nuclear weapons « nuclear-news

Short refresher on ionising radiation and health

Radiation Poisoning, Sickness (Radioactivity) Symptoms | Health Articles, 28 June 2010, Radiation can simply be divided into ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. Radioactive materials are a source of ionizing radiation because they emit particles (particulate radiation) and waves that can penetrate certain substances. There are three types of ionizing radiation that is of concern in terms of a person’s health : Continue reading →

June 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Dangerous idea: Plutonium powered nuclear facilities planned for space

the Obama administration would turn to nuclear power in space — and on Earth.
We have been seeing — for two months now — the damage of technology run amok in the Gulf of Mexico. Consider the consequences of dangerous, expensive, unnecessary nuclear-powered technology running amok above our heads

Obama Seeks to Revive Space Nuclear Power, Karl Grossman, June 25, 2010 Despite its huge dangers, the Obama administration is seeking to revive the use of nuclear power in space. It wants the U.S. to produce the plutonium isotope that has been used for electric generation in space and is also looking to build nuclear-propelled rockets for missions to Mars.. Continue reading →

June 26, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Not hard to get hold of Highly Enriched Uranium, especially in Russia

What’s It Take to Build a Nuclear Weapon? | TakePart by Adam Trunell, 25 June 2010, The Nuclear Material “………The most important ingredient in a nuclear bomb is the nuclear stuff itself, which is also the hardest to get. No way can you find nuclear material like plutonium or highly enriched uranium stockpiled in a tool shed behind some half-hearted padlock. Right? Wrong.

Every nuclear-powered nation on the planet has nuclear material, and not all of it’s under lock and key. Civilian stockpiles in Europe and Japan aren’t staffed by armed guards, nor are most nuclear research reactors on U.S. college campuses.But if you’re looking for a truly easy score, try Russia. Continue reading →

June 26, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, weapons and war | antinuclear, depleted, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, reactors, uranium | 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 Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, politics international | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, reactors, uranium | 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 Christina Macpherson | UK, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive | 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 Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Enrichment of uranium continuing in Iran

Iran has produced 17 kilos of 20% enriched uranium Tehran Times June 24, 2010 TEHRAN – Iran has produced 17 kilograms of uranium enriched to the 20 percent level, an official announced on Wednesday. “(We) have produced over 17 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium, and we have the ability to produce 5 kilograms a month, but we are not in a hurry,” Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Director Ali Akbar Salehi said during a visit to the ISNA news agency. Iran will continue to enrich uranium up to the purity level of 20 percent to the extent the country needs, Salehi stated….. tehran times : Iran has produced 17 kilos of 20% enriched uranium

June 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, uranium | Leave a comment

China investing in USA’s USEC uranium enrichment comany

Fuel Maker for Reactors Has China as Investor – NYTimes.com, 24 June 2010, “…….Even a passive Chinese government stake in USEC could draw attention in Washington for its strategic and diplomatic implications. USEC, the parent of the United States Enrichment Corporation, is a cornerstone of America’s nuclear establishment, with classified operations that date back to the initial development of the atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project in World War II……

With $2 billion a year in sales, USEC holds about 30 percent of the worldwide uranium enrichment market for commercial reactors.

And it has been at the center of an Energy Department-administered program to take highly enriched uranium from former Soviet military stockpiles and dilute it for USEC to sell as fuel in civilian nuclear reactors, the so-called megatons-to-megawatts program. It may now do the same for the United States military after President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia signed an agreement in April calling for deep cuts in nuclear weapons…….

Fuel Maker for Reactors Has China as Investor – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com

June 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, uranium | Leave a comment

Questions in Washington on costs of nuclear weapons

Langevin calls for precise tally of nuclear weapons costs , Projo 7 to 7 News Blog | Rhode Island news | The Providence Journal Jun 22, 2010 | John E. Mulligan, Washington bureau
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin has joined a Republican colleague in calling for a more precise accounting of what it costs to develop and maintain the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Continue reading →

June 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons | 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 Christina Macpherson | safety, South Africa | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Ionising radiation at Niagara Falls – long buried secret of nuclear wastes

The nuclear age is littered with tragedies of unnecessary contamination of unsuspecting populations because of the pretense by government and the nuclear industry that the very real hazard of low levels of internal exposure is no hazard at all.

Radiation Alert: Niagara Falls , The Palestine Telegraph, June 21, By Paul Zimmerman and Louis Ricciuti, “………..Witnessing all this sunshine activity around you, you remain innocently oblivious to the underlying reality being played out before your eyes on this summer day, 2010, in downtown Niagara Falls, New York. In truth, the scene is shrouded by a pall, both invisible and macabre. For you see, what is being excavated besides decayed roadway are dirty little secrets long buried. The dirt and dust taking flight upon the wind is laced with radioactive waste!……….. Continue reading →

June 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Truth emerging on health ill effects of low levels of ionising radiation

Radiation Alert: Niagara Falls , The Palestine Telegraph, June 21, – By Paul Zimmerman and Louis Ricciuti, “…….In the last half century, numerous incidents have testified to the hazard to health from low levels of internal emitters, radionuclides absorbed from nuclear pollution in the environment which undergo radioactive decay while sequestered within the human body’s interior. In many cases, injury was incurred from levels of exposure significantly below what the radiation protection agencies consider the threshold for radiation-induced illness. Continue reading →

June 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

China to sell nuclear reactors to Pakistan, as U.S. to sell them to India

Having muscled the Indian deal through the NSG in 2008, the US is likely to struggle to forge a consensus against China’s deal with Pakistan.

US defies China on Pakistan reactors Jeremy Page, Islamabad The Australian * June 22, 2010 CHINA and the US are on a collision course over Chinese plans to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan. Continue reading →

June 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons, reactors | Leave a comment

The Bunker mentality – U.S. nuclear weapons plans

The Obama administration is making generous concessions to the nuclear industry presumably, as alluded to above, to win votes from Republicans….ways to keep the “nuclear-industrial complex” humming along,

Seed of Destruction: Nuclear ‘Pits’, Foreign Policy In Focus , By Russ Wellen, June 21, 2010 “……The nuclear-weapons industry adopted the word “pit” for the weapon’s core, which is power-packed with the varieties of uranium or plutonium isotopes capable of a warp-speed chain reaction. Yes, it’s a seed for the a chain reaction. ……the pit instead serves as a cache for .. a seed of destruction……

A project for their production is pivotal to the Obama administration’s plans for nuclear modernization. In a Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists piece titled Bunker mentality: Is NNSA digging itself into a hole at Los Alamos?, Greg Mello writes that “as part of the New START ratification package, the administration projects $16 billion in new warhead spending over this decade.” Continue reading →

June 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors | Leave a comment

Harsh conditions forced by Israel on nuclear whistleblower

Israeli nuclear whistleblower returned to solitary confinement 21 June 2010, Amnesty International has accused the Israeli authorities of subjecting jailed nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by holding him in solitary confinement.The 56-year-old, who spent 18 years in prison for revealing details of the country’s nuclear arsenal to a UK newspaper in 1986, was sent back to jail for three months on 23 May on charges of contact with a foreign national, and almost immediately placed in solitary confinement. Continue reading →