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Nuclear worker falsified safety documents

A Hixson man pleaded guilty in Federal Court on Wednesday morning to falsifying documents related to an inspection at the TVA Watts Bar facility. The Chattanoogan.com 8 June 11, 
Matthew David Correll, 31, faces up to five years in prison. He will be sentenced by Judge Curtis Collier on Oct. 6 at 2 p.m…..
Prosecutor James Brooks said Correll made false statements that he had measured cables for a safety system at the plant.The plea agreement says Correll was working for Williams Specialty Services, a sub-contractor of Bechtel Corp.

As part of the plea agreement, Correll stipulated that in August 2010 in Spring City, he completed TVA forms purporting to state micrometer readings of cables that had been installed to provide energy to equipment, including to safety equipment, inside the containment structure at Unit 2 of the Watts Bar nuclear plant. The defendant made approximately 200 entries. After the entries were submitted, it was discovered that the entries were either inaccurate or purported to be measurements of cables that did not in fact exist. The defendant was questioned and admitted that he had falsified all of the entries….

June 9, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Deny license extension for Seabrook Nuclear Station – call by US congressman

Markey says Seabrook nuclear plant asking too soon for license extension June 8, 2011 By Beth Daley,  GLOBE Congressman Edward J. Markey wants the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny Seabrook Station – and other nuclear power plants – license extensions if they are asked for too early in the plant’s operating life.

In a letter sent to NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko this morning, Markey noted that inspections at Seabrook uncovered structural weaknesses in concrete surrounding a safety-related tunnel only two decades into the plant’s 40-year license. Seabrook applied for relicensing last year and is hoping to receive approval soon to operate another two decades once its license expires in 2030.– “If safety structures that are supposed to help cool the Seabrook nuclear power plant are experiencing such alarming degradation during the reactor’s ‘adolescence,” there is simply no way that the NRC can guarantee that it will remain safe until it enters its “golden years” almost 40 years from now,” Markey wrote. The letter was also signed by Congressman John Tierney, who represents northeastern Massachusetts communities…….http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2011/06/nuclear_plants_can_be_relicens.html

June 9, 2011 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Fresno California turns against nuclear power

Fresno supervisors back off nuclear power plan Mercury News, The Associated Press, 06/08/2011  FRESNO, Calif.—Fresno County officials have rejected plans for up to two nuclear reactors in the county.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to withhold a letter of interest for the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group. The Fresno Bee reports that the group— backed by French energy giant Areva—is pursuing an energy park that could include two nuclear reactors as well as solar and biomass energy sources.

Some supervisors had spoken favorably of the group’s effort to explore nuclear energy. But they appeared to change their minds on Tuesday after hearing testimony from more than 20 people opposed to the project.

It’s not clear if the county’s vote will have any effect on the plant’s fate, which will be decided by state and federal regulators.

The Fresno nuclear group says it will continue pursuing the energy complex…..http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_18229776?nclick_check=1

June 9, 2011 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Growing opposition to nuclear power in Japan

Opposition to nuclear power plants grows in Japan , People’s World, 8 June 11, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on May 26 announced that the JCP is launching a signature-collection campaign calling for the total withdrawal from nuclear power generation.

Shii at a press conference in the Diet (Parliament) building pointed out, “The ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant proves to the public the dangers behind nuclear power generation.”

Shunan City Assembly opposes Kaminoseki nuclear plant project The Shunan City Assembly in Yamaguchi Prefecture convened an extraordinary session of the assembly on May 27 and unanimously adopted a written opinion to call for the cancellation of the Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc.’s project to construct a nuclear power plant in the neighboring town of Kaminoseki…….Although the nuclear power generation technology has not been fully established yet, successive governments have intensively built nuclear power plants in one of the world’s most earthquake- and tsunami-prone countries by sticking to the “safety myth” without having devised adequate safety measures, Shii emphasized….http://peoplesworld.org/opposition-to-nuclear-power-plants-grows-in-japan/ 

June 9, 2011 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

German govt plan to accelerate closure of nuclear power plants

In brief, the proposed strategy is to close Germany’s seventeen nuclear power plants (with a total net capacity of 20.5 GW) in tandem with faster development of renewable sources of energy, including biomass solar and wind, and constructing 5 GW of new natural gas combined cycle power generation……

German report suggests nuclear power may end by 2017 Energy and Environmental Management 8 June 11 Last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Cabinet agreed a plan committing the country to phasing out all nuclear power by the end of 2022. This new draft report, published by an agency of the German Environment Ministry, led by the conservative Norbert Röttgen, explains how this might be achieved in practice. What is surprising is that the Ministry suggest it might be possible to end nuclear power by 2017 – a full five years earlier than expected. Continue reading →

June 9, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

Swiss government preparing for end to nuclear power

Parliament takes first step in nuclear opt-out, SwissInfo  8 June It could take several years before the necessary legal amendments will have been discussed by parliament. Voters are also likely to have a say on the issue at the ballot box.

Two weeks ago the cabinet decided to decommission Switzerland’s five nuclear power reactors by 2034, once they reach the end of their lifespan. It announced its intention to boost renewable energy resources and promote energy saving methods instead of building new nuclear power plants….. The government has won approval from a majority of the House of Representatives for a proposed gradual withdrawal from nuclear energy.

The house called on the cabinet to remove administrative hurdles for renewable energy projects and promote research in this field but also wants to curb the right of environmental groups to block the construction of wind- and hydro-power plants……All the decisions taken in Wednesday’s marathon debate still have to be confirmed by the Senate at a later stage…….http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/Parliament_takes_first_step_in_nuclear_opt-out.html?cid=30419192

June 9, 2011 Posted by | politics, Switzerland | Leave a comment

Tougher nuclear safety tests needed, -global leaders agree

Energy Ministers Agree on Tougher Nuclear Safety Tests VOA News 8 June, by Lisa Bryant, Government ministers and nuclear experts from the Group of Eight and other nations have called for tougher safety measures at nuclear reactors. At the conclusion of a two-day meeting in Paris, they also are stressing the importance of independent regulatory bodies after the nuclear disaster in Japan.

Ministers and officials from nearly 30 countries producing nuclear energy are calling for more stringent safety tests at nuclear power plants.  Their recommendation will be discussed later this month at a key nuclear safety meeting in Vienna…..http://www.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Energy-Ministers-Agree-on-Tougher-Nuclear-Safety-Tests-123488179.html.

June 9, 2011 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Iran increasing uranium enrichment

Iran Plans High Level of Uranium Enrichment, NYT By  June 8, 2011 Iran declared Wednesday that it aims to triple production of nuclear fuel this year and, at a site that had been secret until 2009, increase enrichment to 20 percent. Enrichment at that level indicates technological progress that experts say would make the weapons-grade level of 90 percent enrichment much closer. Continue reading →

June 9, 2011 Posted by | Iran, Uranium | Leave a comment

Fukushima radiation twice as bad as previously estimated

Radiation Understated After Quake, Japan Says New York Times, By   June 6, 2011 TOKYO — Japan said Monday that radioactive emissions from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the early days of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster might have been more than twice as large as a previous estimate, suggesting the accident was more grave than the government had publicly acknowledged.It is unclear whether a more accurate reading of emissions levels would have promoted a swifter or wider evacuation from around the plant. Still, the lag in reporting the true extent of the emissions added to what some critics have called a litany of confusing and contradictory data and analysis from the Japanese authorities, putting officials on the defensive about whether they delayed, or even blocked, the release of information to the public.

Last month the government acknowledged that three of the plant’s reactors had probably suffered fuel meltdowns, after having denied that possibility.

On Monday, Japan’s nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said that the reactor pressure vessel at one of the plant’s reactors appeared to have been compromised as early as five hours after the quake.

The agency also said it now estimated that the radioactive release from the plant totaled 770,000 terabecquerels in the first week after March 11. The agency had previously estimated 370,000 terabecquerels released in the first month…….http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/world/asia/07japan.html

June 7, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

USA holds largest amount of concentrated radioactivity – time bombs!

The U.S. government should promptly take steps to reduce these risks by placing all spent nuclear fuel older than five years in dry, hardened storage casks like Germany did 25 years ago. …..

After more than 50 years, the quest for permanent nuclear waste disposal remains illusory. One thing, however, is clear, whether we like it or not: the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet will remain in storage at U.S. reactor sites for the indefinite future. 

America’s Nuclear Spent-Fuel Time Bombs HUFFINGTON POST, Robert Alvarez, : 06/ 6/11 Japan’s nuclear disaster should serve as a wake-up call for the United States.

Now that many Americans have stopped paying attention to Japan’s nuclear catastrophe, shocking new details about its severity are finally coming to light. Continue reading →

June 7, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

A matter of time before TEPCO goes bankrupt, despite Japanese govt support

“Speculation that it’s just a matter of time before Tepco goes bankrupt has been dominating the stock market, in stark contrast with the government’s efforts to keep it alive,” 

Tepco’s State Support at Odds With Market Seeing Bankruptcy, June 06, 2011,  by Shigeru Sato and Takahiko Hyuga, June 7 (Bloomberg) — The Japanese government’s commitment to support Tokyo Electric Power Co. contrasts with investors selling its shares at a record pace and betting on a 59 percent likelihood the utility will default on its debt in five years. Continue reading →

June 7, 2011 Posted by | Japan | Leave a comment

Egypt could prosper with solar energy, not nuclear

why is there this insistence on neglecting calls that we should depend more on solar energy for producing electricity, which could be the base for the country’s development, not only for producing the requisite amount of electricity for local consumption but also for having surplus for export? 
   It seems silly to hear some officials justify dropping this option because of its initially high expenses, forgetting the enormous costs of creating and maintaining a nuclear power plant. 
   Furthermore, a solar energy project in particular could be set up through partnership deals between Egypt and some European countries, such as Germany, to produce sufficient electricity for the two countries’ needs that could be transferred via a unified grid.

The costs of nuclear energy By Manal Abdul Aziz – The Egyptian Gazette, June 6, 2011  CAIRO – The difference between humankind, homo sapiens, and other animals is that human beings have experience and learn from their mistakes, while other animals behave according to instinct. For this reason, human beings are the only creatures that have a civilisation.

Therefore, if we come today to seek the development of Egypt, we should review the experience of other nations and learn from them, beginning where they ended and not following the same path from its start to its finish.
   Accordingly, when we consider establishing a nuclear project for generating energy, we should review the nuclear programmes of other countries and clearly assess their positive and negative aspects. …. Continue reading →

June 7, 2011 Posted by | Egypt, renewable | Leave a comment

Iran’s nuclear program still a nuclear weapons concern

Goldberg: Iran Wants the Bomb, and It’s Well on Its Way Bloomberg, By Jeffrey Goldberg Jun 7, 2011 The Iranian government, which is known neither for transparency nor candor, has insisted for many years that the goal of its nuclear program is entirely peaceful. And for many years, the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose motto is “Atoms for Peace,” has tended to give the ayatollahs the benefit of the doubt on this question.

The agency’s former chairman, Mohamed ElBaradei, now a candidate for the presidency of Egypt, seemed to take the attitude that anxiety about Iran’s nuclear objectives was motivated by the strategic self-interest, even the paranoia, of the U.S., Israel and the Arab states near Iran, rather than by the reality-based worry that bloody-minded mullahs bent on dominating the Middle East aren’t the sort of people who should have the bomb.

The new chairman of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano of Japan, seems more skeptical of Iran’s claim of nuclear virginity. He is, by many accounts, preparing a comprehensive indictment of Iran’s nuclear program to be issued later this year. As an interim step, his agency recently issued a report on Iran’s nuclear activities that might help concentrate the attention of a world that has lately been preoccupied by the revolutions in Libya, Yemen and Syria………http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-06/iran-wants-the-bomb-and-it-s-well-on-its-way-jeffrey-goldberg.html

June 7, 2011 Posted by | Iran, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Problems in assessing health effects of Fukushima radiation

some of the radiation to which people are being exposed around Fukushima is inside the body; it comes from radioactive materials that contaminated their food or water.

Radiation’s Unknowns Weigh on Japan, New York Times, By  June 6, 2011 As officials in Japan agonize over what constitutes a safe radiation dose for people who live near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, the state of the science has been a daunting problem. Studies on the effects of exposure are based mostly on large doses delivered quickly by atomic bombs, while radiation from the Fukushima disaster would more likely result in small doses delivered over many years. Continue reading →

June 7, 2011 Posted by | health, Japan | Leave a comment

UK’s Liberal Democrats put on the spot: new poll shows opposition to nuclear power

Voters to Lib Dems: live up to your nuclear promise! Greenpeace UK  by Niall Sookoo – 6 June 2011 On  the eve of a vital vote on taxpayer subsidies for nuclear power, we’ve published the results of an exclusive opinion poll which shows that the majority of people – 46 per cent – oppose any future subsidy for the nuclear power industry Continue reading →

June 7, 2011 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

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