reactors « nuclear-news

Inida’s nukes planned for populated areas, despite poor radiation safeguards

Radiating error, THE WEEK, Mayapuri incident exposes chinks in the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board’s armour. By Payal Saxena, June 12 India plans to have 20,000MW of nuclear energy by 2020 and triple that by 2032—an ambition that would translate into 31 nuclear reactors in all. Most plants are planned in areas with high population density, Continue reading →

June 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, safety | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

“Blending” of radioactive wastes will avoid safety requirements

“blending” would allow utilities, processors, and waste disposal sites to avoid existing environmental and safety requirements for how they dispose of the hotter waste……….the new “blended” waste has significantly higher concentrations of radioactivity than the typical lowest level radioactive waste…..

In the past year, state governments have also had to deal with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s reclassification of Depleted Uranium (which becomes more radioactive over time) as Class A waste.

Obama Administration Should Say “No” to Blending Radioactive Waste, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Joseph DiCamillo, 12 June 2010, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will consider whether to allow for the first time nuclear waste processors to “blend” higher level radioactive waste with the lowest level radioactive waste at a hearing on June 17. Continue reading →

June 12, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Russia financing Ukraine, Kiev planning new nuclear power

Russia lends Ukraine $2bn: what does it want in return? | FT.com, June 11, 2010 by Roman Olearchyk Now that the west seems to fear to tread very far into Ukraine, Russia is more than happy to step into the breach…it seems that the Russian bank has agreed to shore up the public finances for six months. The short-term benefits to Kiev are obvious: but the long-term implications of the dramatic increase in Russian influence that has followed president Viktor Yanukovich’s election have yet to become clear……….Kiev also hopes soon to ink a $4-5bn loan from Russia to finance new nuclear power blocs.

Russia lends Ukraine $2bn: what does it want in return? | beyondbrics | FT.com

June 12, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, Ukraine | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

National Anti-Nuclear Gathering at USA Weapons Complex

Nukewatch – July 4th weekend, 2010At Maryville College and the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex, Tennessee.

The Nuclear Resister, Nukewatch and the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA) invite you to join us for a national gathering, culminating with nonviolent anti-nuclear direct action, July 3-5, 2010, to declare our independence from nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The gathering will be held at Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee (tentative), with protest and action at the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in nearby Oak Ridge, where OREPA has sustained a nonviolent campaign for over 20 years. Nukewatch

June 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, peace, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Resistance to pro Nuclear Bills now in USA Congress

If there are going to be voices to counter the insanity of new bomb plants in the name of arms control, they will have to be ours. If there are going to be people standing to say NO!, they will have to be us.”

Bills making their way through Congress right now include the largest single increasein nuclear weapons funding in history.

(USA) Morning of Resistance’ at Y-12 July 5 | Frank Munger, knoxnews.com, 9 June 2010, “The timing is right–and not just because2010 marks the anniversaries of such auspiciousorganizations and actions. Last year, President BarackObama declared himself committed to a world freeof nuclear weapons. Whatever his ambitions mayhave been, they have gotten waylaid by the statusquo power brokers who are determined to maintain nuclear dominance and a highly funded industry that is determined to build more nuclear reactors at taxpayer expense. Continue reading →

June 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Repeated medical radiation contributes to breast cancer

Do X-rays & other radiation contribute to breast cancer? ALLVOICES, by Anne Hart, Jun 09, 2010 “…….ac a study at Cornell University … showed how it’s well-established that exposure to ionizing radiation can trigger mutations and other genetic damage and cause normal cells to become malignant……In answer to the question “Is ionizing radiation a cause of breast cancer?” Cornell experts say “Yes” and note “… female breast tissue is highly susceptible to radiation effects.”….Radiation builds up. Continue reading →

June 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, radiation, reactors | Leave a comment

Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom involved in Iran, France, Australia

Rosatom Agrees to First Asset Sale to Foreign Investor, The Moscow Times, 09 June 2010By Anatoly Medetsky “…..Kiriyenko (pictured) announced that Russia and Iran would jointly run Iran’s first nuclear power plant that Rosatom plans to launch in August. Iran agreed to establish a joint venture with Rosatom to operate the plant because the country doesn’t have enough experience in maintaining such facilities, he said.In other news, Rosatom signed an agreement with the French Atomic Energy Commission to expand cooperation on reprocessing, decommissioning and isotopes technology.

In what could further extend Rosatom’s international reach, the State Duma is scheduled to ratify an accord between Russia and Australia on peaceful nuclear cooperation on Wednesday. Continue reading →

June 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, Russia | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, enriched, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, reactors, recycling, reprocessing, uranium | Leave a comment

The full story on the health effects of nuclear energy

I recommend that you download, print off, and study at your leisure, the complete article – from
Evatt Foundation: Publication: Nuclear power & public health – 31 May 2010

Nuclear power & public health, Evatt Foundation:, By Peter Karamoskos, 31 May 2010“… there is a linear dose-response relationship between exposure to ionizing radiation and the development of solid cancers in humans. It is unlikely that there is a threshold below which cancers are not induced.” – National Academy of Science, BEIR VII report, 2006

“We need to develop a very firm commitment to the elimination of nuclear power as a source of energy on the earth.” – Russell Train, former US Environmental Protection Agency administrator, 1977″

