nuclear-news

Radioactive legacy of ‘lost bomb’
By Gordon CoreraSecurity correspondent, BBC News, Thule, Greenland

The crash of a B-52 aircraft, armed with nuclear warheads, in north-west Greenland back in 1968 has left a lasting legacy, according to those involved in the clear-up and those who live in the region now.

There are claims of long-term damage to the environment and to the health of individuals, allegations disputed by the governments involved………………….Radioactive material was widely dispersed across the ice and was also thrust into the sky in a plume of smoke, declassified documents show.

Danish workers rushed to the scene of the crash, near Thule, and were heavily involved in clearing up the wreckage in the subsequent weeks and months as part of an enormous US military operation.

However, some of those workers believe not enough thought was given to their safety, given the presence of radioactive material from the bombs on board the plane………………….The (sick) workers have taken a case through Europe’s courts, arguing that Denmark failed to abide by a European directive requiring their health be monitored…………………..former workers believe that the lack of proof of a link between the crash and their ill-health is precisely because they have not been monitored over time in a way that would allow such a link to be proved.

The head of the Association of Former Thule Workers, Jens Zieglersen, who also helped at the crash, remains unconvinced.

“I think it’s a cover-up. We are getting older and the Danish authorities and the Danish government will wait and keep their mouths sealed for another 15, 20 years; then there’s no-one left that remembers and who was a part of the accident back in the days of ’68.”

Radioactive materials getting recycled into goods Improper disposal of equipment is allowing radioactive materials to contaminate metals used to make consumer products.
Bloomberg News November 12, 2008 French authorities made headlines last month when they said as many as 500 sets of radioactive buttons had been installed in elevators throughout France. It wasn’t an isolated case.Improper disposal of industrial equipment and medical scanners containing radioactive materials is allowing nuclear waste to trickle into scrap smelters, contaminating consumer goods, threatening the $140-billion trade in recycled metal and spurring the United Nations to call for increased screening………………………….”The world is waking up very late to this,” said Paul de Bruin, radiation safety chief for Jewometaal Stainless Processing in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the world’s biggest stainless-steel scrap yard.

Jobs to be lost at Uranium One – Union
Canadian-based uranium producing company Uranium One will retrench over 1 000 employees, trade union Solidarity said on Tuesday.

“Solidarity has received an Article 189 notice from Uranium One whereby the group gives notice that the retrenchment process for 1 013 of its 1 175 employees at its Dominion uranium mine outside Klerksdorp will begin”.

Solidarity said that the mine would now be placed on care and maintenance………………The price of uranium dropped considerably in the 11 months between December 2007 and October this year………………Meanwhile the mine had also indicated that it would only pay out the minimum severance pay, of one week’s pay for every year’s service, to employees, Solidarity said.

Efforts to reach Uranium One were unsuccessful. – Sapa

Radioactive water leaks from nuclear submarine HMS Trafalgar
Telegraph.co.uk 12 Nov 08 A British nuclear submarine leaked hundreds of litres of radioactive waste into a river, it has emerged.

Environment watchdogs are investigating the leak at Devonport, in Plymouth, from HMS Trafalgar in which 280 litres of contaminated water were spilled.

The Environment Agency threatened to prosecute the Ministry of Defence or Devonport Management Limited after a series of spills in 2005.

Nuclear waste arrives at German dump

herald sun November 12, 2008

A RADIOACTIVE waste shipment arrived at a German dump today after the biggest anti-nuclear protests in years, pointing up the fierce opposition to reversing Berlin’s phase-out of atomic energy.

The protests, the biggest since 2001 with thousands of police deployed over the weekend, caused the 123 tonnes of nuclear waste to arrive around 20 hours late at the Gorleben disposal site in northern Germany………………………

Earlier this year it emerged that water had leaked into another storage site, at Asse in northern Germany, leading to radioactive contamination in the local area in what was a “catastrophe,” Mr Doerges said.

“For years the public has been lied to. For years we had radioactive contamination around Asse and no one was told … Nuclear power cannot be the answer to the climate problem,” Till Doerges from protest organisers x-tausendmal quer said.

The sun rises slowly for Australian solar
Science Alert By Robin Taylor 12 November 2008

Energetic founder and chairman of solar thermal startup company Ausra, Dr David Mills, says Australia still has a long way to go when it comes to supporting solar technology. After working as a solar energy researcher in Australia for more than 30 years, Dr Mills left last year for the US where he says there is greater support for his solar technology.

However, he highlights that the landscape in Australia has changed tremendously since he left, with federal and state governments now all expressing interest in solar technology.

Govt delaying renewable energy rollout: Greens

ABC News 11 Nov 08 The Greens say Federal Government MPs have stymied plans to develop renewable energy in Australia.

A Government-majority Senate Committee has recommended no immediate action to rollout a national renewable energy feed-in tariff to boost investment.

Instead, it says a uniform tariff should be carefully considered by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG).

Greens Senator Christine Milne says it is a delaying tactic.

“It is a mechanism for delay, it is a mechanism for the lowest common denominator and we will be standing here next year as the United States has zoomed ahead on renewable energy, as Europe continues to zoom ahead of renewable energy, as China does and all the jobs for renewable energy go overseas,” she said.

Senator Milne says a feed-in tariff is the is the right way to increase renewable energy uptake in Australia.