2008 October 02 « nuclear-news

How Washington Cripples The Energy Industry – Forbes.com

Energy Outlook 2009

Forbes.com Joshua Zumbrun 10.01.08, – “……………………….Creating energy is a particularly cash-intensive business. And for no sector more so than nuclear power. The costs of building a single nuclear reactor could run over $5 billion. Building such a plant (even assuming that loan markets are normal) requires a great deal of faith in a stable energy policy. Proponents of nuclear power say construction of new plants would likely require the extension of a federal loan guarantee program, also created by the 2005 energy act, that’s set to expire in 2009………………………………”.

Tags: October1, 2008

October 2, 2008 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs | Leave a comment

Russia Profile – A Waste of a Land

A Waste of a Land
By Dmitry Babich Russia Profile October 1, 2008

The Fate of Former Soviet Nuclear Test Sites in the Far North Is Uncertain

To this day, the Russian state denies that any radiation-related problems plague the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, while research in the area is virtually nonexistent……………….

The king of all bombs

The news came around noon. At 11:32 p.m. the so-called “Tsar Bomb,” whose yield was equivalent to 50 megatons of trotyl, was exploded at a height of 4,000 meters over Novaya Zemlya. This hydrogen bomb, the biggest nuclear weapon in the world, named the Big Ivan by its developers, was eight meters long and 2.1 meters wide–it did not even fit into the biggest Soviet TU-95 bomber that carried it. The bomb stuck out of the plane’s hull until it was dropped on a parachute from a height of 10,500 meters………….The flash of light produced by the Big Ivan was seen at a distance of 1,000 kilometers. The smoke over the explosion’s epicenter grew to a height of 67 kilometers. The log cabins in an abandoned village 400 kilometers away from the explosion site were swept from the face of the Earth. The seismic wave produced by the explosion was reported to have crossed the Earth three times………………………………even though new nuclear tests are no longer conducted on Novaya Zemlya, the old ones are more than enough to complicate matters.

“Even military people acknowledge that traces of contamination can be detected in the southern part of the archipelago,” said Yelena Kvasnikova from the Institute of Global Climate and Ecology. “Tests in the atmosphere were conducted there before the Soviet Union joined the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963. This treaty banned all nuclear tests in the atmosphere, underwater and in space.”…………………….. Novaya Zemlya remains closed to radiation specialists…………………..Novaya Zemlya has remained a closed area.

Russia Profile – A Waste of a Land

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radiation

October 2, 2008 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment | Leave a comment

GMANews.TV – WWF lauds Senate passage of renewable energy bill – Nation – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News – BETA

WWF lauds Senate passage of renewable energy bill – Nation – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News – BETA
MANILA, Philippines – Another environmental group lauded the Senate Tuesday for finally passing the renewable energy bill.

The World Wildlife Fund said the 18-0 vote to unanimously approve Senate Bill 2046, or the Philippine Renewable Energy Act, is a milestone.

“In passing this landmark legislation, the Senate has just paved the way for the country’s drive towards energy independence and low-carbon growth. By tapping our massive reserves of clean energy resources – a competitive advantage that was largely neglected in the past – the Philippines now stands a far better chance of attaining sustainable development whilst contributing to global efforts to prevent dangerous climate change.” said WWF’s Asia Pacific Energy Policy Manager Raf Senga.
GMANews.TV – WWF lauds Senate passage of renewable energy bill – Nation – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News – BETA

Tags: renewables, renewableenergy

October 2, 2008 Posted by Christina Macpherson | ENERGY | Leave a comment

Report: Global Green Job Market Expected To Explode

Global Green Job Market Expected To Explode
September 29, 2008 Report: New York, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]Last week four international organizations released a report on the global impact of the green economy. The report, entitled Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World, says that millions of new green jobs will be created across the globe in the coming decades around efforts to mitigate climate change.

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) under a joint Green Jobs Initiative with the International Labor Office (ILO), as well as the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE) funded and commissioned the report, which was ultimately produced by the Worldwatch Institute, with technical assistance from the Cornell University Global Labor Institute.

Many sectors are already experiencing job growth around such efforts, notes the report, indicating that changing patterns of employment and investment resulting from efforts to reduce climate change and its effects are already generating new jobs in many sectors and economies, and could create millions more in both developed and developing countries. Sectors that will be particularly important in terms of their environmental, economic and employment impact are energy supply, in particular renewable energy, buildings and construction, transportation, basic industries, agriculture and forestry.

Specifically the report says that 2.3 million people have, in recent years, found new jobs in the renewable energy sector alone, and the potential for job growth in the sector is huge. Employment in renewable energies may rise to 2.1 million in wind and 6.3 million in solar power by 2030. Projected investments in renewable energy of US $630 billion by 2030 would translate into at least 20 million additional jobs in the renewable energy sector.

In addition, the report says that a worldwide transition to energy-efficient buildings would create millions of jobs, as well as “greening” existing employment for many of the estimated 111 million people already working in the construction sector. Investments in improved energy efficiency in buildings could generate an additional 2-3.5 million green jobs in Europe and the United States alone, with the potential much higher in developing countries.

The report provides examples of massive green jobs creation throughout the world, such as: 600,000 people in China who are already employed in solar thermal manufacturing and installing products such as solar water heaters