MIDDLE EAST - Strained Relations

"Saudi perception of U.S. inaction in Syria strains historically close relations" (Part-1) PBS Newshour 10/22/2013

GWEN IFILL (Newshour):  Now to the Middle East and an emerging split between the United States and its long-time ally Saudi Arabia.

Jeffrey Brown reports.

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour):  The apparent rift became public late last week, following a vote in the United Nations that elected Saudi Arabia to the Security Council, the seat the Saudis had long coveted.

Then came the stunning response on state television.

MAN (through interpreter):  The kingdom has no other option but to turn down Security Council membership until it is reformed and given the means to accomplish its duties and assume its responsibilities in preserving the world's peace and security.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Today's Wall Street Journal reported it's part of a broader message.  The account said the head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Bandar, a former Saudi envoy to Washington, is trying to distance the kingdom from the U.S.

It cited Saudi anger at a perceived lack of support for Syrian rebels and the U.S. decision not to attack after the Assad regime's apparent use of chemical weapons.

Secretary of State John Kerry responded in London at a meeting of nations backing the Syrian opposition.

SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY:  We know that the Saudis were obviously disappointed that the strike didn't take place and have questions about some of the other things that may be happening in the region.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Kerry also acknowledged Saudi concerns about American diplomacy with Iran on the nuclear issue, plus Washington's earlier support for the now-deposed Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt, and the U.S. role in the Arab/Israeli peace process.

JOHN KERRY:  I will tell you that, on Egypt, both of our countries want to see a successful return to an inclusive democratic government with progress on the interim government's specified road map.

On the Middle East peace, Saudi Arabia has been a critical partner.  Just yesterday, we reaffirmed the Saudi commitment to the Arab -- the Saudi commitment to its own initiative, a very significant initiative.  In addition, Saudi Arabia and the United States share with almost every other country in the region deep concern about Iran's nuclear program and its impact on the region.  And we had a very frank conversation yesterday about that.  I think they understand exactly what the United States is engaged in.

JEFFREY BROWN:  For their part, the Saudis had no official comment today on the state of the relationship.

Why would the Saudis have any confidence in U.S. policy toward Iran's nuclear program with the evidence of our response to Assad's chemical weapons and leaving him in power?  They see the U.S. as all talk but no action.


"Changing relations with Mideast allies may affect U.S. position in the region" (Part-2) PBS Newshour 10/22/2013

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have arisen from "cumulative" disagreements on a variety of international issues.  Jeffrey Brown speaks with chief foreign correspondent Margaret Warner and former State Department analyst Graeme Bannerman about the history of the alliance and risks of a reduced U.S. role in the region.

IRAN - Nuclear Talks Update

Off the bat, I do NOT trust Iran as far as I could pickup the White House and throw it across the Potomac River.

"Iran Holds New Talks Over Curbing Nuclear Program" (Part-1) PBS Newshour 5/23/2012

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): For the cameras at least, there were smiles among the diplomats who gathered in Baghdad today. Iran's top negotiator and the European Union's foreign policy chief were among those arriving for the latest talks. The same parties met last month in Istanbul, Turkey.

Today, the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany presented a proposal to rein in Iran's uranium enrichment and prevent any move to building nuclear weapons.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the detailed proposal included unspecified "confidence-building" measures.

VICTORIA NULAND, State Department spokeswoman: What we are endeavoring to do is to lay out a path for Iran to demonstrate the peaceful intent. We will see how that goes, but, as we have said consistently, we need concrete actions.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Iran has said its program is only for peaceful purposes. It made a counteroffer today, apparently aimed at easing the bite of international economic sanctions.

A breakthrough appeared unlikely, but there were signs that some progress might be possible. On Monday, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency, the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, met with the Iranian negotiator, Saeed Jalili, in Tehran. As a result, Amano said a deal could be in the works to give U.N. inspectors access to critical Iranian sites, including the top-secret Parchin military complex seen here in a satellite image.

YUKIYA AMANO, director general, International Atomic Energy Agency: A decision was made by me and Mr. Jalili to reach agreement on the structured approach.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Amid the diplomacy, the threat of military action loomed in the background, in the form of possible airstrikes by Israel or the U.S. to destroy Iran's nuclear sites before any bomb can be built.

"Iranian Nuclear Talks: Are Expectations Seriously Mismatched?"
PBS Newshour 5/23/2012

MIDDLE EAST - Iran Nuclear Inspections, Israel Still Skeptical

"Israel skeptical of Iranian pledge to open nuclear facilities to UN inspectors" by AP, Washington Post 5/22/2012

Israel’s defense minister voiced skepticism on Tuesday over an agreement by Iran to open up its nuclear facilities to U.N. inspectors, saying the Iranians are trying to create a “deception of progress” to stave off international pressure.

The cool reception from Defense Minister Ehud Barak signaled that Israel will not ease up pressure on the international community to curb Iran’s nuclear program. Israel has repeatedly hinted it is ready to use force if it concludes international diplomacy has failed to stop the Iranians.

Barak spoke shortly after the U.N.’s nuclear chief announced he had reached a preliminary deal to allow his inspectors to restart a long-stalled probe into suspicions that Iran is secretly developing nuclear arms. The announcement came a day before Iran and six world powers were to meet in Baghdad for another round of negotiations.

“It looks like the Iranians are trying to reach a technical agreement that will create a deception of progress in talks in order to reduce the pressure ahead of talks tomorrow in Baghdad and postpone harshening of sanctions,” Barak said during a discussion at the Defense Ministry, according to a statement from his office.

“Israel believes that a clear bar should be set for Iran that won’t leave room for any window or crack for Iran to proceed toward military nuclear capability,” Barak said. “It’s forbidden to make any concessions to Iran. World powers demands must be clear and unequivocal.”

Barak held out the possibility that Iran be allowed to keep a “symbolic amount” of low-enriched uranium for medical or research purposes, but only if it is under “strict” international supervision.

Israel wants Iran to halt the enrichment of uranium — a key step toward building a nuclear bomb — and agree to ship most of its stockpile of enriched uranium out of the country and open its nuclear facilities to inspection.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Israel, along with the West, suspects that Iran is developing a nuclear bomb. Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran a mortal threat, citing Iranian calls for Israel’s destruction, Iran’s support for Arab militant groups and Iran’s development of missiles capable of striking Israel.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NUCLEAR POWER - Nuclear Aftershocks

"After Fallout of Fukushima, 'Frontline' Explores Nuclear Energy's Future" PBS Newshour 1/17/2012

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (Newshour): Next, questions about the safety and future of nuclear energy in the wake of the Fukushima reactor disaster in Japan.

That's the subject of tonight's "Frontline." ("Nuclear Aftershocks" 53:40min)

NewsHour science correspondent Miles O'Brien traveled to three continents to find the answers. Here in the United States, he looked at the Indian Point Power Plant in Buchanan, New York. One of the reactors there was shut down last week for repairs, the 18th unplanned shutdown in five years.

Here's a portion of Miles' piece.

From a Japanese mother near Fukushima, Frontline video

We should not build things that human beings cannot control.

JAPAN - Mapping Radiation post-Fukushima

"Safecast Draws on Power of the Crowd to Map Japan's Radiation" PBS Newshour 11/10/2011

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): Now, tracking the spread of radiation in Japan eight months after the tsunami caused a nuclear accident.

Japanese people are using new technology and the power of crowdsourcing to find hotspots.

NewsHour science correspondent Miles O'Brien has the second in a series of stories from Japan. (first: "Earthquake Prediction: Could We Ever Forecast the Next Big One?")

MILES O'BRIEN: In Japan, these days, you never know where you're going to find a hotspot. We are at a highway rest stop halfway between Tokyo and Fukushima, and we are looking for the kind of hotspot you would just as soon avoid.

PIETER FRANKEN, Safecast Japan: On the roof, the cesium didn't really stick very well, so it all flushed down and when it hit the concrete or the stone here, it bonded. So this is like a micro hotspot.

JAPAN - Fukushima Update, Authorities Misled Residents

"5 Months After Meltdown, Fukushima Citizens Still Face Radioactive Risks" PBS Newshour 8/16/2011

Excerpt from transcript

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): The unending aftermath of the Japanese tsunami and the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Only recently have authorities acknowledged they misled area residents about the dangers.

John Sparks of Independent Television News got an inside look at the area around the nuclear plant.

JOHN SPARKS: This is the end of the road. Beyond a well-staffed checkpoint lies the 20-kilometer evacuation zone, a no-man's land that surrounds the Fukushima nuclear plant.

We were stopped, our papers checked. Then the police waved us through. We had won rare access to a world without people -- 80,000 residents were evacuated from this area when explosions rocked the nuclear facility in march. Vehicles were abandoned on the highway. Shops were shut, their shelves full of stock, and damage from the tsunami simply left to rust.

We are now 10 kilometers away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Our personal radiation monitor has begun to rise now, so we are going to head several kilometers back to a safer area.

AMERICA - Our Nuclear Reactor Safety

NOTE: The links below lead to the same page, the "parts" (video and transcript) are accessed via tabs below each video-box.

"Nuclear Regulatory Commission Advises U.S. Nuclear Reactor Safety Upgrade"
PBS Newshour 7/19/2011 (Part-1)


"NRC Chief: U.S. Nuclear Plants Safe Despite Age, Needed Upgrades"
PBS Newshour 7/19/2011 (Part-2)

NUCLEAR SAFETY- Dry Casks

"A Safer Nuclear Crypt" by MATTHEW L. WALD, New York Times 7/5/2011

Excerpt

Watching intently as a huge white steel container surfaced from a 42-foot-deep canal, workers set upon it with long-handled tools, like sailors wrestling a flailing whale to the deck of a ship.

Yet this catch was far more menacing: 57,000 pounds of spent nuclear fuel at the LaSalle nuclear plant here, stored for decades in a pool and, if unshielded, powerful enough to deliver a lethal dose of radiation within seconds.

The fuel had just been moved into a capsule the size of a small silo, called a dry cask. Welded shut after it came out of the water, the cask was pumped full of inert gas, placed in an outer cask and moved outdoors to a concrete pad where it will sit until a disposal site is found. Spent fuel must be isolated from the environment for hundreds of thousands of years before it loses its potency.

The nuclear calamity at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant has refocused attention on the vulnerability of spent fuel pools at the 104 operating American nuclear plants.

The pools are generally far more packed than the damaged ones at Fukushima. Some scientists argue that the crowding raises the risk of a fire and makes the pools a tempting target for terrorists.

Several members of Congress are calling for the fuel to be moved from the pools into dry casks at a faster clip, noting that the casks are thought to be capable of withstanding an earthquake or a plane crash, they have no moving parts and they require no electricity.

“We should not wait for an American meltdown to beef up American nuclear safety measures,” Representative Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, who advocates greater reliance on casks, said after the accident in March in Japan. “We must heed the lessons to be learned from the nuclear meltdown in Japan and ensure nuclear safety here.”

But transferring the fuel to dry casks involves risks of its own, some industry experts say. “It’s a very complex discussion,” said Neil Wilmshurst, a nuclear power expert and a vice president of the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit utility consortium. “Every time you move spent fuel, there’s always a risk of human error. How much of this do you want to do if you don’t need to do it?”

The discussion is unfolding amid a far broader and more divisive debate over nuclear waste disposal. A half-century after the American nuclear industry was born, the nation still lacks a dedicated repository for such waste because of maneuvering driven by not-in-my-backyard politics.

Moving spent nuclear fuel to dry casks is risky, but the pools are even more of a risk. We just need to be very, very careful.

Dry casks are ONLY an interim solution, the long-term solution is a nuclear spent fuel repository.

NUCLEAR PLANTS - Did We Learn Something?

"Nuclear Plant Safety Rules Inadequate, Group Says" by MATTHEW L. WALD, New York Times 6/15/2011

Excerpt

Nuclear safety rules in the United States do not adequately weigh the risk that a single event would knock out electricity from both the grid and from emergency generators, as an earthquake and tsunami recently did at a nuclear plant in Japan, officials of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday.

A task force created after the accident at the nuclear plant, Fukushima Daiichi, delivered an oral progress report on Wednesday to the five-member commission. In that session, commission officials said they had learned that some of the safety equipment installed at American nuclear plants over the years, including hardware added after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is not maintained or inspected as diligently as the original components are.

A crucial reason for the extensive damage to the Fukushima plant’s reactors was the loss of electricity needed to run water pumps and to reposition valves. The American nuclear industry has argued in recent months that its reactors are better prepared to cope with that kind of emergency.

But Charlie Miller, the chairman of the task force, said that studies by safety experts in the United States had analyzed the risk of losing electricity from the grid or from on-site emergency generators, but not both at the same time.

Steven P. Kraft, an executive of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s trade association, speaking after the meeting said that in the past it was “not considered credible” that a single event could knock out both supplies. In view of recent events, he said, it is time to prepare for the possibility of an extended blackout.

One of the commissioners, George E. Apostolakis, pointed out that existing safety analyses also assume that electricity will be restored within four or eight hours after a power cutoff, but that blackouts on the grid often last far longer. “Why do we still assume things that are now, in retrospect, unrealistic?” he asked.

The task force, appointed in April, is supposed to complete its investigation in August but is periodically updating the commission. In another finding, it warned that emergency vents that had been added to American reactors to protect against a hydrogen explosion after an accident might not function, just as they proved inoperable in Fukushima.

It could be we DID learn something from the Fukushima disaster.

JAPAN - Nuclear Plant and Safety Cover-up

"Culture of Complicity Tied to Stricken Nuclear Plant" by NORIMITSU ONISHI and KEN BELSON, New York Times 4/26/2011

Excerpt

Given the fierce insularity of Japan’s nuclear industry, it was perhaps fitting that an outsider exposed the most serious safety cover-up in the history of Japanese nuclear power. It took place at Fukushima Daiichi, the plant that Japan has been struggling to get under control since last month’s earthquake and tsunami.

In 2000, Kei Sugaoka, a Japanese-American nuclear inspector who had done work for General Electric at Daiichi, told Japan’s main nuclear regulator about a cracked steam dryer that he believed was being concealed. If exposed, the revelations could have forced the operator, Tokyo Electric Power, to do what utilities least want to do: undertake costly repairs.

What happened next was an example, critics have since said, of the collusive ties that bind the nation’s nuclear power companies, regulators and politicians.

Despite a new law shielding whistle-blowers, the regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, divulged Mr. Sugaoka’s identity to Tokyo Electric, effectively blackballing him from the industry. Instead of immediately deploying its own investigators to Daiichi, the agency instructed the company to inspect its own reactors. Regulators allowed the company to keep operating its reactors for the next two years even though, an investigation ultimately revealed, its executives had actually hidden other, far more serious problems, including cracks in the shrouds that cover reactor cores.

Investigators may take months or years to decide to what extent safety problems or weak regulation contributed to the disaster at Daiichi, the worst of its kind since Chernobyl. But as troubles at the plant and fears over radiation continue to rattle the nation, the Japanese are increasingly raising the possibility that a culture of complicity made the plant especially vulnerable to the natural disaster that struck the country on March 11.

Already, many Japanese and Western experts argue that inconsistent, nonexistent or unenforced regulations played a role in the accident — especially the low seawalls that failed to protect the plant against the tsunami and the decision to place backup diesel generators that power the reactors’ cooling system at ground level, which made them highly susceptible to flooding.

A 10-year extension for the oldest of Daiichi’s reactors suggests that the regulatory system was allowed to remain lax by politicians, bureaucrats and industry executives single-mindedly focused on expanding nuclear power. Regulators approved the extension beyond the reactor’s 40-year statutory limit just weeks before the tsunami despite warnings about its safety and subsequent admissions by Tokyo Electric, often called Tepco, that it had failed to carry out proper inspections of critical equipment.

The mild punishment meted out for past safety infractions has reinforced the belief that nuclear power’s main players are more interested in protecting their interests than increasing safety. In 2002, after Tepco’s cover-ups finally became public, its chairman and president resigned, only to be given advisory posts at the company. Other executives were demoted, but later took jobs at companies that do business with Tepco. Still others received tiny pay cuts for their role in the cover-up. And after a temporary shutdown and repairs at Daiichi, Tepco resumed operating the plant.

We in America should take heed. Lax regulation, putting the country at risk, in the pursuit of company interests (aka profits). Anti-regulation Republicans should pay close attention, although I doubt they will.

ENVIROMENT - Italy's Last Reactor

"Italy’s Last Reactor Town Goes Solar in Fight Against Nuclear" by Alessandra Migliaccio and Flavia Rotondi, Bloomberg 4/17/2011

Montalto di Castro, the town where Italy’s last nuclear plant was built before a two-decade ban, is fighting against a return to atomic power and staking its future on solar energy by hosting Europe’s largest photovoltaic park.

“We’ve come up with a better idea,” Mayor Salvatore Carai said in an interview in his Town Hall office, which has views of the old reactor between the sea and acres of farmland. “The solar panels keep us self-sufficient. We haven’t used a single kilowatt of ‘dirty energy’ since December 2009.”

Italy, the only Group of Eight nation without nuclear plants, passed legislation in 2008 to return to generation and the country planned to build its first new reactors by 2020. That was before the accident at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant prompted the government to set a one-year moratorium.

As Italy debates whether to return to nuclear generation, Montalto’s mayor is organizing protests and supporting a national referendum to stop the construction of new plants, saying they would hurt agriculture and tourism.

“There’s concern people will abandon the land for fear of leaks,” Carai said. “No compensation they can offer could make up for that.”

The Montalto reactor, which never went into service, was dismantled after Italians voted in a 1987 referendum to end nuclear generation in the wake of the Chernobyl accident. The empty shell of the facility now sits next to a thermoelectric plant run by Enel SpA (ENEL), Italy’s biggest electricity producer.

Residents of Montalto are concerned that their town is a prime candidate to host new generators once the moratorium ends.

‘Top of List’

“We’re at the top of the list,” said Stefano Sebastiani, a spokesman for Montalto’s anti-nuclear committee. The Japanese accident has raised awareness on safety issues and made residents nervous about the prospect of new plants, he said. “Nuclear is like a pressure cooker and sooner or later the steam comes out and people pay the price.”

Experts agree that if plant construction goes ahead, the town of 9,000 between the sea and the hills of the central region of Lazio would offer an ideal location.

“Montalto is one of the places where it makes sense to restart nuclear,” said Giovanbattista Zorzoli, a nuclear engineer and professor at Milan’s polytechnic university. “It has the right conditions and a network already set up for distribution of the energy.” There’s also a canal connecting the area to the sea to allow for cooling, he said.

Montalto has already moved on, said Raffaello Giacchetti, regional manager for SunRay Renewable Energy, a European solar power-plant developer and operator of the town’s main 45 megawatt photovoltaic field. Producing enough electricity to power 15,000 homes, it’s the largest field in Europe.

Economic Advantages

“Montalto and other towns in the area have understood that they’re not just getting economic advantages from the fields,” Giacchetti said. “They’re are also creating an alternative to nuclear power.” The town’s solar fields combine to provide 85 MW of power, which should rise to 120 MW by the end of this year, according to Mayor Carai.

Solar panel prices will likely fall to $1.50 per watt in the second half of 2011 compared with around $1.80 in 2010, Jenny Chase, a solar analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said March 29.

Demand for solar may be supported by a backlash against atomic generators after the Fukushima accident. The WilderHill New Energy Index has gained about 8 percent since the March 11 accident as governments around the world review their nuclear plans.

Electricity Prices

Some Montalto residents remain skeptical about whether solar power can have enough of an impact. “We pay too much for electricity,” said Quinto Del Papa, a retired farmer who supports nuclear power. “I think nuclear would help.”

Italian households pay 21 euro cents per kilowatt hour of electricity compared with 13 cents in France and 14 cents in the U.K., while Italian businesses pay 13 cents, compared with 7 cents in France and 11 cents in the U.K., according to Brussels- based research firm Europe’s Energy Portal.

Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo said last year that nuclear power will help balance Italy’s energy mix, reduce electricity prices and cut dependence on imported energy.

Del Papa, who remembers Montalto as a boomtown that nearly doubled in population as the old plant was built, said new reactors “would also give us jobs.” As for the dangers of having a reactor in the neighborhood, he shrugged. “I’d live near it,” he said. “Those accidents are rare.”

Zorzoli, the Milan-based nuclear engineer, said he’s more skeptical about atomic energy since the Fukushima accident. “One should not be alarmist” about the country’s power requirements, he said. “Italy’s existing capacity and renewable development will allow us to face our needs.”

Bold text of headings mine

JAPAN - Nuclear Plant Action Blueprint

"Tokyo Utility Lays Out Plan for Its Reactors" by KEN BELSON and STEVEN LEE MYERS, New York Times 4/17/2011

Excerpt

The Tokyo Electric Power Company laid out an ambitious plan on Sunday for bringing the reactors at its hobbled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into a stable state known as cold shutdown within the next nine months and for trying to reduce the levels of radioactive materials being released in the meantime.

The blueprint for action represents Tokyo Electric’s most concrete timetable yet for controlling the reactors and improving safety at the plant, which was damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami nearly six weeks ago.

The first part of the plan (English text news release, opens in new page), expected to take three months, would include building new cooling systems, critical to preventing catastrophic releases of radioactive materials. The company then hopes to cover three badly damaged reactor buildings and install filters to reduce contamination being released into the air.

By announcing the construction of new cooling systems, the company implicitly acknowledged what outside experts had been warning for weeks: that the company’s earlier plan to repair the existing system was unlikely to work because the equipment was too badly damaged. The change in approach means that the country must resign itself to several more months of radioactive emissions — into the air and possibly into the Pacific — even though the plant appears to be less volatile than it was.

For weeks, workers have been consumed with reacting to a cascade of problems created not only by the original disasters but also by makeshift fixes for bringing the plant under control. By making its announcement on Sunday, Tokyo Electric was trying to show that conditions had apparently improved enough in recent days that it was now able to turn some of its attention to planning for the future.

I wish them all the good luck they can use.

NUCLEAR PLANTS - Japan, New Array of Threats?

"U.S. Sees Array of New Threats at Japan’s Nuclear Plant" by JAMES GLANZ and WILLIAM J. BROAD, New York Times 4/5/2011

Excerpt

United States government engineers sent to help with the crisis in Japan are warning that the troubled nuclear plant there is facing a wide array of fresh threats that could persist indefinitely, and that in some cases are expected to increase as a result of the very measures being taken to keep the plant stable, according to a confidential assessment prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Among the new threats that were cited in the assessment, dated March 26, are the mounting stresses placed on the containment structures as they fill with radioactive cooling water, making them more vulnerable to rupture in one of the aftershocks rattling the site after the earthquake and tsunami of March 11. The document also cites the possibility of explosions inside the containment structures due to the release of hydrogen and oxygen from seawater pumped into the reactors, and offers new details on how semimolten fuel rods and salt buildup are impeding the flow of fresh water meant to cool the nuclear cores.

In recent days, workers have grappled with several side effects of the emergency measures taken to keep nuclear fuel at the plant from overheating, including leaks of radioactive water at the site and radiation burns to workers who step into the water. The assessment, as well as interviews with officials familiar with it, points to a new panoply of complex challenges that water creates for the safety of workers and the recovery and long-term stability of the reactors.

While the assessment does not speculate on the likelihood of new explosions or damage from an aftershock, either could lead to a breach of the containment structures in one or more of the crippled reactors, the last barriers that prevent a much more serious release of radiation from the nuclear core. If the fuel continues to heat and melt because of ineffective cooling, some nuclear experts say, that could also leave a radioactive mass that could stay molten for an extended period.

WORLD - Japan Disaster and Chernobyl

"Revisiting Chernobyl: A Nuclear Disaster Site of Epic Proportions"
PBS Newshour 3/29/2011

JAPAN - A Generation of Radiation Effects?

"Long-Term Impacts of Fukushima Reactor Could Linger For 'A Generation or More'"
PBS Newshour 3/28/2011

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

JAPAN - From Ambassador, Quake Crisis

"Japanese Ambassador to U.S. on Quake Recovery, Nuclear Crisis"
PBS Newshour 3/22/2011

JAPAN - Risks and Questions

"Japan's Radiation Leak: What Are Health Risks Locally, Globally?"
PBS Newshour 3/16/2011

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

"Japan's Nuclear Crisis Raises Energy Questions in U.S"
PBS Newshour 3/16/2011

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

"It's too risky to keep Indian Point nuclear power plant open: Gov. Cuomo" by Douglas Feiden and Brian Kates, New York Daily News 3/17/2011

Excerpt

Gov. Cuomo on Wednesday called for shutting down the Indian Point nuclear power plant after a federal report branded it the most vulnerable to earthquakes in the nation.

"The suggestion is that of all the [104] power plants across the country, that the Indian Point power plant is most susceptible to an earthquake because Reactor No. 3 is on a fault [line]," Cuomo said as nuclear meltdown fears deepened in Japan.

"It should be closed. This plant in this proximity to the city was never a good risk."

Cuomo, who has long opposed the plant, spoke after new data from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission show the Hudson River plant was the most vulnerable to a quake.

It also came about two weeks after a judge let the Indian Point nuke plant - just 24 miles north of the Bronx - cut back on meltdown prevention.

In its 40-year history, Indian Point has suffered radiation leaks, useless warning sirens, transformer explosions and oil spills.

"Spent Fuel Pools: Assessing the Threat at Damaged Nuclear Plant"
PBS Newshour 3/17/2011

JAPAN - Post Tsunami Nuclear Risk

"Japan's Nuclear Uncertainty: Examining the Scope and Risks"
PBS Newshour 3/15/2011

JAPAN - Quake/Tsunami Roundup

"Japan Reels From Tsunami, Quake: Did Preparations Work?"
PBS Newshour 3/11/2011

Other links:

• "How Shifting Plates Caused the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan" New York Times 3/11/2011


• "Japanese Scramble to Avert Meltdowns as Nuclear Crisis Deepens After Quake" by HIROKO TABUCHI and MATTHEW L. WALD, New York Times 3/12/2011

Excerpt



The emergency appeared to be the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. The developments at two separate nuclear plants prompted the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. Japanese officials said they had also ordered up the largest mobilization of their Self-Defense Forces since World War II to assist in the relief effort.



• "Radioactive Releases in Japan Could Last Months, Experts Say" by DAVID E. SANGER and MATTHEW L. WALD, New York Times 3/13/2011

Excerpt



On Monday, an explosion blew the roof off the second reactor, not damaging the core, officials said, but presumably leaking more radiation.



• "Fareed's Take: What the devastation in Japan teaches us" Fareed Zakaria GPS, CNN 3/13/2011


• "Map: Impact of Japan tsunami and earthquake" CNN News (map includes video links, opens in new page)
  


• "Map of the Damage From the Japanese Earthquake" New York Times (map includes pic links, opens in new page)

AMERICA - Civilian Nuclear Pact

"Pact Lifts Limits on Civilian Nuclear Projects With Russia" by PETER BAKER, New York Times 12/9/2010

Excerpt

While President Obama presses the Senate to embrace a new arms control treaty with Russia, another nuclear pact with Moscow cleared its final hurdle on Thursday after more than four years with virtually no notice but potentially significant impact.

An agreement opening the door to greater civilian nuclear cooperation between the two countries cleared its final hurdle in Congress and will now take force in what Mr. Obama hopes will be another step toward strengthening the Russian-American rapprochement that has been one of his signature foreign policy goals.

The civilian nuclear agreement lifts longstanding limitations to allow extensive commercial nuclear trade, technology transfers and joint research between Russia and the United States. It does not permit the transfer of restricted data, but it eliminates a significant barrier to Russia’s importing, storing and possibly reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from American-supplied reactors around the world.