America’s latest nuclear bomb test – an act of hypocrisy
American Nuclear Hypocrisy , 09 December 2012 By Elias Akleh“…….The American nuclear hypocrisy was lately demonstrated when the US National Nuclear Security Administration had detonated plutonium in a deep shaft in Nevada National Security Site on Wednesday 12/5/2012, allegedly to test the safety and effectiveness of the American nuclear weapons. The test, known as Pollux, was conducted jointly by the Nevada National Security Site, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories. International inspectors were not allowed to witness the test since the US had prevented access to its test sites since late 1990s.
Let us not forget that the US is the only country that used nuclear bombs against civilians in 1945. The US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima incinerating at least 140 thousand civilians in seconds. Three days later the US dropped another nuclear bomb on Nagazaki incinerating further 70 thousand civilians. Hundreds of thousands others died later due to radiation. http://mwcnews.net/focus/editorial/23374-eliasakleh-nuclear-hypocrisy.html
USA’s nuclear industry making big, costly, effort to prepare for nuclear disasters
Nuclear industry plans rescue wagon for disasters, Canadian Business By AP | December 09, 2012 “…….The FLEX program is supposed to help nuclear plants handle the biggest disasters. The equipment is meant to assist in the most critical tasks during a crisis: keeping nuclear fuel cool, keeping radioactive barriers intact and making sure old stores of used nuclear fuel don’t overheat. If a cooling system fails and nuclear fuel gets too hot, the heat and pressure can rupture a reactor or even cause explosions that send radiation into the environment.
Utility companies must tell federal regulators early next year what equipment they are buying as part of the effort. Those supplies could include portable pumps, generators, batteries and chargers, compressors, hoses, tools and temporary flood barriers, according to
industry plans filed with the NRC. Plant operators started buying some of this supplemental equipment to comply with disaster rules stemming from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The cost for individual plants is not yet clear……
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/109526–nuclear-industry-plans-rescue-wagon-for-disasters
USA’s abandoned uranium mines – need for federal funded cleanup
Congressmen press uranium mine cleanups http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/politics/congressmen-press-uranium-mine-cleanups 06 Dec 2012, ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Two members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation are pushing for a House vote on legislation that would free up federal funding to clean up abandoned uranium mines.
U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., say House
approval is needed to get the bill to the president’s desk. Pearce and
Lujan spelled out their request in a letter to House leaders on
Wednesday.
The legislation was introduced by U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. The
Senate has already voted unanimously in favor of the bill.
Under the Abandoned Mine Land program, the federal government collects
revenue from coal companies to fund abandoned mine cleanup. Each state receives a share of the money, but the program currently restricts the
ability of states to use the money for cleaning up
Federal authority orders operator of San Onofre nuclear plant to hand over documents
APNewsBreak: Dispute over records at nuclear plant, HUFFINGTON POST, MICHAEL R. BLOOD | December 7, 2012 LOS ANGELES — A federal board Friday ordered the operator of a shuttered nuclear power plant in California to turn over dozens of pages of documents that were withheld when the company submitted a plan to restart one of its damaged twin reactors.
The records at issue were prepared by industry experts who have helped Southern California Edison investigate why the San Onofre plant’s nearly new steam generators caused excessive wear to hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water…..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121207/us-nuclear-plant-problems/?utm_hp_ref=travel&ir=travel
Idaho National Laboratory – problems with nuclear safety
Feds identify weaknesses with nuclear safety team KOMO News.com By Associated Press : Dec 9, 2012 IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – U.S. Department of Energy inspectors have found a handful of weaknesses in the Idaho National Laboratory team responsible for protecting special nuclear material at the eastern Idaho research facility.
Agency officials identified the shortcomings in a Nov. 30 report that looked at INL’s Tactical Response Force, singling out problems with equipment, coordination and communication. The report suggested those weaknesses could contribute to confusion or even public injury if
nuclear material used in research was ever stolen from the site……
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Feds-identify-weaknesses-with-nuclear-safety-team-182740501.html
Huge solar energy installation in New York
Big New York install marks new era for renewable energy firm, Clean Energy Authority.com December 09, 2012 by Amanda H. Miller While one of the largest rooftop solar installations in New York marks a shift in the state’s energy policy, it’s an even bigger milestone for the company that installed it.
The 1-megawatt solar installation that covers a rooftop the size of two football fields in Yonkers, New York, is Half Moon Ventures first solar installation ever.
The Illinois company decided a couple years ago to shift its course completely. It had been focused on utility-scale wind energy projects. “We decided strategically that it was time to exit that business,” said Half Moon CEO Michael Hastings.
Since then, the company has focused on developing smaller renewable energy projects for municipalities and corporations that are used to paying high rates for power. “The onsite generation market is markedly better than the utility-scale market,” Hastings said….. http://www.cleanenergyauthority.com/solar-energy-news/big-new-york-install-marks-new-era-120912
USA cancelled Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone conference
The US and Israel should welcome the conference if curbing Iranian nuclear programme is their real concern. Iran had explicitly welcomed the conference and vowed its full participation and cooperation. During his August 2012 visit to Iran UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited Ayatollah Khamenei, who reiterated Iran’s stand on a ME nuclear weapons-free zone and that the UN should make serious efforts to allay the concerns regarding nuclear weapons. Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the UN IAEA told reporters: “Iran is determined to participate actively in the Helsinki conference … We are of the strong belief that all countries should be mobilizing themselves to make sure that this noble goal of a Middle East free from all the weapons of mass destruction will be realized.” Iran is the present Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and is very active in pushing for nuclear-free zone in the ME. The NAM, the largest international organization after the UN, with 120 members, had dismissed the US allegations for cancelling the conference, and has demanded that Israel join the NPT.
American Nuclear Hypocrisy http://mwcnews.net/focus/editorial/23374-eliasakleh-nuclear-hypocrisy.html, 09 December 2012 By Elias Akleh Hypocrisy is the most prominent characteristic of the successive American administrations. The observer could easily detect this hypocrisy when it comes to administration’s policies towards the Middle Eastern countries generally and towards the Palestinians specifically.
One of the administration’s latest hypocritical acts was the cancellation of the Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone conference that was scheduled mid this month in Helsinki, Finland. Continue reading
USA bullying Japan into keeping nuclear power
On 22 September the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper reported that the US Government had demanded that no cabinet decision endorsing the strategy be made. Other newspapers reported that the US Government was pressuring Japan to abandon its nuclear phase out aspirations.
More recently a series of statements by former senior US officials and advisors suggests a concerted campaign could be underway to intimidate the Japanese Government
whatever the outcome [of Japan’s election], Japan is undergoing a historic shift in its energy policy. The Japanese people need international support in this process, but they don’t need to be bullied.
Why America Wants A Nuclear Japan, New Matilda, 7 Dec 12 In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, most Japanese voters want the country’s nuclear power plants to be permanently closed down – but the US has other ideas, writes Philip White
On 14 September this year, one and a half years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, the Japanese Government released an unprecedented document.
The “Innovative Energy and Environment Strategy”, the culmination of a year-long policy review process, set the previously unthinkable target of zero nuclear energy by the end of the 2030s. In resolving to phase out nuclear energy, the Japanese Government did what it had never done before in the energy policy field: it allowed itself to be influenced
by the will of the people.
The backlash was immediate. Business groups banded together to condemn the strategy, governors of prefectures hosting nuclear facilities expressed concern about the future of these facilities and, perhaps equally significant, the governments of France, the UK and the United States communicated their displeasure. In the face of this onslaught the government went weak at the knees and failed to give the strategy formal cabinet endorsement…… Continue reading
Hanford radioactive cleanup money leads to growth of Tri Cities area
The New Economy: Extreme radioactive contamination responsible for US’s fastest growing metro area http://enenews.com/new-economy-extreme-radioactive-contamination-responsible-uss-fastest-growing-metro-area December 6th, 2012
Title: Tri-Cities combine for nation’s fastest-growing metro area, boosted by federal money to mop up Hanford
Source: The Oregonian
Author: Richard Cockle
Date: December 05, 2012
Tri-Cities combine for nation’s fastest-growing metro area, boosted by federal money to mop up Hanford Continue reading
New charges against anti nuclear nun – carry 20 years’ gaol
Watch: US gov’t charges nun, anti-nuclear activists with sabotage (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/watch-us-govt-charges-anti-nuclear-activists-with-sabotage-video December 6th, 2012
Title: Nuke Protesters Jailed http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/anti-nuclear-protestors-vandalism-u.s./50c0a94d02a76018a1000004
Source: Huffington Post
Date: December 6, 2012
h/t Anonymous tip
Three anti-nuclear activists, including a nun, are charged under the Federal Sabotage Act for vandalizing the walls of a uranium facility with blood and peace messages.
[…] As part of an updated indictment announced on Wednesday, Greg Boertje-Obed, Michael Walli and Sister Megan Rice could spend 20 years in prison for the felony crime of injuring national-defense premises under the Sabotage Act. Continue reading
Reluctant whistleblowers charge NRC with secrecy about safety
Nuclear Power Whistleblowers Charge Federal Regulators With Favoring Secrecy Over Safety HUFFINGTON POST, 12/04/2012 Richard H. Perkins and Larry Criscione are precise and formal men with more than 20 years of combined government and military service. Perkins held posts at the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration before joining the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Division of Risk Analysis in 2008. Criscione landed at the agency a year later, after five years aboard the USS Georgia as a submarine warfare officer.
Now both men are also reluctant whistleblowers, stepping out publicly to accuse the NRC of being both disconcertingly sluggish and inappropriately secretive about severe — and in one case, potentially catastrophic — flood risks at nuclear plants that sit downstream from large dams. Continue reading
Exelon a powerful nuclear bully against the public interest
Nuclear Giant Exelon Back to Bullying Wind Energy, The Green Miles, by Miles Grant, 3 Dec 12 Nuclear power giant Exelon is once again complaining that wind power makes electricity prices too low. On page 21 of Exelon’s new report slamming government support for wind energy:
[S]ubsidized wind generation also exacerbates artificially low electric prices, thus imposing economic harm.
on competitive generators that are needed to maintain system reliability.
Aw, poor little Exelon! Considering the company brought in $19 billion in revenue last year while dumping vast amounts of carbon pollution into the air at no charge, I bet that cheap wind power had Exelon executives crying in their Johnnie Walker Blue.
Exelon isn’t poor or little – it’s a big, powerful bully that has no problem putting its best interests ahead of your family’s best interests. Exelon spent $9.2 million on lobbying last year, just one of many electric utilities fighting to protect our dirty, expensive energy status quo. The entire alternative energy industry – from wind to solar to biofuels – spent $28.6 million. Continue reading
Church rock uranium radiation disaster – never ending tragedy
The Curse of the Yellow Powder, Bacon’s Rebellion, by Rose Jenkins December 2, 2012 Is it possible to restore a landscape damaged by uranium? Ask the Navajo in New Mexico.
This fall, near Teddy Nez’s house on the Navajo reservation near Gallup, N.M., men in earth-moving equipment were scraping away the topsoil, up to three feet deep, which had been contaminated by radioactivity from abandoned uranium mines. In earlier phases of this project, starting in 2007, crews had torn out 100-year-old junipers and piñon pines and had clawed earth away from the remainingtrees, which weakened them, even after replacement soil was trucked in. The machines had flayed hillsides, whose cover of flowering shrubs and fragrant herbs has yet to grow back. “It looks like a B-52 hit it,” Nez told me, recalling an image from his service in Vietnam.
On our way to his house, Nez pointed out a notch in a bank of yellow grassland at the head of an arroyo. That’s where the Church Rock uranium mill tailings dam broke in 1979, releasing over 1,000 tons of radioactive wastes and millions of gallons of highly acidic water into the Puerco River, an intermittent stream that flows toward the Colorado River. The Church Rock dam failure was the largest radioactive release in U.S. history, by volume — larger than the Three Mile Island disaster the same year.
Nez’s house was upstream of the breached dam but the ground around it was contaminated by dust drifting off of the mountainous piles of waste rock from two nearby uranium mines, which have been out of production for almost 30 years. Nez believes that the continuous exposure has made him and his family sick. His whole family suffers from respiratory problems, he says — himself, his five children, and his seven grandchildren.
For years, he and his neighbors fought for a clean-up, he says, but nothing happened. Finally, in 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) informed them that their situation was an emergency. Radiation levels at Nez’s home measured up to ten times higher than normal background levels for the area……
what I saw in Navajo country made me wonder how much you can really clean up after uranium, if contaminants get into the soil, the water, the air, the plants, the animals……http://www.baconsrebellion.com/2012/12/the-curse-of-the-yellow-powder.html
Hillary Clinton lobbyist for USA nuclear industry
Clinton in Prague to Lobby for Westinghouse Nuclear Bid, December 2, 2012 PRAGUE (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will seek to convince Czech leaders of the advantages of picking U.S. firm Westinghouse over a Russian rival as the contractor for a $10 billion nuclear reactor project in meetings in Prague on Monday…..
Westinghouse, a unit of Japanese firm Toshiba Corp, is competing with
Russia’s Atomstroyexport, which is bidding in a consortium with a
Russian-owned Czech group.
U.S. officials said formal negotiations between the two bidders and
the Czech government are expected to start in December, with a
decision on the contractor expected in the spring.
Clinton is due to meet Prime Minister Petr Necas and Foreign Minister
Karel Schwarzenberg on Monday morning.
“There will be the opportunity for the Secretary to support …
Westinghouse,” a senior State Department official told reporters……
Clinton’s visit to Prague follows one by U.S. Assistant Secretary of
Commerce Nicole Lamb-Hale last week. Lamb-Hale said the U.S.
Export-Import Bank was interested in financing the deal if
Westinghouse were picked.
The Czech Republic’s bid to expand its nuclear capacity has run into
opposition from neighbors Austria and Germany. Clinton will share a
conference table with the foreign ministers of these countries, as
well as with Russia, when she attends a meeting of the NATO military
alliance in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/12/02/world/europe/02reuters-czech-energy-clinton.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
What uranium mining and milling have done to Navajo lands
The Curse of the Yellow Powder, Bacon’s Rebellion, by Rose Jenkins December 2, 2012 Is it possible to restore a landscape damaged by uranium? Ask the Navajo in New Mexico. “……There are 520 abandoned uranium mines in the Navajo Nation. Navajo territory extends over 27,000 square miles in the Four Corners area of the American Southwest. In this sparsely populated desert, approximately 30% of the population is not connected to a public water supply, so people drink from the sources available, including springs and private wells.
Out of approximately 375 Navajo water sources tested by various agencies, according to data compiled by SRIC, more than a quarter contain excess levels of contaminants that could derive from uranium operations — including arsenic in 17% and uranium in 10%.
In response, the EPA shut down three of the most contaminated sources. The agency is also working with local partners, including SRIC,to publicize warnings about hazardous water sources and to provide safe drinking water for thousands of homes. That addresses people’s immediate needs, but it doesn’t resolve the underlying problem — the polluted groundwater.
I asked the EPA if there was any chance the groundwater could ever be treated enough to be safe to drink.
“Our first goal is to make sure people are not being exposed to contaminated groundwater,” Rusty Harris-Bishop, an EPA spokesperson, told me………
In Yellow Dirt, journalist Judy Pasternak describes how thoroughly the leavings of uranium operations infiltrated Navajo people’s lives. Pregnant women drank water from lakes left by pit mines. Families built foundations and stucco walls out of the sandy mine wastes. Children played on tailings piles. Livestock grazed around the mouths of unreclaimed mines (and still do, according to a recentNew York Times article). Pasternak chronicles case after case of lung cancer, stomach cancer, children with deformities — death after death.
The Navajo decided that they have reason enough to be done with uranium extraction, at least while so many problems remain. In 2005, the tribe passed the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act, banning uranium mining and milling on their lands. The act states as its purpose: “to ensure that no further damage to the culture, society and economy of the Navajo Nation occurs because of uranium mining… [and] processing, until all adverse environmental, economic and human health impacts from past uranium mining and processing have been eliminated or substantially reduced.”……” http://www.baconsrebellion.com/2012/12/the-curse-of-the-yellow-powder.html
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