Sellafield nuclear waste: Cumbrian Council doesn’t want it
(UK) Nuclear waste sites set for thumbs down
Charlie, The Whitehaven News 20 August 09
Why do Sellafield want to store their waste in other peoples back yards? If it safe to be stored at Lillyhall then why not dig a big hole on the site of the old reactors? If waste is contained within a defined site it will not give surprises to future generations when the paperwork has been mislaid. This is proved by the problems over what is stored at Drigg. If we can’t trust them to keep track of dangerous waste for fifty years how can we expect them to know what is buried in hundreds of years to come.
The Whitehaven News by Alan Irving 20 August 09
TWO local sites earmarked for radioactive waste disposal are set to get the thumbs down from Cumbria County Council even though one – at Lillyhall – has already taken small amounts.
Cabinet councillors next week are expected to approve a recommendation that the low level radioactive waste is kept at Sellafield rather than sent to Keekle Head or Lillyhall…………
……………..yesterday Councillor Knowles said: “Sellafield waste should be dealt with at Sellafield. What we don’t want is a proliferation of radioactive waste, it should not be put in holes around West Cumbria and imposed on people.” At Keekle Head, French company subsidiary Endecom is already drilling boreholes to see whether it will be suitable. It also has an agreement to buy the derelict 173-acre site……………………
Consultations on the national strategy to manage future arisings of waste will close on September 11. Cabinet members will consider a county council response on the lines that “LLW produced at Sellafield should be disposed of near to Sellafield and should not be dispersed in sites further afield in West Cumbria.”
Whiitehaven News | News | Nuclear waste sites set for thumbs down
Minnesota nuclear study inadequate
Published Nuke study lacking, council says
By: Jon Swedien, The Republican Eagle August 20 2009
The state’s environmental report analyzing Xcel Energy’s plan to increase operations at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant isn’t up to snuff, according to Red Wing city officialsThe state’s environmental report analyzing Xcel Energy’s plan to increase operations at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant isn’t up to snuff, according to Red Wing city officials.
Red Wing City Council on Wednesday, during a special meeting, approved a letter to the Minnesota Department of Commerce’s Office of Energy expressing its concerns.
The letter says, “A review of the (Final) environmental Impact Statement) reveals that many of the inadequacies and deficiencies that were present in the (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) still remain and were not addressed” despite a public input process.
The state’s environmental study is one of a number of regulatory measures Xcel must undertake as it seeks permission from the Public Utilities Commission to increase Prairie Island’s output and the number of dry cask storage containers from 29 to 65………………………………….
City officials have been saying for some months they’re concerned that nuclear waste will be stored at Prairie Island for hundreds of years or permanently.
Nuke study lacking, council says | The Republican Eagle | Red Wing, Minnesota
Iran’s Nuclear and Ballistic Missile Programs
Iran’s Nuclear and Ballistic Missile Programs Remain Shrouded in Secrecy
— Iran has committed numerous violations of its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards obligations.
Centre for Arms Control and Nuclear Non-Proliferation 17 August 09
— IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei noted in a June 2008 interview that the Iranians “continue to insist that they are interested solely in using nuclear power for civilian purposes. We have yet to find a smoking gun that would prove them wrong. Continue reading
Economic Climate Opens Door for Small Wind Energy Projects
Economic Climate Opens Door for Small Wind Energy Projects
REUTERS Renewable Energy World By Sarah Lozanova, Aug 18, 2009
Very few large-scale wind projects are able to obtain financing under the current economic climate. But falling turbine, steel and labor prices have created the perfect environment for mid-scale wind energy projects to thrive. Although total new installed capacity in 2009 may not rival the impressive 8,900 MW installed in North America in 2008, a golden opportunity exists for smaller wind development.
Small wind projects range in size from 100 kW to 30 MW and typically serve schools, farms, rural villages, businesses and municipal utility companies. Because these type of installations can access funding from various sources, they are less vulnerable to the credit crisis than their large-scale wind farm counterparts…………………
…………
Although 2009 may be a year to survive for some players in the wind industry, it presents a golden opportunity for the mid-scale market. Time will tell if this opening will result in a boom in this segment of the industry. “If this opportunity for smaller projects is successful, we will start seeing the turbines ordered this year for projects to be installed later in the year or in 2010,” says Slaymaker. “It sounds like there are a number of small to mid-size projects working towards turbine purchase right now.”
Reprinted with permission from
Economic Climate Opens Door for Small Wind Energy Projects | Green Business | Reuters
Nuclear lobby downplays the real dangers
Nuclear Energy White Knight or Dangerous Fantasy?
Solve Climate Aug 17th, 2009
In their current enthusiasm for nuclear energy, boosters have tended to overlook or dismissed the dark days of nuclear’s more recent past.
For example, British scientist James Lovelock has dismissed the Three Mile Island accident as a “a joke.” Continue reading
Non-nuclear production of medical isotopes
National nuclear medicine shortage could have a Wisconsin solution
WTN News Tom StillAugust 17, 2009
“…………Scientists working with the Madison-based company believe they can generate the neutrons necessary to create Mo-99, an essential nuclear medicine tool, without using a nuclear reactor to do so.It’s a safer and more sustainable method than the status quo, which relies on production of Mo-99 from five retirement-age nuclear medicine reactors – two of which are now shut down, one perhaps permanently…………………………”
National nuclear medicine shortage could have a Wisconsin solution (WTN News)
Ionising radiation causing rise in thyroid cancer
Your Health: Rise in thyroid cancer may be tied to radiation
By Kim Painter, USA TODAY 16 August 09A medical mystery: As overall cancer rates fall, why are thyroid cancer rates rising? Diagnoses of cancer in this gland in the neck are increasing about 6% a year, faster than cancers found anywhere else, according to one National Cancer Institute analysis.Researchers know one big reason: The many medical scans Americans have, for everything from neck pain to artery plaque, are turning up thousands of tiny thyroid tumors that otherwise might go undetected and often would do no harm.
“We call them ‘incidentalomas,’ ” says Amy Chen, a head and neck surgeon at Emory University in Atlanta and American Cancer Society researcher.
But that’s not the whole story. Two recent studies, including one co-written by Chen, show larger thyroid tumors are being found at an increasing rate, too. And those can’t be explained by more aggressive diagnosis alone, researchers say.
“There is something else going on” to contribute to the 37,000 cases of thyroid cancer expected this year, Chen says. That’s up from 18,000 in 2000.
Your Health: Rise in thyroid cancer may be tied to radiation – USATODAY.com
Malaysia: Nuclear Energy Costly and Unsafe
Costly and unsafe – opinion from Malaysia
August 16, 2009
The threat of another Chernobyl and the question of where to dump the waste are key arguments against nuclear power.AS mankind begins to come to terms with the fact that oil will run out in the not-too-distant future, nuclear power advocates trumpet a solution that is “clean, efficient, safe and, in some cases, environmentally friendly.………………..Elizabeth Wong, the Selangor Exco for Tourism, Consumer Affairs and the Environment, says nuclear energy is not a safe option for the future.
“Contrary to the claims of the nuclear industry and the federal government, nuclear energy is neither safe nor inexpensive. It is also not a solution to climate change. Nuclear power usage has environmental, health, and security risks that make it an undesirable substitute for fossil fuels.
Radiation Contamination by Depleted Uranium
High Tech Weaponry used in Gaza: Radiation contamination by Depleted Uranium
by Peter Eyre, Global Research, August 14, 2009
I am a Middle East Consultant living in the UK and would like all people living in or near areas of conflict to understand the High Tech Weaponry used by many military establishments worldwide, especially the US (the manufacturers) and other NATO forces.The reason for pointing this out to you is as a response to my research on the terrible rise in cancer related deaths. This is not only confined to military personnel in the battle zone but also the indiscriminate contamination of civilians, field crops and water supplies in the immediate area as well as the adjacent areas/countries. Below is my report:
Concerns regarding radiation contamination by the use of Depleted Uranium (DU) weaponry in the Balkans, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Eastern Mediterranean Countries.
The majority of high tech weapons today contain Depleted Uranium and or other Heavy Metals. Some are coated in DU and others have both DU and Heavy Metal in their warheads. DU is also used to act as a counterweight.
Both DU and heavy metals have the ability to kill indiscriminately subject to how such weapons are used and if those weapons are used in densely populated areas. In the case of the latter and in the context of the Geneva Convention it would be illegal to use such weapons in populated areas like Lebanon and Gaza.
The National Academy of Sciences in their BEIR VII report, regarding low level radiation, stated that there “is no safe level of exposure”. The report also finally admitted that very low levels are more harmful per unit of radiation than higher levels of exposure; also know as the suppralinear effect.
The European Parliament has expressed grave concerns on the use of such weapons………………………
Other nations are also currently using these weapons (NATO) especially in Afghanistan and over the border in Pakistan. One must accept that this is also a crime if civilian populations are involved. However, it doesn’t match up to using them on such dense enclaves as Gaza.
If government are allowing their own troops to become victims of such weapons then they also should be held to account. More importantly the country of origin (namely the US) and their respective arms developers are equally to blame for this inhumane use of DU weaponry.
I hope you appreciate my way of thinking and agree that it doesn’t really matter how people are dying. They are dying without just cause in the most terrible way and that is an act against mankind……………………
……….All of my research experts state it is radiation alpha particles from uranium atoms that cause the problem, and this type of contamination can be measured very precisely. It is the alpha particle that once inside your body runs rife and the rate and type of “Cancer” is subject to if it was inhaled or ingested. The latter is caused mainly in areas where DU dust has spread in the atmosphere and returned to earth in precipitation.
High Tech Weaponry used in Gaza: Radiation contamination by Depleted Uranium
AFP: Iran bomb-grade uranium not expected before 2013
Iran bomb-grade uranium not expected before 2013: State Dept
Google News 11 August 09 (AFP) WASHINGTON
— The State Department’s intelligence bureau has concluded that Iran will not be technically capable of producing weapons grade uranium for nuclear weapons before 2013, the US intelligence director has told Congress.The assessment by the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research was included in written responses to questions submitted to Congress by the Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair.Even though Iran has made significant progress in enriching uranium, the State Department bureau “continues to assess it is unlikely that Iran will have the technical capability to produce HEU (highly enriched uranium) before 2013,” Blair said……………..The US intelligence community “has no evidence that Iran has yet made the decision to produce highly enriched uranium, and INR assesses that Iran is unlikely to make such a decision for at least as long as international pressure and scrutiny persist,” the document said.
AFP: Iran bomb-grade uranium not expected before 2013: State Dept
Kuuwait’s radiation pollution due to depleted uranium weapons
‘EPA not transparent, lacks will to save country from pollution’ “
By Rena Sadeghi
Arab Times Staff 11 August 09 .……. We are concerned with everything related to the environment. We know that Kuwait suffers from all kinds of pollution whether industrial, air or marine pollution,’ stated Dr Khalid Al-Hajeri, environmentalist and head of Kuwait’s Green Line Environment Group…………..Kuwait has been suffering from radiation pollution, since the US forces used depleted uranium in its wars against Iraq in 1990 and 2003. There are many facts and information regarding the environmental situation and the magnitude of the pollution. The ill-effects that radiation has on the health of people residing in Kuwait are still being concealed despite the society’s efforts to increase awareness on the issue. Living in a clean environment is a basic right mentioned in all international agreements that Kuwait has signed, and no one should violate this right.…………….
The agency’s report also proved that some residential areas were closer to the war zones where uranium was used during the 1990 war. Such a matter must prompt the government to conduct extensive researches to determine the health hazards that might affect residents in these areas, such as the increase in cancer. The report also stressed the need for the government to notify the people where the polluted areas are, which has not happened. According to international laws and agreements, using uranium ammunition for military purposes is an international crime, since they are considered to be weapons of mass destruction, which are banned worldwide in accordance with a decree issued by the United Nations.
Therefore, as part of its mission Kuwait’s Green Line Environment Group (GLEG) has created the first international map to save the environment in war zones. The August 1990 map includes details on the damage caused to the environment by the Iraqi invasion, which is being translated into many languages.
Nobel prize-winner rejects nuclear hype
Question and answer with Jody Williams
Burlington Free Press
Interviewe By Tim Johnson • Free Press Staff Writer • August 9, 2009
Jody Williams, 58, a native of Brattleboro and a graduate of the University of Vermont, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. In 2006, with five other peace-prize laureates, she co-founded the Nobel Women’s Initiative, in support of women’s organizations worldwide working for peace, justice and equality.Tim Johnson: What are your thoughts on nuclear energy as a power source?
Jody Williams: I am not pro nuclear energy. I think looking backward in time for a response to today’s problems is ridiculous. I really take offense at the lies that it’s clean, sustainable, etc. Mining uranium is not clean. Building the plant is not clean. Decommissioning the reactors is most definitely not clean, and where … do you put the radioactivity, which can last for hundreds of thousands of years? So, putting it forth as a clean alternative is (b.s.), and I hate being lied to, quite honestly………….Without taxpayer money, it wouldn’t exist at all. Private investors don’t invest in it, as with most everything that’s full of crap. Look, I’d rather have my billions of dollars going to finding really clean, sustainable energy, not looking back to nukes. I’m really terrified about where you’re going to put all the crap. Last I checked … there’s no place in the United States that nationally will accept nuclear waste now.
US and Australian climate bills: necessary evils
Green Left 9 August 2009
“…………..Renewables are not advantaged by the US bill. Instead, nuclear power generation is expected to grow 150% by 2050 to make up 40% of total US electricity.While there is a nominal 20% renewable electricity requirement by 2020, the bill reduces the requirement for efficiency gains, new nuclear and carbon capture and storage generation and existing hydropower. This means forecast renewable electricity would amount to 12% of the total in 2020 and reach 20% only by 2030………………………
Very generous concessions are provided to trade-exposed, emission-intensive industries. These are only phased out between 2025 and 2035 or earlier if other countries “take comparable action on climate change”. Local electricity distributors are given a declining volume of free allowances until 2030.
It is striking how little pain the bill inflicts. Household consumption is still expected to have increased by 80% by 2050. Without the bill, household consumption would be only 1% higher……………..
To sum up: the two bills as currently framed propose minimalist short-term actions to meet current political expectations. There is no hint of a change to the “material growth is good” mindset.
Although grand designs are presented for the longer term, the reality is that it is left for future generations to sort things out. Concerned environmentalists should do anything and everything to draw attention to this.
Green Left – US and Australian climate bills: necessary evils
Energy security does not require nuclear power
Wicks presents nuclear distraction
by David Masters
August 9, 2009”
……………..The report by former energy minister Malcolm Wicks said increasing Britain’s nuclear capacity is vital to the UK’s future energy security……….
Greenpeace dismissed the report as “a dangerous distraction from the real solutions to climate change and energy security”.
“With the costs of nuclear reactors soaring to around seven billion euros, and the only plants being built in the western world plagued with safety, financial and construction problems, it’s clear where the UK’s priorities should lie,” said Robin Oakley, Greenpeace climate and energy spokesperson.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary Simon Hughes attacked Wicks’s report as scare tactics.
“This review is an attempt to scare the British public into accepting new nuclear power stations,” Hughes said.
“But energy security does not have to mean capitulation to massive nuclear subsidies.
“Britain needs a massive expansion of renewable energy that builds on the advantage of our natural resources.”
TVA reduces plans for Alabama nuclear plant to 1 reactor, instead of the 4 originally planned
TVA reduces plans for Alabama nuclear plant to one reactor instead of the 4 originally planned
by Duncan Mansfield NOXVILLE, Tenn. 7 August 09 — The Tennessee Valley Authority, faced with falling electric sales and rising costs from cleaning up a massive coal ash spill in Tennessee, on Friday trimmed plans for a potential four-unit nuclear plant in northeast Alabama to one reactor.The nation’s largest public utility, which two years ago had positioned itself as a leader in this country’s so-called “nuclear renaissance,” said it would prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement to consider a single reactor for its unfinished Bellefonte site near Scottsboro, Ala.
That single unit might be one of the two advanced Westinghouse AP1000 reactors for which TVA has already applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a combined construction and operating license. Or it might be one of the two incomplete reactors that have been mothballed at the site since 1988……………
….TVA had plans in the 1960s and 1970s for as many as 17 reactors, but scrapped most of them because of cost and lack of power demand.
TVA reduces plans for Alabama nuclear plant to 1 reactor, instead of the 4 originally planned
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