nuclear-news

Energy reform in Spain shuts down Garona nuclear plant

Spain oldest nuclear plant shuts down Business Recorder, 16 December 2012   by Muhammad Iqba MADRID: Spain’s oldest nuclear plant Garona is shutting down on Sunday ahead of new taxes included in a government energy reform that would render the plant unviable.

Spain is introducing higher taxes on electricity generation as a measure to address an over 24 billion euro ($31 billion) energy tariff deficit after years of selling power below
costs…….http://www.brecorder.com/world/europe/96048-spain-oldest-nuclear-plant-shuts-down.html

December 17, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Unexplained shutdown at Susquehanna nuclear facility

Unexpected shutdown reported at PPL nuclear plant
http://citizensvoice.com/unexpected-shutdown-reported-at-ppl-nuclear-plant-1.1417356 December 16, 2012 Mark Moran / The Citizens’ Voice PPL officials did not fully address the problems that led to a shutdown at the nuclear power plant in Salem Township, a federal regulatory commission announced Friday.

SALEM TWP. (AP) — An energy company says it’s trying to figure out why a central Pennsylvania nuclear power plant reactor shut down unexpectedly. PPL Corp. says Unit 2 at the Susquehanna nuclear facility near Salem Township shut down early Sunday morning. The company says the reactor is safe and stable.
In a statement, Allentown-based PPL says the shutdown occurred during routine testing of a valve on the unit’s main turbine system. The company says the plant’s other reactor is operating normally. The Susquehanna plant is owned jointly by PPL and Allegheny Electric
Cooperative Inc.

December 17, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | 1 Comment

Christmas can be simpler and better

here’s some simple suggestions to make this holiday a tad more palatable for all of us.

Let’s give thanks and be inclusive

Give something you actually care about – yourself [your time]

Let’s bar the humbug this Christmas, the Age, December 15, 2012 Wendy Squires ”…. – most Australians who tick the census box as being ”Christian” are not using December 25 to instill the teachings of Christ, morals, empathy or ethics. I am not alone in the struggle to see the joy and rationale my Christian friends assure me exist beyond the mindless cacophony of commercial crapola, feigned frivolity and glutinous gorging that unfailingly shocks me each December.

……And I don’t buy the ”it’s all about the little children” bull either. If the emotional foundations of future generations lie in
obscene piles of useless tat ultimately destined for landfills, delivered by a fat man driving a reindeer-led sleigh from the North Pole, well, the best I can say is that creationism won’t seem that far-fetched in comparison. (My late mother’s take on Santa – ”I worked long hours in a windowless office to buy you that doll. Some old dude that doesn’t even exist sure isn’t going to get the credit.” Respect!)

So, on behalf of those of us who endure this holiday not so much as a re-enforcement of faith but a loss of it, I say let’s rethink this palaver. I may not believe in God but I do believe there is a good message that could be retrieved from this modern-day mess. Continue reading →

December 15, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | 1 Comment

Doctors speak out against money wasted on obsolete cold war nuclear weapons

Saturday’s letters: U.S. should reduce its nuclear stockpiles
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/letters/saturdays-letters-us-should-reduce-its-nuclear-stockpiles/1266171 , December 15, 2012 As members of Physicians for Social Responsibility, we are increasingly concerned by the debate onthe “fiscal cliff.” We know that if our country fails to reach a compromise before the end of the year, we face a situation where a hatchet may be taken to life-saving programs that prevent diseases, help keep people off the streets, and provide health care to our elderly and poor. We need a patient hand and a sharp scalpel to make the type of responsible and meaningful cuts to our federal budget to preserve our common future.

Our country is spending more money on war and defense than it has since World War II. This is not sustainable and it reflects Congress’ desire to fund pet projects more than any reasonable assessment of our national security requirements.

Even as our security challenges havechanged, Congress continues to waste hundreds of billions of dollars on Cold War-era programs. That war is over. According to a study by
the Ploughshares Fund, the United States will spend $640 billion on maintaining our bloated nuclear arsenal over the next 10 years. Continue reading →

December 15, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Energy Secretary to Nuclear Executive – the revolving door

Uranium Energy appoints former US energy secretary Mining Weekly By: Henry Lazenby 12th December 2012 TORONTO ) – New York-listed Uranium Energy (UEC) hasappointed former US energy secretary Spencer Abraham as chairperson of the company’s advisory board.

Abraham served as a US Senator from Michigan from 1995 to 2001 and served as secretary of energy from 2001 to 2005. Since 2005, Abraham has been the chairperson and CEO of The Abraham Group, an international strategic consulting firm based in Washington, DC.

December 15, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Emergency shutdown of Nine Mile Point nuclear reactor

Nine Mile Point reactor shut down after primary containment declared inoperable following leak Enformable, 14 Dec 12 The Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station is a two-unit nuclear power plant located in the Town of Scriba, approximately five miles northeast of Oswego, New York, on the shore of Lake Ontario. While both units onsite are General Electric BWRs, the Unit 1 reactor is one of the two oldest nuclear reactors still in service in the United States; New Jersey’s Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station is the other.

Event Details

Thursday night, during normal operation, a leakage of nitrogen to maintain Primary Containment pressure within specification was noted at Unit 1 (General Electric BWR Mark 1) in excess of that allowed per Technical Specification 3.3.3.a (An overall integrated leakage rate of less than 1.5% by weight of the containment air per day (La), at 35 psig (Pac).).

This event required the containment system to be declared inoperable, and nuclear reactor to be manually scrammed and shutdown until the utility is able to ensure the safety of the containment system to ensure control of the release of radioactive material. Continue reading →

December 15, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Litvinenko radioactive poisoning – UK inquiry to begin in May

Russian agent killed by radiation poisoning worked for U.K. spy agency MI6 National Post, Sylvia Hui, Associated Press | Dec 13, 2012 LONDON — Russian Alexander Litvinenko was a “registered and paid” agent working for Britain’s foreign intelligence agency when he died after being mysteriously poisoned, a lawyer representing his widow told an official hearing Thursday.

Another lawyer said the U.K. has evidence that the Russian government was behind Litvinenko’s death.
Britain is investigating the demise of Litvinenko, who died in November 2006 after drinking tea laced with the rare radioactive isotope polonium-210 at a London hotel. The case has badly strained relations between the United Kingdom and Russia, which denies poisoning the former Russian agent-turned-Kremlin critic.

Thursday’s session aimed to set out the scope of a public inquest into Litvinenko’s death. Judge Robert Owen said the inquest is expected to start in May…….
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/12/13/russian-agent-killed-by-radiation-poisoning-worked-for-u-k-spy-agency-mi6/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NPWorld+%28National+Post+-+World%29

December 14, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Safer ways to generate jobs – we don’t want uranium mining

The handful who stand to gain financially want us with farms, homes, businesses, and families to turn a blind, trusting eye as they play Russian roulette with all that could be negatively affected.

The risks far out-weigh any possible benefit to the general public here, and others surrounding us, as well as future taxpayer expense.
There are safer ways to generate jobs, and tax revenue for this county.

Uranium mining not worth risks  http://www.wpcva.com/opinion/article_0ddf499a-4475-11e2-86de-001a4bcf887a.html , December 12, 2012 
To the editor,     We would like to sincerely thank Mr. Ben Davenport, certain members of
the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, the water control at Virginia Beach, Virginia tourism industry, and many others for their stand on keeping the moratorium on uranium mining. We appreciate their efforts to bring to light the many risks involved in such an operation.

Those who stand to reap a substantial financial windfall want to convince the innocent public, who count on our elected officials to protect us, that they have everything under control, and allow them to move forward without opposition.

We simply do not believe it is possible for this group, which formed in 2007, to be that certain. How much mining experience do any of them have prior to this? Continue reading →

December 14, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Iran and IAEA to hold more talks on January 16

Tehran hosts UN nuclear team talks with Iran on Jan 16 Channel News Asia, 14 December 2012 TEHRAN: Iran and the UN atomic watchdog, following a day of discussions on the Islamic republic’s controversial nuclear programme, agreed on Thursday to resume negotiations in Tehran on January 16 , a senior Iranian official said. “We agreed to have the next round of talks on January 16 in Tehran,” said Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency was quoted by media as saying.

The one day of talks held on Thursday was “constructive, positive, and good progress has been made,” he added.

No other information came out of the talks, which ran from the morning late into the evening….. The IAEA says the talks aim to reach agreement on a “structured approach” for Tehran to address allegations of weaponisation and for the watchdog to gain broader access to Iran’s nuclear sites and people working in the programme……

December 14, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Frantic consumerism should not take over from true meaning of Christmas

There is a prime example from history that tells us what the true meaning of the Christmas holiday is. It began on Christmas Eve 1914, on the battlefields of Europe during World War I.
Thousands of troops on the Western Front put down their weapons and ventured into the frosty wastes of no man’s land. There they were greeted by the enemy — the very people they were fighting against.
They exchanged pleasantries and proceeded to produce a small beacon of sanity in the vast disillusionment of that war. It is called the Christmas Truce, and it displayed actual humanity in a time of misery, hatred and immense pain. The soldiers, whether they were British, French, Austro-Hungarian or German, broke their differences and came together to celebrate the holiday.

Holiday cheer translates into consumerism, fear http://www.dailytargum.com/opinion/columnists/holiday-cheer-translates-into-consumerism-fear/article_433c225e-3dd9-11e2-b050-001a4bcf6878.html , December 4, 2012   By Mike Denis  It’s that time of the season again. The hollies have been put up and the trees have been lit. Stockings will be stuffed, holiday meals will be cooked, and families will get together to celebrate the Christmas holiday. It truly is a time for happiness, as well as a time for giving.

Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, you should agree that it is a holiday that brings people together and gives back to those that are less fortunate. But as I have found, and I sure some of those who are reading this have found, there is a disturbing trend in the
commercialism of the holiday. Continue reading →

December 13, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Christmas – more than Buy Buy – Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict: Christmas is more than a party http://www.patheos.com/blogs/publiccatholic/2012/12/pope-benedict-christmas-is-more-than-a-party/ December 9, 2012 By Rebecca Hamilton I had just clicked on “buy” for a couple of Christmas gifts when I saw this reflection by the Holy Father.

December 10, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Person of the year: Bradley Manning wins award

Breaking News: Manning wins Person of Year 2012 in landslide  DECEMBER 8, 2012 BY: DEBORAH DUPRE   http://www.examiner.com/article/breaking-news-manning-wins-person-of-year-2012-landslide?CID=examiner_alerts_article  Bradley Manning has won the Person of the Year 2012 conducted by The Guardian with a landslide 70 percent of the votes.

Although the Guardian has not made the official announcement, WikiLeaks and Anonymous were among the first to tweet the news that Bradley Manning has won the Guardian’s Person of the Year Award 2012. Continue reading →

December 10, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | 1 Comment

Powerful presentations at USA conference on nuclear waste

200 participants mark the tragic observance of “A Mountain of Radioactive Waste 70 Years High” in Chicago, Dec. 1-3 http://www.beyondnuclear.org/radioactive-waste-whatsnew/2012/12/6/200-participants-mark-the-tragic-observance-of-a-mountain-of.htmlThe event sponsored by Beyond Nuclear, Friends of the Earth, and Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS), and co-sponsored by UChicago Climate Action Network and International House at the University of Chicago, attracted 200 participants, from across the U.S., as well as Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan, and a number of Native American First Nations. Continue reading →

December 8, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Military propagandists used to promote fracking industry

Fracking Industry Hires ‘Psychological Warfare’ Military Officers To Combat Peaceful Opposition Mint Press News, December 7, 2012 • Trisha Marczak  – A year after Range Resources, a leading hydraulic fracturing company, claimed it had hired former militaryofficers with experience in psychological warfare to combat anti-fracking activists, it seems as though they’re losing ground in the battle to win hearts and minds of Americans — and are turning to politicians instead…..

December 8, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | 1 Comment

New England Coalition’s legal bid to shut down Vermont Yankee nuclear plant

Anti-nuclear group asks Vt. high court to close Yankee
http://www.wcax.com/story/20288399/anti-nuclear-group-asks-vt-supreme-court-to-close-yankee Dec 07, 2012 By Susie Steimle – VERNON, Vt. – A new legal tactic by opponents of Vermont Yankee to get the nuclear plant closed down. This one comes from an anti-nuclear group known as the New England Coalition. The group asked the Vermont Supreme Court
to shut down the plant, saying the reactor’s owners agreed in 2002 to stop operating if they didn’t have a new certificate of public good by last March. Vermont Yankee still hasn’t received a new CPG.

The Shumlin administration says they’re watching this development closely, but choosing not to get involved at this point in time. Continue reading →

December 8, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment