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Wrap up of the week’s nuclear news

 

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

Japan will have no functioning nuclear power after May 5. Discussion and dispute going on about when to restart the 2 Oi nuclear reactors. Japanese government fearful of effect on global nuclear industry, unless they can restart very soon.  Govt has very hastily declared those 2 reactors ‘safe’. Meanwhile Fukushima nuclear plant by no means safe. especially reactor No 4 with perilous radioactive cooling pond at risk.

India wants to join ‘non weapons proliferation States, but just doesn’t want to sign the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Meanwhile, India launches nuclear weapons capable  missile   ‘China Killer’ .

UK in a pickle as 2 firms pull out of new nuclear construction, and French firms demand subsidies to build  reactors at Hinkley Point  and  at Sizewell . French firm EDF demands  more financial incentives if it is to proceed with new nuclear plant in Cumbria,

Russia‘s top nuclear reactor designer arrested for fraud.

USA. Vermont rallying to keep its power to veto building of nuclear reactors. Georgia – court appeal against licensing of 2 new nuclear power plants.

France. Sarkozy in an election embarrassment, forced to admit that he did try for nuclear reactor sale to Gaddafi.

Medical radiation in the news, with concerns over new breast cancer treatment  brachytherapy.  Also with medical over-radiation scandal in Trinidad.

April 19, 2012 Posted by | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Iran poses no nuclear threat. But what about Kazakhstan?

Uranium Diplomacy:The US Double-Standard in Kazakhstan and Iran, THE REAL NEWS, 18 APRIL 2012  By Allen Ruff and Steve Horn [This is a slightly revised version of  “Uranium Double-Standard: The U.S., Kazakhstan and Iran,” that originally appeared at Nation of Change. It is the second installment of an ongoing series on U.S. involvement in Kazakhstan. The first originally appeared at Truthout and is also available here.]

Iran’s alleged “nuclear threat” has taken center stage among diplomats, military men, and politicians in Washington, Tel Aviv, and the West at-large.
Despite the fact that investigative journalists Seymour Hersh, Gareth Porter and others have meticulously documented the fact that Iran, in fact, poses no nuclear threat at all, the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress have laid down multiple rounds of harsh sanctions as a means to “deter” Iran from reaching its “nuclear capacity.”
The most recent round featured a call to boycott Iran’s oil industry by President Obama.
While rhetorical attention remains focused on Iran’s “threat”, there is an “elephant in the room”: Kazakhstan’s booming uranium mining and expanding nuclear industry —  a massive effort involving U.S. multinational corporations and an authoritarian regime increasingly tied to Washington.
Double standards have long reigned supreme in U.S. foreign policy. Few examples illustrate that better than the contrast between Washington’s stance toward the nuclear ambitions of Iran and Kazakhstan…… Continue reading →

April 19, 2012 Posted by | Kazakhstan, politics international | Leave a comment

USA government reports calculate and confirm that nuclear power is highly dangerous

Nuclear power plants and the process of atomic fission in them are inherently dangerous—at a scale of technological disaster that is unparalleled.

now there are numerous and truly safe, clean energy technologies available that render nuclear power totally unnecessary. Thus, we can avoid sinking with the atomic Titanics which the nuclear power promoters insist we board.

Nuclear Titanics – The Perils of Technological Hubris, Counter Punch,  by KARL GROSSMAN 16 April 12,  On the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, The Japan Times yesterday ran an editorial titled “The Titanic and the Nuclear Fiasco” which stated: “Presenting technology as completely safe, trustworthy or miraculous may seem to be a thingof the past, but the parallels between the Titanic and Japan’s nuclear power industry could not be clearer.”

“Japan’s nuclear power plants were, like the Titanic, advertised as marvels of modern science that were completely safe. Certain technologies, whether they promise to float a luxury liner or provide clean energy, can never be made entirely safe,” it said…
the same kind of baloney behind the claim that the Titanic was unsinkable is behind the puffery that nuclear power plants are safe. The nuclear power promoters are still saying that despite the sinking of atomic Titanics: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and now the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plants.

In fact, underneath the PR offensive are government documents admitting that nuclear power plants are deadly dangerous. The first analysis of the consequences of a nuclear plant accident was done in 1957 by Brookhaven National Laboratory, Continue reading →

April 19, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

India wants to be seen as ‘non proliferation’ state, but won’t sign the Nuclear non Proliferation Treaty

India pitches for membership of global non-proliferation regimes Indrani Bagchi, Times of India | Apr 19, 2012, NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday made the most persuasive case for India’s “full membership” of the global non-proliferation regimes. In a major policy statement, foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai told a gathering of nuclear experts that “the logical conclusion of partnership with India is its full
membership of the four multilateral regimes.”..

.. India’s membership is not an easy decision. First, there is an NPT adherence that is seen
as crucial criteria. India has not signed the NPT and is not likely to do so, as a non-nuclear weapons state. So India’s membership into these groups would have to take this refusal into account….

April 19, 2012 Posted by | India, politics international, weapons and war | 1 Comment

India’s ‘China Killer’ nuclear capable missile takes off

India fires nuclear-capable ICBM Agni-5 Deccan Herald, Bhubaneswar, April 19, 2012,   India on Thursday conducted the maiden test of its indigenously developed nuclear capable Agni V ballistic missile with a strike rangeof over 5,000 km, from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast.
The three-stage solid propellant missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher from the launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at about 8.05 a.m., defence sources said……..
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/243162/india-fires-nuclear-capable-icbm.html

April 19, 2012 Posted by | India, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Appeals Court hearing of call to block license for Georgia nuclear power plants

Southern Nuclear Power Plant Foes Ask Court to Block License Bloomberg, By Andrew Harris, Brian Wingfield and Tom Schoenberg – Apr 18, 2012 Southern Co. (SO)’s license from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. to build two nuclear power plants in Georgia should be blocked, opponents of the project said in a U.S. appeals court filing.

The NRC rejected a request by nine environmental groups that it halt construction at the two facilities on April 16, setting the stage for today’s filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. The agency approved the license on Feb. 9 by a 4-1 vote

“Issuance of a stay is in the public interest,” the groups said in their filing today, arguing that that NRC failed to fully consider lessons learned from Japan’s Fukushima Dai- Ichi power plant disaster caused by a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Continue reading →

April 19, 2012 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Row over membership of USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Her [Kristine Svinicki’s]  term expires in June, but President Barack Obama has not announced whether she will be nominated to a new term, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has made it clear he will oppose her….
A spokesman for Reid said the delay in Svinicki’s nomination had nothing to do with her complaint against Jaczko, a former Reid aide who has denied bullying anyone at the NRC. 

“Sen. Reid opposes Commissioner Svinicki’s re-nomination because she lied to Congress about her past work on Yucca Mountain,” Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said Wednesday.

Svinicki said during a 2007 confirmation hearing that she had not worked directly on the Yucca Mountain project while working at the Energy Department in the 1990s, a statement Jentleson and other Democrats called false. Department records show that Svinicki co-authored technical papers on waste disposal issues related to Yucca Mountain in the mid-1990s

Reid has supported qualified Republicans for the NRC and is open to
supporting another GOP nominee.

GOP leader: Obama targets nuclear regulator Google News, By MATTHEW DALY,  19 April 12 WASHINGTON (AP) — Last December, Kristine Svinicki and other members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Congress that the NRC’s Democratic chairman was an intimidating bully whose actions could compromise the nation’s nuclear safety. Continue reading →

April 19, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Sarkozy admits to discussing nuclear reactor sales with Gaddafi

France’s Sarkozy rows back on nuclear help for Libya    Apr 18, 2012 (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy backpedalled from a denial and acknowledged on Wednesday that he had discussions with Muammar Gaddafi about selling a nuclear reactor to Libya some four years before Paris helped topple the late dictator in 2011.

France’s readiness to provide a reactor to Gaddafi’s Libya has become a hot issue ahead of the election, eclipsing Sarkozy’s key role in helping drive the dictator from power last year, which he frequently portrays as one of his achievements……  Gaddafi made a state visit to Paris in December 2007 during which France agreed to help Libya build a desalination plant powered by a nuclear reactor, according to remarks by Sarkozy at the time……
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/18/france-election-libya-idUSL6E8FICEC20120418

April 19, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment