St Louis residents demanding answers on underground fire near nuclear waste
“Hot spot” near nuclear waste has St. Louis residents on edge, CBS News, 27 Oct 15 There is growing fear in a suburban St. Louis community over a potential threat buried in the ground. A local landfill contains nuclear waste and just three football fields away, a “hot spot” has been burning underground in a second landfill.
Federal officials insist the so-called “smoldering event” is contained, and not advancing towards the waste. But nearby residents have lived with both the burn and the waste for years, and they say they are fed up, reports CBS News correspondent Vinita Nair.
Hundreds of people demanded answers Monday night from federal officials.
“You can’t 100 percent guarantee that we’re okay,” said one resident.
“We don’t go outside, we don’t open our windows,” said another………
Missouri’s attorney general is now suing the landfill’s owner, Republic Services. He says the company mishandled the fire and his experts say the underground burn could conceivably hit the material in three to six months.
The Environmental Protection Agency and Republic strongly deny those reports. The company has also spent millions of dollars to contain the burn and control the odors…….
it’s not just the underground fire that is a concern – this weekend a grass fire erupted within some 75 yards of the radioactive waste. This region also sits near an earthquake fault line. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/st-louis-community-fed-up-over-dangerous-landfills-attorney-general-sues/
Abe says Japan can reap ¥3 trillion in Central Asia projects
“……Abe’s offer of support for Kazakhstan’s plan to build nuclear power plants is part of Japan’s bid to increase its presence in the resource-rich region……. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/27/national/politics-diplomacy/abe-vows-support-kazakhstans-plan-introduce-nuclear-power/#.Vi_sttIrLGg
Scary nuclear thoughts at Halloween time
Scary thoughts http://www.news-journal.com/news/2015/oct/25/letters-on-nuclear-armaments-upshur-courthouse-fla/, Jerry King,
It is close to Halloween so how about some scary thinking? The U.S. is currently spending about a trillion a year on defense, which is more than the next 13 countries combined, including Russia and China.
The U.S. currently has more than 3,200 nuclear-thermonuclear weapons on submarines, missiles and bombers ready to use. Each of these nuclear weapons is over 1,000 times more powerful than the ones dropped on Japan. Less than 10 of these on the U.S. or any other country could pretty much destroy the country and the population.
If more than 40 or 50 weapons of this type were used the Earth would be devoid of all life forms, like Mercury or Venus.
Yet I can recall no presidential candidate even talking about nuclear disarmament. And our government has proposed spending up to a trillion dollars over the next decade upgrading the nuclear arsenal.
Carly Fiorina said she wanted to spend over half a trillion on upgrading our military.
This kind of muscle-flexing and threatening posture is what got us into the unnecessary war in Iraq. We need global disarmament with the U.S. being a leader.
Secret letter revealed: Russia planned to drop nuclear bombs on London during cold war
Secret letter revealed: Russia planned to drop nuclear bombs on London during cold war An atomic bomb expert who helped develop UK’s first atom bomb, warned authorities in a letter that Russia planned to drop nuclear bombs across London during Cold War.
India’s nuclear power chief wants projects to hurry up
Big ticket nuclear projects have to be operational fast: AEC head Shekhar Basu, Economic Times, By IANS | 25 Oct, 2015 By Venkatachari Jagannathan CHENNAI: The new chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Sekhar Basu seems to be a man with a mission and also in a hurry to achieve this.
“There are some projects that need speeding up so that they restart or go on stream fast. We have to have Indian uranium as much as possible for our reactors. We have to increase production of uranium and work has started towards that,” Basu, 63, told IANS in an interview over the phone. Queried about the delay in restarting of the first 1,000 MW unit at KNPP he said: “The unit was shut down for the first time for annual maintenance after it was commissioned. I will now study the issues faced by Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) and see how the issues could be set right.”
A Padma Shri awardee, Basu said lots of checking has to be done and some components have to be replaced.
While he did not say he is impatient, Basu insisted: “I want the unit to restart operations at the earliest.”
Basu is also on the board of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) that is building two 1,000 MW reactors at KNPP with Russian equipment.
He said as per the current indications, the first KNPP unit is expected to restart later this year and the second unit would go on stream some time next year.
The KNPP unit that was connected to the southern grid in December 2014 was shut down this June for annual maintenance. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/49526271.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Investigation into AREVA’s financial history
An Investigation of Areva Inc. Huge Financial Loss in the Aftermath of Fukushima Nuclear DisasterMohajeryami, Saeed and Moghadasi, Seyedmahdi and Rahimi, Kaveh (2015):
|
MPRA_paper_66587.pdf Download (474kB) | Preview |
Abstract Areva is a French multinational company, mainly known for its nuclear power activities. This Company is active in all parts of value chain of nuclear energy. After Fukushima disaster, this company faced a huge financial loss. This study investigates the reasons for the loss…..https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/66587/
Close relationship between the state of Nevada and radioactive waste company
Nuclear repository fire shines light on Nevada’s waste, Las Vegas Sun, By Kyle Roerink (contact), Oct. 23, 2015 A fire at a nuclear waste dump in Beatty did more than just snarl traffic — it shone a light on the close relationship between the state of Nevada and the company that runs the low-level repository.
The state, which leases 80 acres to US Ecology, charges the company a fee for every shipment of waste to the waste and treatment facility. Over the last five years, fees have totaled more than $10 million, said JoAnn Kittrell, spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The hazardous materials storage site is almost full and the company may lease more land from the state. An agreement is in the works that would increase the site by 400 acres and extend the facility’s lifespan by at least 20 years, said David Crumrine, a spokesman for US Ecology.
Environmental Protection Agency documents from 2012 showed the company was allowed to store up to 87,400 gallons of chemicals in tanks and containers and treat 137,000 gallons of chemical waste every day. It also disposed of at least 808 million gallons of waste there………Beatty has a close relationship with US Ecology, which has donated money to the town’s senior center, volunteer fire department and Chamber of Commerce. ……http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/oct/23/nuclear-repository-fire-shines-light-on-nevadas-wa/
Mr. Trudeau please stop Lake Huron nuke dump
Mr. Trudeau please stop Lake Huron nuke dump, Times Herald, 22 Oct 15 Dear Mr. Justin Trudeau:
Congratulations on your party’s victory this week in Canadian national elections. ………….One of the things we like hearing is that you and your party are “greener” than Mr. Harper. Already, pundits on both sides of the border are writing their obituaries for the Keystone XL pipeline, even though you’ve supported it in the past. They say you’re OK with the pipeline, but not rabid about it the way Mr. Harper was.
Which brings us to our concern here in Port Huron.
Ontario Power Generation wants to bury tons of nuclear waste at Kincardine, just a few kilometers from Lake Huron and the world’s largest supply of fresh surface water. Mr. Harper’s environment minister was expected to issue a final ruling on OPG’s application in December.
We understand that a new, Liberal Party government means a new environment minister, one who, like you, values the planet Earth and its environment more than the Conservatives did. We’re hoping, Mr. Trudeau, that you and your new environment minister see OPG’s nuclear waste storage facility as the environmental catastrophe it is and put a stop to it. http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/10/22/mr-trudeau-please-stop-lake-huron-nuke-dump/74407766/
Political oblivion for ‘climate villains’ – Canada’s PM Harper, Australia’s PM Abbott
Canada’s Harper follows fellow “climate villain” Abbott into political oblivion, REneweconomy, By Giles 
Parkinson on 20 October 2015 In less than two months, the two political leaders named by New Statesman as the“world’s worst climate change villains” have been tossed out of power: Australia’s Tony Abbott by his own party, and Canada’s Stephen Harper in a national poll.
It is good news for the upcoming Paris climate change talks. Both countries, under their former leaders, ranked at the bottom of the 34 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for their efforts on climate change. Among G20 countries, only Saudi Arabia ranked lower than them.
Since their elections – Harper in 2006, and Abbott in 2013 – they had applied the brakes on climate change and renewable energy policy, despite some strong efforts at sub-national levels (the provinces in Canada and states and territories in Australia).
During a visit to Canada last year, Abbott and Harper decided to create a “conservative alliance among ‘like-minded’ countries” to try to dismantle global efforts on climate change.
At a press conference, Harper applauded Abbott’s efforts to dump Australia’s carbon tax. Indeed, Abbott had borrowed the “axe the tax” slogan from an earlier Canadian campaign.
Now, both have gone…….http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/canadas-harper-follows-fellow-climate-villain-abbott-into-political-oblivion-43745
UK’s China nuclear deal creates a target for terrorists
UK-China nuclear deal ‘dangerous,’ creates target for terrorists – CND Rt.com : 22 Oct, 2015 Anti-nuclear campaigners have condemned a deal signed between the UK and China on Wednesday to finance two nuclear power stations in Britain, branding the project “dangerous.”
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) warned that the construction of new nuclear plants would create a target for terrorists and increase the likelihood of nuclear proliferation, as the uranium could be used to develop weapons.
Chinese President Xi Jinping signed the £40 billion ($62 billion) deal with Prime Minister David Cameron in Downing Street on Wednesday, crowning a four-day state visit to London which Chinese and UK officials have described as the start of a “golden era” between the two countries……
In a statement, CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said the agreements were the “wrong” deal for the 21st century.
“International agreements should promote co-operation on climate change and security – this deal does precisely the opposite,” she said.
“Nuclear power is expensive, a source of greenhouse gases, and a target for terrorism. Nuclear power also makes the proliferation of nuclear weapons far more likely. As the supply of enriched uranium increases, the possibility of using uranium to develop weapons is made easier.
“The alternative is clear. Renewable sources of energy are clean, they create more jobs, and they’re sustainable. The future for nuclear power, however, is bleak, with experts predicting that we will run out of easily accessible uranium in 50 years’ time. Investing in renewables now will provide us with sustainability and security long into the future,” Hudson said.
Intelligence sources also criticized the deal for prioritizing business over national security, expressing particular concerns that China could hide “trapdoors” in the computer systems which could allow them to gain control of the nuclear plant.
“The Treasury is in the lead and it isn’t listening to anyone – they see China as an opportunity, but we see the threat,” a security source told The Times last week. https://www.rt.com/uk/319359-china-nuclear-deal-dangerous/
Even the much touted ‘nuclear environmentalists’ admit that UK’s Hinkley project is a white elephant
China deal means meltdown time for pro-nuclear ‘greens‘, Guardian, Jonathon Porritt, 20 Oct 15
Pro-nuclear environmentalists have finally admitted Hinkley C is a white elephant that must be scrapped, but with a Chinese deal now imminent the damage to the UK’s low-carbon future has already been done, argues Jonathon Porritt on the Ecologist I wonder what our pro-nuclear greenies will be thinking this week as they listen to President Xi Jinping and George Osborne bombastically declaring ‘a new nuclear dawn for the UK’.
I hope they’ll be feeling as ashamed as they should be.
It may be just a little harsh to blame the meltdown in UK energy policy on a handful of well-meaning but monumentally misguided environmentalists, who chose some time ago to lend their voices to the nuclear establishment here in the UK.
They were warned that it would probably end in tears, and so it has turned out. Here’s the indictment against them.
1. Creating confusion
They were warned that their high-profile support would prove to be massively confusing for many people, including a large number of environmentalists who were persuaded (often against their better judgement) that if the likes of George Osborne and his pro-nuclear buddies had decided that nuclear is ‘a necessary evil’, then that was good enough for them…….
2. A failed technology
They were warned that EdF’s EPR (the reactor of choice for Hinkley Point) had already proved to be a total plonker at both Flamanville in France and Olkiluoto in Finland. And that it would inevitably prove to be a total plonker here in the UK. And so it has turned out.
To be fair, even they eventually woke up to that ineluctable reality, shamefacedlyputting out a statement on 18 September:
Hinkley C bears all the distinguishing features of a white elephant: overpriced, overcomplicated and overdue. The delay that was announced recently should be the final straw. The Government should kill the project.
3. Devastating impact on sustainable energy alternatives
AdvertisementThey were warned that any kind of pro-nuclear positioning would be devastating for the genuinely sustainable alternatives they simultaneously purport to support.
And that any kind of ‘both / and’ story (ie we need both – lots of nuclear and lots of renewables) would be totally abused by a government that cares only about nuclear – and about fracking.
And so it has proved to be, as Osborne has trashed the prospects for renewables here in the UK, has consigned to history our zero-carbon agenda for the built environment, has ridiculed the importance of energy efficiency, and, in the process, has guaranteed that we have literally no chance whatsoever of achieving our statutory targets under the Climate Change Act.
4. Supping with the Devil, eat with a long spoon
They were warned that when you sup with these nuclear devils you can never be sure what you’re going to end up with. It’s no surprise to me, therefore, that our pro-nuke greenies have been keeping very quiet about the now inevitable prospect of a huge part of our energy system in the UK being handed over to the Chinese.
Neither Osborne nor Xi Jinping is particularly persuaded by EdF’s case for the EPR at Hinkley Point. But they’re both salivating with excitement at the prospect of giving the Chinese nuclear industry control over future developments at both Sizewell and Bradwell.
How can that possibly work from a sustainability point of view, let alone an energy security point of view? Even the Tories have started to wake up to this particular horror story.
Once captured by the nuclear industry, you don’t get to choose what you think might be the best (ie least problematic) option: you get what you’re given. And as pro-nuclear environmentalists, you get stitched up by an industry that gobbles up people like you for breakfast, that has lied, inveigled and bribed its way into the heart of umpteen governments over decades, often off the back of its still undeniable links to the nuclear weapons establishment.
So just how naïve can you be?
That’s some indictment. Five years ago, the UK was seen to be an indisputable leader in the international diplomacy of climate change. In Paris in a few weeks’ time we will be seen as an out-and-out pariah, sitting alongside the carbon-intensive horror stories of Canada and Australia.
To be sure, that’s primarily down to the Tories, and George Osborne in particular, with a lot of rather forlorn aiding and abetting from the Lib Dems under the last Coalition Government. But maybe they wouldn’t have got away with all that quite so easily if the green movement had been a lot more resolute in its advocacy of genuinely sustainable energy solutions.
So for God’s sake, think again before you shift your allegiance to the latest ‘just over the horizon’ dreams now being peddled so enthusiastically by the nuclear industry.
We urge the Government to scrap this plant (Hinkley C), and use the money promised to its investors to accelerate the deployment of other low carbon technologies, both renewable and nuclear. We would like to see the Government produce a comparative study of nuclear technologies, including the many proposed designs for small modular reactors, and make decisions according to viability and price, rather than following the agenda of the companies which have its ear.
Elsewhere, you’ve made the case for the integral fast reactor, and your colleague Stephen Tindale (a former executive director of Greenpeace UK) is out there proselytising passionately about the molten salt reactor. Others bang on and on about pebble bed reactors, or a variety of new reactors based on thorium technologies*.
Now, time to support the real solutions! Give yourselves a break, guys! It is indeed just about possible, tens of billions of dollars and decades down the line, that one of these nuclear will-o’-the-wisps may materialise in such a form as to produce a few usable electrons.
In the meantime, that big old fusion reactor in the sky, known as ‘the sun’, will go on producing the wherewithal to revolutionise every aspect of our energy systems down here on Earth at a price that everyone will be able to afford.
And then bring in all the other renewables, reducing in price all the time, as well as a whole generation of new technologies driving both energy efficiency and storage, set to work through distributed micro-grids and the explosion of investment in electric vehicles, and you can see the future emerging right here and now in our everyday lives.
It took you all a very long time to recognise the EPR as the humungous white elephant it has been all along. So, please, think again before backing another whole herd of tomorrow’s white elephants, and get back to doing what you once did really well: advocating for the kind of radical decarbonisation on which our future depends.
That means killing off coal and kerosene first, and then oil and gas, through technologies that are already doing the job, in an increasingly affordable way, for rich countries and poor countries alike.
- This article was originally published on Jonathon’s blog.
- * Author’s note: If you’re interested in reading more about these variegated nuclear pipedreams, then just follow ‘The Ecologist’. Time after time, Editor Oliver Tickell and his fellow authors have painstakingly dispelled these false hopes and endless promises of nuclear jam tomorrow. For example:
The planet-saving, capitalism-subverting, surprisingly lucrative investment secrets of Al Gore.
The former vice president has led his firm to financial success. But what he really wants to do is create a whole new version of capitalism. …
The most sweeping way to describe this undertaking is as a demonstration of a new version of capitalism, one that will shift the incentives of financial and business operations to reduce the environmental, social, political, and long-term economic damage being caused by unsustainable commercial excesses.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/11/the-planet-saving-capitalism-subverting-surprising ly-lucrative-investment-secrets-of-al-gore/407857/ & http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/5035451945376812038
Video: Nuclear (a)toll? Tony de Brum, the Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands
Video: Nuclear (a)toll? Tony de Brum, the Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands https://www.rt.com/shows/worlds-apart-oksana-boyko/318982-nuclear-toll-disarmament-policy/Published time: 18 Oct, 2015 The tiny Pacific nation of the Marshall Islands experienced more than a decade of US nuclear testing, equivalent to 1.6 Hiroshima blasts per day, every day, for 12 years. Can the enormous nuclear, and now political fallout serve as an impetus for global nuclear disarmament? And will climate change and rising sea levels render the islands radioactive and uninhabitable before 2050? Oksana is joined by Tony de Brum, the Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands, to take a shot at these issues.
Massachusetts opportunity to expand renewable energy, with Pilgrim nuclear to close
Mass. Mulls Future Without Nuclear, Valley News By Steve LeBlanc Associated Press Sunday, October 18, 2015 Boston — The announcement last week by the owners of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station that they plan to shutter the plant by June 2019 because of rising maintenance costs has thrust the state’s energy future — particularly the low-carbon variety — to the top of the policy heap on Beacon Hill…..
Gov. Charlie Baker also has waded into the debate. Even before Pilgrim made its announcement, Baker had two filed bills aimed at the state’s energy future.
One would encourage Massachusetts utilities to enter into long-term contracts with renewable energy producers. Baker said the proposal is aimed at helping the state tap into Canadian hydropower.
The second bill would raise existing caps on the state’s “net metering” program that allows homeowners, businesses and local governments to sell excess solar power they generate back to the electrical grid for credit.
The Massachusetts Senate has passed a bill to lift the net-metering caps and create a new solar incentive program when the state reaches its goal of 1,600 megawatts of installed solar capacity by 2020.
Baker said Pilgrim’s planned closing could also spur action on his push for hydropower……
Baker said the anticipated 2019 closure of Pilgrim gives the state time to make the transition.
“In the short term, I think our focus ought to be on the safety issues and on making sure that we plan accordingly for all the people who work there,” he said. http://www.vnews.com/news/state/region/19060938-95/mass-mulls-future-without-nuclear
UK Labour worried that China nuclear deal could undermine national security
Nuclear deals with China could endanger UK national security, says Labour, Guardian, Rowena Mason and Frances Perraudin, 17 Oct 15 Shadow energy secretary Lisa Nandy says PM has questions to answer after concerns emerge from intelligence agencies David Cameron has serious questions to answer about whether Chinese investment in nuclear power would endanger national security, Labour’s shadow energy secretary Lisa Nandy has said.
Nandy called on the government to reassure the public after reports that the intelligence agencies have concerns that possible Chinese investments in Hinkley Point and Sizewell could pose a threat to the UK.
Osborne has held up the prospect of a new golden relationship with China ahead of Xi’s visit and was praised by Chinese state-owned media last month for not pushing the issue of human rights.
In contrast, Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, is hoping to use the official state banquet at Buckingham Palace to raise China’s human rights record, after reports that more than 100 lawyers, journalists and other government critics were detained in a crackdown in early July. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/16/nuclear-deals-with-china-could-endanger-uk-national-security-says-labour
1 This Month
29 Jan. Thursday 7-8 p.m. Webinar – World’s Largest Nuclear Station in Port Hope, ON?
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/
31st January – Challenging the War Machine – a DECLASSIFIED UK SUMMIT
Website of the Week
Now until to February 10, 2026 Radioactive waste storage in France: the debate is finally open! How to participate?
-
Archives
- January 2026 (283)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (258)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
- June 2025 (348)
- May 2025 (261)
- April 2025 (305)
- March 2025 (319)
- February 2025 (234)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 