nuclear spin « nuclear-news

Radiation study chairman resigns as conflict of interest is exposed

(USA) Nuclear industry leader pulls out of radiation health study

Beyond Nuclear, 22 May 2010 In a May 10, 2010 letter, Dr. Richard Meserve resigned as Chair of the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board of the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) from all committee activity related to a massive national health study that is taking shape around nuclear power facilities in the United States.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has requested that the NAS conduct a health study around past, present and future nuclear power facilities. As Beyond Nuclear identified in an April 29, 2010 letter requesting that the NAS conduct a conflict-of-interest review, Dr. Meserve currently serves on the Board of Directors for Luminant Corporation which owns the Comanche Peak nuclear power station in Texas and Pacific Gas and Electric which operates the Diablo Canyon reactors in California. Dr. Meserve also serves on an advisory board to UniStar Nuclear Corporation (Constellation Energy and Electricite de France) which has applied to the NRC to build new reactors around the United States.

May 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Alternative Nuclear Non Proliferation Meeting held

You can watch a video of the event right here.

The proposed ‘solutions’ to tackle proliferation risks are merely excuses to allow for a global expansion of the nuclear energy.

The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference Greenpeace urges delegations to recognise proliferation risks of nuclear energy expansion,by jmckeati – May 21, 2010 The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is undergoing its latest five-yearly review at the United Nations in New York right now.

Yesterday Greenpeace held an official NPT side event where independent experts highlighted the growing nuclear weapons proliferation risks linked to the expansion of nuclear power across the world. Continue reading →

May 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, plutonium, uranium | Leave a comment

U.S. to pre-announce missile tests,(with a loophole clause)

The United States … will provide pre-launch notification of commercial and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space launches as well as the majority of intercontinental ballistic and submarine-launched ballistic missile launches.

Obama decides to unilaterally announce secret U.S. missile tests, satellite launches Los Angeles Times, 21 May 2010, President Obama has decided to pre-announce to the world once-secret American ballistic missile tests and satellite launches.The Democratic administration’s goal is to show a friendlier face to other countries and to coax Russia to do the same. Continue reading →

May 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

U.S. nuclear power loan guarantee goes to French company AREVA

DOE Picks Areva for Nuclear Facility – WSJ.co By CASSANDRA SWEET 21 May 2010, Siobhan Hughes contributed to this article.The U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday that it has approved a $2 billion loan guarantee for French nuclear power developer, AREVA.

“…..The loan guarantee is part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to stimulate the development of a U.S. supply base for producing enriched uranium.

A condition of the loan guarantee is that Areva obtain a combined construction and operating license for the Idaho facility from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The French state owns directly and indirectly around 93% of Areva…..the decision to award Areva a guarantee drew criticism from Ohio, where USEC has a partly-constructed enrichment facility. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R.,Ohio) said the DOE’s decision contradicts a promise by President Obama “to support the American company applicant and build a facility in Ohio.” Ms. Schmidt estimated that the Ohio plant would create 4,000 jobs. DOE Taps Areva to Build Enrichment Plant – WSJ.com

May 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, reactor, uranium | Leave a comment

Navajo fight to protect land from uranium mining

Navajo to Protest Uranium Mining Expansion Censored News, 20 May 2010, On May 25-27 a delegation of Navajo community leaders will come to Denver to protest US Government support for expanding the nuclear industry that has already had a devastating impact on Native American and Chicano communities in New Mexico.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the National Mining Association will host a “Uranium Recovery” conference designed to make it easier for mining companies to move forward with a new era of uranium mining. Continue reading →

May 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | indigenous issues, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation | 1 Comment

Tribal women’s campaign for uranium-mining free water

….only the federal legislature can provide for the land’s permanent protection from mining…….

Grand Canyon uranium threatens tribal water, High Country News, Caitlin Sislin | May 18, 2010 Last week, a delegation of leaders from Arizona’s Havasupai Tribe traveled to Washington D.C., to advocate for the protection of the Grand Canyon region from a potential onslaught of uranium extraction activities. These four women – tribal council members and traditional elders – voiced their concern for the safety of the land, the purity of the water and the health of the community, and called for the passage of the Grand Canyon Watershed Protection Act (H.R. 644). Introduced in 2009 by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) this law would ban mineral exploration and the establishment of new mining claims pursuant to the 1872 Mining Law, on about one million acres of public lands surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. Continue reading →

May 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, water | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, uranium, water | Leave a comment

Tactical nuclear weapons will remain in Europe

A Nuclear Europe | ATTACKERMAN, Spencer Ackerman, 20 May 2010, Looping back to the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, one of the decisions that document deferred was about the future of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. The NPR figured that NATO’s forthcoming report on its new Strategic Concept was the right venue for determining if Europe (specifically, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey and Germany) should still host the so-called ‘tacs.’ So as it turns out the Strategic Concept recommendations task force delivered its work to NATO civilian headquarters in Brussels earlier this week. And here’s what the task force said on the subject: As long as nuclear weapons remain a reality in international relations, the alliance should retain a nuclear component to its deterrent strategy — at the minimum level required by the prevailing security environment. Under current security conditions, the retention of some U.S. forward-deployed systems on European soil reinforces the principle of extended nuclear deterrence and collective defence. A Nuclear Europe | ATTACKERMAN

May 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, weapons and war | antinuclear, disarmament, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Iran planning new uranium enrichment facility

Iran to begin construction of new enrichment plant Tehran Times 20 May,2010, TEHRAN — Iran plans to begin construction of a new uranium enrichment facility by late March 2011, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Director Ali Akbar Salehi said on Wednesday.“This year (1389), after the preliminary stages are conducted, (we) will begin the construction of one of these plants,” Salehi told reporters when asked if any decisions have been made about the locations of the planned plants.Iranian calendar year 1389 began on March 21, 2010 and ends on March 20, 2011.In 2009, the Iranian government approved plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants………..
Salehi also said that the Bushehr nuclear power plant is going through its final tests and will come on stream this summer. ….
Asked if the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, would be having a meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Salehi said both sides have expressed their interest in holding talks and they will probably meet in Turkey. …tehran times : Iran to begin construction of new enrichment plant

May 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, uranium | Leave a comment

Any extra nuclear radiation is a grave danger

There is no baseline population of unaffected people anymore…Any additional dose of highly efficient ionising radiation (alpha and beta) when delivered internally is a grave risk to modern humans.

