USA « nuclear-news

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 →

September 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, reactors | Leave a comment

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 →

September 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, uranium | Leave a comment

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 →

September 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, Uranium, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Secrecy, even to Kansas City residents, about huge weapons production

Kansas City produces parts for nuclear weapons. We craft huge proportions — 85 percent of the non-nuclear parts for these weapons of mass destruction……, Kansas City for the most part has settled into benign ignorance that the plant even exists.

Consider KC’s dark nuclear secret, MARY SANCHEZ, The Kansas City Star , 6 Sept 10, For more than six decades, Kansas City has kept a volatile shrouded secret, even from itself. Continue reading →

September 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Ionising radiation is especially dangerous for children

Department of Health (DOH ) recommends practices to reduce radiation exposure in pediatric imaging, including using alternative, non-radiation diagnostic imaging procedures such as MRIs and ultrasounds when possible;…The pamphlets and pocket cards are available for download at the state Health Department website.

(USA) Parents can track kids’ radiation exposure, Times Union, By CATHLEEN CROWLEY Staff Writer ccrowley@timesunion.com. September 3, 2010 ALBANY — Doctors track your child’s height, weight and inoculations. Now, add radiation exposure to the list.

The state Department of Health wants your parents and pediatricians to keep a list of your child’s exposure to X-rays and more potent CT scans. Continue reading →

September 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

USA – nuclear radiation meltdown area to be cleaned up

One of the reactors, which had no containment dome to prevent radiation from leaking into the environment, experienced a partial meltdown in 1959. There were other problems over the years, including two more accidents, burn pits with radioactive contaminants and a rocket fuel explosion that killed two scientists and resulted in a $650 million fine after Rocketdyne illegally disposed of the hazardous waste

Deal to clean up LA-area nuclear accident site, Google hosted news, By NOAKI SCHWARTZ (AP) – 4 Sept 10 LOS ANGELES — State and federal officials announced Friday a potentially historic agreement to remove all radioactive contamination from a partial nuclear meltdown in 1959 at a rocket testing site just outside Los Angeles. Continue reading →

September 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Fine for violations at Nuclear Fuel Services uranium facility

Nuclear Fuel Services fined for incident at Tenn. facility | The News & Advance Bryan Gentry : September 03, 2010 Federal regulators have proposed a $140,000 fine against Nuclear Fuel Services, a branch of the Babcock & Wilcox Co. in Tennessee.The fine stems from regulatory violations in October 2009, when a chemical reaction unexpectedly accelerated and emitted a hot, dangerous gas and forced an evacuation at one part of NFS’s facility…..the violations occurred in an Erwin, Tenn., downblending facility, where NFS processes weapons-grade uranium until it can be made into nuclear fuel or disposed of….. Nuclear Fuel Services fined for incident at Tenn. facility | The News & Advance

September 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, Uranium, USA | antinuclear, nuclear technology, uranium | Leave a comment

USA’s dangerous and useless addiction to nuclear weapons

In his book “Dangerous Ground: America’s Failed Arms Control Policy, from FDR to Obama,” Ritter pinpoints the major challenges facing the international community in the post-Bush era and presents a blueprint for confronting them.

‘US addicted to nuclear weapons’, PressTV -Sep 2, 2010, Former Chief UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter says the US is addicted to nuclear weapons to use them as deterrence against its imaginary enemies. Continue reading →

September 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Near a nuclear power plant? – better have some pills!

The pills may help prevent illnesses associated with radioactive iodine if an accident were to occur.

Free pills available for those near nuclear plants, Detroit Free Press, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sept. 2, 2010 Michigan health officials are making potassium iodide pills available to people who live, work or visit within 10 miles of a nuclear power plant. Continue reading →

September 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, reactor | Leave a comment

Danger to workers and community at Honeywell uranium enrichment facility

This is a uranium enrichment facility from which even the slightest leak of UF6 could wipe out the entire town.

Nuclear Regulators Prohibit Honeywell to Resume Production at Facility With Locked-Out Workets, THE HUFFINGTON POST Mike Elk. 2 Sept 10 “…………The Metropolis facility is the only conversion facility in the world that can distill uranium. While the scab workers Honeywell brought in from Louisiana have worked in nuclear facilities, they haven’t worked on the process that converts uranium from the somewhat toxic UF4 solid state to the extraordinarily more lethal liquid UF6. Continue reading →

September 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, Uranium, USA | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Energy industry heading towards Wind, away from Nuclear

Exelon’s actions often foreshadow where the energy industry is headed…..the momentum for the much-touted nuclear renaissance has slowed to a crawl

(USA) What Exelon’s Wind Energy Buy Means For the Future of Nuclear Power, BNET, By Kirsten Korosec | September 1, 2010 Exelon (EXC) announced this week it was buying John Deere Renewables for as much as $900 million, a purchase that marks the company’s entrance into the wind generation business and suggests its lack of confidence in a nuclear energy renaissance. Continue reading →

September 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | ENERGY, USA | antinuclear, energy efficiency, nuclear, nuclear costs, renewable energy, renewables, wind | Leave a comment

Vermont Yankee nuclear plant’s ‘decommissioning’ funds inadequate

Vermont Yankee’s decommissioning fund is no exception

Auditor: More Oversight on Yankee Shutdown Fund Needed. Report on Fund Doesn’t Reveal Details Of Shortfall , WPTZ Plattsburgh, August 31, 2010 MONTPELIER, Vt. — Perhaps you’ve noticed your 401-k account isn’t what it used to be? Neither are the balances in most of the nation’s nuclear power plant decommissioning funds, money used to pay to decontaminate and cleanup each site. Continue reading →

September 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear decommissioning, radiation, reactor | Leave a comment

‘Decommissioning’ nuclear reactors becoming unaffordable

The fund, set up to pay for the Vernon reactor’s eventual dismantlement and removal of radioactive components, has come under fire from lawmakers and nuclear watchdog groups as having less in it than will be needed…..

Vt. auditor: Raise nuke plant shutdown fund checks BusinessWeek, 31 Aug 2010, MONTPELIER, Vt.Vermont state Auditor Tom Salmon says the state should do a better job tracking the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant’s decommissioning fund. Continue reading →

September 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, decommission reactor, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, radiation, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Moving into wind energy – away from nuclear power?

the decision left the country’s largest nuclear operator without a direct role in what the nuclear industry hopes is a renaissance…

Exelon withdrew its application for a construction and operating license for a twin-unit nuclear plant in Victoria County, Tex.,….

A Nuclear Giant Moves Into Wind, NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD, August 31, 2010, John Rowe, chief executive of Exelon.Exelon Corporation John Rowe, chief executive of Exelon.Exelon, a nuclear giant that recently backed away from building new nuclear plants, is moving into wind. Continue reading →

September 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, USA | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, renewable energy, wind | Leave a comment

USA using less fossil fuels, and more renewables

Hey kids, we used less energy and more renewable tech in 2009! | ZDNet, By Heather Clancy | August 30, 2010, Well, here’s a refreshing bit of news for a Monday afternoon: A new data set released by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reports that we used a lot less coal and petroleum last year, compared with 2008. Meanwhile, there were demonstrable increases in the use of renewable energy sources, especially generation systems based on wind technologies.
The researchers attribute the decrease in coal and petroleum use to lower electricity demand, a shift to natural gas as a fuel source, and wind power production offsets……Hey kids, we used less energy and more renewable tech in 2009! | ZDNet