2010 June « nuclear-news

Dirty deals between Areva and Siemens nuclear power companies?

EU probes Siemens, Areva nuclear deal, KansasCity.com, 2 June 2010, The Associated Press European Union regulators said Wednesday that they are investigating nuclear power non-compete deals between France’s Areva SA and Germany’s Siemens AG after Areva took over their joint venture. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Highly radioactive wastes from “next generation” nuclear reactors

waste from the next generation plants that use enriched uranium fuel would be two to 158 times more radioactive than waste from existing Canadian reactors….. unfairly paid for by taxpayers, ratepayers and future generations.”

Waste from proposed nuclear plants more radioactive: report The Vancouver Sun, By Mike Desouza, Canwest News Service May 31, 2010 The latest generation of proposed multi-billion dollar Canadian nuclear plants could be up to 158 times more hazardous than their predecessors, opening the door to massive cost overruns and possibly forcing taxpayers to pick up the tab, warns a report to be released today……….. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, wastes | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Britain’s clean energy cut, as nuclear costs spiral out of control

will see it reduce spending on support for genuinely clean energy projects.

Nuclear costs spiral as clean energy budgets face axe, Left Foot Forward, 2 June 2010, Once again, evidence is mounting that the cost to Britain of nuclear power is spiralling. The new energy secretary, Chris Huhne, has briefed The Guardian this morning that he has inherited a “£4 billion black hole in unavoidable nuclear decommissioning and waste costs”. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, renewable energy, uranium | Leave a comment

No solution to ever-growing nuclear wastes

the intractability of the nuclear-waste problem confronting the power sector and the failure of policymakers to find a permanent solution.……the president and the energy secretary are looking to a new blue ribbon commission to recommend “a safe, long-term solution” to the waste problem

Solutions Remain Few on Issue of Nuclear- Waste Storage – Atomic Waste Gets ‘Temporary’ Home, WSJ.com, JUNE 1, 2010 By REBECCA SMITH Three months after the U.S. cancelled a plan to build a vast nuclear-waste repository in Nevada, the country’s ad hoc atomic-storage policy is becoming clear in places like Wiscasset, Maine. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Solar thin films promise cheaper, more efficient energy

to produce considerably more material a lot more rapidly and much more cost efficiently.

University of Illinois Scientists Show Us Little Known Techniques to Produce More Productive Solar panels, Original article for Antinuclear, by Shannon Combs, 2 June 2010, Although silicon is actually the market standard semiconductor in the majority of electronic devices, which includes the photovoltaic cells that photovoltaic panels use to transform sunshine into power, it is hardly the most efficient material readily available. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, USA | antinuclear, climate change, energy efficiency, global warming, renewable energy, renewables, solar | 1 Comment

Terrorists seeking nuclear materials in Russia

Terrorists still trying to access nuclear materials in Russia and former-Soviet republics: Russia by : RIA Novosti , June 02 2010 PoliJAM, Terrorists have not given up their attempts to access nuclear materials in Russia and former-Soviet republics, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service said on Wednesday.

“We have information that terrorists are continuing their attempts to access nuclear materials, as well as biological and chemical components,” Alexander Bortnikov said at a news conference after a meeting of the heads of security services from the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Breaking News, Politics, US and World News, and Entertainment – The PoliJAM Times

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive | Leave a comment

U.S. govt in legal trouble over nuclear wastes

Solutions Remain Few on Issue of Nuclear- Waste Storage WSJ.com, JUNE 1, 2010 By REBECCA SMITH “……….Utilities have filed more than 70 lawsuits against the government accusing it of breach of contract because it hasn’t taken the waste. So far, $1.3 billion has been paid out. The Department of Justice estimates the liability will top $12 billion if a waste facility is not opened by 2020…….utilities continue to contribute $770 million a year to a Nuclear Waste Fund to pay for a permanent repository that now isn’t even on the drawing board.In April, a group of utilities sued the federal government, demanding that these storage fees be suspended. Ellen Ginsberg, general counsel of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade group, says, “We don’t want to pay any more fees until the government has a waste plan.”

Solutions Remain Few on Issue of Nuclear- Waste Storage – WSJ.com

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

Uranium milling company won’t be able to pay for clean-up

Cash-strapped Energy Fuels can pay for uranium mill but not for clean up « Colorado Independent, 2 June 2010, Gulf spill underlines need for companies to put aside vast sums in advance By David O. Williams 6/2/10 12 A Canadian company looking to build the first new uranium mill in the United States in nearly three decades is burning through cash at a rate that could leave it broke right about the time it hopes to secure its final approvals from Colorado public health officials. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Canada | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

UK’s expensive nuclear white elephant

it is an expensive white elephant which produces as much carbon as a conventional power station over its lifetime….. [producing wastes] which will remain dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years – long after EDF, Britain and France have ceased to exist…..So thank you nuclear industry for hobbling all our futures.

NUCLEAR POWER REMAINS THE BIGGEST WHITE ELEPHANT IN THE WORLD, Andy Crick, 3 June 2010 Huhne has pointed out that the huge cost to his department of this necessary cleanup means that in effect it will be able to do nothing else, least of all invest in sustainable new technologies for energy generation.The outcome of this horrendous expense is likely to be the final death knell for any plans for new nuclear power stations, which the coalition has agreed can only go ahead if they are built with no public subsidy and clear plans for their full costs over their whole lifetime. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, EDF, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

Massive taxpayer payouts to UK nuclear executives

all the directors listed have since moved into other jobs in the nuclear industry.

Nuclear costs spiral as clean energy budgets face axe, Left Foot Forward, 2 June 2010, “…..there’s a need for an independent and open audit of NDA spending to examine the room for greater cuts there when you look at these examples of the organisation’s largesse:

* The ex-managing director of Sellafield, Barry Snelson, who ran the site on behalf of the NDA, was recently given a £2,000,000 golden adieu for “loss of office.”

* His colleague David Bonser, head of the thermal oxide reprocessing plant (THORP), was given a £1m pay off at the same time. He was in charge of the site, during the 2007 THORP leak that went unnoticed Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

Thousands of tons of nuclear wastes in above ground casks

– Atomic Waste Gets ‘Temporary’ Home, WSJ.com, JUNE 1, 2010 By REBECCA SMITH “……Power companies are likely to rely on casks even more in coming years. About 80% of reactor sites in the U.S. intend to move used fuel to casks because their storage pools are filling up.

So far, more than 800 casks have been filled and they sit tucked away behind fences on reactor sites. They hold 14,000 metric tons of waste, an amount that is steadily growing. There is an additional 49,000 metric tons being held in spent-fuel pools, used fuel’s first stop after it leaves reactors. Each year, another 2,000 metric tons of nuclear reactor waste is created. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Role of Biomass in the Green Energy revolution

Coming of the Green Industrial Revolution, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Stephan B. Tanda, 2 June 2010, “……. The use of fossil fuels creates greenhouse gases and compounds the problem of climate change. To wean us off our addiction to fossil carbon sources, we need a more sustainable resource, and I believe that alternative is biomass – biological materials that can be used for industrial production, transportation, heat and electricity. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, renewable | antinuclear, energy efficiency, renewables, solar, wind | 1 Comment

Oil disaster does not augur well for uranium amd nuclear industry

One virtually certain outcome of the environmental disaster currently blackening the Gulf of Mexico is that federal regulators will take a harder line on enforcement of environmental regulations. Uranium miners are likely to be particularly hard hit because there isn’t a person in the US who doesn’t fear the consequences of radiation exposure…….Playing fast and loose with the environment is no longer a winning strategy.

Uranium Miners Get Some Good News and Some Bad 24/7 Wall St., Paul Ausick, June 1, 2010 “....The first installment of the investment will help USEC to continue its deployment of its American Centrifuge Plant which produces enriched uranium for use in nuclear power generation. The cash will also help support USEC’s $2 billion loan guarantee application with the US Department of Energy. The not-so-good news for uranium companies was delivered Continue reading →

June 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance | Leave a comment

Small scale renewable energy to benefit from bank pledge

Community groups and smaller developers eager to utilise the Government’s new feed–in tariffs regime would benefit from the fund

Co-op bank pledges £200m to UK renewables, guardian.co.uk, by Zara Maung 1 June 2010, Extra funding for renewable energy will be welcomed as project financing gets tougher The Co-operative Bank increased its support for renewable energy today, by pledging to lend an additional £200 million to the sector in 2010.

The bank also committed to expanding its UK specialist renewables team in Manchester and creating Scotland–based teams at its corporate banking centres in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The investment follows a £400m renewable energy fund set up by the Co-op in 2007, Continue reading →

June 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, UK | antinuclear, climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, renewables, solar, wind | Leave a comment

Potential for wind and solar power to provide electricity for 5 U.S. states

A Bullish View of Wind Power Out West, NYTimes.com, By JOHN COLLINS, RUDOLF, June 1, 2010, Wind energy has plenty going for it: it is clean, unlimited in supply and the most economical source of renewable power. Its clearest drawback is unreliability: sometimes the wind just does not blow.But that intermittency – long considered a major shortcoming – may have little impact on the potential for wind to power much of the electric grid in the western United States, according to a new study by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab. Continue reading →