Facts on plutonium and Mox nuclear fuel
some reactors do use Mox, but only as a small percentage (less than 30 per cent) of the total fuel. The rest of the fuel is conventional uranium oxide…Mox, which in any case remains far more expensive than conventional uranium fuel…
(UK) Government’s doomed £6bn plan to dispose of nuclear waste, The Independent, 11 April 11“……Q & A: Why has it come to this?
Q: What is Britain’s “plutonium mountain”?
A: It is the nation’s stockpile of radioactive plutonium, kept as plutonium dioxide powder, packed into special drums stored at Sellafield in Cumbria. A further, smaller amount is stored at the Dounreay nuclear facility in Scotland, the site of the doomed nuclear fast-breeder reactor programme. Continue reading
Dangerous nuclear work done by low paid contract workers
thousands of untrained, itinerant, temporary labourers who handle the bulk of the dangerous work at nuclear power plants here and in other countries,….
Japan’s two-tiered work force, with an elite class of highly paid employees at top companies and a subclass of labourers who work for less pay, have less job security and receive fewer benefits. Such labour practices have both endangered the health of these workers and undermined safety at Japan’s 55 nuclear reactors
Lured to work with radiation, Hiroko Tabuchi Interviews with past and current workers at Fukushima Daiichi and other plants in Japan paint a bleak picture of what happens on the nuclear circuit. Hiroko Tabuchi The Hindu 11 April 11, “ ….
Untrained labour Continue reading
Thousands rally against nuclear power, in Japan
‘‘We hope to halt the Hamaoka plant which is said to be the most dangerous, and the campaign to halt nuclear plants will spread elsewhere.’‘
17,500 gather for Tokyo rallies against nuclear plants , Japan Today, 11 April 2011 TOKYO —About 17,500 people gathered Sunday for two rallies held in Tokyo against nuclear power plants amid the prolonged crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station some 220 kilometers to the northeast. Continue reading
As global temperatures rise, there will be expensive nuclear plant shutdowns
the prolonged spell of hot weather put the TVA at risk of violating environmental permits, with hefty fines as one consequence and potential harm to the Tennessee River ecosystem as another…..The total cost of the lost power over that time? More than $50 million dollars, all of which was paid for by TVA’s customers in Tennessee….. What happened last summer at Browns Ferry may be a sign of what people living in the Southeast can expect in the future. As average global temperatures rise,
Heatwaves cause problems for nuclear power plants | Climate Central, By Alyson Kenward, 11 April 11, On July 8, 2010, as the temperature in downtown Decatur, Alabama climbed to a sweltering 98°F, operators at the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant a few miles outside of town realized they had only one option to avoid violating their environmental permit: turn down the reactors. Continue reading
Fukushima nuclear reactors still not under control
Engineers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo said on Sunday they were no closer to restoring the plant’s cooling system which is critical if overheated fuel rods are to be cooled and the six reactors brought under control.
The Japan Times said authorities would soon forcibly close the 20 km zone, stopping people returning to their shattered homes to pick through the rubble for belongings.
Japan set to extend nuclear evacuation zone | Reuters, 11 April 11, – Japan plans to extend the evacuation zone around its crippled nuclear plant because of high radiation levels, local media reported on Monday, with engineers no closer to regaining control of six reactors hit by a giant tsunami one month ago. Continue reading
India’s ramshackle infrastructure a danger for nuclear safety
Japan crisis fuels India nuclear safety concerns, Daily Times. 11 April 11, “…….experts say the government has not properly addressed a crisis scenario, given India’s ramshackle infrastructure and largely untested emergency procedures. The Department of Atomic Energy has “cavalierly minimised” the potential of an accident, said Balaram’s letter, which was also signed by Gopalakrishnan and former power secretary E.A.S. Sharma.The Japanese crisis has focused domestic attention on India’s plans to construct what would be one of the world’s largest nuclear plants at Jaitapur in a seismically sensitive region of Maharashtra state.French company Areva has signed a $9.3 billion deal to supply the first two of Jaitapur’s six planned third-generation pressurised water reactors.But the region has experienced 92 earthquakes since 1985, including one measuring 6.2, according to environmental group Greenpeace.“The dangers have been swept under the carpet,” Greenpeace spokesman Hofeza Merchant said.
“With our corrupt and poor quality practices inherent in the system, it is very dangerous to meddle with such high-risk projects,” said B. Ramakrishnam Raju, convenor of the National Alliance of People’s Movements.
Daily Times – Leading News Resource of Pakistan – Japan crisis fuels India nuclear safety concerns
Germany’s nuclear industry publicly pulls the plug on renewable energy fund
On Saturday 9 April, all four nuclear operators — RWE, EnBW, Vattenfall and E.ON — announced that they were stopping payments into the green energy fund.
Nuclear Industry Shows Their True Green Cards : TreeHugger,by Christine Lepisto, Berlin 04.10.11 Now the nuclear power plant operators have fired a shot across the political bow: they have stopped supporting green energy. Why is the German nuclear industry investing in green power? And why are they stopping now? Continue reading
Fukushima stimulating new burst of nuclear energy “spin”
As nuclear energy markets feel the squeeze, we can expect to see the industry going into PR overdrive to promote the safety of nuclear technology in the coming months, often air-brushing existential threat dimensions from the nuclear equation out of the public’s consciousness…..
Fukushima sets faithful to spin mode James Norman The Australian April 11, 2011 EVEN as the steam was still rising from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan last month, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was busy personally signing a $US9 billion ($8.5bn) deal with Belarus for a new nuclear-powered reactor.
That deal was the result of lengthy prior negotiations, but the reality is that the industry now faces a spectacular global image problem. Continue reading
Five USA nuclear plants at earthquake risk
Five U.S. nuclear reactors in earthquake zones – USATODAY.com,By Steve Sternberg, 11 April 11, At least five U.S. nuclear reactors are located in earthquake-prone seismic zones, potentially exposing them to the forces that damaged the Fukushima plant in Japan, a new analysis shows. The at-risk reactors are the Diablo Canyon Power Plant and San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California; the South Texas Project near the Gulf Coast; the Waterford Steam Electric Station in Louisiana and the Brunswick Steam Electric Plant in North Carolina…..Five U.S. nuclear reactors in earthquake zones – USATODAY.com
Florida and 30 other US States endangered by nuclear cooling ponds
“It would be hard to manage this hazard (more) foolishly. The federal government’s ineptitude in disposing of spent fuel has left Americans across the country exposed to elevated and undue risks,”
Japan’s crisis adds fuel to Florida nuclear fears. The Palm Beach Post, 11 April 11, Once, the thousands of 12-foot-long rods now being stored in 40-foot-deep pools of water at Florida Power & Light Co.’s two South Florida nuclear plants helped power the state’s electric grid.Their job is done. However, the used, or “spent,” fuel rods have not gone anywhere. Continue reading
Britain has world’s biggest pile of plutonium and now Japan won’t buy it
Chubu Electric and nine other Japanese power companies have also indicated that because of long-term production problems that have dogged the SMP, they will not now be taking any reprocessed fuel from Britain until at least the end of the decade – nearly 20 years after the plant was opened to serve the Japanese market.
Government’s doomed £6bn plan to dispose of nuclear waste, The Independent, 11 April 11, One month after the Japanese tsunami, the world’s biggest reserve of plutonium waste is reaching crisis point. It was meant to be reprocessed and sold – but now no nation will take it. So where is this vast stockpile? Not Fukushima, but Sellafield, CumbriaBy Steve Connor, Science Editor The nuclear crisis in Japan threatens a carefully choreographed UK Government plan to tackle the world’s biggest mountain of plutonium waste stored at the Sellafield site in Cumbria. Continue reading
Young generation supporting an old anti nuclear activist
A wave of younger people are checking daily Geiger-counter readings online and carrying “No Nukes” signs up and down the streets of trendy Tokyo neighborhoods. Two separate protests in the capital on Sunday attracted more than 10,000 people, who called for a moratorium on nuclear power.
In Japan, new attention for longtime anti-nuclear activist – The Washington Post, By Michael Alison Chandler, April 10, Long before the ghostly images of Fukushima’s nuclear workers in white suits and gas masks appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world, photographer Kenji Higuchi was recording the lives and risks of the industry’s front-line laborers. Continue reading
IAEA rates nuclear accidents, does not include late cancers
this Japanese incident will be assigned a final numerical rating according to a scale devised by the IAEA. The scale, called INES (for International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale), breaks down the severity of nuclear events into bloodless, regimented categories. Each event ultimately gets a ranking from 1 to 7.
The anomalies, incidents, and accidents of our nuclear world, CNNMoney.com, 11 April 11 From simple leaks to sudden deaths, Fukushima to Pennsylvania, our world’s brief history of nuclear power is rife with mishaps and tragedy. By Shelley DuBois, reporter Continue reading
Nuclear plants affected by global warming
Heatwaves cause problems for nuclear power plants | Climate Central, By Alyson Kenward. 11 April 11, “……Extreme Heat Limits Nuclear Energy Production “……nuclear power has a paradoxical relationship with climate change. Even though it might help mitigate long-term global warming, nuclear power is already being challenged by rising temperatures and the increasing number of heat waves around the world. Throughout the last decade, several plants have had to reduce electricity production during heat waves, just when when electricity demand typically reaches peak levels.
“It’s a dilemma between mitigation of climate change, and adaptation to it,” says Natalie Kopytko, an energy policy doctoral student at the University of York in England. Having recently studied the ways in which climate change could have a negative impact on nuclear power, she says nuclear power is caught in the middle because it could be used to help lower greenhouse gas emissions, but global warming is making the technology less effective at providing electricity…Heatwaves cause problems for nuclear power plants | Climate Central
Warning against Russia’s plan to develop nuclear power in Bulgaria
Bulgaria: Russia-Backed Nuclear Project in Bulgaria ‘Pig in a Poke’ – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency, 11 April 11, The plans for a new Russia-backed nuclear plant in northern Bulgaria aim to help Moscow lay its hands on the energy market, impose a monopoly on the prices and keep them high, a right-wing leader has said.”We are now buying a pig in a poke, which is flying on a Russian plane,” Ivan Kostov, former prime minister and leader of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, told Nova TV broadcast on Sunday….
Kostov says boosting the capacity of renewable energy sources is the answer. Continue reading
1 This Month.
5 January -Webinar-What is Trump’s Golden Dome?
REGISTER AT Massachusetts Peace Action Education
New book – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1923372157?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Now until to February 10, 2026 Radioactive waste storage in France: the debate is finally open! How to participate?
-
Archives
- December 2025 (286)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (377)
- September 2025 (258)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
- June 2025 (348)
- May 2025 (261)
- April 2025 (305)
- March 2025 (319)
- February 2025 (234)
- January 2025 (250)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 