nuclear-news

‘Radioactive’ beach may be concreted over

YUCCA MOUNTAIN:Waste dump opponents sense victory Las Vegas Sun By Joe Schoenmann  Dec 17, 2008 Despite the eleventh hour push by the Bush administration to advance efforts to make Yucca Mountain the dump for all of the nation’s highly radioactive nuclear waste, that plan is on its last legs, Nevada’s anti-Yucca forces said this week………….At the end of this week, the state will release its barrage of reasons why Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, should remain free of nuclear waste.

State Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto on Friday is to release the list of hundreds of contentions that will be filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission…………………..The list notes, for example, that the state has demonstrated that the canisters that are to be filled with nuclear waste are vulnerable to corrosion from water and “have no chance of lasting more than a few hundred years.”

Reuben Steff and Robert G. Patman: No nukes still right option for NZ

Dec 17, 2008
New Zealand Herald Reuben Steff and Robert G. Patman -“…………………….The option of nuclear energy in New Zealand should not be divorced from its sobering political-strategic context…………………

It is believed that five of the eight nuclear weapon states have recently exploited their civilian nuclear programmes for military purposes. Forty-eight other countries today are reported to have gained the technical knowledge relevant to the construction of nuclear weapons.

More worryingly, it is possible that failing states, especially those located in unstable or climate change susceptible regions of the world, could be tempted to develop existing civilian nuclear facilities into full-blown military programmes.

In this new international energy context, New Zealand’s credentials as a committed and strong supporter of non-proliferation have obtained a new importance for global security. It is worth recalling that the Lange government of the mid-1980s embraced a non-nuclear security policy.

Over time, the rejection of nuclear weapons became linked in New Zealand with the rejection of nuclear energy. We believe it would now be wrong for New Zealand to backtrack on its non-nuclear stance. For one thing, New Zealand can call on its extensive renewable energy resources to address the problem of dwindling fossil fuels………………………Whatever short-term benefits may be offered to New Zealand by the nuclear energy option, these are dwarfed by the terrible costs of becoming complicit in a global order that fuels the proliferation of nuclear weapons and ultimately undermines the security of New Zealand and all other members of the international community.

Aborigines win court fight against Swiss miner SYDNEY (AFP) 17 Dec 08 — Australian Aborigines won a court fight Wednesday against Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata’s plans to divert a river and expand one of the world’s biggest zinc mines.The Federal Court ruled the government did not follow the proper process when it approved the 110 million Australian dollar (74 million US dollar) project to expand the McArthur River Mine in northern Australia in late 2006.

Resource Capital Research — December Quarter 2008Equity Research Report on Global Uranium Companies

--  The market valuation of Australian companies with one or more uranium
    projects is down 23% over the past month and down 75% over the past 12
    months (from December 5).

--  This compares with a selection of Canadian companies with one or more
    uranium projects, down 27% over the past month and down 77% over the past
    12 months (from December 5).

--  Production and development stage companies continue to face
    significant challenges in financing and developing new projects, including
    cost pressures and potential delays variously relating to permitting,
    infrastructure development, commissioning and now credit and equity market
    weakness.....................the Fund Implied Price (FIP),
currently at US$42/lb indicates market uncertainty and the
susceptibility to further forced uranium fund sales a possibility.