2015 January 12 « nuclear-news

Nuclear Free by 2045? – pays tribute to Charlie Hebdo’s anti nuclear stand

http://nf2045.blogspot.jp/2015/01/charlie-hebdo-special-nuclear-swindle.html 12 Jan 15 As the French nation prepares for a massive rally in support of liberty and free speech in the wake of the January 7th murders, certain ironies cannot escape attention.

The entire political establishment will be out for this rally, yet they were all targets in the past of Charlie Hebdo’s pointed satire. Some of them voiced disgust and disdain when they were the targets, or they showed no interest in fixing the problems exposed in the journal. Good for them, I suppose, if they are now ready take criticism more seriously and pay free speech and democracy more regard.

Just in case anyone gets the impression that Charlie Hebdo did only crude satirical cartoons about religion, let’s remember that these jokers had the courage to take on all sacred cows, even the ones with Iodine 131 and Strontium 90 in their milk.

Below is the cover page of Charlie Hebdo’s special nuclear issue from 2012. The French original of the cover page and accompanying text is here. –(pictures are at sidebar on right of this Antinuclear page)
The full issue does not appear to be available in digital format.

The Nuclear Swindle: 70 Years of French Atomic Radiation

Charlie Hebdo Responds to Montebourg* Special Edition of Charlie Hebdo, September 2012

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, media | Leave a comment

Safety concerns may close South Korea’s Wolsong No.1 reactor

Hacking of Korea’s nuclear operator raises risk of aging reactor closures Yahoo News By Meeyoung Cho SEOUL (Reuters) 12 Jan 15, – The hacking of South Korea’s nuclear operator means the country’s second-oldest reactor may be shut permanently due to safety concerns, said several nuclear watchdog commissioners, raising the risk that other aging reactors may also be closed.

“The operator failed to prevent it (the hack) and they don’t know how much data has been leaked. If the old reactor is still allowed to continue to run, it will just hike risks,” said Kim Hye-jung, one of the nine commissioners who will this month review an application to restart the Wolsong No.1 reactor.

The future of Wolsong No.1, shut in 2012 after reaching its 30-year lifespan, is seen as critical to the fate of other reactors, including the oldest Kori No.1 which had its lifespan extended by 10 years to 2017………

Even those commissioners who deem the reactor safe think that other issues such as public pressure will likely influence their decision, which is expected in February at the earliest.

Concerns over nuclear power have grown since the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011 and revelations in 2012 of fake certificates for reactor parts in South Korea.

(Additional reporting by Sohee Kim and Brian Kim; Editing by Henning Gloystein and Michael Perry) http://news.yahoo.com/hacking-koreas-nuclear-operator-raises-risk-aging-reactor-070014531–finance.html

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, South Korea | Leave a comment

They always find the money for new nuclear weapons

U.S. Navy’s Next Generation Nuclear Reactor Program Fully Funded By: Sam LaGrone USNI News January 9, 2015 WASHINGTON NAVY YARD — Development work for the reactor that will power the Navy’s next generation nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) was fully funded in the so-called Fiscal Year 2015 “cromnibus” that was signed into law last month, the head of the service’s Naval Reactors told USNI News on Friday.

In addition to the $156 million Ohio-class Replacement Program (ORP) reactor development included the Department of Energy’s FY 2015 budget, Congress also included $126.4 to refuel the service’s S8G prototype reactor in West Milton, N.Y. and $70 million to dispose of reactor waste as part of an existing facility in Idaho………..http://news.usni.org/2015/01/09/u-s-navys-next-generation-nuclear-reactor-program-fully-funded

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Rouhani’s and Obama’s difficult path to a nuclear compromise

Saving the Nuclear Deal With Iran, NYT, By THE EDITORIAL BOARD JAN. 10, 2015 Twice recently, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has acted boldly in support of his biggest political gamble, pursuit of a nuclear agreement with the major powers. In a speech last Sunday on Iran’s troubled economy, he argued that Iran will never enjoy sustained growth if it is isolated from the rest of the world. Three weeks earlier, he made clear that he would confront Iran’s hard-liners in his efforts to clinch a deal in which Iran would agree never to produce a nuclear weapon in return for the lifting of crippling international sanctions.

But Mr. Rouhani is not the only leader trying to keep a potential agreement from being savaged by domestic opponents. President Obama has a similar problem in Congress, where Senators Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois, are expected to introduce legislation that could torpedo any deal by imposing new sanctions on Iran, including tighter controls on its battered oil industry.

Negotiators for Iran and the major powers — the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany — resume their talks next week in Geneva. While they have made significant progress, they remain at odds over how large a nuclear program — geared for energy production and medical uses — Iran will be permitted to have.

Mr. Rouhani has shown his seriousness by openly challenging the Iranian hard-liners who are hostile to a deal and by appealing for support from intellectuals, academics, businesspeople and others who are open, even eager, for one. To rally political support, he has also hinted that he might bypass established power centers and submit the issue to a popularreferendum. “Our ideals are not bound to centrifuges,” Mr. Rouhani said in reference to the nuclear program.

Mr. Rouhani’s path to compromise is not easy. ……..http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/opinion/sunday/saving-the-nuclear-deal-with-iran.html

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Money mess in escalating costs of dismantling Michigan nuclear facility

Exelon: Company dismantling Zion nuclear plant is running out of money By Julie Wernau Chicago Tribune, 9 Jan 12 contact the reporter The company dismantling the closed Zion nuclear plant on Lake Michigan is running out of money to finish the job, according to the site’s owner, Chicago-based Exelon.

The project, paid for with $800 million collected from state electric ratepayers over decades, is being closely watched by nuclear plant owners around the country who hope to replicate the arrangement. It was the first time regulators allowed a nuclear power plant owner to transfer a plant’s operating license and liabilities to a third-party decommissioner.

Utah-based EnergySolutions, the company dismantling Zion, wants to become the go-to decommissioner around the world. In the U.S., about 6 percent of nuclear plants face possible closing, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In Illinois, the Zion dismantling has taken on added significance as Exelon, the parent company of Commonwealth Edison, has said three of its six nuclear plants in the state could be closed. ………. Continue reading →

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Czech government faces costly cleanup of radioactive uranium mine site

Government earmarks 4.5 billion Kč to remove uranium mining damage in Stráž, Prague Post, Stráž pod Ralskem, North Bohemia, Jan 9 (ČTK) — The Czech government will earmark 4.5 billion Kč for 2015 to 2017 to remove damage caused by the environmentally unfriendly method of uranium mining in Stráž pod Ralskem, Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mládek told journalists. The process is estimated to cost about 50 billion Kč and last until 2037.

Uranium mining took place in Stráž pod Ralskem between 1967 and 1996 having contaminated over 370 million cubic meters of underground water with four million chemicals on an area of 27 square kilometers.

The situation is even more complicated because the contaminated land is near the large drinking water reservoirs in northern and central Bohemia.

The contaminant content is 50 grams per liter, but it should be seven grams per liter, said Tomáš Rychtařík, the head of the state-run company Diamo that is in charge of land reclamation.

The land reclamation process began in 1996, its costs at around 20 billion Kč so far.

Mládek said the government is not considering resumption of uranium mining in the said area.

The Cabinet is mulling mining activity in Brzkov in southern Moravia, where it is possible to get over 3,000 tons of uranium. At present any activity would be loss-making and so the cabinet will leave a decision on the issue to a government to emerge from the next parliamentary election……….. http://praguepost.com/czech-news/43739-uranium-mine-area-being-reclaimed#ixzz3OfwXa2G2

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, EUROPE | Leave a comment

Little chance that USA will get India to really change its Nuclear Liability Act

Insuring nuclear power The Financial Express | January 12, 2015 Given the relatively low level of political capital it has in the Rajya Sabha, and the backdrop of the Bhopal gas tragedy and recent tragedies such as the Fukushima disaster in 2011, it seems unlikely the government is going to go out of its way to try and amend the Civil Liability of Nuclear Damage Act in a hurry—the Act has once again come to the forefront with US President Barack Obama coming to the Republic Day function.

Since no US firm is going to build nuclear plants in India until Section 17(b) of the Act allows the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) to take action against them in case of a nuclear accident, revoking this has been on the US agenda for a long time. Apart from the political sensitivity around such an action, as finance minister Arun Jaitley acknowledged at a seminar on the Act earlier this week, both the BJP and the Congress had passed the Act—so changing an integral part of the Act doesn’t look as if it is on the cards…….http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/editorial-insuring-nuclear-power/28748/

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics international | Leave a comment

Secrets revealed – Scotland’s nuclear disaster plans

Scotland’s secret nuclear disaster plan revealed Scotsman , 12 Jan 15 A SECRET plan to deal with a Chernobyl-style nuclear emergency in central Scotland has finally been revealed in a dossier which has been kept under wraps for decades.

The classified documents which show how the government would have responded to a full-scale atomic crisis have been opened and placed in the National Archives.

The files outline the steps that would have been taken if lethal substances had leaked from the twin Hunterston A and B nuclear plants on the Ayrshire coast.

They reveal that staff at Scotland’s largest hospital were primed to treat victims suffering from burns and radiation sickness, a community centre would have been converted into a decontamination zone and residents would have been issued with anti-radiation tablets.

They also show that the strategy for a mass public evacuation revolved around police officers knocking on residents’ doors and politely advising them to leave……..
Hunterston A was opened by the Queen in September 1964, but stopped producing electricity in 1990 and is currently being decommissioned. The neighbouring Hunterston B plant was opened in 1976 and is due to operate until 2023 – well beyond its original planned closure date.

Last year Nicola Sturgeon, the then deputy first minister – a long-term opponent of nuclear power – expressed “deep concern” after it emerged that cracks had been found in one of the plant’s reactors………http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/scotland-s-secret-nuclear-disaster-plan-revealed-1-3657911

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, UK | Leave a comment

North Korea’s nuclear deal offer to USA

North Korea Offers U.S. Deal to Halt Nuclear Test, NYT By CHOE SANG-HUNJAN. 10, 2015 SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Saturday that it had told the United States that it would impose a temporary moratorium on nuclear tests if Washington canceled its joint annual military exercises with South Korea to help promote dialogue on the divided Korean Peninsula.

The North proposed its “crucial step” in a message it delivered to the United States on Friday through an unspecified channel, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. In the past, North Korea has relayed messages to Washington through its United Nations mission in New York.

Until now, the United States has dismissed North Korea’s routine demand for an end to its joint military exercises with South Korea. The North has called them a rehearsal for an invasion while the United States and South Korea have insisted that their annual war games are defensive in nature.

But the North’s latest proposal included a new incentive for Washington, offering to temporarily suspend nuclear tests in return for a suspension of the joint military exercises this year.

The North’s overture followed the New Year’s Day speech of its leader, Kim Jong-un, in which he said he was ready to meet with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea if “the mood was right.” Mr. Kim said the two Koreas should mark their 70th anniversary of liberation from Japanese colonial rule this year with great strides toward inter-Korean reconciliation. North Korea has since significantly toned down its habitually harsh language when referring to South Korea…….

The United States on Saturday rebuffed the North Korean proposal……..http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/world/asia/north-korea-offers-us-deal-to-halt-nuclear-test-.html?_r=0

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, politics international | Leave a comment

Wake up call to Custer County on the dangers of in situ uranium mining

Uranium mining topic of Custer meeting Rapid City Journal. January 10, 2015 Andrea J. Cook Journal staff Opponents of a proposed uranium mining operation in southwest South Dakota are attempting to rally support in Custer County, while an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has delayed its decision on challenges to the mining operation.

Dakota Rural Action is hosting a public-information night starting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Custer County Courthouse Annex. Presenters will include Lilias Jarding, who is familiar with uranium and natural resources issues; Ed Harvey, a former nuclear researcher; and Bruce Ellison, an attorney for the Clean Water Alliance.

Few people in Custer County understand that Azarga Uranium Corporation’s Dewey-Burdock in situ uranium recovery operation extends into Custer County, according to Custer resident Juli Ames-Curtis. Ames-Curtis is also a member of Dakota Rural Action.

About half of the land at the Dewey-Burdock site is in Custer County, according to Jarding.

“It is important for the people in Custer County to understand what is proposed for the water and land,” Jarding said. “We’re concerned about water quality and water quantity.”

Opposition to the in situ process, which uses water injected into the ground to extract uranium, is well organized in Fall River County, but not in Custer County, she said.

“No in situ uranium mine has ever been fully restored,” Jarding said.

“People just don’t have a clue about how it will impact their lives in this county,” Ames-Curtis said………http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/uranium-mining-topic-of-custer-meeting/article_e7185099-325d-5938-8887-11647b38bc9a.html

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Climate Change statements and promises from world leaders – all smoke and mirrors

Smoke and Mirrors Will Not Save Us From Anthropogenic Climate Disruption Saturday, 10 January 2015 10:46By Robert James Parsons, Truthout |With 2015 billed as the make-it-or-break-it year for climate control, in anticipation of next December’s Paris conference, and in the midst of much vehement – if not downright virulent – controversy, it is worth proposing some perspective beyond what most of the media deign to serve up to us.

In an article that appeared in mid-November in the French online journal A l’encontre, Daniel Tanuro analyzed the “unprecedented” and “historic” agreement between the United States and China resulting from Barack Obama’s encounter with Xi Jinping just before the November G20 conference in Brisbane.

The insufficiency – to put it mildly – of this agreement, in comparison with the warnings issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its most recent report, is unbridgeable, he points out.

Citing the reduction of 26% promised by Obama for 2025, which ought to lower United States emissions to 5.368 gigatonnes (Gt), he notes: “According to the Kyoto Protocol (which the United States signed but never ratified), Uncle Sam should have reduced his emissions by 8% by 2012, relative to 1990. That means that the emissions should have dropped from 6.233 Gt (1990 figure) to 5.734 Gt – instead of which, they increased 0.2% per year, on average, to reach 6.526 Gt. In other words, Obama has committed the United States to reaching by 2025 a target that is almost no better than than the one that the United States was supposed to have reached two years ago.”

For China, it is similar: “Xi Jinping stipulated that China would begin to reduce its absolute emissions at the latest in 2030 and that ‘zero-carbon’ sources would then cover 20% of its energy needs. To take the full measure of this promise, one must bear in mind that these ‘zero-carbon’ energy sources, already in 2013, represented in China 9% of the primary consumption of energy and that the twelfth five-year plan has set a target of 15% for 2020. Given the current amounts being invested, an increase of a further 5% in over ten years is anything but a ‘performance’: US$ 65 billion have already been invested in ‘non-fossil’ energy.”

According to the Kyoto Protocol, the ratifying countries committed themselves to reducing their green house gas emissions between 8% and 20% relative to 1990. As these emissions have continued to increase, the reductions since then have been completely canceled out………….http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/28443-smoke-and-mirrors-will-not-save-us-from-acd

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

Renewable Energy projects keenly supported in Indian States

Renewable Energy Project Developers Flock To Indian State Of Telangana , Clean Technica 9 Jan 12 “…….As the auction for renewable energy projects (especially solar power) gets ever more competitive, some project developers are approaching the state governments directly to set up projects and potentially secure power purchase agreements at the base tariffs determined by state-level regulatory bodies.

SunEdison recently successfully undertook this approach in Rajasthan. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Rajasthan government to install 5 GW solar power capacity over the next five years.

Greenko is planning to aggressively expand its renewable energy base in India. On 30 September 2014, the company had an operational capacity of 715 MW. It plans to increase the operational capacity to 1 GW by the end of this year. The company has a cumulative capacity of 2.5 GW of power generation capacity in its pipeline.http://cleantechnica.com/2015/01/11/renewable-energy-project-developers-flock-indian-state-telangana/

January 12, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, renewable | Leave a comment