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The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Australia’s Northern Territory asks new Prime Minister to stop nuclear waste dump plan

Former Prime Minister John Howard planned to build the dump on Muckaty Station, in Central Australia, because the Northern Territory did not have the constitutional strength to block the move.

Hendo urges Gillard to dump Muckaty, Northern Territory News, NICK CALACOURAS  June 26th, 2010 AUSTRALIA’S new Prime Minister Julia Gillard should rethink her predecessor’s decision to build a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory, Chief Minister Paul Henderson said. Continue reading

June 26, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, wastes | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cartel to promote nuclear power sales meets in New Zealand

Although the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG ) claims to serve the interests of the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, its consultations and decision- making are closed to 144 of the 190 states party to the treaty. It is not accountable to the decision-making organs of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Thrashing out nuclear deals a juggling act for New Zealand, Stuff.co.nz, By BOB RIGG   24/06 New Zealand has found itself between a rock and a hard place as it chairs a meeting trying to juggle competing superpower positions on who gets enriched uranium and nuclear technology that could encourage the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Continue reading

June 25, 2010 Posted by | 2 WORLD, politics international | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear Suppliers’ Cartel anxious about Pakistan

Nuclear proliferation in South Asia The power of nightmares,  The Economist, 24 June 2010, China’s proposed sale of nuclear reactors to Pakistan will intensify nuclear rivalry with India. But the damage will go far wider Continue reading

June 25, 2010 Posted by | 2 WORLD, safety | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

British govt plays waiting game on compensation for nuclear test veterans

Nuclear test veteran fears he may not live to see final decision, Burton News & Staffordshire Newspaper by ROB SMYTH, 24 June 2010, A NUCLEAR test veteran has described how he believes his battle for compensation from the Government may not be won in his lifetime.Archie Ross, of Oak Close, Castle Gresley, made the claim as an appeal by the Ministry of Defence, against a decision to allow compensation for more than 1,000 servicemen, continues. Continue reading

June 25, 2010 Posted by | UK, weapons and war | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

U.S. govt’s duplicity in comparing depleted uranium to tungsten

DU is in fact much more dangerous than tungsten.  It may be depleted of some of its neutrons but it is still radioactive enough to cause cancer and birth defects.

US Government web site psyop promoting depleted uranium munitions | qbit.cc June 23rd, 2010 “…….This propaganda is expertly crafted to avoid directly stating that Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions are as safe as tungsten, while belittling the (valid) belief that DU is incredibly dangerous, Continue reading

June 24, 2010 Posted by | spinbuster, USA | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A nuclear radioactive mess under London’s Olympic Games site?

Tonnes of radioactive waste casts doubt over London’s Olympic stadium legacy• Presence of waste on site could complicate redevelopment after 2012 Games | UK news | The Guardian, Ian Griffiths 20 June 2010,
The development of the Olympic site in east London after the Games have finished could be in jeopardy because of radioactive waste buried beneath the site, experts have warned. Continue reading

June 23, 2010 Posted by | UK, wastes | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear company’s violations of waste storage regulations

FPL fined $70,000 for nuclear waste storage problem, SunSentinel.com, by Julie Patel on June 22, 2010The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Tuesday that it will fine Florida Power & Light Co. $70,000 for three violations related to its waste storage at its Turkey Point plant near Miami.In December, NRC officials said they found the amount of Boraflex in a nuclear waste storage pool at Turkey Point was lower than it should be. (Boroflex panels in the pool absorbs neutrons so there isn’t a mini-reaction as the nuclear waste is being cooled.)…………The Commission will hold informal information meetings in July on FPL’s proposal to build two new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point

June 23, 2010 Posted by | safety, USA | , , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear terrorism’s close shave: plutonium store still at risk

Pelindaba was also the site of an incredible break-in in the end of 2007.

Palindaba Uranium Facility Assult Was Nearly Successful OverTheLimit  June 21, 2010 Pelindaba is a nuclear power plant tucked back in the bush of South Africa. While it may seem like an ordinary plant, Pelinadaba was used as a secret weapons facility by the previous Apartheid government. Here they created weapons grade uranium, and it is here that that same plutonium is stored now that the new government has control and the weapons manufacturing has stopped. Continue reading

June 23, 2010 Posted by | safety, South Africa | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Australian govt’s welfare measures push Aboriginals off homelands

The NT intervention is clearly racist and is not motivated by concern for Aboriginal children but to enable government control of Aboriginal land.

Many Aboriginal communities have been forced to sign over their land on five-year leases to the federal government — land that contains gold, iron ore, uranium as well as areas that have been slated as potential nuclear waste dumps.

We are all in this together, Green Left Weekly, Ruth Ratcliffe June 20, 2010“…….The Rudd government plans to extend the paternalistic policy of welfare quarantining, which the Howard government initiated in remote Aboriginal communities, to other areas of disadvantage. Instead the government should adequately fund appropriate services and empower communities. Continue reading

June 23, 2010 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, indigenous issues | , , , , | Leave a comment

U.S. defense officials, like Australian unionists, know the dangers of uranium mining

United States defense officials having knowledge of the dangers of uranium are shown in “Censored News,” which publishes human rights reports about indigenous peoples. The photo (  stated that “Navajo uranium miners during the Cold War were sent to their deaths in the mines after the U.S. knew of the dangers of radioactivity.”
Australian Union Bans Workers from Uranium Mines, Nuclear Power Stations – Huntington News Network

Australian Union Bans Workers from Uranium Mines, Nuclear Power Stations By Tony RutherfordHuntingtonnews.net Reporter Huntington, WV (HNN) – Fears of radiation exposure to uranium workers has led to the Electrical Trades Union in Brisbane, Australia, to ban members from working in uranium mines, nuclear power stations, and any part of the nuclear fuel cycle, according to a BBC report. Union leaders believe uranium exposure will replace asbestos as the high profile toxic workplace contaminant.
ETU state secretary, Peter Simpson, stated that uranium is the next asbestos in the workplace.  The report predicts that due to the danger other trade unions will follow and the ban will expand beyond Australia. Continue reading

June 23, 2010 Posted by | 2 WORLD, health | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

China needs to improve nuclear safety

Monitoring of nuclear safety needs attention, China Daily, BEIJING, June 22 (Xinhaunet) — “……..China needs to invest more in monitoring nuclear safety at civilian nuclear power projects,…China adopted its nuclear power industry standards from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Yu Zusheng, a member of the experts committee with State Nuclear Power Technology Corp (SNPTC). “They are among China’s first group of standards which are in line with international markets.”…………
Chinese expenditure on monitoring nuclear safety at the 11 operating nuclear power plants totals around 40 million yuan ($6 million) per year. In comparison, in the United States, which has around 100 nuclear power plants, the country’s total budget for monitoring nuclear safety is $700 million annually.

Monitoring of nuclear safety needs attention

June 23, 2010 Posted by | China, safety | , , , , , | Leave a comment

AREVA supplying parts to attempt to re-start damaged nuclear reactor

FirstEnergy to place lid on Davis-Besse nuclear power plant cleveland.com, June 21, 2010, “………Davis-Besse has been shut down since Feb. 28 for extensive work to repair cracks in the lid that sprouted unexpectedly in critical components. Such cracks can allow radioactive coolant into the reactor’s containment building — or worse.

Federal rules require an immediate shutdown if leaks are detected.The cracks are similar to fissures that opened up in the late 1990s in parts of Davis-Besse’s original lid and led to a pineapple-sized corrosion hole in that lid before it was discovered in 2004 Continue reading

June 22, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, USA | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

As nuclear waste mass accumulates, so does the COST of it

There is no national disposal spot for the spent fuel, and for 32 states, no place to send their low-level wastes. Around the country, the inventory of low-level wastes with no place to go is growing by about 10,000 cubic feet a year……...as much as $1,625 per cubic foot of waste. Even with waste reduction technologies, the amount of waste per year amounts to thousands of cubic feet…………

Nuclear Dumps Argue Over Diluting Waste for Burial – NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD June 17, 2010 Even low-level radioactive waste is a growing problem, with few licensed repositories to dispose of it. The problem dates from the early 1980s, when Congress said that the federal government would take care of high-level waste, like spent fuel from nuclear power plants, but that the states would have to find sites for low-level material, Continue reading

June 21, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, USA | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

U.S. Senators trying to greenwash nuclear power

The nuclear power industry has skillfully and successfully painted itself green — an environmentally benign answer to reducing carbon emissions. The industry and many in Washington want us to believe that a new generation of nuclear reactors will solve the problems of climate change and allow us to live happily ever after. That’s a costly fairy tale.

US climate proposal a nuclear bailout By Richard Clapp  Shanghai Daily, 2010-6-19 THE long-awaited climate proposal crafted by US Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman has finally landed on Capitol Hill. The proposal, though, is a massive nuclear bailout under the guise of an energy overhaul. Continue reading

June 21, 2010 Posted by | climate change, USA | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Concern over nuclear workers’ exposure to radiation

Radiation tests ordered at nuclear plant By DON PEAT, Toronto Sun  June 19, 2010 Bruce Power will be testing more of its employees for alpha radiation.An internal memo obtained by the Sun was sent to employees at the power station Friday advising them that tests done last year on those closest to the low-level radiation contamination show they may have received a dose. Continue reading

June 21, 2010 Posted by | Canada, health | , , , , , | Leave a comment