Port expansion permits criticized – Local / Metro – The State
Locked in a government storage room were the records Bob Guild needed to make his case against a leaking nuclear waste landfill. But when the Columbia lawyer asked to see them, he was given only a single folder. “I said, ‘Where is everything else?’ They said, ‘It’s all trade secrets,’” Guild recalled of his visit to state environmental control offices. Letting companies shield certain records from public view is wrong when people’s health and the environment are involved, Guild said.
Port expansion permits criticized – Local / Metro – The State
DHEC keeping secrets – Local / Metro – The State
DHEC keeping secretsBy SAMMY FRETWELLand JOHN MONK – sfretwell@thestate.com. jmonk@thestate.com 25 Nov 08
Locked in a government storage room are files that tell the story of a leaking nuclear waste landfill near Barnwell.
But when environmental lawyer Bob Guild asked to see the documents one day five years ago, state regulators only gave him a thin folder.
Landfill operator Chem-Nuclear had persuaded regulators to withhold many of the files, arguing the information included trade secrets. Without the records, Guild lost a court case that could have forced tougher disposal practices at the 37-year-old landfill.
“To say contamination records are trade secrets is just an outrage,” said Guild, who has appealed the court’s decision.
Guild’s troubles highlight a recurring complaint about the state Department of Health and Environmental Control: that it doesn’t inform the public well enough and, in some cases, deliberately withholds information that’s important to the public. It’s a complaint that spans the agency’s 35-year history………………State lawmakers and Attorney General Henry McMaster are among those critical of DHEC’s public information efforts in recent years.
In 2007, McMaster scolded the agency for failing to produce records related to the nuclear waste landfill. DHEC had withheld the documents not only from Guild, but from The State newspaper as well as from legislators during a public hearing…………………..
Critics say, among other things, DHEC has:
• Failed to warn the public about pollution.Failed to reveal important pollution data on its Web site.Set fines in closed-door meetings with polluters Failed to respond to public records requests…………………….The documents showed high levels of radioactive tritium contamination at dozens of places beneath the site, indicating to Guild that the leaks were more serious than people realized. “Our case would have been strengthened if we had had the information,” he said.
Changes to method of measuring Yankee’s radiation remain a controversial issue with some lawmakers: Times Argus Online
Changes to method of measuring Yankee’s radiation remain a controversial issue with some lawmakers
By Susan Smallheer Rutland Herald – Published: November 24, 2008
BRATTLEBORO — Members of the Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel say they feel left in the dark in a controversy over how the state has changed its measure of radiation coming from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.
Rep. Sarah Edwards, P-Brattleboro, and Sen. Mark MacDonald, D-Orange, faulted David O’Brien, chairman of the panel and the commissioner of the Department of Public Service, for not discussing the radiation issue back in 2005, when the owner of Vermont Yankee first started disputing the radiation levels with state regulators. Their comments came at a Thursday night hearing last week.
MacDonald, who also sits on the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules, told the panel that committee had recently determined the Department of Health had violated state law when it changed the way it calculated the radiation coming from Vermont Yankee and didn’t hold the required public hearings about the change, or hold public hearings about Yankee’s potential violation of state law, which was first noted in 2004…………………….The Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules found that the Health Department adopted the changes without following state law on how to do it.
10 major miscues – News Extras – The State
10 major miscues
The StateNov. 16, 2008 – “………………when the Department of Health and Environmental Control missteps, South Carolinians’ lives and property can be at risk…………
NUCLEAR WASTE, SECRECY: BARNWELL
It was common knowledge that radioactive chemicals had leaked into groundwater from the 235-acre landfill where much of the nation had long sent its low-level nuclear waste. But at the request of operator Chem-Nuclear, DHEC for years kept secret details about the contamination. Only in 2007, after a legislative debate on the contamination’s severity prompted The State newspaper to challenge the secrecy, did DHEC release the information. The unsealed data showed radioactive tritium levels rivaling some at the nearby Savannah River Site, a repository not for low-level nuclear waste but deadly, high-level waste. Lawmakers voted to close the landfill to all but three states.
10 major miscues – News Extras – The State
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
10 major miscues – News Extras – The State
10 major miscues
The StateNov. 16, 2008 – “………………when the Department of Health and Environmental Control missteps, South Carolinians’ lives and property can be at risk…………
NUCLEAR WASTE, SECRECY: BARNWELL
It was common knowledge that radioactive chemicals had leaked into groundwater from the 235-acre landfill where much of the nation had long sent its low-level nuclear waste. But at the request of operator Chem-Nuclear, DHEC for years kept secret details about the contamination. Only in 2007, after a legislative debate on the contamination’s severity prompted The State newspaper to challenge the secrecy, did DHEC release the information. The unsealed data showed radioactive tritium levels rivaling some at the nearby Savannah River Site, a repository not for low-level nuclear waste but deadly, high-level waste. Lawmakers voted to close the landfill to all but three states.
MP accuses Government of nuclear cover-up – WalesOnline
MP accuses Government of nuclear cover-up
WalesOnline Oct 24 2008 by Martin Shipton, Western MailA WELSH Labour MP has accused the UK Government of covering up a deal that will land taxpayers with a multi-billion- pound liability in the event of a nuclear accident while a private consortium will reap the profits………………………………The MP said: “Here is a clear example of how the Government’s own policy that all forms of energy should be treated on an equal basis is being broken. Nuclear energy has always been very expensive, largely because of the cost of dealing with the waste. The latest estimate is that it will cost £93bn to clean up the waste from existing nuclear power stations.”The Government has decided to privatise the future management of the waste, and a consortium called Nuclear Management Partners consisting of an American company (URS Washington), a French company (Areva) and a British company (Amec) has been awarded the contract at Sellafield.
Yet it has now emerged that the liability in the event of a nuclear accident is to remain with taxpayers. ……………….Mr Flynn said ” It is completely unacceptable that a contract of this kind should be entered into by the Government without any kind of parliamentary scrutiny.”
MP accuses Government of nuclear cover-up – WalesOnline
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Public cut out of Yankee info: Rutland Herald Online
Public cut out of Yankee info
RUTLAND HERALD October 16, 2008By REP. SARAH EDWARDS In the midst of all the events occurring at Entergy Nuclear-Vermont Yankee over the past several months, you may be wondering why there have been no meetings or comments coming from the Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel (VSNAP). I can say that as an appointed legislative member of the panel, I am also concerned about this situation.One of the statutory obligations (Title 18,Ch.34, 1700) of the panel is to hold regular public meetings for the purpose of discussing issues relating to the present and future use of nuclear power, and advising the Legislature and the governor………………………………………There has been little or no communication from the department to VSNAP. The types of communiqués VSNAP has received from the department over the past several months are forwarded generic Nuclear Regulatory Commission messages such as “NRC Names New Resident Inspector at Palisades Nuclear Power Plant” and “NRC Schedules Meeting in Lynchburg To Discuss BWXT Nuclear Fuel Plant Performance.” Rarely, if ever, do we receive any update related to Vermont Yankee.
Public cut out of Yankee info: Rutland Herald Online
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Former officer hired to spy | theage.com.au
Former officer hired to spy
The Age Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie October 17, 2008 THE owners of Australia’s biggest uranium mines paid a former undercover Victoria Police officer to infiltrate environment and Aboriginal groups in Melbourne.The former police intelligence unit officer, known as Mehmet, was hired by North Ltd — before its takeover by Rio Tinto in late 2000 — and US nuclear and defence giant General Atomics to spy on Friends of the Earth, Jabiluka Action Group, Nuclear Free Australia, radio station 3CR and radical Melbourne bookstore Barricade Books.
Mehmet first infiltrated the Jabiluka Action Group and Friends of the Earth in 1998 as part of an undercover police operation. It is not known why police chose to infiltrate and monitor the groups, though both were involved in anti-uranium protests………………………………..Deputy Police Commissioner Simon Overland told The Age it was a breach of the Police Regulations Act for an officer to use a covert identity after leaving the force or to use information gathered in the course of official duties for private gain.
“It’s a criminal offence and we would take that very seriously………………………….
Friends of the Earth spokesman Cam Walker said there was no justification for police infiltration of the group in the late 1990s, especially as it was already holding regular meetings with the police intelligence unit at the time to discuss its campaigns.
Mr Walker said it was unethical for mining companies to pay the former undercover officer to continue to spy on groups opposed to uranium mining.
Former officer hired to spy | theage.com.au
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
NRC gets earful in hearing on VY problems – Boston.com
NRC gets earful in hearing on VY problems
boston.com October 14, 2008 BRATTLEBORO, Vt.—Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tried on Tuesday to reassure local residents that recent problems with the cooling towers at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant are not symptomatic of the rest of the plant…………………..
NRC officials held a press briefing followed by a public meeting Tuesday to share their findings about sagging and leaking that occurred in the cooling towers in July. The session followed last week’s release of an NRC inspection report giving Vermont Yankee a mild scolding for how it had responded to earlier problems in the towers………………….The NRC drew the same sort of skepticism from Rep. Sarah Edwards, P-Brattleboro, who attended Tuesday’s session.
“I felt it was important to show up because I don’t feel that what the public says has much impact or really has been heard,” she said. She complained that when they come to public hearings in Vermont, federal regulators often seem to be going through the motions. “It’s a box they have to check off.”
NRC gets earful in hearing on VY problems – Boston.com
Tags: nuclear
Nuclear energy has many pitfalls
Nuclear energy has many pitfalls Calgary Herald October 08, 2008 – “………………..If the costs aren’t astronomical enough to make Albertans think twice about nuclear power, perhaps the health safety concerns that preoccupy Dr. Helen Caldicott might prove a major source of consternation.The Nobel Prize nominee was in Calgary this week to raise awareness about the medical issues around nuclear, specifically the untold genetic damage that can take generations to unfold. Unfortunately, the renowned physician was refused a meeting with the government-appointed expert panel preparing an “unbiased” examination for the province,…………
It’s important people such as Caldicott are heard. If the Alberta government is to develop a safe and responsible policy for nuclear energy, all sides of this contentious issue must be fully debated.
Let’s start with the costs. Nuclear is the only energy technology that has the double whammy of high up-front and back-end capital costs. That price tag is a big unknown as industry and governments struggle to figure out how to decommission a plant, and deal with its highly radioactive waste over the very long term.
Nuclear energy has many pitfalls
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
Protester Gets Jail Time for Non-violent Protest of Nuclear Plant in Virginia « It’s Getting Hot In Here
Protester Gets Jail Time for Non-violent Protest of Nuclear Plant in Virginia”
It’s getting hot in here 29 Sept 08 Three of the six protesters arrested at the Dominion Resources North Anna Nuclear Power Plant were found guilty of trespassing today in the Louisa County Courthouse. The charges stem from conducting an alternative tour and sit-in at the Dominion Power Nuclear Information Center on August 7th.The judge rejected their defense of necessity and sentenced Paxus Calta to 30 day in jail with 15 suspended……………………..Sue Frankel-Streit and Spot Etal were fined $1,000 with $700 suspended. All three are banned form entering Dominion property for a period of two years. About 20 supporters gathered in front of the courthouse with signs displaying their anti-nuclear message.
“What is a greater harm here? That Dominions nuclear information center was inconvenienced and had to close 30 minutes late or that an untested new nuclear reactor will overheat Lake Anna when it is already getting to over 100 degrees most summers?” asks Paxus Calta, one of those arrested and a member of the People’s Alliance for Clean Energy (PACE) a group of concerned Louisa and Albemarle County residents who want real renewables and efficiency solutions instead of the proposed new reactor.
“Dominion wants to build a dangerous new reactor when it has no place to put the waste for the current two. These plants are already a toxic nightmare and we don’t need anymore in this area,” Says defendant Sue Frankel-Streit. “Dominion and the State are failing to address the problems of climate change and of nuclear toxins. We need a different way to make decisions about energy, because the solutions being proposed are failing to serve the people.”Three other protestors from this action pled guilty last month and were fined $1,250,
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
Uranium forum: a black hole – Telluride, CO – The Daily Planet
Uranium forum: a black hole
Tellirude Daily Planet by Ben Williams 08 For anyone unfamiliar with the regulation of uranium in the State of Colorado, the Uranium Regulation Forum in Montrose Sept. 24 was a real eye-opener. Indeed, it was like staring into a black hole……..The meeting was called to update county government on the application of radioactive materials licenses………the tone and tenor of this introduction seemed to anticipate some grave civil uproar. Sitting in the audience, one felt like a naughty child waiting for some punishment the grownups were busy deliberating. The watchful eye of a Law Enforcement Officer from the rear of the room surveyed those in attendance, just in case, one supposes……………..“All of the mills we’ve looked at,” Steve Tarlton, the unit leader, reassured us, nodding like a salesman, “all of the problems we’ve looked at, we’ve learned from.”That’s good news, one expects: Except “all the mills we’ve looked at” actually means one. There have only been two mills operative in the entire United States in the last 25 years. Both are now in decay, experiencing massive environmental problems. One is in Blanding, Utah. And the other one is the Cotter Mill near Canon City. This obsolete structure, with outdated technology, has apparently taught them a lot. A sort of negative definition. ……Nowhere in this head-nodding, effusive reassurance of our newfound mastery over the “historical problems” that have plagued this industry for years was anything concrete presented, scientific, or specific. The slides used in the presentation were hilarious. You couldn’t find more circular reasoning in a toothpaste commercial. It amounted to a dizzying array of… nothing.
Uranium forum: a black hole – Telluride, CO – The Daily Planet
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
Nuclear Fire Hazard Kept Secret For Fear Of Aiding Terrorists (from Sunday Herald)
Nuclear fire hazard kept secret for fear of aiding terrorists
Hunterston operator promises plant improvements Sunday Herald 21 Sept 08 By Rob Edwards, Environment EditorDETAILS OF a serious fire hazard at the Hunterston nuclear power station in North Ayrshire have been kept secret because they could aid a terrorist attack.
The government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has refused to release information about a “specific fire scenario” at the reactors because to do so could “threaten national security”.
The revelation has prompted calls from environmentalists for the plant to be shut down as soon as possible…………………………….
Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, accepted that if there was a real opportunity for terrorists, it was right to withhold information about it. “But the public would also be right to worry about why a facility with such a risk is allowed to continue operating,” he said.
“Given its poor reliability record in recent years, Hunterston is clearly approaching the end of its useful life, and this problem should be another nail in its coffin. There should be no question of considering extending its operating life beyond 2011. If anything, it should be closed sooner.”
Friends of the Earth Scotland backed the Scottish government’s decision to phase out nuclear power in favour of renewable energy.
“The likelihood of a terrorist incident at a UK nuclear facility is thankfully low, but the consequences are unthinkable,” warned McLaren.
Nuclear Fire Hazard Kept Secret For Fear Of Aiding Terrorists (from Sunday Herald)
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE – Pros & Cons
A deadly pact with the devil
NIGERIAN Tribune 10-09-2008 Has Nigeria signed a pact with the devil? With the signing of an agreement with Iran to help resuscitate the nation’s ailing energy sector, that is exactly what seems to have been done. August 29, 2008, some foreign media (particularly The Florida Times Union newspaper) published that Nigeria and Iran signed an agreement the previous day, for “Iran to share peaceful nuclear technology with Nigeria to help Africa’s biggest oil producer to bolster its woeful energy generation capacity.”…………………………Was this information deliberately kept out of the Nigerian press or could it have been an oversight? No matter what one might think, what qualifies Iran to sell nuclear energy technology to Nigeria? Is it because it is defying the rest of the world to continue its revolutionary, pet nuclear project?……………………..Much as Nigeria may be desperate to improve electricity supply, nuclear energy should probably be the farthest alternative from our minds given the level of our development and the mostly lackadaisical attitude towards maintenance and control of public infrastructure.
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE – Pros & Cons
Tags: nuclear antinuclear, radioactive, uranium
German Government Aware of Nuclear Problems: Report | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 08.09.2008
German Government Aware of Nuclear Problems: Report
A report published in Germany’s Focus magazine alleges that authorities in the state of Lower Saxony were aware of safety issues at the Asse II atomic storage facility 15 years ago.
The Focus report says the state government, led by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) at the time, commissioned a technical report on potential hazards at the converted salt mine in 1991.
After two years of evaluation, experts warned that areas near the south-western edge of Asse were unsafe. Their 1993 report found that up to 4,000 litres of water were flooding into the mine’s shafts each day. It recommended that all shafts and caverns less than 750 metres below the earth’s surface should be stabilised to prevent possible collapse.
Focus reports that although SPD leaders in Lower Saxony received an updated report highlighting safety concerns in 1998, they chose to keep the warnings under wraps.
The extent of the safety problems at Asse were made public last week, prompting Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel to transfer responsibility of the facility from the Munich-based Helmholtz Institute for Scientific Research to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection.
Nuclear power is often touted as being clean and carbon-friendly, but opponents point out that no one has yet found a durable solution for storing nuclear waste, which remains highly radioactive for centuries………………………..Der Spiegel reports that a search for alternatives elsewhere, which Gabriel and the Social Democrats prefer, would cost at least one billion euros. If plans for the waste storage facility at Gorleben are given up completely, energy companies could make compensation demands worth billions of euros.
German Government Aware of Nuclear Problems: Report | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 08.09.2008
Tags: nuclear.antinuclear, radiation, uranium
1 This Month
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
-
Archives
- September 2026 (330)
- August 2026 (330)
- July 2026 (355)
- June 2026 (287)
- May 2026 (306)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (267)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (375)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
