Spain wants USA to clean up plutonium pollution B-52 bomber accident
two of the bombs that hit the ground detonated, spreading seven pounds of plutonium over a 200 hectares (490 acres).
US and Spain discuss cleanup of nuclear radiation, PhysOrg.com, February 5, 2012 The United States is offering technical assistance to Spain to clean up land contaminated by radiation from undetonated nuclear bombs that accidentally fell on the area in 1966, Read more »
Despite public opposition, Spain’s aging nuclear plant may stay open
Spain ageing nuclear plant may stay open: report, By Martin Roberts; MADRID | Mon Jan 2, (Reuters) – Spain’s incoming centre-right government may allow an ageing nuclear plant to stay open beyond a 2013 deadline for closing set by its Socialist predecessors, a newspaper report said on Monday.
Environmentalist groups have protested that Spain is out of step with countries like Germany, which closed seven older nuclear plants after Japan’s Fukushima disaster last year and plans to shut the rest within a decade.
In 2009, then-premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ordered the Garona plant to close in 2013, by which point it will have been in operation two years more than a benchmark 40-year lifespan…. Running nuclear plants is profitable, however, and in their unsuccessful election
campaign the Socialists proposed introducing a windfall tax on them.
Spanish voters are generally opposed to nuclear power – which provides about 21 percent of the country’s electricity – and no new plants are planned…….
Opposition in Spain to nuclear waste dump plan
New nuclear waste dump sparks controversy in Spain Olive Press, JANUARY 1, 2012 RAJOY’S new government has announced a €700 million nuclear waste dump for a village near Madrid, provoking mixed reaction from residents and green groups…
..Those in nearby villages, however, are considering taking legal action against the
plan. Greenpeace are also critical, saying the project is likely to cost nearly three times what the government has proposed, and that transporting waste to the site will be dangerous.
The plan was originally voted in 2004, but the location decision was delayed by Zapatero’s government amid protests….
Spanish taxpayers take over the costs of nuclear wastes
Spanish nuclear power stations have accumulated an estimated 6,700 tonnes of spent fuel in cooling ponds and will run out of room to store it from 2013.
Spanish voters are generally opposed to nuclear power
Spain names site for delayed nuclear waste dump By Martin Roberts MADRID, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Spain’s incoming centre-right government named a site on Friday for a nuclear waste dump, a decision that had been long delayed by its Socialist predecessors amid protests by residents and regional authorities. Read more »
Financial start for renewable energy, energy efficiency, in 10 Spanish regions
Spain Launches Fund To Promote Energy Efficiency And Renewables In 10 Regions, by: Eurasia Review, July 2, 2011 The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Spanish Energy Saving and Diversification Institute (IDAE) have concluded a finance agreement to launch a JESSICA holding fund designed to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in an innovative use of EU structural funds. …… http://www.eurasiareview.com/spain-launches-fund-to-promote-energy-efficiency-and-renewables-in-10-regions-02072011/
Small scale renewable energy is challenging big utilities
Small-scale renewable energy is more accessible to new entrants compared with the forward purchase of huge amounts of baseload generation from burning fossil fuels, which is the routine business of big utilities.
Change so far is happening slowly and from a tiny base but the cost of small-scale renewable technologies is falling.
Micro-Power Presents Slow-Burn Threat to Utilities Planet Ark: 27-May-11 SPAIN AND U.K. : Martin Roberts and Gerard Wynn A wide rollout of small-scale renewable energy poses a long-term challenge to utilities as households switch to home generation and the supply market opens, executives at green specialists and independents say. Read more »
Under pressure from nuclear lobby, Spain extends life of reactors
With much propaganda, but no truth or accurate information, the nuclear lobby was quick to proclaim everywhere that the recently adopted Law of ‘Sustainable’ Economy now allows the Spanish government to ‘extend the life of nuclear plants beyond the 40 years hitherto permitted’.
Spain’s nuclear spin | Greenpeace International, 26 Feb 2011, We are living in troubled times in Spain thanks to nuclear energy. The incoherence and inconsistency of the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero about nuclear energy in the last few weeks has plunged us into confusion. The nuclear lobby is taking advantage of this situation, proving the Spanish proverb that ‘in troubled waters, fishermen gain’. Read more »
National transformation to renewable energy – Spain and Portugal
Spain has grown from using just two percent wind and solar power to almost 20 percent in a decade…..Portugal has demonstrated an even more remarkable transformation in the last five or so years. In 2004, Portugal had just two percent wind and solar, but by the end of 2009 (the latest year for which data are available) this had risen to over fifteen percent!…….
feed-in tariff laws prompted the booms in Spain and Portugal
Spain and Portugal Lead the Way on Renewable Energy Transformation, Renewable Energy World, By Tam Hunt, February 7, 2011 Rapid energy transformation at the national level is possible. Read more »
USA called upon to clean up after its nuclear bomb accident in Spain
Spain has nowhere to store the contaminated soil, which will take thousands of years to lose its radioactivity…………The Palomares crash was the worst nuclear accident of its time,
Spain demands US clears earth from site of 1966 nuclear bomb mishap Obama administration is told to remove Palomares soil contaminated with half a tonne of plutonium ‘without delay’ Giles Tremlett * guardian.co.uk, 16 January 2011
Spain is insisting that the United States removes tens of thousands of cubic metres of earth still contaminated by plutonium from unexploded US air force nuclear bombs that accidentally fell in the 1960s. Read more »
Spain planning huge leap forward in renewable energy
Despite cuts, Spain’s subsidy structure still enables renewable power producers to earn up to 10 times more than fossil fuel producers for their energy. However, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero plans to continue incremental cuts in those subsidies. He believes that his country’s goals will be obtained through increased private investment.
Spain Shoots for 67 Percent More Renewable Energy, CALFINDER , 18 June 2010, In a draft proposal on its way to the European Commission, Spain proposes that renewable generation capacity increase to 70 gigawatts by 2020, up from 42 gigawatts currently. Read more »
Spain extending nuke plants, with no radioactive waste solution
The country’s nuclear power stations no longer have room to store much more than the 6,700 tonnes of spent fuel rods they have accumulated.
Spain mulls extending nuclear plant working lives Reuters 23 Dec 09 - “……………..Although the Socialist government had recently suggested it would extend the plants’ working lives, it has also repeatedly said it will not support building new ones. Read more »
Spanish govt secretive over aging nuclear reactor
Greenpeace takes action over Spanish nuclear panel Oct 19, 2009 ]MADRID (Reuters) - Environmental group Greenpeace says it took legal action on Friday against the government and the nuclear regulator for alleged delays in setting up a panel on nuclear safety with public participation Read more »
Spain will gradually close nuclear plants
Spain says has power to spare, can phase out nukes Sep 28, 2009 By Martin Roberts MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s top energy official said on Monday the country had enough spare generating capacity to phase out nuclear power stations Read more »
12 million Euro a year for high level radioactive waste
12 million Euro a year for high level radioactive waste typicallyspanish.com Feb 24 Residents of Yebra say they do not want a nuclear waste cemetery on their doorstep…………………..The Government has not announced any final decision for the site, but the Ministry for Industry has been looking for local town halls who would be prepared to host such a site, in exchange for extra funding, placed at as much as 12 million € a year.
Local farmers and other residents have now started to put up posters against the plan, after hearing from Ecologistas en Acción that the Mayor has shown interest in the deal.
The so called ATC, Temporary Centralised Warehouse, will be the first such site to accept high level radioactive waste.
1 THIS MONTH
Uranium mining in Namibia http://namibian.me/group/canwin2?commentId=4103091%3AComment%3A47391&xg_source=msg_com_group
Nuclear industry is moribund, despite 2 new reactors licensed in USA http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3428147.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3413882.htm Is the world facing a groundwater crisis?
of the week http://climaterealityproject.org/thin-ice/
and another WEBSITE : - New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution http://www.necnp.org/
EVENT
February 18 Hindsdale, Chicago American Association of University Women - nuclear disaster preparedness H.OB.aauw.reservations@gmail.com.
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/
May 31 USA - Portland, Maine, Bonnie Raitt benefit concert for New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution
Nuclear power and water – theme for February 2012
FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR PLANT and WATER – present state
That nuclear core is in direct contact with tons of water. And that containment, while not leaking down, is leaking out the sides. That contaminated water is going into every other building on site. And there is literally thousands and thousands of tons of water in other buildings. That water contains radioactive cesium, radioactive strontium, and it also contains nuclear fuel. There will be uranium in that water and plutonium in that water as well. We know for sure that that water is leaking into the ground water and into the Pacific Ocean. So while it is important to know that we are not going to release the nuclear core directly into the center of the earth, the problem is not over. And as a matter of fact, the problem will last for tens, perhaps even as long as 30 years because this contaminated water is in the basements of all the buildings on site. And not only does it contain cesium (that hangs around for 300 years), strontium (hangs around for 300 years), but it also contains plutonium and uranium and they have half lives of tens of thousands of years.
So the problem is, what do we do with all that water that is contaminated? It is already leaking into the groundwater. It is already leaking into the ocean. TEPCO is frantically catching it and putting it into tanks. But just today, TEPCO announced that they are running out of tank space on site, and eventually they are going to have to release those tanks into the Pacific Ocean. Now they will try to clean up some of the isotopes like cesium. But they have been unable to capture all the strontium. Strontium is a bone seeker that causes leukemia… http://fairewinds.com/content/fukushima-could-it-have-china-syndrome
NUCLEAR REACTORS - WATER USE : Per megawatt existing nuclear power stations use and consume more water than power stations using other fuel sources. Depending on the cooling technology utilised, the water requirements for a nuclear power station can vary between 20 to 83 per cent more than for other power stations.”- Dep of Parliamentary Services research note, 4 December 2006, no. 12, 2006–07, ISSN 1449-8456 Water consumption figures:
Nuclear: 2.3 L/ kWh
Solar (PV): 0.110 L/ kWh
Wind: 0.004 L/ kWh
(American Wind Energy Association estimate & US DOE)
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. http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/routineradioactivereleases.htm
NUCLEAR REACTORS -IONISING RADIATION to GROUNDWATER In USA the nuclear industry has contaminated groundwater with radioactive tritium at nuclear power plant sites all across the country. Nuclear plants that have admitted leaking tritium into the groundwater include:
- Braidwood, Byron, Dresden and Quad Cities in Illinois;
- Indian Point and Fitzpatrick in New York;
- Yankee Rowe and Pilgrim in Massachusetts;
- Three Mile Island and Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania;
- Callaway in Missouri
- Catawba in South Carolina
- Oyster Creek in New Jersey
- Hatch in Georgia
- Palo Verde In Arizona
- Perry in Ohio
- Palisades in Michigan
- Point Beach in Wisconsin
- Salem in Delaware
- San Onofre in California
- Seabrook in New Hampshire
- Shearon Harris in North Carolina
- Watts Bar in Tennessee
- Wolf Creek in Kansas
- Connecticut Yankee in Connecticut
- Vermont Yankee in Vermont
URANIUM MINING – OPEN CUT or UNDERGROUND It is very difficult to find figures on the amounts of water used. All mining is water intensive, but uranium mining is the greatest guzzler Water is extensively used to suppress airborne dust levels, to try to reduce the radioactive clouds that would otherwise emanate constantly from the uranium tailings.IN SITU LEACHING – Uranium Mining Process in-situ leaching uses a hydrogen peroxide mixture to strip the uranium from the rock, which kills tissue and destroys cells in human and animal life. The addition of oxygen and sodium bicarbonate called oxygenates causes uranium and other radioactive substances and trace metals to be liberated from the rock into the groundwater.
.. judges have too often taken the stance that they are judges who know nothing of the mining industry and accept the data of corporations, claiming the corporations are in the know.
..the water taken from the extremely pristine Westwater Canyon Aquifer near Crownpoint for uranium mining and used for flushing out chemicals would not be replaced in our lifetimes.
It takes hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, to transform aquifer water back into a drinkable condition. Virginia Against Uranium Mining: Scientists Back Navajos’ Uranium Mining Fight: Tribe fears contamination of drinking water
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