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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

America’s nuclear industry near death – begging for money

As renewables plummet in cost, and private financing stays nil, the nuclear industry is desperate to gouge billions from Congress for loan guarantees to build new reactors. Thus far, citizen activism has stopped them. But the industry is pouring all it has into this fall’s short session, yet again demanding massive new subsides to stay on life support

Is the “Nuclear Renaissance” Dead Yet?, HUFFINGTON POST, Harvey Wasserman: 13 Sept 2010, America’s much hyped “reactor renaissance” is facing a quadruple bypass. In actual new construction, proposed projects and overseas sales, soaring costs are killing new nukes. And the old ones are leaking like Dark Age relics on the brink of disaster. Continue reading

September 14, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, USA | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Moscow facing up to its nuclear radiation mess

There is also an issue of unknown radioactive dumps. Tens of them are found every year all over Moscow…People just do not know whether any nuclear waste is nearby and what the level of radiation on the surface is.

Radiation scare for Moscow parks  The Moscow News, – Evgeniya Chaykovskaya – 13 Sept 10, Levels of radiation on Moscow’s streets have reached a level so high that the authorities are about to spend 4.7 billion roubles to get rid of it.The $153 million clean-up will run from 2011-2013 amid reports of no fewer than 18 dangerous radioactive objects within the capital.

And they can be found in heavily built-up areas like Kuzminki, Continue reading

September 14, 2010 Posted by | Russia, wastes | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Inquiry wanted into uranium mining plan for caribou country

Last spring, the regulatory process began for the $1.5-billion Kiggavik project, a uranium mine proposed for just west of Baker Lake by French uranium giant Areva. It is the first such mine to come before the Nunavut Impact Review Board and the first proposed for the wildlife-rich Thelon Basin, home to major caribou herds.

(Canada) Nunavut residents want inquiry into uranium mine – CTV News, 14 Sept 10, The tiny, remote community of Grise Fiord on the frozen shores of Ellesmere Island is nearly as far as it gets from the giant uranium mine proposed for the southern tundra near Baker Lake.

But that didn’t stop 46 people in the community from signing a petition tabled in the legislature last summer demanding a public inquiry over the project. Five other Nunavut communities tabled similar petitions. Continue reading

September 14, 2010 Posted by | Canada, opposition to nuclear | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Airport screening staff should wear radiation measurement badges

Why do dentists, doctors, med techs, etc.. who work in other x-ray environments gladly wear these exposure detectors on their clothing but TSA employees do not or cannot?

Airport Screeners: Denied radiation badges? | The Science Friday Blog.  September 13, 2010 by Ira Flatow I continue to wonder why those TSA folks who stand by x-ray machines for a whole day do not know how much radiation they are exposed to. Last weekend, one of them told me she asked for a common radiation badge and was told she could not wear one. Continue reading

September 14, 2010 Posted by | safety, USA | , , , , | Leave a comment

USA grassroots anti-nuclear movement against massive spending by nuclear lobby

it is now clearer than ever that atomic energy cannot compete, that new construction means new rate hikes, that delays and cost overruns will always outstrip the industry’s initial public assurances,

Is the “Nuclear Renaissance” Dead Yet?, HUFFINGTON POST, Harvey Wasserman: 13 Sept 2010, “…..According to official records, the nuclear industry has spent at least $645 million in the past decade lobbying for taxpayer handouts. It got $18.5 billion in loan guarantees from the Bush Administration in 2005. Obama has asked for some $36 billion more. But so far a national grassroots movement has kept that from happening. Continue reading

September 14, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, USA | , , , , , | Leave a comment

UK likely to delay expensive new Trident nuclear missiles

Trident replacement could be delayed as David Cameron looks for savings  Nicholas Watt,   guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 September 2010David Cameron is examining plans to delay the replacement of Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent to reduce the pressure on the public finances during the toughest spending round since the second world war, according to government sources……..

Trident replacement could be delayed as David Cameron looks for savings | Politics | The Guardian

September 14, 2010 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | , , , | Leave a comment

America’s rickety old nuclear reactors becoming dangerous

As reactor owners petition to extend operating licenses for decades to come, the rickety, embrittled old plants become increasingly dangerous.

Is the “Nuclear Renaissance” Dead Yet?, HUFFINGTON POST, Harvey Wasserman: 13 Sept 2010, “……America’s aging fleet of first generation reactors is leaking profusely. Indian Point, north of Manhattan, has suffered seven unplanned shut-downs in two years. In recent months serious emissions of tritium and other radioactive substances into the air and water have been found at Vermont Yankee, Indian Point, New Jersey’s Oyster Creek and many more. Ohio’s infamous Davis-Besse, where boric acid ate virtually all the way through a reactor pressure vessel, has sprung some two dozen leaks which cannot be explained by its owner, First Energy. In Vermont, leaks from pipes the operators said did not exist have seeped contaminated water into the Connecticut River. As reactor owners petition to extend operating licenses for decades to come, the rickety, embrittled old plants become increasingly dangerous.

Harvey Wasserman: Is the “Nuclear Renaissance” Dead Yet?

September 14, 2010 Posted by | safety, USA | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Scanner making companies design the safety tests for airport X-Ray Scanners

guess who was on the committee that developed the guidelines for the X-ray scanners? Representatives from the companies that make the machines and the Department of Homeland Security, among others. In other words, the machines passed a test developed, in part, by the companies that manufacture them and the government agency that wants to use them..….

Body scan or pat down: Decisions abound with airport security – San Jose Mercury News, By Susan Stellin, New York Times 09/12/2010 “…….The more controversial “backscatter” devices project an X-ray beam onto the body, creating an image displayed on a monitor viewed by a TSA employee in another room. The “millimeter wave” machines, considered less risky because they do not use X-rays, bounce electromagnetic waves off the body to produce a similar image. Continue reading

September 13, 2010 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ionising radiation a cancer causer in nearby, non-irradiated cells

The Bystander Effect  may be more damaging in the longer term than direct radiation exposure.

Emerging role of radiation induced bystander effects:Cell communications and carcinogenesis, 7th Space.3 Sept 10, Rajamanickam Baskar, Ionizing radiation is an invaluable diagnostic and treatment tool used in various clinical applications. On the other hand, radiation is a known cytotoxic with a potential DNA damaging and carcinogenic effects.

However, the biological effects of low and high linear energy transfer (LET) radiations are considerably more complex than previously thought. Continue reading

September 13, 2010 Posted by | 2 WORLD, health | , , , , , | Leave a comment

South Africa has virtually no control over its radioactive materials

The current situation is a serious indictment on the ANC-government, as it will result or has already resulted in South African citizens being exposed to unnecessary radiation and danger…..

Govt’s radiation control dept almost kaput,  Politicsweb, – DAMike Waters 12 September 2010 Mike Waters says vacancy rate at 50%, 64% inspections outstandingRadiation Control Directorate: Non-operation poses threat to public safety The Democratic Alliance (DA) is in possession of internal documents dating as far back as 2003, which reveal that the Department of Health’s Directorate for Radiation Control is almost non-operational. Continue reading

September 13, 2010 Posted by | politics, South Africa | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear factory workers to be compensated for their cancers

it is reasonable to conclude workers at Blockson Chemical Co. were exposed to radiation in large enough doses from 1951 to 1960 to cause illness, even if it is impossible to determine the precise amount of radiation exposure.

Joliet workers’ path to radiation compensation eased – Chicago Tribune, September 11, 2010|By Ted Gregory, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Friday ended a decade-long wait and eased compensation claims for Joliet factory workers who contracted cancer while helping build and test nuclear weapons in the 1950s. Continue reading

September 13, 2010 Posted by | health, USA | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Britain’s nuclear missile system is unaffordable

The government is under increasing pressure to reach a consensus over the Trident replacement programme, which is costing £1 million a day in research and development.

Scrapping Trident up for debate again, gulfnews,  By Patrick Hennessy and Sean Rayment, The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2010 *   September 13, 2010 The future of Britain’s Trident nuclear missile system is again under threat as ministers draw up detailed plans for spending cuts, The Sunday Telegraph understands. Continue reading

September 13, 2010 Posted by | politics, UK | , | Leave a comment

UK’s Ministry of Defence stalling on compensation, as nuclear veterans die

A veteran of the nuclear bomb tests in the South Pacific today told how he fears he may not live long enough to see the Government apologise for sending them there. SGClub.com Friendly Singapore Forums, 11 Sept 10, Kieran Boomer, 74, is one of hundreds of veterans of the tests on Christmas Island in the 1950s fighting for an apology and compensation. Continue reading

September 13, 2010 Posted by | Legal, UK | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Time for Israel to own up about its nuclear weapons

Israel is believed to be the only Middle East country to possess atomic weapons. Its government neither confirms nor denies their existence

Nuclear Scrutiny to turn to Israel.  WSJ.com By JAY SOLOMON, 12 Sept 10, WASHINGTON—Arab states are preparing to press for far greater United Nations controls over Israel’s nuclear program, in a move that could complicate the Obama administration’s broader nonproliferation campaign and Middle East peace drive. Continue reading

September 13, 2010 Posted by | MIDDLE EAST, politics international | , , , , | Leave a comment

Squirrel monkeys the victims of NASA radiation experiments

NASA engineer quits over animal experiment, By Hayley Kappes,The Daily News  September 12, 2010 JOHNSON SPACE CENTER — April Evans wrestled for weeks whether to quit her dream job working for NASA’s operations with the International Space Station.She concluded in March there was no other option but to resign after learning the space agency proposed a $1.75 million experiment to irradiate 18 squirrel monkeys to determine astronauts’ ability to withstand high levels of continuous radiation in deep space……. ……NASA engineer quits over animal experiment

September 13, 2010 Posted by | general | , , | Leave a comment