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Australian Senator puts searchlight onto government’s messed up nuclear waste dump plan

21 November 2012. A new earthquake hazards map produced by Geoscience Australia reveals Tennant Creek – near the proposed site for a nuclear waste dump – is an area of high earthquake risk. Report: http://www.ga.gov.au/earthquakes/

Following revelations that an alternative site for the waste dump was under active consideration, Australian Greens spokesperson for nuclear policy Senator Scott Ludlam noted the Federal Government appeared increasingly desperate on the issue.

“The Government is now scrambling to solve a mess of its own creation, repeating the same errors as before.  Parking Australia’s radioactive waste on Muckaty station, far from centres of technical expertise and against the wishes of local people, that’s bad enough.  Doing it in an earthquake zone compounds the offence.

“What we need is an independent commission with the technical expertise to find a world’s best standard solution for Australia’s inventory of radioactive waste.  What we’re getting is a shed with two security guards, stuck on a site chosen by politicians – which happens to be in an earthquake zone.”

Senator Ludlam today put extensive questions through the Senate to Minister Martin Ferguson on what consultation is underway for selecting an alternative site:  http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/questions-notice/questions-relating-site-selection-nuclear-waste

Senator Ludlam’s speech yesterday asking why questions asked one month earlier had not been answered:  http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/unanswered-questions-notice-regarding-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump And answers received today:  http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/sites/default/files/sqon2389_answer.pdf

November 21, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, wastes | Leave a comment

The costly problem Europe now faces – burying dead nuclear reactors

Only a handful of reactors worldwide have been fully dismantled, meaning the process is largely uncharted territory. Tearing apart reactor cores, for instance, creates unknown challenges and potential risks given the level of radiation inside them.

Aging Nuke Plants Add to Europe’s Economic Woes , Washingtpn Examiner, By GARY PEACH Associated Press VISAGINAS, Lithuania November 17, 2012 (AP) The parking lot outside the atomic power plant is weedy and potholed. Bus stops that once teemed with hundreds of workers are eerily empty.

Yet the stillness at Ignalina, a Lithuanian nuclear plant built in the 1980s Soviet era, belies an unsettling fact: There is still nuclear fuel inside one of its two reactors, three years after it was shut due to safety concerns.

A temporary storage facility for spent fuel and radioactive waste is four years behind schedule, creating a money drain at a time when the 27-nation European Union grapples with a crippling economic crisis. States don’t need EU permission to build nuclear plants, but they need to abide by its safety rules and the problems at Ignalina have provoked threats from the EU to cut the funding promised for dismantling it. That raises concerns that the facility will be around for years, possibly decades, longer than planned.

Ignalina is turning out to be a hard lesson for Europe: It’s one thing to kill a nuclear power station; getting rid of the remains is another headache entirely. Continue reading →

November 19, 2012 Posted by | decommission reactor, Reference | Leave a comment

No real planning for burying Europe’s aging nuclear reactors

Aging Nuke Plants Add to Europe’s Economic Woes, By GARY PEACH Washington Examiner, Associated Press VISAGINAS, Lithuania November 17, 2012“…….Other EU countries will have to foot the bill for closing their own plants, adding to taxpayers’ woes. In Germany, it will be in addition to energy price increases as the government scrambles to finance an ambitious switch from nuclear to renewables, which should account for 60 percent of total energy consumption by 2030.

Just last month Germany’s main utilities announced that households could see their
electricity bill jump up to 50 percent in order to finance this transition from nuclear power.

Experts say that disassembling atomic plants promises to be far costlier than previously estimated, given the lack of experience worldwide and nuclear operators’ propensity to underestimate decommissioning costs to make new projects look more attractive.

Thomas of Greenwich University said in Britain nuclear operators were supposed to pay for the decommissioning, but over the decades the cost was passed to the government, which will have to come up with €120 billion ($153 billion) over the next century to dismantle the
country’s existing nuclear power plants.

Just abandoning the facilities with radioactivity trapped inside is not an option. But given the enormous expenditures, some governments are opting to drag out the decommissioning over many decades…… http://washingtonexaminer.com/aging-nuke-plants-add-to-europes-economic-woes/article/2513836

November 19, 2012 Posted by | decommission reactor, EUROPE, Reference | Leave a comment

Spiralling costs of UK’s nuclear wastes

Recommend that you go to this link, as the page has many very informative graphics.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/16/nuclear-waste-sellafield How much do we spend on nuclear waste? Duncan Clark guardian.co.uk,  16 November 2012 Last week, a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO)highlighted the spiralling costs of running Sellafield, the UK’s huge nuclear
reprocessing and storage site. Duncan Clark reviews the data Continue reading →

November 17, 2012 Posted by | Reference, UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Wake up America, to Great Lakes nuclear waste threat – says Sarnia Mayor

“I do not believe on the American side that there’s very much knowledge what’s going on, on this side of the border.”

Let U.S. comment on Canada’s nuclear waste plans, says Sarnia mayor The Star.com, November 15, 2012 John Spears Business Reporter The Canadian mayor who helped stall transport of radioactive equipment on the Great Lakes is pushing for an “international debate” on Canada’s plan for storing nuclear waste.

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley has asked fellow mayors on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border to take a “strong position” on Canadian proposals for nuclear waste.

He has written to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative to get the ball rolling. Continue reading →

November 16, 2012 Posted by | Canada, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Sellafield nuclear waste site owners charged with illegal dumping

British government files charges against nuclear waste plant owners PlanetArk 16-Nov-12  UK   John McGarrity British regulators filed charges against the owners of the Sellafield nuclear waste site on Thursday on allegations of illegal dumping of radioactive waste, adding to the plant’s history of controversy and complaints.

The nine charges relate to the dumping of low-level waste in a landfill in 2010, the latest in a string of issues involving Sellafield, which for the last 60 years has handled Britain’s spent
nuclear fuel.

“The regulators’ joint action follows an extensive investigation,” Britain’s Environment Agency and the Office for Nuclear Safety said in a statement.

The regulators alleged that Sellafield Ltd, which runs the plant, had breached permits by dumping four bags of nuclear waste material at the nearby Lillyhall landfill without authorisation.

The penalties for such a breach are expected to be relatively small, but the prosecution comes at an inopportune time for Sellafield following a highly critical report earlier this month, said Paul Dorfman, a nuclear waste expert at Warwick University. “It’s another suggestion of laissez faire management,” he said.,,,, http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/67145

November 16, 2012 Posted by | Legal, UK, wastes | Leave a comment

UK’s nuclear decommissioning problems

What’s the future of nuclear decommissioning? Building.co.uk, 16 November 2012 | By Will Hurst Last week’s devastating National Audit Office report on decommissioning facilities at Sellafield has led many to question whether the UK has the skills needed to deal with nuclear waste. But does the problem really lie with a Nuclear Decommissioning Authority overly occupied with cutting costs? Will Hurst investigates. Continue reading →

November 16, 2012 Posted by | decommission reactor, UK | Leave a comment

USA Congress paralysed on the question of nuclear wastes

 Will a Lame Duck Congress Confront Nuclear Waste? NYT, By MATTHEW L. WALD , 12 Nov 12, When Congress returns to Washington on Tuesday, it has a very long “to do” list. One item, probably not near the top, is figuring out what to do with nuclear waste, given that President Obama killed a proposed repository in Nevada in March 2010. This summer, a blue-ribbon commission advised that the process of seeking a storage site be restarted.

There has been little action so far, but Congress may soon get a push from the courts: a federal appeals panel indicated in August that it might order the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart a licensing hearing to rule on whether the Nevada site, Yucca Mountain is suitable, even though President Obama has declared the site “off the table.” The court gave the executive and legislative branches a few months to provide funding for the licensing hearing as part of the budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Still, Congress has not acted yet, and it is far from clear that it will. (There is no final budget either, speaking of “to do” items.) Continue reading →

November 15, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Nevada staunchly opposing Yucca nuclear waste dump plan

Nevada Opposition to Yucca Mountain Strong as Ever http://www.ktvn.com/story/20074747/nevada-opposition-to-yucca-mountain-strong-as-ever  Nov 12, 2012  A state official says last week’s elections did nothing to change Nevada’s staunch opposition to southern Nevada becoming home of a high-level nuclear waste dump for the nation.

Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects Executive Director Bob Halstead says President Barack Obama’s re-election and Democratic gains that strengthened Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s position have eased fears the Yucca Mountain project could be resurrected.

He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/TAnWD0  ) there were no changes in the state’s congressional delegation or in the Legislature that sent a message that the state’s opposition is weakening.

The Obama administration and Reid were instrumental in shutting down the Nevada nuclear waste repository site beginning in 2009.

Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com

November 15, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Nuclear wastes from USS Enterprise headed for Idaho

Spent nuclear fuel from USS Enterprise is Idaho-bound The Spokesman Review, by Betsy Nov. 12, 2012  Spent nuclear fuel from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise will be sent to eastern Idaho for study and storage, the Idaho Falls Post Register reports. The Enterprise, the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is being decommissioned after participating in every major conflict with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Its spent nuclear fuel is expected to arrive in Idaho in 2015…….

 Dougan said the spent nuclear fuel once in Idaho will be examined to help with future reactor design research before being placed in storage.

“(The) fuel is transported via rail in specially designed railcars that meet the Department of Transportation shipping requirements for spent nuclear fuel,” he said. “The Navy has been managing spent fuel in Idaho since the late 1950s.”

The Navy will officially deactivate the Enterprise on Dec. 1, but it will take several more years for it to be decommissioned as its reactors are taken out.

After spent fuel is removed at Norfolk, the Navy plans to tow the Enterprise to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton in Washington state. The nuclear reactors will be cut out of the ship and barged to the Hanford nuclear reservation.

The reactors will be buried in a trench the Navy has been using since 1986 to bury radioactive reactors from other nuclear-powered vessels, mostly submarines.

Reactor disposal will take six to eight years. The rest of the Enterprise will be scrapped at Bremerton.  http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/2012/nov/12/spent-nuclear-fuel-uss-enterprise-idaho-bound/

November 15, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Nuclear waste dump near Great Lakes – a threat to 40 million people’s drinking water

“If this has to exist, it would make more sense away from the Great Lakes” where 40 million people get their drinking water”

Flood of concern over nuclear dump 3, By Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer, November 14, 2012 Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley is asking his fellow Great Lakes mayors to join him in raising concerns about plans to bury nuclear waste near Lake Huron. Continue reading →

November 15, 2012 Posted by | Canada, opposition to nuclear, wastes | Leave a comment

Concerns over transport of nuclear wastes through Northern Ontario

the project hasn’t been discussed enough in communities that might be close to the transportation corridors used to move the waste.

Nuclear waste disposal up for debate in northern Ontario MP hosting meetings across region to shed more light on plans to store nuclear waste in north CBC News   Nov 12, 2012   A northern Ontario MP is holding a series of town hall meetings about the possible transportation and disposal of nuclear waste in northern
Ontario to make sure everybody knows what the project entails. Continue reading →

November 15, 2012 Posted by | Canada, wastes | Leave a comment

Danger of Kyrgyzstan’s uranium-polluted rivers extends way beyond national borders

the more we delay the process of lands reclamation and conservation, the more risk of trans-border catastrophe we have

 the country has 92 tailing dumps with the total volume of 254.4 million cubic meters (457 billion tons) of mining wastes.

Kyrgyzstan’s uranium-polluted rivers threaten Central Asia
http://en.tengrinews.kz/disasters/Kyrgyzstans-uranium-polluted-rivers-threaten-Central-Asia-14023/ , 30.10.2012, Pollution of Kyrgyzstan’s water resources with the wastes of uranium tailing dumps poses a threat to the whole Central Asian region, KazTAG reports.

“Regional risks of degradation and destruction of the uranium tailing dumps are related to a whole range of factors, especially since many of the dumps are located very close to water resources. Since they are located at the river heads (of the rivers that start in Kyrgyzstan),
the potential catastrophe may cause major mass and ecological disasters and have a long-term effect on health of millions of people in the lower reaches of the rivers,” first Vice-PM of Kyrgyzstan Dzhoomart Otorbayev said at the international conference called
Uranium tailing dumps in Central Asia: Join Efforts on Lowering Risks on Wednesday, October 24. Continue reading →

November 12, 2012 Posted by | Kyrgyzstan, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

$125 billion and decades to clean up Fukushima – says TEPCO

The clean-up is expected to take decades, with scientists warning that some settlements may have to be abandoned.

The company said it would need more government help to meet the colossal figure

Fukushima operator warns clean-up ‘may cost $125 bn’ By Kyoko Hasegawa (AFP)  7 Nov 12 TOKYO — The cost of the clean-up and compensation after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster may double to $125 billion, the plant’s operator warned Wednesday. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said decontamination of irradiated areas and compensating those whose jobs or home lives have been affected would cost much more than the five trillion yen it estimated in April. Continue reading →

November 9, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, Japan, wastes | Leave a comment

Germany’s lengthy process of dismantling nuclear power plants

Fears of low nuclear radiation run high, DW, 08.11.2012 Wolfgang Dick Decommissioned German nuclear power plants will be dismantled over the long term. Though no incidents have occurred in Germany, some citizen initiatives say legal safety measures are too lax.

Vattenfall, the company that runs the Brunsbüttel nuclear plant, recently applied to the Environment Ministry in the state of Schleswig Holstein for a permit to tear down the facility. The whole unit is supposed to be completely dismantled, rather than sealed over with a
concrete sarcophagus in the style of the Chernobyl reactor.

Since the German government decided to phase out nuclear power last year, the country has been gathering some experience dismantling nuclear power plants: Continue reading →

November 9, 2012 Posted by | decommission reactor, Germany | Leave a comment

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