nuclear-news

Workers ‘caked’ in uranium at Ranger Friday, 21 November, 2008by Ben LangfordNT NewsMORE than a dozen workers were exposed to a “concerning” level of uranium during a clean-up operation at the Ranger mine near Jabiru.The workers were not wearing their TLD monitoring devices at the time but urine tests showed they had been exposed to uranium oxide.The incident is among 210 outstanding matters before the mine’s safety committee, Australian Manufacturing Union state secretary Andrew Dettmer said.Energy Resources of Australia business development manager David Paterson said the workers probably ingested uranium through their mouths after licking their lips while cleaning out the yellowcake.”Absolutely it’s a concern,” he said. “We’ll be reviewing our procedures and taking all steps necessary to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”The incident took place over three days in late October when workers were cleaning yellowcake out of a “hopper” where it was clogged after a rainstorm. Mr Paterson said they were wearing only paper overalls and face masks.AMWU NT organiser Steve Milne said eight workers who were tested “were all over the acceptable limit for uranium”.But Mr Paterson said of the 15 workers on the clean-up job only six wanted to be tested.He said the company’s “most pessimistic credible case” estimate was that they received only a slight level of exposure, a small fraction of the yearly safe levels.Mr Patterson denied union claims the workers were not wearing their TDL monitoring devices at the time.But the company later admitted they were in fact not wearing the monitors.NT WorkSafe director Laurene Hull said the agency visited the mine and was reviewing the work practices and the health monitoring results.The exposure followed an incident about a month earlier when a worker was hit in the face by a lump of yellowcake that fell from a hopper and knocked his face mask off, Mr Dettmer said.Tests were understood to have cleared him of dangerous levels of radiatio

GAO investigating compensation for ill nuclear workers
By Annette Cary, Tri City Herald  20 Nov 08 The Government Accountability Office is investigating a program to compensate ill nuclear workers, including those at Hanford, and should have some preliminary findings to share with congressional leaders this spring………………………..The program’s Part B offers compensation of $150,000 and medical reimbursement for workers who likely developed cancer because of workplace exposure to radiation…………………..If workers have died, survivors may be eligible for compensation.

Storage fears over high-level nuclear waste• Second site could be needed at huge extra cost• Experts call for more research on disposal
The Guardian Terry Macalister November 17 2008 Government plans for a new generation of nuclear power plants face growing concerns the industry needs another waste repository involving a massive escalation in cost……………………….

Companies such as EDF which are interested in building new atomic facilities have presumed they will be able to store their spent materials in a site largely paid for by the government.

Being forced to build a second site – especially one dedicated to the new stations – could change the delicate economics of the industry. EDF was unavailable for comment.

Roswell residents protest GNEP site  Current-Argus 20 Nov 08  MSTROSWELL – Chaves County residents say they don’t want radioactive waste dumped in their area.A U.S. Department of Energy hearing Tuesday on the Bush administration’s proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership largely drew opponents. The DOE is holding 13 public hearings around the country, and officials say no site decisions have been made.GNEP, part of the president’s Advanced Energy Initiative, seeks to expand global nuclear power and technologies to enable recycling of radioactive waste.However, last month, a panel of the National Academy of Sciences urged President Bush to abandon the ambitious plan to resume nuclear waste reprocessing that is at the heart of his push to expand civilian use of nuclear power.

Canadian Speech from the Throne claimed nuclear energy is a proven technology.
PEJnews– Joan.Russow  November 20, 2008 Global Compliance Research ProjectIn the throne speech the minority Conservative government declared not only that nuclear energy is a proven technology but also that nuclear energy would be part of their clean energy program. Ever since there has been concern about climate change, the nuclear industry has used ” nukespeak” and the seductive devices, strategies, syndromes to delude and distort through linguistic devicesIn 1991, there was a Parliamentary committee looking into climate change; this committee enunciated an important principle that a solution should not be equally bad or worse than the problem it is intended to solve.The International Atomic Energy Agency has played an important role in this delusion and distortion. They have even violated a fundamental principle that a monitor should not a promoter be. Hopefully, through the continued revealing and categorizing of these words of delusion we could, in some small way, counteract the impact of the not-too-hidden-agenda of the IAEA, and the rest of the nuclear establishment and their government supporters.

BHP Profit Forecast Cut 31% by Macquarie on Prices (Update1)By Rebecca KeenanNov. 18 (Bloomberg) — BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, had its 2009 profit forecast reduced 31 percent by Macquarie Group Ltd. because of declines in commodity prices and cuts to production