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Plans for Seoul Nuclear Summit in March 2012

President Obama called for a world without nuclear weapons and identified nuclear terrorism as the most serious threat to international security

The Seoul Nuclear Summit, The National Interest,   issue Miles A. Pomper, Michelle E. Dover , January 4, 2012 “….late this March, fifty or so leaders will descend on Seoul to track progress since the last summit and make a batch of fresh commitments. Continue reading →

January 5, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | Leave a comment

Wrap-up of nuclear news 2011

  • Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

    The year started with  a renewed push by the nuclear lobby, for a “nuclear renaissance”.  But already costs and safety problems were slowing this ambition. The “poster boys” for nuclear power Olkiluoto and Flamanville reactors became increasingly costly, and fraught with safety problems, and still not built.

  • No nuclear plants built in USA since the 1970s. Worldwide 16 new ones were under construction in 2010, but only 2 in 2011. Meanwhile 13 closed, and many of the existing 433 reactors are nearing their use-by date. Global nuclear energy generation fell in 2011, due to increasing costs, weaker electricity demand, and falling costs of gas.
  • In March the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe had a sudden impact on the nuclear industry.   As  a continuing human, environmental, and economic disaster, it continues to accelerate the decline of the nuclear industry.
  • USA, France, Russia, and South Korea continued a frantic competition to sell nuclear power to developing countries, seeing they meet strong opposition to selling them to their own people, (except for South Korea)
  • The worldwide nuclear waste problem escalates, yet even in desperate straights because of this, USA and others are happy to continue producing this toxic stuff !
  • Nuclear weapons problems continue, with a little progress towards nuclear disarmament. At the end of the year, the world is at  a nuclear standoff between the Western world and Iran.
  • The global nuclear lobby is resuming its push to market its product as clean, healthy, cheap etc. It continues to tout “new nuclear” – “Generation 4 reactors, and also Thorium reactors – desperate side issues to promote the industry even as it fails. Christina Macpherson, 3 Jan 2012

January 3, 2012 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Obama govt doing a balancing act with sanctions on Iran

Sanctions against Iran a balancing act for U.S. FINANCIAL POST, Reuters  Jan 2, 2012 By Andrew Quinn WASHINGTON – The United States has armed itself with some of the toughest sanctions yet targeting Iran but must carefully assess how to avoid catching energy-importing allies such as Japan, South Korea and India in the crossfire.

President Barack Obama signed the law on Saturday imposing sanctions on financial institutions that deal with Iran’s central bank, the main clearinghouse through which OPEC’s No. 2 oil exporter deals with clients around the world. Continue reading →

January 3, 2012 Posted by | Iran, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

In UK’s slow economy, renewable energy is coming up trumps

Renewable energy boosts UK economy by £2.5bn Renewable Energy Focus, 02 January 2012 Figures from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show that companies have announced plans for almost £2.5 billion worth of renewable energy investment in the UK, with the potential to create almost 12,000 jobs, so far in the financial year 2011/12. By Kari Williamson

A separate report to the European Commission on renewable energy progress, shows that the UK:

Achieved a 27% increase in renewable energy consumption from 42.6 TWh in 2008 to 54 TWh in 2010 – representing 3.3% of total energy consumed;
Increased wind generation by 46% from 7 TWh in 2008 to 10.2 TWh in 2010, and in 2010 achieved 5 GW of offshore and onshore wind capacity; and
Saw a threefold increase in the use of biofuels in transport from 1% of total road transport fuel supply in 2007/8 to 3.33% in 2010……

Renewable energy saves £84 per person annually Continue reading →

January 3, 2012 Posted by | decentralised, UK | Leave a comment

Britain’s nuclear veterans continue their fight against Ministry of Defence, for compensation

Nuclear veterans hope for new year legal win By TERRY KELLY Shields Gazette 2 January 2012 NUCLEAR test veterans on South Tyneside could hear within weeks if they have won the latest round in their battle for compensation.

Men who claim they have suffered numerous medical problems as a result of being exposed to damaging radiation during allied atom bomb tests in the 1950s have spent years fighting for justice.

The result of the latest stage in their long legal fight is expected later this month. South Tyneside A-bomb test veterans John Taylor, Bede McGurk and Bob Redman are also involved in the legal wrangle.

A Supreme Court appeal hearing in London was adjourned in November, after judges had earlier found in favour of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which has rejected the veterans’ claims….. Mr Taylor and fellow veterans are angry that compensation has already been paid to other nuclear test veterans in Australia, Russia and the Isle Of Man. http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/local-news/nuclear_veterans_hope_for_new_year_legal_win_1_4105721

January 3, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Despite public opposition, Spain’s aging nuclear plant may stay open

Spain ageing nuclear plant may stay open: report,  By Martin Roberts; MADRID | Mon Jan 2,  (Reuters) – Spain’s incoming centre-right government may allow an ageing nuclear plant to stay open beyond a 2013 deadline for closing set by its Socialist predecessors, a newspaper report said on Monday.
Environmentalist groups have protested that Spain is out of step with countries like Germany, which closed seven older nuclear plants after Japan’s Fukushima disaster last year and plans to shut the rest within a decade.

In 2009, then-premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ordered the Garona plant to close in 2013, by which point it will have been in operation two years more than a benchmark 40-year lifespan…. Running nuclear plants is profitable, however, and in their unsuccessful election
campaign the Socialists proposed introducing a windfall tax on them.

Spanish voters are generally opposed to nuclear power – which provides about 21 percent of the country’s electricity – and no new plants are planned…….

January 3, 2012 Posted by | politics, Spain | Leave a comment

Japan’s nuclear power industry gave money to nuclear regulators

Nuclear safety panel given donations, 9 News 2 Jan 12, Almost one-third of commissioners and examiners at Japan’s nuclear safety commission received donations from the country’s nuclear power industry, the Asahi Shimbun reported on Sunday.

The daily said the governmental commission’s neutrality could be brought into question at a time when the safety of nuclear reactors in Japan was in doubt after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster…..


Two of the organisation’s five permanent commissioners and 22 of its 84 outside examiners received donations from companies and industrial organisations related to nuclear power, in five years to March 2011, Asahi said.

The donations totalled about Y85 million ($1.08 million), the daily said. Of them, 11 received donations from nuclear reactor manufacturers and, or, power utilities and nuclear fuel companies which are examined by the commission, Asahi said.

The commission is authorised to guide the state and power utilities from a neutral position.

Haruki Madarame, chairman of the commissioners, received four million yen from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries between 2006 and 2009 when he was a professor at the University of Tokyo before assuming the commission’s post last April, Asahi said….. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8397277/nuclear-safety-panel-given-donations

January 2, 2012 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Ionising radiation and thyroid cancer

Vital Signs: Thyroid questions answered.   The Daily Progress  January 01, 2012  The terrible earthquake in Japan, and the resulting nuclear meltdowns, again have placed thyroid cancer in the news. There is a very close link between radiation exposure and thyroid cancer, and it is likely that Japan will see a sharp increase in aggressive thyroid cancers in the coming years, as was the case in Russia after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

Here in the United States, there was an increase in thyroid cancer following the nuclear testing in the 1950s in the Southwest. Though we have ceased such open-air testing, there are still numerous ways to be exposed to radiation, such as by receiving radiation therapy for cancer. And there is also a natural incidence of thyroid cancer unrelated to radiation exposure.

January is Thyroid Awareness Month, so it’s an apt time to discuss the thyroid, thyroid cancer and other thyroid conditions……. There are aggressive forms of thyroid cancer unrelated to radiation exposure, but they are very rare and typically occur in older males…. http://www2.dailyprogress.com/lifestyles/2012/jan/01/vital-signs-thyroid-questions-answered-ar-1575329/

January 2, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, health, Japan, USA | Leave a comment

As radioactivity lingers, most of Japan’s evacuees not returning home

 “We can’t go home even if we want to, out of consideration for our children,”

More than half of nuclear radiation zone evacuees in Japan have yet to return home, The Australian Eye, By Nigel Shelbourne, December 31, 2011 FUKUSHIMA, Japan _ Fifty-four percent of evacuees from areas between 20 and 30 kilometers (12.5 and 18.6 miles) of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Japan have yet to return home, three months after the government lifted its emergency evacuation preparation zones. Continue reading →

January 2, 2012 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Reuters reports on diplomatic dance – USA and Iran on nuclear development

However, Obama asked for scope to apply the measures flexibly, and will have discretion to waive penalties. Senior U.S. officials said Washington was consulting foreign partners to ensure the new measures did not harm global energy markets.

Despite its missile tests, war games and threats to close the Hormuz Strait, Iran has also made conciliatory gestures, saying it wants to resume talks with major powers, stalled for a year, about its nuclear research programme…..

Iran reports nuclear progress as sanctions loom  Jan 1, 2012 
* Missile test and fuel rod breakthrough challenge West

* Obama signs sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports

* Tehran offers fresh nuclear talks in letter to EU

By Parisa Hafezi TEHRAN, Jan 1 (Reuters) – – Iran announced a nuclear fuel breakthrough and test-fired a new radar-evading medium-range missile in the Gulf on Sunday, moves that could further antagonise the West at a time when Tehran is trying to avert harsh new sanctions on its oil industry. Continue reading →

January 2, 2012 Posted by | Iran, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Iran developing nuclear fuel rods and plates

First nuclear fuel rod tested in Iran TEHRAN, Tehran Times 1 Jan 12  – Scientists and researchers at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran have successfully tested the first domestically produced nuclear fuel rod containing natural uranium, Iranian news agencies reported on Sunday.

According to the reports, the first nuclear fuel rod was loaded into the core of the Tehran research reactor as part of an experiment to test its performance in operation.

Now Iran should convert fuel rods into fuel plates to power the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.

Iran has constructed an advanced plant at the Isfahan nuclear facility for manufacturing nuclear fuel plates. With the construction of the plant, Iran is now among the few countries that can manufacture both nuclear fuel rods and plates. The nuclear plant for converting enriched nuclear fuel into fuel rods was inaugurated in Isfahan in early spring 2009. ….
http://tehrantimes.com/politics/94128-first-nuclear-fuel-rod-tested-in-iran

January 2, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Iran | Leave a comment

Pakistan, India, exchange nuclear site information and hold peace talks

Pakistan, India swap nuclear lists Courier Mail,  AFP January 02, PAKISTAN and India have exchanged lists of their nuclear sites. The two countries did so under an accord which prohibits both sides from attacking these locations, the foreign ministry in Islamabad said
yesterday.

Under the 1988 agreement, the nuclear-armed neighbours are required to submit the lists of all their respective nuclear installations and facilities – civilian and military – on January 1 every year.

“In accordance with the aforesaid agreement, a list of requisite facilities in Pakistan was given to the Indian high commission official at the foreign office today,” a statement from Pakistan’s
foreign ministry said.

The Indian side also handed over its list to the Pakistan high commission official at the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi, it added…… As part of the resumed dialogue process, experts from the two countries recently held peace talks in Islamabad on nuclear
confidence-building measures… http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/pakistan-india-swap-nuclear-lists/story-fn6ck55c-1226234513906

January 2, 2012 Posted by | India, Pakistan, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Speculation on who will control North Korea’s nuclear weapons

Who Is in Charge of N.Korea’s Nuclear Weapons? Chosin Ilbo, 2 Jan 11 “…..A South Korean intelligence officer said the North Korean military attaches the greatest importance to the nuclear arms, and Kim Jong-un is now in charge of them. The regime is believed to have about 50 kg of plutonium extracted and up to 10 nuclear bombs, and there was some anxiety abroad who would control them in the power vacuum after former leader Kim Jong-il died.

But some experts say the 29-year-old Kim Jong-un has no military background and cannot really be in charge of the nuclear arms. He is nominally only a vice chairman of the commission, appointed alongside Ri Yong-ho, the chief of General Staff. One South Korean government official speculated that Ri probably controls the regime’s weapons of mass destruction, including any nuclear bombs.
Others believe the commission is collectively in control because it includes all the top military brass. They believe that the first thing the regime did after Kim Jong-il’s death was to ensure control of the nuclear weapons. …..
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/12/26/2011122601337.html

January 2, 2012 Posted by | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Opposition in Spain to nuclear waste dump plan

New nuclear waste dump sparks controversy in Spain Olive Press, JANUARY 1, 2012   RAJOY’S new government has announced a €700 million nuclear waste dump for a village near Madrid, provoking mixed reaction from residents and green groups…

..Those in nearby villages, however, are considering taking legal action against the
plan. Greenpeace are also critical, saying the project is likely to cost nearly three times what the government has proposed, and that transporting waste to the site will be dangerous.
The plan was originally voted in 2004, but the location decision was delayed by Zapatero’s government amid protests….

January 2, 2012 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, Spain | Leave a comment

USA’s big increase in wind and solar energy in past 2 years

Obama has Nearly Quadrupled Renewable Energy on Public Lands CLEAN TECHNICA, DECEMBER 31, 2011 BY   With two years of the Obama administration, almost four times as much clean energy has been put on the grid on public lands as in all the previous 40 years.

All the renewable energy ever permitted on public lands totaled 1,800 MW by the end of 2008. In the last two years, the Department of the Interior has approved 6,600 MW of new projects. Continue reading →

January 2, 2012 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

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