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France to Test Groundwater at All Nuclear Plants
In a response to calls by activist groups and the discovery that leaks found last week might have happened years ago, France has agreed to examine the groundwater near all its nuclear plants. Though the anti-nuclear groups see this as a positive step, they say it still doesn't go far enough.
After tests following a uranium leak in France (more...)revealed that the radiation came from another earlier source, France's environment minister has ordered tests of the groundwater in areas surrounding all of France's nuclear power plants.
The leak was first reported last Tuesday at the Tricastin plant in southwestern France. A tank containing a solution with traces of non-enriched uranium was reportedly being cleaned the evening of July 7, and the reservoir collecting it overflowed, allowing 30,000 liters (7,925 gallons) of solution to seep into the ground and two nearby rivers. Local authorities immediately banned using ground or river water for drinking or irrigation as well as swimming or fishing in the waters.
Read more... In a response to calls by activist groups and the discovery that leaks found last week might have happened years ago, France has agree... more -
Brown calls for eight new nuclear plants
Britain must build "at least" eight new nuclear power stations during the next 15 years to replace its ageing plants and contribute to a "post-oil economy" that is cleaner and much more efficient than in the era of "cheap energy and careless pollution", Gordon Brown signalled last night. The first new reactors could feed electricity into the national grid by 2017.
Ministers want the private sector to make the running, but fear that the parallel contraction of the UK's coal and oil-fired generating capacity, on environmental grounds, will trigger a serious energy gap unless the government moves decisively.
The prime minister called for "a renaissance of nuclear power" more than 20 years after major power station crises at Three Mile Island in the US and the Soviet plant at Chernobyl put a brake on nuclear stations as a growing energy source. In doing so, he pushed the government's explicit commitment to a nuclear agenda further than he has previously done - amid growing concern about global oil prices and the need to find alternatives.
Brown said: "Britain is moving quickly to replace its ageing fleet of nuclear power stations. All around the world I see renewed interest in this technology, as countries contemplate the alternative - continued oil dependence and unchecked climate change." Britain must build "at least" eight new nuclear power stations during the next 15 years to replace its ageing plants and contribute to... more -
Eight new nuclear plants for Britain
Britain must build "at least" eight new nuclear power stations during the next 15 years to replace its ageing plants and contribute to a "post-oil economy" that is cleaner and much more efficient than in the era of "cheap energy and careless pollution", Gordon Brown signalled last night. The first new reactors could feed electricity into the national grid by 2017.
Ministers want the private sector to make the running, but fear that the parallel contraction of the UK's coal and oil-fired generating capacity, on environmental grounds, will trigger a serious energy gap unless the government moves decisively.
The prime minister called for "a renaissance of nuclear power" more than 20 years after major power station crises at Three Mile Island in the US and the Soviet plant at Chernobyl put a brake on nuclear stations as a growing energy source. In doing so, he pushed the government's explicit commitment to a nuclear agenda further than he has previously done - amid growing concern about global oil prices and the need to find alternatives.
Brown said: "Britain is moving quickly to replace its ageing fleet of nuclear power stations. All around the world I see renewed interest in this technology, as countries contemplate the alternative - continued oil dependence and unchecked climate change."
Critics of nuclear power will be dismayed, but the industry may welcome an end to what some have regarded as foot-dragging since the 2003 energy white paper. Prominent figures in the climate change debate, including the government's former chief scientist, Sir David King, have endorsed the nuclear path. Britain must build "at least" eight new nuclear power stations during the next 15 years to replace its ageing plants and contribute to... more -
Chernobyl Remembered - 20 years has passed
Bells tolled, sirens blared and mourners bearing candles commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster....
The explosion that ripped through Reactor no. 4 two decades ago ripped the roof off the reactor block and a cloud of radiation -- many times that released by the Hiroshima bombing in 1945 -- resulted in 10 days of fallout across 200,000 square kilometers of the Soviet Union and Europe. One worker was killed instantly, his body never found, and at least 29 rescue workers and plant workers died subsequently of radiation poisoning. The exact death toll from the disaster remains a matter of controversy, with the World Health Organization saying the ultimate death toll will be as low as 9,300 while Greenpeace recently claimed that as many as 93,000 lives will be lost as a direct result of the disaster and diseases -- especially thyroid cancer -- caused by radiation.
Read more... Bells tolled, sirens blared and mourners bearing candles commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.... ... more -
Uranium spills into two French rivers
French officials barred residents in three towns from using two rivers in southern France after waste containing uranium leaked into the waterways.
The accident happened at the Tricastin nuclear site at Bollene, about 25 miles from Avignon, the BBC reported. Residents along the Gaffiere and Lauzon rivers were banned from fishing, using water from wells, swimming in the rivers or using river water for crops.
The unenriched uranium was toxic but the French nuclear safety agency said the risk to humans was slight.
Uranium concentrations in the Gaffiere River initially were about 1,000 times higher than normal but were falling, spokeswoman Evangelia Petit said.
About 7,925 gallons of solution containing the uranium spilled from an overflowing reservoir at the site into the ground and the rivers, the British broadcaster said.
Abandon Nuclear Power, an anti-nuclear group, said it thought authorities were downplaying the danger posed by the waste.
It is impossible that such a spill, containing uranium, does not have important consequences for the environment and for health, the group said in a statement.
About 80 percent of France's electricity is from nuclear power. French officials barred residents in three towns from using two rivers in southern France after waste containing uranium leaked into t... more -
Found on craigslist: Nuclear power plant construction crew
The weirdest craigslist post I've seen in a long, long time..
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Iran Vows to Pursue Uranium Enrichment Program
VOA News reports:
"Iran has vowed to pursue its uranium enrichment program, one day after submitting a response to an incentives package drawn up by world powers trying to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions. An Iranian spokesman said Saturday Tehran is ready to negotiate on its atomic program, but that its stance on uranium enrichment has not changed."
VOA News reports: ... more -
Forty years of the NPT
The cornerstone of international peace, the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, is 40 years old today. On the fist day, some 61 countries signed it and now, all but four nations in the world follow its rules which describe a framework to limit nuclear weapons and allow the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
The cornerstone of international peace, the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, is 40 years old today. On the fist day, some 61 countrie... more -
Iran Issues Stern Warning To The US About Being Provoked
Iran's parliament speaker warned the West on Wednesday that it may face "a done deal" if it provokes Iran, a stern hint that Tehran could build nuclear weapons if attacked.
The speaker, Ali Larijani, who was once Iran's top nuclear negotiator, also warned that a "short opportunity is left" for a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, which the U.S. and some of its allies fear is aimed at producing a bomb.
Iran has long denied it intends to build a nuclear weapon, saying its program is meant only to generate electricity. Larijani, one of Iran's most powerful politicians, did not directly warn that Iran could change its intentions, but his vague comment appeared aimed at raising that possibility.
Larijani pointed to recent comments by Mohamed ElBaradei, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief, who said in an interview last week that a military strike on Iran could turn the Mideast into a "ball of fire" and "prompt Iran, even if it didn't produce a nuclear weapon today, to resort to an emergency plan to produce a nuclear weapon."
Larijani said the West should "take Mr. ElBaradei's warnings seriously."
"Don't provoke Iran otherwise you will face a done deal that will block the path of your return to a compromise with Iran," Larijani told an open session of the parliament broadcast live on state radio Wednesday. The phrase he used in Farsi, "amal-e anjam shodeh," means literally "an accomplished act" or "fait accompli."
The warning came on the heels of military exercises by Israel that U.S. officials said were a message to Iran. Israel sent warplanes and other aircraft on a major exercise in the eastern Mediterranean this month in a move that may have been meant as a show of force, as well as practice for the operations needed for a long-range strike mission.
Larijani, elected parliament speaker earlier this year, was previously Iran's top nuclear negotiator with the West and he holds a seat on the powerful Supreme National Security Council. He is also close to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A hard-line newspaper also hinted on Wednesday that Iran may weaponize its nuclear program if attacked. "Even if Iran's nuclear facilities are totally destroyed — a possibility that is precisely zero — it will easily be revived within a short period of time, but with the difference that it may prompt a fundamental reconsideration in intentions," the daily Kayhan said in an editorial.
A top commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday warned that an attack on Iran would draw the U.S. into "a new tragedy."
"If you want to move towards Iran, make sure you will bring artificial legs and walking sticks because you will not have any legs to return on should you come," the television quoted Mohammad Hejazi, a top Guards figure, as saying.
Iran's parliament speaker warned the West on Wednesday that it may face "a done deal" if it provokes Iran, a stern hint that Tehran c... more -
In Memory Of George Carlin
7 Things you can't say in '08 (from the Nader Team).
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EU agrees to new Iran sanctions
The EU has formally agreed a new set of sanctions against Iran, including an asset freeze targeting the country's biggest bank.
The measures were finalized without debate at the start of a two-day meeting of EU ministers in Luxembourg.
The new sanctions include a freeze on assets and funds connected to Bank Melli, Iran's biggest bank. The bank, which has offices in London, Hamburg and Paris, will not be permitted to operate in Europe. It has been accused of providing services connected to Iran's nuclear program, and was placed on a US blacklist last year.
Other new measures include a travel ban on some experts dealing with nuclear work, with a full list of companies and people affected by asset freezes and visa bans to be published tomorrow. The move follows a series of sanctions imposed by the UN against Iran since 2006 in an attempt to persuade it to end a program of uranium enrichment.
Imposition of the new sanctions was delayed prior to a visit to Iran by the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana. Solana presented a renewed deal from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US, involving helping Iran to build "light water" reactors and supplying nuclear fuel in return for a suspension of uranium enrichment.
Although the policy chief said on Friday that he was still awaiting a formal response, a spokesman for the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, last week rejected the conditions as "unacceptable" and "not debatable at all". The EU has formally agreed a new set of sanctions against Iran, including an asset freeze targeting the country's biggest bank. ... more -
Strike on Iran could turn Mideast into fireball, official says
The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief warned in comments aired Saturday that any military strike on Iran could turn the Mideast to a "ball of fire" and lead Iran to a more aggressive stance on its controversial nuclear program.
Mohamed ElBaradei made the remarks in an interview aired on Saturday by Al Arabiya TV. The interview comes a day after reports emerged that Israel conducted an large-scale military exercise that the United States believes is in part a message to Iran that Israel has the capability to attack its nuclear program.
"In my opinion, a military strike will be the worst. ... It will turn the Middle East to a ball of fire," ElBaradei said on Al-Arabiya television. It also could prompt Iran to press even harder to seek a nuclear program and force him to resign, he said.
Iran also criticized the Israeli exercises Saturday. The official IRNA news agency quoted a government spokesman as saying the exercises demonstrate that Israel "jeopardizes global peace and security."
Israel sent warplanes and other aircraft on a major exercise in the eastern Mediterranean this month, U.S. military officials said Friday. Israel's military refused to confirm or deny that the maneuvers were practice for a strike in Iran, saying only that it regularly trains for various missions to counter threats to the country. The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief warned in comments aired Saturday that any military strike on Iran could turn the Mideast to a "ball o... more -
Israel flies 100 planes to show Iran its striking power
Tehran yesterday "denounced Israel as a "threat to global peace" after Israel held a large military exercise in an apparent dress rehearsal for a potential attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
An Iranian government spokesman, Gholam-Hossein Elham, dismissed suggestions of an attack by Israel as "impossible", the official IRNA news agency reported.
He said "the threats and the claims of [the] Zionist regime" proved Iran's view that Israel was "dangerous and a threat to the global peace and security".
Elham's remarks came after Pentagon officials confirmed US media reports of a large military exercise by Israel earlier this month to show Iran that it had the capacity to strike at its nuclear facilities.
More than 100 Israeli F-16s and F-15s flew more than 900 miles in the Mediterranean, roughly the distance from Israel to Iran's Natanz nuclear plant. They were accompanied by refuelling planes and helicopters for rescuing any downed crews.
A source in Washington described the exercise as "sabre-rattling" and said he did not think an attack was imminent.
"If the Israelis were serious about it, no one would know about it until after it has happened," he said.
Nonetheless, the development sent oil prices higher after it was leaked to the New York Times by the Pentagon.
Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, responded to the news by saying an attack would turn the region into a "fireball" adding that he would resign if there were a military strike.
Both the US and Israel have said they will not allow Iran to secure a nuclear weapon capability. Iran says its nuclear development is for civilian purposes and it has no ambition to build a bomb.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, warned Israel and the US against any attack, saying there was no evidence that Iran was intent on building a nuclear weapon. Asked about Israeli warnings this month, Lavrov said yesterday: "I hope the actual actions would be based on international law. And international law clearly protects Iran's and anyone else's territorial integrity."
Pentagon officials told reporters that the Israelis "have been conducting some large-scale exercises - they live in a tough neighbourhood".
The leak came a week after Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, offered a deal to Tehran to stop uranium enrichment, a stage in the development of a nuclear weapon capability. Tehran has not ruled it out.
The leak could be designed to put pressure on Iran - but it may be counterproductive, pushing Tehran into rejection. Two days after the offer, while George Bush was visiting London, Gordon Brown announced tougher financial sanctions against Iran.
There has long been speculation that Bush, prodded by Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, might launch an attack - or give the green light to Israel to launch one - before leaving office next January. But that speculation is receding.
The Israeli military refused to comment on the exercise but said its air force "regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel".
Although Israel says it favours tougher sanctions to curb Iranian nuclear ambitions, it has pointedly not ruled out military action.
This week, Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, repeated his warning that Iran remained the biggest threat in the region. "I don't think we deserve to live under the threat of a nuclear Iran," he said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald published on Thursday.
Shaul Mofaz, a deputy prime minister and former army chief, provoked criticism this month when he told an Israeli newspaper that an attack was unavoidable. "If Iran continues its programme to develop nuclear weapons we will attack it," said Mofaz, who is in charge of Israel's strategic dialogue with the US over such issues as Iran" ....
By Ewen MacAskill, Rory McCarthy and agencies. Tehran yesterday "denounced Israel as a "threat to global peace" after Israel held a large military exercise in an apparent dress rehe... more -
McCain pushes destruction of the environment
Sen. John McCain proposed Wednesday to dramatically increase America's commitment to nuclear power, calling for a crash program to build 45 reactors by 2030 and a long-term goal of building 100 such plants across the country.
On the second day of a campaign swing devoted to energy security, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee also committed to spending $2 billion a year for research and development "to make clean coal a reality" in an effort to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
McCain has long been a proponent of nuclear power. But his speech here included unabashed support for an energy source and technology that has been suspect in many communities since the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979, the most serious commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history.
No nuclear power plant has been built in America in more than 30 years, and few U.S. companies have invested in the technology to build new plants. The nation draws about 20% of its electricity from 104 working commercial reactors, but many are nearing the end of the operating period allowed by their licenses.
"We will need to recover all the knowledge and skills that have been lost over three stagnant decades in a highly technical field," McCain told a forum at Missouri State University.
Missouri is considered a key battleground in the fall election, and the Arizona senator promised to return often to campaign in coming months. About two dozen antiwar protesters greeted his arrival here, and police escorted one youth from the auditorium after he loudly interrupted the speech.
snip
McCain did not explain how he would dispose of the radioactive waste from the dozens of new reactors he proposed, or how he would deal with the intense political passions the issue generates.
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John McCain, just another shill for industries trying to sell us a product as green that is far from it. And the truly frustrating part of all of this is that Barack Obama essentially shares the same viewpoint on nuclear being part of the solution as well as touting "clean coal." Forty five plants by 2030 is a death sentence for this environment. Notice McCain does not mention how long it would take to build these monstrosities or the CO2 and other gases expended in mining the uranium that will poison our land, waterways, and citizens in the process. Just ask Native Americans in New Mexico and Nevada about that.
And he doesn't tell us how he plans to do away with the toxic waste that is radioactive for thousands of years... nor does he tell us the BILLIONS that it would cost to build these monstrosities all while the Arctic and Greenland continue to melt. Nuclear is not the solution. It is simply a way for corporate sponsors of political candidates to keep the status quo and to continue to deflle this planet for profit under the guise of caring about it.
And once these plants were built they would also be mini nuclear bombs just waiting to be hit. No wonder so many agree with McCain in the Congress about this. This is also tied to the nuclear posture review and their attempt to look peaceful while continuing to build nuclear weapons. And it is sad because if the Democratic party actually had a candidate who had courage enough to come out against nuclear and coal they might actually look like a party that wants change. I can't even say I would vote for one over the other on this because they are basically the same. So it is the people who will have to look beyond their political partisanship to see the truth and hold all of their feet to the fire on this. Nuclear and clean coal are scams that need to be outted for what they are, and those politicians touting them regardless of party need to know that people will no longer tolerate business as usual. Sen. John McCain proposed Wednesday to dramatically increase America's commitment to nuclear power, calling for a crash program to bui... more -
McCain Sets Goal of 45 New Nuclear Reactors by 2030
Senator John McCain said Wednesday that he wanted 45 new nuclear reactors built in the United States by 2030, a course he called “as difficult as it is necessary.”
Currently there are 104 reactors in the country supplying some 20 percent of electricity consumed. No new nuclear power plant has been built in the United States since the 1970s.
He said his ultimate goal was 100 new nuclear plants.
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McCain, wrong on nuclear power, wrong for the country.
OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT (Obama, won't you consider returning that money to the nuclear power industry?) Senator John McCain said Wednesday that he wanted 45 new nuclear reactors built in the United States by 2030, a course he called “as d... more -
McCain calls for 45 new nuclear reactors
Sen. John McCain called Wednesday for the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 and pledged $2 billion a year in federal funds "to make clean coal a reality," measures designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
In a third straight day of campaigning devoted to the energy issue, the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting also said the only time Democratic rival Barack Obama voted for a tax cut was for a "break for the oil companies."
McCain said the 104 nuclear reactors currently operating around the country produce about 20 percent of the nation's annual electricity needs... Sen. John McCain called Wednesday for the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 and pledged $2 billion a year in federal fun... more -
McCain wants 45 new nuclear power plants
Sold his soul to the company store. As if they have found a solution for the storage problem. FAT CHANCE.
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Was Tim Russert purposely silenced?
During Dick Cheney's first interview after the 2000 elections he stated America would be going to war. The interviewer said the American people would never agree to a war. Dick said "We just get involved in one first and then the American people will go along with it". I believe that interviewer was either Tim Russert (Meet the Press) or Bob Scheifer (Face the Nation). I was so upset at the time that I showed it to my chiropractor boss and a Catholic priest here in Peoria, not realizing that BOTH were staunch war supporters. (My and my family's life has been hell ever since). Also on that tape was C-Span covering a Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting saying there might be a war between India and Pakistan. On the side of Pakistan would be China and Russia along with Iran. We would side with India and I don't remember who else. It sure sounded bleak and NOT THE FUTURE I WANTED! (Since then we have sent GE nuclear power plants to India, a country who refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty). Fourteen days ago I blogged about the Dick Cheney interview on the above link. Twelve days later Tim Russert died. Was he purposely silenced? Reports say he was just back from a trip to Italy. Italy is actively trying to bring nuclear waste into the US (see NIRS cite). He also just passed a stress test for his heart. There are ways to 'create' a heart attack. Surely Tim would have talked about impeachment today on Meet the Press as it was discussed in the House this past week. General Electric owns NBC, the corporate doctors who treat their employees, and they make nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. Who benefits from the silence of Tim Russert? Was he getting too close to the truth? There needs to be an investigation of this administration NOW! During Dick Cheney's first interview after the 2000 elections he stated America would be going to war. The interviewer said the Americ... more
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Antimatter Beam Breaks Record - Not just for Captain Kirk Anymore
This is the stuff of Star Trek...Beam me up, Scotty.
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Nuclear Power
