America’s rickety old nuclear reactors becoming dangerous
As reactor owners petition to extend operating licenses for decades to come, the rickety, embrittled old plants become increasingly dangerous.
Is the “Nuclear Renaissance” Dead Yet?, HUFFINGTON POST, Harvey Wasserman: 13 Sept 2010, “……America’s aging fleet of first generation reactors is leaking profusely. Indian Point, north of Manhattan, has suffered seven unplanned shut-downs in two years. In recent months serious emissions of tritium and other radioactive substances into the air and water have been found at Vermont Yankee, Indian Point, New Jersey’s Oyster Creek and many more. Ohio’s infamous Davis-Besse, where boric acid ate virtually all the way through a reactor pressure vessel, has sprung some two dozen leaks which cannot be explained by its owner, First Energy. In Vermont, leaks from pipes the operators said did not exist have seeped contaminated water into the Connecticut River. As reactor owners petition to extend operating licenses for decades to come, the rickety, embrittled old plants become increasingly dangerous.
Nuclear factory workers to be compensated for their cancers
it is reasonable to conclude workers at Blockson Chemical Co. were exposed to radiation in large enough doses from 1951 to 1960 to cause illness, even if it is impossible to determine the precise amount of radiation exposure.
Joliet workers’ path to radiation compensation eased – Chicago Tribune, September 11, 2010|By Ted Gregory, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Friday ended a decade-long wait and eased compensation claims for Joliet factory workers who contracted cancer while helping build and test nuclear weapons in the 1950s. Continue reading
Barack Obama too scared to allow even symbolic support for climate change action?
campaigners had hoped that the White House would embrace at least the symbolism of going solar – much like Michelle Obama kicked off her healthy food movement by planting a vegetable garden.
Barack Obama says ‘no’ to solar panels on the White House roof | Suzanne Goldenberg | 10 Sept 10 Campaigner Bill McKibben says solar panels would demonstrate presidential leadership on climate change. Continue reading
South Carolina nuclear reactor shut down for third time this year this year
SC nuclear plant shut down by turbine problem BusinessWeek, 10 Sept 10, HARTSVILLE, S.C.A control problem with a turbine at a nuclear power plant in South Carolina has shut the reactor down until the issue can be fixed. It’s the third shutdown this year.Raleigh, N.C.-based Progress Energy Inc. reported Thursday’s incident at the H.B. Robinson plant in Hartsville to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.Plant spokesman Andy Cole says the shutdown was triggered by a control problem with a turbine unrelated to the nuclear side of the plant. The reactor shuts down as a safety precaution during certain conditions at the plant.Earlier this year, two fires in Robinson’s electrical system led to a nearly four-month shutdown of the plant that included a planned refueling outage and some needed repairs. The reactor was restarted in mid-July….
SC nuclear plant shut down by turbine problem – BusinessWeek
Danger in blending Class A radioactive wastes with hotter classes
blended waste should be dealt with as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s low-level radioactive waste, with careful attention paid to public-safety issues…..Under Utah law, Energy- Solutions is banned from taking waste hotter than Class A.
NRC head urges caution on waste blending | The Salt Lake Tribune, By JUDY FAHYS Sep 10, 2010 Las Vegas • Blended radioactive waste won’t be coming to Utah anytime soon if the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission adopts its leader’s position. Continue reading
USA pushing India on Nuclear Liability Bill, Westinghouse & Genl Elecectric might pull out
Nuclear liability law: US seeks special exemption, Sep 10, 2010, By Uttara Choudhury: NEW YORK : DNA The US and India have been gunning for each other through the summer …..And now, India’s new nuclear liability law threatens US energy deals.
Despite the perennial irritants, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Wednesday that the two crotchety friends are discussing ways for American nuclear suppliers to get around the liability law. It said that if the two sides can’t find a workaround, American companies such as General Electric and Westinghouse would pass on the India nuclear deal……Nuclear liability law: US seeks special exemption – World – DNA
Medical radiation to be controlled in new Californian law
New California regulation could limit medical radiation | abc7news.com, Carolyn Johnson, 9 Sept10, California could soon take a major step to protect patients from dangerous levels of radiation. A proposed bill, awaiting the governor’s signature, would add new regulations for the use and monitoring of powerful imaging devices like CT Scanners.The push for this regulation came about after hundreds of cases of radiation overdoses at a prominent hospital in Southern California were made public….
California lawmakers recently passed a bill that will put new safety measures in place, to protect patients from receiving too much radiation.The bill requires hospitals and other facilities to record the actual level of radiation delivered during CT scans and to include that information in the patient’s medical file as well as the CT scan report. Any dosages 50 percent or more above normal would have to be reported to the health department.The bill also sets up a new accreditation program for CT technicians……,New California regulation could limit medical radiation | abc7news.com
USA’s empire of weapons sales – world-wide
The recent announcement that the U.S. will supply Saudi Arabia with a staggering $80 billion worth of arms in the next few years is paralleled by its plans to become India’s main arms provider
India: U.S. Completes Global Military Structure, Scoop News, 10 September 2010, Rick Rozoff “……..the U.S. is arming India and Pakistan, regional military rivals possessing nuclear weapons outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty regime, as it is deepening defense ties with other nations on both sides of local conflicts and disputes: Continue reading
Secret Manhattan Project caused danger for thousands of years
In 2000, the National Academy of Sciences declared that the Manhattan Project sites would pose risks to humans for tens of thousands of years into the future.
How Little Boy Atom Bomb Grew Up in Company Towns: Bloomberg, By Lewis Lapham – Sep 10, 2010 With Albert Einstein urging President Roosevelt to beat the Nazis to an atom bomb, the government created the Manhattan Project.Top secret research sites included Hanford, Washington, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and uranium-enrichment facilities in Tennessee. Continue reading
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League seeks hearing over its objections to nuclear plant
Nuclear board to hear arguments over Ga. plant – BusinessWeek, September 9, 2010, A nuclear regulatory board will hear arguments over whether environmental groups can raise new concerns about the design of a proposed nuclear power plant in Georgia.
The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has scheduled arguments Sept. 17 to consider whether it should weigh the objections over the design of two reactors that the Atlanta-based Southern Co. wants to build at Plant Vogtle.
Local environmental advocates including the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League have said that the Westinghouse Electric Co.’s AP1000 reactor picked for the project could be vulnerable to corrosion. They worry that if radioactive material escaped through a corroded spot during an accident, the public could be harmed. Nuclear board to hear arguments over Ga. plant – BusinessWeek
More uranium workers eligible for nuclear compensation
Mallinckrodt refined uranium at its plant in north St. Louis during World War II for the nation’s first atomic bombs, and continued work there and at other locations until 1966. Waste from uranium processing at Mallinckrodt was dumped at the airport site.
Compensation for nuclear-bomb workers expanded to new site, BY TIM O’NEIL , September 8, 2010 St. louis • Special federal compensation for workers who handled material for nuclear weapons has been expanded to include those who worked at a waste-storage site near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
Former workers or their survivors are eligible for $150,000 and payment of medical expenses Continue reading
USA plays musical chairs with cancer-causing nuclear wastes moving from California to Utah
“significant amounts of soil contaminated with carcinogenic dioxins, heavy metals and radioactive materials” will be removed from the site and taken to licensed waste dumps, including one in Utah,
Santa Susana Nuclear Site’s Toxic Dirt to be Shipped to Utah : Clean Ups : Curbed LA, September 7, 2010, by Adrian Glick Kudler,The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, home to a Cold War nuclear test site, should be all cleaned up, just 58 years after a partial nuclear meltdown. Continue reading
Florida residents have to pay up in advance for nuclear plant extensions that are not yet scrutinized
FPL customers set to pay $31 million in 2011 for proposed nuclear projects South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com, by Julie Patel, 7 Sept 10, Costs approved before they’re scrutinized by the Public Service Commission The Public Service Commission agreed to allow Florida Power & Light to charge customers $31 million next year to cover costs of planning proposed nuclear plant expansions. Continue reading
Explosion at Honeywell uranium enrichment plant highlights safety problems
Local community members are claiming that Honeywell is also not properly reporting safety violations at the nuclear facility in Metropolis……The Environmental Protection Agency has also been very critical of the safety record of the uranium enrichment facility.
Explosion Rocks Honeywell Uranium Facility Run by Scab Workers, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Mike Elk, September 7, 2010: The Metropolis uranium facility is the only one in the United States that can convert U308 into the extremely deadly UF6. Because the plant is the only conversion facility of its kind in the United States, familiarity with the Metropolis plant, and not just generic experience in the field, is essential to ensuring the plant’s safety……….. Continue reading
Radioactive pollution from uranium milling can no longer be ignored
Regulators are examining hydrology, seismology, demographic impacts and effects on flora and fauna, as well as demanding complete plans for how ….. the site would be reclaimed.
Toxic legacy of uranium haunts proposed Colorado mill – The Denver Post, Nancy Lofholm, 5 Sept 10, GRAND JUNCTION — “………..More than a billion dollars has been spent cleaning up radioactive tailings piles and lessening toxic leaks into rivers and aquifers at nine defunct mills in Colorado. Nearly 20 million tons of radioactive tailings sit in disposal sites where they must be monitored in perpetuity. Hundreds of acres of unusable water fill contaminated aquifers. Continue reading
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