Nuclear’s Nemesis
Nuclear’s Nemesis Baltimore Examiner
A Senate committee in Kentucky just passed a bill that could potentially allow for the new construction of nuclear power plants in the Bluegrass State.Essentially, the bill would repeal a 1984 law that placed a moratorium on nuclear power plant construction until the federal government can figure out how to dispose of the waste.So has the federal government figured out how to dispose of this waste?Not a chance.
One of the biggest problems with nuclear is that there is still no safe way to dispose of the waste. And no matter how hard they try, there’s simply no way to spin this one. Sure, there have been attempts.If you have to put something in a highly-engineered container, capable of withstanding enormous impact…then it ain’t safe!Still, nuclear power plants have been sending massive amounts of juice to the grid for years. And as a result, we now have tons of nuclear waste – and no safe, centralized place to put it………………………That $96.2 billion (right now) will be enough to develop a repository large enough to handle 77,000 metric tons. Here’s the problem – more than 56,000 tons are already stored at more than 77 reactor sites across the country. And this number increases by about 2,000 tons each year. So by 2036 (when Yucca would be filled to capacity), we’ll be looking at about 110,000 tons – or 33,000 tons above what Yucca can store. Translation – problem NOT solved!……………………………..Today, nuclear provides us with about 20 percent of our electricity. But between energy efficiency and conservation, and the large-scale integration of renewables, that 20 percent could easily be replaced – and without contributing to the safety and environmental issues that are undoubtedly associated with nuclear power.
Baltimore Renewable Energy Examiner: Nuclear’s Nemesis
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Revival of Bataan Nuclear Power Plant a Source of Corruption?
Revival of Bataan nuclear power plant a source of corruption
PINOY PRESS February 06, 2009 Manila, PhilippinesBY RONALYN V. OLEA
Activists are gearing up for protests against the planned revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).In a telephone interview, Roman Polintan, chairperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in Central Luzon, said they would launch a massive campaign against the proposed reopening of the BNPP………………………………..The BNPP was a project of former President Ferdinand Marcos. The BNPP construction began in 1976 and was completed in 1984 at a cost of $2.3 billion. The nuclear plant is located at the foot of Mt. Natib in Morong, Bataan. Marcos was toppled in 1986. The succeeding administration of Corazon Aquino decided not to operate the plant after citing 4,000 defects in its design and construction…………………………………..Polintan said that the BNPP is unacceptable to the people of Central Luzon. “It is not the ordinary people who will benefit from it but the foreign business corporations and their local partners.”
The activist leader joined the mammoth protests against the BNPP in the ’80s……………………………….Balanga, Bataan Bishop Socrates Villegas and Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said the plan of some lawmakers to re-open the BNPP would be met with opposition due to the risk the power plant poses to human life and safety.
Villegas in a text message said the nuke plant, based in Morong town, was already declared unsafe 30 years ago and it cannot be made safe by a mere congressional act.
Polintan welcomed the statements of Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Balanga Bishop Socrates Villegas and Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo. Polintan said they plan to get the support of other Church leaders in the region……………………………….Bautista said, “The most probable reason why the Arroyo government, particularly the Department of Energy, is reviving the nuclear option is that it is a multibillion dollar project where fat and grease money will come in from foreign energy corporations and international financial institutions.”
Bautista recalled that Marcos and his cronies are estimated to have gotten $80 million in kickbacks from the BNPP. He said that with the current administration, perceived to be the most corrupt, the BNPP would just be another source of corruption.
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Sweden lifts ban on nuclear power
Sweden lifts ban on nuclear power
Guardian.co.uk by Terry Macalister 5 February 2009
Environmentalists opposed to nuclear power said the decision in Sweden was one taken by a small majority in parliament and did not represent a significant swing back to favour for atomic power.“No way can this be seen as a ringing endorsement given the parties concerned only hold 180 of 349 seats. The largest party in Sweden is still against nuclear and the people are not enamoured by it either,” said Jean McSorley, a senior nuclear adviser at Greenpeace.
McSorley believed the construction of an new nuclear plants would be hampered by the long lead times and huge expense at a time when the global recession means money is in short supply.
“There are very long lead times for new nuclear plants giving plenty of time for faults to emerge,” she explained, noting that the Finnish reactor, Olkiluoto 3 currently under construction, has already fallen behind schedule and is over cost……………
………Swedish ministers also outlined plans to lift the proportion of renewable energy consumption to 50% of the total. In the transport sector alone, the target was set at 10% and Sweden has become a major importer of sugar-based ethanol from Brazil. Sweden already gets much of its power from hydroelectric and biomass schemes.
Sweden lifts ban on nuclear power | Environment | guardian.co.uk
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Trident ‘increases threat of nuclear attacks on Scotland’ –
Trident ‘increases threat of nuclear attacks on Scotland
Scotsman.com News: 04 February 2009
A LEADING authority on international law has warned that nuclear weapons in Scotland increase the risk of a nuclear attack on the country.Judge Christopher Weeramantry, former vice-president of the International Court of Justice, told a conference in Edinburgh that the issue could not be left in the hands of Westminster.
While agreeing that international relations were reserved to the UK Parliament, he insisted the Scottish Parliament must uphold international humanitarian and legal obligations.SNP defence and foreign affairs spokesman Angus Robertson said: “Judge Weeramantry’s comments add further weight to the argument for removing Trident from Scotland.”
Trident ‘increases threat of nuclear attacks on Scotland’ – Scotsman.com News
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Israel urged to attack Iran within the year
Israel urged to attack Iran within the year PRESSTV 4 Feb 09 Tel Aviv should attack Tehran in the coming year in order to get the mission accomplished, says an Israeli expert in weapons.
Isaac Ben-Israel, Israeli legislator and weapons expert, said Wednesday that Israel has only a year to pull off a successful strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
He, nevertheless, asserted that any attack would only delay, rather than sabotage, Iran’s breakthrough in nuclear technology.
The former defense official said an attack on Iran should take place before it is too late. “Last resort means when you reach the stage when everything else failed. When is this?” ………………………Tehran, meanwhile, insists their satellite was designed and produced for peaceful purposes and will enable the country to track natural disasters and improve its telecommunications infrastructure.
Press TV – Israel urged to attack Iran within the year
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Medical isotopes the likely cause of radiation in Ottawa waste
Medical isotopes the likely cause of radiation in Ottawa waste, CBC Canada February 4, 2009
The sludge that was recently quarantined near the Canadian border tested positive for radiation because of the presence of a medical isotope, according to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
The biosolids, which were being transported from the Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre in Ottawa for disposal in New York State, were turned away at the border last Thursday because the truckloads had registered low levels of radiation.
Since then, the sludge has been stored at Third High Farms, a waste storage facility Iroquois, Ont., and consultants have been called in to investigate.
The culprit appears to be the isotope iodine 131.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has said the isotope, which is used for medial procedures, is most likely the source of the radiation detected in the sludge.
The commission also said that the presence of medical isotopes in sludge is not unusual.
Medical isotopes the likely cause of radiation in Ottawa waste
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Bloomberg.com: Australia & New Zealand
CT Heart Imaging Increases Radiation Dose to Patients
By Elizabeth Lopatto
Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — Heart scans on average expose patients to radiation equivalent to getting 600 chest X-rays at once, according to the first study to measure emissions from the procedures.
Doctors aren’t always aware of the doses and many don’t use the best methods for reducing the radiation, said Thomas Gerber, the Mayo Clinic researcher who did the study. The average exposure from computerized tomography, or CT, scans of the heart was 885 milligrays per centimeter, according to the study, published in tomorrow’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The authors of the study recommended that doctors limit the use of CT heart scans……………………………Exposure to radiation increases the chance of getting cancer, and the risk varies from patient to patient, said Andrew Einstein, the author of an editorial in the journal, in a telephone interview. In a 60-year-old woman with one exposure to CT scanning, the risk of cancer might be 1 in 700, while in younger patients, particularly females, it could be higher, Einstein said. Two tests would double the risk, he said.
Bloomberg.com: Australia & New Zealand
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Bloomberg.com: Germany
Six Powers Hold Iran Talks as U.S. Mulls Policy
By Tony Czuczka
Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — Diplomats from six nations discussed how to keep Iran from building nuclear weapons in the first meeting on the issue since President Barack Obama took office and offered Iran talks “without preconditions.”
U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs William Burns and foreign ministry officials from China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany met today in Wiesbaden, Germany, near Frankfurt, to review their strategy toward Iran, a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said
Iran said yesterday it launched its first domestically made satellite, prompting U.S., French and British statements of concern about Iran’s efforts to develop ballistic missile technology. Leaders of Germany and France said they may back new sanctions if diplomacy fails to halt “the Iranian threat.”
“We will not permit an Iranian nuclear bomb because this would threaten world peace,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a joint article published today in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. “We favor a diplomatic solution.”
Obama has shifted U.S. policy since taking office on Jan. 20, saying he supports “tough and direct diplomacy with Iran without preconditions” and will “use the power of American diplomacy to pressure Iran to stop their illicit nuclear program, support for terrorism and threats toward Israel.”………………..
Iran, the second-largest oil producer in the Middle East, is under three sets of UN sanctions after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, sent the dispute to the Security Council in March 2006.
The Bush administration ruled out talks with Iran unless the country ended uranium enrichment work within its nuclear program.
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Is the BNPP safe?
Is the BNPP safe?By Roland G. SimbulanPhilippine Daily Inquirer 2 Feb 09
Just when we all thought that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) had been permanently laid to rest after it was mothballed in 1992, now comes the proposed BNPP Commissioning Act seeking to revive and operate the controversial plant that had become the symbol of corruption and folly of the Marcos dictatorship.
Despite the BNPP’s total cost of roughly $2.3 billion, including interest, two previous post-Marcos administrations decided to permanently mothball the nuclear plant after a comprehensive scientific and technical audit that reviewed the condition of the plant from 1986 to 1990 found that the safety and health of the Filipino people would be at grave risk should the plant be put into operation……………
………………Of course, the nuclear scientists and engineers who rely on the nuclear industry for a living will tell us that science and technology will take care of everything. But they know that even up to now decommissioning a nuclear plant with a normal life span of only 30 years will cost more than its construction, as a decommissioned nuclear plant with its radioactive wastes will continue to pose risks to the health and safety of the people and threaten the environment. We will need at least 20-25 years to develop the necessary scientific and technological infrastructure and national capability to operate a commercial nuclear power plant to respond to nuclear accidents, plant upgrades, repairs and maintenance, nuclear waste disposal and other related problems.
Is the BNPP safe? – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Main News
N-commerce gets going, pact signed with French firm Bhagyashree Pande Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 4
Taking the first major step towards undertaking nuclear commerce after the NSG waiver, India today signed a preliminary sales agreement with French atomic reactor giant Areva for setting up two nuclear reactors in India.
Areva, the world’s biggest maker of atomic reactors, inked the MoU with state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for building the country’s first large-capacity plants using overseas equipment.
This will end India’s nuclear trade isolation marking a new chapter in strategic relationship with France……………………Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon said her company was committed to supply fuel for the lifetime of the reactors, which, she pegged at about 60 years. She said Areva would meet the fuel requirements through its uranium mines located in various countries, including Australia, Kazakhstan and Niger. Though the MoU provides for supply of two nuclear reactors, the order may be stepped up to six at a later date. The cost of one EPR has been estimated at between $5.2 and 7.8 billion, although final costs are subject to negotiations…………………….Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Power, said signing of the MoU signals end of India’s nuclear isolation and its emergence as a responsible nuclear state. He hoped that this relationship would go further in form of forging technological alliance to export nuclear reactors from India to various countries.
The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Main News
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
France’s Nuclear Failures
France’s Nuclear Failures Greenpeace 3 Feb 09 Hazardous waste, illegitimate and dangerous new reactors and a diversion to the solutions to climate change – here’s why France’s picture of nuclear energy is just a ‘great illusion’…Despite the French government’s global marketing of its flagship European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) as cheap and safe, nuclear energy is rapidly becoming the most expensive way to produce electricity, and its highly radioactive waste poses an ever-increasing problem.
Greenpeace has recently uncovered evidence that nuclear waste from the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) – the flagship of the French nuclear industry – will be up to seven times more hazardous than waste produced by existing nuclear reactors, increasing costs and the danger to health and the environment.
This alarming evidence was buried away in the environmental impact assessment report from Posiva, the company responsible for managing waste at the world’s first EPR under construction at Olkiluoto in Finland, and in EU-funded research……………………………………. No appropriate waste facilities exist – or are even being planned – in Finland, France or any of the countries considering buying the EPR (including the UK, the US, Canada and India). In Finland, plans for burying the nuclear waste that are awaiting approval are simply inadequate for preventing interim and long-term health risks, and will pass on huge financial liabilities to future generations…………………………..The Global Chance report shows:
- how France’s nuclear programme fails to rise to the challenges of climate change and energy security;
- how France has not benefited economically from their ‘all electric, all nuclear’ approach
- how nuclear power is liable to suffer serious accidents – whether due to system failure, natural disaster or deliberate attack
- how no satisfactory solution has been found for the management of long-term waste; and
- how France contributes to proliferation, which remains a major risk for global security.
France’s Nuclear Failures | Greenpeace International
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
None Dare Call It Treason
None Dare Call It Treason
Author * Morton S. Skorodin, M.D. Arkansas Indymedia 4 Feb 09 Politicians backed by powerful business interests have initiated a legislative assault to bring nuclear power back to Oklahoma. There are numerous reasons why this is a bad idea, some of which are discussed in this article. Oklahomans successfully fought off the attempt to build a nuclear reactor at Black Fox a generation ago. We will fight it again.This will, if the sponsor and his backers prevail, bring jobs and cancer to our state.
We’ve got a problem. We humans interpret the world and have survived by our five senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. They have served us well; they guide our behavior, and this is all obvious as we look around.During the twentieth century and beyond, we have seen new things and new types of events, in defiance of the old saying: “There is nothing new under the sun.” Most important was the development of man made nuclear radiation.
We haven’t had hundreds or thousands of years to adapt to this new and insanely dangerous phenomenon. We can not see, hear, feel, smell or taste nuclear radiation.
The danger of nuclear power is as great as our ability to perceive it is small………………………………..To compound this problem, many facts about nuclear power and nuclear munitions are not widely known. Additionally, many problems and potential problems have not been made public.
Remember, it is a business. It is the legally binding responsibility of top management of all firms involved in this business to make as much money as possible. Ugly facts would get in the way of this Prime Directive. Thus the impulse to hide unpleasant information is overwhelming. Monkey see no evil, hear no evil, tell no evil.
We, the people, have to do the heavy digging. We have no other choice. Like a putrid abscess this abomination must be eliminated by exposure to fresh air and sunlight………………………………………..There appears to be more public awareness of the dangers of non-radioactive chemical pollutants than of the radioactive and it is evident that more than one factor goes to making cancer. What serious investigators fear is that radiation (nuclear) pollution interacts with chemical poisons to magnify the problem. By itself, Uranium interacts with the body’s estrogen hormone system, disrupting it as do a number of other pollutants. It can do its dirty work even if present at tiny amounts- amounts lower than current federal EPA standards for this poison.
Arkansas IMC: None Dare Call It Treason
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
President Obama seeks Russia deal to slash nuclear weapons e
President Obama seeks Russia deal to slash nuclear weapons
President Obama will convene the most ambitious arms reduction talks with Russia for a generation, aiming to slash each country’s stockpile of nuclear weapons by 80 per cent.
The radical treaty would cut the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 each, The Times has learnt. Key to the initiative is a review of the Bush Administration’s plan for a US missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, a project fiercely opposed by Moscow.
Mr Obama is to establish a non-proliferation office at the White House to oversee the talks, expected to be headed by Gary Samore, a non-proliferation negotiator in the Clinton Administration. The talks will be driven by Hillary Clinton’s State Department.
No final decision on the defence shield has been taken by Mr Obama. Yet merely delaying the placement of US missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic — which if deployed would cost the US $4 billion annually — removes what has been a major impediment to Russian co-operation on arms reduction…………….. Mr Obama has pledged to put nuclear weapons reduction at the heart of his presidency
President Obama seeks Russia deal to slash nuclear weapons – Times Online
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Letter: Data withheld on nuclear waste storage
Data withheld on nuclear waste storage The Guardian Hugh Richards 3 February 2009 We as taxpayers are being asked to take responsibility for significant amounts of spent fuel – something omitted by Rivaz. Spent nuclear fuel contains most of the radioactivity from the new reactors, but neither government nor its regulators have assessed its “disposability”, or the health effects of managing it. The Nuclear Industry Association says a repository dealing with legacy wastes could readily accommodate the smaller volumes of easier-to-handle wastes from the new nuclear plants.
But the spent fuel from EDF’s planned European pressurised reactors in England would be hotter and more radioactive than that from the EPR at Olkiluoto, in Finland. There are serious doubts it could be disposed of in the deep geological repository for legacy waste, but the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has only recently received the detailed information from EDF that will allow it to make the assessment. Having asked for a copy of that information, I have been told by the NDA that it was submitted in confidence under contractual arrangements, and agreement to the release of the information has not been granted. Thus data directly relevant to independent assessment of health detriments during the storage, retrieval, encapsulation, emplacement and subsequent abandonment of spent fuel, is being withheld by the company concerned……………………………..I have asked the energy department to publish the data, but the secretary of state is busy promoting nuclear power by “reducing regulatory risks for investors”. He is also the “sole justifying authority” that will decide whether benefits from new reactors outweigh any health detriments, a somewhat dangerous conflict of interests.
Letter: Data withheld on nuclear waste storage | Environment | The Guardian
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Can Obama stop the bomb in the senate stimulus plan?
The Huffington Post 3 feb 09 by Joseph Romm
A radioactive dirty bomb has been dropped on the Senate stimulus package.
On Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to add $50 billion in nuclear loan guarantees to the economic recovery package (S. 336). This “would more than double the current loan guarantee cap of $38 billion” for “clean energy” technology.Yet this provision would not create a single job for many, many years, but would saddle the public with tens of millions of dollars more in toxic loans. As I noted in my 2008 report, “The Self-Limiting Future of Nuclear Power“:
In August 2007, Tulsa World reported that American Electric Power Co. CEO Michael Morris was not planning to build any new nuclear power plants. He was quoted as saying, “I’m not convinced we’ll see a new nuclear station before probably the 2020 timeline,”…………………
Why are we still propping up an industry that can’t survive without the taxpayer swallowing both the economic risk of an actual meltdown and the risk of the new nukes melting down financially — all for a mature technology that has already received more than $100 billion in direct and indirect subsidies (see “Nuclear Pork — Enough is Enough“)?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-romm/can-obama-stop-the-nuclea_b_163110.html
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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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