In 15 years, America’s nuclear firms will be liable for accident costs!
Indians have little to gain from caving to U.S. pressure….nuclear electricity is still one of the most uneconomical ways for it to meet its near and mid-term power requirements……..
More important, domestic U.S. legal nuclear liability caps will sunset in 15 years and leave firms totally exposed in the case of a nuclear accident…….
India Unmasks America’s Nuclear Liabilities – WSJ.com, * SEPTEMBER 13, 2010 Private companies should insure themselves, not ask Delhi to do it for them. By HENRY SOKOLSKI
India’s parliament last week gave the U.S. nuclear industry the legal equivalent of a Bronx cheer: It passed a law that denied American firms legal immunity from being sued in the event of a nuclear accident. Continue reading
Legal action looming against German govt’s nuclear plans
Greenpeace, the environmental NGO, suspects foul play and intends to sue. Its assumption is that the government has tried to hide the fact that demand for nuclear energy is falling and that there is no need to extend the lifespan of nuclear plants.
Merkel’s ‘nuclear tour’ remains inconclusive | EurActiv, 14 Sept 10, For several months, Germany has been discussing the future of its energy policy. Last month, Chancellor Angela Merkel went on an ‘energy tour’ across the country to meet different stakeholders and visit various power plants. These included renewable energy as well as nuclear sites. EurActiv Germany reports.
Merkel’s energy journey identified energy security as its highest priority, but did not address issues of safety such as the question of final storage of radioactive waste. Continue reading
Merkel’s murky deals with nuclear lobby now arousing German opposition
Opposition, both within her government and elsewhere, is on the rise……the cloak-and-dagger approach would only spark suspicions among the public that the government had reached a secret agreement benefiting the power companies.
Coalition Fission – Merkel’s Nuclear Plan Encounter Mounting Opposition :Free Internet Press, 13 Sept 10 Chancellor Angela Merkel had hoped that with a quick resolution, she could sidestep a national debate over nuclear energy. Many, though, see her new plan as a windfall for the country’s power utilities. Continue reading
Civil nuclear reactors – soft targets for devastating attack
Its civil nuclear reactors are the “softest” and easiest targets for conventional military attack – with guaranteed devastating sequels
Nuclear Renaissance or The End of Nations ? : The Market Oracle, By Andrew McKillop, 15 Sept 10, “……..THE END OF THE NATION STATE , national security as we know it and with any real meaning no longer exists. Any country with large sized nuclear reactors is not defensible. Its has already positioned Weapons of Mass Destruction – for the enemy side – inside its national territory.
When both belligerent nations have nuclear reactors, they have guaranteed and massive Mutually Assured Destruction.When we take account of the full risks of the coming worldwide nuclear boom, the exploding number of civil reactor numbers, the full extent of fuel production and reprocessing, accumulated nuclear wastes, plutonium production and storage, and the spiralling amounts of ‘new’ nuclear waste being produced each day, the nation state itself has no remaining signification or meaning.
Its civil nuclear reactors are the “softest” and easiest targets for conventional military attack – with guaranteed devastating sequels.The nation state’s “prerogative” of making war, for example in Afghanistan and Iraq is no longer feasible or defensible – but is this known to politicians and the public ? Do they want to know this ? What is the level of debate on this subject ?
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
In (muted) praise of USA
Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs
This website is so often showing the bad side of USA ‘s nuclear history and current affairs. And – it’s such a shame to see USA’s brilliant President Barack Obama kow towing to the nuclear lobby – even to the extent of not having the solar panels back on the White House.
BUT – I am reminded – by today’s news of THREE nuclear plant shut-downs in USA – that at least we get to hear of these incidents in the USA.
Do you think for a moment that Russia, China, France, even Britain – let the media know when there are incidents at nuclear installations?
Amidst the global nuclear lobby’s well funded hype about nuclear power’s “success’ – it’s a 
sobering thought that any negative economic news about nuclear just doesn’t get out, in most countries.
It might take a bit of hunting to find stuff, but at least USA has freedom of speech, freedom of the press. – Christina Macpherson
Leaked memo reveals German govt’s dirty nuclear deal
The memo, leaked Thursday, also promises that the new nuclear agreement will include provisions to make it hard for future anti-nuclear governments to reverse the decision to keep nuclear in the mix.
Opposition fuming over secret nuclear deal – UPI.com BERLIN, Sept. 10 The German opposition has reacted angrily over revelations that the government, as part of its decision to extend the life of nuclear power in Germany to the mid 2030s, struck a deal with the nuclear industry to shield it from unfavorable future political decisions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a previously unreleased memo assured the country’s four main utilities that government-imposed nuclear safety upgrades would be capped at $640 million per reactor. Continue reading
Angela Merkel denies secret nuclear deal – do we believe her?
Tens of thousands are expected to take part in a mass anti-nuclear rally in Berlin on Sept. 18……..
German govt spokesman rejects charges of secret pact* Merkel’s party loses support after nuclear extension By Erik KirschbaumBERLIN, Sept 10 (Reuters) – The German government denied on Friday charges that it had made a secretive deal to cap safety costs for utility firms as part of an agreement to extend the lifespans of nuclear power plants. Continue reading
Russia’s secrecy over nuclear incident, as it promotes nuclear sales
Russia wants a big slice of the nuclear ‘renaissance ’. Talk of nuclear accidents at reactors with incompetent management and under-trained staff doesn’t look good to potential investors.
What happened at Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant? | Greenpeace International, by jmckeati – September 9, 2010 , On July 22, it appears that one of the reactors at the plant may have come close a Chernobyl-style disaster……..official details from the authorities are few and sketchy. The story that is slowly leaking out however, via Bellona, is one of a highly dangerous mix of incompetence, arrogance, cover-up and propaganda. Continue reading
1 This Month
29 Jan. Thursday 7-8 p.m. Webinar – World’s Largest Nuclear Station in Port Hope, ON?
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/
31st January – Challenging the War Machine – a DECLASSIFIED UK SUMMIT
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