Cover-up of health effects of soldiers affected by nuclear bomb tests
A victory for the vets would destroy the current radiation risk model and open the floodgates for more claims If the court were to allow the evidence, a victory is more likely, setting a legal precedent for some 900 other veterans waiting in the wings.
”Millions have died because of this cover up of the effects of internal radiation, and millions more will die if we don’t succeed in destroying this risk model.”
EXPOSED: Health threats of ‘safe’ levels of radiation covered up by Anglo-American establishment in nuke test; vets fight for pensions http://www.naturalnews.com/041130_Christmas_Island_atomic_bomb_tests_veterans.html, 
July 10, 2013 by: Anna Bragga A pensions case has become the site of a vicious battleground between the Anglo-American establishment and a British scientist in a row over accepted safe levels of radiation exposure.
It began in 2011 when a group of 16 veterans of UK nuclear bomb tests in Australia and Christmas Island applied for pensions on the grounds that their illnesses (and those of their children and grandchildren) were most likely caused by particulate uranium inhalation.
In a tale with more twists than a John Grisham novel, the veterans have had their appeals quashed after being forced to change their firm of solicitors and their expert witness – international radiation authority and Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, Dr. Chris Busby, who has a track record of winning five similar cases in a row.
The veterans, originally represented by Rosenblatts Solicitors, had commissioned Dr. Busby to provide evidence. But Rosenblatts suddenly pulled out of the case in December 2012 after funding provided by the Royal British Legion dried up. Washington-based Hogan Lovells International – a firm with a history of representing government and pharmaceutical companies, quickly filled the gap.
Coincidentally, at the very same time, Dr. Busby had obtained access to secret nuclear test reports by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), revealing information of significance to the case. He had also by then written 12 reports showing new evidence of the link between internal radiation exposure to uranium, the main component of all the bombs and a range of ill health effects. Continue reading
Guaranteed money from UK for new nuclear – not a subsidy, REALLY?
Ed Davey ‘will not give an inch’ on nuclear power price As a former nuclear sceptic, energy secretary says he regards the negotiations over Hinkley Point as a personal test The Guardian, Patrick Wintour 6 July 2013 The energy secretary on Saturday intervenes in the debate over nuclear power by insisting he will not budge a further inch in his offer of long-term guaranteed fixed prices for nuclear electricity. Ed Davey [Liberal Democrats] says he regards the negotiations as a test for his commitment to produce nuclear energy at an affordable price and without subsidy by the taxpayer.
The government is locked in lengthy talks with its preferred supplier, the French energy firm EDF, over a planned nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset, which would be the first in almost two decades. Continue reading
Unsafe levels of ionising radiation at firm in Mersey, England
Workers at Mersey firm exposed to potentially unsafe levels of radiation, Liverpool Echo, By Gary Stewart, 4 July 13, Staff at firm couldn’t understand machine instructions because they were in Chinese Workers at a Wirral company were accidentally exposed to potentially unsafe levels of radiation because the instructions for the machine they were using were in Chinese
Two members of staff at Meyer Group Ltd, Bromborough, were put in charge of a “low intensity x-ray scope” which they used to check the inside of kettles sent back as faulty.
The machine, which was brought from China, was used for four months between 2002 and 2003 and again for nineteen months between 2007 and 2009 during a second product recall.
But unknown to the workers they were using the scope, which emitted “ionising radiation” for twice the recommended daily limit, because they couldn’t understand the instructions.
Nigel Lawrence, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court one of the workers was assured the machine was safe by a Chinese colleague who told him how to use it.
But it wasn’t until he asked for the instructions to be translated years later he realised he was in danger……..
Mr Lawrence said: “Any adverse health effects may not be known for many many years.”
The company later pleaded guilty to failing to ensure safety of workers and breaching regulations relating to working with radiation……
Judge Graham Morrow said that anyone who ever had an x-ray would know that radiation was potentially hazardous.
He will deliver his sentence this afternoon and is expected to fine the company tens of thousands of pounds.http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/mersey-meyer-group-ltd-workers-4870083
Nuclear waste cleanup a financial bonanza for UK firm
Nuclear waste: Clean-up Quandary.FT, By Sylvia Pfeifer, 1 July 13, More reactors are to be built but a permanent solution for high-level waste remains elusive …….
More than 50 years after the world’s first commercial nuclear power plants started operating in the UK and the US, the tens of thousands of tonnes of spent nuclear fuel in the world still has to find a permanent home.
The absence of a permanent solution for high-level waste is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry as it tries to recover from the deadly disaster at Japan’s Fukushima plant in 2011. Several governments scaled back their expansion plans, with Germany announcing plans to close all its reactors. The International Energy Agency last year predicted that global nuclear generating capacity would reach 580GW in 2035 – a 10 per cent drop from its forecast a year before.
Yet new reactors, and more waste, are not far off…..
Alvin Weinberg, an American nuclear pioneer, famously said that atomic power represents a Faustian bargain: a valuable source of electricity that carries with it an obligation to deal with the waste. “New nuclear should not go ahead until we have sorted out the waste problem,” says Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace, adding that the environmental organisation is “concerned about a new round of spent fuel set to be created”…..
“We have an obligation to get it right . . . We are like a shopfront for the nuclear industry,” admits Tony Price, brought in recently by Nuclear Management Partners (NMP),as the managing director of Sellafield Limited. “It’s time now to really focus on delivery,” he adds………
In the short term, the pressure is on NMP to deliver at Sellafield. Yet the potential prize is much bigger than just cleaning up one of the world’s most polluted sites. There are potential export contracts for companies involved in the decommissioning work and for west Cumbria it offers much-needed employment opportunities. Success at Sellafield would also mean success on a wider scale.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/77c177ba-dcba-11e2-b52b-00144feab7de.html#axzz2XvB1ouop
UK’s Minstry of Defence caused radioactive beach
Dalgety Bay radiation: Sepa says MoD was responsible for contamination, BBC News 28 Jue 13Diggers have excavated sections of the beach The Ministry of Defence has been found solely responsible for radioactive contamination at Dalgety Bay in Fife.
It follows an investigation by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) into the history of the contamination at the beach.
Its report said the MoD had routinely incinerated and disposed of aircraft dials in the bay before the town was developed.
The dials had been illuminated by paint containing radium-226.
The aircraft had been stationed at the nearby HMS Merlin airfield, which was commissioned in 1939 as a Royal Naval Aircraft Repair Yard and decommissioned in 1959 before being sold off through the 1960s……..
“Contamination on the foreshore at Dalgety Bay is the result of erosion of deposited material and subsequent re-working and re-deposition of contaminated marine sediments resulting from coastal erosion, a process which is considered to be a normal part of life.”
Significant amounts of material remain buried on the coast and continue to erode through coastal processes and re-contaminate the foreshore areas, the report added.
It concluded that Sepa considered the MoD to be the sole “appropriate person” for the contamination…….
The local MP and former prime minister, Gordon Brown, said the MoD was “merely delaying the inevitable” and had a “moral duty” to clean up the site.
“Having been named as the polluter, the Ministry of Defence must now agree to fund the clean-up of the area to remove the contaminated substances from the Dalgety Bay beach, and the work must start immediately,” he said……. The local MP and former prime minister, Gordon Brown, said the MoD was “merely delaying the inevitable” and had a “moral duty” to clean up the site.
“Having been named as the polluter, the Ministry of Defence must now agree to fund the clean-up of the area to remove the contaminated substances from the Dalgety Bay beach, and the work must start immediately,” he said.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-23098001
£10bn financial guarantee for Britain’s new nuclear power plants
Nuclear power gets £10bn financial guarantee boost guardian.co.uk, 28 June 2013 Patrick Wintour and Phillip Inman Ministers respond to warnings that UK is on brink of power blackouts with support for French generator EDF to build Hinkley Point nuclear power plant
The government has responded to warnings that Britain is on the brink of power blackouts by announcing £10bn in financial guarantees to thenuclear power industry – a concession aimed at paving the way for the building of the first new reactor in the country for a generation.
The support for French generator EDF, which is in negotiations to build the Hinkley Point nuclear power station, was announced by the Treasury chief secretary, Danny Alexander, as the centrepiece of a £100bn package of infrastructure investment covering 2015-20, including new roads, schools and affordable homes.
Michael Fallon, the energy minister, insisted the substantial guarantees represented a commercial loan, not a subsidy, saying: “This is big-scale financing, not available in the markets.” …
EDF had already prepared the site next to the two existing stations, but would not commit to the project unless the government guaranteed a minimum price for the electricity the new reactor would produce……. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jun/27/nuclear-power-10billion-financial-guarantee
Drunk on duty – police officers guarding UK nuclear sites
Safety fears over elite police officers drunk on duty at UK’s nuclear sites, The Independent ANDY ROWELL 26 June 13 Police officers with the elite force that guards Britain’s nuclear power stations have been caught drunk, using drugs, misusing firearms and also accused of sexual harassment and assault.
The offences by officers with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), released under the Freedom of Information Act, have raised concerns about the safety of the UK’s nuclear plants and radioactive material.
The CNC recently stepped up the number of officers guarding the Sellafield plant in Cumbria. The 1,000 officers in its workforce also protect highly radioactive material as it travels across the country. In one case, a police constable allegedly tested positive for cannabis at work. The matter was deemed so sensitive that the CNC refused to disclose the location or year the offence occurred, in case the identity of the officer could be traced.
Even after an internal review of the case, the date the officer resigned was deemed to constitute “personal data”, so it could not be released under the Freedom of Information Act…….
such is the array of serious misdemeanours by the CNC officers– who are funded directly by the energy companies – that it raises grave concerns about the safety of the UK’S nuclear power plants. Paul Flynn MP said: “The UK sent 441 of our soldiers to die in Afghanistan to protect us from alleged terrorist threats to the UK, Nuclear installation are the prime nightmare targets that could create mass devastation. This evidence suggests sacrifices abroad but woefully weak protection standards at home.”
Robin Oakley, Campaigns Director for Greenpeace UK, said: “This deeply worrying catalogue of misdemeanours is a reminder that nuclear reactors will always be vulnerable to human mistakes and irresponsibility. If the people supposed to protect us from probably the highest level of nuclear risk don’t take safety seriously, what confidence can we have in the rest of the nuclear industry’s operations?”
Off duty offences ranged from being drunk and disorderly in a public place to minor public order offences and common assault. The incidents listed also included those which occurred on duty, as well as on and off site. Those on site were dealt with by the CNC, who either dismissed the officers for serious offences or gave warnings. Off-site offences led to police cautions. The CNC was unavailable for comment. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/safety-fears-over-elite-police-officers-drunk-on-duty-at-uks-nuclear-sites-8675660.html
Britain cosying up with France in financing nuclear power research
UK invests £48.7m in nuclear cooperation with France http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2013/jun/nuclear-cooperation-uk-france.cfm 25 June 2013 By Tereza Pultarova A new £21.7m facility at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston is to be built as a further part of the UK’s contribution to the nuclear weapons information project with France.
According to the parliamentary sources, the overall investment in Project Teutates will amount to £48.7m.
The deal to share resources, in order to cut cost of military projects, between the UK and France was signed in 2010 by UK Prime Minister David Cameron and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Both countries committed to invest into new centres dedicated to experiments on warhead materials and parts.The facilities will use extremely high power X-rays to test materials at high temperature and pressure, mimicking conditions during nuclear explosions. The data gathered should help to assess performance and safety of warheads and might be used in development of new warhead types.
The facilities involved are the French Valduc Centre for Nuclear Studies and the UK’s Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston.
Defence Minister Philip Dunne has confirmed the construction of the Technology Development Centre, which is part of the UK’s contribution to Project Teutates, has so far cost £27m and the remaining part will be invested into a new facility within the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston.
According to Mr Dunne, wider costs of Project Teutates have been withheld as disclosure would be “likely to prejudice commercial interests and would impact on the formulation of Government policy”.
UK nuclear decommissioning costs soar- could be over £100bn.
UK’s nuclear clean-up programme to cost billions more than expected 
Guardian UK, Terry Macalister 23 June 13, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority declines to predict final lifetime clean-up cost amid fears total bill could exceed £100bn
The public body charged with overseeing the dismantling of Britain’s network of atomic power and research stations will reveal on Monday that its estimates for the lifetime cost of the programme has risen by billions of pounds.
Despite this, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will say in its annual report that it is getting to grips with the clean-up problem because the rate of cost growth is slowing year-on-year.
Yet the soaring costs will alarm industry critics at a time when the government is trying to encourage construction of a new generation of atomic power plants while plans to construct a permanent home for high-level radioactive waste are stalled.
In the NDA’s 2011 annual report the provisional cost of dealing with the UK’s nuclear legacy was put at £53bn, compared with a 2010 figure of £49bn. The new number in the 2012 set of accounts is expected to be around £55bn. But under previous accounting methods, the figure historically used has risen to well over £80bn with some predicting the final bill could exceed £100bn. Continue reading
UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority doesn’t know what to finally do with nuclear wastes
No plan to dump nuclear waste Bill Hamilton The Guardian, 22 June 2013 As a public body, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has a duty to deliver value for money. Moreover, all nuclear site operators have a regulatory requirement to optimise site operations. There is no proposal to “dump” radioactive waste at Bradwell or at any other NDA-owned site (Only way is Essex – nuclear waste row, 17 June). Our first decommissioning priority is hazard reduction, which includes the safe, secure and environmentally responsible interim storage of intermediate level waste (ILW) until geological disposal becomes available.Currently, the plan is to build an interim storage facility at each Magnox reactor site to store the ILW from that site. A number of interim stores have already been constructed, with several more stores planned. In the interests of value for money to the taxpayer, we are exploring whether there is a business case for reducing the number of new stores that need to be built. There could also be environmental benefits from building fewer stores. The option of storing ILW from a small number of other sites at Bradwell, which already has an ILW store, is one of a number of options under consideration.
Our intention to explore the potential benefits of building fewer interim storage facilities was first made public in our strategy published in 2011, on which we engaged widely and consulted publicly. We are engaging openly and transparently with stakeholders on the options under consideration and will consult on our preferred option(s) at the appropriate time. Furthermore, any decision that requires a change to existing storage plans will require consultation and local planning permission.
UK’s new nuclear plan will dramatically increase electricity costs
Electricity From New UK Nuclear Plant To Be Linked to Inflation WSJ, By SELINA WILLIAMS AND GERALDINE AMIEL, 18 June 13, The U.K. government has agreed that the guaranteed fixed price for electricity from a new nuclear power plant that Electricite de France SA EDF.FR +0.30% (EDF.FR) wants to build would be fully linked to inflation, said people familiar with the matter, a move that would add tens of billions of pounds to the total cost of electricity from the reactors.
The agreement to inflation-link the electricity price EDF would receive–known as the strike price–for 35 years substantially eases the financial risks for the French utility for constructing two nuclear reactors, but there is still no deal on the actual price, the people said.
The whole nuclear plant is estimated to cost around 14 billion pounds ($22 billion) to build.
EDF, the world’s largest nuclear operator, seeks a strike price between GBP95 to GBP100 per megawatt hour of electricity while the government would rather settle around GBP80 to GBP85 per megawatt hour, one of the people said. The current wholesale electricity price is around GBP48/MWh. The talks are expected to continue for several weeks, the person said.
Whether EDF and the U.K. can reach an agreement is seen as a litmus test for nuclear energy and its economic viability in Europe……
The agreement links the strike price, which amounts to an indirect subsidy for nuclear power, to an inflation measure called the consumer price index, one of the people said. This would dramatically increase the costs to taxpayers, said Roland Vetter, head of research at CF Partners, an environment and energy advisory, trading and investment
firm.
“Indexation is important because it will increase the subsidies every year in line with inflation and the public therefore will carry thelong-term inflation risk in their electricity bills,…… http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323566804578553030018924570.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Rosatom (builder of Chernobyl reactor) aiming to sell nukes to Britain
Russians target Britain in nuclear power deal:This is Money, 16 June 13, Builder of reactor at Chernobyl has gained a toehold in UK market Britain has signed a deal with Moscow that could pave the way for Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom to build plants in Britain.
Energy Secretary Ed Davey has made an agreement with the deputy primeminister of Russia, Arkady Dvorkovich, to set up a joint working group between Rosatom and the UK on the future of nuclear power.
Rosatom has claimed that the deal could lead to the fulfilment of its longstanding ambition to build nuclear plants in this country.
The agreement, signed last week, comes while Britain is locked in fraught negotiations with French electricity group EDF over the terms to build a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset.
MPs have already warned that the Government is being held to ransom by EDF because it is the only group bidding for the contract.
Sergey Ruchkin, Rosatom’s new representative in the UK, said Rosatom was following the EDF deal closely. ‘We will learn lessons from EDF in this area,’ he said.
‘On the working level, we have been in contact with our colleagues from the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change and there is the potential at some time in the future, if the decision has been made,
to enter the British nuclear new-build market.’
Rosatom is essentially the same group that build the reactors at Chernobyl, one of which exploded in 1986. That blast was the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history. It released 400 times more radioactive material into the atmosphere thanthe atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during the Second World War….
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2342208/Russians-target-Britain-nuclear-power-deal-Builder-reactor-Chernobyl-gained-toehold-UK-market.html#ixzz2WVxeNBXC
Western powers want to sell nukes to India, never mind about the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)……
Western powers have taken a keen interest in the nuclear emergence of India …… making it an attractive
prospect for technology exporters.
If India joined the NSG, it would be the only member of the suppliers group that has not signed up to the 1970 nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT)
BRITAIN LOBBIES FOR NUCLEAR EXPORT GROUP TO ADMIT INDIA Yahoo 7 News, Reuters June 15, 2013 By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA – Britain has stepped up efforts to let India join an influential global body controlling nuclear exports, a move that would boost New Delhi’s standing as an atomic power but which has faced resistance from China and other countries. Continue reading
Could Britain achieve 100% renewable energy?
Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Italy, Spain and all these other European countries show that it is possible to do so. They are all out-classing Britain.A bright future, full of jobs and export potential, with far less global upheaval caused by climate chaos awaits us, if only the political will was thereEU: 100 Percent Renewable Energy Is Here, The Energy Collective, David Thorpe, 13 June 13 Britain can, clearly, do far better, never mind all the party political wrangling over support for green technologies. If other countries can do it, so can we.
UK wind power succeeding without need for fossil fuel backup
Fossil fuel plants not needed to back up UK wind http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/fossil-fuel-based-power-stations-unnecessary-to-back-up-wind-23670 By Joshua Hill 14 June 2013 An incidental note at the bottom of a wildlife article covering the culling of badgers in the UK newspaper the Daily Telegraph could have explosive results for the energy industry.
According to the addendum, a measly four paragraphs in length, the National Grid — the country’s electric grid operator — has reported that wind energy produced 23,700 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of power, requiring only 22 GWh of power from fossil fueled stations to fill the gaps: that is less than a thousandth of wind’s output, and ironically, less than a tenth of what was needed to back up conventional fossil fueled power stations.
The figures were similarly impressive when looking at emissions. According to the National Grid, wind saved nearly 11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the period accounted for (April 2011 through to September 2012) and required only 8,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions to be released as backup, measuring in at only 0.081%.
There is no easy information available on the National Grid website to confirm these figures referenced in the Daily Telegraph article, and furthermore the paper’s final sentence — “Not surprisingly, given these figures, no new fossil‑fuel power station has been built to provide back‑up for wind farms, and none is in prospect” — seems to be in direct contradiction to a BBC News story published this week, reporting that two diesel power stations are planned to compensate for fluctuations in green energy.
According to the article, Green Frog Power received planning permission last year to build its diesel power station in Plymouth, while Fulcrum Power has made an application for a similar power station in Plymouth, as well. Unsurprisingly, given the current climate surrounding the energy industry, both companies said that they support renewable energy. This article was originally posted on Cleantechnica. Re-produced with permission.
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