nuclear-news

Consumers’ fees pile up along with nuclear waste greenvilleOnline.com 22 June 09 Billions collected for disposalbut federal repository nowhere in sight after years of planning Since 1983, consumers in South Carolina and other states with nuclear power plants have paid a special fee on their electricity bills to cover the costs of a long-planned national repository for radioactive waste. The fee has generated more than $30 billion for the federal government’s Nuclear Waste Fund over the years, according to the Department of Energy. South Carolina’s contribution was more than $1.2 billion at the end of last year.And yet the federal government still has no firm plan for disposing of the high-level waste.

SOUTH AMERICA: Anti-Nuclear Activists to Form Common Front IPS By Daniela Estrada SANTIAGO, Jun 22 (IPS) – Environmental organisations in Chile plan to revive the anti-nuclear movement in the Southern Cone of South America, in response to vigorous lobbying by corporations and politicians in favour of nuclear energy in the region…………………………….. In a bid for survival, the global nuclear industry is desperately trying to extend the useful life of existing nuclear reactors worldwide, sign new contracts in countries that have already opted for nuclear power, and carve a niche for themselves in other nations with pressing energy needs, like Chile, according to Larraín. ………………………………. Sara Larraín, head of the non-governmental Sustainable Chile Programme. said organisations in Argentina and Brazil, which already have nuclear power plants, should play a leading role, alongside those from Chile and Uruguay, where the nuclear debate is in full swing. Nuclear lobbyists have also targeted Mexico, she said……………………… Larraín pointed out that Chile already has two experimental nuclear power plants, at which several accidents have occurred. Two conscripts who were exposed to radioactive material in 1989 later died of leukaemia, while others are suffering serious health effects.