Semi truck carrying uranium catches fire near Honeywell via WPSD

Posted on 2015/09/27 by yukimiyamotodepaul

A semi truck caught on fire at the Honeywell Plant in Metropolis, IL Sunday evening. The truck was transporting uranium at the time.

The Massac County Fire Department responded and put the fire out. They say the fire started in the engine of the cab of the truck.

Honeywell spokesman Peter Dalpe released the statement below.

“The tractor or cab part of a tractor trailer that was delivering natural uranium ore caught on fire in front of Honeywell Metropolis facility Sunday evening. Local firefighters responded and extinguished the fire. There were no reported injuries to the driver and there are no reports that the fire breached the trailer. Firefighters indicated the fire apparent started in the engine compartment of tractor.

The truck was not in the facility itself and there was no danger to the operations. The plant initially declared a plant alert and notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as per plant procedures. However, that alert status was later downgrade to plant emergency, which is the lowest alert status at the plant.”

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Tepco rejected requests for anti-tsunami steps before 2011 nuclear crisis via The Japan Times

Posted on 2015/09/27 by yukimiyamotodepaul

Tokyo Electric Power Co. turned down requests in 2009 by the nuclear safety agency to consider concrete steps against tsunami waves at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which suffered a tsunami-triggered disaster two years later, government documents showed Friday.

“Do you think you can stop the reactors?” a Tepco official was quoted as telling Shigeki Nagura of the now-defunct Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, who was then assigned to review the plant’s safety, in response to one of his requests.

The detailed exchanges between the plant operator and the regulator came to light through the latest disclosure of government records on its investigation into the nuclear crisis, adding to evidence that Tepco failed to take proper safety steps ahead of the world’s worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

According to records of Nagura’s accounts, Nagura heard Tepco’s explanations of its tsunami estimates at the agency’s office in Tokyo in August and September 2009 as it was becoming clear that coastal areas of Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures were hit by massive tsunami following an earthquake in 869.

Tepco said the height of waves was estimated to be around 8 meters above sea level and will not reach the plant site, which was located at a height of 10 meters, they show.

But Nagura said he remembered thinking pumps with key cooling functions, which were located on the ground at a height of 4 meters, “will not make it” and told Tepco, “If this is the outcome, you better consider concrete responses.”

In refusing to immediately act, Tepco said it would wait for related studies to be carried out by the academic society of civil engineers, which it had requested to be done by March 2012.

Nagura also proposed placing the pumps inside buildings to protect them from being exposed to water, but a Tepco official told him, “Our company cannot make a decision without seeing the results of the (studies by the) society of civil engineers.”

Then another Tepco official told Nagura, “Do you think you can stop the reactors?” according to the government documents.

Nagura recalled in the documents, “I wondered why I had to be told such a thing.” But he also admitted that, after all, he only encouraged Tepco to “consider” tsunami countermeasures and did not request that it “take” specific measures.

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「原爆・原発」シンポ：戦後７０年記念　高校生が幸福や平和考える　安城　／愛知 via 毎日新聞

Posted on 2015/09/27 by yukimiyamotodepaul

　◇命より大事なものない

安城市小堤町の安城学園高で２６日、学園祭が開催され、戦後７０年記念のシンポジウム「『原爆・原発』未来の２つの顔〜今伝え なければいけないこと」が行われた。被爆者と原発事故被災者の体験談を聞きながら、高校生の視点で原子力利用の在り方を考え、人間の幸福や平和とは何かを 話し合った。

広島で生後９カ月に被爆した「県原水爆被災者の会」（名古屋市）の金本弘副理事長（７０）は「現在も大勢が被爆の認定を巡って提訴し、社会的差別を避けるため、被爆者であることを隠している。被爆７０年も経て、なぜ苦しまなければならないのか」と訴えた。

東京電力福島第１原発事故で被災し、三重県四日市市の親戚宅に避難した福島県南相馬市の尾子（おおじ）富夫さん（６５）は「放 射性物質が今も漏れ続けている大事故なのに、地元民へは秘密主義を貫き、大した事故でないように伝えられた。『無知は罪』を痛感した。旧ソ連のチェルノブ イリ原発事故では、発生数年後からがんなどの発症が急増したといい、福島の今後が心配だ」と述べた。

傍聴した高校生などからは「日本が被爆のことを忘れたから、福島の原発事故を招いたのではないか」や「福島の原発事故が終息しないのに、東京五輪の開催とかリニア中央新幹線の新設など、被災地を考えない方向に動いていいのか」などの意見が出された。

続きは「原爆・原発」シンポ：戦後７０年記念　高校生が幸福や平和考える　安城　／愛知

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大阪）アジアの脱原発、活動の軌跡が本にvia 朝日新聞

Posted on 2015/09/26 by

　アジア各地で脱原発に取り組む市民団体のネットワーク「ノーニュークス・アジアフォーラム」が、２０余年間の活動の軌跡を本にまとめた。[…]
「原発をとめるアジアの人びと」（創史社、税抜き１５００円）では、アジア各地への日本の原発輸出の動きから各地で広がる原発反対運動を紹介する。台湾の第四原発は昨年、反対運動の強まりで計画が凍結。タイでは東京電力福島第一原発の事故後、政府が原発の導入延期を表明した。

　本の執筆にあたったフォーラムの宇野田陽子さん（４６）＝豊中市＝は「福島の事故のずっと前からアジア各地で原発の危険性に気づき、活動してきた人がいることを知ってほしい」。

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原発事故調書を追加公開　東電に津波対策検討促す経緯も原発事故調書を追加公開　東電に津波対策検討促す経緯もvia 朝日新聞

Posted on 2015/09/26 by

政府は２４日、東京電力福島第一原発事故の政府事故調査・検証委員会が関係者から聞き取った調書のうち５人分を新たに公開した。
[…]
調書によると、名倉審査官は福島第一原発に高さ８メートルほどの津波が来る可能性があるとの試算結果について２００９年９月に東電から説明を受け、「（海側の）ポンプはだめだな」と感じたという。その上で「具体的な対応を検討した方がよい」などと話した。東電側は「（原発の津波評価手法をまとめた）土木学会の結果を踏まえないと判断できない」「炉を止めることができるんですか」などと答えたとしている。ただ、名倉審査官も切迫した状況とは認識せず、「予算を取ってもやりなさいとまでは言っていない」とした。

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日本環境会議：地域保全と「卒原発」　嘉田前知事ら講演　大津・びわこ成蹊スポーツ大学で来月３日　／滋賀via 毎日新聞　

Posted on 2015/09/26 by

[…]
日本環境会議は１９７９年、学際的研究グループ「公害研究委員会」のメンバーを中心に設立された。現在の会員は、公害問題や環境問題に関わる研究者や弁護士、医師、各地の住民団体代表ら約５００人。国内外の公害や環境に関する問題を調査・研究し、政策提言をしている。

　当日は午後１時開会。第１部では、嘉田氏が「なぜ“卒原発”を琵琶湖から提唱したのか？　“被害地元”知事の責任と苦悩」、小出裕章・元京都大原子炉実験所助教が「原発再稼働に道理はない」をテーマに話す。

　第２部はシンポジウムで、「びわこの保全と若狭の原発」について、関西電力大飯原発３、４号機（福井県おおい町）の再稼働差し止め訴訟の原告団長、中嶌哲演さんらが現状を報告する。「卒原発」を継承する三日月大造知事も発言する予定。

　嘉田氏は「住民の安全・安心を守るという意思が原子力委員会や政府には欠けており、法令にも行政手続きにも不備がある。事故が起きたら人は逃げることができても、琵琶湖は逃げられないことを示したい」と話している。【北出昭】

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平山前知事が「再稼働反対」 via 新潟日報

Posted on 2015/09/26 by

　前知事の平山征夫・新潟国際情報大学学長は25日、新潟日報社の取材に対し、東京電力柏崎刈羽原発をはじめとする全国の原発再稼働について「反対だ」と明言した。知事時代は原発を容認していたが、原発から出る高レベル放射性廃棄物（核のごみ）の最終処分地選定のめどがついていないことなどから、反対の考えに転じた。

　平山氏は１９９２年から２００４年まで知事を務めた。再稼働をめぐって反対の発言をするのは初めて。

　柏崎刈羽原発７号機は在任中の１９９７年に営業運転を開始。99年、同原発のプルサーマル計画の受け入れを表明した。２００２年のトラブル隠しの影響で一時、同原発の全７基が停止したが、その後運転再開を容認した経緯がある。

　平山氏はプルサーマル計画の受け入れに際し、当時の福島、福井の知事とともに、使用済み核燃料の貯蔵保管の在り方や、核のごみの最終処分地選定といった「バックエンド対策」を国民の理解を得ながら具体的に進めるよう国に要望したという。

　今回、再稼働反対の立場を鮮明にしたのは、こうしたバックエンド対策の要望から10年以上が過ぎ、東日本大震災による福島第１原発事故を経た中で、「当時と状況がほとんど変わっていないからだ」と強調した。
[…]

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EXCLUSIVE: 3 Westinghouse workers burned in Columbia plant incident Friday via The State

Posted on 2015/09/26 by

COLUMBIA, SC
Steam that erupted from a wash tank at the Columbia Westinghouse nuclear fuel production plant injured three workers early Friday morning, closed the final fuel rod assembly area and triggered an internal investigation, a plant spokeswoman told The State newspaper.

“At no time was the public or the environment at risk,” spokeswoman Jessica Barfield said of the 4:30 a.m. incident at the plant off Bluff Road south of the Capital City. She said there was no explosion and that steam escaped because of a “mechanical issue.”

Westinghouse notified federal and state regulatory agencies as well as workplace accident investigators, Barfield said.

The third-shift workers, whom she did not identify, got onsite medical assistance then were taken to a Columbia-area hospital. Afterward, they were transported to the Augusta burn center, which specializes in treating severe burns.

Barfield said she did not know the extent of the burns. Asked if the injuries are life threatening, she said, “I can’t speak to that.”

[…]
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Roger Hannah confirmed that Westinghouse notified his agency as a courtesy.

“My understanding is it did not involve exposure of any kind to radiological material that we would regulate,” Hannah said when a reporter reached him after he had left his Atlanta office.

The company also notified the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. “We received a courtesy notification this morning from the Westinghouse nuclear fuel facility that an incident had occurred at that location,” DHEC spokesman Jim Beasley said in a statement. “We are aware of no threat posed to either the public’s health or the environment as a result.”

[…]

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Poverty, nuclear weapons and the environment: Pope Francis at the UN via RT

Posted on 2015/09/26 by yukimiyamotodepaul
Saving the planet is part of helping the poor and the excluded, Pope Francis told a UN summit. The pontiff called for a ban on nuclear weapons and chastised international finance and ‘ideological colonization’ for making the world worse.

Addressing the UN Sustainable Development Summit on Friday, the head of the Roman Catholic Church made a nod to the importance of the UN, now that technology has enabled humanity to overcome distance and frontiers and “all natural limits to the exercise of power.”

“Technological power, in the hands of nationalistic or falsely universalist ideologies, is capable of perpetrating tremendous atrocities,” the Pope said, praising the achievements of the UN in containing that potential as “lights which help to dispel the darkness of the disorder caused by unrestrained ambitions and collective forms of selfishness.”

[…]

The Pope commended the nuclear deal recently reached between the UN powers and Iran as “proof of the potential of political good will and of law, exercised with sincerity, patience and constancy,” pushing for further application of the non-proliferation treaty with the ultimate goal of completely prohibiting nuclear weapons.

READ MORE: Key points of historic nuclear deal reached by Iran and 6 world powers

One of the highlights of the pontiff’s speech was his case for the “right of the environment,” citing both material and spiritual arguments. From the material side, human beings are part of the environment and can only survive so long as it remains hospitable.

“Any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity,” Pope Francis said.

From the spiritual perspective, Christians believe that everything in creation has intrinsic value, and that the Creator who made the universe “permits man respectfully to use creation for the good of his fellow men and for the glory of the Creator; he is not authorized to abuse it, much less to destroy it.”

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核兵器廃絶デーに国連大学で講演 「被爆体験の継承必要」via 新潟日報

Posted on 2015/09/26 by yukimiyamotodepaul

作家の高橋源一郎さんが２６日、東京・渋谷の国連大学で講演し、第２次大戦中にフィリピン・ルソン島で戦死した伯父の話を紹介して戦争の悲惨さを訴えた。続く討論会では「核兵器廃絶に向け、世代や国を超えた被爆体験の継承が必要」などと意見が交わされた。

核兵器廃絶日本ＮＧＯ連絡会が国連の核兵器廃絶国際デーに合わせて主催し、約１１０人が出席した。

続きは核兵器廃絶デーに国連大学で講演 「被爆体験の継承必要」

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