nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Growing interest in UK for farming the wind and the sunlight

UK: Concern about energy security ‘sparks rise in interest in developing renewable schemes’ EADT 24, UK , June 24, 2012  Growing concern about climate change and energy security has sparked the country-wide development of renewable energy facilities and commercial interest from landowners and developers, says surveyors’ organisation RICS. Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

Thousands protest in Japan and beyond, against restart of nuclear reactors

Protests in Japan Over Nuclear Plant Restarts, By Jack Phillips Epoch Times 24 June 12, Tens of thousands of Japanese people took to the streets over the weekend in Tokyo and Osaka to protest the government’s plan to restart two reactors in Fukui Prefecture—the first restarts since all nuclear facilities were shut for inspection after last year’s tsunami-triggered and nuclear disaster.

“The government’s decision (to reactivate the Oi reactors) is folly. We should not leave it to the next generation to solve the energy issue,” a 42-year-old woman from the city of Kofu told the Japan Times, and was joined by 45,000 other people at a rally in Tokyo Friday…..

“They are trying to scare us by saying power supplies may run out even if the reactors are restarted,” one protester was quoted as saying….. There were also protests at Japanese consulates on Pacific Coast and in the U.S. cities of San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon .http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/protests-in-japan-over-nuclear-plant-restarts-256329.html

June 25, 2012 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Typhoons, tornadoes, threaten crippled Fukushima nuclear plant

Fukushima plant faces typhoon summer with added tornado threat, Fuel Fix June 22, 2012 Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501)’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant faces its second typhoon season since the March 11 disaster last year, raising the risk of further radiation leaks if storms thrash exposed pools of uranium fuel rods or tanks holding contaminated water. Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Philippines – a call for renewable energy

“Previously more expensive geothermal and biomass power are now competitive with coal in terms of generation cost, with wind and solar expected to reach grid parity within the decade,”


WWF urges government: Go for clean energy, Philippine Daily Inquirer TJ Burgonio, June 25th, 2012 The government should stop relying on “quick fixes” and open the door to clean and cheap renewable energy sources Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Goodnight and goodbye for San Onofre nuclear plant?

Instead of spending the next five years figuring out how to keep the plant going indefinitely, Edison should be using that time to develop other ways to generate the needed power, especially from reliable, sustainable sources such as solar and wind.

 Now is the perfect time for Edison, and the state as a whole, to begin the planning for a non-nuclear future.

San Onofre’s cloudy future Can the damaged nuclear power plant be repaired and restarted? And if so, what then?  LA Times, June 24, 2012 These are dark days at the San Onofre nuclear plant just south of Orange County. Both of its reactors have been shut down for more than four months, when abnormal “thinning” was discovered in the tubes of recently installed steam generators. Neither reactor will come back on line this summer, and after that, it’s still unclear whether one or both will be switched on again and if so, at full power or partial — or whether they’ll stay shut for the foreseeable future.

On Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission provided a troubling assessment of the situation at San Onofre. A flaw in the design of the new generators — which cost ratepayers $671 million to build — appears to be responsible for making their tightly bundled tubes vibrate too much and rub together. The result is an alarming level of wear in equipment that is still in its relative infancy, especially in Unit 3, where, according to NRC officials, the damage reaches a level far beyond what’s been seen before in this nation’s nuclear industry. The rupture of one or more tubes could release radiation……. Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Wife claims that politician fled from Tokyo in fear of radiation

Ozawa fled radiation, wife claims, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 24 June 12, The wife of former Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa has accused him of fleeing from Tokyo in fear of radiation shortly after the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

The end of cheap coal and the rise of renewable energy

Cheap Coal Is Dead. Long Live Renewable Age (Part 1) By Carl Pope, Bloomberg June 20, 2012  Sustainable Energy for All” is the main theme for this week’s Rio+20 United Nations gathering in Brazil. The challenge of making energy both accessible and sustainable has grown more complicated in the past year or so, and also more exciting.

These are tough times for coal and other high-carbon sources of energy, while the news about clean energy is more promising. Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Liu Li-erh calls for a nuclear free Taiwan

we have about 8,000 spent fuel rods stored in the cooling pool at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant [in Wanli District (萬里), New Taipei City] and a total of about 16,000 throughout the country

in February France’s Le Monde newspaper warned about the risk from poor management of spent fuel rods at the Guosheng plant.

Many Japanese companies and government offices have saved up to 50 percent on their electricity consumption since the disaster, “so Taiwan can surely do the same to end our reliance on nuclear power

Now is time to go nuclear-free: author, Taipei Times By Lee I-chia  24 June 12, Tokyo-based Taiwanese writer Liu Li-erh (劉黎兒) yesterday in Taipei shared her latest fact-finding from Japan to say that now is the best time to put a halt to nuclear power in Taiwan… Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | Taiwan, wastes | Leave a comment

New Zealand to do limited testing of soldiers for depleted uranum poisoning

Kiwi soldiers tested for uranium poisoning, TVNZ June 25, 2012  Soldiers returning from Afghanistan are having urine tests to check if they have absorbed radioactivity from American depleted uranium munitions…. The issue will come before Parliament on Wednesday during the first reading of the Depleted Uranium (Prohibition) Bill, backed by Labour MP Phil Twyford. Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | depleted uranium, New Zealand, Uranium | Leave a comment