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Toothless Nuclear Safety Plan adopted by IAEA

151-nation meeting endorses post-Fukushima nuclear safety plan, Washington Post    September 22  VIENNA — Members of the 151-nation International Atomic Energy Agency have endorsed a post-Fukushima nuclear safety plan but the IAEA chief says it will only be as good as the will of individual countries to enact it.

“It is time for action,” says IAEA head Yukiya Amano, asking nations for “sustained commitment and full involvement.”

Before Thursday’s endorsement, the plan was approved last week by the agency’s policy making 35-nation board despite gripes by influential member nations that it was too timid.

Drawn up in response to Japan’s March 11 reactor disaster, the plan outlines steps to be taken by states to pinpoint weaknesses and remedy them. But these measures can only be carried out “upon request” of the nation involved.

States are “strongly encouraged to voluntarily” open their nuclear facilities to outside checks of potential weak links. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/151-nation-meeting-endorses-post-fukushima-nuclear-safety-plan/2011/09/22/gIQAJJMwnK_story.html

September 23, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Kaminoseki village election a pointer to nuclear power’s future in Japan

With the national government feeble and divided, the future of nuclear power now is being shaped more in communities where reactors are located or planned. 

Nuclear Power Drives Japan Village Election, Mayor Who Has Backed Reactor Plan Faces Anti-Nuke Challenger, WSJ, By JAMES SIMMS, 22 Sept 11 KAMINOSEKI, Japan—This small fishing village has become the next front in Japan’s battle over nuclear power, with an anti-nuke protester threatening to oust the pro-nuke mayor in an election Sunday.

At stake: the fate of a long-planned reactor for which ground-breaking is supposed to take place next year.

More broadly, the defeat of a mayor whose economic development strategy has centered around a controversial power plant could fuel the country’s increasingly influential anti-nuclear movement. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Nigeria’s Atomic Energy Commission’s dream – a nightmare for the country

OIL POLITICS: Nigeria’s Nuclear Nightmare , NEXT, By Nnimmo Bassey, September 22, 2011, The Nigerian government appears to be scheming to get deeper into the nuclear mire at a time when the world is inching, albeit slowly, from dirty and dangerous energy sources. The fact that Nigeria has one of the worst electricity supplies in the world, with only about 40% of the population having access to public power supply does not justify toeing the nuclear path. It calls for investing in safe forms of renewable energy production. It also calls for the wastage in the gas and oil fields. Following the Fukushima incident earlier this year the dangers associated with nuclear power generation have again been brought to the front burners. With heightened concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants, it is shocking to see the Nigerian President pushing Nigeria unto the nuclear path. This may appear like a dream come true for the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, but this has all the potential of turning into a nightmare for the country. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | Nigeria, safety | Leave a comment

Russian nuclear submarine collides with fishing boat

Nuclear submarine collides with fishing boat ABC News, 23 Sept 11, A Russian nuclear submarine collided with a fishing boat off the country’s Pacific coast, damaging the outer shell of the naval vessel but causing no radiation leak, Russian news agencies reported overnight. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | Russia, safety | Leave a comment

Florida’s nuclear power project – long delay, skyrocketing costs

 

 

the online date, if the reactors ever even come online, has bumped back to 2021 and 2022 and the estimated cost has skyrocketed to upper estimates of $22.5 billion!…

        Round 3 – Florida Paying for Risky Nuclear Costs, Clean Energy Footprints, 22 Sept 11, Last month, SACE again participated in the nuclear cost recovery hearings for Progress Energy Florida (PEF) and Florida Power & Light (FPL) at the Florida Public ServiceCommission (PSC) in Tallahassee. This is the third consecutive year that these Florida utilities have asked the PSC to approve millions of dollars in ratepayer increases to pay in advance for proposed nuclear power projects that have an uncertain future, especially in a post-Fukushima world.

Utilities gained this ability in 2006 when the Florida Legislature passed anti-consumer legislation. SACE has intervened on behalf of Florida consumers every year to highlight the risks of these proposed nuclear power projects and the resulting unfairness in charging Florida ratepayers in advance. And every year the PSC has unfortunately granted the utilities’ wishes in full.

Could the third time be the charm? The PSC is set to vote in just over a month, on October 24, 2011. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Doubts on safety of Koodankulam nuclear project, and of others too

 “there should be a moratorium on all further nuclear activity, and revocation of recent clearances for nuclear projects”, given without regard to India’s ramshackle infrastructure and largely untested emergency procedures…

The issue is far larger than just Koodankulam. There are lingering doubts about the safety measures being reliable, workable and effective….

