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Nuclear power advocate predicts end of the industry,because of waste problem

Nuclear Advocate: “Within 5 years there will be no nuclear power in U.S. unless something is done” — Fuel pools will fill up without Yucca Mt., “There’s nowhere for old material to go” (VIDEO)   http://enenews.com/pro-nuclear-advocate-within-5-years-there-will-be-no-nuclear-power-in-u-s-unless-something-is-done-fuel-pools-will-fill-up-without-yucca-theres-nowhere-for-old-material-to-go-v    includes VIDEO  September 13th, 2012  By ENENews  interview with Karl Denninger Warren Pollock Sept 12, 2012
Transcript Excerpt at
Karl Denninger, Market Ticker: “… the uranium based system, which, by the way, Jazcko managed to essentially completely torpedo.

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, within 5 years there will be no nuclear power in the United States unless something is done with this administration.

Because what Jazcko did by illegally shutting down Yucca, which by the way was a violation of federal law the way he went about it, through that process he put a hard stop on nuclear power in the United States…

[Inaudible, Repeats Comment] This will result in the denial of license renewals when those fuel pools fill up, because you can’t store the material. There’s nowhere for old material to go and therefore you can’t put any new material in…”

September 15, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

US nuclear waste now much more than Yucca dump would hold

Leading Pro-Nuclear Senator: “Even if Yucca Mountain were open today, we’d still need a second repository very quickly” — Nuclear waste would fill it up very fast -NYTimes
http://enenews.com/leading-pro-nuclear-senator-even-if-yucca-mountain-were-open-today-we%E2%80%99d-still-need-a-second-repository-very-quickly-nuclear-waste-would-fill-it-up-very-fast-nyt  June 8th, 2012
By ENENews
  Moving From Square One on Nuclear Waste
New York Times
By MATTHEW L. WALD
The idea that the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in
Nevada is dead has not gone down well in Congress, where some
Republicans are trying to allocate new money to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission so it can revive its evaluation of the site’s suitability.
But at a Senate subcommittee hearing on Thursday, some supporters of
the civilian power industry said it was time to move on.

“Even if Yucca Mountain were open today, we’d still need a second
repository very quickly,’’ said Lamar Alexander, a Republican from
Tennessee and one of the Senate’s foremost backers of nuclear power.
“The stuff we have would fill up Yucca Mountain very quickly.’’

Yucca [is] a volcanic structure in the desert about 100 miles from Las Vegas.

September 15, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Lynas rare earths company trying to overturn Western Australia law against importing radioactive wastes

Lynas left holding the baby,  Aliran,   14 September 2012 If Lynas Corporation thinks that Western Australia will take its radioactive waste, it can think again, asserts Robin Chapple. Lynas has now submitted an application to the regulator, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), to import radioactive waste from Malaysia,” an Australian High Commission spokesman told The Malaysian Insider today.

This revelation beggars belief as just a few days ago a two-year temporary licence to operate was granted to Lynas, who intend to ship radioactive ores through Fremantle Port to export them to their plant in Malaysia, now seem to be asserting that they should be able to import the wastes of those ores back onto Australian soil.

Malaysia’s nuclear regulator Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) had said that the Australian miner was legally bound to remove radioactive waste from its Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) and return the residue to Australia under conditions of the temporary operating licence.

However, this news flies in the face of Australian government policy, and indeed Western Australian legislation, which asserts that Australia does not accept or import radioactive waste from other countries.

Robin Chapple MLC, Greens spokesperson for Mining Issues, commented on Lynas’ recent move: “It seems that again Lynas thinks it is outside the law as it is operating in Malaysia, and may be subject to less rigorous legal scrutiny. Well, it isn’t, and if it thinks that Western Australia will take this radioactive waste, it can think again.

“It didn’t consult with community on shipping its radioactive ores through Fremantle port, and it certainly hasn’t consulted on shipping back the radioactive waste. The WA Nuclear Waste Storage (Prohibition) Act 1999 prohibits it here. Period!

But really, you have to laugh. Lynas has now been tripped up by its own lack of willingness to take heed of Australia’s expectations with respect to sustainable mining and environmental, social and legal standards, and hasn’t it got it’s come-uppance. Talk about being left holding the baby!…    http://aliran.com/10198.html

September 15, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, Malaysia, wastes | Leave a comment

US nuclear regulators covered up flood threat to nuke plants

Flood Threat To Nuclear Plants Covered Up By Regulators, NRC Whistleblower Claims, includes UK video HUFFINGTON POST,    09/14/20  In a letter  submitted Friday afternoon to internal investigators at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission , a whistleblower engineer within the agency accused regulators of deliberately covering up information relating to the vulnerability of U.S. nuclear power facilities that sit downstream from large dams and reservoirs.

The letter also accuses the agency of failing to act to correct these vulnerabilities despite being aware of the risks for years.

These charges were echoed in separate conversations with another risk engineer inside the agency who suggested that the vulnerability at one plant in particular — the three-reactor Oconee Nuclear Station  near Seneca, S.C. — put it at risk of a flood and subsequent systems failure, should an upstream dam completely fail, that would be similar to the tsunami that hobbled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility in Japan last year. That event caused multiple reactor meltdowns.

In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Huffington Post, Richard H. Perkins, a reliability and risk engineer with the agency’s division of risk analysis, alleged that NRC officials falsely invoked security concerns in redacting large portions of a report  detailing the agency’s preliminary investigation into the potential for flooding at U.S. nuclear power plants due to upstream dam failure.

In addition to the Oconee facility, the report examined similar vulnerabilities at the Ft. Calhoun station in Nebraska, the Prairie Island facility in Minnesota and the Watts Bar plant in Tennessee, among others……

The report concluded, among other things, that the failure of one or more dams sitting upstream from several nuclear power plants “may result in flood levels at a site that render essential safety systems inoperable.” High floodwaters could conceivably undermine all available power sources, the report found, including grid power, emergency diesel backup generators, and ultimately battery backups. The risk of these things happening, the report said, is higher than acceptable. “The totality of information analyzed in this report suggests that external flooding due to upstream dam failure poses a larger than expected risk to plants and public safety,” Perkins’s report concluded, adding that the evidence warranted a more formal investigation…… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/14/flood-threat-nuclear-plants-nrc_n_1885598.html

September 15, 2012 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala, Green Party, on ballot in 85% of USA States

Our Ballot Access Priorities http://www.jillstein.org/ballot?utm_campaign=summary_of_news&recruiter_id 12 Sept 12, Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala will appear on at least 85% of the ballots cast this November. Following is the state-by-state ballot access breakdown. We are currently seeking a ballot line or litigating in: Kansas, Nevada, North Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.

We are on the ballot in: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawai’i, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin and new states Alabama, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Virginia!

We will appear as write-ins in: Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, and New Hampshire.

September 15, 2012 Posted by | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Russia’s nuclear waste storage ship

Nuclear waste storage ship Lepse leaves Murmansk for decomissioning, Kola Peninsula, Russia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guPem_guPUk
Nuclear waste storage ship Lepse leaves Murmansk for decomissioning, Kola Peninsula, Russia   Sep 14, 2012 by bellonafoundation
The Lepse, which in its heyday had been used as a support vessel for Russia’s nuclear icebreaker fleet, has been bobbing at dockside at the Atomflot port four kilometers north of Murmansk’s more than a quarter of a million-strong population since 1988. In the holds of the Lepse are filled with casks and caissons holding 639 spent nuclear fuel assemblies –equaling hundreds of tons of radioactive materials — a significant portion of which have been damaged, including assemblies that were damaged during offloading from the nuclear icebreaker Lenin. On September 14, 2012, Lepse was towed to Nerpa shipyard on the Kola Peninsula for decommissioning. Bellona has been instrumental in Lepse project. Bellona’s President Frederic Hauge is in Murmansk to see Lepse leaving the Kola Bay.

September 15, 2012 Posted by | oceans, Reference, Russia, wastes | Leave a comment

Russian scientists find high levels of cesium 137 in Pacific ocean near Fukushima

[The Voice of Russia] Cs137 in Pacific ocean 500~800km from Fukushima, “10 times higher than norm” http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/09/the-voice-of-russia-cesium137-detected-in-pacific-ocean-500800km-from-fukushima-10-times-higher-than-normal/#.UFOPru59MAQ.facebook  by Mochizuki on September 14th, 2012

<Quote> [The voice of Russia]

Russian scientists find radiation off Fukushima coast

Russian scientists have detected radiation in the north-west of the
Pacific Ocean at a distance between 500-800 km to the east from
Japan’s troubled Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant.

The expedition of the Russian geographical society has detected that
the concentration of cesium-137 in that area exceeds the norm 10
times.

This is the first time when concentration of cesium 137 was found in
the local sea waters while the air is clean.

The level of radiation near the Russian coast is normal.

September 15, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, Japan, oceans | Leave a comment

Deterioration in cooling system at Fukushima nuclear plant

Injecting water to reactor1 ~ 3 decreased again Fukushima Diary by Mochizuki   September 14th, 2012 ·   The coolant system of Fukushima plant is getting deteriorated. Tepco has been struggling to control water injecting system since 8/30/2012. (cf.Tepco struggling to control the coolant system, “Adjusted the valves 7 times for 2 days”)

They announced that they solved the problem by eliminating the suspended materials on 9/13/2012, but on 9/14/2012, they had the problem of decreasing water amount to inject again.

In reactor1, water injection decreased by 10% from 21:00 of 9/13 to 1:00 of 9/14/2012.

In reactor2, it decreased from 1:00 to 7:00 of 9/14/2012.

They are trying to increase the water amount.

Tepco is still assuming it is due to the substances which flowed into the buffer tank and got stuck in the flow rate adjustment valves in the downstream side, narrowing the water flowing channel as a result.

The false report that Tepco reported the problem was solved in is below. [Link]….. http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/09/injecting-water-to-reactor1-3-decreased-again/#.UFOKy52ScB4.facebook

September 15, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012 | Leave a comment

Spain’s Garona nuclear plant to close

Another people power victory this week!
Garoña nuclear power plant in Spain has been confirmed to begin closing! Congratulations to Greenpeace España and all of YOU for your years of hard work and determination. Truly an amazing job!

September 15, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

China’s nuclear dilemma, Phys Org.  September 14, 2012 An expert assessment of China’s nuclear weapons strategy highlights the risk of escalation to nuclear war from a conflict beginning with conventional weapons, due to the unusual structure of the nation’s military. The new study, previously only available in Chinese, appears in the latest edition of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by SAGE.
The authors believe that this is the first comprehensive non-governmental study on how China’s nuclear-war plan was developed…..  http://phys.org/news/2012-09-china-nuclear-dilemma.html#jCp

September 15, 2012 Posted by | China, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Explosion at oldest French nuclear plant http://www.beyondnuclear.org/france-whats-new/2012/9/11/explosion-at-oldest-french-nuclear-plant.html The oldest operating French nuclear power plant, at Fessenheim near the German border, suffered a chemical explosion on September 5 that sent 8 workers to the hospital, two of them with steam burns.

This was just the latest set-back for the French nuclear sector which is struggling to maintain a presence overseas but saw its Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) all but canceled at the Calvert Cliffs, MD site on August 30. Fessenheim sits on the banks of a river and on an active fault line and has been the object of consistent and large opposition
to its continued operation . At first alarm, it was believed a fire had broken out as 50 firefighters were dispatched to the site, operated by EDF. Later, it was described as a
chemical explosion that released “non-radioactive” steam.

The newly-elected French president, François Hollande, said he would shut the Fessenheim plant during his five-year term which most observers believe means at the end of it, in 2017. Furthermore, his energy minister, Dauphine Batho, has been quoted recently describing nuclear energy as “necessary” and the “energy of the future” causing a flurry
of critical and often derisory articles and commentaries in the French media.

September 15, 2012 Posted by | France, incidents | Leave a comment

Ex-French nuclear chief charged over Chernobyl cover-up, Terra Daily, Some 12.500 people, according to the police, protest in Cherbourg, northwestern France, 15 April 2006, against a new kind of reactor, the EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) and to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl
Paris (AFP) May 31, 2006The former head of the state-run French body monitoring radiation was charged Wednesday with “aggravated deceit” over the alleged cover-up
of the effects of the May 1986 Chernobyl disaster on France. Continue reading →

September 15, 2012 Posted by | history, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

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