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Renewed anxiety about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions

Hear-This-wayAUDIO: US calls for local action to stem North Korea’s nuclear program http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-16/us-calls-for-local-action-to-stem-north-koreas/5160038 ABC Radio PM 16 Dec 2013

The US secretary of state says the execution of the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un’s uncle underlines the urgency for China, Russia, Japan and South Korea to stop North Korea’s nuclear program. John Kerry called the execution another example of the North Korean president’s ‘spontaneous and erratic’ behaviour and said it reflected the leader’s insecurities.

December 17, 2013 Posted by | North Korea, weapons and war | 1 Comment

Renewable energy will outpace all other US energy in future

US Solar And Wind Growth Will Blow Away All Other Energy Sources In The Coming Decades http://www.businessinsider.com.au/renewable-energy-growth-to-2040-2013-12 ROB WILE RENEWABLE ENERGY PRODUCTION WILL GROW FASTER THAN ANY OTHER POWER SOURCE THROUGH 2040, ACCORDING TO THE EIA.

In its new annual energy outlook, the agency forecasts that from 2012 to 2040, solar, wind and geothermal production will have nearly doubled over the next 25 years. The next closest is natural gas, which will have grown 56%.

Strangely, EIA does not break down renewables into solar and wind. That may be because, despite its surging growth rate, renewables will still comprise just 3.8% of total energy production in 2040, compared with 38% for natgas. (graph)

December 17, 2013 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Quest for uranium underlies France’s military intervention in Central African Republic

Paris is focusing on the uranium deposits in the Bakouma sub-prefecture of the Mbomou prefecture, in south-eastern CAR.

The primary sources of France’s uranium in southern Algeria and northern Mali and Niger are increasingly threatened ….

escalation of jihadist operations added a sense of urgency to the French quest for the uranium resources

uranium-oreBehind France’s intervention in CAR: Uranium supply security WorldTribune.com By Yossef Bodansky, Senior Editor, Global Information System/Defense & Foreign Affairs 17 Dec 13 Operation Sangaris (a local exotic butterfly) — the French and MISCA (the French acronym for the International Support Mission to the Central African Republic) military intervention in the Central African Republic (CAR) — is escalating.

The French contingent will now be 1,600-troop strong, rather than the 1,200 agreed-upon at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The African Union’s (AU’s) MISCA force will grow to a total of 6,000 troops from Francophone African states, rather than the original estimate of 3,500 troops.

The hasty deployment of these forces only aggravates an already explosive situation in the country and region, and sparks new fighting where none existed before the international intervention had been announced. Most notably is the sudden resumption of fighting in Bangui, a city and region which had been completely quiet and secure literally until the day before the arrival of the new French forces.

The French-led Operation Sangaris had nothing to do with the oft-declared threat of “seeds of genocide” in the CAR. The French administration of President François Hollande is driven by the French desire for uranium ores. Continue reading →

December 17, 2013 Posted by | AFRICA, France, Uranium, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Bankruptcy looms for uranium company USEC

Uranium company USEC says expects to file for bankruptcy  Dec 16, 2013 Dec 16 (Reuters) – USEC Inc, a supplier of enriched uranium for commercialnuclear power plants, said it expected to file for bankruptcyprotection as part of a deal with its bondholders, sending the company’s shares down as much as 52 percent.

USEC, which has been struggling to fund projects and has posted losses for the past four quarters, said it expected to file a prearranged Chapter 11 petition in the first quarter…….

The company said in November that government funding for its $350 million American Centrifuge Project in Ohio would end in January.

The project, which is 80 percent funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is designed to produce low-enriched uranium used to make nuclear fuel. It was scheduled to be completed this month.

USEC wound down operations at another uranium enrichment plant earlier this year. The company is in the process of handing over the plant in Paducah, Kentucky to owner DOE.

 

Although power companies are building five reactors in southeastern United States, nuclear power generation is expected to decline. This will lower demand for uranium…

Moreover, uranium prices are yet to recover after they plummeted following the March 2011 meltdown at Japan‘s Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant…..http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/16/usec-bankruptcy-idUKL3N0JV2CI20131216

December 17, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Higher radiation levels detected in 2 Utah cities

RADIATION ALERTS HIT U.S. CITIES Fukishima cited as suspected source of increasing threat  http://www.wnd.com/2013/12/radiation-alerts-hit-u-s-cities/#AiR6tmt9ZPCUCUBG.99WND Bob Unruh, 16 Dec 13, A private organization that monitors radiation data from network points across the United States issued email alerts today for two Western U.S. cities, Reno, Nev., and St. George, Utah.

The alerts came from the the Nuclear Emergency Tracking Center, which explains its mission is to provide radiation monitoring information from hundreds of sites in Japan and the U.S., including those run by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The warning pinpointed an area “of concern” in St. George, Utah, where background radiation levels more than doubled today from the typical reading.

In Reno, “the current background radiation level has increased suddenly by more than 200 points from the typical average.”……http://www.wnd.com/2013/12/radiation-alerts-hit-u-s-cities/

 

December 17, 2013 Posted by | radiation, USA | Leave a comment

Closing Hanford Nuclear Plan would save money

Big Bucks Saved If Aging Hanford Nuclear Plant Closes  TriplePundit By Bill DiBenedetto | December 16th, 2013 Ratepayers in Washington State could save a cool $1.7 billion over 17 years if the Columbia Generating Station (CGS) nuclear power plant at Hanford is closed.

A 212-page economic analysis released last week by McCullough Research of Portland, OR notes that the CGS on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is the only nuclear facility that was actually completed out of the five plants begun there during the long and tangled history of Hanford. In addition, it contains a General Electric boiling water reactor that’s similar to those that were destroyed during the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan….http://www.triplepundit.com/2013/12/big-bucks-saved-aging-hanford-nuclear-plant-closes/

December 17, 2013 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

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