2012 November 24 « nuclear-news

Canadian province shuts down nuclear reactor similar to Wolseong in Korea

Posted on : Nov.20,2012

Greenpeace Campaigner says Korean reactors’ lifespans should only be extended after proper processes

By Lee Keun-young, science correspondent

“The Quebec Provincial government recently decided that the nuclear reactor Gentilly-2, the same type as Korea’s Wolseong #1, would be shutdown due to safety concerns and the huge cost of extending its term of service. South Korea needs to follow Quebec’s lead and adopt such a process of discussion in which the extension of operations is approved only after calculating the costs and making public the relevant information.”

Greenpeace Canada nuclear campaigner Shawn Patrick Stensil, 39, advised as much in a video press conference held on Nov. 19 by South Korean NGO Common Action for a Non-Nuclear Society and Greenpeace Korea. He mentioned the case of Point Lepreau, a single nuclear power plant whose original lifespan was extended. The original estimation of the plant’s facilities improvement costs was CDN$800 million in 2002, but the cost ballooned to CDN$1.1 billion won in 2005 and CDN$2.5 billion won in 2010.

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November 24, 2012 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

UK -Grassroots action shows new nuclear won’t be a pushover

Posted by Richardg – 23 November 2012

This morning, as the Energy Bill was making headlines, ten people were setting up a non-violent blockade of Hinkley Point nuclear power station. It’s a sure sign that building new reactors will be an uphill struggle.

The first new nuclear power station in the UK for decades is supposed to be built in Hinkley Point, on the West Somerset coast. As often happens when you’re dealing with the nuclear industry, plans have gone somewhat awry.

Local people are furious, because they don’t believe the government or EDF, who want to build the reactor, are listening to them.

Some are worried about hundreds of lorries trundling past their front door. Others worry about the nuclear waste that would be stored on-site for decades. Many would just rather the money being spent propping up the nuclear industry were spent on affordable, sustainable renewable power.

The protest today finished when four people were arrested, but it’s unlikely to be the last protest of this nature. It’s hard enough building a nuclear reactor on time and on budget – and it’s much, much harder when local people are determined to stop you.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/nuclear/grassroots-action-shows-new-nuclear-wont-be-pushover-20121123

November 24, 2012 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Toshiba nuclear robot can’t make it through demo!

Posted on November 24, 2012

(Credit: Toshiba)

Japan is again trying to field some more robots to work at the heavily damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, but this walker from Toshiba froze during a press demo.

Tetrapod is a quadruped designed to withstand high levels of radiation, but it couldn’t seem to take the glare of cameras.

The wireless remote-controlled machine recalls Boston Dynamics’ BigDog robots, with legs than can tackle uneven terrain. It can carry up to 44 pounds of equipment and has an onboard camera and dosimeter.

It’s designed to survey the plant’s highly radioactive buildings and debris, and can apparently withstand a 100 millisievert environment for a year.

As seen in the vid below, it has a folding arm that can deploy a second, smaller robot with a camera to image tight spots and key equipment.

Ghana to have nuclear energy in 15 years

“The Chinese are interested in a cooperation with Russia on uranium production in third countries. “It is possible, we have mentioned African countries, in particular”, Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko announced. (RIA Novosti Aug. 30, 2010)”

[…]

“The acting Director of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), Dr B.J.B. Nyarko, has said that the country stands the chance of striking uranium deposits in commercial quantities since there is an association between gold and uranium. He explained that a study of gold tailings at the Nuclear Research Reactor at Kwabenya revealed traces of uranium in pits in gold-mining areas in the country. Dr Nyarko said the research, carried out by GAEC, was not on a large scale and that a major prospecting and exploration was needed to establish the link. (MJFM Apr. 22, 2008)”

[…]

11/24/2012

Ghana will start to generate electricity from nuclear energy in 15 years, or 10 years if things go smoothly, a Ghanaian nuclear power program coordinator has said.

Expertise preparation for the country’s nuclear power program, from installation to maintenance, is underway, said Robert Sogbadjie, the national coordinator of the Ghana Nuclear Power Program Organization (GNPPO).

Ghana has decided to go nuclear for electricity generation because after acceding to the Kyoto protocol on global warming, it can only develop a limited number of thermal plants, he said in an interview with Xinhua here on Friday.

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November 24, 2012 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Talks on Middle East nuclear free zone cancelled

Arshad Mohammed, Reuters

Saturday, 24 November 2012

Talks planned for next month on banning nuclear weapons in the Middle East will not take place, the United States said on Saturday, a development likely to anger Arab states but please Israel.

The State Department announced that the mid-December conference on creating a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, would not occur and did not make clear when, or whether, it would take place.

Earlier this month, diplomats told Reuters that the talks were likely to be postponed, rather than canceled outright.

“As a co-sponsor of the proposed conference … the United States regrets to announce that the conference cannot be convened because of present conditions in the Middle East and the fact that states in the region have not reached agreement on acceptable conditions for a conference,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

Nuland said that “a deep conceptual gap persists in the region” on how to handle regional security and arms control, adding that “outside states cannot impose a process on the region any more than they can dictate an outcome.”

The plan for a meeting to lay the groundwork for the possible creation of a WMD-free Middle East was agreed to at a May 2010 conference of 189 parties to the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT.

The United States, feared the conference, which was to be held in Finland, could be used as a forum to bash Israel, a concern likely to have increased after eight days of fierce Israeli-Palestinian fighting that ended with a ceasefire on Wednesday.

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November 24, 2012 Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment