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Nuclear company AREVA venturing into renewables

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

(Can we trust AREVA to really promote renewable energy? – Christina Macpherson)

Areva’s strength is nuclear power–it is the world’s biggest nuclear company–but it is venturing into other carbon-free generation technologies.

Solar Thermal or Solar Photovoltaic? Areva Says ‘Both!’ – Forbes.com, 26 June 2010, Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive of the French nuclear giant Areva, hinted last week during a meeting in Forbes offices that Areva is developing a hybrid solar power plant concept that combines a solar thermal system with solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. Continue reading →

June 29, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, spinbuster | antinuclear, AREVA, climate change, France, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors, renewable energy, solar, wind | Leave a comment

How can nuclear energy go ahead, with no waste disposal solution?

The Feds Must Address Nuclear Waste Storage Problem By STUART PRICE | TIMES-DISPATCH June 27, 2010 Richmond, Va.

Last January, President Obama announced that the Department of Energy was creating a new group, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, to review the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and challenge national practices in place for more than 50 years.

One of the commission’s opportunities will be to determine if spent nuclear fuel rod assemblies can be safely recycled, thereby reducing the final quantity of waste requiring disposal. The commission’s challenges will include defining permanent nuclear waste solutions and selecting final repository sites. In July 2010, a commission subcommittee on waste disposal will meet in Washington. The commission’s final report is expected in January 2012.

June 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear, uranium, workers need health compensation

the health impacts on families of uranium workers and residents of uranium-development communities.

Senators want uranium compensation on fast track, GJSentinel.com, June 26, 2010 Colorado’s two U.S. senators are seeking a hearing on a bill that would expand the compensation program for the nation’s nuclear-weapons industry workers. Continue reading →

June 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Vietnam’s nuclear plans unlikely to succeed

A recent World Bank study found Vietnam could produce more than 500 gigawatts of electricity from land-based and off-shore wind farms, 10 times the country’s expected national demand in 2020.

Vietnam’s unnecessary nuclear ‘renaissance’ Greenpeace International, by jmckeati – June 23, 2010 The news just in from Vietnam is that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the construction of eight new nuclear power plants in the country. Each plant will feature ‘at least’ four reactors and all will be operational by 2030.

So, that’s ‘at least’ 32 reactors built within the next 20 years. Good luck with that, Mr Dung, because you’re really going to need it. Continue reading →

June 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | ASIA, business and costs | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors, renewable energy, uranium, wind | Leave a comment

Nuclear resuscitation is struggling in France, Finland, England

Generation III nuclear reactors: late again, Greenpeace International, by jmckeati – June 25, 2010T he continuing and farcical story of the state of the art European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) being built by AREVA at Olkiluoto in Finland. The many, many diverse delays incompetence in the project have led to it being (at the time of writing) four years behind schedule and 2.3 billion euros over-budget. Continue reading →

June 26, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, business and costs | AREVA, AUSTRALIA, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, reactors, uranium, Westinghouse | Leave a comment

Not hard to get hold of Highly Enriched Uranium, especially in Russia

What’s It Take to Build a Nuclear Weapon? | TakePart by Adam Trunell, 25 June 2010, The Nuclear Material “………The most important ingredient in a nuclear bomb is the nuclear stuff itself, which is also the hardest to get. No way can you find nuclear material like plutonium or highly enriched uranium stockpiled in a tool shed behind some half-hearted padlock. Right? Wrong.

Every nuclear-powered nation on the planet has nuclear material, and not all of it’s under lock and key. Civilian stockpiles in Europe and Japan aren’t staffed by armed guards, nor are most nuclear research reactors on U.S. college campuses.But if you’re looking for a truly easy score, try Russia. Continue reading →

June 26, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, weapons and war | antinuclear, depleted, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Australia’s Northern Territory asks new Prime Minister to stop nuclear waste dump plan

Former Prime Minister John Howard planned to build the dump on Muckaty Station, in Central Australia, because the Northern Territory did not have the constitutional strength to block the move.

Hendo urges Gillard to dump Muckaty, Northern Territory News, NICK CALACOURAS June 26th, 2010 AUSTRALIA’S new Prime Minister Julia Gillard should rethink her predecessor’s decision to build a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory, Chief Minister Paul Henderson said. Continue reading →

June 26, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, wastes | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Cartel to promote nuclear power sales meets in New Zealand

Although the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG ) claims to serve the interests of the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, its consultations and decision- making are closed to 144 of the 190 states party to the treaty. It is not accountable to the decision-making organs of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Thrashing out nuclear deals a juggling act for New Zealand, Stuff.co.nz, By BOB RIGG 24/06 New Zealand has found itself between a rock and a hard place as it chairs a meeting trying to juggle competing superpower positions on who gets enriched uranium and nuclear technology that could encourage the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Continue reading →

June 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, politics international | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Move to weaken U.S. nuclear security regulation, despite oil spill disaster

Certain nuclear energy supporters are trying to weaken regulation of new nuclear reactors in any proposed climate and energy or energy-only legislation.

Did the Nuclear Industry and Politicians Learn Anything from the BP Oil Spill? : CleanTechnica, by Zachary Strachan, 24 June 2010, A major factor causing the BP oil spill to be the disaster that it is turning out to be is deregulation of the oil industry. You would think that if people, especially politicians, learned one thing from this disaster, it would be that we need strong government oversight of risky technologies.It seems right now that some in the nuclear industry and Congress have missed that completely or just haven’t heard the news about the BP oil spill at all. Continue reading →

June 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, radiation, reactors, wastes | Leave a comment

Nuclear Suppliers’ Cartel anxious about Pakistan

Nuclear proliferation in South Asia The power of nightmares, The Economist, 24 June 2010, China’s proposed sale of nuclear reactors to Pakistan will intensify nuclear rivalry with India. But the damage will go far wider Continue reading →

June 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, reactors | Leave a comment

Ionising Radiation Cancer Risk from CT scans

Experts: CT scans pose risks, need more regulation, Google hosted news, By MARILYNN MARCHIONE (AP) –24 June 2010, From long-term cancer risks to radiation overdose mistakes, CT scans pose a growing danger to the American public and need more regulation to improve their safety, imaging experts write in a leading medical journal. Continue reading →

June 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear technology, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Radiation risks for nuclear plant workers

Nuclear plant balks at regulator request to test all employees for radiation Globe and Mail , Jun. 23, 2010 Federal regulators at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission have asked the operator of an Ontario power plant to test hundreds of its workers by this Friday for exposure to cancer-causing alpha radiation, but the company is balking at the request……….. Continue reading →

June 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, health | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Depleted uranium – a documentary film

DOCUMENTARY Silent genocide – Depleted uranium | qbit.cc An award winning documentary film produced for German television by Freider Wagner and Valentin Thurn. The film exposes the use and impact of radioactive weapons during the current war against Iraq. The story is told by citizens of many nations. It opens with comments by two British veterans, Kenny Duncan and Jenny Moore, describing their exposure to radioactive, so-called depleted uranium (DU), weapons and the congenital abnormalities of their children. Dr. Siegwart-Horst Gunther, a former colleague of Albert Schweitzer, and Tedd Weyman of the Uranium Medical Research Center (UMRC) traveled to Iraq, from Germany and Canada respectively, to assess uranium contamination in Iraq.

Silent genocide – Depleted uranium | qbit.cc

June 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, cancer, depleted, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear accidents, like black swans – rare, but do happen

A Nuclear Secret, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Craig K. Comstock, June 20, 2010 :”……..The point for today is that, when nuclear weapons are involved, we are one step away from irreparable consequences…………….In financial analysis, “black swans” have become a popular metaphor for dangers that are very high in negative consequences, even if they seem vanishingly low in probability. Continue reading →

June 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, reactors | Leave a comment

China needs to improve nuclear safety

Monitoring of nuclear safety needs attention, China Daily, BEIJING, June 22 (Xinhaunet) — “……..China needs to invest more in monitoring nuclear safety at civilian nuclear power projects,…China adopted its nuclear power industry standards from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Yu Zusheng, a member of the experts committee with State Nuclear Power Technology Corp (SNPTC). “They are among China’s first group of standards which are in line with international markets.”…………
Chinese expenditure on monitoring nuclear safety at the 11 operating nuclear power plants totals around 40 million yuan ($6 million) per year. In comparison, in the United States, which has around 100 nuclear power plants, the country’s total budget for monitoring nuclear safety is $700 million annually.

Monitoring of nuclear safety needs attention

June 23, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, reactors | Leave a comment