radiation « nuclear-news

Recycling nuclear fuel, dangerous and dirty

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

by Christina Macpherson 15 April 2010, It all sounded so good – removing stockpiles of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) and plutonium from international sites, and using them to provide fuel for nuclear reactors in USA and Russia.

And one part is good. This program would end the dirty, dangerous, uranium mining industry.

However, nobody’s talked about :

1. the dangers of transporting this stuff, – risk of accident, as in the movement of HEU from Chile, theft, terrorist attack

2. what to do with the final resulting highly radioactive waste from this process of recycling . It all still ends up with even more toxic, dangerous nuclear wastes. Still a risk of theft. still a target for terrorists, still extremely long-lasting wastes, and no-one has found a way to safely dispose of nuclear wastes.

April 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes, spinbuster | antinuclear, enriched, fast breeder, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear Summit kept quiet about dangers of recycling nuclear fuel

Recycling fuel should end: Evans, Sydney Morning Herald, April 15, 2010, WASHINGTON: A former Australian foreign minister, Gareth Evans, was at the centre of a dispute over reactor suppliers recycling nuclear fuel even as US officials sought to skirt the issue during a summit in Washington organised by the President, Barack Obama.

Mr Evans is co-chairman of the Australian government’s international non-proliferation and disarmament commission. On Monday, at a conference of experts which is being held in parallel with Mr Obama’s nuclear security summit, he called for an end to fuel recycling.Mr Evans and a former US ambassador-at-large, Robert Gallucci, said recycling created stockpiles of dangerous materials ripe for theft………
The issue was not among those central to the Obama summit. Administration officials said last week they had deliberately avoided some of the more contentious issues that would not have won support from all participants. Gareth Evans

April 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, enriched, fast breeder, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Earthquake danger for transporting Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU)

Quake rattles Chilean-U.S. uranium move , SANTIAGO, Chile, April 14 (UPI) — A Chilean-U.S. nuclear waste disposal arrangement was nearly derailed, with dangerous consequences for North and South America, when a magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck Chile Feb. 27, interfering with deliveries of radioactive waste to U.S. processing plants. Continue reading →

April 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, SOUTH AMERICA | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

New Zealand makes a practical contribution to nuclear security

Call in while Down Under, Obama told | Stuff.co.nz NZ contributes to anti-nuclear fund By TRACY WATKINS in Ottawa 15 April 2010, ANTI-NUCLEAR PROJECT FUNDING New Zealand will contribute $685,000 to a Canadian-led project which aims to help prevent the illicit trafficking of nuclear and radiological materials.The money will fund radiation detection equipment for a major Russian nuclear facility.The project was part of the G8 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The funding was announced during a trip to Canada by Prime Minister John Key on his way home from President Obama’s two-day nuclear security summit.In a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mr Key said the project was a practical way for New Zealand to reduce the risk of nuclear materials ending up in the wrong hands.New Zealand has committed almost $6 million to G8 Global Partnership projects since 2004. Call in while Down Under, Obama told | Stuff.co.nz

April 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | New Zealand, safety | antinuclear, depleted, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Another mysterious case of radiation in India

One more case of mysterious radiation in capital, The Hindu, Apr 14, 2010 NEW DELHI: One more suspected source of radiation has been detected in the sprawling scrap market at Mayapuri here in the Capital where two scrap dealers and five workers were taken ill this past week after being exposed to Cobalt-60 radioactive isotope. Continue reading →

April 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, India | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, reactors | Leave a comment

The economic and social realities of nuclear energy

Waste not … or get nukes — High Country News, Eric Jantz Apr 13, 2010 “……..To begin with, there’s the issue of who benefits from increasing nuclear power generation. At every point along the nuclear fuel chain, the flow of money reinforces current economic and social power disparities. Continue reading →

April 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, Religion and ethics | antinuclear, AREVA, energy efficiency, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors, renewable energy, uranium | Leave a comment

Old Russian nuclear warheads to become fuel for U.S. commercial nuclear reactors

Nuclear twist sees Russian warheads warming US homes Herald Sun AFP , April 13, 2010, IN A strange twist of Cold War enmity on the melt, uranium from what once were Russian nuclear warheads is used to heat and light American homes, thanks to the Megatons to Megawatts Program – a successful example of nuclear non-proliferation. Continue reading →

April 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, Russia | antinuclear, disarmament, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Kazakhstan has paid a high price for hosting nuclear weapons

Why Kazakhstan Is Front and Center at the Global Nuclear Security Summit THE HUFFINGTON POST, Al Eisele, 11 April 2010, “………..The radioactive fallout from all the above ground and atmospheric tests left Mrs. Koloskova with health problems and occasional nightmares. “I don’t know what happened with me, but from that moment, I felt headaches and nervous disorders, and I imagined it many times,” she said.

But she was one of the lucky ones. Still vigorous and able to walk with aid of a cane, she was not afflicted with any of the horrific tumors or the radiation-caused genetic mutilations and birth defects that affected many residents of Semey and other settlements near the 7,000-square-mile test site known as the Polygon, Russian for “firing range.”

Her story, and those of thousands of others like her, is the reason why Kazakhstan, a Central Asia country unknown to most Americans, is standing front and center among the 47 nations represented at the two-day Global Nuclear Security Summit beginning Monday in Washington…….

[Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev] was the first foreign leader to renounce the possession and use of nuclear weapons. Al Eisele: Why Kazakhstan Is Front and Center at the Global Nuclear Security Summit

April 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Kazakhstan, politics international | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

First shipment to USA of highly dangerous Highly Enriched Uranium

A team of Americans finally shipped it out last month just after the country’s massive earthquake, weaving a convoy of trucks around shattered highways in the middle of the night to reach a functioning port.

Chile gives its last weapons-grade uranium to US By MICHAEL WARREN and MEG KINNARD (AP) – Google News Hostimg 12 April”.…..”It” is highly enriched uranium 235, HEU for short. It’s the material that most worries anti-terrorism experts. Just 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of it in a nuclear bomb could devastate an entire city, in the same way the United States destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. Continue reading →

April 12, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, SOUTH AMERICA | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

As nuclear industry materials proliferate, the threat of nuclear terrorism is real

More than 1600 tonnes of highly enriched uranium and 500 tonnes of plutonium are estimated to have been produced worldwide for civilian and military use – enough material to build 120,000 nuclear bombs. Estimates vary as to how much of it remains unsecured and at risk of falling into terrorist hands……

Obama wrestles with nuclear nightmare that won’t go away Sydney Morning Herald ,SIMON MANN IN WASHINGTON, April 10, 2010 So, what if terrorists did get their hands on a nuclear weapon? It doesn’t bear thinking about. Except, thousands of people are thinking about it now. Continue reading →

April 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Cobalt-60 – another radioactive isotope from the nuclear industry

Cobalt-60 Radiation in Delhi : What is Cobalt 60 ? India Buzzing 9 April 2010,Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a radioactive isotope of cobalt. Due to its short half life of 5.27 years 60Co is not found in nature. It is produced artificially by neutron activation of 59Co. 60Co decays by negative beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60 (60Ni). The activated Ni-atom emits two gamma rays with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV.

Cobalt-60 Radiation in Delhi : What is Cobalt 60 ? | India Buzzing

April 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, wastes | antinuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

‘Third Generation’ Nuclear Reactors have same old problems – wastes, weapons proliferation

Why James Hansen is wrong on nuclear power | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal, By Renfrey Clarke April 8, 2010 “….. Third-generation reactors are in essence evolved versions of the pressurised-water installations that provide almost all of today’s nuclear energy. Now being built for the first time, “third-generation” plants are arguably still at the pre-commercial stage…. Continue reading →

April 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, technology | antinuclear, climate change, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear Weapons Proliferation is the biggest risk with Integral Fast Reactors

Why James Hansen is wrong on nuclear power | Links April 8, 2010 Hansen Nuclear Power ….. Renfrey’s article understates the WMD proliferation risks associated with integral fast reactors (IFRs). The plutonium/waste mixture from IFRs could be processed in a conventional reprocessing plant without too much trouble, especially since proliferators would take simple steps (reducing the irradiation time) to maximise the proportion of plutonium-239 and to reduce the difficulty and hazards of transporting and processing the material. Continue reading →

April 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Cancer risks from CT scans – unecessary ionising radiation

CT scans cause one third more radiation than needed: study The Hindu April 9, 2010 CT scans generate up to one third more radiation than needed to yield a clear diagnostic image, thus exposing patients to an increased risk of cancer, according to a study in Australia.The findings have emerged amid concerns about the growth in referrals for CT scans and as radiation safety experts and radiologists prepare a national monitoring scheme to keep radiation doses to the minimum necessary…..

The Hindu : Health / Medicine & Research : CT scans cause one third more radiation than needed: study

April 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Secret moves to permit higher levels of ionising radiation

“This critical debate is taking place entirely behind closed doors…”

Radiation Exposure Debate Rages Inside EPA Plan to Radically Hike Post-Accident Radiation in Food & Water Sparks Hot Dissent, YubaNet.com, By: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)Washington, DC Apr. 5, 2010 – A plan awaiting approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that would dramatically increase permissible radioactive releases in drinking water, food and soil after “radiological incidents” is drawing vigorous objections from agency experts, according to agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Continue reading →

April 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment