県原発専門委　県に意見書を提出 （鹿児島県）via 日テレNEWS24

Posted on 2017/06/20 by yukimiyamotodepaul

県の原子力安全専門委員会が川内原発２号機の安全性について「熊本地震の影響はなかった」とする意見書を１９日、県に提出した。

反原発団体からは「知事のシナリオ」だと厳しい批判の声があがっている。県の原子力安全専門委員会は川内原発の安全性や避難計画について話し合うため三反園知事が設置した。１９日座長を務める鹿児島大学の宮町宏樹教授が川内原発２号機の安全性について「熊本地震の影響はなかった」とする意見書を知事あてに提出した。九州電力の定期検査も「特段の問題はなかった」としている。

去年の知事選の前に三反園知事と政策合意を交わした反原発団体の平良行雄さんは（略）十分な議論は尽くされておらず三反園知事が描いたシナリオだと厳しく批判した。

今回の意見書を踏まえ三反園知事は１号機同様、２号機の運転の継続も事実上容認するものと見られる。

全文は県原発専門委　県に意見書を提出 （鹿児島県）

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Plans take shape for lifting dumped nuclear sub via Barents Observer

Posted on 2017/06/20 by yukimiyamotodepaul

K-27 was dumped east of Novaya Zemlya in the Russian Arctic in 1982.

Department of research and development of radiation safety at Krylov State Research Institute in St. Petersburg says lifting the old nuclear submarine can take place in 2022, in the framework of Russia’s Arctic zone development program, TASS reports. 

The submarine was dumped in shallow waters in Stepovogo Bay on Novaya Zemlya’s Kara Sea coast. K-27, a November-class prototype, had then been laid-up for more than 15 years after one of the two troublesome reactors suffered a severe leakage of radioactive gasses and inadequate cooling causing extensive fuel element failures.

Dumping the entire submarine at sea was done in what the Soviet reactor engineers and scientists believed would be a safe way to avoid leakages of radionuclides into the marine environment. 

The two on board reactors are liquid-metal cooled and contain spent nuclear fuel, 800 kilograms of uranium to be precise.

Both Russian and Norwegian radiation experts have repeatedly warned that failing to lift the submarine eventually one day will cause leakages of radioactivity into the Kara Sea. A worst-case senario has even pointed to the danger of an uncontrolled chain reaction that could be triggered inside the reactor in case sea water one day starts to leak in through the protecting cover that today isolates the compartment holding the two reactors. 

[…]

K-27 is one of many objects with nuclear waste dumped in the Kara Sea. Several other reactors, from submarines and the ice-breaker Lenin, as well as 17.000 containers with solid radioactive waste were dumped in the Kara Sea in Soviet times.

Read more at Plans take shape for lifting dumped nuclear sub

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India, Russia may join hands for providing nuclear energy to third country via The Economic Times

Posted on 2017/06/20 by yukimiyamotodepaul

[…]

India and Russia are currently fine-tuning their civil nuclear energy partnership in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. India with its experience in the civil nuclear industry will train personnel and provide expertise to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. India has entered into civilian nuclear partnerships arrangements with both Dhaka and Colombo. Russia is building Bangladesh’s maiden nuclear power plant in Roopur.  

ATOMEXPO 2017 that was inaugurated here on 2017 would seek to explore further opportunities for bilateral partnership in third countries in Africa and Southeast Asia. ATOMEXPO organized annually by Russia’s state-run nuclear agency ROSATOM since 2009 is globally the largest international exhibition and business platform to discuss the present situation of the nuclear industry worldwide.  

[…]

Indian and Russian civil nuclear partnership could be extended to the area of joint extraction of natural uranium and the production of nuclear fuel and nuclear waste elimination, Rosatom officials told ET here. Rosatom has 29 nuclear reactors in various stages of planning and construction in several countries including in Jordan, Hungary, Egypt, Iran, Finland, Turkey and Argentina.  

Indo-Russian Strategic Vision document signed in 2014 mentions that the two countries would explore “opportunities for sourcing materials, equipment and services from Indian industry for the construction of the Russian designed nuclear power plants in third countries”. The vision document also suggested that the two countries “would examine the possibility of technical cooperation in mining activities within their territories and collaborate in exploration and mining activities in third countrie .. 

