radiation « nuclear-news

New research points to cancers caused by unnecessary medical radiation

CT scan safety: Concerns mount , Chicago Tribune 9 March 2010,

Does early detection really save lives?

“As physicians find new ways to use diagnostic imaging to discover and deal with disease, concern is growing about Americans’ increased exposure to potentially cancer-causing radiation. Annual radiation doses from medical imaging have soared sevenfold since the early 1980s, according to a report last year from the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.

Meanwhile, as many as 14,500 people a year may end up dying of radiation-induced cancers caused by CT scans, new research suggests.”–Judith Graham, Chicago Tribune.

Read her whole story: Concerns mount over radiation associatead with CT scans

Julie’s Health Club: CT scan safety: Concerns mount

March 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Foreign uranium companies continue to rip off Niger’s poor

The neocolonial secret agreements giving Areva below-market prices mean that very little of the wealth from Niger’s uranium remains in the country.

Niger’s uranium coup, boilingspot: 7 March 2010 On February 18, Niger’s President Mamadou Tandja was overthrown in a military coup. A military junta calling itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, headed by Major Salou Djibo, took powerTony Iltis | Green Left Online | 6 March 2010 “……the junta is unlikely to confront the causes of Niger’s extreme poverty: Western-imposed neoliberal austerity and the environmentally and socially destructive plunder of natural resources, particularly uranium………….the coup ensures that political power remains with the same military officer caste from which Tandja came……. Continue reading →

March 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | indigenous issues, Niger | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, uranium | Leave a comment

They STILL don’t know what to do with nuclear waste!

Future of spent nuclear fuel, The Energy Collective, by Dan Yurman, 03/06/2010
A blue ribbon commission will hold its first meeting March 25-26 in Washington, DC

A panel of nuclear energy experts appointed by the federal government will take up the issue of what to do with 60,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel. Continue reading →

March 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Even the nuclear industry itself knows that its future is dodgy

SMi’s 3rd Annual Financing Nuclear Power Conference Will Connect Experts And Executives Nuclear Street, – By April Murelio 8 March 2010,”….. -According to the World Business Academy the availability and cost of financing for new nuclear plants will depend on:

• The level and certainty of government subsidies and incentives•

*The comparative cost and performance of renewable energy sources•

The timing of capital markets’ recovery from the credit crisis•

Estimated construction costs• The structure of the target electricity market (competitive market v. more traditional, regulated cost-of-service market)

• Assessments of plants’ lifetime capacity and performance

• Resolution of the long-term waste storage problem

• Public opinion about nuclear power…

March 8, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, reactor | Leave a comment

The very secret costs of nuclear power

Hidden Costs of the nuclear industry – Secrecy about Nuclear Costs
The secrecy surrounding nuclear industry costs has two main aspects:
1. Nuclear power is intrinsically connected to nuclear weapons, and the costs of these are kept very much hidden by all states.
2.In States where the government runs the nuclear industry, the true costs are well hidden. (Spare a thought for the USA – warts and all, the USA, in trying to run a privatised nuclear industry, does allow public flow of information about THE MONEY.) – The true costs of nuclear power – our theme for March 2010

March 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1 | antinuclear, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, reactor, wastes | Leave a comment

Court orders Exxon Mobil to pay up for radiation contamination

The claims are among thousands pending against Exxon and other oil companies over allegations that they put employees and residents near pipe-cleaning operations at risk from radiation- related diseases, particularly cancer.

Exxon Must Pay $1.2 Million for Workers’ Radiation (Update2) – BusinessWeek, )March 05, 2010,By Bob Van Voris and Leslie Snadowsky, March 5 (Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. energy company, must pay $1.2 million to 16 Louisiana workers who claimed they were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation when they were cleaning used oil drilling pipes, a jury said. Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Groundwater threatened by uranium mining

“It’s a huge potential for contamination of groundwater.”

Uranium Mining In The Black Hills – Debra White Plume’s Response to ‘Clean Nuclear’ Republic of Lakotah, March 3, 2010 The planned uranium mine site in the southern Black Hills can impact four aquifers. Powertech, Inc. USA plans to begin uranium extraction in 2011 and operate for 15 years in the permit area of 10,580 acres located in Dewey and Burdock Counties, north of Edgemont, SD. Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, environment, water | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, radiation, radioactive | 1 Comment

Depleted uranium in Utah violates laws

Politics Up Close: HEAL Utah on Depleted Uranium Study | KCPW03.05.2010 by Jeff Robinson, Governor Gary Herbert has struck a deal to keep additional depleted uranium out of the state for now. But thousands of drums of it are already here, some buried, some about to be buried in the west desert at EnergySolutions facility. But a new report commissioned by the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah says this violates federal and state law on low-level waste disposal. We’re joined by Executive Director Vanessa Pierce and Dr. Arjun Makhijani with the Institute for Environmental and Energy Research.

Politics Up Close: HEAL Utah on Depleted Uranium Study | KCPW

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1 | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

New uranium mine in Canada to avoid federal environmental assessment

Nunavut uranium proposal won’t undergo federal review, CBC News, 5 March 2010, A uranium mine being proposed in Nunavut will not be subject to a federal environmental assessment, but instead be reviewed by a territorial regulator. Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, environment | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Patients endangered by poor regulation of medical radiation

Inadequate regulation puts patients at risk | The Platform | STLtoday, 5 March 2010, Seventy-six patients at a Springfield, Mo., health center received radiation overdoses while being treated for head and neck tumors. Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Philippines not convinced that nuclear waste is safe

Uncertainties surrounding nuclear waste By Nelson D. Laviña,Philippine Daily InquirerFirst 03/04/2010 “.…During his last press conference, Cojuangco presented an expert, a Swiss engineer, who condescendingly told the Filipino people not to fear nuclear energy; nuclear waste could simply be buried. We would like to share with the public some facts and data on nuclear energy and radioactive waste…….. Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear wastes, radiation | Leave a comment

Depleted uranium causing birth defects in Iraq?

Fallujah doctors report rise in birth defects, BBC News`4 March, John Simpson talks about the children with birth defects he saw in Fallujah Continue reading →

March 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Documenting nuclear effects on indigenous peoples

Children of Armageddon/May the Bomb Be With You spotlights nuclear bombing suvivors, Ten Thousand Things: 1 March 2010, –in Japan, the Marshall Islands, Tahiti & New ZealandVancouver-based film director Fabienne Lips-Dumas creates a cinematic portrait of the legacy of some of the world’s 2,000 nuclear bomb explosions–focusing on Japan, the Marshall Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand and the planet–in her 2009 documentary film Children of Armageddon/May the Bomb Be With You: Continue reading →

March 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

New way to assess radiation risk of causing cancer

EPR can be used to assess a person’s radiation exposure throughout life, which will provide data for other studies, such as radiation exposure’s influence on cancer risk.

Teeth Show Evidence of Radiation Exposure, Dental Blogs, March 3rd, 2010 Researchers at Howard University in Washington College of Dentistry believe that tooth enamel stores important data about a person’s exposure to radiation. Continue reading →

March 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Move to reduce dangerous radiation exposure of children

Doctors and manufacturers aim to decrease CT radiation exposure, especially for kids Facs Stocks By Fierc eHealthCare , 03/03/2010
The high-powered imaging technology of CT scans allows doctors to see into crevices of the body that cannot be viewed as well by other methods. But the radiation exposure from the CT scans also can increase the risk of cancer, especially for children. Continue reading →

March 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | cancer, nuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment