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Even the pro nukes know that burying dead nuclear reactors is a growing and massively costly problem

World Energy Outlook Warns Nuclear Industry On Decommissioning And Disposal 12 Nov (NucNet): The nuclear energy industry needs to be ready to manage “an unprecedented rate” of decommissioning with almost 200 of the 434 reactors that were operating commercially at the end of 2013 to be retired by 2040, a report by the International Energy Agency says. World Energy Outlook 2014 (WEO), released today in London, says “the vast majority” of these reactor retirements will be in the European Union, the US, Russia and Japan. … The IEA estimates the cost of decommissioning plants that are retired to be more than $100 billion.

Decommissioning

But WEO warns that “considerable uncertainties” remain about these costs, reflecting the relatively limited experience to date in dismantling and decontaminating reactors and restoring sites for other uses.
Regulators and utilities need to continue to ensure that adequate funds are set aside to cover these future expenses, WEO says.
It also warns that all countries which have ever had nuclear generation facilities have an obligation to develop solutions for long-term storage.
In one scenario examined in WEO, the cumulative amount of spent nuclear fuel that has been generated (a significant portion of which becomes high-level radioactive waste) more than doubles, reaching 705,000 tonnes in 2040.

Today – 60 years since the first nuclear reactor started operating – no country has yet established permanent facilities for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste from commercial reactors, which continues to build up in temporary storage, WEO says..

November 15, 2014 Posted by | 2 WORLD, decommission reactor | Leave a comment

Overwhelming public opposition is ignored by Japan’s government in pushing for nuclear power

logo-NO-nuclear-Smflag-japanEnergy plan overlooked flat-out opposition to nuclear power, analysis shows Asahi Shimbun, November 12, 2014 By ATSUSHI KOMORI/ Senior Staff Writer The government’s compilation of its basic energy plan ignored an overwhelming call from the public to move away from nuclear energy, according to an analysis by The Asahi Shimbun.

More than 90 percent of the comments submitted to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in response to the government’s proposed plan were against nuclear power, the analysis showed.

Yet nuclear energy was described as an “important base-load electricity source” in the plan approved by the Abe Cabinet in April.

The Asahi received a total of 18,711 comments from the ministry after submitting an information disclosure request.

Among them, 17,665, or 94.4 percent of the total, expressed opposition to restarting operations at nuclear power plants or called for decommissioning them.

Only 213 comments, or 1.1 percent, were in favor of maintaining or further promoting nuclear energy……….

The ministry disclosed 2,109 of the comments in May, with the remainder made available to the Asahi………

In 2012, when the Democratic Party of Japan held the reins of government, it called for a national debate on what rate of power generation nuclear energy should account for in 2030.

About 89,000 public comments were received, with about 90 percent of them in favor of a move away from nuclear energy.http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201411120044

November 15, 2014 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

An alliance of German activist groups wants to stop nuclear waste export to the USA

Protest-No!flag_germanyfrom Diet Simon,  13 Nov 14  An alliance of German environment activists plans to prevent the export of CASTOR containers with highly radioactive fuel pebbles to the USA from Jülich and Ahaus.

When the supervisory board of the Jülich research centre meets on 19 November to discuss what to do with the CASTORS there, activists will mount a protest outside.

The activists argue that several expertises show that the thought-about exports of highly radioactive materials to South Carolina would be illegal. They say government plans to produce legality by simply relabeling the commercially operated Jülich reactor an experimental one won’t work.

“The AVR reactor is without a doubt an output reactor and is listed that way by the Federal Agency for Radiation Protection. That brings it under the law changed last summer which bans the export of radioactive fuel elements and requires the safest possible storage in Germany,” suggests Rainer Moormann, who used to work in the power station and the research centre.

Peter Bastian of the SOFA Münster group emphasises the aspect of societal responsibility: “Though the operators of atomic facilities try to shirk their responsibility for highly radioactive waste, exporting the radiating problems abroad is no solution in our view. An out of sight, out of mind strategy that makes innocent third parties suffer is unacceptable for the disposal of our atomic waste.“

Kerstin Ciesla, of BUND, the German section of Friends of the Earth, demands that the coalition parties in the North-Rhine Westphalian state government, Social Democrats and Greens, keep to their coalition agreement. “That stipulates that the CASTORS, especially those stored in Jülich, will be transported only one more time, and that is to a final repository once a location has been found for one. We will not sit back and watch the coalition agreement being broken, we will try to stop this transport with all the means we can muster.”

The catchcry of the anti-nuclear movement, “Nothing in, nothing out!“ is the basic tenet of the new alliance, currently comprising 13 groups, with more likely to come on board.

At the end of September a tour through Germany with Tom Clements, a South Carolina environmental activist and politician, who heads the Savannah River Site Watch, kicked off the joint activism. The alliance plans to build on that success and decided on continuous cooperation.

The following organisations have joined the alliance:

November 15, 2014 Posted by | Germany, opposition to nuclear, wastes | Leave a comment

Russia’s underwater nuclear graveyard- the danger in the Arctic

Sunken Soviet Submarines Threaten Nuclear Catastrophe in Russia’s Arctic, Moscow Times. by Matthew Bodner Nov. 13 2014 While Russia’s nuclear bombers have recently set the West abuzz by probing NATO’s air defenses, a far more certain danger currently lurks beneath the frigid Arctic waters off Russia’s northern coast — a toxic boneyard for Soviet nuclear ships and reactors whose containment systems are gradually wearing out.

Left to decay at the bottom of the ocean, the world is facing a worst case scenario described as “an Arctic underwater Chernobyl, played out in slow motion,” according to Thomas Nilsen, an editor at the Barents Observer newspaper and a member of a Norwegian watchdog group that monitors the situation.

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According to a joint Russian-Norwegian report issued in 2012, there are 17,000 containers of nuclear waste, 19 rusting Soviet nuclear ships and 14 nuclear reactors cut out of atomic vessels at the bottom of the Kara Sea.

For extra historical details see: Soviet Nuclear Submarine Wrecks at Bottom of Arctic Ocean (Video) Continue reading →

November 15, 2014 Posted by | oceans, Russia, safety, wastes | 1 Comment

Medical isotopes made without need for a nuclear reactor

nuclear-medicineSaskatoon scientists make medical isotopes without nuclear reactor   http://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/saskatoon-scientists-make-medical-isotopes-without-nuclear-reactor-1.2102945#ixzz3JBjS72AU November 14, 2014 Canadian Light Source scientists have developed a way to produce medical isotopes without the use of a nuclear reactor.

The Saskatoon-based facility announced Friday they recently shipped isotopes made by powerful X-rays to Winnipeg for clinical trials.

“To be part of a project that will meet the health needs of so many Canadians, that is the most gratifying element,” said Canadian Light Source CEO Rob Lamb in a media release. Medical isotopes are used in medical imaging to diagnose cancer and heart disease. According to Health Canada, energy emitted by the isotope is detected by a special camera during a scan.

The Medical Isotope Project facility in Saskatoon is the first of its kind in the world, light source officials said. A particle accelerator hits molybdenum-100 metals — which resemble dimes — with high-energy X-rays. The rays knock a neutron from the nuclei and convert the molybdenum-100 to molybdenum-99, which then decays into a medically useful isotope — technetium-99m. Leftover metals are recovered and recycled. A nuclear reactor is not needed and no nuclear waste is created. Continue reading →

November 15, 2014 Posted by | Canada, health | Leave a comment

Dismantling a highly polluted German nuclear reactor with a scandalous cover-up history

secret-agent-Smflag_germanyfrom Diet Simon, 15 Nov 14 Under strict secrecy work began on Tuesday 11 November 2014 on dismantling a radioactively highly polluted German nuclear reactor with a scandalous cover-up history. The “experimental” nuke at Jülichwas shut down in 1988, ten years after serious mishaps which included radioactively polluted water escaping into the ground water. The incident was kept secret, then played down.

The operating company says the deconstruction is not dangerous to the public but experts doubt that claim. The work was to be completed tomorrow, 13 November. Continue reading →

November 15, 2014 Posted by | Germany, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

G20 swelters in heatwave, as host country Australia denies importance of climate change

heat_waveAbbott’s nightmare: World leaders to swelter through G20 heatwave, Climate Spectator JOHN CONROY  14 NOV, As it seeks a growth-focus at the G20, the Abbott Government has been struck by another development which will only compound the attention on climate change generated by the US-China vows in Beijing this week. The Bureau of Meteorology is expecting a heatwave across Queensland, with temperatures to be more than 10 degrees above average in parts of the state – including Brisbane. In the state capital, the bureau is forecasting 35 and 39 degrees across the weekend, considerably higher than the city’s November average of 27.8.

Nearby Ipswich – 40km southwest of Brisbane – will touch 41 on Saturday, according to the bureau, it’s hottest November day since 1968 and well above its 30.8 November average, while further inland towns are expecting to reach the mid-40s in the first half of next week.

There will be little overnight relief at the G20, too, with temperatures to remain around the mid-20s in the evenings and only bottom out at 20 degrees early Sunday.

“We’re going to have hot days and hot nights as well,” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Dean Narramore said, according to Fairfax Media……….

The heatwave comes as the world tracks for its hottest calendar year on record, having already experienced the hottest consecutive 12 months from October 2013 through to September this year.

Ahead of the G20, a group of health organisations – including the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and the National Toxics Network – have called on climate change to be on the summit’s agenda, with the chief executive of the Public Health Association of Australia pointing out the increased risk of heatwaves. ……..http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/11/14/science-environment/abbotts-nightmare-world-leaders-swelter-through-g20-heatwave?utm_source=exact

November 15, 2014 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Russia’s nuclear czar, Sergei Kirienko plans wind down of nuclear security co-operation

After Two Decades Of Cooperation, Russia May Pull The Plug On Nuclear Security Contracts With The US, Business Insider 15 Nov 14 PIERRE BIENAIMÉ In the years following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia’s former American rival has spent billions helping Moscow secure a sprawling network of nuclear infrastructure, in the interest of lowering the odds that weaponised uranium might fall in the hands of extremists or rogue states.

Kiriyenko--tsar

 

Now Russia may be planning to wind down those joint efforts, the New York Times reported. Sergey V. Kirienko, the head of Russia’s state nuclear company, told US Energy Secretary that no new contracts aimed at nuclear security for 2015 were envisioned “under current circumstances” — a concise reference to the ratcheting tensions between Russia and the West since its annexation of Crimea in March………http://www.businessinsider.com.au/russia-may-stop-cooperating-with-the-us-2014-11/

November 15, 2014 Posted by | politics international, Russia, safety | Leave a comment

At G20 Australians hold beach protest, mocking their climate denialist Prime Minister Abbott

Abbott-fiddling-global-warmAustralians Stick Their Heads In The Sand To Mock Prime Minister Abbott’s Climate Stance http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/13/australians-stick-heads-sand_n_6150606.html Reuters  | By Sue-Lin Wong SYDNEY, Nov 13 (- More than 400 protesters stuck their heads in the sand on Australia’s Bondi Beach on Thursday, mocking the government’s reluctance to put climate change on the agenda of a G20 summit this weekend.

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Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s perceived failure to address climate change is all the more galling in the wake of an agreement between the United States and China on Wednesday to limit their carbon emissions, they said.
“Obama’s on board, Xi Jinping’s on board, everyone’s on board except one man,” activist Pat Norman, 28, bellowed into a megaphone on the Sydney beach.
“Tony Abbott!” the protesters shouted back.
Folks with babies, school children and working people in business suits dug holes on the beach and stuck their heads in them. The ostrich is said to stick its head in the sand in futile bid to avoid danger.Ornithologists say the African bird does no such thing but that didn’t spoil the cheeky protest.
“Wiggle ya bums if you feel like it,” Norman shouted over the megaphone.
A few athletic types did handstands with their heads in the sand.

Abbott called climate change science “crap” in 2009 and said coal was “good for humanity.” Australia repealed a tax on greenhouse gas emissions in July, the only country to reverse action on climate change. Justin Field, 36, a former army intelligence officer who is running for a seat in state parliament for the Green Party, said Australia had to act.

“To be so far behind the rest of the developed world embarrasses progressive Australia,” he said.

November 15, 2014 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

In climate denialist Australia, President Obama throws down gauntlet to act on climate change

Obama,BarackObama’s University of Queensland speech: President throws down gauntlet to act on climate change news.com.au, 15 Nov 14 PRESIDENT Obama has used his speech at the University of Queensland to throw down the gauntlet on climate change, urging Australia’s young people to act before it’s too late.

“If China and the US can agree on this, the world can agree on this. We need to get this done,” the President told a crowd of around 2000 students and politicians at the University of Queensland on a sweltering day in the city.

“I have not had time to go to the Great Barrier Reef and I want to come back and I want my daughters to come back and I want their daughters and sons to come back and have that be there in 50 years,” he said.

The reference will no doubt put pressure on Prime Minister Tony Abbot, who has been heavily criticised this week by media for refusing to put climate change on the G20’s official agenda.

In his opening address this morning United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said climate change was the “defining issue of our times” and it’s “only natural” G20 leaders should make it a priority.

President Obama also used the speech to announce a $3 billion contribution to the Green Climate Fund which aims to help developing nations deal with climate change………http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/obamas-university-of-queensland-speech-president-throws-down-gauntlet-to-act-on-climate-change/story-e6frflo9-1227124098927

November 15, 2014 Posted by | general | Leave a comment