nuclear « nuclear-news

Olkiluoto nuclear plant – a shining example of folly of nuclear costs

ENERGY: Nuclear Does Not Make Economic Sense Say Studies Australia.to 14 February 2010 by Julio Godoy
“…….Actually, there is a new nuclear power plant that serves as a warning example of the risks involved in such a project: the nuclear power plant of Olkiluoto 3 in Finland, under construction since 2004.

Although the plant was supposed to have started delivering electricity in May 2009, its completion was postponed several times in the past two years. Continue reading →

February 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Finland | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin | 1 Comment

Big Powers to get big nuclear sales to India

Doors Wide Open For Nuclear Technology Exports to India By Prakash Joshi IDN-InDepth News 15 Feb 2010

NEW DELHI (IDN) – The door has finally been thrown open for a free flow of nuclear exports to India. The four nuclear weapons states — USA, Russia, France and Britain — Continue reading →

February 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, India | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

Is AREVA losing faith in the ‘nuclear renaissance’ ?

Areva Switching From Nuclear Power To Solar ? The Oil Drum by Big Gav February 14, 2010

French energy company Areva (best known for its nuclear power business) has purchased solar thermal power company Ausra – yet another example of a promising Australian technology company ending up with foreign ownership.

One possible positive interpretation of the news is that Areva are losing faith in the oft-predicted but unrealised “nuclear renaissance” and now see the real future growth opportunities in large scale solar power, with nuclear power (at best) a legacy business……………. Continue reading →

February 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, climate change, France | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, renewable energy, renewables, solar | Leave a comment

AREVA’s deceptive message about ‘clean’ nuclear energy

AREVA’s Clean Energy Quiz gets it wrong – Nuclear Reaction 12 Feb 2010 On its US blog, French nuclear giant AREVA has a ‘Clean Energy Quiz’. It really is quite something. It manages to undermine wind, solar and other truly clean and renewable energy sources in favour of giving nuclear a great big boost.

Here we go again with nuclear energy being called ‘clean’. If AREVA PR people think nuclear is clean we’d hate to see their houses. Imagine the shocking state of their kitchens if nuclear is their idea of cleanliness. Remind us never to go for dinner at an AREVA spin doctor’s house.

In an interview elsewhere on its blog, AREVA’s CEO ‘Atomic’ Anne Lauvergeon insists ‘nuclear power isn’t THE solution’. She says nuclear is just part of the ideal energy portfolio but the way AREVA regards wind and solar in the likes of its quiz, that’s like someone telling you they love you while punching you in the face.

AREVA’s Clean Energy Quiz gets it wrong – Nuclear Reaction – A Greenpeace blog about nuclear power

February 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, spinbuster | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear spin, renewable energy, renewables | Leave a comment

Iraq veterans should be tested for radiation poisoning

Use blood tests to check Iraq war vets for radiation poisoning cleveland.com By Anthony Weishar February 11, 2010, How long will the media continue to censor reports on radiation and toxins in Iraq? The Radiation and Protection Center in Iraq released a report on Jan. 23 identifying 42 severely contaminated sites and cities.

Many Iraq war veterans have radioactivity in their systems. The Department of Veterans Affairs refuses to use blood tests to check for radiation poisoning. The urine tests work only within 30 days of exposure — about the time soldiers sit in a safe site waiting to go home. The Radiation Center in Baghdad uses blood tests to determine exposure levels in Iraqis.

When are the Pentagon, the president and Congress going to take care of those who served?

Anthony Weishar Fairview Park

Use blood tests to check Iraq war vets for radiation poisoning | Letters Unlimited – cleveland.com

February 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | depleted uranium, USA | antinuclear, cancer, depleted, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Columbia River endangered by radioactive nuclear waste

Analysis warns Hanford cleanup would take decades washingtonpost.com The Associated Press
February 10, 2010;
PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal proposal for cleaning up the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site says radioactive contaminants from the sprawling Hanford nuclear reservation could threaten the Columbia River for thousands of years. Continue reading →

February 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, water | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, wastes | Leave a comment

Canadian govt sort of abandoning nuclear industry

Nuclear industry left hanging, Tim Hudak says Dalton McGuinty Liberals still debating whether to build another plant

Rob Ferguson Queen’s Park Bureau With files from Tanya Talaga thestar.com 10 Feb 2010
The McGuinty government is leaving Ontario’s nuclear industry “drifting in the wind” after handing foreign-based Samsung a $7 billion deal to develop green power, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak charges. Continue reading →

February 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, politics | cancer, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, renewable energy, renewables | Leave a comment

Another radioactive leak in water at nuclear plant site

Elevated levels of radioactive chemical found in wells at SC nuclear power plant site CB ONLINE The Associated Press, February 10, 2010
SENECA, S.C. (AP) – Officials say they’ve found elevated levels of a radioactive form of hydrogen in water in two wells at a South Carolina nuclear reactor site.

Duke Energy said Tuesday that samples from two wells at Oconee Nuclear Station near Seneca showed tritium levels above the nuclear industry’s voluntary reporting level.

Elevated levels of radioactive chemical found in wells at SC nuclear power plant site | Markets | Market News | Canadian Business Online

February 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, USA, water | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Future of Florida’s nuclear power plants looking doubtful

Progress Energy slowly raising more doubts about future of Levy County nuclear plant tampabay.com Robert Trigaux, Times Business Columnist February 12, 2010 Progress Energy slowly raising more doubts about future of Levy County nuclear plant “…..Maybe it’s not such a good time to build a nuke plant in Florida after all.That’s may take, at least, after listening to Progress Energy CEO Bill Johnson’s remarks to analysts Thursday in discussing fourth quarter earnings (up 53 percent over 2008!) and emphasizing his second thoughts about a Levy nuclear site. Continue reading →

February 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

Damn Yankee’s Nuclear Power Plant!

by virtue of a long-standing agreement with Entergy, the Vermont Legislature can deny Yankee’s request for a 20-year extension…Indeed, a desperate national industry now pushing for massive federal subsidies to build new reactors may not survive a flood of elderly clunkers being forced to close by the weight of their own contamination…

Vermont’s radioactive nightmare FDL The Seminal Harvey Wasserman
February 10, 2010

Like a decayed flotilla of rickety steamers, at least 27 of America’s 104 aging atomic reactors are known to be leaking radioactive tritium, which is linked to cancer if inhaled or ingested through the throat or skin.

The fallout has been fiercest at Vermont Yankee, where a flood of cover-ups has infuriated and terrified near neighbors who say the reactor was never meant to operate more than 30 years, and must now shut. Continue reading →

February 12, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactor, wastes | Leave a comment

Radiation from CT scans – a particular risk to children

Experts say an alarming number of scans are being given inappropriately, exposing children to potentially harmful radiation that could increase their chances of developing cancer.

Researchers tackle needless child CT scans, By Pauline Tam, The Ottawa CitizenFebruary 9, 2010 (from Canadian Association of Radiologists)

An Ottawa-led research team has developed a new “rule” to help emergency doctors pinpoint which children with concussions and other seemingly minor head traumas may actually have life-threatening brain injuries.

The rule is actually a set of guidelines that advises doctors when to order CT scans, which detect hidden injuries, but deliver big doses of radiation to patients. Continue reading →

February 12, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, health | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Nuclear Regulatory Commission should not be run by nuclear lobbyists

NRC Needs Nuclear Power Regulators, Not Promoters – The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) , Ingrid Drake and Peter Stockton. Feb 08, 2010 It’s not often that POGO lobbies to defeat a presidential nominee. However, we have felt called to speak out as loud as we can in opposition to President Obama’s nomination of William Magwood for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on the grounds that he does not have the independence from the nuclear power industry to regulate it, nor the security oversight background. Along with two other of the President’s nominees to the NRC, Mr. Magwood will come before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for a confirmation hearing tomorrow…………

As we have outlined in a previous blog post, POGO believes Mr. Magwood’s dozens of years promoting nuclear power make him unqualified to be a regulator of the industry.

There is also evidence that Mr. Magwood will not effectively address the security threats that are a major issue facing the NRC.
NRC Needs Nuclear Power Regulators, Not Promoters – The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Blog

February 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

With nuclear power failing financially, AREVA moves into solar

this acquisition of Ausra is a good sign of where the market is heading. Given that the nuclear renaissance simply isn’t materializing as expected, it’s wise for Areva and other big energy conglomerates to hedge their bets

Areva gets deeper into renewables with Ausra purchase the energy collective, by Tyler Hamilton on 02/08/2010 France’s Areva SA is known mostly as a designer of light-water nuclear reactors, builder of transmission and distribution systems, and a miner of uranium, so the announcement today that it has purchased 100 per cent of concentrated solar power company Ausra Inc. came as a surprise. Continue reading →

February 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, renewable | antinuclear, AREVA, energy efficiency, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, renewable energy, renewables, solar | Leave a comment

Unnecessary Medical ionizing radiation increases cancer risk

(USA) Glance: High-grade medical scans are key contributor to rising radiation exposure Health News February 9th, 2010 The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it will work with doctors and manufacturers to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure from medical scans, a problem that has been growing for decades. Continue reading →

February 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Sarah Palin and the push for war on Iran

(USA) Palin beating drums of war on Iran PRESS TV, 08 Feb 2010 US conservative darling Sarah Palin says she thinks President Barack Obama should declare war on Iran. Continue reading →

February 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment