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Nuclear Liability Bill worries USA nuclear lobby, with Obama to visit India soon

Under the measure, plant operator liability in the event of an atomic incident was increased to about $320 million and the suppliers of nuclear materials and technology could also be sued…

.…..the liability bill will be “a significant deterrent not only to U.S. business but, equally importantly, to Indian and other international private business as well,” said Ashley Tellis, who took part in the U.S.-Indian atomic deal negotiations.“It’s going to be interesting to see whether the Indians, now that they have passed this law, are going to stick to their guns or cave under possible U.S. pressure to reverse course,”

New liability law “could end civil nuclear growth in India” Continue reading

September 9, 2010 Posted by | general | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Germany, India, France, getting uncomfortable for the nuclear industry

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

The nuclear resuscitation could be falling apart faster than anticipated.

India has been the big hope for USA’s struggling nuclear salesman, Westinghouse and others. But its new Liability Bill does not give them the certainty from financial accountability – they wanted to never  have to pay up, (just like Union Carbide didn’t have to pay up for the Bhopal gas disaster).  They might have to pull out!

Germany – Angela Merkel’s government is on the line, as opposition grows within and without Germany, to the continuance of their old nuclear reactors.  And the nuclear lobby so desperately wants to stomp on Germany’s success with renewable energy!

France – well, Areva’s and EDF’s  the much touted new gee whiz nuclear reactors in Finland and France are becoming an embarrassment with their delays and soaring costs, and the UK is not too keen on their product either.  And France was the poster boy for nuclear!

September 8, 2010 Posted by | Christina's notes | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

USA’s nuclear salesmen in a turmoil over India’s Nuclear Liability Bill

The US India Business Council, representing 300 top US companies doing business with India, wanted India to adopt a nuclear liability regime “channelling absolute and exclusive liability to nuclear power plant operators, [not to the USA nuclear reactor suppliers]

US fears Indian nuclear liability law may deter foreign suppliers – The Economic Times, 7 Sept 10, WASHINGTON: The passage of a nuclear liability bill by Parliament making suppliers of nuclear equipment also potentially liable threatens to cast a long shadow over India’s plans to open an estimated $150 billion nuclear market to foreign companies. Continue reading

September 8, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, India | , , , , | Leave a comment

USA plays musical chairs with cancer-causing nuclear wastes moving from California to Utah

“significant amounts of soil contaminated with carcinogenic dioxins, heavy metals and radioactive materials” will be removed from the site and taken to licensed waste dumps, including one in Utah,

Santa Susana Nuclear Site’s Toxic Dirt to be Shipped to Utah : Clean Ups : Curbed LA, September 7, 2010, by Adrian Glick Kudler,The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, home to a Cold War nuclear test site, should be all cleaned up, just 58 years after a partial nuclear meltdown. Continue reading

September 8, 2010 Posted by | USA, wastes | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New nuclear power plant plans at Hinkley Point unacceptable to local Councils

Somerset councils call EDF nuclear plans  ‘unacceptable’, BBC News 7 September 2010 Two Somerset councils have called the latest plans for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point “unacceptable” and “completely inadequate”.West Somerset District Council and Somerset County Council have both criticised a lack of detail in EDF Energy’s proposals……BBC News – Somerset councils call EDF nuclear plans ‘unacceptable’

September 8, 2010 Posted by | general | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ionising radiation is especially dangerous for children

Department of Health (DOH ) recommends practices to reduce radiation exposure in pediatric imaging, including using alternative, non-radiation diagnostic imaging procedures such as MRIs and ultrasounds when possible;…The pamphlets and pocket cards are available for download at the state Health Department website.

(USA) Parents can track kids’ radiation exposure, Times Union, By CATHLEEN CROWLEY Staff Writer   ccrowley@timesunion.com.    September 3, 2010 ALBANY — Doctors track your child’s height, weight and inoculations. Now, add radiation exposure to the list.

The state Department of Health wants your parents and pediatricians to keep a list of your child’s exposure to X-rays and more potent CT scans. Continue reading

September 4, 2010 Posted by | health, USA | , , , , , | Leave a comment

USA’s dangerous and useless addiction to nuclear weapons

In his book “Dangerous Ground: America’s Failed Arms Control Policy, from FDR to Obama,” Ritter pinpoints the major challenges facing the international community in the post-Bush era and presents a blueprint for confronting them.

‘US addicted to nuclear weapons’, PressTV -Sep 2, 2010, Former Chief UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter says the US is addicted to nuclear weapons to use them as deterrence against its imaginary enemies. Continue reading

September 4, 2010 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Russia’s floating nuclear power plants pose catastrophic risk

“With a floating nuclear plant you have a mechanism to significantly increase the amount of radioactive material going into the environment,”

Floating Chernobyls OpEdNews: Karl Grossman 3 Sept 10 Russia has embarked on ascheme to build floating nuclear power plants to be moored off its coasts and sold to nations around the world. Continue reading

September 3, 2010 Posted by | Russia, safety | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Near a nuclear power plant? – better have some pills!

The pills may help prevent illnesses associated with radioactive iodine if an accident were to occur.

Free pills available for those near nuclear plants, Detroit Free Press, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sept. 2, 2010 Michigan health officials are making potassium iodide pills available to people who live, work or visit within 10 miles of a nuclear power plant. Continue reading

September 3, 2010 Posted by | health, USA | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

AQ Khan claims US,UK tried to bribe Pakistani scientists

US, UK tried to bribe Pak nuke scientists: AQ Khan   The Times of India, Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN, Sep 3, 2010,WASHINGTON: American and British intelligence agencies tried to bribe two Pakistani scientists “who refused all sorts of incentives” to betray the country’s nuclear program in the mid 1990s and reported the matter to higherups, the man credited with making Pakistan a nuclear power has claimed.
In a typically bombastic interview, AQ Khan, the recently freed but heavily monitored nuclear scientist, insists that Pakistan’s nuclear program is secure both from external infiltration (by western agencies) and internal penetration (by extremists). ……..US, UK tried to bribe Pak nuke scientists: AQ Khan – US – World – The Times of India

September 3, 2010 Posted by | Pakistan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | , , , | Leave a comment

Australia’s dodgy uranium industry with its sham “independent” panel on regulation

Sitting on the panel are pro-nuclear lobbyists and behind the scenes are corporate sponsors including some that are anything but independent. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are two of the sponsors − companies with operating uranium mines in Australia and uranium interests in WA.

Dodgy Dealings continue in the Uranium Industry, hi spirits: by Mia Pepper,   September 02, 2010,  This week the Barnett Government announced that the Australian Centre for Geomechanics has won a tender to form an ‘independent panel on uranium mining regulations’. Continue reading

September 3, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, spinbuster, Uranium | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spiralling costs threaten nuclear industry – France, UK, Bulgaria

A particular concern is the specter of spiraling costs at a high-profile project at Olkiluoto in Finland, where Areva, a French nuclear reactor builder, agreed in 2005 to build a next-generation plant, called E.P.R.

New Warnings About Costs of Nuclear Power in Bulgaria and Britain – NYTimes.com August 31, 2010, By JAMES KANTER As anticipation grows about a possible renaissance for the nuclear power industry — and about its potential for curbing greenhouse gas emissions — some politicians are stepping up warnings about the high cost of such projects. Continue reading

September 1, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, EUROPE | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The nuclear power option favours American business, not the Indian people

Super profits for American corporations or true concern for the Indian people  — this is the question today. The answer, unfortunately for our people, is in favour of the former……a tragedy exponentially worse than Bhopal is waiting to happen.

A moral meltdown – Hindustan Times, Sitaram Yechury , 1 Sept 10, “……The PM has announced the target of generating 40,000 MW of nuclear power. By using the nuclear option, India would be spending way beyond R3 lakh crore more than by using the available thermal, hydro or other options. Continue reading

September 1, 2010 Posted by | general | , , , , , | Leave a comment

British govt gags debate: delaying tactics as nuclear veterans die

More than 1,000 former servicemen and their families are fighting to win £20million compensation from the Ministry of Defence after being made ‘guinea pigs’ for postwar nuclear tests in the South Pacific and Australia….On average, three survivors are dying each week.

MPs gagged over atom bomb test veterans: 1,000 former servicemen fighting £20m compensation battle, Daily Mail UK, By Ian Drury 31st August 2010 The Commons Speaker is under fire after MPs were barred from asking questions about the treatment of Britain’s nuclear test veterans……… MPs and veterans have accused Mr Bercow’s officials of stifling freedom of speech to avoid embarrassing the Government. Continue reading

September 1, 2010 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ionising radiation – areas in Iraq contaminated by depleted uranium

Some of these areas are so irradiated that they will be uninhabitable for millions of years. And this is one of the main issues of the Iraq war, but no one wants to talk about it.

A war on the past, present, and future
tehran times : By Hamid Golpira, 31 Aug 2010, “……..the Iraq war is also a war on the future since the U.S. military has used the mutagenic weapon depleted uranium, which is definitely a war crime, a crime against humanity, and an act of genocide. Continue reading

August 31, 2010 Posted by | resources - print, Uranium | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment