nuclear wastes « nuclear-news

America’s rickety old nuclear reactors becoming dangerous

As reactor owners petition to extend operating licenses for decades to come, the rickety, embrittled old plants become increasingly dangerous.

Is the “Nuclear Renaissance” Dead Yet?, HUFFINGTON POST, Harvey Wasserman: 13 Sept 2010, “……America’s aging fleet of first generation reactors is leaking profusely. Indian Point, north of Manhattan, has suffered seven unplanned shut-downs in two years. In recent months serious emissions of tritium and other radioactive substances into the air and water have been found at Vermont Yankee, Indian Point, New Jersey’s Oyster Creek and many more. Ohio’s infamous Davis-Besse, where boric acid ate virtually all the way through a reactor pressure vessel, has sprung some two dozen leaks which cannot be explained by its owner, First Energy. In Vermont, leaks from pipes the operators said did not exist have seeped contaminated water into the Connecticut River. As reactor owners petition to extend operating licenses for decades to come, the rickety, embrittled old plants become increasingly dangerous.

Harvey Wasserman: Is the “Nuclear Renaissance” Dead Yet?

September 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Danger in blending Class A radioactive wastes with hotter classes

blended waste should be dealt with as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s low-level radioactive waste, with careful attention paid to public-safety issues…..Under Utah law, Energy- Solutions is banned from taking waste hotter than Class A.

NRC head urges caution on waste blending | The Salt Lake Tribune, By JUDY FAHYS Sep 10, 2010 Las Vegas • Blended radioactive waste won’t be coming to Utah anytime soon if the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission adopts its leader’s position. Continue reading →

September 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

USA needs to make India change its law, in order to sell U.S. nukes

the nuclear ndustry in the US too seems to have been taken aback by the Civil Liability for the Nuclear Damages Bill, 2010……..the legislation would be “a significant deterrent not only to US nuclear business but, equally importantly, to Indian and other international private business as well”.

Nuclear liability bill: US looks to ‘changes’; BJP cries foul – The Times of India, NEW DELHI: 8 Sept 10, Even before the collective sigh of relief in the government over safe passage to the nuclear liability bill in Parliament could end, the US on Tuesday queered the pitch yet again by stating that it was already looking at “changes” in the bill. Continue reading →

September 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

USA plays musical chairs with cancer-causing nuclear wastes moving from California to Utah

“significant amounts of soil contaminated with carcinogenic dioxins, heavy metals and radioactive materials” will be removed from the site and taken to licensed waste dumps, including one in Utah,

Santa Susana Nuclear Site’s Toxic Dirt to be Shipped to Utah : Clean Ups : Curbed LA, September 7, 2010, by Adrian Glick Kudler,The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, home to a Cold War nuclear test site, should be all cleaned up, just 58 years after a partial nuclear meltdown. Continue reading →

September 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Spiralling costs threaten nuclear industry – France, UK, Bulgaria

A particular concern is the specter of spiraling costs at a high-profile project at Olkiluoto in Finland, where Areva, a French nuclear reactor builder, agreed in 2005 to build a next-generation plant, called E.P.R.

New Warnings About Costs of Nuclear Power in Bulgaria and Britain – NYTimes.com August 31, 2010, By JAMES KANTER As anticipation grows about a possible renaissance for the nuclear power industry — and about its potential for curbing greenhouse gas emissions — some politicians are stepping up warnings about the high cost of such projects. Continue reading →

September 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, EUROPE | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, reactors | Leave a comment

The nuclear power option favours American business, not the Indian people

Super profits for American corporations or true concern for the Indian people — this is the question today. The answer, unfortunately for our people, is in favour of the former……a tragedy exponentially worse than Bhopal is waiting to happen.

A moral meltdown – Hindustan Times, Sitaram Yechury , 1 Sept 10, “……The PM has announced the target of generating 40,000 MW of nuclear power. By using the nuclear option, India would be spending way beyond R3 lakh crore more than by using the available thermal, hydro or other options. Continue reading →

September 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, reactors | Leave a comment

Radioactive gas leaks from Australia’s nuclear reactor: govt cover-up

the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPNSA) has been involved in a two year cover up of intentionally released radioactive plumes

Australia’s Radiation Cover Up, The Intel Hub, August 30, 2010 By Michelle Jones On November 3, 2006, in Lucas Heights Australia, OPAL, the Open Pool Australian Light-Water Reactor was throttled to full power. There was grave opposition to this $400 million science research/nuclear facility, a facility used for the science and manufacturing of nuclear medicines. Those who opposed the facility claimed that the dangers of a nuclear fission facility were too high to allow such a facility to operate in Australia. Continue reading →

September 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactor | 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

10 years to ‘clean up’ Iraq’s nuclear sites?

the clearing operation which had been estimated to take up to 10 years. So far scientists have only cleared one site in central Baghdad.

EU to help Iraq dismantle old nuclear facilities . (Reuters), By Aseel Kami. Aug 29, 2010 BAGHDAD, – The European Union signed a 2.5 million euro ($3.2 million) agreement with Iraq on Sunday to help Iraqi scientists’ dismantle, decommission and decontaminate nuclear facilities built under dictator Saddam Hussein……. Continue reading →

August 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iraq, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Dangerous nuclear wastes – what a mess at Hanford!

“This is one of the most challenging cleanup projects at the Hanford Site, because the records don’t tell us exactly what’s buried here,

Hazardous materials removed from burial ground in Hanford – KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA , 27 Aug 2010, RICHLAND, Wash.— Workers are making their first entry into one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s most hazardous waste burial grounds containing radioactive and hazardous materials at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state. Continue reading →

August 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Cold war replay as nuclear boys play with their underwater toys

Russian subs stalk Trident in echo of Cold War – Telegraph UK, 28 Aug 2010, Russian submarines are hunting down British Vanguard boats in a return to Cold War tactics not seen for 25 years, Navy chiefs have warned. By Thomas Harding, 27 Aug 2010 Continue reading →

August 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Growing resistance to radioactive waste shipments on the Great Lakes

In addition to the radiological risks of one of these barges sinking — including stigma impacts on economic sectors such as Great Lakes tourism and fisheries, even if there is not a radioactive release — there is also the precedent setting nature of this proposal.

Resistance builds to radioactive waste shipments on Great Lakes, Beyond Nuclear, 26 Aug 2010, The Great Lakes United (GLU) Nuclear-Free/Green Energy Task Force has taken the lead in shining a spotlight on the proposal by Bruce Nuclear Power Complex in Ontario to barge 16 radioactive steam generators out the Great Lakes, and across the Atlantic, to Sweden for “recycling” the metal for un-restricted re-use in consumer products. Continue reading →

August 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, environment | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Climate change effects could stop nuclear industry

.the effects of climate change could make it to impossible to run nuclear reactors.

The Nuclear Industry Needs A Cap On Carbon To Survive, Wonk Room 26 Aug 2010, “……..the effects of climate change could make it to impossible to run nuclear reactors. For example, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has drastically reduced power generation at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant this summer: The Tennessee Valley Authority has lost nearly $50 million in power generation from its biggest nuclear plant because the Tennessee River in Alabama is too hot Continue reading →

August 26, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, USA | antinuclear, climate change, global warming, nuclear renaissance, nuclear wastes, reactors, water | 1 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

Radioactive impact of Chernobyl still affecting Europe

24 Years After Chernobyl, Radioactive Boars Still Roam Germany | Discover Magazine, 21 Aug 2010, A quarter-century after the catastrophe, Chernobyl can’t stay out of the news.When fires broke out in Russia this month, people worried that the flames would spread to areas still affected by the radiation, with unknown consequences. And this week, we learned that Chernobyl-related radiation is actually on the rise somewhere else: in German boars. Continue reading →