2011 November 01 « nuclear-news

“Participatory fascism” – citizens can discuss, but Plutonium complex decisions made beforehand

” a totally state-controlled state investment in a very obsolete technology. It’s weapons socialism.”

A Giant New Plutonium Complex at Los Alamos, HUFFINGTON POST Mary-Charlotte Domandi, 10/31/11 or, “How to spend $6 billion, create 600 jobs, and prop up the most unproductive sector of the military industrial complex for another generation.”

(National Nuclear Security Administration’s plans for a new Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement (CMRR) facility at LANL,)

“There’s the fake citizen input but not the real citizen input,” said Mello. “It’s what Robert Higgs called “participatory fascism.” We are allowed to participate in discussions which already have predetermined outcomes.” Continue reading →

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, USA | 3 Comments

Not In My Backyard! – nuclear waste disposal problem in Japan

Nuclear Cleanup Faces ‘NIMBY’ Challenge, WSJ By Yumiko Ono, 31 Oct 11, In handling the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis, Japan has gotten help from American scientists and imported American robots. Now comes a popular American phrase: NIMBY….Japan is trying to get around the NIMBY problem by planning to move the contaminated waste from one place to another. The government has asked each municipality to store its own contaminated waste for now until it comes up with an “interim” storage facility. In the meantime, it will debate the more sensitive issue of where to store the waste permanently. Continue reading →

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, wastes | Leave a comment

In Belgium nuclear power to be taxed during process of shutting it down

Belgium to Phase Out Nuclear Power WSJ, By FRANCES ROBINSON, OCTOBER 31, 2011 BRUSSELS—Politicians negotiating the next coalition government of Belgium have agreed to phase out nuclear power in line with a 2003 law, while increasing taxes on the industry, a person familiar with the discussions said Monday.

“There is a confirmation that the plants will close, and nuclear will become a transition energy in Belgium,” the person said. “The government will set out a plan for the move to alternative power sources in the six months following its installation.”
Belgium agreed to exit nuclear power generation in 2003, but successive governments—or lack of them—meant this law was never enacted. The law planned for all seven Belgian nuclear reactors to be closed by 2025, with the process planned to start in 2015 when reactors at Tihange and Doel reach 40 years of service…..There are also plans to increase the “rente nucléaire,” a tax levied on producers of nuclear power, and to spend part of the receipts on investing in renewable energy sources in the North Sea… http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204394804577009971447347782.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, politics | 1 Comment

Anti nuclear fasting continues in Koodankulam

Tamil Nadu Koodankulam relay fast continues IBN Live, 1 Nov 11, CHENNAI: The protest fast against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) continued for the 14th day Monday in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, an activist said.

“Around 400 people from Thomaiarpuram, Idinthakarai and Kudankulam participated in the fast,” S. Sivasubramanian, coordinator of the People’s Rights Movement, an organisation fighting for the plant’s closure, told IANS.

India’s nuclear power plant operator NPCIL is building two 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors with Russian technology and equipment in Koodankulam, around 650 km from here. The first unit is expected to go on stream in December. The project is estimated to cost around Rs.13,000 crore…. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/tn-koodankulam-relay-fast-continues/197977-60-118.html

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Confusion among Republicans’ views on nuclear waste and Yucca Mountain

The debate answers from Paul, Romney and Perry drew immediate howls from politicians in South Carolina…..

Congressman Jeff Duncan has been vocal about his continued support of Yucca Mountain

Nuke waste, presidential candidates and ‘Harry Reid’s views’, October 31, 2011 | Greenville online, By Ben Szobody, Here’s one to bookmark, in case candidates shift their tune while campaigning in South Carolina. When it comes to political perennials, nuke waste is a big one in this state. From Dolph Bell:

Three Republican presidential candidates pleased the hometown crowd in Las Vegas earlier this month with their answer to a question about whether the federal government should open the long-planned nuclear waste repository in Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry agreed it was a states’ rights issue and argued Nevada shouldn’t be compelled to accept nuclear waste from other states. Continue reading →

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

VIDEO on AQ Khan, the CIA, and nuclear black market

Khan and his network were known, identified, surveilled, funded and even protected by the CIA from its very inception.

is it time to ask how much control the CIA really has over the nuclear black market, and whether this is all more than a mere question of “incompetence”?..

VIDEO http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/10/19/the-eyeopener-cia-the-nuclear-black-market-a-case-study/ The EyeOpener- CIA & the Nuclear Black Market: A Case Study , 19. October 2011 The Business of Arming the Nation’s Enemies James Corbett BoilingFrogsPost.com October 20, 2011 Continue reading →

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

World’s nuclear powers to splurge on nuclear weapons

Nuclear powers to boost spending, November 1, 2011, SMH, THE world’s nuclear powers are planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars modernising and upgrading weapons warheads and delivery systems over the next decade, according to an authoritative report.

Despite government budget pressures and international rhetoric about disarmament, evidence points to a new and dangerous ”era of nuclear weapons”, the report for the British American Security Information Council warns.

It says the US will spend $700 billion ($A653 billion) on the nuclear weapons industry over the next decade, while Russia will spend at least $70 billion on delivery systems alone. Other countries, including China, India, Israel, France and Pakistan, are expected to devote formidable sums on tactical and strategic missile systems.

The report is the first in a series of papers for the Trident Commission, an independent cross-party initiative set up by the council. Pakistan and India, it warns, appear to be seeking smaller, lighter nuclear warheads so they have a greater range or can be deployed over shorter distances for tactical or ”non-strategic” roles….http://www.smh.com.au/world/nuclear-powers-to-boost-spending-20111031-1ms18.html#ixzz1cUhuaHky

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

70 organisations and localities want to keep Virginia’s ban on uranium mining

“They want good quality jobs and they see a uranium mine as a deterrent to economic development,”

The Sierra Club said the NAACP is among 70 organizations and localities that want the ban to remain in place.

NAACP: Keep Va. ban on uranium mining, Canadian Business, By Steve Szkotak October 31, 2011 RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The state chapter of the NAACP wants Virginia to keep intact a 30-year ban on uranium mining, stating that opening one of the world’s largest known deposits of the radioactive ore is not worth the environmental risk.

The civil rights organization said the resolution is rooted in fears that poor and minority communities would be disproportionately affected if an accident occurred in mining the Southside Virginia deposit.

“This is a human right. The NAACP is about human rights and environmental justice,” said Naomi Hodge-Muse, president of the Martinsville-Henry County NAACP and sponsor of the resolution. Continue reading →

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | opposition to nuclear, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Twice as much radiation released from Fukushima as previously estimated

the institute warned that a significant degree of pollution would remain in waters off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture as caesium-137 has a half-life of around 30 years….

New Norwegian report says Fukushima radiation releases twice initial estimates, Two new European reports on the Fukushima Daiichi disaster released over the last week take large steps in proving that radioactive caesium-137 released after the nuclear power plant was slammed by 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami last March was twice as much as initially thought. Bellona Charles Digges, 31/10-2011 Continue reading →

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Japan, Reference | 1 Comment

Endless radioactive cleanup problems – Chernobyl, Hanford, Fukushima

In Chernobyl, 25 years after the nuclear accident, radiation is still detected in the surrounding forests, experts say. The U.S. government has spent more than $34 billion over two decades at a nuclear-cleanup site in Hanford, Wash., a 586-square-mile site contaminated over four decades.

[in Japan] the government expanded the cleanup area to a zone with exposure of one millisievert or more—an estimated 4,500 square miles of land……

Radiation Cleanup Confounds Japan, WSJ, By YUMIKO ONO, 1 Nov 11, KORIYAMA,Japan—Nearly eight months after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident scattered radioactive material over surrounding communities, Japan still is struggling to figure out how to clean up the mess, exacerbating fears about health risks and fanning mistrust of the government.

Government guidelines provide scant detail about the $14-billion-plus effort. A new cleanup law doesn’t take effect until January. Cities across Fukushima prefecture are scraping contaminated topsoil off school grounds and parks, but Tokyo hasn’t yet decided where to store the tainted material. Frustrated residents of some towns have planted sunflowers in a fruitless effort to suck radioactive cesium out of the farmland. Continue reading →

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, wastes | 1 Comment

Downward plunge of prices and shares for uranium mining company

Paladin chief slashes his pay, SMH, Peter Ker,November 1, 2011 PALADIN Energy boss John Borshoff has taken the knife to his $2.5 million salary, in the latest chapter of a miserable year for the struggling uranium miner.

Barely 10 months after enjoying a 5 per cent pay rise, Mr Borshoff has agreed to reduce his pay by 25 per cent as part of a drive to reduce administration costs at the Africa-focused company. The pay cut coincided with a lacklustre quarterly report from Paladin, which has earned a reputation for over-promising and under-delivering. ……… mine production targets were missed by 15 per cent over the past three months, while the company’s forecasts for the uranium price also proved too optimistic.

But the cut to Mr Borshoff’s pay was the stand-out item in the report, and comes after much agitation from investors who have watched the share price plummet since the Japanese nuclear disaster in March. Mr Borshoff’s remuneration package was worth $2.522 million in the year to June 2011, up from $1.9 million the year before.

That increase to his remuneration, which included a 5 per cent rise in fixed pay, came in a year when Paladin made an increased trading loss of $US82.3 million. The company sought to justify Mr Borshoff’s remuneration by describing him as a ”recognised global authority” on nuclear power, whose expertise was in ”extremely limited supply” around the world….

Paladin shares fell 6.5¢ to $1.50 yesterday. The stock was fetching $5 in March before the Fukushima nuclear disaster damaged investor confidence in the uranium sector…. http://www.smh.com.au/business/paladin-chief-slashes-his-pay-20111031-1ms4l.html#ixzz1cV3q88BL

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Taiwan presidential candidate promises a nuclear free Taiwan

The DPP presidential candidate, who is on a two-day campaign trip to Hualien and Taitung, also reiterated her initiative to achieve a “nuclear-free homeland” by 2025.

Tsai apologizes for nuclear waste woes, Taipei Times By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter, in TAITUNG COUNTY 1 Nov 11 LOCAL SOLUTION:If elected, Tsai pledged to improve infrastructure on Orchid Island and let residents reach their own consensus on how to handle the waste there

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday apologized to residents of Orchid Island (蘭嶼) over the government’s “outrageous” decision in 1982 to store nuclear waste on the island, Continue reading →

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, Taiwan, wastes | Leave a comment

New nuclear weapons complex makes a mockery of USA’s nuclear disarmament posture

“The warhead cores of these “plants,” would be “the successors to the bombs used on Nagasaki. They’d each have a yield that’s 50 times greater than the bomb used there in World War II.”

A Giant New Plutonium Complex at Los Alamos HUFFINGTON POST< Mary-Charlotte Domandi, 10/31/ or, “How to spend $6 billion, create 600 jobs, and prop up the most unproductive sector of the military industrial complex for another generation.”

Despite President Obama’s campaign rhetoric of a world without nuclear weapons, despite the recent catastrophe at Japan’s Fukushima complex, and despite the new START nuclear arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia last February, it seems the desire among our leaders for nuclear power and nuclear weaponry remains as strong today as it was at the height of the Cold War. What’s just as disturbing, though, is the disregard our government shows for any input from its citizenry — pro or con. Continue reading →

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | - plutonium, Reference, USA, weapons and war | 1 Comment

Davis Besse nuclear reactor – more cracks found

FirstEnergy Finds More Cracks at Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant, By Julie Johnsson Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) –– FirstEnergy Corp. said an investigation of damage to the concrete outer shell of its Davis-Besse nuclear power plant unearthed additional hairline cracks….. FirstEnergy shut the plant to install a new reactor vessel head three years earlier than previously planned. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2005 imposed a $5.45 million fine, its largest ever, for FirstEnergy’s failure to discover corrosion had eaten a hole in a prior vessel head.

Contractors found the newest cracks on the shield building, a 30-inch-thick (76 centimeters) reinforced concrete structure that protects the reactor’s containment building from wind and tornadoes. FirstEnergy previously discovered a hairline crack measuring about 30 feet (9 meters) on Oct. 10 after it cut a hole in the side of building to allow for installation of the new vessel head.
The commission said last week it was sending a concrete material expert to the plant, located 21 miles (34 kilometers) southeast of Toledo, after the Oct. 10 report of cracks…..FirstEnergy is seeking regulatory permission to extend its operating license for Davis-Besse, which has been in service since 1977, by another 20 years. The commission is scheduled to issue its decision on the application next year.

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Dutch energy utility doubts the financial viability of planned nuclear power

Dutch Utility Concerned About Nuclear Profitability; RWE Still Committed,Fox Business, By Patrick Buis and Archibald Preuschat October 31, 2011 Dow Jones Newswires AMSTERDAM — German power giant RWE AG (RWE.XE) said Monday it is still committed to its stake in a nuclear plant in the Netherlands, after the majority stakeholder expressed doubts about the financial viability of the multi-billion investment….

a spokesman for Dutch energy provider Essent, a unit of RWE, told Dow Jones Newswires Monday. He acknowledged, however, that the social acceptance of nuclear power had changed after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March…. the Financieele Dagblad reported Monday that Dutch public utility Delta was having doubts about the investment in the plant….

Delta’s future stake in the project will be 70%, while RWE will hold the remaining 30%.The second Dutch nuclear power plant would require an EUR4.5 billion investment http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2011/10/31/dutch-utility-concerned-about-nuclear-profitability-rwe-still-committed/#ixzz1cUjmbB4k

November 1, 2011 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, EUROPE | 2 Comments