Nuclear education for North Dakota
Senate hopeful Sand spearheading nuclear energy education effort Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) 16 Feb 12, - A Candidate for U.S Senate is spear-heading an effort to educate North Dakotans on nuclear power. Republican Duane Sand is organizing a nuclear power symposium, to educate people about its benefits.
Sand hopes the public, local government officials, and nuclear power companies will attend. He eventually wants to bring a nuclear power plant to the state,… http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/59214/
USA’s Energy Secretary Chu’s trip to promote nuclear power to Georgia
OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Chu to tout nuclear in Georgia The Hill, By Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman - 02/14/12 State of play: Energy Secretary Steven Chu will tout the Obama administration’s support for nuclear energy Wednesday at a Georgia power plant whose owner recently won approval to build the first new U.S. reactors in more than 30 years.
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.)has called on President Obama to hold off on finalizing the loan guarantee until the Energy Department makes improvements to its loan program, recommended in a White House-mandated report released last week…… http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/210651-overnight-energy
India borrowing from France, to buy France’s nuclear reactors
Interesting to watch the developments in India, as the people’s Koodankulam anti nuclear protest continues. The Russian engineers have now left the site, as work cannot proceed, due to the public opposition.
The Indian nuclear corporation cannot afford its planned new nuclear plants at Jaitapur and Koodankulam, which they are buying from France and Russia respectively. But hey! – that’s no problem, because they are going to borrow the money from France and Russia. Seems like the Indian government is working on behalf of foreign companies, not the Indian people. Nuclear Power Corp Looks Overseas for Loans .http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204257504577149981322117366.html
The Indian government is also learning from France’s nuclear company, AREVA, on how to manipulate public opinion. With jolly jingles and other cheery messages, they hope to convince the community that nuclear power is just fine. At left above, a sample of AREVA’s message to children, in its Australian brochure. – Christina Macpherson
NPCIL launches campaign to clear KNPP concerns,Zee News, January 09, 2012, Chennai: Amid the standoff over the controversial Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited has launched an intense media campaign to allay safety fears of the people in and around the project site.
“NPCIL has produced 60-second long advertisements to be telecast on TV channels. These will carry messages on cancer and on some issues raised by fishermen,” an official said here today.
In the advertisements, renowned oncologist Dr V Shanta of Cancer Institute, Chennai, marine life experts Murugesan and Sugumaran will clear doubts that locals and fishermen might have (about nuclear
power), they said. The campaign would be telecast on Tamil TV channels, apparently targeting the local population who have been up in arms against the Indo-Russian collaborative project since September last.
NPCIL officials had already aired 60-second long jingles on private radio channels in Tirunelveli district. The commissioning of the plant, earlier slated in December 2011, has been delayed after protests by locals on grounds of safety.
http://zeenews.india.com/news/tamil-nadu/npcil-launches-campaign-to-clear-knpp-concerns_751574.html
Turkish govt asks Russian nuclear firm to ‘educate’ Turkey’s anti nuclear residents
Turkey surprises Russian nuclear firm with new conditions, Today’s Zaman, ERCAN BAYSAL , ANKARA, 26 Dec 11 Russian firm Atomstroy export received two additional conditions from the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry on their contract for Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in Akkuyu, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.
The ministry announced the additional conditions to the Russian firm in its response to Atomstroyexport’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) report. One of the additional conditions placed by the ministry asks the firm to persuade the residents of Akkuyu and be sensible to their objections regarding the nuclear plant. Read more »
As nuclear industry dries up in the Western world – the push to sell to dodgy regimes
So what’s driving the world’s nuclear suppliers to service such 
nuclear pariahs?
First and foremost: cash. As the prospects for reactor sales in the world’s advanced economies have dried up, most nuclear vendors have been forced to go after less developed—and potentially quite lucrative—markets in the Middle and Far East. In fact, 
vendors are falling all over themselves to do this, particularly South Korea, which made its debut as a nuclear exporter with a $20 billion deal to build four reactors in the United Arab Emirates.
Nuclear Power Goes Rogue, The Daily Beast, Henry Sokolski, Nov 28, 2011 ”………What, then, is the good news for nuclear power? A handful of new reactors may be built in Eastern Europe and the U.K., and several more in South Korea, but in the North that’s pretty much it. If you head south, though, nuclear power’s prospects look much brighter. Read more »
$trillions at stake, as nuclear ‘renaissance’ falters
With nuclear plants costing several billion dollars apiece, the answer 
to those questions may be worth a trillion dollars to the nuclear industry. Little wonder that the main players have rushed to reassure their clients that all is well.
The American nuclear industry has also gone on a public relations drive.
Greenpeace EU Policy Campaigner Jan Haverkamp. “Fukushima will end all this talk about a nuclear renaissance. The industry says nothing will change. Forget it,”
The Nuclear Industry’s Trillion Dollar Question, 28-Nov-11, FRANCE, Muriel Boselli and Geert De Clercq ”……Before Fukushima, more than 300 nuclear reactors were planned or proposed worldwide, the vast majority of them in fast-growing developing economies. While parts of the developed world might now freeze or even reduce their reliance on nuclear, emerging markets such as China, India, the Middle East and Eastern Europe will continue their nuclear drive.
But with fewer plants to bid on, the competition for new projects is likely to grow even fiercer — and more complicated. Will concern about safety benefit Western reactor builders, or will cheaper suppliers in Russia and South Korea hold their own? And what if the crisis at Fukushima drags on as appears likely? Could it still trigger the start of another ice age for nuclear power, like Chernobyl did in 1986? Or will it be a bump, a temporary dip in an upward growth curve? Read more »
Call for better “marketing” of nuclear power
Market N-technology properly: Kalam to scientists IBN Live, 8 Nov New Delhi: ”Market nuclear technology properly.” This was the brief message former President
APJ Abdul Kalam had for nuclear scientists.
“Today the nuclear technologists are all doing
great work for the world, but it is essential for the services of nuclear science and its future prospects to be marketed as the only
continuously available clean energy source,” he told an international conference.
Kalam’s message comes in the backdrop of protests over the Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu following concerns over safety and environmental issues.
The Department of Atomic Energy had admitted that it had not succeeded in reaching out to the locals on the safety aspects of the Kudankulam nuclear project…http://ibnlive.in.com/news/market-nuclear-technology-properly-kalam/200165-3.html
Propaganda drive in effort to win Poles over to nuclear power
Poland’s PGE Launches Campaign to Rally Support for Nuclear Power, WSJ By Marynia Kruk, 13 Oct 11 WARSAW — Poland’s largest power utility, PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA, Thursday launched a campaign to boost support for nuclear power in the coal-reliant country.
PGE plans to build Poland’s first nuclear power plant by 2020. Public opinion polls this year showed about half of the nation opposes the plan, while only a minority of about one third of respondents supported it, according to an August poll by TNS OBOP.
PGE is hoping to stimulate a dialog with the public in order to bolster support for nuclear power, said Chief Financial Officer Marzena Piszczek. ….
Poland plans to build two nuclear power plants, each with a 3,000-megawatt capacity, as part of a strategy to diversity its energy sources away from coal and an over-reliance on Russian natural gas. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in June there was no need for a referendum on the plan.
Poland’s communist-era government began construction of a nuclear power plant in the 1980s, but the project was deeply unpopular, especially after the 1987 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, and was never completed.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani the paid advertising man for nuclear plant
Aging nuclear power plant near NYC hires Rudy Giuliani to do ad campaign vouching for safety, Washington Post, October 6, NEW YORK — The operator of an aging nuclear power plant near New York City has hired former Mayor Rudy Giuliani to vouch for its safety in a new ad campaign.
According to a spokesman for Entergy, the ads for the Indian Point plant will begin running next week on cable television and in newspapers.
The operator is seeking to renew its licenses for its two reactors.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called for the plant to be shut down due to safety concerns.
Entergy spokesman James Steets tells The New York Times the campaign is aimed to reassure the public about the plant’s safety. A spokesman for Giuliani’s consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, declined to comment.Giuliani has previously done promotional work for Indian Point. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/aging-nuclear-power-plant-near-nyc-hires-rudy-giuliani-to-do-ad-campaign-vouching-for-safety/2011/10/06/gIQAIyImPL_story.html
USA taxpayer’s money going to set up nuclear power plants on the moon
Fission power technology can be applied on Earth’s Moon, on Mars, or wherever NASA sees the need for continuous power,
Nuclear power plants for settlements on the Moon and Mars, ZDNet By Chris Jablonski | August 28, 2011 The first nuclear power plant being considered for production of electricity for manned or unmanned bases on the Moon, Mars and other planets “may really look like it came from outer space.” Read more »
Would you trust Japan to lead global nuclear safety discussions?
Japan Seeks Lead Role in Nuclear Safety Guidelines, WSJ.com, 27 May 11 By GEORGE NISHIYAMA DEAUVILLE, France—Japan wants to host an international meeting to discuss nuclear safety issues next year, as part of its efforts to share lessons learned from the nuclear crisis triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Thursday.
Addressing a lunch session marking the start of the G-8 leaders summit, Mr. Kan also said Japan wanted to contribute to creating an international standard on nuclear safety.
“It is our nation’s obligation to share information and lessons learned from the unprecedented experience we went through, and to achieve the highest possible safety standards for nuclear energy,” Mr. Kan told G-8 leaders after the summit host, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, asked him to make the opening remarks…..Japan Seeks Lead Role in Nuclear Safety – WSJ.com
Japan’s nuclear lobby still promoting nuclear power
The sun sets on Japan’s nuclear age, The Irish Times -DAVID McNEILL, May 27, 2011 “……..Japan’s largest business lobby, the Keidanren, has made its position very clear. Chairman Hiromasa Yonekura this month demanded that Kan rescind his decision on Hamaoka, which he called “extralegal” and a “political performance”. With Japanese businesses already struggling to compete with mighty China, the nation cannot afford to ditch nuclear power, he warned.For that reason, many analysts say that Kan’s more recent pronouncements are rhetoric designed to appease angry voters. Read more »
US Japan nuclear marketing scheme, with secret plans for Mongolian waste dump
Negotiations on building the facilities were kept secret as it was feared that if the plans came to light at the negotiation stage, then China and Russia — countries through which the fuel could pass — might interfere and protests could erupt from Mongolian residents.
Japan, U.S. negotiating construction of nuclear waste facility in Mongolia, Mainichi Daily News 10 May 11 ULAN BATOR, Mongolia –”…….the marketing of nuclear plants is big business — a single reactor sells for hundreds of billions of yen. The Japanese government regards the overseas sale of nuclear power plants as a pillar of the nations’ growth strategy. It has already tied a deal with Vietnam and is in negotiations with India and Turkey. However, Russia and other countries have gone a step ahead by marketing their reactors and the collection of spent nuclear fuel together as a set, which has put Japan and the U.S. on the back foot. Read more »
Desperate marketing tactics of Nuclear Suppliers Group
Trying desperately to keep itself alive at whatever cost and whatever risk to present and future human and other life on the planet, the nuclear industry has retreated into its laager mentality with technology gimmicks ranging from thorium and other non-uranium fuelled reactors, fusion reactors, and fast breeder reactors. Although no commercial – that is non subsidized and large scale – versions of these quick fixes exist, the high tech sheen on these claimed alternatives is enough to beguile some weak minded, uninformed and gullible persons. Nuclear power should be given another try, they say !
The Nuclear Power Mercantilist Myth :: The Market Oracle :: By Andrew McKillop, 19 April 11,“…The now 46-nation NSG-Nuclear Suppliers Group is mainly OECD membership but also includes Argentina, Brazil, China, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Turkey and Ukraine, as well as some other small non-OECD countries but specifically does not include India. This traces to the 1975 founding of the NSG, in the wake of India’s 1974 test explosion of an atom bomb, and the alarmed but confused attempt by leaderships of the old nuclear nations to lock down nuclear technology but also promote nuclear power. The permanent and basic linkage between nuclear weapons, and nuclear power had been made clear for all to see by the Indian test, but business had to go on as usual. Read more »
US Nuclear Regulators as US Nuclear Marketing Men
the cables — from 2006 to early 2010 — show that the NRC’s role in promoting its regulatory model around the world can easily turn it into an advocate for U.S. nuclear technology, whether its officials realize it or not…..
U.S. nuclear regulator a policeman or salesman? (Reuters), 18 April 11, – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission exists to police, not promote, the domestic nuclear industry — but diplomatic cables show that it is sometimes used as a sales tool to help push American technology to foreign governments. Read more »
1 THIS MONTH
profile of all three Fukushima documentaries.
of the week: http://sanonofresafety.org/blog/
A website to watch: http://hormesishistory.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/radiation-hormesis-and-adaptive-response-definitions/ Here’s a brand new website. It’s for anyone who wants background knowledge on ionising radiation. It will bust the spin of the current propaganda campaign promoting bodgie pseudoscience. – “radiation hormesis” and “adaptive response” are the latest spin designed by the nuclear industry to reassure us that low level ionising radiation is OK.
EVENTS
March 2012 is “March Against Nuclear Madness” and Beyond Nuclear has created a new March Against Nuclear Madness Facebook page.
March 8th & 9th – Cape Town, South Africa - The Global Conference: Nuclear Power For Africa? http://koebergalert.org/npfree/
March 11 _ UK – Protest at Hinkley nuclear site
May 31 USA - Portland, Maine, Bonnie Raitt benefit concert for New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution
Nuclear power and water – theme for February 2012
Effects of uranium mining and nuclear power on water.
Overuse of precious fresh water.One of the greatest dangers of the nuclear/uranium industry is in its use of water. Both uranium mining and nuclear reactors require enormous amounts of water. This is a threat to the world’s scarce resources of fresh water.
Pollution. Both uranium mining and nuclear reactors also pollute water. In uranium mining, water is often used to pour over radioactive dust tailings: radioactive water can leach down into groundwater. In the “in situ leach” process, radioactive water is disposed of into the aquifer.
Flooding rain can cause overflow and radioactive pollution of waterways.
Nuclear reactors use water for cooling – the resulting hot water is released into the source, river, or coastal sea, to thermally pollute the area, damaging plants and fish.
Effects of water (too little or too much) on nuclear reactors.
Water scarcity, and hot water.. In heat waves, nuclear reactors often will need to be shut down, as their river sources of cooling water become too warm to function as a coolant.
As global warming brings about a rise in average temperatures and ocean levels, inland reactors will increasingly contribute to, and be affected by, water shortages. During the record-breaking 2003 heat wave in France, operations at 17 commercial nuclear reactors had to be scaled back or stopped because of rapidly rising temperatures in rivers and lake. Spain’s reactor at Santa María de Garoña was shut for a week in July 2006 after high temperatures were recorded in the Ebro River.
Paradoxically, then, the very conditions that made it impossible for the nuclear industry to deliver full power in Europe in 2003 and 2006 created peak demand for electricity, owing to the increased use of air conditioning. http://chellaney.net/2011/03/14/paradox-of-nuclear-power-water-guzzler-yet-vulnerable-to-water/
Seawater can be used to cool reactors, but it has to be purified. Corrosive elements in the seawater would otherwise ruin the reactors – so seawater is a last resort for cooling. As in the case of the Fukushima emergency – seawater was used, as ruining the reactors was preferable to a catastrophic nuclear meltdown.
Too much water. It is a laugh that nuclear power is touted as a solution to global warming More likely, global warming is the death knell for nuclear power.
Very many nuclear reactors are located along coastlines, where they are vulnerable to storms, hurricanes, and tsunamis. With climate change and rising sea levels, these events are becoming more frequent and more extreme.
So far, we have considered water only as it relates to only the normal operations of nuclear reactors. Even then, nuclear reactors have leaks, especially as they age, allowing radioactive substances to disperse into water systems.
Uranium mines are vulnerable to flooding. When this happens, the disaster is an economic one, as well as environmental. Canada’s Cameco company and Energy Resources of Australia have found this out to their cost. Both uranium companies are still in financial plight due to the Cigar Lake (Canada) floods of 2006, and 2008, and the Ranger mine (Australia) floods of 2011.
But Fukushima has shown the world how a natural climate event can disrupt nuclear power. In the event of a nuclear accident the effects of nuclear power on water are hugely damaging, catastrophic.
Some figures and facts on nuclear/uranium and water.
URANIUM MINING Water use in a typical uranium mine is approximately 200 to 300 gallons per minute, In water-short Australia, BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam uranium mine has been for years taking 35 million litres of water each day from the underground aquifer, at no cost whatever. When BHP digs its new biggest hole in the world, it will pay a small fixed price for removing even greater amounts, exceeding 42 million litres.
A typical 1000-megawatt pressurized-water reactor (with a cooling tower) takes in 20,000 gallons of river, lake or ocean water per minute for cooling, circulates it through a 50-mile maze of pipes, returns 5,000 gallons per minute to the same body of water, and releases the remainder to the atmosphere as vapor. A 1000-megawatt reactor without a cooling tower takes in even more water–as much as one-half million gallons per minute. The discharge water is contaminated with radioactive elements in amounts that are not precisely known or knowable, but are biologically active.
Some radioactive fission gases, stripped from the reactor cooling water, are contained in decay tanks for days before being released into the atmosphere through filtered rooftop vents. Some gases leak into the power plant buildings’ interiors and are released during periodic “purges” and “ventings.” These airborne gases contaminate not only the air, but also soil and water.
200 billion gallons of water withdrawn from America’s water supply each day for every terawatt of electricity produced by nuclear reactors,
At least 20 USA nuclear plants have admitted leakage of radioactive tritium into the groundwater.
Spills and leaks are common at In Situ Leach mines. The South Australian Department of Primary Industry and Resources lists 59 spills at Beverley mine from 1998 to 2007.
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