reactors « nuclear-news

Tennessee Valley Authority wants delay in new nuclear licenses review

TVA asks for delay to US NRC review of new nuclear unit licenses, Washington (Platts)–6 Oct2010 The Tennessee Valley Authority has asked the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to defer its review of the federal utility’s applications to build and operate two new Westinghouse-designed nuclear reactors at the Bellefonte site in Alabama. TVA, in a letter made public Wednesday, asked NRC to temporarily suspend the combined construction permit-operating license (COL) review for the two units, with the exception of some elements already under way…….TVA cited the expectation that its board will vote in the spring on whether to complete Bellefonte-1, an unfinished nuclear unit of an older design at the site… Platts: RSS Feed Detailed News

October 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, reactors | Leave a comment

Swiss nuclear company Axpo using Russian fuel from polluted area

Greenpeace blasts Swiss nuclear power over Russian fuelSource: AFP October 5, 2010 Environmental group Greenpeace sharply criticised Swiss power stations Tuesday for using nuclear fuel from a Russian reprocessing centre at Mayak, claiming it was one of the world’s most polluted. Continue reading →

October 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, politics international | antinuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, reactors, reprocessing | Leave a comment

Safety and costs – the top concerns about keeping aging nuclear reactors

two questions — safety and economics — lie at the heart of the research agenda now under way on plant aging…..the environment inside nuclear plants is like nothing else, subjecting reactor components to intense heat, stress, vibration and neutron bombardment that could potentially cause hidden weaknesses in reactors, pipes, joints, wiring and other components…if one were to have a seismic event — an earthquake — would the structures withstand the forces?”.

Experts Weigh Extending the Lives of Nuclear Power Plants to 80 Years- NC WARN , September 22nd, 2010 By PETER BEHR of ClimateWire Next year, when two nuclear reactors near Syracuse, N.Y., are shut down for normal refueling operations, technicians will enter their cavernous containment structures looking for signs of aging in the thick steel walls surrounding shrouds of concrete. Continue reading →

October 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

South Korea will lend $10 billion to beat AREVA in selling nukes

Beating GE, Areva. Korea Electric, the country’s biggest electricity provider, beat General Electric Co. and Areva SA of France for rights to build the U.A.E.’s first nuclear reactors.

South Korea Plans to Lend $10 Billion for U.A.E. Nuclear Plants – Bloomberg, By Ayesha Daya – // Oct 6, 2010 South Korea expects to lend about $10 billion for the United Arab Emirates’ first nuclear plants, more than doubling pledges it has already made this year to finance construction projects in the Middle East. Continue reading →

October 7, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, South Korea | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

Democrats encouraged by Obama’s support for solar power

Restoring solar power to the White House may be the first tiny step toward the green-powered future necessary to our survival.

Next must come the definitive turn away from the failure of atomic power. Imagine what a magnificent green-powered Earth we might inhabit had we not squandered all those billions on that profoundly dangerous, disastrously expensive technology.

Team Obama is clearly responding to the anger of the Democratic base. Those who worked to put them in the White House want it green. by Harvey Wasserman, 6 Oct 10, This includes ferocious opposition to atomic energy. The administration recently granted $8.33 billion in loan guarantees for a disastrous double-reactor scam in Georgia. Barely underway, the project has already resulted in $100 million in hikes for the state’s ratepayers. The builders are now asking for an extra $1 billion. Horrific delays and cost overruns have already defined new reactor construction in Finland, France and elsewhere. Continue reading →

October 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, climate change, energy efficiency, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, reactors, renewables, solar | Leave a comment

Keeping terrorists from working in nuclear plants

Report: Changes needed to keep terrorists out of nuclear plants, KGAN CBS 2 – National News, October 04, 2010 ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) –– The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it’s already on it.Federal auditors today recommended that the NRC be given better access to criminal databases and foreign travel histories of job applicants to keep terrorists from getting jobs inside the nation’s nuclear power plants…..Sen. Charles Schumer requested the review after a suspected al-Qaida member was found to have worked in a New Jersey nuclear power plant for six years. Schumer says the plants are not filled with terrorists, “but all you need is one.” ……KGAN CBS 2 – National News

October 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear weapons, reactors | Leave a comment

Secrecy over six month shutdown of nuclear reactor

It’s our flagship nuclear power station and it’s been out of action for the last six months and the local people don’t know and have not been told enough about how or why.

(UK) Consultant speaks out over N-plant ‘secrecy’, East Anglian Daily Times, By Chris Harris Monday, 4 October, 2010 A NUCLEAR expert who co-founded Greenpeace UK has hit out at “secrecy” surrounding a Suffolk nuclear power station’s six-month closure. Continue reading →

October 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, reactors | Leave a comment

U.S. senators questioning shipment of nuclear generators across Great Lakes

Great Lakes nuclear shipment plan sparks U.S. queries CBC News, October 4, 2010 | By Max Paris, Seven U.S. senators have sent a letter to Environment Minister Jim Prentice and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission demanding answers about an Ontario utility’s plan to ship used nuclear steam generators through the Great Lakes to Sweden. Continue reading →

October 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear wastes, reactors | Leave a comment

Russian and American concern over decommissioning nuclear reactors

Russian-Norwegian delegation visits US to talk about nuclear decommissioning, The Canadian Press:By The Associated Press (CP) 54 Oct 10, SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt. — A group of Russian and Norwegian nuclear scientists, regulators and activists is visiting Vermont and Massachusetts to learn about nuclear decommissioning. Continue reading →

October 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | general | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear decommissioning, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

Stuxnet worm ushers in cyber war threat to nuclear plants

For advanced industrial nations, cyber-warfare is simultaneously a huge opportunity and a huge threat.

An undeclared war in cyberspace, FT.com m By Gideon Rachman : October 4 2010 In recent months, senior western officials have become discernibly more relaxed about the Iranian nuclear programme. It is not that they suddenly welcome the prospect of an Iranian bomb. It is just that, as one official put it recently: “We’re having quite a lot of success, disrupting what they are doing.”…..The Iranian government complains that it has been hit by “electronic warfare” in the form of the Stuxnet virus that has infected more than 30,000 computers in their country. Continue reading →

October 5, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

Insurance for losses related to nuclear reactors – no way!

it is very clear that general insurance will not cover coastal property owners from losses related to nuclear plants.

NO INSURANCE FOR COASTAL – or any – PROPERTY NEAR NUCLEAR REACTORS | Coalition Against Nuclear Energy 4 oct 10, Energy Minister Dupuo Peters said that by the time a nuclear plant was constructed in SA, this country would not be able to afford enriched uranium.She also raised the valid point that coastal homes would be affected, since nuclear power plants would be built on the coast. Continue reading →

October 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, South Africa | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, reactors | Leave a comment

Security of Supply Obligation – the nuclear industry’s latest con

From being a piece of history, the nuclear industry – a fading dinosaur that has wasted billions and left a toxic legacy that will cost billions more – is pushing itself back into the headlines, rebranded as the only source of the cheap, secure and clean energy demanded by modern Britain……the nuclear industry’s real agenda: a new system of subsidies to ensure it is never again exposed to the chill winds of a free market. The industry even has a name for it: the Security of Supply Obligation.

When PR Goes Nuclear – Hybrid Guide, 29 Sept 10, In the plush surroundings of the Army & Navy Club on London’s Pall Mall, Mike Alexander, chief executive of British Energy, was holding court. Assembled before him were more than a hundred leading figures from the UK’s energy industry – all there at the behest of the Energy Industries Club, an industry body that keeps its membership secret.. Continue reading →

October 2, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Ukraine | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear renaissance, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, reactors | Leave a comment

China’s nuclear plants now threatened by computer worm

Stuxnet ‘cyber superweapon’ moves to China, Google hosted news, 1 Oct 10 (AFP) – BEIJING — A computer virus dubbed the world’s “first cyber superweapon” by experts and which may have been designed to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities has found a new target — China.The Stuxnet computer worm has wreaked havoc in China, infecting millions of computers around the country, state media reported this week.Stuxnet is feared by experts around the globe as it can break into computers that control machinery at the heart of industry, allowing an attacker to assume control of critical systems like pumps, motors, alarms and valves.It could, technically, make factory boilers explode, destroy gas pipelines or even cause a nuclear plant to malfunction………AFP: Stuxnet ‘cyber superweapon’ moves to China

October 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, safety | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment

Disposing of dead nuclear reactors – problem not yet solved

The problem of disposing of this kind of reactors is ripe everywhere, not only in Russia..this branch of the nuclear industry is least developed technically, technologically and marketingwise,..Apart from Russia, this kind of reactor is used in a number of European countries

Russia to retire uranium-graphite reactors Voice of Russia, Oleg Nekhai , Sep 30, 2010 Russian nuclear scientists intend to shut down uranium-graphite reactors on a mass scale. Continue reading →

October 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | decommission reactor, Russia | AUSTRALIA, nuclear, nuclear decommissioning, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, reactors | Leave a comment

Ontario’s nuclear comedy show

a storyline where the plant is paid millions of dollars not to generate electricity. Too ridiculous? Well, head on over to Ontario in Canada where the people there ‘paid Bruce Power nearly $60 million in 2009 to not generate electricity for the province’…The people of Ontario got ‘a bargain’ for handing over $60 million for something they didn’t need and didn’t get.

Nuclear power in Canada: busy doing nothing Greenpeace International, by Justin – September 30, 2010 Regular readers are probably asking themselves how our plans for a comedy show set in a nuclear power plant are progressing. Continue reading →

October 1, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, spinbuster | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, reactors | Leave a comment