nuclear-news

Former Israeli Prime Minister opposes strike on Iran

Former Israeli premier Olmert joins Israeli opposition to strike at Iranian nuclear sites Washington Post,  April 29 JERUSALEM — A former Israeli prime minister added his voice Sunday to a growing chorus of Israeli officials against a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Ehud Olmert spoke to Israel’s Channel 10 TV from New York. “There is no reason at this time not to talk about a military effort,” he said, “but definitely not to initiate an Israeli military strike.” Olmert was Israel’s prime minister from 2006-2009. He was in office when a suspected nuclear site in Syria was attacked in 2007. It was assumed that Israel carried out the airstrike, but Israel never acknowledged that.

Olmert’s remarks came after Israel’s former internal security chief, Yuval Diskin, said the government is misleading the public on the level of effectiveness of a military strike. Meir Dagan, Israel’s ex-Mossad chief, told the station he supported Diskin’s view…..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/former-israeli-premier-olmert-joins-israeli-opposition-to-strike-at-iranian-nuclear-sites/2012/04/29/gIQAb1uopT_story.html

April 30, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

.Obama Administration pushing new nukes, but Jaczko disagrees

Fukushma the Japanese Chernobyl’…a year later and politics still ‘trump’ safety…UK Progressive,  JEANINE MOLLOF | APRIL 29, 2012“…….Obama Administration pushing new nukes… While Japan ‘burns’ from radioactive fires—the Obama administration has been actively pushing new nuclear plants, with the first 2 plants to be built at Plant Vogtle (south of Augusta, Georgia).  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved these plants with one sole dissenter—Gregory Jaczko, the Chairman of the NRC.  Jaczko is concerned that TEPCO (the chosen building partner of this dubious enterprise); will follow the same reckless path it followed regarding Fukushima.  Specifically Jaczko cited…

“Significant safety enhancements have already been recommended as a result of learning the lessons from Fukushima.”…”and there is still more work ahead of us.  Knowing this I cannot support these licenses as if Fukushima never happened.”  (Source :
http://www.ajc.com/business/plant=vogtle-nuclear-expansion-1340522.html)

Jaczko’s position has been supported by Senator Ron Wyden’s recent
visit to Japan. …. http://www.ukprogressive.co.uk/fukushima%E2%80%A6-the-%E2%80%98japanese-chernobyl%E2%80%99%E2%80%A6a-year-later-and-politics-still-%E2%80%98trump%E2%80%99-safety%E2%80%A6/article18462.html

April 30, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Chernobyl’s cover and a reminder of the nuclear danger

Ukraine thanks Chernobyl aid countries Herald Sun, April 27, 2012   URGING all nations to be extremely cautious with nuclear energy, Ukraine’s president thanked donors for financing the construction of a new, safer shelter over the damaged Chernobyl reactor on the 26th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

President Viktor Yanukovych spoke during a ceremony overnight inaugurating the initial assembly of a gigantic arch-shaped steel containment building to cover the remnants of the exploded reactor……. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/ukraine-thanks-chernobyl-aid-countries/story-e6frf7jx-1226340245879

April 27, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Uranium miner Paladin selling assets, to cope with its debts

Paladin Energy under pressure to flog assets   The Australian, BY: ROSS KELLY  Wall Street Journal April 26, 2012   PALADIN Energy still needs to offload assets to meet looming debt payments and funding requirements, according to Citigroup, which has nominated two of the uranium miner’s non-producing assets in Australia and Canada as possible candidates for divestment……“If the cash squeeze became very acute on Paladin the company could also look to sell an interest in a producing asset,” Citigroup says.

April 27, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

AREVA: uranium workers on strike at its Niger Imouraren mine

Strike halts work on Niger Imouraren uranium mine NIAMEY,  Apr 25, 2012
(Reuters) – Workers at Areva’s Imouraren uranium mining project in Niger began a week-long strike over labour conditions on Wednesday, union and company officials said, halting construction at the site…. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/25/areva-niger-strike-idUSL6E8FPH4J20120425

April 27, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Global radiation from Chernobyl and Fukushima

Nuclear power is killing us http://blogs.detroitnews.com/politics/2012/04/24/nuclear-power-is-killing-us/, BY LIBBY SPENCER Supporters of nuclear power plants tout how it’s a cheap, non-polluting source of energy. But they always ignore how lethal it is when something goes wrong. Though it’s not on the news anymore, the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant is still ongoing. The core is still melting down and spewing radiation. In fact, you can’t see it, but you’re being bombarded by the radiation right now. It’s well on it’s way to covering the entire planet.

April 27, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

The global threat of an Asian nuclear arms race

Austria warns of nuclear race after India, Pakistan tests, http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C04%5C27%5Cstory_27-4-2012_pg7_22 Daily Times, 27 April 12 VIENNA: Austria’s foreign minister on Thursday slammed India and Pakistan’s recent missile tests, insisting the states’ continued pursuit of nuclear weapons was “flat out irresponsible”.

“The tests of an Indian long-range missile a week ago and of an intermediate-range missile by Pakistan on Wednesday are unsettling and suggest an intensifying arms race on the subcontinent,” Michael Spindelegger said in a statement. This “would not only be a threat to stability in Asia, but would also present a threat to global peace”, he said.

India last Thursday tried out a new missile with a range of over 5,000 kilometres, and Pakistan followed on Wednesday by test-firing an intermediate-range ballistic missile of its own. Both have the capability of carrying a nuclear weapon.

“It is flat out irresponsible that the Sword of Damocles that is nuclear destruction still hangs above humanity,” Spindelegger said in an unusually harsh tone.

“The international community should be able to regulate international relations without permanent mutual threats to each other’s existence,” he added.

April 27, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

U.S. Senator Wyden’s plea on the danger of Fukushima spent fuel rods

Japan needs urgent assistance at Fukushima reactor http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/life/health/japan-needs-urgent-assistance-at-fukushima-reactor/by admin 18 April, 2012  After a tour of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facilities this month, U.S. senator Ron Wyden has urged the Japanese Government to urgently seek international assistance to relocate spent fuel rods stored precariously in unsound structures close to the ocean and prevent more deadly nuclear radiation being released into the environment. After an onsite tour of what remains of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facilities decimated by last year’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) a senior member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, sent a letter to Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki looking for ways to advance and support clean-up and recovery efforts.

Wyden’s principal concern is the relocation of spent fuel rods currently being stored in unsound structures immediately adjacent to the ocean. He strongly urged the Ambassador to accept international help to prevent dangerous nuclear material from being released into the environment.

Wyden wrote in his letter: Continue reading →

April 23, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Nuclear power plans becoming a nightmare for UK government

ministers have been looking at how to transfer the spiralling cost of delivering nuclear power to taxpayers and consumers. 

But despite the government’s best efforts, the nuclear dream is fast turning into a nightmare.

The government’s nuclear dream is failing. It’s time for plan B Greenpeace, by Richardg – 20 April 2012  years the government has placed its faith in nuclear power and the corporate interests that drive the nuclear industry. Its committment to the nuclear dream has warped Britain’s energy policy at the expense of both bill and tax payers. Continue reading →

April 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Don’t look to Japan to resuscitate the nuclear industry

 environmentalists say even if they lost that battle they are winning the war. And now that they have their foot on the throat of the nuclear industry, which damaged itself with its arrogantdisregard for safety, they say they won’t let up until Japan is nuclear-free…..

Mayday for Japan’s nuclear industry BY: RICK WALLACE, TOKYO CORRESPONDENT   The Australian April 21, “…… Japan will awake on the morning of May 6 a nation powered entirely by non-nuclear sources of energy.

This week, Industry Minister Yukio Edano admitted the government had lost its battle to find a municipality willing to restart reactors in time for the scheduled shutdown of the last plant to remain online, at Tomari in the northern island of Hokkaido. Continue reading →

April 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

A reminder that Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are neither clean nor safe

To fuel a reactor, thorium-232 must first be converted to uranium-233, which can be used as nuclear bomb fuel. In 1955, the US detonated a weapon fuelled with U-233.

the waste would have to be stored for around 300 years or so, compared to tens of thousands of years for current reactors.

Only in the world of nuclear technology could a requirement for 300 years of dangerous waste storage be seen as an advantage.

No one talks about safe nuclear power because it doesn’t exist, Canberra Times, Dr Sue Wareham 28 Apr, 2011 , Continue reading →

April 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Obama to renominate Kristine L. Svinicki to the nuclear panel

Obama plans to renominate GOP member of NRC, averting fight with Senate Republicans By Ed O’Keefe, HUFFINGTON POST,  04/19/2012,  The White House plans torenominate a Republican member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, forestalling a potential fight with Senate Republicans over whether she would be tapped to continue serving after raising concerns with the panel’s Democratic chairman.

White House aides said Thursday that President Obama plans to renominate Kristine L. Svinicki to the nuclear panel for another five-year term. Svinicki, a Republican member of the commission, is a former state and federal energy official who also once served as a Senate aide….. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/obama-plans-to-renominate-gop-member-of-nrc-averting-fight-with-senate-republicans/2012/04/19/gIQASzpJTT_blog.h

April 21, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Row over membership of USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Her [Kristine Svinicki’s]  term expires in June, but President Barack Obama has not announced whether she will be nominated to a new term, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has made it clear he will oppose her….
A spokesman for Reid said the delay in Svinicki’s nomination had nothing to do with her complaint against Jaczko, a former Reid aide who has denied bullying anyone at the NRC. 

“Sen. Reid opposes Commissioner Svinicki’s re-nomination because she lied to Congress about her past work on Yucca Mountain,” Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said Wednesday.

Svinicki said during a 2007 confirmation hearing that she had not worked directly on the Yucca Mountain project while working at the Energy Department in the 1990s, a statement Jentleson and other Democrats called false. Department records show that Svinicki co-authored technical papers on waste disposal issues related to Yucca Mountain in the mid-1990s

Reid has supported qualified Republicans for the NRC and is open to
supporting another GOP nominee.

GOP leader: Obama targets nuclear regulator Google News, By MATTHEW DALY,  19 April 12 WASHINGTON (AP) — Last December, Kristine Svinicki and other members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Congress that the NRC’s Democratic chairman was an intimidating bully whose actions could compromise the nation’s nuclear safety. Continue reading →

April 19, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Sarkozy admits to discussing nuclear reactor sales with Gaddafi

France’s Sarkozy rows back on nuclear help for Libya    Apr 18, 2012 (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy backpedalled from a denial and acknowledged on Wednesday that he had discussions with Muammar Gaddafi about selling a nuclear reactor to Libya some four years before Paris helped topple the late dictator in 2011.

France’s readiness to provide a reactor to Gaddafi’s Libya has become a hot issue ahead of the election, eclipsing Sarkozy’s key role in helping drive the dictator from power last year, which he frequently portrays as one of his achievements……  Gaddafi made a state visit to Paris in December 2007 during which France agreed to help Libya build a desalination plant powered by a nuclear reactor, according to remarks by Sarkozy at the time……
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/18/france-election-libya-idUSL6E8FICEC20120418

April 19, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

The nuclear renaissance that was not

the big energy lie  is being unmasked by the large-scale introduction of renewable energy sources around the globe. The technologies required to harvest the abundant natural energy potentials from renewable resources are proving to be more than enough to supply even our growing energy needs of today, despite being at the beginning of their technological development.

Where is the Positive Image of Nuclear Energy Coming From? Clean Technica, 16 April 12,   “….The Nuclear Renaissance that Was Not   Most nuclear reactors that are in operation were built in the 1970s or 1980s. That means that the bulk of these highly subsidized power plants are nearing the end of their life and need to be decommissioned. If the nuclear lobby doesn’t manage to turn this situation into a necessity to build new reactors, the nuclear age in the field of electricity production will come to an inevitable end. Continue reading →

April 18, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment