NRC sets meeting on Salem nuclear plant woes
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans a public meeting on Jan. 21 to review backup power problems at the Salem 1 nuclear plant in New Jersey along the Delaware River in 2005 and 2007. delawareonline The News Journal • January 15, 2009
Under NRC rules, the agency briefly gave plant owner PSEG Nuclear it’s second-worst “yellow” performance rating for reliability and availability of emergency power, a classification that was returned to normal status during the first quarter of 2008.Inspectors designated a portion of Salem’s multi-part rating as “degraded” after diesel generators failed to start during three times during testing over 12 consecutive quarters.
The failures occurred in 2005 and twice again in 2007, but PSEG’s rating was returned to a “green,” or normal status in 2008 because the rating system takes into account only the past 12 quarters.
The plant’s backup power system includes three separate emergency generators. One of the three failed to start on three separate occasions.
NRC sets meeting on Salem nuclear plant woes | delawareonline | The News Journal
Obama’s energy chief softens stance on coal and nuclear
Obama’s energy chief softens stance on coal and nuclear Steven Chu announces plans to offer loan guarantees for nuclear firms and step-up clean coal researchTom Young, BusinessGreen, 15 Jan 2009 Barack Obama’s new energy chief, Steven Chu, has outlined plans to strengthen support for nuclear and coal power, in a move some observers will interpret as a softening of his stance following criticism of both nuclear and coal energy made when he ran the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory………………………………
Chu also promised to increase the dispersal of loan guarantess to firms seeking to build nuclear reactors, but reiterated his view that the government needed to develop a better plan for waste disposal than the Yucca mountain depository in Nevada.
He also said he would work hard to encourage the development of clean coal technologies, referring to coal as a “great national resource”.
Obama’s energy chief softens stance on coal and nuclear – 15 Jan 2009 – BusinessGreen
Nuclear Weapons for All? The Risks of a New Scramble for the Bomb –
Nuclear Weapons for All? The Risks of a New Scramble for the Bomb US News.com By Thomas Omestad January 15, 2009 The global financial order has been shaken. Could the global system to prevent nuclear proliferation be next?………………………Warns Joseph Cirincione, author of Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons and president of the Ploughshares Fund, “We’re on the verge of a system collapse.” That view is not extreme. It has, instead, become alarmingly mainstream. In December, an interim report of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States put it this way: “It appears that we are at a ‘tipping point’ in proliferation…………………………………..
In aiming for big changes in America’s nuclear posture and its approach to nonproliferation, Obama will almost certainly encounter resistance from parts of the national security establishment. One flash-point issue will be whether to replace many of America’s nuclear warheads with more modern variants—even as the overall number of such weapons comes down.
But Obama will also find surprising bipartisan support for making a historic policy shift that until recently would have been seen as little more than a liberal pipe dream: coming out in favor of the eventual abolition of all nuclear weapons………………………………Nonproliferation specialists are also concerned about the precedent set by the Bush administration’s pact with India for civilian nuclear cooperation. Approved by the Senate in October, the potentially lucrative arrangement overturned three decades of nonproliferation practice that barred nuclear trade with New Delhi because of its nuclear tests and refusal to join the NPT. Bush sought an exception for India, reflecting its emergence as a future democratic great power with friendly ties to the United States. He argued that bringing India’s civilian facilities under inspection would aid nonproliferation efforts. But critics believe the U.S. shift blew open a hole in the wall against proliferation, giving other countries reason to believe that they, too, can seek nuclear weapons and then win exceptions……………………Looming over all those problems is the risk of nuclear terrorism. Al Qaeda’s interest in procuring nuclear materials is long established. Reports of attempted thefts, missing nuclear materials, and unimpressive security around some atomic sites persist. The revelations of Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan’s secret nuclear-supply network have deepened fears of weapons diversion………………………..The technology to produce nuclear fuel for power plants is essentially the same as that for fashioning weapons-grade material.
Nuclear Weapons for All? The Risks of a New Scramble for the Bomb – US News and World Report
Areva clashes with Finnish utility over delays to new nuclear plant
Areva clashes with Finnish utility over delays to new nuclear plant S
centa.co.uk, UK – 15 Jan 09 Areva, the nuclear plant designer expected to be at the forefront of a British atomic power revival, has become embroiled in a bitter war of words with a …this online article is available only to the UK
Start-up Delayed for Finnish Nuclear Plant
Start-up Delayed for Finnish Nuclear Plant
Energy On Line LCG, January 14, 2009–The Areva-Siemens Consortium stated yesterday that the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant unit is now not scheduled for completion until 2012. The initial target for completing the Finnish project was 2009.Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) stated that the Areva-Siemens Consortium, the turn-key supplier of the 1,600-MW nuclear power plant, filed an arbitration request over delays and overruns in the Olkiluoto 3 project and that the completion date has been delayed until June 2012.The power plant incorporates AREVA’s European Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR). In the United States, Areva is acting to develop a fleet of nuclear reactors using AREVA’s U.S. EPR design, which is a Generation III+ design based upon AREVA’s European EPR.
LCG Consulting – EnergyOnline / Start-up Delayed for Finnish Nuclear Plant
Tags: AREVA
Russia to complete Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant in 2009_
Russia to complete Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant in 2009 TEHRAN, China View Jan. 14 (Xinhua) — Iran’s ambassador to Russia Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi said that Russia would complete Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant this year, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday……………………..The main problem with the plant, that of the fuel supply, had been solved and the doubts whether the plant would start operation had already been removed, he said, adding that “Russians are trying to accelerate the process and hundreds of Iranian engineers who have been trained in Russia are replacing Russian experts.”
Russia to complete Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant in 2009_English_Xinhua
The Sydney Morning Herald: national, world, business, entertainment, sport and technology news from Australia’s leading newspaper.
Carbon capture put to the test in NSW * * Email * Printer friendly version * Normal font * Large fontBen Cubby Environment ReporterJanuary 15, 2009 NSW is about to find out whether it will be able to capture greenhouse gas emissions from its coal-fired power stations and store them underground.
Drilling began on Monday to see if the rock 800 metres under the Central Coast can handle having thousands of tonnes of liquefied carbon dioxide pumped into it each week.
It is yet to be proved that carbon capture and storage, in which carbon dioxide fumes from power stations are compressed and cooled on-site before being buried, will work on a large scale in Australia. Most environmental groups and some in the coal industry think it will not become effective in time to help slow climate change………………………..
Environmentalists say the expense of carbon capture and storage would take money away from the development of renewable energy.
“The coal industry is trying to create the appearance that it is doing something about climate change, but all they are really doing is fighting tooth and nail to keep themselves in business,” a Greenpeace spokesman said.
US: Republicans want to be sure that Chu is pro-nuclear
Chu Quizzed Mostly on Nuclear Issues During Hearing for Energy Post
By Kent GarberUS News January 13, 2009One could be forgiven for thinking that Steven Chu, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to head the Department of Energy, was being evaluated for a somewhat different role—that of, say, chief nuclear officer—during his Senate confirmation hearing this morning.
Though Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, received questions on a variety of energy-related topics, his examiners on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee seemed to be most interested in talking about nuclear policy.
In particular, Chu was pressed about his positions on building new nuclear plants, recycling nuclear waste, and supporting increased spending—to the tune of tens of billions of dollars—on incentives for the industry and for expediting nuclear-related programs that have gotten bogged down in Washington or have gone unfunded in recent years………………………..
To a question from Sessions about Chu’s commitment to jump-starting the construction of new nuclear power plants, Chu said, “Yes, I am.”
He also expressed support for accelerating a so far poorly executed $18.5 billion government loan program designed to help finance the first batch of new power plants and vowed to move quickly to create a long-term plan for safely disposing of nuclear waste. “We have to do it concurrently with the start-up of the industry,” Chu said, attempting to allay concerns that the Obama administration might try to stall the industry until the waste problem is adequately resolved………………………….
……..As part of that plan for nuclear waste, Chu said he is open to reprocessing—reusing spent nuclear fuel in a reactor
Chu Quizzed Mostly on Nuclear Issues During Hearing for Energy Post – US News and World Report
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Press TV – Environment and human life under attack
Environment and human life under attack
Press TV Tue, 13 Jan 2009
By Mahmood Perviz Alam “………………………Nuclear weapons leave a legacy of their own. Environmental problems from the Chernobyl incident are still being uncovered. A nuclear explosion is followed by radiation with a chain of innumerable consequences. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are examples of this tragedy. The health threats brought about by the war in Iraq — and more recently, what is happening in the Gaza Strip — can be better understood when we focus on the statement of Norwegian doctors who found traces of depleted uranium in the wounded. Catastrophes keep on unfolding because budget allocations are made to keep the muscles of the war machine strong and impressive………………………”.
Press TV – Environment and human life under attack
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Nuclear waste call in cancelled
Nuclear waste call in cancelled
this is the west country 13th January 2009A call to look again at the possibility of storing nuclear waste in Cornwall has been scrapped.
Cornwall county council’s executive had decided that they would not look at what would be needed to host a nuclear waste facility in the county……………………
The move is being seen as a victory for people power after a groundswell of protest and anger at the suggestion the county could host the waste.
Leading members of the Liberal Democrats in Cornwall had also rejected the idea with Falmouth and Camborne MP Julia Goldsworthy saying the last thing Cornwall needed was nuclear waste on the doorstep.
She added there could be serious health risks……………….
The last time storing nuclear waste in the county had been raised there was huge public opposition.
In the early 1980s thousands of people marched in protest along with the then MP David Penhaligon when a nuclear dump was proposed at Gwithian. Tin mines across the area were being looked at as possible dumps but the proposal was eventually rejected.
Nuclear waste call in cancelled (From This is The West Country)
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
EU warns Slovakia of legal steps over nuclear plant
EU warns Slovakia of legal steps over nuclear plant
BRUSSELS, Jan 13 (Reuters) – The European Commission renewed pressure on Slovakia on Tuesday not to reopen the Bohunice nuclear power plant, saying the move would prompt legal action from the European Union’s executive arm.
EU warns Slovakia of legal steps over nuclear plant | Markets | Reuters
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Bankrupt company to avoid uranium cleanup costs?
Tronox Bankruptcy raises questions about uranium cleanup
By Brandon Bennett
Black Hills Pioneer Weekly News January 13, 2009
<!–
–> HARDING COUNTY – Tronox Incorporated announced on Monday that it and certain of the company’s subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
That raises questions about its obligations in Harding County in northwest South Dakota with regard to reclaiming land formerly used for uranium mining.
The land had been mined in the 1950s by Tronox’s predecessor, Kerr-McGee, and was left in poor condition…………………………..The company began the reclamation and environmental cleanup in 2007 after an unusually large number of cancer cases were reported in the Riley Pass area of the Cave Hills.
Ranchers asked the U.S. Forest Service to take action, and since the land was federally owned the agency asked Tronox, as a successor to Kerr-McGee, to reclaim the land in question and remove some dirt that some feel has contributed to the unhealthy situation.
Some work had been done, but Forest Service officials weren’t sure where this bankruptcy leaves them.
…………………….Meanwhile, the ranchers who have been affected by the mining have been watching what has been going on and aren’t sure if they’ll ever get rid of the problem.
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Old tooth study revived to look at radiation effects
Old tooth study revived to look at radiation effects
Baltimore Sun January 12, 2009 – “……………….Fifty years ago, concern about atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons spurred a group of local scientists and other area residents to begin the project, then called the St. Louis Baby Tooth Survey.An early apparent link between fallout and health problems was established by the study. But now, more than 40 years later, the study is resuming. Researchers now hope to find links between fallout and instances of cancer in children born in the 1950s and early 1960s…………….
…………….The scientist, Joseph Mangano, is executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project. He said in a telephone interview that his research group has had possession of 85,000 donated baby teeth since 2001 but lacked the money until recently to begin a full study of the cancer risk posed by nuclear tests.
Old tooth study revived to look at radiation effects — baltimoresun.com
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Foreign Policy In Focus | Anti-nuclear Nuclearism
Anti-nuclear Nuclearism
Foreign Policy in Focus Darwin BondGraham and Will Parrish | January 12, 2009
“……………………As a policy, anti-nuclear nuclearism is designed to ensure U.S. nuclear and military dominance by rhetorically calling for what has long been derided as a naïve ideal: global nuclear disarmament. Unlike past forms of nuclearism, it de-emphasizes the offensive nature of the U.S. arsenal. Instead of promoting the U.S. stockpile as a strategic deterrence or umbrella for U.S. and allied forces, it prioritizes an aggressive diplomatic and military campaign of nonproliferation. Nonproliferation efforts are aimed entirely at other states, especially non-nuclear nations with suspected weapons programs, or states that can be coerced and attacked under the pretense that they possess nuclear weapons or a development program (e.g. Iraq in 2003).
Effectively pursuing this kind of belligerent nonproliferation regime requires half-steps toward cutting the U.S. arsenal further, and at least rhetorically recommitting the United States to international treaties such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It requires a fig leaf that the United States isn’t developing new nuclear weapons, and that it is slowly disarming and de-emphasizing its nuclear arsenal. By these means the United States has tried to avoid the charge of hypocrisy, even though it has designed and built newly modified weapons with qualitatively new capacities over the last decade and a half. Meanwhile, U.S. leaders have allowed for and even promoted a mass proliferation of nuclear energy and material, albeit under the firm control of the nuclear weapons states, with the United States at the top of this pile.
Many disarmament proponents were elated last year when four extremely prominent cold warriors — George P. Shultz, William Perry, Henry Kissinger, and Sam Nunn — announced in a series of op-eds their commitment to “a world free of nuclear weapons.” Strange bedfellows indeed for the cause. Yet the fine print of their plan, published by the Hoover Institute and others since then, represents the anti-nuclear nuclearist platform to a tee. It’s a conspicuous yet merely rhetorical commitment to a world without nuclear weapons. These four elder statesmen have said what many U.S. elites have rarely uttered: that abolition is both possible and desirable. However, the anti-nuclear posture in their policy proposal comes to bear only on preventing non-nuclear states from going nuclear, or else preventing international criminal conspiracies from proliferating weapons technologies and nuclear materials for use as instruments of non-state terror. In other words, it’s about other people’s nuclear weapons, not the 99% of materials and arms possessed by the United States and other established nuclear powers…………………….Unfortunately the Obama administration is likely to pursue this Orwellian policy of anti-nuclear nuclearism rather than taking a new, saner direction.
Nuclear-related programs cost US 52 bln dollars in 2008: report
Nuclear-related programs cost US 52 bln dollars in 2008: report 13 Jan 09 WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States spent at least 52 billion dollars on nuclear-related programs last year, most of it to maintain and refurbish its arsenal of nuclear weapons, a report said Monday.The report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said the estimate was pieced together from publicly available documents because the government does not track overall spending on nuclear-related programs.
“Total appropriations for nuclear weapons and weapons-related programs in fiscal year 2008 were at least 52.4 billion dollars, according to the best available data,” the report said.It said the Defense Department’s costs of deploying and maintaining nuclear weapons was a partial estimate, and therefore may be too low.Even so, the report said, it was far larger than most officials would acknowledge.”About 55.5 percent (29.1 billion dollars) of all nuclear expenses go toward upgrading, operating, and sustaining the US nuclear arsenal,” the report said.”These costs will increase significantly if the DOE’s (Department of Energy’s) proposals to rebuild the nuclear weapons production complex and resume the production of nuclear weapons are approved and funded,” it said…….………..”sends a message to the rest of the world that the United States considers preserving and enhancing its nuclear options more important than preventing nuclear proliferation.”
AFP: Nuclear-related programs cost US 52 bln dollars in 2008: report
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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