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Taxpayer will be left with costs of nuclear decommissioning and wastes

The taxpayer will be left to pick up the bills. The very nature of private companies is that they make a profit when they can … but when they can’t they can be wound up, leaving others to pick up the pieces….

Nuclear fall out, Syniadau , 17 April 2010, “……The major issue is not the cost of building the stations (although that is of course an issue, although it would be one for the companies concerned) but the cost of cleaning up the waste they produce and of decommissioning the site when it has come to the end of its productive life. These costs are much, much greater than the cost of construction.

In principle, the government’s idea is that the power companies would set aside money each year so as to pay the costs of decommissioning and clean up. The fundamental flaw in that approach is that a private company can either go bust or refuse to honour its contract commitments at any time, in much the same way as happened when National Express walked away from the East Coast rail franchise last year. The taxpayer will be left to pick up the bills. The very nature of private companies is that they make a profit when they can … but when they can’t they can be wound up, leaving others to pick up the pieces….
Syniadau :: The Blog: Nuclear fall out

April 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, UK | antinuclear, decommissioning, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, reactors, recycling, reprocessing, uranium | Leave a comment

The Integral Fast Reactor – no more than a a Nuclear Pipe Dream

Nuclear power: no solution to climate change, Green Left , quoting Mark Diesendorf, 17 April 2010“……….The integral fast reactor [which promises to use existing stockpiles of nuclear waste to make carbon-free energy,] doesn’t exist — it is the archetypal ink-moderated paper reactor. It’s true that a tiny physical version of this concept, called Experimental Breeder Reactor-2, once operated in the US. But experimental energy technologies are just that — experiments, designed to test a concept. Continue reading →

April 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, technology | antinuclear, fast breeder, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, plutonium, reactors, recycling, reprocessing, uranium | Leave a comment

Video: depleted uranium’s effects in the Balkans

VIDEO
A Most Persistent War Crime: Depleted Uranium and the Balkans Eleven Years After The Balkans Bombings:Depleted Uranium in NATO Bombs Remains Deadly by Ljubica Vujadinovic, 18 Aprol 2010, A leading Serbian expert in the field says the NATO’s use of depleted uranium ammunition in it’s aggression on Serbia has caused enormous increase in cancer rates and number of newborn with malformations. Continue reading →

April 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | depleted uranium, EUROPE | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Wales finding ways to resist UK nuclear power plants

Nuclear fall out, Syniadau , 17 April 2010, “…….we have three parties in the Assembly who are opposed to nuclear power in Wales, about two-thirds of voters altogether. Yet if you vote for Labour you will get what their leaders in Westminster want in order to meet England’s energy needs … for even Labour acknowledge that Wales can produce twice the electricity we need from renewables. Continue reading →

April 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, reactors, renewable energy, renewables | Leave a comment

USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission ‘in bed with nuclear industry’

Over the years, it has become apparent that the NRC is clearlyIN-BED with the nuclear industry in the push to certify the old nuclear plants for an additional 20-years of operation. The NRC is clearly engaged in a great nuclear experiment with public health and safety hanging in the balance

NRC Wants to Dig Another $10-Billion Dollar Hole in the Ground for Nuclear Waste | Before It’s News , 17 April 2010, “………..The NRC along with the nuclear industry are desperately seeking a quick solution to this dilemma because the government continues to authorize licenses for the construction of more nuclear power plants in the USA. Continue reading →

April 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive, reactors, renewable energy, renewables, solar, uranium, wind | Leave a comment

Areva and other uranium miners confronted by Niger’s new government

Niger government says will scrap mine deals if no benefit Apr 16, 2010 By Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY (Reuters) – Niger’s military rulers will examine the country’s mining contracts and invalidate those that do not benefit Niger, it said on Friday.Several contracts, including those with French nuclear energy group Areva and China National Petroleum Corp., were signed under President Mamadou Tandja, who was overthrown by soldiers in the northwest African nation in February.”If a signed convention in the extractive industry is not advantageous for our country, there is no question of accepting it,” said government spokesman Mahaman Laouali Dan Dah.The military group has made anti-corruption a cornerstone of its appeal in the country, one of the world’s poorest despite its uranium mines and oil deposits….

Earlier this month, the government sacked 20 top officials working for state-owned companies, including those involved in representing the country’s uranium and oil interests.

Niger government says will scrap mine deals if no benefit | Top News | Reuters

April 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Niger, politics | antinuclear, AREVA, indigenous, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

U.S govt’s nuclear spending contradicts its disarmament rhetoric

the 2011 federal budget for nuclear weapons research and development is likely to be more than $7 billion. If the Obama administration has its way, it could reach $8 billion per year by the end of this decade. This steady and growing investment contradicts the White House’s promising rhetoric of disarmament.

The New Anti-Nuclear Movement, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Frida Berrigan:, 16 April 2010, “………the upcoming Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference will take place at the United Nations next month…..According to a Pew Research survey last fall, a little more than a half of the American public believes that “an attack on the United States with a nuclear, biological or chemical weapon is a greater danger now than it was 10 years ago.” Continue reading →

April 17, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

NASA’s radiation monkey experiments should be stopped

NASA should drop the monkey business at Brookhaven Lab, Newsday.com, April 15, 2010 By MARJORIE CRAMER We know that these and other sources of ionizing radiation are harmful to humans. So why would NASA want to bombard as many as 30 squirrel monkeys with radiation to try to understand how interplanetary travel affects astronauts?The proposal for this research is now being reviewed…OPINION: NASA should drop the monkey business at Brookhaven Lab

April 16, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Recycling nuclear fuel, dangerous and dirty

Christina Macpherson's websites & blogs

by Christina Macpherson 15 April 2010, It all sounded so good – removing stockpiles of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) and plutonium from international sites, and using them to provide fuel for nuclear reactors in USA and Russia.

And one part is good. This program would end the dirty, dangerous, uranium mining industry.

However, nobody’s talked about :

1. the dangers of transporting this stuff, – risk of accident, as in the movement of HEU from Chile, theft, terrorist attack

2. what to do with the final resulting highly radioactive waste from this process of recycling . It all still ends up with even more toxic, dangerous nuclear wastes. Still a risk of theft. still a target for terrorists, still extremely long-lasting wastes, and no-one has found a way to safely dispose of nuclear wastes.

April 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina's notes, spinbuster | antinuclear, enriched, fast breeder, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear Summit kept quiet about dangers of recycling nuclear fuel

Recycling fuel should end: Evans, Sydney Morning Herald, April 15, 2010, WASHINGTON: A former Australian foreign minister, Gareth Evans, was at the centre of a dispute over reactor suppliers recycling nuclear fuel even as US officials sought to skirt the issue during a summit in Washington organised by the President, Barack Obama.

Mr Evans is co-chairman of the Australian government’s international non-proliferation and disarmament commission. On Monday, at a conference of experts which is being held in parallel with Mr Obama’s nuclear security summit, he called for an end to fuel recycling.Mr Evans and a former US ambassador-at-large, Robert Gallucci, said recycling created stockpiles of dangerous materials ripe for theft………
The issue was not among those central to the Obama summit. Administration officials said last week they had deliberately avoided some of the more contentious issues that would not have won support from all participants. Gareth Evans

April 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, enriched, fast breeder, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, plutonium, radiation, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Iran has produced Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU)

Iran announces batch of higher enriched uranium, Google News Hosting, (AP) – 15 April 2010, TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi says his country has produced five kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium, a move in open defiance of the U.N. demands to halt the controversial program.

Iran says it needs the material for a medical research reactor, and the level of enrichment is far below the more than 90 percent pure uranium needed to build a nuclear weapon. But U.S. officials have expressed concern the process could be a step toward greater enrichment.The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build a nuclear weapon, a claim Iran denies. The Associated Press: Iran announces batch of higher enriched uranium

April 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics international | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear spin, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Ukraine’s enriched uranium to go to Russia

“We are receiving money for the recycling (of the uranium) and the recycling will take place, chiefly, in Russia,”

Russia is likely to take Ukraine enriched uranium, Arab News By REUTERS Apr 14, 2010

KIEV: Russia will take the highly enriched uranium which Ukraine has announced it is giving up, senior officials on both sides said. Ukraine announced on Monday, at a 47-nation summit in Washington on prevention of nuclear terrorism, that it would get rid of a stockpile of highly enriched material by 2012. Continue reading →

April 15, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Ukraine | antinuclear, enriched, fast breeder, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear Security Summit lifts commercial prospects for ‘Megatons to Megawatts’

USEC Inc., a global energy company, is a leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

USEC CEO: Nuclear Security Supported by Innovative Industry Program – MarketWatch 13 April 2010, ProgramMegatons to Megawatts on Schedule to Eliminate Equivalent of 20,000 Nuclear Warheads USEC Inc. President and CEO John Welch issued the following statement today in support of President Barack Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit:

“This week’s historic summit in Washington is a timely reminder of the threat facing our world from potential nuclear action by terrorists. USEC and others in the commercial nuclear industry have worked for many years in close coordination with our governments to support the security and elimination of nuclear weapons material around the world in order to reduce this threat….. Continue reading →

April 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, technology, USA | antinuclear, disarmament, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Weapons plutonium for USA and Russia’s fast neutron reactors

US, Russia, Sign Protocol to Dispose of 17 Thousand Weapons’ Worth of Plutonium, Political Punch April 13, 2010 As the first Nuclear Security Summit began coming to a close, Secretary o f State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed that their countries would each dispose up at least 34 metric tons of excess weapon-grade plutonium – 68 metric tons total — enough material for approximately 17,000 nuclear weapons. Continue reading →

April 14, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, technology, USA | antinuclear, enriched, fast breeder, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons, radioactive, reactors, uranium | Leave a comment

Another mysterious case of radiation in India

One more case of mysterious radiation in capital, The Hindu, Apr 14, 2010 NEW DELHI: One more suspected source of radiation has been detected in the sprawling scrap market at Mayapuri here in the Capital where two scrap dealers and five workers were taken ill this past week after being exposed to Cobalt-60 radioactive isotope. Continue reading →