2018 July 18 « nuclear-news

Navajo Nation urges wider availability of compensation for radiation exposure due to Cold War nuclear testing

Navajo Nation urges expansion of radiation exposure law https://www.nhonews.com/news/2018/jul/17/navajo-nation-urges-expansion-radiation-exposure-l/ SHIPROCK, N.M. (AP) 17 July 18 — From the end of World War II to the mid-1980s, about 30 million ton of uranium ore were extracted from lands belonging to the nation’s largest American Indian reservation. Today, across the Navajo Nation, sit dozens of abandoned uranium mines and the high risk to residents of contamination exposure.

Now, the Navajo Nation is urging the U.S. Congress to expand a federal law that compensates people who were exposed to radiation resulting from nuclear bomb tests stemming from the Cold War.

Currently, the law only covers people who lived downwind from nuclear test sites in Nevada, Arizona and Utah, as well as workers in the uranium mining industry in a dozen states. But the tribe says it’s time for Navajo Nation workers after 1971 to be included.

“Many members of the federal government are not aware of the effects uranium mining has had on Navajo people,” Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye said. “They don’t see the consequences of radiation exposure.”

Most claims under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act come from the Four Corners region where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet. Proposed amendments would expand the cutoff for uranium mining workers from 1971 to 1990.

Navajo officials say those workers were exposed to the same harmful conditions.

The push by the Navajo Nation comes as residents of the New Mexico village of Tularosa near the site of the world’s first atomic bomb test also want to be covered under the law. The Tularosa Basin Downwinders and Navajo Nation Vice President Jonathan Nez testified before a U.S. Senate committee last month examining potential changes to the law.

A bill proposed by U.S. Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico would expand eligibility for payouts under the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act of 1990.

Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa consortium, said many who lived in the area weren’t told about the dangers of the first atom bomb test, known as the Trinity Test, on generations of residents and later were diagnosed with rare forms of cancer.

Scientists working in Los Alamos developed the atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project, which provided enriched uranium for the weapon. The secret program also involved facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Hanford, Washington.

The bomb was tested in a stretch of desert near towns with Hispanic and Native American populations.

July 18, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | indigenous issues, USA | Leave a comment

66% of UK voters support onshore wind power

Independent 16th July 2018 , Two-thirds of British people think the government should ditch the policies
that have all but killed off the UK’s onshore wind industry, according to a
new poll.

Since new rules governing the construction of onshore turbines
were introduced following the election in 2015, planning applications for
new wind farms have plummeted by 94 per cent. As the government struggles
to meet strict greenhouse gas emissions targets, experts have criticised
the effective ban on technology that is widely considered the UK’s cheapest
new power source.

Aside from the environmental and industry arguments for
promoting onshore wind, the technology has considerable support from the
British public, as the government’s own data on public attitudes to
renewable energy have shown. Now, a new opinion poll by YouGov has revealed
66 per cent of voters would support a change in policy that allowed onshore
wind farms to be built in places where they have local backing. Current
policies were initially introduced following a Conservative promise to
“halt the spread of onshore wind farms” which “often fail to gain public
support”.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/onshore-wind-ban-lift-voters-renewable-energy-renewableuk-yougov-a8449381.html

July 18, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, UK | Leave a comment

Britain could lead the world by signing up to UN nuclear weapons ban

UK must take lead on nuclear weapons, Guardian The tide towards annihilation can be turned if the political will is there, writes CND general secretary Kate Hudson, 17 July 18 “… the use of a nuclear weapons is now more likely than at any time since the cold war. Billions are being spent on modernising superpower nuclear arsenals. The old “deterrence” myth – that they will never be used – is still being deployed, but at the same time Trump is unveiling plans for new “usable” nuclear weapons, and outlining more scenarios in which to use them.

With Trump’s tearing up of the Iran nuclear deal, the dangers of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East are increasing. The possibility of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula hangs on a thread – a return to threat and counter-threat is an ever-present danger, with potentially catastrophic consequences. But this tide towards annihilation can be turned if the political will is there. Maybe we can’t expect that from the trigger-happy US president, but we should demand it from our own government.

It’s a year since the UN general assembly voted overwhelmingly to support a treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. The UK government has poured scorn on it, but this is a very real global initiative that presents a way out of the accelerating nuclear crisis.

There is much talk of Britain’s standing in the world. This is a way in which Britain could genuinely lead: by supporting the treaty and helping to end the impasse between nuclear weapons states. We ask this of our government, because without such an initiative, the threat of destruction will only grow. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/17/uk-must-take-lead-on-nuclear-weapons

July 18, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

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