USA « nuclear-news

Sarah Palin and the push for war on Iran

(USA) Palin beating drums of war on Iran PRESS TV, 08 Feb 2010 US conservative darling Sarah Palin says she thinks President Barack Obama should declare war on Iran. Continue reading →

February 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Renewable energy -pressure on U.S. Congress to set standard

Wind, solar groups push US renewable energy standard. Feb 10, 2010 Stimulus funds powered most renewables to expand in 2009* Energy groups stress domestic job creation* Call for federal energy standard, extended tax credits By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment CorrespondentWASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Continue reading →

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

Roanoke River endangered by uranium mining

(USA) League of Individuals for the Environment Feb. 5–-Concerns over proposed uranium mining in Pittsylvania County led the Southern Environmental Law Center to include the Roanoke River basin in its 2010 list of top 10 endangered places in its coverage area.

Continue reading →

February 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, USA | antinuclear, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Energy Efficiency and Renewables Reducing Greenhouse Gases

the report estimated that emissions would drop 18.6 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

Massachusetts positioned for steep global warming gas reductions -Boston Globe By Beth Daley, 5 Feb 2010 As national legislation to reduce global warming emissions has stalled in Congress, Massachusetts is on target to reduce its own emissions more than 18 percent below 1990 levels in the next decade, according to a draft technical report released by the state today. Continue reading →

February 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, ENERGY, USA | energy efficiency, renewable energy, renewables | Leave a comment

Medical Use of Ionizing Radiation Needs Better Regulation

Medical Group Urges New Rules on Radiation

The New York Times By WALT BOGDANICH

February 4, 2010

The leading professional organization dedicated to radiation oncology has called for enhanced safety measures in administering medical radiation, Continue reading →

February 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

U.S. Energy Department carefully helping private uranium producers

the additional government supplies in the market could have depressed prices, making it difficult for producers to expand operations……….

Energy Dept cancels surplus uranium transfers

By Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. Energy Department has canceled plans to put into the market during 2011 extra government-owned surplus uranium supplies, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told Congress on Thursday, Continue reading →

February 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, uranium | Leave a comment

Future for U.S. Nuclear power industry really is doubtful

Problematically, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a policy that does not require newer designs to be substantially safer than old designs,

Where Is Nuclear Power Really Heading?A Look at Obama’s Call for New Nuclear and the Reactors that Might Be Built by solveclimate Dave Levitan – Feb 5th, 2010 “…..Energy Secretary Steven Chu and the president are making it clear that they intend to move forward. Thus, the question arises: After more than a decade without any new nuclear plants being built in the U.S., what exactly would new nuclear power look like?

Slowed Momentum, Escalating Costs…. Continue reading →

February 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, reactor, reactors | Leave a comment

Misleading headlines on nuclear power plants

This week’s Economist/YouGov poll

SOME highlights from this week’s Economist/YouGov poll 5 Feb 2010

“Nearly half of Americans (47%) think nuclear power plants are safe.”

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

Now that could more logically be headed “More than half of Americans do not think that nuclear power plants are safe”

February 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

Obama beholden to nuclear industry’s donations and backing?

Obama’s Nuclear Giveaway, Mother Jones 4 Feb 2010 By Kate Sheppard

“………..nuclear interests have been keen boosters of his political career: Executives and employees of Exelon, the Illinois-based utility that produces approximately 20 percent of the country’s nuclear power, donated nearly $210,000 to Obama’s presidential campaign, according to CQ Moneyline.

In fact, Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, helped broker the merger of two utiltilies to form Exelon in 2000 when working as an investment banker at Wasserstein Perella & Co. Obama’s chief political strategist, David Axelrod, consulted for an Exelon subsidiary periodically between 2002 until he started working on the Obama campaign. Exelon officials Frank M. Clark and John W. Rogers Jr. have been among his biggest fundraisers, and Obama has also received donations from John Rowe, Exelon’s chairman. Rowe also heads NEI, is a key player in a business-environmental coalition pushing for climate legislation, and has been selected to serve on the DOE’s panel on nuclear waste. Continue reading →

February 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | nuclear secrecy | Leave a comment

Stephen Chu’s religious faith that a nuclear waste solution will be found

(Despite 60 years of fruitless search ) “Chu, testifying to the panel members on the budget proposal, maintained that “we’re going to have a solution to nuclear, the backend fuel issue…”

GOP: Chu Sending Mixed Signals on NuclearEnergy and Environment National Journal Amy Harder
February 4, 2010

Republican senators today accused Energy Secretary Steven Chu of sending mixed signals to the nuclear industry. Continue reading →

February 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Tax-payers giving a blank check to the U.S. nuclear industry?

“With hundreds of billions in bailouts already on the shoulders of US taxpayers, the country cannot afford to move forward with a program that could easily become the black hole for hundreds of billions more,” …The Senate energy bill approved by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee last June would create a Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA) within the DOE that could distribute a virtually unlimited number of loan guarantees without any congressional oversight.

Obama’s Nuclear Giveaway, Buried in the budget is a plan to underwrite the nuclear industry’s revival.

Mother Jones 4 Feb 2010 By Kate Sheppard

“… the Obama administration’s 2011 budget proposes tripling the loan guarantee program—from the $18.5 billion that Congress has already approved to $54.5 billion. The program’s expansion is just one of several signs that the Obama administration is throwing its muscle behind the nuclear industry’s push for a massive expansion. Continue reading →

February 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

$Billions for Nuclear Power Sneaked into the U.S Climate Bill

Nuclear’s Slice of the Climate Pie— Mother Jones, Feb. 3, 2010 By Kate Sheppard

Senators hoping to pass a climate and energy bill this year have listed increased support for nuclear power as one of the major enticements for Republicans and apprehensive Democrats to back the legislation. Continue reading →

February 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, USA | antinuclear, climate change, energy efficiency, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

Unnecessary nuclear and uranium projects get $billions in U.S. budget

POGO is Shocked by Wasteful Spending in DOE Budget

Project on Government Oversight, Ingrid Drake, 4 Feb 2010 In the midst of initiating a federal spending freeze, it is shocking that President Obama’s FY 2011 Budget Request released this week pours billions of dollars into two unnecessary nuclear weapons construction projects. There is no demonstrated requirement for either the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at the Y-12 National Security Complex nor the Chemical and Metallurgical Research Replacement Nuclear Facility (CMRR-NF) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

“Contrary to the spin, neither of these facilities are needed to ensure the safety, security and effectiveness of our weapons,” says Peter Stockton, POGO Senior Investigator.

In addition, DOE does not even have an estimated cost for completing the projects, as the budget describes their total costs as “TBD.” “To Be a Disaster,” is what POGO fears that term means, based on DOE’s atrocious record of soaring construction costs and overruns. For example, the cost of the Highly Enriched Uranium Manufacturing Facility (HEUMF) at Y-12 ballooned from $97 million to $549 million. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) project also experienced dramatically increased costs and delayed completion dates. The Department of Energy sold the NIF to Congress in the early 1990s with a reported cost estimate of $700 million and an original completion date of 2002, yet its most recent cost estimate is $5-6 billion with a completion date of 2010 — more than 600 percent over budget and at least 8 years behind schedule.

Despite the 10 percent spending increase on the nation’s nuclear weapons budget, one of the only areas to see reduced growth is the budget for weapons dismantlement, which was sliced almost in half….http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2010/02/pogo-is-shocked-by-wasteful-spending-in-doe-budget.html

February 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Young Obama supporters tell Obama – Nuclear is Wrong Way

Dear Mr. President – Nuclear Power Will Set Back Race Against Global Warming « It’s Getting Hot In Here 2 Feb 2010 Dear President Obama,According to a report released by Environment America in November, the long process to build nuclear plants along with the carbon intensity of production will set us back in the fight against global warming. The next 5-10 years are CRITICAL for the future of my generation and the planet that your daughters will inherit. Continue reading →

February 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radioactive | Leave a comment

Nuclear renaissance not likely, despite Obama’s support

This unending stream of technical, financial and political downfalls could doom the “reactor renaissance” to history’s radioactive dump heap. “

Harvey Wasserman: Obama’s New Nuclear War THE HUFFINGTON POST 2 Feb 2010 Amidst utter chaos in the atomic reactor industry, Team Obama is poised to vastly expand a bitterly contested loan guarantee program that may cost far more than expected, both financially and politically.The long-stalled, much-hyped “Renaissance” in atomic power has failed to find private financing. New construction projects are opposed for financial reasons by fiscal conservatives such as the Heritage Foundation and National Taxpayers Union, and by a national grassroots safe energy campaign that has already beaten such loan guarantees three times. Continue reading →

February 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin | Leave a comment