nuclear-news

26 March latest nuclear news

Wake up World! Belgium terrorist attack shows vulnerability of nuclear facilities. And it’s not just nuclear reactors- it’s ANY nuclear or radioactive facilities.

CLIMATE. Highest in 666 million years – today’s carbon emissions. World Meteorological Organization — Dangerous Climate Future Has Arrived.

NASA and Rosatom want nuclear rockets to take astronauts to Mars.

BELGIUM. Fears that Brussels bombers were plotting to build a radiological dirty bomb. Belgium: nuclear staff refused access following news that terrorists had considered attack on nuclear plant. Military presence increased at Belgium’s nuclear power stations.

GERMANY. Danger of terror attacks on Germany’s nuclear stations

USA.

•  “Deadly force” – a new rule for nuclear facility safety.
• St Louis County residents count the health toll from radioactive wastes.
• Large number of baby deaths close to nuclear contaminated site.
• Armed UK vessels secretly take weapons grade plutonium from Japan to USA.
•  Spent nuclear fuel staying put near closed San Onofre nuclear power station. Vulnerability of San Onofre’s nuclear wastes.  America’s nationwide problem of nuclear wastes, and Edison’s experimental Holtec solution.
• USA’s nuclear industry in death spiral?
• For the first time, most Americans now against nuclear power.
• Politics.Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton agree on climate change, disagree on nuclear energy. According to Donald Trump – OK to nuclear bomb Syria?   Why are US media and Presidential candidates ignoring $trillion nuclear weapons spending?
• NEW NUCLEAR AIR-LAUNCHED CRUISE MISSILE A REDUNDANT CAPABILITY.
• Home solar energy is booming in USA.

UK.   Taxpayers up for huge liabilities if Hinkley nuclear power project goes ahead? UK govt getting resigned to the likely scrapping of Hinkley Point C nuclear project?  China wants big involvement in construction of Hinkley Point C nuclear station.   Rolls Royce touts “football fields” of mini nuclear reactors for Britain. Cheaper, faster renewable energy will obliterate the prospects for “new nuclear”

FRANCE. Years more delay for EDF’s Flamanville nuclear power station. AREVA’s huge loss on Finland nuclear project.

FINLAND. Russia funding and building new nuclear power station in Finland.

JAPAN. Nuclear safety too costly for Japan- scraps 6th nuclear reactor. Toshiba investigated over Westinghouse Accounting. Toshiba to dump its nuclear business, as U.S. units probed? TEPCO refuses to reimburse ¥20.1 billion in claims from Tohoku. TEPCO says 5.3 tons of tainted water leaked at nuclear plant.    Incidences of Thyroid Cancer in Children Rising in Fukushima. FIVE YEARS AFTER: Fukushima thyroid cancer patients’ families join forces. Incineration of radioactive waste begins at Fukushima nuclear plant.

UKRAINE. Disturbing facts about Ukraine’s nuclear power stations. Chernobyl’s anti radiation sarcophagus. Nuclear dump plan for Chernobyl area.

INDIA. Kakrapar radiation leakage highlights need for investigation of All of India’s nuclear reactors. Renewable energy beating nuclear power in India.

SOUTH AFRICA. Once again, access to South Africa’s nuclear documents is denied

March 26, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Climate and Nuclear News 18 March

Christina Macpherson’s websites & blogs

CLIMATE and RENEWABLE ENERGY Renewable energy effective in stalling greenhouse gas emissions – International Energy Agency (IEA). New study shows how warm ocean currents affect Antarctic ice shelves. . Sea levels could rise to mind-boggling levels. Antarctic ice sheets melting: when will the tipping point be reached?

Climate action a winner for USA with clean energy and transport policies.  India’s massive bet on solar power is paying off.

The Importance Of The Nuclear Security Summit – five points.

UK and FRANCE France’s auditor brands Hinkley Point nuclear project as financially risky. EDF want French tax-payers’ financial aidfor UK Hinkley Point Nuclear Project.  UK Members of Parliament to question EDF executives about Hinkley nuclear project financing. New UK nuclear project Hinkley Point C – now a”dead duck” ? Political importance to world’s nuclear powers, of getting Hinkley project happening.

BELGIUM 30 major European cities and districts call for shutdown of aging Belgian nuclear reactors.

JAPAN. Fukushima fuel melted through containment vessels and is “spewing radiation”. Fukushima – too toxic for humans AND for robots.   The health toll of Fukushima nuclear disaster – especially workers and children. The workers of the Fukushima nuclear clean-up. Japan, US, France to team up on Fukushima clean-up: official.

After court ruling, things are grim for Japan’s nuclear industry.

USA. 

• $Billions for US nuclear submarines.
• USA worried about weapons proliferation risks in China’s Nuclear Recycling plan.
• USA’s nuclear regulator ineffective, as radiation leaks continue.
• Tax-payer money proposed in Senate, to keep uneconomic Fitzpatrick nuclear plant going.  
• South Carolina nuclear whistleblower workers punished for speaking out on safety concerns.
• Hanford Nuclear Reservation ordered by federal judge to comply with new deadlines for nuclear waste clean-up.
• Bill Gates enjoys spruiking his plutonium dream.

TAIWAN. Despite rain , thousands rally across Taiwan, against nuclear power.

SOUTH AFRICA. Seven key areas for concern in South Africa’s nuclear build plan.

INDIA.   Kakrapar Nuclear Plant Is Likely Undergoing A Loss-Of-Coolant Accident: Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan

March 18, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Response to South Australia Nuclear Fuel Chain Royal Commission’s Tentative Findings

ABOUT SUBMISSIONS in response to The Tentative Findings of the South Australian Nuclear Fuel Chain Royal Commission, Noel Wauchope  16 Mar 16

Today I take the unusual step of publishing several extracts from one submission. The Royal Commission has allowed very little time for people to send in submissions. So – few are available to me right now.

BUT – Paul Langley of South Australia has prepared a submission. And it is a beauty!  Why? Because not only does it pack a punch, but, equally important, Langley provides a wealth of information, facts, figures, and reference sources – https://nuclearexhaust.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/response-to-the-tentative-findings-of-the-sa-nuclear-fuel-cycle-royal-commission/

Sad to mutilate such a strong and lengthy submission, but I have done so on this website. So there are 5 extracts from the submission, on today’s page. If you have time, go to the original. If you don’t have time, at least see what Langley writes about Transport of High Level Nuclear Waste,  Gawler Crater,  The Law and the Profits,  Gaining Public Trust,  AN ALTERNATIVE to nuclear industry 

March 16, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news in this Fukushima anniversary week

11 March – the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe.  There’s a prevailing attitude in the general world of media, business, and government, that it’s all over – nearly fixed, back to nuclear business as usual. Not true.  Indeed, the harrowing truth is otherwise. Dr Tilman Ruff is one of many who have set out the reality of the continuing health and environmental impacts of ionising radiation from Fukushima.

There is also a comprehensive new report , by Dr Ian Fairlea,  on the continuing health effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

The whole sorry nuclear story is brought up to date, in  a new 15 part series Nuclear Power in Our World Today. Episode One focuses on the “front end” of the nuclear chain – the truly awful and continuing effects of the thousands of old abandoned uranium mines.

March 12, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

Renewable energy news – more fun, and much more is happening than in the nuclear industry

Journalism highlights of the week :

*Australia’s revolving door – from politician to mining executive and back again: how miners control Australian government policy.

*The horrendous truth about just how big a mess nuclear corporation EDF is in.

Yes, I do get tired of all the doom and gloom – about the nuclear industry – both in its harmful effects, and in its dismal future prospects.

Meanwhile – when I start looking at renewable energy news – well, there’s miles of it! And, not to be discounted, even where I live, I see new solar panels popping up in the neighbourhood every week!

RENEWABLE ENERGY & ENERGY EFFICIENCY

• Death throes of the nuclear industry as renewables move towards 80 percent penetration in the U.S.
• An unforgettable year for solar power in USA.
• Global Boom in Wind Power, led by China and USA.
• UK govt urged to lower tax on energy efficient homes – report.
• Cornwall, UK, gets wind farm without any govt funding- community energy!
• Solar power powers up; London – with World’s biggest floating solar farm.
• Dramatic improvement in solar cell technology.
• In 10 years – 100% renewable energy is doable.

Climate Change Champion – Leonardo Di Caprio.

USA  Design flaws in America’s nuclear reactors: NRC engineers call for shutdown, if not fixed.  ‘uncontrollable radioactive flow’ from Indian Point nuclear station into the Hudson River.  Radioactive leak just one of many nuclear problems at Indian Point, USA. The end of the nuclear age – foreshadowed as Indian Point nuclear station leaks radioactivity. The danger of flying nuclear materials between UK and USA. Russia & USA Pointing Nuclear Missiles at Asteroids – bonanza for Lockheed Martin etc. High costs and construction delays cast gloom over nuclear industry. The Price of Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Power

JAPAN – Fukushima.  TEPCO Lied To The World About Fukushima Meltdowns. Court case will unveil ‘the hidden truths’ of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. ‘Keep pro nuclear signs’ as reminder of Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. How solar energy can turn lives around in nuclear-devastatedFukushima. ‘deep freeze’ of soil wall at Fukushima plant. TEPCO now burning thousands of radioactive work clothes. As far away as Tokyo, highly radioactive black sand from Fukushima meltdowns is found. Radioactive contamination still a very real crisis for Fukushima fishermen. Very few return to “re-opened” town in Fukushima.

Strontium 90 – Japanese Preserving Deciduous Teeth Network.

WEAPONS & WAR Huge rally in Britain against Trident nuclear missile system. UK govt to spend £642 million developing new submarines for Trident nuclear missiles. Russia to test launch ballistic missiles from nuclear-powered submarines. Kim Jong-un orders nuclear weapons readied for use ‘at any time’ India about to get a nuclear-armed submarine. New USA nuclear missile test.

FRANCE.  The horrendous truth about just how big a mess nuclear corporation EDF is in. Francepromises more compensation to Pacific nuclear test victims. France prepared to extend life of nuclear reactors: energy minister. France sued by Geneva over dangerous and polluting nuclear station. France’s nuclear giant AREVA in deep financial mess – again!

GERMANY‘s nuclear utilities will have to transfer nuclear clean-up cash by 2022.

IRAN Big win for Rouhani and Reform in Iran elections. International Atomic Energy Agency reports that Iran is abiding by nuclear agreement.

March 5, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The week’s roundup of nuclear news

New UN Talks on Nuclear Weapons Start. United Nations works toward legalisation of absolute nuclear disarmament.

Nuclear power being beaten globally by wind energy.

JAPAN

Nuclear weapons kept on Okinawa, by USA.

Japan’s nuclear reactor restarts anger Minami Soma mayor.

Takahama Nuclear reactor leaking radioactive water.

Fukushima.

• Normalizing radiation – Japan’s nuclear policy “Fukushima is clean and safe again!”
• Japan Olympic teams to train in nuclear clean-up zone.
• Japan’s Nuclear regulator suggests Tepco to give up removing molten fuel from Fukushima plant.
• Out of control- Fukushima nuclear wastes, but they plan Olympic events there!.
• Fukushima and the great repatriation lie.
• Fukushima disaster: Tepco to pay couple in landmark damages case
• Rising toll of missing Fukushima workers – presumed dead – coverup by mass media.
• For some Fukushima mothers, protecting children from radiation comes at heavy price.
• How banned “Mislabeled” Fukushima food products are making it onto international store shelves.

USA.

• USA Presidential candidates: their policies on nuclear power.
• Nuclear Whistleblowers Report Criminal Acts by Multiple US Government Agencies; Affidavit Ties Lockheed-Martin to Karen Silkwood’s Death.
• Thousands of nuclear workers made sick by radiation, but not getting any help.
• Swiss-German Plutonium Believed to Have Just Been Dumped on South Carolina; More on Its Way.
• Spread of Hanford radioactive pollution is “alarming”.
• Calls for Reopening Investigation of Corruption at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab and of Suspicious Suicide of Ex-Deputy Director Richard Burick.
• Florida lawsuit over alleged unlawful nuclear fees.
• Gloom in USA nuclear industry: claim they’re ignored in Clean Power Plan. Entergy won’t save loss-making FitzPatrick nuclear plant.
• St Louis radioactively contaminated sites visited by Dr Helen Caldicott.
• USA Dept of Energy wants to dump nuclear waste on Sacred Native American Lands.

UK. The collapse of UK’s planned nuclear power programme ?

INDIA. USA govt’s position: its nuclear companies should be exempt from civil or criminal liability.

CANADA. Fukushima Cesium 137 found in 7 fish near Canada’s West Coast, but not in salmon.

GERMANY struggles with nuclear waste storage problem. Nuclear industry AND tax-payer funds both may be needed to cover nuclear shutdown costs. Germany’s “big four” utilities liable for nearly 40 billion euros for nuclear waste storage.

CHINA ramping up its nuclear industry, with plans for exporting reactors. Russia is offering bribes for Egypt to buy its nuclear reactors.

SOUTH KOREA    rejects calls for nuclear armament.

SOUTH AFRICA. Trouble brewing  over nuclear energy programme. Economist warns that nuclear deal will downgrade South Africa’s economy to junk.

AUSTRALIA. Aboriginal landowners shocked at plan for nuclear waste dump close to sacred site.

Saudi Arabia political analyst says that the kingdom has a nuclear bomb.

Huge savings in planned solar energy project for Marshall Islands.

February 26, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The week to February 20, in Nuclear News

UN ruling on Julian Assange, and Constitutional Law.

Paris terrorist attackers had planned to target Belgian nuclear reactors.   Belgian terror suspect had video of high ranking nuclear official.

Stolen nuclear material in Iraq – risk of an Islamic State “dirty bomb”.

EUROPE is more than 118 billion euros short of funds needed to decommission its nuclear reactors.Limited liabilityfor Germany’s nuclear operators in nuclear phaseout.

BRITAIN’s nuclear project Hinkley Point C staggers again. UK public conned by vested interests into funding Trident nuclear weapons system.

Call on the British govt to hold a public enquiry on the murder of Hilda Murrell. The unsolved murder of Hilda Murrell, Anti-Nuclear Activist.

FRANCE: EDF in its financial woes, extends the life of four nuclear reactors. EDF dodges making a decision on UK Hinkley nuclear station. Defective pressure vessel could seal the tomb of the EPR nuclear reactor.

UKRAINE. Radiation causing Chernobyl’s wild animals to lose their sight.

JAPAN. 

• 16 new child thyroid cancers confirmed in Fukushima’s children.
• Fukushima couple wins landmark case against TEPCO. Fukushima evacuees urged to individually file suits against TEPCO. 9,600 members of Fukushima plaintiff association suing Japanese govt and TEPCO.
• TEPCO Turning Off Radiation Monitors While Testing Contaminated Waste Incinerators.  Fukushima’s nuclear waste problems piling up.  More than 1,100 water storage tanks at Fukushima plant … and counting.

USA.

• St Louis underground fire moves closer to radioactive trash dump.
• Radioactive groundwater a difficult problem at Vermont Yankee nuclear site.
• Nuclear industry funded under the mask of “clean energy” – the Breakthrough Institute.  USA Government quietly funding billionaires’ nuclear folly.
• Nuclear crooks prosper in USA.
• Moapa Band of Paiute Indians fear a nuclear waste dump being imposed at Yucca Mountain. Native Americans’water supply contaminated by uranium mining.
• US Energy Dept cites two companies for violations at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).
• Tennessee Valley Authority considers selling its unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Plant. New nuclear reactors plan abandoned in Alabama.
• USA had nuclear weapons on Okinawa- declassified information, but everyone knew anyway.

CANADA  Push to not just postpone nuclear waste burial near Great Lakes, but to stop it altogether. Official Canadian report reveals Fukushima radioactive iodine in rain reached West Coast of America.

INDIA . Corporate elites push their toxic nuclear products onto India

SOUTH AFRICA . President’s very proble

February 20, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

The Week to February 12 in Nuclear News

Armed transport ships spotted in Panama Canal, headed for secret mission to later transport plutonium.

The very secretive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Arbitrary detention of Julian Assange – United Nations finding.

JAPAN. Fukushima nuclear station area has drastic mass death of species. What is to be done with all Fukushima’s radioactive trash? Japan Nuclear Regulation Authority Says No to Fukushima Daiichi’s Ice Wall.   5,300 tons of Fukushima radioactive trash dumped in 5 prefectures.

UK may be getting Beautiful Nuclear Cathedrals! (Amber Rudd will be pleased).  The UK ghost ships with the deadly nuclear cargo.  Huge production of radioactive trash would come from Hinkley point C nuclear reactor.   Hinkley Nuclear Project: trials and Tribulations Continue, and EDF is in dire financial straits. £100 billion. Confusion about financing of UK’s Hinkley nuclear power project. UK govt spurns the success of renewable energy, follows the dodgy chimera of “Small Nuclear Reactors”  Trident nuclear weapons system could all too soon become obsolete.

EUROPE. Court action against nuclear reactors in Belgium. Nuclear utility Vattenfall in crisis – third consecutive annual loss. Ukraine buying Western technology, plans to double its nuclear power.

FRANCE   Electricite De France (EDF) faces €100bn bill for upgrading ageing nuclear power stations.

 USA.

• Indian Point power plant radioactive leak gets worse.  Call for closure of Indian Point Nuclear Station while radioactive leak is investigated.
• Fire/Explosion Reported at North Carolina Nuclear Plant. At Pilgrim nuclear power plant, security officer skipped more than 200 fire watches.
• South Carolina takes legal action against DOE over unfinished Nuclear Fuel Project.
• New Texas nuclear reactors not going to happen anytime soon, despite Fed approval.
• The decline of the South Carolina Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication (MOX) Nuclear Reprocessing Facility.
• Should Georgia’s electricity customers get hit with the ballooning costs of Vogtle nuclear power plant?
• Signing of Trans Pacific Partnership: Bernie Sanders opposes it.
• Most Curious Page of President’s Three Mile Island Nuclear Disaster Report: What is Hidden? Will It Be Declassified?

SOUTH AFRICA. Nuclear “renaissance” to Nuclear Fascism.

 CHINA. China’s nuclear fusion experiment – it’s still decades away from practical application. Problems for China’s nuclear power plans.

INDIA. Ambiguities in marketing nuclear reactors to India. Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) does not override India’s nuclear liability law.

CLIMATE CHANGE & RENEWABLE ENERGY Sea-level rise ‘could last twice as long as human history’. New study: Meeting carbon reduction goals economically means no nuclear power.  World’s largest solar plant to be switched on in Morocco.

February 12, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news for the past week

International Court of Justice sets March dates for Marshall Islands’ nuclear case.

 Prof. T. Mousseau explains Life after Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear disasters .

Thyroid cancer increasing: can they continue to ignore the link with nuclear power?

Exploding the false claims of the thorium nuclear lobby.

UN Panel Report finds in favour of Julian Assange

CANADA .Will the government listen to 92,000 Petitioners against Great Lakes Nuclear Dump?

EUROPE. European Commission faces the astronomic future costs of nuclear power.  Growing concerns in Europe over restarting aging Belgium nuclear stations

UK. Hinkley Point nuclear plant project director quits. Hinkley delayed….again…best get used to hearing that! Hinkley nuclear fiasco puts the wind up Hitachi, concerning investment in UK. UK nuclear power project a bonanza for Japanese companies, Hitachi-GE and others.

GERMANY. Costly nuclear waste dump correction.   Costly, not available for decades, but Germany steps forward in nuclear fusion development.

FRANCE. Electricite De France : 6 union board members will oppose Hinkley Point nuclear project.  French waste group Veolia moving intonuclear clean-up business.   France’s plan for 1,000 kilometers of road paved with solar panels.

*SOUTH AFRICA.   CORRUPTION GOES NUCLEAR – Jacob Zuma, the Guptas and the Russians

USA.

•  Bernie Sanders calls for total phaseout of nuclear energy.
•  Crapo’s crap nuclear amendment passed by USA Senate.
• Big, fat waste of lawmakers’ time: US Congress trying to block Iran nuclear accord.
• USA govt funds “new nukes’.
• $4.7 billion the present cost [and rising] of building Watts Bar nuclear reactor.
•  Georgia State panel to do detailed probe of costs of Nuclear Plant Vogtle.
•  Strange progress of Class Action lawsuit against Brookhaven National Lab.
•  LA gas disaster – a mini Chernobyl?

JAPAN.

• Japan: secret use of consumer’s money to fund pro nuclear political campaign.
• High radiation levels, murky radioactive water, cause TEPCO to delay Fukushima robot survey.  Another new plan to try to inspect Fukushma nuclear reactor 1    Fukushima ice wall near completion.
•  Kyushu Electric Power Co. scraps plan for emergency facility at Sendai nuclear station.
• Anxieties over safety in the region, as Japan restarts 3rd nuclear reactor.   Japan’s nuclear restarts- increase of deadly MOX wastes, but nowhere to put it.

INDIA. Protest repressed in India, as government panders to France, USA’s nuclear power marketing.

February 5, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

Wrap up of nuclear news

Doomsday Clock to stay at 3 minutes to midnight.

The growing climate problem of data farms’ consumption of energy.

USA.

•  Criminal investigations into Department of Energy, Lockheed Martin, the Department of Labor and more.
• USA changes law to make it harder for nuclear radiation victims to get compensation.
• Experts concerned in debate on Wisconsin lifting moratorium on new nuclear stations.
• Nort.h Carolina Environment Chief aims to restrict solar power, promote nuclear power!
• New York Governor Cuomo’s schizophrenic nuclear policies.
•  Washington State Bill Calls Nuclear “CLEAN”!
• Dangerous situation in Los Angeles gas crater.

FRANCE. French unions unhappy with arrangements for UK’s Hinkley nuclear build.  Fatal rockfall at planned French repository site. France’s President Hollande visits India, hoping to market nuclear reactors.

JAPAN.

• Japan wrestling with problem of compensation for victims of nuclear accidents.
• Japan doles out over ¥16 billion in subsidies for slow-moving MOX projects.
• Japan considering building network of tunnels beneath seabed to store thousands of tonnes of nuclear waste.
•  Radiation in Tokyo’s water at higher level than in Fukushima’s.
• Toshiba might sell off its unprofitable nuclear business in Japan.
• Former PM Naoto Kan says Fukushima nuclear disaster is still unfolding.

UK. The nuclear revolving door: Former Labour MP appointed boss of nuclear industry trade body. It’s looking increasingly as if the Hinkley C Nuclear EPR is dead in the water. What if EDF says no to Hinkley Point? The danger oftransporting plutonium.

CANADA. A major economic drain – the renovation of Darlington nuclear station.

CHINA . China supports UN move to denounce North Korea over nuclear test. Safety concerns cause China to halt construction of two nuclear reactors.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa’s nuclear corporation in a mess.

RENEWABLE ENERGY  Solar power an economic winner for Chile.  Japan starts work on ‘world’s largest’ floating solar farm. Solar panel costs to fall 10% every year.

January 29, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | 1 Comment

The week in nuclear news

EUROPE. Nuclear hazards extend beyond a nation’s borders: Belgium a case in point

UK. Senior Tories agree with Jeremy Corbyn on ditching Trident nuclear weapons system. Jeremy Corbyn suggests submarines without warheads. Inquiry into Litvinenko’s radiation murder points to Putin as instigator. EDF Directors might delay UK Hinkley nuclear decision yet again.Nuclear waste plans an abuse of democracy in Britain.

China, Russia. Big anxieties with China and Russia’s plans for floating nuclear reactors

USA.   Republican presidential candidates clueless on the danger of nuclear arms race.   Bernie Sanders opposes the one $trillion nuclear weapons plan.  “Modernisation” making nuclear war more likely: time to renew disarmament process.   Best to store nuclear wastes locally in deep bores, not export it. Stanford experts warn on the nuclear risks for Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico.   Radioactive material constantly being emitted from LA gas blowout.

JAPAN. Fukushima cleanup will need underwater robots

CANADA.  92,000 petition Canada.Don’t store nuclear waste near Great Lakes

TAIWAN. Why is the media ignoring the anti nuclear success in Taiwan‘s election landslide?

SPAIN. Anniversary of a nuclear disaster in Spain.

IRAN. Sanctions lifted as Iran complies with nuclear deal

SOUTH AFRICA. Political connections in South Africa’s uranium energy drive. Radiation hazards in planned uranium mining in the Karoo, South Africa.

RENEWABLE ENERGY Record $329BN GLOBAL INVESTMENT IN 2015 in RENEWABLE ENERGY.

January 22, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

2016 This week in nuclear news

To the delight of the nuclear weapons corporations, things are getting all too tense on the international nuclear politics scene. USA and South Korea discuss a simulated pre-emptive nuclear strike on North Korea. The two Koreas ramp up the tensions. North Korea claims to have a hydrogen bomb.   Nuclear corporations in America not only sell bombs, they influence government policy.   Iraq war is a bonanza for US weapons salesmen.

Hope for nuclear disarmament – the Marshall Islands legal case.

Cyber attack: Nuclear Threat Initiative finds 20 countries vulnerable.

FRANCE: Electricite de France (EDF) at new low with crippling financial problems

USA. Smaller nuclear weapons make greater risk of nuclear weapons use. Nuclear weapons now more likely to be used, with Pentagon’s new B61-12 bomb.  USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission finds itself at risk of being cyber-hacked. Against all reason, Republican hawks still trying to sabotage Iran nuclear agreement.  Massive gas blowout in Los Angeles now releasing radioactive material.   Wisconsin might have to get nuclear waste dump if moratorium is lifted on new reactors. Wisconsin Assembly approves lifting nuclear moratorium.

UK. Leadership Crisis in Britain’s nuclear safety regulator. Jeremy Corbyn – inconveniently sensible on nuclear weapons. Birth defects in families of Britain’s nuclear test veterans: the fight for justice.

CANADA. Canada’s UN ambassador to spearhead Anti-nuclear weapon effort.

JAPAN.  Food Contamination:  Political Interests Take Precedence Over People Interests.  Japanese Govt. To Reuse Fukushima Contaminated Soil. Today’s Fukushima Nuclear Evacuees – their situation.

RUSSIA  punishes environmental groups as “foreign agents”.

CHINA. Hong Kong: lack of confidence in China’s nuclear safety system.

TAIWAN nuclear phaseout tipped as result of coming election

January 15, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Nuclear news – the coming year

As an Australian, this one is hard for me – so many countries, so many issues.

CHINA We are always being told that China is the big player, and will set off the wonderful new version of the “nuclear renaissance .”  That remains to be seen. Safety issues, Renewable energy successes, Public opposition –  it’s not all roses for the global nuke lobby.

CLIMATE CHANGE.  Nagging facts persist about nuclear lobby’s claim to fix climate change. A lot of people are realising that the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, the Breakthrough Institute and The Third Way are front groups for the nuclear lobby. Their propaganda will continue, but might not be effective.

IONISING RADIATION. Nuclear propaganda about this is a scary development. USA is still a leader in opinion about nuclear issues, despite its own failing industry. It would make life so much easier for the nuclear industry if radiation safeguards could be relaxed –  if we all found out that ionising radiation is OK after all. heck! there’s “hormesis” – telling us that radiation is good for us! he lobby’s grip on the Nuclear Regulation Authority, the EPA, The Department of Energy –  is  a worry.

FUKUSHIMA.  Off the agenda for the mainstream media, but still in crisis, as even PM Shinzo Abe has recently admitted.

UK. The saga of the Hinkley C Nuclear Project drags on – ever more expensive, ever more dodgy.

POLITICS UK. Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn throws a spanner in the discussion on rebuilding and actually using the Trident nuclear weapons system.  USA – Bernie Sanders is making anti nuclear weapons noises. Even Hillary Clinton airs doubts on this. Then there’s Donald Trump etc – it doesn’t bear thinking what might happen if that lot got in.

I know that there’s more –  India’s nuclear ambitions, North Korea’s inflammatory statements – it’s all too much.

On the positive side – RENEWABLE ENERGY grows apace. The Paris Climate Agreement showed a global good will to act.

January 8, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

2015 in Nuclear News

Impossible to encompass all the nuclear news for 2015, even in just headlines. So, I single out some themes that I found most interesting.

The survival of investigative journalism, even in this troubled time for print media, and for the shrinking of journalists’ employment. The two stories revealed were:

• McClatchy News Service’s At least 33,480 American nuclear workers dead from radiation-caused illness
• The Center For Public Integrity’s  – India’s nuclear industry pours its wastes into a river of death and disease, and also India’s repression of activists who protest about its poor safety record.

Also: Ionising Radiation & Risk of Death from Leukaemia & Lymphoma in Radiation-Monitored Workers (INWORKS): an International Cohort Study

The Paris climate agreement –  the nuclear lobby failed its goal of getting nations to adopt nuclear power as a government subsidised method of addressing climate change.

USA. Because America was the great pioneer country for nuclear power, and still the land with the most nuclear reactors, and nuclear weaponry, nuclear issues in USA are particularly important. Through 2015 the industry has grappled with the reality that it is not now economic, (if indeed it ever really was), and with the new imperative of what to do with its mounting dangerous radioactive trash. Once again, I marvel that none of the nuclear authorities have contemplating shutting down the industry, and stopping production of this toxic trash.

The global nuclear lobby came up with two survival tactics – pretending that nuclear is needed to solve climate change, and trying to overturn the science that ionising radiation is harmful to health and ecology. They went all out to get the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s radiation safety standards weakened, and to promote the quack science of “hormesis” . “Hormesis” Advocates Dodge Scientific Rigor with “Special Pleadings” – Ties to Tobacco Industry & Koch Brother Exposed. Bill Gates, Peter Thiel, Breakthrough Institute, in Paris, resembled  snake oil salesmen for new small nuclear reactors. 

Bill Gates to export ‘new nuclear’ reactors to China, where the safety regulations are slacker.

St Louis residents demanding answers on underground fire near nuclear waste. Residents of St Louis County get cancer from long-term exposure to low level radiation. Decades of bungling over radioactive landfill in St Louis County.

Repeating a few of of the many significant headlines 

Independent assessment of the state of the nuclear industry. Bleak outlook for Generation IV nuclear reactors, asGeneration III look like failing.  Nuclear lobby promotes a new ‘health disorder’ – radiophobia.

JAPAN. Declassified report shows Fukushima nuclear situation much worse than we were told.

UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke out against using nuclear weapons, and  opposes renewal of Trident nuclear weapons programme.

CHINA. Tianjin explosion highlights need to prioritise environment over economic growth. China censors Internet on Tianjin explosion news. France worried that China’s hasty nuclear power programme is unsafe.

FRANCE. Gloomy financial situation for AREVA in so many ways. Safety problems may mean the end for AREVA’s EPR nuclear reactor.

AUSTRALIA. South Australia runs a shonky pro nuclear Royal Commission .

January 1, 2016 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment

Are Britain’s nuclear stations at risk from flooding?

I’m just asking this question. I note that earlier this month, there were all sorts of jolly headlines about a Cumbria Food Festival going ahead, despite flooding. And the nuclear industry sure was looking good – they donated £500,000 of immediate funding to help Cumbria’s flood recovery effort.

Nary a mention in the mainstream media that Cumbria’s flooding might be a worry for Sellafield, and the rest of Cumbria’s toxic nuclear industry plans.

December 30, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | Leave a comment