Investment advice “be greedy” about uranium stocks
Uranium woes woo takeover talk * Robin Bromby * From: The Australian * March 18, 2011
BE greedy where others are fearful that’s the advice Fat Prophets sent out to its clients today.
The immediate object of FP’s affections is Paladin Energy (PDN) which has taken a body blow this week like other uranium stocks. The investment firm sees the company as a potential Chinese takeover target as it has its operating mines in Namibia and Malawi, which means the Australian government would not be involved in deciding the ownership of those mines…….
Fuel core of Unit 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in spent fuel pond
Nuclear update: Entire reactor core stored in fuel pond, New Scientist, 19 March 2011″…..Reliable, validated information is still lacking on water levels and temperatures at the spent fuel ponds, but the IAEA announced on Friday that prior to the earthquake,
The entire fuel core of reactor Unit 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant had been unloaded from the reactor and placed in the spent fuel pond located in the reactor’s building. Continue reading
Ferguson, Abbott, Howes, etc – the nuclear lobby’s political stooges
Andrea Mayes takes on the pro nuclear politicians:
Japan’s disastrous and tragic nuclear record should be warning enough to Australian politicians to stop their dangerous flirtation with nuclear energy.
Disaster proves nuclear danger, The West Australian, Andrea Mayes, 15 March 11, “……….For some in Australia, the temptation to move down the nuclear energy path is proving irresistible.Both Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott favour nuclear energy as part of the solution to the challenge of climate change……. Continue reading
Nobody will insure nuclear power, except taxpayer
The truth is that even without the safety concerns we should forgo new nuclear reactors because they are fundamentally uneconomic. Nuclear reactors are a bad deal for the private sector and they are a bad deal for American taxpayers….. The problem is that it’s more than half a century later and there are STILL no private insurers willing to take on the risk of a nuclear crisis..
Nuclear Socialism, HUFFINGTON POST, Krystal Ball, 19 March 11, Up until about a week ago, nuclear energy had been broadly embraced as our great radioactive hope for a clean energy future. Continue reading
Nuclear power was already in decline: now it is probably finished
Diesendorf expects events in Japan will see nuclear power continue its decline – ”despite the claims of its proponents, it is already an industry in stagnation” – and will drive renewable expansion. ”China and India were doing a lot already on renewables … enough to wipe out nuclear.” He foresees increasing emphasis on wind, on solar, and on concentrated solar thermal power.
Is this the end of the nuclear revival?, The Age, Jo Chandler, March 19, 2011 “……Professor Frank von Hippel. – ”This is definitely in the Chernobyl league now. If the reactors go, that’s bad, of course. But the real concern at this point is if those … spent-fuel pools catch fire. There are many Chernobyls’ worth of radioactive material in there.’ Continue reading
“Spent” nuclear fuel rods the greatest danger
Figures provided by the Tokyo Electric Power Company on Thursday show that most of the dangerous uranium at the powerplant is in the spent fuel rods, not the reactor cores……the zirconium cladding on the fuel rods could burst into flames if exposed to air for hours when a storage pool lost its water. Zirconium burns extremely hot and is difficult to extinguish
Spent rods the biggest hazard, Sydney Morning Herald, Keith Bradsher and Hiroko Tabuchi, March 19, 2011
YEARS of procrastination in deciding on long-term disposal of highly radioactive fuel rods from nuclear reactors are coming back to haunt Japanese authorities as they try to control fires and explosions at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. Continue reading
USA nuclear power plants had five recent safety crises
Nuclear safety: Five recent ‘near miss’ incidents at US nuclear power plants, Christian Science Monitor, 18 March 11, Fourteen safety-related events at nuclear power plants required follow-up inspections from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the NRC reported in 2010. These “near-miss” events “raised the risk of damage to the reactor core – and thus to the safety of workers and the public,” concluded a new report, “The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2010,” by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Here are five of these 14 “near miss” examples:……
Spinowski, Angwins, Atkinson, Borschoff desperately spinning uranium industry
There is a lot of money riding on the optimists winning the argument over the pessimists.
BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine, the world’s biggest uranium mine, is scheduled for an expansion that could cost 30-50 billion Australian dollars. With the spot price of uranium back where it was in 2009, BHP would be taking a big gamble that nuclear power is here to stay.
ANALYSIS: Australia’s battered uranium miners talk up their prospects – Monsters and Critics, 19 March 11, “……….Ziggy Switkowski, Australia’s foremost nuclear physicist, admits these are trying times for industry lobbyists…….He has not lost faith in the science and believes the industry will bounce back within the year. Continue reading
Earthquake risk for many of world’s nuclear reactors
scientists sometimes have underestimated how powerful quakes can be. The temblor that struck Japan was more than 10 times bigger than the Daiichi plant had been tested to withstand. In 2007, the world’s biggest nuclear plant, Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, was damaged after it was hit by a quake far stronger than its designers anticipated.
Dozens of Reactors in Quake Zones, WSJ.com, 18 March 11, Japan, Taiwan Account for Most Sites in High-Activity Areas; ‘Large Margins of Safety’ Factored In at U.S. Plants By MAURICE TAMMAN, BEN CASSELMAN and PAUL MOZURDozens of nuclear reactors operate in earthquake-prone regions around the world, including at least 14 in high-hazard areas, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 