Nuclear news. Enjoy modern life‏

This week the Agency France Press (AFP) is giving us two important nuclear news: A bad one and a good one

Lets us start by the bad one: China - A ball of Caesium 137 lost in nature.

According to the New China news agency a scale used for industrial purpose would have disappeared from a factory in Sanxchi province. You may think that there is nothing too serious so far..... The problem is that this instrument contained a metallic ball with a substantial quantity of Caesium 137, a radioactive material that can explode if in contact with water. An intensive search has been ordered by the local authorities. There is hope that the Caesium may be found in the 5000 tons of waste material produced by the factory. The latest good news is that some abnormal level of radioactivity was measured in a neighbouring factory which purchased some scrap iron from the place where the Caesium was lost.... The latest bad news is that this factory is manufacturing iron and the Caesium may have already been melted..... I leave it to your imagination what could be the next reincarnation of the lost Chinese Caesium 137 ball: A car, a bicycle, a tin???



Now the good one: Sahara and Polynesia. Compensation for the victims of French nuclear tests.

Our Minister of defence: Mr Herve Morin has unveiled this week a proposal of law to compensate the victims of the 210 nuclear tests undertaken by our country from 1960 to 1966 in the Sahara and from 1966 to 1996 in Polynesia (see our previous story). A first annual compensation some 10 million Euros would be set aside to compensate the potentially 150 000 workers and the unknown number of civilians concerned who were living in the areas were the tests took place. This is good news, even though one would immediately ask the question why so late? Better late than never in any case. Minister Morin said that it was one of the first tasks he had asked his Ministry to work on when he took his job. Despite their reservations, he proceeded. He further said that for him it was a matter of consciousness. Compensation will be provided based on a list of 18 illness established by the United Nations as potentially resulting from radiations (cancer, leukaemia, etc...). A medical commission will study the requests for compensation and decide on the validity and the amount to be provided to the victims. The Ministry of defence already publicly recognized in the past 4 nuclear incidents during tests in the Sahara and 10 in Polynesia.

Who is Concepcion Picciotto ?

What ? You never heard about the " passionaria" of nuclear protests. The mother of all nuclear activists. She briefly appeared in Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11

Conception, alias Connie or Conchita for her friends was born 64 years ago and she is protesting every day against nuclear tests and weapons in front of the White House since 28 years. Her home is a tent that she installs on Pennsylvania avenue in front of the White house every morning. She has no other home and is living in the street. The story is that she was born in Spain and moved to the United States when she was 18. She briefly worked for the Spanish consulate in Washington, got married and divorced from an Italian man and then started her protest when she was 36 years old.

Her slogans displayed on big posters often make reference to biblical themes : " Ban all nuclear weapons or have fun on judgement day", " Who lives by the bomb will die by the bomb"

Tourists from all over the world come to have a picture with her in front of the White house . She defines herself as a citizen of the world, tells many stories, probably half true half lie. For example during the day she was a big helmet as she says that she would have been beaten several times by the police...As she lives in the street she is not a model of cleanliness. For some she is an heroin, for other just a poor fool!

Who ever she is: a fool or a saint; her 28 years crusade for peace cannot leave indifferent. The fact that in the US you can carry on with this type of protest for 28 years without being arrested or sent to a psychiatric hospital is also thought provoking ...

Do you know what the acronym IAEA stands for ?

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is a United Nations Agency working on scientific and technical cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology ( " the atom for peace" ).


It has also the responsibility to control the use of atomic energy in the world. It was created in 1953. The Director General Hans Blix of IAEA is coming from Egypt. He received the nobel peace prize in 2005. The agency employs more than 2300 persons in the world. Its Headquarters is in Vienna (Austria). It has a budget of approximately 225 million Euros per year.


The IAEA works on 3 activities:

1) The control of the spread of nuclear weapons;

2) The use of nuclear technology for development

3) The promotion of nuclear safety and security


The IAEA promotes and implement a system of agreements with countries to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. The countries that signed the «global treaty on the non proliferation of nuclear weapons" accept that their civilian nuclear program be inspected by IAEA inspectors to verify that they are not used for making nuclear bombs. There are 160 countries that have signed this treaty.


The IAEA wants to ensure that nuclear technology is used only for peaceful purpose. The IAEA also promotes the use of nuclear technology in domains such as medecine, agriculture, and industry. They have some laboratories to conduct research and training activities. For agriculture for example the IAEA recommends techniques of nuclear radiations to sterilize insects (and then release the sterile males to reduce the growth of the insect population) or to modify genetically the crops.


