Deadly Plutonium Shipment Headed for Pacific | Regional | Solomon Islands News
March 07, 2009 – Sydney/Suva – Last night’s announcement by French nuclear company Areva that the largest ever plutonium (MOX ) shipment is enroute from France to Japan through the Pacific requires strong opposition from Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith.
About 1.8 tonnes of plutonium in MOX fuel, enough to make 225 nuclear weapons, will travel to Japan via the Cape of Good Hope, the Southern Ocean, the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand and the south-west Pacific Ocean, to arrive in Japanese waters by late-May.
Greenpeace protested against the departure of the shipment from Cherbourg this week. “MOX shipments are unsafe, insecure and unnecessary, and the nuclear industry knows it, that’s why there is so much security accompanying the shipment. You would never need such security levels when shipping solar panels or windmills,” said Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigns director Stephen Campbell.
“An accident involving the ship while it is off Australia’s coast could have a catastrophic impact on the environment, and seriously affect our tourism and fisheries industries.” he said.
“Of great concern is the fact that Australia has no emergency response plan in the event of an accident, fire or terrorist attack onboard a nuclear shipment,” said Mr Campbell.
Australia should join with Pacific governments, who have publicly called for an end to such dangerous and unnecessary shipments.
In 2005 (1) and 2002 (2) Pacific nations made strong public declarations of opposition to plutonium and nuclear waste shipments through their waters and called for, “the immediate cessation of such practice, in order to prevent any occurrence of accidents that could seriously threaten their sustainable development and the health of their peoples.
Deadly Plutonium Shipment Headed for Pacific | Regional | Solomon Islands News
In case of doubt, No to nuke | Manila Bulletin
In case of doubt, No to nuke mb.com.ph By Atty. Romeo V. Pefianco March 5, 2009, “……………………
Radioactive for thousands of years
There’s a great insurmountable problem with nuclear waste: It’s radioactive and can remain that way for years, in some cases, thousands of years………………
One large issue in Bataan and RP
The raging debate here is about the structural safety of the Bataan nuclear plant. So far the zone/site for waste disposal has not been identified. One possible site is the South China Sea, with fierce opposition expected from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, etc.
Or the government may search for a cluster of sites on the mainland of Luzon Island.
No way
In both possible sites of nuclear waste disposal most readers foresee real/heated and fierce opposition from promdis in Bataan, Zambales, all of Central Luzon and such islands as Mindoro, etc.
There’s no way for this project to win approval!
‘Risky’ nuke ship passes Cape: South Africa: News: News24
‘Risky’ nuke ship passes Cape NEWS 24 07/03/2009 16:12 – (SA) Johannesburg – A massive shipment of plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) is meant to travel via the Cape of Good Hope on Saturday, Greenpeace Africa said in a statement.
“MOX shipments are simply not worth the risk, they are a major terror target and pose an enormous threat to the environment of all countries en route,” said Rianne Teule, nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace International in a statement on Saturday.
The ships, Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Heron, were heavily armed and protected by specially trained British forces, the statement read.
They are to enter South African waters as they make their way from France to Japan.
Poses riskhe shipment left Chebourg port with about 1.8 tonnes of MOX fuel – enough to make 225 nuclear weapons – and will travel via the Cape of Good Hope.
“This MOX transport poses immediate contamination and security risks, and is yet another example of the dangers of nuclear energy… not only is the shipment unnecessary and insecure, there is no evidence that the containers carrying the fuel are safe from accidents,” Teule said.
MOX fuel is an alternative nuclear fuel made up of a mixture of uranium and plutonium.
“This shipment is a reminder to the South African government that the health and environment risks associated with nuclear power are real, and that taking the nuclear route in power generation is not the solution to reducing climate change emissions.
“Nuclear power will provide too little, too late to address climate change and it is a dangerous distraction, sucking billions of rands in funding, away from the real solutions which could already be implemented today,” said Brad Smith, programme director for Greenpeace Africa.
In a bid to stop this shipment, Greenpeace Africa has sent a warning letter to several African environmental ministers including South Africa’s environmental affairs and tourism Minister, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk, urging them to take immediate action against the two ships.
– SAPA
World’s largest nuclear plant catches on fire –
World’s largest nuclear plant catches on fire ABC News By North Asia correspondent
Mark Willacy 5 March 09A fire has broken out at the world’s largest nuclear plant in Japan, 200 kilometres north-west of Tokyo.
The operator of the facility says there is no threat of a radiation leak.
The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, says a small fire broke out at the facility but was extinguished after 90 minutes.
It says a worker was taken to hospital with minor facial injuries.
The fire started just weeks after the company was given the green light to re-start one of the seven reactors at the plant, which had been suspended since an earthquake two years ago caused a fire and a small radiation leak.
World’s largest nuclear plant catches on fire – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
nuclear hazards
Geological hazards of nuclear plants
“………………………………………The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is also very worried because loss of pool water could cause the zirconium alloy cladding of the most recently discharged spent fuel assemblies to combust spontaneously. The fire would then ignite adjacent fuel assemblies. Spraying the fire with water would make it worse because steam and zirconium react to produce even more heat.Just like a fire in a reactor core, one in a spent fuel storage pool would release huge volumes of radioactive gases to the atmosphere, including much Cesium-137, which is water-soluble and extremely toxic, even in minute quantities.Pool water could be lost in many ways such as pump valve or piping failures or a simple brownout. At Natib, an earthquake could simply slosh the water out of the pool. In an eruption, a pyroclastic flow could evaporate the water instantaneously…………………………”
Kelvin Rodolfo is concurrently professor emeritus with the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois in Chicago, and an adjunct professor with the National Institute of Geological Sciences, University of the Philippines-Diliman. He is currently a DOST Balik Scientist.
Bloomberg.com: Japan
Japanese Company Accused of Exporting Nuclear Enrichment Parts
By Shigeru Sato and Yuji Okada
March 4 (Bloomberg) — Horkos Corp., a Japanese machinery maker, is accused of violated national security laws for exporting devices that can be used for nuclear fuel enrichment plants to China and South Korea, Japan’s trade ministry said.
Horkos Corp., which was founded in 1940 and is based in Hiroshima, produced and exported the unspecified devices to China and South Korea since 2001 without permission from the ministry, it said in a statement.
Police arrested four Horkos employees………………Investigations, which started in July last year, are continuing, the trade ministry said.
The geological hazards of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
The geological hazards of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (Third of a series)STAR SCIENCE By Kelvin S. Rodolfo, PhD Updated March 05, 2009
New earthquake data
Since 1973, many more earthquakes have occurred around and even under Mt. Natib; one on June 24, 1991 with a magnitude of 4.6 occurred directly under Napot Point. Since 1981, six have occurred within 25 kilometers of the BNPP. Note that the largest nuclear complex in the world, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Japan, was shut down by a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in July 2007 only 19 kilometers away. It is still inactive today.
The Lubao lineament
In 1997, Prof. Fernando Siringan, his students and I began to study land subsidence in coastal Bataan, Pampanga, Bulacan and Camanava. Very early, we noticed a sharp lineament in Lubao, Pampanga that trends southwest to Mt. Natib, where it abruptly disappears. Many earthquake epicenters plot along the lineament which, if extended farther, trends to Napot Point. The possibility that the lineament is a fault, and the possibility that it extends under Mt. Natib need urgently to be explored by scientists of Phivolcs and other institutions.
Professor Mahar Lagmay has established genetic relationships between faults and volcanoes, including Mt. Pinatubo and the volcanoes in Bicol.
Spent fuel pools
No country in the world has yet solved the problem of how to store nuclear waste permanently and safely for tens and hundreds of thousands of years. In the meantime, spent fuel is stored next to the plants, in pools of water that absorb the radiation and disperse the heat. The need for huge volumes of water to absorb excess heat from the reactor and from spent fuel is why the BNPP was built on the coast.
Leadership: Nuclear Pressure
Nuclear Pressure STRATEGY PAGE March 4, 2009: For the second time in three years, the U.S. Navy has had to discipline sailors who maintain nuclear power plants. Back in 2007, several members of the nuclear power department on a nuclear submarine were disciplined for not maintaining logs properly………….
…….A similar situation arose recently in the nuclear power department of the carrier Eisenhower. There, seventeen senior NCOs and a junior officer were punished for cheating on a requalification examination.
UPDATE 1-IAEA approves extra nuclear inspection pact for India | Reuters
IAEA approves extra nuclear inspection pact for India – “………..
VIENNA, March 4 (Reuters) – U.N. nuclear watchdog governors on Tuesday approved a deal allowing extra inspections of India’s atomic industry, a condition of a U.S.-led deal allowing New Delhi to import nuclear technology after a 33-year freeze.
Passage of an “Additional Protocol” somewhat expanding the International Atomic Energy Agency’s monitoring rights in India came a month after New Delhi signed a basic nuclear safeguards accord opening its civilian nuclear plants to U.N. inspections……………………………..
Sceptics felt that while heightened U.N. safeguards were a net gain for a country outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), they could have been stronger had there been more time for negotiations, they added.
“Switzerland, Ireland, Cuba and South Africa protested that the agreement was handed to the board only two days ago, too late to thoroughly assess whether it will really contribute to disarmament,” one diplomat in the closed-door meeting said.
“It doesn’t because there are no provisions to ensure India cannot divert into its military nuclear sector nuclear materials and know-how it obtains abroad for the civilian sector.”
The protocol, entitled “Nuclear Verification — The Conclusion of Safeguards Agreements and Additional Protocols” — would give inspectors wider access to India’s programme but not as much as in countries that have signed the NPT.
UPDATE 1-IAEA approves extra nuclear inspection pact for India | Reuters
Radio New Zealand News : Stories : 2009 : 03 : 04 : Nuclear waste ships can’t be stopped – Greens
Nuclear waste ships can’t be stopped – Greens Radio New Zealand 4 March 2009
Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says there’s nothing the Government can do to stop ships carrying reprocessed nuclear fuel travelling in New Zealand waters.
Greenpeace says two vessels carrying 1.8 tonnes of mixed oxide have left France for Japan and could travel near New Zealand.
It claims the shipments are the largest-ever of reprocessed uranium and plutonium.
Ms Fitzsimons says the Government cannot force the vessels to stay out of New Zealand waters, but should demand that they stay out of New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone.
Anti-nuclear legislation can only keep them out of New Zealand harbours.
Environment Minister Nick Smith says he will send a strong message to the Governments of Japan and France that the vessels keep to the high seas.
Radio New Zealand News : Stories : 2009 : 03 : 04 : Nuclear waste ships can’t be stopped – Greens
Leaky Nuclear Research Facility Stirs Debate in Canada
Leaky Nuclear Research Facility Stirs Debate in Canada The New York Times By Ian Austen February 25, 2009
A Canadian nuclear facility that produces at least of half of the world’s supply of medical isotopes has a long history of leaks and unanticipated maintenance delays. And little wonder. The reactor — part of the Atomic Energy of Canada’s Chalk River Laboratories in Eastern Ontario — has been in operation for nearly 52 years.
Two successor reactors which were to replace it have been abandoned because of engineering and financial problems. And recently, the reactor at Chalk River has gone through a particularly bad patch. There have been three leaks at the facility since December.
Leaky Nuclear Research Facility Stirs Debate in Canada – Green Inc. Blog – NYTimes.com
Explosion at Romania nuclear lab
BBC News 23 February 2009A Romanian officer has been killed in a blast at a military laboratory dealing with nuclear, biological and chemical research, Romanian officials say.
The defence ministry says the man, aged 37, died of his injuries after the explosion in Bucharest.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known
Russia amends decree to facilitate nuclear exports
Russia amends decree to facilitate nuclear exports “THE HINDU Business Line 22 Feb 09 The blanket clause requiring all nuclear facilities to be put under IAEA safeguards has now been removed.”
Anil Sasi
New Delhi, Feb. 21 Russia has amended a restrictive decree on its nuclear exports, which formally paves the way for the export of Russian reactor equipment and nuclear material to India. This will help the new set of Russian-made Light Water Reactor capacities on the anvil.
Prior to the amendment, the 1992 decree prevented nuclear exports from Russia to any non-nuclear weapons State, unless “all nuclear activities of that state” were placed under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards……………….The blanket clause requiring all nuclear facilities to be put under safeguards has now been removed, Department of Atomic Energy sources said…………………………Russia agreed late last year that it would build four more reactors at the same site. Russia’s state-owned nuclear fuel monopoly TVEL Corporation has also inked deal to deliver 2,000 tonnes of uranium pellets to India.
The Hindu Business Line : Russia amends decree to facilitate nuclear exports
NRC adopts 1 million year rule for Yucca Mountain |
NRC adopts 1 million year rule for Yucca Mountain
LOS ANGELES, Feb 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a rule for allowable radiation levels at the proposed nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada for up to 1 million years, the NRC announced on Tuesday.
The NRC is now accepting the radiation standards from Yucca Mountain as determined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The NRC kept the EPA’s rule of limiting the dose of radiation to 15 millirem for the first 10,000 years after disposal. Now, the NRC has adopted the EPA’s limit of 100 millirem from 10,001 years to 1 million years…………
Last year, the DOE estimated that the cost of Yucca Mountain would be more than $96 billion, up from a 2001 estimate of $57.5 billion.
The DOE last June filed an application with the NRC for Yucca Mountain’s operation.
…………….
Handling nuclear waste is a key issue for those considering a possible renaissance for nuclear power in the upcoming decade.
No new nuclear power plants have been approved since the 1970s after an accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
NRC adopts 1 million year rule for Yucca Mountain | Markets | US Markets | Reuters
| Nuclear claim in ‘bomb plot’ case
Nuclear claim in ‘bomb plot’ case BBC News 18 Feb 09
An alleged terrorist accused of a plot to blow up airliners researched other targets including nuclear power stations, a jury has heard.
Woolwich Crown Court heard that Assad Sarwar had a memory stick with details of nuclear power stations as potential terror targets.
Mr Sarwar and seven other men are accused of conspiracy to murder by blowing up planes with home-made bombs.
1 This Month
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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