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Nuclear salesmen a jump ahead of the public and politicians

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

19 April 2010, Now, AREVA and others have convinced the world’s political leaders that their gee-whiz (though only planned, and untested), nuclear systems to re-use old nuclear fuel,  are the answer to nuclear terrorism

How many ordinary people understand the words in nuclear technology?

How easily are we ordinary mortals told that it’s all too complex for us to understand.  We should trust “the nuclear experts”, – who, by the way, would be out of a job if this expensive way of boiling water (nuclear technology), were to be abandoned.

Re-using  dirty, dangerous old radioactive stuff produces even more dangerous radioactive stuff, which terrorists would, of course, like to get their hands on.

AREVA and the rest of them can call it Recycling, Reprocessing, Fast Breeder, Integral Fast Reactor – any fancy term to confuse us, They’re still just trying to sell us still similar expensive  ways to boil liquids

Safest would be to shut down the nuclear industry, clean up as best we can, and call it quits for this 70 year old failed energy experiment

April 19, 2010 Posted by | Christina's notes | , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear Fuel Summit recycling decisions in the interests of AREVA

Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans and former U.S. ambassador-at-large Robert Gallucci said that recycling creates stockpiles of dangerous materials at risk for theft

Nuclear-Fuel Recycling Debated , Nuclear Street, by Steve Heiser, 15 April 2010, Bloomberg:  As Obama SummitNations voice differing opinions on the recycling of spent fuel at DC summit – Edited by April Murelio –According to a report by Bloomberg, debate over the recycling of nuclear fuel by reactor suppliers such as France’s Areva SA surfaced in Washington as U.S. officials sought to skirt the issue during President Barack Obama’s summit. Continue reading

April 19, 2010 Posted by | 2 WORLD, politics international, technology | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

VIDEO: Navajo Indians- cancers and environmental degradation from uranium mining

VIDEO, Native America, Discovered and Conquered » Blog Archive » American Indians and uranium April 17th, 2010 In what might be an example of environmental and economic racism, I believe that more than 50% of the uranium mining in the United States occurs on tribal lands. Tribal lands make up only 1% of the land mass in the lower 48 states.I just heard very disturbing evidence presented on very serious and very significant cancer clusters on the Navajo Nation reservation blamed on water and land contaminated with uranium tailings.Watch this video complied from a conference held on the Hopi Nation in November 2009 about this issue.

April 19, 2010 Posted by | indigenous issues, USA | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

U.S. Army Video Shows Danger of Depleted Uranium

Hazards of Depleted Uranium Contamination Training DU Video | Engage Today

Engage Today, 18 April 2010,  Between October and December 1995, the US Army’s Depleted Uranium (DU) Project completed a series of training videos and manuals about depleted uranium munitions. This training regimen was developed as the result of recommendations made in the January 1993 General Accounting Office (GAO) report, Army Not Adequately Prepared to Deal with Depleted Uranium Contamination. The training materials were intended to instruct servicemen and women about the use and hazards of depleted uranium munitions. In addition, the training regimen included instructions for soldiers who repair and recover vehicles contaminated by depleted uranium.

April 19, 2010 Posted by | depleted uranium, USA | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Taxpayer will be left with costs of nuclear decommissioning and wastes

The taxpayer will be left to pick up the bills. The very nature of private companies is that they make a profit when they can … but when they can’t they can be wound up, leaving others to pick up the pieces….

Nuclear fall out, Syniadau , 17 April 2010, “……The major issue is not the cost of building the stations (although that is of course an issue, although it would be one for the companies concerned) but the cost of cleaning up the waste they produce and of decommissioning the site when it has come to the end of its productive life. These costs are much, much greater than the cost of construction.

In principle, the government’s idea is that the power companies would set aside money each year so as to pay the costs of decommissioning and clean up. The fundamental flaw in that approach is that a private company can either go bust or refuse to honour its contract commitments at any time, in much the same way as happened when National Express walked away from the East Coast rail franchise last year. The taxpayer will be left to pick up the bills. The very nature of private companies is that they make a profit when they can … but when they can’t they can be wound up, leaving others to pick up the pieces….
Syniadau :: The Blog: Nuclear fall out

April 19, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, UK | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Integral Fast Reactor – no more than a a Nuclear Pipe Dream

Nuclear power: no solution to climate change, Green Left , quoting Mark Diesendorf, 17 April 2010……….The integral fast reactor [which promises to use existing stockpiles of nuclear waste to make carbon-free energy,] doesn’t exist — it is the archetypal ink-moderated paper reactor. It’s true that a tiny physical version of this concept, called Experimental Breeder Reactor-2, once operated in the US. But experimental energy technologies are just that — experiments, designed to test a concept. Continue reading

April 19, 2010 Posted by | 2 WORLD, technology | , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Renewable energy investment doubling in Germany

German investment in renewable energy to double , Ebeling Heffernan Live Trading News , Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr., April 18, 2010 A new study shows that Germany’s annual investment in renewable energy will be doubled to US$37B by Y2020, and the industry will become a main creator of jobs, and an investment growth factor. Continue reading

April 19, 2010 Posted by | Germany, renewable | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Video: depleted uranium’s effects in the Balkans

VIDEO
A Most Persistent War Crime: Depleted Uranium and the Balkans
Eleven Years After The Balkans Bombings:Depleted Uranium in NATO Bombs Remains Deadly by Ljubica Vujadinovic, 18 Aprol 2010, A leading Serbian expert in the field says the NATO’s use of depleted uranium ammunition in it’s aggression on Serbia has caused enormous increase in cancer rates and number of newborn with malformations. Continue reading

April 19, 2010 Posted by | depleted uranium, EUROPE | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wales finding ways to resist UK nuclear power plants

Nuclear fall out, Syniadau , 17 April 2010, “…….we have three parties in the Assembly who are opposed to nuclear power in Wales, about two-thirds of voters altogether. Yet if you vote for Labour you will get what their leaders in Westminster want in order to meet England’s energy needs … for even Labour acknowledge that Wales can produce twice the electricity we need from renewables. Continue reading

April 19, 2010 Posted by | politics, UK | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear commercial empire spreading to Kuwait

Kuwait, France ink nuclear deal, AMEinfo.com Kuwait: 18 April 2010, Kuwait has signed agreements with France to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, Reuters has reported. The agreements centre on developing nuclear energy to provide electricity and water desalination, the two countries said in a joint statement. Kuwait, France ink nuclear deal | Energy, Oil and Gas | AMEinfo.com

April 19, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, MIDDLE EAST | , , , , , | Leave a comment

UK should not spend 120 billion pounds on Trident nuclear missiles, says Nick Clegg

Nick Clegg 18 April 2010, “Why is it that I find myself as the only leader of a political party asking the obvious question of whether we, as a country, should be spending 120 billion pounds over the next 20 years on the like for like replacement of the Cold War Trident Missile System? I think there is no case for a nuclear deterrent. I certainly think there is no case for the like for like replacement for that system. I believe one of the reasons there is a deafening silence on that issue is because that missile system is cemented by a sense of indebtedness to our American friends.”


April 19, 2010 Posted by | politics, UK | , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear power just too slow to help address climate change

Nuclear power is a particularly slow technology to grow. It is neither a short-term nor medium-term solution to the climate crisis.

Nuclear power: no solution to climate change, Green Left , quoting Mark Diesendorf, 17 April 2010 “……Nuclear power stations, whether conventional plant or hypothetical integral fast reactors, are inherently slow to build, because they are gigantic construction projects.
On the other hand, most renewable energy systems are fast to build, because their components can be manufactured in factories. Continue reading

April 19, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, climate change | , , , , , , | Leave a comment