Fears for safety as nuclear watchdog hires staff from firms pitching to build reactors
Fears for safety as nuclear watchdog hires staff from firms pitching to build reactors The Guardian Tim Webb 26 June 2009
The Nuclear Installations Inspec
torate is recruiting more than a dozen project managers to speed up its review of new reactor designs – even though they work for the companies hoping to build them.
The Guardian has learnt that the government has approached companies including the US groups Bechtel and CH2M Hill, as well as the UK’s Amec, to fill the senior posts. The companies involved are eager to secure lucrative contracts to help build the UK’s first new reactors for decades.
Government and industry sources admitted the secondments posed potential conflict of interest problems.
It is also understood that the inspectorate has recruited technical staff from Areva,…………………………There are concerns that the potential conflicts of interest could compromise the safety of the new nuclear reactors if the companies helping the inspectorate have a vested interest in approving their design.
Asse nuclear dump contains explosives
Asse nuclear dump contains explosives The Local 26 Jun 09 CETOnline: The controversial salt-mine nuclear waste storage facility in Asse, Lower Saxony is not only crumbling but also contains unknown amounts of explosive, it has emerged………………………………The DDP report said an explosives storage chamber still containing a variety of dynamite-related substances, can be found near the area where the radioactive waste is being kept.
Files from the Research Centre for the Environment and Health (GSF), which used to run the storage facility, show that over the last few years a bog of radioactive salt water has built up by the entrance to the explosive chamber.
Workers continue bid for nuclear test compensation
Workers continue bid for nuclear test compensation Radio New Zealand News 7 June 2009French Polynesians who have had their claims for compensation for the effects of nuclear testing rejected say they will not give up their bid for redress.France carried many nuclear tests in French Polynesia from 1960 until 1996, and its government has said it will compensate the victims.Campaigner John Doom says eight people who took their cases for compensation to French Polynesia’s industrial relations tribunal have been unsuccessful.He says the three surviving workers have leukaemia, and they and five widows will consult with lawyers over how to continue.Aid group Christian World Service has been campaigning for the former workers and says it is extremely disappointed by the decision but will continue its efforts.
GODZILLA II
GODZILLA II San Francisco Chronicle by Peter Coyote 28 June 09 “………………………………….it is not the production of electricity from nuclear plants which is so carbon intensive, but the building of them. The concrete alone, one of the most carbon-producing products on earth, the heating of water, the heavy equipment……………
……………..the coal and oil industries are buying into power companies. They want to own it all. They know that regulatory difficulties and expense and public fears will do plenty to slow down the nuclear build-up, leaving them plenty of time to sell their product………….
………..Atomic reactors are horrendously expensive. On a level playing field they, cannot possibly compete with even renewables. If they were so safe, why can they not get private liability insurance? The Price-Anderson Act turned their insurance over to the Federal Government (the tax-payer) and limits the sizes of claims that homeowners and citizens can receive. They cannot raise, private funding for new construction or, after a half-century, have they come one iota closer to a solution for their high-level waste problems. No one has figured out how to protect them from terrorist attacks, and in every staged mock raid, the “terrorists” have overwhelmed the nuclear power plant security……………………………..the health impacts of atomic reactors. They emit not only x-rays and gamma rays, but also particulate emissions involving alpha and beta particles. Why is it that after 50 years there is still no systematic monitoring regimen for actually tracking the human beings that live in areas downwind from atomic reactors. San Francisco’s own Dr. John Gofman, the first chief health researcher for the Atomic Energy Commission, concluded in the late 1960s that “normal” emissions from nuclear plants would kill thousands of Americans yearly, with no catastrophe required. “
The high price of nuclear fuel
The high price of nuclear fuel: Censorbugbear 25 June 2009 story sourced from World Nuclear News, Itar-Tass news agency, LARRI Namibian miners inhale alpha radiation:During a May 2009 visit to the Netherlands, Mrs Hilma Shindondola-Mote, director of the Namibian research institute LArrI, warned that many uranium workers in Namibia ‘ fear for their health and lifestyle due to the environmental impact of uranium mining while concessions for mine companies continue to be granted by the government.”
She presented the institute’s findings in its latest report: ‘Uranium mining in Namibia – the mystery behind low-level radiation’, with research conducted among fifty workers of Namibia’s largest uranium mine: Rössing Uranium (Rio Tinto Group). *
“Mine workers and others in the surrounding communities inhale dust and radon gas. The radon gas exposes the body to alpha radiation, which is destructive. Exposure to radiation is most often associated with cancer, but it can also have other harmful effects. Low level radiation can contribute to birth defects, high infant mortality and chronic lung, eye, skin and reproductive illnesses.”
They are only informed about health problems after leaving their jobs…Uranium mine workers are not aware of the true nature of their health status: “During the time we conducted the study, employees claimed that Rössing does not explain what health problems can arise from exposure to uranium”. Also, workers of the company raised concern that although they are tested annually, the results are never revealed until such a time when they leave the company. *
“The workers feel that there is a conspiracy between the doctors and Rössing. They are only informed about health problems like cancer after leaving their jobs. The doctors tell them that the deterioration in their health is because of their genes, family history or lifestyle.”
Censorbugbear reports…: Russia gets fuel deals with Nigeria,Egypt,Namibia
Olkiluoto in Finland
EPR’s problems run in the nuclear family
Greenpeace 27 June 09 “…………………………….Areva’s supposedly state-of-the-art, third-generation European Pressurized Reactor.
To recap, currently just two EPRs are being built in the world right now – one at Olkiluoto in Finland and one in Flamanville in France. Both have been beset by long-running construction problems, schedule and cost overruns, and all-round hilarious ineptitude and controversy.
The predecessor of the EPR, its parent if you like, was the Framatome N4 of which France has four. The N4 had problems of its own which sound all too familiar………………..
Design-related problems? Delays in commissioning? Cracked welding? N4 and EPR could be identical twin brothers, not father and son. Has nothing been learned? Nothing at all? We’ve heard this story before. Areva are remaking their own disaster movie.
NUCLEAR LEGACY
NUCLEAR LEGACY Soviet nuclear tests still haunt Kazakhs canada.com By Maria Golovnina, ReutersJune 25, 2009 “…………………………
Moscow tested about 500 bombs here between 1949 and 1989, exposing 1.5 million people like Abishev to extreme levels of radiation and contaminating an area roughly the size of Germany.
The Soviet Union conducted its last test here in 1989 and the facility was officially closed in 1991 as the Soviet collapse brought the global nuclear arms race to an end.
Twenty years on, the Semipalatinsk test range is silent, a steppe wind blowing gently through the abandoned site dotted by ruined concrete buildings and giant hunks of rusty metal.
But hundreds of thousands of residents, subjected to the equivalent of 20,000 Hiroshima bombs during 40 years of Russian experiments, are still sickened by the legacy of their past.
The incidence of cancer, mental illness and fertility problems in this region is among the highest in Kazakhstan, a vast Central Asian nation west of China, and infant mortality is five times higher than in other regions………………………………scientists say more needs to be done to study the effect of 40 years of tests on the people. It is an issue still little understood by science, and researchers say mutations are already being passed down from parents to their children.
“The biggest issue is not so much those who experienced the explosions directly but the impact on their children and grandchildren,” said Mikhail Panin, an environmental scientist who is researching the matter in the Semipalatinsk area.
Radioactive appeal
Radioactive appeal Court case should buy Congress time Star Tribune : 06/25/2009 Utah v. EnergySolutions is going into overtime. State officials will join a pair of regional radioactive waste compacts to appeal a dangerous U.S. District Court decision that opened the door to EnergySolution’s Tooele County dump to low-level radioactive waste from Italy. For the sake of Utah’s burgeoning tourism industry and the nation’s nuclear power industry, hopefully the ball will bounce our way…………………………….
ommon sense dictates that low-level radioactive waste is not a commodity, rather, a dangerous material that should remain in the country of origin.
Congress should also act to restore the right of radioactive waste compacts to control the flow of waste into their regions, regardless of whether the disposal facility is privately held or publicly owned.
Destroying Indigenous Populations
Destroying Indigenous Populations Atlantic free Press Dahr Jamail Wednesday, 24 June 2009 “……………………….. Most of the Sioux’s land has been taken, and what remains has been laid waste by radioactive pollution.
“Nothing grows in these areas – nothing can grow. They are too radioactive,” White Face said.
Although the Black Hills and adjoining areas are sacred to the indigenous peoples and nations of the region, their attempts at reclamation are not based on religious claims but on the provisions of the Constitution. The occupation of indigenous land by the US government is in direct violation of its own law, according to White Face…………………………………The Ogala Sioux are engaged in ongoing legal battles with the pro-uranium state of South Dakota. They are aware of the unequal nature of their battle, but they cannot afford to give up. White Face explains how “… Our last court case was lost before learning that the judge was a former lawyer for one of the mining companies. Also, the governor’s sister and brother-in-law work for mining companies [Powertech] and a professor, hired by the Forest Service to test water run-off for contamination, is on contract with a company that works for the mining company. When I found out the judge was a lawyer for the mining company I knew we would lose, but we went ahead with the case for the publicity, because we have to keep waking people up.”
Other tribes, such as the Navajo and Hopi in New Mexico, have been exposed to radioactive material as well. Furthermore, the July 16, 1979, spill of 100 million gallons of radioactive water containing uranium tailings from a tailing pond into the north arm of the Rio Puerco, near the small town of Church Rock, New Mexico, also affected indigenous peoples in Arizona.
Destroying Indigenous Populations – Progressive Politics and Opinion Opinion
Still no closure for Fiji nuclear test victims
Still no closure for Fiji nuclear test victims ABD Radio Australia
Fijian servicemen and their families who were affected by British nuclear tests in the fifties and sixties have been fighting for compensation from the British Government, and court ruling on Friday seems to have still brought no conclusion. Two hundred and eighty nine Fijian servicemen – along with Australian and New Zealanders – took part in the program on Christmas island. The majority of Fijians have since died after years of sickness – many of their children and grandchildren also suffer a variety of illnesses. …………..Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Neil Sampson from the British legal firm Rosenblatt
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Russia eyes nuclear power deals in Egypt, Nigeria
Russia eyes nuclear power deals in Egypt, Nigeria
By Oleg ShchedrovABUJA, June 24 (Reuters) – Russia wants to help develop nuclear power plants in Egypt and Nigeria and take part in uranium exploration there, the head of Russia’s nuclear energy agency Rosatom said on Wednesday.Sergei Kiriyenko, in Nigeria with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as part of a four-day Africa trip, said Egypt planned two to four reactors at its first nuclear power station…………………….
Australia’s WorleyParsons last week signed a nuclear power pact consultancy contract with Egypt worth around $160 million.Russia is also expected to sign a nuclear energy pact with Nigeria during the Abuja stage of the Africa trip, Nigerian and Russian officials have said.
Cheerleaders’ for nuclear energy ignore facts
‘Cheerleaders’ for nuclear energy ignore facts
STAR-TRIBUNE Karen B. Maute
June 24, 2009The Virginia Uranium Inc. oligarchy continues to ignore and minimize the negative impacts of uranium mining and milling.
Equally disturbing is this industry’s ongoing attempts to erode our civil rights and the legislators who are allowing this travesty.
Virginia Uranium has engaged a host of self-serving experts and VUI family members to write letters of support on their behalf.
Their letters speak, in generalities, of nuclear power and avoid mention of the negative impacts of uranium mining and milling on a community, region and state.
The Nuclear Energy Institute has joined the metastasizing Virginia Uranium Inc. supporters.
NEI project manager Suzanne Phelps weighs in with more of the same……………..She neglects to mention the radioactive/hazardous wastes that are generated and stored for thousands of years as a result of mining, milling and nuclear power generation.
She also omits information regarding the cost of building a reactor and the tax dollars that subsidize, monitor and clean up after the industry.
We do not appreciate cheerleaders for nuclear energy. We crave factual information regarding mining and milling of uranium.
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