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Dirty Plans of France to Nuke the US – Starting With DC!

areva-medusa1Dirty Plans of France to Nuke the US – Starting With DC! OpEd News 8 April 09 by Cathy Garger French radioactive disasters at home render an abysmal nuclear safety record – and now they are being helped to bring the same disasters here to the US!………the ASN, (Autorite de Surete Nucleaire) the French nuclear safety authority, yesterday came out with a report which states that 5 out of 19 of their nuclear power plants are “underperforming.” …………

the EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) design has never before operated anywhere in the world. Judging from the nuclear track record of the French state, the operation of this over-sized, unproven reactor will unquestionably ensure the further toxic and radioactive contamination of the MD-DC-VA area, surrounding the nation’s capital with deadly discharges – thermal, toxic, and radioactive – into the already heavily oxygen-depleted, Chesapeake Bay.

Despite many local citizens’ disdain for France‘s ambitious and greedy visions for the US, however? The far greatest sin is absolutement not France’s blatant disregard for the certain worsened contamination of the United States of America – demonstrated by its callous disregard shown both its own environment and own people………………………. the blame and focus must instead be placed squarely where it belongs… in the very laps of the US (s)elected officials themselves, as manifested by their enthusiastic and unanimous dedication to these experimental double-size nuclear monsters, originating with the radioactive French “christening” of the greater Washington, DC area.

……………Five (5) out of nineteen (19) French “underperformers” equates to a rate of 26 percent of nuclear power plants identified as sub-standard performers. In other words, France itself admits its own nuclear power plants have a measly 74% acceptable performance (think “safety”) rate……………………….It’s important to realize the French nuclear invasion is being welcomed with open arms by those in power in our very own government. AREVA’s big plans to take a colossal slice of what I’ve termed the US “nukuler insurgency” pie has been accomplished by AREVA’s Congressional lobbying efforts to the tune of over $5.2 million in the years 2005 to 2008 alone.

April 9, 2009 Posted by | business and costs, France | Leave a comment

Tajikistan’s Former Soviet Nuclear Sites Pose Threat To Nearby Villages –

Tajikistan’s Former Soviet Nuclear Sites Pose Threat To Nearby Villages

A mound of radioactive waste 300 meters high rises above the town of Taboshar.

Radio Free Europe April 09, 2009
By Farangis Najibullah

The first Soviet atomic bomb, tested in 1949, was made from Tajik uranium.

Now Tajikistan is dealing with the dangerous legacy of its role in the Soviet nuclear program: 55 million tons of radioactive waste that, in some sites, is leaking into the soil and local water supplies.

Tajik and international specialists say the leaks pose a major risk to residents’ health and the environment. Most of the radioactive waste in Tajikistan comes from the country’s Vostokredmet plant, in the northern city of Chkalovsk. The plant was built in 1945 to mine and process uranium from deposits in Tajikistan and other Central Asian republics.

Tajikistan’s Former Soviet Nuclear Sites Pose Threat To Nearby Villages – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2009

April 9, 2009 Posted by | environment, Russia | Leave a comment

Somali Piracy Exposes Weakness in UN Law of the Sea

Somali Piracy Exposes Weakness in UN Law of the Sea VA News.com By Alisha RyuNairobi 09 April 2009 The explosion of piracy off the coast of Somalia in recent years has exposed a weakness in the United Nations maritime law that makes high seas piracy illegal throughout the world…….

………European countries sent to Somalia thousands of drums of toxic waste, including nuclear waste, to be dumped at sea.…..

………..“Lots of people who are pirates now are not from coastal villages. They are not fishermen. They are from inside, former militiamen and they are motivated entirely by money. The fact that illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste still goes on in Somalia is excellent PR [public relations] for the pirates. It means that when they capture a ship and they talk to a news organization and say, ‘We are just defending Somali waters,’ and so on, that plays very well in the communities they need to get support from along the coast,” he said.

VOA News – Somali Piracy Exposes Weakness in UN Law of the Sea

April 9, 2009 Posted by | 2 WORLD, wastes | Leave a comment

Nuclear waste hearing ends in opposition to Taitung site

Nuclear waste hearing ends in opposition to Taitung site Taiwan News 9 April 09
A public hearing discussing the possibility of storing low-grade nuclear waste in a Taitung County village ended on a note of strong opposition yesterday after two protesters had been taken away by police.After years of controversy and protests, the government decided to select Nantien Village in the county’s Tajen Township as one of the possible disposal sites for low-radioactive waste from its three existing nuclear power stations…………………………..Participants in yesterday’s hearing voiced strong opposition to the Tajen site. The area was geologically unstable, making it unsuitable to provide a permanent home for the low-radioactive materials, geologist Chiang Kuo-chang said.

The chairman of the county’s tourism association, Yang Wen-ta, said the issue was larger than just Tajen and concerned not only environmentalists and the local aboriginal population, but the whole of Taitung County.

Before the hearing got under way, an organic farmer carrying a banner with an anti-nuclear slogan was prevented entrance to the meeting and shown into a police vehicle. An environmental activist who came outside to ask about the situation was also forced into the car and taken to a police station, reports said. Both said they were kept at the precinct office for two hours.

Power originally stored its waste on Orchid Island, a remote island off southeast Taiwan mainly inhabited by aboriginals.

Nuclear waste hearing ends in opposition to Taitung site – Taiwan News Online

April 9, 2009 Posted by | China, wastes | , , , | Leave a comment

States threatening to halt payments if U.S. cancels Yucca Mountain

States threatening to halt payments if U.S. cancels Yucca Mountain  Tghe New York Times  By KATHERINE LING, GreenwireApril 8, 2009

Several legislatures of states with nuclear power plants are considering stopping or reducing payments to the federal government for nuclear waste management until the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nev., repository opens or another solution to the waste problem emerges.

Since the February release of President Obama’s budget blueprint, which signaled the likely demise of the Yucca Mountain plan, pro-nuclear lawmakers in Congress have grumbled about the uncertainty such a move would bring. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for one, threatened to promote a measure to return waste-removal fees paid by electric ratepayers.

But at least four states are trying now to take matters into their own hands.
Maine lawmakers passed a resolution yesterday asking the federal government to immediately reduce fees paid by electricity customers for managing spent nuclear fuel. The resolution also urges the expedited establishment of two federally licensed interim storage facilities that would take possession of the waste and create an independent panel to assess the long-term prospects for handling military and civilian nuclear wastes.

Since 1982, U.S. nuclear-power ratepayers have paid a tenth of a cent per kilowatt-hour into a federal fund that now holds about $30 billion. The fund can be used only to build the repository.

The Department of Energy has spent about $13.5 billion on the Yucca Mountain project since 1983 and had contracted with utilities to begin taking spent fuel in 1998. The partial breach of contracts leaves DOE liable for about $11 billion based on plans for the repository opening in 2020. That liability would escalate for each year the waste is not removed from nuclear plant sites, DOE says………………..Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the nuclear industry’s policy arm  said Maine’s frustration may be just the beginning of a national revolt.

States threatening to halt payments if U.S. cancels Yucca Mountain – NYTimes.com

April 9, 2009 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment