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High ionising radiation levels in Delhi scrap market

Rainspotting in Bangalore – Greenpeace survey finds radiation 5000 times background levels in Delhi market, INDEPENDENT MINDS, by Grace Boyle F, 14 May 2010 aA survey has today uncovered levels of radioactivity up to 5000 times background levels in Mayapuri scrap market, West Delhi, after the area was previously surveyed and declared safe by government authorities.

“The distance between the contamination ‘hot spots’ that have been discovered today and the people who live and work in Mayapuri is very small, so there is concern as to the effect on their health” said Karuna Raina, nuclear campaigner with Greenpeace India.The survey found dose rate levels of 200-500 micro-Sv/h in certain areas, meaning that the maximum legal dose for a person in a year could be reached after just two to five hours close to these ‘hot spots’, Greenpeace said. The level of dose in the residential area was close to normal. Rainspotting in Bangalore – Greenpeace survey finds radiation 5000 times background levels in Delhi market

May 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, India | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radioactive | 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

Nuclear industry rebuffed: Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin

In practice, affordable power and long-term waste disposal are two requirements that nuclear power is incapable of meeting

Nuclear Loan Guarantees Will Meet State Resistance, Connecticut News, May 13, 2010 , by Jonathan Kantrowit “…….The following is an overview of the nuclear industry’s failed state legislative efforts in 2010:

• Arizona. SolarCity, Kyocera Solar, Inc. and Suntech Power Holdings joined with other solar energy providers in February to warn that if Arizona House Bill 2701 (HB 2701) was passed into law, it would have jeopardized Arizona’s entire renewable energy industry. Continue reading →

May 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, energy efficiency, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors, renewable energy, renewables | Leave a comment

UK’s new coalition government will promote renewable energy, not nuclear

Blue and yellow make green as the new Government’s policies emerge, Telegraph UK, 12 May 2010, Nuclear power, coal and airport expansion look like being the big losers under the new government, with energy-saving, renewables and greener transport the big winners. …… Continue reading →

May 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | antinuclear, energy efficiency, nuclear wastes, renewable energy, renewables | 1 Comment

Uranium mining ‘rush” could be a ‘crash’ for Africa

Uranium ‘Rush’ Or ‘Crush’ for Erongo?, allAfrica.com: Adam Hartman 11 May 2010 “…………there are also elements that could turn this positive outlook into a uranium ‘crush’, with serious social, economic and environmental implications.One element is government’s non consideration to re-invest uranium revenue back into the environment and communities effected by the rush. Another element is an unforeseen event that destabilises uranium prices and the global uranium market, resulting in mines ‘turning off the lights and walking away’. Continue reading →

May 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Namibia, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium | 1 Comment

North Korea’s nuclear fusion not likely to be for real

North Korea nuclear claim met with skepticism, THIS JUST IN, May 12th, 2010 North Korea announced Wednesday that its scientists had created a nuclear fusion reaction – a claim nuclear experts quickly cast doubt on. “Nobody in the world has been able to sustain a controlled nuclear fusion reaction, the ultimate goal of nuclear technology,” said Dan Pinkston, head of the Seoul office of the International Crisis Group. “I don’t think the North Koreans are going to start … putting nuclear power vendors around the world out of business any time soon.”
Nuclear fusion is the same process that fuels stars, but has never been sustained in the laboratory by any nation, much less one of the poorest nations on earth.
North Korea nuclear claim met with skepticism

May 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, technology | antinuclear, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes | 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

Russia to help Syria develop nuclear technology

Russia hints at Syrian nuclear plant aid, Scotsman.com News, 12 May 2010, RUSSIA may help build a nuclear power plant in Syria, president Dmitry Medvedev said yesterday, a step that could upset the West due to unresolved allegations Damascus tried to construct a potential nuclear weapons facility in secret.In 2007, Israel destroyed what Washington said was a nascent nuclear reactor in Syria and a UN investigation to determine what the target was has stalled due to a lack of co-operation from Syria.On the first Russian state visit to Syria since 1917, Mr Medvedev said: “Co-operation on atomic energy could get a second wind.” Russia hints at Syrian nuclear plant aid – Scotsman.com News

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

Finland’s 100,000-Year Plan to Banish Its Nuclear Waste

There are somewhere between 250,000 and 300,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste already in the world, much of it in pools on the sites of nuclear power plants where the rods have to cool for years before they can be put into containers.

Films on ScienceFinland’s 100,000-Year Plan to Banish Its Nuclear Waste – NYTimes.com, 11 May 2010, Continue reading →

May 11, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Finland, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive | Leave a comment

Radioactive water reaches aquifer

Tainted nuke plant water reaches major NJ aquifer, Google hosted news, By WAYNE PARRY (AP) –9 May, 2010, LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Radioactive water that leaked from the nation’s oldest nuclear power plant has now reached a major underground aquifer that supplies drinking water to much of southern New Jersey, the state’s environmental chief said Friday.The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station to halt the spread of contaminated water underground,……….. Continue reading →

May 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, water | antinuclear, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, water | Leave a comment

Obama to visit Australia: gets nuclear agreement first

Australian-U.S. Nuclear Trade Deal Sent to Congress, NTI: Global Security Newswire May 6, 2010

U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday submitted for congressional approval a deal that would permit Australia and the United States to trade in nonmilitary nuclear materials and technology (see GSN, March 19)………….the deal would enable “the transfer of information, material, equipment (including reactors), and components for nuclear research and nuclear power production………..The pending “123” agreement could only be canceled after it has been in force for 30 years, he said. The deal would take effect following 90 days of “continuous session” of Congress unless lawmakers move to block it within that period…………The United States is also moving ahead with a similar deal with Russia and is finalizing terms of its nuclear trade pact with India (see GSN, May 5; White House release, May 5).

NTI: Global Security Newswire – Australian-U.S. Nuclear Trade Deal Sent to Congress

May 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, USA | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear Power Plants “large white elephants” says World Bank

Nuclear power in developing countries: radioactive waste, proliferation and debt « Charles Santiago 6 May 2010,The World Bank view – NPPs are large white elephant s T he World Bank has labeled nuclear plants “large white elephants”.. Its Environmental Assessment Source Book is unambiguous about nuclear’s problems: “Nuclear plants are thus uneconomic Continue reading →

May 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear power a financially risky option for developing countries

Nuclear power in developing countries: radioactive waste, proliferation and debt « Charles Santiago 6 May 2010, For developing countries, nuclear power is a high cost option -environmentally, socially and economically…….
A history of failure in developing countries Continue reading →

May 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | ASIA, business and costs | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, reactors | 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

Dissent in Malaysia over nuclear power

it will involve toxic waste disposal and a radioactive system that can harm the environment,”

Selangor against nuclear power plant newstraitstimes 2010/05/05 SHAH ALAM: Selangor has refused to support and allow the construction of a nuclear power plant in the state as it believes other energy sources are available. Continue reading →

May 6, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | ASIA, politics | antinuclear, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment