Momentum is building for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons!
Significantly, and to help move the work forward, the Austrian Foreign Minister added to the Chair’s report by announcing a pledge by Austria to work for a nuclear weapons ban, described as “taking effective measures to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons” and “to cooperate with all stakeholders to achieve this goal.!
Time to Ban the Bomb http://globalhousework.blogspot.com.au/ by Alice Slater, 23 Dec 14 Global Momentum is building for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons! While the world has banned chemical and biological weapons, there is no explicit legal prohibition of nuclear weapons, although the International Court of Justice ruled unanimously that there is an obligation to bring to a conclusion negotiations for their total elimination. The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), negotiated in 1970 required the five existing nuclear weapons states, the US, Russia, UK, France and China (P-5) to make “good faith efforts” to eliminate their nuclear weapons, while the rest of the world promised not to acquire them (except for India, Pakistan, Israel, who never signed the NPT). North Korea relied on the NPT Faustian bargain for “peaceful” nuclear power to build its own bomb, and then walked out of the treaty.
More than 600 members of civil society, from every corner of the globe, with more than half of them under the age of 30 
attended a fact-filled two day conference in Vienna organized by the International Coalition to Ban Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), to learn of the devastating consequences of nuclear weapons from the bomb and from testing as well, and of the frightening risks from possible accidents or sabotage of the nine nuclear arsenals around the world. The meeting was a follow up to two prior meetings in Oslo, Norway and Nayarit, Mexico. ICAN members, working for a treaty to ban the bomb, then joined a meeting hosted by Austria for 158 governments in the historic Hofburg Palace, which has served as the residence of Austrian leaders since before the founding of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Continue reading
Obama’s $1-trillion upgrade of USA’s nuclear arsenal – to ‘confront Russia’
Obama Upgrades Nuclear Arsenal For “Direct Confrontation With Russia” http://www.opednews.com/articles/Obama-Upgrades-Nuclear-Ars-by-Sherwood-Ross-Nuclear-Cover-up_Nuclear-Powers_Obama-Administration_Obama-Nuclear-141223-671.htmlBy Sherwood Ross (about the author) President Obama’s “gift” to Americans this holiday season is to renege on his 2009 pledge “to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”Steep costs, constant uncertainty, make nuclear power an impractical answer to climate chnage
Nuclear: Carbon Free, but Not Free of Unease NYT, By HENRY FOUNTAIN DEC. 22, 2014 “………The industry’s recent struggles represent something of a reversal from the previous decade, when there was talk of a nuclear revival in the United States after nearly 30 years without any new reactor construction permits being issued. Even then, however, some experts questioned just how much nuclear power could grow in the United States and abroad, and how much it could contribute to the effort to reduce carbon emissions.
In a report she prepared in 2009, Ms. Squassoni wrote that in light of steep construction costs, only a handful of new reactors would come on line by 2015, even in the best of circumstances.
“If you really wanted to reduce carbon emissions through nuclear, it was going to be incredibly expensive,” she said. “You’d have to build an incredible number of power plants.”
Now plants are even more expensive, in part because of new safety requirements in the wake of Fukushima. So-called small modular reactorshave been proposed as a lower-cost alternative. There are many different designs — at least one is meant to run on waste fuel — but the federal Department of Energy has provided significant development money only for two designs that are smaller variations of the most common kind of reactor.
Ashley Finan, an analyst with the Clean Air Task Force, which focuses on technologies to fight climate change, said that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had not made it easy for alternative designs to win backing from private investors.
“There’s a lack of a clear and predictable regulatory pathway,” Dr. Finan said. “You’re really not able to attract funding without a clear regulatory process.”
As a result, small modular reactors are many years from reality in the United States. Overseas, there are only a few isolated small-reactor projects underway, including one under construction in China………
Peter A. Bradford, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said that in discussions of adding more nuclear power to help curb emissions and fight climate change, the issue of safety takes on a new dimension.
“You can’t rationally bet a big part of your climate change abatement plan on a technology that you may suddenly find you don’t want to use anymore,” Mr. Bradford said. A major accident, for example, might force the entire industry to shut down, at least temporarily. “There’s no other low-carbon alternative with the potential to develop a large hole like that.”……http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/23/science/nuclear-carbon-free-but-not-free-of-unease-.html?_r=0
New post by computer hacker being investigated by S.Korea’s nuclear operator
S.Korea’s nuclear operator says investigating new post by hacker http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/23/southkorea-cybersecurity-threat-idUSL3N0U71XS20141223 SEOUL Tue Dec 23, 2014 Dec 23 (Reuters) – South Korea’s nuclear power plant operator said on Tuesday it was investigating a new threat posted on a Twitter account that a fresh batch of data had been stolen from the agency.
The Twitter account
had previously been used to claim the theft of data last week.
The user, self-described as the chairman of an anti-nuclear group, demanded the shut down of some of the country’s 23 nuclear reactors and urged local residents to flee the areas in a post that included a few sets of data.
“We have not yet opened the newly posted files,” an official at Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd (KHNP) said by telephone, citing concerns about the safety of the data. “It will take some time to verify the data they posted.” The KHNP said on Monday that its computer systems had been hacked but only non-critical data had been stolen. Operations were not at risk, it said. (Reporting by Meeyoung Cho and Sohee Kim; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Call to abolish nuclear weapons, in light of near misses, human frailties
Maine Voices: Human frailties, near misses make case for abolishing nuclear arms It’s time to join the rapidly growing consensus, sign an online petition and write to your senators.BY JAMES H. MAIER SPECIAL TO THE PRESS HERALD SCARBOROUGH — A recent story in the Maine Sunday Telegram (“REPORT: FORMER NUCLEAR LEADER POSSIBLY MADE COUNTERFEIT POKER CHIPS,” NOV. 23) paints a frightening picture of unreliability rampant in the ranks of those who manage the U.S. nuclear force, the most powerful and dangerous arsenal ever devised. Addiction, morale problems, safety lapses and other disciplinary problems exemplify the human weaknesses that could someday contribute to a disastrous accident.
Another aspect of this unsettling situation was not mentioned in the story: It is the long and well-documented history of so-called “broken arrows” (the military’s euphemistic term for a series of near-miss nuclear accidents that have been occurring every few years since the 1950s).
The 2013 book “Command and Control,” Eric Schlosser’s scholarly and comprehensive history of the evolution of nuclear weapons dating from the Manhattan Project to the present, describes many such alarming mishaps:
• Fiery crashes of Strategic Air Command B-52s carrying nuclear bombs.
• Accidental drops of combat-ready weapons from their bomb bays in locations from South Carolina to Morocco.
• Instances of nuclear weapons sitting unguarded in aircraft or storage silos in both NATO nations and the U.S.
It gets even more chilling. At tense times during the Cold War, all-out nuclear exchanges between the U.S. and Russia were narrowly averted when early warning radar arrays detected a flock of geese, unusual weather patterns or, on one occasion, a peacetime test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
In the precarious moments, when mistaken for an enemy’s nuclear “first strike,” any one of these false alarms could have triggered a massive retaliatory launch by one superpower or the other……………..
As the author points out, by remarkable good luck or the grace of God, none of the many accidents involving these weapons have yet resulted in a full-scale nuclear explosion, although in some cases the shaped high-explosive charges surrounding the uranium or plutonium cores have detonated, causing loss of life and property.
We have known since the 1960s that a full-scale nuclear war could devastate the planet, with dramatic climate change leading to famine among survivors. More recent models have warned that even a relatively small conflict on the other side of the planet – for example, involving Pakistan’s and India’s 100 known weapons – would put enough smoke, dust and debris into the atmosphere to create a “nuclear winter” as described by Carl Sagan.
As many military and world leaders have long recognized, prevention of nuclear war is essential. More than 150 nations, only recently including the U.S., have called for a treaty to abolish all use of nuclear weapons on humanitarian grounds.
To add your voice to this rapidly expanding world consensus, sign an online petition at www.icanw.org and write to Sens. Susan Collins (www.collins. senate.gov) and Angus King (www.king.senate.gov), asking them to support a reduction in U.S. funding for the modernization of nuclear weapons and the fulfillment of the U.S. commitment to nuclear disarmament under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968. http://www.pressherald.com/2014/12/23/maine-voices-nuclear-non-misses-could-portend-of-an-inevitable-catastrophe/
The international battle to market nuclear technology to South Africa
Geopolitics key in battle to gain SA’s nuclear nod, IOL Zambia, December 23 2014 By BloombergPaul Burkhardt and Franz Wild POLITICS may tip the balance as Russia’s Rosatom and France’s Areva prepare to battle it out for South Africa’s planned nuclear energy project that could cost $100 billion (R1.2 trillion).
“Geopolitical and industrial relations between South Africa and the nuclear-vendor countries will play an important role,” Des Muller, the head of Johannesburg-based building company Group Five’s nuclear construction division, said last week. “It does with all major infrastructure projects and more so on nuclear infrastructures where reliance on nuclear safety and construction know-how is paramount.”
South Africa could pay as much as $100bn spread out over a period of 15 years for nuclear reactors to provide 9 600 megawatts of power, Muller said………
“The South African government has stressed that through the new build process we wish to revitalise a nuclear industry in South Africa with a view to long-term self-sufficiency,” Xolisa Mabhongo, the group executive corporate services at the Nuclear Energy Corporation of SA, or Necsa, said in response to questions………
Russia might already have a head-start as President Jacob Zuma fostered stronger economic co-operation with the country and China in a shift from his Western and Africa-leaning predecessor Thabo Mbeki, Robert Besseling, an analyst with IHS Country Risk, said.
The Soviet Union and then Russia historically kept close ties with the ruling ANC from the days in which it was battling against the apartheid regime. Under Zuma’s watch, South Africa was incorporated into the Brics alliance with Brazil, Russia, India and China.
“Considering the much stronger relationship between the Zuma presidency and the Russian government than under the previous South African administration, it looks much more likely that the expansion of the nuclear programme will be awarded to Russia,” Besseling said………http://www.iol.co.za/business/news/geopolitics-key-in-battle-to-gain-sa-s-nuclear-nod-1.1798374#.VJsqssA8
Hacker got into South Korea’s nuclear plant computers
South Korea nuclear plant hit by hacker, Lance Whitney , c/net 23 Dec 14 The hacking comes in the wake of increased tension and trouble from North Korea, though the source has not been confirmed. Computers at a nuclear power plant in South Korea have been compromised by a hacker, but the plant’s operator says no critical data has been leaked.
The hacker was able to access blueprints, floor maps and other information on the plant, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday. Using a Twitter account called “president of anti-nuclear reactor group,” the hacker has released a total of four postings of the leaked data since December 15, each one revealing internal designs and manuals of the Gori-2 and Wolsong-1 nuclear reactors run by Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP), Yonhap added. The hacker has threatened to leak further information unless the reactors are shut down…………..
Government officials looking into the incident were able to trace the hacker’s IP address to a PC located in a specific location, Yonhap said. Investigators have been sent to the location as well as to the plant’s reactors to probe further. http://www.cnet.com/au/news/south-korea-nuclear-plant-hit-by-hackers/
Nuclear waste burial for Nevada? State and Feds in talks
Nevada, Feds to Study Nuclear Waste Burial in State http://www.ktvn.com/story/27696890/nevada-feds-to-study-nuclear-waste-burial-in-state Dec 23, 2014 Nevada and the federal government are agreeing to have a panel keep studying whether the U.S. will bury radioactive material from Tennessee at a former nuclear weapons proving ground north of Las Vegas.
Officials say there is no deal yet.
The state has balked at plans to bury low-level waste ranging from contaminated worker uniforms to machine parts from a World War II-era plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, at the Nevada National Security Site about 65 miles from Las Vegas.
Security Site spokesman Darwin Morgan says talks are continuing, and the Energy Department is optimistic shipments could begin in early 2015. (AP)
Unacceptable for Japan’s government to now go for nuclear power development
Moves to reconstruct nuclear power plants unacceptable, Mainichi 23 Dec 14 拡大写真An expert panel to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is poised to include the approval of rebuilding nuclear power plants in an interim file to be compiled later this year as one of the subjects to be considered. The move appears to signify the government’s clear declaration that it is not pursuing a zero nuclear power policy.
After the Dec. 14 House of Representatives election, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) gave a de-facto stamp of approval to reactivation of the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant’s No. 3 and No. 4 reactors in a safety screening. This is one of a series of moves leading to dependence on nuclear power. We cannot tolerate any moves that would promote a U-turn to nuclear power without any debate or seeking of public opinion.
The expert panel — the Nuclear Energy Subcommittee under the ministry’s Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy — is planning to include acceptance of nuclear plant reconstruction in its interim file by underscoring the need to ensure “the supply capacity to make up for the decommissioning of reactors.”
It will be the first time for the government to spell out the need to rebuild nuclear plants since the outbreak of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster. Reconstruction of a nuclear power complex — in which a new plant will be built while dilapidated reactors are decommissioned — is essentially the same as building a new nuclear plant………. Continue reading
Continuing opposition to India’s Kudankulam nuclear facility
Activists, however, have been calling for Kudankulam’s shutdown. “We are really afraid,” said Anthony Rayappan Suresh, a fisherman working along the shoreline in Idintha Karai and wearing a skull-and-bones antinuclear T-shirt. “We’ve seen the earlier tsunami, and this plant is not that safe.”
India’s Nuclear Ambitions Rattle Tsunami-Hit Coast Locals Fear Fukushima Scenario at Plant on Shores Ravaged in ‘04 By JESSE PESTA and R. JAI KRISHNA, WSJ Dec. 21, 2014 IDINTHA KARAI, India—Here along India’s southern coast—ravaged by tsunami waves 10 years ago—the country’s newest nuclear plant towers over the shoreline.It is one of India’s biggest nuclear plants, and in the coming weeks it is expected to officially start selling power into the Indian grid. The Russian-designed, 2,000-megawatt Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project is part of an aggressive nuclear expansion as India struggles to solve severe power shortages.
It comes a decade after the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami, in which 228,000 people were lost across countries on the Indian Ocean’s rim, and amid concern about nuclear plants on tsunami-prone shorelines since the 2011 meltdown in Fukushima, Japan.
Just this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited India and agreed to supply at least 10 more reactors over two decades. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the two leaders “outlined an ambitious vision for nuclear energy” during the visit and pledged the “highest standards of safety.” Continue reading
Israeli government is well aware that Iran is honoring the interim nuclear agreement
Speaking in an interview with CNN’s Candy Crowley, the president defended his diplomacy-focused foreign policy, saying that “where we can solve problems diplomatically, we should do so.” Obama said the American-led effort to reach a negotiated solution to defusing Iran’s nuclear program was an example of a successful diplomatic campaign.
“You look at an example like Iran, over the last year and a half, since we began negotiations with them, that’s probably the first year and a half in which Iran has not advanced its nuclear program in the last decade,” Obama told the news outlet.
The American leader said Iran’s halted progress was “not just verified by the United Nations and the… IAEA and ourselves,” but that “even critics of our policy like the Netanyahu government in Israel, their intelligence folks have acknowledged that, in fact, Iran has not made progress.”
Obama’s remarks were supported by a confidential IAEA report leaked last week which said Iran is honoring the interim nuclear agreement reached last year with the P5+1 world powers.
The document, obtained by Reuters on Friday, showed that Tehran was not enriching uranium above a five-percent concentration, and that it has not made “any further advances” at two enrichment facilities and a heavy water reactor which was under construction.
Read more: Obama: Israel knows Iran’s nuclear program halted | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-israel-knows-irans-nuclear-program-halted/#ixzz3Mquj29GG
South Korea: nuclear data leak is a grave situation, says President Park
South Korean president says nuclear data leak a ‘grave situation’, not ruling out North Korea link, ABC News 23 Dec 14 A recent series of leaks of data from South Korea’s nuclear operator was a “grave situation” that was unacceptable as a matter of national security, president Park Geun-hye says.
Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd (KHNP), which runs South Korea’s 23 nuclear power reactors, said on Monday its computer systems had been hacked, raising alarm in a country that remains at war with North Korea……..
“Nuclear power plants are first-class security installations that directly impact the safety of the people,” Ms Park said at a cabinet meeting, according to her office.
“A grave situation that is unacceptable has developed when there should have been not a trace of lapse as a matter of national security.”
She ordered inspections of safeguards at national infrastructure facilities, including the nuclear power plants, against what she called “cyber terrorism”……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-23/south-korea-data-leak-a-grave-situation-says-president/5985910
Stephen G Burns to be new chair of Nuclear Regulatory Agency
Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs
Stephen G Burns might be OK. I have read some adverse criticisms about him, on a pro nuclear advertising site – which is somewhat reassuring to learn.
Obama selects veteran lawyer to serve as chairman at nuclear energy regulatory agency http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/12/23/obama-selects-veteran-lawyer-to-serve-as-chairman-at-nuclear-energy-regulatory/WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has selected a 33-year veteran of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Stephen G. Burns, to serve as its chairman.
The five-member commission oversees the safety of the nation’s 62 nuclear power plants, and the chairman serves as the group’s official spokesman.
Burns replaces Allison Macfarlane, who is stepping down to take a position at George Washington University.
Burns served as the NRC’s general counsel from 2009-2012, and prior to that served in a variety of roles at the agency. He is the second general counsel to later become the agency’s chairman.
He has also served a stint as head of legal affairs for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency
Malaysian NGO firmly rejects nuclear power
NGO rejects nuclear option for Malaysia FMT | December 24, 2014
AMAN is convinced that nuclear power is neither cheap, clean nor safe. “It is not required for the generation of electricity in Malaysia,” said Aman chairman Dr. Ronald McCoy in a statement.
“AMAN therefore rejects the construction of any nuclear power plant (NPP) in Malaysia.”
AMAN, according to its statement, has taken this position, based on seven key factors: possibility of nuclear weapons proliferation; energy security; extremely expensive; vulnerable to natural disasters and accidents; a ticking time bomb; Malaysia’s existing and planned electricity by other means are sufficient; and the rate of construction of NPPs is skydiving.
AMAN was aware of the ongoing dissemination of false information by the nuclear industry and other vested interests, added the NGO, and “there has not been any genuine transparency of the government’s intentions nor sincere public consultation”.
“Our country must not make the serious mistake of investing in and constructing a nuclear power plant, particularly when there is no existing method of safely disposing the long-lasting radioactive nuclear waste, which will threaten the health of future generations of Malaysians.”
Globally, the use of nuclear power as an energy source was in decline, the statement points out.
Some figures:………….http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/12/24/ngo-rejects-nuclear-option-for-malaysia/
Uranium price down the gurgler again
Uranium spot price sags to $36.50/lb in year-end trading lull Washington (Platts)–23 Dec2014
The uranium spot price was $36.50/lb U3O8 on Monday, down 75 cents from a week earlier, as slight volumes and a smattering of buyers seeking low-priced material continued the month’s trend toward lower prices, according to price reporting company TradeTech……..Since reaching $44/lb in mid-November — the highest level in nearly two years — the daily U3O8 spot price fell to $38/lb on November 21, according to TradeTech. The price rallied to $40.25/lb in late November, but has generally declined since. http://www.platts.com/latest-news/electric-power/washington/uranium-spot-price-sags-to-3650lb-in-year-end-21749093
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