2011 August « nuclear-news

Despite Fukushima, AREVA still touting nuclear power as “clean”

AREVA sponsors Nuclear Clean Air Energy team as Simona prepares for Infineon RacewayAugust 22, 2011 PennEnergy Indianapolis, IN – HVM Racing and Entergy are seeing continued success in spreading the ‘Nuclear Clean Air Energy’ message on the 2011 IndyCar season as AREVA – ranked first in the global nuclear energy industry – has come on board for the Baltimore Grand Prix…..
“As the global leader in clean energy production, AREVA understands the importance of raising awareness about the benefits of nuclear energy,” said Jacques Besnainou, CEO of AREVA Inc.

“Partnering with Simona and the Nuclear Clean Air Energy team offers us a unique way to talk about our energy challenges and nuclear energy as safe, reliable and clean electricity that is powering one of five American households.”
AREVA sponsors Nuclear Clean Air Energy team as Simona prepares for Infineon Raceway

August 23, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | marketing of nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

General Atomics trying to avoid uranium mine cleanup

General Atomics Faces Yet Another Uranium Cleanup Fight, By Matt Potter, San Diego Reader August 22, 2011, The New York Times has reported via the Greenwire news service that Rio Grande Resources Corp., a subsidiary of La Jolla-based General Atomics is stirring opposition in New Mexico with its plans to delay cleanup of its Mount Taylor uranium mine, which has been closed since 1990.

The mountain, which contains the nation’s largest single deposit of the radioactive ore, is said to be viewed as sacred land by surrounding Native American tribes, the story says.

“More than 8 million pounds of “yellow cake” were produced from the mine before it was closed more than two decades ago due to plummeting uranium prices,” according to the report…….

Rio Grande critics testified at a hearing on the application to keep the mine in “standby status” held by the New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division that a five year delay in remediation risked further contamination of the site, but backers said it would help the mine get back into operation.

As we’ve previously reported, General Atomics, operated by San Diego brothers Neal and Linden Blue, also faces a fight in Colorado over the cleanup of an old uranium mill in that state….San Diego Reader | “General Atomics Faces Yet Another Uranium Cleanup Fight” by mpotter

August 23, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uranium, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

With gas power more likely, why should Florida residents pay upfront for new nuclear power?

Nuclear power Florida: Progress Energy customers are being asked to pay more in upfront costs for nuclear power plants that are becoming much iffier propositions. – OrlandoSentinel.com, 22 Aug 11“…….the new nuclear industry is beginning to look a lot like the old nuclear industry.Progress announced a new price tag in 2008: $17 billion.The next update was $22.5 billion.And the first plant will not be operational until 2021. The Public Counsel’s Office thinks the real year may be 2027, if at all.Those “single-digit dollars” could hit $50 a month by 2020.Customers will be shelling out more money for an iffy proposition…..

There are other issues.

New drilling technology is producing an abundant supply of natural gas, which should stabilize prices. Natural-gas plants can be built much more cheaply and faster, and they release half the carbon as a coal plant. This makes them a lot more competitive with nuclear plants….

Our pre-payments are a form of loan guarantee. And we have little control over the risks Progress takes with them…

August 23, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

35 years of Seabrook activism in continuing fight against nuclear energy

Seabrook Station is currently seeking an extension of its operating license from 2030 to 2050. Twenty-five groups, including SAPL, have filed multiple legal challenges to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in an effort to delay nuclear plant licensing.

Nuclear protesters celebrate 35 years of activism with Seabrook march, SeacoastOnline.com, By Joey Cresta, August 22, 2011 SEABROOK — The past, present and future in the fight against the use of nuclear power converged Sunday at the site where battle lines were drawn on the Seacoast 35 years ago. Continue reading →

August 23, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Silex laser uranium enrichment process classified secret under Atomic Energy Act

Some New Wrinkles in Nuclear Weapons Secrecy, Secrecy News, August 22nd, 2011 by Steven Aftergood “………At this late date in the nuclear era, there are still other “innovations” in nuclear technology and nuclear secrecy. The New York Times reported last weekend on an apparent breakthrough in the use of lasers to enrich uranium. This laser enrichment process, known as SILEX (Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation), also poses new proliferation issues. See “Laser Advances in Nuclear Fuel Stir Terror Fear” by William J. Broad, August 21.

Though the Times story did not mention it, the SILEX process is also a unique case in which information that was privately generated was nevertheless classified by the government. …..
As far as could be determined, the decision to classify this non-governmental information under the Atomic Energy Act is the first and only time that such authority has been exercised. See this 2001 “Record of Decision to Classify Certain Elements of the SILEX Process as Privately Generated Restricted Data.” (See also “A Glimpse of the SILEX Uranium Enrichment Process,” Secrecy News, August 22, 2007.) Some New Wrinkles in Nuclear Weapons Secrecy | Secrecy News

August 23, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, Uranium, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Among the sinking uranium stocks, Uranium Resources one of the worst

URANIUM RESOURCES DOWN 4.4%, SHARES SLIDE INTO THE RED (URRE) – Zacks Investment Research Aug 22, 2011 Uranium Resources is one of today’s worst performing low-priced stocks, down 4.4% to $1.08 on 0.4x average daily volume. Approximately 504,000 shares have traded hands today vs. 30-day average volume of 1.3 million shares.

High volume often signals a change in trends. Shares of Uranium Resources are currently trading below their 50-day moving average (MA) of $1.52 and below their 200-day MA of $2.26

August 23, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, Uranium | Leave a comment

Doubts about the safety of India’s nuclear energy programme

How safe is India’s nuclear energy programme?A. Gopalakrishnan in his recent article said, “DAE management classified the audit reports as ‘top secret’ and shelved them. No action was taken on the committee’s findings. LiveMint.com,23 Aug 11,”M. P. Ram Mohan Continue reading →

August 23, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, safety | Leave a comment

Death of anti nuclear activist,Nora Bredes

Nora Bredes, Long Island nuclear plant foe, dies – WSJ.com, AUGUST 22, 2011, Nora Bredes, Long Island nuclear plant foe, dies ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Nora Bredes, an advocate for women’s leadership, environmental protection and public health who led the fight to keep a nuclear plant from opening on Long Island 25 years ago, has died at age 60.

Bredes died Thursday after a lengthy battle with breast cancer, her family said…..

In the 1980s, Bredes led the push to derail Long Island’s Shoreham nuclear power station. The plant was completed in 1984 for $6 billion but never went into operation due to community opposition.

As a chief organizer of the Shoreham Opponents Coalition, Bredes enlisted New York state in a high-stakes regulatory battle revolving around potential safety concerns, such as how quickly the plant’s heavily populated surroundings could be evacuated in a crisis.

The Long Island Lighting Co., which had drawn backing for the plant from President George H.W. Bush, agreed in 1989 to shut down the plant, which was fully decommissioned in 1994…..Nora Bredes, Long Island nuclear plant foe, dies – WSJ.com

August 23, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | women | 1 Comment

Belarus freezes plan to give upits enriched uranium

Belarus hangs on to enriched uranium cache, Detroit Free Press |Aug 20, 2011, Belarus has frozen a plan aimed at getting the country to give up its Soviet-era stockpile of highly enriched uranium with U.S. assistance in response to new U.S. sanctions, the government said Friday.

The U.S. conducted a longtime effort to secure nuclear materials in former Soviet nations to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

The U.S. and the European Union introduced sanctions against President Alexander Lukashenko’s government for its crackdown on a political opposition group…… Belarus hangs on to enriched uranium cache | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

August 23, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Belarus, safety | Leave a comment

Research to help atomic downwinders now perverted into pro nuclear spin

They [Pam Sykes, Bobby Scott etc] are the “radiation sceptics”, very much comparable to “climate change sceptics”. Their belief in “radiation hormesis” is comparable to “intelligent design” — as opposed to evolution.

Their common funding sources are nuclear energy agencies — in particular the USA Department of Energy (DOE)…..

After Fukushima: the rise of nuclear radiation denialists Independent Australia 22 Aug 11, After the Fukushima disaster, the nuclear industry has urgently redoubled its efforts to convince the world that nuclear radiation is safe. Now it seems they are trying to say that radiation is actually good for us. Noel Wauchope reports.

— In 2001, President Bill Clinton authorised funds to research the effects of radiation on the “downwinders” from the Nevada and Utah atomic bomb tests. The funds went to the Department of Energy, who designed the research project. They then allocated the project to Flinders University in South Australia, under the leadership of Professor Pam Sykes.

But the original intention of the research has taken a strangely perverted course. Pam Sykes has joined the proponents of “adaptive radiation” and “radiation hormesis” – the theory that “low level ionising radiation is good for you” It’s quite an old theory, but now, after Fukushima, it has suddenly become very useful to the nuclear and uranium lobbies…….. Continue reading →

August 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, AUSTRALIA, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Only independent media gives information on Fukushima radiation fallout

due to the media blackout of Fukushima and its fallout in the United States, ”We’re really dependent on indymedia these days.”

St. Louis raining Fukushima hot particles: Radiation 178 times normal(video)Examiner,21 Aug 11 Deborah Dupre

Heeding nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen’s call to monitor and share radiation data, a St. Louis citizen reporter has demonstrated with a Geiger counter on Saturday that background radiation in St. Louis Missouri was 178 times normal after the rainout according to ENEWS. Gundersen predicted that as Japan burns contaminated materials, radiation levels in the United States and Canada would escalate in rainouts for another year.

“St. Louis rain sample shows radiation dose on August 20 almost triple previous high reading,” ENEWS reported Sunday. Continue reading →

August 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | media, USA | Leave a comment

Japan’s intractable problem of virtually permanently irradiated areas

Fukushima zone likely off-limits for ‘decades’, ABC Radio 774 ,Mark Willacy, August 22, 2011 The Japanese government says highly radioactive areas around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant will remain no-go zones for decades after the damaged complex is stabilised.

Authorities say they plan to bring the stricken nuclear plant to a state of cold shutdown early next year. But with some areas near the complex continuing to show high levels of radioactive contamination, the government says it is unavoidable that some places will remain no-go zones.

Japanese newspaper The Daily Yomiuri reports government sources have said it could be “several decades” before the area is considered safe to enter. For the first time, the government has released figures revealing that many communities within 20 kilometres of the complex have contamination levels up to 500 times higher than safety limits.

The radiation readings were taken in 50 locations within a 20-kilometre radius of the Fukushima nuclear plant.Based on that data, the government has released estimates of the annual dose of radiation residents would be exposed to.

It found that in one town, Okuma, people would receive a dose of 508 milisieverts per year – more than 500 times the acceptable limit.At more than half the locations it was more than 20 times the limit.Tokyo Institute of Technology’s associate professor of radiobiology, Yoshihisa Matsumoto, says efforts to decontaminate the area will likely prove difficult…http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-22/fukushima-radiation-500-times-safe-limit/2849394/?site=melbourne

August 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Japan’s lawmakers committed to nuclear power?

Japan’s redemption ‘emancipation from mental slavery’ Business report, IOL 22 Aug 11William Pesek On a hot Friday evening in Osaka, Japan, street musician Jun Fukuda is channelling Bob Marley on a downtown bridge. Not the feel-good, party-hearty Marley, but the mortality questioning ballad Redemption Song.

As the 20-year-old belts out the lyrics, “emancipate yourself from mental slavery”, he scans the gathering of 20 or so Japanese hipsters to be sure they’re getting the point. “There is no future in Japan for people like me,” Fukuda says. “Our leaders are useless, our economy is bad, there’s nuclear stuff in my food. There is nothing out there for my generation.”……

There’s still hope the events of the past five months will catalyse Japan to reinvent itself. Yet I haven’t found a smidgen of evidence that real change is afoot.

Rather than taking steps to enliven growth, politicians are, as usual, relying on the Bank of Japan to take the lead.

Instead of encouraging fresh alternative-energy research, lawmakers are digging in to protect the primacy of nuclear power…….http://www.iol.co.za/business/opinion/columnists/japan-s-redemption-emancipation-from-mental-slavery-1.1121907

August 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Silex laser uranium enrichment opening opportunities for nuclear terrorism

Dr. Slakey of the American Physical Society noted that the State Department a dozen years ago warned that the success of Silex could “renew interest” in laser enrichment for good or ill — to light cities or destroy them.

Laser Advances in Nuclear Fuel Stir Terror Fear, NYT, By WILLIAM J. BROAD,August 20, 2011 Twenty miles southwest of Sydney, in a wooded region, Horst Struve and Michael Goldsworthy kept tinkering with the idea at a government institute. Finally, around 1994, the two men judged that they had a major advance.

The inventors called their idea Silex, for separation of isotopes by laser excitation. “Our approach is completely different,” Dr. Goldsworthy, a physicist, told a Parliamentary hearing… Continue reading →

August 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, technology, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

A new route to more nuclear bombs – Silex laser enrichment

Laser advance may increase spread of nuclear bomb, SMH, William Broad, August 22, 2011 In a little-known effort, General Electric has successfully tested laser enrichment for two years and is seeking permission from the US government to build a $US1 billion ($960 million) plant that would make reactor fuel by the tonne.

That might be good news for the nuclear industry, but critics fear that if the work succeeds and the secret gets out, rogue states and terrorists could make bomb fuel in much smaller plants that are difficult to detect……. critics want a detailed risk assessment. Recently, they petitioned Washington for a formal evaluation of whether the laser initiative could backfire and speed the global spread of nuclear arms.

”We’re on the verge of a new route to the bomb,” said Frank von Hippel, a nuclear physicist who teaches at Princeton University. ”We should have learnt enough by now to do an assessment before we let this kind of thing out.” New varieties of enrichment are considered dangerous because they simplify obtaining the fuel……http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/laser-advance-may-increase-spread-of-nuclear-bomb-20110821-1j4mm.html

August 22, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, Uranium, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

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