Interview: #IAEA report on #Fukushima nuke wastewater discharge plan wrong, says #nuclear scientist

"The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) report on #Japan's planned dump of nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean is wrong, a Pakistani nuclear scientist said.

"Zafar Koreshi, dean of graduate studies at Air University Pakistan, made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua.

"'I think it's a very favorable treatment to Japan by the IAEA,' Koreshi said. 'It ignored the interest of the local people who are affected by this and the regional countries who are going to be affected by this.'

"So it's legitimate for China, South Korea and other regional countries to demand a joint mechanism in order to get their concerns addressed, Koreshi said.

"Koreshi urged Japan to immediately cease this plan and work with neighboring countries to conduct scientific research and simulations to study the potential effects on marine life."

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-07-22/IAEA-report-on-Fukushima-nuke-wastewater-discharge-wrong-scientist-1lExHdC6cFi/index.html

#Fukushima #FukushimaWater #TEPCOLies #IAEAFail #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #NoDumping #PacificOcean #WaterIsLife

Wood pellets ash – radioactive contamination and cesium 137 measured values

"In the event of a #nuclear accident in which radionuclides are released into the biosphere, radioactive contamination of forests can become a significant potential source of public radiation exposure. #Cesium 137 and #strontium 90 remain in the upper soil layers in forest ecosystems for a long time. These #radionuclides get into the wood via the roots and can thus store radioactivity and represent a potential radiation exposure for humans. We provide an overview of our radioactive measurements as well as a literature review on wood, pellets and ash with a focus on cesium 137

"Two of these accidents – the #Kyshtim accident in the Urals in the USSR (now the Russian Federation) in 1957 and the #Chernobyl accident in the USSR (now Ukraine) in 1986 – resulted in significant contamination of thousands of square kilometers of forest land with radionuclide mixtures, including long-lived fission products such as Cs 137 and Sr 90. Measurements and modeling of forest ecosystems after both accidents have shown that after initial contamination, the activity concentration of long-lived radionuclides in wood gradually increases over one to two decades and slowly decreases over the following decades Period. The longevity of contamination is due to the slow migration and persistent bioavailability of radionuclides in the forest soil profile, leading to long-term transfer into wood through the tree root system.

"The transfer of cesium-137 from the soil into the wood of trees is relatively low. Wood from Germany is radiobiological harmless to humans. In the ashes, however, the radiocesium activity can be up to 100 times higher than in wood."

https://www.umweltanalysen.com/en/radioactivity/wood-pellets-ash/

#NoNukes #NoNewNukes #NoWar #AirQuality #AirPollution #Wildfires #ClimateCrisis #Climate #Environment #Radiation

What's in that #wildfire smoke? There might be more than just #particulate matter. There's something about the soil in the Northeastern US (and perhaps Canada) that allows trees to take up more Cesium-137 (and other radionuclides), which are bound up into the wood until it is burned, which releases radiation into the air.

Paper: #Cesium-137 in Wood Ash Results of Nationwide Survey

Andrew Hodgdon, et al., July 1991

"Data from 11 New England ash samples (Cs-137 mean measured at about 12,000 pCi/kg, K-40 mean measured at 80,000 pCi/kg) suggest Cs~l37 levels in trees are significantly higher than other regions of the United States. General ambient soil concentrations in New England are approximately 480 pCi/kg Cs-137 and 11,000 pCi/kg for K-40. This indicates a general New England ash to soil ratio of about 7 for K-40 and 25 for Cs-137, implying a Cs-137 uptake of 3.5 times that for potassium. Factors which affect cesium uptake and uptake factors for use in radiological modeling are reviewed."

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281207579_Cesium-137_in_Wood_Ash_Results_of_Nationwide_Survey

#AirQuality #AirPollution #NoNukes #NoWar #NoNewNukes #ClimateCrisis

Seoul Skeptical as Japan Eyes Release of Contaminated Water From Nuclear Plant

Japan wants to release more than a million tons of water from the plant, and Koreans fear Japan is poisoning the seas.

by Donald Kirk, May 23, 2023

#NoNukes #NoWar #WaterIsLife #NoNewNukes #PacificOcean #Korea #StopTEPCO #TEPCOLies

https://www.nysun.com/article/seoul-skeptical-as-japan-eyes-release-of-contaminated-water-from-nuclear-plant

"There have long been environmental concerns about the #Piketon site, which the federal government and private contractors operated from 1954 to 2001 to enrich #uranium for #NuclearWeapons and, later, for nuclear power plant fuel.

"In 2019, a nearby middle school was closed after a report was released revealing that previous testing at the school found traces of #neptunium, a #radioactive #carcinogen, according to the Dayton Daily News. In 2006, the Daily News found poisoned #groundwater, radioactive contamination, hundreds of accidental releases of #uranium gas or toxic fluorine, and other toxins that leached from unlined landfills and ditches into groundwater and a nearby creek."

#NoNukes #NoWar #WaterIsLife #NoNewNukes

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/ohio-may-soon-get-two-new-nuclear-power-plants-for-the-first-time-in-decades/ar-AA1bAA6U

Hmmmm...#Idaho says "No," but Ohio says yes? I hope they take a careful look at the plans

#Ohio may soon get two new #nuclear power plants for the first time in decades

by Jeremy Pelz, May 22, 2023

"In 2020, [#Okio] applied for a federal permit to build the Idaho plant using a different reactor design, but officials turned down the application on the grounds that it 'contain(ed) significant information gaps in its description of ...potential accidents as well as its classification of safety systems and components.'"

#NoNukes #NoNewNukes #Renewables

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/ohio-may-soon-get-two-new-nuclear-power-plants-for-the-first-time-in-decades/ar-AA1bAA6U

via SpaceWeather.com

"GLANCING-BLOW CME: NOAA forecasters say that a #CME might deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on May 21st. It left the sun May 17th, propelled by an erupting filament of magnetism in the sun's southern hemisphere. The impact could produce minor G1-class geomagnetic storms."

#SolarFlares #SolarCycle25 #SolarFlare #LightsOut #SpaceWeather #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #RethinkNotRestart

Latest #SolarHam news:
Flaring Continues

May 19, 2023 @ 03:30 UTC

"At least nine M-Flares during the past 24 hours, all of which were centered around newly assigned AR 3311. As of this update, the largest event was an M5.3 flare at 00:48 UTC (May 19). So far, none of the flares appear to have generated a coronal mass ejection (CME). An increased chance for an isolated X-Flare is now present."

#SolarFlares #SolarCycle25 #SolarFlare #CarringtonEffect #LightsOut #SpaceWeather #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #RethinkNotRestart

https://www.solarham.net/

Japanese expert: Filters not sufficient to remove all radioactive elements from #Fukushima wastewater

May 17, 2023

"Ryota Koyama, a professor at Fukushima University in Japan, revealed in an exclusive interview with China Media Group that the large amount of nuclear-contaminated water accumulated at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant still contains a variety of #radioactive substances, and the current means of polynuclear filtration do not remove all the #radioactive elements from the #contaminated water."

#Japan #FukushimaWater #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #RethinkNotRestart

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-05-17/Fukushima-Filters-not-sufficient-to-remove-all-radioactive-elements-1jSg9FuEAYE/index.html

Lights Out

Failure to harden electrical structures and spent nuclear fuel storage leaves US, global population vulnerable to solar or terrorist induced apocalypse

by Michael Collins, October 14, 2014

"Should a serpentine #CME hit Earth head-on, the consequences would be catastrophic."

#SolarFlares #SolarCycle25 #SolarFlare #CarringtonEffect #LightsOut #SpaceWeather #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #RethinkNotRestart

Read more:
https://www.enviroreporter.com/2014/10/lights-out/

#Navajo Nation officials, activists feel cut out as company advances #uranium #mining plans

By Hannah Grover, May 1, 2023

"When a foreign company started exploratory drilling for the possible return of uranium mining near #ChurchRock, community members say they were not informed in advance.

“It was a complete shock,” Jonathan Perry, the director of Eastern Navajo #Diné Against Uranium Mining, said of the process that started this winter.

"The eastern Navajo Nation communities have stood largely in opposition to future uranium mining for decades.

"'The majority of Diné people have been personally impacted by (uranium),' Leona Morgan, an activist and member of Navajo Nation, said.

"The Navajo Nation has a moratorium dating back nearly two decades that prohibits uranium extraction, but the Eastern Agency consists of what is known as checkerboard. That means federal and state lands are intermixed with Navajo, or Diné, lands and allotment lands.

"#LaramideResources, a Canada-based company, plans on extracting uranium from an area within the checkerboard that is not tribal land.

"The work would occur near the same location where, in 1979, a dam breach released 1,100 tons of uranium waste and 94 million gallons of #RadioactiveWater into the #RioPuerco, which the nearby Navajo communities relied upon for water.

"Decades later, the spill, along with mine and mill sites in the area, remain unremediated. Earlier this year, the U.S. NRC issued a record of decision as well as a license amendment that will allow the #UnitedNuclearCorporation—which owned the site where the spill occurred—to dispose of mine #waste from the old uranium mine at the old mill site.

"Morgan said there are concerns that this disposal method in an unlined pit could lead to a second spill happening, especially as climate change increases the risks of extreme weather events like monsoon floods."

#IndigenousNews #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #WaterIsLife #EnvironmentalRacism

Source: https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2023/05/01/navajo-nation-officials-activists-feel-cut-out-as-company-advances-uranium-mining-plans/

Lawsuit seeks to uphold closing #DiabloCanyon, #California's last #nuclear plant

AP, April 11, 2023

"Construction at Diablo Canyon began in the 1960s. Critics say potential shaking from nearby earthquake faults not recognized when the design was approved could damage equipment and release radiation. One fault was not discovered until 2008."

#NoNukes #NoNewNukes #Nucleare #WaterIsLife

Read more:
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/diablo-canyon-lawsuit-seeks-to-uphold-closing-california-last-nuclear-plant/

KEEP PUTTING ON THE PRESSURE on #Japan/#TEPCO

#HudsonRiver Spared Radioactive Dump From Defunct NY Nuclear Plant

The plan to reportedly dump upwards of 1 million gallons into the Hudson River was scrapped this week after thunderous pushback

by NBC New York Staff and The AP, Published April 14, 202

“Following conversations with key state stakeholders, who wish to allow for additional public education, we have decided not to go forward with the planned discharge in early May,” the company's communications director, Patrick O'Brien, wrote to plant's decommissioning board on Thursday."
#NoNukes #NoDumping #Fukushima #FukushimaWater #IndianPoint #NoNewNukes #WaterIsLife #Holtec #HoltecLies #TEPCOLies

Read more:
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/hudson-river-spared-from-radioactive-dump-at-defunct-ny-nuclear-plant/4241535/

#Nuclear vs. #ClimateChange: #RisingSeas

Rising global temperatures are already posing serious risks to nuclear plants. Regulators cannot wait until sea level rise and storm surges begin impacting operational safety. They must act now.

by Christina Chen, September 16, 2019

"Climate action isn’t simply about reducing emissions—it’s also about addressing local environmental concerns and minimizing risks to human health and safety. With that in mind, if nuclear power is going to have a role in addressing climate change, stronger safety and environmental regulations will be needed.

"Unfortunately, this approach is missing from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which in January voted in a 3-to-2 decision to water down recommendations from its own staff to reevaluate seismic and flooding hazards at nuclear sites. "This decision is nonsensical," Commissioner Jeff Baran wrote in his dissent, 'Instead of requiring nuclear power plants to be prepared for the actual flooding and earthquake hazards that could occur at their sites, NRC will allow them to be prepared only for the old, outdated hazards typically calculated decades ago when the science of seismology and hydrology was far less advanced than it is today.'"

#NoNukes #NoNewNukes #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Earthquakes #SeaLevelRise

Read more:
https://www.nrdc.org/bio/christina-chen/nuclear-vs-climate-change-rising-seas

Additional violations by #Holtec cited in #IndianPoint decommissioning

by Luke Dougherty, 4-4-2023

"In a March 2023 letter, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released a notice sent to Holtec International, providing details of two additional violations during their decommissioning of the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Although these violations were rated low safety significance by the NRC, we believe all violations are significant because they expose weaknesses in Holtec’s management of the decommissioning.

"These violations include a failure by Holtec to identify overflows of radioactive liquids from storage tanks, and after identifying the spills, failing to test the radiological levels in required areas within the plant. These overflows were first discovered in the spring of 2022, but went unreported to the public until March of 2023 because #NRC inspections happen infrequently."
#HudsonRiver #HoltecLies #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #WaterIsLife #NoDumping

Read more:
https://www.riverkeeper.org/blogs/indian-point-blogs/additional-violations-by-holtec-cited-in-indian-point-decommissioning/

Will Japan release Fukushima water into the Pacific?

Officials in Japan have claimed that water exposed to radiation in the Fukushima nuclear disaster is now safe to dump into the Pacific. Environmentalists say the water is too contaminated.

by Julian Ryall , November 20, 2019

"#TEPCO and the government [of #Japan] have long believed that the best way to dispose of the water is to simply release it into the #ocean. They claimed until this year that contaminated water had been cleansed by a so-called advanced liquid processing system to the point that virtually all the radionuclides had been reduced to 'non-detect' levels.

"Leaked TEPCO documents, however, show that varying amounts of 62 radionuclides — including #strontium, #iodine, #cesium and #cobalt — have not been removed from the water.

"The company has also been criticized for refusing to permit independent organizations to test the water that is being stored at the site.

"Nevertheless, environmentalists fear that preparations are under way to release the water into the environment.

"'Even a year ago, when the first report on options for disposing the treated water was presented to the committee, it seemed clear to me even then that the preferred option was to release it into the ocean,' said Azby Brown, the lead researcher for Tokyo-based nuclear monitoring organization #Safecast Japan. Other options included #evaporation and burying the water.

"'My take on this is that they have already reached a decision and that all these discussions now on the options are purely theater.'"

#FukushimaWater #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #StopTEPCO #NoNukes #TEPCOLies #OpTEPCO #PacificOcean #FukushimaAnniversary #NoNewNukes #AtomkraftNeinDanke #AntiAtom

https://www.dw.com/en/japan-environmentalists-say-fukushima-water-too-radioactive-to-release/a-51331676

Wood pellets ash – radioactive contamination and cesium 137 measured values

"Two of these accidents – the Kyshtim accident in the Urals in the USSR (now the Russian Federation) in 1957 and the #Chernobyl accident in the USSR (now Ukraine) in 1986 – resulted in significant contamination of thousands of square kilometers of forest land with radionuclide mixtures, including long-lived fission products such as Cs 137 and Sr 90. Measurements and modeling of forest ecosystems after both accidents have shown that after initial contamination, the activity concentration of long-lived radionuclides in wood gradually increases over one to two decades and slowly decreases over the following decades. The longevity of contamination is due to the slow migration and persistent bioavailability of radionuclides in the forest soil profile, leading to long-term transfer into wood through the tree root system.

The transfer of cesium-137 from the soil into the wood of trees is relatively low. Wood from Germany is radiobiological harmless to humans. In the #ashes, however, the radiocesium activity can be up to 100 times higher than in wood."

#WoodPellets #WoodBurning #NoNewNukes #NoNukes #Fukushima #AtomkraftNeinDanke #AntiAtom

Read more: https://www.umweltanalysen.com/en/radioactivity/wood-pellets-ash/

Somewhere in my archives, I have a link (or possibly the full-text) for the whole story. But here's a good summary...

Science News: The Weekly Newsmagazine
A Science Service Publication
Volume 140, No.6, August 10. 1991

Wood Ash: The unregulated radwaste

"While cleaning ashes from his fireplace two years ago, Stewart A. Farber mused that if trees filter and store airborne pollutants, they might also harbor fallout from the nuclear weapons tests of the 1950s and 1960s. On a whim, he brought some of his fireplace ash to Yankee Atomic Electric Companies' environmental lab in Boston, Mass., where he manages environmental monitoring. Farber says he was amazed to discover that his sample showed the distinctive #cesium and strontium 'signatures' of #nuclear fallout-and that the concentration of radioactivity 'was easily 100 times greater than anything (our Lab) had ever seen in an environmental sample.'

"Since then, he has obtained wood-ash radioactivity assays from 16 other scientists across the nation. These 47 data sets, representing trees in 14 states, suggest that fallout in wood ash 'is a major source of radioactivity released into the environment,' Farber says. With the exception of some very low California readings, all measurements of ash with fallout-cesium exceeded - some by 100 times or more - the levels of radioactive cesium that may be released from nuclear plants (about 100 picocuries per kilogram of sludge). Ash-cesium levels were especially high in the Northeast - probably because naturally high levels of nonradioactive cesium in the soil discourage trees from releasing fallout-derived cesium through their roots, he says. [Plus the soil in the Northeast is more acidic, which makes the trees more likely to absorb radioactive cesium. I'm sure acid rain has made that a lot worse since 1991]

"Industrial wood burning in the United States generates and estimated 900,000 tons of ash each year: residential and utility wood burning generates another 543,000 tons. Already, many companies are recycling this unregulated ash in #fertilizers. The irony, Farber says, is that federal regulations require releases from nuclear plants to be disposed of as radioactive waste if they contain even 1 percent of the cesium and strontium levels detected in the ash samples from New England. If ash were subject to the same regulations, he says, its disposal would cost U.A. wood burners more than $30 billion annually."
#Fukushima #FukushimaWater #NoNukes #NoDumping #NoNewNukes #AtomkraftNeinDanke #AntiAtom

Source:
https://burningissues.org/radwaste1.html

Paper: Radioactive contamination of wood and its products

Hus, M., et al. 2001, Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

This paper presents research on radioactive contamination of the three most common kinds of wood in #Croatia — beech, oak and fir as well as acorn. Gamma-spectrometric measurements carried out on the samples of bark and wood of beech, oak, fir and acorn have shown radioactivity contents ranging from 1.6±0.1 to 37.3±0.5 Bq/kg from deposited 137Cs, whose concentrations in the soil of Croatia have increased after the #Chernobyl accident. Measurements have also shown the radioactivity originating from 40K and 214Bi, which are part of the natural composition of the soil.

The distribution of the radionuclides in wood has been discussed, as well as the impact of radioactive contamination of wood by the artificial radionuclide 137Cs upon the #forest #ecosystem.

According to the corresponding model, it has been calculated that a 10 h daily stay in a typical family house increases the annual #radiation dose of the population, due to the deposited 137Cs in the structure or furniture, by 343 μSv.

#Fukushima #FukushimaWater #NoNukes #NoDumping #NoNewNukes #AtomkraftNeinDanke #AntiAtom

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0265931X00001910

Forests Around Chernobyl Aren’t Decaying Properly

It wasn’t just people, animals and trees that were affected by radiation exposure at Chernobyl, but also the decomposers: insects, microbes, and fungi

by Rachel Nuwer, March 14, 2014

"Nearly 30 years have passed since the #Chernobyl plant exploded and caused an unprecedented #nuclear disaster. The effects of that catastrophe, however, are still felt today. Although no people live in the extensive exclusion zones around the epicenter, animals and plants still show signs of #radiation poisoning.

"Birds around Chernobyl have significantly smaller brains that those living in non-radiation poisoned areas; trees there grow slower; and fewer spiders and insects—including bees, butterflies and grasshoppers—live there. Additionally, game animals such as wild boar caught outside of the exclusion zone—including some bagged as far away as Germany—continue to show abnormal and dangerous levels of radiation.

"However, there are even more fundamental issues going on in the environment. According to a new study published in Oecologia, decomposers—organisms such as #microbes, #fungi and some types of #insects that drive the process of decay—have also suffered from the contamination. These creatures are responsible for an essential component of any ecosystem: recycling #organic matter back into the soil. Issues with such a basic-level process, the authors of the study think, could have compounding effects for the entire #ecosystem."

#Fukushima #FukushimaWater #NoNukes #NoDumping #WaterIsLife #NoNewNukes #AtomkraftNeinDanke #AntiAtom

Read more:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/forests-around-chernobyl-arent-decaying-properly-180950075/