AFRICA « nuclear-news

The nasty truth about France’s AREVA uranium company in Niger

The international nuclear industry is an integral part of this dirty scheme in France, Niger and elsewhere. It’s time to stop it in its tracks and get it to clean up the toxic mess it’s created.

Nuclear colonialism News24: Columnists: AndreasSpath 2010-04-07 Fans of nuclear energy love France. They habitually depict the country which produces more than three quarters of its electricity using atomic power as the way forward to clean, cheap and low-carbon energy for all. In their enthusiasm they tend to ignore the less than glamorous aspects of the French nuclear industry. Continue reading →

April 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Niger | antinuclear, AREVA, cancer, indigenous, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radioactive, reactors, uranium | 1 Comment

Tuareg and uranium: AREVA’s grip on Niger

“You can’t just fight against nuclear power plants and waste repositories,” he said. “If you want to kill the tree, kill the roots”. He was referring to the uranium mines.

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’ The Blogger: 2 April 2010, “……..A total of 80,000 people live in the two cities Areva created in the desert to service the mines. There are no paved roads, but there is plenty of reddish-brown dust, which penetrates into every crack and pore. Well water is radioactively contaminated, and precious fossil groundwater is used in the uranium ore processing plant. The region’s nomads are finding fewer and fewer pastures for their cattle, and people are affected by fatal illnesses.

Citizens’ organizations critical of Areva claim that the little money the company pays to the Niger state remains in the capital or simply ends up in the pockets of family members of the longstanding president. When Alhacen is asked what the mine has done for people, he says: “Nothing — except radiation, which will be here for thousands of years”. Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, politics | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Scandalous and continuing legacy of uranium mining in Niger

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’, The Blogger, 2 April 2010,“……….Uranium from Niger has served as a fuel for Europe’s energy supply for 40 years. But unlike Saudi Arabia, Niger has arguably reaped little but misery in return.The country in Africa’s Sahel zone is one of the world’s least-developed nations. One in four children dies before the age of five.The conditions in Niger are one of the dirty sides of supposedly clean nuclear energy. The activities there are well hidden from the outside world: Continue reading →

April 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, politics | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Uranium mining companies flock like vultures to exploited Niger

Niger coup: Good for Tuareg rebels, bad for uranium investors, The Christian Science Monitor 23 March 2010, The military junta announced it will audit all uranium exploration permits awarded before last month’s Niger coup. Evidence has emerged that the permits enriched the ousted president and devastated the Tuareg population……, foreign investors from China, Australia, South Africa, America, and Canada have flocked to the landlocked Saharan state. Continue reading →

March 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Niger | antinuclear, AREVA, indigenous, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, uranium | Leave a comment

Uranium contracts with foreign firms exploit Niger

Uranium Major Niger Urged to Review Contracts, ABC News, NIAMEY (Reuters) 14 March 2010, – The new junta ruling in Niger, one of the world’s biggest uranium producers, should review and possibly renegotiate dozens of resource exploitation contracts, civil rights groups said on Saturday. Continue reading →

March 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, secrets,lies and civil liberties | cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, radiation, uranium | Leave a comment

World Bank withholds support for renewable energy in South Africa

It’s not just activists who are up in arms: the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce is calling for a national investigation into Eskom’s “sweetheart deals” for big industrial energy users at the expense of everyone else.

World Bank Gives South Africa Lumps of Coal, THE HUFFINGTON POST, by Lori Pottinger, 10 March 2010, In case you didn’t catch it, the World Bank’s top official for Africa just thumbed her nose at the dozens of renewable energy companies lining up to build clean energy in Africa’s dirtiest economy. Continue reading →

March 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, South Africa | energy efficiency, renewable energy, renewables | Leave a comment

Foreign uranium companies continue to rip off Niger’s poor

The neocolonial secret agreements giving Areva below-market prices mean that very little of the wealth from Niger’s uranium remains in the country.

Niger’s uranium coup, boilingspot: 7 March 2010 On February 18, Niger’s President Mamadou Tandja was overthrown in a military coup. A military junta calling itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, headed by Major Salou Djibo, took powerTony Iltis | Green Left Online | 6 March 2010 “……the junta is unlikely to confront the causes of Niger’s extreme poverty: Western-imposed neoliberal austerity and the environmentally and socially destructive plunder of natural resources, particularly uranium………….the coup ensures that political power remains with the same military officer caste from which Tandja came……. Continue reading →

March 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | indigenous issues, Niger | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, uranium | Leave a comment

Bloody coup in Niger – all about uranium

Uranium Fueling Niger Coup? By Melissa Pistilli- Uranium Investing News, 23 Feb 2010 Last week in Niger, a military junta led by Platoon Comander Salou Djibo calling itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) launched a bloody coup against the elected government of President Tandja Mamadou…. Continue reading →

February 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, politics | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, uranium | Leave a comment

Wind energy more viable for S.Africa than nuclear

‘Renewable energy is viable’ Times LIVE (Africa) Feb 21, 2010 By ZWELI MOKGATA Eddie O’Connor is adamant that 90% of the world’s electricity could easily come from renewable sources by 2050 if only world governments would commit to key energy policies in time.

Continue reading →

February 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | South Africa, spinbuster | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, renewable energy | Leave a comment

Armed insurrection in uranium mining country – Niger

Armed soldiers storm Niger presidential palace – in the uranium-rich al-Qaeda haven, West African country Islamization watch 18 Feb 2010

Armed soldiers storm Niger presidential palace ~ in the uranium-rich, al-Qaeda haven, West African country

http://islamizationwatch.blogspot.com/2010/02/armed-soldiers-storm-niger-presidential.html

February 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, uranium | Leave a comment

Uranium company made losses

First Uranium posts Q3 loss on higher costs, forex loss Feb 16 (Reuters) – First Uranium Corp (FIU.TO) posted a quarterly loss, hurt by higher corporate expenses and a $7.4 million foreign currency loss.

For the third quarter ended Dec. 31, the company reported loss of $14.4 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with a profit of $1.3 million, or 1 cent a share, a year ago……… In January, South African authorities withdrew environmental authorization for a new tailings storage facility at First Uranium’s key Mine Waste Solutions tailings recovery project.

UPDATE 1-First Uranium posts Q3 loss on higher costs, forex loss | Reuters

February 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, South Africa | nuclear costs, uranium | Leave a comment

Non-Africans exploit poor environmental controls in African uranium mines.

it is non-African companies that are exploiting the resource — Chinese, Canadian and French firms. It’s a whole new phase of colonialism.”…..

A recent investigation in Niger uncovered radioactive shovels on sale in the local market in Arlit, a company town next to Areva’s mine there.

The great uranium stampede The Sunday TimesJanuary 31, 2010

“…….The scramble has been set off by the comeback of nuclear power. In the past couple of years countries that for decades had shunned it as an expensive, pariah technology have embraced it anew. Britain is leading the charge. The government envisages a new generation of reactors to replace the rickety old stations that will be retired in the coming years. The renaissance has taken hold elsewhere, from America to the Middle East and China. Continue reading →

February 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, politics international | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radioactive, uranium | 1 Comment

South Africa’s Pebble Bed Nuclear Reactor probably has no future

Times Live Zambia Jan 28, 2010 | By Sapa

Trade union Solidarity has raised the alarm about pending job losses at the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) project in Centurion near Pretoria as funding dries up.

“Workers were informed (by PBMR chief executive Jaco Kriek) that government would not make further subsidies available for the project and that there were only sufficient operating funds left until April,” Solidarity spokesman Jaco Kleynhans said in a statement.

PBMR spokesman Tom Ferreira did concede, in a statement, that “the future of the PBMR is currently being reviewed by government, Necsa and Eskom.”…..The minerals and energy department could not be reached for comment….http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/local/article282054.ece

January 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | South Africa | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactor, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

South Africa: uranium mine loses authorisation

Environmental authorisation withdrawn at First Uranium project (South Africa) Mining Journal20 Jan 2010 First Uranium Corp says an environmental authorisation (EA) for a tailings storage facility at its Mine Waste Solutions (MWS) tailings recovery project has been withdrawn by the authorities.

The “unexpected” decision was taken by the North West Provincial Government’s Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Rural Development (NWDACE).

Mining Journal – Environmental authorisation withdrawn at First Uranium project

January 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, South Africa | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

USA backs AREVA, while indigenous nuclear victims suffer

Meltdown, USA: Nuclear Drive Trumps Safety Risks and High Cost 06 January 2010 by: Art Levine, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis“………whether in Native-American reservations here or in Niger villages abroad, indigenous, impoverished people live near or work in uranium mines to supply nuclear plants, and suffer the consequences in cancers, birth defects and leukemia. Continue reading →

January 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | indigenous issues, Niger | antinuclear, AREVA, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment