Businessman caught with plan to sell uranium to Iran
Man caught in ‘uranium for Iran’ sting Sierra Leone man lured to New York with uranium ore hidden in his shoes after US federal agent offered him 1,000-tonne deal Reuters in Miami theguardian.com, Friday 23 August 2013 US prosecutors have charged a man from Sierra Leone with trying to sell undercover agents 1,000 tonnes of yellowcake uranium he thought would be shipped to Iran. He was arrested in New York with a sample of the toxic material hidden in his luggage, authorities said.
Patrick Campbell, 33, of Freetown, was arrested at John F Kennedy airport on Wednesday after he arrived from Sierra Leone with the sample of uranium concealed in the soles of shoes in his luggage, according to a criminal complaint filed in a Florida federal court on Thursday.
He allegedly responded to an ad in May 2012 on the websitealibaba.com seeking to purchase uranium that was placed by an undercover US agent posing as an American broker representing persons in Iran, according to an affidavit by Homeland Security agent Louise Miller.
Campbell agreed to travel to Miami to meet the supposed buyer, who could then analyse the purity of the uranium. Continue reading
Radioactive leak shuts down New Jersey nuclear plant
NJ Nuclear Plant Shutdown After Radioactive Water Leak. (includes video) August 23, 2013 By Mike DeNardo SALEM, N.J. (CBS) – The Salem Unit-One nuclear plant in South Jersey remains shut down, after radioactive water leaked in a containment building Thursday night. Salem’s Unit-One nuclear plant was shut down around 7:30 p.m., when radioactive water started to leak, says Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Diane Screnci:
“They had a valve on one of the systems within the containment. And that valve was leaking, and it reached what are called their technical specification limits, and caused them to begin a shutdown.”
The leak was measured at four gallons a minute — above the one gallon per minute threshold to force a shutdown…. http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/08/23/nj-nuclear-plant-shutdown-after-radioactive-water-leak/
Two UK nuclear reactors shut down for safety reasons
Heysham nuclear reactors shut down for second time http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-23808744 23 Aug 13
EDF said the plant was shut down as a precaution
Nuclear reactors have been shut down for the second time in three months at a plant in Lancashire.
Two reactors at Heysham 1 nuclear power station were shut down after an electrical fault in a gas turbine set off a sprinkler system on Thursday.
Firefighters were called at 22:27 BST and four crews were sent to the scene from Lancaster, Bispham and Fulwood.
EDF Energy, which operates the plant, said it had been shut down as a precaution.
Lancashire Fire Service said 20 firefighters attended the scene but were not needed.
Ian Stewart, Heysham 1 station director, said: “We will be assessing the generators today, and we will then be looking at bringing the two reactors back on line.”
A reactor was shut down in May after smoke was seen coming from a turbine due to smouldering lagging.
Low level nuclear alert issued at Hanford
Hanford issues low-level nuclear alert http://q13fox.com/2013/08/22/hanford-issues-low-level-nuclear-alert/#ixzz2cp68IuEI BENTON COUNTY, Wash. — An alert was issued late Wednesday night at the Hanford Nuclear Site in southeast Washington for the lowest level emergency following the detection of radiation on Hanford’s grounds.
The low-level emergency was issued at 10:32 a.m. when higher than expected levels of radiation were found on a routine test of the C Tank Farm, indicating the “potential of a waste transfer leak.” All operations were halted, and personnel were evacuated from the C Tank Farm area. Other affected facility personnel were instructed to take cover, or shelter in place.
Benton and Franklin Counties’ Emergency Operations Centers were activated shortly after the first reading, but the emergency alert was relegated to Hanford’s grounds. Additional radiological tests found no detectable levels of contamination, and the alert-level emergency was lifted at 5:05 a.m. Higher than expected levels of radiation were confirmed, but there was no indication of a leak or spill, and the levels were less than originally discovered, officials with Hanford said. Workers were instructed to report to the site as normal. C Tank Farm prepared to return to normal operations.
Built by early Hanford scientists, engineers, and constructors, single-shell and double-shell storage tanks were constructed throughout Hanford’s 200 Area to store the radioactive liquid wastes generated from the processing facilities on site.
Unsafe levels of ionising radiation at firm in Mersey, England
Workers at Mersey firm exposed to potentially unsafe levels of radiation, Liverpool Echo, By Gary Stewart, 4 July 13, Staff at firm couldn’t understand machine instructions because they were in Chinese Workers at a Wirral company were accidentally exposed to potentially unsafe levels of radiation because the instructions for the machine they were using were in Chinese
Two members of staff at Meyer Group Ltd, Bromborough, were put in charge of a “low intensity x-ray scope” which they used to check the inside of kettles sent back as faulty.
The machine, which was brought from China, was used for four months between 2002 and 2003 and again for nineteen months between 2007 and 2009 during a second product recall.
But unknown to the workers they were using the scope, which emitted “ionising radiation” for twice the recommended daily limit, because they couldn’t understand the instructions.
Nigel Lawrence, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court one of the workers was assured the machine was safe by a Chinese colleague who told him how to use it.
But it wasn’t until he asked for the instructions to be translated years later he realised he was in danger……..
Mr Lawrence said: “Any adverse health effects may not be known for many many years.”
The company later pleaded guilty to failing to ensure safety of workers and breaching regulations relating to working with radiation……
Judge Graham Morrow said that anyone who ever had an x-ray would know that radiation was potentially hazardous.
He will deliver his sentence this afternoon and is expected to fine the company tens of thousands of pounds.http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/mersey-meyer-group-ltd-workers-4870083
Hospital workers expose to too much ionising radiation
Hospital workers say error led to higher levels of radiation exposure inforum, 4 July 13 HUDSON, Wis. – Claiming they have been exposed to excess radiation, four Hudson Hospital & Clinics technologists have filed a lawsuit against the architectural firm that designed the hospital and the construction company that built it 10 years ago.
By: Forum News Service, INFORUM HUDSON, Wis. – Claiming they have been exposed to excess radiation, four Hudson Hospital & Clinics technologists have filed a lawsuit against the architectural firm that designed the hospital and the construction company that built it 10 years ago.
The computed tomography, or CT, technicians say quarter-inch plate glass rather than lead-shielded glass was installed in the windows between the scanning and control rooms, thus exposing the workers to more than 20 times the usual radiation…. http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/405121/group/News/
Radiation death ray plot to kill President Obama
Obama is death ray target of Ku Klux Klan nut http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4978215/Obama-target-of-KKK-nuts-radiation-weapon.html#ixzz2XAvBNDjL By PETE SAMSON, US Editor 21st June 2013 TWO men have been arrested over a plot to kill US President Barack Obama with a home-made DEATH RAY.
Fanatics Glendon Scott Crawford, 49, and Eric Feight, 54, were nicked after a six-month FBI undercover operation. Mr Obama was among those said to have been targeted by the futuristic device that would have fired lethal doses of radiation.
Engineer Crawford, a member of the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan, told undercover agents his design was “Hiroshima on a light switch”. He said his plan was to hide the death ray inside a van and park it
near to a target. The device would be activated from a safe distance and according to an
arrest affidavit would “kill human targets silently and from a distance with lethal doses of radiation”.
He said whoever had the device could kill with little chance of being caught, according to the criminal complaint.
Crawford, of Schenectady, New York, said President Obama was on their hit-list because he had let Muslims into the US.
On the day after the Boston Marathon bombing in April he allegedly sent a text message saying: “Obama’s policies caused this.” The two men were investigated after trying to get funding for their plan. Last year Crawford walked into a synagogue and allegedly inquired about technology that could kill “Israel’s enemies while they slept”.
He later asked KKK leaders in North Carolina for money for his machine. Both the KKK and Jewish leaders tipped off the FBI.
Crawford was arrested as he tried to connect a remote activation device to an X-ray machine that undercover agents had given him after making it useless.
Prosecutor John Duncan said: “From our investigation, the device would have been able to emit X-ray radiation that would cause death.”
Two plead guilty to espionage of US nuclear weapons
Scientist and wife plead guilty to espionage involving nuclear weapons, Examiner, CRIME & COURTS JUNE 23, 2013 BY: JIM KOURI
Two contract workers for a U.S. nuclear facility pleaded guilty in
U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico on Friday to
espionage charges involving classified nuclear weapons information,
according to Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security
John Carlin.
Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina,
and Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to
charges under the Atomic Energy Act and other charges related to their
communication of classified nuclear weapons data to a person they
thought was a representative of the Venezuelan government under
then-President Hugo Chavez……..
Both husband and wife were indicted in September 2010 and they were
charged with conspiracy to communicate and communicating Restricted
Data to an individual with the intent to secure to an advantage to a
foreign nation.
The indictment also charged the couple with conspiracy to convey and
conveying classified Restricted Data. The indictment also charged
Mascheroni with concealing and retaining U.S. records with the intent
to convert them to his own use and gain, and both defendants with
making false statements…..
http://www.examiner.com/article/scientist-and-wife-plead-guilty-to-espionage-involving-nuclear-weapons
Ki Klux Klansmen’s plan to kill Muslims by radiation
Behind A Klansman’s Plan To Kill Muslims With A Radiation Death Beam TPMMuckraker ERIC LACH JUNE 20, 2013, On April 11, 2012, Glendon Crawford — who went by his middle name, Scott — walked into an Albany, N.Y., synagogue and asked if there was anyone around to talk to him about a technology that could be used by Israel to defeat its enemies.
According to a federal court document, Crawford was “denied assistance” at the synagogue. But he was not deterred. That same day, he called up a different Jewish organization — the document does not specify which one beyond saying that it has a facility in Albany — and made a similar overture. Crawford also asked for financial help with his project. The person who took Crawford’s call later told the FBI that they spoke with Crawford for about 10 minutes. On the call, Crawford allegedly said the technology he was talking about could kill Israel’s enemies in their sleep. He also said the technology could be purchased for a significant amount of money.
You may have already heard how this story ended. Crawford, 49, and an associate, Eric Feight, 54, were arrested by the FBI on Tuesday, and both charged with conspiracy to “provide material support, or resources, intending that they be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, a violation of Title 18, U.S.C. § 2332a (use of a weapon of mass destruction).” In layman’s terms, Crawford and Feight were allegedly trying to create a truck-mounted, remote controlled, radiation death beam. According to an FBI affidavit written in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrants for Crawford and Feight, Crawford specifically identified “Muslims and several other individuals/groups as targets.”
The 65-page affidavit, filed in federal court in Albany on Tuesday, provides numerous details about Crawford and Feight’s activities over the past 14 months…………….. Crawford and Feight both made initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Albany on Wednesday. U.S. Magistrate Christian Hummel told Crawford he would be assigned an attorney, according to The Albany Times-Union.
“Is it going to be the right kind of attorney for this?” Crawford asked the judge. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/06/kkk_radiation_gun.php
Trouble in Malawi, arrests at Paladin Energy’s uranium mine
the development has stunned most workers who think management’s move is aimed at eliminating workers deemed to be fighting for the employees’ welfare.Management already eliminated other employees through “unfair dismissals and retrenchment” of 25th January 2013.
Five held for ‘bomb’ threats at Paladin’s Malawi uranium mine, Nyasa Times By Nyasa Times Reporter, June 19, 2013 Malawi Police in the northern border district of Karonga are keeping in custody five Kayelekera Uranium Mine workers on allegations they threatened management to blow up the mine.
The five, arrested last Friday, are also suspected of being linked to the theft of explosives worth US$5780.76 (about K2, 150, 600) belonging to China Road and Bridge Construction Company in Chitipa.
There was no immediate comment from Karonga Police as officers said they are “still investigating”. But Nyasa Times sources said the five were arrested on orders from Paladin Energy Limited (owners of Kayelekera). The five, who are production plant operators, are reported to have threatened Kayelekera management that they would blow up the process plant if their salaries were not increased and foreign workers laid off…….. Continue reading
Niger uranium mine struck by suicide bombers
Suicide bombers strike African uranium mine http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/suicide-bombers-strike-african-uranium-mine 24 May, 2013 Alex Heber Suicide bombers have killed at least 20 people in a French-run uranium mine in northern Niger.
About 50 people were injured at the mine when a suicide bomber drove into the front of the plant and blew up his vehicle, ABC reports.
The mine, located in the remote town of Arlit, has also reported key infrastructure has been badly damaged.
Islamist militants MUJWA are claiming responsibility for the attack.
The group which is also known as Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa is an offshoot of terrorist group Al Qaeda. MUJWA says the attack was at act of revenge for Niger’s involvement in the French-led intervention in Mali.
Niger’s president, Mahamadou Issoufou, has also confirmed French Special Forces have now moved in to protect the plant.
Radiation incident at Japanese Atomic Energy Lab
Radiation leak reported day after incident at Ibaraki laboratory, Global Post, 24 May 13Radioactive substances were released into the atmosphere Thursday outside the controlled area at one of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s nuclear physics laboratories in Ibaraki Prefecture, the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s secretariat said early Saturday morning.
Fifty-five researchers and others who were engaged in experiments and other work at the laboratory may have been exposed to radiation as a result of inhaling the substances, but none were taken to hospital, the government body said. Four have so far undergone checkups and the highest radiation dose detected was 1.7 millisievert.
No impact from the radiation is expected beyond the premises of the accelerator laboratory in Tokaimura….. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/130524/radiation-leak-reported-day-after-incident-at-ibaraki-
Fire alert at Pilgrim nuke plant – “further details not available”
Firefighters called in to U.S. nuclear plant after alert — Overheating in turbine room — “Further details not immediately available”http://enenews.com/developing-firefighters-called-in-to-u-s-nuclear-plant-overheating-in-turbine-room-further-details-not-immediately-available
WXTK,, May 20th, 2013: Firefighters called to Pilgrim nuke plant […] after 4 a.m. According to reports, a motor overheated in the turbine room. That is in a non-nuclear section of the plant. Further details were not immediately available.
The Patriot Ledger: Twelve hours after the protest, at 4:20 a.m. Monday, Plymouth firefighters went inside the plant to check an overheated turbine lubrication pump. Fire Chief Edward Bradley said an electrical overload tripped a plant circuit breaker, automatically sending an alert to the fire department. Bradley said the pump is one of a number of pumps that keep turbine bearings lubricated during production. The pumps are located in a building adjacent to the reactor building.
Excerpt from anonymous tip: “fire in turbine bldg of pilgrim nuclear plant….4 fire trucks respond”
Radioactive cargo on German ship gutted by fire
Ship with radioactive cargo gutted by fire in Hamburg harbour http://indymedia.org.au/2013/05/18/ship-with-radioactive-cargo-gutted-by-fire-in-hamburg-harbour , 17 May 2013 – – A freighter which burned spectacularly in Hamburg harbour had highly dangerous radioactive substances aboard.
The north German city-state’s social democrat government only today released details of the fire on 1 May because the opposition Greens had put a question on notice.
As well as 8.9 tonnes of uranium hexafluoride the “Atlantic Cartier” also had some 180 tonnes of highly flammable ethanol, several tonnes of explosives, including munitions, and rocket fuel on board.
The highly toxic uranium hexafluofide is a compound used in centrifuges and other plants to enrich uranium. An area contaminated with it would be uninhabitable for a very long time. Continue reading
Radioactive water leaking from Catawba Nuclear Station, USA
Leak of radioactive material at U.S. nuclear plant — Amount unknown, but greater than 100 gallons — “Leaking from the reactor itself”? http://enenews.com/leak-of-nuclear-material-at-u-s-nuclear-plant-amount-unknown-but-greater-than-100-gallons-of-radioactive-water-leaking-from-the-reactor-itself
CharlotteObserver, May. 15, 2013: More than 100 gallons of water with traces of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, has been leaked from a discharge pipe at the Catawba Nuclear Station [… It] has the potential to reach groundwater, according to the NRC. […] Friends of the Earth, a environmental watchdog group with offices in Columbia, said Wednesday that Duke Energy needs to clarify how large the leak. […] Friends of the Earth also said that Unit 2 at the Catawba plant should be taken out of operation while the leak is investigated and all leaking from the reactor itself, not just from the leaking sump line, is identified and halted. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, drinking water that has tritium can increase the risk of developing cancer.
NRC: Event Notification Report for May 15, 2013 [Catawba Nuclear Station in South Carolina] OFFSITE NOTIFICATION DUE TO LEAK FROM TURBINE BUILDING SUMP CONTAINING TRITIUM […] “Sample exceeding the industry groundwater protection initiative related to radioactivity in groundwater for which a news release is planned and notification to other government agencies will be made.” “A leak greater than 100 gallons containing tritium has the potential to reach groundwater. The source has been identified. Actions to isolate this source are being initiated.” The licensee has identified a leak in a fiberglass discharge pipe from the turbine building sump. The licensee estimates that greater than 100 gallons of water has been discharged through the leak at the present time. The licensee is in the process of installing a temporary sump pump in the turbine building sump in order to isolate the discharge path. Samples indicate a tritium concentration of 8.964 E-6 uCi/mL. […]
See also: Nuclear plant spills radioactive water into Lake Michigan (AUDIO)
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