nuclear secrecy « nuclear-news

Stephen Chu’s religious faith that a nuclear waste solution will be found

(Despite 60 years of fruitless search ) “Chu, testifying to the panel members on the budget proposal, maintained that “we’re going to have a solution to nuclear, the backend fuel issue…”

GOP: Chu Sending Mixed Signals on NuclearEnergy and Environment National Journal Amy Harder
February 4, 2010

Republican senators today accused Energy Secretary Steven Chu of sending mixed signals to the nuclear industry. Continue reading →

February 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Activists get deep inside U.S. Nuclear Weapons Site in Europe

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Site in Europe Breached By Hans M. Kristensen FAS Stategic Security 4 Feb 2010

A group of people last week managed to penetrate deep onto Kleine Brogel Air Base in Belgium where the U.S. Air Force currently deploys 10-20 nuclear bombs. Continue reading →

February 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons | 1 Comment

Tax-payers giving a blank check to the U.S. nuclear industry?

“With hundreds of billions in bailouts already on the shoulders of US taxpayers, the country cannot afford to move forward with a program that could easily become the black hole for hundreds of billions more,” …The Senate energy bill approved by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee last June would create a Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA) within the DOE that could distribute a virtually unlimited number of loan guarantees without any congressional oversight.

Obama’s Nuclear Giveaway, Buried in the budget is a plan to underwrite the nuclear industry’s revival.

Mother Jones 4 Feb 2010 By Kate Sheppard

“… the Obama administration’s 2011 budget proposes tripling the loan guarantee program—from the $18.5 billion that Congress has already approved to $54.5 billion. The program’s expansion is just one of several signs that the Obama administration is throwing its muscle behind the nuclear industry’s push for a massive expansion. Continue reading →

February 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

$Billions for Nuclear Power Sneaked into the U.S Climate Bill

Nuclear’s Slice of the Climate Pie— Mother Jones, Feb. 3, 2010 By Kate Sheppard

Senators hoping to pass a climate and energy bill this year have listed increased support for nuclear power as one of the major enticements for Republicans and apprehensive Democrats to back the legislation. Continue reading →

February 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, USA | antinuclear, climate change, energy efficiency, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

Unnecessary nuclear and uranium projects get $billions in U.S. budget

POGO is Shocked by Wasteful Spending in DOE Budget

Project on Government Oversight, Ingrid Drake, 4 Feb 2010 In the midst of initiating a federal spending freeze, it is shocking that President Obama’s FY 2011 Budget Request released this week pours billions of dollars into two unnecessary nuclear weapons construction projects. There is no demonstrated requirement for either the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at the Y-12 National Security Complex nor the Chemical and Metallurgical Research Replacement Nuclear Facility (CMRR-NF) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

“Contrary to the spin, neither of these facilities are needed to ensure the safety, security and effectiveness of our weapons,” says Peter Stockton, POGO Senior Investigator.

In addition, DOE does not even have an estimated cost for completing the projects, as the budget describes their total costs as “TBD.” “To Be a Disaster,” is what POGO fears that term means, based on DOE’s atrocious record of soaring construction costs and overruns. For example, the cost of the Highly Enriched Uranium Manufacturing Facility (HEUMF) at Y-12 ballooned from $97 million to $549 million. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) project also experienced dramatically increased costs and delayed completion dates. The Department of Energy sold the NIF to Congress in the early 1990s with a reported cost estimate of $700 million and an original completion date of 2002, yet its most recent cost estimate is $5-6 billion with a completion date of 2010 — more than 600 percent over budget and at least 8 years behind schedule.

Despite the 10 percent spending increase on the nation’s nuclear weapons budget, one of the only areas to see reduced growth is the budget for weapons dismantlement, which was sliced almost in half….http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2010/02/pogo-is-shocked-by-wasteful-spending-in-doe-budget.html

February 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Chernobyl taking in money, giving out radiation

Chernobyl: Leaking radiation and sucking up Canadian money Thirteen years after Canada and other nations pledged $768-million to render the destroyed nuclear reactor safe, the cost has ballooned to $2-billion and the job still isn’t done
Kiev —THE GLOBE AND MAIL Doug Saunders Feb. 03, 2010
Almost a quarter-century after its explosion killed hundreds and shocked the world, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor still sits crumbling amid an uninhabitable wasteland in northern Ukraine, still emits surprising amounts of radiation, and still absorbs vast amounts of money. Continue reading →

February 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Ukraine | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive | Leave a comment

Bleak prospects for uranium price

An Un-Happy New Year For Uranium2/02/2010 Nine MSN By Andrew Nelson January was tough on uranium, with U3O8 prices dropping more than 5%, or US$2.25/lb to $42.25/lb from the prior month. The price is now at its lowest level since March 2009.The fairly steady decline that has been seen over the past few months is primarily the function of supply and demand fundamentals, with a high availability of stock not being helped by increasingly low-priced supply and light, mostly discretionary demand………….with demand remaining discretionary in nature, buyers are only really moving to lock in lower prices. Unfortunately, this demand is being met by an ever increasing willingness on the part of some sellers to lower prices further in order to close sales.

An Un-Happy New Year For Uranium

February 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear power on the nose in Italy

‘We are against nuclear power and today in Rome most of the regions stood for this idea’.

Political risk for Italian nuclear World Nuclear News 3 Feb 2010 Italy’s inter-regional body rejected the nuclear energy policy proposed by Silvio Berlusconi’s government during a late January session. Meanwhile, regional elections are approaching, giving rise to fears for Italy’s nuclear renaissance. Continue reading →

February 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Italy, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, reactor, reactors | Leave a comment

French bank pulls out of Bulgaria’s nuclear power plant

France’s BNP Paribas Quits Bulgaria Belene N-Plant Nuclear Reaction 4 Feb 2010 BNP Paribas SA, France’s largest bank by market value, who was hired by the previous Socialist government to help fund the construction of Belene nuclear power plant at the Danube river town, has ditched the project…. Continue reading →

February 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

Is Iran just playing for time on nuclear weapons?

Iran uranium offer dismissed by Europe as time-wasting The Guardian Julian Borger 3 February 2010 Officials say Ahmadinejad’s offer to export uranium in return for fuel rods was aimed at ducking threat of sanctions Continue reading →

February 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

UK Property prices slump where nuclear reactors planned

Cumbrian property prices hit by nuclear power station plans News & Star By Julian Whittle Political Editor 02 February 2010 Proposals for nuclear power stations at Braystones and Kirksanton in west Cumbria are causing “property blight”, Cumbria County Council believes…….. Continue reading →

February 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, reactor, reactors | Leave a comment

Obama boosts nuke weapons funding, while talking disarmament

“The plan described in this budget is not about maintaining a reliable nuclear stockpile. It is a multi-billion dollar ‘radioactive pork’ construction plan

Administration Budget Plan Contradicts Obama Pledge to Reduce Nuclear Weapons Threat Billions to be spent on new nuclear weapons production facilities WASHINGTON – Common Dreams.org February 1 – The Administration’s budget, released today, contradicts President Obama’s pledge to reduce the nuclear weapons threat by working toward their elimination, according to a national network of groups in communities downwind and downstream from U.S. nuclear sites. Continue reading →

February 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

An idealistic U.S. President Influenced by Nuclear Warriors

I must admit that I have been worried since he appointed Steven Chu from Los Alamos Labs as his Secretary of Energy and John Holdren as science advisor because they are both enthusiastic endorsers of nuclear power

Helen Caldicott: How Did an Idealistic President Become a Champion of Nuclear Power and By Default, Weapons Proliferation? THE HUFFINGTON POST 2 Feb 2010 In 1983, Barack Obama, a senior at Columbia University described his visions of a “nuclear free world” in an article titled “Breaking the War Mentality” in the university newsmagazine, Sundial. He described discussions of “first- versus second-strike capabilities” that “suit the military-industrial interests” with their “billion-dollar erector sets,” and called for the abolition of the global arsenals of tens of thousands of deadly warheads.As a candidate he acknowledged that he was worried for the safety of his children who lived in Illinois because it has the highest concentration of nuclear reactors in the US – and opposed further nuclear subsidies. “I am not a nuclear proponent,” he said. Continue reading →

February 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Strong opposition to importing nuclear waste: opinion poll

Radioactive waste not welcome here: Poll Overwhelming majority says Utah is not the right place for depleted uranium and foreign radioactive waste By Judy Fahys The Salt Lake Tribune 02/01/2010 Utahns strongly support a federal ban on importing radioactive waste from foreign nations.

And, even more strongly, they oppose the disposal of thousands of tons of depleted uranium in their state. Continue reading →

February 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

All sides unhappy with Obama’s nuclear waste panel

Left and Right Pan Obama’s Panel on Nuclear Waste THE WALL STREET JOURNAL , by Stephen Power February 1, 2010, It took the Obama administration nearly a year to appoint a blue-ribbon panel to study what to do with nuclear waste piling up at power plants — and just a few hours for politicians and groups on the left and right to raise questions about the panel’s mandate and credibility. Continue reading →

February 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, wastes | Leave a comment