reactors « nuclear-news

Ionising radiation at Niagara Falls – long buried secret of nuclear wastes

The nuclear age is littered with tragedies of unnecessary contamination of unsuspecting populations because of the pretense by government and the nuclear industry that the very real hazard of low levels of internal exposure is no hazard at all.

Radiation Alert: Niagara Falls , The Palestine Telegraph, June 21, By Paul Zimmerman and Louis Ricciuti, “………..Witnessing all this sunshine activity around you, you remain innocently oblivious to the underlying reality being played out before your eyes on this summer day, 2010, in downtown Niagara Falls, New York. In truth, the scene is shrouded by a pall, both invisible and macabre. For you see, what is being excavated besides decayed roadway are dirty little secrets long buried. The dirt and dust taking flight upon the wind is laced with radioactive waste!……….. Continue reading →

June 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

AREVA supplying parts to attempt to re-start damaged nuclear reactor

FirstEnergy to place lid on Davis-Besse nuclear power plant cleveland.com, June 21, 2010, “………Davis-Besse has been shut down since Feb. 28 for extensive work to repair cracks in the lid that sprouted unexpectedly in critical components. Such cracks can allow radioactive coolant into the reactor’s containment building — or worse.

Federal rules require an immediate shutdown if leaks are detected.The cracks are similar to fissures that opened up in the late 1990s in parts of Davis-Besse’s original lid and led to a pineapple-sized corrosion hole in that lid before it was discovered in 2004 Continue reading →

June 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactor, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

China to sell nuclear reactors to Pakistan, as U.S. to sell them to India

Having muscled the Indian deal through the NSG in 2008, the US is likely to struggle to forge a consensus against China’s deal with Pakistan.

US defies China on Pakistan reactors Jeremy Page, Islamabad The Australian * June 22, 2010 CHINA and the US are on a collision course over Chinese plans to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan. Continue reading →

June 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons, reactors | Leave a comment

The Bunker mentality – U.S. nuclear weapons plans

The Obama administration is making generous concessions to the nuclear industry presumably, as alluded to above, to win votes from Republicans….ways to keep the “nuclear-industrial complex” humming along,

Seed of Destruction: Nuclear ‘Pits’, Foreign Policy In Focus , By Russ Wellen, June 21, 2010 “……The nuclear-weapons industry adopted the word “pit” for the weapon’s core, which is power-packed with the varieties of uranium or plutonium isotopes capable of a warp-speed chain reaction. Yes, it’s a seed for the a chain reaction. ……the pit instead serves as a cache for .. a seed of destruction……

A project for their production is pivotal to the Obama administration’s plans for nuclear modernization. In a Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists piece titled Bunker mentality: Is NNSA digging itself into a hole at Los Alamos?, Greg Mello writes that “as part of the New START ratification package, the administration projects $16 billion in new warhead spending over this decade.” Continue reading →

June 22, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors | Leave a comment

As nuclear waste mass accumulates, so does the COST of it

There is no national disposal spot for the spent fuel, and for 32 states, no place to send their low-level wastes. Around the country, the inventory of low-level wastes with no place to go is growing by about 10,000 cubic feet a year……...as much as $1,625 per cubic foot of waste. Even with waste reduction technologies, the amount of waste per year amounts to thousands of cubic feet…………

Nuclear Dumps Argue Over Diluting Waste for Burial – NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD June 17, 2010 Even low-level radioactive waste is a growing problem, with few licensed repositories to dispose of it. The problem dates from the early 1980s, when Congress said that the federal government would take care of high-level waste, like spent fuel from nuclear power plants, but that the states would have to find sites for low-level material, Continue reading →

June 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

U.S. Senators trying to greenwash nuclear power

The nuclear power industry has skillfully and successfully painted itself green — an environmentally benign answer to reducing carbon emissions. The industry and many in Washington want us to believe that a new generation of nuclear reactors will solve the problems of climate change and allow us to live happily ever after. That’s a costly fairy tale.

US climate proposal a nuclear bailout By Richard Clapp Shanghai Daily, 2010-6-19 THE long-awaited climate proposal crafted by US Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman has finally landed on Capitol Hill. The proposal, though, is a massive nuclear bailout under the guise of an energy overhaul. Continue reading →

June 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, USA | antinuclear, climate change, global warming, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership revived under a new name

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Steering Group Members Approve Transformation to the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation Department of Energy – U.S. Department of Energy , 18 June 2010,
The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Steering Group met in Accra, Ghana on June 16-17, 2010 and approved unanimously several transformative changes to reflect global developments that have occurred since the Partnership was established in 2007. The transformation includes a new name – the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation — and the establishment of a new Statement of Mission. Continue reading →

June 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Tax-payers liable if nuclear reactor plan goes belly up

It’s Official – Taxpayers Take On Nuclear Risk, CleanEnergy Footprints, 18 June 2010, Today the utility giant Southern Company agreed to the terms of its portion of the $8.3 billion conditional loan guarantee awarded by the Obama Administration back in February for the proposed two new reactors it wants to build along with its utility partners at Plant Vogtle in Georgia. So now U.S. taxpayers are officially on the hook if the project goes belly up. Continue reading →

June 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, energy efficiency, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Is Obama’s call for “clean” energy in fact a push for nuclear power?

Obama’s Gulf oil catastrophe Oval Office call for “clean energy” tacit push for taxpayer-backed atomic power expansion, Beyond Nuclear, 18 June 2010, ?Although President Barack Obama did not say the words “nuclear power” in his first ever Oval Office address to the nation on June 15th, his call for an accelerated “transition to clean energy” in response to the worst environmental catastrophe in U.S. history — the worsening oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico — represents a tacit push for the expansion of atomic energy.

Such a nuclear relapse would only take place by transferring the financial risks and even direct costs (not to mention the radiological risks) squarely on the backs of taxpayers. Obama’s speech only adds to concerns this his choice of pro-nuclear co-chairs to head his oil catastrophe investigative panel could serve as a cynical pretext for advancing the dirty, dangerous, and expensive atomic reactors and associated facilities. Continue reading →

June 18, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

British govt axes nuclear industry loan – a blow to the industry

The announcement is a blow both to the company and the nuclear sector

UK Axes GBP80 Mln Sheffield Nuclear Industry Loan – WSJ.comBy Selina Williams Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones) 17 June 2010, –The U.K. government Thursday axed an GBP80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd. for equipment to make the large forgings for nuclear power stations as part of broader spending cuts. Continue reading →

June 18, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, UK | antinuclear, EDF, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

India’s Chambers of Commerce call for Nuclear Suppliers to be liable for accidents and delays

The Chamber is also of the view that that there should be a provision in the Bill which allows and entitles victims for higher compensation from Higher Courts. It also proposes that the Government may consider provision for cost over runs due to regulatory delays.

ASSOCHAM seeks clause in civil nuclear liability for precaution against tragedy India Infoline News Service, Jun 17, 2010 Nuclear Supplier may include anybody and everybody who supplies equipments, instruments, spare parts, contractual labor accounting for 5% or above of the total project cost.The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has proposed that all nuclear supplier(s) as well operators subjected to a clause as per which compensation is ensured in an equitable manner Continue reading →

June 18, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, Legal | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, uranium, Westinghouse | Leave a comment

Just like oil, nuclear ‘safety reviews’ rubber-stamped industry analyses

the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Office of Inspector General reported in 2006 that NRC staff “safety reviews” of atomic reactor 20 year license extension applications were regularly “cut and pasted” directly from nuclear utility analyses, sometimes verbatim. NRC has thus far rubberstamped approval for every single one of the over 50 license extension requests it has recieved, with many more awaiting approval.

House hearing ion Gulf catastrophe should serve as a warning on reactor risks, Beyond Nuclear 18 June 2010, The grilling of BP and other oil company executives at a June 15, 2010 U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Environment Subcommittee hearing on the BP Gulf of Mexico oil catastrophe should serve as a warning that very similar risks exist in the nuclear power industry, albeit radiological rather than petrol. Continue reading →

June 18, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Australian union’s stand on danger of nuclear industry is echoed in UK

“We will be urging unions in the UK to join in the stand opposing nuclear- rather than joining the industry’s Compensation Scheme for Radiation Linked Diseases which has thousands of applicants and has paid out millions of pounds – with the caveat that you don’t talk about it,”

Radiation Free Lakeland backs Aussie unions’ nuclear stance , GETNOTICEDONLINE Uk 14 June 2010 Radiation Free Lakeland is supporting Australian unions who have banned members from working in the nuclear industry.Largely unreported in the British press, the Victorian branch of the ETU has given its full support to the Queensland and the Northern Territories branches’ decision to ban members from working in uranium mines, nuclear power plants or any part of the nuclear fuel cycle. Continue reading →

June 18, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, UK | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, cancer, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Bill Gates’ pie in the sky idea for prolonging the agony of declining nuclear industry

TerraPower’s Multibillion-Dollar Nuclear Reactor Plan – Venture Capital Dispatch – WSJ, 16 June 2010, By Yuliya ChernovaIf your first product is due on the market in nine years, at a cost of between $3 billion and $4 billion, can you raise venture money now? In the case of TerraPower LLC, the answer is yes. The Bellevue, Wash.-based nuclear technology developer announced this week it raised $35 million in its Series B round from new investor Khosla Ventures and returning backers Charles River Ventures and Bill Gates.
…………. there are still years of engineering and development work ahead for the team………
Besides having to overcome technological and financial challenges, TerraPower would also have to deal with a difficult regulatory framework. In the U.S., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issues licenses for new nuclear power plant designs; it typically takes years to secure one.

June 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

In light of new tax, Europe’s nuclear industry faces uncertain future

other countries could adopt similar measures on all utilities, or on target nuclear….the new move will bring uncertainty in the European nuclear sector,

Huge nuclear tax on the cards in Germany, World Nuclear News, By Rumyana Vakarelska, 15 June 2010 The German Ministry of Finance has envisaged an additional €2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) per year ‘windfall tax’ on nuclear operators as part of the 2011 Federal Budget and its financial plan up to 2014………..According to the German Finance Ministry the charge “will be necessary, as part of an overall energy concept, to prolong the operational life of nuclear power plants.” At a time when Germany is looking for tens of billions of euros in budget savings, the ministry said that the money will be used to meet nuclear decommissioning and final repository costs…… Continue reading →