2013 September 03 « nuclear-news

Tourists unaware of radiation danger on the Great Plains

America’s Chernobyl: Radioactive Dust Near Mt. Rushmore & Black Hills http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/09/02/americas-chernobyl-results-uranium-mining-great-plains-151091 ICTMN Staff September 02, 2013

In this video Charmaine White Face, a member of the Oglala band of the Great Sioux Nation, explains uranium mining and its health effects on the people of the Great Plains.

She explains about the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty and where the abandoned open pit uranium mines are—a total of 3,272 in the states of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Colorado she says.

“The thing about the Darrow Pit Mine is they are only about 40 miles from Mount Rushmore, millions of tourists travel to Mount Rushmore every year not knowing that they are breathing in radioactive dust and the water that they drink in the motels in Rapid City contains uranium,” White Face says.

She also discusses the Riley Pass mine and a warning sign that’s posted warning people to not stay for more than one day within a one-year period. It also says “NO CAMPING.”

White Face goes on to discuss how cancer rates for Native American people in the Northern Great Plains are higher than anyone in the country.

“When we’re standing by that sacred site praying, we’re breathing in a lot of these harmful materials,” she says.

White Face and those working with her asDefenders of the Black Hillshave started calling it America’s Chernobyl because as Dr. K. Kearfott, a nuclear physics professor at the University of Michigan, said: “The radiation levels in parts I visited with my students were higher than those in the evacuated zones around the Fukushima nuclear disaster…”

September 3, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Nuclear Energy in USA has a bleak future

Nuclear power industry starts to sputter out, WT 2 Sept 13, The closing of Vermont’s only nuclear power plant is the latest challenge to an industry struggling to retain its niche in America’s long-term energy future.

The Vermont Yankee facility, owned and operated by Louisiana-based energy firm Entergy Corp., is one of at least five reactors to be slated for closure in the past 12 months.

Several factors have combined to create what some see as a bleak future for the sector.

“This is not an isolated incident,” said Frank Felder, director of the Center for Energy, Economic and Environmental Policy at Rutgers University. “Electricity prices are low. The costs of running the plants are high.”

Much like coal, nuclear power — once heralded as the future of U.S. energy and still touted by President Obama as part of his “all of the above” strategy to reduce dependence on foreign fuel — now is fighting to compete with natural gas prices near record lows………

Meanwhile, events such as the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi facility have renewed questions about the overall safety of nuclear power and led some nations, such as Germany, to begin transitioning away from nuclear energy…….

In fact, many of those advocating a transition to a low- or no-carbon future see a diminished — or nonexistent — role for nuclear power generation.

“This is the right decision for Vermont as we move to a greener energy future. Entergy’s announcement today confirms what we have known for some time. Operating and maintaining this aging nuclear facility is too expensive in today’s world,” Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, said after Entergy announced the Vermont Yankee closure last week. “Vermont has made clear its desire to move toward more sustainable, renewable sources of electricity, and many of our surrounding states are doing likewise.”

September 3, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Renewable energy – the power of the 21st Century

Renewable energy, Le Monde Diplomatique 3 Sept 13 “Coal was the energy of the 19th century, nuclear of the 20th century. Now the most advanced countries in Europe are proving that renewables are the energy of the 21st century. What is the Polish government doing? Nothing to get rid of our dependence on coal, and it’s developing a nuclear programme. That doesn’t make sense.” Dariusz Szwed, co-founder of Poland’s Green 2004 Party, is outraged by the “environmental unconsciousness” of Donald Tusk’s government and of the V4 heads of state. All are (…) by Hélène Bienvenu and Sébastien Gobert (subscribers only) http://mondediplo.com/2013/09/09nuclear

September 3, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

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