The problem of space junk
The problem of space junk The Space Fellowship 13 Feb 09 “………………………………Accumulation of space debris is also increasing radiation levels in the near-Earth environment.
In its day, the Soviet Union launched 33 spacecraft with nuclear power units aboard. After fulfilling their missions, the units were jettisoned from the satellites and put in the so-called burial orbit (700 to 1,000 kilometers). There, their cores, consisting of fuel clusters, were jettisoned in turn.Currently, 44 radiation sources from Russia are parked in the burial orbit. They are: two satellites with unseparated nuclear power units (Cosmos-1818 and Cosmos-1867), fuel assemblies and 12 closed-down reactors with a liquid metal coolant, 15 nuclear-fuel assemblies, and 15 fuel-free units with a coolant in the secondary cooling loop. They are to spend no less than 300 to 400 passive years in the orbit. That is enough for uranium-235 fission products to decay to safe levels.The United States is another contributor to the high levels of radiation in near-Earth space. In April 1964, its Transit-SB navigation satellite with a radio isotope generator aboard failed to enter orbit and broke into pieces. While burning up in the atmosphere, it scattered about a kilogram of plutonium-238 over the western part of the Indian Ocean north of Madagascar. The result has been a 15-fold increase in background radiation around the world. A few years later, the Nimbus-B weather satellite with a uranium-235 reactor crashed into the Indian Ocean.
Today, there are seven American radiation sources circling the Earth in orbits ranging from 800 kilometers to 1,100 kilometers, and two more in near-geostationary ones.The lurking threat of both Russian and American nuclear satellites is that, should they fall apart upon collision with space debris, vast expanses of near-Earth space would be contaminated. Additionally, if some of the fragments had a velocity after collision and destruction that was below orbital speed, they would fall out of orbit and pollute some parts of the Earth’s surface. In the worst-case scenario, the atmosphere could be heavily contaminated.
Iran next target, warns Israeli diplomat
Iran next target, warns Israeli diplomat The Age Jason Koutsoukis, Jerusalem * February 14, 2009
A SENIOR Israeli diplomat has warned that Israel is ready to launch a military offensive against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.
In an interview with The Age, Dan Gillerman, who was Israel’s permanent representative at the United Nations from 2003 until last September, said time for diplomatic efforts to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear capability might have already expired……………………….Detailed military plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear enrichment plant have long been on the table of Israeli military commanders……………….
Israel has carried out two strikes on suspected nuclear sites over the past 30 years. In 1981, its jets bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak, and in September 2007, Israeli aircraft bombed a structure in Syria that was alleged to have housed a nuclear reactor.
Any new attack against Iran would be much more complicated, with the country’s uranium enrichment plants spread across many sites. Iran’s comparatively sophisticated military and its distance from Israel would present further complications for military planners and risk setting off a full-scale war.
U.S. intelligence reconfirms Iran has no nuclear arms program
U.S. intelligence reconfirms Iran has no nuclear arms program TEHRAN TIMES February 14, 2009 WASHINGTON (Agencies) – U.S. intelligence reconfirms that Iran has no nuclear weapons program, the new U.S. intelligence director Dennis Blair said in an annual threat assessment to Congress on Thursday……………………………Asked about it at a Senate hearing, Blair acknowledged it was a difficult question to deal with in a public setting.
“I can say at this point that Iran is clearly developing all the components of a deliverable nuclear weapons program — fissionable material, nuclear weaponizing capability and the means to deliver it,” he said.
“Whether they take it all the way to nuclear weapons and become a nuclear power will depend a great deal on their own internal decisions,” AFP quoted him as saying.
The assessment comes at a time when the new U.S. administration and Tehran appear to be in a diplomatic dance over whether and how to engage in direct dialogue.
tehran times : U.S. intelligence reconfirms Iran has no nuclear arms program
The most serious accident in US commercial nuclear power history: people vs. government
The most serious accident in US commercial nuclear power history: people vs. government the Morehead News By Nicole Back February 13, 2009 After three decades, the debate continues.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission stands by its claim that the most serious accident in US commercial nuclear power history did not cause any physical harm to those who were directly affected.Hundreds of people lived near Three Mile Island when equipment malfunctions, design related problems and worker errors led to the partial meltdown of the TMI-2 reactor core. Residents insist the US government is lying about what really happened to them.“Here I am 30 years later and I’m absolutely astounded that they got away with murder,” Mary Osborne said………………………..Osborne has been researching the accident and its effects on her and her neighbors ever since it happened. She takes pictures of mutated plants and animals, collects official documents and gives presentations in Washington, D.C. She has written separate letters to The Economist and Fortune Magazine. Her work was presented in Japan in 1987 and at DePaul University in Chicago in 2001…………………………………A professor with the University of North Carolina School of Public Health led a study of cancer cases within 10 miles of the facility from 1975-85. Dr. Steven Wing’s findings were published in the Journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in November 2003.
According to his report, hundreds of local residents questioned the NRC’s position that high-level radiation exposure as a result of TMI was impossible. People who lived near TMI reported metallic taste, nausea, vomiting diarrhea, erythema, hair loss, deaths of pets and farm and wild animals and damage to plants………………………..Lung cancer and leukemia rates were two to 10 times higher downwind of the TMI reactor than upwind……………………..On December 3, 2002 The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld the Summary Judgment of the United Sates District Court for the Middle District. Lawyers for 1,990 plaintiffs who claimed they suffered health damage from radiation released during the reactor meltdown gave up. The lawsuits were mostly against former TMI owner General Public Utilities Corp.
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, urasnium, radioactive
Emergency nuke centers ordered to bolster radiation protection
The Japan Times Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009 Emergency nuke centers ordered to bolster radiation protectionKyodo NewsThe internal affairs ministry Friday advised seven facilities designated to serve as command centers in the event of a nuclear emergency to bolster their safety systems against radiation exposure.The seven are among 22 command centers across Japan operated by the industry and science ministries. Each was built within 20 km of a nuclear plant so it can expeditiously deal with an emergency.
A recent inspection of 13 centers by the Internal Affairsand Communications Ministry found that seven would have problems with radioactive contamination in an accident, exposing those inside to the risk of radiation sickness.
Five were found to have ventilation problems, but shielding was found inadequate at all seven facilities.
Emergency nuke centers ordered to bolster radiation protection | The Japan Times Online
Victory! $50 Billion for Toxic Nuclear Pork Cut from Stimulus Bill
Victory! $50 Billion for Toxic Nuclear Pork Cut from Stimulus Bill
Beyond Nuclear 13 Feb 09
Congressional negotiators in the House of Representatives and the Senate agreed late Wednesday evening (February 11) on a $789 billion stimulus bill but killed an attempt to squander $50 billion on new nuclear reactors. The agreement, made in the conference committee, axed a proposal from Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) to include $50 billion in pork barrel federal loan guarantees for the nuclear industry. The Congressional Budget Office stated earlier this year that nuclear utilities would default on more than 50% of the loans, leaving taxpayers and ratepayers to foot the bill.”This is a big victory for common sense and the American taxpayer,” said Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear who helped lead the campaign on Capitol Hill to cut the $50 billion for nuclear power. “This toxic nuclear pork had no place in a bill designed to put Americans back to work and and salvage our economy. Our legislators are to be applauded for getting their priorities right and saying no to yet another blatant attempt to prop up an industry that has never stood on its own financial feet.”The nuclear industry has received an estimated $500 billion in public subsidies over the past half century,” Kamps continued. “This monumental waste of money had to end. The nuclear industry cannot solve the climate crisis and fattening the nuclear calf has deprived real energy solutions like renewable energy and energy efficiency programs of essential support for decades.”
The Worldwide Environmental Crisis
………………………… the toxic legacies from Bhopal, Three-Mile Island, and the ExxonValdez oil spill that all continue to wreck havoc. Chernobyl and other nuclear-related accidents also keep on exposing all life on our planet to various types of nuclear radiation fall-out (for example, from radioactive uranium, plutonium, cesium, going back more than 60 years to US World War II bombings; and they persist now with accidents and illegal uses of DU –depleted uranium– and other heinous weapons tested on citizen guinea pigs and used illegally by governments, including the US and Israel). (1)Nuclear radiation does not go away. Some of it is short lived, some of it stays forever. The half-life of uranium 238, for example, is 4.5 billion years (i.e., the amount of time it takes for half of the uranium to decay). The fallout from US atomic bombs (dropped tragically on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl accident [and both still continue to be monitored by Japanese and Russian scientists], as well as the DU bombing of innocent civilians in Iraq and now Gaza, all go far past these tragically harmed people then to be carried on the winds and distributed around the entire globe. Ours is closed-loop system: what happens one place eventually travels to other global areas. Our entire planet is enveloped in on-going nuclear radiation fallout. Yes, of course, we get radiation for the sun, too. However, the criminal use by governments of nuclear warfare is illegal and unethical. Nuclear energy, too, is completely unsafe………………………..The Precautionary Principle is not only an admirable ethical necessity, it is vital to our very survival. When it is thought of at all, it is within the framework of environmental considerations. However, there are other aspects of the Precautionary Principle that also must be integrated into governmental policies, if we are to survive as a nation: ethical and fiscal responsibility –neither of which is anywhere to be found now in public policy or discourse. All we have is one massive fraud after another………………If we are to save whatever little bit may be left of “these United States,” then it is crucial that the Precautionary Principle must be an intrinsic part of any realistic plan.
Bad Reactors – Mariah Blake
Bad ReactorsRethinking your opposition to nuclear power? Rethink again.Washington Monthly Feb 09 By Mariah Blake – “…………………..These complications have already erased the cost savings nuclear power was supposed to deliver compared to other energy sources, such as natural gas. What’s more, the reactor won’t be completed before 2012, when the Kyoto treaty expires. To meet its targets, between now and then Finland will have to buy hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of credits through the European Union’s emissions trading scheme. In the meantime, because the country expected the reactor to deliver a bounty of energy and didn’t pursue other options, it’s facing a severe electricity shortage and will have to import even more from abroad, which will drive up power bills. Elfi, a consortium of Finnish heavy industries, has calculated that the project delays will create $4 billion in indirect costs for electricity users………………………………….s Finland’s experience shows, the reality may be far messier than the industry lets on: a growing body of evidence suggests that new nuclear construction projects are prone to the same setbacks as those undertaken a generation ago, when lengthy delays and multibillion-dollar cost overruns were commonplace. This raises serious questions about the potential of nuclear power as a front-line solution in the battle against climate change.
Stimulus To Fund Renewables, Energy Efficiency, Grid
UPDATE:Stimulus To Fund Renewables, Energy Efficiency, Grid
CNN Money By Ian Talley
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Congress will funnel more than $40 billion into clean energy and efficiency programs – and offer around $20 billion in tax breaks – as part of a near $800 billion stimulus bill designed to jolt industries into life across the economy.
The provisions in the bill – a deal hammered out between House and Senate negotiators late Wednesday that still needs to be passed by both chambers – will primarily give a major boost to renewable energy, electricity transmission and energy efficiency sectors…………………….. “The plan…will save or create more than 3.5 million jobs over the next two years…will ignite spending by businesses and consumers and make the investments necessary for lasting economic growth and prosperity,” Obama said Wednesday at a stop in East Peoria, Ill., one of many towns across the country hit hard by the economic meltdown.
Nuclear industry advised to hush up about Yucca
Beyond Nuclear 13 Feb 09 Nuclear industry advised to hush up about Yucca An article in the latest issue of Nuclear Waste reveals that the nuclear industry is being advised to go silent on the failed Yucca Mountain proposed radioactive waste dump site and “repackage its message” including to “stop talking about the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository altogether.” The article quoted Pat Cavanaugh, legislative director to Rep. Mike Doyl (D-Pa) as telling the industry to focus its message on “zero emissions and green jobs” and to disengage from the “yes-toYucca, no-toYucca fight.”
Signature drive launched vs nuke plant revival –
Signature drive launched vs nuke plant reviva lMARK MERUEÑAS, GMANews.TV 11 Feb 09 MANILA, Philippines – A group of environmentalists, scientists, and church leaders on Wednesday launched a signature drive against the revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), saying it would only usher in further corruption in government.
The Network Opposed to the BNPP Revival (NO to BNPP Revival) succeeded in tagging along several personalities like former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. and Sen. Ma. Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal to join the cause.
In a press conference in Quezon City, the network – composed of at least 40 organizations – urged the public to oppose the resurrection of the BNPP, which the group said was a “dangerous and expensive demon of the past.”
Manila scientists oppose nuclear plant – upiasia.com
Manila scientists oppose nuclear plant UPI Asia.com By Gerry Albert Corpuz 12 Feb 09 Manila, Philippines — Scientists in Manila have declared war against a government plan to revive the controversial Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which was built by 1984 but never operated. They dismissed the completed but not yet fueled plant as a sleeping monster and a monument of corruption.
The nuclear plant, located in Morong on the Bataan peninsula, is the current object of outrage by members of the scientific community and anti-corruption watchdogs throughout the Philippines. The plant was started in 1976 at an estimated cost of US$600 million. By the time it was finished in 1984 the price tag was US$2.3 billion – the price bloated by cronies of former Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos to ensure fat kickbacks for the ruling president’s group at the time.
The government was paying some US$300,000 a day on interest alone, essentially Filipino taxpayers money, on a loan sourced for Westinghouse, the plant builder, under the auspices of and guaranteed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund…………………………………
According to the Philippine-based geologist, the United States Geological Survey recorded at least six earthquakes in sites near Mt. Natib and the site where the plant is located. Rodolfo said uranium is not carbon-free as proponents of nuclear energy have been claiming.
He said fossil fuels are still used to mine, mill and process uranium before it reaches a reactor and every watt of electricity generated by a nuclear power plant makes around 30 percent as much carbon as a watt generated by burning fossil fuel, further complicating the problem of global warming.
Professor Giovanni Tapang, also a renowned scientist and physicist from the University of the Philippines, said the risks in getting the nuclear plant online would outweigh the benefits of the 620 megawatts of electricity it could generate………………………Based on the views of foreign and local scientists, and from the political and moral perspectives of groups and individuals opposing the revival of the nuclear plant, the Manila government should stop pursuing the project and instead focus on sourcing energy from alternative, cheaper and safer sources of energy.
Austin won’t sign off on nuclear plant expansion – Austin Business Journal:
Austin won’t sign off on nuclear plant expansion
Austin Business Journal February 12, 2009 “The Austin City Council voted on Feb. 12 against participation in the proposed expansion of a South Texas nuclear plant………………………Worley Parsons, a consultant the city hired to evaluate NRG’s proposal, concluded that an Austin investment in the proposed project could have the city paying $2 billion or more over at least the next seven years.
That sum would require a significant sum of debt relative to Austin Energy’s size, the analysis said, that could in turn result in a downgrade of its credit rating and lead to higher future borrowing costs.”
Austin won’t sign off on nuclear plant expansion – Austin Business Journal:
EDF profits plunge in 2008 as nuclear expansion continues
EDF profits plunge in 2008 as nuclear expansion continues
Business News
Feb 12, 2009, Paris – State-owned French energy supplier EDF saw its profits fall by nearly 40 per cent in 2008 as it continued to expand its nuclear energy division abroad, the company said on Thursday……………………. Investors were no doubt put off by the plunge in profits and bid EDF shares down by 9.11 per cent, to 32.31 euros, in late morning trading on the Paris Bourse.
Los Alamos Lab Missing Almost 100 Computers
Los Alamos Lab Missing Almost 100 Computers eweek.com By Roy Mark2009-02-12 The nation’s primary nuclear weapons testing lab is again involved in an embarrassing security gaffe. Watchdog group reveals the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has lost 13 computers in 12 months and that 67 other computers are currently missing.
1 This Month
Protect Sazan Island from the Trump family! https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/protect_sazan_island_from_the_trump_family_loc/?bqFCVab&v=174511&cl=22707147157&_checksum=5e9dde668860e8231c33699735e16a1fbf22ab2cb01da50c999fe8732b9775ef&utm_source=email&utm_medium=blast_email&utm_campaign=174511
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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