"Japan nuclear plant ice wall questioned" Associated Press May 03, 2014
TOKYO — Experts on Friday expressed skepticism about a plan to build a costly underground frozen wall at Japan’s crippled nuclear plant, a development that could delay the start of construction on the project.
Finished before they could begin, huh?
The experts and Japanese nuclear regulatory officials said during a meeting in Tokyo that they weren’t convinced the project can resolve a serious contaminated water problem at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which suffered multiple meltdowns following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The $320 million government-funded project would surround the plant’s four crippled reactors and their turbine buildings with an underground ice wall to block ground water from flowing into the buildings’ basements and mixing with highly radioactive water leaks from the melted cores.
Which is then "leaking" out into the sea -- for three whole years now. Polluting the pacific and all the life in it.
Government officials say a feasibility test at the plant was successful,
Now the fumbling censorship(?) begins.
and that they hope to start construction in June, though the project could be delayed because of the experts' concerns.
Toyoshi Fuketa, a commissioner with Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, said the hydrological impact of a frozen wall to the area was unclear. "We need to know if a frozen wall is really effective, and more importantly, we need to know whether a frozen wall may cause any trouble," Fuketa said. International experts have raised similar concerns.
Dale Klein, a former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman who now heads a supervisory panel for TEPCO, said he was not convinced the frozen wall is the best option and is worth the high cost. He also suggested that the government and TEPCO review the plan to balance risk and benefit and see whether they should spend the money elsewhere.
Experts have said that while a frozen wall is a proven technology, the size and planned duration of use at Fukushima is unprecedented.
More than three years after the March 2011 meltdowns, the plant is still plagued by a massive amount of contaminated water. Repeated water leaks from storage tanks and other mishaps at the plant have hampered a decommissioning effort that is expected to take decades
That could mean the end of life on the planet if the oceans are poisoned with radiation.
And what even the Globe's print version cut:
and caused environmental concerns among local fishermen.
No need to be concerned about that.
--more--"
Other items from the Asian seas that are missing from today's Globe:
"The subway accident seemed likely to contribute to national worries about safety regulations, coming just weeks after the sinking of a ferry on April 16 that left 226 dead and 76 missing."
Also see: Top N. Korean official loses post
Maybe if I navigate by star I can find the lost plane. Globe dove deep for it today (looks like terrorism to me) but once again came up empty.
What a surprise that the Japanese PEOPLE are AGAINST WAR, huh?
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
No plane,
The disaster has exposed enormous safety gaps in South Korea’s monitoring of domestic passenger ships (Associated Press).
UPDATE:
Upon second look....
"An international panel of specialists will reexamine all data gathered in the nearly two-month hunt for the missing Malaysia jet to ensure search crews who have been scouring a desolate patch of ocean for the plane have been looking in the right place, officials said Monday."
Look at this:
"Santa Barbara looks to sea for water during drought; Officials consider plan to reopen desalination plant" by Alicia Chang | Associated Press May 05, 2014
I'm wondering why it was closed and what took so long? I know there are problems with disposing of all the salt that is sucked out but since fresh water is one of the cornerstones of life and we are always being warned of shortages and wars over it....
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — This seaside city thought it had the perfect solution the last time California withered in a severe drought more than two decades ago: Tap the ocean to turn salty seawater to fresh water.
Even if it's now radiated?
The $34 million desalination plant was fired up for only three months and mothballed after a miracle soaking of rain.
As the state again grapples with historic dryness, the city nicknamed the ‘‘American Riviera’’ has its eye on restarting the idled facility to hedge against current and future droughts.
‘‘We were so close to running out of water during the last drought. It was frightening,’’ said Joshua Haggmark, interim water resources manager. ‘‘Desalination wasn’t a crazy idea back then.’’
When has it ever been, and when is the invasion of Lebanon scheduled?
Removing salt from ocean water is not a far-out idea, but it’s no quick drought-relief option. It takes years of planning and overcoming red tape to launch a project.
Santa Barbara is uniquely positioned with a desalination plant in storage. But getting it humming again will not be as simple as flipping a switch.
After the plant was powered down in 1992, the city sold off parts to a Saudi Arabia company.
That makes sense I suppose(?).
The guts remain as a time capsule — a white elephant of sorts — walled off behind a gate near the Funk Zone, a corridor of art galleries, wineries, and eateries tucked between the Pacific and US 101.
How ironic. I'm wondering how much the elephant cost citizens and who got the contract.
The city estimates that it will need $20 million in technological upgrades, a cost likely to be borne by ratepayers.
(Blog editor's chin drops to chest thinking of all the already-put-upon California citizens. Neglect and gutting led to this?)
Any restart would require approval of city council, which will not vote until next spring after reviewing engineering plans and drought conditions.
Santa Barbara, population 89,000, has enough water for this year and even next year by buying supplemental supplies and as long as residents continue to conserve.
While it may seem like a head-scratcher to put the plant in hibernation soon after it was built, officials said the decision saved the city millions of dollars in unnecessary operating costs.
I'm no longer scratching my head at such things in AmeriKa. It was the same with wind and sun, too. Those were meant to fail and enrich those who dabbled while strengthening oil, gas, coal....
‘‘With the current drought likely to continue, they now appear as if they will be able to cash in on their insurance policy,’’ said Tom Pankratz, editor of Water Desalination Report and consultant on several other desalination projects in California.
Why not sell the exce$$ and slake thirsty throats wherever they be? Why didn't they do that all these years?
The cyclical nature of droughts has made it difficult, if not impossible, to bet on desalination.
I knew there was a Wall Street angle to this piece, and at the same time I'm being told that darn global warming is responsible for the droughts as I eagerly await the arrival of spring. Still below-average temps 'roun' h're. For once I wish the fart-misters were right because I'm getting sick of this s***....
It requires prime coastal real estate and the foresight to diversify the water supply in flush and dry times. Communities that choose desalination may be more resilient to inevitable droughts in the future.
I sort of just.... well, never mind.
Santa Barbara relies on water piped through tunnels from the Santa Ynez Mountains. But with Lake Cachuma, the main reservoir, dangerously low, the city expects desalination to play a role.
‘‘We live in a desert. We can expect droughts. It’s just inevitable that desalination is going to become a part of our regular water portfolio,’’ Haggmark said.
Santa Barbara is not alone in mulling desalination as parched conditions persist for a third straight year, forcing some rural places to ration water and farmers to fallow fields.
Earlier this year, the agency that delivers water to the central coast town of Cambria voted to approve an emergency desalination plant with the hopes of getting it running by July before water supplies dry up.
And when they got to the watering hole it was.... covered with red tape?
Instead of drawing ocean water, the proposed $5 million plant would pull brackish water from a well, treat it and reinject it into the aquifer. Since that would require a lengthy study, the plant probably won’t be able to go online until fall.
Not long ago, there was a rush to quench California’s growing thirst with seaside desalination plants. Currently, there are about a dozen proposed projects, according to the California Coastal Commission, which is charged with permitting the facilities.
The Western Hemisphere’s largest desalination plant is under construction north of San Diego after overcoming years of regulatory hurdles. The developer — Poseidon Resources LLC — is seeking approval to build another one in Huntington Beach, south of Los Angeles. Many environmentalists see desalination as a last resort, contending it’s an energy hog that sucks marine life into the plants.
As much as I love life and animals, we may all have to bite the bullet on that for the glass of life-sustaining fresh water.
--more--"
Until then it is the government and mouthpiece media mantra of conservation:
"Calif. cities clamp down on water use" Associated Press April 28, 2014
SACRAMENTO — At least 45 water agencies across California, including Sacramento, are imposing and enforcing mandatory restrictions on water use as their supplies run dangerously low.
Due more than anything to mismanagement and neglect of infrastructure all these years as California has been in a fiscal mess.
But don't drink from me; gulp down the narrative that is served up like sparkling champagne from the of fountain of corporate liberalism and those that will not want for water.
Sacramento is one of the few bigger agencies actively patrolling streets for violators and encouraging neighbors to report waste.
You went to bed in Sacramento and woke up in the former East Germany.
Officials encourage residents to avoid hosing down driveways, overwatering lawns, or filling swimming pools. While gentle reminders are preferred, citations and fines can follow for repeat offenders.
Once again, at bottom it is only bankrupt governments way of getting money.
Visalia, a city of 120,000 people, has hired a part-time worker for night patrols and reduced the number of warnings from two to one before issuing $100 fines.
Mandatory limits are not as widespread as in past droughts, even among drier parts of Southern California. One reason is more cities are conserving and making it expensive for residents to guzzle water.
Oh, is that what we do? Guzzle water? Makes us all sound like a bunch of thir$ty bankers and I'm really getting sick of the self-internalized elitist insults -- but then again, I must consider of and for whom this paper is being written.
Now let me take a sip of water and calm down.
Sacramento, where half the homes are unmetered, is deploying the state’s most aggressive water patrols to compensate. In February, the city deputized 40 employees who drive regularly as part of their municipal jobs to report and respond to water waste.
I'm glad there are no rapes, robberies, murders, frauds, or other law-breaking in Sacramento.
Now about those cow farts warming the planet.... anybody for a burger?
--more--"
I wouldn't worry; I'm sure some have plenty of water to drink.
I've had my fill of Monday muck.
"Environmentalists, nuclear industry push to preserve old reactors" by Matthew L. Wald | New York Times April 28, 2014
NEW YORK — Environmentalists and the nuclear industry are beginning a push to preserve old nuclear reactors whose economic viability is threatened by cheap natural gas and rising production of wind energy.
This article will show you which environmental groups are co-opted and controlled opposition because nuclear is the last thing you want to do. Just go to the top of this post to see why!
They argue that while natural gas and wind are helpful as sources of electricity with little or no production of greenhouse gases, national climate goals will be unreachable if zero-carbon nuclear reactors are phased out.
Plus the oil slick is getting on the yachts.
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, an independent nonprofit group based in Washington that was formerly known as the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, plans to release on Monday a research paper that charts the decline of the industry.
Related: "nonprofits provide new ways for corporations and individuals to influence"
Newspaper mouthpieces no longer getting it done, just need the tax write-off, or have so much loot they don't know what to do with it so why not put it into agenda-pushing causes that will make even more money?
“The loss of nuclear plants from the electricity grid would likely lead to millions of tons of additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere each year,” because the substitute would be fossil fuels, the paper concludes. “This is a prospect the global climate cannot afford.”
Yeah, except carbon emissions soared and the planet remained relatively static, and one could even conclude is cooling given the last few winters and late spring this year.
Carol M. Browner, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and a former climate adviser to President Obama, and Susan F. Tierney, another former energy aide to Obama, are among the prominent figures expected to be present when the paper is made public.
The nuclear industry has started a new lobbying effort, hiring three former senators — Evan Bayh, Democrat of Indiana; Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire; and Spencer Abraham, a Michigan Republican and former energy secretary — and William M. Daley, a former chief of staff to Obama. The group, called Nuclear Matters, has begun an advertising campaign in major newspapers and on broadcast media in Washington. So far, the group does not appear to have a strategy beyond raising awareness, or, as Bayh said in an interview, “starting a national conversation.”
I look at all those in$iders and am instantly against it. Sorry.
An anti-nuclear group based in Washington, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, referred to both Nuclear Matters and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions as “de facto nuclear industry front groups” and said the groups were trying to create a false impression that environmentalists were warming to nuclear power.
Be that as it may, it is the impression I got from the headline and article in my pre$$.
Many reactors now fall into the category of “merchant generators,” which means their only income is whatever they can get by selling their electricity in markets depressed by the recession and cheap gas.
So there are no clear options for preserving old reactors without a carbon tax or similar incentive for zero-carbon generation.
I did that because ONCE AGAIN we $EE what is REALLY at the BOTTOM of this NUKE SPEW!
But the paper’s coauthor, Douglas Vine, said one option could be the new rules the EPA is planning to issue that would force existing coal-fired plants to cut their carbon dioxide output.
Supreme Court just heard arguments and made some rulings on that.
--more--"
Kind of got you full circle like that ocean swirl, 'eh?
:-(
