2010 August 02 « nuclear-news

Stop radiation body scanners at airports, use non-radiation types

Given that the two types of machines are both deemed effective by the T.S.A., why doesn’t the agency just abandon backscatters and use the millimeter wave machines, which don’t pose radiation issues?

Radiation Questions Over a Body Scanner, NYTimes.com, By JOE SHARKEY July 26, 2010 IN about two years, if all goes according to the plans of the Transportation Security Administration, those vintage airport magnetometer metal detectors will be replaced by electronic body scanner machines at all 2,200 security checkpoints in all 450 commercial airports in the United States…. Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Nuclear industry resuscitation in trouble in USA

Nuclear Projects Looking for a Savior : CleanTechnica, by Zachary Shahan August 1st, 2010 “….two nuclear reactors that are an urgent matter to some (in the nuclear industry and politics) and also, potentially, the source of a very big bill for U.S. taxpayers….. Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Warning on radiation risks of medical heart imaging

clinicians need to take into account “justification” (is it really necessary?) and optimization (is it at the lowest dose possible?) of the tests.

Cumulative Radiation Doses Seen in Cardiac Imaging, July 9 (HealthDay News) — Cardiac imaging procedures, the use of which has exploded in the United States in recent years, are exposing patients to potentially cumulative doses of radiation, according to the largest analysis of its kind. Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission will allow shipment of steam generators across Great Lakes

Bruce Power asked Canada’s nuclear regulator for a licence to ship the steam generators from its power plant on Lake Huron to Sweden, where 90 per cent of the metals inside the generators are to be recycled and resold. The remaining materials that are too radioactive to be recycled will then return to the Bruce plant to be contained for the rest of their radioactive lives.

Public hearing to be held on shipment of nuclear waste through Great Lakes – thestar.com, Brett Popplewell , Jul 30 2010 Canada’s nuclear safety regulator has agreed to hold a public hearing into a controversial plan to ship 1,760 tonnes of radiation-laced steel through Lake Ontario. Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors | 18 Comments

General Electric and Toshiba medical radiation scans overdoses

machines involved in the botched CT scans, made by General Electric and Toshiba, had been wrongly calibrated and subjected patients who underwent brain perfusion scans following a stroke to excessive doses of radiation.

New Details Emerge in CT Scan Radiation Overdose Scandal, News Inferno, August 1st, 2010 Radiation overdoses resulting from botched CT brain perfusion scans that occurred at hospitals across the country were larger and more widespread than previously known, Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, radioactive, reactors | 1 Comment

USA desperate to sell, allows India to reprocess nuclear fuel

The Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative has facilitated significant new commercial opportunities across India’s multi-billion dollar nuclear energy market, including the designation of two nuclear reactor park sites for U.S. technology

India Gets US Nod To Reprocess Spent Nuclear Fuel, GantDaily.com, August 1, 2010 Tejinder Singh –Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States on Friday gave India a go-ahead on reprocessing of American nuclear spent fuel by India, marking the final steps in terms of implementation of the landmark civil nuclear deal between the two countries. Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics international, technology | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, reactors, recycling, reprocessing | Leave a comment

New evidence on how radiation causes cancer

radiation, while killing many cells within a tissue, will create mutations in some of the surviving stem cells. When such abnormal (mutated) stem cells repopulate the tissue, they will divide many times and this can promote the development of tumours,”

Body’s natural cell-suicide program can fuel tumour development’, sify news, 1 August 2010, Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers in Melbourne, Australia, have made a discovery that has turned on its head scientists’ understanding of programmed cell death and its role in tumour formation. Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, health | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, cancer, nuclear, radiation, reactors | Leave a comment

UK’s Trident nuclear missile system – unnecessary and unaffordable

it is no longer necessary in the absence of the Cold War Soviet threat.

Trident – who’d buy it? | Greenpeace UK, 1 August 2010, Trident replacement is looking less likely today after Chancellor George Osborne told media that the Treasury weren’t willing to stump up for the project out of central funds….. Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

USA has “last ditch” plan involving attack on Iran

the threat of a nuclear Iran and an attack on the Islamic Republic to stop that nuclear program “both have great downsides potentially.”

Mullen: Washington has plan to attack Iran ‘if it comes to that’, The Hill’, By Bridget Johnson – 08/01/10 The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed Sunday that the administration does have an attack plan for Iran at the ready, but said both a nuclear-armed Iran and a U.S. attack gave him concern. Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

China is taking Climate Change seriously

At the end of 2010, the UN Climate Change Conference will be held in Cancun, Mexico. The core task of the conference is to enhance an overall, effective and continued implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

China’s view on strengthening climate cooperation, Reuters AlertNet -30 Jul 2010 by: Xie Zhenhua “……In spite of present difficulties, China expects to be able to reduce its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent by the end of 2010 from 2005 levels and increase its renewable energy to 10 percent of the total energy mix, leading to a carbon dioxide emission reduction of over 1.5 billion tons…… Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, climate change | climate change, energy efficiency, global warming, renewable energy, renewables | Leave a comment

British govt shutting down debate on nuclear test vegerans

A thousand vets and widows are suing the MoD for negligence, but the ministry says until the High Court rules on an appeal in the autumn it will not be able to answer any queries or take part in Parliamentary debates

The MoD wants to gag MPs over scandal of Britain’s nuclear test veterans mirror.co.uk, By Susie Boniface 1/08/2010, The MoD wants to gag MPs over the scandal of Britain’s nuclear test veterans. Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment