nuclear technology « nuclear-news

More delays, more costs, with AREVA’s new reactor in France

EDF was asked for modifications of the control platform on the reactor, which is delayed and will cost more than expected.

French Nuclear Watchdog Says EDF Has Problems With Flamanville EPR Liner – Bloomberg, By Tara Patel – Aug 30, 2010 Electricite de France SA, Europe’s biggest power producer, experienced renewed problems with welding quality at the EPR nuclear reactor being built in Normandy, according France’s nuclear safety agency. Continue reading →

August 31, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, technology | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Safety lapses at UK’s Trident nuclear weapons facility

Health and safety practices at the UK’s main nuclear weapons base are under intense scrutiny just weeks before it is expected to be granted permission for a multibillion-pound facility to conduct a new generation of radioactive tests.

Nuclear arsenals under scrutiny for safety lapses, fires and flood Group calls for planners to think twice about a major new facility at Trident warhead base at Aldermaston in Berkshire Jamie Doward The Observer, Sunday 22 August 2010 Continue reading →

August 31, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, Trident | Leave a comment

“Temporary” nuke waste disposal becoming Permanent, and expensive

If the plant closes in 2012, it would be mothballed, or put into SAFSTOR, until its decommissioning fund reaches the level necessary to clean up the site, which could take up to 60 years.

NRC considers long-term on-site storage of waste, Brattleboro Reformer, By JOSH STILTS, Aug. 30 2010 BRATTLEBORO – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted earlier this month to explore the option of storing nuclear waste at decommissioned sites past the current 30-year standard……. Continue reading →

August 31, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

A new anti-nuclear wave

the increased support for nuclear energy will melt away when utilities announce where they intend to build. No one..wants to live near a nuclear plant.”The groundswell (against nuclear power) will come when they announce the nuclear sites

Older activists, younger crowd team to fight nukes. Google Hosted News, 29 Aug 2010, By MELANIE S. WELTE (AP) – MOINES, Iowa — It’s been 33 years since Raye Fleming’s arrest outside Southern California’s Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, near the height of the anti-nuclear power furor.That was the first arrest of many and, Fleming believed, such actions paid off as a generation of Americans turned against nuclear power. Continue reading →

August 31, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

Egypt’s nuclear plant a ‘grave regional threat’

the new plant will be a “grave regional threat.

Greenpeace Blasts Egypt for Nuclear Plans, Israel National News by Hillel Fendel, 30 Aug 2010, The international environmental organization Greenpeace has targeted Egypt for its plan to build a nuclear energy plant off the Mediterranean coast. Continue reading →

August 31, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive, reactor | Leave a comment

Kuwait fears radiation from Iran’s nuclear plant

Equipment to detect radiation levels in air, water, soil and food samples has been provided to Kuwaiti laboratories

Kuwait unveils plan to tackle possible radiation accidents, The National Newspaper, James Calderwood, August 29. 2010 KUWAIT CITY Kuwait’s ministry of health has announced a plan to deal with accidents involving radioactive pollution, one week after Kuwaiti officials expressed concern with the proximity of Iran’s new nuclear plant.. Continue reading →

August 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, MIDDLE EAST | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive, reactor | Leave a comment

Uranium mining – a nightmare scenario for water supplies

Canada has no national program to deal with contaminated sites. Abandoned mines and tailings ponds create toxic nightmares, contaminating rivers, lakes and surrounding lands. Local communities are left with the toxic legacy.”

Saskatchewan uranium mines create toxic legacy, Digital Journal by ■ Kyle Ashmead , 28 Aug 2010, The Keepers of the Water, held a five day conference in Wollaston Lake Saskatchewan. Uranium mining in northern Saskatchewan, as well as other issues were discussed…..Conference attendees discussed many issues affecting the north, not least among them, was uranium mining in Saskatchewan…. Continue reading →

August 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, Uranium, water | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

USA nuclear firms worried about becoming liable for nuclear accident costs

Lawmakers in New Delhi approved a bill last night that makes suppliers and builders of atomic reactors potentially liable in the event of an accident…..None of India’s biggest prospective suppliers, including GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy or Westinghouse Electric, are likely to sign contracts if they can be held liable for third-party damages,

India Risks Nuclear Power Isolation With Break From Post-Chernobyl Accord, Bloomberg, By Natalie Obiko Pearson – Aug 26, 2010 India’s push to end a three-decade ban on buying nuclear equipment from abroad may founder on laws passed by its own parliament. Continue reading →

August 26, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, India | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Uranium mining study group members’ conflict of interest

“Unfortunately, it appears that several members of the provisional committee may have conflicts of interest….”

(USA) Regional groups voice concerns over uranium study committee, By TIM DAVIS/Star-Tribune, August 25, 2010 The Roanoke and Dan River basin associations want the National Academy of Sciences to investigate the backgrounds and professional relationships of several appointees to a provisional committee that will study uranium mining in Virginia. Continue reading →

August 26, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Uranium, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, uranium | 1 Comment

$Billions debt will be the result of USA’s nuclear loans

These kinds of advance payments are exactly the kind of financial shenanigans that brought the last nuclear-construction boom to an end, leaving utility ratepayers with billions of wasted dollars in costs.

Sorry, But Nukes Still Don’t Pencil Out, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Carl Pope, August 24, 2010 “……the present generation of pressurized-vessel nuclear power plants makes so little economic sense Continue reading →

August 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Russia, USA, keen to sell nukes to India – but not to pay for accidents

US diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it would be a “disaster” for US companies if the Indian Bill insisted on large foreign supplier liability.

Russia says no to supplier liability, Business Standard, Jyoti Malhotra / New Delhi August 24, 2010, Even as political acrimony over the Nuclear Liability Bill rages in and outside Parliament, India’s old-time friend Russia has clearly told the Indian establishment that it will not accept any liability for the supply of equipment and other material to help India build its nuclear power plants, either in the present or future….. Continue reading →

August 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Obama’s visit to India panicking Indian govt over Nuclear Liability Bill

According to the new draft, an Indian operator of a nuclear supply can sue the supplier only if the supply in question was made with the intent of causing nuclear damage.……As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is keen on the passage of the bill before US President Barack Obama’s visit to India, the government will take a call on the issue in the next two days.

BJP to oppose diluted Nuclear liability bill – The Economic Times, 23 August 2010, NEW DELHI: With the Cabinet diluting the right to recourse of the operator to sue the supplier in the event of a nuclear accident, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) once again moved into the ‘nay-sayer’ column and vowed to defeat the civil nuclear liability bill in Parliament….. Continue reading →

August 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics | AUSTRALIA, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology | Leave a comment

Germany to keep nuclear fuel tax, phase out nuclear power

At the weekend Peter Müller, the leader of the small state of Saarland and a member of Ms Merkel’s CDU party, said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper that his regional government did not support any move to extend the life of the plants and would vote against any law change [that would allow nuclear plants to continue]

Merkel stands firm on nuclear tax plan, FT.com, By James Wilson August 22 2010 Angela Merkel on Sunday stood by plans for a tax on nuclear power as debate intensified over her government’s energy policy following public criticism by leading business people. Continue reading →

August 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

Russia’s collapsing nuclear industry saved by selling nuclear plant to Iran

The launch is something of a turning point for the Russian nuclear industry, which was near collapse before getting the Iranian contract for Bushehr.

Bushehr Launch Boosts Rosatom, The Moscow Times, 23 August 2010, By Olga Razumovskaya Russia and Iran on Saturday jointly launched the Bushehr atomic power plant, the first in the Middle East, bringing the Islamic republic into the ranks of the world’s 29 nuclear power generating nations. Both sides hailed the startup as a landmark……… Continue reading →

August 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Russia | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactor | Leave a comment

Documents reveal poor safety history of Britain’s nuclear arsenal

A Freedom of Information request has revealed that the Defence Environment and Safety Board believes budget cuts will make it “increasingly difficult to maintain that the defence nuclear programmes are being managed with due regard for the protection of the workforce, the public and the environment.

Nuclear arsenals under scrutiny for safety lapses, fires and floodGroup calls for planners to think twice about a major new facility at Trident warhead base at Aldermaston in Berkshire Jamie Doward * The Observer, Sunday 22 August 2010

Health and safety practices at the UK’s main nuclear weapons base are under intense scrutiny just weeks before it is expected to be granted permission for a multibillion-pound facility to conduct a new generation of radioactive tests. Continue reading →

August 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, UK | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment