nuclear-news

Indian Department of Atomic Energy is in a fix over how to bring down the cost.

“If we take inflation into consideration, even then the cost is very high. We are also answerable to people. Plus, there is a lot of opposition to nuclear projects where we have foreign collaborators.
If nothing works out, then we will, perhaps, have to back out because of the high electricity generation cost from the project,” a senior DAE official said.

http://www.thestatesman.net/news/31497-dae-in-fix-over-high-n-power-cost.html

press trust of india
New Delhi, 25 December
As the cost of electricity generation by nuclear power plants, to be set up with the help of French and American companies, is turning out to be on the higher side, the Department of Atomic Energy is in a fix over how to bring down the cost.
On one hand, it is involved in hard negotiations with the companies and on the other hand, sources said, if the cost per unit turns out to be too expensive, then it may not even pursue the project with collaborators.
The estimated cost by the DAE for Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant (JNPP) in Maharashtra is around Rs 9 per unit while the cost for Mithi Virdhi nuclear power project is around Rs 12 per unit.
Currently, the DAE is in negotiations with French company Areva to build six EPR reactors of 1650 MW each at Jaitapur.
Sources pointed out that initial estimates state the cost of the project to be around Rs 27-30 crore per megawatt and the cost per unit to be around Rs 9 per unit in 2021. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai last month, R K Sinha, DAE Secretary, had said a competitive per unit tariff of Rs 6.50 has been estimated in the year of completion of Jaitapur project in 2020-21.
In the case of Mithi Virdhi project where American company Westinghouse Electric is providing AP-1000 reactors, the cost per megawatt is coming to around Rs 40 crores while the cost per unit is around Rs 12.
Although this project is yet to reach the advanced negotiations stage, the DAE has already signed an Early Works Agreement with Westinghouse Electric.
The DAE is skeptical about the proposal due to its high cost. It states that the cost per unit from the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) unit 1 and 2 is around Rs 3.50 to Rs 4 per unit.
“If we take inflation into consideration, even then the cost is very high. We are also answerable to people. Plus, there is a lot of opposition to nuclear projects where we have foreign collaborators.
If nothing works out, then we will, perhaps, have to back out because of the high electricity generation cost from the project,” a senior DAE official said.

December 25, 2013 Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A Christmas Message from NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden

Melissa Melton
December 25th, 2013

Snowden makes a good point:

“do most people even realize that a child growing up today will have absolutely no concept of privacy or what it is like to have an “unrecorded, unanalyzed thought”?

http://www.thedailysheeple.com/a-christmas-message-from-nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden_122013

December 25, 2013 Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

State-backed fund agrees on new Tepco rehab plan, including reactor restarts

“Most of the fish caught within the 30 kilometer radius is thrown into the garbage because it is radiated. And TEPCO is paying to local fishermen for it, so that they’re happy and keep silent on that. Some of it though makes it to stores, but only locally,” economist Hirokai Kurosaki revealed to RT.

http://rt.com/news/japan-fukushima-seafood-dangers-775/

December 25, 2013

Download video (20.67 MB)

Due to radiation fears, Fukushima Prefecture fishermen have to dump most of their catch. Two years into the nuclear disaster, the world is growing weary of Japan’s seafood, with South Korea even banning Japanese fish and seafood imports.

Fish has traditionally not only been an integral part of Japanese food culture, but also one of its prized exports. In 2011, before the Fukushima disaster, Japan maintained one of the world’s largest fishing fleets and accounted for almost 15 percent of global catches, according to Forbes.

However, there are serious concerns now, although the industry seems to be on a slow, but sure recovery route.

The concerns mainly arise over catches made in the waters close to the Fukushima nuclear power plant. After it was established that the hydraulic system at the Fukushima nuclear power plant was severely irradiated, fears grew that the contamination could spread into the Pacific.

“There is significant contamination in the bottom segment, especially in the pond and the river system, where we can find a very high amount of radioactive cesium accumulated,” Yamashike Yosuke, Environmental Engineering Professor at Kyoto University, told RT.

Many Japanese seafood firms are under threat as there are five prefectures possibly affected by contamination in the sea, accounting for almost 40,000 tons of fish per year, RT’s Aleksey Yaroshevsky reports from Soma, a coastal town in the Fukushima prefecture.

Fish factories around the Fukushima prefecture now have to take radiation measurements.

“We’re taking samples from every catch we make and if we ever find even the slightest trace of radiation, we’ll destroy the whole catch. So far there has been none, this fish is safe,” Akihisa Sato assured RT, a worker in a fish laboratory in Soma, Japan.

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December 25, 2013 Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Vanunu Petitions High Court to Allow Him to Leave Israel

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/175549#.Urtl6aHbBok

By Uzi Baruch and Arutz Sheva Staff

12/25/2013,

Almost ten years since he was released from jail, convicted spy Mordechai Vanunu has petitioned the High Court to annul the raft of restrictions placed on him, including a ban on leaving the country.

The former nuclear technician at Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant was convicted in 1988 on charges of treason and espionage, and was sentenced to 18 years in jail – spending much of that time in solitary confinement. He was released in 2004, but security services say he still possesses sensitive information which could compromise state security.

Vanunu, on the other hand, claims that none of the secret information he has poses a security threat, since it is all effectively obsolete nearly thirty years on.

The nuclear spy – who converted to Christianity – refuses to speak in Hebrew and spoke only in English, saying that he did not want to live in Israel and wanted the right to start a new life elsewhere.

“I don’t want to live in Israel,” he said, “I cannot live here as a convicted spy, a traitor, an enemy and a Christian.”

State attorney Dan Eldad challenged the appeal, saying that Vanunu still possessed sensitive, confidential information which was indeed still relevant and therefore would pose a security threat. Prosecutors are concerned that once Vanunu is out of the country and no longer threatened with jail for breaking the terms of his release – which include speaking to journalists – he would reveal more classified information.

December 25, 2013 Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized | 3 Comments