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

Increasing worry over the piling up of nuclear wastes

Nuclear industry slowed by its own waste By Kristi Swartz The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 23 Sept 12, “…..NO MAGIC BULLET’ Utilities store a total of 2,000-2,300 metric tons of used nuclear fuel a year, according to industry figures. That adds up to about 65,000 metric tons of radioactive waste currently sitting at nuclear plants.
“If we reject long-term storage, we’re left with dry casking, and that’s it,” said Cham Dallas, a professor and director at the University of Georgia’s Institute for Health Management and Mass Destruction Defense. “Yes, it’s probably safe, but can we continue this policy for an infinite number of years?”
The concerns over safely handling nuclear waste are many. Continue reading →

September 28, 2012 Posted by | Reference, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Rebound in uranium prices just not happening

Cameco hit with downgrade as hopes for uranium rebound fade
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/markets/market-blog/cameco-downgraded-amid-relentless-decline-in-uranium-price/article4570023/  DARCY KEITH The Globe and Mail , Sep. 26 2012, The rebound in the uranium market some speculated would surely follow the big-time drubbing the sector experienced in the aftermath of the Japanese Fukushima nuclear disaster isn’t exactly materializing. Continue reading →

September 28, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | 1 Comment

Uranium price slump for the long term

Short-term dip in uranium prices now a long-term slump Peter Koven | Sep 26, 2012“……..Eighteen months after the incident, uranium prices continue to hit new lows. The spot price sunk US50¢ to US$46.50 a pound this week, which is the lowest level since 2010, according to Ux Consulting. Investors briefly drove the spot price above US$135 in 2007.

The long-term price has also declined, though it is higher at US$60, reflecting the fact buyers will pay more for material delivered mid-decade or later.

TD Securities analyst Greg Barnes noted that September is usually buying season in the uranium market, so the current weakness is not a good sign.

Although sales volumes in the spot market have been very weak, there is more than enough uranium around to supply utilities, so any investing bet on the commodity is really a bet that nuclear power demand will substantially grow in the years to come….

.. questions about the future of nuclear continue to linger. Japan recently pushed reactor re-starts further into the future, while maintaining plans to phase out all nuclear power by the 2030s. And French President François Hollande reaffirmed his campaign promise to reduce the share of nuclear power in France’s energy mix to 50% from 75% currently.

“With two of the world’s most important nuclear markets questioning the longer-term outlook for nuclear power, we expect [the] uranium price to be in for another 12 months of lacklustre performance,” Mr. Barnes wrote in a note.

That view is widely shared by investors .

September 28, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, Uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear energy capacity growth slowing after Fukushima: IAEA (Reuters)
26 Sept 12- The U.N. atomic agency cut its forecast for nuclear energy
growth for a second year as the industry continued to feel the effect
of the Fukushima disaster in Japan and said most of the expansion
would be in Asia.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its projection for
global nuclear generating capacity by 2030 was down between one and
nine percent compared with last year.

Against expectations before the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in
Japan, the projections are between eight and 16 percent lower.

September 28, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs | Leave a comment

Bill to slow relicensing of aged nuclear reactors

 the NRC too frequently rubber-stamps 20-year extensions to licenses that are supposed to last 40 years. They said that could endanger people living near nuclear power plants.

 like allowing a doctor to assure a twenty year-old smoker they will never get lung cancer,”

Bill would add nuclear relicensing rule The Hill, By Zack Colman   – 09/27/12 A House bill introduced Wednesday would delay the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) ability to renew licenses for aging nuclear reactors. Continue reading →

September 28, 2012 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Poorly paid, dangerous, work of nuclear sub-contracted workers

Desirability of nuclear power is the real question, THE HINDU, 28 Sept 12
MADHUMITA DUTTA“……In France, over 20,000-30,000 workers dubbed as “nuclear nomads” are subcontracted annually in the 58 nuclear reactors operated by Électricité de France S.A. (EDF) located in 20 sites which contribute 78 per cent of the electricity produced in the country.

EDF subcontracts over 1,000 companies, who employ the “nuclear nomads,” sometimes of foreign origin, to do the dangerous maintenance, repair and clean-up work in these plants, exposing them to ionising radiations. In her book “Nuclear Servitude: Subcontracting and Health in the French Civil Nuclear Industry,” French social scientist Annie Thébaud-Mony has highlighted this division of labour and “risk” by subcontracting dangerous work in the French nuclear power industry.

In the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, over 18,000 workers were hired to clean-up the power plant, who were all subcontracted to do dangerous radioactive clean-up work. These men, hailed as “national heroes” by many, were actually local residents rendered unemployed by the disaster or were daily wagers from city slums.

Since the 1970s, Japan has had a dubious track record of subcontracting maintenance
work of reactors to outside companies which hire workers on a short-term basis who remain employed till they reach their radiation exposure limit (Nuclear Nomads: A look at the Sub-contracted Heroes by Gabrielle Hecht in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 9, 2012)…. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/desirability-of-nuclear-power-is-the-real-question/article3939373.ece

September 28, 2012 Posted by | employment, France, Japan, Reference | 1 Comment

Prestige, but not real usefulness, from UK and France’s costly nuclear deterrents

France and Britain Weigh the Price of Nuclear Deterrence International Herald Tribune By HARVEY MORRIS , 27 sept 12 LONDON — There were reports on Thursday  of stirrings within the British military about the need to scale back the country’s nuclear deterrent in order to spend the money on confronting more conventional threats. Continue reading →

September 28, 2012 Posted by | France, UK, weapons and war | Leave a comment

UK Renewable Energy Capacity has Grown by 42.4% Oil Price.com By Joao Peixe | Thu, 27 September 2012 The government has just released its latest quarterly energy statistics and the results are mixed.

Renewable energy has enjoyed a bountiful year, whereas coal power has also seen an increase in popularity. Continue reading →

September 28, 2012 Posted by | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

Margaret Chan VERSUS World Health Organisation  http://tekknorg.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/margaret-chan-versus-world-health-organisation/ May 27, 2012 by Mikkai “it is recognized by the World Health Organization that the International Atomic Energy Agency has the primary responsibility for encouraging, assisting and coordinating research and development and practical application of atomic energy for peaceful uses throughout the world without prejudice to the right of the World Health Organization to concern itself with promoting, developing, assisting and coordinating international health work, including research, in all its aspects. ”http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/inf20.shtml#note_c

VERSUS:

Radiation Is Always Dangerous, Says World Health Organization Director-General:  http://concernforhealth.org/radiation-is-always-dangerous-says-world-health-organization-director-general/

“INTERNAL radionuclides are 10 to 100 times more damaging than the equivalent EXTERNALdose” Dr. Michel Fernex, former WHO employee

FROM W.H.O.:http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2012/wha65_closes_20120526/en/index.html“Dr Margaret Chan appointed to a second term as Director-General of the World Health Organization by the 65th World Health Assembly” Continue reading →

September 28, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, health | Leave a comment

Supreme Court might halt Kudankulam nuclear power project

Kudankulam nuclear plant can be stopped if not found safe: Supreme
Court   http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/kudankulam-nuclear-plant-can-be-stopped-if-not-found-safe-supreme-court/articleshow/16576138.cms
 27 Sept 12,  NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today made it clear that it can stop
commissioning of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant if it finds that the mandatory safety requirements for it have not been put in place.

A bench of justices K S Radhakrishanan and Deepak Misra said the safety of plant and the people living in its vicinity is its prime concern and issued notices to the Centre and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on a plea challenging the environmental clearance given
to the controversial project. Continue reading →

September 28, 2012 Posted by | India, Legal | Leave a comment

Entergy Sues U.S. for Failure to Dispose of Nuclear Waste, Bloomberg News By Tom Schoenberg and Julie Johnsson on September 27, 2012 An Entergy Corp. (ETR ) unit sued the U.S. for $100 million alleging the government breached a contract for disposal of nuclear waste at two plants in Michigan.

Entergy Nuclear Palisades LLC, owner of the Palisades Nuclear Plant
and the Big Rock Point plant, alleged yesterday that the Energy
Department collected fees under a 1983 contract without ever starting
to dispose of the radioactive material. The suit is in the U.S. Court
of Federal Claims in Washington……
Most nuclear-plant owners continue to store spent nuclear fuel onsite
despite contributing for decades into a fund meant to finance a
central waste depository.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is freezing U.S. operating
licenses for at least two years as it reassesses waste-storage risks
and strategies in response to a June 8 order by the U.S. Court of
Appeals in Washington.

Entergy Corp., based in New Orleans, is the second-largest owner of
nuclear plants in the U.S….. The case is Entergy Nuclear Palisades
LLC v. U.S., 12-cv- 1641, U.S. Court of Federal Claims (Washington).
… http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-27/entergy-sues-u-dot-s-dot-for-failure-to-dispose-of-nuclear-waste

September 28, 2012 Posted by | Legal, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

USA under international pressure to ratify nuclear bomb test ban

Pressure Mounts on Nuclear States to Ratify Test Ban IPS, By Haider Rizvi UNITED NATIONS, Sep 27 2012 – The United States and a small group of other nuclear-armed nations are apparently coming under increasing pressure to accept the international community’s resolve to legally ban nuclear testing without delay. Continue reading →

September 28, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Radioactivity from Fukushima nuclear accident detected in Lisbon,
Portugal http://sciencealerts.com/stories/2015645/Radioactivity_from_Fukushima_nuclear_accident_detected_in_Lisbon_Portugal.html#.UGX5NpjA9
The radioactivity released from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear
accident was transported around the globe by atmospheric processes.
Several artificial radionuclides were detected and measured in
aerosols and atmospheric surface depositions in the Lisbon area during
late March and early April 201The highest concentrations measured in
aerosols were those of particulate 131I, 1.39 ± 0.08 mBq m-3.
Cesium-134, 137Cs and 132Te were also determined but at lower
concentrations. The total atmospheric depositions on the ground were
higher on the first week of April with values for 131I, 134Cs, and
137Cs of 0.92 ± 0.11, 0.59 ± 0.06, and 0.62 ± 0.12 Bq m-2,
respectively. The four artificial radionuclides measurable, 131I,
132Te 134Cs, and 137Cs, caused little radiation exposure to the
members of the public, that was five orders of magnitude lower than
the ionizing radiation effective dose limits for members of the public
for one year (1 mSv y-1). Radionuclides from Fukushima nuclear
accident were measured in aerosols at Lisbon, Portugal. Cesium-137 and
iodine-131 were measured in atmospheric precipitation. Radiation dose
to members of the public was much lower than dose limit of 1 mSv/y.

September 28, 2012 Posted by | environment, EUROPE | Leave a comment

Fukushima rice was sold labelled as from Nagano http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/09/fukushima-rice-was-sold-labelled-as-from-nagano/ by Mochizuki   September 27th, 2012 In this May, a rice wholesaler in Nagano sold 26 tones of rice from Fukushima and Aomori with deceptive label of the origin to be from Nagano prefecture.

Police is suspecting this wholesaler in Nagano prefecture sold about
200 kg of Fukushima rice “Akitakomachi” labelled as the rice from
Nagano, which violates the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and JAS.
Nagano prefecture is about 268 km from Fukushima plant. The rice was
sold to Osaka.

The company is “Hashimoto shoji” in Komagane city, Nagano prefecture.
The president, Hashimoto (57) sold 200kg of Fukushima rice in the
package labelled as “Nagano” for 60,000JPY.
Police has been investigating his office and warehouse since this May.
He states he did not have enough supply of Nagano rice, purchased rice
from Fukushima to sell with deceptive label of the origin.

September 28, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012 | Leave a comment

NRC to hear challenge to nuke plants Citrus County Chronicle , September 19, 2012 Pat Faherty It is all about water. That is the way Cara Campbell, Ecology Party chair, described the upcoming hearing on the proposed nuclear power plant in Levy County.

On Oct. 31, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hold an evidentiary hearing on a challenge to the application for two nuclear power reactors. Continue reading →

September 28, 2012 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

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