nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

If India joins Nuclear Suppliers Group, the strategic India -Pakistan balance will be shaken – China

India’s entry into NSG will break India-Pakistan nuclear balance: Chinese media, Times of India, Jun 16, 2016 

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Chinese media said that India’s entry into NSG will ‘shake strategic balance in South Asia’
  • New Delhi have inched closer to NSG membership after PM Modi gained backing from US.
  • Major goal for India’s NSG ambition is to obtain an edge over Islamabad in nuclear capabilities
………The reason why India has scored a big win in garnering support for its NSG membership from some countries is because Washington has started to treat New Delhi as part of the US alliance, the write-up said…….
The US recognised New Delhi as a “major defence partner” during Modi’s recent visit, meaning that the White House has given India the treatment as a US military ally, it said.

The article said that over the years, the US has been “bending the rules” to back India’s nuclear projects……………..http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/Indias-entry-into-NSG-will-break-India-Pakistan-nuclear-balance-Chinese-media/articleshow/52774701.cms

June 17, 2016 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

French company EDF manages to postpone closure of Fessenheim nuclear plant

French power company stalls nuclear plant closure http://www.dw.com/en/french-power-company-stalls-nuclear-plant-closure/a-19336521

The Fessenheim plant will not be closed until EDF is given a new assesment for damages compensation, the electric company has said. This pushes back plans to shut down the 40-year-old plant for at least a year. The fight over the plan to close France’s oldest operational nuclear power station took another turn on Thursday. The operators of the Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant near the German and Swiss borders want a new assessment of the damages they will be awarded before they begin the process of shutting down the reactors.

The news came at the same time French nuclear watchdog ASH said one of Fessenheim’s reactors had to be shut down temporarily due to irregularities in a steam generator.

Opposition to Fessenheim began even before it was built in the 1970s, but has ramped up in recent years due to a number of minor safety breaches in the past decade. Leading the charge has been anti-nuclear power Germany, particularly the state of Baden-Württemberg, whose border lies a mere 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles) from the reactors.

President Francois Hollande had promised to shut the plant by the end of 2016, but now EDF, France’s majority state-owned electrical company, wants a new appraisal of how much the government should pay it in damages for losses incurred as a result of the shut down. They say the 100 million euros ($114 million) offered by the government is far too little.

Observers say that a realistic timeline for the plant to go offline would be 2018, but to that end EDF has given no official date for its end of operations.

June 17, 2016 Posted by | France, politics | 1 Comment

Bulgaria must pay Russia over cancelled nuclear project, says court.

Court orders Bulgaria to pay Russia over cancelled nuclear project: minister  http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-bulgaria-russia-arbitration-idUKKCN0Z213A ,  Jun 16, 2016  

An arbitration court has ruled that Bulgarian state energy firm NEK should pay nearly 550 million euros (437.70 million pound) in compensation to Russia‘s Atomstroyexport for a cancelled nuclear power project, Bulgaria’s energy minister said on Thursday.

“NEK received the court’s decision late last night. It is still not handed down officially. In the next days, NEK will approach Atomstroyexport over the decision,” Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova told reporters.

Atomstroyexport had sought more than 1 billion euros at the Paris-based International Court of Arbitration against NEK over the cancellation of the Belene nuclear power plant it had been contracted to build.

NEK teamed up with Atomstroyexport to build two 1,000 megawatt reactors at Belene, on the Danube River at the border with Romania, in 2006.

Sofia abandoned the project in 2012, after it failed to attract investors for the 10 billion euros ($11 billion) scheme and also came under pressure from its Western allies about its energy dependence on Moscow.

Petkova said the court has ruled that NEK should cover the funds the Russian state company had spent to produce equipment for the project, but has rejected claims for additional works and damages from lost profits.

Bulgaria is currently extending the lifespan of its two 1,000 Soviet-made reactors at its Kozloduy nuclear power plant and is looking for an investor to build one more reactor at the same site.

June 17, 2016 Posted by | Bulgaria, Legal, Russia | Leave a comment

USA’s Pro Nuclear Energy Secretary Moniz announces $82 Million for Nuclear Energy Research

Moniz,-ErnestFeds Announce $82 Million for Nuclear Energy Research, Sci Tech Today, 16 June 16   US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has announced $82 million for nuclear energy projects in 28 states……The Idaho-based Snake River Alliance describes itself as Idaho’s nuclear watchdog and clean energy advocate.

