November 21st, 2008
Roswell residents protest GNEP site Current-Argus 20 Nov 08 MSTROSWELL - Chaves County residents say they don’t want radioactive waste dumped in their area.A U.S.
Department of Energy hearing Tuesday on the Bush administration’s proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership largely drew opponents. The DOE is holding 13 public hearings around the country, and officials say no site decisions have been made.
GNEP, part of the president’s Advanced Energy Initiative, seeks to expand global nuclear power and technologies to enable recycling of radioactive waste.
However, last month, a panel of the National Academy of Sciences urged President Bush to abandon the ambitious plan to resume nuclear waste reprocessing that is at the heart of his push to expand civilian use of nuclear power.
Roswell residents protest GNEP site - Carlsbad Current-Argus
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
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November 21st, 2008
GAO investigating compensation for ill nuclear workers
By Annette Cary, Tri City Herald 20 Nov 08 The Government Accountability Office is investigating a program to compensate ill nuclear workers, including those at Hanford, and should have some preliminary findings to share with congressional leaders this spring………………………..The program’s Part B offers compensation of $150,000 and medical reimbursement for workers who likely developed cancer because of workplace exposure to radiation…………………..If workers have died, survivors may be eligible for compensation.
GAO investigating compensation for ill nuclear workers - Mid-Columbia News | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
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November 21st, 2008
Storage fears over high-level nuclear waste• Second site could be needed at huge extra cost• Experts call for more research on disposal
The Guardian Terry Macalister November 17 2008 Government plans for a new generation of nuclear power plants face growing concerns the industry needs another waste repository involving a massive escalation in cost……………………….
Companies such as EDF which are interested in building new atomic facilities have presumed they will be able to store their spent materials in a site largely paid for by the government.
Being forced to build a second site - especially one dedicated to the new stations - could change the delicate economics of the industry. EDF was unavailable for comment.
Storage fears over high-level nuclear waste | Environment | The Guardian
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
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November 21st, 2008
Canadian Speech from the Throne claimed nuclear energy is a proven technology.
PEJnews– Joan.Russow November 20, 2008 Global Compliance Research ProjectIn the throne speech the minority Conservative government declared not only that nuclear energy is a proven technology but also that nuclear energy would be part of their clean energy program. Ever since there has been concern about climate change, the nuclear industry has used ” nukespeak” and the seductive devices, strategies, syndromes to delude and distort through linguistic devicesIn 1991, there was a Parliamentary committee looking into climate change; this committee enunciated an important principle that a solution should not be equally bad or worse than the problem it is intended to solve.The International Atomic Energy Agency has played an important role in this delusion and distortion. They have even violated a fundamental principle that a monitor should not a promoter be. Hopefully, through the continued revealing and categorizing of these words of delusion we could, in some small way, counteract the impact of the not-too-hidden-agenda of the IAEA, and the rest of the nuclear establishment and their government supporters.
Canadian Speech from the Throne claimed nuclear energy is a proven technology. :: PEJ News :: Stories, Features, Opinion and Analysis :: Peace, Earth & Justice News
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
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November 21st, 2008
Activists demand nuclear plant closed 20 November 2008
Spain — Sixty activists are at the Garoña nuclear power plant in Spain to demand that the Spanish government makes good on its commitment to start phasing out nuclear power plants, starting now with the immediate closure of the Garoña power plant.
Activists worked quickly to set up camp inside a shipping container at the main entrance of the plant. Meanwhile, another group of activists chained themselves to the nuclear plant’s main gate with banners reading: Garoña, cierre ya (Garoña, immediately closing).
Nuclear? No thanks!
Earlier this year, the PSOE (Spanish socialist party) committed to the “gradual replacement of the nuclear energy in Spain for secure, clean and less expensive energies, closing nuclear power plants (…) promoting energy saving, energy efficiency and renewable energies, as well as distributed generation and local transport and distribution frameworks.” We are calling on the Spanish government to fulfill its promise to the people of Spain and start phasing out nuclear power immediately. …………………………
Nuclear free Spain
There is no economic, energy, environmental or social warrant for the Spanish government to break its commitment to close Garoña and phase out nuclear energy in Spain completely. Garoña’s small contribution to energy production is more than compensated by the annual increase of renewable electricity in Spain. The plant has serious and dangerous cracks and corrosion problems and the government has already agreed to an end to this dangerous and insufficient form of energy.
Activists demand nuclear plant closed | Greenpeace International
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
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November 20th, 2008
Nouse 20 Nov 08
The world is closer to World War Three than it ever has been, and the breeding ground is the Middle East, said Prince Hassan of Jordan in an interview following his inaugural lecture on peace prospects in the Middle East. “It is more possible today than it was back then [the Prince warned about the possibility of a Third World War back in 2004]. If you look at the players today, with Iran becoming a potential nuclear power, you are looking at six nuclear realities in Asia alone…This will be a very destabilising force.”……………………“People have this illusion about a ball-park figure of several hundred millions or billions that will make the problems in the Middle East go away. I want to say that the money will be misspent unless it is monitored from the ground up.” He backs this up with an alarming statistic. For every $1 spent on conflict prevention, $1,885 was spent on weapons in the region……………
…………The second largest export from Iraq is scrap metal. Our children are dying as we speak; from eating out of cooking pots that are uranium depleted; from climbing on climbing frames that are uranium depleted…………………
……….He talked briefly about commodities, saying that the three most important commodities that any region possesses are water, energy, and the human environment. In all three areas, he feels that humanity has let itself down badly, but particularly water……………………….
Nouse.co.uk » From the centre of the mayhem: Prince Hassan of Jordan
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
Posted in weapons and war, world area | No Comments »
November 20th, 2008
Top priority to safety, security of N-plants is a must: IAEA official Mumbai,
ZEENEWS.com Nov 17: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday said safety and security of nuclear power plants should be given top priority………………..it was important to have strong and independent national regulatory bodies, a top IAEA official said here.
The regulatory bodies should have independence so that safety regulations are carried out independently and free from undue pressure from any interested party, Deputy Director General of IAEA T Taniguchi said here.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,it was important to achieve strong safety management culture.
This is applicable to the countries with existing nuclear power plants as well as the new entrants…………………… In his keynote address, J Laaksonen from Finalnd pointed out the important role of regulatory bodies in upkeeping the safety.
He said with the expanding nuclear programme, even the vendors have to be screened thoroughly. Vendors may be having competence but with long chain of sub-contracting, there could be some major issues related to safety, he said.
Even those countries who were experienced in buying from vendors till 1970s may have to rethink when it comes to safety and security. This he said after the long delays and problems Finland experienced in building its first EPR-1600 Mw reactor which is under construction.
Top priority to safety, security of N-plants must: IAEA
Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radioactive
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November 20th, 2008
Winds of change blow through energy market
19th November 2008,
A revolution is taking place in Australia’s electricity market - and wind is driving it.
Coal provides the vast bulk of the nation’s electricity, but research released on Wednesday shows that will change towards greater dependence on wind and natural gas.
The government’s economic research agency - ABARE - has for the first time mapped out all energy projects which are in the pipeline.
There are 42 wind farms being developed, making up almost half the total number of energy projects.
Wind dwarfs other renewable sources such as wave, biomass and solar.
About a third of the total generating capacity of energy projects will come from wind, second only to natural gas for future energy projects.
New coal projects are well behind both gas and wind.
Winds of change blow through energy market : thewest.com.au
Tags: renewables
Posted in Australia, energy - clean & efficient | No Comments »
November 19th, 2008
Moulton couple’s campaign moving in right direction
Spalding today 18 November 2008
A Moulton couple are celebrating a campaign’s progress to get justice for nuclear test veterans and their families.
Douglas Hern went to London to meet Veterans’ Minister Kevan Jones to discuss health problems suffered by descendants of people exposed to radiation during nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s and 1960s……………………..He and fellow members of the British Nuclear Test Veterans’ Association (BNTVA) want the Government to help with a scientific study into the problem, which has left several generations with diseases linked to exposure to radiation.
Mr Hern and his wife Sandie, of Bell Lane, have received details of many veterans who have suffered over the years.
Mr Hern’s daughter died of a rare form of cancer when she was just 13.
Posted in UK, health and environment | No Comments »
November 19th, 2008
Permanent storage remains unsolved in new push for nuclear energy
MEDILL REPORTS by Fui Tsikata Nov 19, 2008 Applications for new nuclear reactors keep rolling into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), but everyone seems to be ignoring the crucial question: where will used nuclear rods be stored permanently?
As nuclear companies continue to store nuclear waste on-site, environmentalists warn that without a permanent storage location, building more nuclear plants could be dangerous to the country’s security………………………Yucca mountain, 80 miles from Las Vegas, Nev., was identified years ago as a potential storage area for spent nuclear rods and other nuclear waste. Now, a decade after the repository was to open, it has been weighed down by controversy. Fear of volcanic activity in Yucca, lawsuits and other challenges considerably slowed down its development. Presently, the NRC has a three- to four-year time frame to complete geological analysis and assess the feasibility of Yucca mountain……………………………..There are no functioning permanent storage facilities anywhere in the world, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Finland has identified a site, which has public support but is still a few years away from being operational, according to Negin. France relies on “temporary” sites like one in Gorleben, a town in Northern German to store its nuclear waste.
Meanwhile, in the absence of any permanent storage, companies like Exelon store spent fuel rods on-site in large pools of water and in large containers known as dry casks. The U.S. Navy, whose nuclear ships generate spent rods, stores them in pools of water as well.
Permanent storage remains unsolved in new push for nuclear energy
Posted in wastes, world area | No Comments »