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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

The 2 new Vogtle nuclear reactors will mean do or die for the nuclear industry

Analysis: U.S. nuclear industry’s fate rests with Southern Co By Scott DiSavino and Eileen O’Grady NEW YORK/HOUSTON Feb 16, 2012 (Reuters) – The future of U.S. nuclear power rests squarely on the shoulders of Atlanta-based Southern Co, which will lead the industry’s effort to prove the concept of new reactor construction after a 30-year hiatus. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The problem of radiation treatment also causing breast cancer

Radiation generates cancer stem cells from less aggressive breast cancer cells UCLA Newsroom, By Kim Irwin February 14, 2012 Breast cancer stem cells, thought to be the sole source of tumor recurrence, are known to be resistant to radiation therapy and don’t respond well to chemotherapy.

Now, researchers with the UCLA Department of Radiation Oncology at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center report for the first time that radiation treatment, despite killing half of all tumor cells during every treatment, transforms other cancer cells into treatment-resistant breast cancer stem cells.

The generating of these breast cancer stem cells counteracts the otherwise highly efficient radiation treatment…… Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | health, USA | 1 Comment

Spies and dodgy deals at France’s nuclear power giant AREVA

Anne Lauvergeon, former boss of AREVA,  claims that the spying scandal is part of a long-running plot against her, orchestrated by a small group of people who oversee France’s nuclear-energy industry

Nuclear energy in France Fallout A tale of spies, uranium and bad management, The Economist Feb 18th 2012 | PARIS FANS of the cock-up theory of events got a boost
this week when Areva, a French nuclear-energy one-stop shop, said there had been no fraud in its disastrous purchase of UraMin, a Canadian start-up firm with mining assets in Namibia, the Central African Republic and South Africa, in 2007 for $2.5 billion. The acquisition had simply been badly managed, it said, leading Areva to overpay. Last December the company took a €1.46 billion ($2 billion) charge against the acquisition, resulting in a huge operating loss for 2011.

Areva had suspected a plot. It ordered an external study of the UraMin deal in 2010, which suggested dodgy goings-on.     Then in 2011 it hired a Swiss private-detective agency, Alp Services, to investigate the circumstances of the transaction. Anne Lauvergeon, Areva’s boss at the time and France’s most prominent businesswoman, was not informed of the probe.

Last month she announced that her husband had been spied on by Alp Services, and on February 8th began a legal complaint against unidentified people… Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | France, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Obama govt putting the brakes on nuclear loan guarantee program

Obama administration calls for no expansion to nuclear loan guarantee program in FY2013 budget!, Beyond Nuclear, 16 Feb 12,    As reported in the Huffington Post, for the first time in three years, the Obama administration has not called for a major expansion in the nuclear loan guarantee program. In fact, it has called for no expansion at all. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Legal action to stop new reactors at Plant Vogtle

Groups file federal lawsuit to block construction of 2 nuclear reactors in eastern Georgia By Associated Press,  February 16 WASHINGTON — Environmental and watchdog groups are suing to block construction of two nuclear reactors in eastern Georgia that would be the nation’s first built-from-scratch nuclear power plant in a generation.

The groups say the plant should be blocked until federal regulators approve safety changes prompted by last year’s nuclear disaster in Japan. Twelve groups, including the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, filed suit Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 last week to issue a permit to Atlanta-based Southern Co. to build and operate two new reactors at its Plant Vogtle site south of Augusta.
The NRC last approved construction of a nuclear plant in 1978. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/groups-file-lawsuit-to-block-georgia-nuclear-reactors/2012/02/16/gIQApbA9HR_story.html

February 17, 2012 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

For the 4th time, a failed attempt to overturn the ban on uranum mining near Grand Canyon

Fourth Legislative Attack On Grand Canyon Uranium Ban Fails ENews Park Forest,  16 FEBRUARY 2012  WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)  The fourth legislative attempt to block the Obama administration’s ban on new uranium development across 1 million acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park died Tuesday night when the House rules committee ruled it out of order. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | politics, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

British and French govts getting together to promote the nuclear industry

Britain and France to sign nuclear power deal at summit Google News, By Dave Clark (AFP) –17 Feb 12 PARIS — Britain and France were to strike a landmark cooperation deal on civil nuclear energy at a summit between Prime Minister David Cameron and President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday, officials said. France and Britain have often clashed recently over economic policy in the eurozone, an area in which Paris is much closer to Berlin, but they are still close partners in defence and now plan to share nuclear expertise.

February 17, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Polynesian nuclear victims distrust French government on compensation

PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i 

TAHITI NUCLEAR ATOLL COMPENSATION CHANGES DISMISSED
French president’s amendments ‘an election-related move’ WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Feb. 15, 2012) – The Moruroa e tatou veterans group in French Polynesia is dismissive of a French decree loosening the compensation criteria for victims of the nuclear weapons tests. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | OCEANIA, politics | Leave a comment

Call for wider evacuation zones around USA nuclear plants

“Pretending that radiation from an accident at Oyster Creek would not go beyond the 10-mile evacuation zone is a fantasy placing millions of people at risk,”

Nuclear Plant Watchdogs Call for Expansion of Evacuation Zone Around Oyster Creek, Berkely Patch, 16 Feb 12, NRC spokesman says current 10-mile evacuation zone is sufficient for public safety and health By Elaine Piniat Jersey Shore advocates and 37 clean energy groups have petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to expand emergency evacuation zones and improve emergency response planning around U.S. nuclear reactors, including the Oyster Creek Generating Station. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Special sessions on Fukushima and its effects on the ocean

Special Fukushima Session at 2012 Ocean Sciences Meeting

Contact: WHOI Media Relations Office media@whoi.edu 508-289-3340

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The  March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent radioactivity releases from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants resulted in the largest accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history.

In a special session on Tuesday, Feb. 21, during the 2012 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Salt Lake City, researchers will present early results from several field and modeling studies examining the fate of more than a dozen radioactive isotopes in the air, water, and organisms impacted by the Fukushima releases. This is the largest international gathering to date of experts in this area. The session will feature 15 talks, including two by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The human consequences of uranium mining

“The most difficult part for the victims of uranium exposure is to prove that their symptoms are directly related to the work they were doing in those mines,” Hecht said. Due to this difficulty, workers do not receive any compensation.

Lecture tackles global uranium trade, The Brown Daily Herald. Alissa Haddaji, February 17, 2012 To understand the consequences of global uranium trade in Africa, the intricate interaction between political lobbying, government and human interests must be explored, said Gabrielle Hecht, professor of history at the University of Michigan, in a lecture hosted by the science and technology studies program Thursday.

The presentation — held in Smith-Buonanno 106 — was part of the program’s lecture series “Nothing Can Go Wrong: Rethinking Nuclear Energy in the 21st Century” and  introduced themes from Hecht’s forthcoming book, “Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium
Trade.” …. Continue reading →

February 17, 2012 Posted by | health, Namibia, Uranium | Leave a comment