What’s a safe dose of radiation? Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog, 19 May 2010, Depends where it the source is and what cell it is dosing. How often that cell is dividing and whether succeeding generations from that cell are similarly dosed by an adjacent internal emitter (hot particle). In such a case, no amount of external environmental monitoring will detect the threat. Which is probably why Dr Johnson suggested surveying PEOPLE rather then the environment years after the contamination events. Continue reading →

May 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Nuclear weapons states now building new, advanced, nuclear weapons

the Nuclear Weapon States are developing new advanced technologies for conducting above-ground experiments

Can President Obama Reform the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty? zikkir.com | 18 May 2010, By Hayrettin Kilic“……….. Unfortunately, the vicious cycle of nuclear proliferation is now spreading to developing countries. As a result, five nuclear states (NWS), U.S, Russia, China, France, and Great Britain are refining their nuclear proliferation strategies to fight a nuclear war in the Third World Countries. Continue reading →

May 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

How to put it over the people about nuclear power

If nuclear power was really as safe, clean, cheap and reliable as its supporters insist, there’d be no need to ‘socialize’ anybody.

Socializing the dangers of nuclear power Greenpeace International, by jmckeati – May 18, 2010

Indonesia is committed to have a nuclear power plant soon as new source of energy, officials said here on Monday. For the purpose, Indonesia has allocated 7 billion rupiah (about 769,633 U.S. dollars) for nuclear power plant socialization to curb fear among people. Continue reading →

May 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Indonesia, spinbuster | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

Iran’s storage deal: less of a worry than Israel’s nuke arsenal?

Iran’s Uranium Storage Deal, Craig Murray , 18 May 2010, -Iran undoubtedly pulled off a diplomatic coup with its announcement yesterday of a deal with Brazil and Turkey to store its low grade uranium. It is very hard for even the most ardent warmonger to claim that Iran is enriching uranium to make nuclear weapons, when that same uranium is in storage in Turkey….there is no indication that Iran has the ability for years to produce a nuclear weapon, and this arrangement makes that ever more plain. If any nation has a genune concern that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, this agreement to remove almost the entire stock of uranium from Iran can only be welcomed.The failure to welcome this step by US and UK governments indicates that their actual agenda does not relate to Iran’s nuclear programme at all. And I still wait for a British minister to say something about Israel’s very real and very large stockpile of nuclear weapons.

Craig Murray – Iran’s Uranium Storage Deal

May 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear spin, plutonium, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear Bombing the oil leak? A Radioactive Idea

‘Expert’ proposes nuking the Gulf of Mexico to stop oil spill NATIONAL POST, May 17, 2010, by Matt Gurney What’s worse than an oil spill? A radioactive oil spill.
Nonetheless, an ‘expert’ (albeit one who doesn’t look old enough to have graduated high school) has suggested that the United States seal the Gulf of Mexico oil pipe by setting off a nuclear weapon at the site of the ruptured pipe in the hopes, one would presume, that the blast would either seal the leak or melt the pipe…..

…… What if the bomb goes off and doesn’t seal the leak? Then instead of an oil leak, you have a radioactive oil leak. Is that somehow better?

Despite the absurdity of the proposal, apparently, it’s not without precedent. The Soviet Union has reportedly used this technique five times in order to stop natural gas leaks. Four of them worked. Okay…but…what about the fifth? Is there a natural gas leak somewhere out there, deep in a radioactive crater?….. Matt Gurney: ‘Expert’ proposes nuking the Gulf of Mexico to stop oil spill – Full Comment

May 18, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

UK’s energy future could now be renewables, not nuclear

nuclear plants are not needed if the government will invest enough in energy conservation. Huhne’s opposition may create enough uncertainty and delay to open windows of opportunity for other energy technologies including wind and tidal energy.

Will the new U.K. government support nuclear energy? The Energy Collective, by Dan Yurman, 17 May 2010, Energy & Climate Minister pledges “not one atom of help” from the governmentThe future of nuclear energy in the U.K. does not look bright based on the rhetoric coming from Chris Huhne, (right) the new government’s Energy & Climate minister and key advisor to Conservative Party coalition partner David Cameron. Continue reading →

May 18, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | antinuclear, energy efficiency, nuclear spin, renewable energy, renewables | Leave a comment

Australian Aboriginals fight Govt’s draconian nuclear waste plan

YouTube – Muckaty Voices

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcuNpT84Ov

The proposed waste dump law excludes the Muckaty Traditional Owners from procedural fairness and appeal rights, removes Aboriginal Heritage and environmental protections and overrides any Commonwealth, State and Territory laws that could be used to oppose or challenge the dump plan.

From the campfire to cyberspace: Radioactive waste concerns go global, Natalie Wasley, 18 May 2001 Aboriginal Traditional Owners opposed to a radioactive waste dump at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory of Australia have taken their campaign to a global online audience. Continue reading →

May 18, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, indigenous issues | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, indigenous, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment