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Arrest of man building nuclear reactor in kitchen

Man Building Nuclear Reactor in Kitchen Arrested – William Pentland   Forbes,4 Aug 11, A Swedish man was arrested after asking authorities if his efforts to split an atom in his kitchen had been legal.For several months, Richard Handl has spent hours and hours and hours on the mother of all home hobbies – setting up a nuclear reaction in his kitchen. Handl’s hobby was hardly a secret. He published highly-detailed updates about his atomic ambitions on a personal blog, including a small meltdown Handl had created on his kitchen stove.Long after launching the project, it dawned on Handl that maybe his experiments were not legal. To find out, he asked Sweden’s Radiation Authority for advice. They sent the police who arrested Handl after discovering the radioactive elements radium, americium and uranium in his apartment in southern Sweden, according to The Daily Telegraph…Man Building Nuclear Reactor in Kitchen Arrested – William Pentland – Clean Beta – Forbes

August 5, 2011 Posted by | safety, Sweden | Leave a comment

Danger to migratory fish, of Fukushima radiation in ocean

Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe brings big radiation spikes to B.C. | Vancouver, Canada | Straight.com, By Alex Roslin, August 4, 2011  “……..TEPCO released 11,500 tons of radioactive water from its storage tanks into the Pacific Ocean on April 4. One aspect of the fallout and seawater contamination that remains unclear is how it might affect fish stocks, especially migratory species like salmon that could pass through poisoned areas of the ocean, eat irradiated prey, or have radioactive water dumped in their home ranges by Pacific currents.

Of the five species of Pacific salmon that are native to western North America, the sockeye is the most commercially prized. It also has the most wide-ranging migration route through the North Pacific, swimming for two to three years—as far as just northeast of the top of Japan—before coming back to its natal streams in Alaska, B.C., and the U.S. Northwest…..”
Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe brings big radiation spikes to B.C. | Vancouver, Canada | Straight.com

August 5, 2011 Posted by | NORTH AMERICA, oceans | Leave a comment

A ‘deeply flawed project,’ Yucca Mountain isn’t the answer for nuke waste – , Aug. 4, 2011  – Las Vegas Sun  Editorial: For years, the nuclear industry and its supporters in Congress have tried to shove through plans to make Nevada a nuclear waste dump, repeatedly ignoring scientific and safety concerns.

Their plans have been frustrated over the years because of the work of Nevada’s congressional delegation, led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Now, the plans to put waste in Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, are on the verge of being extinguished. President Barack Obama has ordered his administration to quit work on it, and he created a blue ribbon commission to study alternatives for the nation’s nuclear waste. Continue reading →

August 5, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Record heat forces nuclear plant to half power

River temperature forces nuclear plant to 50 percent power | timesfreepress.com, by Pam Soh   4 Aug 11, Not even TVA can beat the heat.On Wednesday, the utility had to bring a third reactor at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant down to 50 percent power to avoid environmental sanctions because the water in the Tennessee River — where the plant’s cooling water is discharged — already was at 90 degrees.”When the river’s ambient temperature reaches 90 degrees, we can’t add any heat to it,” said TVA’s nuclear spokesman Ray Golden.Similar problems last summer forced the Tennessee Valley Authority to spent $50 million for replacement power, according to Golden. The extra expense translated to something between 50 cents and $1 on most electric bills several months later, officials have said…..

Fighting the heat

Chattanooga’s July clocked in as fifth-hottest July on record, according National Weather Service meteorologist and intern Kate Guillet in Morristown, Tenn. In the Knoxvillle area, the month was the third-hottest July on record, and the Huntsville region near Browns Ferry recorded the 11th-warmest July. Weather Service records date back to 1850.

The rest of August is also going to be above normal in temperature, said Paul Barys, chief meteorologist for WRCB-TV Channel 3.……River temperature forces nuclear plant to 50 percent power | timesfreepress.com

August 5, 2011 Posted by | climate change, USA | Leave a comment

Canada’s pro nuclear govt soft pedals true effect of Fukushima radiation

“The government always downgrades the results. They want to soft-pedal the extent of the accident because it will threaten our own nuclear industry,”

Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe brings big radiation spikes to B.C. | Vancouver, Canada | Straight.comBy Alex Roslin, August 4, 2011“…….Across the Pacific Ocean, it took only a few days after the disaster for radioactive fallout to start showing up in drinking water and milk across North America. Governments in both Canada and the U.S. monitored the radioactivity, but their data is reported in such a confusing and irregular way that it’s extremely difficult to determine if maximum contamination levels have been exceeded and how public health is being impacted.

“It’s very, very difficult to interpret radiation levels detected from Fukushima and translate them into standards. It’s a nightmare,” said Arjun Makhijani, an electrical and nuclear engineer and president of the Takoma Park, Maryland–based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, in a phone interview.

And that’s not a coincidence, said Vanier College’s Gordon Edwards. “To me, it’s a way of obscuring the impacts. It’s a smoke screen.”Dale Dewar agrees. “The government always downgrades the results. They want to soft-pedal the extent of the accident because it will threaten our own nuclear industry,” said Dewar, a family physician and the executive director of Canadian antinuclear group Physicians for Global Survival, in a phone interview from her home near Wynyard, Saskatchewan……
Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe brings big radiation spikes to B.C. | Vancouver, Canada | Straight.com

August 5, 2011 Posted by | Canada, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Uranium miller wants to cease monitoring toxic waste area

Cotter asks to stop testing impoundment pond due to dangerous conditions – The Denver Post, by Bruce Finley, 4 Aug 11 Cotter Corp. managers of a uranium mill have asked state regulators to let them stop testing the acidity of a leaking toxic- and radioactive- waste impoundment pond — saying conditions have become too dangerous for workers…..

The Cotter efforts to reduce monitoring affect Colorado’s oversight of the cleanup because state regulators rely on company data instead of conducting independent tests.

Cotter is in the process of dismantling its shuttered uranium mill, located south of the Arkansas River near Cañon City.

With state permission, the company has been moving 90,000 gallons of radioactive sludge and solvents into the impoundment, although regulators know the impoundment is leaking. Liquid waste is mixed with a material resembling cat litter that renders it more solid….

Workers at the mill, built in 1958 with federal support, processed uranium for weapons and power plants. Cotter dumped waste in 11 unlined ponds, leading to contamination of groundwater, which spread to Cañon City.

Federal Environmental Protection Agency officials in 1984 declared the mill and surrounding area a Superfund environmental disaster — then entrusted state authorities with supervising the cleanup...Cotter asks to stop testing impoundment pond due to dangerous conditions – The Denver Post

August 5, 2011 Posted by | environment, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

No Nuclear is Safe Nuclear

World is learning: No nuclear is safe nuclear, The Spec.com , Ray Cunnington ,  Aug 03 2011 Saturday observance of Hiroshima bombing reflects on atomic weapons and atomic power Suddenly, old dangers become new again. As South African activist and retired Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu says: “The nuclear power crisis in Japan’s Fukushima power plant has served as a dreadful reminder that events thought unlikely can and do happen. But it must not take another Hiroshima or Nagasaki … before (some leaders) finally wake up and recognize the urgent necessity of nuclear disarmament.”

Worldwide, many powerful movements are calling for the total abolition of nuclear weapons. But it would seem that nuclear catastrophes, through accident, miscalculation or terrorism, cannot be eliminated without recognizing that nuclear power reactors have a close connection to atomic weapons. Continue reading →

August 4, 2011 Posted by | general | 1 Comment

Highest radiation reading possible now stops workers entering Fukushima nuclear reactor 1

The latest reading was taken on the second floor of the No. 1 reactor building and will stop workers entering the area… the highest the Geiger counters used were capable of reading, indicating the level could have been higher,

…….Radioactive soil in pockets of areas outside the exclusion zone around the plant have reached the same level as in Chernobyl following a reactor explosion in the former Soviet Union, the report said….

Tepco Reports Second Deadly Radiation Reading at Fukushima Nuclear Plant, Bloomberg By Tsuyoshi Inajima and Kari Lundgren – Aug 2, 2011  Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported its second deadly radiation reading in as many days at its wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant north of Tokyo.

The utility known as Tepco said yesterday it detected 5 sieverts of radiation per hour in the No. 1 reactor building. On Aug. 1 in another area it recorded radiation of 10 sieverts per hour, enough to kill a person “within a few weeks” after a single exposure, according to theWorld Nuclear Association. Continue reading →

August 4, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

Japan’s elderly retired nuclear workers volunteer to clean up nuclear radiation

“Older people taking the risk is much less damaging to our society than asking the younger generation following us to take it,” Dr. Shiotani says, adding bluntly, because we are nearer the end of our lives anyway…..

Some 3,000 people are working at the Fukushima site at the moment, but most of them are unskilled laborers, and all have to be regularly relieved in order to avoid excessive exposure to radiation. Several are reported to have absorbed more than the legal limit already. And about 9,000 workers have been involved in the four-month operation to stabilize the plant…..

Fukushima’s nuclear cauldron: Retirees who want to go in, Christian Science Monitor, By Peter Ford, Staff writer / August 3, 2011, Tokyo Fukushima’s radiation has hit deadly levels for the second day, according to Tepco, making efforts to bring the nuclear plant under control difficult. Japan’s retired skilled laborers say they are ready to relieve younger workers.

Nothing makes Nobuhiro Shiotani angrier than to be called a “kamikaze.” Continue reading →

August 4, 2011 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

USA Air Force to discontinue religious justification for nuclear war

In addition to using Jesus to justify nuclear war, the course also referenced German rocket scientist Wernher Von Braun as an authority on the morality of nuclear war. A questionable reference since Von Braun was once a member of the Nazi Party and used Jews imprisoned in concentration camps to build V-2 rockets for Hitler’s Third Reich.

Secular victory: Air Force ends Bible study for nuclear launch officers, , Humanist Examiner, August 3, 2011  In a victory for secular America and the U.S. Constitution, the United States Air Force has suspended a Bible based, Christian themed course mandated for all nuclear launch officers. Continue reading →

August 4, 2011 Posted by | Religion and ethics, USA | Leave a comment

No more MOX plutonium fuel to be processed at Sellafield

UK Plutonium-Processing Plant to Close, 9 News. 4 Aug 11, A British nuclear agency says the country’s only plutonium-processing plant will be closed in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster.The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said on Wednesday the “risk profile” of its Sellafield mixed oxide fuel plant had changed following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant….environmental campaigners say the plant’s closure highlights what they describe as the folly of the country’s nuclear industry. The recycled nuclear fuel, referred to as MOX, was also used at the Fukushima plant.http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8281227/uk-plutonium-processing-plant-to-close

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August 4, 2011 Posted by | reprocessing, UK | Leave a comment

Setsuden – Japan finds an nuclear power replacement that might change the world

setsuden – the Japanese word for power conservation…..As setsuni continues to pare back the power requirements of the Japanese economy, maybe the country won’t need the power from the 54 reactors that it might mothball by next year.

If so, setsuden isn’t just an energy solution for Japan..

Setsuden poised to replace nuclear power in Japan, JEFF RUBIN. Globe and Mail, August 3, 2011  Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan was recently quoted as seeing the country as a nuclear-free nation. But unlike similar pronouncements from Germany, which pledges to be nuclear-free by 2022, Japan may become nuclear free literally within a year. Continue reading →

August 4, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Japan | 1 Comment

Nuclear reprocessing plant closes down

Globally, the shutdown leaves just one other commercial MOX facility operating globally: the French MELOX plant located in Gard.

UK closes key nuclear reprocessing plant – Nature News Blog August 03, 2011 Today the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced the closure of the Mixed Oxide fuel fabrication facility at Sellafield. “The reason for this is directly related to the tragic events in Japan and its ongoing impact on the power markets,” Tony Fountain, the decommissioning authority’s CEO, said in a prepared statement. Continue reading →

August 4, 2011 Posted by | reprocessing, UK | Leave a comment

Uranium company abandons acid leach plan mining in Australian National Park

Bad news for uranium sector, good news for Kakadu National Park, Scott Ludlam,   August 4th, 2011. The Australian Greens today welcomed the news Energy Resources Australia have abandoned plans to introduce acid heap leaching at the Ranger Uranium Mine within Kakadu National Park.

 Senator Scott Ludlam said the decision by ERA – majority owned by Rio Tinto – to ditch the plan at their board meeting yesterday was welcome news, and casts a long shadow over the viability of the controversial mine.

 “The plan to build a heap leach plant on the Ranger lease was opposed by\Traditional Owners, shareholders, business analysts, environmental advocates and mining experts. This is a win for good sense. “Ranger Uranium Mine has been an ongoing debacle with water seepage ana history of accidents. The Mirarr people – Traditional Owners of the site – and the broader Australian community want Kakadu protected. Ultimately the best way to do that will be the orderly shut-down of the uranium industry,” said Senator Ludlam.

 Last year the Office of the Supervising Scientist told a Senate estimates hearing that contaminated water seeping from the Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu National Park had a uranium concentration about 5,400 times the normal level. The environmental regulator told the hearing that about 100,000 litres of water was seeping from the tailings dam every day.

August 4, 2011 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Fears of radioactive rice in Japan

Japanese rice crops threatened by radiation. Smart Planet, By David Worthington | August 1, 2011,  Local authorities in Japan are working to determine whether the country’s traditional staple crop is contaminated with unsafe levels of radioactive cesium. Continue reading →

August 4, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

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