nuclear « nuclear-news

Need to curb overuse of medical ionising radiation

Nearly 400 patients in the U.S. who underwent brain-perfusion scans are known to have received an overdose of radiation. How many folks have received a ‘brain sizzle’ that we do not know about?
• Radiation doses from CAT scans are hundreds of times higher than standard x-rays.
• There is persuasive medical evidence that radiation is carcinogenic.

CT Scan Risks: Radiation Danger and Overuse Threatens Patients, MD Whistleblower, 18 July 2010, Continue reading →

July 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Another holdup to UK nuclear industry – should community opposition be ignored?

UK nuclear industry: energy minister orders “re-consultation” Industrial Fuels and Power, July 16th, 2010 by Charles Hendry, the UK’s energy minister, has ordered a reassessment of the national policy statements governing the planning permission system responsible for large infrastructure developments. The review is a response to concerns that in their current form, the rules could mean that opposition from local communities to new nuclear build could be ignored.….

UK nuclear industry: energy minister orders “re-consultation” | Industrial Fuels and Power

July 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Despite public opposition, Turkish govt opts for uneconomic nuclear reactors

the economics of the deal are pitiful. Tetas, the Turkish grid company, is committed to a 15-year deal to buy electricity from the reactors at a price of US$124 per megawatt hour. That, unbelievably, is more than double the market prices for electricity across the EU right now. So much for nuclear power being affordable and competitive.

Turkish Parliament votes for nuclear madness | Greenpeace International, 17 July 2010, Well, they did it. Despite 170,000 people expressing their opposition, the Turkish Parliament yesterday voted in favour of the agreement between Turkey and Russia to build four nuclear reactors at Akkuyu on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Continue reading →

July 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Turkey | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

Castro warns on USA and Israel sparking a nuclear war

The Cuban leader also emphasised that India, Pakistan and Israel are the three nuclear powers who have refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

“The control that Israel has over the United States is enormous.”

Fidel Castro returns to TV with dire warning of nuclear conflict, The Arab American News, 16 July 2010, HAVANA – The Middle East is on the verge of a nuclear war triggered by a U.S. attack on Iran in the name of preventing the country from developing its own weapons, according to ageing Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro. Continue reading →

July 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | MIDDLE EAST, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Arab nations likely to develop nuclear weapons

This is causing unease in Washington …….The Americans have sought to ensure that none of the Arab states will seek to enrich uranium to weapons-grade level.

Ready to Churn out Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Weapons: Arab States « international environmental law, 17 July 2010, Saudi Arabia’s decision last week to sign a nuclear cooperation pact with France marks a major step forward for a pan-Arab drive toward nuclear power, even as the United States strives to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Continue reading →

July 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | MIDDLE EAST, politics international | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

UK govt using “cooked books” to discredit nuclear veterans

accusing them of “misusing” science in their study and branding their conclusions as “deficient”.

New Zealand nuclear study at odds with British, This Is Derbyshire, 16 July 2010, Former Armed Forces Minister Kevan Jones told the House of Commons last December that studies had ruled out a link between veterans’ cancer and the nuclear tests.. Continue reading →

July 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Surfers rally to save beaches from nuclear power

Surfers in South Africa to march against nuclear project, Outdoors, action and adventure, Pete Thomas Jul 16, 2010 Some of the world’s top pro surfers will participate in a protest march Saturday against the proposed construction in South Africa of a nuclear power station that threatens to jeopardize some of the region’s premier surf spots. Continue reading →

July 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | opposition to nuclear, South Africa | antinuclear, nuclear, reactors | Leave a comment

U.S. nuclear loans – govt favouritism to an uneconomic industry

If the DOE gets its way, US loan guarantees between 2008 and 2011 for nuclear will be triple those for renewables and energy efficiency (see page 4 of the GAO report). Yet the nuclear ‘renaissance’ is struggling to get off the ground while renewables are positively thriving. You do the math.

Nuclear favouritism, Greenpeace International, by jmckeati – July 15, 2010, ……… On Monday it was the International Energy Agency’s Energy Technology Perspectives with its bad news for the nuclear ‘renaissance’. Yesterday it was the EUROTOM Supply Agency and its figures that show that nuclear power isn’t bringing – and can’t bring – energy security to Europe.

Today it’s a report released this week by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) which demonstrates the bias and favouritism shown to the nuclear industry by government and politicians. The GAO has been looking at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) loan guarantee program (LGP). Continue reading →

July 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors | Leave a comment

Iranian nuclear scientist – a spy for USA or for Iran?

Was Iranian Nuclear Scientist a Double Agent? | The Atlantic Wire, By Max Fisher July 15, 2010, Alleged Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri has returned to Iran after 13 months in the U.S. It’s still unclear what happened during his stay and why he returned home. We may never know the full truth, but several new reports point to the possibility that he was an Iranian double agent all along. Under this theory, Amiri would have faked his defection to the U.S. (or allowed himself to be abducted, depending on whose story you believe), where he either fed the U.S. false information or acquired information to send back to Iran or both. Here’s what we know…….

Was Iranian Nuclear Scientist a Double Agent? | The Atlantic Wire

July 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, uranium | Leave a comment

USA nuclear energy – no future without a solution to nuclear waste

Commission on America’s Nuclear Future co-chairman Brent Scowcroft says the future of American nuclear energy depends on whether the U.S. can figure out how to treat and dispose of the resulting waste.

Presidential commission: dealing with waste key to nuclear future – KHQ Right Now Associated Press – July 15, 2010 Continue reading →

July 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

CIA paid Iranian nuclear scientist $5 million

denied he knew any secrets or even that he was a nuclear scientist at all. However, the US officials told The Washington Post that the money would not have been paid for nothing.

Iranian scientist was ‘paid $5 million by CIA’ for nuclear secrets, Telegraph, 15 July 2010, The scientist who claims he was abducted by US spies was paid $5 million by the CIA to disclose Iran’s nuclear secrets, American officials have said. Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent Continue reading →

July 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, uranium | Leave a comment

Germany introducing nuclear fuel tax

Revenue from the tax would help Germany cut its budget deficit and finance the clean-up of its repositories for nuclear waste.

German nuclear tax to raise 2.3 bln eur-draft law BERLIN, July 15 (Reuters) – The proposed German tax on nuclear power station operators would likely raise 2.3 billion euros annually between 2011 and 2014, a finance ministry draft law obtained by Reuters said.Nuclear power station operators will face a levy of 220 euros per gramme of nuclear fuel (uranium or plutonium)…… Continue reading →

July 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, politics | nuclear, nuclear costs, uranium | Leave a comment

Hypocrisy as Japan seeks to be nuclear power salesman

Japan emphasises that its technology exports are for the peaceful production of nuclear energy.

But as it knows only too well, the plutonium produced in fission reactors can also be used to produce nuclear weapons.

Anxiety mushrooms over Japanese nuclear exports | The Australian, Rick Wallace, July 15, 2010 IT’S hard not to draw cynical conclusions about Japan’s decision to pursue sales of nuclear technology overseas. One of the country’s most treasured principles appears to have a price as it hawks nuclear systems to India, the Middle East and perhaps other countries. Continue reading →

July 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, spinbuster | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin | Leave a comment

South Korea wants nuclear reprocessing and uranium enrichment

the South Korean government also wants to acquire a uranium enrichment capacity to make the traditional fuel for reactors — another activity banned by the 1974 accord because enriched uranium can also be used for weapons………. South Korea’s ambition is tied to its drive to become a major exporter of nuclear reactors.

U.S. Wary of South Korea’s Plan to Reuse Nuclear Fuel, By CHOE SANG-HUN New York Times, July 13, 2010 “……another nuclear dispute is emerging on the Korean Peninsula — this one between the United States and South Korea. South Korea, which has no oil reserves, derives 40 percent of its electricity from nuclear reactors and is running out of space to store the highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. Continue reading →

July 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, South Korea | antinuclear, enriched, fast breeder, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radiation, radioactive, reactors, reprocessing, uranium | Leave a comment

American Indians confront USA’s ‘Blue Ribbon’ Nuclear Waste Commission

Tribes: Nuclear waste can’t be stored at Hanford, Google hosted news, (AP) – 15 July 2010, RICHLAND, Wash. — Northwest American Indian tribes say highly radioactive waste cannot be permanently stored at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site.Members of the Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla and Wanapum tribes on Wednesday addressed a commission appointed by President Barack Obama to examine U.S. disposal of radioactive waste. It was prompted by his decision not to proceed with the Yucca Mountain waste repository in Nevada…..

The Associated Press: Tribes: Nuclear waste can’t be stored at Hanford

July 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | indigenous issues, USA | antinuclear, indigenous, nuclear, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment