nuclear-news

Favourites for Nobel Peace Prize – Pope Francis and International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

Pope Francis, Anti-Nuclear Activists Among Nobel Peace Prize Contenders, NewsWeek  BY REUTERS 10/8/15 Pope Francis and a line-up of anti-nuclear campaigners headed lists of favorites to win the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize on the eve of Friday’s announcement.

The Geneva-based International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was named as a leading contender for the $972,000 prize by Norway’s state broadcaster NRK and by Nobeliana, a website run by historians who specialize in tracking the award.

NRK said Pope Francis’ opposition to nuclear weapons boosted his chances, alongside his help in brokering a deal between the United States and Cuba, and his encyclical on climate change. Nobeliana mentioned his calls for social justice.

Both organizations also highlighted Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, while Nobeliana picked out Sumitero Taniguchi, a survivor of the atomic attack on Nagasaki………http://www.newsweek.com/pope-francis-anti-nuclear-activists-among-nobel-peace-prize-contenders-381307

October 9, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Residents and activists oppose plan to store radioactive trash at closed San Onofre nuclear station

Coastal Commission to Discuss Storing Nuclear Waste at San Onofre http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Commission-to-Discuss-Storing-Nuclear-Waste-at-San-Onofre-330956392.html Residents and activists are protesting Southern California Edison’s proposal to store nuclear waste on the Pacific Coast By Kristina Bugante, 5 Oct 15  The California Coastal Commission met Tuesday in Long Beach to discuss the possible storage of nuclear waste at the now-inoperative San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in San Diego County.

In December 2014, Southern California Edison proposed the construction of an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI), a dry underground storage facility for San Onofre’s used nuclear waste, sparking protest from activists and residents.

Anti-nuclear activists at Tuesday’s meeting want the waste permanently moved to the desert, away from populated areas. They said there are concerns that the storage at San Onofre will turn into a permanent situation.

“They have not attempted to do anything except the path of least resistance, which results in nuclear waste being stored right on the coast in an area where no one would choose to put it,” said Ray Lutz, coordinator at Citizens’ Oversight Projects. “Construction of the ISFSI at this location will likely mean it will stay right here for hundreds of years.” The issue had not come up for discussion as of midday.

According to the Decommissioning San Onofre report, Edison has selected Holtec International to design and build the ISFSI. Nuclear waste will be stored in stainless steel modules in a concrete-filled monolith. Approximately one-third of the waste is already in storage, and Holtec plants to transfer the rest of the waste by mid-2019.

In April, Southern California taxpayers were left with paying $3.3 billion for SONGS’ closure in 2013 that followed radiation leak damage to hundreds of the plant’s tubes. State energy regulators came under fire for secretly negotiating that settlement in a foreign country.

The California Coastal Commission plans and regulates land and water use and public access in California’s coastline. It will vote on whether or not to allow expanded storage of nuclear fuel at San Onofre.

October 7, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

The TPP is in the interests of powerful business lobbies, not in free trade

Imagine what would have happened if these provisions  [investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) systems] had been in place when the lethal effects of asbestos were discovered. Rather than shutting down manufacturers and forcing them to compensate those who had been harmed, under ISDS, governments would have had to pay the manufacturers not to kill their citizens. Taxpayers would have been hit twice – first to pay for the health damage caused by asbestos, and then to compensate manufacturers for their lost profits when the government stepped in to regulate a dangerous product.

The Trans-Pacific Free-Trade Charade, Project Syndicate 2 Oct 15  JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ, ADAM S. HERSH, NEW YORK – As negotiators and ministers from the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries meet in Atlanta in an effort to finalize the details of the sweeping new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), some sober analysis is warranted. The biggest regional trade and investment agreement in history is not what it seems.

You will hear much about the importance of the TPP for “free trade.” The reality is that this is an agreement to manage its members’ trade and investment relations – and to do so on behalf of each country’s most powerful business lobbies. Make no mistake: It is evident from the main outstanding issues, over which negotiators are still haggling, that the TPP is not about “free” trade…….

just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how the TPP would advance an agenda that actually runs counter to free trade. Continue reading →

October 7, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

South Africa’s govt told that green energy, not nuclear is the way to go

Green energy, not nuclear the way to go: German official, Reuters, CAPE TOWN | BY PEROSHNI GOVENDER , 6 Oct 15 Green energy is cheap in the long run and clean compared to “dirty” coal and costly nuclear power, a senior German energy official said on the sidelines of a Cape Town conference, at a time when South Africa plans to expand atomic power generation.

President Jacob Zuma’s government is developing an energy mix that will boost power generation in Africa’s most advanced economy which has been hit by electricity shortages and reduce its reliance on mostly coal generated energy.

“If you want to have expensive electricity you buy nuclear generators, if you want dirty electricity you burn coal,” Rainer Baake, state secretary for energy in the economy ministry, told Reuters, when asked what advice he would have for South Africa which is working on increasing electricity production.

“If you want clean energy in the long run that will be cheaper, you transfer to a renewable system, but the decision has to be made by your own government,” he said on Monday on the sidelines of a renewable energy conference in Cape Town……

South Africa’s government has said that it plans to procure at least 9,600 megawatts (MW) of atomic power which analysts have estimated would cost at least $100 million, making it the nation’s most expensive procurement…..

South Africa, which is battling with power shortages, plans to build a solar park in its Northern Cape province to produce an additional 1,500 MW. The government has previously announced a series of renewable energy projects that would add over 1,000 MW of power to the constrained grid.http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/05/us-safrica-power-germany-idUSKCN0RZ25W20151005

October 7, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Why USA’s Republicans are fighting renewable energy

promotion of renewable energy is linked in many people’s minds with attempts to limit climate change — and climate denial has become a key part of conservative identity

you need to follow the money. We used to say that the G.O.P. was the party of Big Energy, but these days it would be more accurate to say that it’s the party of Old Energy. In the 2014 election cycle the oil and gas industry gave 87 percent of its political contributions to Republicans; for coal mining the figure was 96, that’s right, 96 percent. Meanwhile,alternative energy went 56 percent for Democrats.

And Old Energy is engaged in a systematic effort to blacken the image of renewable energy, one that closely resembles the way it has supported “experts” willing to help create a cloud of doubt about climate science.

Enemies of the Sun, Paul Krugman, NYT, OCT. 5, 2015, Wind and solar used to have a reputation as hippie-dippy stuff, not part of any serious approach to our energy future, and many people still have that perception. But it’s way out of date. The cost of wind power has dropped sharply – 30 percent in just the past five years, according to the International Energy Agency.

October 7, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Today’s renewable energy headlines

Solar and Wind Just Passed Another Big Turning Point

October 7, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Middle East’s economies to benefit from Iran nuclear deal – IMF

IMF: Iran Nuclear Deal To Boost Middle East Economic Growth Radio Free Europe, October 06, 2015 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers will raise economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa next year, as the lifting of sanctions brings a rebound in oil production and exports.

October 7, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Coolant leak at Millstone Nuclear Power Station

CT nuclear plant suffers minor coolant leak http://wpri.com/2015/10/04/ct-nuclear-plant-suffers-minor-coolant-leak/
The Associated PressPublished: October 4, 2015, WATERFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says a leaking relief valve has caused an “unusual event” declaration at Millstone Power Station.

The NRC says the incident occurred at about 9:30 a.m. Sunday at the Waterford, Connecticut plant. There were no injuries or release of radioactivity into the environment.

The incident met the criteria for the lowest of four levels of emergency classifications because the reactor coolant system leaked at a rate of greater than 25 gallons per minute. The NRC says the problem was traced to a relief valve on the shutdown cooling system.

The plant was in the process of being shut down for a planned refueling and maintenance outage. The NRC says the system has been isolated. Repairs will begin after the leak is stopped and a repair plan is developed.

October 5, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Japan to restart second nuclear reactor on Oct. 15

Japan to restart second reactor on Oct. 15 under post-Fukushima rules, Japan Times, 2 Oct 15 

KYODO Kyushu Electric Power Co. will restart one of its nuclear reactors on Oct. 15, making it the second to return to operation after the government introduced stricter safety regulations following the 2011 meltdowns in Fukushima Prefecture, a source familiar with the restart plan said.

Kyushu Electric reported its plan to reactivate the No. 2 reactor at its Sendai complex to the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Friday……..http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/02/national/japan-to-restart-second-reactor-on-october-15-under-post-fukushima-rules/#.Vg8CIOyqpHx

October 3, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

The economic case for the Nuclear Destruction of Life on Earth

Reasons Why the Nuclear Destruction of Life on Earth Is Good for the British Economy, VICE 
October 2, 2015 by Sam Kriss “…….This is a critical moment for the [Labour] party: How can they win the trust of the electorate if they’re not seen to be grunting and drooling at the prospect of instantly annihilating millions of people? Power is ultimately more important than principle, and Labour needs to be a party of government, not of opposition, even if what it ends up governing is a big mutant-strewn stick of charcoal in a sea clogged with ashes and bones. But nuclear weapons aren’t just good for Labour, they’re good for the country. Here’s why:

TRIDENT KEEPS BRITAIN WORKING

This was the line taken by many union delegates when they voted against any debate on the nuclear issue. For Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite, while there’s “a moral case and the huge cost of replacing Trident, especially in this era of austerity,” these concerns are outweighed by “jobs and the defense of communities.” Five hundred twenty civilian employees at the Faslane naval base in Scotland—and their families—depend directly on the continuation of Britain’s nuclear deterrent. While it’s true that, were Trident to be scrapped, the £20 billion [$30 billion] of savings would be enough to compensate each former worker with a redundancy payment of just under £38,461,538.50 [$58,310,000], their new lives of unimaginable wealth and luxury would soon start to feel like a hollow sham; without good honest work they’d soon become bored and restless, wishing for a nuclear apocalypse just to save them from the sheer ennui, and tragically impotent to bring it about.

In any case, laying off British workers just because what they do has the potential to kill every living thing on the planet is a slippery slope. The British arms industry is one of the few manufacturing concerns that this country still has, and much of its output is exported to repressive states like Israel and Saudi Arabia……..

NUCLEAR DEVASTATION HELPS THE WIDER ECONOMY TOO.….. Trident offers an effective alternative [to British workers competing with cheaper foreign labourers] . It’ll be much easier for hardworking British people to compete with workers overseas when those workers have been turned into gently drifting clouds of dust by the ungodly heat of a thermonuclear explosion.

The tourism sector is another vital component of the British economy that could be helped out by the irradiation of much of the world’s surface. As things stand, our traditional seaside resorts are in steep decline…….. It’s very likely that targeted nuclear strikes on popular holiday destinations, turning pristine beaches and charmingly rustic hotels into a silent span of black glass that bubbles underfoot as the radiation-burned survivors pathetically crawl for the sea, will be a much-needed boon for our traditional hospitality industry………
THE ANNIHILATION OF ALL LIVING THINGS CAN SOLVE THE DEFICIT CRISIS

All this is assuming that Britain itself emerges unscathed from any nuclear war, which isn’t likely. But if a future Prime Minister’s decision to deploy Trident ends up being the last decision anyone ever makes, it could still be great news for our economy. The millions we’re currently spending on welfare payments to scroungers, smackheads, and the rest of the undeserving poor can finally be put to better use. Unemployment will instantly be wiped out, at the small cost of the unemployed. Admittedly, overcrowding at NHS hospitals will briefly become an extremely serious problem, but within a few days it will recede into utter insignificance. Britain’s balance of payments will be perfectly even and its debts will fall to zero. There’ll be no inflation, no credit crunches, no dropping share prices. And the Labour party will never lose another election. http://www.vice.com/read/nukes-are-good-for-the-british-economy-578

October 3, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Nuclear industry conference reveals pessimisim about the industry’s future

State Impact Pennsylvania reports, Oct 2 2015,  “….. industry leaders at the “Nuclear Matters” conference in Pittsburgh this week said they were disappointed in the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, the Obama Administration’s landmark carbon regulation for the power sector……..Industry executives complained about the competition from cheap natural gas, and about a suite of new regulations, imposed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions after the the 2011 meltdown at the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.
“With the current market as it exists now, we are competing, but we’re not winning,” said Sam Belcher, President and Chief Nuclear Officer for FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, which operates three plants in Ohio and
Pennsylvania……..

Larry Lindsey, a former economic policy assistant to George W. Bush and a speaker at the event, said the industry also suffered from the public’s and politicians’ “irrational fear” of the industry”

October 3, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Shock: UK’s new Labour leader doesn’t want to annihilate millions of people!

There must be something wrong with Jeremy Corbyn if he doesn’t want to cause a nuclear holocaust, Independent, It’s such a shame Labour didn’t elect somebody more moderate who would be willing to press the button, such as Kim Jong-un Mark Steel  @mrmarksteel  1 October 2015

This should be a test in institutions for the criminally insane, to check whether an inmate should be released back into the community. If they suggest that, on balance, they wouldn’t obliterate a geopolitical region in radioactive firestorms slaughtering millions of civilians and rendering a continent uninhabitable for 50 billion years, they should go back in a straitjacket like Hannibal Lecter. Only when they’ve learned to shout “I WANT TO PRESS THE BUTTON AND MAKE EVERYONE’S SKIN DISSOLVE” should they be let free to mix safely with their fellow citizens……….

the main reason we must keep making weapons that could blow up the planet is to preserve jobs. The Conservative Party is especially anxious about this, which you can understand, because for the past 40 years it thought about little else apart from making sure everyone has a job.

When the minimum wage was suggested, the Conservatives opposed it because it would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs. They were the same with the fox-hunting ban, which they said would cost thousands of jobs. It’s the same with Trident; if there was a nuclear war there would be loads of work to be had sweeping up, so we’d all feel the benefit…

They care so much about jobs they’re prepared to pay £100bn for Trident, so you’d think for that amount of subsidy, they could be paid to carry out any number of useful acts, such as teaching wasps to dance, turning old nuclear warheads into luxury apartments for Russian businessmen……. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/there-must-be-something-wrong-with-jeremy-corbyn-if-he-doesnt-want-to-cause-a-nuclear-holocaust-a6675931.html

October 2, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Al Gore is revving up his climate action army

Al Gore spreads environmental gospel before climate talks, AFP News30 Sept 15  Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore is busily training an army of organizers to go out and spread his environmental gospel ahead of key climate talks in Paris later this year.

The modern world is collapsing around us and we must change our ways, according to the former US vice president, who has led the training of more than 5,000 people in the last 18 months.

At each session, he delivers an updated version of his Academy Award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” using the latest news footage and startling videos to show how the very fossil fuels that have powered so much innovation are leading to the demise of society.

Air so hot it melts airport runways, floodwaters that crumble roads and bridges, methane that blows terrifying holes in Siberia and air pollution so thick it has shortened life expectancy in China by several years featured prominently during his three-hour presentation in Miami this week.

“The world that we have built was built for different conditions,” Gore told about 1,000 people who came from 80 countries to attend the three-day climate training session.

At times, he lamented killer heat waves, parching drought, a media that doesn’t connect the dots between extreme weather and global warming, and what he called “crazy short-term thinking” among politicians who deny that climate change is occurring.

“Don’t let anybody tell you that we are going to get on rocket ships and go to Mars and live in hermetically sealed buildings. We couldn’t even evacuate the city of New Orleans when a hurricane hit there,” he said.

In Florida, where sea level rise threatens the drinking water, the tourist-friendly beaches and billions of dollars in infrastructure, Gore arrived just as Monday’s super moon coincided with high tide, flooding some streets in Miami.

“The scientists have long since told us we have to change,” Gore said.

“But now, Mother Nature is saying it with water in the streets in this city.”

– Spreading the word –

The Climate Leadership Reality Corps Training aims to teach people to give similar but shorter presentations in their own communities, each lasting around 20 minutes, so that they can educate others and encourage conservation and renewable energies………..http://www.afp.com/en/news/al-gore-spreads-environmental-gospel-climate-talks

October 2, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Let’s not forget the scientifically proven good side of nuclear war

Why no Trident? The benefits of a nuclear apocalypse http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2015/oct/01/nuclear-war-trident-corbyn-benefits#comment-60607599

Jeremy Corbyn has recently been criticised for saying he would never use nuclear weapons. Quite right! This stance clearly overlooks the many scientifically-proven benefits of plunging the world into a fiery radioactive hell, Guardian, Dean Burnett, 1 Oct 15,  Jeremy Corbyn has said in an interview that, if he were prime minister, he wouldrefuse to use the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons system. This has caused muchdebate and controversy. And rightly so! This naive and blinkered stance clearly doesn’t take into account the many scientifically-proven benefits of widespread global nuclear destruction so would deny people the many advantageous offered by a world scoured of life and civilisation. Such as:

October 2, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment

Nuclear weapons – the way to government secrecy and imperialism

Nuclear Weapons: Not Just a Means to an End, But an End Itself, http://fpif.org/nuclear-weapons-not-just-a-means-to-an-end-but-an-end-itself/ More than just a deterrent, nuclear weapons are the cornerstone of imperialism.

By Russ Wellen, October 1, 2015. Much like 9/11 decades later, the development of nuclear weapons served as a pretext for secrecy in government. In his 2010 book Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State (Penguin Books), Gary Wills, according to the back cover, “argues that the secrecy surrounding the Manhattan Project became a model for the covert operations and overt authority that have defined American government in the nuclear era, culminating with the usurpations of George W. Bush.” In fact, the development of nuclear weapons by the United States covered a multitude of sins. Wills writes:

Foreign governments that granted us territory and protection were to be supported, even if they were not very good at recognizing the rights of their citizens. Thus began a long history of friendly relations with dictators. Obtaining and securely maintaining our bases was considered more important than the moral legitimacy of the regimes granting us such access.

Wills’s eye for irony is nothing if not keen.

Being the champion of “the free world” meant maintaining nuclear superiority, not actually advancing freedom in the countries that cooperated with us.

He continues in the same dispiriting vein: “Later we would need similar access to ports for our nuclear subs, and launch sites for our intermediate missiles.” In fact:

Our anxiety over nations “going Communist” was in large part prompted by a fear that this would shrink the area for such bases.

Equally as troubling:

It was not enough to secure the actual bases themselves, their equipment, and their personnel — the politics of the host countries would have to be continually checked, to make sure our secrets as well as our weapons were safe. This meant spying on other countries, propping up those that gave us what we needed, and undermining those that did not.

Just as nuclear weapons formed the foundation of deterrence, they undergirded imperialism itself.

October 2, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | Leave a comment