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MOX nuclear fuel poses a grave safety threat

DUKE POWERS PLAN TO USE BOMB-PLUTONIUM FUEL CONCEALS HIDDEN DANGERS AND COSTS Steven Dolley Nuclear Control Institute   October 18, 2000

 “….MOX fuel poses a grave safety threat. Dr. Edwin Lyman, NCI Scientific Director, conducted a MOX fuel safety study using the same computer codes employed by DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Dr. Lymans study concluded that, in the event of a severe accident resulting in a large radioactive release, an average of 25% more people would die of cancer if the reactor were using a partial core of plutonium-MOX fuel, as opposed to a full core of conventional uranium fuel. DOE itself has concurred with many of Dr. Lymans findings.

Dr. Lyman also found that the impact of MOX fuel on certain reactor characteristics might also increase the chance that such a severe accident would occur. DOE and Duke dismiss such accidents as extremely improbable—but it must be remembered that the accidents that took place at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and the Tokai nuclear-fuel plant in Japan last September all had been similarly dismissed as highly unlikely or even impossible events. Continue reading →

August 24, 2012 Posted by | Reference, reprocessing | Leave a comment

What is wrong with thorium nuclear reactors? Well, a lot, really

Thorium: Why We Don’t Want It   http://nowarnow.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/thorium-why-we-dont-want-it/ By No War Now / 3 August, 2012  
“….. Thorium is just another nuclear industry way of persevering their jobs in an energy production method that does not make sense for our planet. Thorium requires mining rare earth elements. Thorium requires the changing of laws to process monazite, currently categorized as “‘prescribed substance’ and the sole domain of the government” per the Atomic Energy Act (Canada and China work in thorium, http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/08/canada-and-china-work-on-thorium-candu.html).

Thorium continues the predatory practice of extracting public money to support its development and operations. Of course, you won’t learn this from the schills and trolls who want to convince you that thorium is the answer to our energy needs and ought be part of our “clean energy” package. Mining is not, and has never been, a clean energy production practice. Especially when it involves uranium. Continue reading →

August 24, 2012 Posted by | Reference, spinbuster, technology, Uranium | Leave a comment

Don’t be sucked in by ‘spin’ promoting thorium nuclear reactors

thorium is merely a way of deflecting attention and criticism from the dangers of the uranium fuel cycle and excusing the pumping of more money into the industry…..  the nuclear industry itself is also sceptical

 ‘ these arereally U-233 reactors,’   This isotope is more hazardous than the U-235 used in conventional reactors, he adds, because it produces U-232 as a side effect (half life: 160,000 years), on top of familiar fission by-products 

Don’t believe the spin on thorium being a ‘greener’ nuclear option Ecologist, Eifion Rees 23rd June, 2011 It produces less radioactive waste and more power than uranium but the UK would be making a mistake in looking to it as a ’greener’ fuel. The Ecologist reports….. nuclear radiologist Peter Karamoskos, of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), says the world shouldn’t hold its breath.

‘Without exception, [thorium reactors] have never been commercially viable, nor do any of the intended new designs even remotely seem to be viable. Like all nuclear power production they rely on extensive taxpayer subsidies; the only difference is that with thorium and other breeder reactors these are of an order of magnitude greater, which is why no government has ever continued their funding.’ Continue reading →

August 24, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, Reference, spinbuster, technology | Leave a comment

New fast Lithium Ion Battery for electric cars

New Korean Lithium Ion Battery for EVs Charges in Under 1 Minute http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2012/08/21/korean-lithium-ion-carbonized-battery/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGreenOptimistic+%28The+Green+Optimistic%29#.UDbvH8FlT4Y By Ovidiu Sandru   August 21, 2012    A new lithium ion battery developed in Korea could make those long waiting times for an electric car to charge become history. A team of researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) claim they can build a battery that can charge in less than a minute, 30 to 120 times faster than a classic Li-Ion battery. Continue reading →

August 24, 2012 Posted by | energy storage, Reference, South Korea | Leave a comment

Nuclear power as a solution to Climate Change? not really possible or desirable

Realistically the world might build 100 or so new reactors over the coming decade or so – ..  Over this same period a similar number of existing reactors will reach the end of their lives and close, leading to a net growth rate close to zero.

Does the world need nuclear power to solve the climate crisis? Nuclear power looks expensive and repulsive compared to increasingly affordable renewable energy, argues Oliver Tickell, The Guardian, 20 Aug 12,  “…..this is the question: does the world need nuclear power for us to solve the climate crisis, as Monbiot claims? To borrow a second thought, this time from Margaret Thatcher, must we accept that there is no alternative?….. Continue reading →

August 24, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change, Reference | Leave a comment

Thorium reactors (LFTRs) not really supported by the Nuclear Establishment

D. A,. RyanNovember 6th, 2011 at 13:39  The NNL lead scientist Prof. Howarth deals specifically with the LFTR here and pours cold water on it:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-baD9i6ZaAGw/Tl4CF-nyC_I/AAAAAAAAADY/gJldwyc5WEU/s1600/Professor+Paul+Howarth+Letter1.jpg

A pro-nuclear engineer let slip to me a while ago the real attiude of the nuke industry to Thorium. They see it as hedging their bets in case fusion proves to be harder than they thought and they don’t get commercial grade fusion plants up and running by the 2050′s. If that occurs, then that’s when Thorium (or LFTR’s) will figure. In other words, to them its a blue sky idea to sort out a future energy crisis, not the one facing us right now. This is why you see a vast gulf of a difference between pro-Thorium bloggers and the nuclear industry establishment.

August 24, 2012 Posted by | Reference, technology | Leave a comment

Overuse of medical radiation lifts cancer rates

Medical Radiation Soars, With Risks Often Overlooked NYT, By JANE E. BRODY AUGUST 20, 2012, Radiation, like alcohol, is a double-edged sword. It has indisputable medical advantages: Radiation can reveal hidden problems, from broken bones and lung lesions to heart defects and tumors. And it can be used to treat and sometimes cure certain cancers.

But it also has a potentially serious medical downside: the ability to damage DNA and, 10 to 20 years later, to cause cancer. CT scans alone, which deliver 100 to 500 times the radiation associated with an ordinary X-ray and now provide three-fourths of Americans’ radiation exposure, are believed to account for 1.5 percent of all cancers that occur in the United States. Continue reading →

August 23, 2012 Posted by | health, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

Sources of plutonium found around Fukushima

 Gundersen: I think plutonium being reported around Fukushima is raw, unoxidized pieces of nuclear rods that were blown out from Unit 3′s spent fuel pool  August 22nd, 2012 Regarding the recent test results that detected plutonium at 10 locations in Fukushima, Fairewinds’ Arnie Gundersen writes to ENENews:

Pu came from the damaged fuel rods, obviously. The question is whether it was the damaged rods inside U1/2/3 reactors or whether it was the U3 spent fuel pool. Given U1/2/3 had a containment around the cores (even if damaged), this data leads me to continue to believe that the U3 SFP detonation is the most likely location for the release.

When asked if the plutonium could have been transported by smoke from the burning fuel rods inside the reactors, Gundersen replies:

Burning is oxidation, so U or Pu combines with oxygen to create U oxide… just like Carbon combines with oxygen to make CO2…. small micron size particles….. I think the Pu at Fuku is raw, unoxidized, blown out, not burned

August 23, 2012 Posted by | environment, Japan, Reference | Leave a comment

British government’s PR for the nuclear industry – playing down Fukushima risk

 The Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith, who sits on the Commons environmental audit committee, condemned the extent of co-ordination between the government and nuclear companies that the emails appear to reveal.

“The government has no business doing PR for the industry and it would be appalling if its departments have played down the impact of Fukushima,” he said.

Revealed: British government’s plan to play down Fukushima Internal emails seen by Guardian show PR campaign was launched to protect UK nuclear plans after tsunami in Japan • Read the emails here  Guardian UK, 19 Aug 12, 

British government officials approached nuclear companies to draw up a co-ordinated public relations strategy to play down the Fukushimanuclear accident just two days after the earthquake and tsunami in Japanand before the extent of the radiation leak was known. Continue reading →

August 20, 2012 Posted by | politics, Reference, secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | 2 Comments

UK’s plans for nuclear waste burial in Cumbria

Full report published on Cumbria nuclear waste burial and local involvement  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/aug/17/lakedistrict-nuclearpower-west-cumbria-managing-nuclear-waste-safely-partnership?newsfeed=true
by   17 August 2012 Findings of three-year review by the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership are now in print and online The complicated and contentious issue of burying nuclear waste in Cumbria is heading for a milestone on 11 October when the three local councils which have expressed an interest meet to debate further involvement.

A useful waymarker has now been published in full, based on the views of some 2,300 people and organisations whose submissions, while often very different and sometimes in direct conflict, have led to changes and hesitations, albeit not altering the general approach of cautiously making headway.

The document was summarised on 19 July and you can read a precis of that here. The full report has now gone up online and that is availablehere. It is the work of the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership which is made up of the councils – Cumbria countyand Allerdale and Copeland districts – and other groups including the National Farmers Union, the Lake District national park authority and representatives of all the parish councils potentially involved.  Continue reading →

August 18, 2012 Posted by | Reference, UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Using deceptive measuring to make low level radiation look safe

“We should pay particular attention to the fact that the presence of even relatively small amounts of Cs-137 in children from 10-30Bq/kg…leads to a doubling in the number of children with electrocardiographic disorders.”

 200 Bq/kg, in a pregnant woman can result in fetal death according to the Belarus studies.

 the longer someone stays in a contaminated area, eats contaminated food and/or raises a family in these conditions, the more damage will accumulate and the more, even what were once considered small doses, will have great detriment on health.

Deception in Sieverts: how a measure of radiation damage can actually be used to hide damage http://www.beyondnuclear.org/children-health/2012/8/17/deception-in-sieverts-how-a-measure-of-radiation-damage-can.html According to a research letter published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), levels of internal cesium
contamination after Fukushima are “low…much lower than those reported in studies years after the Chernobyl incident”.

However, longer-term, internal exposure to even low levels of cesium can cause a range of
diseases and pre-disease conditions, including cancer. The contamination levels found in the people examined in this research are within this range of concern. Continue reading →

August 18, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, Reference, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Film reveals the secret story of nuclear research on the Marshall Islands people

The long term study of the human health effects of exposure to fallout and remaining nuclear waste in the Marshallese environment extended over four decades with a total of 72 research excursions to the Marshall Islands involving Marshallese citizens from Rongelap, Utrik, Likiep, Enewetak and Majuro Atolls. Some 539 men, women, and children were subject to studies documenting and monitoring the varied late effects of radiation. In addition to the purposeful exposure of humans to the toxic and radioactive waste from nuclear weapons, some Marshallese received radioisotope injections, underwent experimental surgery, and were subject to other procedures in experiments addressing scientific questions which, at times, had little or no relevance to medical treatment needs and in some instances involved procedures that were detrimental to their health. 

Human Rights, Environment and Nuclear Disaster  Nuclear Savages http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/06/01/nuclear-savages/  Counter Punch by BARBARA ROSE JOHNSTON, June 2012  also at http://snippits-and-slappits.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/nuclear-savages.html  (with video) Are you wondering about the disconcerting contradictions in the nuclear news in recent weeks?…. We have been here before, in a world blanketed with nuclear fallout, where massive amounts of iodine, cesium, strontium and other radioactive isotopes moved through the marine and terrestrial food chain and the human body, in well-documented ways, with degenerative and at times deadly outcomes.  Yet, for many reasons, while the environmental and biomedical trajectory of such exposures are well documented, the human experience and associated public health risks are largely suppressed, classified, or simply and persistently denied.
Sometimes clarity is best achieved by stepping back, taking pause, and considering the historical antecedents and experiences that have brought us to these chaotic times.  A new documentary film by Adam Horowitz offers an opportunity to do just that.

Premiering June 2, at 6:30 pm at the  Lincoln Center in New York City, Nuclear Savage: The Islands of Secret Project 4.1    is a poignant, provocative, and deeply troubling look at lingering and lasting effects of nuclear disaster and the human consequences of US government efforts to define, contain, and control public awareness and concern.

Nuclear Savage recounts the experiences of the Marshallese nation in the years following World War II, as they played host to the US’s Pacific Proving Grounds and served as human subjects in the classified, abusive pseudoscience that characterized the US government medical response to civilian exposures from the 1954 Bravo Test, the largest and dirtiest hydrogen bomb detonated by the United States. Detonated in the populated nation of the Marshall Islands.

Here is the story: Continue reading →

August 17, 2012 Posted by | history, indigenous issues, Reference | Leave a comment

Lest we forget – thermonuclear bombs exploded over the Pacific Ocean

Going Nuclear Over the Pacific , Past Imperfect, Smithsonian.com August 15, 2012“…Fifty years ago this summer there were strange doings in the skies above earth as well…..  But of all the things happening in the skies that summer, nothing would be quite as spectacular, surreal and frightening as the military project code-named Starfish Prime . Just five days after Americans across the country witnessed traditional Fourth of July fireworks displays, the Atomic Energy Commission created the greatest man-made light show in history when it launched a thermonuclear warhead on the nose of a Thor rocket, creating a suborbital nuclear detonation 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean. Continue reading →

August 16, 2012 Posted by | history, Reference | 2 Comments

Disease and death toll from Fukushima radiation needs careful, patient, tracking

[in the 12 months after Fukushima]  an excess of 38,700 Japanese deaths, with no obvious cause.

Nobody should yet race to conclusions that 38,700 Japanese died from Fukushima exposure in the first year after the disaster.  

The final element needed before conclusions are made is patience; vital statistics must continue to be tracked, and compared with radiation exposures to the Japanese people.

[In 2009] A team of Russian researchers, led by Dr. Alexey Yablokov, published results of 5,000 reports and articles on Chernobyl – many in Russian languages never before made public. Yahlokov’s team concluded that near Chernobyl, increases in disease sand deaths were observed for nearly every human organ system.

Let the Counting Begin Fukushima’s Nuclear Casualties http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/15/fukushimas-nuclear-casualties/ by JOSEPH MANGANO, 15 Aug 12 It’s been nearly 18 months since the disastrous nuclear meltdown at Fukushima.  There have been many reports on the huge amounts of radioactivity escaping into the air and water, unusually high levels in air, water, and soil – along with atypically high levels of toxic chemicals in food – that actually “passed” government inspection and wasn’t banned like some other food.

Conspicuously absent are reports on effects of radiation exposure on the health of the Japanese people.  Have any health officials publicly announced post-March 2011 numbers on fetal deaths, infant deaths, premature births, birth defects, cancer, or other health conditions? The answer so far is an emphatic “no.”

The prolonged silence doesn’t mean data doesn’t exist.  Japanese health officials have been busy with their usual duties of collecting and posting statistics on the Internet for public inspection.  It’s just that they aren’t calling the public’s attention to these numbers.
Thus, it is the public who must find the information and figure out what it means.  After locating web sites, translating from Japanese, adding data for each of 12 months, and making some calculations, mortality trends in Japan after Fukushima are emerging. Continue reading →

August 16, 2012 Posted by | health, Japan, Reference | Leave a comment

List of USA’s nuclear power plants badly affected by extreme heat

Extreme Heat, Drought Show Vulnerability of Nuclear Power Plants  By Robert Krier, InsideClimate News, 15 Aug 12, “……— The Vermont Yankee plant near Brattleboro had to limit output four times in July because of low river flow and heat. At one point, production was reduced to 83 percent of capacity.

— FristEnergy Corp’s Perry 1 reactor in Ohio dropped production in late July to 95 percent of capacity because of above-average temperatures.

— Operators of the Braidwood, Ill., nuclear plant 60 miles southwest of Chicago sought and were granted a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency to raise the temperature of a cooling pond to 102 degrees—2 degrees above the established limit. The pond holds water cycled through the plant for cooling and then discharged. If the plant had not received the waiver, it would have had to scale back production in the middle of an intense heat wave. Kraft said the nuclear plants’ operating difficulties are part of a recurring pattern. In the summer of 1988, drought, high temperatures and low river volumes forced Commonwealth Edison to reduce power by 30 percent or shut down, in some cases, at the Dresden and Quad Cities plants in Illinois.

“That was the first wake-up call that plants would be vulnerable in a climate-disrupted world,” Kraft said.

There have been many more instances since:

— Europe, summer of 2003. During the heat wave that killed more than 30,000 people, France, Germany and Spain had to choose between allowing reactors to exceed design standards and thermal discharge limits and shutting down reactors. Spain shut down its reactors, while France and Germany allowed some to operate and shut down others.

— Illinois, summer of 2005. EPA and state officials considered easing thermal discharge standards because of drought, but a break in the weather made it unnecessary.

— Illinois, Minn., July 29 to Aug. 2, 2006. The Prairie Island (Minn.) plant had to reduce output by 54 percent. The Quad Cities, Dresden and Monticello plants in Illinois also cut power to moderate water discharge temperatures.

— Michigan, July 30, 2006. The Donald C. Cook reactors in Michigan were shut down during a severe heat wave because temperatures in a containment building exceeded the regulatory limit of 120 degrees.

— Southeast U.S, Aug. 5-12, 2008. The Tennessee Valley Authority lost a third of nuclear capacity due to drought conditions. All three Browns Ferry reactors in Alabama were idled to prevent overheating of the Tennessee River.

— France, July 2009. France had to purchase power from England because almost a third of its nuclear generating capacity was lost when it had to cut production to avoid exceeding thermal discharge limits.

— Southeast U.S., July, August 2011. The TVA reduced power at Browns Ferry to stay within discharge limits. At one point, all three of the reactors cut output to about 50 percent. Had the plant been operating at full capacity, the downstream temperature on the Tennessee River would have exceeded the 90-degree limit…. http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120815/nuclear-power-plants-energy-nrc-drought-weather-heat-water?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20solveclimate/blog%20(InsideClimate%20News)

August 16, 2012 Posted by | climate change, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

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