Fukushima and its Long Time Threats – PRN Radio Panel

 



Original Source: Progressive Community Hour PRN Radio Dec 16^th, 2013

http://prn.fm/progressive-commentary-hour-121613/

Special broadcast on the conditions at Fukushima and its present and long-term threats with host Gary Null, and experts Arne Gunderson, Helen Caldicott, & Harvey Wasserman

Arne Gundersen is founding chief engineer of Fairewinds Energy Education, a non profit organization dedicated to educating the public about nuclear power and other energy issues. In the past he was an energy advisor with 39-years of nuclear power engineering experience and a former nuclear industry senior vice president. During his industry career, Arne managed and coordinated projects at 70-nuclear power plants around the country. Now an independent nuclear engineering and safety expert, Arne has provided testimony on nuclear operations, reliability, safety, and radiation issues to the NRC, Congressional and State Legislatures, and Government Agencies and Officials throughout the US, Canada, and internationally. In 2008, he was appointed by the Vermont Senate President to be the first Chair of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant Oversight Panel.He is regarded as one of the leading nuclear experts who is conveying the truth about the dangers of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants and the global threats from the on-going release of radiation. His website is http://www.fairewinds.org/

Dr. Helen Caldicott is perhaps the single most articulate and passionate advocate of citizen action to counter the nuclear and environmental crises. She has a medical degree from the University of Adelaide and was a pediatric instructorHarvard Medical School until 1980 when she resigned to work full time on the prevention of nuclear war. She co-founded the Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization of 23,000 doctors committed to educating their colleagues about the dangers of nuclear power, nuclear weapons and nuclear war. Dr. Caldicott has received numerous awards, was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Linus Pauling and has 21 honorary degress. The Smithsonian has named Dr. Caldicott as one of the most influential women of the 20th century.

She has written many articles and books, her latest being “Nuclear Power is Not the Answer to Global Warming or Anything Else.” Her website is http://www.helencaldicott.com/

Prof. Harvey Wasserman is a professor of history at Columbus State College and Capital University in Ohio. He is an investigative journalist, author and has been a national voice in the anti-war and anti-nuclear movements for over four decades. He is also a senior advisor for Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service and founder of Solartopia.org, a grassroots endeavor to promote a green-powered earth. Among his many books are “George W Bush vs. the Superpower of Peace” and his articles appear frequently on Counterpunch, Alternet, NukeWatch, Huffington Post and others.

Harvey can also be heard every Monday afternoon at 3 pm Eastern as host of “Green Power and Wellness” on the Progressive Radio Network. His website is http://www.Solartopia.org/

 

Japanese Govt rams state secrets bill through lower house to cover up Nuclear Disasters at Fukushima

UPDATED: 2013 Nov 27th

 

 

Fukushiro Nukaga (top R), chairman of the lower house special committee, is surrounded by opposition lawmakers during a vote on a state secrets act at the parliament in Tokyo November 26, 2013. (Reuters/Toru Hanai)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/japan-state-secrets-law-334/

Japan’s lower house has passed a heavy-handed state secrets act despite fears that it will have severe repercussions for state freedoms. Officials will now face a maximum punishment of ten years in prison if they are found to have leaked to the press.

Japan’s Diet (parliament) passed the bill, which is aimed at expanding the definition of a state secret and place increasing penalties upon anyone deemed a leaker. The move will apparently prevent media accessing information on four sensitive areas: defense, diplomacy, counter-terrorism and counter-espionage.

The information will be further divided into 23 types. Top officials from all departments would have the power to declare issues ‘secret’. The ‘secrets’ could then be kept classified for up to 60 years.

Journalists and other private sector parties could also receive up to five years imprisonment if they are found to be using ‘grossly inappropriate’ means to acquire information.

Such restrictions could spill over into the nuclear industry. The topic is particularly sensitive in the face of March 2011’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, which drove over 160,000 residents from their homes.

“Information on the vulnerability of nuclear power plants could be classified as special secrets, along with plans on how to guard the plants,”Yutaka Saito, a lawyer and a member of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations' task force on the bill, told Reuters

 

Protesters raise their fists as they shout slogans during a rally against the government's planned state secrets act in front of the parliament building in Tokyo November 26, 2013. (Reuters/Toru Hanai)

“If so, anyone who has blown the whistle from the inside to warn of the danger of nuclear power plants will be punished,”Saito said.

The bill was adopted through majority vote by the ruling coalition after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), New Komeito, and the Opposition Your Party all agreed to revisions last week to gain the votes of small conservative opposition parties.

The move comes despite overwhelming public opposition, and after members of opposition parties - including the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the Japan Restoration Party, the Japanese Communist Party and the People's Life Party – said that insufficient debate had been conducted prior to the vote. Critics allege that changes to the bill were merely cosmetic, and requested that it not be brought to vote. Regardless, the legislation was approved after only a few hours worth of delay

 

Protesters raise their fists as they shout slogans during a rally against the government's planned state secrets act in front of the parliament building in Tokyo November 26, 2013. (Reuters/Toru Hanai)

Nearly 63 percent of respondents to a Kyodo news agency survey expressed concerns about the bill last week, and its discussion triggered protests by hundreds of people outside of parliament on Tuesday. Thousands gathered in a Tokyo park the previous week to rally against the bill.

“We revised the proposal as much as possible to address the concerns held by the public,” Gen Nakatani, an LDP director, said following the vote, while Atsushi Oshima, a DPJ director declared that it had been a “defeat for the legislative branch.”

The bill has now been sent to the Diet’s Upper House for consideration, where it will likely pass without any difficulty. The LDP and its junior partner hold a solid majority in both houses.

“Clearly, there will be a chilling effect on access to a wide range of information,” said Meiji University law professor, Lawrence Repeta, said. “It is clearly aimed at news media to block reporting in a way that may be critical of the government on a wide range of sensitive issues,” he added.

Abe has stated that the law is vital in the development of a US-style National Security Council to coordinate foreign policy and security while negotiating with allies such as the US over the possible sharing of information.

“My biggest concern is that it would be more difficult for the people to see the government's decision-making process,” said Kyouji Yanagisawa, a former defense official who was in charge of national security in the Prime Minister's Office in 2004-2009. “That means we can't check how or where the government made mistakes, or help the government make a wise decision.”

 

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a lower house special committee on a state secrets act at the parliament in Tokyo November 26, 2013. (Reuters/Toru Hanai)

Close up Footage of Fukushima Ruins – March 21 – 2011

Video Source: Russia Today

http://youtu.be/aprycG9mlZc

UPDATE: 2013 Nov 27th

Analysis on Unit 4, evidence on Unit 3, Plume-Gate highlights

Source Video: Patrick Henry

http://youtu.be/vqhWRNsrYxc

PDF: Leaked Documents - N.R.C. Official Transcript of Proceedings:

Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Audio File Communication - March 12^th, 2013

http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1205/ML12052A100.pdf
Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Audio File Communication - March 16^th, 2013
http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1205/ML12052A108.pdf

NRC Transcript – TEPCO relayed information Unit 4 SFP Dry – Walls collapsed and incapable of holding inventory – Unit 3 “everything else gone”

http://enformable.com/2012/03/nrc-transcript-tepco-relayed-information-unit-4-sfp-dry-walls-collapsed-and-incapable-of-holding-inventory-unit-3-everything-else-gone/

MORE INFO:

Video Playlist News from March 11^th 2011 to Today of the Fukushima Disaster

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC57A7B23200D0C87