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Warts and all, perhaps USA should be congratulated about nuclear issues?

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

Yeah – I know that USA media is full of pro nuclear government and corporate spin .

But – at least the USA talks about nuclear issues.  Today, I’m fascinated that Massachusetts is giving citizens a calendar about what to do in  a nuclear emergency.  Never mind that it all wouldn’t really work –  the point is that Americans even bother to raise the subject.

Other countries don’t seem to.  China is the biggest worry. Notorious now for its secrecy, bureaucratic corruption, discrimination against ethnic rural minorities –  China now propses to reprocess nuclear fuel for a battery of new nuclear reactors.  Do they care about the effects of the wastes – wherever they dump them? Do they care about proliferation risks?

At least the USA tries.  But they’re going to need to try harder, all the same. This pathetic new Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future – still promoting new nuclear when they’ve no idea what to do with the wastes!

A dream for 2011  – that USA media has the guts to  faces up to the reality of the nuclear problem – and move beyond government and corporate media releases.- Christina Macpherson

January 4, 2011 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Hawaii: a renewable energy and energy efficiency powerhouse

From photovoltaic panels that line rooftops and big wind projects that feed energy into the electric grid to multimillion-dollar investments in converting feedstocks such as algae into biofuel, industry insiders say Hawaii has come into its own as a national hotbed for alternative energy.

Hawaii’s clean energy outlook: sunny – Sustainable Business Oregon, 3 Jan 2011, ENERGY – OUTLOOK SUNNY: I n 2010, roughly $1 billion was spent in the clean-energy sector, which includes public and private investment in renewable energy and energy-efficiency technologies, according to data culled by the state energy office. The figure marks a 62 percent increase from 2009. In 2011, expenditures are expected to increase another 26 percent to $1.25 billion. Continue reading →

January 4, 2011 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Massachusetts’ Happy New Year Calendar – all about nuclear emergencies

State distributes nuclear power plant emergency calendars – Milford, MA – The Milford Daily News, 3 Jan 2011, FRAMINGHAM —The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency recently sent calendars containing emergency information to residents of 18 Massachusetts communities near the Pilgrim, Seabrook and Vermont Yankee nuclear power stations.Residents of Duxbury, Kingston, Plymouth, and portions of Carver and Marshfield; Amesbury, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury and West Newbury; and Bernardston, Leyden, and portions of Colrain, Gill, Greenfield, Northfield and Warwick, receive the annual calendar, which has information on emergency warning signals, how residents would be notified, protective actions such as sheltering in place and evacuation, as well as the possibility of ingesting potassium iodide……State distributes nuclear power plant emergency calendars – Milford, MA – The Milford Daily News

January 4, 2011 Posted by | spinbuster, USA | Leave a comment

Indian government not really concerned about nuclear waste

today, we don’t have a waste management problem. We will have it by the year 2020-2030,”

Nuclear waste not an immediate problem for India: Ramesh – The Economic Times, 4 Jan 2011, NEW DELHI: Amid concerns over waste management at the proposed nuclear power plant at Jaitapur in Maharashtra, environment minister Jairam Ramesh said it was not an immediate problem for India Continue reading →

January 4, 2011 Posted by | India, wastes | Leave a comment

After medical radiation, cancer risk persists for decades

Even when you’re old, you’re not out of the woods……

Risk for Thyroid Cancer Persists Decades After Childhood Radiation, Medscape Today, January 3, 2011 — People who received radiation for an enlarged thymus when they were babies have an increased risk of developing thyroid cancer that lasts throughout their lives, according to a new study published in the December issue of Radiation Research. Continue reading →

January 4, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, health | Leave a comment

Mon Dieu, Electricite de France is supposed to pay for nuclear waste storage

Under French law, EDF has to build a portfolio of assets to enable it to pay for the decommissioning of France’s 58 nuclear reactors and radioactive waste storage…EDF was supposed to have set aside enough money by the end of June 2011 for decommissioning of all of its nuclear assets and waste storage. A planned power law gave the utility a five- year extension on the deadline to June 2016.

EDF Puts 50% of RTE Grid Operator into Dedicated Fund for Nuclear Charges – Bloomberg, By Tara Patel – Jan 3, 2011 Electricite de France said it will improve its debt ratio with the transfer of half the French power grid Reseau de Transport d’Electricite into a fund that will cover costs for dismantling nuclear reactors……… Continue reading →

January 4, 2011 Posted by | France, wastes | Leave a comment

China opting for expensive nuclear reprocessing technology

The commercial reprocessing of plutonium was halted in the United States decades ago by President Jimmy Carter because of concerns about nuclear proliferation. President George W. Bush proposed a resumption, but the National Research Council found it to be not economically justifiable. President Obama scrapped the Bush proposal.

China Ready to Reprocess Nuclear Fuel, NYTimes.com, By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: January 3, 2011 * BEIJING  — Chinese scientists have mastered the technology for reprocessing fuel from nuclear power plants,……..Reprocessing nuclear fuel costs significantly more than using the fuel once and storing it as waste. It also raises potential questions, because extracted plutonium can be used to make nuclear weapons, Continue reading →

January 4, 2011 Posted by | China, technology | Leave a comment

Fossil fuel companies get involved in renewables, but are they serious?

One concern, however, is that companies may use their clean energy holdings as a token to show they are in game, but not take it seriously. And if government support policies shift to favour big companies – who prefer tax breaks over financial aid – that won’t help,

Energy giants take aim at renewables, CTV News RICHARD BLACKWELL, 3 Jan 2011, Several of Canada’s largest energy and resource companies are quietly staking out positions in a sector that seems at odds with their usual extractive activities: the renewable power business. Oil sands, pipeline and coal-power firms are now among the biggest players in renewables, with portfolios of wind, solar, small hydro power and ethanol production that in some cases outpace the holdings of most “pure” green companies. Continue reading →

January 4, 2011 Posted by | Canada, renewable | Leave a comment

Why spend $billions on an unnecessary new Uranium Processing Facility in USA?

Spending as much as $6.5 billion to construct the new Uranium Processing Facility is indefensible as the United States faces mounting federal deficits….In addition, the planned facility would have little use as the nation moves to reduce its nuclear stockpile, a

Activists Criticize Y-12 Uranium Plant Plans, NTI: Global Security Newswire – Jan. 3, 2011 An antinuclear group last week issued a report criticizing the rising cost projections of a planned highly enriched uranium processing center at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, Continue reading →

January 4, 2011 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Growing medical concern over radiation and children

Health Study of Children Raises Concerns Over Radiation, New York Times, By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  January 3, 2011 The first large study on the use of medical radiation in children says that the average child will get more than seven radiation scans by age 18. Most of them involve X-rays. But there is growing concern about CT scans, which entail far more radiation and can raise the risk of cancer. More than 3 percent of children got two or more CT scans. “That’s particularly concerning,” said Dr. Adam Dorfman of University of Michigan Medical School, the lead author of the study, which appeared Monday in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Study of Children Raises Concerns Over Radiation – NYTimes.com

January 4, 2011 Posted by | health, USA | Leave a comment

Iran invites various States, but not USA, to visit its nuclear plants

Iran Invitation for Tour of Nuclear Sites Snubs U.S. – NYTimes.comBy MARK LANDLER: January 3, 2011 WASHINGTON — Iran has invited Russia, China and several European Union members to visit its nuclear facilities this month, but pointedly snubbed the United States, European diplomats said on Monday.The invitation — which seemed calculated to divide the alliance of nations opposed to Iran’s nuclear ambitions before the next round of negotiations over the program — was swiftly dismissed by the United States……..Iran Invitation for Tour of Nuclear Sites Snubs U.S. – NYTimes.com

January 4, 2011 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment