The unfinished MOX fuel facility at the DOE’s massive Savannah River Site, part of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex whose operation has resulted in the deaths of more than 33,000 Americans, according to a new report from McClatchy News Service.

Radiation kills.

That is a fact, established by scientific bodies like the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and incorporated into government-established laws and regulations across the world intended to reduce one’s possibility of receiving unintended radiation exposure. It is a fact recognized, for the most part, even by the world’s nuclear power industry, which generates by far the largest amounts of man-made radioactivity.

That radiation kills is the fundamental reason to oppose nuclear power. Nuclear power might fail as an electricity-producing technology for other reasons in any case–economics, etc; but there would not be what is now a decades-long, powerful movement to prevent new nuclear reactors and close existing ones…

Via Dianuke.org:
“Former Union Secretary (Power) Dr. EAS Sarma’s open letter to the Indian PM Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe
DECEMBER 5, 2015

To, Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan

Subject:- Proposed Indo-Japanese Nuclear Supply Agreement- Major concerns

Your Excellencies,

After protracted negotiations, involving several contentious issues, often pressured by the western nuclear manufacturing lobbies and the nuclear establishment within Japan, India and Japan seem to be on the threshold of concluding a nuclear supply agreement during the Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to India around the middle of this month.

As a resident of north Andhra Pradesh where India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) proposes to set up a coastal 6,000 MWe nuclear power plant near Kovvada village, I feel intensely concerned about the safety of the people here in the event of an unfortunate accident taking place, similar…

Paris, December 12, 2015

The international Don’t Nuke the Climate campaign had two major goals for COP 21: 1) to ensure that any agreement reached would not encourage use of nuclear power and, preferably, to keep any pro-nuclear statement out of the text entirely; and 2) along with the rest of the environmental community, to achieve the strongest possible agreement generally.

The first goal was certainly met. The word “nuclear” does not appear in the text and there are no incentives whatsoever for use of nuclear power. That was a clear victory. But that is due not only to a global lack of consensus on nuclear power, but to the fact that the document does not specifically endorse or reject any technology (although it does implicitly reject continued sustained use of fossil fuels). Rather, each nation brought its own greenhouse gas reduction plan to the conference. “Details,” for example whether…

World:

¶ There was no gnashing of teeth in the Canadian energy sector as details of the Paris agreement came out. Shares in energy companies were down on the TSX, but that had more to do with the sliding price of crude than concerns about climate change policy. The sector had already digested Alberta’s carbon tax. [CBC.ca]

Even with the Paris Agreement on climate change, the oilpatch expects the sun will not set on it. (Matthew Brown/Associated Press)

¶ Suzlon Energy, a dominant company in the Indian wind energy market, is now in the solar power market. It has signed a landmark agreement with independent power producer Axis Energy Limited, under which it will develop 4 GW of solar and wind energy capacity for Axis Energy in the state of Andhra Pradesh. [CleanTechnica]

¶ India’s Minister of New & Renewable Energy has reported progress on the…

Email from The Children’s Trust:

Why the Paris Agreement Falls Short

World:

¶ Indian and Japanese scientists have found that Indian citizens living downstream from an enormous uranium mining and processing complex are routinely exposed to exceptionally high levels of radiation. The Indian government insists that any illnesses are caused by poverty, not radiation. [Center for Public Integrity]

Villagers drink, bathe and wash themselves in the waters found to have alpha radiation 192% higher than safe limits set by the WHO. Ashish Birulee

¶ Welpsun Renewables announced that it has commissioned a 126-MW wind energy project in the Pratapgarh district of the western Indian state of Rajasthan. The project is expected to generate 290 million kWh electricity every year. It brings Welspun’s total renewable capacity in India to 700 MW. [CleanTechnica]

¶ Continental European power prices fell 9.4% per MWh in November as exceptional wind power output combined with mild temperatures and unexceptional demand, according to a…