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24 November UK demonstration against transport of nuclear fuel

Protest-No!flag-UKDemo at Carlisle Railway: From Darkest Peru to Darkest Cumbria – Stop Nuclear Madness! http://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/demo-at-carlisle-railway-from-darkest-peru-to-darkest-cumbria-stop-nuclear-madness/Radiation Free Lakeland will be holding a demonstration and leafletting at Carlisle Railway Station on Monday 24th November from 11am to 1pm – Please come and join us 

This demonstration in Carlisle coincides with a week of actions at train stations throughout the UK  by groups and concerned citizens including in Wigan, Preston and Lancaster to oppose the continued transport of radioactive materials by train.. (look back here for times etc tbc)

What Continued Nuclear Madness Means to the North West:

1. Drives the push for uranium mining worldwide eg. Peru (being aggressively eyed up) , The Grand Canyon USA, Niger, Australia, Russia

2.Uranium arrives at Ellesmere Port Dock by ship where it is transported by road to Capenhurst. It is enriched at Capenhurst and then taken again by road to the Springfields fuel rod conversion plant near Preston. During all these processes it in the form of a Uranium Hexaflouride

3. The Fuel Making Process produces radioactive wastes which are released to the River Ribble and dumped in Clifton Marsh landfill. Depleted Uranium is stored at Capenhurst.

4. The fuel is taken to nuclear reactors including Heysham which is being restarted despite “a crack in the boiler spine, a metal rod supporting the weight of the reactor” (Institution of Engineering and Technology). 5. Once the fuel is burnt (spent fuel) it travels by rail through towns and villages to Sellafield where it is reprocessed increasing the volume of waste x180. Sellafield uses over £30M of gas every year.

6. Spent fuel has travelled by plane from Carlisle airport which is still authorised to carry radioactive materials.  In a three year period, 1995-8 at least “8 shipments of nuclear fuel assemblies included passage by air from Carlisle Airport from West Cumbria to Switzerland” (Freedom of Information Response from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to RaFL 17th Sept 2014)

6. Next to Sellafield is 500 acres of beautiful farmland, hedgerows and ancient tracks. This land should be a buffer zone around the worlds most dangerous stockpile of nuclear waste. Instead the government plan to sell it to the same companies responsible for Fukushima in order to build 3 new nuclear reactors.

7. There is no “solution” to the problem of nuclear waste apart from distributing it to the environment. Not only to the air and sea but also to landfill. And then there is melting down radioactive scrap metal and selling it onto the open market. Finally, the proposal for deep burial of heat generating nuclear wastes.

November 19, 2014 Posted by | ACTION | Leave a comment

World’s largest renewable energy developer? SunEdison on track for this title

renewable-energy-pictureSunEdison To Be World’s Largest Renewable Energy Developer http://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/sunedison-first-wind-em4596/ November 19, 2014 SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) and TerraForm Power, Inc. (Nasdaq: TERP) have announced the signing of a USD $2.4 billion agreement to acquire First Wind, one of the USA’s  leading developers, owners and operators of wind farms.

SunEdison says it will purchase over 1.6 GW of First Wind pipeline and backlog projects for Terraform Power, which are expected to be operational in 2016-2017. Also included in the transaction is an additional 6.4 GW of project development opportunities.

SunEdison’s portion of the total transaction is $1.5 billion, with Terraform Power acquiring First Wind’s operating portfolio for an enterprise value of $862 million. TerraForm Power is a yieldco* that is  majority owned by SunEdison.

“The acquisition of First Wind transforms both SunEdison and TerraForm Power into diversified renewable energy companies and will make SunEdison the leading renewable power plant developer in the world,” said Ahmad Chatila, President and Chief Executive Officer of SunEdison.

First Wind is understandably quite chuffed about the acquisition as well.

“We are excited to become part of the SunEdison team,” said Paul Gaynor, Chief Executive Officer of First Wind. “This new strategic organization will allow us to join with SunEdison to develop and invest in new, long-term-contracted, well-sited and well-run renewable energy projects that deliver clean energy to homes and businesses across the country and internationally.”

Announcements of major milestones, projects, deals and technology advancements from SunEdison have rapidly flowed in 2014. Just since the beginning of October this year, SunEdison has announced:

SunEdison has solar installations, manufacturing plants, and 39 offices located throughout North America, Europe and Asia

* A yieldco is a publicly traded company  formed to own operating assets that produce a predictable cash flow.

Source: SunEdison

November 19, 2014 Posted by | 2 WORLD, renewable | Leave a comment

Chance of nuclear war too close for comfort

The nuclear gun is back on the table, Gulf News, Both in private and in public, Russians are making increasingly explicit references to their atomic arsena By Gideon RachmanNovember 18, 2014“………………….Last week, General Philip Breedlove, commander of Nato forces in Europe, said that Russia had “moved forces that are capable of being nuclear” into Crimea. As fighting in Ukraine continues, the danger of Russia and Nato misreading each other’s intentions increases.

Historians of the Cold War have shown that mistakes and miscalculation have brought the world closer to accidental nuclear warfare more often than is commonly realised. A recent report by Britain’s Royal Institute of International Affairs, titled, ‘Too close for comfort’ documents several incidents. Some involved computer malfunctions that led either the US or the USSR to believe that they were under nuclear attack. As the report notes: “Individual decision making, often in disobedience of protocol and political guidance, has on several occasions saved the day.” Several of the most dangerous near-misses took place during periods of heightened political tension between Moscow and Washington. The most famous such incident was the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962. A more recent instance — with a stronger contemporary resonance — was the Able Archer incident of November 1983. In September of that year, the Soviet Union had shot down a Korean Air civilian airliner, killing 267 people. That tragedy, like the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines flight over Ukraine this year, had significantly raised East-West tensions with the Russians, then as now, accusing America of militarism and plans for world domination.

Against this background, Nato staged a military exercise that acted out a western nuclear strike on the USSR. Operation Able Archer was so thorough and so realistic that many in Moscow interpreted it as preparation for a Nato first-strike. In response, the Russians readied their own nuclear weapons. It appears that intelligence services alerted the West to how Able Archer was being seen in Moscow, allowing for de-escalation.

One lesson of that episode is that the existence of a “hotline” between Moscow and Washington is no guarantee that the two sides will not blunder. Another is that any ambiguous move, involving nuclear weapons, can cause a dangerous panic.

My parents’ generation got grimly used to living in the shadow of the bomb. But for my generation, the very idea of nuclear warfare seems like something from science-fiction or even dark comedy, such as Dr Strangelove. But the world’s nuclear arsenals were not abolished after the Cold War. Sadly, we may now be returning to an era in which the threat of nuclear warfare can no longer be treated as the stuff of science fiction. http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/the-nuclear-gun-is-back-on-the-table-1.1414436

November 19, 2014 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Correction on some statements on UK Hacking and Manipulation of Independent Scientists in the UK mentioned on Nuclear Hotseat report by Shaun McGee

OpEd by Shaun McGee (aka arclight2011)

19th November 2014

posted to nuclear-news.net

I am using this chance to make a correction to some comments made in last weeks Nuclear Hotseat report by Shaun McGee. The claims of manipulation of finances of these two Scientists (Chris Busby and Ian Fairlie) still stand. Also, Ian Fairllie had his recent bullet proof peer reviewed report on increased Leukemia in children around nuclear power plants disappear and become unavailable after some 200 odd downloads by the science community.And Chris Busby has been removed as a scientific witness to the Atomic veterans in the UK courts with no independent scientist allowed to offer non UK government backed Science data. I might add that Mr Gundersen from the USA tells us in the same Nuclear Hotseat Podcast, linked above, that his Tokyo sourced radioactive samples mysteriously disappeared showing that this criminal behaviour is happening on both sides of the Atlantic.

There are many other examples of UK blocking of emails and disruption of nuclear stakeholder groups that will be reported in depth in further articles posted exclusively on this blog, in the near future.

In the report this statement;

“.. even in the face of growing evidence reluctantly released by the UK government showing that there is indeed damage caused by U234 fallout from the Atomic Bomb program..”

Should have said;

The UK government is being challenged by the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association for a paltry 25 million Pounds Sterling (40 million US dollars Approx ) for damage to the veterans and their descendent’s for up to 20 generations, any funds needed above that need to be raised by the Veterans and their families.

And the statement that immediately followed;

“.. Also, this underpinned by recent findings and admissions by the UK government that Depleted Uranium has caused similar genomic problems in Iraq veterans due to DU..”

This statement was wrong, however, 2 soldiers from the first Iraq war were part compensated for Depleted Uranium health effects to themselves whilst cleaning out effected Tanks. And 2,000 others were awarded health pensions due to “war damage” (Quotes and links below).

A report from Going Underground claims that the UK will not be using DU in Iraq in further military actions;

Hundreds of tons of depleted uranium has been dropped in Iraq by US and UK forces, contaminating an estimated 300 sites, with a huge increase in cancer rates and a 17 fold increase in birth defects. The MoD denies any connection between the two. And the UK is one of only 4 countries ruling out banning the use of the weapon, which can disperse toxic dust and contaminate sites for years.

And below is some evidence to support the correction to the Nuclear Hotseat report above;

Exposure to depleted uranium in 1991 Gulf War killed UK soldier – inquest rules

A Black Country soldier died as a result of exposure to depleted uranium during the first Gulf War, an inquest has ruled. Stuart Dyson, of Cherwell Drive, Brownhills, formerly a Lance Corporal in the Royal Pioneer Corps, died of colon cancer in June last year aged only 39. His family has sought to prove his belief that he was dying because of being exposed to the lethal substance while cleaning tanks in the Gulf between January and May 1991. A jury, sitting at Smethwick Council House, heard medical evidence that cancer-inducing particles from uranium in tank shells had been breathed in and swallowed by Mr Dyson and that the onset of cancer in such cases could typically take ten years to show. (Birmingham Post, Sep 11 2009)

Pension award for British soldier’s depleted uranium poisoning claim

Scots ex-soldier Kenny Duncan has become the first veteran to win a pension appeal after being diagnosed with depleted uranium (DU) poisoning during the 1991 Gulf war.
Mr Duncan’s case relied on blood tests carried out by Dr Albrecht Schott, a German biochemist, which revealed chromosome aberrations caused by ionising radiation.
Dr Schott’s research formed part of a study of 16 British veterans of conflicts in the Gulf, Bosnia, and Kosovo. The test results were dismissed by the MoD as “neither well thought out nor scientifically sound”. (Glasgow Herald, Feb. 4, 2004)

UK Gulf War veterans to abandon legal battle for compensation claims

An eight-year, multimillion pound legal battle by more than 2,000 veterans for compensation for Gulf war syndrome has collapsed because there is not enough scientific evidence to prove their case in court.
The Legal Services Commission (LSC), which is estimated to have spent around £4m on the case, is expected to withdraw legal aid this month after being told by the veterans’ lawyers that the action has no real chance of success.
To succeed in their claim against the Ministry of Defence, the veterans would have to produce scientific evidence not only that their illness was caused by their service in the 1991 Gulf war, but also that the MoD had been negligent. The burden of proof would be on them as claimants to prove their case.

More than 2,000 Gulf veterans have been awarded “no fault” war pensions, granted to those whose health has been affected by war service. This week the first war pension for the effects of depleted uranium was awarded to a former soldier, Kenny Duncan, who claimed he was poisoned from inhaling DU dust from burnt-out tanks.
But winning a war pension is no pointer to success in a high court compensation claim. The burden of proof is reversed in pension cases, putting the onus on the MoD to prove the illness is not linked to Gulf service, and there is no need to prove negligence. (The Guardian Feb. 5, 2004)

H/t http://www.wise-uranium.org/dissgw.html for the three articles above.

Of course, the UK government has commissioned, what i believe to be, biased reports claiming no effect of Depleted Uranium although they claim that this weapon will not be used in any further attacks on Iraq. The Science Media backed Scientists connected to the UK governemnt are trying to cover up the effects of radiation and toxic effects of nuclear materials and this will also be reported on in the future exclusively to nuclear-news.net followers.

PS its nice to be back 🙂

November 19, 2014 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

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