公害の無い社会を目指す市民集会「やま・かわ・うみ・そらフェスティバルｉｎ佐賀」が２３日、佐賀市高木瀬町の県教育会館であった。水俣病やカネミ油症などの公害被害者らで組織する全国公害被害者総行動九州実行委員会の主催。約２５０人が参加した。
自然エネルギーについての講演の後、九州電力玄海原発（玄海町）の再稼働問題や陸上自衛隊が導入する新型輸送機オスプレイの佐賀空港配備計画など、県内の重要課題をテーマにしたパネルディスカッションがあった。再稼働に反対する住民グループ「玄海原発対策住民会議」事務局長の成富忠良さんが「熊本地震が起きたとき、玄海原発や川内原発の事故が心配だった。この先も地震のたびに不安が残る」と訴えた。
「オスプレイ配備反対県連絡会」代表委員の中山重俊佐賀市議は「明確な説明がないまま、オスプレイの佐賀空港配備が強引に進められようとしている」と指摘。米軍普天間飛行場（沖縄県）所属のオスプレイが熊本地震支援に投入されたことについて触れ「配備に向けての実績作りにしか見えない」と批判した。
[…]
もっと読む。
The 40-year lifespan for nuclear reactors, established after the catastrophic accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011, is now in danger of being watered down to irrelevance.
The rule requires the decommissioning of aging reactors, starting with the oldest, for a gradual, carefully controlled process of phasing out nuclear power generation in this country.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on April 20 formally decided that the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, which have been in service for over 40 years, meet new nuclear safety standards introduced after the devastating 2011 accident.
This is the first license renewal for a reactor that has been in operation for more than four decades under the new standards.
If they pass the remaining regulatory inspections concerning technical details by the July deadline, the reactors will likely continue to generate electricity for two more decades.
The 40-year lifespan provision was introduced through a revision to the law after the Fukushima disaster.
Just one service life extension of up to 20 years is allowed, but only as an “extremely exceptional” measure.
This exception was made to avoid a shortage of electricity. But concerns about any serious power crunch have virtually dissipated thanks to a marked rise in levels of power and energy conservation in society.
[…]
Read more.
UCHANAN, N.Y. – If it’s Earth Day and you’re a clean water advocate, of course, you must risk arrest and your own health to make a point.
Why not swim by a nuclear power plant?
Christopher Swain, 48, donned his yellow, high visibility, puncture resistant dry suit that protects him from cold water but not from nuclear radiation as he swam past the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant on the Hudson River.
“You can’t see radiation, but you know it’s there,” Swain said. “They have had nine leaks of radiation in the past year, I hope they don’t have another one today.”
Swain, who has swum the entire length of the country’s most polluted waterway., the Gowanus canal in Brooklyn had a courtesy escort today., the Rockland County Sheriff’s Department Marine Unit and a kayak safety crew member monitoring the radiation levels.
“My concern is for the workers at the plant and the fisherman fishing nearby,” Nicole Butterfield, kayak safety crew member, told PIX11. “The fishermen say they eat the fish, but not too much of it.”
[…]
Read more.
【4月23日 時事通信社】２０１５年ノーベル文学賞を受賞したベラルーシの女性作家・ジャーナリスト、スベトラーナ・アレクシエービッチさん（６７）は、２６日の旧ソ 連チェルノブイリ原発事故３０年を前に、英ＢＢＣ放送のインタビューで「脱原発」を主張した。原発を狙ったテロの脅威を訴える一方、独裁下の自国で議論が ないまま進む原発建設にも疑問を呈した。
ベラルーシは、ウクライナ北部の原発周辺よりも放射能汚染地域が広かったことで知られる。アレクシエービッチさんは、事故処理作業員や強制移住者らを取材して１９９７年に「チェルノブイリの祈り 未来の物語」（邦題）を出版。原発のある文明社会に警鐘を鳴らしている。
アレクシエービッチさんは出版時、欧米の読者から「無秩序なロシア人たちだから事故が起きた。われわれにはあり得ない」と反論された。福島原発事故前、北海道を訪れた際にも「日本では同様の事故がないよう対策が講じられている」と言われたという。
He will make the historic trip in May.
More than 70 years after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima that led to the end of World War II, Barack Obama is set to become the first sitting president to visit the site to pay tribute to the tens of thousands of victims who died in the devastating blast.
The Nikkei Asian Review reported the news Friday. The White House press office did not immediately return Fortune‘s request for comment on the report.
[…]
President Jimmy Carter visited Hiroshima in 1984, after he’d left office. Secretary of State John Kerry became the highest-serving U.S. official to ever tour the city’s Peace Park and Museum when he did so earlier this month. He called the experience “gut-wrenching.” His visit there sparked speculation that Obama would soon follow.
Visiting the site of the nuclear blast has been something of a third-rail subject for sitting presidents who don’t want to appear apologetic for the U.S.’s decision to bomb Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and Nagasaki three days later. The blasts are thought to have sped up the end of the Second World War in the Pacific, but they instantly killed more than 100,000 people in Japan and are viewed by some there as an unjustified atrocity.
Read more at Obama Will Be the First Sitting President to Visit Hiroshima
アメリカのオバマ大統領が、5月のG7、伊勢志摩サミットが閉幕する5月27日に、広島を訪問する方針を固めたことがわかった。
アメリカ政府関係者は、FNNの取材に対して、オバマ大統領の広島訪問が実現する見通しになったとして、伊勢志摩サミットが閉幕した直後に、アメリカ軍の岩国基地を経由して、空路で広島入りする日程で、最終調整していることを明らかにした。
オバマ大統領は、平和記念公園訪問に加えて、2009年のプラハでの演説の流れを受け継いだ演説を行うものとみられる。
小沢一郎代表と山本太郎代表は4月19日、国会内で定例の共同記者会見を行い、熊本地方で発生した大地震や、それに伴う様々な事象、また終盤戦に差し掛 かった衆議院議員北海道5区補欠選挙などについて、記者からの質問に答えました。その中で両代表は、震災に伴う原発対応について「原発の再稼働はやめさ せ、今動いているものは止めるよう政府に訴える」と強調しました。
BEIJING: China is edging closer to building its first floating maritime nuclear power platform with the prospects of deploying it in the disputed South China Sea, a state-run daily said today even as the Foreign Ministry declined to react, saying it had not heard of the plans.
The Global Times in a report said the nuclear platforms could significantly boost the efficiency of the country’s construction work on islands in the strategic South China Sea.
It said the nuclear power platforms could “sail” to remote areas and provide a stable power supply.
[…]The report said a group of experts has reviewed and discussed the technical plan on the construction of the platform proposed by Institute 719, which is also under the CSIC, and reached a unanimous conclusion.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, however, declined to react and played down the story as a media report.
“What you said is a media report. I have not heard about that,” Hua said, when asked about the report the Global Times.
The construction of the first maritime nuclear power platform, which serves as a demonstration project, is expected to be completed by 2018 and be put into use by 2019, China Securities Journal reported in January.
設計・建設を担当する造船大手幹部は複数の海上浮動式原発建設を示唆
中国共産党機関紙・人民日報傘下の有力国際情報紙、環球時報は２２日、南シナ海で行う活動に電力を供給するため、中国が海上浮動式の原子力発電所を建設する計画だと報じた。
中国は南シナ海で軍事演習を行ったり施設を建設するなど軍事拠点化を進めており、周辺国が反発している。中国政府は、建築物の大半は灯台など民間での利用が目的だと主張している。
報道によると、この原発は遠隔地に「移動」させることができ、安定的な電力を供給するという。
In the aftermath of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear disasters, millions were displaced, and once bustling communities became husks of their past selves. While the emptiness of these places is plain to see, radiation, the reason why so many choose not to return to areas declared safe by authorities, is invisible.
In areas of Russia and Japan that have been decontaminated by the government, allowing for people to move back, life has tried to continue but evidence of radiation remains.
Greg McNevin, a photographer working with the environmental group Greenpeace, set out to visualize the radiation that persists in many of these areas. The resulting project juxtaposes radiation data onto long exposure photographs from the affected regions.
Continue reading and photos available at Nuclear Legacy: Photos show the lingering radioactivity at Chernobyl and Fukushima
A nuclear power plant in Byron, Illinois. Taken by photographer Joseph Pobereskin (http://pobereskin.com).
