【飯舘村長選挙】「子どもを戻して村の復興」か「放射線防護と奪われた人権の回復」か。現職と新人、公開討論会でスタンスの違い明白にvia民の声新聞

Posted on 2016/10/03 by

原発事故後初の村長選挙を2週間後に控えた飯舘村で2日午後、立候補を表明している2氏による公開討論会が開かれ、村民150人が集まった。原町青年会議所の主催。「村の復興」を重視し、来春の避難指示解除（帰還困難区域を除く）、再来年の村内学校再開を進めたい現職の菅野典雄氏（69）に対し、新人で村議の佐藤八郎氏（64）は「解除の白紙撤回、学校再開も村民の合意が得られるまで延期」を主張。あくまでも年1mSvを基準とし、原発事故で奪われた村民の基本的人権の回復を目指すと語った。放射線防護に関する両氏のスタンスと違いが明白になり、村民が「村の復興」と「命、人権」のどちらを選択するかが注目される。村長選挙は10月6日告示、16日投開票。


【来春解除か、白紙撤回か】
[…]
【村長主導か、村民合議か】
[…]
他の設問では「除染範囲の拡大と継続」、「東電による補償の継続」、「医療費無償化の継続」に関しても問われたが、「徹底して除染してもらわなければならないが『除染をしないと村に帰れない』という点は×だ」と言う菅野氏に対し、佐藤氏は「年1mSvを目指さなければならない。除染の進め方について独立したチェック機関が必要だ」と回答。賠償に関しても「賠償請求は当然の権利だ。これまでの国や東電との交渉で財物賠償などを勝ち取ってきたが、一律賠償はそう簡単ではない。」（菅野氏）、「原発事故で奪われた基本的人権（幸福追求権）が回復するまでは加害者に責任がある。これまでの賠償が村民のためになったのか、十分に検証する」（佐藤氏）。
　健康管理と医療費に関しては、菅野氏が「複数の専門家から『放射線の健康への影響は極めて小さい』という声が出ている。長期の医療費無償化は国民の合意が得られないのではないか。今でさえ、いろいろと言われている」と述べた一方、佐藤氏は「5年を過ぎたこれからが健康への影響が重要になる。他の公害事件を参考に、これまでのやり方を検証する」と語った。5問のうち3問で菅野氏は〇と×を両方掲げた。
　村民の意見に耳を傾けない村長の〝独善ぶり〟に対する村民の不満は根強い。ある村民は「バリバリの〝村長派〟ですら、今回は投票しないと言っている」と語る。村内学校再開問題でも、村が一方的に来春の再開を決定。PTAや中学生自身からも猛反発に遭い、1年間だけ延期した経緯がある。この日の公開討論会でも、佐藤氏は「新聞・テレビ発表ありき、には私はしない。時期尚早という想いを押し切って避難指示解除が決められた」と批判。これに対し、菅野氏は「2017年3月31日の解除はベストではないと分かっているが、ベターな選択だ。村に全員戻れ、と強制的に言う気はありません」と反論した。
[…]

【帰還のメリットか、被曝リスクか】
用意された200席に対し、来場した村民は150人。ほとんどがお年寄りで「動員だ」との指摘もある。菅野氏と共に村民の帰還を推進する大谷友孝村議会議長や太田光秋福島県議県議（自民党）の姿も。そもそも避難指示が継続中の村内での公開討論会には抵抗が根強く、「どうせ村長は意見を聴かない」というあきらめムードも手伝って、子育て世代の姿は無かった。「討論会の開催が、きちんと村民に伝わっていない」という声もある。
　村民は全国25都道府県に分散避難している上に、仮設住宅へ入居しているのはわずか14％。選挙期間中に、立候補者の主張を村民が聴く機会はほとんど無いと言って良い。原発事故後初の村長選挙だけに、最多3690人が暮らす福島市などでの公開討論会の開催が必要だが、残念ながら今回が〝最初で最後〟となりそうだ。主催者によると、この日の討論会の動画は編集せずインターネットにアップされるという（http://e-mirasen.jp/governor/fukushima/）。
　「村に帰還するメリットはいっぱいある」と語った菅野氏。「狭い仮設住宅で生活するよりも間違いなくストレス解消になり、健康維持につながる。村民が戻れば新たな村づくりも可能だ。飯舘牛や花、野菜で村を売って来たのに、ほとんど駄目になってしまった。本当に残念だが『駄目、駄目』ばかり言っていてもしょうがない」と訴える。一方、放射能汚染を重視する佐藤氏は「村民には、戻りたいけど戻れない事情がある。除染が出来ているのはわずか15％で、85％を占める森林は手つかず。雨や雪のたびに放射性物質が山から移動するのが実態だ。営農再開も、当面はハウスや施設内がベターなのかなと思う」と話す。
「。。。」

もっと読む。

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There’s Radioactive Waste On Michael Reese Site That City Is Marketing via DNA Info

Posted on 2016/10/03 by kojimaaiko

The city is courting developers for the long-vacant Michael Reese Hospital land, but potential builders will have to grapple with radioactive waste discovered on the site.

In 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigated the site and found 3 acres were contaminated with radioactive waste from a former uranium processing facility run by University of Chicago professor H.N. McCoy that had been on the site from 1915-20, according to agency reports.

McCoy also ran a lantern company in Streeterville that has left thorium contamination in the neighborhood.

The Mayor’s Office started talking a year ago about restarting its search for a developer for the 49-acre former hospital site along the lakefront in Bronzeville. On Friday, the city said it would put out a request for proposals from developers on Oct. 12.

“The Michael Reese site has been vacant for nearly 10 years,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in the Friday announcement. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform a part of the South Side and generate economic opportunities that will reach throughout Chicago.”

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley negotiated the purchase of the hospital site in 2009 for $89 million to build housing for athletes for the city’s bid for the 2016 Olympics, a deal that raised the price to $91 million when the city failed to secure the games.

Emanuel’s office said cleaning up the radioactive waste will be part of any deal to redevelop the land and referred questions to the city’s Department of Planning and Development.

A spokesman from the planning department was not immediately available to comment.

The EPA and a further investigation by the Illinois Department of Public Health in 2013 found the site is currently safe because much of the radioactive contamination is buried under the northernmost 3 acres of the site.

Any excavation of the site will require monitoring for gamma radiation, according to both agencies, because the facility was possibly dumping radioactive waste into sewers or wells that may still be buried under the site.

Continue reading here.

 

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Five myths about nuclear weapons via The Washington Post

Posted on 2016/10/03 by yukimiyamotodepaul

[…]

Myth No. 1
Nuclear weapons haven’t been used since Nagasaki.

In 2008 Cambridge University Press published a book titled “The Nuclear Taboo: The United States and the Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons since 1945” by international relations scholar Nina Tannenwald. The suggestion — that nuclear weapons haven’t been used whatsoever since the bombing of Nagasaki — has made its way into textbooks and magazines, with one 2014 Boston Review article wondering “nuclear weapons haven’t been used since 1945. Is the persistence of the arsenal really a problem?”

Although nuclear weapons have not been used again in combat, they’ve been detonated 2,055 times since Aug. 9, 1945, mostly by the United States and the Soviet Union. These tests have been both demonstrations of force, and experiments with weapon design and effectiveness. From 1946 to 1958, for example, the United States exploded the equivalent of 1.6 Hiroshima bombs every day in the Marshall Islands to study the weaponry and intimidate Moscow; the USSR wrought similar devastation near the Arctic Circle and in present-day Kazakhstan.

[GRAPHIC: Every nuclear detonation since July 1945]

[…]

Myth No. 2
Nuclear weapons keep the peace.

“The sensible path to peace starts with the realization that peace can be secured only through strength,” Robert Spalding, a military fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in The Washington Post in 2013, adding that “nuclear weapons represent that strength.” In 2009, Jonathan Tepperman, then deputy editor of Newsweek International,argued that nuclear weapons ensure peace by “making the costs of war obvious, inevitable, and unacceptable.”

[…]

If fear of nuclear war prevents leaders from taking steps that might lead to nuclear war, and if Kennedy knew that blockading Cuba might result in nuclear war, then why wasn’t Kennedy deterred?” Ward Wilson wrote in his book “5 Myths about Nuclear Weapons.”

