nuclear « nuclear-news

Small modular nuclear reactors, costly, dangerous, and proliferation risk

SMRs are not only unlikely live up to the hype, but may well aggravate cost, safety, and environmental problems,….”Amidst the evaporating hopes for a nuclear renaissance, nuclear power proponents are pinning their hopes on small modular reactors without thinking carefully about the new problems they will create

IEER/PSR: ‘Small Modular Reactors’ No Panacea for What Ails Nuclear Power – Fact Sheet Explores Cost, Safety and Waste Issues Glossed Over by IndustryWASHINGTON, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire – The same industry that promised that nuclear power would be “too cheap to meter” is now touting another supposed cure-all for America’s power needs: the small modular reactor (SMR). Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, technology | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Did the Pentagon attack Iran’s nuclear reactor with Stuxnet worm?

Pentagon’s spokesman Colonel David Lapan said the Department of defence can “neither confirm nor deny” reports that it launched this attack

Pentagon Accused Of Launching Supervirus Attack On Iran Gizmodo Australia, By Jesus Diaz on September 28, 2010 Stuxnet – which some experts consider to be the most advanced virus ever – appears to be focusing its attacks on Iranian nuclear plants. Now, the Pentagon and German intelligence are being accused of creating the virus to take down Iran’s atomic weapons program. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, reactor | Leave a comment

University’s nuclear radiation mishap

KSU divulges reactor mishap CJOnline.com, By Tim Carpenter

September 29, 2010 – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating a Kansas State University nuclear reactor operator’s exposure to radiation during an experiment, a university official said Wednesday…..TRIGA Mark II reactor had been shut down since Sept. 22 to accommodate the NRC’s evaluation of the mishap. The NRC and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment were notified of the incident. KSU divulges reactor mishap | CJOnline.com

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive, reactor | Leave a comment

European push to get rid of tactical nuclear weapons

Get rid of tactical nuclear weapons, Nato leaders told, guardian.co.uk, 30 Sept 10, A group of European elder statesmen is calling for a rethink of Nato nuclear policy ahead of November’s Lisbon summit Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

A worm delays Iran’s nuclear reactor

officials have acknowledged that a computer worm is mutating and wreaking havoc….Analysts say that the Stuxnet worm may have been designed to target Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Iran nuclear plant hit by two-month delay: official(AFP) – Google hosted new, 30 Sept 10, TEHRAN — Iran’s atomic chief said on Wednesday that the country’s first nuclear power plant will be ready to generate electricity by January — two months later than announced……… Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, reactor | Leave a comment

Financing the Nuclear Resuscitation will bring about Global Debt

Financing the Nuclear Renaissance in 2010-2020 will almost surely shift to international and multilateral debt financing methods. The IMF will surely be there, and all creative methods will have a look-in to using nuclear power plants as the underlying security in a vast new upsurge in global debt trading. –

Sovereign Debt to Global Debt The UN’s Nuclear Suppliers Group has an impressive 45-nation list of supposed nuclear equipment and service suppliers, but these include countries like Iceland, Malta, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania, everyone short of the Vatican. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear renaissance, reactors | Leave a comment

Great Lakes nuclear shipment plan opens door for dangerous nuclear trafficking

“There is no policy in place in Canada that supports a proposal to export Canada’s nuclear waste in this case reactor refurbishment waste to a foreign country or to allow the residual waste, which will be even more radioactive, to be imported back into Canada. There is, however a very high level of concern in the Canadian public about the potential for international trafficking in nuclear waste,”

Shipment of Nuclear Waste has Northwatch in Ottawa today, North Bay News, By Kate Adams, September 29, 2010 Northwatch is one of seventy five intervenors in a two day hearing of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission reviewing the controversial proposal by Bruce Power to ship 1600 tonnes of radioactive waste through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River to Sweden, Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes | Leave a comment

Germany’s old nuclear reactors vulnerable to extreme weather and to terrorism

It’s not only incidents that worry Greenpeace. The group has highlighted the possibility of a terror attack.

Nuclear horror scenarios for Germany BERLIN, Sept. 28 (UPI) — Chernobyl-like disasters at Germany’s most vulnerable reactors could render parts of the country uninhabitable for decades, Greenpeace has warned. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

How tax-payer money funds the nuclear industry’s expansion

Already marshalled into this private-public ‘Marshall Plan’ for selling US nuclear power and services to India are the US Ex-Im (export-import) Bank, leading Wall Street private banks, and major downstream infrastructure companies such as Bechtel, all primed and ready to go….US state agencies, especially the Ex-Im Bank can in some cases finance up to 85% of the initial sale…….the UN’s nuclear agency the IAEA could be extended to cover nuclear financing.

