"Why Fukushima is worse than you think"

In a blog special to CNN, Paris-based independent international consultant on energy and nuclear policy, Mycle Schneider, calls for an International Task Force Fukushima to provide the Japanese government and nuclear safety regulatory agency with keenly needed help at the wrecked, leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Schneider calls on the international community to "muster the will to put their own interests aside, and help Japan conquer the denial that is risking catastrophe." He is the coordinator and lead author of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report.

Just say no to nuclear power -- from Fukushima to Vermont

Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, has published a column in The Guardian analyzing Entergy's surprise announcement that it will close the Vermont Yankee reactor in October 2014, in light of the worsening crisis at Fukushima Daiichi, Japan.

Goodman quotes Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, Inc.:

“It took three years, but it was citizen pressure that got the state Senate to such a position”, nuclear-energy consultant Arnie Gundersen told me of Entergy’s announcement. He has coordinated projects at 70 nuclear plants around the country and now provides independent testimony on nuclear and radiation issues. He explained how the state of Vermont, in the first such action in the country, had banned the plant from operating beyond its original 40-year permit. Entergy was seeking a 20-year extension.

The legislature, in that 26-to-4 vote, said: ‘No, we’re not going to allow you to reapply. It’s over. You know, a deal’s a deal. We had a 40-year deal.’ Well, Entergy went to first the federal court here in Vermont and won, and then went to an appeals court in New York City and won again on the issue, as they framed it, that states have no authority to regulate safety.

Japan Industry Minister: no more radioactive "whack-a-mole" at Fukushima Daiichi

As reported by CNN, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, Toshimitsu Motegi, has said:

"Countermeasures led by Tepco to stop the contaminated water leaks have been like a "whack-a-mole" arcade game. From now on, the government is going to step forward."

Motegi made the remarks after donning a radiation protection suit and respirator, and touring the tank farm (photo, above left) where highly radioactive water leaks have been detected and/or admitted to in recent days and weeks.

Motegi's remarks echo earlier ones of his boss, Japanese Prime Minister Abe, who has declared that the Japanese national government will step up, given Tokyo Electric Power Company's clear failures.

Vermont Yankee to close in 2014!

In a victory for the state of Vermont and its people, Entergy will close Vermont Yankee in 2014 and begin decommissioning the reactor. According to the Wall Street Journal, "The station is expected to cease power production after its current fuel cycle and move to safe shutdown in the fourth quarter of 2014." The State of the Vermont, with overwhelming public support, voted to, and has been demanding, the shutdown of the troubled, aging Mark I, a twin design to those that melted down and exploded at Fukushima Daiichi. Entergy fought successfully to keep the plant open in the courts of law with support from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But the company had been exposed for lying under oath about buried leaking pipes and the reactor had suffered leaks, fires and the collapse of cooling towers. It is also contributing to thermal pollution in the Connecticut River that harms the wildlife there and the aquatic ecosystem. More news...

OPG radioactive waste dump a "declaration of war against the Great Lakes"

As reported in last week's Beyond Nuclear email bulletin, resistance is mounting on both sides of the Great Lakes international border to Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) plan to bury radioactive wastes on the Lake Huron shoreline.

On Aug. 19, Beyond Nuclear's Radioactive Waste Watchdog, Kevin Kamps, was honored to be invited to speak at the ‘Save the Great Lakes from Nuclear Waste’ town hall meeting at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. Michigan State Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D-Taylor, and State Rep. Sarah Roberts, D-St. Clair Shores, organized the event. In May, Hopgood introduced a resolution, which passed the Michigan State Senate unanimously, urging the U.S. House and Senate to oppose the plan. Roberts is poised to introduce a similar resolution once the Michigan State House legislative session resumes.

Hopgood and Roberts, along with a panel of experts, which included Ed McArdle of the Sierra Club's South East Michigan Group, as well as Beverly Fernandez of the Ontario-based group Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump, provided information about OPG's proposed deep geological repository at the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant on the Lake Huron shoreline, and the impact it could have on Michigan’s water, economy, fishing, tourism, health and future.

Those opposed to the DUD plan are urged to sign Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump's online petition.

As reported by the Detroit Free Press:

'Opponents of a proposal to build an underground nuclear waste dump less than a mile from the shores of Lake Huron railed tonight in Detroit against a project they called a declaration of war against the Great Lakes...

Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist for Takoma Park, Md.-based Beyond Nuclear, said the project would be unprecedented because nuclear waste has not been stored underground in the Great Lakes region and could be dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years.

“This proposal is insane. It’s a declaration of war against the Great Lakes,” Kamps said...'.

The Macomb Daily Tribune also reported on this story.

On August 12th, the Macomb Daily Tribune ran another comprehensive article about the proposed Canadian radioactive waste dump, and opposition to it downstream in eastern Michigan.

Ontario's Lucknow Sentinel also reported on the town hall meeting.