nuclear « nuclear-news

Even the nuclear industry itself knows that its future is dodgy

SMi’s 3rd Annual Financing Nuclear Power Conference Will Connect Experts And Executives Nuclear Street, – By April Murelio 8 March 2010,”….. -According to the World Business Academy the availability and cost of financing for new nuclear plants will depend on:

• The level and certainty of government subsidies and incentives•

*The comparative cost and performance of renewable energy sources•

The timing of capital markets’ recovery from the credit crisis•

Estimated construction costs• The structure of the target electricity market (competitive market v. more traditional, regulated cost-of-service market)

• Assessments of plants’ lifetime capacity and performance

• Resolution of the long-term waste storage problem

• Public opinion about nuclear power…

March 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, reactor | Leave a comment

International nuclear poker game

Israel. Iran, United States and Global Nuclear Poker, The Next Big Future 5 March, 2010, Netanyahu is playing poker and hiding his most important card: the Israel Defense Forces’ true capabilities to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations………… Continue reading →

March 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

The very secret costs of nuclear power

Hidden Costs of the nuclear industry – Secrecy about Nuclear Costs
The secrecy surrounding nuclear industry costs has two main aspects:
1. Nuclear power is intrinsically connected to nuclear weapons, and the costs of these are kept very much hidden by all states.
2.In States where the government runs the nuclear industry, the true costs are well hidden. (Spare a thought for the USA – warts and all, the USA, in trying to run a privatised nuclear industry, does allow public flow of information about THE MONEY.) – The true costs of nuclear power – our theme for March 2010

March 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1 | antinuclear, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, reactor, wastes | Leave a comment

Court orders Exxon Mobil to pay up for radiation contamination

The claims are among thousands pending against Exxon and other oil companies over allegations that they put employees and residents near pipe-cleaning operations at risk from radiation- related diseases, particularly cancer.

Exxon Must Pay $1.2 Million for Workers’ Radiation (Update2) – BusinessWeek, )March 05, 2010,By Bob Van Voris and Leslie Snadowsky, March 5 (Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. energy company, must pay $1.2 million to 16 Louisiana workers who claimed they were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation when they were cleaning used oil drilling pipes, a jury said. Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Slovakian communities win right to stop uranium mining

more power and control to local communities, municipal and regional authorities. This will allow them stop or limit geological research of uranium deposits and to stop proposed uranium mining.

Victory! Uranium mining in Slovakia? No way! – Nuclear Reaction -6 March 2010, Regular readers of Nuclear Reaction may remember the campaign in Slovakia to have the law changed so that the country’s local communities can … Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear ‘renaissance’ stalls in Minnesota

Bill to lift nuclear plant construction ban stalls in Senate committee, POLITICS IN MINNESOTA, by Charley Shaw, March 4,2010,
Last year, the state Senate passed a bill that lifted the state’s moratorium on nuclear power plant construction.

This year, the fate of the same proposal is now bogged down in a Senate committee. On Thursday, the Senate Energy committee approved a controversial amendment….As amended, the bill bars utilities from charging ratepayers for construction costs before a plant is completed. Doll’s amendment also requires that a federal nuclear waste repository be created before any new Minnesota construction.

» Bill to lift nuclear plant construction ban stalls in Senate committee

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance | Leave a comment

Groundwater threatened by uranium mining

“It’s a huge potential for contamination of groundwater.”

Uranium Mining In The Black Hills – Debra White Plume’s Response to ‘Clean Nuclear’ Republic of Lakotah, March 3, 2010 The planned uranium mine site in the southern Black Hills can impact four aquifers. Powertech, Inc. USA plans to begin uranium extraction in 2011 and operate for 15 years in the permit area of 10,580 acres located in Dewey and Burdock Counties, north of Edgemont, SD. Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, environment, water | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, radiation, radioactive | 1 Comment

Depleted uranium in Utah violates laws

Politics Up Close: HEAL Utah on Depleted Uranium Study | KCPW03.05.2010 by Jeff Robinson, Governor Gary Herbert has struck a deal to keep additional depleted uranium out of the state for now. But thousands of drums of it are already here, some buried, some about to be buried in the west desert at EnergySolutions facility. But a new report commissioned by the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah says this violates federal and state law on low-level waste disposal. We’re joined by Executive Director Vanessa Pierce and Dr. Arjun Makhijani with the Institute for Environmental and Energy Research.

Politics Up Close: HEAL Utah on Depleted Uranium Study | KCPW

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1 | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Britain’s churches unite against nuclear weapons proliferation

Government advisor backs churches’ campaign against nuclear proliferation | Ekklesia, 5 March 2010, Baroness Shirley Williams is urging government action on the proliferation of nuclear weapons as one of the greatest threats to the survival of humankind. Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

New uranium mine in Canada to avoid federal environmental assessment

Nunavut uranium proposal won’t undergo federal review, CBC News, 5 March 2010, A uranium mine being proposed in Nunavut will not be subject to a federal environmental assessment, but instead be reviewed by a territorial regulator. Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, environment | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

US Dept of Energy close to awarding loan guarantee to French nuclear power company

Chu: DOE close to award of $2B loan guarantee to Areva, by Dan Yurman , 03/04/2010 The $2 billion measure would aid financing of the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility in IdahoDow Jones reports Mar 5 U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that his department is “closing in” on a final decision for a loan guarantee for Areva’s nuclear project in Idaho.In testimony before a Senate appropriations committee Mar 5, Chu was asked why the nuclear loan guarantee is taking so long to award and said: “We’re closing in on that.”Sen. Bob Bennett (R., Utah) said due diligence on the Eagle Rock uranium enrichment project was completed in October.

Chu: DOE close to award of $2B loan guarantee to Areva

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, USA | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin, reactor, uranium | Leave a comment

Crooked dealings in uranium-rich Kazakhstan

Kazakhs accuse ex-uranium boss of money laundering

Mining Weekly, -2010-03-04By: Reuters

4th March 2010 , ASTANA – Kazakhstan on Thursday accused a former uranium tycoon of money laundering and said its security service had launched a new criminal probe into his affairs in a case that has shaken confidence in the Central Asian state.

One of Kazakhstan’s most prominent business figures, Mukhtar Dzhakishev was arrested last year on accusations of corruption, theft and illegal sales of uranium assets to foreign companies…..

Kazakhstan, hit hard by global economic slowdown, wants to attract fresh foreign investment as well as bolster the role of the state in strategic industries such as uranium and oil.

It has also alarmed human rights groups who have questioned Kazakhstan’s methods of fighting corruption in a country where President Nursultan Nazarbayev, in power for two decades, tolerates little political dissent.http://www.miningweekly.com/article/kazakhs-accuse-ex-uranium-boss-of-money-laundering-2010-03-04

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Kazakhstan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, uranium | Leave a comment

Depleted uranium causing birth defects in Iraq?

Fallujah doctors report rise in birth defects, BBC News`4 March, John Simpson talks about the children with birth defects he saw in Fallujah Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Documenting nuclear effects on indigenous peoples

Children of Armageddon/May the Bomb Be With You spotlights nuclear bombing suvivors, Ten Thousand Things: 1 March 2010, –in Japan, the Marshall Islands, Tahiti & New ZealandVancouver-based film director Fabienne Lips-Dumas creates a cinematic portrait of the legacy of some of the world’s 2,000 nuclear bomb explosions–focusing on Japan, the Marshall Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand and the planet–in her 2009 documentary film Children of Armageddon/May the Bomb Be With You: Continue reading →

March 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Biggest uranium miner downgraded due to failing uranium price

Cameco downgraded on weak uranium price Financial Post March 03, 2010, by Eric Lam Saskatchewan Even Cameco Corp., the biggest player in the uranium industry, cannot escape recent weaknesses in the mineral’s spot price.
Fraser Phillips, analyst with RBC Capital Markets, has downgraded Cameco Continue reading →