[t]he [economic] failure of the U.S. nuclear power program ranks as the largest managerial disaster in business history, a disaster on a monumental scale.” – Forbes, 1985

Introduction
The public health implications for a resurgence of nuclear power appear to have taken a subordinate position to the economic and global warming arguments that the industry has advanced to justify its expansion. The purpose of this essay therefore is several-fold: to review the scientific evidence for public health impacts of nuclear power, to assess occupational hazards faced by nuclear industry workers involved in the nuclear fuel cycle, to assess the evidence for nuclear reactor safety and critically challenge the underlying assumptions which may be less than adequate. It will also examine the public health risks of spent fuel from nuclear power reactors. The common thread linking these safety issues is the risk posed to public health by ionising radiation and in particular the cancer risk. The nuclear industry and our understanding of radioactive health hazards, developed in tandem during the twentieth century, however, the relationship to this day has always been uneasy and often in conflict. A brief historical narrative of this joint evolution is reviewed as it is essential to understanding the context and scope of the public health issues at the heart of the nuclear power debate.

If we are to believe the nuclear industry, nuclear power is both safe and vital to our future, yet over half a century of nuclear power has proven both contentions as false……

Evatt Foundation: Publication: Nuclear power & public health – 31 May 2010

June 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

A nuclear disaster next? -Bhopal gas disaster company escapes justice

..in case of a nuclear accident, while providing complete immunity to a foreign nuclear reactor builder from any victim-initiated civil suit or a criminal proceedings both in an Indian court or in a court in its home country.

Bhopal judgment symbolises decayed justice in a deficient democracy(June 08, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) Statement issued by the Asian Human Rights Commission The recent judgment delivered by a court in the Bhopal Gas disaster case convicting all the seven accused could have been a welcome one and could have gone a long way in ensuring people’s faith in the country’s judiciary and the rule of law, but for the features of a failing justice regime the investigation and trial exhibits…….. Continue reading →

June 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Increasing exposure of Americans to ionising radiation

nuclear reactors produce a number of radioactive isotopes not found in the environment,….the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s policy of including reactor-generated radionuclides as part of the average background radiation is misleading…….”Nature does not expose human beings to the several hundred radioactive isotopes that that are generated by and routinely released from the nuclear fuel cycle,”

Americans are exposed to increased levels of radiation, Brattleboro Reformer, By BOB AUDETTE June 5, 2010 BRATTLEBORO — The average American receives 620 millirems of background radiation every year, as opposed to the 360 millirems as is often stated in the press.The number has crept up in the last two decades, from 180 millirems to 300 millirems, then to 360 millirems and most recently, in 2006, to 620 millirems. Continue reading →

June 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

At least the USA TALKS about nuclear wastes!

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

This website might well give the impression that it is anti-American, anti-British etc, – especially on the subject of nuclear wastes.

But – spare a thought for those two countries. At least the nuclear waste subject is RAISED there. (That’s how we can publish it)

Very hard to get a few lines about Russia’s nuclear wastes.

As for China, France and also a few other countries (India, Korea, European states , Israel...) – well there’s nary a word about their nuclear wastes! What do they do with radioactive wastes? It’s a worry. And it seems to me to be complete lunacy for countries like Australia to piously claim safety policy, while selling uranium to such countries.

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, reactors | Leave a comment

Britain faces ever-increasing debt with nuclear wastes

Chris Huhne warns of £4bn black hole in nuclear power budget, guardian.co.uk, Patrick Wintour, 1 June 2010 Energy secretary blames predecessors for avoiding tough decisions in ‘classic example of short-termism’ Chris Huhne, the new energy secretary, said: ‘What we are effectively paying for here is decades of cheap nuclear electricity.’
Britain is facing a £4bn black hole in unavoidable nuclear decommissioning and waste costs, Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary disclosed tonight. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, wastes | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Dirty deals between Areva and Siemens nuclear power companies?

EU probes Siemens, Areva nuclear deal, KansasCity.com, 2 June 2010, The Associated Press European Union regulators said Wednesday that they are investigating nuclear power non-compete deals between France’s Areva SA and Germany’s Siemens AG after Areva took over their joint venture. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Highly radioactive wastes from “next generation” nuclear reactors

waste from the next generation plants that use enriched uranium fuel would be two to 158 times more radioactive than waste from existing Canadian reactors….. unfairly paid for by taxpayers, ratepayers and future generations.”

Waste from proposed nuclear plants more radioactive: report The Vancouver Sun, By Mike Desouza, Canwest News Service May 31, 2010 The latest generation of proposed multi-billion dollar Canadian nuclear plants could be up to 158 times more hazardous than their predecessors, opening the door to massive cost overruns and possibly forcing taxpayers to pick up the tab, warns a report to be released today……….. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, wastes | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Britain’s clean energy cut, as nuclear costs spiral out of control

will see it reduce spending on support for genuinely clean energy projects.

Nuclear costs spiral as clean energy budgets face axe, Left Foot Forward, 2 June 2010, Once again, evidence is mounting that the cost to Britain of nuclear power is spiralling. The new energy secretary, Chris Huhne, has briefed The Guardian this morning that he has inherited a “£4 billion black hole in unavoidable nuclear decommissioning and waste costs”. Continue reading →

June 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, renewable energy, uranium | Leave a comment