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Nicaragua’s President urges Israel to foster peace, destroy nuclear weapons

Nicaragua’s Ortega urges Israel to destroy nuclear arms By Dave Graham, MANAGUA | Wed Jan 11, 2012  (Reuters) – Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega on Tuesday urged Israel to destroy its nuclear weapons to foster peace in the Middle East as he hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who is touring Latin America. Continue reading →

January 12, 2012 Posted by | SOUTH AMERICA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Ionising radiation a valuable medical tool, but only when really warranted

 “Ionized radiation is the most studied carcinogen in the world.”

the problem is that sometimes the devices are used when they are not necessary, a situation peculiar to the American medical system. In the United Kingdom and Europe the devices are not used unless the need is warranted by the patient’s medical condition.

On that, everyone seems to agree.

Medical Physicists Say Fear of Diagnostic Radiation Is Overblown Patients should not decline X-ray imaging for medically advised procedures, group says. Jan 11, 2012 Inside Science, By Joel N. Shurkin, ISNS  — An association of physicists in the medical field has warned patients not to decline diagnostic radiation procedures because of perceptions that the tests may be
harmful. Continue reading →

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

USA-North Korea – food in exchange for nuclear shutdown?

North Korea says US offered food for nuclear shutdown, Business Recorder, JANUARY 12, 2012    North Korea said Wednesday that the United States had offered food aid and a suspension of sanctions if it halted its uranium enrichment programme.

The comments by a foreign ministry spokesman to Pyongyang’s official news agency were the first by the North on the issue.

Before the sudden death of the North’s leader Kim Jong-Il on December 17, there were several media reports that such an agreement was imminent.

At talks in July last year, Washington “proposed to take confidence-building steps such as suspension of sanctions, as well as food aid” in return for a “temporary suspension” of uranium enrichment, the North’s spokesman said.

Experts say the uranium programme disclosed in November 2010 could give the communist state a second way to make nuclear weapons. The disclosure spurred efforts to revive stalled six-party nuclear disarmament negotiations. http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/single/599/172/1141775/

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

USA hypocrisy in nuclear sales to Middle East – arms race risk?

Nuclear trade agreements allow for U.S. companies to build reactors overseas or provide sensitive technologies, nuclear materials or know-how to recipient nations.

“I think the administration will pay lip service to the idea of [a nuclear trade partner] forgoing enrichment and reprocessing, but I would be very surprised if they made renunciation a hard condition of any agreement,” said nuclear expert Jeffrey Lewis.

serious concerns about the possibility that the entire region could be on the verge of a race to develop nuclear weapons.

Obama Team Reveals Nuclear Trade, Nonproliferation Decision on Capitol Hill, National Journal,  By Elaine M. Grossman January 11, 2012  The Obama administration told key lawmakers by letter on Tuesday how it intends to pursue upcoming nuclear trade agreements with one or more partner states, and the decision was believed to shed light on whether such pacts would contain specific conditions aimed at discouraging the spread of nuclear weapons, Global Security Newswire has learned (see GSN, July 28, 2011).

 Two senior Obama administration officials wanted to brief key lawmakers in person or by phone this week, but logistics proved impossible and a written notification was sent instead, according to sources.

Details were shrouded in secrecy even after the letters were sent to the chairs and ranking members of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees, but the outlines of a policy determination appeared to be emerging, sources and experts said.  Continue reading →

January 12, 2012 Posted by | politics, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Blended nuclear waste allowed in Utah

Audio State Regulators Stand By Decision to Allow Blended Nuclear Waste 01.10.2012 by Jessica Gail (KCPW News) The battle over nuclear waste in Utah raged on Tuesday as anti-nuclear activists along with representatives of EnergySolutions met before the Utah Radiation Control Board. State regulators have come under scrutiny over a recent decision to allow blended radioactive waste to be buried in Utah. KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports on the state’s reasoning and what environmental activists have to say about it.  http://kcpw.org/blog/local-news/2012-01-10/state-regulators-stand-by-decision-to-allow-blended-nuclear-waste/

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

Big investment in wind farms USA

Global Deal: BP, Sempra Energy to Invest $1 Billion in U.S. Wind Farms WSJ, JANUARY 11, 2012, By Cassandra Sweet of Dow Jones Newswires BP PLC and Sempra Energy said Tuesday that together they will invest more than $1 billion in two wind farms under development in Pennsylvania and Kansas. Continue reading →

January 12, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Attack on Iran’s nuclear plant likely to radioactively pollute Kuwait

Kuwait faces more risk than any other country in the region….. This gives Kuwait the right to request that the United States refrain from any military action that would put the Iranian plant at risk, the experts believe.

Bushehr plant damage risks 90% radiation in Kuwait KUWAIT TIMES, 11 Jan 12, : Kuwait is not prepared for any negative impact from military action against the Bushehr nuclear power plant, experts say. “A radiation leak from the Bushehr Plant puts at least 90 percent of Kuwait’s population at risk of being affected by the worst kinds of cancer that affect the brain and kidney”, according to studies mentioned recently by experts from inside and outside Kuwait who are following the development of Iran’s nuclear projects.
The expert, quoted in an Al-Dar daily report published yesterday, indicated that Kuwait is not prepared to thwart risks of a radiation leak that could happen as a result of a military strike or natural disaster affecting the plant.

The report quotes the experts as saying that an environmental organization assigned to monitor radiation levels is not equipped to give accurate readings regarding hazardous radiation leaks and spread levels. Continue reading →

January 11, 2012 Posted by | Iran, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear Doomsday Clock now at 5 minutes to midnight

Doomsday clock warning of nuclear power danger closer to midnight L.A. Times, January 10, 2012 | The time on the Doomsday clock has moved, and it’s in the wrong direction. On Tuesday, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the metaphorical doomsday clock is now at five minutes to midnight, putting humanity one figurative minute closer to catastrophic destruction than it was just two years ago.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in the 1940s by members of the Manhattan Project as a way to educate the public about the dangers of nuclear power. The group debuted the idea of the doomsday clock in 1947, when the time on the clock was set at seven minutes to midnight. They have met every couple of years ever since to discuss the state and fate of the world, and to reset the clock.

This year the board, which includes nuclear and environmental scientists as well as national security experts, cited the failure to act on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty by leaders in the United States, China, Iran, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Israel and North Korea as chief among its reasons for moving the minute hand of the clock closer to doomsday.

“The world still has approximately 19,500 nuclear weapons, enough power to destroy the Earth’s inhabitants several times over,” the board wrote in a joint statement.

The board also found the disaster in Fukushima, Japan, particularly alarming. “Safer nuclear reactor designs need to be developed and built, and more stringent oversight, training, and attention are needed to prevent future disasters,” the members wrote.

And finally, the board expressed grave concern about climate change, writing, “In fact, the global community may be near a point of no return in efforts to prevent catastrophe from changes in Earth’s atmosphere.”…. atimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/and-the-new-time-on-the-doomsday-clock-is.html

January 11, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | 1 Comment

Indigenous peoples fight against nuclear waste dumping on their land

No nuclear Northwest: Grand Chiefs Kenora Daily Miner and News, By Jon Thompson, 10 Jan 12 Grand chiefs representing every inch of Northwestern Ontario are publicly taking a hard line against burying nuclear waste in their traditional territory, claiming it would violate international law. Continue reading →

January 11, 2012 Posted by | Canada, indigenous issues, wastes | Leave a comment

New continent-wide study shows effects of warming of the planet

Europe’s mountains show clear and rapid change to a warming climate by ClickGreen   9 Jan 2012 The decade from 2000 to 2009 was the warmest since global climate has been measured, and while localized studies have shown evidence of changes in mountain plant communities that reflect this warming trend, no study has yet taken a continental-scale view of the situation – until now.

With the publication of “Continent-wide response of mountain vegetation to climate change,” scheduled for Advance Online
Publication (AOP) in Nature Climate Change on 8 January, researchers from 13 countries report clear and statistically significant evidence of a continent-wide warming effect on mountain plant communities.

The findings are “clearly significant,” says Ottar Michelsen, a researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and one of the article’s co-authors. “You can find studies that have shown an effect locally, and where researchers try to say something more globally, but in this case, when you have so many mountains in so many regions and can show an effect, that’s a big thing.”

The article describes the results of a comprehensive effort to measure plant community changes in the mountains over the whole of Europe, with nearly a decade of time between the sampling efforts.  Continue reading →

January 11, 2012 Posted by | climate change, EUROPE | Leave a comment

Dr Mohamed El Baradei on nuclear power and nuclear weapons

27,000 nuclear warheads remain in the arsenals of nine countries. Strategic reliance on these weapons by these countries and their allies undoubtedly motivates others to emulate them. And of course, plans to replenish and modernize these weapons creates a pervasive sense of cynicism among many non-nuclear-weapon States — who perceive a “do as I say, not as I do” attitude.” (5)

“Why, some ask, should the nuclear-weapon States be trusted, but not others – and who is qualified to make that judgment?

Quotes about safeguards and proliferation, Friends of the Earth, Jim Green 11 Jan 2012, 

1. Quotes from former IAEA Director-General Dr Mohamed El Baradei

“The IAEA’s Illicit Trafficking Database has, in the past decade, recorded more than 650 cases that involve efforts to smuggle such [nuclear and radioactive] materials.” (1)

“Today, out of the 189 countries that are party to the NPT, 118 still do not have additional protocols in force.” (1)

“IAEA verification today operates on an annual budget of about $100 million – a budget comparable to that of a local police department. With these resources, we oversee approximately 900 nuclear facilities in 71 countries. When you consider our growing responsibilities – as well as the need to stay ahead of the game – we are clearly operating on a shoestring budget.” (1)

“… we are only as effective as we are allowed to be.” (1) Continue reading →

January 11, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Community struggle to get a referendum on nuclear power in Japan

Civic group battles to get support for referendums on nuclear power in Tokyo, Osaka. Mainichi Daily News, 11 Jan 12,   A civic group has been fighting an uphill battle to collect enough signatures for petitions to hold referendums in Tokyo and Osaka on whether Japan should continue to rely on nuclear power despite the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. Continue reading →

January 11, 2012 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Listing every move of the nuclear war Doomsday Clock

As Iran ramps up its nuclear program, a look at every movement of the Doomsday Clock National Post,   Jan 10, 2012  The Doomsday Clock was set up as a symbol of how close the world is to nuclear armageddon. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a prominent group of international scientists, move the minute hands on the clock toward (and sometimes away from) midnight (which symbolizes nuclear war).

In light of the increased tensions on the Strait of Hormuz, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the clock once again, from 6-minutes-to-midnight to 5-minutes-to-midnight.

Below, a look at every movement of the Doomsday clock since it was introduced in 1947 and the reason the hands moved: 1947: Seven minutes to midnight

The clock first appears as a symbol of nuclear danger.

1949: Three minutes to midnight
The Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb.

1953: Two minutes to midnight
The United States and the Soviet Union test thermonuclear devices within nine months of one another……. 2012: Five minutes to midnight.

Global failure to take action against climate change, mounting nuclear tensions and an increasing tendency to reject science are cited as reasons for moving the clock.  http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/10/as-iran-ramps-up-its-nuclear-program-a-look-at-every-movement-of-the-doomsday-clock/

January 11, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Renewable energy – wave power for India

Indian innovator harnesses sea waves for power, The Economic Times, 10 Jan 12,   NEW DELHI: An Indian innovator has come up with a technology that tweaks gravity power to harness sea waves for clean and affordable energy, a source more readily available than wind or solar power and, unlike fossil fuels, inexhaustible. Continue reading →

January 11, 2012 Posted by | India, renewable | Leave a comment

An “under-performing investment” – Cameco uranium company

Cameco (CCJ) Downgraded by Zacks Investment Research to “Underperform”, Localised USA, Jan 10th, 2012 Cameco (NYSE: CCJ) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Investment Research from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Cameco Corporation (Cameco) is a Canada-based company. The Company and its subsidiaries are primarily engaged in the exploration for and the development, mining, refining, conversion and fabrication of uranium for sale as fuel for generating electricity in nuclear power reactors in Canada and other countries. Cameco has three reportable segments: uranium, fuel services and electricity.

The company has a 31.6% interest in Bruce Power L.P. (BPLP). Cameco’s uranium joint venture interests are comprised of McArthur River, Rabbit Lake, Cree Extension Millenium, Moon Lake, Dawn Lake, Read Lake and Virgin River. Cameco’s projects include Kintyre Uranium Exploration Project (Kintyre) and GoviEx Uranium (GoviEx). Kintyre project is located in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia. Cameco holds 12% interest in GoviEx. Its wholly owned subsidiary is Global Laser Enrichment LLC (GLE).

January 11, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Canada, Uranium | Leave a comment

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