Iran agrees to let UN inspectors investigate suspected nuclear weapons site
Iran ‘to allow nuclear inspectors’, Herald Sun, AP May 23, 2012 IRAN has agreed in principle to allow UN inspectors to restart investigations into a suspected nuclear weapons test site.
The tentative accord – announced as envoys headed to the Iraqi capital for negotiations – is likely to be used by Iran as added leverage to seek concessions from the West on sanctions.
But US officials have shown no willingness to shift into bargaining mode so quickly, setting the stage for possible tense moments after talks tentatively set for today resume in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone.
Still, Iran’s move raises the pressure on the West for some reciprocal gestures to keep dialogue on track and further highlights Tehran’s apparent aims of opening a long give-and-take process over its nuclear
ambitions.
A major breakthrough in the years-long impasse was not expected in Baghdad, with officials and experts saying both sides will seek to demonstrate enough progress to keep the process moving forward…..http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/iran-signals-wider-un-access/story-fn6s850w-1226364055809
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant is dangerous, say protestors
14 Protesters Arrested Outside Plymouth Nuclear Plant (includes audio) 
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/05/21/14-protesters-arrested-outside-plymouth-nuclear-plant/ May 21, 2012, PLYMOUTH (CBS) – Fourteen members of the group Cape Downwinders were arrested Sunday while demonstrating at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, hoping to get it shut down. The demonstrators said their message is simple.
“The Pilgrim nuclear facility is a dangerous facility and it should be shut down,” said Paul Rifkin, a member of the group. The group wants to deliver a letter to Pilgrim’s owners, Entergy, demanding that they cease operations, pointing to the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan as a wake-up call to action.
“It’s a 40-year-old plant and they want to license it for another 20 years. We don’t want the nuclear regulatory commission to re-license that plant,” said Rifkin.
In the letter, the group says the continued operation of the plant is an unacceptable threat to health and public safety and they also want an evacuation preparedness plan to include Cape Cod.
The group worries a power failure at the plant could be catastrophic, and the members have doubts about how a mass evacuation from the Cape, given its only two exit points, would work. We’re hoping that NRC upholds their mandate to provide for the public health and safety and not re-license the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth,” said Diane Turko, who was one of the protesters arrested for trespassing.
The plant’s current license expires June 8th and they are hoping to renew for another 20 years.
Shutdown of Pilgrim nuclear power plant
Pilgrim nuclear plant shut down, By Colin A. Young | BOSTON GLOBE MAY 22, 2012 Power production at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth was halted this afternoon when a condenser at the station lost vacuum pressure during a cleaning, forcing operators to shut down the entire plant, officials said.
Operators shut down the plant, which was operating at about 30 percent power at the time, according to Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Plant operators initiated a manual “scram,” which “involves the control room operators inserting all of the control rods into the reactor core to halt the fissioning process,” according to Sheehan….. http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/05/22/pilgrim-nuclear-plant-shut-down-after-condenser-problem/SJmVPhZjZnhV8zFRF0EYmN/story.html
Australia’s uranium industry not looking good for the future
The uranium price tanked after the Fukushima disaster and so far there is no sign of a bounce.
Uranium flashpoint in the wild West, The Drum, Jim Green, 22 May 12, Interesting times in the uranium sector. The mining companies have had a few wins in the 14 months since the Fukushima disaster, but they’ve had more losses.
Bill Repard, organiser of the Paydirt Uranium Conference held in Adelaide in February, put on a brave face with this claim: The sector’s hiccups in the wake of Fukushima are now over with, the global development of new nuclear power stations continues unabated, and the Australian sector has literally commenced a U-turn in every sense.
Yet for all the hype, uranium accounts for a lousy 0.03 per cent of Australian export revenue and a negligible 0.02 per cent of Australian jobs. The industry’s future depends on the nuclear power ‘renaissance’, but global nuclear power capacity has been stagnant for the past 20 years, and if there is any growth at all in the next 20 years, it will be modest. Continue reading
Even nuclear industry experts know that the business is a dead cat
The nuclear landscape includes aging plants, rising global demand for energy, competition from cheap natural gas and environmental standards likely to be toughened after the Fukushima crisis in Japan.
A long-anticipated U.S. “nuclear renaissance” has run into headwinds – sagging demand for electricity as the economy slumped, investors wary of new plants that will cost $10 billion or more and then the crisis at Fukushima.
Nuclear meeting opens in Charlotte with debt worries, News Observer BY BRUCE HENDERSON , 22 May 12 Continue reading
South Africa’s renewable energy becoming cheaper
Renewable energy ‘getting cheaper’ Business Report, By Londiwe Buthelezi. May 22 2012 The cost of renewable energy for South African businesses and homes is coming down. Projects chosen in the second bidding window of the renewable energy independent power producers (IPP) programme would offer power at lower prices, the Department of Energy announced yesterday. Continue reading
Counteracting the pro nuclear spin that “ionising radiation is OK”
Low dose ionising radiation IS harmful to health http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/life/health/low-dose-ionising-radiation-is-harmful-to-health/ Independent Australia, Noel Wauchope, 21 May 12, A landmark study on Hiroshima survivors comprehensively disproves nuclear lobby spin about ionising radiation being safe at low doses. This week, a new report about low dose ionising radiation was published — one that should put a spanner in the works of the nuclear lobby. It is called ‘Studies of the Mortality of Atomic Bomb Survivors, Report 14, 1950–2003: An Overview of Cancer and Noncancer Diseases’.
First of all, let me explain why this report is so important and so timely.
It’s now just over a year since the tragic Fukushima disaster. So the nuclear lobby thinks that it’s time to restart the nuclear renaissance, and to get people to stop worrying about ionising radiation.
To this end, the industry, and particularly the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have projects under way.
In particular, there are two important projects going on —seemingly unrelated ones. But they are, as a matter of fact, closely related. Both aim to dampen the public concern about ionising radiation — indeed, to promote acceptance of “low level radiation”:
One sets out to downgrade nuclear emergency procedures. The other aims at discrediting the scientifically accepted model on the cancer risk of low level radiation — known as the Linear No Threshold model (LNT), which states that there is no level below which ionising radiation is not harmful, with risk increasing with each added unit of radiation……..
Project 2 – discrediting the radiation risk model
The U.S. Department of energy funds research projects worldwide that promote the theories of “radiation hormesis” and “adaptive radiation”.
Radiation hormesis holds that, at a low level, radiation is not only harmless, but actually good for human health.
Adaptive radiation holds that people exposed to low level radiation, over time, become resistant to its cancer-causing effects.
It’s easy to see how well this fits in with a relaxing of the rules for safety around nuclear facilities, and a public complacency about the nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island…… Continue reading
Shocked reaction to USA quietly watering down nuclear emergency plans
A mandate that local responders always run practice exercises for a radiation release has been eliminated – a move viewed as downright bizarre by some emergency planners. ….
These changes, while documented in obscure federal publications, went into effect with hardly any notice by the general public.
These changes, while documented in obscure federal publications, went into effect with hardly any notice by the general public.
Powering down nuclear exercises Utility Products, 20 May 12, Without fanfare, the nation’s nuclear power regulators have overhauled community emergency planning for the first time in more than three decades, requiring fewer exercises for major accidents and
recommending that fewer people be evacuated right away.
Nuclear watchdogs voiced surprise and dismay over the quietly adopted revamp – the first since the program began after Three Mile Island in 1979. Several said they were unaware of the changes until now, though they took effect in December. At least four years in the
works, the changes appear to clash with more recent lessons of last year’s reactor crisis in Japan. Continue reading
Cancer caused by uranium fuel processing plant, claims big lawsuit
In recent court filings, plaintiffs provided many tragic stories of living in the Apollo and Parks area in the shadow of the nuclear sites and being diagnosed with cancer.
Mega-lawsuit claims nuke contamination in Armstrong Trib Live News, Mary Ann Thomas Gateway Newspapers , May 17, 2012 The nearly 100 plaintiffs alleging death, cancer and other illnesses from radioactive emissions from two defunct Armstrong County nuclear fuels plants are awaiting a trial date for what is likely to be a second set of a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit. Continue reading
Iowa’s ratepayers win in defeat of nuclear industry Bill
The failure of this nuclear bill shows that the Iowa Legislature is listening to the people of Iowa and not to the well-financed nuclear power industry or to MidAmerican Energy’s lobbyists.
Nuclear bill’s failure a win for all Iowans The Gazette, By Mike Carberry, 20 May 12 In a major blow to the nuclear industry, the Iowa Legislature adjourned without passing a bill that would pave the way for MidAmerican Energy to charge ratepayers in advance for new nuclear reactor construction.
The utility could have been allowed to keep the money even if construction was never completed. MidAmerican lobbied extensively for the bill but Iowa ratepayer concerns about nuclear power doomed the proposal. Continue reading
Stop Kent nuclear waste bunker plan says Campaign to Protect Rural England,
Environmental group slams Kent nuclear waste bunker proposal BBC 20 May 2012 A proposal to build a nuclear waste bunker in Kent has been criticised by an environmental group.
Shepway District Council is considering whether a nuclear disposal facility, where waste is buried underground, could be built at Romney Marsh.
Protect Kent have reacted strongly to the proposal saying it must be “quashed at the outset”.
The council said it has “no formal view” about the proposal.
The Romney Marsh Nuclear Research and Disposal Facility would be buried 200m (656ft) to 1,000m (3,280ft) below ground……. Kent County Council has already signalled its opposition to the idea, saying it would push for a county-wide referendum.
Andrew Ogden, from Protect Kent, local branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said the proposal was “unfeasible”.
“This is an ill-considered idea that must be quashed at the outset,” he said.
“Perhaps more significantly, it is a proposal that is so unfeasible and so unlikely to be given any credence by the government. Shepway District Council are wasting time, energy and money in trying to pursue it.”….. Shepway District Council will hold a series of public exhibitions over the next three weeks detailing the proposals. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-18137403
NATO should stop kow towing to USA militarism
New thinking is needed on Nato http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/20/new-thinking-needed-nato guardian.co.uk, Rae Street 20 May 2012 As Nato meets in Chicago , it is high time our politicians started to take a hard look at the organisation. They need to stop kowtowing to a US agenda of global military dominance through Nato and realise that Nato is not bringing peace and security, but dangerous instability. Seumas Milne (Comment, 16 May) outlined the dangers from wars of intervention; Malalai Joya described the suffering brought to Afghanistan by the occupying forces (Our Chicago resistance, 17 May).
But the dangers are even wider. Nato continues to assert it needsnuclear weapons for defence and still holds a policy of first use of nuclear weapons. At the Lisbon summit Nato leaders reaffirmed their addiction to nuclear weapons, ignoring the nuclear non-proliferation treaty which states that nuclear weapon states should disarm “in good faith”.
Trident is integrated into Nato and there are five nuclear-armed Nato bases in Europe from Belgium to Turkey. Nato is building its missile-defence programme in European bases – aimed at Russia? Outside Europe, Nato is expanding its influence from the Mediterranean to the Pacific.
Nato brings with it enormous cost. Eisenhower’s military-industrial complex is alive and profiting. Since all Nato military forces have to have interoperability, they are constrained to buy the same fighter planes, mainly from Lockheed Martin . In times of austerity the military manufacturers flourish while, in Nato states, people are being hit by savage cuts in welfare services.
Can we hope that new thinking will come out of the Nato summit?
Release peaceful protestors of Koodankulam nuclear plant – Sandeep Pandey
Mr. Pandey said, “That there has been no violence so far is a unique feature of this movement and the credit goes to the fisherfolk of Tirunelveli. The government must withdraw all false cases and release two of the activists still in jail, Satish Kumar and Muhilan.”
Magsaysay awardee opposes KKNPP http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article3433480.ece 19 May 12 Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay award winner and a convener of the National Alliance of People’s Movements, said on Friday that Indian nuclear scientists were dealing with an unknown technology in the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) and that it should not be commissioned hastily as it was against the people’s interest. Continue reading
Kudankulam nuclear plant unsafe say protestors in London
The fact is that the Indian nuclear programme itself is backed up heavily by the US and foreign corporates (like Atomsroyexport) and US companies are salivating over deals with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India.”
Protest in Britain over Kudankulam nuclear plant http://ibnlive.in.com/news/protest-in-britain-over-kudankulam-nuclear-plant/259242-62-128.html IBN Tamil Nadu 19, 2012 London: Anti-nuclear and rights group on Friday held a noisy demonstration in front of the Indian High Commission here in protest against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant being built in a tsunami-prone area of Tamil Nadu. Continue reading
Nuclear weapons, AND missile shields to stay in Europe – NATO
NATO’s Missile Shield To Keep Nations’ Nuclear Weapons http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-20/nato-s-missile-shield-to-keep-nations-nuclear-weapons.html By Helene Fouquet – May 20, 2012 France and the U.K. will get NATO’s assurance that the European missile defense shield isn’t intended to take the place of their nuclear weapons, according to a European official with knowledge of the discussions. Continue reading
1 This Month
10 June – Assessing Canada’s Investments in Small Modular Nuclear Reactors – https://zoom.us/meeting/register/IiqHA5feRhaEBycOLNTJlA#/registration
Cuba Is Not a Failed State – It Is a Besieged State
PETITION: “Global Appeal to Endorse Palestinian Right of Return of Refugees”
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