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The safest management of nuclear plants is to close them – former Japanese P.M.

In his testimony, Mr Kan said Japan’s plant safety was inadequate because the energy policy had been hijacked by the ”nuclear village” – the power companies and pro-nuclear regulators and researchers that worked to promote the industry. 

”Experiencing the accident convinced me that the best way to make nuclear plants safe is not to rely on them, but rather, to get rid of them.”

Nuclear plants ‘far too risky’ for Japan Tokyo http://www.smh.com.au/world/nuclear-plants-far-too-risky-for-japan-20120529-1zhak.html#ixzz1wbiceWvu May 30, 2012 IN AN unusually stark warning during last year’s nuclear crisis, Japan’s then prime minister told a parliamentary inquiry the country should discard nuclear power as being too dangerous, saying the Fukushima accident had pushed the country to the brink of ”national collapse”.

In testimony to a panel investigating the government’s handling of the nuclear disaster, Naoto Kan also warned that the powerful nuclear industry was trying to push Japan back towards nuclear power, despite ”showing no remorse” for the accident.
Mr Kan’s testimony was the most closely watched of the six-month inquiry, which was launched by lawmakers who felt an earlier investigation by the government had papered over problems. Continue reading →

June 1, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Hard to get money for the prevention of nuclear accidents

the challenge the NRC has is, when something happens, it’s easy to convince people they need to spend money, prevent the next one. But when something hasn’t happened yet and it’s just a postulated event or a hypothetical disaster, it’s more  difficult to get people to pony up millions of dollars to fix the hypothetical problem….

Are U.S. Nuclear Plants Ready for a Fukushima-Like Meltdown?  PBS Newshour 25 May 12, When Chairman Gregory Jaczko resigned from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week, reports suggested it was linked to battles within the commission over safety requirements. Miles O’Brien reports on how government regulators in the U.S. set the safety bar for nuclear plants…… Continue reading →

May 26, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

AS usual, NRC will renew nuclear reactor license

The NRC has never rejected a license renewal application of a nuclear
plant. It has previously renewed the licenses of 72 of the nation’s 104 commercial nuclear reactors 

Official opposes Plymouth nuclear plant license, By David Abel |   Boston Globe       May 24, 2012    Six years after the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth sought to renew its license, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted Thursday to deny the plant the right to continue operating for another 20 years.
His vote will probably be in the minority, and opponents of renewing
Pilgrim’s license said they expect the full commission to outvote
Gregory B. Jaczko, the controversial chairman who announced his
resignation this week. Jakzo’s vote was widely seen as a protest of
the commission’s stance on the Pilgrim plant. Continue reading →

May 26, 2012 Posted by | general | 1 Comment

‘No savings’ in Dounreay to Sellafield nuclear rail plan BBC News 25 May 12 Dounreay, an experimental nuclear power site, is beingdemolished and cleaned up   Plans to move nuclear material from Scotland to England will not result in savings that could directly benefit communities, councils have been told.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) proposes moving fuel and
other radioactive material from Dounreay to Sellafield for treatment.

The proposal is deemed to be more cost effective than building new
facilities at Dounreay in Caithness….. For the material to stay at
Dounreay, storage sites would have to be upgraded or replaced within
the next 15 years.

The NDA has said that it would take eight to 10 years to design and
build the necessary facilities.

In the case of material called breeder, the NDA has estimated that it
would cost about £60m to transfer it to Sellafield, but £65m to deal
with it at Dounreay….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-18196024

May 26, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Nuclear radiation more serious than previously thought

Scientists Warn of Increased Nuclear Radiation Risks Market Watch, SANTA ROSA, Calif., May 23, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) — Recent news reports and scientific reviews warn that nuclear radiation exposure is more serious than we believed. Continue reading →

May 24, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Illegal export of nuclear-related materials

U.S. charges Chinese man with illegal nuclear-related exports, By Lily Kuo WASHINGTON | Wed May 23, 2012 (Reuters) – A Chinese national was charged with illegally exporting to China U.S.-made sensors used to produce weapons-grade uranium, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday.

Qiang Hu, 47, a sales manager for a Chinese subsidiary of MKS Instruments, was arrested at his hotel in North Andover, Massachusetts and charged with conspiracy to violate U.S. export laws. He allegedly allowed thousands of pressure measuring sensors, known as pressure transducers, to be exported from the United States to unauthorized users in China, the department said…. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/24/us-usa-china-arrest-idUSBRE84N00220120524

May 24, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Government’s nuclear dream will cost British householders

Electricity bills up £200 to pay for nuclear dream: Families hit to ensure profits for firms who build reactors Daily Mail By SEAN POULTER, CONSUMER AFFAIRS EDITOR  , 22 May 2012 Electricity bills could rise by up to £200 a year for each home under plans to guarantee high prices for firms building nuclear power stations  Details emerged yesterday as the Government unveiled a revolution in the way the nation produces its electricity.
Consumers will have to pay more to ensure companies make a profit on their multi-billion-pound investment….. the news has alarmed consumer groups who are worried about the impact on struggling householders.
At the same time, green campaigners are furious that the UK is backing nuclear power while other wealthy nations such as Germany are turning their backs on it……  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2148381/Electricity-bills-200-pay-nuclear-dream-Families-hit-ensure-profits-firms-build-reactors-wind-farms.html#ixzz1vjj1MY6a

May 23, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

UK will make consumers fund nuclear energy

UK wants consumers to fund nuclear through higher utility bills, Smart Planet,  By Mark Halper | May 22, 2012, The UK government will today propose legislation that would guarantee profits to nuclear power providers by permitting them to charge more on consumers’ bills, BBC radio is reporting….  By putting the financial burden on consumers, the UK would attempt to sidestep a European regulation that prohibits direct state subsidies of nuclear power, BBC presenter John Humphrys pointed out while interviewing Energy Secretary Ed Davey on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4  (audio link expires May 29)……

Even if the Government passes the draft bill, there’s no certainty that nuclear companies would invest in new plants. David Toke, senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, told the radio program that British nuclear would still remain “a dead duck.”  (Audio link expires May 29).

The UK’s existing nuclear fleet was built decades ago, when the British power industry was still nationalized. Meanwhile, several media outlets are reporting that the UK’s nuclear regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation, now wants to extend the life of those reactors.  http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/uk-wants-consumers-to-fund-nuclear-through-higher-utility-bills/16133

May 23, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Shutdown of Pilgrim nuclear power plant

Pilgrim nuclear plant shut down, By Colin A. Young |  BOSTON GLOBE    MAY 22, 2012 Power production at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth was halted this afternoon when a condenser at the station lost vacuum pressure during a cleaning, forcing operators to shut down the entire plant, officials said.

Operators shut down the plant, which was operating at about 30 percent power at the time, according to Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Plant operators initiated a manual “scram,” which “involves the control room operators inserting all of the control rods into the reactor core to halt the fissioning process,” according to Sheehan….. http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/05/22/pilgrim-nuclear-plant-shut-down-after-condenser-problem/SJmVPhZjZnhV8zFRF0EYmN/story.html

May 23, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

American negotiators hoping for positive discussions with Iran

Heading Into Talks With Iran, U.S. Sees Hopeful Signs NYT, By MARK LANDLER   May 18, 2012 WASHINGTON — American negotiators, heading into a crucial round of talks with Iran  over its nuclear program  next week in Baghdad, are allowing themselves a rare emotion after more than a decade of fruitless haggling with Tehran: hope. Continue reading →

May 19, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Some progress possible in Iran nuclear talks

this new trip is being seen as a sign that some progress might be possible.

UN nuclear chief to visit Iran for talks BBC News 18 May 12, The head of the UN nuclear watchdog will travel to Iran on Sunday to “discuss issues of mutual interest”. Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency is scheduled to hold meetings with senior officials in Tehran on Monday. Continue reading →

May 19, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Some down to earth reasons why Japan does not need a nuclear restart

 is it really worth it? Why are we so afraid of running out of electricity anyway? We have this dependency on electricity as if it were a drug. Makes you wonder what people would do if there was a food shortage. You don’t need air conditioning, lights or TVs to survive. You do need food.

Reasons I don’t buy a nuclear restart Japan Times, 19 May 12, By AMY CHAVEZ I’ve heard many excuses for the nuclear accident that happened as a result of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, followed by reasons why we should return to nuclear power. I don’t buy any of them.   Continue reading →

May 19, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

UK’s nuclear waste could fill 5 Royal Albert Halls

Who will bury Britain’s nuclear waste in their backyard? The Telegraph, 17 May 12, A quiet and scenic corner of Kent is asking residents to let it be the country’s first Nuclear Research and Disposal Facility. By Louise Gray9  17 May 2012 “…..  Even without building any more nuclear power stations, we now have enough radioactive waste to fill the Royal Albert Hall five times over. The bulk of our high level waste – the most radioactive – is kept in spent fuel ponds at existing power stations, principally Sellafield.

More than 60 years after the dawn of the nuclear age, no civil nuclear waste has yet been disposed of permanently underground anywhere in the world. Governments have struggled to find any local population willing to risk the dangers of radioactivity …..

The Department for Energy and Climate Change asked councils to “volunteer” to store nuclear waste four years ago, following the “Managing Radioactive Waste Safely” White Paper. The request was met with silence, until three West Cumbrian councils suggested that they might be willing to store more waste around the existing Sellafield power station.

Now Shepway district council has also expressed an interest in the £12 billion project. But first the local community must be persuaded, before a formal expression of interest can be put forward this September; this would be followed by a lengthy consultation and
investigations into the geological viability of the area. The sweetener for the locals would be jobs: Romney Marsh has double the levels of unemployment of the rest of rural Kent….
Energy companies say that nuclear waste transported by train would be
stored in special flasks that would protect it in an accident.
However, protesters fear terrorist attacks, natural disasters or even simple human mistakes still risk a leak of radioactive waste…..

May 18, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

UK dispute over plan for nuclear waste dump in Kent

Row over nuclear waste dump proposal in Kent Romney Marshes mooted as site for Britain’s first store of high-level radioactive material by Shepway council in Kent Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk,  17 May 2012 A furious row has broken out among local politicians over a proposal to build a nuclear waste dump in Kent.

Romney Marshes is being mooted as a site for Britain’s first store for high-level radioactive materials by members of Shepway district council but the move has infuriated the leader of Kent county council and a local MP.

“Let’s not sell Romney Marsh short; I believe it has and deserves a better future than being the dumping ground for all of Britain’s high level nuclear waste,” said Damian Collins, MP for Folkestone and Hythe, on his own website.

“Shepway council has started a consultation to ask whether residents want to find out more about building this underground storage facility here and my view, and that of the Marsh’s county councillor Carole Waters, is that the answer should be ‘no’.”

Paul Carter, leader of Kent council, told a local website, thisiskent, it would be “utter madness” to even consider building such a facility in an area which he said was “both an earthquake zone and one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world”…. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/17/row-nuclear-waste-dump-proposal

May 18, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

Bi-partisan agreement on USA’s wasteful spending on nuclear weapons

Reducing or redirecting this wasteful spending brings together a bi-partisan medley of leading national security leaders, deficit hawks, and arms control experts……

Nuclear weapons: A bad security investment THE HILL, By Major General Rogere R. Blunt (Ret.), Civil and nuclear engineer         – 05/17/12  Most debates in Washington have battle lines that are predictable and largely unmoving. Certainly this is true of most of the budget
battles, which often seem the political equivalent of trench warfare—lots of fighting, but the lines don’t move and little gets done.

There are, however, subjects where bipartisan agreement can emerge. Things get done when members put country over partisanship and assess programs with a more objective cost-benefit analysis and set aside ideological rigidity. The ability to do so should be a litmus test for voters.

America’s nuclear weapons budget is a perfect case in point. A growing consensus has emerged that we should reduce spending on redundant nuclear programs that are hugely expensive, add little or nothing to our defense capabilities, and siphon money away from our troops and more important national security priorities. Continue reading →

May 18, 2012 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

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