Like deals between South Korea and Abu Dhabi, Russia and Iran or France and Pakistan, the US-India arrangement targets business opportunities of epic dimensions. On the basis of the 2008 bilateral agreement, U.S. companies—most importantly Toshiba-Westinghouse and GE-Hitachi—are planning to build nuclear power plants in India. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

Nuclear power has always been State financed

It was almost exclusively State-controlled, State-financed and State-operated. Its strategic deployment and costs were ultimately linked to the real business of the atom – nuclear weapons making and state security which, of course, was a State secret.

The Atomic Reality At the time when “Funky Town” was regular disco fodder circa 1977, nuclear power generation was still almost totally and exclusively reserved for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, the USSR and to a smaller extent, China and India. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, history | antinuclear, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Australian Greens take Aboriginals’ anti nuclear cause to Parliament

“We are the Aboriginal people who own the land and the dreamings you are talking about, we are asking that you reject this bill and scrap Muckaty as a site for the waste dump.”

Greens urge rethink of nuclear dump site – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By Megan Lewis Sep 29, 2010 The Greens have urged the Federal Government to scrap plans to build a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory…… Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, politics | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

French nuclear empire in retreat as EDF pulls out of Suez

THE NUCLEAR RETREAT – GDF Suez pulls out of French EPR project throwing French nuclear expansion into doubt Beyond Nuclear -September 23, 2010 GDF Suez, the second largest utility in France, has withdrawn from the newest nuclear reactor project there. GDF Suez, 35% state-owned, was a partner with the leading – and fully government-owned – French utility, EDF in the new reactor construction project planned at Penly on the north coast. But despite shouldering 25% of the financing, Suez was prevented by EDF from operating the reactor, a role reserved for EDF. Suez depended on operating experience to market its expertise overseas. The withdrawal marks another blow to the French EPR reactor project already suffering from huge delays and cost over-runs at its French and Finnish construction sites.

Beyond Nuclear – THE NUCLEAR RETREAT – GDF Suez pulls out of French EPR project throwing French nuclear expansion into doubt

September 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, MIDDLE EAST | antinuclear, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Hillary Clinton starts the US govt pressure on India’s Nuclear Liability Bill

Hillary raises nuclear liability issue with Krishna, The Hindu , 29 Sept 10, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday raised India’s civil nuclear liability issue with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna at a meeting to do the groundwork for President Barack Obama’s visit to India in November……

The bill, which was passed recently by Parliament and which is critical to the full implementation of the India-U.S. civil nuclear deal, has been troubling several American industrialists as it makes equipment suppliers liable in the event of a nuclear accident…….

The Hindu : News / National : Hillary raises nuclear liability issue with Krishna

September 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactor, uranium | Leave a comment

Germany’s nuclear plans worrying Austrian government

Austria passed a law in 1978 prohibiting the use of nuclear energy for electricity generation.

It has repeatedly expressed concern about the safety of a number of nuclear power plants in neighbouring countries, such as Germany, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Austria disappointed by Germany’s nuclear plans, Expatica Germany, 28 Sept 10, Austria, which has outlawed nuclear energy, expressed disappointment Tuesday at the decision by neighbouring Germany to postpone by more than a decade its planned phase-out of nuclear power. Continue reading →

September 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, radioactive | Leave a comment

Israel burying nuclear waste in Palestinan farmlands

Burying Nuclear Waste in the Palestinian Territories Special Palestine Cry Blog 28 sept 10, Palestinian farmers from Yatta village south of Hebron in the West Bank have revealed that the Israeli military continues to bury nuclear waste in their farmlands at Al-Masafer near the armistice line in the West Bank. The farmers said that the military forces “IDF” brings trucks loaded with waste suspected to be radioactive waste and is burying it in their lands after they force them to evacuate the area.The farmers said that they were able to hide themselves in some caves and watch the military operation. They stated that the Israeli soldiers who declared the area as a military zone were wearing white overalls over their military uniforms during the burial. The farmers said that they live in Al-Masafer with their animals…….Special Palestine Cry Blog articles: Burying Nuclear Waste in the Palestinian Territories