Bill Gates touting “incredibly safe” nuclear reactor to China
Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs
The word “incredible” has really lost its currency. Derived from Latin – “Credo – I believe”, the real meaning of this adjective is “unable to be believed”. Sadly, everyone now uses “incredible” to mean “very”.
We don’t seem to have a word for “simply not able to be believed”.
However – in the case of Bill Gates’ statement about his gee whiz new nuclear reactors, I think that the word really does revert to its true meaning! Incredibly safe – indeed ! – Christina Macpherson
Bill Gates glowing with optimism about nuclear power for China Seattle Times, by Jon Talton, 7 Dec 11 Here’s the “hmmm” story of the day: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is in China discussing jointly developing with Beijing a “new and safer” nuclear reactor. “All these new designs are going to be incredibly safe,” Gates told the audience in China, according to the Associated Press. “They require no human action to remain safe at all times.” Continue reading
Call to stop Californian company’s radiation testing on monkeys
Activists Protest Company’s Plan To Test Monkeys For Radiation, care 2 by Sharon Seltzer, December 6, 2011 A research company in Pasadena, CA is feeling the wrath of an animal rights group for a series of radiation tests it’s conducting on 32 monkeys. The company wants to determine the effects of potentially lethal doses of radiation on humans after a nuclear disaster.
ChromoLogic, a private diagnostic technology research company is developing a machine to test humans for levels of radiation poisoning after being exposed to a nuclear event such as Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster that occurred in March 2011. On Monday the company began testing 32 Rhesus monkeys for the project.
Animal activists from Stop Animal Exploitation Now! (SAEN) staged a protest outside ChromoLogic’s Pasadena office to halt the tests after a whistleblower leaked they would begin this week. “My goal is to get as many people to know what’s going on and to stop this,” said Josh Gutier, who attended the protest. Julia MacKenzie, SAEN’s L.A. representative said, “I object to them using animals in research and wasting taxpayers’ money.”…: http://www.care2.com/causes/activists-protest-companys-plan-to-test-monkeys-for-radiation.html#ixzz1fz5I0DHs
Compensation cases continue for radioactively contaminated Hanford victims
The amount of the settlement has not been made public. In July, the thyroid disease plaintiffs who settled received an average of $5,700 apiece, for a total payment of just under $800,000.
Many of the remaining plaintiffs suffer from cancers that they claim were caused by radioactive contamination of the Columbia River. …..
Another Partial Settlement in Epic Nuclear Contamination Case, BLT The
Blog of Legal Times, 7 Dec 11 The Hanford logjam is starting to break. According to court records, 383 plaintiffs who suffer from thyroid disease have agreed to settle their claims against the government that radiation from the now-shuttered Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State made them sick. Continue reading
Georgia’s utility customers will pay up for delays in nuclear plant project
Since Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power is a regulated utility, its 2.4 million customers must pay for the project and could be on the hook for reimbursing the company for cost overruns.
The project is being built using borrowed money, so construction delays might increase financing costs and ultimately raise the pricetag for utility customers.
Federal officials have not yet given the project key approvals
necessary to start major construction work,
Watchdog says Southern nuclear plant faces delays Bloomberg, By RAY HENRY, 7 Dec 11 The Southern Co. continues to face “significant challenges” building the country’s first brand-new nuclear plant on time and without exceeding its share of the roughly $6 billion budget, a state watchdog said in a report released Monday. Continue reading
Criticism of NRC’s decision to reopen Davis Besse nuclear plant, despite the cracks
Ohio congressman criticizes decision allowing nuclear plant to reopen after concrete cracks, By Associated Press,Washington Post, December 5 TOLEDO, Ohio — A nuclear plant where cracks were found in protective concrete is being allowed to reopen despite unanswered questions about what happened, a congressman said Monday.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and operators of the Davis-Besse plant near Toledo don’t know what caused the cracks or whether it’s a bigger problem, said U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat who has been a longtime critic of the plant and its
owner…..
Since the discovery of the cracks, anti-nuclear activists have stepped up their opposition to renewing the plant’s license.
Davis-Besse’s license is set to expire in six years, and FirstEnergy has an application pending before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the operating license until 2037….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/ohio-congressman-criticizes-decision-allowing-nuclear-plant-to-reopen-after-concrete-cracks/2011/12/05/gIQAdElRXO_story.html
Will Los Alamos plutonium nuclear lab be USA’s Fukushima?
Questions swirl around $6 billion US nuclear lab Canadian Business, By AP | December 04, 2011 SANTA FE, New Mexico (AP) — At Los Alamos National Laboratory, scientists and engineers refer to their planned new $6 billion nuclear lab by its clunky acronym, CMRR, short for Chemistry Metallurgy Research Replacement Facility. But as a work in progress for three decades and with hundreds of millions of dollars already spent, nomenclature is among the minor issues.
Questions continue to swirl about exactly what kind of nuclear and plutonium research will be done there, whether the lab is really necessary, and — perhaps most important — will it be safe, or could it become New Mexico’s equivalent of Japan’s Fukushima? Continue reading
American Indians enthusiastic about potential for renewable energy industris
Indian Country welcomes renewable energy by Martin LaMonica December 4, 2011 JEMEZ PUEBLO, N.M.–American Indian tribes see renewable energy as a way to capitalize on their natural resources.
The Department of Energy last week proposed a rule that would speed up decisions regarding land used for renewable energy projects, many of which have been derailed by bureaucracy. The rule would require decisions within a 60-day limit for business-related leases, such as developing solar and wind projects on Indian land.
“It will require the government to act,” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last Monday, according to reports. “The government cannot sit on its hands, as it has often done.” Indian lands have significant resources, including solar and wind, but little has been developed, according to the National Congress of American Indians. “We’re ready to strengthen our economies now and jumpstart the clean energy economy in Indian Country. This is something the entire country can get behind,” said NCAI president Jefferson Keel in a statement….
For tribes with the resources, renewable energy holds the prospect of bringing in much-needed tax revenue, jobs, and potentially lower electricity costs, said Carolyn Stewart, managing partner at Red Mountain Energy Partners, which advises tribes on renewable energy.
“[Tribes] are very interested in controlling the pace of the development on the reservation, which they have not been able to do in the past for the most part with oil and gas, coal, or uranium mining [which] had significant environmental impacts,” she said….. http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-57335065-54/indian-country-welcomes-renewable-energy/
Arnold Schwarzenegger calls for renewable energy to get fair treatment from federal government
An unfair fight for renewable energies Washington Post, By Arnold Schwarzenegger, December 4 More energy from the sun hits Earth in one hour than all the energy consumed on our planet in an entire year.
In those terms, it is absurd that our federal renewable energy to get government spends tens of billions of dollars annually subsidizing the oil industry, which pulls diminishing resources from underground, while the industry focused above ground on wind, solar and other renewable energies is
derided in Washington. Federal support for development of new energy sources is lower today than at any other point in U.S. history, and our government is forcing the clean-energy sector into a competitive disadvantage. To bring true competition to the energy market, ensure
our national security and create jobs here rather than in China or elsewhere, we must level the playing field for renewable energies. In this presidential primary, Americans need to hear where the candidates stand on this critical issue. Continue reading
Move to legislate for safety regulation regarding Indian Point nuclear plant
“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must have the ability and flexibility to quickly impose new regulations to safeguard the health and well-being of all Americans,” said Nadler. “Impeding the NRC’s ability to regulate will not save one job but might cost millions of lives….Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant lies less than 40 miles away from my New York City district, and there are 20 million people living within a 50-mile radius of the plant – the same radius used by the NRC as the basis for the evacuation zone recommended after the Fukushima disaster. Indian Point also sits near two fault lines and, according to the NRC, is the most likely nuclear power plant in the country to experience core damage due to an earthquake.”…. http://www.power-eng.com/news/2011/12/1554779024/rep-nadler-seeks-to-protect-new-yorkers-from-disaster-at-indian-point-nuclear-power-plant.html
American public has no way to know the cost of USA nu clear weapons
Taxpayers Left in the Dark When it Comes to Nuclear Weapons Spending, Project on Governmnet Oversight (POGO) Dec 01, 2011, By MIA STEINLE and DANIELLE BRIAN The U.S. government has never been fully open about the cost of its nuclear weapons programs. This fact has sparked a debate over how to best calculate the financial burden nuclear weapons place on taxpayers. The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler wrote yesterday that the estimate of $700 billion over ten years put forth by the Ploughshares Fund (a nuclear policy foundation that is one of POGO’s funders) has gained a lot of traction, has been disputed by the Obama administration as being too high.
In response, Ploughshares defended its number but pointed out that “There is no official number that tells American citizens how much our government is spending on nuclear weapons. In fact, we are not even precisely sure how many nuclear weapons we have.”
But what wasn’t fully acknowledged in WaPo’s analysis is that the Obama administration’s $200 billion estimate—a rough number the Department of Defense (DoD) gave to Congress earlier this month—is far too low.
The nuclear weapons budget is divided between the DoD and the Department of Energy (DOE), accounting for about 7 percent and 67 percent, respectively, of each department’s budget. But it’s unclear if the administration is counting everything it should be counting when it comes to nuclear programs. As Stephen I. Schwartz, co-author of a 2009 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report on nuclear spending, told WaPo, the administration’s current estimate is likely leaving out some important costs:
“It’s a little like saying it costs me $1,000 a year to operate my car, except that I am not counting the cost of insurance, repairs, registration, taxes, etc.,” Schwartz said. “The actual cost is higher, maybe even much higher. But unless the folks at DOD can provide us with a breakout of the costs for each system, it’s impossible to say what’s included and what’s not.”
The administration’s estimate does not appear to include the lifecycle costs of projects, which are often far greater than initial construction costs. And the DoD is known for projects with high maintenance costs. For example, the DoD’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighters will cost $382 billion to acquire, but operating costs for the life of the program will total a staggering$1 trillion.…..
So, how much does the U.S. spend on nuclear weapons? The only way to know for sure—and the only way for Congress to make informed decisions about funding—is for the administration to be more transparent about its nuclear spending, and to make a complete, detailed budget available to the public that includes operations, tactical nukes and other costs borne by the taxpayer. We also need a GAO audit of that budget, because right now, the one thing we do know is that we do not know enough. http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2011/12/taxpayers-left-in-the-dark-when-it-comes-to-nuclear-weapons-spending.html
For USA’s nuclear industry – could things get any worse?
Nuclear’s Annus Horribilis, AOL, Margaret Ryan, November 30, 2011 For the nuclear industry, 2011 was Biblical. Earthquakes. Tsunamis. Tornadoes. Floods. Fires. 2011 had everything but plagues of locusts.
Since 2001, nuclear critics had been worried about airplanes smashing into plants or dirty bombs. This year nature reminded everyone it can still throw a haymaker, and the reverberations from 2011’s onslaught appear set to dominate US nuclear power in 2011
March 2011 brought the 9.0 magnitude earthquake off northeastern Japan that sparked a tsunami whose waves may have exceeded 45 feet. Tokyo Electric Power Company’s oldest nuclear station, Fukushima Daiichi, apparently survived the earthquake, but its four oldest reactors didn’t survive that wall of water. Nuclear experts are still figuring out what all went wrong, and tens of thousands still haven’t returned home as Japanese authorities try to decontaminate radioactive hot spots.
In April, massive tornadoes that devastated the southeast swept near the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry plant.
In June, droughts sparked wildfires across the Southwest, including one that threatened the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where nuclear weapons materials are stored.
June also brought record floods across the upper Midwest. For weeks Omaha Public Power District’s Fort Calhoun nuclear plant was essentially an island.
August saw the 5.8 magnitude Virginia earthquake just 11 miles from Dominion Energy’s North Anna plant. The plant shut safely, and returned to service mid-November after extensive checks found no damage even though ground motion briefly exceeded the plant’s design.
Aging Generation Giants All these challenges resurrected questions about the robustness 
of America’s nuclear fleet as reactors begin to pass the 40-year mark. That was once considered the operating limit, but with safety backfits, regular material checks and planned component replacements, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says reactors can operate for 60 years. More than half of the 104 reactors in the US have been licensed to do so…..
“most” people in the industry recognize the need to take 2011’s warnings seriously. “They don’t want to be the next Fukushima,”….. “No one wants to lose a billion dollar asset.”….
Appeal to save Grand Canyon’s sacred lands, biodiversity, water – from uranium mining
Pollution from past uranium mining already plagues the Grand Canyon and surrounding region. Proposals for new mining have prompted protests, litigation and proposed legislation. Scientists, tribal and local governments and businesses have voiced opposition. Additional mining threatens to industrialize iconic and regionally sacred wildlands, destroy wildlife habitat and permanently pollute or deplete aquifers feeding Grand Canyon’s biologically rich springs and creeks.
Appeal Challenges Uranium Mine Threatening Grand Canyon, 1 Dec 11, GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz—Conservation groups and American Indian tribes today filed an appeal in the 9th Circuit Court challenging a lower court ruling that allowed a uranium mine near Grand Canyon National Park to re-open without updating decades-old environmental reviews. The Arizona 1 uranium mine is located near Kanab Creek immediately north of Grand Canyon National Park. Continue reading
Secret Martial Law Act in USA – imprisonment without charge, without trial
Senate approves Martial Law: Military can jail indefinitely, no charge, no trial, Deborah Dupre, Human Rights Examiner November 30, 2011 Human rights campaign to prevent codification of Martial Law in America fails
Although the Obama administration has threatened to veto what is being called the “Secret Martial Law Act” if Congress approved it, on Tuesday, the Senate, mainly with Republican backing, voted 61 to 37 in favor of it, empowering the military to imprison “terror suspects” including people arrested inside the United States, without charge or trial and to hold them indefinitely, a Constitutional and human rights violation that even the national-security team has said is unacceptable and that the U.S. has used military aggression to end in foreign countries.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Senate approves Martial Law: Military can jail indefinitely, no charge, no trial – National Human Rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/senate-approves-martial-law-military-can-jail-indefinitely-no-charge-no-trial?CID=examiner_alerts_article#ixzz1fJv20yxJ
USA to use drone aircraft to target U.S. citizens?
Drone shoots Targeted Individual in New York Deborah Dupre, Human Rights Examiner, November 30, 2011 Drone aircraft, known for human rights violations of killing innocent children and other civilians, reported as destroying “terrorist” hideouts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, might be spotted in American neighborhoods soon, and some people might have already seen one. One Targeted Individual has given his account to the Examiner of seeing a drone in New York, and its applying high-tech “less than lethal” directed energy weaponry on him. Continue reading on Examiner.com Drone shoots Targeted Individual in New York – National Human Rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/u-s-targeted-individual-shot-by-drone?CID=examiner_alerts_article#ixzz1fJvMpFtC
America’s evangelical religions condemn nuclear weapons
Evangelicals rethink nuclear weapons, Washington Post, By Leith Anderson, Dennis Hollinger, John Jenkins and Jo Anne Lyon, 29 Nov 11 “……….the very existence of nuclear weapons may be more of a liability than an asset.
Christians hold that all people bear God’s image (Genesis 1:27).Therefore, human life and freedom are precious and should be defended from injustice and tyranny. Nuclear weapons, with their capacity for terror as well as for destruction of human life, raise profound spiritual, moral and ethical concerns.
We question the acceptability of nuclear weapons as part of a just national defense. The just war tradition admonishes against indiscriminate violence and requires proportionality and limited collateral damage. New scientific studies reveal that even a limited nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would have profound global consequences, harming billions of innocents. The very weapons meant to restrain evil could potentially destroy all that they were intended to protect.
In our globalizing world, security cannot be obtained by threatening retaliation after a nuclear strike. Instead, our security – as well as our commitment to seeking genuine peace -requires that we eliminate the very possibility of such an attack. Russia and the United States now share a common interest, along with the other nations of the world, to see that no nuclear weapon ever falls into the hands of terrorists or madmen. We must partner to keep nuclear missiles and warheads under control, just as we are doing with chemical and biological weapons.
As leaders in the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), we believe thoughtful application of evangelical principles and consideration of the current realities support:
Re-examining the moral and ethical basis for the doctrine of nuclear deterrence
Maintaining the taboo against nuclear use
Achieving verified mutual reductions in current nuclear stockpiles
Ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
Increasing safeguards against accidental use
Resolving regional conflicts
Preventing the unauthorized spread of fissile material
Continuing dialogue on the effects of possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons…….
we ask our elected leaders and candidates for public office to consider carefully the issues raised by nuclear weapons, and to explain the strategic and moral basis for their positions.
In President Reagan’s historic 1983 “Evil Empire” speech to the National Association of Evangelicals, he asked evangelicals to support keeping “America strong and free, while we negotiate real and verifiable reductions in the world’s nuclear arsenals and one day, with God’s help, their total elimination.” Nearly three decades later, his call is more urgent than ever. And for those who cannot imagine such an outcome, we say: let us at least begin the work. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/evangelicals-rethink-nuclear-weapons/2011/11/22/gIQAn27g8N_blog.html
1 This Month
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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