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Damaged South Korean nuclear reactor to shut down for 2 years

Uljin Nuclear Reactor Faces 2-Year Shutdown The Chosunilbo, 10 May 12, Additional faults have been detected in the No. 4 reactor at the Uljin Nuclear Power Plant, which has been undergoing repairs, and a complete shutdown now seems inevitable……..

Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Corporation has found that damage in the No. 4 reactor, where operations were halted due to defects in the machine that condensates steam from the turbine, is more serious than expected and tentatively decided to replace the steam generator.

Replacing it will take one or two years, so the reactor will not operate until at least next summer. It generates 1 million kW, or the capacity of two thermal power stations. …
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/05/10/2012051001397.html

May 10, 2012 Posted by | safety, South Korea | Leave a comment

Heartland Institute’s heartfelt attack on climate science

The chimerical construction of an ideologically-driven topsy-turvy reality by Heartland and its Australian equivalent, the IPA, is neither new nor surprising.

As the evidence for climate change continues to pile up, and as the frequency of severe weather events continues to sky-rocket, we can therefore be fairly certain that climate denial will take ever more scurrilous forms.

Are Heartland billboards the beginning of the end for climate denial? The Conversation, Stephan Lewandowsky 7 May 2012, The inversion of reality and morality has been a long-standing attribute of the climate “debate,” which reached a new watershed low a few days ago with the latest travesty from the Heartland Institute, a Chicago “think” tank.

Heartland posted on its website that “the people who still believe in man-made global warming are mostly on the radical fringe of society. This is why the most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen.” Continue reading →

May 10, 2012 Posted by | climate change, spinbuster, USA | Leave a comment

Edison company backs off about re-opening San Onofre nuclear plant

VIDEO   http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/05/san-onofre-nuclear-plant-backs-away-from-reopening-date.html.  San Onofre nuclear plant backs away from reopening date L.A. Times, May 9, 2012  Southern California Edison backed off from comments made last week by one of its executives, who said the company hopes to have the San Onofre nuclear plant — shuttered due to equipment issues — back online and operating at a reduced capacity in
June….

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko released a statement Monday, saying the agency has yet to receive a written statement from Edison to say the required steps have been taken to investigate and make a plan to fix the issues at the plant and “any discussion of a date for
the restart of Unit 2 or Unit 3 is clearly premature.”

The plant has been shuttered for more than three months because of problems with excessive wear in steam generator tubes. On Tuesday, Edison reported it has taken about 1,300 tubes out of service because of wear — 510 in Unit 2 and 807 in Unit 3 — representing a little more than 3% of the total number of tubes in the plant, and a higher number than the company had previously reported…….
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/05/san-onofre-nuclear-plant-backs-away-from-reopening-date.html.

May 10, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

American taxpayers to pay up big for nuclear weapons

McKeon Wants Taxpayers to Spend Millions on Nuclear Boondoggle and NATO’s Bombs   POGO Project on Government Oversight By MIA STEINLE, 7 May 12, With the House Armed Services Committee scheduled to mark up the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this Wednesday, committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) has just released his markup of the bill. Alarmingly, McKeon’s NDAA markup includes an unjustified $100 million increase in funding to a proposed boondoggle of a nuclear weapons facility, the funding for which the House Appropriations Committee zeroed out last month. The Obama Administration had earlier requested that construction for the project be delayed by at least five years. ..

… Increased funding for CMRR-NF isn’t the only way McKeon’s NDAA mark-up gets it wrong. McKeon’s suggestion would increase the Administration’s request to modernize B61 nuclear bombs by $66 million, to a total of $435 million. Nearly 200 American B61s are stored at bases in five European countries as part of NATO’s defense. However, the cost to modernize these European-based B61s (in a process known as a life extension program, or LEP) would fall squarely on the shoulders of American taxpayers. McKeon’s suggested increase means that Americans would pay even more for these bombs on behalf of NATO….. http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/05/mckeon-wants-taxpayers-to-spend-millions-on-nuclear-boondoggle-and-natos-bombs.html

May 10, 2012 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The risk of weakening safety standards at USA nuclear weapons facilities

Don’t let foxes guard our nuclear henhouse THE HILL,   By Katherine M. Fuchs, program director, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability   – 05/09/12  Today the House Armed Services Committee will debate the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), possibly overturning 25 years of safety standards at our nation’s weapons facilities. During this debate members of this committee will have a choice – they can protect communities around nuclear sites and the employees who work there or they can go on record as turning their back on those safety standards.

There are several sections of the NDAA that relate directly to nuclear safety and pose a threat to security. Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this bill is the fact that it would overturn the “adequate protection standard” that has guided nuclear safety oversight for over two decades. Continue reading →

May 10, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Escalating cost of USA’s and Russia’s nuclear bombs

New Report: US and Russian Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons, May 09 B61 Nuclear Bomb Costs Escalating  FAS Strategic Sexcurity Blog,  The expected cost of the B61 Life-Extension Program has increased by 50 percent to $6 billion By Hans M. Kristensen The expected cost of the B61 Life-Extension Program (LEP) has increased by 50 percent to $6 billion dollars, according to U.S. government sources.

Only one year ago, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) estimated in its Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program report to Congress that the cost of the program would be approximately $4 billion.

The escalating cost of the program – and concern that NNSA does not have an effective plan for managing it – has caused Congress to cap spending on the B61 LEP by 60 percent in 2012 and 100 percent in 2013. Continue reading →

May 10, 2012 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Face up to global threats – climate change, nuclear power, nuclear weapons

Tough Talk From Environmental Activist Dr. Helen Caldicott    HUFFINGTON POST,   Marianne Schnall , 05/09/2012  Dr. Helen Caldicott has passionately devoted the last 40 years to educating the global community about the inherent risks and dangers of nuclear energy and weapons and the critical changes needed to restore and help save our embattled Earth. The Australian-born medical doctor (a pediatrician) and former Nobel Peace Prize nominee is the author of five books and the founder of several organizations including Physicians for Social Responsibility , Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND)  and The Helen Caldicott Foundation/NuclearFreePlanet.org . I recently had the opportunity to talk to the world renowned activist and environmental prophet at Green America’s Green Festival  in New York City, where she delivered an urgent and electrifying speech. Dr. Caldicott, who has been outspoken about the health and environmental dangers of nuclear power since before the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl meltdowns, prays that we will take heed from the recent Fukushima nuclear disaster, which resulted in the Japanese government shutting down all 54 of Japan’s nuclear reactors, and spark a global trend to close nuclear power plants. Her frustration and anger at the lack of meaningful progress on this issue is palpable; as is her inspiring hope and belief in the collective power of individual citizens to raise their voices and create the political will to take action. What’s at stake, as she reminds us in this candid interview, is our moral and spiritual imperative to protect our children and our Mother Earth. As she bluntly puts it, ” The planet’s in the intensive care unit, critically, acutely ill, and now we are all physicians to a dying planet.” She urges, “Let the data sink in and then get off your couches to save the planet for your children.”

Marianne Schnall: What is the one message you are most hoping to get out there?

Helen Caldicott: There isn’t one message, there are three. One is that we are in dire danger from global warming …..  Number two: you close down your two Indian Point reactors, because if one of them blows, man – you’re all gone. Three: work with Obama to work with Russia to abolish 97% of the weapons on the planet, between Russia and America. You can do that. The Russians are ready. What’s holding it up is your generals, who are really pathological in the Pentagon and one of them said, ‘If you get rid of our nuclear weapons, man, that’s threatening the family jewels,’ and that says it all, in a nutshell, so to speak, and that’s a bad pun…….   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marianne-schnall/an-interview-with-environ_b_1500898.html

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

Japan’s idle nuclear reactors still need huge electricity to keep them safe

The end of nuclear, CLIMATE SPECTATOR, Matthew Wright , 8 May 2012  “………When they get too old to operate safely or get shut early due to disaster they still need to be propped up on life support, to manage the site cleanup, to manage their waste and to cool that waste.

In fact right now, Japan’s 54 idled reactors are using the electricity equivalent to the output of three entire reactors, just to provide cooling and other critical services. These will need to go on being delivered to the sites for years even if the reactors are to be completely decommissioned.

That means that nuclear reactors are competing with hospitals, schools and factories for scarce electricity supplies. Due to inherent safety risks, the reactors get power ahead of everyone else in the country.  It doesn’t matter if you’re in an emergency ward needing urgent medical attention to save your life, the reactors’ safety comes first……
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/nuclear-power-and-Japan-end-of-nuclear-Fukushima-d-pd20120508-U3UUW?opendocument&src=rss

May 10, 2012 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Japan’s nuclear shutdown and political uncertainty

Japan plays nuclear power politics, Star Tribune,   by: THE ECONOMIST  May 7, 2012
“…….So powerful is the symbolism of having no nuclear plants in operation that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has tried to get at least two reactors back up and running. He has failed, and now his political opponents may try to make capital out of this

…….What both main parties fear is that the nuclear debate could become an electoral issue in what promises to be a stormy summer……
The government’s attempt to restart the reactors comes even before a new regulatory body has been established with the transparency, independence and technical ability that its predecessors lacked. It comes before any attempt has been made to clarify the chain of command for handling such accidents Continue reading →

May 10, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Majority of Japanese would choose energy restrictions rather than restart nuclear power

the survey shows 61 percent of people in the Kinki region, which is expected to face the most serious power shortage, say they “can endure” such restrictions. Seventy-ninepercent of people in the Kanto region, which took sweeping energy-saving measures last summer, also say they can put up with restricted use of power. Meanwhile, more than 70 percent of peoplepolled elsewhere in the country say they can live with such restrictions…..

63% of Japanese citizens say ‘no’ to restarting of Oi nuclear reactors: Mainichi poll. 8 May 12,  Sixty-three percent of Japanese people stand against reactivating two idled reactors at the Oi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture, and 74 percent say they “can endure” restricted use of electricity in the summer, a nationwide survey conducted by the Mainichi shows, suggesting that the general public is becoming increasingly in favor of breaking away from nuclear power generation. Continue reading →

May 10, 2012 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Radiation hotspots in North Eastern schools in Japan

Japanese schools have radiation hotspots after nuclear disaster Chicago Tribune, May 7, 2012 TOKYO — Schools in north-eastern Japan are suffering from radiation hotspots more than one year after reactor meltdowns at a nuclear power station, a media report said Monday. Continue reading →

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

South Africa urged to not be a sucker for the nuclear salesmen

Nuclear is so Third World; an expensive, hazardous, problematic technology for suckers. The French are the nuclear industry leaders and they are facing declining demand in the developed world. Francois Hollande’s victory yesterday is more bad news for the industry. They are now desperate to sell their technology to corruptible developing countries especially the aspirational Brics.

Why SA should say no to nuclear energy, Politics Web, Brent Meersman 08 May 2012 Brent Meersman says the cost is simply prohibitive and the time frame impossible
Our government, it seems, may be dangerously close to repeating the e-toll fiasco with nuclear energy. As with e-tolls, by the time the pubic wakes up to its implications and how it effects them, the contracts are signed and the citizenry is on the hook for billions. Continue reading →

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

Loss and share price fall for Denison uranium miner

Uranium miner Denison Mines reports US$52-million first-quarter loss
By: The Canadian Press  05/9/2012  TORONTO – Denison Mines Corp. (TSX:DML) reported Wednesday a loss of US$52 million in the first quarter as it took a $44-million writedown on its U.S. assets and operations which it is selling.
The uranium miner, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said the loss amounted to 14 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31 compared with a loss of $7.1 million or two cents per share a year ago..

.. Shares in the company, which reported its results after the close of markets, were down four cents at $1.57 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

May 10, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Public opposition holds up Lynas’ rare earths processing plans for Malaysia

the expanding protest movement …… has already delayed the project by eight months and cast a shadow over its future.

The resistance – fed by social networks and Malaysia’s increasingly lively independent online media – also raises broader questions over the global expansion of an industry that has created huge environmental problems in China

Opponents say the Lynas plant doesn’t meet with best practice standards for the industry as it is too close to heavily populated areas and in a place where the ground water level is high. Molycorp’s plant in California, by comparison, is situated far from residential areas in an arid climate.

Citizen backlash keeps Malaysia rare earth plant on hold, The West, Siva Sithraputhran, Reuters  May 9, 2012  GEBENG, Malaysia  – The expensive machinery lies silent, idling as Malaysia’s government weighs a delicate decision to allow shipments of raw material to arrive from Australia and finally start operations at the world’s largest rare earths plant outside China. Continue reading →

May 10, 2012 Posted by | Malaysia, opposition to nuclear, Uranium | Leave a comment

New Vogtle nuclear reactor – delays and unexpected costs

Utility: Building schedule slips on Ga. nuke plant The Telegraph, Middle Georgia, By RAY HENRY — Associated Press May 9, 2012 The timeline for building a first-of-its-kind nuclear plant in Georgia has slipped seven months, while the Southern Co. faces a dispute over who should pay for $400 million in unanticipated costs, utility executives said Wednesday. Continue reading →

May 10, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

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