plutonium « nuclear-news

Russian efforts to save nuclear weapons plant from wildfires

Russian troops have dug a eight kilometre long canal to keep wildfires away from a nuclear arms site. Radio New Zealand News, 2010 : 08 : 08 Forest and peat fires in Russia, caused by a heatwave, have killed at least 52 people and destroyed thousands of homes.Smoke from the wildfires has blanketed the capital, Moscow, forcing people to wear surgical masks to filter out the smog.

A Russian radio station says army troops have excavated a canal around the Sarov nuclear arms facility, 350km east of Moscow, which is ringed by forest……..Radio New Zealand News : Stories : 2010 : 08 : 08 : Russian troops dig canal to protect nuclear site

August 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, plutonium, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

USA Dept of Energy wants to offload weapons plutonium onto commercial reactors

The Department of Energy is looking for ways to dispose of plutonium from nuclear weapons….Ed Lyman, senior staff scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the mixed-oxide fuel is “too dirty, dangerous and expensive.”

TVA hears public worries over Ala. plant plutonium – BusinessWeek, 4 Aug 2010, TANNER, Ala. A public hearing on the Tennessee Valley Authority possibly using reprocessed weapons plutonium to power some reactors in north Alabama and Tennessee attracted about 70 people, many with questions about safety. Continue reading →

August 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, USA | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, plutonium, reactors, reprocessing | Leave a comment

Public anxiety over plan to use plutonium fuel in Browns Ferry reactors

The plutonium in MOX also makes fuel rods less stable, Lyman said. That increases the chance of a reactor meltdown. Not only is such a meltdown more likely, he said, but the use of plutonium would increase the number of fatalities by about 25 percent compared to a meltdown involving conventional fuel rods.

(USA) Crowd expresses concern over plutonium proposal, The Times Daily | Florence, AL, By Eric Fleischauer Decatur Daily, August 4, 2010 . A frustrated crowd of about 60 people confronted TVA and Energy Department officials at a public hearing Tuesday, and few expressed comfort with a proposal to use plutonium in Browns Ferry reactors. Continue reading →

August 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | technology, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, plutonium, radiation, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

lingering radioactivity affects worker

The site south of Buffalo housed a nuclear fuel reprocessing operation from 1966 to 1972. Uranium and plutonium were extracted from spent fuel. Cleanup has been ongoing since the 1980s.

NY nuke site worker had slight radiation exposure – BusinessWeek, WEST VALLEY, N.Y., 4 Aug 2010, A worker at a New York nuclear cleanup site had to be decontaminated after moisture seeped through her protective clothing while she was cleaning a floor, exposing her to a slight amount of radiation. Continue reading →

August 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, plutonium, radiation, radioactive, reprocessing, uranium | Leave a comment

Radioactive isotopes could be used to make a ‘dirty’ bomb

since cesium can be stolen from a hospital and thus can be more easily acquired than, say, uranium or plutonium, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine a terrorist group acquiring enough cesium to construct a barrage of low-explosive, highly radioactive bombs and blanketing a major city with them.

The Real Deal With Cesium,THE HUFFINGTON POST, Rizwan Ladha, 2 Aug 2010, The idea has been floated for a long time of using cesium in a radioactive “dirty bomb,” which wouldn’t have the same explosive power as a uranium or plutonium nuclear bomb but would contaminate land, water supplies and living organisms, including people. Continue reading →

August 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, plutonium, radiation, radioactive | 1 Comment

Pakistan building its nuclear weapons arsenal

However, the stockpiles of the four nations not recognized as nuclear weapon states under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea -are minuscule

Pakistan has bigger nuke arsenal than India: Report, Sify News, by Arun Kumar, 2010-08-02 Racing to beat India in the nuclear race, Pakistan has already stockpiled more nuclear warheads than India and has produced enough fissile material to double its nuclear arsenal, according to a new report. Continue reading →

August 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Pakistan, weapons and war | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, plutonium | Leave a comment

Nuclear technology seller gaoled in Canada

Canadian jailed in Iran ‘nuclear export’ case, BBC News, 30 July 2010 A Canadian court has sentenced a Toronto resident to over four years in prison for violating a United Nations resolution by attempting to export nuclear-related goods to Iran.The items, called pressure transducers, are subject to a UN embargo on nuclear-related exports.Mahmoud Yadegari was arrested after a two-month investigation in 2009.Yadegari is the first person convicted of violating UN anti-nuclearproliferation resolutions against Iran.

BBC News – Canadian jailed in Iran ‘nuclear export’ case

July 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, Legal | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, plutonium | Leave a comment

USA’s extremist Tea Party movement favours Israel attack on Iran

theme among Tea Party leaders, such as Sarah Palin……..promoting instead an aggressive, unilateralist view of world affairs and unchecked military spending.

Tea Party Caucus members endorse Israeli attack on Iran, FP, By Josh Rogin Monday, July 26, 2010….21 members of the new caucus have now come out explicitly endorsing Israel’s right to strike Iran’s nuclear program. Continue reading →

July 27, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, plutonium | Leave a comment

South Korea wants to recycle nuclear “spent” fuel

Washington is concerned that allowing the country to process the fuel for reuse may discourage North Korea from giving up its weapons programme,

South Korea seeks US accord to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, Industrial Fuels and Power, July 23rd, 2010 Continue reading →

July 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, South Korea | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons, plutonium, reactors, recycling, reprocessing, uranium | 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

Pyroprocessed plutonium could quickly become nuclear weapon

a country with South Korea’s nuclear expertise could quickly turn pyroprocessed plutonium into weapons

U.S. Wary of South Korea’s Plan to Reuse Nuclear Fuel, By CHOE SANG-HUN New York Times, July 13, 2010 “……..South Korean engineers are championing a new technology called pyroprocessing, which the Bush administration endorsed. They call it “proliferation-resistant” because the plutonium produced through pyroprocessing is not pure and cannot be used directly for nuclear weapons.
Skeptics say the technology is far more dangerous than leaving the spent fuel intact in storage because a country with South Korea’s nuclear expertise could quickly turn pyroprocessed plutonium into weapons-usable material should it decide to break out of the nonproliferation treaty…….
Washington is wary of South Korea’s motives. Seoul embarked on its short-lived nuclear arms program in the early 1970s when President Richard M. Nixon reduced the number of American troops in South Korea to 40,000 from 60,000. In 2004, South Korea revealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency that its scientists had dabbled in reprocessing and enrichment without first informing the agency. U.S. Wary of South Korea’s Plan to Reuse Nuclear Fuel – NYTimes.com

July 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | South Korea, technology | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, plutonium | Leave a comment

USA’s ‘Blue Ribbon’ Nuclear Waste Commission at Hanford

Even if Yucca had opened as planned 10 years ago, it would not have enough space for all of Hanford’s wastes,……there is no final resting place for these “vitrified” wastes……..

A Watchdog’s Warning on Nuclear Waste, NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD, July 12, 2010, “…. a new report suggests that Hanford has a lot more plutonium waste that the Energy Department had acknowledged.This week, a blue-ribbon commission on nuclear waste established to seek alternatives to Yucca will hold two days of hearings near Hanford. Continue reading →

July 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radiation, radioactive, uranium, water | Leave a comment

Three times more plutonium waste than they thought, at Hanford!

.“What is reasonably foreseeable is that there are people who will be drinking the water in the ground at Hanford at some point in the next few hundred years,” Mr. Pollet said. “We’re going to be killing people, pure and simple.”

Analysis Triples U.S. Plutonium Waste Figures, NYTimes.com, by Matthew Wald, 12 July 2010, The amount of plutonium buried at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State is nearly three times what the federal government previously reported, a new analysis indicates, suggesting that a cleanup to protect future generations will be far more challenging than planners had assumed. Continue reading →

July 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radiation, radioactive, reprocessing, uranium | Leave a comment

Conviction on transporting nuclear materials to Iran

Canadian convicted of shipping nuclear materials to Iran, Need to know – Macleans.ca, Mahmoud Yadegari tried to send transducers to native Iran , July 6, 2010 A Canadian man was found guilty in a Toronto court on Tuesday of shipping materials to Iran that could be used in nuclear technology. Mahmoud Yadegari is the first person convicted of violating U.N. regulations that restrict the export of certain goods to Iran. Yadegari’s arrest last April followed several unsuccessful attempts to ship transducers to his native Iran. The Toronto man faces a maximum of five years in prison for his offences, which also include convictions on eight other counts, including forgery and violations of the Customs Act.National Post

Canadian convicted of shipping nuclear materials to Iran – Need to know – Macleans.ca

July 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, Legal | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, plutonium | Leave a comment

2053 nuclear bomb tests mapped

VIDEO Japanese artist maps 1945-1998’s nuclear explosions , Wired.co By Duncan Geere |06 July 2010 A Japanese artist named Isao Hashimoto has created a series of works about nuclear weapons. One is titled “1945-1998” and shows a history of the world’s nuclear explosions.Over the course of fourteen and a half minutes, every single one of the 2053 nuclear tests and explosions that took place between 1945 and 1998 are is plotted on a map.