2013 June 10 « nuclear-news

Legal fights loom, as USA’s nuclear plant dominoes fall

The news in both the California and Kentucky cases also goes to show that the Attorney Age has banished the Atomic Age. The most important line in the SCE news release is the last one: “SCE intends to pursue recovery of damages from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the supplier of the replacement steam generators … ” Likewise, USEC filed suit against the Department of Energy on May 30. Nuclear energy, once billed as providing unlimited power, is fulfilling its promise—the power of lawyers. “Don’t radiate: Litigate!” may be coming soon to a button or bumper-sticker near you.

Nuclear Dominoes Fall in California and Kentucky Neighbors for an Ohio Valley Alternative http://ecowatch.com/2013/nuclear-dominoes-fall-in-california-and-kentucky/ By Geoffrey Sea 7 June 13, [Read Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV of this series] Southern California Edison (SCE) has abandoned plans to restart its two nuclear reactors at San Onofre. The announcement this morning comes exactly one week aftertermination of operations at the Paducah, Kentucky, uranium enrichment plant, which for decades had provided the fuel for San Onofre. It drops the number of operating nuclear reactors in the U.S. below one hundred for the first time since the early 1980s.

The San Onofre decision ends 18 months of wrangling between the utility and environmental opponents, after serious leaks were detected in a steam generator that had been newly installed. The news release by SCE has a detectable tone of relief that the company will no longer have to defend the indefensible. Similar tones have emanated from the Washington headquarters of the Department of Energy (DOE) around the Paducah decision, sending a message that the era of illegalities involving USEC privatization may be nearing an end. Continue reading →

June 10, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Opposition by villagers has stalled another Indian nuclear power project

Residents oppose nuclear plant at Kovvada http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/residents-oppose-nuclear-plant-at-kovvada/article4797223.ece 9 June 13, Officials unable to continue land acquisition for the project

Officials of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and the State government are unable to continue the land acquisition process in Kovvada and surrounding villages of Ranasthalam mandal, Srikakulam district, following strong resistance from locals against the construction of the nuclear power plant.

The government identified about 1,500 acres of land but it has not been alienated to NPCIL so far. In addition, it has to acquire 499 acres in Kovvada, Ramachandrapuram Tekkali and Kotapalem villages.

It set up a land acquisition unit in the AP NGOs Home in Srikakulam but could not begin as a majority of the villagers did not accept the ‘packages’ offered by the government.

With the support of all the opposition parties, the villagers have been continuing their relay hunger strike for the last six months.

The villagers are not convinced with the argument in favour of setting up a nuclear plant in their vicinity, though officials have been repeatedly telling them that it would be safe on the lines of the one in Kalpakkam.

CPI (M) leaders Bhaviri Krishnamurthy, V.G.K. Murthy, Panchadi Paparao and others extended their moral support to the villagers saying that Kovvada nuclear plant would be a threat to the environment. Meanwhile, the relay hunger strike entered the 172 day.

Co-ordinator of all Opposition parties, Kalisetty Appalanaidu, has also threatened to intensify the movement if officials resorted to land acquisition. Former panchayat president of Kovvada, Mylapalli Polisu said that fishermen would lose their livelihood as restrictions would be imposed on fishing activity after construction of the nuclear power plant.

June 10, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Hanford nuclear facility – a radioactive horror story

Paper: U.S. nuclear site “a true horror story” — Officials should be screaming at top of their lungs in outrage — “Problems could lead to explosions or nuclear reactions” #Hanford http://enenews.com/paper-u-s-nuclear-site-a-true-horror-story-officials-should-be-screaming-at-top-of-their-lungs-in-outrage-problems-could-lead-to-explosions-or-nuclear-reactions-hanford
Title: Time is of the essence at Hanford site
Source: Kingston Community News
Author: MARYLIN OLDS, Columnist
Date: June 6, 2013

[…] Hanford’s 56 million gallons of the most contaminated nuclear waste in the western hemisphere is a true horror story. […]
In February, officials announced that six single-shell tanks were leaking. These are not the first leaks; there have been decades of earth contamination. […]

Bechtel National is contracted by DOE to oversee the construction of a vitrification plant. Vitrification means processing the waste into glass logs […]
The decision was made to begin construction of the plant before the design had been vetted. Consequently, there are design problems that could lead to explosions or nuclear reactions. […]

Senators Murray and Cantwell, et al., should be screaming at the tops of their lungs in outrage. Instead, it appears it’s up to us to make our voices heard. Surely they’d all want to hear from their constituents.

Hundreds of corporate whistleblowers targeted by USA cyber attacks

Obama ordered hit-list of Targeted Individuals worldwide to cyber-attack EXAMINER, JUNE 8, 2013 BY: DEBORAH DUPRE Barack Obama ordered national security leaders to compile a new targeted individual hit-list, this one consisting of possible “adversaries” overseas and, in emergencies in the U.S., for his regime to cyber-attack with “little or no warning,” a top secret document reveals. The 18-page, classified document, entitled Presidential Policy Directive 20, outlines plans for

Offensive Cyber Effects Operations (OCEO), cyber-attacks that would target US adversaries globally……The directive also includes the potential use of cyber-attacks on Americans and others in the US, though any such operations must be conducted with prior authorization of the White House — unless “it qualifies as an Emergency Cyber Action.”……

A target accustomed to internet communications and business could be be isolated, financially ruined, unable to seek help from family and friends without internet capacity.

Each of hundreds of self-identified Targeted Individuals who have contacted this author since 2005 have complained about being cyber-attacked. Most of their accounts related their targeting to corporate whistle-blowing or actively working to end high-level crime.

That raises the questions: Have they been guinea pigs? Did this program covertly start long ago?http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-ordered-hit-list-of-targeted-individuals-worldwide-to-cyber-attack?CID=examiner_alerts_article

June 10, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Young whistleblower standing up against might of USA government

NSA spy scandal whistleblower refuses to be bullied by U.S. EXAMINER JUNE 9, 2013 BY: DEBORAH DUPRE Edward Snowden, a young former CIA employee, leaked this week’s spy intelligence and says he refuses to be bullied into hiding. “I’m not going to hide,” Snowden, 29, said Sunday afternoon after news reports of his being the whistleblower of America’s spy scandal, a major rights violation.

“Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest,” he asserted.

Snowden has been identified as the source who leaked the information to the Guardian‘s Glenn Greenwald this week, according him and Greenwald and confirmed by The Washington Post.

In a Guardian story posted Sunday afternoon, Greenwald and two other reports revealed Snowden as the whistleblower, who works for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton but has contracted for years with the NSA.The Guardian named Snowden at his own request, the article said.

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. announced Saturday that the NSA launched a Justice Department investigation into who leaked the information……. http://www.examiner.com/article/nsa-spy-scandal-whistleblower-refuses-to-be-bullied-by-u-s?CID=examiner_alerts_article

June 10, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Prime Minister Abe increases drive to export Japanese nuclear reactors

JAPAN PM TO STEP UP NUCLEAR EXPORT DRIVE: REPORT Yahoo 7 News, 8 June 13, TOKYO (AFP) – Japan’s prime minister is expected to sign a nuclear cooperation deal with the Czech Republic this month, a report said Saturday, as Tokyo looks to build up its exports of the technology.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Czech President Milos Zeman have all but agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on mutual nuclear technology cooperation when they meet in Poland on June 16, the Nikkei business daily said.

Nuclear power has been a sensitive issue in Japan since a quake and tsunami wiped out the Fukushima atomic plant in 2011, sparking the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 25 years, but Abe has been keen to promote the industry since taking office in December. The memorandum is expected to include a statement that the Czech Republic will use Japanese nuclear technology.

It will also make US nuclear plant builder Westinghouse Electric, a unit of Japan’s Toshiba Corp., the top candidate to win a $10 billion contract to build two nuclear reactors in the Central European country, the daily said.

Abe is due to meet the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary in Poland while on his way to the June 17-18 Group-of-Eight summit in Northern Ireland, the Nikkei added…….
After talks in Tokyo on Friday, Abe and French President Francois Hollande said they would cooperate in developing nuclear power technologies and promoting the sector’s exports to emerging economies. http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/17529581/japan-pm-to-step-up-nuclear-export-drive-report/

June 10, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, marketing | Leave a comment

No nuclear renaissance- instead, a nuclear terminal illness

Nuclear plant closures show industry’s struggles, Anchorage Daily News, 8 June 13, LOS ANGELES — The decision to close California’s San Onofre nuclear plant is the latest setback for an industry that seemed poised for
growth not long ago.

In Wisconsin, a utility shuttered its plant last month after it couldn’t find a buyer. In Florida – and now California – utilities decided it was cheaper to close plants rather than spend big money fixing them and risk the uncertainty of safety reviews.

Meanwhile, the low cost of natural gas is discouraging utilizes from spending billions of dollars and lots of time to build nuclear reactors…………In places where utilities sell power into the open market, the low prices don’t offset the financial risk of buildingexpensive and time-consuming nuclear plants……….

Only three nuclear construction projects have moved forward, and they
are all under financial pressure. The Tennessee Valley Authority is finishing a long-mothballed reactor at its Watts Bar plant. Initially budgeted at $2.5 billion, the utility has said finishing the project could cost up to $2 billion
more.

Atlanta-based Southern Co. owns a 46 percent share of two new reactors being constructed at Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia, a project originally estimated at $14 billion. Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power recently asked regulators to raise its share of the construction budget by $737 million to roughly $6.85 billion.

It may cost more. Georgia Power and the companies designing and building the plant are in a legal fight that may cost the utility more money. Separately, an independent monitor hired by Georgia regulators has warned of additional potential costs.

SCANA Corp. announced this week that it expects its costs to rise by around $200 million and the construction schedule to slip while building two reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in SouthCarolina.
http://www.adn.com/2013/06/08/2931913/nuclear-plant-closures-shows-industrys.html#storylink=cpy

June 10, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

A crack appears in Tea Party’s opposition to solar emergy

Even if the Public Service Commission forces Georgia Power to expand its use of solar power in their energy plan, Dooley said the fight is far from over. She plans to continue her efforts by pushing for upcoming legislation that would allow private companies to set up solar farms and feed their energy into Georgia Power’s grid, continuing to put pressure on Georgia Power for cost overruns at its Vogtle nuclear power plant, and possibly even challenging the law that grants monopoly rights to utilities. http://theenergycollective.com/josephromm/234916/tea-party-takes-georgia-power-over-lack-solar-energy

Tea Party Takes on Utility Over Lack of Solar Energy, Energy Collective, Joseph Romm , 9 June 13 The fight to bring cheaper, clean energy to Georgia is uniting some unlikely allies. Renewable energy advocates and leaders of the Atlanta Tea Party are taking on utility giant Southern Co., and its subsidiary Georgia Power, over resisting the call to expand its development of solar energy.

As Debbie Dooley, co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party explained in an interview with Climate Progress, the group’s interest in the debate is quite simple: “The free market has been one of the founding principles of the Tea Party since it began and a monopoly is not a free market.” Continue reading →

June 10, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Radioactive waste from uranium mining poisons water in Jharkhand, India

Uranium waste contaminates water in Jharkhand , Jun 8, 2013, New Delhi | Agency: DNA Reckless dumping of radioactive waste in Jharkhand is contaminating surface and ground water, putting thousands of locals at risk of developing cancer, according to a report by independent researchers.

The Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL), a subsidiary of the Department of Atomic Energy, supplies uranium (yellow cake) to nuclear power plants in the country. It mines and processes uranium at seven mines in Jharkhand’s Jaduguda area. According to atomic experts, sludge and waste from uranium mines has to be scientifically disposed of as it contains around 85% radioactive substances.

Scientific disposal means creating pits that are covered, protected, cordoned off and made flood-proof. A tailing pond over an area of 30-40 acres must be created for disposal of sludge. These ponds too have to be cordoned off, made flood-proof and ensure that it prevents overflow. The waste decays to produce radium-226, which in turn produces Radon gas, a very powerful cancer-causing agent. For its three new mines i.e. Turamdih, Banduhurang and Mohuldih Uranium Mine, UCIL has one tailing pond at Talsa village, which fails to prevent sludge overflow and is not even fenced.

PT George, director of research institute Intercultural Resources, and independent writer Tarun Kanti Bose, spent six months studying the effects of uranium mining in the areas around the mines. Their report, Paradise Lost, released recently, states that UCIL’s irresponsible dumping in the vicinity of Jaduguda village (in Purbi Singhbhum district) is extremely worrisome as continued exposure to radiation will lead to increased cases of leukaemia and other blood diseases.

Heaps of uranium mining wastes have been abandoned in Dhodanga, Kerwadungri villages and those around Banduhurang open cast mine, according to the report. “The dumping has been going on for the last five years,” said Ghanshyam Birulee, a 45-year-old resident of Jaduguda village. “Despite complaints to UCIL, it has failed to take any action.”

Danger zone
Their report, Paradise Lost, states that UCIL’s irresponsible dumping in the vicinity of Jaduguda village (in Purbi Singhbhum district) is extremely worrisome as continued exposure to radiation will lead to increased cases of leukaemia and other blood diseases…… http://www.dnaindia.com/india/1845207/report-uranium-waste-contaminates-water-in-jharkhand

June 10, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, Uranium, water | Leave a comment

Negotiations going on between the two Koreas

Koreas meet in border village after tensions marked by nuclear threats Sam Kim,CTV News The Associated Press , June 9, 2013 SEOUL, South Korea — Government delegates from North and South Korea began preparatory talks Sunday at a “truce village” on their heavily armed border aimed at setting ground rules for a higher-level discussion on easing animosity and restoring stalled rapprochement projects.

The meeting at Panmunjom, where the truce ending the 1950-53 Korean War was signed, is the first of its kind on the Korean Peninsula in more than two years. Success will be judged on whether the delegates can pave the way for a summit between the ministers of each country’s department for cross-border affairs, which South Korea has proposed for Wednesday in Seoul. Such ministerial talks haven’t happened since 2007.

The intense media interest in what’s essentially a meeting of bureaucrats to iron out technical details is an indication of how bad ties between the Koreas have been……. If the Koreas can arrive at an agreement for ministerial talks, that meeting will likely focus on reopening the factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong that was the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean co-operation, and on other scrapped rapprochement projects and reunions of families separated by the Korean War…..

The talks between the Koreas on Sunday could represent a change in North Korea’s approach, analysts said, or could simply be an effort to ease international demands that it end its development of nuclear weapons, a topic crucial to Washington but initially not a part of the envisioned inter-Korean meetings.

Pyongyang, which is estimated to have a handful of crude nuclear devices, has committed a drumbeat of acts that Washington, Seoul and others deem provocative since Kim Jong Un took over in December 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/koreas-meet-in-border-village-after-tensions-marked-by-nuclear-threats-1.1316934#ixzz2Vqp2UIeV

June 10, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, politics international, South Korea | Leave a comment

Global Impact Award goes to Solar Aid

SolarAid Recipient Of £500,000 Google Award. http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3783, 9 June 13, by Energy Matters Last week, SolarAid became the winner of a £500,000 Google Global Impact Award.We first covered SolarAid back in 2009. The group’s mission is make solar energy as widely available as possible to the poorest people in developing countries by providing affordable (and in some instances free) solar lighting.

Its core focus is the social enterprise, SunnyMoney. Lights are sold to local entrepreneurs; who then resell the equipment in their communities at a reasonable price. The approximate payback time of a basic light through savings on kerosene fuel is around 12 weeks. The group also offers a donate-a-light initiative; where donors can sponsor a light for a family.

SunnyMoney has sold over 338,000 lights in the last 12 months, growing over 550% year on year to become the largest seller of solar lights in Africa. In total, the organisation has distributed over a half a million solar lights. With the average household size in East Africa being five, SolarAid’s work has helped to transform the lives of over two and a half million people.

SolarAid says it will use the half a million pound prize to distribute 144,000 solar lights in rural Tanzania and recruit 400 school leavers to create a new generation of solar entrepreneurs.

“The support pledged by Google to the four Award winners will help SolarAid raise its profile, gain more supporters and ensure the injustice of living without clean light gets onto the world radar,” says SolarAid.

With 85% of Africans not having access to electricity, the entrepreneurial approach has massive potential – not just in lighting up lives, but improving health and creating employment. SolarAid has set a lofty goal of eradicating the kerosene lamp from Africa by 2020.

Google’s Global Impact Awards support nonprofits using technology and innovation to tackle tough human challenges.

June 10, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, decentralised | Leave a comment

Canada’s nuclear operators to pay more, in the event of an accident

Federal government poised to raise nuclear liability cap The Canadian Press Jun 9, 2013 Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is set to roll out his plan to raise the amount in damages that Canadian nuclear operators would have to pay in case of an accident, the Canadian Press has learned.

He is expected to announce the details at a nuclear conference in Toronto on Monday morning, although he will likely hold off on tabling legislation until the fall.

The liability cap is now set at $75 million but that is widely considered outdated, especially in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster that has led to tens of billions of dollars of damage claims…….. ritics say anything except unlimited liability acts as a subsidy to the nuclear industry.

“Increasing the cap only decreases the subsidy; it does not eliminate it. The government of Canada should proceed with legislation that removes the liability cap entirely rather than legislation that maintains it, or increases it to be harmonious with other jurisdictions,” wrote Joel Wood, a senior research economist at the Fraser Institute, in a 2011 analysis.

In February, the federal government introduced new financial penaltiesfor companies found in violation of the law in an effort to increase pipeline safety. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/06/09/pol-federal-government-poised-to-raise-nuclear-liability-cap.html

June 10, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, politics | Leave a comment