nuclear technology « nuclear-news

UK Green Party set to grow, due to the nuclear issue

Green Party Set to Gather Disaffected Lib Dems, The Energy Collective, Vicky Portwain on 05/15/2010, The Green Party has asked Lib Dem voters not happy with Nick Clegg joining forces with the Tories to talk to the Greens instead. Green Party MSP Patrick Harvie said “Lib Dem members and supporters did not work hard over the last weeks and months to see their party become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Tories“. He said the Liberal Conservative coalition decision “will be the death-knell for the Lib Dems here in Scotland“.Caroline Lucas MP, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said:“The Lib Dems have shown themselves to be not so much a party of change as a party of changing its mind…….The Lib Dems are likely to lose people who are anti-nuclear energy to the Greens who have confirmed their “unequivocal opposition to nuclear power“. Green Party Set to Gather Disaffected Lib Dems

May 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear technology | Leave a comment

The myth of nuclear power’s “rebirth” in USA

Nuclear Loan Guarantees Will Meet State Resistance, Connecticut News, May 13, 2010 , by Jonathan Kantrowitz It was front-page news across America this February when the Vermont Senate voted to shut down the troubled Vermont Yankee reactor in 2012. But what most Americans don’t know is that the nuclear industry also lost all of its seven other major state legislative pushes this year – going 0-8 and putting yet another nail in the coffin of the myth of the “nuclear renaissance” in the United States, according to an analysis by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). Continue reading →

May 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear technology, reactors, renewable energy, renewables | Leave a comment

UK’s Liberal Democrats might still prevent new nuclear power

LibDem U-turn on nuclear power?, peezedtee, 13 May 2010 “……The coalition government’s policy on new nuclear power stations is being reported as a U-turn for the LibDems.I………. Nuclear power is fantastically expensive if you include all the building and decommissioning costs. .. main concern was that it should not be subsidised by the taxpayer (as it always has been up to now). And that proviso remains, it seems, in the new government’s approach. If they stick with that, the likelihood is that no nuclear power stations will get built in any case, so this “U-turn” looks a bit like a distinction without a difference.

May 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

Continuing radiation incidents in India a worry for nuclear industry

Radiation leak at BARC comes as a shock Sakaal Times, May 12, 2010 A MUMBAI: The radioactive contamination at one of the facilities at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the cradle of nuclear R&D, comes as a shock. Over the last few months there has been several minor incidents and security breaches in nuclear facilities across the country – and this is one more addition. Continue reading →

May 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Nuclear industry resuscitation threatened by European politics

Uranium threatened by political shake-ups FP Trading DeskMay 12, 2010, by Peter Koven It has been a week of political overhaul in Europe, and one of the victims in the fallout could be the continent’s nuclear renaissance. Continue reading →

May 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear technology, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

China helping Pakistan to develop nuclear technology

China-Pakistan Nuclear Agreement Scrutinized in U.S.T, NTI: Global Security Newswire, May 11, 2010 The Obama administration indicated it was scrutinizing China’s intention to construct two new nuclear power reactors in Pakistan, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, April 29).Since China last built a pair of reactors at the Chashma site in Pakistan, Beijing has joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group, now a 46-nation export control regime that bars nuclear trade with countries that are not subject to International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring (see GSN, May 28, 2004)……
Pakistan is one of few nuclear-armed states that remain outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It is home to former nuclear proliferator Abdul Qadeer Khan and remains a point of concern regarding the potential intersection of extremism and nuclear weapons. NTI: Global Security Newswire – China-Pakistan Nuclear Agreement Scrutinized in U.S.

May 12, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, uranium | Leave a comment

Younger patients more at risk from radiation caused cancer

Radiation Risks Nearly Double for Younger CT Scan Patients, Doctors should consider age when evaluating risks, study suggests. Bloomberg Business Week,May 3 (HealthDay News) –– Radiation risks associated with abdominal and pelvic CT scans are twice as high for younger patients as older patients, a new study finds.”Estimating the risks associated with ionizing radiation is complex,” study author Dr. James Koonce, of the Medical University of South Carolina, said in a news release. “Many variables such as patient size, age, and the region of the body being imaged all affect the total risk. Our study looked at how the overall risks associated with abdominal/pelvic CT scans depend on patient sex and age.”

Radiation Risks Nearly Double for Younger CT Scan Patients

May 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

France pretty desperate to sell nuclear technology overseas

France needs to win international contracts, given that there will be little growth at home

French report hopes to heal nuclear division By Peggy Hollinger, FT.com : May 9 2010 “…..And, just maybe, it will help to end the years of public bickering and rivalry that have divided France’s nuclear champions – Areva, EDF, 36 per cent state-owned GDF-Suez and the Atomic Energy Commission – and which threaten to damage the industry’s international competitiveness………..The report is expected to call for greater government involvement in identifying the markets it wants its nuclear companies to target……….The organisation will aim to ensure France’s political interests are served by its state-owned companies, and to provide the political and commercial resources to identify new markets and give French technology a head start……..France needs to win international contracts, given that there will be little growth at home

FT.com / Industrials – French report hopes to heal nuclear division

May 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, nuclear costs, nuclear technology | Leave a comment

Strong protests in Japan against re-starting fast breeder nuclear reactor

Protests over re-opening of Japanese nuclear reactor, Greenpeace International, 8 May 2010, (Buddhika Weerasinghe-Japan) Japanese peace and human right activists together protest against to Japan’s Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)has reactive controversial “fast-breeder” Monju nuclear reactor14 years after the plant was shut down following a liquid of sodium leaked and fire in 1995. Continue reading →

May 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics | antinuclear, fast breeder, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radiation | Leave a comment

USA nuclear industry stalled momentum, despite govt $billions,

Some States Push For New Nuclear Reactors, With Little Success | SolveClimate.com, by Dave Levitan – May 5th, 2010 “…..Stalled Momentum

Many other states do not have moratoria in place —only about 12 do—but even those that have the legal greenlight are seeing the nuclear momentum get held up recently. In Georgia, the first two reactors to be singled out for multi-billion dollar federal loan guarantees hit a bump in the road last week, when a judge ruled the certification process was illegal. Skyrocketing costs of other plants have put them on hold in the past, and environmentalists like Kraft and Metropulos think there is ample reason to simply stop trying…..

The billions of dollars potentially coming from Washington to help build nuclear reactors may be enticing, said Metropulos, but the pushback on the state level might indicate a lack of real motivation.

“Although the federal government seems to want to put out a lot of subsidies, I don’t think the people will buy it,” he said. “I think there are other ways that people will go about energy production rather than looking at nuclear.” Some States Push For New Nuclear Reactors, With Little Success | SolveClimate.com

May 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear radiation leaks are invisible, unlike oil spills

If only radiation — which leaks every day at the 104 nuclear reactors in the US — was as visible as the growing BP oil slick in the Gulf Coast

Wake up and smell the oil THE HUFFINGTON POST, John Rosenthal, May 3, 2010 “………..Close your eyes and imagine for a minute that instead of BP’s deepwater offshore well exploding 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, spreading millions of gallons of toxic and visible oil across the Gulf Coast, that one of the 104 nuclear reactors operating in the US, exploded Continue reading →

May 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, radioactive, reactors, uranium | 1 Comment

Community opposing nuclear power in South Africa’s Eastern Cape

The Fight Against Nuclear Power: suite101.com, by Christian Theron, 4 May 2010, The Community in South Africa’s Eastern Cape is currently facing Construction of a Nuclear Power Plant even though no guarantees of safety are provided. “… Continue reading →

May 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, South Africa | antinuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, uranium | Leave a comment

UK govt’s Sustainable Development Commission finds that nuclear is not the answer

Is nuclear the answer? · · Sustainable Development Commission 3 May 2010, Nuclear power is not the answer to tackling climate change or security of supply, according tothe Sustainable Development Commission.In response to the Government’s current Energy Review, the SDC nuclear report draws together the most comprehensive evidence base available, to find that there is no justification for bringing forward a new nuclear power programme at present. Continue reading →

May 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | antinuclear, climate change, energy efficiency, global warming, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radiation | 1 Comment

Britsh nuclear submarines at sea despite dangerous safety defects

Nuclear submarines went to sea with potentially disastrous defect. British vessels Turbulent and Tireless allowed to leave port with safety valves sealed off, risking catastrophic explosion, leaked memo reveals mo reveals Severin Carrell and Rob Edwards guardian.co.uk, Sunday 2 May 2010
Two British nuclear submarines went to sea with a potentially disastrous safety problem that left both vessels at risk of a catastrophic accident, the Guardian can reveal. Continue reading →

May 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear technology | Leave a comment

Un Nuclear Conference Amid Fears of a Middle Eastern Arms Race

Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, has spoken out bluntly about the alternatives, implying that his country might feel the need to develop nuclear weapons.

As U.N. Nuclear Conference Opens, U.S. Is Pushing to Deter Mideast Arms Race, NYTimes.com By WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER May 2, 2010 The opening Monday of a monthlong United Nations conference to strengthen the main treaty meant to halt the spread of nuclear arms is likely to be dominated by Iran’s president denouncing the West and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warning that if Tehran gets the bomb, the rest of the Middle East will soon follow. Continue reading →

May 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | MIDDLE EAST, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment