Saugeen First Nation do not want Canada’s nuclear waste. Nuclear Waste Management Organization says the project will not be built without their consent.
Saugeen First Nation debates fate of Canada’s nuclear waste CTV News , Scott Miller CTV News London Videographer @ScottMillerCTV Contact Sunday, May 16, 2021 ”…… Last January, the Saugeen Ojibway Nation voted 85 per cent against plans to bury Ontario’s low and intermediate level nuclear waste along the shores of Lake Huron.
Saugeen members will have a similar decision to make on plans to bury Canada’s high-level nuclear waste under 1,500 acres of farmland, north of Teeswater, because the planned project also falls within their traditional territory.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization says the project will not be built without SON’s consent.
“Well it’s important now because that’s what was agreed to as part of the treaties. So there’s constitutional rights that are at play,” says NWMO’s Indigenous Knowledge and Reconciliation Section Manager, Jessica Perritt.
SON leadership have said they didn’t ask for nuclear waste to be created and temporarily stored in their territory, but now, they must be part of deciding its fate.
“We’ve got to treat our people, not like the olden days where the Indian Agent didn’t even allow us to think or make decisions. We can make decisions for ourselves,” says Roote………..
Members of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation and residents of South Bruce have until 2023 to decide if they want to permanently house Canada’s first and only underground nuclear waste storage facility. https://london.ctvnews.ca/saugeen-first-nation-debates-fate-of-canada-s-nuclear-waste-1.5430208
Small nuclear reactors – a way to get indigenous people to then accept nuclear waste?
Gordon Edwards is president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility and notes the Moltex SMR design involves dissolving spent nuclear fuel in molten salt, and there lies an issue, he believes.
“What happens when you dissolve the solid fuel in a liquid, in this molten salt – then all of these radioactive materials are released into the liquid,” says Edwards, “and it becomes more dangerous to contain them because a solid material is much easier to contain than a liquid or gaseous material.”
Peskotomuhkati chief unhappy about nuclear reactor testing on his traditional territory https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/peskotomuhkati-nation-nuclear-reactor-testing-new-brunswick-small-modular-reactors/—
Christopher Read cread@aptn.caMay 16, 2021,
Feds say they won’t reach zero emissions by 2050 without small nuclear reactors.
It’s a new kind of nuclear reactor that the federal government is putting up $50.5 million in development money for, but some Indigenous leaders are already speaking out against it
.Moltex Energy Canada is getting the tax-dollar investment to develop what the nuclear industry calls a “small modular reactor” or SMR – which is generally considered to be a reactor with a power output of 300 megawatts or less.The Moltex SMR design is to be developed at New Brunswick Power’s Point LePreau Nuclear Generating Station, which is on the north shore of the Bay of Fundy and in Peskotomuhkati traditional territory.
ARC Clean Energy Canada is another operation also set to develop an SMR at the Point LePreau site. It was announced in February that ARC would get $20 million from the New Brunswick government if the company can raise $30 million of its own cash.
Hugh Akagi is Chief of Peskotomuhkati Nation and has concerns about more nuclear development in the aging facility.
“Well, I don’t feel very good about it, to be honest,” says Akagi. “You paid that money if you pay tax on anything in this country, you’ve just made a donation to Moltex. If you’re not concerned about $50 million being turned over to a corporation for a technology that does not exist – I hope you heard me correctly on that.”
The federal government has taken a shine to the idea of SMRs and Minister of Natural Resources Seamus O’Regan is on the record as saying “We have not seen a model where we can get to net-zero emissions by 2050 without nuclear.”
Under the Small Modular Reactor Action Plan, the federal government is pushing for SMRs to be developed and deployed to power remote industrial operations as well as northern communities.
Three streams of government-supported SMR developments are underway at two sites in Ontario as well as at Point LePreau.
As well, the governments of New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta have all signed a memorandum of understanding pledging their support for SMR development.
Akagi says he hasn’t been formally consulted – but has been to a presentations put on by NB Power about the SMR project.
He says he is unlikely he’ll ever give it his support.
“Until I can have an assurance that the impact on the future is zero,” says Akagi, “I don’t want to 100 years, 200 years is still seven generations. I want zero impact.”
But Moltex Energy Canada CEO Rory O’Sullivan says his company’s technology will ultimately reduce environmental impact, by recycling spent nuclear fuel from full scale reactors.
“Instead of putting it in the ground where it’ll be radioactive for very long periods, we can reuse it as fuel to create more clean energy from what was waste,” says O’Sullivan. “We can’t get rid of the waste altogether. But the aim is to get rid, to get it down to about a thousandth of volume of the original long-lived radioactivity.
O’Sullivan admits to formerly seeing nuclear as too much of a problem to be a viable solution in the climate crisis.
“When I graduated as a mechanical engineer I saw that nuclear is potentially as too expensive, has the waste issue, has a potential safety issue,” says O’Sullivan. “Well, actually, with these innovative new designs, you can potentially have nuclear power that is lower cost, cheaper than fossil fuels – you can get much safer solution using innovation and you can potentially deal with the waste.”
Gordon Edwards, one of Canada’s most prominent nuclear critics, isn’t buying that argument.
Edwards is president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility and notes the Moltex SMR design involves dissolving spent nuclear fuel in molten salt, and there lies an issue, he believes.
“What happens when you dissolve the solid fuel in a liquid, in this molten salt – then all of these radioactive materials are released into the liquid,” says Edwards, “and it becomes more dangerous to contain them because a solid material is much easier to contain than a liquid or gaseous material.”
Edwards also works on a radioactive task force with the Anishinabek Nation and the Iroquois Caucus.
And as he sees it, small modular reactors could make it harder for Indigenous communities to say no to the deep geological repositories [DGRs] being pitched to Indigenous communities as a supposedly safe way for Canada’s nuclear industry to entomb highly radioactive waste for hundreds of thousands of years.
“We don’t accept the small modular reactors because we know that it’s just a way of implicating us so that we can then have less of an argument against being radioactive waste dumps,” says Edwards. “If we accept small modular reactors into our communities, how can we then turn around and say we don’t want to keep the radioactive waste? It would just put us in an impossible position.”
Edwards and other nuclear critics such as Akagi recently participated in an online webinar focused on concerns around nuclear development at Point LePreau.
And those adding their voices to the critical side of the ledger on nuclear development at Point LePreau include Jenica Atwin – the Green Party’s MP for Fredricton, and Wolastoq Grand Council Chief Ron Tremblay – who issued a Resolution calling for nuclear development to be halted.
Atwin put out a release in April calling Canadian nuclear policies “profoundly misguided.”
“My basic premise is that the government needs to be more responsible in the information that they’re sharing just in general to talk about the risks that exist alongside whatever benefits they’re kind of toting,” says Atwin. “And right now, we’re only hearing that it’s the greatest option. This is how we fight climate change. It is clean, it’s cheap energy. And I have to disagree.”
If all goes to according to the Moltex plan, its SMR could be operable by about 2030.
Powercor proposes 20 big batteries for Victoria renewable energy zones — RenewEconomy
Victoria network proposes 20 big batteries and multiple syncons it says will fast-track new wind and solar and lessen need for new transmission lines. The post Powercor proposes 20 big batteries for Victoria renewable energy zones appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Powercor proposes 20 big batteries for Victoria renewable energy zones — RenewEconomy
Shutting down nuclear and coal – can Germany keep the lights on? — RenewEconomy
Can a large industrialised society like Germany run securely and smoothly on a power system largely fed by wind and solar? The question is not if, but how. The post Shutting down nuclear and coal – can Germany keep the lights on? appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Shutting down nuclear and coal – can Germany keep the lights on? — RenewEconomy
Chernobyl. Tons of nuclear fuel in the wrecked plant’s basement have started to react again, and it’s showing no signs of stopping. —
Originally posted on Antinuclear: Chernobyl’s nuclear fuel is ‘smoldering’ again and could explode, https://www.livescience.com/chernobyl-smoldering-nuclear-reactions-again.html By Brandon Specktor – Senior Writer 14 May 21, Tons of nuclear fuel in the wrecked plant’s basement has started to react again, and it’s showing no signs of stopping. Nuclear reactions are smoldering again in an inaccessible basement of the wrecked?Chernobyl?nuclear power plant in Ukraine,…
Chernobyl. Tons of nuclear fuel in the wrecked plant’s basement have started to react again, and it’s showing no signs of stopping. —
May 16 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Bringing Back Clean Air” • Indoor air pollution from burning gas is a important problem. RMI has made the clear economic case for all-electric homes in new construction, finding that they are cheaper than dual-fuel homes in every major region of the US. Throw in the safety advantages, and there is simply no […]
May 16 Energy News — geoharvey
Overcoming resistance to a nuclear weapons-free world — Beyond Nuclear International
More of us favor abolition. Why don’t our governments?
Overcoming resistance to a nuclear weapons-free world — Beyond Nuclear International
New developments: particle accelerators could make Lucas Heights’ Opal nuclear reactor obsolete. And the pro Kimba waste dump argument useless.
Greg Phillips , Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch Australia, 14 May 21
Lest we forget. The majority of the radioactivity they want to send to SA/Kimba is from the production of medical isotopes using a method that should be replaced by much cleaner/safer/reliable accelerator/cyclotron methods:”Pallas’s original business case was mainly based on the production of technetium-99m, which is obtained from molybdenum-99 via a generator. Despite the initially favorable forecasts for this reactor isotope, the business case ultimately did not hold up. This is partly due to the rise of the cyclotron, the linear particle accelerator (linac), and the advent of new large-scale production techniques, based on systems or reactors driven by particle accelerators, such as SHINE.
In the current market, the major role of research reactors is mainly determined by the production of technetium-99m, a SPECT isotope and by far the most widely used medical isotope in radiodiagnostics. But new suppliers will soon be entering the market, including SHINE, producers with cyclotrons, and a series of suppliers with linacs.More important than the future production of technetium-99m is the amazing innovative power of the accelerator technology.
For example, the PET isotope rubidium-82 has been marketed fairly recently for measuring the blood flow in the heart muscle. However, this treatment will soon face competition from the even more efficient PET drug fluorine-18 Flurpiridaz.
Although these treatments are more expensive than traditional technetium-99 (SPECT) treatment, they can compete because the imaging is very accurate and takes place in “real time”. This means that one treatment suffices, saving costs.
Pallas’ latest business case focuses mainly on the production of therapeutic isotopes for the treatment of cancer and tumors, with beta-emitter isotopes such as lutetium-177 and yttrium-90 in particular determining the picture in this growing market. But here too the question applies: can Pallas really withstand the innovative power of accelerator technology? Then it is not so much about SHINE, which can certainly become a formidable competitor of reactor manufacturers for the production of lutetium-177 (and later also yttrium-90), but mainly about the advance of new generations of therapeutic accelerator isotopes. For example, alpha emitters, and a new class of beta emitters, will conquer an increasing part of the current beta emitter market. …” more https://www.technischweekblad.nl/opinie-analyse/pallas-versus-de-innovatiekracht-van-versnellertechnologie?fbclid=IwAR2T6Ns_xt27fPBsbTHP0BkNG6x0Xk3x-nbaSJshNSQrZ2W5Q21C4GdvwY0 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1021186047913052
Ionising radiation was proven to be bad for dogs. Does that mean it’s good for humans?
The effects of ionizing radiation on domestic dogs: a review of the atomic bomb testing era, Wiley Online Library , Gabriella J. SpatolaElaine A. Ostrander Timothy A. Mousseau 13 May 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12723
ABSTRACT
Dogs were frequently employed as laboratory subjects during the era of atomic bomb testing (1950–1980), particularly in studies used to generate predictive data regarding the expected effects of accidental human occupational exposure to radiation. The bulk of these studies were only partly reported in the primary literature, despite providing vital information regarding the effects of radiation exposure on a model mammalian species. Herein we review this literature and summarize the biological effects in relation to the isotopes used and the method of radionuclide exposure. Overall, these studies demonstrate the wide range of developmental and physiological effects of exposure to radiation and radionuclides in a mid‐sized mammal.
………………………………………………III. CONCLUSIONS
Domestic canines commonly share the same environment, lifestyle, and exposure to pollutants as their human counterparts (Mazzatenta et al., 2017; Ostrander et al., 2017). Coupled with their larger body size and longer lifespan compared to other frequently used model organisms, this makes the canine model a useful tool in studying radiation‐induced diseases.- Frequent effects of radiation exposure in dogs include haematological changes, infertility, and cancer of the bone, liver, lung, and blood, among others. Effects depend on the radionuclide, method of exposure, age at exposure, dose rate, and total exposure dose.
With an increasing demand for nuclear power comes a higher risk of nuclear accidents, and studies of radiation exposures in domestic dogs have provided valuable information for understanding the repercussions for accidentally exposed populations.- Although experiments done in a laboratory setting have proved illuminating, more studies are needed on natural populations affected by past radiological disasters in order to further our understanding of how laboratory results may apply, as such populations are affected by potentially confounding environmental factors. In addition, the vast background knowledge provided by early radiation studies on dogs could allow meaningful conclusions to be drawn regarding the application of laboratory results to natural populations……………… https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12723#.YJ5JV_2vd9I.twitter
South Korean fishermen sue Japanese government over Fukushima nuclear plant water
South Korean fishermen sue Japanese government over Fukushima nuclear plant water, https://www.wionews.com/world/south-korean-fishermen-sue-japanese-government-over-fukushima-nuclear-plant-water-384768 WION Web TeamSeoul, South Korea, May 13, 2021,
South Korean fisheries associations filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government at a local court on Thursday, seeking compensation for the planned release of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the Yonhap news agency reported.
The National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives of Jeju Island and a shipowners’ association told a news conference outside the Jeju District Court they were demanding about 10 million won ($8,800) per day from the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings.
Local fishing communities worry that years of work to convince consumers that Fukushima’s seafood is safe will be wiped out by the release.
Japan’s government said in April it would release more than 1 million tonnes of treated water from the Fukushima site in stages starting in about two years…….
Environmental groups like Greenpeace, which opposes nuclear power, say radioactive materials like carbon-14 that remain in the water can “be easily concentrated in the food chain”.
They allege accumulated doses over time could damage DNA, and want to see the water stored until technology is developed to improve filtration.
Hamas Targets Israeli Oil And Nuclear Facilities With Rocket Attacks
Hamas Targets Israeli Oil And Nuclear Facilities With Rocket Attacks, Oil Price By ZeroHedge – May 14, 2021 Hamas’ militant wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, announced earlier this week that it is deliberately targeting Israel’s secretive Dimona nuclear reactor site, known as the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, which lies east of the the Gaza Strip far into the Negev Desert.
It was on Wednesday that Qassam Brigade spokesmen said they were “directing a rocket strike involving 15 rockets for Dimona” – and since then it appears rockets have fallen generally in the southerly area – but there’s since been no reports of direct hits anywhere on the complex, or damage to the site……….
“On Tuesday, at least one rocket appeared to score a direct hit, damaging an Ashkelon facility connected to the Trans-Israel pipeline running from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea,” Newsweek observed, and continued:
“The military wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has targeted Israel’s nuclear facility, key oil facilities and other sites across the country amid a violent escalation between the two sides.”…… https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/Hamas-Targets-Israeli-Oil-And-Nuclear-Facilities-With-Rocket-Attacks.html
Chernobyl. Tons of nuclear fuel in the wrecked plant’s basement have started to react again, and it’s showing no signs of stopping.
Chernobyl’s nuclear fuel is ‘smoldering’ again and could explode, https://www.livescience.com/chernobyl-smoldering-nuclear-reactions-again.html By Brandon Specktor – Senior Writer 14 May 21,
Tons of nuclear fuel in the wrecked plant’s basement has started to react again, and it’s showing no signs of stopping.
Nuclear reactions are smoldering again in an inaccessible basement of the wrecked Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, according to news reports.
Researchers monitoring the plant — which infamously exploded in a deadly 1986 meltdown — have detected a steady spike in the number of neutrons in an underground room called 305/2. The room is full of heavy rubble, concealing a radioactive mush of uranium, zirconium, graphite and sand that oozed into the plant’s basement like lava, before hardening into formations called fuel-containing materials (FCMs).
Rising neutron levels indicate that these FCMs are undergoing new fission reactions, as neutrons strike and split the nuclei of uranium atoms, creating energy.
For now, this radioactive waste is smoldering “like the embers in a barbecue pit,” Neil Hyatt, a nuclear materials chemist at the University of Sheffield in the U.K., told Science magazine. However, it’s possible that those embers could fully ignite if left undisturbed for too long, resulting in another explosion.
This potential explosion wouldn’t be anywhere near as devastating as the one that shattered the plant in 1986, which resulted in thousands of deaths and spewed a radioactive cloud over Europe, Maxim Saveliev, a senior researcher with the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants (ISPNPP) in Kyiv, Ukraine, told Science. If the nuclear material ignites again, the blast will be largely contained within the steel and concrete cage known as the Shelter, which officials built around the plant’s ruined Unit Four reactor one year after the accident.
Still, even a contained explosion would make the long-term mission of removing the plant’s FCMs much harder, Saveliev said. The Shelter is old and could easily crumble from the force of an explosion, filling the area with heavy debris and radioactive dust. (The Shelter itself is contained in a larger steel structure called the New Safe Confinement, which was completed in 2018.)
Neutron levels have been steadily rising in room 305/2 for four years, Saveliev said, and could continue rising for several more years without incident. It’s possible these nuclear nuggets will fizzle out on their own in that time. But if neutron levels keep rising, scientists will have to intervene.
That is more easily said than done, of course; plant managers have yet to figure out how to access the tons of radioactive material buried below the room’s thick layers of concrete debris. Radiation levels are too high for humans to endure, but radiation-resistant robots might be able to drill through the rubble and install neutron-absorbing control rods into the room, according to the ISPNPP.
Ukraine hopes to present a detailed plan for the removal of Chernobyl’s still-smoldering FCMs by September, Science reported.
Batteries in the ‘burbs, cheaper EVs and job training in Labor’s budget response — RenewEconomy
Albanese pledges $100 million for new clean energy apprenticeships in Labor’s alternative budget plan. The post Batteries in the ‘burbs, cheaper EVs and job training in Labor’s budget response appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Batteries in the ‘burbs, cheaper EVs and job training in Labor’s budget response — RenewEconomy
Look, no gas! South Australia to build country’s first all-electric hospital — RenewEconomy
South Australia says new women’s and children’s hospital in Adelaide will not be connected to the gas network and won’t use fossil fuels. The post Look, no gas! South Australia to build country’s first all-electric hospital appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Look, no gas! South Australia to build country’s first all-electric hospital — RenewEconomy
Plans for big solar thermal micro-grid at Mt Isa gain momentum — RenewEconomy
Plans to power to remote Queensland mining hub with a mix of concentrated solar thermal, solar PV, gas and battery storage advance with call for contractors. The post Plans for big solar thermal micro-grid at Mt Isa gain momentum appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Plans for big solar thermal micro-grid at Mt Isa gain momentum — RenewEconomy
1 This month.
20 September –National Day of Action in Melbourne on the International Day of Peace
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
.
Australians deserve the truth
about
AUKUS – https://aukuspublicinquiry.com/
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 