radioactive « nuclear-news

Worker exposed to radioactive substance at German nuclear plant

Worker exposed to radioactive substance at German nuclear plant Earth Times 22 Jan 2010 Muenster, Germany – A worker has been accidentally exposed to a radioactive substance, uranium hexafluoride, at a uranium enrichment plant in Gronau in northern Germany, officials said Friday…..The Urenco company gave no details on how the substance escaped in the container preparation unit at Germany’s only enrichment plant on Thursday…..The plant enriches uranium for use in nuclear-power reactors. Anti-nuclear groups have vainly called for it to be closed.

January 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Aging Vermont Yankee nuclear plant – a hazard to public health

Beyond Nuclear 22 Jan 2010 Entergy Nuclear has betrayed the trust of the lawmakers, regulators, and citizens of Vermont. Simultaneous with its revelation of radioactivity leaks on site, Vermont Yankee spokespeople engaged in a predictable campaign to downplay the health and safety risks of tritium. However, tritium can impact the human body right down to the DNA level, and can cross the placenta from mother to fragile fetus. At such intimate levels, tritium can and does damage human health, leading to cancer, genetic damage, birth defects, and other maladies. The National Academy of Science has reported consistently over the decades that any exposure to radioactivity, no matter how low the dose, still carries a health risk. As reactors age – and Vermont Yankee is nearly 40 years old – its systems, structures and components degrade, worsening tritium leaks from buried piping. Vermont Yankee’s license should not be extended 20 additional years.

January 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Anti-nuclear movement grows, with Germany’s unsolved nuclear waste problem

The decision by Britain to send waste to Germany has served as a reminder that the Germans have not solved the problem of how and where to store it. This uncertainty, and news of the mine in Saxony, is stoking the embers of the anti-nuclear movement — demonstrations are planned for this weekend — and reviving it as a political force.

German nuclear programme threatened by old mine housing waste TIMESONLINE By BEN EVANS
Associated Press Writer Roger Boyes in Berlin January 22, 2010

A leaky salt mine used as a radioactive dump is jeopardising Germany’s plans to cling on to nuclear power despite fierce political opposition. Continue reading →

January 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Highly radioactive nuclear waste begins its secret journey to Japan

Nuclear waste shipment leaves Britain for Japan Telegraph.co By Julian Ryall in Tokyo 21 Jan 2010 Environmentalists in Japan have expressed concern about the first shipment of highly radioactive waste to leave britain under a controversial repatriation scheme, saying any accident to befall the ship transporting the waste would result in an “environmental disaster”. Continue reading →

January 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Fire risks at nuclear plant

NRC cites fire hazards at Alabama nuclear plant WRAL.com 20 Jan 10WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are raising new concerns about the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Brown’s Ferry nuclear plant in north Alabama. In a letter released Thursday, inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that equipment used to automatically shut down the plant’s reactors in an emergency was not properly protected from fire hazards. The NRC described the findings as significant “apparent violations.”..http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/6855064/

January 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Record high levels of Tritium found at Vermont Yankee nuclear plant

Much Higher Tritium Level Found at Nuclear Plant . Tritium search at Vermont Yankee turns up reading 90 times higher than previous record. ABC News/Money By DAVE GRAM Associated Press Writer
MONTPELIER, Vt. January 20, 2010 (AP) State officials said Wednesday more radioactive tritium had been found at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant — at levels more than 90 times higher than found in a test well nearly two weeks ago……………..State and Vermont Yankee officials said Wednesday they hoped the finding of much higher tritium concentration in the concrete trench might mean they had found the source of the contamination………..
Meanwhile, legislative leaders and the Douglas administration’s point person on utility regulation said the state Health Department should conduct its own tests for radioactive leaks at Vermont Yankee and not rely on the plant for information about testing around the Vernon reactor. That call came a week after it was revealed that Vermont Yankee, owned by New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., had misled state officials by saying the plant did not have underground piping of the type that could carry radioactive substances like tritium……http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9617971

January 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1 | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Local water supply might be ruined by uranium mining

(USA) Uranium threat to local lakes under study

The Warren Record January 20, 2010

A $437,000 study being conducted by the city of Virginia Beach, Va. will examine what might happen to the water quality in Lake Gaston and Kerr Lake if a proposed uranium mine in Chatham, Va. were struck by a Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) storm. “The state is attempting to get a study going through the National Academy of Science,” said Virginia Beach Director of Public Works Thomas Leahy. “But that study will not look at site specific issues or do any modeling of possible catastrophic events.”…..Leahy said the concern is that such a catastrophic event, should it occur, could raise the water radiation level in the lake significantly enough to force Virginia Beach to stop using it as a water source, a move that could cost the city over $500 million.

January 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, USA | antinuclear, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

There’s money in nuclear waste, (never mind the danger)

A French state-controlled company, Areva, is now the world’s largest processor of nuclear waste and is keen to secure a bigger share as countries such as China and India expand their nuclear activities rapidly.

Where there’s nuclear muck there’s a growing opportunity for brass TIMESONLINE Robin Pagnamenta: January 21, 2010

“…………Only a handful of countries have the expertise and technology for nuclear reprocessing, in which spent nuclear fuel rods from power stations are chopped up and boiled in acid to extract uranium and plutonium for reuse in a reactor. The by-product is a concentrated form of vitrified nuclear waste that is as nasty as it sounds. Continue reading →

January 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, wastes | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive | Leave a comment

Secrets of Europe’s nuclear waste trade

How French solves nuclear waste , Jagadee’s English Webblog January 20, 2010 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation “.……….“The European nuclear power industry can’t deal with its waste mountain so it started dumping some of it in Russia. This is illegal and highly dangerous,” said Vladimir Tchouprov of Greenpeace Russia. “The secretive nuclear industry is claiming that this is legitimate nuclear trade – but the reality is that only a small fraction, 10%, of this nuclear material is processed and sent back to Western Europe – almost all of the waste has been dumped in Russia. Continue reading →

January 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Will cockroaches really inherent the post-nuclear war world?

Radiation & Roaches, Shortening & Oil San Diego READER By Matthew Alice Jan. 20, 2010 “…………Roaches can withstand much more radiation than people can. But fruit flies and flour beetles and a particular kind of wasp will be around long after roaches are gone. Continue reading →

January 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Animal lovers protest NASA’s plan to irradiate monkeys

PETA Protests NASA Experiments On Monkeys Newsnet5.com January 20, 2010 CLEVELAND — There was an unusual sight Wednesday as PETA protested NASA over planned radiation experiments on squirrel monkeys.To make their point, they protested in front of Cleveland’s Glenn Research Center Wednesday dressed as monkeys in cages. PETA said NASA’s planned tests on monkeys are cruel.

PETA Protests NASA Experiments On Monkeys – News Story – WEWS Cleveland

January 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Religion and ethics, USA | antinuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

South Africa: uranium mine loses authorisation

Environmental authorisation withdrawn at First Uranium project (South Africa) Mining Journal20 Jan 2010 First Uranium Corp says an environmental authorisation (EA) for a tailings storage facility at its Mine Waste Solutions (MWS) tailings recovery project has been withdrawn by the authorities.

The “unexpected” decision was taken by the North West Provincial Government’s Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Rural Development (NWDACE).

Mining Journal – Environmental authorisation withdrawn at First Uranium project

January 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, South Africa | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Anxiety as the Western world losing dominance of the nuclear industry

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First and Second World countries are starting to look better, when compared with what is coming.

With very dubious safety and occupational health regulations, and with a big lack of transparency, South Korea embarks on a nuclear sales program to the Middle East.

China and India enthusiastically aim for nuclear power – also both with dubious safety, and secrecy.

Nuclear opponents have become accustomed to criticising France, UK, USA, Russia, Japan, Israel. But these First and Second World countries are starting to look better, when compared with what is coming.

For the U.S.A. and U.K. we have a chance of learning through free media about nuclear incidents. And possibly even for France. Not so sure about Russia. But at least they’ve all had experience of this so very dangerous industry. But for China, and the Asian and Middle East nations there’s likely to be an unhealthy combination of inexperience and news censorship.

Now we have countries with little experience or expertise and with dubious or no oversight of plants and of waste dumps, or uranium mines. And – countries that purport to want only ‘peaceful’ nuke power, Yet with obvious other power resources – e.g. Saudi Arabia, why would they want nukes? The answer that springs to mind is – for nuclear weapons.

And nuke weapons are not the only worry. How vulnerable are these “non-Western” nukes to accident, theft of plutonium, terrorism, and response to mistaken attack?

January 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactor, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Risks of nuclear radiation are indeed real

The risks of nuclear energy are not exaggerated Most scientists in this field agree that there is danger even in small doses of radiation The Guardian, Ian Fairlie20 January 2010 You [The Guardian] reported the view that radiation risks are exaggerated, but left out vital information on radiation protection (Radiation health threat overstated – Oxford professor, 11 January). The article relied upon and extensively cited a retired professor of particle physics, Wade Allison, who is neither a radiation biologist nor an epidemiologist, and is not in my view an expert in radiation risks. Continue reading →

January 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | media, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Plan to examine health aspects of uranium mining

Uranium Mining in Virginia Symposium 11 March 2010

Appomattox Area Calendar By Linda on 18 January 2010 Join Friends of the Earth for a Uranium Mining in Virginia Symposium in Richmond, VA. The goals of the symposium are to examine the health and socio-economic impacts of proposed uranium mining in Virginia. Continue reading →

January 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1 | cancer, nuclear, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment