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Tuareg and uranium: AREVA’s grip on Niger

“You can’t just fight against nuclear power plants and waste repositories,” he said. “If you want to kill the tree, kill the roots”. He was referring to the uranium mines.

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’ The Blogger: 2 April 2010, “……..A total of 80,000 people live in the two cities Areva created in the desert to service the mines. There are no paved roads, but there is plenty of reddish-brown dust, which penetrates into every crack and pore. Well water is radioactively contaminated, and precious fossil groundwater is used in the uranium ore processing plant. The region’s nomads are finding fewer and fewer pastures for their cattle, and people are affected by fatal illnesses.

Citizens’ organizations critical of Areva claim that the little money the company pays to the Niger state remains in the capital or simply ends up in the pockets of family members of the longstanding president. When Alhacen is asked what the mine has done for people, he says: “Nothing — except radiation, which will be here for thousands of years”. Continue reading

April 3, 2010 Posted by | Niger, politics | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mountainous cost of nuclear wastes and still no plan

The DOE now has no place to put the waste and no plan

Seeking a ‘Plan B’ 
for nuclear waste:  With Yucca Mountain site dead, billions paid into project are in limbo By Margaret Newkirk , The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,  April 2, 2010 “…….. Georgia electric customers paid the U.S. government more than $701 million over nearly three decades, in exchange for a service now 12 years overdue.Today, the U.S. government is as far away from delivering on its part of the bargain as it has ever been. Continue reading

April 3, 2010 Posted by | USA, wastes | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Scandalous and continuing legacy of uranium mining in Niger

Uranium Mining in Niger ‘Tuareg Activist Takes on French Nuclear Company’, The Blogger, 2 April 2010,“……….Uranium from Niger has served as a fuel for Europe’s energy supply for 40 years. But unlike Saudi Arabia, Niger has arguably reaped little but misery in return.The country in Africa’s Sahel zone is one of the world’s least-developed nations. One in four children dies before the age of five.The conditions in Niger are one of the dirty sides of supposedly clean nuclear energy. The activities there are well hidden from the outside world: Continue reading

April 3, 2010 Posted by | Niger, politics | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cancer and birth deformities in Serbia – depleted uranium’s deadly legacy

Permanent consequences “The half-life of uranium 238 is very long – 4.5 billion years,” reminds nuclear physicist Miroslav Simic, stating that “this way of throwing away nuclear waste on civilian, but also military targets, is not human as the consequences are permanent.”

Depleted Uranium, Dirty Bombs: NATO’s Deadly Gifts To Kosovo, Serbia  Piotr Bein’s blog 29 March 2010, By Ljubica Vujadinovic, Belgrade: A leading Serbian expert in the field says NATO’s use of depleted uranium ammunition in it’s aggression against Serbia has caused an enormous increase in cancer rates and the number of newborns with genetic malformations. Continue reading

March 29, 2010 Posted by | depleted uranium, EUROPE | , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Nuclear energy unsafe for Asia: renewables are the way to go

Asia’s nuclear dilemma, Global Post, by Jonathon Adams, 21 March 2010 Nuclear not the answer: activists, “….Philip White, of the Tokyo-based Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, disputed those [nuclear power]figures. “Renewable energies like wind and solar are not too expensive,” wrote White in an email. “Wind is cheaper than nuclear now. Solar will soon be cheaper when economies of scale and the associated development advances get operating.” Continue reading

March 22, 2010 Posted by | Japan, safety | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The very secret costs of nuclear power

Hidden Costs of the nuclear industry   – Secrecy about Nuclear Costs
The secrecy surrounding nuclear industry costs has two main aspects:
1. Nuclear power is intrinsically connected to nuclear weapons, and the costs of these are kept very much hidden by all states.
2.In States where the government runs the nuclear industry, the true costs are well hidden.  (Spare a thought for the USA – warts and all, the USA, in trying to run a privatised nuclear industry, does allow public flow of information about THE MONEY.) – The true costs of nuclear power – our theme for March 2010


March 7, 2010 Posted by | 1 | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The hidden costs of nuclear power

We know about the ever-increasing costs of building a nuclear reactor. Everyone talks about these “central”, or middle costs. But what about the hidden costs at the “front end” and the “back” end of the nuclear fuel cycle? – our theme for March 2010

February 28, 2010 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uranium mining continues to damage indigenous communities

Déline is known as the “village of widows’ because most of the men who worked as labourers in the mines have died of some form of cancer.

The impacts of uranium mining on indigenous communities.-Peace, Earth and Justice News  Heather Tufts February 13, 2010 – “….. Uranium mining speculation lacks comprehensive health and safety regulations while the ethics of Canadian exported uranium, which can lead to depleted uranium used in zones of war, needs greater scrutiny. Continue reading

February 15, 2010 Posted by | Canada, indigenous issues | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Columbia River endangered by radioactive nuclear waste

Analysis warns Hanford cleanup would take decades washingtonpost.com The Associated Press
February 10, 2010;

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal proposal for cleaning up the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site says radioactive contaminants from the sprawling Hanford nuclear reservation could threaten the Columbia River for thousands of years. Continue reading

February 15, 2010 Posted by | 1, water | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Damn Yankee’s Nuclear Power Plant!

by virtue of a long-standing agreement with Entergy, the Vermont Legislature can deny Yankee’s request for a 20-year extension…Indeed, a desperate national industry now pushing for massive federal subsidies to build new reactors may not survive a flood of elderly clunkers being forced to close by the weight of their own contamination…

Vermont’s radioactive nightmare FDL The Seminal Harvey Wasserman
February 10, 2010

Like a decayed flotilla of rickety steamers, at least 27 of America’s 104 aging atomic reactors are known to be leaking radioactive tritium, which is linked to cancer if inhaled or ingested through the throat or skin.

The fallout has been fiercest at Vermont Yankee, where a flood of cover-ups has infuriated and terrified near neighbors who say the reactor was never meant to operate more than 30 years, and must now shut. Continue reading

February 12, 2010 Posted by | politics, USA | , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Baltic sea: a Radioactive Nuclear Waste Dump?

Sweden wants explanation on Baltic nuclear ‘dumping’ By Damien McGuinness BBC News, Riga 5 Feb 2010
The Russian military allegedly dumped nuclear waste into the Baltic Sea in the early 1990s, according to a report on Swedish television. Continue reading

February 6, 2010 Posted by | EUROPE, secrets,lies and civil liberties | , , , , | Leave a comment

Strong opposition to importing nuclear waste: opinion poll

Radioactive waste not welcome here: Poll   Overwhelming majority says Utah is not the right place for depleted uranium and foreign radioactive waste By Judy Fahys The Salt Lake Tribune  02/01/2010 Utahns strongly support a federal ban on importing radioactive waste from foreign nations.

And, even more strongly, they oppose the disposal of thousands of tons of depleted uranium in their state. Continue reading

February 2, 2010 Posted by | USA, wastes | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

All sides unhappy with Obama’s nuclear waste panel

Left and Right Pan Obama’s Panel on Nuclear Waste THE WALL STREET JOURNAL , by Stephen Power February 1, 2010, It took the Obama administration nearly a year to appoint a blue-ribbon panel to study what to do with nuclear waste piling up at power plants — and just a few hours for politicians and groups on the left and right to raise questions about the panel’s mandate and credibility. Continue reading

February 2, 2010 Posted by | USA, wastes | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Where to store Nuclear Waste for hundreds of thousands of years?

politics, and not the welfare of future generations, is at the center of the nuclear waste issue. To protect those generations, a site must be found where radioactive waste can be allowed to slowly decay over hundreds of thousands of years, far away from any living creatures

Germany’s Endless Search for a Nuclear Waste Dump  SPIEGELONLINE 15 Jan 2010 Germany has been looking for a permanent storage site for its nuclear waste for over 30 years. The history of the Gorleben salt dome, a potential nuclear repository, is one full of deception and political maneuvering. And if opponents to the plans have their way, the search might even have to start again from scratch………….. Continue reading

January 17, 2010 Posted by | Germany, wastes | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spain extending nuke plants, with no radioactive waste solution

The country’s nuclear power stations no longer have room to store much more than the 6,700 tonnes of spent fuel rods they have accumulated.

Spain mulls extending nuclear plant working lives Reuters 23 Dec 09 “……………..Although the Socialist government had recently suggested it would extend the plants’ working lives, it has also repeatedly said it will not support building new ones. Continue reading

December 24, 2009 Posted by | business and costs, Spain | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment