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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

A brief history of USA’s nuclear waste (mis)management

In 2010, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a “waste confidence decision” that asserted that used fuel rods could be stored at the power plants for 60 years after they close down.  NRC also asserted that a permanent repository would be ready to handle such wastes “when necessary.”

NUCLEAR WASTE Manila Bulletin By ATTY. ROMEO V. PEFIANCO July 11, 2012,  “…Storing used fuel rods from nuclear power reactors is one problem that remains unsolved by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  Nuclear waste in the US comes from: 1) nuclear weapons production facilities, 2) nuclear power plants, 3) medical equipment previously used in radiation treatments, 4) industrial sources of radioactivity used as a more powerful alternative to X-rays, and 5) residues from uranium mining. Continue reading →

July 12, 2012 Posted by | history, Reference, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Britain looks at dubious technical “fixes” for its radioactive pile at Sellafield

It is the task of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to clean all this up. The plans are to pay the French company Areva, who have proved their technology works, to build a new mixed oxide fuel (MOX) plant.
The other option is to let the US-Japanese GE-Hitachi build a new fast PRISM reactor on the site to burn the plutonium and produce electricity. This is a more elegant engineering option but the reactor is totally unproven and is decades away from completion.

Sellafield: The dangers of Britain’s nuclear dustbin RT, 10 July, 2012“…….Cold war legacy   Behind the razor wire, security guards and public relations campaigns,
Sellafield is home to some of the most radioactive buildings in Europe.
The UK has the largest stockpile of Plutonium anywhere in the world and it’s all stored at Sellafield. Plutonium is used for the manufacture of nuclear weapons and is extremely radioactive with a half-life of 25,000 years. Continue reading →

July 11, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, Reference, technology, UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Btitain’s dilemma of its massive stockpile of plutonium at Sellafield

Sellafield is where all storage of radioactive materials and nuclear reprocessing in the UK takes place. It was once at the heart of plutonium manufacturing for the British atomic weapons program. Despite the controversy that surrounds the plant, there are plans to build new reactors at Sellafield. The government has approved initial plans to build a fast PRISM reactor on the site. Most locals are against it. They want the UK government to commission a safety study into Sellafield’s effects on the health of the local population.

A study in the 1980’s found that over ten times the national average of childhood Leukaemia’s occurred near Sellafield. Thirty families tried to take the company who then ran the site to court and lost. “There has never been a proper investigation into the environmental impact of the plant and there should be.”

Sellafield: The dangers of Britain’s nuclear dustbin RT, 10 July, 2012 Britain’s nuclear industry is again the center of controversy. The UK has the biggest stockpile of Plutonium in the world, but there are no definite plans for how to get rid of it – and the delays are costing the UK taxpayer billions.
A record number of radioactive particles have been found on beaches near the Sellafield nuclear plant, in North West England. The authorities who run it admit it’s the most radioactive place in Western Europe but insist it’s safe. Continue reading →

July 11, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, UK | Leave a comment

Tri-Valley Care fights the good fight to save Livermore valley from plutonium wastes

Tri-Valley CAREs has had many successes throughout the years…. the first group in the western US to receive an EPA grant to monitor the Superfund cleanup at Lawrence Livermore National Lab and the first community-based group in the country to win a recognition award from EPA for its effectiveness

For decades, a toxic groundwater plume has flowed westward from Lawrence Livermore National Lab in the Livermore community aquifer towards Dublin. 


Living with the Legacy of the Nuclear Stockpile Next Door in Livermore, CA http://www.arounddublinblog.com/2012/07/livermore-ca-nuclear-stockpile-next-door/ by Around Dublin Team Tri-Valley CAREs  was founded in 1983 in Livermore, CA by concerned neighbors living around Lawrence Livermore National Lab , one of two locations where all US nuclear weapons are designed. This grassroots organization works to strengthen global security by stopping the development of new nuclear weapons in the US and by promoting the elimination of nuclear weapons globally.

It monitors nuclear weapons and environmental clean-up activities throughout the US nuclear
weapons complex, with a special focus on Lawrence Livermore National Lab and the surrounding Tri-Valley communities. Continue reading →

July 7, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, opposition to nuclear, Reference, USA | 1 Comment

Nuclear company finds it unaffordable to decommission reactor

Company dismantling Zion nuclear plant under financial stress
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-07-01/business/chi-company-dismantling-zion-nuclear-plant-under-financial-stress-20120630_1_nuclear-plant-nuclear-fuel-chief-financial-officer July 01, 2012|By Julie Wernau |EnergySolutions, the company dismantling Exelon’s Zion nuclear plant, is struggling financially just as it nears the riskiest phase of the project — moving the nuclear fuel into storage casks.

Last month, the company suddenly replaced its chief executive and chief financial officer for the second time in two years, causing its stock to plunge 55 percent and its credit ratings to fall two notches amid a weak earnings forecast. In March, EnergySolutions revealed that
it underestimated by about $100 million the cost to dismantle Zion piece by piece, and ship the material to Utah for disposal The financial problems call the future of the company and the project into question. Though David Lockwood, the new president and chief executive of EnergySolutions said the company intentionally underbid the work to gain publicity that would help it snag similar work around the world.

“We undertook Zion for strategic, not financial reasons,” Lockwood said.

July 2, 2012 Posted by | decommission reactor, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

Malaysian govt insists that Lynas might have to take its radioactive wastes back to Australia

The  Temporary Operating License  will only be issued after Lynas  fulfils two new conditions imposed 

AELB: Lynas committed to returning radioactive waste to AustraliaThe Malaysian Insider By Lisa J. Ariffin June 28, DENGKIL, June 28 — Lynas is committed to return all potentially harmful waste from its rare earths plant here to Australia despite its government’s firm refusal to take it in, Malaysia’s radiation regulator said today.

The Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB)  told reporters today the Australian miner would have to send home all residue that could not be turned into commercial products or if a location for a permanent disposal facility (PDF) here could not be determined or approved.

“Lynas will have 10 months to come up with a permanent disposal facility plan for its radioactive residue upon receiving its temporary operating license (TOL),”  said Dr Noor Hasnah Mohamed Khairullah who is special adviser to the AELB director-general.

“If they fail to find a location for the PDF, or if the plan is not approved, then Lynas has to return the residues back to Australia.  Continue reading →

June 29, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, Malaysia, politics international, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

More costs, more delays for cleanup of USA’s most radioactive nuclear waste site

Today, it is the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, with cleanup expected to last decades.

In March, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board ruled that the agency lacks necessary information to resolve some problems and establish a complete safety plan.

Hanford waste plant sees new costs, delays USA Today, By Shannon Dininny, 26 June 12, KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — A new cost estimate and construction schedule for a massive waste plant being built at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site will be delayed at least a year as workers try to resolve serious technical problems raised by whistleblowers about design and safety, the U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday.

The $12.3 billion plant at south-central Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation is being built to convert highly radioactive waste into a stable glass form for permanent disposal underground.
The plant is currently scheduled to begin operating in 2019, but several workers have raised concerns about safety, particularly about erosion and corrosion in tanks and piping inside the plant.
The issues are significant because the problem areas are inside so-called black cells, which will be closed off and inaccessible due to high radioactivity after the plant begins operating. Continue reading →

June 27, 2012 Posted by | Reference, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Liu Li-erh calls for a nuclear free Taiwan

we have about 8,000 spent fuel rods stored in the cooling pool at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant [in Wanli District (萬里), New Taipei City] and a total of about 16,000 throughout the country

in February France’s Le Monde newspaper warned about the risk from poor management of spent fuel rods at the Guosheng plant.

Many Japanese companies and government offices have saved up to 50 percent on their electricity consumption since the disaster, “so Taiwan can surely do the same to end our reliance on nuclear power

Now is time to go nuclear-free: author, Taipei Times By Lee I-chia  24 June 12, Tokyo-based Taiwanese writer Liu Li-erh (劉黎兒) yesterday in Taipei shared her latest fact-finding from Japan to say that now is the best time to put a halt to nuclear power in Taiwan… Continue reading →

June 25, 2012 Posted by | Taiwan, wastes | Leave a comment

Nuclear reprocessing is not the answer to Japan’s mounting radioactive wastes

The amount of spent fuel stored at power stations has continued to surge, standing at around 14,200 tons across 17 facilities as of last September, including the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.’s storage facilities are already almost full and contained a total of 2,800 tons as of February, while several power stations are expected to reach maximum capacity over the next three years if their currently idled reactors are restarted, industry
sources said.

Policy of recycling all spent nuclear fuel may be axed, Japan Times, 22 June 12,  Kyodo, Jiji The Japan Atomic Energy Commission has proposed both reprocessing and directly disposing of spent nuclear fuel if Japan’s atomic energy reliance is cut to 15 percent, a departure from the current policy of total reprocessing…

.. The changed tack comes as massive amounts of spent fuel are accumulating at nuclear plants nationwide and as decades-long efforts to activate reprocessing facilities remain mired
in technical difficulties, sources said. Continue reading →

June 23, 2012 Posted by | Japan, Reference, reprocessing, wastes | Leave a comment

Concern about “complex” nuclear waste at a former western Pennsylvania nuclear waste dump

Security upped at former Pa. nuclear waste dump, TimesOnline,  Jun 17, 2012. Guards from the federal Department of Homeland Security are patrolling a former western Pennsylvania nuclear waste dump as officials rethink their cleanup plans after finding what they called more “complex” nuclear material than expected.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ( http://bit.ly/LwlpaH) says neither the Army Corps of Engineers, which is managing the cleanup, nor the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would say exactly what material was found at the Armstrong County site….

The dump along Route 66 was used to store nuclear and chemical waste from the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. in Apollo and Parks townships from about
1960 to the early 1970s. http://www.timesonline.com/news/state/security-upped-at-former-pa-nuclear-waste-dump/article_1e038332-6fd1-5569-aad2-2c9f4d5d1e8e.html

June 18, 2012 Posted by | safety, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Old Hanford nuclear reactor closed – no plan for permanent disposal

Hanford workers mothball 6th nuclear reactor, Workers at south-central Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation have finished the process of closing and “cocooning” the longest-running of nine nuclear reactors built there for the U.S. atomic weapons program. Seattle News, By SHANNON DININNY Associated Press YAKIMA, Wash. 14 June 12,  —
Workers at south-central Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation have finished the process of closing and “cocooning” the longest-running of nine nuclear reactors built there for the U.S. atomic weapons program. Continue reading →

June 15, 2012 Posted by | decommission reactor, USA | Leave a comment

The deep underground disposal of nuclear wastes

“Nuclear waste disposal in geological formations appropriately selected and designed is the least bad concept,” said Arjun Makhijani, a nuclear waste expert and head of the U.S.-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.
“Other solutions are so much worse that they have, rightly in my opinion, been ruled out,” he said.

Europe makes big bets on nuclear waste burial By Terhi Kinnunen  and Muriel Boselli EURAJOKI, Finland/BURE, France   Jun 13, 2012   (Reuters) – On a small Finnish island and deep in remote rural France, far from the debates and doubts that followed Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, the ground work is underway for a commitment to atomic power for the long term – the very long term. Continue reading →

June 14, 2012 Posted by | EUROPE, wastes | Leave a comment

Allison MacFarlane suggest New Mexico as USA’s nuke dump site

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nominee Talks New Mexico and Nuke Waste http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/06/13/politics/nuclear-regulatory-commission-nominee-talks-new-mexico-and-nuke-waste.html By , ABQ Journal,  Jun 13, 2012  President Obama’s nominee to chair the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Congress Wednesday that the U.S. can learn all it needs to know about disposing of nuclear waste by looking at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad.

Allison MacFarlane, President Obama’s nominee to head up the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, made the comment at her confirmation hearing Wednesday, according to an article posted on the the Washington Post website today. I don’t think we even need to look to other countries for lessons [on how to handle nuclear waste],” MacFarlane said. “We’re the only country with a deep geological repository already up and running — and it’s in New Mexico.”

The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future made a similar observation in January, when it released a comprehensive report on the thorny issue of nuke waste storage. I wrote about that report here.

Some in Carlsbad would like to see a move to store high-level waste in the area, citing high-paying tech jobs and science they think is now safe and sound. Anti-nuke foes in the state strongly oppose such a move. For now, with Nevada’s Yucca Mountain on ice, many pro-nuclear power advocates are taking an especially keen interest in New Mexico.

June 14, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

New Mexico as site for USA’s national nuclear waste dump?

Study: NM Could Lead in Nuclear Waste Solution, ABQ Journal, By    Jan 27, 2012 WASHINGTON – America has a serious nuclear waste problem that can be fixed only with dramatic changes to national policy, and New Mexico could help lead by example, according to a major federal study released Thursday.

The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future – a panel of policy experts commissioned by Energy Secretary Steven Chu that included former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. – issued its 180-page report Thursday after nearly two years of study. The report cites the Waste Isolation Pilot Project, which stores nuclear waste near Carlsbad, as a premier example of how to site a nuclear waste disposal.  Continue reading →

June 14, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

New book on the plutonium scandal at Rocky Flats

Under The ‘Nuclear Shadow’ Of Colorado’s Rocky Flats  88.7 kuhf.fm June 12, 2012 Kristen Iversen spent her childhood in the 1960s in Colorado near the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons factory, playing in fields that now appear to have been contaminated with plutonium.

In Full Body Burden, she investigates the environmental scandal involving nuclear contamination around her childhood home. Continue reading →

June 13, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, resources - print | Leave a comment

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