US using British atomic weapons factory for its nuclear programme
US using British atomic weapons factory for its nuclear programme guardian.co.uk 9 feb 09 Joint warhead research carried out at Aldermaston• Work breaches nuclear treaty, campaigners warn
The US military has been using Britain’s atomic weapons factory to carry out research into its own nuclear warhead programme, according to evidence seen by the Guardian.
US defence officials said that “very valuable” warhead research has taken place at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire as part of an ongoing and secretive deal between the British and American governments.
The Ministry of Defence admitted it is working with the US on the UK’s “existing nuclear warhead stockpile and the range of replacement options that might be available” but declined to give any further information.
Last night, opposition MPs called for a full parliamentary inquiry into the extent of the collaboration at Aldermaston and campaign groups warned any such deal was in breach of international law. They added that it also undermined Britain’s claim to have an independent nuclear weapons programme and meant British taxpayers were effectively subsidising America’s nuclear programme…………………………….
Congress has stopped funding research into RRW but campaigners believe the US military may have used facilities in the UK to get around the restrictions at home.
“Billions of pounds have been poured into the Atomic Weapons Establishment over recent years to build new research facilities,” said Hudson. “If these are being used to support US programmes outside Congress’s controls on spending, it raises even more serious questions about why the British taxpayer is paying for a so-called ‘independent deterrent’.”
US using British atomic weapons factory for its nuclear programme | World news | The Guardian
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
U.S. seeks assurances from Pakistan over A.Q. Khan
U.S. seeks assurances from Pakistan over A.Q. Khan By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – The United States has sought “solid” assurances from Pakistan it will take steps to prevent freed nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan from nuclear proliferation in the future, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.
U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson met Pakistani government officials on Sunday to express U.S. concern over the Pakistani High Court ruling on Friday that declared Khan a free citizen, said a senior State Department official.
Khan, revered by many Pakistanis as the father of the country’s atomic bomb, confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya in 2004 but was immediately pardoned by the government. His movements were restricted to effective house arrest before last week’s court ruling.
U.S. seeks assurances from Pakistan over A.Q. Khan | Reuters
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
Is the BNPP safe?
Is the BNPP safe?By Roland G. SimbulanPhilippine Daily Inquirer 2 Feb 09
Just when we all thought that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) had been permanently laid to rest after it was mothballed in 1992, now comes the proposed BNPP Commissioning Act seeking to revive and operate the controversial plant that had become the symbol of corruption and folly of the Marcos dictatorship.
Despite the BNPP’s total cost of roughly $2.3 billion, including interest, two previous post-Marcos administrations decided to permanently mothball the nuclear plant after a comprehensive scientific and technical audit that reviewed the condition of the plant from 1986 to 1990 found that the safety and health of the Filipino people would be at grave risk should the plant be put into operation……………
………………Of course, the nuclear scientists and engineers who rely on the nuclear industry for a living will tell us that science and technology will take care of everything. But they know that even up to now decommissioning a nuclear plant with a normal life span of only 30 years will cost more than its construction, as a decommissioned nuclear plant with its radioactive wastes will continue to pose risks to the health and safety of the people and threaten the environment. We will need at least 20-25 years to develop the necessary scientific and technological infrastructure and national capability to operate a commercial nuclear power plant to respond to nuclear accidents, plant upgrades, repairs and maintenance, nuclear waste disposal and other related problems.
Is the BNPP safe? – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
Letter: Data withheld on nuclear waste storage
Data withheld on nuclear waste storage The Guardian Hugh Richards 3 February 2009 We as taxpayers are being asked to take responsibility for significant amounts of spent fuel – something omitted by Rivaz. Spent nuclear fuel contains most of the radioactivity from the new reactors, but neither government nor its regulators have assessed its “disposability”, or the health effects of managing it. The Nuclear Industry Association says a repository dealing with legacy wastes could readily accommodate the smaller volumes of easier-to-handle wastes from the new nuclear plants.
But the spent fuel from EDF’s planned European pressurised reactors in England would be hotter and more radioactive than that from the EPR at Olkiluoto, in Finland. There are serious doubts it could be disposed of in the deep geological repository for legacy waste, but the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has only recently received the detailed information from EDF that will allow it to make the assessment. Having asked for a copy of that information, I have been told by the NDA that it was submitted in confidence under contractual arrangements, and agreement to the release of the information has not been granted. Thus data directly relevant to independent assessment of health detriments during the storage, retrieval, encapsulation, emplacement and subsequent abandonment of spent fuel, is being withheld by the company concerned……………………………..I have asked the energy department to publish the data, but the secretary of state is busy promoting nuclear power by “reducing regulatory risks for investors”. He is also the “sole justifying authority” that will decide whether benefits from new reactors outweigh any health detriments, a somewhat dangerous conflict of interests.
Letter: Data withheld on nuclear waste storage | Environment | The Guardian
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
British nuclear scientist fled test zone but left troops to face the blasst
British nuclear scientist fled test zone but left troops to face the blast Mirror News UK 26 Jan 09
The chief scientist at Britain’s controversial nuclear tests FLED the danger zone… while thousands of troops were left behind to be nuked.
Dr William Penney’s own RAF batman (personal assistant) says he and top military brass left the area before the biggest bomb exploded in the South Pacific because, scientists admitted, they “didn’t have a clue what would happen”.
“Penney scarpered somewhere safe and only came back in the evening, hours after the bomb,” said Ralph Gray, now 73.
At the same time several thousand servicemen – not told of the dangers – were ordered to stand and watch the detonation from only a few miles away.
The revelation comes as 1,000 veterans of the tests press their demand in court for the Ministry of Defence to compensate them for rare illnesses, cancers and birth defects in their children.
The judge in the case, which began at the High Court in London on Wednesday, has been given documents showing Penney demanded insurance policies for his scientists, while the troops were treated as guinea pigs to test the effects of radiation.
The Sunday Mirror has seen some of a bundle of 250,000 formerly top-secret papers handed to the court by the MoD, which include proof that: /Premier Anthony Eden, told troops would be irradiated, said it was “a pity, but we cannot help it”……………………………..
After they came home the men developed blood, skin and bone disorders, aggressive cancers, thyroid and fertility problems.
Their wives had high rates of miscarriage, and their children were 10 times more likely to be born deformed. New tests have shown they may have suffered DNA damage which can be passed down their bloodline.
British nuclear scientist fled test zone but left troops to face the blasst – mirror.co.uk
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Officials blast handling of nuclear secrets case
Officials blast handling of nuclear secrets case
swisinfo.ch January 22, 2009
Parliament has strongly criticised the government for ordering documents destroyed in a case of Swiss engineers suspected of involvement in a nuclear smuggling ring.A delegation looking into the matter said that the reasons the government gave for doing so were not convincing and that briefings given to members of parliament were not sufficient. Destroying the documents had also compromised an investigation.Urs and Marco Tinner, along with their father, were arrested starting in 2004 on suspicion of aiding Libya’s atomic ambitions through a trafficking ring run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear programme.In November 2007, the cabinet ordered the case documents destroyed, saying it was in the interests of international security. The documents reportedly included designs for nuclear warheads. …………..
………….It is widely believed the Tinners worked as undercover agents for the United States intelligence service and that Washington asked Bern to destroy the documents.
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Feds: Audit of SC nuclear complex whitewashed
Feds: Audit of SC nuclear complex whitewashed Associated Press By BEN EVANS 21 Jan 09 WASHINGTON – A company managing South Carolina’s Savannah River Site nuclear complex altered findings in a 2007 financial audit to justify expenses to the government, federal investigators said in a report released Wednesday.
Feds: Audit of SC nuclear complex whitewashed – MSNBC Wire Services- msnbc.com
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Damage Apparently Kept Secret at German Nuclear Waste Site | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 16.01.2009
Damage Apparently Kept Secret at German Nuclear Waste Site Deutsche Welle 16 Jan 09
The heat has been turned up on Germany’s radiation protection office after it was revealed that an old salt mine in the German state of Lower Saxony, where nuclear waste is being stored, has sustained damaged.
The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) had learned late last year that pieces of the ceiling of the 750-meter (2,500-foot) deep chamber were unstable and could collapse on top of the 6,000 radioactive waste drums below.
The information about the Asse nuclear waste site was posted discreetly on the radiation office’s Web site late Wednesday, Jan. 14.
Lower Saxony Environment Minister Hans-Heinrich Sander said he was only informed of the damage to the storage site Thursday, but the radiation office said the ministry had been informed all along.
The BfS said it could not rule out damage to the waste containers should the Asse site ceiling collapse,
Damage Apparently Kept Secret at German Nuclear Waste Site | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 16.01.2009
US blacklists father and son over alleged nuclear racket
US blacklists father and son over alleged nuclear racket
The Guardian, Ian Traynor, 13 January 2009Two British businessmen, a father and son, were yesterday blacklisted by the US government for their alleged involvement in the world’s worst illicit nuclear proliferation racket.
Peter Griffin, a 73-year-old believed to be living in the south of France, and his son, Paul, 44, were among 13 individuals and three companies named by the US state department and treasury for involvement in the nuclear smuggling network headed by the disgraced Pakistani metallurgist, Abdul Qadeer Khan.
The Khan network supplied much of the technology and knowhow for Iran’s clandestine nuclear projects which were discovered in 2003, triggering a major, inconclusive, international crisis that looks like being one of the toughest problems confronting the incoming Obama administration………………The Griffins were joined on the blacklist by several other engineers and businessmen from Germany, Switzerland, and South Africa, as well as Sri Lanka, Turkey and the Middle East, where Khan’s network was based in Dubai. Several of those named have been jailed.
US blacklists father and son over alleged nuclear racket | World news | The Guardian
Report: International Energy Agency Deliberately Undermined Growth Potential of Renewable Energy : Red, Green, and Blue
Report: International Energy Agency Deliberately Undermined Growth Potential of Renewable Energy : Red, Green, and Blue Mridul Chadha 11 Jan 09 A group of scientists and politicians has accused the International Energy Agency of publishing false data about the growth potential of the renewable energy in the future. The Energy Watch Group said that the IEA “consistently underestimated the amount of electricity generated by wind power while advising various governments.” The group holds IEA’s close ties to oil, gas and nuclear sectors responsible for the its “ignorance and contempt” towards renewable energy.
The International Energy Agency is an intergovernmental organization which publishes reports about future trends of energy generation and use which help governments across the world to chalk out energy production plans. The Energy Watch group says that the IEA reports glorify fossil fuels deeming them irreplaceable by renewable energy
sources.
The group compared the production projections of wind energy that the IEA presented in the past
In 1998, the IEA predicted that global wind electricity generation would total 47.4GW by 2020. This figure was reached in December 2004. In 2002, the IEA revised its estimate to 104GW wind by 2020 – a capacity that had been exceeded by last summer.
In 2007, net additions of wind power across the world were more than four-fold the average IEA estimate from its 1995-2004 predictions.
The IEA report predicts a five-fold increase in wind energy from 2006-2015 but then assumes an abrupt & unexplained downturn in production. A Swiss parliament member also notes that IEA derives most of its employees from the oil industry and raised questions about its intent regarding the energy outlook reports.
One has to question the wind energy growth numbers that IEA puts in its reports. Investments in renewable energy have grown tremendously around the world. The European Union has been very open about its huge investment plans in renewable energy keeping with the emissions reduction targets and the clean energy targets it has set for 2010 and 2020. China has become the largest investor in clean energy, pumping in billions of dollars in building some of the biggest wind and solar energy plants in the world.
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive, renewables
You are being lied to about pirates
Johann Hari: You are being lied to about pirates
Some are clearly just gangsters. But others are trying to stop illegal dumping and trawling
THE INDEPENDENT Johann Hari, Monday, 5 January 2009
“………………………………..In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since – and the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country’s food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.
Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: “Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury – you name it.” Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to “dispose” of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: “Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention.”
At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia’s seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers……………………………”.
Johann Hari: You are being lied to about pirates – Johann Hari, Commentators – The Independent
Deceiving a People
Families Torn Apart Deceiving a People
IslamOnLine.net Commentary from PalestineBy Samah JabrP sychiatrist, Writer – Palestine Dec. 31, 2008 – “…………………………While the occupation is being soft on settlers, the international community is also being soft on Israel. Israel has always been singled out for “special treatment” by both the EU and the US. Unlike other countries in the surrounding region, Israel was allowed to develop nuclear weapons. It has never been held to account for ignoring many resolutions of the UN Security Council.
Deceiving a People – IslamOnline.net – Family
Tags: nuclear
Years after he died, Flats worker a problem for feds : Local News : The Rocky Mountain News
Years after he died, Flats worker a problem for fedsNeutron radiation exposure occurred, state records show
By Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News13 Decd 08
Lane Christenson has been dead for more than a decade, but he is causing problems for the federal government.
The story of what’s happened to the family of this burly, former atomic bomb builder shows how federal officials have ignored evidence and their own rules to avoid compensating the nation’s sick nuclear weapons workers…………………………
Christenson was an engineer at the top secret Rocky Flats nuclear weapons site near Denver for nearly a quarter-century. The gruff Army veteran literally withered before his family’s eyes. He died in 1997 of thyroid cancer – a type strongly linked to radiation exposure. But when Christenson’s widow applied for the compensation, she was denied.
The government told her it has no records of Christenson being exposed to neutron radiation – a particularly dangerous kind that would have made his widow automatically eligible for $150,000.
But the state of Colorado has such records. Where did Colorado get them?
From the federal government……………………How then do the officials explain that the federal government claims it has no neutron records for Christenson but Colorado has copies of federal records showing years’ worth of neutron exposure for him?
Years after he died, Flats worker a problem for feds : Local News : The Rocky Mountain News
Tags: nuclear, antinnuclear, radioactive, uranium
wfn.org | Government Spies on Taitung Church for Opposing Nuclear Waste
Government Spies on Taitung Church for Opposing Nuclear Waste Taiwan Church News by Lydia Ma 8 Dec 2008 The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan’s aboriginal presbytery in Taitung city and county joined a movement opposing nuclear waste storage in Taitung.
In recent days, church members have reported that Taitung county police department and Taitung investigation bureau have sent representatives to monitor church activities.
......................... Authorities have also enquired whether opposing nuclear waste disposal in Taitung will be discussed during church activities. According to one local pastor, Taitung city and county officials have offered all kinds of excuses to refuse renting venues to churches because of the latter’s opposition to nuclear wastes being disposed in Taitung.............……… mysterious individuals have appeared at meetings held by organizations opposing nuclear waste disposal in Taitung……………
……..Ever since President Ma took office, protests, rallies, and large group events organized by the opposition party or other organizations in Taiwan have been closely monitored by the government. .
wfn.org | Government Spies on Taitung Church for Opposing Nuclear Waste
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Deep Green: Atomic renaissance interrupted | Greenpeace UK
Deep Green: Nuclear Renaissance Interrupted
Rex Weyler
Garbage dump
The allegedly safe French nuclear industry faces critical pollution and waste problems. The French reprocessing plant at La Hague retains most of its high-level spent fuel in temporary storage. The plant releases radioactive krypton, tritium, iodine, and carbon-14 into the environment of surrounding villages and some million litres of radioactive effluent into the English Channel every day. French health scientists warn of local leukemia risks, and since 1997, Greenpeace has campaigned to close the site.After a 1972 London Dumping Convention ban, the UK, France, and others nations turned to secretly dumping radioactive waste into the Sea of Biscay from ships MV Topaz and Gem. In 1979, the first voyage of Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior confronted and exposed this illegal dumping, winning the new ban in the 1980s.
However, after the 2004 Tsunami, massive drums of toxic and radioactive waste washed up from the Indian Ocean onto 15 beaches in Somalia. Villagers, who attempted to open the containers, were killed, burned, and contaminated by the waste. We don’t yet know if these drums came from France, the UK, the US, or elsewhere, but they represent the hidden cost of nuclear power dumped into the sea, a cost paid by the marine environment and the public.
With radioactive waste accumulating in 50 countries, the Somalia evidence demonstrates that clandestine dumping continues. Professor Geoffrey Boulton of the Royal Society in London has warned that UK waste will soon “multiply by 50 times” as existing power stations are decommissioned. Most plants worldwide, built in the 1970s and 1980s, are nearing the end of their life cycle, and no plan yet exists for processing the massive decommissioning wastes.
1 This Month
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