antinuclear « nuclear-news

As nuclear industry materials proliferate, the threat of nuclear terrorism is real

More than 1600 tonnes of highly enriched uranium and 500 tonnes of plutonium are estimated to have been produced worldwide for civilian and military use – enough material to build 120,000 nuclear bombs. Estimates vary as to how much of it remains unsecured and at risk of falling into terrorist hands……

Obama wrestles with nuclear nightmare that won’t go away Sydney Morning Herald ,SIMON MANN IN WASHINGTON, April 10, 2010 So, what if terrorists did get their hands on a nuclear weapon? It doesn’t bear thinking about. Except, thousands of people are thinking about it now. Continue reading →

April 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Iran scorns U.S. nuclear strategy, hosts alternative disarmament conference

Iran dismisses new U.S. nuclear strategy as propaganda. China News TEHRAN, April 7 (Xinhua) — Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Wednesday dismissed the new U.S. nuclear strategy as ” propaganda” and urged Washington to fulfill its promise on nuclear disarmament.

“We consider the latest position and comment of the United States as propaganda … We urge the United States to fulfill its promise on nuclear disarmament in the whole world,” Mottaki said at a press conference in Tehran…..He also said that the upcoming international conference of nuclear disarmament, dubbed “nuclear energy for all, nuclear weapons for none,” scheduled to held in Tehran on April 17 and 18, will push for a global nuclear disarmament. Iran dismisses new U.S. nuclear strategy as propaganda

April 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Gloom continues for uranium prices

Are uranium stocks oversold?Despite a breezy longer term outlook, the sector has been on the backburner for months, if not years. Mineweb, Barry Sergeant , 09 Apr 2010 JOHANNESBURG – Relative to most mining subsectors, listed uranium stocks have rendered a poor performance, for some years now, inviting examination as to whether this area is oversold. Commodity pricing here moves in a disjointed way, with little relation to variables such as the value of the dollar……

Canada’s Cameco , the global bellwether in the relatively small uranium sector, saw its stock price fall from around CAD 60.00 in mid-2007 to close on CAD 15.00 towards the end of 2008. The stock is currently around CAD 27.00 a share, leaving buy-and-hold investors which bought the stock across 2006 and 2007 deeply in the red. ………..equity pricing indicates that investors are hardly happy with potentially fuzzy estimates, and the timeframes involved. On the contrary, investors have been taking uranium equities profits off the table, and pushing them into hotter near term stories such as coal and iron ore.

April 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs | antinuclear, nuclear costs, uranium | Leave a comment

Australian doctor, Tilman Ruff – another international anti nuclear campaigner

The idealist in Ruff is frustrated that it is not going further, happening faster. ”But I am enormously encouraged because we are seeing movement on multiple fronts.

Nuclear nemesis, The Age, JO CHANDLER, April 10, 2010A WHAT makes an activist “……Associate Professor Tilman Ruff, part-time physician, full-time campaigner against nuclear arms, and cancer survivor – a doctor who considers protecting the world from nuclear arms as fundamental to public health as the vaccines he dispenses……. Continue reading →

April 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

al-Qaida seeking to have atomic bomb

US: al-Qaida exemplifies new-age nuclear threat, Google hosted news, By ROBERT BURNS (AP) – 10 April 2010, WASHINGTON The Associated Press: US: al-Qaida exemplifies new-age nuclear threat— The White House on Friday warned that al-Qaida is quietly hunting for an atomic bomb, Continue reading →

April 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Burn injuries from radioactive scrap metal

Radiation leak injures five in Delhi scrap shop EMOIZ.COM 10 April 2010, NEW DELHI: Five persons were admitted in a local hospital with burn injuries and other ailments after continuous exposure to radiation at a scrap dealers shop in West Delhi.A 1-kilometre radius around the shop has been cordoned off as a precautionary measure, a senior officer said.

According to the officer, the five victims slept at the scrap dealers shop, where some radioactive material, reportedly medical waste equipment, was dumped some five days ago in West Delhi.

According to officials, skin of two men had turned black due to exposure to the radioactive material all five victims have burn injuries and rashes on their bodies.

Radiation leak injures five in Delhi scrap shop | EMOIZ.COM

April 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, safety | antinuclear, nuclear wastes, radioactive | Leave a comment

Spread of radioactive materials increases nuclear danger

Radiation poisoning a reminder of need for better ‘nuclear security, The Hindu , ‘Siddharth Varadarajan and R. Ramachandran, Apr 10, 2010, The Hindu : Front Page : Radiation poisoning a reminder of need for better ‘nuclear security’ New Delhi: Coming on the eve of next week’s Nuclear Security Summit, the news of people being sickened by cobalt-60 in a Delhi market is an embarrassing reminder of weaknesses in the Indian system of tracking minor radioactive substances………. Continue reading →

April 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, safety | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Cobalt-60 – another radioactive isotope from the nuclear industry

Cobalt-60 Radiation in Delhi : What is Cobalt 60 ? India Buzzing 9 April 2010,Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a radioactive isotope of cobalt. Due to its short half life of 5.27 years 60Co is not found in nature. It is produced artificially by neutron activation of 59Co. 60Co decays by negative beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60 (60Ni). The activated Ni-atom emits two gamma rays with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV.

Cobalt-60 Radiation in Delhi : What is Cobalt 60 ? | India Buzzing

April 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, wastes | antinuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

New arms control treaty gives nuclear armed bombers free rein

It is a ballistic missile focused treaty that essentially removes strategic bombers from arms control.

The dodgy accounting of nuclear diplomacy, guardian.co.uk, Julian Borger, 9 April 2010, The new arms control treaty signed in Prague contains new counting methods that call into question its real scope Take down the flags, put away the champagne, etc. The text of the new Start treaty is out on the US state department website, and the small print confirms the warnings of its sternest critics. Dodgy new counting rules mean that the real reductions in deployed nuclear weapons could turn out to be far less than the 30% advertised. Indeed, they could add up to nothing at all. Continue reading →

April 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, Russia, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Israeli nuclear scientists refused USA visas

Obama Administration Denies Visas to Israeli Nuclear Scientists PAJAMAS MEDIA, Roger L. Simon 9 April 2010, The Obama administration is now denying U.S. visas to Israeli scientists who work at that nation’s Dimona nuclear reactor. This startling reversal of traditional policy was reported April 7, 2010, in the Israeli website/newspaper NRG/Maariv (link to the original Hebrew here and to an exclusive Pajamas Media translation here). This could be yet another flashpoint in the increasingly sensitive relations between the administration, the American Jewish community, and Israel……

Roger L. Simon » BREAKING: Obama Administration Denies Visas to Israeli Nuclear Scientists

April 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Israel, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear | Leave a comment

‘Third Generation’ Nuclear Reactors have same old problems – wastes, weapons proliferation

Why James Hansen is wrong on nuclear power | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal, By Renfrey Clarke April 8, 2010 “….. Third-generation reactors are in essence evolved versions of the pressurised-water installations that provide almost all of today’s nuclear energy. Now being built for the first time, “third-generation” plants are arguably still at the pre-commercial stage…. Continue reading →

April 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, technology | antinuclear, climate change, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Doubtful that U.S. Senate will pass the U.S. – Russia Disarmament Treaty

Unclear As Of Now if Senate Will Have Votes to Ratify New Disarmament Treaty ABC News, Political Punch April 08, 2010 Senate sources tell ABC News that it’s unclear if the Senate has the votes to pass the nuclear disarmament treaty that President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed just hours ago.

The ambiguity confirms what has seemed a constant refrain of concern from the White House about whether the votes are there.

Unclear As Of Now if Senate Will Have Votes to Ratify New Disarmament Treaty – Political Punch

April 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

USA’s nuclear weapons New START and its dodgy arithmetic

New START and Nuclear Midnight, RealClearWorld, By Daniel McGroarty 8 April 2010, What accounts for the dampening of enthusiasm of pro-disarmament groups for New START? Call it a kind of fuzzy math: The White House has been careful to characterize the new warhead levels as 30 percent below the warhead limit of the 2002 Moscow Treaty. But both the U.S. and Russian arsenals are well below those limits now, having retired weapons without replacing them…..

Add to that a new rule for counting nuclear-capable strategic bombers: Under New START, each bomber counts as one warhead – regardless of how many nuclear weapons it can deliver. With U.S. and Russian bomber capacities varying from 6 to 20 nuclear warheads, that’s a quick way to cut the warhead count without scrapping any weapons…….As the Federation of American Scientists’ Hans Kristensen reports: “… The [New START] counting rule would ‘hide’ approximately 450 and 860 warheads, respectively, or 1,310 warheads. That’s more warheads than Britain, China, France, India, Israel, and Pakistan possess combined!” Expect to hear more about that from the world’s non-nuclear nations at next month’s Non-Proliferation Treaty conference……As the Atomic Scientists like to say, the clock is ticking.

RealClearWorld – New START and Nuclear Midnight

April 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Court verdict against South Australian govt in treatment of uranium protestors

Payout for protesters locked in shipping container – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) 9 April 2010, The South Australian Government has been ordered to pay $724,000 to 10 people involved in a protest at the Beverley uranium mine a decade ago.

The Supreme Court has found the nine uranium protesters and a cameraman were assaulted and all but one falsely imprisoned in a shipping container………Payout for protesters locked in shipping container – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

April 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, Legal | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear costs, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear power no good against global warming

Why James Hansen is wrong on nuclear power | Links April 8, 2010 With both third- and fourth-generation nuclear plants outside the time bracket, what is left for environmentalists who hanker after nuclear power? The only option for them is the one embraced by the French and Chinese governments, and now, it seems, by the Obama administration in the US: an accelerated roll-out of second-generation nuclear plants, built to standardised designs following rushed or non-existent consultation with the plants’ future neighbours. Continue reading →

April 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, climate change | antinuclear, climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, renewables | Leave a comment