…the Dalai Lama on Monday said he is in support of using nuclear energy for peaceful means as a way to bridge the socioeconomic gap in developing countries in the absence of more efficient alternative energy sources. “There is still many developing countries with a huge gap between rich and poor…millions of people’s lives remain under the poverty level and we have to think about these people…”

…On Monday, he urged people on both sides of the contentious nuclear argument to look at the issue “holistically.” “Just to look at it from one side then to make a decision is not right,” he said. While speaking to the benefits of nuclear energy, however, he underlined the holistic lens needed to be pointed at the issue of risk as well. Nuclear energy specialists “should take maximum sorts of preparations.”

We at AREVA admire the Dalai Lama’s clarity on understanding the differences between developing nuclear weaponry and nuclear energy, and now his supportive voice for nuclear power to help developing nations. Read the entire article here.

Six months after the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan, solid majorities of Americans still view nuclear energy favorably, still support the extension of operating licenses at existing facilities that meet federal safety standards, and still believe that construction of a new reactor is acceptable at the site of the nearest nuclear power plant that already is operating, a new national survey shows.

In the new telephone survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, 62 percent of respondents said they favor the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United States, with 35 percent opposed. Those strongly favoring nuclear energy outnumber those strongly opposed by a two-to-one ratio, 28 percent vs. 13 percent, according to the survey conducted Sept. 22-24 by Bisconti Research Inc. with GfK Roper….

Despite the Fukushima accident, 67 percent of Americans rate U.S. nuclear power plant safety high. This is identical to the safety rating found in a national survey last February, one month prior to the earthquake and tsunami that caused the Fukushima accident. Eighty-two percent of Americans believe that “we should learn the lessons from the Japanese accident and continue to develop advanced nuclear energy plants to meet America’s growing electricity demand,” the new survey showed.

More numbers here….

Take a look at the reference Radiation Dosage Chart put together by the folks over at xkcd Blog.

BTW, 1 sievert = 100 rems, the U.S. measurement

Please click on the image to increase the size.

We need all the sources of energy we can find. No one source is going to satisfy the world’s energy needs. Everyone has some costs and some benefits. Nuclear energy can be scaled and it is clean.

We need to design the safest possible plants with the maximum number of back-up procedures. So far, that is the lesson we should draw from this tragedy in Japan.

“I think each passing hour, each passing day seems to be more under control and so they are making good progress.”

He also provided his positive judgments on the safety U.S. nuclear industry and how the industry is ready to integrate these important lessons learned.

it’s been a quarter of a century since the Soviet Union’s reactor at Chernobyl experienced a meltdown. And was on March 28, 1979, that the Three Mile Island disaster occurred in Pennsylvania. Those two incidents, coupled with the ongoing emergency at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, make a total of three — three — major incidents in three decades.

Nuclear reactors have been safely generating power around the world for more than four decades, and for any other industry, three disasters in more than 40 years would be a safety record to be envied.

But today, many people in the general public, environmental activists and timid politicians are wringing their hands over the future of the nuclear industry, which was experiencing a “renaissance” just eight days ago.

The public needs to calm down; the environmentalists need to quit trying to make political hay of a grave crisis; the politicians simply need to grow a spine.

The wide range of detection equipment helps emergency personnel efficiently and effectively conduct radiation measurements of people and the environment, and helps safeguard the health and well-being of citizens and workers:

• medium-resolution hand-held gamma spectroscopy instruments for detecting and characterizing contamination
• emergency response survey meter kits for assessing dose rate and surface contamination
• personal radiation monitors to provide close-in responders with immediate dose rate information in their location
• hand-held contamination monitors
• laboratory high-resolution gamma spectroscopy systems for characterizing food, water and environmental samples
• additional equipment as needed

Hand-held gamma spectroscopy

The company also identified nuclear measurement experts, some with specific crisis experience, who can offer support in the radiological assessment of affected areas in Japan. These experts can assist local authorities, international organizations and customers on a volunteer basis, and under full compliance with recommendations by the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) and international dosimetry rules.

AREVA will continue to explore all avenues in which it can provide expertise, equipment and assistance to Japan during this time of need.

Following the earthquake and tsunami that struck northern Japan, AREVA is mobilizing its forces to provide support to residents of the affected area and to the rescue workers and personnel working near the Fukushima nuclear plant.

AREVA has chartered a plane that will depart for Japan as soon as possible to deliver 3,000 activated charcoal protective masks, 10,000 overalls and 20,000 gloves. The aircraft will also carry 100 tons of boric acid, a neutron absorber, made available by EDF.

French rescue workers left for Japan early this week with radioactivity detection equipment provided by AREVA’s subsidiary, Canberra, specializing in the manufacture of nuclear detection and measurement equipment. Equipment in AREVA’s Tokyo offices has already been made available to the Japanese security teams.

The Group also decided as of Monday to donate one million euros to the Japanese Red Cross.

A small crew of technicians, braving radiation and fire, became the only people remaining at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on Tuesday….They crawl through labyrinths of equipment in utter darkness pierced only by their flashlights, listening for periodic explosions as hydrogen gas escaping from crippled reactors ignites on contact with air….

Nuclear reactor operators say that their profession is typified by the same kind of esprit de corps found among firefighters and elite military units.

“You’re certainly worried about the health and safety of your family, but you have an obligation to stay at the facility,” he said. “There is a sense of loyalty and camaraderie when you’ve trained with guys, you’ve done shifts with them for years.”

….Tokyo Electric has refused to release the names or any other information about the 50 workers who stayed behind, nor have utility executives said anything about how they are being relieved as they become tired or ill.

Some of those battling flames and spraying water at reactors at Daiichi are members of Japan’s Self-Defense Force, police officers or firefighters.