Multiple deaths of workers at Fukushima nuclear plants. enenews.com

Vermont Yankee is the latest merchant nuclear power plant to close in the face of competition from cheap natural gas.  csmonitor.com

The technical specifications for Russia’s Generation IV BN-1200 sodium-cooled fast neutron nuclear reactor have been developed and sent for an expert review, project developer Afrikantov Experimental Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering (OKBM) has said. nucnet.org

Headline speakers at a decommissioning conference in Manchester, England, in May 2015 will include Rebecca Weston, head of business and program integration at Sellafield, and Mark Rouse, managing director of Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL), organizer Nuclear Energy Insider (NEI) said. nucnet.org

 

              The United States and Russia have huge arsenals of nuclear weapons. Since the end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War, there have been disarmament  treaties between the U.S. and Russia, including several  Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START),” which have reduced nuclear arsenals in the two nations from the tens of thousands of warheads that existed at the height of the Cold War to a few thousand each today. Russia decommissioned tens of thousands of nuclear warheads and sold the nuclear materials to the U.S. to make fuel for nuclear reactors. Until recently, the trends favored an end to the insane doctrine of “mutually assured destruction” that was the basis of the Cold War stalemate. Unfortunately for the human race, relations between the two countries have been deteriorating, exacerbated by the Russian seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in early 2014.

            A senior Russian military official recently stated that “continued hostility may change the way Russia views the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.” He said that given the attitude of the United States towards Russia these days may result in Moscow changing its policies towards the treaty. On the other hand, the top Russian diplomat has said that current tensions between the U.S. and Russia will have no effect on Moscow’s disarmament program. He went on to say that START is still in effect and both the U.S. and Russia say that they are implementing its provisions. He also said that neither the U.S. nor Russia have expressed any concerns with the other nation with respect to START.

          The current version of START was signed in 2011. Under its terms, the U.S. and Russia are both allowed to have a maximum of one thousand five hundred and fifty nuclear warheads and seven hundred delivery systems. Considering that there are estimates that the detonation of as few as one hundred nuclear warheads could be sufficient to cause a “nuclear winter” that would bring the end of human civilization, the START numbers seem overly generous.

          In June of 2013, U.S. President Obama suggested a further reduction in nuclear arms. Russian President Putin replied that Russia could not afford to take such steps in view of U.S. weapons development and missile defense systems. Putin said that Russia will continue working on space defense as a key element of the entire Russian defense system. In spite of stiff sanctions imposed by other nations after the seizure of Crimea, Russian officials said that there would be no cuts to their military budget NATO.  He said that conventional Russian forces could take on NATO forces but that if Russia were losing such a fight, he would consider unleashing tactical nuclear weapons against NATO. He has also spoken about the possibility of moving nuclear weapons into Crimea.

         Both the U.S. and Russia have announced plans for upgrading their nuclear arsenals. The war of words continues as Russia slides towards economic collapse. Putin’s belligerence in Eastern Europe has helped maintain his popularity with the Russian people but threatens to start a new Cold War. Although further arms reductions seems unlikely in the near future, we can hope that someday, the huge nuclear arsenals in the U.S. and Russia will be reduced to zero.

Obama signs START 2011:

TEPCO is racing against time to process 280,000 tons of tainted water at Fukushima plant. ajw.asahi.com

Ahead of US President Barack Obama’s arrival here, India and US will seek to move decisively one more time on January 21 with a meeting of the nuclear contact group to resolve the contentious liability issue.  timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Electricte de France’s UniStar Nuclear Energy has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for more time to submit a Facility Safety Assessment Report for the proposed third reactor at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, Md. nuclearstreet.com

An early report on the negotiations between Rochester Gas & Electric and Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, owners of the R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, says that the regional utility company has gone in a different direction, proposing a plan that could push the plant closer to closure. nuclearstreet.com

Some of the local residents seeking a court injunction to halt the restart of Kyushu Electric’s Sendai nuclear plant in Kagoshima Prefecture have dropped their petitions, their lawyers say. news.nom.com

Is fallout from Fukushima causing sea creatures sickness, death or disappearance at alarming rate all along U.S. Pacific coast. enenews.com

Tecnatom and Gas Natural Fenosa have won a contract to provide engineering design support for Spain’s planned national high-level waste storage facility. world-nuclear-news.org

84-year-old activist nun imprisoned in Brooklyn jail hellhole for breaking into nuclear facility, exposing security flaws. nydailynews.com

 

 

Huge radiation spike detected at Fukushima plant. enenews.com

Fissures in earth now suspected under dam upstream of Fukushima nuke plant. enenews.com

Officials in Hanoi, Vietnam, said the country’s Atomic Energy Institute and Westinghouse Electric Company had signed a deal to train Vietnamese personnel to manage and operate nuclear power facilities. nuclearstreet.com

U.S. ex-officials to meet with North Korean nuclear chief amid standoff. foxnews.com

 

         I have posted many times about the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 and its aftermath. I also post a lot of links to articles about the consequences of the Fukushima disaster. It has impacted Japan socially, economically, politically, environmentally, and in many other ways. One of my reasons for all these Fukushima postings is to help people all over the world understand just how damaging a major nuclear accident can be.

         Unfortunately for the people of Japan, the Japanese government under Prime Minister Abe is committed not only to the restart of most of the Japanese reactors, idle since the disaster, but also making nuclear technology exports a major part of Japan’s international trade. Considering the fact that half of the nuclear technology being exported from Japan is not inspected, it might not be a good investment for other countries to purchase Japanese nuclear components and reactors.

        Reacting to the public backlash resulting from the Fukushima disaster and critical coverage in the press, Japan passed a new state secrets law. This new law has the stated purpose of “protecting national security by restricting the release of information about defense and diplomacy, or keeping information needed to prevent terrorist attacks and “specified harmful activities” confidential.” The new law is not just applicable to government bureaucrats and major defense contractors. Lawyers say that portions of the law including a requirement that anyone handling state secrets must have a background check could have an impact on academic research. The law contains three hundred and eighty two named subjects as state secrets under the law.

        Critics of the law point out that there is no powerful independent agency outside of the government that has the authority to decide what exactly falls under the new law. There were supposed to be external oversight agencies set up as part of implementing the new law but political arguments resulted in the law going into effect without the promised oversight. Academics are afraid that the ambiguity of the law could be used to persecute scientists who upset the government.

        The existence of the law and the practice of the government in designating major media as “approved,” have helped to suppress criticism of the government’s and TEPCO’s response to the Fukushima disaster. The “approved” media are afraid to publish stories that are “too” critical of government and industry. Independent journalists without the support of a major corporation will be vulnerable to claims that they violated the new law by publishing articles about radiation levels around Japan, organized crime’s  involvement in the nuclear industry, health problems caused  by Fukushima radiation and corruption in the Japanese government and nuclear industry. The government and TEPCO have already been caught withholding accurate data about environmental damage from Fukushima, related health problems and the seriousness of the damage to the power plant and the dangers it still poses. This law will serve to further prevent the Japanese people from receiving a full accounting of the causes of, nature of and consequences of the Fukushima disaster. This is especially troubling because of the current push to restart the Japanese fleet of reactors and to export Japanese nuclear technology.

Fukushima power plant just after the disaster: