USA « nuclear-news

USA’s nuclear waste crisis- the turmoil continues

NRC panel: Nuclear waste dump process continues, Google hosted news, By KEN RITTER (AP) – 30 June 2010, LAS VEGAS — A Nuclear Regulatory Commission legal panel put a proposal for a national nuclear waste dump in Nevada back on track Tuesday, at least until the full commission decides whether the Department of Energy can withdraw its plan. Continue reading →

June 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Uranium milling’s legacy of cancer

One family who left the area knows well the paradox uranium has brought to the region. They lived in Uravan in the 1960s and paid a tragic price for living in the old mill town. Three daughters died of cancer. The parents each have lost cancer-ridden body organs. They still have ties to the area and requested anonymity given the contentious nature of the uranium debate in the valley.

Is It Time to Restart the Uranium Industry in the U.S.? Scientific American By Nathan Rice and The Daily Climate June 29, 2010 A proposal to build the nation’s first uranium mill in 25 years has divided opinions Continue reading →

June 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Uranium, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Forgotten victims of uranium mining

Shades of hope for uranium’s forgotten victims — The Daily Climate, by Nathan Rice, 28 June 2010 “………. as the uranium industry revives in the West, health problems from the last boom still plague communities, and victims are still fighting for recognition…… Continue reading →

June 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, radioactive, reactors, uranium | 1 Comment

Water shortage may be the finish of the nuclear industry

Water Scarcity: Nuclear Power’s Achilles’ Heel, THE HUFFINGTON POST Kyle Rabin: June 28, 2010, Scientists, researchers and other experts warn that the United States is entering an era of water scarcity. Back in 2003, the US General Accounting Office (now known as the US Government Accountability Office or GAO) projected that 36 states, under normal conditions, could face water shortages by 2013. However, those shortages were realized in 2008 — five years sooner than predicted. Current forecasts suggest that climate change will only exacerbate the challenges of managing and protecting water resources. Continue reading →

June 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, water | antinuclear, climate change, nuclear technology, water | Leave a comment

How can nuclear energy go ahead, with no waste disposal solution?

The Feds Must Address Nuclear Waste Storage Problem By STUART PRICE | TIMES-DISPATCH June 27, 2010 Richmond, Va.

Last January, President Obama announced that the Department of Energy was creating a new group, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, to review the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and challenge national practices in place for more than 50 years.

One of the commission’s opportunities will be to determine if spent nuclear fuel rod assemblies can be safely recycled, thereby reducing the final quantity of waste requiring disposal. The commission’s challenges will include defining permanent nuclear waste solutions and selecting final repository sites. In July 2010, a commission subcommittee on waste disposal will meet in Washington. The commission’s final report is expected in January 2012.

June 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear, uranium, workers need health compensation

the health impacts on families of uranium workers and residents of uranium-development communities.

Senators want uranium compensation on fast track, GJSentinel.com, June 26, 2010 Colorado’s two U.S. senators are seeking a hearing on a bill that would expand the compensation program for the nation’s nuclear-weapons industry workers. Continue reading →

June 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Dangerous idea: Plutonium powered nuclear facilities planned for space

the Obama administration would turn to nuclear power in space — and on Earth.
We have been seeing — for two months now — the damage of technology run amok in the Gulf of Mexico. Consider the consequences of dangerous, expensive, unnecessary nuclear-powered technology running amok above our heads

Obama Seeks to Revive Space Nuclear Power, Karl Grossman, June 25, 2010 Despite its huge dangers, the Obama administration is seeking to revive the use of nuclear power in space. It wants the U.S. to produce the plutonium isotope that has been used for electric generation in space and is also looking to build nuclear-propelled rockets for missions to Mars.. Continue reading →

June 26, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

See how solar energy could transform America’s economy

Like it or not, though, what is taking place in the energy field is a radical change in thinking or, as coined by Thomas Kuhn, a paradigm shift .This transformation does not just happen, but is caused by agents of change, and the greatest agents of change in the transition to solar energy will be the American people, themselves.
Newsweek has a nice photo slide show of the progress in solar energy at: http://photo.newsweek.com/content/photo/2008/4/history-of-solar-energy.html

Letting the Sunshine in II: America, the Solar Nation jacksonville.com by Joanne Herrmann on June 24, 2010 Envision this: As the sun rises in the East, solar panels on buildings and utility arrays in cities from north of Boston to New York to Atlanta to south of Miami collect the sun’s power, which not only supplies the energy needs of the East Coast but also exports the excess through smart grids to those cities awakening in the Midwest and slumbering in the darkness along the West Coast. Continue reading →

June 26, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, USA | climate change, energy efficiency, global warming, renewable energy, renewables, solar | Leave a comment

Ionising Radiation Cancer Risk from CT scans

Experts: CT scans pose risks, need more regulation, Google hosted news, By MARILYNN MARCHIONE (AP) –24 June 2010, From long-term cancer risks to radiation overdose mistakes, CT scans pose a growing danger to the American public and need more regulation to improve their safety, imaging experts write in a leading medical journal. Continue reading →

June 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear technology, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

U.S. govt’s duplicity in comparing depleted uranium to tungsten

DU is in fact much more dangerous than tungsten. It may be depleted of some of its neutrons but it is still radioactive enough to cause cancer and birth defects.

US Government web site psyop promoting depleted uranium munitions | qbit.cc June 23rd, 2010 “…….This propaganda is expertly crafted to avoid directly stating that Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions are as safe as tungsten, while belittling the (valid) belief that DU is incredibly dangerous, Continue reading →

June 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

China investing in USA’s USEC uranium enrichment comany

Fuel Maker for Reactors Has China as Investor – NYTimes.com, 24 June 2010, “…….Even a passive Chinese government stake in USEC could draw attention in Washington for its strategic and diplomatic implications. USEC, the parent of the United States Enrichment Corporation, is a cornerstone of America’s nuclear establishment, with classified operations that date back to the initial development of the atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project in World War II……

With $2 billion a year in sales, USEC holds about 30 percent of the worldwide uranium enrichment market for commercial reactors.

And it has been at the center of an Energy Department-administered program to take highly enriched uranium from former Soviet military stockpiles and dilute it for USEC to sell as fuel in civilian nuclear reactors, the so-called megatons-to-megawatts program. It may now do the same for the United States military after President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia signed an agreement in April calling for deep cuts in nuclear weapons…….

Fuel Maker for Reactors Has China as Investor – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com

June 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, uranium | Leave a comment

Uranium One company to be controlled by Russia

Russia’s ARMZ gains control of Canada’s Uranium One, Industrial Fuels and Power, 9 June 2010, Russia’s ARMZ has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Canada’s Uranium One Inc by buying 356m new shares, effectively raising is current 23 per cent holding to at least 51 per cent. ARMZ will pay the Toronto-based company US$610m cash as well as interests in two Kazakh mines. Uranium One will gain 50 per cent of the Akbastau mine and 49.7 per cent of Zarechnoye in the south of the country.
The acquisition is part of the expansion plans of Rosatom Corp, ARMZ’s parent company and represents the first North American uranium venture for the firm. Russia’s state-owned nuclear company is seeking more uranium sources to supply the nuclear reactors its is building outside Russia. Last month, it revealed plans to invest US$1bn in Namibian uranium deposits. “We’ll use Uranium One as a platform for growth,” Rosatom CEO Sergei Kiriyenko said.

Russia’s ARMZ gains control of Canada’s Uranium One | Industrial Fuels and Power

June 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, uranium | Leave a comment

Questions in Washington on costs of nuclear weapons

Langevin calls for precise tally of nuclear weapons costs , Projo 7 to 7 News Blog | Rhode Island news | The Providence Journal Jun 22, 2010 | John E. Mulligan, Washington bureau
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin has joined a Republican colleague in calling for a more precise accounting of what it costs to develop and maintain the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Continue reading →

June 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Nuclear plant’s flood warning emergency

Neb. N-plant declares low-level emergency state, Google hosted news, (AP) 23 June 2010, oBROWNVILLE, Neb. — A nuclear power plant near Brownville in southeast Nebraska notified public and federal regulators early Tuesday that it was in a low-level emergency state because of flooding from the rising Missouri River nearby…….NPPD said it could continue generating power at Cooper until the river hits 45.5 feet. Then it would be taken offline as a safety precaution.The National Weather Service said in a flood warning posted at 3:16 Tuesday morning that the river was at 42.5 feet, 10.5 feet above flood stage, and was headed to near 42.9 feet later in the day. Then it was expected to fall.

The district provides power to about 1 million Nebraskans through retail service to about 80 communities and wholesale service to 52 towns and 25 rural districts and cooperatives. The Associated Press: Neb. N-plant declares low-level emergency state

June 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, climate change | Leave a comment

Nuclear company’s violations of waste storage regulations

FPL fined $70,000 for nuclear waste storage problem, SunSentinel.com, by Julie Patel on June 22, 2010The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Tuesday that it will fine Florida Power & Light Co. $70,000 for three violations related to its waste storage at its Turkey Point plant near Miami.In December, NRC officials said they found the amount of Boraflex in a nuclear waste storage pool at Turkey Point was lower than it should be. (Boroflex panels in the pool absorbs neutrons so there isn’t a mini-reaction as the nuclear waste is being cooled.)…………The Commission will hold informal information meetings in July on FPL’s proposal to build two new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point

June 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment