nuclear wastes « nuclear-news

Resistance to pro Nuclear Bills now in USA Congress

If there are going to be voices to counter the insanity of new bomb plants in the name of arms control, they will have to be ours. If there are going to be people standing to say NO!, they will have to be us.”

Bills making their way through Congress right now include the largest single increasein nuclear weapons funding in history.

(USA) Morning of Resistance’ at Y-12 July 5 | Frank Munger, knoxnews.com, 9 June 2010, “The timing is right–and not just because2010 marks the anniversaries of such auspiciousorganizations and actions. Last year, President BarackObama declared himself committed to a world freeof nuclear weapons. Whatever his ambitions mayhave been, they have gotten waylaid by the statusquo power brokers who are determined to maintain nuclear dominance and a highly funded industry that is determined to build more nuclear reactors at taxpayer expense. Continue reading →

June 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom involved in Iran, France, Australia

Rosatom Agrees to First Asset Sale to Foreign Investor, The Moscow Times, 09 June 2010By Anatoly Medetsky “…..Kiriyenko (pictured) announced that Russia and Iran would jointly run Iran’s first nuclear power plant that Rosatom plans to launch in August. Iran agreed to establish a joint venture with Rosatom to operate the plant because the country doesn’t have enough experience in maintaining such facilities, he said.In other news, Rosatom signed an agreement with the French Atomic Energy Commission to expand cooperation on reprocessing, decommissioning and isotopes technology.

In what could further extend Rosatom’s international reach, the State Duma is scheduled to ratify an accord between Russia and Australia on peaceful nuclear cooperation on Wednesday. Continue reading →

June 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, Russia | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, enriched, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, reactors, recycling, reprocessing, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear waste casks, pools, piles, are ticking time bombs

(USA) Ticking time bombs: what should we do with nuclear waste?, SmartPlanet, By Andrew Nusca | Jun 8, 2010 “……..the WSJ report outlines some scary figures:

More than 800 filled casks await a final destination, holding 14,000 metric tons of waste.
Another 49,000 metric tons is being held in spent-fuel pools, waiting to be placed in vessels.
A further 2,000 metric tons of nuclear reactor waste is created every year.

The problem is that the next wave of nuclear reactors are already on the drawing board.

June 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation | Leave a comment

A nuclear disaster next? -Bhopal gas disaster company escapes justice

..in case of a nuclear accident, while providing complete immunity to a foreign nuclear reactor builder from any victim-initiated civil suit or a criminal proceedings both in an Indian court or in a court in its home country.

Bhopal judgment symbolises decayed justice in a deficient democracy(June 08, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) Statement issued by the Asian Human Rights Commission The recent judgment delivered by a court in the Bhopal Gas disaster case convicting all the seven accused could have been a welcome one and could have gone a long way in ensuring people’s faith in the country’s judiciary and the rule of law, but for the features of a failing justice regime the investigation and trial exhibits…….. Continue reading →

June 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Radioactive leaks continue to plague nuclear industry

An Old Nuclear Problem Creeps Back, NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD June 7, 2010 The American nuclear industry, primed to begin new construction projects for the first time in 30 years, is about as eager for an operating problem at an old reactor as the oil industry was for a well blowout on the eve of opening the Atlantic coast to oil drilling.Nonetheless, a nuclear reactor where a hidden leak caused near-catastrophic corrosion in 2002 has experienced a second bout of the same problem……recently the new vessel head showed the same leakage pattern…..

The reactor has 69 nozzles, and the utility has modified 24 of them in preparation for starting up again in a few weeks. The long-term fix is yet another vessel head, with nozzles of a sturdier alloy, to be installed in 2014.

In the interim, the company said, it will opt for a shorter production run

An Old Nuclear Problem Creeps Back – Green Blog – NYTimes.com

June 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radioactive | Leave a comment

A nuclear bomb on the oil gusher would NOT be OK!

Nuclear Follies: How Not To Stem the BP Oil Gusher, Daily Kos:, by Page van der Linden, 7 June 2010, “…….Never has it been more apparent that there’s a lot of misunderstanding (deliberate or otherwise) regarding nuclear weapons than recently. I’m talking about the appalling, misguided idea that we can “just nuke” the BP oil gusher and it will some how “be okay”.Here’s the Global Security Newswire’s “Quote of the Day” from June 3, 2010:
The use of a nuclear weapon to stop the BP oil gusher is not an option. It is, in fact, the worst possible thing we could do. Here’s why. Continue reading →

June 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive | 1 Comment

France’s nuclear firm got secret subsidy from British govt

They know full well that the economics of nuclear don’t stack up and that new reactors will only ever happen if the British taxpayer is forced yet again to carry the atomic can.”.

EDF ran secret lobbying campaign to reduce nuclear waste disposal levy• Reactors builder won big concessions on key issues• Rethink on costs is in effect a subsidy, says Greenpeace Tim Webb * guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 June 2010

The nuclear industry is being offered what campaigners claim is a taxpayer subsidy on the disposal costs of waste from new reactors following a secret lobbying campaign, the Guardian has learned. Continue reading →

June 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | antinuclear, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive | Leave a comment

Increasing exposure of Americans to ionising radiation

nuclear reactors produce a number of radioactive isotopes not found in the environment,….the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s policy of including reactor-generated radionuclides as part of the average background radiation is misleading…….”Nature does not expose human beings to the several hundred radioactive isotopes that that are generated by and routinely released from the nuclear fuel cycle,”

Americans are exposed to increased levels of radiation, Brattleboro Reformer, By BOB AUDETTE June 5, 2010 BRATTLEBORO — The average American receives 620 millirems of background radiation every year, as opposed to the 360 millirems as is often stated in the press.The number has crept up in the last two decades, from 180 millirems to 300 millirems, then to 360 millirems and most recently, in 2006, to 620 millirems. Continue reading →

June 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear waste disputes go on; no end in sight

Nuclear waste wars BlueNC by James on Wed, 06/02/2010 It’s depressing to think how much money and time has gone into this bizarre lawsuit over North Carolina’s participation in an agreement to store low level nuclear waste. The U.S. Supreme Court handed North Carolina a victory Tuesday in an epic, decades-long legal battle with other states over plans for a low-level nuclear disposal site that would have been in Wake County. From reading the story, it’s hard to imagine the suit might have turned out any other way. When other states broke their funding commitments, the contract should have been – and was – voided. And while there’s relief that the lawsuit is settled, the looming problem of dealing with nuclear waste remains unaddressed. We keep making the stuff, without the slightest idea of what to do with it.North Carolina may have won this battle over nuclear waste, but the end of the war is nowhere in sight.

Nuclear waste wars | BlueNC

June 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

Radioactive wastes are produced at all stages of the nuclear fuel cycle

The NUCLEAR INDUSTRY and the GLOBAL NUCLEAR WASTE PROBLEM – our theme for June 2010

June 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

At least the USA TALKS about nuclear wastes!

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

This website might well give the impression that it is anti-American, anti-British etc, – especially on the subject of nuclear wastes.

But – spare a thought for those two countries. At least the nuclear waste subject is RAISED there. (That’s how we can publish it)

Very hard to get a few lines about Russia’s nuclear wastes.

As for China, France and also a few other countries (India, Korea, European states , Israel...) – well there’s nary a word about their nuclear wastes! What do they do with radioactive wastes? It’s a worry. And it seems to me to be complete lunacy for countries like Australia to piously claim safety policy, while selling uranium to such countries.

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, reactors | Leave a comment

Highly radioactive wastes from “next generation” nuclear reactors

waste from the next generation plants that use enriched uranium fuel would be two to 158 times more radioactive than waste from existing Canadian reactors….. unfairly paid for by taxpayers, ratepayers and future generations.”

Waste from proposed nuclear plants more radioactive: report The Vancouver Sun, By Mike Desouza, Canwest News Service May 31, 2010 The latest generation of proposed multi-billion dollar Canadian nuclear plants could be up to 158 times more hazardous than their predecessors, opening the door to massive cost overruns and possibly forcing taxpayers to pick up the tab, warns a report to be released today……….. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, wastes | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Britain’s clean energy cut, as nuclear costs spiral out of control

will see it reduce spending on support for genuinely clean energy projects.

Nuclear costs spiral as clean energy budgets face axe, Left Foot Forward, 2 June 2010, Once again, evidence is mounting that the cost to Britain of nuclear power is spiralling. The new energy secretary, Chris Huhne, has briefed The Guardian this morning that he has inherited a “£4 billion black hole in unavoidable nuclear decommissioning and waste costs”. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, renewable energy, uranium | Leave a comment

Terrorists seeking nuclear materials in Russia

Terrorists still trying to access nuclear materials in Russia and former-Soviet republics: Russia by : RIA Novosti , June 02 2010 PoliJAM, Terrorists have not given up their attempts to access nuclear materials in Russia and former-Soviet republics, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service said on Wednesday.

“We have information that terrorists are continuing their attempts to access nuclear materials, as well as biological and chemical components,” Alexander Bortnikov said at a news conference after a meeting of the heads of security services from the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Breaking News, Politics, US and World News, and Entertainment – The PoliJAM Times

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive | Leave a comment

U.S. govt in legal trouble over nuclear wastes

Solutions Remain Few on Issue of Nuclear- Waste Storage WSJ.com, JUNE 1, 2010 By REBECCA SMITH “……….Utilities have filed more than 70 lawsuits against the government accusing it of breach of contract because it hasn’t taken the waste. So far, $1.3 billion has been paid out. The Department of Justice estimates the liability will top $12 billion if a waste facility is not opened by 2020…….utilities continue to contribute $770 million a year to a Nuclear Waste Fund to pay for a permanent repository that now isn’t even on the drawing board.In April, a group of utilities sued the federal government, demanding that these storage fees be suspended. Ellen Ginsberg, general counsel of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade group, says, “We don’t want to pay any more fees until the government has a waste plan.”