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What really is Israel’s purpose in killing Iran’s nuclear scientists?

Mossad training terrorists to kill Iran’s nuclear scientists, U.S. officials claim… but is Israel’s real target Obama? Israel funding dissident People’s Mujahedin of Iran, say officials in Tehran   DAILY MAIL  10th February 2012 U.S. officials confirmed today that Israel has been funding and training Iranian dissidents to assassinate nuclear scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear program.

The claim has already been levelled by the Iranian government who believed that Mossad, Israel’s secret service, have been arming
dissidents with the terrorist organisation the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK). Last month Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, 32, a chemistry expert, was killed in a brazen daylight assassination when two assailants on a motorcycle
attached a magnetic bomb to his car in Tehran.
Washington insiders confirmed there is a close relationship between Mossad and MEK, according to NBC, but said the U.S. was not involved. Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior aide to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told NBC: ‘Israel does not have direct access to our society. Mujahedin, being Iranian and being part of Iranian society, they have… places to get into the touch with people…..
Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan’s death was the latest in a string of attacks on Iranian scientists. : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099142/Mossad-training-terrorists-kill-Irans-nuclear-scientists-U-S-officials-claim–Israels-real-target-Obama.html#ixzz1m76bXdno

February 11, 2012 Posted by | Israel, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Doctors want to make sure that use of medical radiation does more good than harm

ensuring that a diagnostic procedure involving ionizing radiation is necessary for a patient’s care and should be expected to do more good than harm

Radiation Risks From Diagnostic Procedures Examined, Doctors’ Lounge: February 09, 2012, Feb. 9 (HealthDay News) — National strategies should be developed for the use of evidence-based criteria and improved oversight of equipment to minimize radiation exposure for patients undergoing diagnostic procedures, according to a study published online Feb. 3 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. Continue reading →

February 11, 2012 Posted by | health, USA | Leave a comment

Cameco uranium company cuts production in view of nuclear industry slowdown

Cameco outlook sours amid doubts on nuclear’s future * Company sees 2012 revenue flat to down 5 percent

* Eyes lower production in 2012

* Shares down 1 pct at C$23.12 

TORONTO, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Uranium producer Cameco forecast lower sales and highlighted doubts about the takeup of nuclear power in its stronger than expected quarterly results, and its shares edged lower on Friday, ……
Cameco, the world’s No.1 publicly-listed uranium producer, also lowered its 2012 uranium production outlook by 3 percent to 21.7 million pounds and said delays and cancellations after last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster could hit prices.

Germany, which represents about 5 percent of the global market for uranium, plans to phase out its reactors by 2022.

Japan shut down most of its reactors for testing after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, and is expected to take its remaining three reactors offline for maintenance in the next few months.

“It remains unclear what level of nuclear power Japan itself – which represents 12 percent of global nuclear generating capacity – will depend on in the future,” Cameco said.

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

Process for terminating Cotter company’s radioactive license in Colorado

The majority of the documents being reviewed currently concern characterization of the soil and groundwater contamination on site and cleanup criteria.

Cotter documents under review, Company in process to terminate radioactive materials license, Canon City Daily Record, By RACHEL ALEXANDER    02/10/2012  A public meeting was held Thursday with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Cotter Corp. to discuss three upcoming department decisions.

The documents currently under review by CDPHE, the Environmental Protection agency and the public are the New Evaporation Pond
Conceptual Design; the Onsite Soil Excavation and Groundwater Characterization Process Plan; and the Soil Remediation Criteria
Selection.

This is the first round of documents that are being developed by Cotter as part of the process to terminate its radioactive materials
license and the deletion of the site from the Superfund list. Continue reading →

February 11, 2012 Posted by | Uranium, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

320.000 UK homes get electricity from offshore wind turbines

World’s biggest offshore wind farm officially connected to the Grid, Environmental News Network, 10 Feb 2012, The world’s biggest offshore wind farm was officially opened today after record-fast construction in the middle of the Irish Sea. The 102 turbines of the two connected Walney wind farms cover an area of 73 square-kilometres and were formally connected to the National Grid in a ceremony today.

With a capacity of 367.2MW, the huge project can provide low-carbon, green electricity to 320,000 homes. The generating capacity of each turbine, supplied by Siemens Wind Power, is 3.6MW, and the rotor diameter of the turbines is 107m for Walney 1 and 120m for Walney 2, with a maximum height of 150m from sea level to blade tip….. http://www.enn.com/energy/article/43984

February 11, 2012 Posted by | renewable, UK | 1 Comment

NRC faults San Onofre nuclear plant over ammonia leak

Federal regulators fault Southern California’s San Onofre nuclear plant for ammonia leak, Washington Post,  By Associated Press,  February 10 LOS ANGELES — An ammonia leak that caused an emergency alert at the San Onofre nuclear plant in November was caused by employees who failed to recognize degraded equipment and fix it, federal regulators said Friday. Continue reading →

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

Canada’s emerging renewable energy power needs a national focus

Clean energy also needs political focus, Montreal Gazette, By TIM WEIS, Financial Post February 10, 2012 Whether it is the Keystone XL pipeline, the Northern Gateway pipeline or securing an export market in China, the oil sands have dominated
much of the recent energy discussions in Canada.

What might surprise many is that Canada is quietly emerging as a renewable energy leader, but it will take the same political focus
currently being put toward oil sands to ensure we retain and grow the jobs that are being created in the country’s emerging clean energy sector.

In 2011 Canada was sixth in the world in wind energy installations, and as recently as November 2011, Ernst & Young ranked Canada as the eighth most attractive country in the world for renewable energy investment, ahead of some traditional leaders including Denmark, Spain and Japan.

Despite having fewer than 35 million people, Canada has the sixth-largest electricity system on the planet, behind only China, the
United States, Russia, Japan and Germany. Given the size of our electricity system, perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that
Canada ought to be one of the leading markets for renewable electricity. Continue reading →

February 11, 2012 Posted by | Canada, renewable | Leave a comment

Objection by Argentina to British nuclear submarine in South Atlantic

UK sent nuclear sub near Falklands, says Argentina, BBC News, 10 Feb 12, The UK says the HMS Dauntless is being sent to the South Atlantic as part of routine operations

Argentina’s foreign minister has accused the UK of sending a nuclear-armed submarine to the South Atlantic, after making an
official complaint to the UN over the Falklands dispute. Hector Timerman demanded that the British confirm the location of
nuclear submarines in the region. Continue reading →

February 11, 2012 Posted by | politics international, SOUTH AMERICA | Leave a comment

Multi $billion radioactive cleanup at Hanford not going well

Problems plague cleanup at Hanford nuclear waste site, By Peter Eisler, USA TODAY HANFORD SITE, Wash. – Seven decades after scientists came here during World War IIto create plutonium for the first atomic bomb, a new generation is struggling with an even more daunting task: cleaning up the radioactive mess. The U.S. government is building a treatment plant to stabilize and contain 56 million gallons of waste left from a half-century of nuclear weapons production. The radioactive sludge is so dangerous that a few hours of exposure could be fatal. A major leak could contaminate water supplies serving millions across the Northwest. The cleanup is the most complex and costly environmental restoration ever attempted.

And the project is not going well. Continue reading →

February 10, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Effort to clean up Hanford radioactive spill

Plan developed to clean up highly radioactive Hanford spill BY ANNETTE CARY, TRI-CITY HERALD 02/06/12 Hanford officials have settled on a plan to clean up what may be the most highly radioactive spill at the nuclear reservation.

It depends on calling back into service the 47-year-old, oversized hot cell where the spill occurred to protect workers from the radioactive cesium and strontium that leaked through the hot cell to the soil below.

Radioactivity in the contaminated soil, which is about 1,000 feet from the Columbia River, has been measured at 8,900 rad per hour. Direct exposure for a few minutes would be fatal, according to Washington Closure. Continue reading →

February 10, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Chinese County rejects nuclear plant as a “time bomb”

Chinese County Protests Nuclear Plant Construction, VOA, February 9th, 2012  Chinese state media say authorities in eastern China are demanding construction of a local nuclear-power plant be stopped permanently because residents in the earthquake-prone region are at risk.
The state-run Global Times newspaper says a campaign against the plant was launched in the Anhui provincial county of Wangjiang. The paper says the controversy had drawn nationwide attention after a report in November questioning the plant’s safety was posted last week on the Internet.

The newspaper quotes critic and activist Sun Bin as saying “we all believe the plant is a time bomb.” The paper said the November critique pointed out that the facility – located in an adjacent county – sits on a seismic fault zone “with frequent occurrences of earthquakes.” The November report also said fault-zone data was not mentioned in earlier environmental impact reports. Plant construction was suspended for further impact studies last year, after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster…….. http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/02/09/chinese-county-protests-nuclear-plant-construction/

February 10, 2012 Posted by | China, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

How global warming brings freezing winter to Europe

 In particular, the loss of Arctic sea ice could be influencing the development of high-pressure weather systems over northern Russia, which bring very cold winds from the Arctic and Siberia to Western Europe and the British Isles, the scientists believe. 

Is Climate Change Bringing the Arctic to Europe? The Energy Collective, Joseph Romm, February 7, 2012 Less Summer Arctic Sea Ice Cover May Mean Some Colder, Snowier Winters in Central Europe [For Now]

[T]he probability of cold winters with much snow in Central Europe rises when the Arctic is covered by less sea ice in summer. Scientists of the Research Unit Potsdam of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association have decrypted a mechanism in which a shrinking summertime sea ice cover changes the air pressure zones in the Arctic atmosphere and impacts our European winter weather. These results of a global climate analysis were recently published in a study in the scientific journal Tellus A.

That’s the news release for yet another new study examining what will inevitably be the huge implications for extreme weather from the massive amount of heat released by the declining Arctic sea ice cover. Arctic sea ice in September 2007 reached its lowest extent on record, approximately 40% lower than when satellite records began in 1979. Sea ice loss in 2011 was virtually tied with the ice loss in 2007, despite weather conditions that were not as unusual in the Arctic. ”Such a large area of open water is bound to cause significant impacts on weather patterns, due to the huge amount of heat and moisture that escapes from the exposed ocean into the atmosphere over a multi-month period following the summer melt.”   Continue reading →

February 10, 2012 Posted by | climate change, EUROPE | Leave a comment

All of Tepco’s nuclear reactors to be out of service in March

Japan’s Tepco to suspend all nuclear operations  By MarketWatch, Feb. 9, 2012,   Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday it will suspend operations of the No. 6 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture on March 26 for a periodic check, a plan that will take all of its 17 reactors out of service, Kyodo News reported. Continue reading →

February 10, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

What is the price of the West getting it wrong on Iran?

 ‘spy vs spy’ approach is not sustainable. Eventually there will be a loser. The least worst option is for a dual approach of diplomacy and sanctions.

Middle East WMD 2.0 – Someone Will Be Proven Wrong on Iran, Huffington Post,  Paul Herouxm, 9 Feb 12, The current stand-off with Iran should be called “Middle East WMD 2.0.” No one knows Iran’s true intentions.

There is little concern with the outcome that Iran is not pursuing a weapons program and the West does nothing — this is the right course of action. Nor is there too much concern with the outcome that Iran was pursuing a weapons program and the US stops the program through
force — if it is truly justified and can be proven, then so be it.

But what if we get it wrong? Continue reading →

February 10, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Taipei insists that its many thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods are safe

Atomic body dismisses report on nuclear safety Taipei Times Staff Writer, with CNA , 9 Feb 12, The Atomic Energy Council yesterday dismissed a French newspaper’s report that raised doubts about the security of facilities storing spent reactor fuel, saying that spent fuel has always been kept under safe storage and strict management.

The French newspaper Le Monde reported on Tuesday that spent fuel pools at the Jinshan (金山) Nuclear Power Plant in Shimen District (石門), New Taipei City (新北市) and Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Wanli District (萬里), New Taipei City, have become saturated and could therefore be severely hazardous in the event of an accident. Continue reading →

February 10, 2012 Posted by | Taiwan, wastes | Leave a comment

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