Groundbreaking study reveals Fukushima that nuclear waste is poisoning wildlife in Japan.  enenews.com

The Japanese government has decided to lift an evacuation order on 1 October 2014 for part of a Fukushima Prefecture village within 20 kilometers of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear station. nucnet.org

Congress last week passed a spending bill funding government operations into early December including $13.7 million for cleanup activities at the Portsmouth gaseous diffusion facility in Ohio. nuclearstreet.com

Israel said on Wednesday that Iran has used its Parchin military base as the site for secret tests of technology that could be used only for detonating a nuclear weapon. uk.reuters.com

         I have written previous posts about the nuclear aspirations and efforts of North Korea. They have tested intermediate range rockets and have been working hard on miniaturizing nuclear warheads so that they can be carried by their missiles. Even though they have a huge army, it is poorly equipped and would not be effecting in conventional warfare against a well armed foe such as South Korea. N.K. is developing nuclear weapons because they would give N.K. an edge in a conflict with South Korea.

          The strategic nuclear missiles in the arsenals of nations with nuclear weapons are intended to carry big nuclear warheads on intercontinental flights. These warheads are designed to do major damage to large areas such as cities, factory complexes or military bases. N.K would not like to devastate huge areas of South Korea with strategic nuclear bombs because they want to invade and hold South Korea. There is also the probability that there would be major fallout in N.K. if they dropped big nuclear warheads on the South.

        In the last decade, N.K. developed their “transporter erector launchers” or mobile artillery rocket launchers with the assistance of the Chinese. These launchers can fire three hundred millimeter diameter artillery rockets that can carry about two hundred pounds of explosives.

        Since 2010, N.K has produced a new version of the three hundred millimeter mobile rocket launchers with the assistance of the Russians. The new launcher was made public in May of 2013. N.K. has also been working on the KN-10, a three hundred millimeter rocket based on the Russian SS-21 ground-to-ground missile. This rocket will be able to carry over a thousand pounds of explosives up to one hundred and twenty four miles. It was announced publicly in August of this year.

        It is believed that N.K. is also working on miniature tactical nuclear warheads for the KN-10 missile. Tactical nuclear warheads are much smaller than strategic nuclear warheads and are intended for use on battlefields against military targets. Their use in a conflict with South Korea would give the North Koreans an advantage on the battlefield and would leave most of South Korea undamaged.

          Even without tactical nuclear warheads, the new KN-10 missiles are much more powerful and would cause much more damage than the old generation of three hundred millimeter artillery missiles. The United States has troops on edge of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. They are there so that an attempt to invade South Korea by North Korea would encounter these U.S. troops and trigger war with the U.S. With tactical nuclear weapons in the mix, a war on the Korean peninsula would be more complex. South Korea does not have nuclear weapons and the U.S. would have to decide whether to answer North Korean aggression with U.S. tactical nuclear weapons.

Example of a North Korean missile and mobile launcher:

An extremely radioactive used car was almost to be imported from Japan to Russia.  fukushima-diary.com

Fallout in California thousands of times higher than we expected for several days after Fukushima explosions.  enenews.com

Russia expects that within two years it will receive a contract to construct Jordan’s first nuclear power plant following the signing of a project development agreement. world-nuclear-news.org

Statements by a European Commission spokesman indicate the UK’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project will be approved under state aid rules. world-nuclear-news.org

         This is Part 2 of my post about nuclear insurance issues. (see Part 1 posted on 9/19/14.) Part 1 discussed the current insurance situation and some of the related problems that were presented at the 2014 World Nuclear Association Symposium held in London. In this post, I am going to talk about some possible improvements in the global nuclear insurance industry.

         The European Commission recently discussed the fact that current compensation limits are not realistic in view of the probable cost of a major nuclear accident. They also talked about a new system for nuclear accident compensation that would draw up to twenty billion dollars from a variety of sources to create a compensation pool.

         The sources of money for the compensation pool would include the self insurance system currently in place in the United States. Additional funds would come from specialist insurance pools and mutual funds. And, finally, drawing funds from a whole new sector of the insurance market that is currently reluctant to get involved with nuclear accident compensation because of the problems with defining nuclear damage and prescription periods for payouts. One of the primary benefits of the proposed system would be to lower the burden the current system places on the taxpayer.

         Drawing on this compensation pool of funds would be based on simple triggers that would release payments only in the case of a very serious nuclear accident. One possible trigger would be an event that rated above a level 5 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. Another possible trigger would be the detection of certain levels of radiation around the site of an accident. The purpose of the triggers would be to remove current ambiguity about the type of events and situations that should result in compensation of victims.

        The new system would not require that every operating nuclear reactor site have highest possible coverage. Individual insurance firms would be able to limit their exposure to only one or two triggering events. If fully implemented, the new insurance model should be obligatory to everyone in the nuclear industry. There has to be enough income from premiums in order to make it worthwhile for the insurance industry to make major financial commitments to the program.

         This system of “risk transfer insurance” steps in with “distress funding” when a major unexpected event threatens the financial stability of a company. With this system in place, a nuclear power plant owner could focus on dealing with getting a nuclear accident under control without having to simultaneously worry about paying out compensation claims or figuring out how to secure future funding in light of losses association with the accident.

         The bottom line is that a small premium of fractions of a penny per kilowatt hour could result in much greater financial security for the nuclear industry. As nuclear technology improves over time, the cost of the premium could be reduced. Given the virtual certainty of another major nuclear accident in the not too distant future, improving the system of insurance compensation for nuclear accidents victims would be a very good idea.

 

Plume of Fukushima radiation is traveling very fast via oceanic jet toward the U.S. West Coast.  enenews.com

Fennovoima Oy and Rosatom last week moved a step closer to building a new nuclear plant in Finland. nuclearstreet.com

Congress last week approved $13.7 million for cleanup activities at the Portsmouth gaseous diffusion facility in Ohio. nuclearstreet.com

Nuclear energy will have an important role in meeting targets of a new Chinese national climate change plan that sets out emission and clean energy targets for 2020. world-nuclear-new.org

Radioactive material from Fukushima is now flowing toward Tokyo and contaminating their water supply. enenews.com

A radiation monitoring website was apparently hacked to lower radiation readings for California and New Mexico. allnewspipeline.com

Senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee used a hearing recently on two nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to air their concerns with how the commission works. thehill.com

Russia’s atomic energy agency said Monday it will provide up to eight nuclear reactors to South Africa by 2023 in a $50 billion strategic partnership between the two countries. news.yahoo.com