USA « nuclear-news

Safety check required for U.S. Nuclear Plants

US Nuclear Power Plants To Undergo Safety Check By Madhuri Dey
Washington,March 12th, 2010, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received an appeal from Entergy Nuclear Operations to be granted some more time to upgrade the security systems in the Pilgrim Station Nuclear Power Plant.
The upgradation of the security systems have been a measure that has been approved by the administration of President Barack Obama, after it came to light that there are enormous loopholes in the security systems of the power plants. The recommendation was issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with the aim of safeguarding the materials contained in the plants, and in turn protect the plants as well. In fact, it is not only the Pilgrim Station Nuclear Power Plant, but a number of other plants too that has given a petition for an extension.

March 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

Wisconsin urged to keep ban on new nuclear plants

Lawmakers Urged Not To Dump Ban On New Nuclear Power Plants MADISON, Wis. (WTAQ) 12 March 2010, – Anti-nuclear groups are telling legislators not to trash Wisconsin’s long-running ban on new nuclear power plants. A relaxing of that ban is a major part of the clean energy package that tries to fight global warming. Supporters say nuclear power is the cleanest there is. But Jennifer Nordstrom of the Carbon-Free Nuclear-Free Coalition says there’s still the issue of dumping radioactive waste. And she says the Wisconsin bill would give the nuclear power industry more leeway in handling that waste.

Lawmakers Urged Not To Dump Ban On New Nuclear Power Plants – 1330 WHBL

March 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

Nobody knows the future of USA’s nuclear wastes

“I would like to address an “elephant in the room” –What about the Blue Ribbon Commission? The Energy Collective 12 March 2010,

blue_ribbonSolutions to the issue of spent nuclear fuel won’t be decided solely at the NRC, nor with or without funding or a license application to review. A Blue Ribbon Commission, appointed by Energy Sec. Chu, will hold its first meeting March 25 & 26 in Washington, DC, to hash out policy alternatives. It will take them 18 months to produce a draft report. Alternatives include finding another geologic repository for spent fuel, reprocessing, use of fast reactors, and a lot of other ideas. No one has a lock on the future of what this body does.

A tale of two speeches

March 12, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactor | Leave a comment

Nuclear power company settles lawsuit over radiation leaks

Exelon to pay $1 million to settle lawsuits Breaking Business News, March 11, 2010 By Michael Hawthorne | Exelon agreed today to pay more than $1 million to settle lawsuits filed by Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan after the company allowed radioactive tritium to leak outside three of its nuclear plants.The settlement involves leaks of tritium-contaminated water that seeped into the ground around the company’s Braidwood, Byron and Dresden plants. The penalties include $628,000 in fines and $538,000 to fund environmental projects in Will, Ogle and Grundy counties.

Exelon to pay $1 million to settle lawsuits – Chicago Breaking Business

March 12, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, radiation, radioactive, reactor, reactors | Leave a comment

New U.S buildup of nuclear-armed cruise missiles?

Air Force requests funds for new nuclear armed cruise missile. POLITICO.com, Laura Rozen, 11 March 2010, The U.S. Air Force “plans to spend more than $800 million to build a new nuclear-armed cruise missile for its bomber aircraft,” National Journal/Global Security Newswire’s Elaine Grossman reports, digging into the Obama administration’s FY 2011 Pentagon budget request: Continue reading →

March 11, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

NRC denies Nuclear Energy Institute pitch to extend security deadline

Nuclear Plants Lose Bid to Extend Security Deadline , BusinessWeek, March 08, 2010, By Christopher Martin, March 8 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied a petition by the Nuclear Energy Institute to extend by nine months a deadline for new security requirements. Continue reading →

March 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radiation, reactor | 1 Comment

President Obama the nuclear industry’s Golden Boy

Obama’s Nuclear Dreams: Resurrecting a Noxious Industry, He may soon be called the nuclear industry’s Golden Child. t r u t h o u t |, 10 March 2010, No president in the Obama’s Nuclear Dreams: Resurrecting a Noxious Industrylast three decades has put more taxpayer dollars behind atom power than Barack Obama. And there may be good reason why the president is salivating over the prospect of building new nuclear power plants around the country. … Continue reading →

March 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radioactive, reactor | Leave a comment

Is Obama administration blind to the financial risks of nuclear power?

Obama’s Nuclear Blind Spot , Mother Jones , By Kate Sheppard 9 March 2010 Is the administration ignoring the potential financial fallout of its plans for a nuclear expansion?The Obama administration has embarked on a high-stakes gamble: devoting billions of dollars to an expansion of nuclear power in the hope of winning Republican votes for a climate bill. But in its eagerness to drum up bipartisan support for one of the hardest sells on Obama’s policy agenda, is the administration turning a blind eye to the financial risk? Continue reading →

March 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, reactor, reactors | Leave a comment

Radiation tests on monkeys might be stopped

“Since there is currently no realistic timetable for deep space travel, there is simply no ethical justification for putting these monkeys through these inhumane and possibly fatal experiments at this time,” the lawmakers concluded.

NASA monkey radiation experiment facing animal-cruelty accusations THE HILL, By Tony Romm – 03/08/10 NASA’s Brookhaven National Laboratory is coming under intense scrutiny this week following complaints that its forthcoming $1.75 million radiation experiment on monkeys violates a score of animal-rights laws. Continue reading →

March 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Religion and ethics, USA | cancer, nuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Move in U.S. Congress to question nuclear reactor licensing

A “catastrophic accident” poses a greater safety risk than “many orders of magnitude more severe than any other type of power plant,” …There is also a financial risk,

House Democrat asks GAO to investigate nuclear licensing process, The Hill, By Jim Snyder – 03/08/10 Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is asking the Government Accountability Office to review the permitting process for nuclear plants as others in his party appear poised to offer lucrative incentives to revive the industry.

Among his questions is whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has adequately weighed the risks earthquakes and severe weather may pose to nuclear power plants. Continue reading →

March 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, reactor, reactors | Leave a comment

New research points to cancers caused by unnecessary medical radiation

CT scan safety: Concerns mount , Chicago Tribune 9 March 2010,

Does early detection really save lives?

“As physicians find new ways to use diagnostic imaging to discover and deal with disease, concern is growing about Americans’ increased exposure to potentially cancer-causing radiation. Annual radiation doses from medical imaging have soared sevenfold since the early 1980s, according to a report last year from the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.

Meanwhile, as many as 14,500 people a year may end up dying of radiation-induced cancers caused by CT scans, new research suggests.”–Judith Graham, Chicago Tribune.

Read her whole story: Concerns mount over radiation associatead with CT scans

Julie’s Health Club: CT scan safety: Concerns mount

March 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Renewable energy – both practicable and popular

The study was released just days after a new poll from Elon University in Elon, N.C. found overwhelming public support in North Carolina for developing the state’s renewable energy capacity. Nearly 80% of the poll’s respondents said they favor new wind energy facilities in the mountains or on the coast, while more than 83% favor construction of solar facilities.

Challenging conventional wisdom on renewable energy’s limits, FACING SOUTH, 9 March 2010, “……groundbreaking study out of North Carolina … suggests that backup generation requirements would be modest for a system based largely on solar and wind power, combined with efficiency, hydroelectric power, and other renewable sources like landfill gas. Continue reading →

March 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, USA | energy efficiency, renewable energy, renewables, solar | Leave a comment

Mainstream media using double standards about costs of nuclear power

Unlike Health Care, When It Comes To Nukes, Cost Is No Object, THE HUFFINGTON POST, 6 March 2010, Saturday’s Washington Post, about the nuclear weapons decisions facing President Obama, runs longer than 1,300 words, but five a reader won’t find are “cost,” “dollars,” “money,” “debt,” or “deficit.” A reader would also search in vain for any talk of a “fiscal crisis” or a need to balance nuclear weapons priorities with available revenues.

That same reader, of course, rarely has to venture past the first sentence of a health care reform story to find that the subject is a “trillion dollar overhaul.” Occasionally, it’s noted that the trillion dollars is spread over ten years.

Unlike Health Care, When It Comes To Nukes, Cost Is No Object

March 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | media, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

US Dept of Energy uses wobbly words to promote nuclear power

the words “clean” and “renewable” are often applied to the word “energy” as if they were synonymous. They aren’t….In the DOE’s loan guarantee program, one form of energy is dominant: nuclear power.

DOE Loans for Clean (maybe), Renewable (or not) Energy, The Energy Collective, by Osha Davidson, 03/07/2010 Continue reading →

March 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, renewables | Leave a comment

Solar energy set to race ahead in Colorado

Clear Skies Ahead For Colorado Clean Energy Get Solar, by Margaret Collins in Sunday, March 7th 2010 Colorado’s commitment to clean energy may soon be second only to California’s. Late on Friday, the Colorado Senate passed a bill that would increase the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to 30 percent by 2020– Continue reading →