Discordant voices on safety of nuclear power, THE HINDU, B.S.RAGHAVAN, 22 SEPT 11, Following the agitation, including mass fasting, by the people of Idinthakarai, the village adjacent to the Koodankulam atomic power project, who are in panic over the possibility of the occurrence of a disaster similar to the one at Fukushima and consequent dangers from radiation, there has been a cacophony of voices over the pros and cons of nuclear power. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | India, safety | Leave a comment

60,000 Japanese rally in Tokyo against nuclear power

The huge turnout even surprised the participants, hinting that the crisis had finally stirred something in the nation’s normally passive psyche……
Masses turn out to protest nuclear power, Tokyo rally drew 60,000: organizers,  Sep. 20, 2011 Japan Times, By KAZUAKI NAGATA Tens of thousands of people including musicians, a Nobel laureate and Fukushima residents converged on Meiji Park in Tokyo Monday to vent their anger about the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis and demand the abolition of atomic power. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Flaws, construction errors in Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant

Insider cites sloppy work at Iranian nuclear plant, SMH, DOUGLAS BIRCH and GARY PEACH, September 23, 2011 A Russian engineer who worked on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant during the final stages of construction says inexperienced workers, poor oversight and layers of bureaucracy contributed to a rash of equipment failures that delayed the reactor’s startup for almost a year. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | Russia, safety | Leave a comment

Nuclear watchdog groups press NRC chairman to release damning internal dissent

Public interest groups call for nuclear regulators to halt the AP1000 reactor approval process  FOE, 16 June 11, Jim Warren, NC WARN, 919-416-5077  Tom Clements, Friends of the Earth, 803-240-7268, tomclements329@cs.com

Citing more design mistakes and omissions, public interest groups call for nuclear regulators to halt the AP1000 reactor approval process

Watchdog groups press NRC chairman to release damning internal dissent

DURHAM, N.C. — In a legal motion filed today, watchdog groups pressed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to terminate the approval process for the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design. The groups said that a growing list of mistakes and omissions — and a 19th version of the experimental design filed just this week by the company — prove that the “rulemaking” process to approve the ever-changing design is legally “null and void.” Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Georgia, USA, awaiting huge government loan guarantee for new nuclear reactors

A Giant Nuclear Project Awaits Its Federal Loans, NYT, By MATTHEW L. WALD, 23 Sept 11,  Federal help for energy projects has taken it on the chin lately, with Solyndra, the California solar manufacturer championed by the Obama administration, declaring bankruptcy after taking $528 million in loans from the Treasury.

But a much larger federal loan guarantee for an energy project is expected soon: $8.3 billion in loan guarantees announced last year by President Obama for two nuclear reactors in Georgia…..

The commission issued a final safety evaluation last month that drew fervent objections from anti-nuclear groups.

A few years ago, when the price of natural gas, a competing fuel, was high and many people predicted that the federal government would impose a price on carbon dioxide emissions, the nuclear industry thought Vogtle would be in the vanguard of a new generation of reactors in a so-called nuclear renaissance. Then natural gas prices declined and the impetus faded. And concerns about nuclear safety have grown since the disaster in March at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant…. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/a-giant-nuclear-project-awaits-its-federal-loans/

September 23, 2011 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Iran ‘s offer to stop enriching uranium

Iran offers to halt enrichment, if West provides uranium, Dawn.com, 22 Sept 11, WASHINGTON: Iran has offered to stop its production of low enriched uranium, provided the West gives it the nuclear material, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview published in Thursday’s New York Times…. Continue reading →

September 23, 2011 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Nuclear radioactive leaks in the UK

Nuclear leaks in the UK

Windscale, Cumbria, 1957: Fire at a military plutonium reactor spread radioactive contamination over large parts of England and Europe

Dounreay, Caithness, 1963-84: Tens of thousands of radioactive particles from old reactors contaminated the shoreline and the seabed

Sellafield, Cumbria, 1983: The government advised people not to swim or use beaches along 10 miles of coastline after a radioactive leak from a reprocessing plant

Chapelcross, Dumfriesshire, 2000-05: 126 radioactive particles from defunct reactors found on the shore of the Solway Firth

Sellafield, Cumbria, 2006-11: 1,233 radioactive particles and pebbles contaminated by historic leaks found and removed from nearby beaches

Dalgety Bay, Fife, 1990-2011: Hundreds of radioactive remnants from the luminous dials of second world war aircraft removed from foreshore

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/21/scottish-nuclear-leak-clean-up?newsfeed=true

September 23, 2011 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment