wastes « nuclear-news

Despite setback, Nevada will fight against Yucca Mt nuclear waste dump

“While the NRC may not have ruled in Nevada’s favor on this latest challenge, the Yucca Mountain Project is already in mothballs and by the time we’re done, this boondoggle will be a pile of bleached bones in the Nevada desert,”

Nev. Gov.-elect Sandoval vows fight on Yucca Mt. Las Vegas Sun, The Associated Press, Dec. 15, 2010 .Despite a setback from a U.S. licensing panel, opponents of a national nuclear waste repository in Nevada say they will press the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to examine new science about potential dangers stemming from erosion at the site. Continue reading →

December 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Costly new attempt to make Chernobyl nuclear reactor safer

New shelter over Chernobyl nuclear reactor to be built in 2015, ITAR-TASS, KIEV, December 13 — A new shelter over the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant will be commissioned in 2015, Ukrainian Minister of Emergency Situations Viktor Baloga said during a visit to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant with Administrator of the U.N. Development Programme Helen Clark on Sunday……Under the project a new arch-shaped shelter 108 meters high and 150 meters long will be built over the current sarcophagus. The facility will be equipped with modern radiation security control systems. The new Chernobyl shelter will have 100 years of service life… ITAR-TASS

December 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Cleanup of nuclear plant will be delayed, and full cost unknown

according to its decommissioning plan, the company said it would wait as many as 60 years to dismantle the plant ……Exelon has collected more than $651 million to pay for the cleanup of radioactive material. This does not include the cost to dismantle the plant’s hulking superstructure surrounding the reactor…….

Oyster Creek nuclear cleanup plan could take 60 years – pressofAtlanticCity.com, By MICHAEL MILLER, 9 Dec 10, LACEY TOWNSHIP – The Oyster Creek nuclear plant will be around long after it closes in 2019, judging by papers its owner filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Continue reading →

December 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor, USA | Leave a comment

Texas opposition to allowing nuclear waste from other States

Commenters on proposed nuke rules mostly opposed, Houston Chronicle, By BETSY BLANEY Associated Press 9 Dec 2010, A commission overseeing the burial of low-level radioactive waste in Texas heard mostly opposition at a public hearing on proposed rules to allow nuclear waste from 36 other states to be buried near the New Mexico border…….Commenters on proposed nuke rules mostly opposed | AP Texas News | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle

December 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Faced with mass protests, Germany stops transport of nuclear waste to Russia

German environmentalists said they would stage protests against the shipment, which they branded “highly dangerous”.

Demonstrators in Moscow rallied against the plans in August, citing the threat of “terrorist acts” and risk of forest fires leading to radioactive contamination.

Germany calls off disputed nuclear shipment to Russia, Google hosted news, (AFP) – 7 Dec 10, BERLIN — Germany on Monday called off hotly-disputed plans to ship radioactive nuclear waste to Russia as it doubted the cargo would be safely disposed of, a spokeswoman for the environment ministry said. Continue reading →

December 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, wastes | Leave a comment

Scottish govt ponders export of nuclear waste

Dounreay Radioactive Waste Substitution Consultation 2010, The Scottish Government, 7 Dec 10, “……….Dounreay’s Historic Contracts & the Current Situation
2.1.6 The contracts entered into by UKAEA contained clauses allowing for the radioactive waste allocated to overseas customers under the reprocessing contracts to be returned to the country of origin:- the “Return of Waste Clauses”. It is Government policy that these clauses be enacted and the radioactive waste sent back to the countries of origin. However to enact these clauses, the NDA is contractually obliged to return the radioactive waste in a form which can be safely transported and stored in accordance with such regulations as may be specified by the relevant competent national authorities.
2.1.7 The countries with radioactive waste at Dounreay which is due to be returned to them are Australia, Belgium, Germany and Italy…….. Dounreay Radioactive Waste Substitution Consultation 2010

December 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Complicated nuclear waste problems between USA States

The prospect of losing space to waste from generators in other states worries the incoming governor of Vermont, Peter Shumlin, who has vowed to shut down that state’s reactor, Vermont Yankee.

Texas Proposal Spurs Race to Dispose of Nuclear Waste – NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD December 2, 2010 WASHINGTON — Aged nuclear plants in Vermont and Illinois may be playing the equivalent of musical chairs in a graveyard, vying for space at a dump in Texas whose owner hopes to accept radioactive waste from many other states. Continue reading →

December 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Possibly, a partial solution to unsolved problem of dead nuclear reactors

EnergySolutions cannot dispose of all the waste. Clive is licensed only for the least contaminated material. And the spent nuclear fuel is in the same situation as used reactor fuel all over the country: the Energy Department is under contract to take it, but has no place to dispose of it. Until a permanent repository is built at the proposed Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada or another location, the waste will stay at the Zion site in steel and concrete casks designed to last for decades.

Nuclear Plant Finds Novel Way to Decommission, NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD: November 22, 2010 ZION, Ill. — Twelve years ago, Commonwealth Edison found itself in a bind. The Zion Station, its twin-unit nuclear reactor here, was no longer profitable. But the company could not afford to tear it down: the cost of dismantling the vast steel and concrete building, with multiple areas of radioactive contamination, would exceed $1 billion, double what it had cost to build the reactors in the 1970s. Nor could Commonwealth Edison walk away from the plant, because of the contamination. Continue reading →

November 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear decommissioning, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactor | Leave a comment

German govt illegally dumping nuclear waste on rural Russians

Berlin breaks German law to dump nuclear waste on Russians, Indymedia NL (Nederland)Diet Simon / MONITOR – 21.11.2010 The German government is ridding itself of highly dangerous nuclear waste by dumping it on rural people in Russia who can’t defend themselves. They’ve already suffered terribly in Mayak, said to be the most radioactively contaminated place on the globe. See http://archive.greenpeace.org/mayak/mayakstory/index.htmlNow, hoping it will be out-of-sight-out-of-mind, German provincial and national authorities plan to send nearly 1,000 spent fuel rods there, probably next month. One of Germany’s leading political television magazines, Monitor, recently showed the horrific lives nuclear waste has caused people in the area. If you understand German, you may want to watch at http://www.wdr.de/tv/monitor/sendungen/2010/1118/atom.php5……… . Indymedia NL (Nederland) – Berlin breaks German law to dump nuclear waste on Russians

November 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Port Hope residents should sue govt over radioactive wastes

OSHAWA — The people of Port Hope should sue the federal government “to the tune of millions of dollars” for the exposure to radiation from Cameco, prominent anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott said during a public speech in Oshawa.

(Canada) Anti-nuclear doctor advises Port Hope residents to sue over exposure northumberlandnews.com Dr. Helen Caldicott gives impassioned talk to standing-room-only crowd in Oshawa Nov 17, 2010

Jennifer O’Meara Continue reading →

November 18, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, wastes | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radioactive | Leave a comment

Vermont nuclear reactor ready to be dead and buried

“Vermonters no longer trust that Vermont Yankee can operate safely, without accident or radioactive releases to the groundwater,” ……“Entergy needs to stop putting their profits ahead of the safety of New Englanders, and shut down Vermont Yankee as scheduled.”

Nuclear Reactor in Vermont Needs to be Shut Down, Greenpeace on the Case – Planetsave.com 16 Nov 10, An old nuclear reactor in Vermont, the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station, has had a number of problems lately and Greenpeace has taken notice. “ The 38-year-old reactor has a history of contamination issues, including a recent leak of radioactive water,” Becky Striepe of our sister site Ecoscraps writes. Continue reading →

November 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear decommissioning, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, reactor, uranium | 1 Comment

Mounting piles of nuclear wastes in USA

nearly 1.9 million pounds of nuclear waste is stored at Dominion Resources’ Surry Power Station.

Nuclear Waste At Va. Site Awaits Permanent Home. wsj, Nov 15, 2010 RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ― Decades after the federal government agreed to build a permanent storage site for the nation’s nuclear waste, temporary sites including one in southeastern Virginia continue to warehouse the radioactive material. Continue reading →

November 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

BHP Billiton uranium company to be questioned over radioactive waste dumping plans

BHP Billiton boss faces a grilling (at its Annual General meeting, Perth Australia, 16 Nov) Sydney Morning Herald, Mathew MurphyNovember 15, 2010 “……The Australian Conservation Foundation is also expected to attack BHP over its $20 billion expansion plans for Olympic Dam, the world’s largest uranium deposit.ACF nuclear free campaigner David Noonan said the group will ask the BHP board if the new open-pit mine is only considered economic because it is designed to leak up to 8 million litres of radioactive waste a day.

”This company plans to dump rather than to dispose of their radioactive wastes, and do not intend to rehabilitate the proposed open pit, intending instead to leave a toxic lake as a permanent scar on the landscape,” he said. …..BHP boss faces a grilling

November 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, wastes | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Four priniciples to deal with nuclear radioactive wastes

our position can be summarized by four clear principles:
*No reprocessing of radioactive waste

*Isolation from the biosphere for as long as it remains a hazard

*Hardening and improved monitoring of the waste where it is currently stored

*Stop Making Radioactive Waste!

Sign the Petition: Principles for Radioactive Waste Policy, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, November 10, 2010 In light of its decision to end the failed and scientifically-indefensible Yucca Mountain, Nevada radioactive waste dump, the Obama Administration has established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) to re-evaluate radioactive waste policy. Continue reading →

November 11, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | 1 Comment

Hanford’s super hot radioactive waste needs a robot for cleanup

The Tank C-107 holds 247,000 gallons of radioactive and chemical sludge

Robotic arm to clean out Hanford waste tank, Seattle Times Newspaper, 9 Nov 10, Workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation are cutting a bigger hole in a high-level radioactive waste tank so a robotic arm can be inserted for cleanup work Continue reading →

November 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment