, refurbishment, or extending the lives of their nuclear weapons and related facilities”.

[…]

Bande said the African Group re-affirmed the central role of nuclear-weapon-free zones in the consolidation of the NPT, as well as in their contributions to addressing nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation across all regions of the world.

The Nigerian envoy said: “In this context, the African Group remains committed to the Treaty of Pelindaba.

[…]

“The African Group remains deeply concerned over the illicit trade, transfer, manufacture, possession and circulation of small arms and light weapons, their excessive accumulation and uncontrolled spread in many regions of the world, particularly on the continent of Africa.

“The Group remains committed to the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs) in All Its Aspects,” Bande said.

Read more at Nigeria reaffirms Africa’s commitment to nuclear weapons-free world 

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Japan nuclear panel plans reduction in plutonium stockpile, but details remain unclear via The Japan Times

A government nuclear panel said Tuesday it expects Japan to reduce its plutonium stockpile in the long term amid international concerns over the nation’s rising quantities of the material, which can be used to make nuclear weapons.

The plan was outlined in a document issued by the Japan Atomic Energy Commission aimed at highlighting the country’s principle of not possessing plutonium without a specified purpose. Japan is the only non-nuclear weapons state in the world that is proceeding with a commercial spent fuel reprocessing project.

[…]

As a way to consume the recovered plutonium, Japan has pushed for making ordinary nuclear reactors use plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel, known as MOX fuel, for so-called “pluthermal” power generation.

According to the document, Japan had about 47 tons of plutonium as of the end of 2016, down 1 ton from a year before thanks to the start of two reactors that use MOX fuel. Even so, the amount is said to be enough to make thousands of nuclear bombs.

The document noted that more reactors are set to restart once they clear new safety standards introduced in the wake of the Fukushima crisis, while adding that the commission will check the “appropriateness” of plans to use plutonium.

[…]

“Although there could be some increase and decrease in plutonium such as through the operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, we believe it is possible to control the material under a certain balance, and we expect that the goal to reduce Japan’s plutonium stockpile will be achieved in the longer term,” the commission said.

An English version of the document is expected to be released in mid-October, according to the commission. The commission has regularly disclosed the stockpile figure every year, but it decided to release an explanatory document to respond to what it calls the “growing global attention on plutonium management.”

Read more at  Japan nuclear panel plans reduction in plutonium stockpile, but details remain unclear

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