Spain insists on energy saving, not nuclear plants | Industries | Industrials, Materials & Utilities | Reuters
Spain insists on energy saving, not nuclear plants
MADRID, Jan 21(Reuters) – Spain on Wednesday reaffirmed its policy of not commissioning new nuclear power plants a day after its biggest utility unveiled plans to build them in Britain, while repeating pledges to boost renewables and save energy.
“There will be no new nuclear plants,” Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian told journalists …………………
Sebastian noted that Spanish energy consumption per head was 20 percent above the European average.
“Saving 20 percent would be the equivalent of doubling the number of nuclear power plants. It seems easier and cheaper to me,” he said.
“Furthermore, it (saving) is immediate, whereas nuclear plants take 15 years. There is no controversy, no waste or security problems, nothing,” he added.
Going Nuclear
Going NuclearT Eneergy Bangla 21 Jan 09 René B. AzurinWhat a nuclear power plant does is boil water. The boiled water becomes steam, the steam turns a turbine, and the rotating turbine spins conductors in a magnetic field to generate electricity. What makes this simple process complicated is that a nuclear reactor boils water in a complicated and dangerous way. Going nuclear, therefore, shouldn’t be a foregone conclusion. Yet, that is precisely what is implied by the proposed bill that effectively mandates the commissioning of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant………………………
………Opponents argue that operating a nuclear plant is inherently risky and requires a strict adherence to a stringent and complex set of safety measures if one is to avoid nuclear accidents (like the 1986 Chernobyl explosion that scattered radiation to large parts of Europe) or radioactive contamination (like the 1997 and 1999 incidents at Takaimura that leaked radiation to the surrounding community). They dispute the safety argument, pointing out that accidents and near-accidents at nuclear plants occur with disturbing regularity every few years or so. They also point out that nuclear plants may not emit carbon and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere but they create even more toxic pollutants that remain deadly for millenia not only to humans and animals but also to flora and fauna……
…………….In any event, whether the rehabilitation and eventual operation of the BNPP is technically and economically advisable is still a question mark. More fundamentally, the operation of a nuclear power plant remains a controversial issue for most. Generating electric power from nuclear fission needs to be measured against cleaner alternatives like power from renewable and perpetual sources like wind and sun. The recently passed Renewable Energy bill makes those even more viable. And, given the current state of technology and relative costs, an array of wind farms and solar farms may now be better alternatives to nuclear plants, even for base-load power. It has been demonstrated that we can economically turn turbines with the wind. And we can boil water in simpler fashion using the sun.
IAEA to look into Israel’s suspected uranium use
IAEA to look into Israel’s suspected uranium use THE JORDAN TIMES January 21st, 2009,
The UN’s nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday it would look into a claim by Vienna-based Arab ambassadors that Israel may have used ammunition containing depleted uranium in Gaza attacks.
The IAEA said the request was made in a letter addressed to Director General Mohammad Al Baradei and was delivered by the Saudi Arabia ambassador on Monday on behalf of Arab diplomats.
“We are circulating the letter to member states and will investigate the matter to the extent of our ability,” IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said…………………………
The IAEA has in the past contributed to studies on depleted uranium traces from ammunition in the Balkans which found it was highly unlikely that a reported increase in cancer risks there could be linked to the traces.
Depleted uranium is used in weapons because it can more easily penetrate tanks and armour due to its density and other physical properties. It also has civilian uses in medical equipment and is used in radiation shields.
The Israeli ambassador to the IAEA, Israel Michaeli, declined to comment…………………………….The US and NATO have used uranium-depleted rounds in Bosnia and Iraq. According to the World Health Organisation, the weapons are lightly radioactive. Researchers have suspected depleted uranium may be behind a range of chronic symptoms suffered by veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War. Some of the symptoms include memory and thinking problems, debilitating fatigue, severe muscle and joint pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, headaches and rashes.
Nuclear Waste Is National Shame
Nuclear Waste Is National Shame Daily Record Jan 20 2009 T. Bradley MILITARY experts – a field marshal and a couple of generals – stated that the Trident missiles are a total waste of money and are in no sense a deterrent against the present terrorist danger.Despite that, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Dumbarton Labour MSP Jackie Baillie and other so-called officials intend to spend £20billion of taxpayers’ money replacing these nuclear weapons to safeguard us from future attacks.The fact that to cancel these plans would cost millions of jobs – and, perhaps, votes and ultimately some MPs’ positions – has nothing to do with their decisions, of course.I prefer to believe the experts.
Letter: Your View – Nuclear Waste Is National Shame – The Daily Record
Almost 15,000 unused nuclear fuel rods in N Korea: officials
Almost 15,000 unused nuclear fuel rods in N Korea: officials ABC News 21 Jan 09 By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy A delegation of South Korean officials which has just returned from North Korea says the communist state has almost 15,000 unused nuclear fuel rods.Officials say North Korea gave them detailed briefings about the nuclear fuel.The South Korean team of diplomats and nuclear experts spent five days in Pyongyang meeting with regime officials.They were also taken to a plant used to make nuclear fuel rods, the country’s main nuclear reactor and a reprocessing facility.The head of the delegation Hwang Joon Kook says the North Koreans were cooperative and gave detailed briefings, and acknowledged they had nearly 15,000 unused nuclear fuel rods.The disposal of the North Korean nuclear fuel was part of a disarmament-for-aid deal signed two years ago.
Miranda blog People power lifts solar hopes – Weekly Times Now
People power lifts solar hopes Weekly Times Now 21 Jan 09
GOING solar? You’d be mad not to by June 30 if your home is grid-connected. An $8000 rebate for households with income less than $100,000 ends then.
From July 1, the rebate is open to all-comers, regardless of income, and it changes to $7500 and all in renewable energy certificates, or RECs as they’re known.
In rural areas, voluntary groups are spending hours organising bulk-buy deals on solar panels for houses.
The rebates are fab and the work these unpaid enthusiasts are doing is nothing short of astounding.
Groups from Mildura to Murchison, Ballarat to Portland and Castlemaine to Strathfieldsaye have called public meetings and negotiated with solar-system buyers, installers, electricians and contractors to come up with various packages to encourage householders to install power-generating, solar and photovoltaic panels on their roofs.
The Murchison Goes Solar mob has settled on a bulk-buy scheme that means eligible households outlay a mere $100 deposit. No big upfront payments are required, even though the standard one kilowatt system costs more than $11,000.
Miranda blog People power lifts solar hopes – Weekly Times Now
Thousands of jobs to go at BHP Billiton –
Thousands of jobs to go at BHP Billiton ABC Rural News 21/01/2009The world’s biggest mining company, BHP Billiton, will shed 6000 jobs – more than half of them here in Australia………………………….200 members of the expansion team project for the Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine in South Australia will also be made redundant.
North East families fight for nuclear test compensation
North East families fight for nuclear test compensation Chronicle Live Jan 20 2009 By Paul JamesThe Ministry of Defence will tomorrow begin a legal bid to derail High Court compensation claims by 1,000 nuclear test veterans before they have even begun.The claims relate to bomb testing in mainland Australia and its island territories by the Ministry of Defence at the height of the Cold War in the 1950s.Veterans from all parts of the country and who served in all three services, the Army, Royal Navy and Air Force, as well as New Zealand and Fijian claimants, are involved in the landmark compensation case.Around 20 nuclear explosions in mainland Australia, the Montebello islands off the west Australian coast and on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, form the centre of the claim.Lawyers say the veterans involved suffered personal injuries of all types, ranging from minor injuries and skin conditions to cancers of the thyroid, liver, intestine and lungs and even death.
It is estimated that the case could cost the MOD hundreds of millions of pounds in damages payouts if it is successful.
But tomorrow MOD lawyers will attempt to halt the claim on the basis that the events concerned happened too long ago to be the subject of a compensation claim now, using arguments under the Limitation Act 1980……………………….
…………Douglas Hern, litigation secretary for the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association, claimed he and his comrades had been used as “guinea pigs” by the military……………………”There are thousands of children that have been affected and the Government does not want to know,” he said.
“What happened to our families is going to be published and they are not going to get away with it.”
The hearing to assess whether the claims are barred by the Limitation Act is due to begin tomorrow and last for three weeks.
North East families fight for nuclear test compensation – ChronicleLive
Spot price falls, as does exploration spending
Uranium: spot price falls, as does uranium exploration By Luke Brocki Uranium Investing News and U3O8.biz Jan 19, 2009 Spot uranium prices fell US$2 this week to US$51 a pound U3O8, according to price publisher Ux Consulting. And while rival publisher Tradetech’s uranium price estimate hasn’t budged this year, sitting stable at US$52 a pound, analysts suspect sellers are starting to soften, reducing prices to attract buyers. UxC says six-month delivery times on contracts are starting to gain in popularity, replacing shorter terms. This has historically been good news, but longer contracts won’t turn the tide in a soft market without help from a strong spot price…………………………According to the weekly uranium update from Toll Cross Securities Inc., junior explorers dropped 2% this week, advanced explorers fell 5%, production visibility companies fell 8%, and producers dropped 3%. The Toll Cross Junior Uranium Index, which monitors a basket of stocks deemed by Toll Cross as representative of the sector, fell nearly 5% to 163,85 from 171.74.
Arabs: Israel ammo in Gaza had depleted uranium
Arabs: Israel ammo in Gaza had depleted uranium
By GEORGE JAHN – 20 Jan 09 VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Arab nations accused Israel on Monday of blasting Gaza with ammunition containing depleted uranium and urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate reports that traces of it had been found in victims of the shelling.In a letter on behalf of Arab ambassadors accredited in Austria, Prince Mansour Al-Saoud, the Saudi Ambassador, expressed “our deep concern regarding the information … that traces of depleted uranium have been found in Palestinian victims.”
A final draft of the letter was made available to The Associated Press on Monday. It urgently requested IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to “carry out a radiological and physical assessment in order to verify the presence of depleted uranium in the weaponry used by Israel … in the Gaza Strip.”…………………
…………….It is not the first time Israel has been accused of using ordnance containing depleted uranium, which makes shells and bombs harder and increases their penetrating power. The Israeli army declined comment. But the U.S. and NATO have used uranium-depleted rounds in Bosnia and Iraq.
The Associated Press: Arabs: Israel ammo in Gaza had depleted uranium
Obama’s briefcase of nuclear secrets
Obama’s briefcase of nuclear secrets
THE STANDARD 20 Jan 09 By David Wood and AgenciesIt is a simple transfer of immense power. Today, an unobtrusive military officer carrying a briefcase will follow President George W Bush up to Capitol Hill.
After the inauguration ceremony, he will accompany President Barack Obama back to the White House. Inside the briefcase, known as ‘the football’, are codes to identify and authenticate a presidential order that could launch nuclear weapons and ignite a global holocaust.
Terrorist attacks
Routine to most Americans, perhaps astonishing to much of the world, this peaceful passing of ‘the football’ will propel Obama into a maelstrom………………The transfer of nuclear command and control from one US president to another is one of the most important rituals of the inauguration process, but which draws little public attention……………………………
Obama inherits the hot briefcase at volatile times. Iran and North Korea are rushing headlong toward building nuclear arsenals. And the main arms-reduction treaty with Russia expires next year.
The risk of nuclear war will grow during the next 20 years, US intelligence officers concluded last month. Surprise, in this realm, is almost a given.
The Standard | Online Edition :: Obama’s briefcase of nuclear secrets
What Barack Obama’s inaugaration means for green energy
What Barack Obama’s inaugaration means for green energy
guardian.co.uk 19 January 2009
In a bold departure from past US policies, Barack Obama sees clean energy and ‘green jobs’ as critical in stimulating the economy, writes Keith Schneider from Yale Environment 360, part of the Guardian Environment Network
Even in this era of costly crisis and even more expensive rescue, $50 billion is still a lot of money. That sum — perhaps even more — is what Congressional leaders and aides to President-elect Barack Obama say he will propose to build new transit lines, weatherise buildings, manufacture clean next-generation vehicles, and create new “green collar” jobs.Even more crucial than the scale of the spending on clean energy is what the President-elect says it represents to his overall economic development strategy. Clean energy projects are a crucial piece of an estimated $700 billion to $1 trillion, two-year stimulus plan to put 3 million people back to work, and the first wave of public investment to transform how America powers itself. Remarkably, it now appears that Obama plans to launch his presidency with a daring idea: To anchor the American economy with energy sources not derived from fossil fuels.
Indeed, the incoming president is proposing to take the conventional relationship between the economy and the environment and stand it on its head. Instead of the economy overshadowing and marginalising environmental concerns, Obama wants to use environmental principles to help drive economic growth.
What Obama’s innaugaration means for green energy | Environment | guardian.co.uk
New U.S.-U.A.E. Deal Raises Eyebrows Amid Concern Over Iran’s Nuclear Program
New U.S.-U.A.E. Deal Raises Eyebrows Amid Concern Over Iran’s Nuclear Program Radio Free Europe 20 Jan 09 –
By
The United States has signed an agreement to cooperate in developing a civilian nuclear energy program in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.).
The deal — signed in Washington on January 15 by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her U.A.E. counterpart, Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nayhan — has been promoted by the Bush administration as a major foreign-policy accomplishment and an expression of Washington’s interest in cooperating with countries that are committed to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
But critics are concerned that the agreement, inked as President George W. Bush prepares to leave office, could lead to a nuclear-energy race in the Middle East amid growing concern over Iran’s nuclear activities.
The agreement must be approved by the incoming administration of Barack Obama before being sent to Congress. From there, Congress will have 90 days to act.
‘Commerce Above Common Sense’So far, Obama and his team have been silent about the deal, but others in the Democratic camp have been vocal in their opposition to it.
One is Ed Markey, a congressman from Massachusetts who has been a strong critic of nuclear energy. Markey has urged Obama to reject the deal and halt what he has termed “the Bush administration’s policy of placing nuclear commerce above common sense.” He further warned that, “In the Middle East, a nuclear-energy race could be as perilous as a nuclear-arms race.” ……………………..There is also concern that the nuclear technology delivered to the U.A.E. could get to Iran. The country has reportedly been used in the past by nuclear smugglers,
Yucca a Mountain of Nuclear Doubt
Mountain of doubt Will the country’s only planned nuclear waste dump survive Obama?Feature story – From the January 19, 2009 issue of High Country News by Judith Lewis”…………………………..Seventy-seven percent of Nevada voters object to storing nuclear waste in their state, which has no nuclear reactors of its own…………………………..It’s hard to know exactly how much Yucca Mountain had to do with his victory. “Obviously, there’s never one issue that determines how people are going to vote,” says Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley, a fierce Yucca Mountain opponent. “But I believe there was a strong sense that President-elect Barack Obama presented a clear alternative to John McCain’s manic obsession with putting waste in Yucca Mountain.”
Sen. Reid has now pronounced Yucca Mountain dead, and Berkley believes he’s right. Nick Shapiro, a spokesman for Obama’s transition team, confirmed by e-mail that Obama believes “Yucca Mountain should not and will not move forward.”………………………….The disposal of high-level nuclear waste — mostly leftovers from atomic fission, as opposed to “crapped out” clothes and contaminated tools — has dogged the industry since the dawn of the atomic age. Waste from the very first reactor experiment, in 1942, still taints the groundwater near its burial site in a forest outside of Chicago; spent fuel rods — zirconium-alloy tubes stuffed with uranium pellets — wait in watery cooling pools and dry concrete casks at 121 operating and decommissioned reactors in 39 states…………………………….not only has reprocessing proved to be disastrously polluting, it separates out fissionable plutonium — and plutonium can be used to make bombs. Proliferation concerns made nuclear waste disposal the government’s problem……………………………..Fearing the collapse of an already faltering industry, Congress in 1982 drew up the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, ordering the Energy Department to open a nuclear waste storage facility within 16 years. But Congress did nothing in that time except select Yucca Mountain as the only location worth studying, delaying until 2002 to give the site final approval and allow the Energy Department to at long last apply for a license. As of December 2006, $13.5 billion from utility bills and taxes has gone into researching the site, and utilities have accumulated some 55,000 metric tons of waste. By 2010, the waste will exceed Yucca Mountain’s limit of 70,000 metric tons………………………………..o maintain that energy mix will require replacing and retrofitting the country’s aging fleet of reactors, and to support those efforts without the prospect of Yucca Mountain, the new administration will have to act quickly to locate a waste storage project. That won’t be easy. Congress will need to throw out all previous laws regarding nuclear waste disposal and start the site selection process from scratch. The Energy Department will need to tear up decades of contracts with nuclear energy providers and negotiate new terms for temporary storage. Legislators would then set to work investigating sites
A Middle East greeneneregy push
A Middle East green energy push |
Los Angeles Times 19 Jan 09 The oil-rich United Arab Emirates doesn’t have to worry about energy independence. It has enough reserves of crude and natural gas to last it a century at least.Yet this federation of seven states on the Persian Gulf appears to have glimpsed a post-carbon world and is making some surprising moves into renewable energy.On Monday, the government of Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate in terms of land mass, announced that it will generate 7% of its electricity from green sources by 2020. That’s modest compared with California, which is shooting for 33% by 2020. But it’s a start for a tiny place with an outsized carbon footprint that’s starting virtually from zero when it comes to clean energy.The announcement came at the start of the World Future Energy Summit, which Abu Dhabi is hosting this year. The renewable push will be led by Masdar, a clean-technology initiative launched by the Abu Dhabi in 2006. Masdar has already poured billions of petro-dollars into green energy, including investments in a German photovoltaic company and a wind farm off the coast of England. It has already broken ground on Masdar City, a renewable-powered city of 50,000 inhabitants that it hopes to turn into a showcase for sustainability.“The world has reached a tipping point in the acceptance of renewable energy,” said Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Masdar chief executive, in a speech opening the energy summit.A Middle East green energy push | Greenspace | Los Angeles Times
1 This Month
10 June – Assessing Canada’s Investments in Small Modular Nuclear Reactors – https://zoom.us/meeting/register/IiqHA5feRhaEBycOLNTJlA#/registration
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
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