nuclear-news

H-Canyon, US DOE

From Savannah River Site Watch:
“The incident that caused the partial site shutdown occurred on September 3 and involved transfer in the HB-Line – sits atop the H-Canyon reprocessing plant – of 400 grams of weapon-grade plutonium from a single “3013” plutonium storage can into 3 sample cans.

Criticality control procedures were violated by personnel in how the cans were handled, resulting in not only closure of H-Canyon but many other site activities managed by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNL).

Plutonium removed from the 3013 cans (stored in K Aea) is being processed into plutonium oxide for the mismanaged MOX project though it is more likely that such purified plutonium will be discarded at much lower cost as nuclear waste. DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is paying DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM), which operates H-Canyon, about $20 million/year for oxide production. NNSA must be…

As early as the 1960s, temperature records from the tropics where signalling the global warming trend.

Parts of U.S. still defying worldwide trend — but not for long

Staff Report

Taking a careful look at the temperature records of the past few decades has enabled climate scientists to show that the first signs of global warming were detectable as early as the 1960s in the tropics.

The new research published in Environmental Research Letters gives an insight into the global impacts that have already been felt, even at this very early stage, and where those impacts are likely to intensify in the coming years.

Few things strike fear into the hearts of politicians like a disgruntled grandparent entering a voting booth. Seniors wield immense political power in the United States, a fact made plain by their voting record. In the 2014 midterm elections, a year of historically low voter turnout, nearly 59 percent of adults aged 65 and older pulled the lever on Election Day. Just 23 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds bothered to do the same. It’s numbers like these that have made Social Security and Medicare the third rail of American politics.So, what happens when America’s seniors find out what climate change means for their grandkids?

Recently, dozens of retirees descended on Capitol Hill to advocate for climate action. Organized by the Conscious Elders Network, the Grandparents Climate Action Day brought together seniors from around the country. Following a day of training, during which renowned NASA climatologist James Hansen spoke to those…

“Toshiba booked a net loss for the last financial year and pledged a bold restructuring, raising hopes it was finally moving beyond a $1.3 billion accounting scandal.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/business/after-delays-toshiba-posts-a-yearly-loss.html

Toshiba had overinflated its value. According to The Economist (25 July 2015): “Mr Tanaka and two predecessors had incited subordinates to cook the firm’s books and inflate profits by ¥152 billion ($1.2 billion) over seven years to 2014.“[a]

8th electric rate increase for late, over-budget, Westinghouse (Toshiba) Nuclear Project?

Photo from SRS Watch
“In the midst of growing concern about mounting costs, the South Carolina Public Service Commission (SC PSC) is set to vote on Wednesday, September 23, at 2 p.m. on the annual rate hike for the over-budget, behind-schedule $6.8 billion nuclear reactor construction project of South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G). The rate hike under consideration will be the 8th rate increase to pay for…

NEWS | September 22, 2015The hidden meltdown of Greenland

From NASA Science News

NASA-supported researchers have found that ice covering Greenland is melting faster than thought.

More than 90 percent of our planet’s freshwater ice is bound in the massive ice sheets and glaciers of the Antarctic and Greenland. As temperatures around the world slowly climb, melt waters from these vast stores of ice add to rising sea levels. All by itself, Greenland could bump sea levels by 7 meters (23 feet) if its ice melted completely.

And … it’s melting.
In August 2014, Eric Rignot, a glaciologist working at the University of California, Irvine and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, led a team in mapping ice cliffs at the front edges of three outlet glaciers in Greenland. The researchers found cavities that undercut the base of these leading edges that can destabilize the ice front and enhance iceberg calving, the…