New report blasts Japan’s preparation for, response to Fukushima disaster

TOKYO — Last year’s nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant was a “profoundly man-made disaster,” the result of poor earthquake-safety planning and faulty post-tsunami communication, a report from an independent parliamentary panel said Thursday.

Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

The sharp criticism of the Japanese government and the nuclear operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) provided an alternative narrative to an earlier investigation from Tepco itself, whose in-house panel concluded that the nuclear crisis was unforeseeable, spurred by a “giant tsunami beyond our imagination.”

In contrast, the report released Thursday suggested that the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that triggered the tsunami may also have caused critical damage that led to the series of meltdowns. It argued that the nuclear power plants could and should have been made more quake-proof, and blamed lax safety measures on what it called the country’s powerful and “collusive” decision makers and on a conformist culture that allowed them to operate with little scrutiny.

The nuclear bloc, while reassuring the nation about its safe atomic plants, ignored safeguards that would have helped strengthen the Fukushima facility against a massive but foreseeable earthquake, the 641-page report said.

In a blistering assessment, authors described how regulators and nuclear operators went to painstaking lengths to either ignore safety risks at the plant or cover them up. It accused Tepco and government officials of slow and faulty communication after the disaster, which, the report said hampered the emergency response.

Both regulators and nuclear operators disregarded earlier warnings from outside watchdog groups that earthquakes posed a significant safety risk to the nuclear plants, an English summary of the report said. In the process, they “effectively betrayed the nation’s right to be safe from nuclear accidents.”

“What must be admitted — very painfully – is that this was a disaster ‘Made in Japan,’ ” investigation Chairman Kiyoshi Kurokawa wrote in the introduction to the report. “Its fundamental causes are to be found in the ingrained conventions of Japanese culture: our reflexive obedience; our reluctance to question authority; our devotion to ‘sticking with the program’; our groupism; and our insularity.” More

 

Global Warming Is Happening Now

The science does not lie.

Pakistan unveils sustainable development strategy

Pakistan's new national sustainable development strategy (NSDS) boasts a 'green action agenda' and proposes to set up a knowledge management system that is based on science, technology and innovation.

The strategy is expected to help steer the country — hit by a string of natural disasters that includes two devastating floods, three cyclones and an earthquake since 1999 — towards sustainable economic growth.

"Collectively leveraging knowledge and innovation would certainly deliver results for future sustainability," the strategy paper says.

The NSDS envisions knowledge management systems that support key economic, environmental and social goals through academic research and foster solution-driven innovation for policy, information gathering, and technology development.

Details are yet to be worked out, but the strategy is expected to attract support from donors and the private sector by being in sync with the United Nations millennium development goals and the proposed sustainable development goals

Pakistan's economic growth has slumped to 2.6 per cent in the past three years and the country is beset by large inefficiencies in the agriculture, energy and water sectors, putting stress on natural resources

High population growth, rapid urbanisation, weak enforcement of environment regulations, and rising numbers of internally displaced persons are among other challenges. More at Science and Development Network

 

Energy, Water and Climate Change: Implications for Pakistan.

Pakistan’s great cities of antiquity Harrapa and Mohenjo-Daro, the capitols of the Indus Valley Civilization, were founded around 2600 BC on the banks of the mighty Indus River. They were founded in this location because of the close proximity to water and a highway for trade. After some 700 years the Harappan cities began to decline. According to Kenoyer one of the reasons was the drying up of major rivers.

Today, water is no less important to Pakistan and we must be heedful of its fragility, its ferocity, its power, and in the absence of water, its ability to trigger conflict.

Water security is an imperative for the survival of any state. Water security impinges upon all aspects of a society. Water security is necessary for the production of energy, for agriculture, for industry, and for human survival.

In years to come climate change may well cause a shift in prevailing weather patterns in Pakistan. The normal monsoon patterns may well change dramatically. Pakistan, unlike India, is dependent on one river system for the majority of its water and is already one of the most water stressed countries in the world.

In the subcontinent riverine systems are being shared between a number of countries. Starting in the West we begin with Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and finally China. And China, it could well be argued, is the elephant in the room. More

 

Danger Zone: Ageing Nuclear Reactors

Danger Zone: Ageing Nuclear Reactors

The US has more than 100 reactors similar to Japan's destroyed Fukushima plant. Some located in earthquake zones or close to major cities are now reaching the end of their working lives. People & Power sent Joe Rubin and Serene Fang to investigate. Al Jazeera English

In March 2011, a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

As tens of thousands of people were evacuated from nearby towns and villages, the world waited anxiously to see whether the radioactive fallout would spread across the country, or even be carried overseas.

Unsurprisingly, in the wake of this incident, the nuclear operations of other countries have come under considerable scrutiny.

One such country is the US where more than 100 similar reactors - some of them in earthquake zones or close to major cities - are now reaching the end of their working lives.

Their owners want to keep them running, but others - from environmentalists to mainstream politicians - are deeply concerned.

In this investigation for People & Power, Joe Rubin and Serene Fang of the Center for Investigative Reporting examine whether important safety considerations are being taken into account as the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) considers extending the licences of these plants.

The agency has recently come under fire for glossing over the potential dangers of ageing reactors, for becoming too cosy with the industry and for political infighting among the agency's senior executives, which critics in the US Senate and elsewhere say seriously hampers its ability to ensure safety.

The investigation focuses on the Pacific Gas & Electric nuclear facility at Diablo Canyon and two others, Vermont Yankee and Indian Point in New York.

These three sites represent the dangers posed to nuclear power plant safety by earthquakes, terrorism, mechanical breakdown and flooding.

Rubin and Fang discover that the NRC's oversight track record is far from perfect, and that unless urgent action is taken the US could be heading for a nuclear catastrophe of its own. More

As I keep repeating 'Any organization that is motivated solely by profit MUST be heavily regulated. Think Fukushima. Editor

Fully funded fellowship opportunity - United Nations-Nippon Fellowship call for applications

United Nations - Nippon Fellowship Programme

The United Nations - Nippon Fellowship Programme is now accepting applications. Successful applicants will benefit from a 9-month fully funded research fellowship which includes a 3-month placement at the United Nations in NY. Please disseminate widely to government and non-government individuals from developing states working in any ocean-related discipline. Information and application files can be found on the fellowship website: www.un.org/depts/los/nippon and the alumni website is here: www.unfalumni.org Application deadline is 15 September 2012.

 

UN talks could finally rein in lawless trade in killing

At first glance they look like any other bullet. A 54mm slither of brass built for one purpose – to kill another human being. But bullets tell a story.

The markings around the circular primer at the base of the casings reveal they were manufactured in Iran – a country supposedly under an international arms embargo.

Since 2010, these cartridges have flooded into west and central Africa. Some are bought on the black market, peddled by soldiers looking to make some cash on the side. Others have been illegally smuggled in shipping containers to countries where they fill the magazines of soldiers known for gross human rights abuses.

Iranian-manufactured bullets have appeared in the hands of both rebel and government forces in the Ivory Coast, a country that is supposedly banned from importing new weaponry. And when 157 demonstrators were killed in a Guinea stadium in 2009, Iranian casings were among the thousands of spent shells.

Virtually every major commodity – from oil to bananas – is regulated by international agreement. Yet there are no global conventions or treaties prohibiting the arms trade, which was valued at $411bn (£262bn) in 2010.

Shortly after the First World War attempts were made to lay down some rules. But ultimately individual states have been left to decide who they should sell to. Even when arms embargoes are in place, dealers find loopholes to smuggle their way into supposedly closed markets – as the conviction of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout illustrated this year. Only 52 countries have laws regulating arms brokers – and fewer than half of those have criminal or monetary penalties for illegal brokering.

But that could change. Starting today, delegates from around the world will gather in New York for a month of negotiations at the United Nations in an attempt to agree a global Arms Trade Treaty. The product of more than a decade of lobbying by human rights groups, it is the best chance the world has had to bring an oversight to an industry that lives on death. Countries such as Britain, Mexico, France and Germany are pushing for a "bullet proof" treaty that would cover almost every aspect of the arms trade. Campaign groups hope to see a clause that would ban the sale of any weapons to states where they are likely to be used for human rights abuses. More

Given that the next hundred years may well be overshadowed by resource shorthges, water, food, petroleum, metal and rare earths it may well be a time to reduce the global arms trade. This is a long overdue initiative, and one that to a great extent is carried out by States Party to the United Nations. Editor