reactors « nuclear-news

Questions on Stuxnet’s ability to get into world’s top nuclear facilities

Among the questions that experts would like to answer concern the origin of the virus, its exact purpose and how it was able to spread between the protected and isolated infrastructures of some of the world’s top nuclear facilities.

All Eyes On Stuxnet At Annual Virus Researcher Summit, threat post September 29, 2010, The world will know more about the mysterious Stuxnet virus by week’s end, after top virus researchers reveal the findings of their post mortem on Stuxnet at the annual Virus Bulletin Conference. Continue reading →

October 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

Mohawks join opposition to shipment of nuclear wastes over Great Lakes

Mohawks will not stand for nuclear shipment By Michelle Lalonde, Montreal Gazette September 30, 2010 The Mohawk community of Kahnawake is determined to stop a plan by Ontario’s Bruce Power to ship 16 massive steam generators from its nuclear facility in southwestern Ontario along the St. Lawrence Seaway for recycling in Sweden.”The fact that the Seaway was built through our territory without our approval in the first place is bad enough,” said Clinton Phillips, the chief responsible for environmental issues on the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake.

“To use it to transport nuclear waste literally through our backyard would be adding insult to injury in a huge way. There is absolutely no way we’ll stand for it.”……………

October 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, indigenous issues | antinuclear, indigenous, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, reactors | Leave a comment

The costly reality behind AREVA’s funky nuclear spin

the reality behind this romantic green image of a nuclear panacea to future energy needs is something altogether different….obsessional ad campaign run by the French Areva state-backed nuclear monopoly, under the banner of “semi-private” as portrayed in the business press.

Funky Town Finance Meets The Nuclear Renaissance :: The Market Oracle by Andrew McKillop (Project Director, GSO Consulting Associates Former chief policy analyst, Division A Policy, DG XVII Energy, European Commission )30 Sept 10, Like a Marlene Dietrich show in a remake of 1945 Berlin, surrounded by Soviet troop hordes, the nuclear sales show has to go on. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | antinuclear, AREVA, France, nuclear, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Small modular nuclear reactors, costly, dangerous, and proliferation risk

SMRs are not only unlikely live up to the hype, but may well aggravate cost, safety, and environmental problems,….”Amidst the evaporating hopes for a nuclear renaissance, nuclear power proponents are pinning their hopes on small modular reactors without thinking carefully about the new problems they will create

IEER/PSR: ‘Small Modular Reactors’ No Panacea for What Ails Nuclear Power – Fact Sheet Explores Cost, Safety and Waste Issues Glossed Over by IndustryWASHINGTON, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire – The same industry that promised that nuclear power would be “too cheap to meter” is now touting another supposed cure-all for America’s power needs: the small modular reactor (SMR). Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, technology | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

German Green Party gathers support from anti-nuclear public sentiment

The nuclear issue has galvanized support for the Green party, which has grown to be a major force in national politics.

Germany: Greens See Red Over Nuclear Power Extension, TIME, By Tristana Moore / Berlin Wednesday, Sep. 29, 2010 “Nuclear power harms Germany’ is the Greenpeace message projected on the cooling systems of the nuclear power plant in Grafenrheinfeld near Schweinfurt, southern Germany, on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

Nuclear finance squabble as France’s debt-laden EDF in dispute with USA’s Constellation

Moving up a long way in funky financing, state-to-state bilateral deals in the nuclear power sector are now in high gear. Amounts in play are usually well above US $ 10 billion per project, and very complex mix-and-mingle methods and processes are used for their financing

From Put Options to Development Aid The French EDF ex-monopoly electricity supplier with the biggest number of nuclear reactors of any traded power company in the world, also the most debt-laden traded company in France, and with a share price down about 25% through Jan-Aug 2010, is using financial engineering to keep a foothold in the US nuclear power market. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, EDF, France, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Financing the Nuclear Resuscitation will bring about Global Debt

Financing the Nuclear Renaissance in 2010-2020 will almost surely shift to international and multilateral debt financing methods. The IMF will surely be there, and all creative methods will have a look-in to using nuclear power plants as the underlying security in a vast new upsurge in global debt trading. –

Sovereign Debt to Global Debt The UN’s Nuclear Suppliers Group has an impressive 45-nation list of supposed nuclear equipment and service suppliers, but these include countries like Iceland, Malta, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania, everyone short of the Vatican. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear renaissance, reactors | Leave a comment

Nuclear power a bad plan for Sri Lanka

Environmental concern over Sri Lanka nuclear plans By Saroj Pathirana BBC News 9 September 2010 Environmentalists in Sri Lanka have expressed concern over government plans to build a nuclear power plant by 2025. Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka announced that the government intends to build the plant to fulfil increasing demands for energy Critics say Sri Lanka lacks the wherewithal to handle ordinary garbage – let alone nuclear waste….. the campaigners say that the island is full of natural sources of energy.Observers are also sceptical as to whether the country will be able to get the technological know-how to build such plant. BBC News – Environmental concern over Sri Lanka nuclear plans

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | ASIA, politics | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

Germany’s old nuclear reactors vulnerable to extreme weather and to terrorism

It’s not only incidents that worry Greenpeace. The group has highlighted the possibility of a terror attack.

Nuclear horror scenarios for Germany BERLIN, Sept. 28 (UPI) — Chernobyl-like disasters at Germany’s most vulnerable reactors could render parts of the country uninhabitable for decades, Greenpeace has warned. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

How tax-payer money funds the nuclear industry’s expansion

Already marshalled into this private-public ‘Marshall Plan’ for selling US nuclear power and services to India are the US Ex-Im (export-import) Bank, leading Wall Street private banks, and major downstream infrastructure companies such as Bechtel, all primed and ready to go….US state agencies, especially the Ex-Im Bank can in some cases finance up to 85% of the initial sale…….the UN’s nuclear agency the IAEA could be extended to cover nuclear financing.

Like deals between South Korea and Abu Dhabi, Russia and Iran or France and Pakistan, the US-India arrangement targets business opportunities of epic dimensions. On the basis of the 2008 bilateral agreement, U.S. companies—most importantly Toshiba-Westinghouse and GE-Hitachi—are planning to build nuclear power plants in India. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

Nuclear power has always been State financed

It was almost exclusively State-controlled, State-financed and State-operated. Its strategic deployment and costs were ultimately linked to the real business of the atom – nuclear weapons making and state security which, of course, was a State secret.

The Atomic Reality At the time when “Funky Town” was regular disco fodder circa 1977, nuclear power generation was still almost totally and exclusively reserved for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, the USSR and to a smaller extent, China and India. Continue reading →

September 30, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, history | antinuclear, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Costs are looking like the killer for the nuclear industry

Critics such as Mark Cooper at the University of Vermont say the real costs tend to range toward $7,000 to $10,000 per kilowatt. State support of these projects turns into “nuclear socialism,” Cooper says. Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute says costs have escalated beyond what proponents claim.

Cost remains a huge problem for the nuclear industry. : Greentech Media, Michael Kanellos, 29 Sept, 10 The MIT report estimates that overnight cost — i.e., the cost of a plant minus financing during construction — is around $4,000 a kilowatt, compared to $2,300 per kilowatt for natural gas and $850 for coal. A nuclear facility at this level could produce power for 8.4 cents per kilowatt hour compared to 6.2 cents per kilowatt hour for coal and 4.2 cents to 8.7 cents for natural gas…….. Continue reading →

September 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

French nuclear empire in retreat as EDF pulls out of Suez

THE NUCLEAR RETREAT – GDF Suez pulls out of French EPR project throwing French nuclear expansion into doubt Beyond Nuclear -September 23, 2010 GDF Suez, the second largest utility in France, has withdrawn from the newest nuclear reactor project there. GDF Suez, 35% state-owned, was a partner with the leading – and fully government-owned – French utility, EDF in the new reactor construction project planned at Penly on the north coast. But despite shouldering 25% of the financing, Suez was prevented by EDF from operating the reactor, a role reserved for EDF. Suez depended on operating experience to market its expertise overseas. The withdrawal marks another blow to the French EPR reactor project already suffering from huge delays and cost over-runs at its French and Finnish construction sites.

Beyond Nuclear – THE NUCLEAR RETREAT – GDF Suez pulls out of French EPR project throwing French nuclear expansion into doubt

September 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, MIDDLE EAST | antinuclear, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear power plants are vulnerable to the Stuxnet worm!

after finding a way into a plant’s system, the worm can simply steal data or potentially wreak havoc, causing its systems such as cooling pumps to malfunction.

Analysts: Stuxnet Raises Concerns About Vulnerability of Nuclear, Industrial Facilties , News.com, William Ide , 28 Sept 10, A powerful computer virus called the Stuxnet worm has apparently targeted Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant and infected computer systems from Asia to Europe and the United States. The capability of this malicious software is raising questions about the vulnerability of nuclear, electrical and other types of industrial facilities. Continue reading →

September 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

Shipment of nuclear steam generators on Great Lakes sets a dangerous precedent

questions remain about the long-term fate of its radioactive waste material……. the industry faces a major public-relations war whenever it proposes to move radioactive waste.

Plan to ship radioactive generators through Great Lakes draws protest – The Globe and Mail, 29 Sept 10, Bruce Power’s plan to ship radioactive steam generators for recycling in Sweden is raising a storm of protest along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River – a stark reminder for Canada’s nuclear industry that its waste-handling problems remain an obstacle to development. Continue reading →

September 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment