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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister losing popularity, with the crackdown on anti nuclear ptotestors

The plant is a curse not only for us but also our children,”  … “We don’t fear the police. We will go to jail. But we will not allow the plant to function in our soil.”

 “I have always voted for Amma. But now I regret it. She has ditched us. I will never vote
for her again,”

The tide rises against Amma  J Jayalalithaa , Tekelka, 23 March 12, After Jayalalithaa’s green signal for the Koodankulam nuclear plant, the protesters and police are on a collision course, says Jeemon Jacob TENSION IS rising in the coastal village of Idinthakarai, the hub of the anti-nuclear protests in Tamil Nadu.

Around 5,000 men, women and children are camping at the St Lourdes Church grounds to express their solidarity with the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE),
spearheaded by P Udayakumar. They have been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike since Monday.

The protesters are in an angry mood after Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa made a U-turn in favour of the Koodankulam nuclear power plant and deployed more than 4,000 police personnel to counter the agitation.. Continue reading →

March 24, 2012 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Vermont Governor backs anti nuclear protestors, as dozens arrested

Dozens arrested in Vt. nuclear plant protest, Google News, By WILSON RING, Associated Press –24 March 12, BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) — A 93-year-old anti-nuclear activist was among more than 130 protesters arrested at the corporate headquarters of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant on the first day of the plant’s operation after the expiration of its 40-year license.
Frances Crowe, of Northampton, Mass., said she wants Vermont Yankee to cease operations because she feels it’s a threat to the people who live nearby.
“As I was walking down, all I could think of was Fukushima and the suffering of all the people, and I don’t want that to happen to New England,” Crowe said, referring to the Japanese nuclear reactor damaged last year after an earthquake and tsunami.

When asked how many times she’d been arrested, she answered: “Not enough.”…..

A crowd estimated at more than 1,000 gathered in a downtown Brattleboro park before they marched the 3 1/2 miles to the headquarters. Some marched on stilts. Others with painted faces carried signs that read “hell no, we won’t glow.” Many chanted: “Shut
it down.”
Gov. Peter Shumlin was sympathetic to the protesters. “I am very supportive of the peaceful protesters gathered today in Brattleboro to express their — and my — frustration that this aging plant remains open after its agreed-upon license has expired,” he
said….
The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued the plant a 20-year license extension, but the state of Vermont wants the plant to close and the two sides are fighting a legal battle. In January, a federal judge issued an order that allows the plant to continue
operating while the legal case continues in court….. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5id0Xp4AtvKoXSXRWciy2ukdioKyg?docId=594ef1f733024b8f964ef1bcea14c163

March 24, 2012 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

As Seoul nuclear summit approaches, Britain warns of nuclear terrorism

UK warns of nuclear risk ahead of Seoul summit  (Reuters) 23 March 12, – Britain warned on Friday there was a “significant likelihood” that terrorists will one day acquire chemical, biological or nuclear weapons unless countries step up their efforts to keep sensitive materials and information secure.

The British government released its first comprehensive National Counter-Proliferation Strategy, detailing the risks from the spread such weapons and what Britain and other countries can do to stop it.

It came out days before leaders from more than 50 countries, including U.S. President Barack Obama, gather in Seoul, South Korea, for a March 26-27 nuclear security summit focusing on measures to protect nuclear materials and facilities and to prevent illicit trafficking…..
“Nuclear terrorism is now a real and global threat,” British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who will lead Britain’s delegation in Seoul, said in a statement….
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/03/23/nuclear-britain-idINDEE82M0N320120323

March 24, 2012 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

Students alerting public to danger of nuclear waste dumping in Cumbria, UK

 the proposals … will be a ‘travesty of democracy’…..

there are claims that important scientific information is being ignored

Students fight Cumbria nuclear dump plan The Westmorland Gazette, 23 March 12, CONSULTATION over whether a nuclear waste repository should be built on Cumbria’s west coast comes to a close tomorrow with opponents making their voices heard in many imaginative ways… Continue reading →

March 24, 2012 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Texas likely to take in radioactive wastes from other States

Critics maintain that that Mr. Simmons’s financial might has helped him win state backing for the site. Mr. Simmons has donated more than $1 million to Gov. Rick Perry, who appoints board members to Texas agencies that oversee the waste site,

Texas Nears Approval of Multistate Nuclear-Waste Dump  WSJ, By NATHAN KOPPEL, March 23, 2012, Texas moved closer Friday to allowing low-level radioactive waste from dozens of states to be trucked in and disposed at a site in West Texas, which would become one of only four in the nation that could take low-level radioactive waste shipped from out of state.

A state agency with oversight of waste imports adopted rules Friday that help clear the way for the 1,338-acre dump near the New Mexico border, despite concerns expressed by environmentalists that such a facility may be unsafe. Continue reading →

March 24, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Malaysia’s old closed rare earths refinery still radioactive decades later

Radiation still high at closed rare earth refinery? Selangor Times,  Basil Foo, 23 Mar 2012 IPOH: Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas (SMSL) activists claimed high doses of radiation were found at the former Bukit Merah rare earth refinery site last Saturday  “The radiation emission here is 2.0 millisievert (mSv) per year. If we hang around here long enough, our health will be affected,” said SMSL chairperson Tan Bun Teet.

They took radiation readings using a Japanese-made Environmental Radiation Monitor at the entrance to the former refinery site, which was ringed by concrete walls and metal gates. According to the Atomic Energy Licensing Act 1984 Radiation Protection (Basic Safety Standards Regulations 1988), the annual dose limit for a member of the public is 1 mSv.

Tan said the dangers of radiation were well-known – from the testimonies of former workers at the Bukit Merah refinery whose children developed deformities. Continue reading →

March 24, 2012 Posted by | environment, Malaysia | Leave a comment

USA’s missile defense system a threat to Russia

Medvedev calls missile defense a threat to Russia  By Will Englund, Washington Post,  March 23  MOSCOW — Three days before his meeting with President Obama at a nuclear security summit in South Korea, the outgoing Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, reiterated his objections Friday to NATO’s missile defense plan, saying it would undermine nuclear parity and demanding written proof that Russia is not the ultimate target. Continue reading →

March 24, 2012 Posted by | politics international, Russia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Appeal of electric car damaged by connection with nuclear power

Is nuclear power damaging electric car image? The Green Car Website, 23 Mar 12, As Japan’s government prepares to restart dozens of nuclear power plants, idled since the Fukushima disaster last year, there is concern that electric cars could become tainted by their association with nuclear generation. Continue reading →

March 24, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Japan, technology | Leave a comment

Posthumous honour for victim of killer on UK nuclear submarine

Navy officer shot dead by rampaging sailor on nuclear submarine is honoured  DAILY MAIL  , 24 March2012 A Royal Navy officer murdered trying to stop a sailor on a gun rampage aboard a nuclear submarine has been posthumously honoured. Lieutenant Commander Ian Molyneux was awarded a George Medal for tackling Able Seaman Ryan Donovan as he ran amok on HMS Astute. Continue reading →

March 24, 2012 Posted by | safety, UK | Leave a comment

U.N. to investigate effects on Marshall Islanders of USA’s atomic bomb tests

UN to assess Marshall Islands nuclear effects ABC Asia Pacific News,  22 Mar 2012  A United Nations expert will visit the Marshall Islands next week to assess adverse effects of the nuclear testing undertaken by the United States between 1946 and 1958.

”It will be an exceptional opportunity to assess how the Marshallese peoples’ basic rights including the right to food, adequate housing and health have been affected,” Calin Georgescu, special rapporteur on the human rights obligations related to environmental issues, said in a press release.

Mr Georgescu is to present the conclusions of his March 26-30 visit to the UN Human Rights Council in September, possibly including recommendations to the governments of the Marshall Islands and the United States. http://abcasiapacificnews.com/stories/201203/3461159.htm

March 24, 2012 Posted by | environment, OCEANIA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Another complaint, by whistleblower at Hanford nuclear waste site

“This is an aggressive, retaliatory stance,” …”It is demonstrative of the systemic issues here, so significant that even the Department of Energy found it offensive.”

New complaint filed about Wash. nuclear waste site SF Gate, By SHANNON DININNY, Associated Press, March 23, 2012 The Energy Department is investigating another complaint claiming a contractor at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site interfered with an investigation into the design and safety of a massive plant under construction to treat nuclear waste.

The complaint is the latest in a string of whistleblower and other claims related to the design and safety of the $12.3 billion waste treatment plant at the Hanford nuclear reservation in south-central Washington……. Continue reading →

March 24, 2012 Posted by | civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) cleared out of several nations

US says 5 nations clear out weapons-grade uranium NewsDay,  DOUGLAS BIRCH  WASHINGTON – (AP)  March 22, 2012  The U.S. has helped five nations completely clear out  their stocks of highly enriched uranium since President Barack Obama outlined his plans for securing all weapons-usable materials worldwide, officials say, citing it as progress in the administration’s efforts to prevent nuclear weapons from getting in terrorists’ hands.

Anne Harrington, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation chief, said that since Obama’s April 2009 speech in Prague announcing his plans, the U.S. has helped remove enough material from about a dozen countries to make almost 30 warheads. She added that several global leaders are expected to use a nuclear security summit in Seoul, South Korea, which starts Sunday, to announce similar advances.

Arms control experts say the most difficult part of building an atomic bomb is acquiring the weapons-grade uranium or plutonium needed for the explosive core of the weapon. Locking up or eliminating these materials is crucial to preventing nuclear-armed terror.
Harrington said that’s the administration’s top national security concern: “Issue No. 1 … above anything else, keeping this material out of the hands of terrorists,” she said.
Over the past three years, officials say, the U.S. has helped Romania,
Libya, Turkey, Chile and Serbia completely clear out their stockpiles
of weapons-usable uranium. They join 13 other nations that did so
previously — Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, the
Philippines, Portugal, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and
Thailand.
For the most part, this has meant shutting down civilian research
reactors fueled by weapons-grade uranium, or converting those reactors
to use low-enriched uranium…..
http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/us-says-5-nations-clear-out-weapons-grade-uranium-1.3617219

March 24, 2012 Posted by | Uranium, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

1.5 tons of enriched uranium returned to Russia

Russia takes back Soviet-era uranium Voice of Russia, Mar 23, 2012  Acting on Russian-American counter-proliferation agreements, Russia has already withdrawn over
1.5 tons of enriched uranium from Soviet-built nuclear installations around the world. The amount would have been enough for making up to 100 nuclear weapons. http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_03_23/69377698/

March 24, 2012 Posted by | Russia, Uranium, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Sedition charges for anti nuclear hunger striker?

Locals Resume Anti-Nuclear Protest, WSJ, March 21, 2012,    “…….. protesters, mostly fishermen and villagers who live in coastal areas, are still worried that nuclear waste from the planned seaside nuclear power plant may damage the ecosystem and ruin their livelihoods.

S.P. Udaykumar of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy, a Tamil Nadu-based anti-nuclear power group that is spearheading the protest, is concerned the nuclear site could endanger those who live in close proximity to it. “People have not been given any disaster training…Both central and state government will be held responsible if
any untoward incident happens in the area,” Mr. Udaykumar told India Real Time Wednesday.

Mr. Udaykumar, who started an indefinite hunger strike on Monday in protest, is under investigation on charges that include sedition for his role in the agitation.

Local police officer Vijendra Bidari on Wednesday told India Real Time that more than 150 people have been arrested since Monday in Idinthakarai, the epicenter of protests against the proposed Kudankulam nuclear power plant…

Mr. Bidari said that, to maintain law and order in the state, further protests in the area have been banned.

The news was welcomed by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd.,
which is building the plant in Kudankulam with Russian support….

March 22, 2012 Posted by | civil liberties, India | Leave a comment

USA in a pickle – can’t afford to bury its dead nuclear reactors

Decommissioning a reactor is a painstaking and expensive process that
involves taking down huge structures and transporting the radioactive
materials to the few sites around the country that can bury them. 

The cost is projected at $400 million to $1 billion per reactor, which in some cases is more than what it cost to build the plants in the 1960s and ’70s.

As Reactors Age, the Money to Close Them Lags NYT, By MATTHEW L. WALD March 20, 2012 WASHINGTON — The operators of 20 of the nation’s aging nuclear reactors, including some whose licenses expire soon, have not saved nearly enough money for prompt and proper dismantling. Continue reading →

March 22, 2012 Posted by | decommission reactor, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

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