2010 April 03 « nuclear-news

NUCLEAR POWER and PEACE – the ultimate “con”

Faced with the reality that nuclear power plants are closing down faster than they are being built the nuclear lobby has come up with some desperate slogans aimed at resuscitating the industry. First they’ll “solve” energy shortage, then “solve” Climate Change. And now – they’ll solve nuclear non proliferation !

The irony is that the nuclear industry’s best hope is in its original aim – to produce nuclear weapons. While the USA and Russia piously claim that they’ reduce their total of 49, 000 nuclear bombs to a mere 30,000, and France, UK, China, India, Israel also hang on to their nukes, other countries (and Al Qaeda) aim to get nuclear weapons too.

Nevertheless, the worldwide nuclear lobby has the gall to claim that the spread of “civil” nuclear power will limit the risks of nuclear terrorism and nuclear weapons spread – Nuclear Power and Peace – our theme for April 2010

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1 | Leave a comment

Obama’s Nuclear Posture Review will ‘chip away’ need for nuclear weapons

Administration to Signal Shift Away From a Nuclear Future « The Washington Independent, by Spencer Ackerman, 2 April 2010, Set for release early next week, the Obama administration’s long-awaited statement on the future of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile won’t provide a roadmap for their elimination, according to administration officials. But it will chip away at the strategic justification for the stockpile and shift the country’s defense away from nuclear weapons, Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Comprehenisve Test Ban Treaty not likley to be ratified

Obama no closer on nuclear test ban ratification, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Desmond Butler, 2 April 2010, Obama, whose Democratic Party enjoys a majority of 59 votes in the Senate, will need to win over enough Republican senators to reach the necessary two-thirds-majority vote for ratification. While there appears to be strong bipartisan support for the new START treaty, which could be ratified this year, the test ban treaty has been much more contentious.And it is likely to be more so after November, when Democrats are projected to lose seats. Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Nuclear power executives get top payments

Salary Survey: Nuclear Exec Earns $3 Million, Energy Section, Amy Harder, April 2, 2010 The nuclear power industry may be stagnant, but the sector’s top trade group is banking on turning that around — and as one sign, it’s giving its top executive a hefty salary.

The Nuclear Energy Institute in 2008 paid its president and CEO, at that time Frank Bowman, more than $3 million in total compensation. Bowman was the seventh-highest-paid executive out of more than 500 organizations in all different policy areas, according to an annual National Journal salary survey.

Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

One year’s taxpayer payment to UK nuclear executives £19.5 million

included paying £3.8 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses to staff during 2008…The payments, which ranged from an average of just under £12,000 to nearly £37,000, were made on top of regular salary payments totalling £19.5 million.

Top jobs go in shake-up at nuclear quango, The Times April 3, 2010, Two of Britain’s most highly paid civil servants have been axed and dozens more jobs are under threat at the quango charged with cleaning up nuclear plants, The Timeshas learnt. Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, UK | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radiation, reactors, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Niger: Tuareg activist speaks out in Germany, against nuclear giant AREVA

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’ 2 April 2010, The Blogger: For the past 40 years, the French state-owned company Areva has been mining uranium for Europe’s nuclear power needs in Niger, one of the poorest countries on Earth. One local activist is taking on the company, claiming that water and dust have been contaminated and workers are dying as a result of its activities…..He said he was the founder of an environmental organization in the city of Arlit in northern Niger. He said that Areva, a French company, is mining uranium there. He also described the alleged dark side of Areva’s operations: millions of tons of radioactive waste, contaminated water and serious illnesses. And Deutsche Bank was partially connected to this, Alhacen said, because it lends a lot of money to Areva….
Mysterious Illnesses Alhacen founded his organization, Aghirin Man, nine years ago, when he noticed that many of his fellow workers were dying of mysterious illnesses. In Alhacen’s Tuareg language, Aghirin Man means “Protection of the Soul” The Blogger: Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, politics international | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Stimulus spending goes to nuclear waste cleanup states

it’s not clear to me that this has much of a stimulative effect on the American macroeconomy

Gotcha on stimulus spending? Washington Examiner, By: Michael Barone, 2 April 2010, “…………lots of stimulus dollars went to the 4th district of Washington, which is on the other side of the Cascades from Olympia, and which with the South Carolina 3rd is the only non-state capital district among the top 25 districts on de Rugy’s list. What these two districts have in common is the presence of two Energy Department nuclear manufacturing sites—the Hanford Site and the Savannah River Site.

These have had huge pollution problems, and have been part of a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar cleanup process. I gather that the Energy Department was in a position to ramp up this process quickly and got a lot of stimulus funds to do so.

This may be a worthy use of federal dollars; these sites were contaminated because we were sloppy in the development of nuclear weapons during World War II and the Cold War, and it may very well make sense to clean them up. In effect we’re paying for past wars, as we do when we pay for veterans’ benefits. But it’s not clear to me that this has much of a stimulative effect on the American macroeconomy. Gotcha on stimulus spending? | Washington Examiner

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive, reactors, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Oklahoma House Panel promoting nuclear power industry

the bill removes prohibitions in state law that specifically excluded nuclear energy as an eligible power source.

Oklahoma House Panel Greenlights Nuclear Power Bill, – Nuclear Power Industry News, Measure will permit municipalities to buy nuclear energy – Edited by April Murelio 2 April 2010, -According to a report by newsok.com, a House panel has passed a measure that would allow municipal power authorities to buy electricity from nuclear plants and to invest in a joint venture for a nuclear power plant.

The committee voted 21-4 to pass Senate Bill 1668. It now goes to the House of Representatives. Rep. Rex Duncan, House author of the bill, said that the bill removes prohibitions in state law that specifically excluded nuclear energy as an eligible power source. The exclusion was written at a time when it was feared radioactive waste from nuclear plants would threaten public health and natural resources.

Oklahoma House Panel Greenlights Nuclear Power Bill – Nuclear Power Industry News

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

Tuareg and uranium: AREVA’s grip on Niger

“You can’t just fight against nuclear power plants and waste repositories,” he said. “If you want to kill the tree, kill the roots”. He was referring to the uranium mines.

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’ The Blogger: 2 April 2010, “……..A total of 80,000 people live in the two cities Areva created in the desert to service the mines. There are no paved roads, but there is plenty of reddish-brown dust, which penetrates into every crack and pore. Well water is radioactively contaminated, and precious fossil groundwater is used in the uranium ore processing plant. The region’s nomads are finding fewer and fewer pastures for their cattle, and people are affected by fatal illnesses.

Citizens’ organizations critical of Areva claim that the little money the company pays to the Niger state remains in the capital or simply ends up in the pockets of family members of the longstanding president. When Alhacen is asked what the mine has done for people, he says: “Nothing — except radiation, which will be here for thousands of years”. Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, politics | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Nuclear Regulatory Commission downplaying radiation risks

the level of cesium 137 contamination at Vermont Yankee was “three to 12 times the levels found at Chernobyl,” the 1986 nuclear accident in Ukraine.…….

Lawmakers take NRC to task: Rutland Herald, by Daniel Barlow, April 2, 2010“……….several lawmakers questioned the NRC’s overall approach to dealing with aging nuclear power plants and wondered if they were downplaying the dangers associated with some of the radiological releases from the 38-year-old Vernon reactor. Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, radioactive, reactors | 1 Comment

Energy companies stifling renewable energy at the local level

Think Locally, Pollute Globally: Dirty Energy Sector Wages a State-by-State War on Solar and Wind Technology BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS, by Meg White 2 April 2010 President Obama frames his decision to allow increased offshore drilling, new nuclear power plants and the pursuit of “clean” coal technology as a type of a stopgap measure to fill American demands for cheap energy while renewable sources of energy are developed. But is this a case of sleeping with the enemy? Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, USA | antinuclear, energy efficiency, renewable energy, renewables, solar | 2 Comments

Mountainous cost of nuclear wastes and still no plan

The DOE now has no place to put the waste and no plan

Seeking a ‘Plan B’  for nuclear waste: With Yucca Mountain site dead, billions paid into project are in limbo By Margaret Newkirk , The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 2, 2010 “…….. Georgia electric customers paid the U.S. government more than $701 million over nearly three decades, in exchange for a service now 12 years overdue.Today, the U.S. government is as far away from delivering on its part of the bargain as it has ever been. Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, radioactive, reactors, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Scandalous and continuing legacy of uranium mining in Niger

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’, The Blogger, 2 April 2010,“……….Uranium from Niger has served as a fuel for Europe’s energy supply for 40 years. But unlike Saudi Arabia, Niger has arguably reaped little but misery in return.The country in Africa’s Sahel zone is one of the world’s least-developed nations. One in four children dies before the age of five.The conditions in Niger are one of the dirty sides of supposedly clean nuclear energy. The activities there are well hidden from the outside world: Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, politics | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment