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

Nuclear waste dump near Great Lakes – a threat to 40 million people’s drinking water

“If this has to exist, it would make more sense away from the Great Lakes” where 40 million people get their drinking water”

Flood of concern over nuclear dump 3, By Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer, November 14, 2012 Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley is asking his fellow Great Lakes mayors to join him in raising concerns about plans to bury nuclear waste near Lake Huron. Continue reading →

November 15, 2012 Posted by | Canada, opposition to nuclear, wastes | Leave a comment

Concerns over transport of nuclear wastes through Northern Ontario

the project hasn’t been discussed enough in communities that might be close to the transportation corridors used to move the waste.

Nuclear waste disposal up for debate in northern Ontario MP hosting meetings across region to shed more light on plans to store nuclear waste in north CBC News   Nov 12, 2012   A northern Ontario MP is holding a series of town hall meetings about the possible transportation and disposal of nuclear waste in northern
Ontario to make sure everybody knows what the project entails. Continue reading →

November 15, 2012 Posted by | Canada, wastes | Leave a comment

Will ratepayers foot the big bill for restarting San Onofre nuclear power plant?

California Regulators Examining Troubled Nuclear Plant’s Costs Fox Business, October 25, 2012 California regulators said Thursday they would decide whether utility customers should pay to fix and restart the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant in a ruling likely to determine the plant’s future.
The nuclear plant, located on the Pacific Coast between Los Angeles and San Diego, has been shut since Jan. 31, when a pipe ruptured and released radioactive steam…

.. The company plans to restart part of the plant for a limited period, but needs approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission before it can proceed. The NRC has said a decision on that plan, filed earlier this month, will likely take several months.
Asked whether the company might delay its plans for the plant pending the CPUC’s decision on whether customers would foot the bill, a SoCal Edison spokeswoman declined to comment…..  http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/10/25/california-regulators-examining-troubled-nuclear-plant-costs/#ixzz2AR7GkP3a

October 26, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Canada | Leave a comment

Powerful opposition growing against nuclear waste in Saskatchewan

The Saskatchewan Aboriginal Women’s Circle Corporation of Saskatchewan also passed a resolution last year, opposing the transportation and storage of nuclear waste in Saskatchewan. The resolution was then adopted by the Native Women’s Association of Canada at its annual general assembly held in Saskatoon in August 2012.

Stopping Nuclear Waste in its Tracks Communities, Indigenous organizations pass resolutions against transportation and storage of nuclear waste in Saskatchewan The Dominion,  by SANDRA CUFFE, 8 Oct 12, Growing numbers of communities in Saskatchewan are vowing to block nuclear waste from being transported through their territory BEAUVAL, SK—Three places in northern Saskatchewan may be on the map in Canada’s search for a high-level radioactive waste dump site, but the spent nuclear fuel bundles may be stopped in their tracks.

 

Communities and Indigenous organizations along potential transport routes and
beyond have been passing resolutions against nuclear waste. Continue reading →

October 9, 2012 Posted by | Canada, opposition to nuclear, wastes | Leave a comment

Costly radiation remediation at Port Hope

Port Hope radiation: $464,615 spent to remediate $130,000 house thestar.com  October 05, 2012 PORT HOPE, ONT.—It started in the attic. Wally Davis wanted to build a room in the attic of his house. Since he lives in Port Hope, he couldn’t just go ahead and do it. He went to the Low Level Radioactive Waste Management Office, a federal agency, requested the file on his property and asked them to test for remnants of historic radioactive waste.

“There was contamination in the roof, on the floors, in the walls . . . everywhere in the house,” said Davis, 75, a retired Ontario Hydro employee.

In July 2011, Davis and his wife, Carole, were relocated to neighbouring Cobourg as agency staff started remediation work. The couple returned to their two-bedroom, 1,000-square-foot home this July and discovered that except for the outer walls, it had been essentially rebuilt.

“They did a superb job,” Davis said.

They did indeed. The waste management office spent $464,615 to clean up the house Davis bought a decade ago for $125,000 — or $130,000, he can’t remember.

“We didn’t have a clue how much they spent,” said Davis when the Star told him that almost a half-million dollars had been used to remediate his home.

“They didn’t tell us,” he said. “That is a lot of money.”The Davis home on Bruton St., in a leafy old part of town, is about two kilometres from the waterfront. It has a red-brick façade, an attached garage and a large front and back yard. There’s a shed in the back and a Canadian flag fluttering on a tall post.

Port Hope, the picture-pretty lakeside town about 110 kilometres east of Toronto, will soon see the biggest cleanup of historic radioactive waste in Canadian history. Fifty years of radium and uranium refining at the Cameco refinery, formerly Crown corporation Eldorado Nuclear Ltd., has left contamination spread around the town…. http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1267186–port-hope-radiation-464-615-spent-to-remediate-130-000-house

October 5, 2012 Posted by | Canada, environment, Uranium | Leave a comment

Florida Supreme Court considers the forced up front fees for planned nuclear reactors

The advance fee forced down customer throats by state law is “practical” only because Wall Street financiers of nuclear power plants won’t touch such projects. Too pricey. Too risky. Too – wait for it – uncompetitive.

State’s highest court should end forced fees to pay for nuclear power plants By Robert Trigaux, Tampa Bay Times Business Columnist   Oct 01, 2012 It’s a big week for many Floridians, their wallets and their energy bills.

On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court takes a closer look at a 2006 state law that may go to the very top in my personal Guinness Book of Stupid Legislation.

That law forces Florida customers to pay for their utility’s proposed nuclear power plants long before they are built or begin operation. If the utility decides not to build the plant, it can keep much of the money it has already squeezed out of customers. We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars already. Continue reading →

October 3, 2012 Posted by | Canada, Legal | Leave a comment

Canada joins the feeding frenzy to sell off nuclear technology to India

Canada turns page, wants to sell nuclear reactors to India Indrani Bagchi, TNN | Sep 13, 2012 NEW DELHI: Canada wants to sell nuclear reactors to India. Putting behind a troubled nuclear history with India, Canadian foreign minister John Baird said, “We have turned the page with India. India is a very different country today.”….. A
nuclear deal between Canada and India signed in 2010 is yet to be operationalized, waiting for a follow-up end-user agreement. After meeting Baird on Wednesday, Krishna said, “We also look forward toearly completion of negotiations on Appropriate Arrangements for the
bilateral Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement signed in 2010.”

Acknowledging that the agreement was “actively discussed”, Baird said, “We’re readying an end-user pact with India, same thing we have with 42 countries. We’re not asking for or imposing any additional obligations on India.”

Canada is emerging as a favourite source for energy and resources for India… http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Canada-turns-page-wants-to-sell-nuclear-reactors-to-India/articleshow/16375962.cms

September 13, 2012 Posted by | Canada, politics | Leave a comment

Quebec to close down its nuclear reactor

Quebec will close, rather than refurbish, its only nuclear reactor. Montreal Gazette, 12 Set 12, Nearly 30 years after it went into operation, it appears the days are numbered for Quebec’s only operating nuclear power plant.

A spokesperson for the Parti Québécois said the newly-elected government will go ahead with a plan to close Gentilly-2 in Bécancour. The party has wanted to do it since December 2009, Éric Gamache said….

. Gordon Edwards, a mathematician and president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, said after it is closed, Gentilly-2 could be transformed into a centre of expertise on dismantling nuclear power plants. Nearly 100 nuclear power plants in
the U.S. will soon come to the end of their natural life, creating a “great” opportunity for Trois-Rivières, he said. http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2012/09/12/parti-quebecois-says-it-will-keep-promise-to-close-gentilly-2-nuclear-power-plant/

September 13, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Canada, decommission reactor, employment | Leave a comment

Where to put Canada’s 2358873 radioactive used nuclear fuel bundles?

Nuclear waste seeks a home The Star.com  September 01, 2012“………A fuel bundle for a Candu nuclear power reactor is about the size of a fireplace log. As of June 30, 2011, Canada had 2,273,873 used fuel bundles stored at its nuclear plants in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.

Another 85,000 or so have been added since then.

In total, they’d fill about six NHL hockey rinks, stacked up as high
as the boards.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization, formed by the three electric utilities that run nuclear reactors, wants to bury the waste deep underground in caverns excavated from stable rock, where it can lie undisturbed forever.

The depth will probably depend on the site’s geology. A facility proposed to hold less-potent radioactive waste at the Bruce nuclear site near Kincardine will be 680 metres deep. By comparison, the CN Tower is 553 metres tall.

The NWMO is looking for a “willing” community to agree to take the $16-to-$24-billion project. The host community itself will decide how to define “willing.” Candidate communities will have multiple opportunities to withdraw if they get cold feet, the NWMO says.

As it moves through a nine-stage selection process, the NWMO hopes to have narrowed the field to one or two communities by 2015, then spend until about 2020 deciding on a specific site within the chosen community.

After that, it will take three to five years to do an extensive environmental assessment of the site. The proponents will also have to satisfy the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission that their plan makes sense, and obtain a license to construct and operate the facility.

Then, it will take six to 10 years to build. The NWMO doesn’t expect the first bundles to be stored until 2035…. http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1250109–nuclear-waste-seeks-a-home#.UEH_alKdoKU.twitter

September 3, 2012 Posted by | Canada, wastes | 1 Comment

Canada’s Liberal Party being secretive about plans for uranium mining in Quebec

Uranium, asbestos, metros and a boat colour campaign quarrels   http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/uranium-asbestos-metros-and-a-boat-colour-campaign-quarrels-1.934969#ixzz259lPPD00  Aug. 29, 2012 MONTREAL – The three major parties were out hustling for votes on day 29 of the election campaign, but it was one of the smaller groups that was on the attack Wednesday.

The tiny Quebec Solidaire was on the offensive against the Liberals’ Northern Plan, which, it says, involves inadequately disclosed plans to mine uranium.
QS co-spokesman and Mercier MNA Amir Khadir said that the extension of Highway 167, financed mostly by the province, is aimed at helping extract and transport uranium, as is a railroad to Kuujjuaq, partially funded by the Caisse de depot.

Khadir argued that the Liberals have presented the Northern Plan as a method to mine gold and diamonds as well as other safer goods…..

August 31, 2012 Posted by | Canada, politics | Leave a comment

Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) Darlington nuclear station polluting Lake Ontario

 Darlington takes its cooling water directly from Lake Ontario and in so doing sucks up and kills millions of fish annually.  The station’s hot, chemical laden waste water is then dumped back into Lake Ontario.

Protect Lake Ontario: Stop Darlington Greenpeace Canada by Shawn-Patrick Stensil – August 24, 2012   Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) Darlington nuclear station has been killing millions of fish every year, in contravention of federal environmental law. You can help stop this.
At public hearings in 2011, a representative from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) admitted that OPG had been operating Darlington in contravention of the Fisheries Act for years.  So while aware that Darlington was flouting the law, DFO did nothing to enforce the Fisheries Act, which is intended to protect fish and fish habitat.
This has caused a great deal of harm to Lake Ontario.
Nuclear stations need massive amounts of water to prevent the reactor core from overheating and causing an accident.
This is why people visualize large cooling towers emitting steam when they think of nuclear stations.  Cooling towers are installed to protect aquatic ecosystems.  They allow cooling water to be recycled instead of continually sucked from a lake.
The Darlington nuclear station is a dirty exception. Continue reading →

August 27, 2012 Posted by | Canada, environment | Leave a comment

Can we trust Nuclear Regulatory Commission to study radiation risks?

Nuclear Regulatory Commission may study power plant health risks Agency considers conducting a large-scale epidemiological study of whether living near a nuclear power plant, such as San Onofre,  raises health risks. Doing so would pose major challenges.By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times August 18, 2012,  
The last time federal officials assessed cancer rates in the communities surrounding nuclear power plants, they concluded that radiation releases were insignificant and health risks, if any, were too small to measure.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissionhas been relying on the results of that 1990 National Cancer Institute study ever since to inform the public about cancer risks posed by the 104 licensed reactors it governs nationwide.

Now, in response to growing concerns that using uranium in the production of electrical energy may be dangerous even without accidents, the NRC is trying to decide if it should launch one of the largest epidemiological studies ever conducted to determine if it is a
health risk to live near a nuclear facility — such as the San Onofre plant in north San Diego County….. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0818-sanonofre-cancer-20120819,0,3382517.story

August 20, 2012 Posted by | Canada, health | Leave a comment

Permanent ban on uranium determined by James Bay Cree Nation

James Bay Cree Nation enacts permanent uranium moratorium in James Bay territory, The First Perspective (Canada)   Crees “determined to protect our way of life against the unique and grave threat posed by uranium mining and waste, today and for thousands of years to come”. Waskaganish, QC, Aug. 9, 2012 – The James Bay Cree Nation has declared a Permanent Moratorium on uranium exploration, uranium mining and uranium waste emplacement in Eeyou Istchee, the James Bay Cree territory. The permanent moratorium was enacted unanimously by the Annual Cree Nation General Assembly in Waskaganish.

“The risks inherent in uranium exploration, mining, milling, refining and transport, and in radioactive and toxic uranium mining waste, are incompatible with our stewardship responsibilities in Eeyou Istchee,” the Resolution declares.
“The Cree Nation is determined to protect our economies and way of life against the unique and grave threat posed by uranium mining and uranium waste, today and for thousands of years to come,” said Grand Chief Dr. Matthew Coon Come. “We are not opposed to sustainable and equitable mining and other industrial and resource development activities in Eeyou Istchee – but the toxic and radiation risks created by uranium mining and uranium waste are unique in scale and duration.” Continue reading →

August 11, 2012 Posted by | Canada, indigenous issues | Leave a comment

« Canadian Nuclear Expert: Reactor is releasing 200 trillion becquerels of tritium every year — Becomes a part of your body and all living things — Gives off beta particles which produce damage that can result in cancer (AUDIO)
http://enenews.com/govt-releases-last-years-tests-contamination-detected-sea-japan-airborne-material-blamed-includes-niigata-shizuoka-iwate
  July 2012: Fukushima Man has 20,000 becquerels of cesium in body —
Wife has 10,000 Bq »
Gov’t Releases Last Year’s Tests: “Contamination detected even in the
Sea of Japan” — “Airborne material” blamed — Includes Niigata,
Shizuoka, and Iwate

August 5th, 2012
By ENENews
Title: Radioactive cesium found off of Niigata, Shizuoka, Iwate
coasts: gov’t study
Source: Mainichi
Date: August 4, 2012
Radioactive cesium likely from the Fukushima nuclear disaster was
detected last year in a survey of ocean waters and fish off Niigata,
Shizuoka, and Iwate prefectures, the government announced on Aug. 3.
“Even if taken internally, the radiation levels detected are not a
risk to human health,” the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology stated. The ministry added it believes the
small amount of contamination detected even in the Sea of Japan off
Niigata was probably originally airborne material that made it to
coastal waters through rain and river courses.

[…] […]

Test results:
In May last year that there were 9.1 millibecquerels of radioactive
cesium per liter of seawater off Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture
In December, the survey found two becquerels per kilogram in a type of
flounder in [Shizuoka]
In May last year, the survey found dried sea floor dirt from the
southeast of Sado Island […] was contaminated with 31 becquerels of
cesium per kilogram
In the ocean off Yamada, Iwate Prefecture […] 0.7 becquerels per
liter of seawater were detected in May 2011

August 8, 2012 Posted by | Canada, health | Leave a comment

Canada’s govt landing tax-payers with unnecessary nuclear power costs

Greens want Ontario nuclear costs reviewed  BY JONATHAN JENKINS    Toronto Sun,  JULY 12, 2012   TORONTO – Ontario’s Green Party is asking for an independent review of all nuclear costs in Ontario.

“Protecting our pocketbooks from nuclear cost overruns is clearly not a priority for the McGuinty government,” Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said in a news release.

“Every nuclear project in Ontario’s history has gone over budget. It’s an irresponsible waste of our money to pay $26 million for the nuclear industry to study their own costs.”….

Ontario suspended plans to build the two new reactors in 2009 after costs estimate from three companies — Westinghouse, Candu and Areva — came in far above what the government had been expecting.

But now that Bentley is restarting the process by paying Westinghouse and Candu to submit estimates, New Democrat energy critic Peter Tabuns called the expense “just crazy”.

“Giving people tens of millions of dollars just to prepare a bid on a contract, I just don’t think is reasonable,” Tabuns said. “OPG is a big sophisticated organization with its own staff. They can do their own analysis.”

Ontario now has a surplus of electrical generation and running what it has is very expensive, Tabuns said. Building more nuclear now — even if it’s just to replace aging units at Pickering — risks blowing the budget.

“Why would we go back to a mid-twentieth century technology?” he said.“Whatever they put forward (on cost), double it. If they’re saying $10 to $14 billion, then it’s probably going to be $20 to $30 billion.” http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/12/greens-want-ontario-nuclear-costs-reviewed

July 13, 2012 Posted by | Canada, politics | Leave a comment

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