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Nuclear waste reprocessing plan melting down?

gnep-conNuclear waste reprocessing plan melting down?  Examiner.com  Robyn Monaghan May 25,

The Obama administration may be melting down a program that would have shipped deadly radioactive wastes from around the world to a reprocessing facility eyed for Chicago’s Southwest suburbs.
“The program has been terminated,” Department of Energy spokesman Brian Quirke told Chicago Page One Examiner last week about the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.
That happened in late March, when GNEP was chopped from the new budget, he said.
The controversial Global Nuclear Energy Partnership [GNEP] was a pet project of the DOE during the Bush years. It called for transporting radioactive waste from the nation’s 104 nuclear reactors and from 25 foreign countries signed on as “GNEP Partners.”…………………..
……………………Slicing GNEP from the budget doesn’t mean the DOE is completely abandoning the idea of nuclear waste re-processing. The budget funnels $145 million for the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative, for conducting research on “proliferation-resistant” recycling and nuclear waste reduction technologies. The 2009 budget also includes $143 million for “defense nuclear waste disposal” activities, which some sources say means to developing Yucca Mountain………………………….

It may technically correct to say GNEP is terminated, said David Kraft, with the Chicago-based Nuclear Energy and information Service. In fact, the new administration has simply renamed and re-budgeted it.
‘You can dress up a pig in silk and marry it and call it your wife, but it’s still going to be a pig,” Kraft said.
Opponents say nuclear reprocessing nuclear waste has devastated local and regional environments wherever it’s done – in the UK, France, and Russia.  They say France’s decision to reprocess reactor fuel has contaminated seas as far as the Arctic Circle and point to studies that radioactive discharges from La Hague in France contributed to elevated rates of leukemia among young people close to the site…………………………..Obama’s Energy Secretary Steven Chu is Nuclear is promoting nuclear as “clean” in global warming terms, despite “huge issues associated with the waste, in its transport, reprocessing emissions, and storage,” Headington said.

Chicago Page One Examiner: Nuclear waste reprocessing plan melting down? CHICAGO; MORRIS; NAPERVILLE; AURORA

May 26, 2009 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | , , , | Leave a comment

Doctors urged to use diagnostic alternatives to reactor-produced isotopes

Doctors urged to use diagnostic alternatives to reactor-produced isotopesLaura Eggertson CMAJ Laura Eggertson 26 May 09 The Canadian affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War is urging doctors to use diagnostic alternatives to procedures that require reactor-based ionizing radiation, because of links between the way medical isotopes are produced and the nuclear weapons industry…………………….. Edwards, a professor at Vanier College in Montréal, Quebec, and consultant on nuclear issues, says that makes the uranium a potential target for terrorists in search of material to build a nuclear bomb. “Now I know that most doctors don’t think there’s a connection between medical isotopes and bombs, but unfortunately there is,” Edwards, who is also president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, told CMAJ. The connection is that molybdenum-99 is broken down into technetium-99m, that is used in about 1.5 million nuclear medicine procedures in Canada annually, Edwards earlier said to about 40 physicians at St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, Ont.

Doctors urged to use diagnostic alternatives to reactor-produced isotopes — Eggertson 180 (11): 1102 — Canadian Medical Association Journal

May 26, 2009 Posted by | Canada, environment | , , , | Leave a comment

Arab nuclear ambitions embolden spurs nuclear renaissance

Arab nuclear ambitions spur nuclear renaissdance

The Huffington Post Ahmed Shihab  Eldin 25 May

The nuclear deal with the UAE would allow joint ventures with US firms to assist the UAE in building several civilian nuclear power plants and has been signed despite the UAE’s record as a transshipment port for weapons-related materials to Iran.The “123 agreement”, as it is known, includes an “exchange of scientific and technical information and documentation…an exchange and training of personnel…technical assistance and the transfer of material, equipment and components.”……………..

………………..Israel is the only country in the Middle East that currently has nuclear weapons, estimated at between 100-200 warheads. Unlike its Arab neighbours, Israel has yet to sign the NPT………………. The Middle East is filled with various elements of unresolved conflict. Israel possesses formidable nuclear weapons capabilities and Iran has latent potential and appears to be set on advancing its enrichment capabilities.

The Arab world sits anxiously between the two foes, making plans for its own nuclear ambitions and energy programmes inextricably linked to the reality of being wedged between Iran and Israel.

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin: Arab nuclear ambitions embolden spurs nuclear renaissance

May 26, 2009 Posted by | MIDDLE EAST, weapons and war | , , , | Leave a comment

No to progress or peril? Revisiting the case for or against nuclear energy

what’s the case against nuclear power? Business Mirror 25 May 09 “……………………It boils down to two things: safety and economics, according to Prof. Roland Simbulan of the University of the Philippines, National Chairman of the Nuclear-Free Philippines Coalition (NFPC). “The major issue is safety considering that we do not have an effective disaster management culture especially to handle nuclear technology,” Simbulan told the BusinessMirror.

“Even industrialized countries have difficulty confronting this problem.” Simbulan adds that the safety issue concerning storage of nuclear waste will hound the country considering the Philippines is an agricultural country dependent on a fishing industry.

He also argued that the BNPP was constructed under a “conspiracy of corruption” as it is an overpriced, unsafe plant and one that has left the Filipinos with $2.2 billion of debt. Simbulan suggests that the best alternative to nuclear power is safe, clean and less expensive renewable energy such as solar, wind, wave, tidal, geothermal energy, among others.

“We have an eternal abundance of these renewables. Also, energy conservation and efficient technologies that require less energy to generate can be considered such as light bulbs that consume less energy for more light. We also have to simplify lifestyles,” he explained. Simbulan adds that renewables are easier to utiilize compared to nuclear energy. “In the long run, they are cheaper…………………..

……………. “It is a known fact that nuclear power is an expensive technology that is risky to operate and creates deadly radioactive waste. Congress must realize that every Filipino citizen aspires for a safe and secure future. This will not be achieved through nuclear power technology,” said Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner Francis de la Cruz.

Greenpeace argued that the history of nuclear power in the world shows us that aside from being costly and risky, it discourages energy efficiency and impedes the development of renewable energy sources that are cleaner, sustainable and safe.

No to progress or peril? Revisiting the case for or against nuclear energy

May 26, 2009 Posted by | Philippines, safety | , , , | Leave a comment

Native rights declaration challenges ‘settler’ nations

Native rights declaration challenges ‘settler’ nations

By Haider Rizvi May 25, 2009 – UNITED NATIONS, May 6 (IPS) – The United States is considering whether to endorse a major U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for the recognition of the rights of the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples over their lands and resources………………………….

Approved by a vast majority of the U.N. member states in September 2007, the General Assembly resolution on the declaration was rejected by the George W. Bush administration over indigenous leaders’ argument that no economic or political power has the right to exploit their resources without seeking their “informed consent.”

Three other “settler nations” of European descent, namely Canada, New Zealand and Australia, also voted against the declaration, which states that indigenous peoples have the right to maintain their cultures and remain on their land…………………However, last month, the new left-leaning government in Canberra reversed its position, announcing support for the declaration.

Native rights declaration challenges ‘settler’ nations

May 26, 2009 Posted by | 2 WORLD, indigenous issues | , , , | Leave a comment

Government Urged To Step Up Anti-nuke Campaign

Government Urged To Step Up Anti-nuke Campaign  Voxy.co.nz  26 May, 2009 – 15:14

The Government should take the advice of former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and launch a new anti-nuclear campaign, says Labour’s disarmament spokesperson Phil Twyford.

Mr Fraser met the Prime Minister yesterday and is advocating New Zealand and Australia form a ginger group of countries to push for the abolition of nuclear weapons in light of US President Obama’s strong support for the cause.

“After meeting Mr Fraser, Mr Key told Radio New Zealand he would consider ‘whether we may maybe take a bolder and… larger step forward’,” Phil Twyford said.

“Because of our anti-nuclear legislation and longstanding commitment to disarmament New Zealand is well placed to champion the cause of ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

Government Urged To Step Up Anti-nuke Campaign | Voxy.co.nz

May 26, 2009 Posted by | New Zealand, politics | , , , | Leave a comment