Uranium and thorium distribution rules, from NRC
NRC Finalizes Rules on Using & Distributing Uranium & Thorium http://smnewsnet.com/archives/66243 2 June 13, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations for products and materials containing unenriched uranium and thorium, also known as source material. The changes include new requirements for distributing source material and licensing its use.
Manufacturers and importers of products that can be used without a license—such as welding rods and gas lantern mantles that contain thorium, and decorative glassware containing uranium—will now need to apply to the NRC for specific licenses to distribute these products. Such licenses will impose new requirements for labeling, quality control, reporting and recordkeeping.
The new regulations also modify distribution, possession and use requirements for small quantities of source material that can be used or transferred without a specific license. Distributors of small quantities must now apply for specific licenses. For source material being processed or in a dispersible form, such as liquid or powder, the limit on the use or transfer at any one time without a license is decreasing from 15 to 3.3 pounds; the annual limit will drop from 150 to 15.4 pounds. Limits are not changing for anyone possessing source material in a solid, non-dispersible form (such as display samples of depleted uranium metal), removing uranium from drinking water, or determining the concentration of uranium and thorium in a material at a laboratory.
Finally, the new regulations expand the exemption from licensing for optical lenses containing thorium to include lenses and mirrors coated with or containing uranium or thorium. These products are typically used in lasers or other high-technology optical systems.
These new license requirements and possession limits are intended to ensure those who possess source material do so safely, and that the NRC has a better understanding of how much source material is being distributed annually.
Northern Saskatchewan First Nation to drop lawsuit, signs up with uranium companies
Northern Saskatchewan First Nation signs uranium mining deal worth $600 million http://www.newstalk650.com/story/northern-saskatchewan-first-nation-signs-uranium-mining-deal-worth-600-million/112624 Agreement with mining giants Cameco and Areva calls for First Nation to drop lawsuit over proposed mine by Nigel Maxwell May 31, 2013 The English River First Nation in northern Saskatchewan has signed a deal with Uranium mining giants Cameco and Areva worth $600 million.
Much of money is to flow to the First Nation over 10 years through contracts with band-owned businesses and wages to band members who would work at the mines and on community development projects.
Part of the agreement calls for the First Nation to drop a lawsuit over land near the proposed Millennium mine project.
Some members of the band have raised concerns about the environmental impact of more uranium in the area.
Radiation affected people outside Fukushima seek compensation
Hundreds seek compensation in Japan nuclear crisis http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Hundreds-seek-compensation-in-Japan-nuclear-crisis/articleshow/20177997.cms
AP | May 21, 2013 TOKYO: Hundreds of people living just outside Japan’s Fukushima prefecture say they have been denied adequate compensation after the country’s 2011 nuclear disaster despite suffering elevated radiation levels.
Nearly 700 residents from Hippo district in Miyagi prefecture, just northeast of Fukushima, filed a claim Tuesday with a government arbitration office demanding that they be given the same compensation as residents of Fukushima. Continue reading
Anti nuclear nun in gaol for “crimes of violence”
Feds Say Peace Activists Who Trespassed Onto Nuclear Facility Are A National Security Threat http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/peace-activists-nuclear_n_3306170.html Radley Balko, 20 May 13,
05/20/2013 11:13 In another case of possible overreach by federal prosecutors, an 82-year-old nun and two anti-nuclear activists face long prison terms after being convicted of “sabotage against the U.S. government” and other serious felonies. In truth, the three trespassed onto a nuclear facility, and damaged and vandalized some government property. Their most serious offense may have been to expose lapses in federal security at a nuclear weapons production facility.
In June of last year, peace activists Sister Megan Rice, 82, Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, and Michael Walli, 63, were able to access the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., simply by cutting through a series of chain-link fences. The three then unfurled banners, spray-painted on the building, sang hymns and prayed until security finally arrived to arrest them.
As the activist site Common Dreams reports, over the next several months federal prosecutors applied increasingly serious charges to the activists, and this monthultimately convicted them of serious felonies that could carry long prison sentences. The three were convicted of “crimes of violence,” and will remain incarcerated until their sentencing in September, though the group didn’t harm anyone and carried with them messages of peace and nonviolence.
The severity of the charges may be more of a response to the public embarrassment the break-in caused for the Obama administration than to actual criminal culpability. In reporting on the case last August, for example, The New York Times reported that nuclear experts were calling the protest “the biggest security breach in the history of the nation’s atomic complex.” The paper called the fiasco a “huge embarrassment for President Obama,” and said that the three protesters had “made nuclear theft seem only a little more challenging than a romp in the Tennessee woods.”
The case is the latest of several — including the January suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz – to demonstrate the immense charging power of prosecutors. Some critics say these cases show an out-of-control federal justice system that allows politically motivated prosecutors to use criminal sanctions to target critics, make examples of protesters, or discourage those who seek to expose government lapses, abuses, and oversights.
Whistleblower’s court victory on unsafe nuclear plant conditions – company will appeal
Firm to appeal nuclear plant whistleblower case KSN.com, By The Associated Press, May 20, 2013 WICHITA, Kan. — An engineering firm accused of firing a whistleblower for reporting unsafe conditions at an eastern Kansas nuclear power plant plans to appeal the ruling by federal regulators, the firm said Monday.
KSN.com 20 May 13The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found Enercon Services violated whistleblower protections when it retaliated against an engineer for raising concerns during construction work at the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant in Burlington.
The company was ordered to pay $261,152 in back wages, damages and interest, plus attorney’s fees. OSHA found it violated the whistleblower protections of the Energy Reorganization Act (ERA), OSHA said Monday.
“Professionals who work in the nuclear power industry have a right and responsibility to express their professional opinion and report safety-related concerns,” OSHA acting regional administrator Marcia Drumm said in a news release. “The department’s responsibility is to protect all employees from retaliation for exercising basic worker rights. The ERA protects the workers, who, in turn, protect the public.”
OSHA said any appeal would go to the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges….. OSHA’s investigation concluded the engineer was fired in January 2012 for reporting breaches of minimum soil coverage caused by a trench dug during construction work and for refusing to provide an engineering justification for the use of concrete as backfill. He was fired a few days later. http://www.ksn.com/2013/05/20/firm-to-appeal-nuclear-plant-whistleblower-case/
British atomic veteran not giving up his fight for justice
Fife Christmas Island veteran vows to fight on with campaign http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/fife/fife-christmas-island-veteran-vows-to-fight-on-with-campaign-1.91551 By MICHAEL ALEXANDER, 9 May 2013
A Fife Christmas Island veteran who recently won a legal fight against the Ministry of Defence (MoD), has vowed to continue his fight for “the truth”, despite 12 ex-servicemen losing their appeal to be granted a war pension.
Dave Whyte, 76, of Kirkcaldy, told The Courier that, thanks to his recent freedom of information victory over the MoD, he can now “prove beyond doubt” that he was exposed to massive levels of unsafe radiation following the British nuclear tests carried out in the 1950s.He remains adamant the whole situation is a “cover up” by the MoD to protect the civilian nuclear industry.
Mr Whyte took the MoD to court last year for refusing to supply him with information about radiation levels he and thousands of veterans were exposed to while serving in the armed forces. Continue reading
Legal battle looms over Belgium’s nuclear energy plans
Belgium may face legal battle after 2 nuclear reactors get green light Euro News, 19 May 13 Greenpeace are threatening to sue the Belgian government. The leading environmental activist network is threatening legal action after Belgium’s nuclear safety regulator gave the green light to GDF Suez to go ahead and restart two nuclear reactors.
However, during a news conference, the Belgian Interior Minister, Joelle Milquet claimed that the government does not have the
power to block the move….. Last year two nuclear reactors were closed after safety concerns were flagged up in their their tanks, during an ultrasound check.
Greenpeace says it is the government’s responsibility to guarantee the safety of the Belgian people.
“We will summon the government for the lack of decent emergency plan and at the same time they increase the risks of a nuclear accident,” says Greenpeace Belgium energy campaigner Eloi Glorieux.http://www.euronews.com/2013/05/17/belgium-may-face-legal-battle-after-2-nuclear-reactors-get-green-light/
Judge rules to keep ban on new uranium mining in grand Canyon
Judge Rejects Uranium Mining Industry Attempt to Repeal Ban on Grand Canyon Mining, Earth Justice Ted Zukoski Ruling again rejects attack on DOI’S authority to temporarily protect lands MAY 16, 2013 GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, AZ —
A trial -like licensing procedure for San Onofre nuclear plant
Damaged California Nuclear Plant Faces Restart Safety Hearing WASHINGTON, DC, May 14, 2013 (ENS) –Southern California Edison’s request to restart its San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station will be decided by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission only after a formal license amendment proceeding with full public participation, an adjudicatory panel has ruled. A three-judge panel of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board today granted Friends of the Earth’s petition for a hearing on the NRC’s Confirmatory Action Letter process covering steam generator issues at the San Onofre nuclear power plant.
Southern California Edison had asked the NRC for permission to restart the Unit 2 reactor by this summer and run it at partial power – a request the agency had indicated it would grant with no prior public hearing.
“This ruling is a complete rejection of Edison’s plan to restart its damaged nuclear reactors without public review or input,” said Damon Moglen, energy and climate director for Friends of the Earth.
“The ASLB has announced that the restart plan is an ‘experiment’ and calls the tube wear at San Onofre’s defective steam generators ‘unprecedented,’ as we have asserted all along,” said Moglen.
Southern California Edison must now undergo a trial-like license amendment process before a judge, including public hearings, sworn testimony from expert witnesses and rules of evidence……
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer said in a statement that the Board’s order sets “a legal framework for a full public hearing before any final decision on the restart of the San Onofre nuclear power plant is made by the NRC.”
“It is a comfort to me that the safety board stood up for what is right,” said Senator Boxer.
“Given that the NRC commissioners asked the Board to undertake this review and given that these judges were appointed by the NRC, I expect the commissioners to follow their lead,” said the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that oversees the NRC.
The Board’s ruling requires a license amendment because the restart plan is an ‘experiment’ under Section 5090(ii) of NRC regulations, which would allow the unit to operate beyond the scope of the existing license and without compiling with applicable technical specifications……. http://ens-newswire.com/2013/05/14/damaged-california-nuclear-plant-faces-restart-safety-hearing/
Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows Indian Point to operate without a license
Indian Point To Become First Nuclear Plant To Operate With Expired License http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/05/13/indian-point-to-become-first-nuclear-plant-to-operate-with-
expired-license/ License To Expire In Late Sept, Renewal Process Will Take At Least A Year May 13, 2013 TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — One of two reactors at the Indian Point nuclear plantnorth of New York City will soon be operating with an expired license.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said Monday that the situation resulted in part from a complicated 
license-renewal process for nuclear reactors, the Journal News reported.
Indian Point 2′s 40-year license expires on Sept. 28. NRC regional administrator Bill Dean said that’s at least a year before any decision will be made on whether to extend it for another 20 years. Dean said the reactor can keep operating because Entergy Nuclear, its owner, filed for renewal more than five years before the expiration date.
Dean and other NRC staff members will hold a public meeting in Tarrytown on Tuesday about the plant’s 2012 safety assessment.
Environmental groups planned to release their own safety reports on Indian Point on Tuesday.
According to the NRC, Indian Point will have the only nuclear reactor in the country operating without a license.
Environmental groups have called for the plant’s closure due to its location in a densely populated area.Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called for the closure of Indian Point, the Journal News reported.
British court recognises radiation harm done to nuclear test veterans
Nuclear test veterans win war pensions after four year battle with Ministry of Defence http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nuclear-test-veterans-win-war-1884147 12 May 2013 The ruling is the first time UK nuke vets have been awarded money in recognition of their illnesses Survivors of Britain’s nuclear tests have won war pensions after a four-year fight with the Ministry of Defence.
A judge ruled this week that men ordered into the fallout zone were injured by radiation in the 1950s and 60s.
The ruling is the first time UK nuke vets have been awarded money in recognition of their illnesses. They say radiation left them with cancers, rare illnesses and birth defects in their children.
It opens the door for remaining veterans, now thought to number less than 3,000, to finally claim against the government that ordered them into danger. Their long running battle for compensation has so far been unsuccessful.
The war pensions, linked to injuries, are seen as recognition that some veterans are due money for their suffering. ”We didn’t stop fighting on the battlefield and we shouldn’t stop fighting now,” said Nick Simons, 70, after winning his case.
He believes the MoD has paid out only to avoid releasing secret medical papers. ”If enough of us win a pension perhaps they will finally say sorry,” he added.
UK: call to reopen case of murdered anti nuclear activist
Hilda Murrell murder: call to examine ‘MI5 link’ to murder of nuclear activist Guardian UK, 6 May 13 Mark Townsend, The Observer, 18 March 2012 Michael Mansfield QC wants to know what intelligence services knew about killing of anti-nuclear activist Hilda Murrell in 1984 One of Britain’s leading human rights lawyers has demanded a fresh police inquiry to establish what the British intelligence services knew about the murder of a prominent anti-nuclear campaigner.Michael Mansfield QC said new evidence meant that an independent police force should be appointed to examine enduring concerns and inconsistencies relating to the death of Hilda Murrell in March 1984.
Murrell, 78, was abducted from her home in Shrewsbury and her body was discovered days later in a nearby copse. A high-profile campaigner against nuclear weapons, she had been due to present evidence to the public inquiry into the proposed Sizewell B nuclear reactor in East Anglia. Her death triggered numerous conspiracy theories and allegations relating to the involvement of MI5, with one MP, Tam Dalyell, telling parliament that “men of British intelligence” were involved.
Subsequent claims from intelligence sources that they never even opened a file on the rose-growing anti-nuclear campaigner have now been dismissed by Mansfield as “completely ludicrous”.
He said: “There must have been a file for a number of reasons. One of them being that she plainly was very active and very outspoken about a government policy that was extremely sensitive at that time – nuclear power.
“It was central to Margaret Thatcher’s thinking. They would have been watching closely what she was up to, who she was associating with and so on.
“The victim was consumed with anxiety that something was going to happen to her. A look at why that might be involves the evidence she was about to give to the Sizewell inquiry.”
The involvement of Mansfield, whose past cases include the Stephen Lawrence murder, follows the painstaking accumulation of evidence on the case by Murrell’s nephew, Commander Robert Green…….
Despite 28 years having passed since her death, Green will this week reveal details of what he claims are attempts to intimidate him in order to prevent him from investigating the case. Despite having moved to New Zealand, Green says he is the subject of continuing surveillance and that the tyres of his car have been slashed, his mail intercepted and, occasionally, his house broken into.
He has continued to investigate, arriving in London this week to share fresh evidence collated for his book on the murder, A Thorn In Their Side.
Among questions raised about the case are those casting fresh doubts on the conviction of a burglar, Andrew George, who was jailed for life in 2005 for Murrell’s murder. George was aged 16 at the time and in care at a children’s home near her home. The prosecution believed that he panicked during a burglary before abducting Murrell.
George’s DNA was found to match samples taken from the scene, yet a previously undisclosed witness statement made by a forensic scientist in the case, Michael Appleby, indicates that he found DNA under Murrell’s fingernails from another man.
Green claims that this information was withheld from the trial jury……. http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/mar/18/hilda-murrell-michael-mansfield
Legal action against UK plan for nuclear power plant in Bristol channel
An Taisce launches legal challenge to UK nuclear station plan, Irish Times Eoin Burke-Kennedy May 1, 2013, Heritage group commences judicial review proceedings in London over plan to build plant in Bristol channel An Taisce has launched a legal challenge to the UK government’s decision to grant planning permission for a nuclear power plant in the Bristol channel.
The heritage group said it had commenced judicial review proceedings in London to challenge the legality of UK secretary of state Ed Davey’s decision’s to grant permission to build and operate a nuclear station at Hinkley Point, 150 miles from the Irish coast.
In legal papers issued to the court yesterday, An Taisce challenges the legal compliance of the decision by the government with the EU’s Environmental Impact Assessment Directive and the UK’s own regulations on transboundary impacts and consultation.
“Despite the nuclear power plant being nearer to the coast of Ireland than it is to Leeds, the UK decided not to consult with the Irish public about the decision before it granted consent in March,” An Taisce said in a statement.
“The first time many Irish people learned about the nuclear power plant proposal was when the decision was announced. Their views were not therefore taken into consideration as part of the UK government’s decision and assessment process.”
The UK government gave the green light to build the proposed Hinkley Point C plant in March to the French energy company EDF,…… “The UK government decided to grant permission to build and operate a nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point without consulting the Irish public or taking into account significant potential risks of the power plant across national boundaries,” Rosa Curlingfrom the legal firm Leigh Day, who is representing An Taisce, said…… http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/an-taisce-launches-legal-challenge-to-uk-nuclear-station-plan-1.1379545
Groups band together to fight uranium mining near Grand Canyon
While uranium and radium are naturally-occurring radioactive materials, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns that once they are exposed or concentrated through mining, they become technologically-enhanced in such a way that renders them radioactive and capable of contaminating the surrounding soil and water.
Uranium Mine Just South Of Grand Canyon To Proceed Despite Ban By President Barack Obama http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/1673/20130430/uranium-mine-south-grand-canyon-proceed-despite-ban-president-barack.htm By Tamarra Kemsley Apr 30, 2013 Uranium mining company Energy Fuels Resources announced its plans to reopen its mine situated six miles south of the Grand Canyon’s South Rim entrance, citing a ban imposed last year by President Barack Obama as void.
The company was given federal approval by the U.S. Forest Service who conducted an environmental study on the site more than 25 years ago in 1986.
In response, several groups, including the Grand Canyon Trust, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and Havasupai Tribe, have banded together to file suit against Forest Supervisor of the Kaibab National Forest Michael Williams as well as the Forest Service as a whole.
The plaintiffs cite the group’s failure to comply with environmental, mining, public land and historic preservations laws in giving the mine a green light, arguing that since the completion of the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) in 1986 “significant new information and changed circumstances have emerged concerning the Mine’s operations and adverse environmental impacts.”
Despite such developments, the plaintiffs state the Forest Service “decided not to ‘supplement’ the 1986 EIS” or “require a modification” of the plan of operations put forth more than two decades ago. Among the developments that have occurred since the mine was first approved is the regulation of radon gas, a substance the plaintiffs fear will pollute the area should the mine go forward.
While uranium and radium are naturally-occurring radioactive materials, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns that once they are exposed or concentrated through mining, they become technologically-enhanced in such a way that renders them radioactive and capable of contaminating the surrounding soil and water.
Since 1879, the EPA reports, uranium mine workers began being diagnosed with lung diseases, including cancer and that workers today are directly exposed to radiation hazards.
According to The Guardian, the energy company’s spokesman has publicly disputed these claims, stating that the Forest Service “looked at that review with modern eyes” in determining once again that the regulations were adequate. He further pointed out that the mines are “tiny,” accounting for about 20 acres total.
However, as The New York Times reports, the Department of Energy and other agencies have evaluated nearly 700 mine sites in need of remediation – a project costing the government hundreds of millions of dollars and that some complain has been largely ineffective.
Parents may appeal, as Japanese court dismisses lawsuit about radiation
Japanese court refuses to rehouse children near Fukushima site RT April 25, 2013 A Japanese court has dismissed a lawsuit demanding that the government pay for the re-settlement of children from the city of Koriyama, 60 km from the site of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which suffered a meltdown in 2011.
On Wednesday, the Sendai High Court said that while the radiation level in the city of over 300 thousand still exceeds the Japanese average, it poses no danger to health, and said those worried are free to re-locate at their own expense. “The children are victims with absolutely no responsibility for the nuclear accident,” complained the Toshio Yanagihara, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, following the ruling, which can be appealed in a higher court. Continue reading
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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