nuclear-news

Safety concern on nuclear warships entering British Columbia waters

Why B.C. residents should pay attention to a Trident nuclear submarine scandal in Britain, Straight.com by Charlie Smith on May 27th, 2015  For decades, B.C. peace activists have been raising an alarm about nuclear-weapons-carrying submarines travelling through Georgia Strait. When Jean Chrétien was prime minister, Nanoose Conversion Campaign worker Norm Abbey alleged that the Nanoose Bay naval base near Nanaimo had become a “branch plant” of the U.S. Navy’s undersea-warfare operations.

Abbey noted that at least three Trident vessels fitted with “targeted nuclear warheads” had visited the base.

“U.S. submarines have been using Nanoose Bay since 1965, when they moved north from the more densely populated waters of Puget Sound,” wrote Abbey in Peace Magazine. “Residents of urban centers like Seattle didn’t want the nuclear safety hazards, and Ottawa obliged by signing the ‘Canada-U.S. Nanoose Agreement’ in 1965.”

Trident nuclear-weapon-armed submarines are back in the news after a British whistleblower wrote an alarming 18-page reportciting many safety risks. In 1995, the Straight reported that under a series of 10-year agreements, the U.S. pays to operate a torpedo test range on Winchelsea Island in Nanoose Bay. Canada covers the salaries of Canadian civilian staff.

In 1999, Ottawa expropriated the nearby provincially owned seabed so that testing could continue. This came after an NDP government had threatened to cancel the lease if ships carrying nuclear weapons entered the area.

The expropriation was challenged in court by the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation. It won the first round in the Federal Court of Canada but in 2003, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the expropriation.

Since then, no B.C. premier or Canadian prime minister has publicly questioned the wisdom of U.S. submarines entering B.C. waters carrying nuclear weapons. http://www.straight.com/news/460271/why-bc-residents-should-pay-attention-trident-nuclear-submarine-scandal-britain

May 29, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Recently fired nuclear power plant employee had explosives, weapons – arrested

Fired nuclear power plant employee arrested with explosives, hundreds of rounds of ammunitionIn an interview with police, Robert J. Johnson allegedly said, “Boom. Tick tock tick tock.”  By Chao Xiong Star Tribune MAY 28, 2015 

Robert J. Johnson, 58, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was charged May 21 in Ramsey County District Court with four counts of terroristic threats…..http://www.startribune.com/fired-nuclear-power-plant-employee-arrested-with-explosives-hundreds-of-rounds-of-ammunition/305340971/

May 29, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

The dead end industry – nuclear power

Nuclear is a dead end Lancaster Guardian, Phil Chandler (North Lancashire Green Party) 28 May 2015
In David Morris’s interview in your paper he lays out his plans for the future of Morecambe and Lunesdale. The Green Party believe that they are not the way forward in 2015.
The nuclear energy industry is a dead end. No commercial nuclear powerplant has ever been built without huge government subsidy (EDF have been guaranteed nearly double the current price of electricity to build Hinckley ‘C’); we have no agreed method for the long term disposal of all the toxic spent fuel, and the industry as a whole, including producing the fuel, is a significant producer of CO2 emissions.
The only plausible reason for promoting the construction of a third Heysham plant is employment, however the renewable energy industry has been shown to create 12 times the number of jobs per installed gigawatt than nuclear.

Around the bay we have a near perfect scenario for placing ourselves in the forefront of the energy technologies of tomorrow. We have the engineering skills and the natural resources in terms of wind, tide and wave to research, develop and manufacture the infrastructure not only this country needs, but the world will need for generations to come. We would not only create jobs around the bay but move from building systems for delivering weapons of mass destruction that no one can countenance actually using, to building systems that will protect this planet and all life on it…….http://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/letters-opinion/nuclear-is-a-dead-end-1-7283101

May 29, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment