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Uranium lobbyists spent 100s of $1000s for Virginia mining: doesn’t make it safe

Proponents of mining, who spent more than $150,000 lobbying the General Assembly this year, understandably want a quick decision in their favor, most likely in the 2013 session. But with many serious and unanswered questions, no regulatory staff in the executive branch, no regulations and guidelines and strong opposition from across the political spectrum, we believe extreme caution is called for. In a matter such as this, there isn’t the luxury of a “do-over.”

Uranium Mining: Let’s Be Cautious   The News & Advance   August 09, 2012 Down the road in Pittsylvania County, just off U.S. 29 near Chatham, is Coles Hill Farm, which has been in Walter Coles’ family for more than 200 years.

It’s also ground zero in what is shaping up to be a monumental battle over whether Virginia’s almost-30-year-old moratorium on mining uranium, for beneath the rolling hills and pastures of Coles Hill Farm lies one of the nation’s largest deposits of the ore.

The General Assembly first imposed the moratorium in 1982 when Marline Uranium Corp. expressed interest in mining the deposit. Environmental and safety concerns were foremost in the minds of legislators who supported the moratorium. Continue reading →

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

How bureaucrats worked secretly to subvert laws on nuclear weapons proliferation

U.S. and international law strictly limited the technology developed in the Clinch River program, particularly reprocessing technology used to separate plutonium from spent nuclear fuel. And the plan would require hundreds of international shipments of weapons-grade plutonium and high level nuclear waste on ships.

United States Circumvented Laws To Help Japan Accumulate Tons of Plutonium, DC Bureau By Joseph Trento,  April 9th, 2012“…..Giving to Both Sides – Nuclear deals with China and Japan  Westinghouse AP 1000 in China In 1984 the Westinghouse Corporation had struck a deal to supply nuclear reactors to China worth as much as $10 billion. The deal was an incredible windfall for the American nuclear industry and would be a cornerstone in [bureaucrat] Richard Kennedy’s efforts to make the United States dominate in the world’s nuclear commerce. The only problem was China’s abysmal record of sharing nuclear secrets with all bidders.

In a bitter session on the Senate floor, then Democratic Assistant Majority Leader Alan Cranston charged that the Reagan administration on [bureaucrat Richard] Kennedy’s watch had “systematically withheld, suppressed and covered up information – known virtually throughout the executive branch – which Congress might find worrisome.” China was already known to have sold nuclear technology to five international nuclear outlaws: Pakistan, Iran, South Africa, Brazil and Argentina. By 1984, Cranston and most of the American government knew that China had given sophisticated nuclear weapons designs to Pakistan. Beijing had also sold the enriched uranium that would find its way into South Africa’s nuclear bombs. China sold heavy water for use in Argentina’s bomb program, while also selling nuclear materials to arch rival Brazil and negotiating nuclear agreements with Iran.

China’s nuclear proliferation track record could hardly have been worse, but instead of negotiating ironclad safeguards, Kennedy returned from Beijing with an agreement so ambiguous that both sides could interpret it however they liked. Continue reading →

August 10, 2012 Posted by | history, USA | Leave a comment

U.S. To Provide Access To Marshall Islands Nuclear Test Documents

Marshalls maintains demand for full disclosure of classified information By Giff Johnson SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Variety, Aug. 8, 2012) – In response to a strong statement of concern from the Marshall Islands government about the lack of access to classified information about United States nuclear testing in this western Pacific nation more than 50 years ago, a top State Department official has promised to initiate a review of data available for public release.

“Some documents provided in the past were so heavily redacted as to make them unreadable,” said Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Island Affairs Kurt Campbell at a media conference after meeting with President Christopher Loeak in Majuro Thursday evening. “It is fair to ask the United States to see if we’ve provided the Marshall Islands with the information it needs to understand more fully (the nuclear test legacy).”…. http://pidp.org/pireport/2012/August/08-08-09.htm

August 10, 2012 Posted by | OCEANIA, politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Fukushima student addresses Nagasaki peace meet

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120808_28.html Aug. 8, 2012   A high school girl from Fukushima Prefecture has spoken at a peace gathering in Nagasaki about the situation in her community after the nuclear accident last year.

Sakura Takano from Minamisoma City near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is visiting Nagasaki to attend a memorial ceremony on Thursday — the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
She has been appointed a “High School Peace Ambassador” — the first from Fukushima — and will deliver a petition against nuclear weapons to the United Nations.
At the peace meeting of high school students from across the country on Wednesday, Takano said the nuclear accident is continuing and that the affected areas are being devastated. She added that people are still living in temporary housing about a year and a half after the accident.

Takano said she wants everyone to learn about the situation in Fukushima and to help reconstruction efforts in the area. After the meeting, Takano stood in front of Nagasaki Station to collect signatures for a petition calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and the realization of world peace.

She will visit the UN European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, with other high school ambassadors to deliver the petition later this month.

 

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

Off the Chart: University researchers film while measuring radiation levels in evacuation zone

— “‘Over’ means it’s beyond the capacity of the measuring device” (VIDEO)  http://enenews.com/off-the-chart-university-researchers-film-while-measuring-radiation-levels-in-evacuation-zone-over-means-its-beyond-the-capacity-of-the-measuring-device-video  « Fukushima Plant Chief after 3/11:  Off the Chart: University researchers film while measuring radiation levels in evacuation zone — “‘Over’ means it’s beyond the capacity of the measuring device” (VIDEO)   August 8th, 2012 By ENENews
Aug 8, 2012Inside the Barricaded Fukushima Nuclear Zone by:  Filmed: July 18, 2012

Description: The following depicts a one day journey inside the barricaded Fukushima Nuclear taken on July 18, 2012, almost a year and a half after the Nuclear Disaster. Read the entire story here

Group of academics from Niigata University and UCLA measuring radiation levels around the Fukushima nuclear plant At 2:45 in
[Camera shows radiation dose quickly climbing to ~30 microsieverts per hour]

Narrator: ‘Over’ means it’s beyond the capacity of the measuring device.
At 4:00 in

[Camera shows computer screen]
Narrator: Here, the measurements go beyond the height of the chart.

August 10, 2012 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

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