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50,000 join anti-nuclear power march in Berlin

The Local 5 Sep 09
Some 50,000 anti-nuclear protestors demonstrated in Berlin on Saturday against Germany possibly reversing a decision to abandon atomic energy and extending the life of its nuclear power plants. Continue reading →

September 8, 2009 Posted by | 1, Germany, politics | , , , | Leave a comment

Regional nuclear issues top IAEA board meeting’s agenda

Regional nuclear issues top IAEA board meeting’s agenda
VIENNA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) — The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will focus on Iran, Syria and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at its board meeting this week………………. Continue reading →

September 8, 2009 Posted by | 1, 2 WORLD, politics | , , | Leave a comment

Former nuclear pariah India seeks uranium stocks

Google News By Elizabeth Roche (AFP) –7 Sept 09
NEW DELHI — Energy-starved India, armed with permission to buy atomic fuel from around the world after the end of a three-decade ban, is courting new partners alongside old friends in its global hunt for uranium.. Continue reading →

September 8, 2009 Posted by | 1, India, politics | , , | Leave a comment

Germany in nuclear turmoil before election

For Merkel, no clear way out of nuclear woes
PRESS TV 06 Sep 2009 Anti-nuclear sentiment in Germany escalates ahead of national election, with some 50,000 activists marching in Berlin to demand the shut down of the country’s 17 aging nuclear power plants. Continue reading →

September 7, 2009 Posted by | 1, Germany, politics | , , | Leave a comment

Millions affected by nuclear tests in Kazakhstan?

Soviet nuclear tests leave Kazakh fallout

BBC News 7 Sept 09

Decades of Soviet nuclear testing on the steppes of Kazakhstan have been blamed for an alarming number of health problems suffered by residents in the area. Continue reading →

September 7, 2009 Posted by | 1, environment, Kazakhstan | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Opposition to nuclear plant in Quebec

Nuclear not good, even in remote Quebec: environmentalists
CBC News September 6, 2009
A proposed nuclear reactor that would power mining operations in Quebec’s remote regions carries more risks than benefits, according to an environmental group……. Continue reading →

September 7, 2009 Posted by | 1, Canada, safety | , , | Leave a comment

AREVA’s profits wiped out by new nuclear reactor troubles

areva-medusa1OL3 EPR wipes out AREVA profits
Nuclear Reaction 5 Sept 09
The OL3 nuclear European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), being built by French nuclear giant AREVA at Olkiluoto in Finland, is in such desperate financial trouble it has single-handedly wiped out the company’s half year profits. Continue reading →

September 5, 2009 Posted by | 1, business and costs, France | , , , | Leave a comment

AREVA threatening Finland’s TVO company over nuclear reactor fiasco

The Nukes of (legal) Hazard: Areva threatens work stoppage at Finnish nuke
Climate progress 1 Sept 09
Escalating a dispute between the companies as to who is to blame for the schedule slippage, Areva said Monday it will not proceed with work on the delayed Olkiluoto nuclear reactor project in Finland until Finnish utility TVO makes unspecified changes to the project.Areva, the French government-owned nuclear giant, made that disclosure in a financial statement for the first half of 2009.

Ouch.  That is from Energy Daily (subs. req’d).  The Financial Times story begins:

The financial risks of nuclear power were cast into sharp relief on Monday as Areva, the French state-owned group, revealed new provisions on its troubled Finnish reactor project that virtually wiped out interim operating profits.

Double ouch!

The ongoing saga between Areva and Finland is now more like an episode of Desperate Housewives than a sitcom,

The Nukes of (legal) Hazard, Episode 5: Areva threatens work stoppage at Finnish nuke « Climate Progress

September 5, 2009 Posted by | 1, business and costs, Finland | , , , | Leave a comment

(Photos) Trucking nuclear weapons and wastes around USA

Trucks Carrying Nuclear Weapons Around the Counttry Revealed (Photos)
Huffington Post 09- 3-09
The idea of nuclear weapons being carted around in our highways, cities and neighborhoods doesn’t really put one’s mind at ease. However, the government has been transporting seriously dangerous stuff like enriched uranium and plutonium secretly without public warning.

Friends of the Earth through the Freedom of Information Act has forced the Department Of Energy to release color photos of the trucks used to transport weapons. According to FOE, these are the first of such pictures that have been released in many years……………..

“The trucks carrying nuclear weapons and dangerous materials such as plutonium pass through cities and neighborhoods all the time and the public should be aware of what they look like. Release of these photos will help inform the public about secretive shipments of dangerous nuclear material that are taking place in plain view.” – Tom Clements, Southeastern Nuclear Campaign Coordinator with Friends of the Earth

Trucks Carrying Nuclear Weapons Around The Country Revealed (PHOTOS)

September 5, 2009 Posted by | 1, safety, USA | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Russia gains advantages from concerns over Iran

Is Moscow Playing a Double Game on Iran’s Nukes?

Foreign Policy

BY WILLIAM TOBEY | SEPTEMBER 4, 2009

Why the Russians see Tehran’s atomic ambitions as an opportunity, not just a threat…………
…..the Russians could be playing a double game. Continue reading →

September 5, 2009 Posted by | 1, politics, Russia | , , | Leave a comment

North Korea moving ahead with uranium enrichment

Pyongyang is in ‘final phase’ of uranium program
 North’s envoy tells Security Council about its ‘weaponized’ plutonium
Joongangla Daily By Yoo Jee-ho 5 Sept
North Korea said yesterday its uranium enrichment program for nuclear weapons production has entered its final phase and that it is making more weapons from extracted plutonium. The North also claimed it is prepared for both dialogue and punitive measures. Continue reading →

September 5, 2009 Posted by | 1, North Korea, weapons and war | , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear Energy Becomes Part of China-U.S. Talks

Nuclear Energy Becomes Part of China-U.S. Talks, Official Says

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) Jeremy van Loon-– Talks between the U.S. and China, the biggest producers of greenhouse gases, are evolving to include sharing expertise in nuclear-energy technology. Continue reading →

September 5, 2009 Posted by | 1, 2 WORLD, climate change, politics | , | Leave a comment

nuclear site argument in Egypt

A nuclear falling out
El Abram 5 sept 09
Parliamentarians and nuclear power scientists appeal to President Hosni Mubarak to prevent businessmen from interfering in the choice of sites for nuclear power plants, Gamal Essam El-Din reports Continue reading →

September 5, 2009 Posted by | 1, MIDDLE EAST, politics | , | Leave a comment

Regulatory decay allows more radioactive leaks from aging USA nuclear power plants

safety-symbolBeyond Nuclear Bulletin, 4 Sept 09 More radioactive leaks from reactors like Dresden, Oyster Creek, Vermont Yankee and Indian Point are calling attention to a largely ignored Nuclear Regulatory Commission document dating back to 1979 when the agency first asked operators to periodically inspect pipes and tanks to prevent uncontrolled leaks.

Reactor operators are not inspecting the miles of buried and corroding pipes and tanks. NRC is instead allowing reactors a “leak first fix later” approach rather than use preventive inspections to maintain integrity of these radioactive waste management systems through preventive inspections. In addition to frequent intentional radioactive releases, these accidental and unmonitored spills and leaks onsite are contaminating water resources away from the reactors, jeopardizing public health.

The October 19, 1979 NRC technical circular entitled “Prevention of Unplanned Releases of Radioactivity” advises the nuclear industry to periodically inspect buried pipes specifically using hydrostatic testing equipment and procedures with the focus on the “prevention” of uncontrolled and unmonitored radioactive release pathways.

Reactors are getting older and more decrepit. Twenty-year license extensions are breezing through NRC approval without regard for the environmental cost and impacts from these uninspected and deteriorating systems. How has protecting water by preventing uncontrolled and unmonitored radioactive releases become less important to NRC as the nuclear power plants degrade?

September 4, 2009 Posted by | safety, USA | , , , | Leave a comment

Ban on nuclear power upheld in six US states

radiation-warningAttempts to Overturn Nuclear Bans Fail in Six States

West Virginia is not the only state that declined to overturn a ban on nuclear power this year.

The State Journal by Pam Kasey 3 Sept 09

West Virginia is not the only state that declined to overturn a ban on nuclear power this year.

As the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers licensing applications for new nuclear generation in 14 states, attempts to overturn explicit or effective bans failed in six other states in 2009, according to the nonprofit Nuclear Information and Resource Service.

“Things will be even tougher for their state lobbyists in 2010 now that the freeze on Yucca Mountain has taken long-term waste disposal off the table,” said NIRS Executive Director Michael Mariotte.

The last new nuclear power generation unit to be ordered in the U.S. was in 1978, just before the partial core meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979.

Since that time, first California and then about a dozen states passed laws that outright or effectively banned new nuclear generation.

West Virginia’s law is titled a ban in the state code, but functions as an effective ban…….. The code requires at least 24 months’ prior operation of a national facility “which safely, successfully and permanently disposes of any and all radioactive wastes associated with operating any such nuclear power plant, nuclear factory or nuclear electric power generating plant.”

That condition has never been met.

And because the federal government withdrew its support for the Yucca Mountain facility earlier this year, there is no process in place for it ever to be met.

http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=65865

September 4, 2009 Posted by | politics, USA | , , , , | Leave a comment

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