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USA taxpayers to pay up for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

“The Obama Administration continues to believe that low-carbon nuclear energy has an important role to play in America’s energy future,” DOE Secretary Steven Chu stated

Small nuclear reactors eyed for Oak Ridge site, Oakridger.com By Donna Smith/Staff Nov. 25, 2012 The former Clinch River Breeder Reactor site in Oak Ridge may become the home for four small modular nuclear reactors that could be operational by 2022.  Continue reading →

November 26, 2012 Posted by | politics, technology, USA | Leave a comment

UK has to rely on international wheeler dealing, for its grand new nuclear power programme

UK fights to build a nuclear legacy Ft.com, By Sylvia Pfeifer, 25 Nov 12 EDF Energy, the British subsidiary of French utility EDF, is spearheading the UK programme to build up to 12 reactors over the next decade. Under a £400m deal with French energy group Areva, which will design the reactors for EDF, Rolls-Royce could build a component factory at the Yorkshire site. It is already home to an advanced manufacturing centre.

However, the deal is just one of a number of international partnerships that need to be sealed to enable EDF to fulfil its plan of installing four reactors at two sites in the UK, starting with Hinkley Point in Somerset.
It won’t be easy. The last time Britain built a reactor was more than 20 years ago. Whether the UK still has the skills and the capability is open to question. It has had to rely on international players such as Areva and Japan’s Hitachi – which recently bought Horizon Nuclear Power, a venture to build as many as six reactors – to provide the reactor designs after the previous Labour government sold Westinghouse to Toshiba of Japan in 2006……
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ffa6d0fa-323b-11e2-916a-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2DMouWKWY

November 26, 2012 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Chancellor Merkel’s nuclear free gamble has paid off

 The British right wing economic magazine The Economist, which in 1998 had gleefully predicted oil prices of “$5 a barrel by 2010”, branded Merkel’s May 2011 action “a lunatic gamble.”

Germany’ trade surplus remains massive while the UK goes on running huge deficits, to add to its national debt and small scale economy status, relative to economic giant Germany

Germany’s Energiewende And The End Of Nuclear Power, The Market Oracle Nov 25, 2012  By: Andrew_McKillop”…..The real blackout was political. Merkel’s support for the Energiewende, like her support for many other policies and programs had always been tepid. However, she had suddenly pinned Germany’s future entirely on renewable energy and energy saving. Continue reading →

November 26, 2012 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

Economic doubts about South African govt’s nuclear power programme

Do we really need a nuclear fleet?, Business Report, Mike Kantey, November 25 2012   Despite protestations by thousands of South Africans, our ANC-led government seems determined to spend over R1 trillion on a nuclear fleet, including a uranium enrichment plant, a fuel assembly plant, a reprocessing plant and a high-level waste management facility.

How has this impossibly expensive project been motivated and by whom? Continue reading →

November 26, 2012 Posted by | politics, South Africa | Leave a comment

France’s dilemma: reliance on aging nuclear reactors

State-owned utility EDF, which operates all of France’s reactors, has said it aims to extend their lifespan to 60 years

France faces twin tasks of ageing nuclear fleet, staff, By Michel Rose and Marion Douet PARIS  Nov 22, 2012  (Reuters) – An ageing fleet of nuclear power plants and retirement of
half of EDF’s nuclear staff in the next 5 years are the main challenges the French nuclear safety watchdog is facing and will have to deal with, its new head said on Thursday.

France, the most nuclear-reliant nation in the world, will have to decide in the next few years whether to extend the lifespan of its 58 nuclear reactors to over 40 years, at a time it is trying to cut its reliance on the atom. Continue reading →

November 23, 2012 Posted by | France, politics | Leave a comment

South Korea’s nuclear regulation, not transparent, not independent

S.Korea says IEA wants its nuclear sector to be more transparent SEOUL   Nov 22, 2012 (Reuters) – The International Energy Agency (IEA) wants South Korea to bring more transparency to its nuclear power sector and strengthen the independence of regulators to increase trust in the safety of its plants, the economy ministry said on Friday.

The agency, which advises industrialized nations and represents 28 oil importing countries, was due later on Friday to unveil a report on South Korea’s energy policies for the first time since 2006…..

The South Korean government has been criticised for a lack of transparency over safety in its nuclear programme and for the dual supervisory and promotion roles of its regulators…..
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/11/22/iea-korea-idUKL4N0921O420121122

November 23, 2012 Posted by | politics, South Korea | Leave a comment

Another blow to the Small Modular nuclear reactor (SMR) pipe-dream

“I think they were trying to use cleanup funds, which weren’t intended to be used for nuclear energy projects,” said Tom Clements, the non-proliferation policy director for the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability.

“The whole SMR thing has always appeared very premature and rather half-baked; since these reactors don’t even exist the companies don’t have money to pursue them,” “So it’s all very highly speculative.”

SRS suspends portable reactor development, The Augusta Chronicle, By Rob Pavey, Nov. 10, 2012 Savannah River Site can no longer use its increasingly limited environmental management resources to pursue the development of small, portable nuclear power reactors.

The ambition to create a “small, modular reactor” farm, where a new generation of SMRs
could be perfected for the commercial market, is a key facet of Enterprise SRS, a futuristic strategy designed to create jobs and future missions for the 310-square-mile site.

Although the U.S. Department of Energy announced agreements in March with three firms that are hoping to use SRS as a home base to study and develop mini reactor technology, site contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions received a directive from headquarters to “stand down” and devote no further funds or resources to the effort. Continue reading →

November 22, 2012 Posted by | politics, technology, USA | Leave a comment

Anti nuclear political parties getting organised in Japan

Ozawa, Kamei to fight election on anti-nuclear line, November 20, 2012 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN Two veteran politicians hoping to draw support for their small parties are drawing a line in the sand against nuclear power, a key issue in the Dec. 16 Lower House election.

Ichiro Ozawa, who leads People’s Life First, plans to capitalize on the issue to differentiate his party and draw support away from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party.

People’s Life First, mainly consisting of DPJ defectors, calls for moving away from nuclear power in 10 years in its basic platform.  Continue reading →

November 21, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Anxiety over radiation causes young Japanese to emigrate

Foreigners tended to assume Japan had bounced back from the triple disaster, and in some areas that was true. But many Japanese now had, for the first time, a deep distrust of their government. The extent of the radiation release from the Fukushima plant, and the barrage of significant aftershocks, have been sources of stress for the Japanese

 a woman in her early 40s, said she wanted to take her family to Australia or New Zealand because of the danger of radiation from the Fukushima disaster and the prospect of another quake.

 some radiation-conscious and well-researched New Lifers have even questioned Australia as a destination because it has a nuclear reactor

Quake, nuke, economy fears chase Japanese overseas BY: RICK WALLACE, TOKYO CORRESPONDENT  The Australian November 20, 2012  NEW figures reveal the number of Japanese leaving their homeland for a life abroad has more than tripled in the wake of last year’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident. The number of Japanese living abroad jumped by more than 40,000 in the year to October last year, according to the latest Ministry of Foreign Affairs figures – more than three times the normal rate of growth.

Next year the number is likely to climb further, Continue reading →

November 21, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics, social effects | Leave a comment

Former Tokyo Governor calls for nuclear weapons for Japan

Possible kingmaker calls for nuclear-armed Japan Sunday Times Sri Lanka,  20 NOVEMBER 2012 TOKYO,  (AFP) – Firebrand former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, a potential kingmaker in next month’s general election, said Tuesday Japan must acquire nuclear weapons if it wants to be taken seriously.
At very least, avowedly pacifist Japan should examine what it would need to do to join the club of declared nuclear powers, the 80-year-old arch conservative told foreign journalists in Tokyo. “I think Japan should at least carry out an analysis on going nuclear,” Ishihara said.
“The diplomatic voice of countries without nuclear weapons is overwhelmingly weak,” he said.

Ishihara has a long track record of saying controversial things and breaking cultural taboos. He has previously expressed the same thoughts on Japan — the only country on which a nuclear attack has ever taken place — getting atomic weapons.

But his comments Tuesday come just days after he was declared leader of a populist party forged ahead of the December 16 general election with the express aim of challenging the two major forces in Japanese politics.
Next month’s poll is expected to end without a clear result, with prime minister Yoshihiko Noda’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party seen likely to fall short
of a majority.
Commentators expect a period of horse trading as a coalition is forged, with Ishihara’s Japan Restoration Party (JRP) a leading contender for a post-election political marriage…….
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27076:-possible-kingmaker-calls-for-nuclear-armed-japan&catid=81:news&Itemid=625

November 21, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Japan’s aging, weakening, pro nuclear lobby

POINT OF VIEW/ Eiji Oguma: Japan’s nuclear lobby will die soon, Asahi Shimbun, 19 Nov  Shizuoka’s prefectural assembly has rejected a bill to hold a public referendum that would have put the restart of the nuclear reactors in the prefecture to a yes-or-no vote. The Asahi Shimbun reported on Oct. 12 that some assembly members had yielded to pressure by labor unions
of the electric power industry.

Denryoku Soren (the Federation of Electric Power Related Industry Worker’s Unions of Japan) is believed to be able to mobilize 5,000 to 7,000 voters in Shizuoka Prefecture.

But 165,000 people signed the petition for the public referendum. So what makes 5,000 people more special than the 165,000? I believe I know what the assembly members are thinking: the 165,000 signatures are just a statistic. The politicians do not see mere names as real people. Continue reading →

November 19, 2012 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

USA Senator Chuck Grassley has been delaying Congress action on nuclear terrorism

Another View: Nuclear treaties need Grassley’s help, Des Moines Register,  Nov 17, 2012 by GREG THIELMANN As the Congress gathers in Washington for its final session of the year, bipartisan cooperation is going to be needed more than ever to address the urgent issues facing the nation. One of its critical priorities should be approving two treaties that help construct barriers to nuclear terrorism.

Iowa’s Sen. Chuck Grassley, who had previously delayed passage, is now in a unique position to make this happen. For more than a decade, U.S. defense and security leaders have warned that nuclear terrorism poses a severe threat to American security. The 9/11 Commission report stated, “The greatest danger of another catastrophic attack in the United States will materialize if the world’s most dangerous terrorists acquire the world’s most dangerous weapons.”…..
For too long, two anti-terrorism treaties have been waiting for congressional approval. These treaties, the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, and the 2005 amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials, are common sense measures that enhance the world’s ability to prevent incidents of nuclear terrorism and punish those responsible…

…After strong backing for the treaties from the president and his predecessor, the House of Representatives finally passed compromise legislation earlier this year with broad bipartisan support. However, rather than facilitating swift Senate action on the treaties, Senator
Grassley slowed the process by seeking amendments on issues his Republican colleagues in the House had already set aside.

The Grassley amendments are peripheral to the goal of spurring international action against nuclear terrorism. His insistence on imposing the death sentence for terrorism cases is quixotic and counterproductive given its absence in most of the world’s democracies and especially odd from a senator whose own state eliminated capital punishment from its laws in 1965.
The key question remains: Are we better off with the treaties than without them? Yes!……
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121118/OPINION01/311180031/-1/debatedemafter/Another-View-Nuclear-treaties-need-Grassley-s-help?nclick_check=1

November 19, 2012 Posted by | politics, USA | Leave a comment

Obama very close to Honeywell uranium plant chief

In Leaked Documents, Honeywell Cites Obama Ties as Key to Anti-Union Strategy Truth Out , 17 November 2012   By Mike Elk, In These Times  “……Indeed, President Obama and Honeywell CEO Dave E. Cote have a very close relationship. Cote visited with Obama at the White House this past Wednesday to push him to cut budget spending. Cote is considered one of Obama’s closest allies in the business community. In January of 2009, Cote introduced Obama’s stimulus package in a White House speech. Cote was subsequently appointed by Obama to serve on the Deficit Commission. President Obama even flew with Cote to India while a lockout at Honeywell’s Metropolis, Ill. uranium plant was ongoing. Cote returned the favor by giving heavily to the Democratic Party. In the 2010 election cycle when the Met, Honeywell was the top corporate PAC contributor to the Democratic Party…..” http://truth-out.org/news/item/12799-in-leaked-documents-honeywell-cites-obama-ties-as-key-to-anti-union-strategy

November 19, 2012 Posted by | politics, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Germany well on track to nuclear free success

The nuclear industry and its supporters pounced on Merkel’s decision. They predicted blackouts on a scale Germany hadn’t experienced since World War II and skyrocketing electricity prices that would wreck the nation’s heavy manufacturing sector, the bedrock of the German economy. They warned that Germany would cease to be an energy exporter and be forced to import electricity from, of all places, French nuclear power plants. Utilities would have to burn more coal to make up for the lost nuclear power, they said, pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The British weekly The Economist branded Merkel’s action “a lunatic gamble.”

More than a year and a half later, however, those dire predictions haven’t materialized.

 ”You have to choose between the old system and the new one. And we have chosen renewables.”

Germany Abandons Nuclear Power and Lives to Talk About It, Bloomberg Business Week  By Osha Gray Davidson  November 16, 2012“……..Like all revolutions, the German Energiewende was set in motion by many factors and its course altered by a multitude of events and actors along the way. A few key moments stand out, however, and the Chernobyl catastrophe is one of them. To fully understand the Energiewende, and to anticipate its future twists and turns, it’s essential to understand the role Chernobyl played in shaping the German public’s view of nuclear power. Continue reading →

November 17, 2012 Posted by | Germany, politics, Reference | Leave a comment

India’s “democracy” – no right for Kudankulam public meeting about nuclear power

Madras HC dismisses plea for holding public meetings in Kudankulam
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_madras-hc-dismisses-plea-for-holding-public-meetings-in-kudankulam_1765500, Nov 16, 2012,Chennai   ANI The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed petitions which sought to declare the clamping of ban orders under Section 144 (1) of CrPC in Kudankulam as null and void.

It also refused to grant permission for conducting a public meeting to highlight demands against commissioning of the nuclear power plant. Continue reading →

November 17, 2012 Posted by | India, politics | Leave a comment

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