nuclear wastes « nuclear-news

Lies and omissions at Copenhagen, about nuclear power

Helen Caldicott slams environmental groups on Climate Bill, Nuclear Concessions 22 December 2009 by: Art Levine, t r u t h o u t | Report

Dr. Helen Caldicott, the pioneering Australian antinuclear activist and pediatrician who spearheaded the global nuclear freeze movement of the 1980s and co-founded Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), has joined with left-leaning environmental groups here in an uphill fight to halt nuclear power as a “solution” to the global warming crisis. “Global warming is the greatest gift the nuclear industry has ever received,” Dr. Caldicott told Truthout. Continue reading →

December 23, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, climate change | antinuclear, climate change, Copenhagen, nuclear, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

Canadian govt carefully tweaks nuclear information

Nuclear safety HARPER BIZARRO (Canada) December 22, 2009 …On January 15, 2008 – in the dead of the night – Stephen Harper and Gary Lunn fired Canada’s world-respected nuclear regulator, Linda Keen.

They then appointed a career bureaucrat to head up the Nuclear Safety Commission. They wanted to silence the regulatory arm of Canada’s nuclear industry. They have succeeded, apparently. Continue reading →

December 23, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Unique problem in managing depleted uranium wastes

At issue is the unique composition of depleted uraniumm — a byproduct of the process that enriches uranium, in this case from weapons production — that results in the material becoming more radioactive over time.

Weather slows unloading of depleted uranium at EnergySolution By Arthur RaymondDeseret News , Dec. 22, 2009 Continue reading →

December 23, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Colorado residents’ anxiety over uranium mining and water

Residents voice uranium project concerns Speakers at Nunn meeting share opinions about proposed uranium mine and pump test BY BOBBY MAGILL coloradoan.com December 22, 2009 NUNN – Standing before a crowd of more than 100 people Monday night, Fort Collins resident Diane Marschke said she doesn’t think it matters if Powertech USA’s proposed Centennial Project uranium mine pollutes the water. “When people hear there’s a uranium mine 10 miles away, they aren’t going to come here,” she said. Marschke and about 15 others confronted U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency officials at the Nunn Community Center with their opinions about a proposed water pump test that will tell Powertech if its in situ leaching method of uranium mining is viable in the area.

Residents voice uranium project concerns | coloradoan.com | The Coloradoan

December 23, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

EU and Russia: nuclear pact

EU to negotiate nuclear agreement with Russia http://www.chinaview.cn BRUSSELS, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) — The Council of the European Union on Tuesday mandated the European Commission to negotiate a broad nuclear partnership agreement with Russia. The European Atomic Energy Community and the Russian Federation will negotiate an agreement for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, according to an official press release…………..The negotiations for a broad nuclear agreement are necessary because of recent developments, such as the latest EU enlargements and the renewed interest in nuclear energy as an alternative to reduce CO2 emissions from energy generation, the press release said. Russia is one of the main global suppliers of nuclear materials and equipment. It is also a key supplier of nuclear fuel and related nuclear fuel cycle services to nuclear power plant operators in the EU.

EU to negotiate nuclear agreement with Russia_English_Xinhua

December 23, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

Nuclear reactors that look good, but don’t really work

Nuclear reactor cutaway diagrams companion Nuclear Reaction Justin on December 21, 2009 Thanks to the Boing Boing website, we’ve found these very cool cutaway diagrams of nuclear reactors. They’ve been executed with love and care, and point to a future that was supposed to promise unlimited, clean and safe electricity.

Unfortunately, the diagrams lack the individual reactor designs’ histories. So, here is the handy cut-out-and-keep Nuclear Reaction nuclear reactor cutaway diagrams companion……. Continue reading →

December 22, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Why nuclear power is useless against global warming

Nuclear power not the answer to global warming Bleeding Heartland by: desmoinesdem Wed Dec 17, 2009 To avoid the most catastrophic impacts of global warming, the U.S. needs to cut power plant emissions roughly in half over the next 10 years.
* Nuclear power is too slow to contribute to this effort. No new reactors are now under construction and building a single reactor could take 10 years or longer, while costing billions of dollars. Continue reading →

December 17, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, USA | antinuclear, climate change, nuclear, nuclear wastes | 2 Comments

Poor safety, corruption in China’s nuclear program

Nuclear Power Expansion in China Stirs Concerns The New York Times By KEITH BRADSHER 15 Dec 09 inside and outside the country, the speed of the construction program has raised safety concerns.
The last country to carry out such a rapid nuclear expansion was the United States in the 1970s, in a binge of reactor construction that ended with the Three Mile Island accident Continue reading →

December 17, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Nuclear workers’ cancer from radiation

More former Hanford workers eligible for money Seattle pi THE ASSOCIATED PRESS December 16, 2009 RICHLAND, Wash. — More former workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation may be eligible for compensation for developing cancer due to radiation exposure. Continue reading →

December 17, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radioactive | Leave a comment

Utah doesn’t want depleted uranium wastes

Utah gov to DOE: Halt depleted uranium shipment By BROCK VERGAKIS (AP) 16 Dec 09 SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Gary Herbert sent Energy Secretary Steven Chu a letter Tuesday asking him to halt the shipment of nearly 15,000 drums of low-level radioactive waste from South Carolina for disposal in Utah.Herbert’s letter was released hours before the DOE was scheduled to begin the first of three shipments from the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C………… Continue reading →

December 16, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear agency gets euro-billions and a changed nam

France puts into future nuclear World Nuclear News 15 December 2009 ...Next-generation nuclear is to receive a billion-euro boost thanks to a French investment program. Meanwhile the country’s main nuclear research body has been re-branded. Initial details of a spending plan worth €35 billion ($51 billion) were announced by President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday………

…..the organisation is from now on to be known as the Commission of Atomic Energy and Alternative Energy – for which French officials have decided to use the same initials, CEA.

France puts into future nuclear

December 16, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, spinbuster | antinuclear, France, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

KYRGYZSTAN highly polluted by uranium tailings

KYRGYZSTAN: Mailuu-Suu ranked third in the list of world’s worst polluted places URANIUM TAILINGS 8 Dec 09 URANIUM.KG Mailuu-Suu in Kyrgyzstan ranked third in the list of the world’s worst polluted places according to the report issued by the New-York-based of Blacksmith Institute for 2009.This list, which is compiled annually, is formed from 1100 geographical spots, where state of environment causes serious concern Continue reading →

December 15, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Kyrgyzstan | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Anti- nuclear protest at Copenhagen

Nuclear power protested from Copenhagen to Washington FACING SOUTH 11 Dec 09 The nuclear power industry’s efforts to promote new reactors as a solution to climate change is inspiring creative protests by environmentalists.
At the U.N. Climate Summit in Copenhagen yesterday, members of environmental groups that are part of the international Don’t Nuke the Climate campaign placed a radiation-protection mask on the city’s iconic Little Mermaid statue.

The protests are leading up to tomorrow’s international “Don’t Nuke the Climate!” action day, with more than 200 actions planned in a dozen countries.

Here in the United States, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) — a nuclear power watchdog group with offices in Asheville, N.C. — has several actions planned for today and tomorrow. Also involved are Public Citizen, Beyond Nuclear, Friends of the Earth and the Chesapeake Safe Energy Coalition……………The protesters say that new nuclear plants do not offer a real solution to climate change because it takes about 10 years to build a single reactor — longer than we can wait to start making carbon reductions — and because those reactors are enormously expensive, sucking up investments that could be spent on more efficient technologies.

In addition, the protesters point out that nuclear power does in fact produce greenhouse gases — when reactors are constructed and in the mining, transport and reprocessing of fuel. At the same time, global warming puts nuclear plants at risk, with a growing number of reactors being shut down due to summer heat waves and droughts that impact their cooling systems.

To date, more than 850 organizations worldwide have signed a statement that says, “We do not support construction of new nuclear reactors as a means of addressing the climate crisis. Available renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies are faster, cheaper, safer and cleaner strategies for reducing greenhouse emissions than nuclear power.” More than 50,000 people in 112 countries have signed a similar petition in the past two months.

ISS – Nuclear power protested from Copenhagen to Washington

December 11, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, Denmark | antinuclear, climate change, Copenhagen, nuclear, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

AREVA falsifies the facts on nuclear power

For Copenhagen, AREVA makes the false nuclear case Beyond Nuclear 12 Dec 09 In anticipation of the Copenhagen climate conference which began this week, Areva CEO, Anne Lauvergeon, stated during a French radio interview that nuclear power “does not release CO2″ and that it “produces very little waste.”

These remarks were immediately condemned by the leading independent French radiological laboratory -CRIIRAD -who demanded that Lauvergeon take immediate steps to clean up the company’s contaminated African uranium mine sites in Gabon and Niger.

CRIIRAD also reminded Lauvergeon that (1) nuclear releases significant amounts of greenhouse gases, (2) that every stage of the nuclear fuel chain produces large quantities of radioactive wastes for which no safe storage solution has been found and (3) Areva has left populations to live on land or in dwellings contaminated by its activities.

Any decisions made at Copenhagen should not be based on erroneous information emanating from the nuclear industry, CRIIRAD said. From uranium extraction to enrichment, reprocessing and contamination of water supplies, Areva’s nuclear activities leave a virtually permanent trail of highly radioactive waste. The CRIIRAD press release is available in French and contains details of the radioactive contamination caused by Areva’s activities in France and overseas. And see also an article in English from Agence France Presse about Areva’s radioactive contamination in Gabon.

December 11, 2009 Posted by Christina MacPherson | 1 | antinuclear, climate change, global warming, nuclear, radioactive | No Comments Yet | Edit

December 11, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, France, spinbuster | antinuclear, AREVA, Copenhagen, France, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Depleted uranium -a pending disaster

Vital Truths and Information Clearing House: Excerpts from Depleted Uranium – Far Worse Than 9/11 not anotherconspiracy.com 12 Dec 09 Depleted Uranium Dust – Public Health Disaster For The People Of Iraq and Afghanistan, Bosnia and Serbia and the Military in the Regions.by Doug Westerman and other sourcesIn 1979, depleted uranium (DU) particles escaped from the National Lead Industries factory near Albany, N.Y., Continue reading →

December 11, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, USA | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment