“the myth of nuclear safety”
“devoted to the myth of nuclear safety”
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120724a1.html
Tuesday, July 24, 2012, By KAZUAKI NAGATA, Staff writer
The meltdowns that took place at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant after the March 11, 2011, megaquake and tsunami were caused by a government and a utility that were ill-prepared for an emergency because they were devoted to the myth of nuclear safety, an independent panel concluded Monday.
The government panel said it found no physical evidence linking the quake to the loss of the cooling systems at the 40-year-old plant. Tokyo Electric Power Co. claims the tsunami caused the damage, not the temblor. "Because the government and the power utilities, including Tepco, were biased by the safety myth, thinking they would never ever face such a serious accident, they were unable to realize that such a crisis could occur in reality. This appears to be the fundamental problem," the panel said in its final report.
Tepco thus failed to prepare adequate tsunami defenses or crisis management procedures to deal with a station blackout, the panel's report said. It further faulted an inadequate legal system for nuclear crisis management, a crisis-command disarray caused by the government and Tepco, and possible excess meddling on the part of the prime minister's office in the early stage of the crisis.
The panel, headed by Yotaro Hatamura, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, submitted the report to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Monday afternoon.
“devoted to the myth of nuclear safety”
The "safety myth" & "regulatory capture"
Investigators fault nuclear culture
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120906f1.html
Thursday, Sep. 6, 2012 - By KAZUAKI NAGATA - Staff writer
Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Yotaro Hatamura and Koichi Kitazawa, who led separate investigations into the Fukushima nuclear crisis, appear together at a symposium in Tokyo last Friday. (KAZUAKI NAGATA) Kitazawa's private-sector commission released its final report in February, while the panels run by Kurokawa and Hatamura released theirs in July. The three chairmen stressed that it is crucial for Japan's nuclear power community to change its institutional culture and adopt a more transparent process for making policy.
Kiyoshi Kurokawa, who led a Diet-appointed panel, Yotaro Hatamura, who chaired a government-appointed panel, and Koichi Kitazawa, who headed a team set up by the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation that became known as the "private-sector" investigation panel, appeared at the same public event last Friday for the first time since they finished their investigations to discuss their findings and exchange views on how their respective reports can be utilized.
They said people involved in nuclear safety issues were hung up on the notion — often dubbed the "safety myth" — that Japan's reactors were safe and could not possibly suffer a catastrophic accident, so they didn't have to think ahead about steps to contain such crises.
Kurokawa, a physician and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, said NISA, the government nuclear watchdog, failed to properly implement regulations because the utilities have more nuclear expertise, reversing the position of the regulators and those being regulated in a phenomenon called "regulatory capture."
The people in charge of nuclear safety were mainly concerned with how things usually go right and "they significantly failed to visualize how things could go wrong," said Hatamura.
Breach of Faith
Zero Preparation for CERTAIN disaster
Team Obama announced that the Strategic (anti-radiation) Drug Stockpile was running on EMPTY.
There is NO Prussian Blue OR Potassium Chloride available to the USA public in the event of a nuclear disaster.
Zero anti-radiation pills were available to USA tourists, ex-pats, military and/or military dependents, following the Fukushima Daiichi multiple meltdowns, explosions and nuclear fallout releases.
Zero anti-radiation drugs were available for distribution along the Missouri River floodzone last year for the USA citizen populations near the flood-threatened nuclear reactors.
There is NO pretense of nuclear power safety in the USA. This is a Breach of Faith with the DOWNWIND populations.
This is another Myth of 'nuclear safety'.
Lucky for Texas y Tamaulipas
TEPCO Environmental Impact
Government suspends nuclear license decisions
http://www.chron.com/business/article/Government-suspends-nuclear-licens...
By Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Houston Chronicle, Texas, USA 9:59 p.m., Tuesday, August 7, 2012
WASHINGTON - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday voted to halt final decisions on new and renewed licenses for reactors nationwide. The commission said it would give the public an opportunity to comment on its decisions, including the breadth of any future environmental reviews.
The move could mean a potentially years-long delay of final decisions on as many as 19 pending nuclear power plant licenses, including a proposal to renew those for the South Texas Project nuclear plant near Bay City. Existing licenses for the two pressurized-water nuclear reactors at the South Texas nuclear plant are set to expire in 2027 and 2028. In October 2010, the South Texas Nuclear Project (STNP), asked the NRC to renew the licenses. San Antonio's city-owned utility, CPS Energy, owns the South Texas Project along with Austin Energy and NRG Energy.
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TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) WAS earlier announced as a partner in the proposed EXPANSION of the STNP.
TEPCO has recently acquired CONSIDERABLE expertise in Environmental Impacts from multiple, nuclear power plant disasters. TEPCO has also demonstrated a considerable talent at initiating massive ‘man-made’ disasters. TEPCO has great alacrity at exacerbating health, environmental and economic damages by LYING, intimidation, bribery, extortion, bullying and propaganda.
Lucky for Texas USA, Tamaulipas, Mexico and Nuevo Leon Mexico, TEPCO is no longer financially capable of wreaking havoc with the environment, health and/or economy.
TEPCO Environmental Impact
Another MYTH of ‘nuclear safety’
"Even a blind hog finds an acorn once in awhile"
http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/57ACA94A8FFAD8AF85257A1700502AA4/$file/11-1045-1377720.pdf United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT Argued March 16, 2012 Decided June 8, 2012 No. 11-1045, STATE OF NEW YORK, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION AND UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, RESPONDENTS, STATE OF NEW JERSEY, ET AL., INTERVENORS
SENTELLE, Chief Judge: Four states, an Indian community, and a number of environmental groups petition this Court for review of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC” or “Commission”) rulemaking regarding temporary storage and permanent disposal of nuclear waste. We hold …
The Commission’s evaluation of the risks of spent nuclear fuel is deficient in two ways:
First, in concluding that permanent storage will be available “when necessary,” the Commission did not calculate the environmental effects of failing to secure permanent storage—a possibility that cannot be ignored.
Second, in determining that spent fuel can safely be stored on site at nuclear plants for sixty years after the expiration of a plant’s license, the Commission failed to properly examine future dangers and key consequences. For these reasons, we grant the petitions for review, vacate the Commission’s orders, and remand for further proceedings.
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Another MYTH of ‘nuclear safety’
'crooked as a snake back'
Even a CORRUPT federal court system occasionally ‘gets one right’
http://www.vnf.com/news-alerts-717.html
The D.C. Circuit’s decision casts a cloud of uncertainty over pending licensing proceedings at the NRC, and may affect judicial review of recent licensing actions.
First, in pending proceedings, the NRC will not be able to rely on the vacated rules in issuing commercial reactor licenses, license extensions, and “power uprate” (MOX) license amendments.
Second, licenses, license renewals and power uprate license amendments issued since 2010 that relied on the now-vacated rules may also be affected. Challengers may seek court orders or remands to the NRC on the basis of the D.C. Circuit’s decision.
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The federal court system is 'crooked as a snake back', but this is a well considered decision.
Spent Nuclear Fuel Hazards
Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Hazards
The teetering Fukushima Daiichi Unit-4 Spent Fuel Pool panicked Obama to South America. Japan feared a 300 mile radius blast crater. Yep SNF is an environmental hazard.
http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/57ACA94A8FFAD8AF85257A1700502AA4/$file/11-1045-1377720.pdf
Even though it is no longer useful for nuclear power, SNF poses a dangerous, long-term health and environmental risk. It will remain dangerous “for time spans seemingly beyond human comprehension.” Determining how to dispose of the growing volume of SNF, which may reach 150,000 metric tons by the year 2050, is a serious problem.
Yet despite years of “blue ribbon” commissions, congressional hearings, agency reports, and site investigations, the United States has not yet developed a permanent solution. That failure, declared the most recent “blue ribbon” panel, is the “central flaw of the U.S. nuclear waste management program to date.” Experts agree that the ultimate solution will be a “geologic repository,” in which SNF is stored deep within the earth, protected by a combination of natural and engineered barriers. Twenty years of work on establishing such a repository at Yucca Mountain was recently abandoned when the Department of Energy decided to withdraw its license application for the facility. At this time, there is not even a prospective site for a repository, let alone progress toward the actual construction of one.
“SNF poses a dangerous, long-term health and environmental risk”
Objective & Correct
“Objective and correct information on radiation should be disclosed”
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120727b6.html
Friday, July 27, 2012
"We must . . . consider the psychological, social influences on the people" that is created by having fears about radiation and experiencing continued stress, Volodymyr Kholosha, head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management, told reporters in Tokyo.
"In that respect, objective and correct information on radiation should be disclosed to them," Kholosha said, referring to those being affected by the March 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Japan and Ukraine signed a cooperation treaty in April under which they will be able to swap information in areas such as decontamination, medical treatment and the mental rehabilitation of disaster survivors, according to Japanese officials.
“Objective and correct information on radiation”
A sad truth
The truth is that nulcear power is not safe at all.
And it is so laughable that some people push nuclear power as sustainable.
How can a nuclear accident like Fukushima be sustainable to our planet and everything on it including the air that circles around it?
How?
No one really believes in
No one really believes in nuclear power. It's just nice to get $$$$ and float in the clouds while banging the expensive wife.
the myth of nuclear safety
“devoted to the myth of nuclear safety”
The panel also faulted Tepco for not preparing sufficient tsunami defenses and said it lobbied the government to not impose stricter safety guidelines, and said nuclear regulators were also to blame for not requiring the utility to better gird for natural disasters.
The Fukushima off-site crisis HQ lost power and sustained high radiation levels
The government failed to announce events and how it might affect nearby people
NISA was reluctant to inform the media that reactor 1's fuel rods melted
Delayed evacuation of Futaba hospital and the health care facility for the elderly
“devoted to the myth of nuclear safety”
2/3 of the Audio is MISSING!
Depth of Fukushima No. 1 evacuation plan unclear in videos
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120808a2.html
By JUN HONGO Staff writer
Tepco claims it never considered totally abandoning Fukushima No. 1 and maintains that Takahashi was only talking about evacuating only noncritical workers, thus leaving the minimum necessary to deal with the crisis. But Kan and other top government officials suspected Tepco was preparing a total withdrawal. They have said that a full pullout would have caused meltdowns in all of the plant's six reactors as well as their spent-fuel pools, because there would have been no one there to restore and continue cooling operations. This scenario, they said, would have caused catastrophic radioactive fallout across eastern Japan. Earlier reports even indicated the whole Tokyo area would have been in jeopardy.
Yukio Edano, the chief Cabinet secretary at the time, said Shimizu called him at the prime minister's office early on the morning of March 15, seeking approval to evacuate workers from the plant. The scene was not captured on the video. Edano concluded from the conversation that Shimizu was looking to have all the workers retreat from the plant. Edano recalled replying: "If we did such a thing, the situation would be out of control. It would become worse and worse and just unstoppable."
2/3 of the Audio is MISSING!
Concealed Engineering Reports
TEPCO FARCE
TEPCO is hiding the Engineering Reports. The Engineer Reports TO TEPCO Headquarters contain the Real Time Data and On the Spot Technical Analysis. Corporate management, received and concealed the data, engineer statements and engineering analysis. The “nonexecutive employees” were briefing the ‘executive employees’. The more useful information is REDACTED, as expected.
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120808-36...
TEPCO video heavily altered
“TEPCO has until now refused to disclose the video, saying it was protecting the privacy of its employees. The firm's new management, which came into power on June 27, was behind the video's disclosure.
However, TEPCO placed several conditions on the video's disclosure, including prohibitions on recording the video's visual and audio content or naming nonexecutive employees. Should media companies violate these conditions, TEPCO will bar them from viewing the video again and participating in its press conferences.”
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It shall be interesting to observe the Japanese public and politicians reaction to this newest TEPCO FARCE.
TEPCO video heavily altered
TEPCO video heavily altered
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120808-36...
ASIAONE NEWS ASIA The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network
The recently disclosed video of Tokyo Electric Power Co. teleconferences that took place just after the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has been significantly altered, with many images blurred and audio heavily obscured.
The media had requested the recording of the teleconferences be released immediately after the nuclear crisis began. However, the about 150-minute-long video is another example of TEPCO's less than positive attitude toward disclosing information about the crisis. TEPCO said it edited audio, such as people's speech and other sounds, 1,665 times in the video, and blurred images another 29 times.
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TEPCO LIES ABOUT LYING, IMHO
“[a NUCLEAR explosion at the No. 3 reactor]”
Fukushima Daiichi Unit-3 NUCLEAR Blast
An Atomic Explosion occurred in Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3
Hydrogen explosions were televised in Fukushima Daiichi Unit-1 (FDU-1), FDU-2 and, for that matter, at Three Mile Island in the USA. Hydrogen explosions are nothing to deny, they have unfortunately become quite commonplace.
The concern expressed about MOX-Fueled FDU-3, was if a NUCLEAR Explosion occurred.
The transcript parenthetical reference misrepresents the subject of discussion.
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120808-36...
TEPCO video heavily altered
ASIA ONE NEWS ASIA, The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network, Wednesday, Aug 08, 2012
The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association asked TEPCO to disclose all teleconferences in their entirety without any alterations. However, the video only includes footage from the evening of March 11 to March 16, 2011--about five days in total. This reluctance to readily make information available was evident within the video footage.
Around the time some experts suggested a hydrogen explosion had taken place at the No. 3 reactor building, then TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata was on the phone with a senior TEPCO executive. "It's my judgment on whether we can cause the general public anxiety. If I'm asked about that [a hydrogen explosion at the No. 3 reactor] at the next news conference, I'll deny it and say it would never happen," Katsumata said.
Corrected Transcript:
“[a NUCLEAR explosion at the No. 3 reactor]”
If I'm asked about that [a NUCLEAR explosion at the No. 3 reactor] at the next news conference, I'll deny it and say it would never happen," Katsumata said.
“[a NUCLEAR explosion at the No. 3 reactor]”
Nixon had an 18 ½ minute GAP
The felonious Nixon Whitehouse only had an 18 ½ minute GAP
http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa081301a.htm
On tape 342, President Nixon and his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman are meeting in the old Executive Office Building on June 20, 1972, just three days after the Watergate break-in. As the two men talk, their conversation is suddenly replaced by 18.5 minutes of silence broken only by electronic-sounding clicks and hisses.
When the apparent erasure was disclosed in late 1973, Nixon's already damaged credibility reached perhaps its lowest point during the entire Watergate scandal. Facing impeachment in the House and probable conviction in the Senate, Nixon resigned the presidency in August of 1974.
Nixon's secretary, the late Rose Mary Woods, ended up taking the blame for the erasures. Woods testified that while she was transcribing the tape, a ringing phone startled her, causing her to press a wrong button without removing her foot from the recording device's foot pedal, accidentally recording over the missing section of tape.
Nixon resigned the presidency in August of 1974