antinuclear « nuclear-news

Did the Pentagon attack Iran’s nuclear reactor with Stuxnet worm?

Pentagon’s spokesman Colonel David Lapan said the Department of defence can “neither confirm nor deny” reports that it launched this attack

Pentagon Accused Of Launching Supervirus Attack On Iran Gizmodo Australia, By Jesus Diaz on September 28, 2010 Stuxnet – which some experts consider to be the most advanced virus ever – appears to be focusing its attacks on Iranian nuclear plants. Now, the Pentagon and German intelligence are being accused of creating the virus to take down Iran’s atomic weapons program. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, reactor | Leave a comment

University’s nuclear radiation mishap

KSU divulges reactor mishap CJOnline.com, By Tim Carpenter

September 29, 2010 – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating a Kansas State University nuclear reactor operator’s exposure to radiation during an experiment, a university official said Wednesday…..TRIGA Mark II reactor had been shut down since Sept. 22 to accommodate the NRC’s evaluation of the mishap. The NRC and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment were notified of the incident. KSU divulges reactor mishap | CJOnline.com

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive, reactor | Leave a comment

German Green Party gathers support from anti-nuclear public sentiment

The nuclear issue has galvanized support for the Green party, which has grown to be a major force in national politics.

Germany: Greens See Red Over Nuclear Power Extension, TIME, By Tristana Moore / Berlin Wednesday, Sep. 29, 2010 “Nuclear power harms Germany’ is the Greenpeace message projected on the cooling systems of the nuclear power plant in Grafenrheinfeld near Schweinfurt, southern Germany, on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

European push to get rid of tactical nuclear weapons

Get rid of tactical nuclear weapons, Nato leaders told, guardian.co.uk, 30 Sept 10, A group of European elder statesmen is calling for a rethink of Nato nuclear policy ahead of November’s Lisbon summit Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

A worm delays Iran’s nuclear reactor

officials have acknowledged that a computer worm is mutating and wreaking havoc….Analysts say that the Stuxnet worm may have been designed to target Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Iran nuclear plant hit by two-month delay: official(AFP) – Google hosted new, 30 Sept 10, TEHRAN — Iran’s atomic chief said on Wednesday that the country’s first nuclear power plant will be ready to generate electricity by January — two months later than announced……… Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, reactor | Leave a comment

Nuclear finance squabble as France’s debt-laden EDF in dispute with USA’s Constellation

Moving up a long way in funky financing, state-to-state bilateral deals in the nuclear power sector are now in high gear. Amounts in play are usually well above US $ 10 billion per project, and very complex mix-and-mingle methods and processes are used for their financing

From Put Options to Development Aid The French EDF ex-monopoly electricity supplier with the biggest number of nuclear reactors of any traded power company in the world, also the most debt-laden traded company in France, and with a share price down about 25% through Jan-Aug 2010, is using financial engineering to keep a foothold in the US nuclear power market. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, EDF, France, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Financing the Nuclear Resuscitation will bring about Global Debt

Financing the Nuclear Renaissance in 2010-2020 will almost surely shift to international and multilateral debt financing methods. The IMF will surely be there, and all creative methods will have a look-in to using nuclear power plants as the underlying security in a vast new upsurge in global debt trading. –

Sovereign Debt to Global Debt The UN’s Nuclear Suppliers Group has an impressive 45-nation list of supposed nuclear equipment and service suppliers, but these include countries like Iceland, Malta, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania, everyone short of the Vatican. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear renaissance, reactors | Leave a comment

Nuclear power a bad plan for Sri Lanka

Environmental concern over Sri Lanka nuclear plans By Saroj Pathirana BBC News 9 September 2010 Environmentalists in Sri Lanka have expressed concern over government plans to build a nuclear power plant by 2025. Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka announced that the government intends to build the plant to fulfil increasing demands for energy Critics say Sri Lanka lacks the wherewithal to handle ordinary garbage – let alone nuclear waste….. the campaigners say that the island is full of natural sources of energy.Observers are also sceptical as to whether the country will be able to get the technological know-how to build such plant. BBC News – Environmental concern over Sri Lanka nuclear plans

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | ASIA, politics | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

Great Lakes nuclear shipment plan opens door for dangerous nuclear trafficking

“There is no policy in place in Canada that supports a proposal to export Canada’s nuclear waste in this case reactor refurbishment waste to a foreign country or to allow the residual waste, which will be even more radioactive, to be imported back into Canada. There is, however a very high level of concern in the Canadian public about the potential for international trafficking in nuclear waste,”

Shipment of Nuclear Waste has Northwatch in Ottawa today, North Bay News, By Kate Adams, September 29, 2010 Northwatch is one of seventy five intervenors in a two day hearing of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission reviewing the controversial proposal by Bruce Power to ship 1600 tonnes of radioactive waste through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River to Sweden, Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

North Korea likely to continue “nuclear blackmail”

The best way to squeeze aid from the outside world is to use contradictions between the great powers and a bit of nuclear blackmai

NKorea unlikely to alter strategy toward world, Google hosted news, By KELLY OLSEN (AP) – 30 Sept 10, SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s ailing leader Kim Jong Il has laid the groundwork for a transition of power to his youngest son but it remains to be seen if the reclusive nuclear-armed regime will soften its combative stance toward the international community. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

How tax-payer money funds the nuclear industry’s expansion

Already marshalled into this private-public ‘Marshall Plan’ for selling US nuclear power and services to India are the US Ex-Im (export-import) Bank, leading Wall Street private banks, and major downstream infrastructure companies such as Bechtel, all primed and ready to go….US state agencies, especially the Ex-Im Bank can in some cases finance up to 85% of the initial sale…….the UN’s nuclear agency the IAEA could be extended to cover nuclear financing.

Like deals between South Korea and Abu Dhabi, Russia and Iran or France and Pakistan, the US-India arrangement targets business opportunities of epic dimensions. On the basis of the 2008 bilateral agreement, U.S. companies—most importantly Toshiba-Westinghouse and GE-Hitachi—are planning to build nuclear power plants in India. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

Nuclear power has always been State financed

It was almost exclusively State-controlled, State-financed and State-operated. Its strategic deployment and costs were ultimately linked to the real business of the atom – nuclear weapons making and state security which, of course, was a State secret.

The Atomic Reality At the time when “Funky Town” was regular disco fodder circa 1977, nuclear power generation was still almost totally and exclusively reserved for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, the USSR and to a smaller extent, China and India. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, history | antinuclear, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Paladin and Cameco’s plans for uranium mine foiled by Australia’s Northern Territory govt

NT reversal cruels U-hopefuls’ plans TradingMarkets.com, 29 Sep 2010 –Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson has withdrawn support for Cameco Corporation’s and Paladin Energy’s proposed uranium mine near Alice Springs. The announcement came just two years after Cameco and Paladin won developmentrights for the Angela Pamela project and two weeks before a local by-election in the seat of Alice Springs.

NT reversal cruels U-hopefuls’ plans | TradingMarkets.com

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, politics | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear costs, uranium | Leave a comment

Australian Greens take Aboriginals’ anti nuclear cause to Parliament

“We are the Aboriginal people who own the land and the dreamings you are talking about, we are asking that you reject this bill and scrap Muckaty as a site for the waste dump.”

Greens urge rethink of nuclear dump site – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By Megan Lewis Sep 29, 2010 The Greens have urged the Federal Government to scrap plans to build a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory…… Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, politics | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Costs are looking like the killer for the nuclear industry

Critics such as Mark Cooper at the University of Vermont say the real costs tend to range toward $7,000 to $10,000 per kilowatt. State support of these projects turns into “nuclear socialism,” Cooper says. Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute says costs have escalated beyond what proponents claim.

Cost remains a huge problem for the nuclear industry. : Greentech Media, Michael Kanellos, 29 Sept, 10 The MIT report estimates that overnight cost — i.e., the cost of a plant minus financing during construction — is around $4,000 a kilowatt, compared to $2,300 per kilowatt for natural gas and $850 for coal. A nuclear facility at this level could produce power for 8.4 cents per kilowatt hour compared to 6.2 cents per kilowatt hour for coal and 4.2 cents to 8.7 cents for natural gas…….. Continue reading →

September 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment