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Nuclear terrorism’s close shave: plutonium store still at risk

Pelindaba was also the site of an incredible break-in in the end of 2007.

Palindaba Uranium Facility Assult Was Nearly Successful OverTheLimit  June 21, 2010 Pelindaba is a nuclear power plant tucked back in the bush of South Africa. While it may seem like an ordinary plant, Pelinadaba was used as a secret weapons facility by the previous Apartheid government. Here they created weapons grade uranium, and it is here that that same plutonium is stored now that the new government has control and the weapons manufacturing has stopped. Continue reading

June 23, 2010 Posted by | safety, South Africa | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear accidents, like black swans – rare, but do happen

A Nuclear Secret, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Craig K. Comstock, June 20, 2010 :”……..The point for today is that, when nuclear weapons are involved, we are one step away from irreparable consequences…………….In financial analysis, “black swans” have become a popular metaphor for dangers that are very high in negative consequences, even if they seem vanishingly low in probability. Continue reading

June 23, 2010 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | , , , , | Leave a comment

China needs to improve nuclear safety

Monitoring of nuclear safety needs attention, China Daily, BEIJING, June 22 (Xinhaunet) — “……..China needs to invest more in monitoring nuclear safety at civilian nuclear power projects,…China adopted its nuclear power industry standards from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Yu Zusheng, a member of the experts committee with State Nuclear Power Technology Corp (SNPTC). “They are among China’s first group of standards which are in line with international markets.”…………
Chinese expenditure on monitoring nuclear safety at the 11 operating nuclear power plants totals around 40 million yuan ($6 million) per year. In comparison, in the United States, which has around 100 nuclear power plants, the country’s total budget for monitoring nuclear safety is $700 million annually.

Monitoring of nuclear safety needs attention

June 23, 2010 Posted by | China, safety | , , , , , | Leave a comment

South Africa’s pebble bed reactor project doomed

Solidarity union reports last rites for the PBMR  Engineering News  Keith Campbell

21st June 2010 South African trade union Solidarity affirmed on Monday that the country’s pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR) nuclear energy project has probably gone beyond the point of no return, despite suggestions that the government may resume funding for it in August.

June 22, 2010 Posted by | South Africa, technology | , , , , | Leave a comment

AREVA supplying parts to attempt to re-start damaged nuclear reactor

FirstEnergy to place lid on Davis-Besse nuclear power plant cleveland.com, June 21, 2010, “………Davis-Besse has been shut down since Feb. 28 for extensive work to repair cracks in the lid that sprouted unexpectedly in critical components. Such cracks can allow radioactive coolant into the reactor’s containment building — or worse.

Federal rules require an immediate shutdown if leaks are detected.The cracks are similar to fissures that opened up in the late 1990s in parts of Davis-Besse’s original lid and led to a pineapple-sized corrosion hole in that lid before it was discovered in 2004 Continue reading

June 22, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, USA | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Future is a gamble for uranium companies

Companies Bet on Rise in Demand for Uranium, By MATTHEW L. WALD NYTimes.com June 18, 2010 WASHINGTON — Uranium enrichment, the market that the Noble Group has entered with its purchase of USEC stock, is a globalized business fraught with uncertainty.
Besides rapidly changing technology and questions about how many new reactors will be built, the market can be affected by vagaries like future arms control agreements……….. Continue reading

June 22, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, USA | , , , , | Leave a comment

Uranium not such a good investment now

Uranium Investors More Cautious ,   Uranium Investing News Jun 21, 2010 By Dave Brown – Interest in uranium investing has declined, according to a recent survey conducted by Resources Investing News.  The results indicate that fewer investors were placing their bets on uranium companies, down to 12 percent from 16.9 percent at the end of 2009. Surprisingly, uranium spot prices have declined almost 20 percent since October 2009,……Since last year, the number of operating nuclear power facilities increased by 1 …….. the lag between price and production and future uranium price due to the challenges and complexities of the nuclear fuel cycle.

June 22, 2010 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs | , , | Leave a comment

China to sell nuclear reactors to Pakistan, as U.S. to sell them to India

Having muscled the Indian deal through the NSG in 2008, the US is likely to struggle to forge a consensus against China’s deal with Pakistan.

US defies China on Pakistan reactors Jeremy Page, Islamabad The Australian * June 22, 2010 CHINA and the US are on a collision course over Chinese plans to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan. Continue reading

June 22, 2010 Posted by | China, politics international | , , , , | Leave a comment

The Bunker mentality – U.S. nuclear weapons plans

The Obama administration is making generous concessions to the nuclear industry presumably, as alluded to above, to win votes from Republicans….ways to keep the “nuclear-industrial complex” humming along,

Seed of Destruction: Nuclear ‘Pits’, Foreign Policy In Focus , By Russ Wellen, June 21, 2010 “……The nuclear-weapons industry adopted the word “pit” for the weapon’s core, which is power-packed with the varieties of uranium or plutonium isotopes capable of a warp-speed chain reaction. Yes, it’s a seed for the a chain reaction. ……the pit instead serves as a cache for .. a seed of destruction……

A project for their production is pivotal to the Obama administration’s plans for nuclear modernization. In a Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists piece titled Bunker mentality: Is NNSA digging itself into a hole at Los Alamos?, Greg Mello writes that “as part of the New START ratification package, the administration projects $16 billion in new warhead spending over this decade.” Continue reading

June 22, 2010 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

As nuclear waste mass accumulates, so does the COST of it

There is no national disposal spot for the spent fuel, and for 32 states, no place to send their low-level wastes. Around the country, the inventory of low-level wastes with no place to go is growing by about 10,000 cubic feet a year……...as much as $1,625 per cubic foot of waste. Even with waste reduction technologies, the amount of waste per year amounts to thousands of cubic feet…………

Nuclear Dumps Argue Over Diluting Waste for Burial – NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD June 17, 2010 Even low-level radioactive waste is a growing problem, with few licensed repositories to dispose of it. The problem dates from the early 1980s, when Congress said that the federal government would take care of high-level waste, like spent fuel from nuclear power plants, but that the states would have to find sites for low-level material, Continue reading

June 21, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, USA | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

U.S. Senators trying to greenwash nuclear power

The nuclear power industry has skillfully and successfully painted itself green — an environmentally benign answer to reducing carbon emissions. The industry and many in Washington want us to believe that a new generation of nuclear reactors will solve the problems of climate change and allow us to live happily ever after. That’s a costly fairy tale.

US climate proposal a nuclear bailout By Richard Clapp  Shanghai Daily, 2010-6-19 THE long-awaited climate proposal crafted by US Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman has finally landed on Capitol Hill. The proposal, though, is a massive nuclear bailout under the guise of an energy overhaul. Continue reading

June 21, 2010 Posted by | climate change, USA | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Terrorist danger in enriched uranium storage

VIDEO
Nuke Facility Raid An Inside Job? – 60 Minutes – CBS News Eyewitness Talks To 60 Minutes About Brazen Assault On South African Nuclear Facility CBS) This story was first published on Nov. 28, 2008. It was updated on June 15, 2010.

When President Obama invited 47 world leaders to Washington for a nuclear security summit in April, the assault on Pelindaba was exactly the kind of scenario they were working to prevent. Continue reading

June 21, 2010 Posted by | safety, South Africa | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Iowa’s potential for carbon free, nuclear free, power

Iowa Could Be Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free, Blog for Iowa, 21 June 2020, by Paul Deaton Frequent visitor to Iowa, Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research has determined a way to meet our energy needs without the use of carbon-based or nuclear fuels and technology. In his book, Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for US Energy Policy, he outlines the process of what we can do to reduce and eliminate our reliance on carbon and nuclear fuels to produce our energy.

Blog for Iowa :: Iowa Could Be Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free

June 21, 2010 Posted by | general | , , | Leave a comment

Indonesia: no plans for nuclear power

President says nuclear power plant not a priority Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Bogor, West Java | 21 June 2010,
“………… the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is in no hurry to construct a nuclear power generator.Yudhoyono said Friday there was no definitive plan to set up such a power plant under his administration although there was a discussion for setting one up on the coast of Jepara in Central Java.”

Maybe the next administration will consider such a plan should there be an urgent need for an alternative energy source,” he said.Yudhoyono reiterated that construction of a nuclear power plant would require meticulous planning as any mistake would have devastating consequences.”Looking at alternatives to fossil fuels, the administration would focus more on developing power plants fueled by geothermal energy, wind, solar and biofuels,” he said. President says nuclear power plant not a priority | The Jakarta Post

June 21, 2010 Posted by | Indonesia, politics | , , , | Leave a comment

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership revived under a new name

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Steering Group Members Approve Transformation to the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation Department of Energy U.S. Department of Energy , 18 June 2010,
The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Steering Group met in Accra, Ghana on June 16-17, 2010 and approved unanimously several transformative changes to reflect global developments that have occurred since the Partnership was established in 2007. The transformation includes a new name – the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation — and the establishment of a new Statement of Mission. Continue reading

June 19, 2010 Posted by | politics international, USA | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment