nuclear secrecy « nuclear-news

Nuclear industry will produce increasing C02 emissions

Stop oldbury: Response to Consultation on Nuclear National Policy Statement, Philip Booth 23 Jan 2010 “……….Electricity Produced by Nuclear Power (NP) is not CO2 free. “The use of nuclear power causes, at the end of the road and under the most favourable conditions, approximately one-third as much CO2-emission as gas-fired electricity production. The rich uranium ores required to achieve this reduction are, however, so limited that if the entire present world electricity demand were to be provided by nuclear power, these ores would be exhausted within four years. Use of the remaining poorer ores in nuclear reactors would produce more CO2 emission than burning fossil fuels directly.” (ref: http://www.oprit.rug.nl/deenen)

stop oldbury: Response to Consultation on Nuclear National Policy Statement

January 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, climate change | antinuclear, climate change, nuclear secrecy, uranium | Leave a comment

Enriched uranium stolen in Brazil

Brazilian police disover 450kg of enriched Uranium Follow The Money 25 Jan 2010 Police in the north Brazilian state of Amapa have unearthed a cache with 450 kg of enriched uranium ore, a dangerous mineral used for nuclear arms production.The operation to seize radioactive material was a result of four-month work by investigators, who found a bag of pitchblende on Friday in a remote area of tropical rainforest.

Brazilian police disover 450kg of enriched Uranium « Follow The Money

January 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, SOUTH AMERICA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, uranium | Leave a comment

Financial connections between U.S. politicians and the nuclear lobby

Lobbying, global warming portend nuclear comeback

McClatchy By Judy Pasternak | Investigative Reporting Workshop January 24, 2010

“………….BRIDGES TO CONGRESS, WHITE HOUSEThese constituencies are important to the party that’s in power. Disclosure records show that the industry deftly kept its traditional base among Senate Republicans — who want 100 new nuclear units even if the climate bill fails — while building bridges to Democrats in both houses.

Clyburn is one example, receiving about $195,600 from nuclear energy companies and affiliated unions since 2000, $187,000 of that in the last two election cycles. The Nuclear Energy Institute contributed at least $10,000 to Clyburn’s scholarship foundation, and nuclear interests spent more than $30,000 for two six-day trips for Clyburn and his wife. One was to inspect nuclear facilities in France, and the other in the United Kingdom. He also owns stock valued at $15,000 to $50,000 in SCANA Corp., a South Carolina company that’s applied to build two reactors. Continue reading →

January 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy | Leave a comment

Waste problem unsolved, but US to pour money into new nukes

Lobbying, global warming portend nuclear comeback

McClatchy By Judy Pasternak | Investigative Reporting Workshop January 24, 2010

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration soon may guarantee as much as $18.5 billion in loans to build new nuclear reactors to generate electricity, and Congress is considering whether to add billions more to support an expansion of nuclear power.

These actions come after an extensive decade-long campaign in which companies and unions related to the industry have spent more than $600 million on lobbying and nearly $63 million on campaign contributions, according to an analysis by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University………… Continue reading →

January 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Can nuclear tests cause earthquakes and tsunamis?

Could the eaerthquake in Haiti be man-made? The answer is yes. Did You Know 23 Jan 2010 “………..There is also this one. The earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra occurred in a location geologists know is susceptible to powerful earthquakes. The quake occurred along a “subduction zone,” in which the Indian tectonic plate is being subducted, or pulled beneath, the Burma tectonic platelet. The overlying plate jumped upward more than 4.5 metres, lifting the water above it and setting off the tsunami.

For some, the finger of blame doesn’t point squarely at nature but at top secret military testing in the waters of the Indian Ocean. The Egyptian weekly magazine Al-Osboa claimed the earthquake that triggered the tsunami “was possibly” caused by an Indian nuclear experiment in which “Israeli and American nuclear experts participated”.

Could the Earthquake in Haiti be man made, the answer is Yes « Did You Know

January 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy | Leave a comment

Nuclear power company misled legislature

Nuclear Engineer Says He Alerted State About Yankee Pipes Last Summer VPR 01/22/10 John Dillon – Montpelier, Vt. State officials reacted strongly last week when Vermont Yankee admitted it had underground pipes that could leak radioactivity.But the news should not have come as a complete surprise. A nuclear engineer who advises the legislature says he alerted the state last sutmmer and fall about the potential problems with the underground pipes…… Continue reading →

January 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, radioactive | Leave a comment

UK tax-payer might have to fund new nuclear power

there was no guarantee that government will not have to step in at some point to help pay for the construction and decommissioning costs……..

UK new nuclear build will not get government subsidies The Energy Collective 22 jan 2010 Taxpayers off the hook for cost of new plants The British government will not use taxpayers’ money to subsidize the construction of new nuclear power plants, Philip Hunt, (right) minister of state at the Department of Energy and Climate Change said Jan 21. Continue reading →

January 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

Anti-nuclear movement grows, with Germany’s unsolved nuclear waste problem

The decision by Britain to send waste to Germany has served as a reminder that the Germans have not solved the problem of how and where to store it. This uncertainty, and news of the mine in Saxony, is stoking the embers of the anti-nuclear movement — demonstrations are planned for this weekend — and reviving it as a political force.

German nuclear programme threatened by old mine housing waste TIMESONLINE By BEN EVANS
Associated Press Writer Roger Boyes in Berlin January 22, 2010

A leaky salt mine used as a radioactive dump is jeopardising Germany’s plans to cling on to nuclear power despite fierce political opposition. Continue reading →

January 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Highly radioactive nuclear waste begins its secret journey to Japan

Nuclear waste shipment leaves Britain for Japan Telegraph.co By Julian Ryall in Tokyo 21 Jan 2010 Environmentalists in Japan have expressed concern about the first shipment of highly radioactive waste to leave britain under a controversial repatriation scheme, saying any accident to befall the ship transporting the waste would result in an “environmental disaster”. Continue reading →

January 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Record high levels of Tritium found at Vermont Yankee nuclear plant

Much Higher Tritium Level Found at Nuclear Plant . Tritium search at Vermont Yankee turns up reading 90 times higher than previous record. ABC News/Money By DAVE GRAM Associated Press Writer
MONTPELIER, Vt. January 20, 2010 (AP) State officials said Wednesday more radioactive tritium had been found at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant — at levels more than 90 times higher than found in a test well nearly two weeks ago……………..State and Vermont Yankee officials said Wednesday they hoped the finding of much higher tritium concentration in the concrete trench might mean they had found the source of the contamination………..
Meanwhile, legislative leaders and the Douglas administration’s point person on utility regulation said the state Health Department should conduct its own tests for radioactive leaks at Vermont Yankee and not rely on the plant for information about testing around the Vernon reactor. That call came a week after it was revealed that Vermont Yankee, owned by New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., had misled state officials by saying the plant did not have underground piping of the type that could carry radioactive substances like tritium……http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9617971

January 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1 | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

There’s money in nuclear waste, (never mind the danger)

A French state-controlled company, Areva, is now the world’s largest processor of nuclear waste and is keen to secure a bigger share as countries such as China and India expand their nuclear activities rapidly.

Where there’s nuclear muck there’s a growing opportunity for brass TIMESONLINE Robin Pagnamenta: January 21, 2010

“…………Only a handful of countries have the expertise and technology for nuclear reprocessing, in which spent nuclear fuel rods from power stations are chopped up and boiled in acid to extract uranium and plutonium for reuse in a reactor. The by-product is a concentrated form of vitrified nuclear waste that is as nasty as it sounds. Continue reading →

January 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, wastes | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive | Leave a comment

Secrets of Europe’s nuclear waste trade

How French solves nuclear waste , Jagadee’s English Webblog January 20, 2010 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation “.……….“The European nuclear power industry can’t deal with its waste mountain so it started dumping some of it in Russia. This is illegal and highly dangerous,” said Vladimir Tchouprov of Greenpeace Russia. “The secretive nuclear industry is claiming that this is legitimate nuclear trade – but the reality is that only a small fraction, 10%, of this nuclear material is processed and sent back to Western Europe – almost all of the waste has been dumped in Russia. Continue reading →

January 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

South Korea prepared to use pre-emptive nuclear strike

S. Korean defense minister vows preemptive attack against DPRK in case of nuclear provocation SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) — South Korea will initiate a preemptive attack against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) should any clear indication of nuclear provocation by the DPRK be detected, the South Korean Defense Minister said Wednesday, local media reported…………

The minister expressed the same view on a preemptive attack in 2008 in a parliamentary hearing before he was sworn in as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which enraged the DPRK.

english.news.cn

January 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | South Korea, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

French govt intent on promoting nuclear industry

French PM Stesses Importance Of State Role In Nuclear Sector THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By A.H. Mooradian and William Horobin, Dow Jones Newswires JANUARY 20, 2010 PARIS (Dow Jones)–French Prime Minister Francois Fillon Wednesday said the French state plans to continue playing a major role in the country’s nuclear industry, after meeting with the heads of two energy firms.

Fillion met with Henri Proglio, chief executive of Electricte de France SA (EDF.FR), which is one of the world’s largest operators of nuclear power plants, and Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of Areva SA (CEI.FR), the state-owned French nuclear engineering group.

French PM Stesses Importance Of State Role In Nuclear Sector – WSJ.com

January 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, politics | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

Lawsuit on uranium mining, and accountability for wastes

Even as the expansion of uranium mining in Colorado is being challenged, conservation and citizen groups and elected officials are working to ensure that taxpayers do not pay to clean up contamination left behind by the uranium industry in the event of a new boom cycle.

Court Decision Aids Uranium Lawsuit The WATCH by Karen James , Jan 20, 2010 Efforts Also Underway For More Industry Accountability Continue reading →

January 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, uranium | Leave a comment