Worker guilty in bid to sell France nuke secrets | U.S. | Reuters
Worker guilty in bid to sell France nuke secrets
WASHINGTON (Reuters) 26 Jan 09 – A nuclear industry worker who tried to sell uranium enrichment technology to NATO ally France pleaded guilty on Monday to illegally disclosing restricted information, the Justice Department said.
Roy Lynn Oakley, who worked at a facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee that had formerly been used to produce highly enriched uranium, sought to sell equipment and information for $200,000 to representatives of the French government in 2006, according to his plea agreement with federal prosecutors………………….had been told in a security briefing he was given by his employer Bechtel Jacobs that “a number of nations including France” would be interested in buying parts and information stored at the complex.
The pieces of equipment he tried to sell were related to an advanced “gaseous diffusion” process for enriching uranium. Highly-enriched uranium is a fuel used in nuclear weapons.
The Oak Ridge facility was previously operated by the U.S. Department of Energy and is now run by environmental cleanup contractor Bechtel Jacobs.
Worker guilty in bid to sell France nuke secrets | U.S. | Reuters
Safety critical in nuclear power stations
Safety critical in nuclear power stations
‘New Delhi THE HINDU (PTI) Environment safety issues are attracting more attention at national and international level due to adverse impact on the ecological balance, said Management Consultant, SCOPE, M K Suri.: As India makes forays into nuclear power, the issue of safety will become critical for averting a mishap, head of a leading government-owned firm said on Thursday.”There is a need to take adequate safety measures to avoid any disaster as the country is going for nuclear power,” National Projects Construction Corporation Chairman and Managing Director Arbind Kumar said…………………………Environment safety issues are attracting more attention at national and international level due to adverse impact on the ecological balance, said Management Consultant, SCOPE, M K Suri.
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Nuclear Plant Fine
Editorial: Nuclear Plant Fine
Nodding off The Philadelphi Inquirer Jan. 12, 2009 A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission decision last week is another blow to efforts to build greater public trust in nuclear power as an alternative to the nation’s expensive appetite for foreign oil.The NRC proposed a paltry $65,000 fine against the owner of Peach Bottom nuclear plant, where investigators found that security guards routinely napped on the job. The NRC last year issued a color-coded “white” finding – a low-to-moderate safety violation – for the incident.The agency’s actions seem more like a slap on the wrist for Chicago-based Exelon, rather than a strong message about safety and accountability. Exelon says it plans to pay the fine for the NRC’s findings, which were confirmed by its internal investigation at the York County nuclear power facility.It took the utility and its regulators more than a year to reach this disappointing conclusion to what should have been an open-and-shut case, with indisputable evidence.
The investigations were launched in September 2007, but only after a videotape of the sleeping guards had surfaced. After receiving a tip in a letter from a former employee at the nuclear plant, the NRC allowed Exelon to do its own investigation of the allegations. Talk about the fox guarding the hen house! It came as no surprise that Exelon initially found no evidence of guards napping. That quickly changed when the video became public.
Editorial: Nuclear Plant Fine | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/12/2009
Pakistani Nuclear Security Worries U.S. Officials
Pakistani Nuclear Security Worries U.S. Officials
Global Security Newswire Jan. 12, 2009 Preventing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal from falling into extremist hands is a more important security priority for the United States than stabilizing Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a Bush administration report delivered to the team preparing for Barack Obama’s presidency, the New York Times reported yesterday“Only one of those countries has a hundred nuclear weapons,” the report’s lead author said. Concerns persist over Islamabad’s ability to protect the arsenal, according to the Times.
U.S. intelligence officials have briefed Obama on the possibility that some Pakistani scientists with radical Islamic sympathies have sought to join the ranks of the nation’s nuclear elite……………………….The official also expressed concern that militants could try to steal nuclear weapons that were being transferred between facilities. Some U.S. officials were concerned that the recent terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai might have been intended to spur Pakistan to move tactical nuclear weapons to border positions so they could be stolen, the Times reported.
NTI: Global Security Newswire – Pakistani Nuclear Security Worries U.S. Officials
U.S. targets A.Q. Khan nuclear network
U.S. targets A.Q. Khan nuclear network WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sanctions will be placed on 13 people and three companies “for their involvement in the A.Q. Khan nuclear proliferation network,” the U.S. State Department said Monday.
Khan, a Pakistani scientist, operated an international black market in nuclear material to a number of states with a history of poor relations with the United States.
He was arrested in February 2004 and eventually pardoned by former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
The sanctions, which follow a U.S. review of the network, “will help prevent future proliferation-related activities by these private entities, provide a warning to other would-be proliferators, and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to using all available tools to address proliferation-related activities.”
The department notes that Khan spearheaded an “extensive international network for the proliferation of nuclear equipment and know-how that provided one-stop shopping for countries seeking to develop nuclear weapons.”
Iran and Libya received centrifuge components, centrifuges, and designs from Khan and his associates, and the United States believes the network “provided centrifuge designs, equipment, and technology to North Korea.”………………”While we believe the A.Q. Khan network is no longer operating, countries should remain vigilant to ensure that Khan network associates, or others seeking to pursue similar proliferation activities, will not become a future source for sensitive nuclear information or equipment.”
Austria furious at re-opening of nuclear plant
Austria furious at re-opening of nuclear plant
Radio Netherlands 12 Jan 09 “We were really aghast when we heard that it’s being taken back into use,” was the angry comment from Herwig Schuster – spokesperson for the Austrian branch of Greenpeace – at the news that the Bohunice V 2 nuclear power station, located just 100 km from Vienna in neighbouring Slovakia, is to re-open. After numerous protests, from Austria in particular, the power station was officially closed at the end of last year. But now, because of the problems with the supply of gas from Russia, the Slovak government has indicated that it wants to bring the reactor back into use.Greenpeace’s Herwig Schuster argues that the re-opening would involve an enormous risk:
“Bohunice V 2 is an old Soviet-made power station. The casing is porous, and the level of protection so weak that anything that lands on it – an aircraft for example – would damage it”.
Austria furious at re-opening of nuclear plant – Radio Netherlands Worldwide – English
Obama’s worst fear: Hijacked nukes
Obama’s worst fear: Hijacked nukes
THE TIMES OF INDIA 12 Jan 2009, David E Sanger, NYT News Service “……………………………….. Just last month in Washington, members of the federally appointed bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism made it clear that for sheer scariness, nothing could compete with what they had heard in a series of high-level intelligence briefings about the dangers of Pakistan’s nuclear technology going awry. “When you map WMD and terrorism, all roads intersect in Pakistan,” said Graham Allison, a Harvard professor and a leading nuclear expert on the commission. “The nuclear security of the arsenal is now a lot better than it was. But the unknown variable here is the future of Pakistan itself, because it’s not hard to envision a situation in which the state’s authority falls apart and you’re not sure who’s in control of the weapons, the nuclear labs, the materials.” ……………………………. What Obama now inherits in Pakistan is a fully dysfunctional relationship between that country and the US. Last summer, Bush signed secret orders allowing American special forces to run ground raids into Pakistani territory to root out not only al-Qaida but also a list of other militants who could be targeted by either the CIA or American military. At the end of Bush’s term, his aides handed over to Obama’s transition team a lengthy review of policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, concluding that in the end, the US has far more at stake in preventing Pakistan’s collapse than it does in stabilizing Afghanistan or Iraq.
Obama’s worst fear: Hijacked nukes-US-World-The Times of India
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
Nuclear fears as danger plant is reopened in gas war with Russia
THE TIMES OF INDIA January 12, 2009 Nuclear fears as danger plant is reopened in gas war with Russia
Fears were raised yesterday over a decision to restart a potentially dangerous decommissioned nuclear power plant in the centre of Europe because of a shortage of gas caused by Russia’s dispute with Ukraine.
Slovakia, defying undertakings given when it joined the European Union, said that it would reactivate a Soviet-style nuclear generator that has a record of safety problems because it had received no Russian gas since last Thursday………………………………….
Michael Spindelegger, Austria’s Foreign Minister, said that the danger of the Soviet-era reactors “must not be underestimated” and called for an investigation to determine whether Slovakia was really in a state of emergency.
The head of the Austrian Green Party, Eva Glawischnig, said: “The reactor is considered one of the three most dangerous nuclear facilities in Europe. To reactivate it means to put people in danger, and not only in neighbouring Austria.”
Nuclear fears as danger plant is reopened in gas war with Russia – Times Online
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
Entergy suspends two nuclear plant applications
Entergy suspends two nuclear plant applications
By Eileen O’Grady
HOUSTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Entergy Corp’s (ETR.N) nuclear unit said on Friday it will suspend activity on two applications to build new nuclear reactors, one in Mississippi and one in Louisiana.
In a release, New Orleans-based Entergy said it asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to halt review of its applications to build two reactors based on GE Hitachi’s (6501.T) Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) design, citing “unsuccessful attempts” to come to terms with GE Hitachi.
UPDATE 1-Entergy suspends two nuclear plant applications | Deals | Regulatory News | Reuters
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
BRADWELL: Radioactive leak at nuclear plant
BRADWELL: Radioactive leak at nuclear plant
Essex Chroinic le January 08, 2009, 11:25RADIOACTIVE waste seeped into the ground beneath Bradwell’s Magnox nuclear power station for at least 14 years, a jury heard.The radioactive cocktail of tritium, caesium, cobalt and americium that leaked from a decontamination unit was not discovered until the twin reactors were decommissioned five years ago.The Environment Agency accused Magnox Electric Ltd at Chelmsford Crown Court of unlawfully allowing the leak to occur and failing to maintain its waste disposal system between 1990 and 2004.
BRADWELL: Radioactive leak at nuclear plant
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
Philippines and its white elephant nuclear plant
Philippines revisits nuclear energy option at ‘white elephant’ plant
MORONG, Philippines (AFP) 9 Jan 09 — The Bataan nuclear power plant stands as a monument to the greed and corruption of the years the Philippines spent under strongman president Ferdinand Marcos.It was originally meant to cost around 500 million dollars, but the final price tag of 2.3 billion dollars was only paid off in April 2007.A huge slice of the inflated balance was allegedly stolen by Marcos and his cronies.And it has never powered so much as a light bulb…..
….by 2011, the Philippines is expected to produce less electricity than it needs, and so now there’s a plan afoot to bring the gigantic, chipped and rusted white elephant to life…………….
The Philippines is a geologically volatile country and the land near the plant is particularly vulnerable to seismic activity, much of it caused by the huge Manila Trench fault in the South China Sea to the west of the plant.
In 1991 Mount Pinatubo, a volcano to the north of the plant that was once thought to be dormant, exploded, killing 300 people. Seismologists say Mount Natib nearby is “potentially active”.
Bishop Socrates Villegas, the prelate for the nearby city of Balanga, sees Mount Pinatubo as a warning against commissioning Bataan.
“The nuclear power plant stands at the foot of Mount Natib, which is a volcano. Now, can you imagine a volcano erupting and at the foot of it is a nuclear power plant that did not meet safety standards? Can you imagine the devastation?”
The area is also frequently battered by typhoons.
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
Bradwell nuclear leak trial begins (From Maldon and Burnham Standard)
Bradwell nuclear leak trial begins
(From Maldon and Burnham Standard)5th January 2009
BOSSES at Bradwell nuclear power station have gone on trial over the disposal of radioactive waste at the site.
Magnox Electric Ltd, formerly Nuclear Electric Ltd, denied a total of 11 charges brought by the Environmental Agency when the firm’s representatives appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday January 5.
The charges concern the disposal of radioactive waste otherwise than in accordance with authorisation granted by the Environmental Agency.
The court heard the charges span a time period between March 1990 and February 2004.
Bradwell nuclear leak trial begins (From Maldon and Burnham Standard)
Russian Regulators Warn Nuclear Safety Undercut by Economic Crisis
Russian Regulators Warn Nuclear Safety Undercut by Economic Crisis
Environment News Service MOSCOW, Russia, December 24, 2008 (ENS) – The safety of Russia’s nuclear industry is being negatively affected by the country’s economic crisis and the situation is expected to to worsen in 2009, according to a newly released annual report by the Russian nuclear regulatory body Rostekhnadzor
Ongoing job cuts at nuclear facilities include the personnel directly responsible for safety control, states the report by Rostekhnadzor, which is responsible for licensing and safety at Russia’s 31 operating nuclear power plants and the eight more under construction……………………………Russia is in deep economic trouble with the myriad of unsolved problems in nuclear power industry.
One problem with both public health and economic implications is the growing amounts of radioactive waste of various types, including uranium tailings and spent nuclear fuel stored throughout the country.
The Rostekhnadzor report warns that there is “significant risk” of the containers breaking open and leaking the uranium tailings inside – radioactive and highly toxic waste resulting from uranium enrichment…………………………
According to independent estimates, there are over 700.000 tons of uranium tailings stored across Russia in very poor condition with high risk of radioactive and toxic leakages to the environment.
All across the country, the amount of radioactive waste is growing; it is kept in inadequate storage
Russian Regulators Warn Nuclear Safety Undercut by Economic Crisis
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Wyden: Lax regulations allow radioactive waste on icy highways | KVAL CBS 13 – News, Weather and Sports – Eugene, OR – Eugene, Oregon | Local & Regional News
Lax regulations allow radioactive waste on icy highways
KVAL.com 24 Dec 08 LA GRANDE, Ore. — Oregon’s senior senator says lax regulations allowed a truck hauling low-level radioactive waste to travel icy Interstate 84 and jack-knife Monday afternoon…………………… Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement. “Nevertheless, that truck never should have been allowed to travel through Oregon in those conditions…………………Wyden called on the U.S. Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop rules for the transportation of all radioactive wastes during inclement weather. Wyden wants the agencies to require notification of local communities when radioactive waste shipments are sent and to give states more authority to regulate transportation of nuclear waste on their own highways.
Tags: nuclar, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Radioactive waste truck crashes near La Grande
Radioactive waste truck crashes near La Grande seattlepi.com THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 24 Dec 08 LA GRANDE, Ore. — Oregon State Police say a truck loaded with low-level radioactive waste jackknifed and crashed on icy Interstate 84 near La Grande.
Radioactive waste truck crashes near La Grande
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
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