Read more at India, Russia may join hands for providing nuclear energy to third country 

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柏崎刈羽原発の審査再開　規制委、東電社長を21日聴取 via 日本経済新聞

Posted on 2017/06/20 by yukimiyamotodepaul

　原子力規制委員会は20日、東京電力柏崎刈羽原子力発電所６、７号機（新潟県）の再稼働の前提となる安全審査を再開した。東電が再提出した審査書類の安全対策の内容について判断する。21日には広瀬直己社長を呼び、安全への意識について問う方針だ。

規制委は２月、東電が同原発の事故対応拠点の耐震性能について誤った説明を続けたことを問題視し、審査書類を総点検して出し直すよう求めた。東電は事故発生時の拠点を５号機の原子炉建屋内に設けることなど安全対策の内容を変更した申請書を今月16日に再提出した。

東電は関西電力など他の電力会社の安全審査の資料などを踏まえて、内容を精査したと説明した。竜巻や火山の自然災害の対策や、細かい表現の直しも含めて約8400カ所を修正し、信頼性を高めたことを伝えた。

続きは柏崎刈羽原発の審査再開　規制委、東電社長を21日聴取　

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Fire at French nuclear reactor extinguished, EDF says via Reuters

Posted on 2017/06/20 by yukimiyamotodepaul

A fire that broke out on the roof of a nuclear reactor at the Bugey plant in central-eastern France has been extinguished, operator EDF said on Monday, citing fire brigade officials. 

The fire began at the plant’s nuclear reactor number 5, some 35 kilometers from the city of Lyon

[…]

EDF said in a separate statement there were no injuries or fatalities, while safety body IRSN said on Twitter that sensors had not picked up any increase in radiation.

Read more at Fire at French nuclear reactor extinguished, EDF says

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コープおおいたが福島県のＪＡと協定へ via OBS 大分放送ニュース

Posted on 2017/06/20 by yukimiyamotodepaul

東日本大震災からの復興を農産物の購入という形で継続して支えようと、コープおおいたと福島県のＪＡが協定を結ぶことになりました。大分市でコープおおいたの総代会が開かれ、昨年度の決算と今年度の事業計画が組合員の代表に示されました。この中で、東日本大震災からの復興を確実に支えるため、福島県のＪＡふくしま未来と友好協力協定を結ぶことが報告されました。コープおおいたは震災以降、福島県の農産物を積極的に取り扱っていて、協定締結によって絆を強固にする狙いがあります。２０日は、売上金の一部となるおよそ３５０万円が福島の復興義援金として贈られたほか、写真パネル展や近況報告会も開催されました。

続きはコープおおいたが福島県のＪＡと協定へ 

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Fukushima on the Hudson by LA Smith Now Available via benzinga

Posted on 2017/06/20 by yukimiyamotodepaul

Nixie Publishing debuts eco-political dystopian thriller in time for summer reading by the water — but is the Water Safe?

New publishing house, Nixie Publishing announced today the release of Fukushima on The Hudson, a thrilling eco-political novel by author, LA Smith.  Set between a struggling family farm in upstate New York and a cutthroat conspiracy on Capitol Hill in Washington, the novel responds to the question … What would happen if the city of New York faced the very real threat of being washed away in a nuclear meltdown like the one that devastated Fukushima in Japan?

[…]

The story is rooted in a real existential threat to millions of Americans: Illegally dumped radioactive waste and decaying nuclear power plants, many of which are packed with radioactive spent fuel.  Fictionally, the stage is set and played out in a ‘what-if’ that should be considered quite seriously.  “When I was in the news business, every now and then, I would come across what I called a ‘monster sleeper story.’ An issue or situation that just seemed so ‘big’ and in some cases, so alarming, I couldn’t believe it wasn’t on the front page of every newspaper. For me, the Indian Point nuclear power plant is one of those stories,”  says author, LA Smith.

Bela A. Gary, Nixie Publishing co-founder adds, “this is a book, like A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr or Erin Brockovich by Susannah Grant, that really gets under your skin. Really gets you to thinking about what we are doing to our environment. The legacy we’re leaving our kids. And the heartache of those who are suffering.”

Fukushima on the Hudson is not only for readers who enjoy gripping dystopian thrillers, but also for those who are environmentally aware and supportive of equal rights — for all.    Everyone who may be concerned about a true and existing threat to Wall Street, the city of New York and our country as a whole will want to be sure and read Fukushima on the Hudson by LA Smith.

Read more at Fukushima on the Hudson by LA Smith Now Available

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尿からプルトニウム＝作業員５人、内部被ばく－放医研 via JIji.com

Posted on 2017/06/19 by yukimiyamotodepaul

日本原子力研究開発機構の大洗研究開発センター（茨城県大洗町）で作業員５人が被ばくした事故で、放射線医学総合研究所（放医研、千葉市）は１９日、５人全員の尿から、ごく微量のプルトニウムが検出されたと発表した。放医研は「内部被ばくがあった」と説明。尿などの検査を続け、１カ月ほどかけて被ばく量を推定する。

原子力機構は事故翌日の７日、１人の肺から２万２０００ベクレルのプルトニウム２３９が検出されたと発表したが、５人が搬送された放医研の検査では検出されなかった。放医研は、より高い感度で検出できる尿などを調べていた。

その結果、５人全員の尿から、ごく微量のプルトニウム２３９と２３８、アメリシウム２４１が確認された。被ばく量は引き続き調べるが、放医研の上部組織・量子科学技術研究開発機構の明石真言執行役は記者会見で「症状が出る線量にはならないと推定している」としつつ、「国内で知っている限りでは大きい方かもしれない」と述べた。

続きは尿からプルトニウム＝作業員５人、内部被ばく－放医研

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You Can’t Keep Quiet Anymore: Atomic Homefront via Film International

Posted on 2017/06/19 by yukimiyamotodepaul

[…]

This passionate film, having its world premiere as one of the 11 Spotlight Screenings at AFI DOCS in Washington DC, is a heart breaker. Cammisa, an Oscar nominee for her 2009 documentary feature Which Way Home (dealing with child migrants) and her 2012 short God Is the Bigger Elvis (a lovely look at Dolores Hart, a Hollywood actress turned nun), spent several years following the problems of two St. Louis neighborhoods that have seen their residents ravaged by cancer and death.

[…]

Cammisa’s new effort is a crusader’s look at the environmental fallout resulting from nuclear waste issues in two St. Louis communities. Eighty-five years ago, this city was picked as a uranium processing center to make material used to create the first atomic bombs. A quarter century later, the waste was moved to the northern suburbs and dumped in a landfill. There’s a second neighborhood, four miles away, along the Coldwater Creek Flood Plain, similarly contaminated.

As the film opens, you’ll find radiochemist Dr. Michael K. Schultz trekking along the railroad tracks on an industrial side of town. It’s a chilly day, but he seems energized. He pulls out a device some of us might remember from a 1950s educational short or perhaps an A-bomb inspired horror film: a Geiger counter. Digging into the railroad’s gravel bed, the meter is already registering past the top of the scale. I’m just wondering if his coat, gloves, and hat are offering enough protection.

The nearby neighborhoods have baseball fields, middle class homes with nice green lawns, and angry residents. The sad truth for parents here is that on a beautiful day, they have to reign in their kids’ desires to play outdoors. The air looks clean, but it’s anything but. Anywhere else, Tommy and Jane would be tossing a Frisbee and shooting hoops. In Dawn Chapman’s home, she’s focused on the weather. So is Robbin Dailey. And Jenny Turner. And too many others. They live in the shadow of the Bridgeton-West Lake Landfill, and the weather can cause some freakishly bad, and radioactive, smells.

All these folks were clueless about the radioactive trash next door, until the stink started, a condition caused by an underground fire, a.k.a. Subsurface Smoldering Event. Mix that with 47,000 tons (!) of Uranium 238, Thorium 230, and Radium 226, and you’ve got trouble in river city.

[…]

Around Coldwater Creek, the Army Corps of Engineers fumbles their part in this disaster. It doesn’t seem to grasp the depth of the issue, and neither does downtown employer Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, which did the government’s uranium processing during WWII. In a revelatory moment, secret 1964 reports written by Dr. Thomas Mancuso for the Atomic Energy Commission, about cancer risks within the company’s workforce — long pushed under the rug — are unearthed and the deceit continues with confidential information about the resulting post-war deaths.

Read more at You Can’t Keep Quiet Anymore: Atomic Homefront 

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Plutonium found in urine of five workers exposed to radiation via The Japan Times

Posted on 2017/06/19 by yukimiyamotodepaul

A small amount of radioactive materials — plutonium and americium — was found in the urine of five workers exposed to radiation in an accident earlier this month at a nuclear research facility in Ibaraki Prefecture.

The result shows that the five workers have suffered internal radiation exposure following the June 6 accident at the Oarai Research & Development Center, operated by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA).

[…]

Initially, the agency said up to 22,000 becquerels of plutonium-239 were found in the lungs of one of the workers, while 5,600 to 14,000 becquerels of the radioactive substance were found in the lungs of three other workers. It said at the time that the four had suffered internal radiation exposure.

But the facility operator has since said a subsequent check by the National Institute of Radiological Sciences has found no plutonium in the lungs of any of the five workers. It has not ruled out the possibility that what was actually detected was radioactive substance left on the workers’ bodies after decontamination.

The national institute, meanwhile, has said that americium was found in the lungs of at least one of the five workers.

Read more at Plutonium found in urine of five workers exposed to radiation

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