“Nuclear waste is certainly a place where we want as much research as possible,” said Wendy Wilson, the group’s interim executive director, about Tuesday’s announcement. “If they put that much money into renewables that are here today, we could have really safe and clean energy.”

June 17, 2016 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

U.S. Court of Appeals rules nuclear waste can stay on indigenous land

Ruling will keep nuclear waste at Prairie Island indefinitely, Post Bulletin Brian Todd, btodd@postbulletin.com  16 June 16, WELCH — A ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will leave the spent nuclear fuel at the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant right where it’s sitting for the foreseeable future.

The Court of Appeals on June 3 upheld a 2014 ruling that allows for the continued onsite storage of radioactive material, mostly spent nuclear fuel. The 2014 ruling is from a case brought by several states regarding the environmental impact, and potential health and safety concerns regarding on-site storage of radioactive materials.

Shelley Buck, Prairie Island Indian Community Tribal Council president, said the community’s worst fear is that the nuclear waste will remain on the tribe’s ancestral homeland forever.

waste on indigenous

“Our fears are much closer to reality because of this ruling,” Buck said.

Buck described the spent fuel as “some of the most dangerous and toxic substances known to mankind.” That nuclear waste, she said, is stored 600 yards from the homes of some of the community’s members.

“We are frustrated that the U.S. Court of Appeals has failed to consider the very real health and safety impacts of permanent on-site storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste,” she said…….http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/ruling-will-keep-nuclear-waste-at-prairie-island-indefinitely/article_c2774613-7455-5c92-a87d-8bc0bd2d3339.html

June 17, 2016 Posted by | indigenous issues, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

US Congress only just failed to pass law to defund a new nuclear cruise missile program

Nuclear Cruise Missile Survives Challenge in House , Defense News June 16, 2016 WASHINGTON — The House today defeated an amendment to defund a new nuclear cruise missile program for the Air Force, despite a slowly rising chorus of influential voices arguing against the weapon…….

However, critics of the US nuclear modernization strategy have zeroed in on the Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) as a potential cut, arguing that its similarity to existing US weapons such as the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range mean it could be cut without dramatically altering America’s strategic posture……http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/policy-budget/budget/2016/06/16/nuclear-cruise-missile-survives-challenge-house-lrso-quigley/85991664/

June 17, 2016 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

At UK’s Burghfield nuclear weapons factory – a rolling anti-nuclear blockade

Rolling blockade at Burghfield nuclear weapons factory, Red Pepper,  Theo Simon writes from one of the longest continuous blockades of a nuclear weapons base 16 June 2016  When I joined the anti-nuclear blockaders lying with arms in lock-on tubes across a Berkshire lane, none of us imagined how the day would play out. After a leisurely start that caught the waiting cops off guard, we’d arrived at the Burghfield nuclear weapons factory near Reading to kick-off a rolling month of blockades the Trident Ploughshares campaign had planned for June.

After a few hours successfully blocking access to the MOD site, rather than doing what the cops expected and leaving, we consolidated our forces and stayed through the night with our lock-ons extended across the gate. Reinforced with new arrivals, we slept through to a second day, and began the longest continuous blockade of a nuclear weapons base ever, with construction traffic turned back and building-work for the warhead factory set back by a week as a result! And there were only 20 of us.

Back in the day when nuclear warheads were the only form of mass destruction on the horizon, terror of nuclear war with Russia mobilized thousands, and protests at nuclear bases could draw upon hundreds of people. Today a new generation of humanity faces many apparently more imminent threats – so many, played out in so many variations on our screens, we’re understandably confused and numb to the very real peril we are in. The most powerful popular argument against Trident seems to be how much it will cost – not the unspeakable obscenity of preparing for mass murder, or the urgent need for disarmament if we are to avoid extinction this century.

That cost is important of course. It’s not just counted in hospitals, homes and cuts to essential services. It’s not just a commitment to endless growth to feed the bottomless maw of the nuclear industry. It’s also in the carbon footprint those billions represent, and the burden of radioactive waste management it lays on subsequent generations. And yet, for all that commitment of our collective wealth, in the face of warming ‘weathers of mass disruption’ which are now unfolding across the planet, what ‘security’ does a renewed nuclear arsenal offer us? All that Trident can do is divert resources from meaningful action, while adding to the burden of hazards we face in our struggle to find a way through. …..http://www.redpepper.org.uk/rolling-blockade-at-burghfield-nuclear-weapons-factory/

June 17, 2016 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, UK | Leave a comment

    Next Entries »