[The Marshall Islands: A ground zero forgotten]

[…]

A non-nuclear explosion laced with radioactive materials (a dirty bomb) is a more likely and far less destructive scenario: Since 1995 there have been 2,889 confirmed cases of lost, stolen or misused nuclear or radioactive material, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Also more likely: a major nuclear accident. From 1950 to 1968, at least 1,200 nuclear weapons were involved in “significant” incidents in the United States, according to Eric Schlosser’s book “Command and Control,” which details a 1980 explosion at an Arkansas missile silo that threw a thermonuclear warhead into the sky. And from 2009 to 2013 there were 1,500 reportable incidents involving U.S. nukes or the systems that manage them, according to the anti-nuclear nonprofit Global Zero.

Read more at Five myths about nuclear weapons

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Radiation Injury, Burns and Illness: A Review of Best Practices via EMS World

Posted on 2016/10/03 by yukimiyamotodepaul

[…]

Nonionizing radiation—Radiation is a general term that simply refers to the emission of energy in the form of waves or particles. Because radio waves, microwaves and ultraviolet radiation are all types of radiation, “radiation-emitting devices” include common sources of daily exposure such as cell phone towers and microwave ovens (Figure 2). These types of radiation, as well as others, are called nonionizing because they lack the energy necessary to remove an electron from a target atom. While most significant clinical injuries are caused by ionizing radiation, in certain circumstances nonionizing radiation can also have biological effects.

Ionizing radiation—An atom consists of a nucleus of positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons orbited by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. In an electrically stable atom, the positive and negative charges cancel each other out, resulting in a neutrally charged atom. On impact, ionizing radiation has enough enrgy to strip an orbiting electron from an atom. The remaining atom then becomes positively charged since the lost electron carried a negative charge. As a result, ionizing radiation poses a significant biologic threat because of its potential to physically alter the structure and charge structure of atoms or molecules.

[…]

hGray, Sievert, Rem and Rad: Radiation Terminology for EMS

Several key concepts are necessary to assess the biological effects of radiation exposure. Clinically relevant radioactive materials emit ionizing radiation that can transfer energy into tissue. Absorbed dose (or simply dose) is the term used to describe the amount of this energy deposited into tissue. In the United States, the traditional unit of dose measurement is the rad (radiation absorbed dose), which is equal to 100 ergs of energy deposited into 1 gram of material. In contrast, the commonly referenced international unit of dose measurement is the gray (Gy), which is equal to 1 joule of energy deposited into 1 kilogram of tissue. One Gy equals 100 rad; conversely, 1 rad equals 0.01 Gy, or 10 mGy. The Absorbed Dose Conversion Chart reproduced in Figure 5 is from The Medical Aspects of Radiation Incidents.10

A common way to quantify biological radiation damage and estimate a resultant risk profile is via the terms rem in the U.S. (Roentgen equivalent man) and sievert (Sv) internationally. These units of measurement are referred to as dose equivalents. They are equal to the delivered radiation dose (rad or Gy) multiplied by a dimensionless weighting factor that benchmarks resultant biological damage to a hypothetical exposure from a standard radiation source (usually gamma or x-rays). In other words, the rem is defined as the dosage of a particular radiation type (measured in rad) that will cause the same degree of biologic injury as 1 rad of either gamma or x-rays. The Dose Equivalent/Equivalent Dose Conversion Chart comparing U.S. and international units of measure reproduced in Figure 6 is from The Medical Aspects of Radiation Incidents.10

Dose Equivalent/Equivalent Dose Conversions

Radioactive materials are quantified differently than many other materials. Instead of using traditional units (e.g., ounces or grams), activity is used. Activity is defined as the number of disintegrations that occur per unit of time (disintegrations per minute, dpm, or disintegrations per second, dps). A disintegration is accompanied by the release of one or more radiation types (e.g., a beta particle or gamma ray). The curie (Ci) is the primary unit of activity in the U.S. and is equal to 3.7 x 1010 dps or 2.22 x 1012 dpm. Internationally the becquerel (Bq) is used, where 1 Bq equals 1 dps.

Read more at Radiation Injury, Burns and Illness: A Review of Best Practices

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Japan’s Chernobyl: abandoned town in the Fukushima nuclear exclusion zone via The Telegraph

Posted on 2016/10/03 by yukimiyamotodepaul

photos are available at Japan’s Chernobyl: abandoned town in the Fukushima nuclear exclusion zone

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新人４氏が届け出＝原発再稼働争点に－新潟知事選 via Jiji.com

Posted on 2016/10/03 by yukimiyamotodepaul

　任期満了に伴う新潟県知事選は２９日告示され、元団体職員の三村誉一氏（７０）、前同県長岡市長の森民夫氏（６７）＝自民、公明推薦＝、医師の米山隆一氏（４９）＝共産、社民、生活推薦＝、海事代理士の後藤浩昌氏（５５）の無所属新人４氏が立候補を届け出た。投開票は１０月１６日。

東京電力柏崎刈羽原発（同県柏崎市、刈羽村）の再稼働に慎重だった泉田裕彦知事の立候補取りやめで、再稼働問題が争点の一つになるとみられる。三村、森、米山、後藤４氏共に再稼働には慎重な姿勢を示している。

(略）

米山氏は再稼働議論の前提として福島第１原発事故の徹底検証を求める泉田知事の路線継承を訴えている。

全文は新人４氏が届け出＝原発再稼働争点に－新潟知事選

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Fukushima Radiation Has Contaminated The Entire Pacific Ocean – And It’s Going To Get Worse via True Activist

Posted on 2016/10/02 by yukimiyamotodepaul

The nuclear disaster has contaminated the world’s largest ocean in only five years and it’s still leaking 300 tons of radioactive waste every day.

What was the most dangerous nuclear disaster in world history? Most people would say the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, but they’d be wrong. In 2011, an earthquake, believed to be an aftershock of the 2010 earthquake in Chile, created a tsunami that caused a meltdown at the TEPCO nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. Three nuclear reactors melted down and what happened next was the largest release of radiation into the water in the history of the world. Over the next three months, radioactive chemicals, some in even greater quantities than Chernobyl, leaked into the Pacific Ocean. However, the numbers may actually be much higher as Japanese official estimates have been proven by several scientists to be flawed in recent years.

If that weren’t bad enough, Fukushima continues to leak an astounding 300 tons of radioactive waste into the Pacific Ocean every day. It will continue do so indefinitely as the source of the leak cannot be sealed as it is inaccessible to both humans and robots due to extremely high temperatures.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Fukushima has contaminated the entire Pacific Ocean in just five years. This could easily be the worst environmental disaster in human history and it is almost never talked about by politicians, establishment scientists, or the news. It is interesting to note that TEPCO is a subsidiary of General Electric (also known as GE), one of the largest companies in the world, which has considerable control over numerous news corporations and politicians alike. Could this possibly explain the lack of news coverage Fukushima has received in the last five years? There is also evidence that GE knew about the poor condition of the Fukushima reactors for decades and did nothing. This led 1,400 Japanese citizens to sue GE for their role in the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Even if we can’t see the radiation itself, some parts of North America’s western coast have been feeling the effects for years. Not long after Fukushima, fish in Canada began bleeding from their gills, mouths, and eyeballs. This “disease” has been ignored by the government and has decimated native fish populations, including the North Pacific herring. Elsewhere in Western Canada, independent scientists have measured a 300% increase in the level of radiation. According to them, the amount of radiation in the Pacific Ocean is increasing every year. Why is this being ignored by the mainstream media? It might have something to do with the fact that the US and Canadian governments have banned their citizens from talking about Fukushima so “people don’t panic.”

Further south in Oregon, USA, starfish began losing legs and then disintegrating entirely when Fukushima radiation arrived there in 2013. Now, they are dying in record amounts, putting the entire oceanic ecosystem in that area at risk. However, government officials say Fukushima is not to blame even though radiation in Oregon tuna tripled after Fukushima. In 2014, radiation on California beaches increased by 500 percent. In response, government officials said that the radiation was coming from a mysterious “unknown” source and was nothing to worry about.
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France’s Nuclear Power Stations ‘At Risk of Catastrophic Failure’ via Ecologist

Posted on 2016/10/02 by yukimiyamotodepaul

Sizewell B and 27 Other EDF Nuclear Plants

A new report finds that 28 nuclear reactors, 18 of them EDF plants in France and one at Sizewell in the UK, are at risk of failure ‘including core meltdown’ due to flaws in safety-critical components in reactor vessels and steam generators, writes Oliver Tickell. The news comes as EDF credit is downgraded due to a growing cash flow crisis and its decision to press on with Hinkley C.

A new review of the safety of France’s nuclear power stations has found that at least 18 of EDF’s units are are “operating at risk of major accident due to carbon anomalies.”

The review was carried out at the request of Greenpeace France following the discovery of serious metallurgical flaws by French regulators in a reactor vessel at Flamanville, where an EPR plant is under construction.

The problem is that parts of the vessel and its cap contain high levels of carbon, making the metal brittle and potentially subject to catastrophic failure. These key components were provided by French nuclear engineering firm Areva, and forged at its Le Creusot.

[…]

In August 2016, IRSN warned the French nuclear safety regulator Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) that:

  • EdF’s submission was incomplete;
  • there is a risk of abrupt rupture which could lead to a reactor core fuel melt; and
  • immediate “compensatory” measures need to be put in place to safeguard the operational NPPs involved.

“As a result of Areva’s failures, a significant share of the French nuclear reactor fleet is at increased risk of severe radiological accident, including fuel core meltdown”, said Large. “However, there is no simple or quick fix to this problem.

[…]

Also at risk are the two EPRs that Areva and EDF are currently constructing at Taishan in China. These are now at the most advanced stage of any EPR projects in the world, however there are increasing fears that they contain faulty components.

The vessels and domes at Taishan were also supplied by Areva, and manufactured by the same process as that utilised by Le Creusot. It is suspected that Chinese nuclear regulators may have decided to overlook this problem and hope for the best. However if they discover that the steam generators, which along with the reactor vessels have already been installed, are also at risk of catastrophic failure, that might prove a risk too far – even for China.

Read more at France’s Nuclear Power Stations ‘At Risk of Catastrophic Failure’ 

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原発再稼働「同意」前町長の後継、反原発の新人破る　愛媛・伊方町長選 via 産経WEST

Posted on 2016/10/02 by yukimiyamotodepaul

営業運転を再開した四国電力伊方原発３号機が立地する愛媛県伊方町で２日、前町長の辞職に伴う町長選が投開票され、元県議の高門清彦氏（５８）が共産党南予地区委員長の西井直人氏（５９）を破り、無所属新人同士の一騎打ちを制した。

高門氏は原発再稼働に同意した山下和彦前町長の町政運営を継承すると表明。山下氏や全町議１６人が支援していた。共産党南予地区委員会が推薦、反原発の市民団体が後押しする西井氏は、原発に依存しない町づくりを訴えたが及ばなかった。

続きは原発再稼働「同意」前町長の後継、反原発の新人破る　愛媛・伊方町長選

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Castro’s Cuba Is Getting Nuclear Reactors From Putin’s Russia via The Daily Caller

Posted on 2016/10/02 by yukimiyamotodepaul

A Russian government-controlled company signed an agreement to sell nuclear technology to Cuba this week.

Cuba plans to purchase nuclear medical technology, radiation research, training for nuclear specialists, and staff to help manage radioactive waste. Ultimately, the country may purchase nuclear reactors and storage space for nuclear waste from Russia.

This is not the first time Cuba has attempted to build a nuclear reactor. With the help and financial assistance of the former Soviet Union, Cuba tried the to build two 440-megawatt nuclear power reactors near the city of Cienfuegos. Construction of the reactors began in 1983, but the collapse of the Soviet Union disrupted construction.

[…]
Russia and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement last year to work together on “peaceful” nuclear energy projects despite terrorism concerns. Saudi Arabia has a long history of terrorist attacks within its borders, and the country itself has been accused of directly funding Islamic terrorism. The planned reactors would be incredibly vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

The stated purpose of the Saudi reactors is to power desalination plants, generate electricity, and reduce domestic oil consumption so the country can sell oil abroad. The reactors would not produce the weapons-grade plutonium necessary to make a nuclear weapon, but materials from them could be used to create dirty bombs. The reactors will be built by the Russian government-controlled Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Cooperation.

Russia has also supported the development of nuclear power in other countries with terrorist threats, such as Algeria, Iran and Egypt.

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