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Renewable energy for 150 German cities, not nuclear for corporate profits!

150 German towns want nuclear power ended, de.indymedia.org, Diet Simon, 17 March 2010 Local power utilities in Germany have formed an anti-nuclear power alliance saying that planned longer running times for nukes are endangering their plans to invest billions in climate-friendly green energies…..The local governments have coalesced to resist the power giants E.on, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall, which run nuclear stations……Lengthening the running times of atomic plants, as the present government intends to do, offers the companies billions in extra profits. Continue reading

March 19, 2010 Posted by | climate change, Germany, politics | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

No proper investigation done on the dangers of nuclear plants for Illinois

Jimmy Seidita: Task Force Drops the Ball; State Senate Votes to Open the Door for New Nuclear Plants in Illinois, THE HUFFINGTON POST, 17 march 2010, On Monday, the state Senate voted on and passed a potentially catastrophic bill, despite getting no input from its own state task force, set up two years ago.. Continue reading

March 19, 2010 Posted by | politics, USA | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Growing campaign to resist nuclear industry in India

Campaigners from around India have now joined the resistance movement set up by farmers and fishermen

India’s government withdraws nuclear power legislation – Nuclear Reaction 14 March, 2010, .”…….’Indian farmers battle against nuclear plant  A robust people’s movement against a major nuclear power project has built up in a cluster of small villages on India’s picturesque Konkan coast. Continue reading

March 17, 2010 Posted by | India, politics | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Indian Parliament a snag to Barack Obama’s nuclear push

government is keen to pass the bill before the next meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to US President Barack Obama scheduled in April. According to government, there is need to pass this bill for completing the 123 civil nuclear pact with US as the private companies in the US are not willing to sell any nuclear equipment to India without such a law in place.

Govt. defers tabling of nuke liabilities bill in Lok Sabha, NEWSTRACK India, New Delhi,  15 March, 2010, Continue reading

March 17, 2010 Posted by | India, politics international | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ Spin on Nuclear power refuted

PricewaterhouseCoopers avoid the details on nuclear power,  Nuclear Reaction , 16 March 2010, PricewaterhouseCoopers have released a report, Resurgence of nuclear power, which talks about how the ‘utilities around the world are realizing the great promise of new nuclear power plants and making investments today’ and offers ‘key considerations as the nuclear option is re-introduced’. It paints an extraordinarily glowing picture of the upcoming nuclear ‘renaissance’.It doesn’t mention nuclear waste once. The safety concerns around nuclear power have been ‘refuted’.

Continue reading

March 16, 2010 Posted by | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

India’s Nuclear Liability Bill not all plain sailing

BJP, Left to seek closer scrutiny of nuclear liability Bill, THE HINDU, Sandeep Dikshit, 15 March 2010, NEW DELHI: The government has scheduled for Monday the introduction of a Bill in the Lok Sabha limiting compensation in case of a nuclear accident. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties have resolved to oppose the Bill and seek its referral to the Standing Committee for closer scrutiny…. Continue reading

March 15, 2010 Posted by | India, politics | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear power company settles lawsuit over radiation leaks

Exelon to pay $1 million to settle lawsuits Breaking Business News, March 11, 2010  By Michael Hawthorne | Exelon agreed today to pay more than $1 million to settle lawsuits filed by Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan after the company allowed radioactive tritium to leak outside three of its nuclear plants.The settlement involves leaks of tritium-contaminated water that seeped into the ground around the company’s Braidwood, Byron and Dresden plants. The penalties include $628,000 in fines and $538,000 to fund environmental projects in Will, Ogle and Grundy counties.

Exelon to pay $1 million to settle lawsuits – Chicago Breaking Business

March 12, 2010 Posted by | Legal, USA | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is Obama administration blind to the financial risks of nuclear power?

Obama’s Nuclear Blind Spot , Mother Jones , By Kate Sheppard 9 March 2010 Is the administration ignoring the potential financial fallout of its plans for a nuclear expansion?The Obama administration has embarked on a high-stakes gamble: devoting billions of dollars to an expansion of nuclear power in the hope of winning Republican votes for a climate bill. But in its eagerness to drum up bipartisan support for one of the hardest sells on Obama’s policy agenda, is the administration turning a blind eye to the financial risk? Continue reading

March 9, 2010 Posted by | politics, USA | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sarkozy getting desperate to sell off France’s costly nukes?

costs of nuclear plants have been “systematically underestimated” by governments worldwide for decades.

Nuclear energy gets new French-driven boost, (philstar.com)  March 09, 2010 PARIS (AP) – Poor countries need nuclear power, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday, urging rich lenders to help pay for a global nuclear expansion in the interests of fighting climate change and feeding the growing world hunger for energy……

His tantalizing vision of nuclear reactors dotting the horizon won over international energy officials from India to Brussels and French executives eager to market their expertise abroad, all present at a Paris conference yesterday.

Some experts, however, say Sarkozy’s push is opening the door to risks that deadly nuclear technology gets into the wrong hands, and warn consumers to pay attention to the staggering price tag of potential nuclear energy growth — up to $3.9 trillion worldwide by 2050…….

Mycle Schneider, an independent researcher on France’s nuclear industry, warned that costs of nuclear plants have been “systematically underestimated” by governments worldwide for decades.

He warned that the nuclear push was premature, since many small countries where France is marketing technology don’t even have large enough electricity grids to support a nuclear reactor.

March 9, 2010 Posted by | France, spinbuster | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Move in U.S. Congress to question nuclear reactor licensing

A “catastrophic accident” poses a greater safety risk than “many orders of magnitude more severe than any other type of power plant,” …There is also a financial risk,

House Democrat asks GAO to investigate nuclear licensing process, The Hill, By Jim Snyder – 03/08/10 Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is asking the Government Accountability Office to review the permitting process for nuclear plants as others in his party appear poised to offer lucrative incentives to revive the industry.

Among his questions is whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has adequately weighed the risks earthquakes and severe weather may pose to nuclear power plants. Continue reading

March 9, 2010 Posted by | politics, USA | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Alec Baldwin on the truth about nuclear reactors

The Truth About Nuclear Power in Utility Reactors THE HUFFINGTON POST, Alec Baldwin: February 22, 2010 “………The reactor operations at Brookhaven were reported to have released billions of gallons of tritiated water into the headwaters of the Peconic River during the period of its operations from 1965 to 1996……… Continue reading

February 23, 2010 Posted by | spinbuster, USA | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear plants are not safe from terrorist attack

Major Fallout Predicted Over Obama’s Nuclear Power Proposal. by: Grace Huang, t r u t h o u t 22 February 2010“……..According to NuclearBailout.org, though Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers, said that he had considered targeting a nuclear facility instead of the World Trade Center, nuclear reactors are still “not required to be protected against air attack.” Continue reading

February 23, 2010 Posted by | safety, USA | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Public insurance essential for nuclear industry to survive

The Other Nuclear Power Subsidy – A Liability Cap, ThePopTort 19 Feb 2010 “…. loan guarantees aren’t the only potential subsidy from which this industry benefits.  Since the 1950s, when it passed the Price Anderson Act, Congress put a cap on the liability of the nuclear industry in the event of a major accident.  So if there’s anything like, say, the Chernobyl disaster (the 1986 accident in the Ukraine where the containment structure couldn’t hold an explosion causing lethal radiation to spill out killing thousands, harming hundreds of thousands and rendering hundreds of square miles uninhabitable), the industry won’t be responsible beyond a relatively small amount. Taxpayers will.

In other words, if the nuclear power industry were fully responsible for the health and safety risks of these plants, the industry wouldn’t exist……. Continue reading

February 20, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, USA | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

AREVA’s nuclear reactor safety features now too costly to compete with Korea’s nukes

It was speculated that those expensive features may have cost the company the UAE contract, and Areva has considered scaling back some of those additions for future designs.

Where Is Nuclear Power Really Heading?A Look at Obama’s Call for New Nuclear and the Reactors that Might Be Built by  solveclimate Dave Levitan – Feb 5th, 2010

“…….The cost issues surrounding safety have already come up internationally. The United Arab Emirates awarded a high-profile contract for a new plant to a South Korean company late in 2009, after the French company Areva had been positioned as the front-runner.

The Areva EPR reactor has some advanced safety features including a “core catcher” room that could help prevent compromised nuclear fuel from escaping the reactor, as well as an enforced shell that could theoretically withstand an airplane impact. Continue reading

February 6, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, France | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Future for U.S. Nuclear power industry really is doubtful

Problematically, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a policy that does not require newer designs to be substantially safer than old designs,

Where Is Nuclear Power Really Heading?A Look at Obama’s Call for New Nuclear and the Reactors that Might Be Built by  solveclimate Dave Levitan – Feb 5th, 2010 “…..Energy Secretary Steven Chu and the president are making it clear that they intend to move forward. Thus, the question arises: After more than a decade without any new nuclear plants being built in the U.S., what exactly would new nuclear power look like?

Slowed Momentum, Escalating Costs…. Continue reading

February 6, 2010 Posted by | business and costs, USA | , , , , , | Leave a comment