wastes « nuclear-news

Moscow facing up to its nuclear radiation mess

There is also an issue of unknown radioactive dumps. Tens of them are found every year all over Moscow…People just do not know whether any nuclear waste is nearby and what the level of radiation on the surface is.

Radiation scare for Moscow parks The Moscow News, – Evgeniya Chaykovskaya – 13 Sept 10, Levels of radiation on Moscow’s streets have reached a level so high that the authorities are about to spend 4.7 billion roubles to get rid of it.The $153 million clean-up will run from 2011-2013 amid reports of no fewer than 18 dangerous radioactive objects within the capital.

And they can be found in heavily built-up areas like Kuzminki, Continue reading →

September 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Efforts to clean up radioactive Tritium leak at Oyster Creek nuclear plant

Nuclear plant cleaning up tritium, APP.com | Asbury Park Press, By BOB VOSSELLER September 13, 2010 — The state Department of Environmental Protection on Monday announced the start of a tritium cleanup at Oyster Creek Generating Station.The first phase of a cleanup of radioactive tritium that leaked from the Forked River power plant owned by Exelon Nuclear last year was outlined by DEP Commissioner Bob Martin and Exelon officials…….The plan also calls for continued monitoring of the content of the water pulled from the ground, and observation of groundwater levels in the area near the nuclear plant. Contaminated water will be pumped into drums and transferred to a large holding tank on site, to be diluted into massive volumes of water used for cooling the power-generating process, which will bring the tritium levels below detectable standards….

Nuclear plant cleaning up tritium | APP.com | Asbury Park Press

September 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Danger in blending Class A radioactive wastes with hotter classes

blended waste should be dealt with as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s low-level radioactive waste, with careful attention paid to public-safety issues…..Under Utah law, Energy- Solutions is banned from taking waste hotter than Class A.

NRC head urges caution on waste blending | The Salt Lake Tribune, By JUDY FAHYS Sep 10, 2010 Las Vegas • Blended radioactive waste won’t be coming to Utah anytime soon if the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission adopts its leader’s position. Continue reading →

September 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

USA plays musical chairs with cancer-causing nuclear wastes moving from California to Utah

“significant amounts of soil contaminated with carcinogenic dioxins, heavy metals and radioactive materials” will be removed from the site and taken to licensed waste dumps, including one in Utah,

Santa Susana Nuclear Site’s Toxic Dirt to be Shipped to Utah : Clean Ups : Curbed LA, September 7, 2010, by Adrian Glick Kudler,The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, home to a Cold War nuclear test site, should be all cleaned up, just 58 years after a partial nuclear meltdown. Continue reading →

September 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Vermont Yankee nuclear plant’s ‘decommissioning’ funds inadequate

Vermont Yankee’s decommissioning fund is no exception

Auditor: More Oversight on Yankee Shutdown Fund Needed. Report on Fund Doesn’t Reveal Details Of Shortfall , WPTZ Plattsburgh, August 31, 2010 MONTPELIER, Vt. — Perhaps you’ve noticed your 401-k account isn’t what it used to be? Neither are the balances in most of the nation’s nuclear power plant decommissioning funds, money used to pay to decontaminate and cleanup each site. Continue reading →

September 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear decommissioning, radiation, reactor | Leave a comment

‘Decommissioning’ nuclear reactors becoming unaffordable

The fund, set up to pay for the Vernon reactor’s eventual dismantlement and removal of radioactive components, has come under fire from lawmakers and nuclear watchdog groups as having less in it than will be needed…..

Vt. auditor: Raise nuke plant shutdown fund checks BusinessWeek, 31 Aug 2010, MONTPELIER, Vt.Vermont state Auditor Tom Salmon says the state should do a better job tracking the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant’s decommissioning fund. Continue reading →

September 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, decommission reactor, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, radiation, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

“Temporary” nuke waste disposal becoming Permanent, and expensive

If the plant closes in 2012, it would be mothballed, or put into SAFSTOR, until its decommissioning fund reaches the level necessary to clean up the site, which could take up to 60 years.

NRC considers long-term on-site storage of waste, Brattleboro Reformer, By JOSH STILTS, Aug. 30 2010 BRATTLEBORO – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted earlier this month to explore the option of storing nuclear waste at decommissioned sites past the current 30-year standard……. Continue reading →

August 31, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

10 years to ‘clean up’ Iraq’s nuclear sites?

the clearing operation which had been estimated to take up to 10 years. So far scientists have only cleared one site in central Baghdad.

EU to help Iraq dismantle old nuclear facilities . (Reuters), By Aseel Kami. Aug 29, 2010 BAGHDAD, – The European Union signed a 2.5 million euro ($3.2 million) agreement with Iraq on Sunday to help Iraqi scientists’ dismantle, decommission and decontaminate nuclear facilities built under dictator Saddam Hussein……. Continue reading →

August 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iraq, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Dangerous nuclear wastes – what a mess at Hanford!

“This is one of the most challenging cleanup projects at the Hanford Site, because the records don’t tell us exactly what’s buried here,

Hazardous materials removed from burial ground in Hanford – KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA , 27 Aug 2010, RICHLAND, Wash.— Workers are making their first entry into one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s most hazardous waste burial grounds containing radioactive and hazardous materials at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. Continue reading →

August 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

10 years to dismantle nuclear plant, and what will it cost?

The $1 billon project is said to be the largest dismantling project ever undertaken in the U.S and is expected to take 10 years to complete.

Nuclear power plant to be dismantled – POWER-GEN WorldWide, 24 August 2010 – Exelon has reached an agreement with EnergySolutions, a Salt Lake City nuclear services company, to dismantle the Zion Nuclear Power Station, Continue reading →

August 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactor | Leave a comment

Nuclear Waste – Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future

Globally, each year, nuclear power reactors create enough spent fuel to fill a football field to a depth of 1.5 meters (4.9 feet), with a weight of about 10,500 tons.

U.S. Nuclear Waste Panel Slammed for Ignoring Public Fears, Environment News Service, WASHINGTON, DC, August 20, 2010 (ENS) “…….The Commission is made up of 15 members who have a range of expertise and experience in nuclear issues, including scientists, industry representatives, and respected former elected officials. Continue reading →

August 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Chewonki meeting – stop nuclear power development until waste problem solved

If there could be said to be a consensus that emerged from the public comments that were made at Chewonki, it was that Congress should and must forbid any further development of nuclear power unless or until this intractable problem has been resolved.

Not at any price, The Times Record, Mid-Coast Maine, Betty King, August 20, 2010, “…..the meeting at Chewonki with the President’s Blue Ribbon Commission on the Storage and Transportation of Nuclear Waste… Continue reading →

August 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission will allow shipment of steam generators across Great Lakes

Bruce Power asked Canada’s nuclear regulator for a licence to ship the steam generators from its power plant on Lake Huron to Sweden, where 90 per cent of the metals inside the generators are to be recycled and resold. The remaining materials that are too radioactive to be recycled will then return to the Bruce plant to be contained for the rest of their radioactive lives.

Public hearing to be held on shipment of nuclear waste through Great Lakes – thestar.com, Brett Popplewell , Jul 30 2010 Canada’s nuclear safety regulator has agreed to hold a public hearing into a controversial plan to ship 1,760 tonnes of radiation-laced steel through Lake Ontario. Continue reading →

August 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors | 18 Comments

Nowhere for Hanford’s high level nuclear waste to go

Hanford’s high level radioactive waste has been expected to go to Yucca Mountain, but the Obama administration is shutting the project down…..

HANFORD: Yucca Mountain funding voted down, Tri-City Herald, 22 July 2010, Annette Cary, Richland An amendment to restore money to license the Yucca Mountain, Nev., nuclear repository failed in the Senate Appropriations Committee today Continue reading →

July 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons, radioactive | Leave a comment

No funding for Yucca Mt nuclear waste dump

US Senate panel OKs DOE funding bill with no Yucca Mountain money Washington (Platts)–22Jul2010 The US Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a spending bill for the Department of Energy that provides $10 billion in loan guarantee authority for nuclear projects and, in keeping with the Obama administration’s request, eliminates funding for the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Continue reading →