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Court rules that Germany’s nuclear fuel tax is legal

EON, RWE Retreat After German Court Backs Nuclear Fuel Tax Bloomberg, By Stefan Nicola and Karin Matussek – Jan 12, 2012 EON AG (EOAN) and RWE AG (RWE), Germany’s biggest utilities, fell in Frankfurt trading after a court said the country’s nuclear fuel tax
didn’t break the law.
EON dropped 1.3 percent to 16.45 euros after a tax court in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg upheld the levy in two interim rulings against plaintiff EnBW Energie Baden- Wuerttemberg AG, the country’s third-largest utility. RWE slipped 0.7 percent while EnBW slid 2.6 percent….

… Germany’s utilities are cutting costs and selling assets to curb losses related to the government’s decision to exit nuclear power by 2022. The shutdown of the country’s eight oldest reactors, as well as the nuclear fuel tax, drafted in 2010, cut EON’s earnings by 2.3 billion euros ($3 billion) in 2011, Chief Financial Officer Marcus Schenck said in November.

The judges didn’t share the legal analysis by courts in Munich and Hamburg, which had ruled in favor of EON and RWE over the tax. The divergence in rulings will be resolved once Germany’s top tax court mades its judgement.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-12/eon-rwe-retreat-after-german-court-backs-nuclear-fuel-tax.html

January 13, 2012 Posted by | Germany, Legal | Leave a comment

U.S. geologist warns on earthquake risk to planned Jaitapur nuclear plant

Jaitapur nuclear power plant project draws more fire Gulf News, By Pamela Raghunath, 13 Jan 12, US geologist warns of high quake risk in region and urges authorities to embrace a design that can withstand a high degree of shaking  Mumbai: A noted American geologist has criticised the construction of a 9,900 Megawatt nuclear power plant in Jaitapur, Maharashtra, warning of a high earthquake risk in the area.
In a paper co-authored with Professor Vinod Gaur of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Professor Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado warned that a magnitude 6 earthquake could hit Jaitapur. The paper was published in Current Science, a prestigious Indian journal published by the Current Science Association and the Indian Academy of Sciences.
He joins environmentalists, Indian scientists and local farmers in opposing the energy project……
The Jaitapur area comes under Ratnagiri district which falls in the seismic Zone 4 (high damage) category with Zone 5 being the highest. The region has witnessed 92 earthquakes within the period from 1985 to 2005.
Professor Bilham said nuclear power plants can be engineered to withstand a high degree of shaking intensity although the expense of the design will increase with the severity and duration of the shaking. http://gulfnews.com/news/world/pakistan/jaitapur-nuclear-power-plant-project-draws-more-fire-1.965175

January 13, 2012 Posted by | India, safety | Leave a comment

Anger over the assassination of Iran nuclear scientist

Killing of Nuclear Scientist Fuels Anger in Tehran VOA News, January 12, 2012 The killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist this week has provoked a wave of anger in Tehran, which blames Israel and the United States for the attack.

A hardline Iranian newspaper called on Thursday for retaliation against Israel, which Iranian authorities say orchestrated Wednesday’s bomb blast. An editorial in the Kayhan newspaper called for assassinations of Israeli military and other officials.

The comments follow Tehran’s call for the United Nations to condemn the attack and take steps toward eliminating what it called terrorism. Both Israel and the United States have denied any role in the killing of the Iranian nuclear scientist.  ….
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Killing-of-Nuclear-Scientist-Fuels-Anger-in-Tehran-137190928.html

January 13, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Renewables supply 39% of Philippines energy needs, and thousands of jobs

Aquino optimistic on renewable energy, Business World, Johanna D. Poblete, 13 Jan 12, PRESIDENT BENIGNO S.C. Aquino III is optimistic the Energy department will achieve an increase in the production of alternative renewable energy that would redound to an increase in employment by 2015.
He noted, for instance, that nearly 39% of the country’s energy requirements are now provided by renewable sources, namely, hydropower, geothermal, solar, wind and biomass.
“We project that the contribution of the biomass sector will increase from 39 megawatts of energy in 2010 to more than 300 megawatts by 2015,” Mr. Aquino said in his speech at the opening of the 1st Philippine International BioEnergy Conference on Thursday.
“Our projections also indicate that in achieving this goal, around 89,000 more jobs will be generated for Filipinos,” he added.
The President said that the development of the industry has a “multiplier effect” not just in terms of empowering consumers, but also by stimulating attendant sectors. “The effects of advancing the biomass sector will also reach close to 577,000 farm families who can benefit, for example, by gaining additional income [from] the sale of agriwaste or forest residues that
can be used in the development of biomass resources,” Mr. Aquino said…. http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Economy&title=Aquino-optimistic-on-renewable-energy&id=44991

January 13, 2012 Posted by | Philippines, renewable | 1 Comment

Florida residents up for $millions for nuclear plants?

Progress Energy rate-payers are already on the hook for part of the $2.5 billion in repairs for the existing Crystal River nuclear plant. The plant has been offline with various problems since September 2009 and is not expected to be operating again before 2014. The utility wants customers to pay about $670 toward the repairs and insists that scrapping the plant would cost rate-payers more than fixing it.

Nuclear plant opponents in Fla. voice concerns Washington Examiner, By: MITCH STACY | 01/12/12  Opponents of two proposed nuclear power reactors in west-central Florida told a Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel on Thursday that the units will upset the delicate balance of the rural area’s water system and present a health risk……. The hearing before a
three-judge panel of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board — the judicial arm of the NRC — addressed a legal challenge to Progress Energy’s application to license the plants. The NRC is expected to complete an environmental impact statement this spring and a formal trial on the challenge could happen as early as October. Continue reading →

January 13, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Misguided and unjust murders of Iran’s nuclear scientists

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

After World War 2, Simon Weisenthal and other Jewish and non-Jewish Nazi hunters went to enormous trouble not only to track down Nazi criminals, but also to ensure that they had a fair trial.  Those Nazis who were executed first had a proper judicial process, with evidence, witnesses and defense counsel.

How justice is now failing! Are we expected to believe that it is OK for the Israeli government to assassinate Iranian civilians, for Israel’s political reasons. How the “Jewish State” has abandoned true Jewish principles!

Over recent times, the world has seen the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and the very horrible killing of Gaddafi.  Not a public complaint about the lack of fair process, the lack of evidence even, in the bin Laden killing.   I’m not saying that these were good people.

But where is justice, in these arbitrary murders?    And what is the purpose of murdering Iranian scientists?  Is it inflame the Muslim world with hatred for the West, and so bring about nuclear war?

January 12, 2012 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Three noteworthy developments in nuclear news

NUCLEAR WEAPONS, Killed in Iran: Part of a Nuclear Trifecta , TIME, By MARK THOMPSON, January 11, 2012 It has been a busy day or so on the nuclear front:

– An Iran nuclear scientist was assassinated Wednesday morning in Tehran.

– The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved its Doomsday Clock warning of nuclear war to 11:56 p.m. – one minute closer to the midnight when it believes nuclear war could break out.

– And the Nuclear Threat Initiative released its Nuclear Materials Security Index, a database charting publicly for the first time 32 nations that possess the fissile guts of nuclear weapons – and how secure they are.

The trio consists of three discrete elements, but – like a radioactive Venn diagram – they overlap in disconcerting ways…..
nuclear weapons remain the crack cocaine of world leaders, crazy or not, who want the security they seem to offer. And those who fear such weapons falling into what they deem to be the wrong hands are just as determined to see they don’t get them.

That certitude is apparently behind the killing of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a 32-year old Iranian chemist. He died after an unknown killer, riding a motorbike, affixed a bomb to his gray Peugeot 405 in northern Tehran that exploded moments later. “The bomb was a magnetic bomb and is the same as those previously used to assassinate scientists,” Tehran Deputy Governor Safar Ali Baratlo said, “and is the work of the Zionists.” Both Israel and the U.S. have denied involvement in such attacks………  : http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2012/01/11/killed-in-iran-part-of-a-nuclear-trifecta/#ixzz1jIEDcSrA

January 12, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Fifth assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist

Iranian nuclear chemist killed by motorbike assassins,  and ,  guardian.co.uk,   11 January 2012  Tensions escalate with US and Israel as Tehran accuses the Mossad in fifth murder of scientists

A chemist working at Iran‘s main uranium enrichment plant was killed on Wednesday when attackers on a motorbike stuck a magnetic bomb to his car. The assassination – the fifth against Iranian nuclear scientists in the past two years – is likely to further escalate tensions between Iran and the west.

It took place at 8.30am, at the height of rush-hour in Tehran, according to witnesses quoted in the Iranian media. A motorcycle pulled up alongside a silver Peugeot 405 carrying the deputy director of the Natanz enrichment plant, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, 32.

The pillion passenger stuck a charge to the door next to the chemist, which detonated as the motorcyclist drove off. The car’s driver was also killed and a pedestrian was wounded, but the charge used appeared to have a sophisticated shape that focused the blast into the car. While the door ended up in nearby trees, much of the car remained intact.

Ahmadi-Roshan was the fifth nuclear scientist to be attacked in Tehran in 24 months. Only one target has survived the daytime attacks, apparently carried out by a well-trained hit team. Iran has said the US and Israel are behind the assassinations, and blamed the Mossad for Wednesday’s killings….. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/11/iran-nuclear-chemist-killed?newsfeed=true

January 12, 2012 Posted by | civil liberties, Iran, safety | Leave a comment

Ahmadinejad points out that Iran has done nothing wrong

Ahmadinejad says Iran has done nothing wrong By Jeff Franks, HAVANA | Wed Jan 11, 2012  (Reuters) – Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flashed the victory sign and said Iran had done nothing to warrant enmity from its enemies after he arrived in Cuba on Wednesday amid heightened international tensions.

He said nothing about the bomb attack that killed an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran earlier in the day, which his government blamed on Israel and the United States, the leaders of international opposition to Iran’s nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad was to meet with President Raul Castro later, but shortly after arrival in the Cuban capital he told students in veiled remarks at the University of Havana that Iran was being “punished” for no good reason.

“Have we assaulted someone? Have we wanted more than we should have? Never, never. We have only asked to speak about and establish justice,” Ahmadinejad said……

January 12, 2012 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Nuclear security recommendations from The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI)

NTI Launches Nuclear Materials Security Index Global Priorities for Security Needed All Governments Can Do More WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ “…….Recommendations
NTI recommends actions for the global community to take, in parallel with steps to improve state stewardship.

Build the Foundation for a Global Nuclear Materials Security System

  • Establish an international dialogue on priorities for materials security through the Nuclear Security Summit or a subsequent process
  • Benchmark progress and hold states accountable for security
  • Build appropriate transparency to increase international confidence by:
    • Publishing and providing access to nuclear materials security regulations
    • Declaring nuclear materials inventories
    • Inviting regular peer reviews
  • Stop increasing stocks of weapons-usable materials

Improve State Stewardship of Nuclear Materials

  • Eliminate weapons-usable nuclear materials completely in as many states as possible
  • Strengthen security and control measures, including physical protection, control and accounting, and personnel measures at facilities and during transport of nuclear materials
  • Bring all civil uranium enrichment and reprocessing facilities under IAEA safeguards
  • Better target assistance to states with urgent needs
  • Ratify and implement existing materials security-related treaties. Continue reading →

January 12, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) assesses nuclear security in 176 countries

Full rankings are available  on the website, www.ntiindex.org.  

NTI Launches Nuclear Materials Security Index Global Priorities for Security Needed All Governments Can Do More WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) today released a first-of-its-kind, public baseline assessment of the status of nuclear materials security conditions in 176 countries. The NTI Nuclear Materials Security Index underscores that there is no global consensus about what steps matter most to secure some of the world’s most dangerous materials against theft and recommends actions to hold countries accountable, increase transparency and benchmark progress. Continue reading →

January 12, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Nuclear security worst in N Korea, Pakistan, Iran, India, China and Israel

 The project ranks the 32 states which possess more than a kilogram of highly enriched uranium (HEU) or plutonium, according to some weighed criteria: how much stuff they have and in how many places; the security and control measures in place; to what extent they stick to global norms and agreements on nuclear security; the domestic political will and capacity to enforce those norms, and the fragility of their societies including the level of corruption.

India, China and Israel ranked among the world’s worst for nuclear security
The Guardian, Julian Borger, 11 Jan 12, A new index assessing the vulnerability of the world’s stocks of weapons-grade nuclear material produces some surprising results. The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a respected non-proliferation think tank, and the Economic Intelligence Unit have produced a new ranking systemto assess the security of the world’s scattered stocks of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium. Continue reading →

January 12, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Solar energy for e-books, iPad, iPhone, other mobile phones and USB devices

Solar Panel Cover For The Kindle E-reader, by Energy Matters, 9 Jan 12 Using solar energy to provide power for hand-held devices has huge potential and while solar panels embedded in mobile phones mightn’t be much chop (yet) in terms of performance; it seems a new solar cover for the Kindle e-reader delivers.

The SolarKindle, weighing just 215 grams, incorporates a flexible, lightweight triple junction amorphous solar panel and is able to provide some level of charging even in the shade.  A one hour charge in direct sunlight can provide almost three days worth of reading time according to the company that created the device, SolarFocus Technology.

After fully charging the Kindle, the solar panel automatically switches to charge the SolarKindle’s 1500mA reserve battery. A fully charged reserve battery requires around eight hours of direct sunlight and provides up to 80% of backup power to the Kindle.

……. sticking your SolarKindle enshrouded e-reader out in the sun on a 40 degree day for extended periods may be unwise.

The SolarKindle also incorporates an 800 lux LED reading lamp. If the reserve battery is used for lighting alone, it can power the light for up to 50 hours. An LED indicator incorporated in the SolarKindle shows battery power level and status of charging and discharging.

The SolarKindle can be purchased online for around AUD $80, plus delivery.
SolarFocus was named an International CES Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree for its SolarKindle Lighted Cover. The company says it holds several solar technology patents with their products used in extreme environments such as the Himalayas and the North Pole.

SolarFocus also manufactures a folding solar charger for the iPad, iPhone, other mobile phones and USB devices called the SolarMio Pro. While certainly not as compact as the embedded solar panel Nokia recently trialed, the 5 watt SolarMio Pro watt system can provide 6 hours of talk time on the iPhone 3Gs with just an hour of solar charging..   http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=1972

January 12, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, decentralised | Leave a comment

Higher incidence of child leukaemia near nuclear plants

French nuclear plants double child leukemia – study  TVNZ January 12, 2012 Source: Reuters  The incidence of leukaemia is twice as high in children living close to French nuclear power plants as in those living elsewhere in the country, a study by French health and nuclear safety experts has found.

But the study, to be published soon in the International Journal of Cancer, fell short of establishing a causal link between the higher incidence of leukaemia, a type of blood cancer, and living near nuclear power plants.. Continue reading →

January 12, 2012 Posted by | France, health | Leave a comment

USA election 2012 – vote for green jobs

In previous blogs and our free online book, we point out the alternative reality that other nations, and even some US states, are already prospering from: green jobs for a green economy.

The latest news out of Massachussetts, for example, is that cap and trade of greenhouse gases is creating more jobs and saving energy — primarily because the state is investing the revenues into improving energy efficiency.

Addressing Climate Change: Vote for Green, Not Junk Jobs, Huffington Post, Mary Ellen Harte and John Harte, 12 Jan 12, “…… in 2012  warm, sunny winter weather — an insidious, sinful delight of climate change. Perhaps that is why the Republican slate of presidential wannabes ignores the issue entirely, focusing instead on lack of jobs, despite President Obama’s attempts to create green ones.

But are the jobs that Republican candidates propose really going to solve our nation’s biggest problems? As the overwhelming majority of reputable scientists agree, burning fossil fuels produces air pollution that harms the health of Americans, and heats our global fluids enough to change climate worldwide. In 2011, enhanced droughts, hurricanes, heat and floods wiped out people, crops and infrastructure throughout the US, creating record costly damage. Now, consider: for the first time ever, fossil fuels, in the form of gas and refined oil, were the prime export of the US in 2011. Yes, the stuff behind huge health costs and harmful climate change is what the US now exports the most. And the Republicans want us to produce more of these fuels. Their twisted utopia includes jobs to import more dirty Canadian oil, frack for more dirty gas, and burn more dirty coal.

These are junk jobs, as disastrous as junk bonds and mortgage loans, and under Republican pressure the US continues to misguidedly subsidize the industries that create them. Continue reading →

January 12, 2012 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

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