nuclear costs « nuclear-news

Increased security inspections for nuclear installations

Nuclear Weapons Sites Inspections Underway for 2010 Apr 22, 2010 The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) POGO was pleased to learn that the Department of Energy’s Office of Health, Safety, and Security (HSS) has scheduled for this year security inspections for all of the DOE sites that hold Category 1 amounts (bomb-making quantities) of nuclear material. Continue reading →

April 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | nuclear, nuclear costs, reactors | Leave a comment

Safety flaws in new nuclear reactor design

Critics Challenge Safety of New Reactor Design, The New York Times, By MATTHEW L. WALD, 21 April 2010, As Southern Company and its partners, armed with federal loan guarantees of $8.3 billion, move toward construction of two new reactors at a site near Augusta, Ga., opponents are taking aim at the design details. Continue reading →

April 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | nuclear, nuclear costs, reactor | Leave a comment

French nuclear corporation AREVA had a big influence on Nuclear Security Summit

The roundtable was hosted by Vice President Biden…..AREVA has led the industry …and continues to demonstrate its leadershipby its participation in conferences,

AREVA CEO Lauvergeon Participates In Nuclear Security Summit, Nuclear Power Industry News, 21 April 2010, As part of the Summit activities, Anne Lauvergeon on April 14 has participated in a panel with industry leaders to discuss the security of highly enriched uranium and plutonium. – By Stephen Heiser – AREVA CEO Anne Lauvergeon participated in Nuclear Security Summit activities taking place this week in Washington, D.C. President Obama and global leaders were meeting to pursue a comprehensive nuclear security agenda to secure vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years…… Continue reading →

April 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, reprocessing, uranium | Leave a comment

USA’s nuclear waste dilemma – no solution in sight

there is no real federal waste management plan….Energy Secretary Steven Chu has created a “blue ribbon” commission to help create a new long-term waste policy

Nuclear Utilities Sue DOE To Halt Nuclear Waste Fees, Nuclear Street, 22 April 2010, Utilities contend that the DOE has collected over $33 billion since 1983, never came for nuclear waste and has no federal waste management plan – By Stephen Heiser -The Nuclear Energy Institute and over a dozen utilities companies have filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to stop paying fees on spent fuel that the government was supposed to collect decades ago. Continue reading →

April 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radiation, uranium | Leave a comment

Big uranium mining company involved in corruption

BHP Reveals Possible Corruption, – Australasian Investment Review – (AIR) 22 April 2010, BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, has joined its smaller rival, Rio Tinto, in being implicated in possible corrupt activities.The news was buried in the company’s first quarter exploration and development report, issued yesterday……
The ASX and or ASIC should ask BHP to provide more details as soon as possible……The disclosure laws here in Australia will have to be applied to see if BHP has provided timely and adequate disclosure to the local (and London) markets……There’s no word on whether the US Justice Department will become involved, but if it involves a breach of America’s bribery laws, it will.

If the reports are confirmed then authorities in countries in Europe, especially the European Commission and China could also become involved…..the fact that the allegations have been raised by the SEC shows the lax controls inside BHP, Australasian Investment Review

April 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, uranium | Leave a comment

Groundwater threatened by nuclear plants: public justifiably suspicious

while nuclear plants have permits that allow them to emit material into surface water and the air, they do not have permits that let them release material to groundwater, which is where the tritium is going……………

Has Trust Leaked Away With the Tritium? NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD, April 20, 2010, A panel of experts convened on Tuesday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to discuss how the agency should approach tritium leaks at reactors suggested that the biggest risk that nuclear operators faced was the erosion of public trust…… Continue reading →

April 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, water | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology | Leave a comment

Fire safety questions at nuclear power plant

Regulators fault fire protection approach at Browns Ferry nuclear plant, al.com, By Brian Lawson, The Huntsville TimesApril 20, 2010 HUNTSVILLE, AL. — Federal regulators will increase inspections at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant after finding fault with the plant’s approach to fire protection. TVA was notified Monday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the physical layout of some parts of the three-reactor plant, including cables and equipment, could be a problem in a fire. The NRC determined the current approach was of “substantial safety significance”

Regulators fault fire protection approach at Browns Ferry nuclear plant | al.com

April 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, water | Leave a comment

Kentucky court case over leaked uranium

The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled then that the landowners don’t have to prove they were actually harmed to sue past contractors for trespassing by allowing contaminants to spread beyond the plant.

The high court also held that land devaluation by intentional trespassing is a recognized measure of damages once actual injury is determined. There is injury if groundwater is contaminated and it can’t be consumed.

Ky. landowners settle lawsuit over uranium leaks, BusinessWeek, By BRETT BARROUQUERE 21 April 2010, Continue reading →

April 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, radiation, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

India has no compensation for victims of ionising radiation

Need law for damages to radiation victims’ indian express.com 21 April 2010, The government on Tuesday admitted its helplessness in providing adequate compensation to victims of radiation exposure in Mayapuri market in the absence of a specific law backing compensation to victims of radioactive accidents. Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan told the Rajya Sabha that such a law needs to be enacted ……………Opposition parties said the incident was a “regulatory failure” and had exposed the government’s lack of preparedness to deal with radioactive incidents.

‘Need law for damages to radiation victims’

April 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

USA bipartisan effort to get compensation for more victims of nuclear radiation

US senators want to expand radiation compensation, KIVITV.COM | Associated Press – April 20, 2010 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators from western states wants to expand federal compensation for people who became ill from working in uranium mines, living near debris left from mining or living near atomic tests from the 1940s to the 1960s.The measure, introduced Monday, would broaden who’s eligible for compensation, expand the downwind exposure area to include seven states and fund a study of health impacts on families of uranium workers and people living near uranium Continue reading →

April 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, uranium | Leave a comment

Global experience shows that reprocessing and breeder reactors are not viable

France has not solved its nuclear waste problems and now needs a repository in face of strong public opposition to the development of such a facility.

Nuclear waste reprocessing not viable for United States: study, Solid Waste & Recycling Magazine, 4/19/2010 Reprocessing of nuclear waste is neither an affordable remedy for future waste disposal in the United States nor will it eliminate the need for a deep geologic repository to replace Yucca Mountain, according to a recent study released by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), a nonprofit and nonpartisan research group. Continue reading →

April 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, technology | antinuclear, AREVA, enriched, fast breeder, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, plutonium, radiation, reactors, recycling, uranium | Leave a comment

Former official of Nuclear Regulatory Commission urges an end to subsidising nuclear power

Security should come first…At a minimum, that means an end to promoting and subsidising nuclear power all over the world.”

The Myth Of The Peaceful Atom, newmatilda.com, By Jim Green, 20 April 2010, “……..Physicist Victor Gilinsky, previously with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Atomic Energy Commission, noted in the January 2009 edition of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:”In international affairs, nuclear energy trumps just about everything. Even so-called arms controllers fall over themselves trying to establish their bona fides by supporting nuclear energy development and devising painless proposals that grandfather everything that’s already in place. … It’s time to take a more serious view. Security should come first — not as an afterthought.”We should support as much nuclear power as is consistent with international security; not as much security as the spread of nuclear power will allow. At a minimum, that means an end to promoting and subsidising nuclear power all over the world.”The Myth Of The Peaceful Atom | newmatilda.com

April 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, reactors | Leave a comment

Finland govt wants renewable energy boost, not new nuclear plants

Minister: Finland does not need new nuclear plants, Google News hosting, (AFP) – 20 April 2010, HELSINKI — Finland does not need three new nuclear plants to secure its future energy needs, the minister who is preparing a government proposal on the subject said in an interview published on Monday. Continue reading →

April 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Finland, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, reactors, renewable energy | Leave a comment

Lots of loopholes in India’s proposed nuclear liabilities bill

Many anomalies in n-liabilities Bill: Lawyers, activists, Business Standard, Kanika Datta / New Delhi April 20, 2010, Getting the requisite numbers to pass the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010 in the Lok Sabha may be the least of the United Progressive Alliance’s problems. Lawyers and legal experts, including those who support the legislation, say there are many instances of poor drafting and anomalies that have the potential to generate more controversy if the Bill is passed in its current form. Continue reading →

April 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, Legal | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation | Leave a comment

UK could save 100 billion pound sterling by not replacing Trident Nuclear Missiles

Newbury candidates debate nuclear weapons BBC News, 19 April 2010, The government could save £100bn if it does not replace the Trident nuclear missile system, according to the Liberal Democrat candidate for Newbury. BBC News – Newbury candidates debate nuclear weapons

April 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment