Nuke waste dumping: Are Somalia’s pirates reacting to international abuses?
Are Somalia’s pirates reacting to international abuses? Somali UK 21 April 09 “…………………………The coast remains an easy dumping ground for toxic and nuclear waste.
“It’s a real problem,” said Roger Middleton, a Somalia expert and researcher for the London-based think tank, Chatham House.
“There are very shady goings-on, mostly involving the Mafia.”
The force of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami pulled up dozens of toxic-waste containers, leaving a lethal trail along the Somali coast.
A UN report found as a result many residents suffered “acute respiratory infections, heavy coughing, bleeding gums and mouth, abdominal haemorrhages, unusual skin rashes, and even death.”
Two years later, a team of specialists discovered nine toxic waste sites along 700 km of coastline in southern Somalia.
“Somalia has been used as a dumping ground for hazardous waste starting in the early 1990s, and continuing through the civil war there,” Nick Nuttall of the UN’s Environment Program told the television channel Al-Jazeera, echoing similar findings from other reports.
“And the waste is many different kinds. There is uranium radioactive waste. There is lead, and heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. There is also industrial waste, and there are hospital wastes, chemical wastes – you name it.”
The waste came from European companies, which paid shady intermediaries as little as $2.50 a tonne to dispose of it, compared with about $1,000 a tonne in Europe…………
………. http://www.somaliuk.com/Indepth1/Fullarticle.php?IndepthID=483
Sellafield: the most hazardous place in Europe
Sellafield: the most hazardous place in Europe
The Guardian 21 April 09 Last week the government announced plans for a new generation of nuclear plants. But Britain is still dealing with the legacy of its first atomic installation at Sellafield – a toxic waste dump in one of the most contaminated buildings in Europe. As a multi-billion-pound clean-up is planned, can we avoid making the same mistakes again?
………………………… “It is the most hazardous industrial building in western Europe,” according to George Beveridge, Sellafield’s deputy managing director.
Nor is it hard to understand why the building possesses such a fearsome reputation. Piles of old nuclear reactor parts and decaying fuel rods, much of them of unknown provenance and age, line the murky, radioactive waters of the cooling pond in the centre of B30. Down there, pieces of contaminated metal have dissolved into sludge that emits heavy and potentially lethal doses of radiation.
It is an unsettling place, though B30 is certainly not unique. There is Building B38 next door, for example. “That’s the second most hazardous industrial building in Europe,” said Beveridge. Here highly radioactive cladding from reactor fuel rods is stored, also under water. And again, engineers have only a vague idea what else has been dumped in its cooling pond and left to disintegrate for the past few decades.
………………….. This, then, is the dark heart of Sellafield, a place where engineers and scientists are only now confronting the legacy of Britain’s postwar atomic aspirations and the toxic wasteland that has been created on the Cumbrian coast. Engineers estimate that it could cost the nation up to £50bn to clean this up over the next 100 years………
……… the condition of edifices such as B30 and B38 – and all the other “legacy” structures built at Sellafield decades ago – suggest Britain might end up paying a heavy price for this new commitment to nuclear energy. After all, if it is going to cost that much to decommission early reactors, green groups and opponents of nuclear energy are asking, what might we end up paying for a second clean-up if we go ahead with new nuclear plants?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/19/sellafield-nuclear-plant-cumbria-hazards
Nuclear power still has the problems that led to a moratorium
Nuclear power still has the problems that led to a moratorium
: April 20, 2009 The Minnesota Senate recently approved an amendment to overturn the state’s moratorium on new nuclear power plants. Meanwhile, the nuclear industry has launched a savvy national campaign to convince citizens that conventional nuclear power is a silver-bullet solution to our energy and climate crisis.
Even the best PR campaign can’t change the reality that nuclear power remains as uneconomical and environmentally unsafe as it was 40 years ago. Conventional nuclear technology is expensive, creates few new jobs and poses long-term environmental hazards. It is a costly distraction from real energy solutions.
The current moratorium was put into place in 1994 because there was no permanent national solution to the problem of how to solve nuclear waste. That problem persists today……………………………… NASA’s top climate scientist James Hansen recently reported, even with the highest levels of priority funding, fourth-generation reactors will not be ready for deployment for 10 to 15 years. We need global warming solutions much sooner. The nuclear moratorium protects us against the development of new power plants based on outdated and risky technology.
In the midst of an international economic crisis, we should also be wary of the economic costs of nuclear power. New nuclear power is only cost effective with massive taxpayer subsidies. Current federal law caps the liability claims that can arise from nuclear accidents and passes that liability on to taxpayers. We have already shelled out billions of dollars to insure commercial nuclear reactors; we shouldn’t be forced to shell out billions more…….
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Fallout from the fire of 1957: radioactive plume led to 200 cancer cases
Fallout from the fire of 1957: radioactive plume led to 200 cancer cases
The Observer, Sunday 19 April 2009 Sellafield is the site of Britain’s worst nuclear accident. A blaze in 1957 in the reactor of Pile 1 released a massive plume of radioactive caesium, iodine and polonium that spread across Britain and northern Europe.
Up to 200 cases of cancer – including thyroid and breast cancer and also leukaemia – may have been triggered by the fire’s emissions, according to estimates which were published by epidemiologists led by Professor Richard Wakeford, of Manchester University, two years ago.
…………………… After the fire the government placed a six-week ban on consumption of milk from cows grazing within 200 miles of Windscale (as Sellafield was then known). However, the weather carried nuclear contamination far beyond that boundary.
The reactor was left in such a dangerous state of intense radioactivity that it has lain undisturbed ever since and is still considered too dangerous to decommission. As a result, Pile 1 is destined to be one of the last sites to be cleaned up during the decommissioning of Sellafield.
……………………… In 1983, British Nuclear Fuels Limited, or BNFL, which was then the operator of the Sellafield plant, was fined £10,000 after radioactive discharges containing ruthenium and rhodium 106 were found to have contaminated a beach near the power station.
The plant – which was originally expected to make profits of around £500m for Sellafield’s operators – is now expected to make losses of up to £1bn and has been earmarked for closure by the year 2010.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/19/sellafield-nuclear-plant-cancer-cases
Yankee nuke extension increases risk
Yankee extension increases risk
Kewaunee nuclear power plant shut down
Kewaunee nuclear power plant shut down
By Rick Romell of the Journal Sentinel
April 20, 2009 The Kewaunee nuclear power plant remains out of operation after being shut down late Thursday night because of an instrumentation problem.
………………….. An event report posted on the site of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission indicates that a problem with calibration procedures was discovered about 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The problem was considered reportable to the NRC under three regulations, including one covering “any event or condition that results in the nuclear plant being in an unanalyzed condition that significantly degrades plant safety.” http://www.jsonline.com/business/43179997.html
Why one remote Taiwan village is giving nuclear waste the red carpet treatment
Why one remote Taiwan village is giving nuclear waste the red carpet treatment Minnesota Post By Jonathan Adams21 April 09 “……………………Critics of the plan say this poor village is merely being bought off by the government’s generous compensation proposal, and is low-balling the health risks. The debate highlights the growing problem of nuclear waste, as more nations — and especially, neighboring China — turn to this “cleaner” energy source to fuel their economies. It also points to a global phenomenon. Whether it’s inner-city America or a remote Aboriginal village in Taiwan, toxic and other waste often ends up dumped near the poorest, most marginalized communities. In Taiwan, Nantian Village is about as poor and marginal as they come……………….. Taiwan’s Aborigines — 2 percent of the population — are the island’s least advantaged, with poverty and alcoholism rates similar to those on Native American reservations in the U.S. Villagers talk about 5 billion — the payout, in New Taiwan dollars (about $150 million) — that the power company has said will go to the county. How much of that would go directly to these villagers is still unclear………………………..” http://www.minnpost.com/globalpost/2009/04/20/8193/why_one_remote_taiwan_village_is_giving_nuclear_waste_the_red_carpet_treatment
Italian Nuclear Waste to be Dumped in Utah
Italian Nuclear Waste to be Dumped in Utah AllGov News by Noel Brinkerhoff April 17, 2009 A uranium isotope is a uranium isotope, regardless of its country of origin. But for two Democratic congressmen, there’s a problem with low-level nuclear waste from Italy being dumped in Utah………………………….
Since the NRC won’t help, Matheson and Gordon have decided to sponsor a bill that would ban the importation of low-level radioactive waste unless the nuclear material originated in the U.S. or the waste was imported for a strategic national purpose. The two congressmen have been joined by Utah’s Republican governor,. Jon Huntsman, who is opposed to the waste coming to his state.Huntsman can’t get legislation passed in his own state banning the importation of nuclear waste, thanks to the numerous political donations that EnergySolutions has spread around among state lawmakers, and its army of lobbyists. In fact, one of the company’s former lobbyists is Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT), whose district includes the dump site.
Green Party leader condemns Sask. nuclear report
Green Party leader condemns Sask. nuclear report By Kerry Benjoe, Leader-Post April 17, 2009
REGINA — The leaders of the provincial and federal Green Party slammed the report compiled by the Uranium Development Partnership on Friday.
Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, called the report a sham. She said Green Party members from around the world oppose the development of nuclear power.
“The industry doesn’t make sense. It will never survive without tremendous government subsidies,” said May.
She said speaking as a federal leader, this is something that Saskatchewan people should go into with their eyes wide open……………………”The so-called environmental rep is a paid lobbyist for nuclear industry. This is a sham. This is not the report on which a government should base decisions,” said May. “This is the equivalent of a report from lobbyists telling government how they want them to spend their money.”
Sellafield under fire for ‘catastrophic’ safety error
Sellafield under fire for ‘catastrophic’ safety error North West Evening Mail , 17 April 2009
SELLAFIELD has come under fire from an anti-nuclear group after four highly-radioactive waste stores malfunctioned.
Cooling water was lost when a faulty valve on the waste containers broke down.
The temperature of the waste was allowed to rise for eight hours before Sellafield workers were able to fix the problem……………………….
Details of the malfunction were only released last week.
CORE’s spokesman Martin Forwood said: “The catastrophic result of an extended loss of cooling to these dangerous and increasingly obsolete tanks is well documented and has major implications not only for Cumbria but also for the UK and its European neighbours.
“The incident was dangerously and unacceptably close to resulting in a major off-site release of radioactivity with long-term consequences for human life and the environment”.
North West Evening Mail | News | Sellafield under fire for ‘catastrophic’ safety error
Taxpayers own nuclear problems
Muskogee Phoenix April 17, 2009 02:45 pm -THE PEOPLE SPEAK: Taxpayers own nuclear problemsOklahoma Republicans are being very hypocritical in supporting taxpayer guarantees in funding to build massively expensive nuclear plants………………..
We do not need nuclear plants. Solar thermal (not the same as solar panels) and wind could supply the energy without the dangerous polluting of uranium mining.
Who will pay for the medical expenses for the increased cancer rates around Muskogee if the plant is built here? Who will pay for the decommissioning of these plants when they age?
I think the people will pay and big corporations will benefit. What about contaminated nuclear groundwater as has happened in France? We need a town meeting about this important issue before the Republicans rush things through.
Jean McMahon
Fort Gibson
MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK – THE PEOPLE SPEAK: Taxpayers own nuclear problems
Oyster Creek an accident waiting to happen
Oyster Creek an accident waiting to happen Brick Township Bulletin Sidney J. Goodman 17 April 09 Anuclear plant reactor tries to safely contain more radioactivity than is in the fallout of 1,000 Hiroshima atom bombs.The Oyster Creek spent fuel rod pool contains much more deadly radioactivity. The pool has a flimsy roof that could easily be penetrated to cause a fuming meltdown.Who would have thought that the World Trade Center could be destroyed so easily? As for nuclear power plants, we haven’t seen anything yet.There is an official rule. It says that a mere 10-mile evacuation zone is perfectly adequate. This is idiotic.The poisons from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident traveled all around the world. Decades after, only 20 percent of the children born in Belarus are healthy. The poisons from the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station traveled hundreds of miles………………………
There is a federal law called the Price Anderson Act. It limits the liability of a nuclear utility to a microscopic fraction of the damage it can cause.
Oyster Creek is afraid to operate without the protection of this law. If there is no risk, as nuclear promoters always say, there is absolutely no justification for the existence of this law.
This law abolishes your property rights to protect the property rights of nuclear utilities. Their insistence that we need this law proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that big guns in the industry do not believe one word of their assurances about health and safety.
Why should you believe them or their agents?……………………. The Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant must be closed immediately — not in nine years, not in one year, not in one month, but now.
Oyster Creek an accident waiting to happen | bulletin.gmnews.com | Brick Township Bulletin
Several nuclear waste trains in Germany next year?
Several nuclear waste trains in D next year? Indymedia 17 April Diet Simon
Several transports of highly radioactive nuclear waste may roll through Germany next year, nuclear opponents have researched, and another 1,000-1,250 tonnes of depleted uranium are being readied for transportation to Russia in about 25 railcars.The Bürgerinitiative Umweltschutz Lüchow-Dannenberg (BI), which fights waste dumping at the northern village of Gorleben, and other anti-nuclear activists have found out that waste consignments are due next year to all three “interim” dumps at Ahaus (45 linear km northwest of Münster), Lubmin (120 km east of Rostock) and Gorleben (155 km northeast of Hannover).
The BI comments that “thousands are going to take to the streets to oppose this” and says the anti-nuclear movement has had a surge in numbers since last autumn 16,000 delayed another waste load to Gorleben.
“In the autumn we’re doing a tractor run to Berlin to generate pressure to end the crazy plan to make Gorleben the final repository and to get out of nuclear power production.“In 2010 there’ll be a stocktaking across the country, the waste transport continue to be a provocation because they symbolize the disposal dilemma” (of there being no safe storage system anywhere on the globe).
Several hundred nuclear casks with highly radioactive waste, so-called Castor CSDC 28’s, are to be taken from the French plutonium factory at La Hague and a German research facility at Jülich (65 km west of Cologne) to Ahaus. A special high-pressure waste compacting facility has been built in La Hague for the purpose.
The BI notes that this creates a new category of waste which starts medium-active and becomes highly active from heat…………………..Meanwhile activists have observed another large depleted uranium train being assembled in Germany’s only uranium enrichment factory at Gronau, to go to Russia for dumping in the open air…………………..
………..Anti-nuclear activists are planning an inter-regional demonstration in Münster for 25 April. It will be one of three central ones taking place throughout Germany on the 23rd anniversary of the Chernobyl explosion. The other two will be outside nuclear power stations at Krümmel (40 km southeast of Hamburg) and Neckarwestheim (170 km south of Frankfurt) on the 26th.
de.indymedia.org | Several nuclear waste trains in D next year?
– Nuclear plan good news for economy or deadly legacy?
Nuclear plan good news for economy or deadly legacy? Wales News Apr 16 2009THE nomination of Wylfa Peninsula on Anglesey as one of 11 potential sites for a new UK nuclear power station was hailed yesterday as “very good news” for the island’s economy.
But environmental groups criticised the plans as leaving a “deadly legacy” at a cost of billions of pounds. Anglesey’s residents have one month to submit their views on the new power station, which would replace the current plant, due to stop generating electricity in 2010………………..
……….Friends of the Earth said “breathing new life into the failed nuclear experiment” was not the answer to the UK’s energy problems.
The group’s energy campaigner Robin Webster said: “Nuclear power leaves a deadly legacy of radioactive waste that remains highly dangerous for tens of thousands of years and costs tens of billions of pounds to manage.
“And building new reactors would divert precious resources from developing safe, clean renewable power.
“Nuclear firms are already lobbying ministers to water down UK renewable energy targets. Ministers must exploit the UK’s huge potential of wind, solar, marine and hydro power, and embark on a massive national programme of energy efficiency.
“This will create tens of thousands more jobs than the nuclear option, reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, tackle climate change and make Britain a world leader in developing a green economy.”
Yemen Drops Nuclear Power Idea; To Produce Wind and Thermal Energy
Yemen Drops Nuclear Power Idea; To Produce Wind and Thermal Energy Yemen Post 5, April, 2009
Minister of Electricity and Energy dismissed Wednesday the idea of producing nuclear energy in the country, saying it was not time to use nuclear power to deal with energy problems, mainly daily electricity cuts.However, Minister Awadh Al-Socotri affirmed the government has plans to produce wind and thermal energy instead.He said the government is about to sign deals with the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank to construct a wind-power plant in Makha province.
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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