nuclear-news

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

Dangers of radioactivity in the dumping off Cardiff, of mud from old nuclear site

Wales Online 25th Sept 2017, Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of mud from the site of a disused nuclear
power station is to be dumped off Cardiff’s coast when the UK’s newest
nuclear power station is built.

EDF Energy, which is building the Hinkley
Point C reactor in north Somerset, has a marine licence to dump up to
200,000 cubic metres of dredged material close to Cardiff Bay.

One expert has raised concerns about the proposed dumping, saying he fears that the
mud may have a higher level of radioactivity that is currently believed.
Expert Tim Deere-Jones has been analysing data about the tests conducted on
mud and waste which could be dumped off the coast of Wales.

He says he has three concerns about the waste. Mr Deere-Jones says that there are 50
different radionuclides and that testing has only taken place on three of
those. Secondly, he says that he believes only surface samples have been
taken. He says that while samples of from between 0 and 5cm have been
taken, research from other sites has shown that if samples are taken from
five times deeper, there can be a five times higher collection of
radioactivity. Thirdly, he says tides in Wales mean that waste could be
transferred from the sea into land, that can be through coastal flooding or
even sea spray heading up to 10 miles inland. However, it is understood
dredging has not yet begun and no date set for it to begin.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/hundreds-thousands-tonnes-radioactive-mud-13673203

September 30, 2017 Posted by | environment, UK | Leave a comment

Japan and USA to continue agreement on nuclear fuel reprocessing

Nikkei Asian Review 25th Sept 2017, Japan and the U.S. will likely let their existing nuclear cooperation
agreement renew automatically when the pact expires next July, enabling
Tokyo to continue reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.

President Donald Trump’s administration has no intention of ending or renegotiating the deal, a
spokesperson at the U.S. State Department told The Nikkei Saturday. Since
the Japanese government has been seeking the pact’s renewal, there is now a
good chance that the treaty will simply remain in force without any
modifications.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/International-Relations/US-to-renew-nuclear-pact-with-Japan

September 30, 2017 Posted by | Japan, politics international, reprocessing, USA | Leave a comment

Britain’s new solar farm to sell energy to the grid, without government subsidy

Times 26th Sept 2017,In rural Bedfordshire today, Claire Perry, the climate change minister,
will open the first solar farm in Britain to sell power to the grid without
a direct subsidy.

It will perform this trick thanks partly to banks of
batteries that enable it to transmit electricity even when the sun is not
shining, and partly to the plummeting price of both batteries and solar
panels in recent years. Clayhill Farm is a landmark achievement. It will
provide power for 2,500 homes without pumping out any pollution, making any
noise or killing any birds. It will come onstream less than a month after
an auction for wholesale energy contracts in which wind power operators
underbid even gas-fired energy producers for the first time.

And it was built in 12 weeks flat. A renewable energy revolution is gathering steam,
so to speak, but Clayhill Farm poses a troubling question for government
and the rest of the British solar industry.

Why is it, so far, alone? There are three reasons.

First, one of the biggest obstacles to setting up a new
solar farm is securing a connection to the grid, and Clayhill has been able
to piggyback on a neighbouring facility whose connection is already in
place.

Second, few sites in Britain are so lucky, because solar power
installation slumped when subsidies were withdrawn two years ago while
still being available for wind.

Thirdly, Britain is not very sunny. The
Clayhill project shows that solar power has a future here despite
everything. Moreover, battery and solar panel prices are expected to keep
falling thanks to a global glut created by China. This oversupply is a
result of mass Chinese production initially to meet subsidised German
demand in the 1990s, and later to meet domestic Chinese demand. Beijing now
dreams of building and controlling a global solar-powered grid. If Britain
wants its own, the time to build is now.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/sun-trap-hppsxdcsp

September 30, 2017 Posted by | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

Will North Korea sell its nuclear technology?

Will North Korea sell its nuclear technology? The Conversation, Daniel Salisbury
Earlier this month CIA Director Mike Pompeo suggested “the North Koreans have a long history of being proliferators and sharing their knowledge, their technology, their capacities around the world.”

My research has shown that North Korea is more than willing to breach sanctions to earn cash.

A checkered history

Over the years North Korea has earned millions of dollars from the export of arms and missiles, and its involvement in other illicit activitiessuch as smuggling drugs, endangered wildlife products and counterfeit goods.

Still, there are only a handful of cases that suggest these illicit networks have been turned to export nuclear technology or materials to other states…..https://theconversation.com/will-north-korea-sell-its-nuclear-technology-83562

September 30, 2017 Posted by | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Peak contamination levels from Fukushima off North America now known

 http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/52701  From: University of Victoria 
 September 29, 2017, For the first time since 2011, peak contamination levels in Pacific Canadian waters from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster are known, says a University of Victoria scientist who has been monitoring levels since the meltdown of three reactors at the plant.

Releases of radioactive elements from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011 were the largest unplanned discharges of radioactivity into the ocean. The disaster, triggered by a 15-metre tsunami caused by a magnitude-9 earthquake, created widespread concern over the potential impact on marine life and human health.

“Contamination from Fukushima never reached a level where it was a significant threat to either marine or human life in our neighborhood of the North Pacific,” says UVic chemical oceanographer Jay Cullen.

Continue reading at University of Victoria.

September 30, 2017 Posted by | Fukushima continuing, oceans, radiation, USA | Leave a comment

    Next Entries »