Fukushima Daiichi seafront well radiation skyrockets. fukuleaks.org
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Geiger Readings for January 16, 2014
Ambient office = 114 nanosieverts per hourAmbient outside = 109 nanosieverts per hourSoil exposed to rain water = 117 nanosieverts per hourCrimini mushroom from Central Market = 94 nanosieverts per hourTap water = 116 nanosieverts per hourFiltered water = 103 nanosieverts per hour -
Nuclear Reactors 198 – France May Build More Nuclear Reactors To Replace Its Aging Fleet
Germany is shutting down all of their nuclear reactors. Other European countries are investing heavily in alternative energy sources. France gets about seventy five percent of its electricity from nuclear power. France’s lower house of parliament has passed a law that would reduce France’s dependence on nuclear power from seventy five to fifty percent. However, apparently the French do not intend to abandon nuclear power altogether.
The French Energy Minister recently said that France should build a new generation of nuclear power reactors to replace the aging French reactor fleet. Almost half of France’s fifty eight reactors will reach the end of their licensed lifespan of forty years by 2025. The Minister is the first French official to recommend new reactors after the passage of the recent energy legislation.
EDF is a French utility company that is primarily owned by the French government. It produces twenty two percent of the electricity for the European Union, primarily from the fifty eight French power reactors it operates. Investors have been wary of pouring more money into nuclear power because France is in the process of re-evaluating its dependence on nuclear power.
The announcement by the Energy Minister has given a boost to the EDF stock price. Morgan Stanley recently upgraded a British energy company and Citigroup has made some positive comments about the nuclear industry. These events have made investing in French nuclear power reactors more attractive.
However, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux stated that new nuclear builds are not competitive with energy prices below one hundred and twenty dollars per megawatt hour. Cheap oil and natural gas have brought energy prices down recently. Recently, the British government had to guarantee a price floor for the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power reactor that will be operated by EDF.
EDF brings in more than seventy five billion dollar a year but it will have to spend about sixty five billion dollars in the next ten years to upgrade its existing plants. Some of the work that is required was made necessary by tightening regulations in light of the Fukushima disaster. In order to finance the upgrades, EDF is calling for the extension of licenses to sixty years. They claim that their reactor designs are based on U.S. reactor designs which were intended to last sixty years. The Energy Minister agrees that some of France’s reactors can safely operate for up to sixty years. The authority for extensions of reactor licenses rests with the France’s Nuclear Safety Authority, an independent nuclear watchdog agency. The ASN is suppose to make a preliminary decision about permitting extensions of reactor licenses this year. A final decision on the license life spans will be made by 2019.
The older reactors get, the more expensive they are to operate and repair. Electricity from nuclear power will just keep getting more expensive. Nuclear power is already facing stiff competition with solar and wind power reaching grid parity with other sources of energy in the near future. France would be better off decommissioning its aging fleet of reactors and replacing them with sustainable alternative energy sources.
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Geiger Readings for January 15, 2014
Ambient office = 71 nanosieverts per hourAmbient outside = 58 nanosieverts per hourSoil exposed to rain water = 52 nanosieverts per hourVine ripened tomato from Central Market = 100 nanosieverts per hourTap water = 105 nanosieverts per hourFiltered water = 94 nanosieverts per hour -
Nuclear Reactors 197 – Japan Has A New State Secrets Law That Will Reduce Media Coverage of Fukushima Disaster
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:
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Geiger Readings for January 14, 2014
Ambient office = 132 nanosieverts per hourAmbient outside = 106 nanosieverts per hourSoil exposed to rain water = 102 nanosieverts per hourIceberg lettuce from Central Market = 108 nanosieverts per hourTap water = 108 nanosieverts per hourFiltered water = 102 nanosieverts per hour -
Nuclear Reactors 196 – Russia Has Ambitious But Unrealistic Nuclear Reactor Export Plans
In previous blog posts, I have often mentioned the ambition of the Russian government to be a major supplier of nuclear reactors to foreign nations. The negotiations between India and Russia for the construction of twenty one new nuclear reactors has been all over the news lately. Russia is also ramping up fast breeder reactors to make plutonium which it can then sell to reactor customers to fuel their Russian reactors. Competition between Russia and Westinghouse to fuel Ukrainian reactors has also been reported. Russian environmentalist Vladimir Slivyak with EcoDefense is speaking out against the Russian nuclear industry and facing suppression for opposing the Russian nuclear ambitions.
Slivyak says that the Russians have basically ignored the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Although the Russian nuclear push has been slowed down by corruption and technical difficulties, the Russian nuclear industry is well financed and dedicated to an ambitious program of nuclear development. One goal of the Russian nuclear program is to build dozens of reactors outside of Russia. Rosatom says that it has about one hundred billion dollars worth of reactor orders. It is doubtful that there will be much profit in these programs because foreign reactor orders usually include loan guarantees and direct Russian funding of these international projects. Any profit from sale and operation of such reactors will take decades achieve. The money that is invested in foreign reactors remains in Russia to pay the companies that manufacture components for the reactors. Thus, the survival of the Russian nuclear industry is dependent on the support of the Russian government.
As I have pointed out in the past, Russia is planning on using its nuclear exports as a way to make other countries dependent on Russian reactors and fuel in the same way that European nations are now partially dependent on Russia for oil and natural gas. There are only a few suppliers of nuclear technology and nuclear fuel in the world. Russia hopes to become a major player in this small circle of global nuclear suppliers. It is assumed that Russia will use any leverage that it gains from nuclear exports to pressure other countries into accepting Russian dominance.
Slivyak is critical of Russian nuclear ambitions and claims. Even though Russia claims to have orders to build twenty one new nuclear reactors for India and orders from other countries, he points out that Russia have been unable to build more than a few domestic reactors in the past few decades. Russia has not be able to build more than one new reactor per year. In spite of their bragging about one hundred billion in reactor orders, actual construction of Russian reactors is only taking place in Russia, Belarus and China. Slivyak says that Rosatom is promising much more than it could deliver.
Several years ago, Russia and Vietnam signed an agreement for a new reactor. Construction was to begin almost immediately. Now it has been reported that the Vietnam deal will be postponed until 2020. A contract was signed with Turkey before Vietnam for a reactor but construction has still not begun. Apparently most of the foreign orders for Russian reactors are really just agreements to negotiate over the building of reactors, not actual hard orders with fixed deadlines. Rosatom has been caught giving out exaggerated and false information about reactor orders.
One big concern about Russian nuclear plans is that if Rosatom actually begins to construct reactors, there may be serious pressure to finish any particular reactor as quickly as possible which could seriously compromise reactor safety in spite of claims that a new unbuilt and untested Russian reactor design is (or will be) the safest reactor in the world.
Russia’s Putin and India’s Modi discuss bilateral trade agreements:
