2010 August « nuclear-news

UK Energy Secretary’s brazen dishonesty over nuclear power

“Nuclear energy has in the past swallowed vast sums of public money, and the clean up of its past mess continues to cost the taxpayer dearly. There is absolutely no case for continuing to pour public money into this bottomless pit. We should be looking to developing clean green energy to provide a safe and sustainable energy future.” – SNP Westminster Energy spokesperson Mike Weir MP

LibDems dishonesty over nuclear | SNP – Scottish National Party, 11 Aug 2010, UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has been branded ‘brazen and dishonest’ after insisting that he was never an opponent of nuclear energy Continue reading →

August 11, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | AUSTRALIA, nuclear costs | Leave a comment

UK nuclear reactors require massive public subsidy

Greenpeace’s Ben Ayliffe said there was no way facilities like the ones at Sellafield in Cumbria and Sizewell in Suffolk could be built without cash from taxpayers. He added: “Chris Huhne can do policy U-turns until he’s dizzy but he won’t be getting any new reactors without a massive public subsidy, which he has repeatedly and publicly ruled out.”

Meltdown: Anti-nuclear activist Chris Huhne forced into humiliating about-face as he promises string of power stations Mirror UK, By Bob Roberts 10/08/2010 Energy Secretary Chris Huhne was accused last night of an astonishing U-turn after promising new nuclear power stations – despite being an anti-nuclear campaigner. Continue reading →

August 11, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | AUSTRALIA, nuclear costs, reactors | Leave a comment

Weapons found on nuclear plant workers

Workers found with weapons at Oconee Nuclear Station » Anderson Independent Mail, 10 Aug 2010, SENECA — Two incidents involving weapons at Oconee Nuclear Station have Duke Energy officials interviewing the workers involved in the breach of company rules.“Everyone understands the rules,” said Oconee Nuclear Station spokeswoman Sandra Magee.Magee said that during the past couple of weeks, weapons were found in the personal belongings of two employees. The two discoveries by security officers are not believed to be related and did not happen on the same day…… Workers found with weapons at Oconee Nuclear Station » Anderson Independent Mail

August 11, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear | Leave a comment

Nuclear plant’s freon leak

Nuclear power plant on alert The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA, August 10, 2010, Freon leak detected in reactor buildingBerwick power plant is on alertBERWICK — An alert has been declared at the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, a nuclear power plant near Berwick, today because of an uncontrolled freon leak……. Nuclear power plant on alert » News » The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA

August 11, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | AUSTRALIA, nuclear | Leave a comment

New fears that Israel might attack Iran

Israel might not even ask for the famous “green light” from the U.S. – or even give couple of false pre-attack alerts, so that Washington won’t try to stop the unilateral operation…………..
The results might be dire:………

Focus U.S.A. / Will Israel really attack Iran within a year? – Haaretz Daily Newspaper 11 August 2010, Israel might attack Iranian nuclear sites within a year, if Iran stays the current course and the U.S. administration doesn’t succeed in persuading Israel’s leadership that U.S. President Barack Obama is ready to stop Iran by force if necessary, so argues Jeffrey Goldberg in Atlantic magazine’s September cover story, obtained by Haaretz ahead of publication. Continue reading →

August 11, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Israel, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

New threats of nuclear war by North Korea

N Korea threatens nuclear war Rick Wallace, The Australian * August 11, 2010 NORTH Korea issued new threats of nuclear retaliation against South Korea yesterday.They were issued the day after it launched an artillery barrage into the sea near their disputed maritime border.The threat came in the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, which said the North would “show those buoyed by war fever what a real war is like through a war of retaliation of its own style, based on its nuclear deterrent”…………N Korea threatens nuclear war | The Australian

August 11, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Australia’s Labor govt will back Aboriginal landowner against AREVA and uranium mining

if re-elected, Labor would accept the landowner’s offer to incorporate the 1,228 hectares of land he owns into world heritage-listed Kakadu.……AREVA is currently seeking legal advice…..Jeffery Lee is the senior custodian of the land and the sole member of the Djok Clan. He feels that the land would be better off with the National Park than with the uranium mining company

Koongarra May Become ‘Off Limits’ for Uranium Mining AZOMining.com By Joel Scanlon 11 August 2010, French multinational and industrial conglomerate AREVA might want to explore the Koongarra area of Northern Territory in Australia for uranium, but if the sole Aboriginal owner has his way the land would soon be part of the Kakadu National Park.

Uranium mining would then be banned in the wetlands Continue reading →

August 11, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, politics international | antinuclear, AREVA, AUSTRALIA, uranium | Leave a comment

Four nuclear sites in Russia at risk from fires

The Mayak plant can process 400 tonnes of waste a year. It was the scene of one of the former Soviet Union’s major nuclear disasters in 1957 when a liquid waste accident affected some 260,000 people and forced the evacuation of several towns.

Russia nuclear sites under threat from the flames, Khaleej Times, (AFP)9 August 2010, MOSCOW — Here is a list of sensitive nuclear sites threatened by the spread of fires raging in Russia since late July.· Continue reading →

August 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Russia | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reprocessing | Leave a comment

Censorship of radiation effects from atomic bombing of Nagasaki

Nagasaki was “forgotten” from the very start, thanks to a blatant act of press censorship…..the real reason for the censorship was the United States did not want the world to learn about the morally troubling radiation effects

Press Censorship: How the Truth Was Hidden About Nagasaki | The Nation, 9 Aug 2010, Greg Mitchell “………..many who support the first atomic bombing have expressed severe misgivings about number two because of the failure of United States to give the Japanese at least a few more days to consider surrender after the first blast (and the Soviets’ declaration of war). Kurt Vonnegut Jr. once said in an interview that the “nastiest act by this country, after human slavery, was the bombing of Nagasaki.” Continue reading →

August 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Brazil enriching uranium, and potential for nuclear weapons

Brazil continues to have a program to produce enriched uranium for power plants, and opened its first uranium enrichment plant in 2006.

The Folly of Brazil’s Exceptionalism, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Daniel Wagner: 9 Aug 2010, “……..Brazil first embarked on a nuclear program in the 1930s and pursued a covert nuclear weapons program until the 1970s. It retains the ability to create nuclear weapons but agreed not to do so under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement, and as a signatory to the 1994 Treaty of Tlatelolco, which bans nuclear weapons in Latin America. Continue reading →

August 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Brazil, politics international, Uranium | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, plutonium, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Russia’s wildfires: state of emergency in nuclear town

Nearby the town of 90,000 is the large-scale Mayak facility, once a source for Soviet plutonium and now processing nuclear waste and materials from old nuclear weapons.

Russia Declares Emergency in Nuclear Town – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency, August 9, 2010 On account of the raging wildfires Russian authorities declared a state of emergency in the town of Ozersk, where a large Russian center for processing of nuclear materials is located.Ozersk (Ozyorsk) is located between the cities of Ekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk in the eastern part of European Russia. Continue reading →

August 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, safety | antinuclear, global warming, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors | Leave a comment

Japanese pastor’s plea for abolition of nuclear weapons

Munetou said the world church “has an obligation and a responsibility to continue to say ‘No!’ without any ‘Yes’ to nuclear weapons that are against humanity and the absolute evil that plunges humanity into ruin and is incompatible with Christian faith”.

The Ecumenical Movement and the Nuclear Question Acton Institute PowerBlog, “…….By Hisashi YukimotoTokyo, 4 August (ENI)–A Japanese pastor who became a Christian after surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima says his decades-long pursuit of peace has involved a resistance to “nuclear weapons in the human mind”……. Continue reading →

August 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, Religion and ethics | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear weapons, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Electric car powered by renewable energy

ABC Radio National – Life Matters – Home Page
Bernie Hobb’s electric car, ABC Radio National – Life Matters 9 August 2010,

Electric car – Science Show – 7 August 2010 – because the cars charge overnight when the turbines are going anyway, you’re just using power that’s otherwise just produced for no reason whatsoever. The thing is, if you’re doing it for that reason and if you’re not using green power you’re really defeating the purpose. So you’re pumping just as much carbon dioxide into the air, but you’re not pumping the things that they call Noxs and Soxs, nitrous oxides and sulphur dioxides, which are the things that make the brown colour in smog. So, less of the pollutant, and if you’ve got 100% green power, zero emissions.

August 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Resources -audiovicual | climate change, energy efficiency, global warming, renewables | Leave a comment

The forgotten suffering of Korean atomic bomb survivors

Depending on their extent of radiation exposure, many A-bomb survivors became infertile. If they have children, their sickness sometimes caused health problems with their offspring.

Sufferings still linger for Korean A-bomb survivors, Aug 09, 2010The Korea Herald/Asia News Network “…..Some 200,000 people were killed or died within three months when the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs in Japan, first in Hiroshima and three days later in Nagasaki. Of them, about 40,000 were Koreans. Continue reading →

August 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | South Korea, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors | Leave a comment

Nuclear deterrence – an ineffective no-win policy for all countries

The question, however, is how far can the deterrence policy deter a jihadi?…..The Concerned Scientists established the Nuclear Nights and Nuclear Winter paradigm in 1985, declaring that a nuclear war cannot be fought, nor can it be won.

Do nations need nuclear weapons?, The Hindu, Dhirendra Sharma, 9 Aug 2010, “………….Once a nuclear war begins, there will be no struggle between good and evil, the jihadis and the infidels, dharma and adharma. “Survivors will envy the dead,” as Nikhita Khrushchev warned…… Continue reading →

August 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear weapons, peace, peaceful | Leave a comment