#FukushimaNuclearPlant clean-up faces yet another delay

Story by Mari Yamaguchi, July 29, 2025

"The full-scale removal of melted nuclear fuel from the #tsunami-wrecked #FukushimaDaiichi power plant has been delayed by several years, with the operator now targeting 2037 or later for the crucial operation.

"Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (#TEPCO) announced the setback on Tuesday, underscoring the immense challenges still facing the site.

"TEPCO stated that 12 to 15 years of preparation are required before commencing full-scale debris removal at the No. 3 reactor, involving radiation reduction and facility construction.

"An estimated 880 tons of melted nuclear fuel and structural debris remain within the three reactors that suffered meltdowns following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

"This latest delay further jeopardises the Japanese government and TEPCO's existing 2051 target for decommissioning the plant.

"A test retrieval of a small fuel sample in November was already three years behind schedule, with some experts suggesting the entire #decommissioning process could extend beyond a century.

"TEPCO said it plans to stick to the current completion target of 2051.

" 'Realistically, we are aware of the difficulty (to achieve the target) but we will not drop the goal just yet, as we still don't have a clear work schedule after the full-scale removal begins,' said Akira Ono, chief decommissioning officer at TEPCO.

"Ono said TEPCO plans to examine preparation work necessary at the two other reactors within the next couple of years ahead of full-scale melted fuel retrieval.

"After small missions by robots [that were fried by radiation] to gather samples, experts will determine a larger-scale method for removing melted fuel, first at the No. 3 reactor.

"In May, Japan announced plans to use slightly radioactive soil, stored near Fukushima nuclear plant, for flower beds outside Prime Minister #ShigeruIshiba’s office. [Maybe put more waste there as well! Useless politicians! Who have access to #PrussianBlue pills which remove #Cesium137 from one's body!]

"The move is intended to demonstrate the safety of reusing soil that was removed from Fukushima prefecture during decontamination efforts following the 2011 nuclear disaster. Officials say that some of the soil has now reached levels deemed safe for reuse." [Using faulty dosimeters, I'll wager!]

https://apnews.com/article/japan-fukushima-nuclear-plant-decommissioning-meltdown-fd41d18eac406d7ffc7afb2785f1fa63

#NoNukes #NoNukesForAI #TEPCOLies #RethinkNotRestart #FukushimaIsntOver
#NuclearPowerPlants #NuclearWaste #NuclearPowerNoThanks #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies

#RadioactiveWaste leakage would be threat to area: critic

By Doug Diaczuk The Chronicle-Journal Apr 22, 2025

"A radioactive waste specialist from the United States says #NuclearWaste disposal sites place a giant bullseye on an area, as well as all communities along the transportation route, and residents of Northern #Ontario should take notice.

"#KevinKamps, a radioactive waste specialist with #BeyondNuclear, a non-profit advocacy group in the United States, will be speaking in Thunder Bay at Environment North's annual meeting on Wednesday [April 23].

"Kamps has opposed several nuclear waste sites across North America, including a site in the #YuccaMountains in #Nevada and a site at #Kincardine in #Ontario at the #BruceNuclear Generating Station.

" 'That was a 20-year campaign all told, but we prevailed in the end,' Kamps said of the Kincardine site in an interview with The Chronicle-Journal.

"The Nuclear Waste Management Organization [#NWM] identified a site between #Ignace and #Wabigoon Lake as the location for a proposed deep geological repository [#DGR] for #SpentFuel from #Canadian #NuclearPower plants.

"Last summer, the #TownshipOfIgnace expressed a willingness to be the host community for the repository following a survey showing the majority of residents supported the site.

"But several #FirstNation communities have spoken out in opposition to the site, citing #environmental concerns and the safety of transporting spent fuel through the region.

"Kamps said if anything was to go wrong at the deep geological repository site it would be catastrophic: 'for all points #downstream, #downwind, up the #FoodChain, down the generations.'

" 'In your neck of the woods, what I find ironic is the current target in your area is just outside of the #GreatLakes basin and I think it is a raw political calculation to try to silence what has been more than a decade of U.S. congressional opposition to the #LakeHuronDump,' he said.

" 'Now magically a site has been chosen outside of the Great Lakes basin.'

"There are many safety concerns to take into consideration when it comes to nuclear waste, Kamps said, beginning with the transportation of nuclear material to the site itself.

" 'One of the most controversial aspects is the transportation component, because it makes it everyone's problem along those routes,' he said. 'So that is another part of our challenge, to educate communities that would be along the most likely transportation route, be it road, rail, or waterway.'

"Then there is the site itself, which Kamps said could be vulnerable to #ExtremeWeather, #NaturalDisasters, or even potential attacks.

" 'You had better know your geology really well because if and when this starts leaking from its containers into the geology, then it's a question of how long will it take to mix with underground waterflows and perhaps even surface waterflows,' he said. 'And then the risk flows with the water, and with the air.'

"For those opposed to such sites, Kamps said the best way to fight back is through the democratic process and engaging with government representatives at all levels.

"He cited the opposition to the #Kincardine site that was a 20-year fight and the role First Nations communities played.

" 'An important part of that was the #SaugeenOjibwayNation who asked good questions and in the end voted 86 per cent no to that dump coming into their community,' he said.

"In terms of what to do with nuclear waste from generating stations, Kamps said it should stay at the site of origin."

Source:
https://www.chroniclejournal.com/news/local/radioactive-waste-leakage-would-be-threat-to-area-critic/article_f0dd8d6f-f8db-404e-ac4c-3e91b5330af2.html

#Carbon14: Another underestimated danger from #nuclear reactors

"There are a number of radionuclides released from nuclear energy facilities. This paper highlights carbon-14 for a number of reasons:

- Carbon-14 is radioactive and is released into air as #methane and #CO2

- Before 2010, carbon-14 releases from nuclear reactors were virtually ignored in the United States. Today only estimates are required and only under certain restrictive circumstances.

- There is no good accounting of releases to date, so its impact on our health, our children’s health, and that of our
#environment remains unknown, yet environmental measurement is possible, but can be challenging under certain
conditions.

- Carbon-14 has a half-life of over 5700 years and the element carbon is a basic building block for life on earth. Therefore, “it constitutes a potential health hazard, whose additional production by #anthropogenic sources of today will result in an increased #radiation exposure to many future generations.”

- Like #tritium, it can collect in the tissues of the fetus at twice the concentration of the tissues in the mother, pointing to its
disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable human lifecycle: the developing child.

The element carbon is found in all organic substances. Carbon is also a primary constituent of #GreenhouseGases that are responsible for #ClimateChange, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (#CH4). Carbon-14 (c-14) is a radioactive form of
carbon that occurs in nature and is also newly formed in nuclear power processes.

"Carbon-14 is a health concern because it is released from #NuclearPower facilities as radioactive carbon dioxide and methane, traveling readily in the local and global environment.

"Over time, carbon-14 becomes part of organic material including food, and has a half-life of approximately 5,730 years, decaying by a type of radioactive particle called a beta. Its hazardous life is 10-20 times its half-life, meaning that harmful exposure to man-made carbon-14 can last for hundreds of generations. The radioactive carbon forms as a byproduct of fissioning of uranium fuel, through a process called activation. The final step is a chemical reaction between carbon-14 and oxygen or hydrogen, which forms methane or carbon dioxide. The radioactive carbon-14 formed by this process is brand new and would not exist without nuclear fission.

"During its long hazardous life, carbon-14 could be responsible for gross physical or
mental defects, stillbirths and childhood deaths, embryonic and neonatal deaths into the many millions over the life of the isotope.

"These millions could be underestimated five times or more. Carbon-14 could also be responsible for #leukemia, bone and other #cancers."

https://beyondnuclear.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/carbon14FINAL.pdf

#NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI #RenewablesNow! #BeyondNuclear #NuclearIsNotCarbonFree

We Work The Black Seam

"This place has changed for good
Your economic theory said it would

It's hard for us to understand
We can't give up our jobs the way we should

Our blood has stained the #coal
We tunneled deep inside the nations soul

We matter more than pounds and pence
Your economic theory makes no sense

One day in a #nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole

Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimey faces were never seen
Deadly for 12,000 years
Is #Carbon14

We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together

The seam lies underground
Three million years of pressure packed it down

We walk through ancient forest lands
And light a thousand cities with our hands

Your dark satanic mills
Have made redundant all our mining skills

You can't exchange a six-inch band
For all the poisoned streams in cumberland

One day in a nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole

Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimey faces were never seen
Deadly for 12,000 years
Is carbon 14

We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together

And should the children weep
The turning world will sing their souls to sleep

When you have sunk without a trace
The universe will suck me into place

One day in a nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole

Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimey faces were never seen
Deadly for 12,000 years
Is carbon 14

We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together"

- #Sting, 1985

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egynEo4cIEM

#80sMusic #NoNukes #NoCoal #RethinkNotRestart #DirtyCoal #NuclearWaste #RenewablesNow! #NoNukesForAI #NoCoalForAI

Experts warn #Trump’s #nuclear blitz could trigger ‘Next #ThreeMileIsland'

by Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams
May 24, 2025

"U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed a series of executive orders that will overhaul the independent federal agency that regulates the nation's nuclear power plants in order to speed the construction of new fissile reactors—a move that experts warned will increase safety risks.

"According to a White House statement, Trump's directives 'will usher in a nuclear energy renaissance,' in part by allowing Department of Energy laboratories to conduct nuclear reactor design testing, green-lighting reactor construction on federal lands, and lifting #RegulatoryBarriers 'by requiring the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (#NRC) to issue timely licensing decisions."

"The Trump administration is seeking to shorten the yearslong NRC process of approving new licenses for nuclear power plants and reactors to within 18 months.

"White House Office of Science and Technology Director Michael Kratsios said Friday that 'over the last 30 years, we stopped building nuclear reactors in America—that ends now.'

" 'We are restoring a strong American nuclear industrial base, rebuilding a secure and sovereign domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, and leading the world towards a future fueled by American nuclear energy,' he added. [And radioactive waste!!!]

"However, the Union of Concerned Scientists (#UCS) warned that the executive orders will result in 'all but nullifying' the NRC's regulatory process, 'undermining the independent federal agency's ability to develop and enforce #safety and #security requirements for commercial nuclear facilities.'

" 'This push by the Trump administration to usurp much of the agency's autonomy as they seek to fast-track the construction of nuclear plants will weaken critical, independent #oversight of the U.S. nuclear industry and poses significant safety and security risks to the public,' UCS added.

"#EdwinLyman, director of nuclear power safety at the UCS, said, 'Simply put, the U.S. nuclear industry will fail if safety is not made a priority.'

" 'By fatally compromising the independence and integrity of the NRC, and by encouraging pathways for nuclear deployment that bypass the regulator entirely, the Trump administration is virtually guaranteeing that this country will see a serious accident or other #radiological release that will affect the health, safety, and livelihoods of millions,' Lyman added. 'Such a disaster will destroy public trust in #NuclearPower and cause other nations to reject U.S. #nuclear technology for decades to come.'

"Friday's executive orders follow reporting earlier this month by NPR that revealed the Trump administration has tightened control over the NRC, in part by compelling the agency to send proposed reactor safety rules to the White House for review and possible editing.

"#AllisonMacfarlane, who was nominated to head the NRC during the Obama administration, called the move 'the end of independence of the agency.'

" 'If you aren't independent of political and industry influence, then you are at risk of an accident,' Macfarlane warned.

"On the first day of his second term, Trump also signed executive orders declaring a dubious 'national energy emergency' and directing federal agencies to find ways to reduce regulatory roadblocks to 'unleashing American energy, including by boosting #FossilFuels and nuclear power.

"The rapid advancement and adoption of artificial intelligence systems is creating a tremendous need for energy that proponents say can be met by nuclear power. The Three Mile Island nuclear plant—the site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history—is being revived with funding from #Microsoft, while #Google parent company #Alphabet, online retail giant #Amazon, and #Facebook owner #Meta are among the competitors also investing in nuclear energy.

" 'Do we really want to create more #RadioactiveWaste to power the often dubious and questionable uses of #AI?' #JohannaNeumann, Environment America Research & Policy Center's senior director of the Campaign for 100% #RenewableEnergy, asked in December.

" '#BigTech should recommit to solutions that not only work but pose less risk to our #environment and #health,' Neumann added."

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-nuclear-2672196220/

#RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NoNukesForAI #BigTech #EnvironmentalRacism #UraniumMining #NuclearWaste #TEPCOLies #TrumpLies
#HoltecLies #WaterIsLife #NuclearPowerPlants #Datacenters #AIPollution #MicrosoftSucks #TrumpSucks #NuclearIsNotCarbonFree #CancerRates #Downwinders #NuclearPowerCorruptionAndLies