Is Edison planning to keep San Onofre nuclear plant permanently closed?
San Onofre layoffs raise questions about nuclear plant’s future LA Times, August 21, 2012 | More than six months after a leaking steam generator tube prompted a complete shutdown of the San Onofre nuclear power plant, Southern California Edison officials announced plans to lay off nearly one-third of its workforce, leading many to wonder if the troubled plant would ever fully reopen. Continue reading
USA lucky it was a nun, not a terrorist, breaking into nuke site
“We were lucky in that regard that it was the nun and her cohorts, rather than a serious terrorist outfit,”
Intrusion embarrasses ‘Fort Knox of uranium’, Google News, By ERIK SCHELZIG, Associated Press – 19 Aug OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) — Officials like to refer to the Y-12 National Security Complex as the Fort Knox for highly enriched uranium, which is why an unprecedented incursion by an 82-year-old nun and two fellow protesters has critics mocking the notion that the weapons plant is secure…..
Y-12 makes uranium parts for every warhead in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, dismantles old weapons and is the nation’s primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium…. Continue reading
USA’s Treasure Island hid nasty radiation secret
residents were not fully informed about contamination. “They should have been more open and upfront, because there would have been people who would have chosen not to live here,”
Treasure Island radiation discovery casts shadow over expansion plans
Contamination left by US navy found to have 400 times the EPA’s human exposure limits, but military branch denies report Rory Carroll in Los Angeles guardian.co.uk, 17 August 2012 It was called Treasure Island in honour of Robert Louis Stevenson’s pirate classic, but the artificial island off San Francisco bay has nothing but trouble buried in its soil: radioactive contamination left by the US navy.
Internal documents and emails from the navy and public health officials reveal that the contamination, a legacy of ships exposed to atomic blasts and radiation training during the cold war, is more widespread than previously thought. Continue reading
Clear that USA pursues Julian Assange, while Australian government feigns ignorance
US in pursuit of Assange, cables reveal,The Age, August 18, 
2012, Philip DorlingAUSTRALIAN diplomats have no doubt the United States is still gunning for Julian Assange, according to Foreign Affairs Department documents obtained by The Saturday Age. The Australian embassy in Washington has been tracking a US espionage investigation targeting the WikiLeaks publisher for more than 18 months.
The declassified diplomatic cables, released under freedom of information laws, show Australia’s diplomatic service takes seriously the likelihood that Assange will eventually be extradited to the US on charges arising from WikiLeaks obtaining leaked US military and diplomatic documents.
This view is at odds with Foreign Minister Bob Carr’s repeated dismissal of such a prospect. Continue reading
3 out of 4 Americans want clean, renewable, energy
U.S., Facing Drought, Wants More Clean Energy, Poll Says By Bloomberg – Aug 17, 2012 Three out of four Americans think the U.S. needs “to start focusing more” on clean-energy sources like wind and solar that require less water than conventional power generation as the country faces its most widespread drought since 1956, according to a think-tank survey.
The concern about water and its use is shared by 61 percent of Republicans, 84 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of independents, the Newton, Massachusetts-based, non-partisan Civil Society Institute said yesterday in a statement.
The Palmer Drought Index reported on Aug. 15 that drought covered 57.2 percent of the contiguous 48 states in July, the worst since December 1956, when 57.6 percent of the country was dry. About 50 percent of U.S. water withdrawn on average is used to cool and make steam at power plants, Seth Sheldon, an analyst at the institute, said in the statement…. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-16/u-s-facing-drought-wants-more-clean-energy-poll-says.html
Injustice USA: Bradley Manning needs our help
Save human rights whistleblower Bradley Manning! Why this is important
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Save_human_rights_whistleblower_Bradley_Manning/?wnQTQbb Accused WikiLeaks whistleblower and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Bradley
Manning will spend the rest of his life in prison for telling the public the truth, if US officials get their way. Government conduct, apparently aimed at discouraging whistleblowers, has ignored due process and made a fair trial impossible. But, in the past, outrageous government conduct has led judges to dismiss the charges against whistleblowers. Tell the judge in Bradley’s military Court Martial to do the same!
– Bradley was held in pre-trial solitary confinement for 11 months, in conditions condemned by the UN Rapporteur on Torture as “cruel, inhuman and degrading,” including being stripped and made to stand naked at roll call. This was a clear violation of the US military’s
Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ: Article 13). Yet, only worldwide outrage–including over 500,000 Avaaz members signing a petition–ended this illegal treatment. Continue reading
Wikileakes revealed the collusion of USA and Australia against ElBaradei
US, Australia schemed against IAEA chief: cable BUSINESS RECORDER The United States and Australia schemed unsuccessfully in 2005 to block Mohamed ElBaradei’s election to a third term as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a newly leaked US diplomatic cable shows.
Both countries were unhappy with ElBaradei’s “unhelpful” response to Iran’s nuclear program, but the bid to prevent his re-election to the nuclear regulatory agency’s leadership ultimately failed for lack of international support. Continue reading
Governments’ history of covering up radiation danger
Radiation Danger Covered Up Ever Since Nuclear Weapons Invented http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=32390 Global Research, August 17, 2012 Government Has Been Covering up Radiation Danger for 67 Years The U.S. and other governments have been covering up nuclear meltdowns for fifty years to protect the nuclear power industry.
It turns out that the U.S. tried to cover up the destructive nature of radiation produced by nuclear weapons 67 years ago. As Democracy Nowreports:
The army was well aware in 1943 of the enormous potential for radiation dangers to civilians and military personnel as a result of the use of radioactive weapons ….
[The New York Times] was essentially putting out the official government narrative [regarding the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki], which is that atomic radiation is not harmful, is not a major byproduct of the nuclear weapons program. You know, it’s only the blast that has essentially a very short impact. The reason that this has importance is that for really a half century, this narrative became the government’s response to all protests against nuclear power, the nuclear weapons programs of the 1950s and 1960s and the Cold War. So, [The New York Times] essentially set the table that the government was to occupy for the next half century as they disputed any attempt to rein in, you know, the rapid acceleration of nuclear weapons and power programs.
Nothing has changed. Governments worldwide continue to this day to cover up the amount – and health effects – of radiation released by military and energy facilities.
And the same considerations which drove the cover up in 1945 are still driving it. The archaic uranium reactor designs developed more than 40 years ago are good for making bombs.
Dubious ‘safety culture’ at Tennessee Nuclear Weapons Facility
Workers at Tennessee Nuclear Facility Say Safety Takes Backseat to Deadlines Project on Government Oversight (POGO) By MIA STEINLE, 17 Aug 12 Some workers who are designing and building a major nuclear weapons facility for the government say they feel pressure to put deadlines ahead of safety, according to a recent Department of Energy report
“Interviewees indicated that schedule pressures can inhibit reporting of concerns,” the report said. “The heavy emphasis on performance metrics and cost, often at the perceived expense of understanding and developing the right technology, has created issues for the completion of the project,” the report said.
The June report focused on part of the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., that is intended to consolidate operations involving bomb-grade uranium for the nation’s nuclear arsenal. When completed, the Uranium Processing Facility will be used for the assembly, disassembly and storage of bomb components and of bomb-grade uranium, according to its website.
The report was posted on a government web site just days after a major security breach at Y-12 last month, when three protesters, including an 82-year-old nun, broke into a high-security area of Y-12. The anti-nuclear activists bypassed security guards and several fences to enter the complex, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported. The new uranium facility is being built in the same high-security area.
A team of external safety culture experts evaluating the ongoing design and construction work for the Department of Energy interviewed and surveyed more than 800 people involved in the project. Those interviewed are employed by the government or by private companies under contract to the government……
The report said there are “negative perceptions around feeling free to challenge management decisions” at the site. It added that there is “a lack of ownership and accountability for safety” among contractors on the project.
“There is the expectation [among the contractors] that someone else or something else will take care of accountability,” the report said. http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/08/workers-at-tennessee-nuclear-facility-say-safety-takes-backseat-to-deadlines.html
Eastern Connecticut’s nuclear waste problem
if no national repository is built, the nuclear waste will have to stay there forever and the property will not be marketable.
Public Voices Concerns About More Nuclear Waste In Eastern Connecticut
At a public forum by Dominion, neighbors voiced their concerns about Millstone increasing its capacity for nuclear waste, although said there is little other choice. Groton Patch 17 Aug 12, By Paul Petrone At a public forum Wednesday night, neighbors and an anti-nuclear activist raised concerns about Millstone Power Station’s plans to vastly increase the amount of nuclear waste it can store on site , although most agreed there was no other option.
“I feel bad for the people growing up in this area,” said Ed Saller, who lives within 2,000 feet of Millstone. “We have a dysfunctional government, I don’t know how they can ever solve this issue.”
Dominion, owners of Millstone, are asking the Connecticut Siting Council if they can put on the top layer of a nearly two-acre concrete pad that would hold nearly 60 years of nuclear waste in dry cask storage. Continue reading
State regulator: Vermont Yankee nuclear plant needs more NRC scrutiny
The Republic By DAVE GRAM Associated Press August 17, 2012 MONTPELIER, Vt. — A top Vermont utility regulator is renewing her push for stepped-up scrutiny by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after a series of problems at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. Continue reading
Secrecy and un-safety in nuclear reactor designs – a first hand report
Fukushima They Knew, Nation of Change, Greg Palast
http://www.nationofchange.org/fukushima-they-knew-1345037631 16 Aug 12
I’ve seen a lot of sick stuff in my career, but this was sick on a new level. Here was the handwritten log kept by a senior engineer at the nuclear power plant:
Wiesel was very upset. He seemed very nervous. Very agitated. . . . In fact, the plant was riddled with problems that, no way on earth, could stand an earth- quake. The team of engineers sent in to inspect found that most of these components could “completely and utterly fail” during an earthquake.
“Utterly fail during an earthquake.” And here in Japan was the quake and here is the utter failure.
The warning was in what the investigations team called The Notebook, which I’m not supposed to have. Good thing I’ve kept a copy anyway, because the file cabinets went down with my office building ….
WORLD TRADE CENTER TOWER 1, FIFTY-SECOND FLOORNEW YORK, 1986
Two senior nuclear plant engineers were spilling out their souls and files on our huge conference table, blowing away my government investigations team with the inside stuff about the construction of the Shoreham, New York, power station.
The meeting was secret. Very secret. Their courage could destroy their careers: No engineering firm wants to hire a snitch, even one who has saved thousands of lives. They could lose their jobs; they could lose everything. They did. That’s what happens. Continue reading
Santa Monica council calls for full investigation of San Onofre nuclear plant
Santa Monica Council urges probe of San Onofre reactors Aug. 15, 2012 Council unanimously votes for state investigation of San Onofre costs, reliability and alternative energy resources and urges federal license amendment hearing
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — Last night, the Santa Monica City Council voted unanimously to urge the state to fully investigate the costs and reliability of the crippled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and to compare it to other available energy sources. The council also voted unanimously to urge federal regulators to hold a transparent and public license amendment procedure for the plant’s twin reactors…..
Under state law, Edison can ask the California Public Utilities Commission to allow it to recover its costs through rate increases to its customers. An investigation by the CPUC, such as the one called for by the Santa Monica City Council, could end in a ruling that Edison, not its customers, is liable for the costs. Such a ruling could push Edison to permanently shut down the reactors rather than incur additional expenses.
The Council vote also directs the City of Santa Monica to urge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct a public, transparent license amendment hearing on San Onofre. A license amendment is a formal, open and legally adjudicated procedure that would allow for independent expert review of the significant modifications to the replacement steam generators. Under NRC rules, a license amendment is required for major design changes to replacement equipment like those Edison made to these replacement components. In a petition before the NRC, Friends of the Earth and other public interest groups charge that the replacement generators were not “like for like” as Edison presented them to regulators, but instead were substantially altered.
Santa Monica’s action is similar to the resolution unanimously adopted last week by the Laguna Beach City Council.
Contact: Kendra Ulrich: (216) 571-7340, kulrich@foe.org
Diane Moss: (310) 463-1355 http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2012-08-santa-monica-council-urges-probe-of-san-onofre-reactors
Fort Calhoun nuclear plant to be run by private company
Private firm to run nuclear plant Omaha.com By Erin Golden, 16 Aug 12, BLAIR, Neb. — The Omaha Public Power District is planning to turn over control of Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station to a private company — a move the district’s board says is essential if the plant is to reopen.
In a meeting Thursday night at Blair City Hall, the board voted unanimously to allow OPPD officials to negotiate a 20-year contract with Exelon Corp. for day-to-day operations of the troubled plant, which is about 20 miles north of Omaha.
The plant’s reactor has been shut down since April 2011 because of concerns over Missouri River flooding and a series of safety violations. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is overseeing the facility, has not set a restart date for Fort Calhoun.
One board member, John Green, said it has become clear that the NRC
was interested in outside management of the facility. “I’ve been convinced over the last few months … that we weren’t going to be able to open the plant without doing this,” Green said.
Gary Gates, the utility’s CEO, said the district has been considering looking to an outside company for some time and has been negotiating with Exelon for a month….. An NRC spokesman declined to comment….. http://www.omaha.com/article/20120817/NEWS/708179925/1685
Climate change heat might mean the end of the nuclear industry
Extreme Heat, Drought Show Vulnerability of Nuclear Power Plants Reactor shutdown in Connecticut is latest sign that nuclear energy would face challenges from climate change. By Robert Krier, InsideClimate News, 15 Aug 12, Will 2012 go down as the year that left the idea of nuclear energy expansion in the hot, dry dust?
Nuclear energy might be an important weapon in the battle against climate change, some scientists have argued, because it doesn’t emit greenhouse gases. But separate of all the other issues with nuclear, that big plus would be moot if the plants couldn’t operate, or became too inefficient, because of global warming. In June, InsideClimate News reported on the findings of Dennis Lettenmaier, a researcher at the University of Washington. His study found that nuclear and other power plants will see a 4 to 16 percent drop in production between 2031 and 2060 due to climate change-induced drought and heat.
The U.S. is getting plenty of both this year. Just Sunday, the Millstone nuclear plant in Waterford, Conn., had to shut down one of its two reactors because seawater was too warm to cool it. It was the first time in the plant’s 37-year history that the water pulled from the Long Island Sound was too warm to use.
So the question becomes, is the future already here?
Heat records have been falling by the thousands since spring, and on Aug. 9 theU.S. Drought Monitor map showed that 62.46 percent of the nation is under moderate to exceptional drought conditions. That’s down slightly from the peak of 63.86 percent last month, the highest percentage since the Drought Mitigation Center began producing the map in 2000. But the percentage of the country that is experiencing extreme to exceptional drought continued to rise and is now at 24.14 percent, almost a fourth of the country.
Much of the drought and unusual heat has been in areas that rely in part on nuclear plants: the upper Midwest, the Southeast and parts of New England.
When all of the nation’s 104 nuclear plants are fully operational, they supply about 20 percent of the energy generated in the United States. Those plants need water to operate, and in most cases, they need fresh water. There’s not a lot of fresh water to go around in much of the nation this summer, and that is putting nuclear energy to the test.
It’s also raising questions about how freshwater supplies should be managed in a world further taxed by climate change. Inevitably, there will be increased competition for water from a growing population, agriculture and the energy sector.
(Plants that use saltwater for cooling generally don’t have the same issues, because they never have a shortage of water. But the shutdown at Millstone shows they can still be vulnerable to heat waves.)
About 40 percent of the nation’s fresh water use goes toward energy generation, with nuclear energy considered a very water-intensive energy source….. http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120815/nuclear-power-plants-energy-nrc-drought-weather-heat-water utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20solveclimate/blog%20(InsideClimate%20News
1 This Month
23-25 October – on Zoom – World BEYOND War’s annual global conferenc
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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