The IAEA makes recommendations to define standards and regulations for the safety of nuclear plants. They advise also on the design and operations of these plants. They help also the countries in the world to combat the risks of nuclear terrorism and to be prepared should a nuclear accident happen somewhere.


If you want to know more about the IAEA, you can visit their web site that is full of information!

High risk shipment on its way from Cherbourg to Japan

Cergy Pontoise the 22/03/2009.



Thanks to Green Peace the public is informed that the biggest shipment of nuclear material ever transported is on its way from France to Japan. Approximately 1.8 tons of plutonium (enough to make more than 200 nuclear bombs) have left the port of Cherbourg and will be transported by sea to reach Japan in 2 months time. The shipment will probably go through territorial waters of countries that are not even aware of its existence. The transport will be under the responsibility of the British company “Pacific nuclear Transport Limited”. Two ships: the Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Heron will be escorted by military vessels and probably submarines. It is expected that in the future, there will be more and more of these shipments.The Plutonium was produced in the nuclear plant of Marcoule (Rhone valley) and stored in the plant of La Hague in Normandy. In France it was transported by trucks under military escorts.There was no public or official announcement of this news…
!!!

Where can we find Uranium ?

As we all know, to produce nuclear energy we need Uranium which will be enriched through a complex industrial process before it can be used.


Uranium can be found almost every where: in soil, in rocks, in rivers, in lakes, in oceans. Traces of uranium can be found in food, in the drinking water and also in human and animal tissues. But in most cases the Uranium is found in very very small quantities and obviously can not be extracted for industrial use at a reasonable cost.


Where are the main sources of Uranium that can be mined for industrial purpose ? The main known deposits are in Australia, Kazakhstan, United States, Canada, South Africa, Niger, Namibia, Russia, Brazil, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The deposits with higher concentration are currently in Canada.


In France we can extract Uranium from granite but the concentration is very low (of the order of 4-5 parts per million) and huge quantities of rocks would be required. France nuclear industry relies very much on Uranium mined in Niger.

In the United States of America and Russia an important source of Uranium already enriched for the nuclear civil industry is coming from nuclear weapons that are dismantled since the 2 countries signed a disarmament treaty in 1987

Atomic Quizz

Today let us review the state of your knowledge or ignorance on nuclear culture with a 20 questions quiz:

1) Where was built the first civil nuclear reactor in France ?

a) In Chinon
b) In Belleville
c) In Tricastin
d) In Romans

2) Where is the biggest nuclear plant in the world ?

a) In Narvin Gordorsk ( Russia)
b In Tricastin ( France)
c) in Kashiwaziki Kasiwa ( Japan)
d) In Big rock point ( USA)

3) How long after Hiroshima was the Nagasaki bomb dropped ?

a) 3 days
b) one day
c) a few hours
d) one week

4) Where did the first french nuclear tests took place ?

a) In the pacific
b) In the US desert
c) In the Sahara desert


5) When did the Chernobyl reactor accident happened ?

a) In 1966
b) In 1976
c) In 1986

6) Where is located Chernobyl ?

a) in Ukraine
b) in Russia
c) in Belarus

7) Who discovered the uranium ?

a) Pierre and Marie Curie
b) Becquerel
c) Klaporth
d) Bishreck

8) Where was the first civilian nuclear plant built ?

a) In Chicago ( USA)
b) In Novorsibirsk ( Russia)
c) In Windscale ( United Kingdom)

9) With which country Sarkozy discussed partnership for nuclear energy last weeks ?

a) With Germany
b) With Sweden
c) With Spain
d) With Italy

10) How many nuclear plants are there in France ?

a) 39
b) 29
c) 19


Bonus question: What is the origin of the english word QUIZ which means game of questions and answers ?

a) the latin etymology "Qui es" ( Who are you ?)
b) A famous popular TV game show on the BBC in the 60's
c) the acronym for QUestioning, Inquiring and Zero result



And now the replies !

1) a
2)c
3)a
4) c
5)c
6)a
7)c
8)a
9) d
10) c
Bonus: a

You enjoyed it ? More quiz to come soon !!!

The use of nuclear radiations to control insect populations

The technique of nuclear sterilization of insects consists in radiating a large number of males grown in laboratory to sterilize them and then release them in the nature. When in the wild, the sterile male will compete with the "non sterile" ones for mating the females. As a result of this competition between the males and many females having mated with sterile partners, there will be a natural decrease in the fertility rates, the number of birth and a progressive extinction of the insect’s population.



This technique has been used with great success to control the spread of the screw worm, a very bad parasite of cattle, sheep, goats but also of humans that was attacking animals in Africa (It is a type of big black fly that lays hundreds of eggs in skin wounds of the animal and then the larvaes will just come out from any part in the body, drilling the tissues and bursting through the skin... very disgusting to see the photos...). The technique is tested also for other insects including mosquitoes for the fight against malaria.

Depleted Uranium. What is it about ?

After each major war involving western military forces, the question of the use of depleted uranium munitions make the headlines of newspapers because of reported negative impact on the health of soldiers and of the population living in the areas where fighting took place. Let us review what is the story here. First of all, what is Depleted uranium (DU as they call it): It is basically a by product left from the process of enrichment of Uranium to make it usable for nuclear reactors and weapons. DU is about 40 % less radioactive than Uranium. This means that it is very little radioactive. For example, scientists say that it is 3 million less radioactive than radium that was put in old luminous alarm clocks. Why is DU used for military purpose ? It is because its extreme density makes it very good for military use to penetrate thick tank armors or in reinforcing armor protection of military vehicles. Is DU a problem for human health? There are today diverging views amongst scientists on this matter. The scientists are still debating if the DU toxicity can be responsible for poisoning soldiers and population exposed to it in large quantities, and if it poses a threat to the environment with pollution of the water. The official position of military authorities but also of the World Health Organization is that apparently there is no credible link between DU exposure and increase in human cancers or other health or environmental problems. Other scientists disagree. There are still some public health studies on going on this subject and it is too early to conclude but with the massive use of Depleted uranium ammunitions in the new conflicts this could be potentially a big problem for a large population of soldiers that have been exposed and for populations living in zones where combat took place.

Environment and pollution in Russia and Central Asia: the Soviet legacy

The environmental balance of the Soviet Union developed from the late 1980s through the policy of "glasnost" (openness) launched by President Mikhail Gorbachev was described by many experts as "ecological disaster".According to the American environmental NGO, Blacksmith Institute, five of the ten most polluted places in the world are located in Russia and Central Asia.The demographic and health crisis that marked the last years of the empire, and which has lasted, can be attributed to a not negligible, as assessed by some studies 30%, the degradation of the environment: 75% water polluted surface, 70 million of the 190 million Soviet citizens suffering from respiratory diseases due to air pollution in cities, reduction in life expectancy ...

But the breakup of the Soviet Union into fifteen independent countries in 1991, has allowed Russia to escape in part to its responsibilities, since some of the most devastated are now located outside the Russian borders. To mention just some of the most iconic, Chernobyl is in Ukraine while the Aral Sea and the Semipalatinsk nuclear polygon are in Central Asia. The latter region was probably one of the main victims of the Soviet policy of intensive industrialization and the arms race that accompanied the Cold War. The presence of desert expanses and the wealth of its subsoil have designated for the manufacture and storage of hazardous materials and for testing of nuclear, chemical and bacteriological. As the huge Russia itself, which represents 12% of the landmass, it has not been spared because estimated 40% of its territory to be moderately or seriously polluted.

How to explain what some experts have not hesitated to qualify d' "écocide" ? of "ecocide"?

It appears that the Marxist-Leninist ideology has played a role. Indeed, according to Marxist theory, only the work creates value and natural resources are not created as free labor input. Hence the concept of domination of nature by man and the productivist voluntarism that followed. Moreover, the prevailing idea that the natural resources of this huge country were inexhaustible, and that nature would have the capacity to absorb pollution and regenerate it. Both ministries that companies were judged on quantitative criteria and had no interest in worrying about the environmental damage they could cause. Especially since the penalties were trivial and rarely enforced. Finally, the sharp decline of GDP - an average of over 50% - and the disruption of the economy following the breakup of the Soviet empire have pushed environmental concerns to the background compared to the struggle for survival organizations and individuals.

Courrier des Pays de l'Est No 1057

Mururoa - Almost 15 years after the last tests. Where do we stand ?

" At our stage of knowledge, two things seem to be infinite: The Universe and Human stupidity... Regarding the universe, I am not completely sure .... "

Albert Einstein

During the period 1966 to 1982 and then in 1995 France undertook a total of 172 nuclear tests in the atoll of Mururoa and Fangataufa in Polynesia. These allowed our country to produce 800 nuclear war heads. In 1995, once the last series of test were completed France together with the USA ( who had carried out nuclear tests in Marshall and Bikini islands), and the United Kingdom finally agreed to sign the treaty for a pacific nuclear free zone. The french nuclear tests and particularly the last one resulted in world wide protests. Mururoa is a small atoll located at 1200 km east/south east of Tahiti in the polynesia. Nuclear tests were first carried out in the atmosphear ( from 1966 to 1975), resulting in necessary displacement of the native population because of the contamination and then underground. It seems that the explosions have damaged the atoll's geological structure with huge cracks appearing on the coral. The land and water would also be contaminated. But...

According to a french nuclear safety agency's report published in 2007 the tests would have had limited impact on the health of the population living nearby. This nuclear safety agency belongs to the Ministry of Defence....its scientific credibility may be challenged.It is amazing to note how little independant information is available on the subject. Media self censorship effect ? What is sure is that the situation in this part of polynesia will have to be monitored for decades as the impact of these explosions has with no doubt be very detrimental on the environment with potential negative impact for many, many, MANY years to come...

Very sad indeed.

ONCE UPON A TIME.... CHERNOBYL

Chernobyl.
It was 23 years ago.
None of the 99th ISTOM promotion were born yet. But still we all know what this name stands for.
Today we want to refresh your memory as we should never forget. We should draw the lessons from history. Let us pray that this never happen again.
Once upon a time.......

On 26 April 1986 took place the most serious civil nuclear incident in history. Explosions at reactor number four of the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl in Ukraine, a Republic of the former Soviet Union at that time, created a major nuclear emergency which had an impact over countries in Europe, and especially over large areas of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. The Chernobyl disaster was a human tragedy, resulting in displacement of populations, and the contamination of large number of people and vast areas of land.
.An estimated 350 000 clean-up workers or "liquidators" from the army, local police and fire services were involved in cleaning up the radioactive debris during the 2 years that followed the incident. Many of them died of cancer or Leukemia due to the exposure to radioactivity. Over 490 0000 people were evacuated from the area surrounding the Chernobyl reactor to non-contaminated areas. A large increase in the incidence of cancer has occurred among affected people who lived in the most contaminated areas. This was due to direct exposure to radiations but also to radioactive deposits in pastures eaten by cows who then concentrated it in their milk which was subsequently drunk by children. Chernobyl may probably have also cause an increase of cancers in western Europe beyond Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Chernobyl had also an impact on mental health and psychological effects on the affected population. High levels of stress, anxiety and medically unexplained physical symptoms continue to be reported among those affected directly or indirectly by the disaster. Twenty three years after the incident, many people are still under schock. It is also reported that the designation of the affected population as “victims” rather than “survivors” has led to feelings of helplessness and lack of control over their future. This has resulted in individual destructive behaviours, such as the overuse of alcohol and tobacco, or the consumption of mushrooms, berries and wild animals from areas still having high levels of radioactivity.

Dear readers, do you know how many nuclear plants we have in France ?........................

Nuclear energy or no nuclear energy ? That is the question ...

The debate about the pros and cons of nuclear energy dates back to the 60's/70's, when the first programmes for the launch of civil nuclear energy plants were launched in the developped world ( mostly Europe, The US but also in the USSR ).

The establishment of nuclear plants resulted in fierce debates amonst public opinion and politicians and major demonstrations in the world lead by the one opposed to the development of this type of energy. One could even say that these were at the origin of the development of the first "ecologist" and "green" contestation movements in Europe. Peace movements and also extreme leftist groups had also the nuclear as a common enemy, reflecting the interests of global capitalism.

Today the picture has evolved and many in the public have changed their mind with the new developments regarding on the one hand the concerns regarding the end to come of major fossile energy reserves ( oil and gas) and on the other hand the challenges of climate change due to the global warming.

Dear blog reader let us have a quick cartesian review of the matter to help us make our mind on a complex issue for which there is no simple answer.

Let us take as real life example: the case of France.

Did you know that our beloved hexagon is the 2nd world producer of nuclear energy ?

How comes ?

The facts are as follows: In the 70 's nuclear energy was covering 2% of our energy requirements and oil approximately 78 %.
Today nuclear energy covers 41 % of our requirements, oil 33% and gas 15 %, the rest being covered by hydroenergy and other renewable energies ( by the way France is also the first producer of renewable energy in Europe with wood counting for 55%, hydroenergy counting for 29 %, biofuels, 4% and solar + wind sadly representing only a bare 1% of total renewable energies). When came the first energy crisis in the 70's with the first time major increase of oil, the government decided to launch a major program of building of nuclear plants and the result is that today we have 58 nuclear plants scattered every where on our territory ( look at the map and try to find a place where to live if you are allergic to the vicinity of nuclear plants... you will not find it easy...).

From an economic and strategic point of view the political decision makers realized that France being one of the world major economy, (currently being the 7th bigger consumer of energy in the world) owns very limited fossile energy reserves. In fact, it is considered that France would own only 0.01% of fossile energy reserves of the world with little coal production left ( production decreased from 40 million metric tons per year in the 70's to less than 3 million metric tons in the years 2000), and very limited and decreasing gas reserves ( national gas production decreased from 15% of need in the 70's to less than 2% today). To ensure the energetic independance of the nation, the choice of nuclear energey appeared as THE solution and in fact today, thanks to this choice our country is independant for over 50% of its energy requirements and even generates major revenues from sale of electricity to european neighbours. The production of nuclear energy may also help the country meet the internationally agreed goals of 4 times reduction of CO2 gas emissions by 2050 and thus contribute significantly to reduction of global warming. Finally France has gained over the past almost 40 years a considerable "know how" in terms of nuclear technology and is now in a position to export it to many countries in the world that have indicated their interest to equip themselves with this new technology.

Let us review briefly the pros and cons of Nuclear energy:

The " pros"

- Energetic independance
- Technology of the future
- Alternative to decreasing world fossile resources
- Very limited impact on global warming
- Good source of export revenues

The "cons"

- Sophisticated Technology with major environmental risks and impact on human health ( remember Chernobyl) for a very long period of time.
- Problems of storage of residues

The next question may be: Do we have the choice or alternatives ?

The answer could be: yes we should definitely invest more in the research and development of other sources of energy; for the short term there is a lot of potential in developping more the use of non renewable energies such as the solar, the wind, the waves, the biofuels; for the long term to invest massively in the research on nuclear fusion ( the problem of energy would be resolved for ever... we can always dream...). We should also invest more on new modes of energy saving.

BUT for the very short term let us be realistic, we may not have other choice than to continue to rely on nuclear civil energy, particularly with current patterns of consumption and economic development. Should we decide to review the way our society is consuming,.... then it is another story..

We realize that this approach may not be very popular and we are looking forward to receive your views on the matter !

NUCLEAR EMERGENCY. WHAT FARMERS SHOULD DO TO MINIMIZE THE DAMAGES TO HUMAN HEALTH

Twenty years after, the name of Chernobyl reminds us of the terrible impact of the first major nuclear incident after the second world war. The major developped countries, particularly in Europe, but also the United Nations are working on a project to prepare for such an eventuality of nuclear disaster and how to minimize the impact of it. Here are some advices for the prevention of radioactive contamination of agricultural foodstuffs. In case of a declared nuclear emergency, the following measures should be taken immediately by farmers . We found interresting to show this measures, because released at the agriculture and so could concerned the our courses.


Protect growing vegetables and animal fodder - cover with plastic sheets
Bring livestock in from pasture - move animals into a shed or barn;
Harvest any ripe crops and place under cover.
Do not consume locally produced milk or vegetables;
Do not process or distribute food products;
Do not fish, hunt or gather mushrooms or other forest foods.
Prevent the ingestion of contaminated herbage by grazing animals;
Prohibit hunting, fishing, mushroom collection, and consumption of vegetables and water derived from precipitations.
In potentially contaminated areas:
Do not use water for irrigation;
Do not burn vegetation or any material stored outdoors, including firewood.


The above measures may seem very simple, but do not forget that one of the major cause of contamination is due to the food ingested. It is important to control as soon as possible the risks of contamination at the level of food production. With this regard, it is reported that a large number of cancers would have been avoided after Chernobyl if the consumption of milk had been stopped immediately after he incident, which was not the case......
Future agrodeveloppers of ISTOM be aware and be prepared !

(source : these measures have been found in the website of the United Nations, http://www.fao.org/ )

Dirty bomb ? What is this. Did you ever hear about a clean bomb any way?

are you interested to know what is a “dirty bomb”?

A dirty bomb, or radiological dispersion device, is a bomb that combines conventional
explosives, such as dynamite, with radioactive materials in the form of powder. The idea behind a dirty bomb is to spread radioactive material into some populated area. This could contaminate buildings and the local environment, and expose people to radiation. Persons could be externally (skin) contaminated or internally contaminated …The main purpose of a dirty bomb is to frighten people by contaminating their environment with radioactive materials and threatening large numbers of people with
exposure. Such use of radiation is only hypothetical and has not been used by terrorists
before, but the possibility exists…. Dirty bombs are designed to spread fear and panic.

Dirty bomb vs atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The atomic bomb explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear weapons
involving a fission reaction.It caused severe harm,the death of hundreds of thousand of people and contamination of large areas. By contrast, a dirty bomb is not an atomic explosion,
it can only spread radioactive material and contaminate a relatively small area. Dirty
bombs are not weapons of mass destruction.

Their effect is expected to be very much less than of a
nuclear bomb (but still let us crossfingers)