Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

India’s nuclear power programme was always intended to be a nuclear weapons programme too

The Nation 11th Feb 2018, Indian army chief calls our strategic and tactical nuclear capability `a bluff’. His view may be rooted in India’s own bitter enrichment experience (1980-1985).

Ramana points out during initial operations that India’s enrichment plant `had frequent breakdown as a result of corrosion  and failure of parts’. `Many leaders of Indian Department of Atomic  Energy held that uranium enrichment was very difficult and were skeptical of Pakistani claims that they had succeeded in enriching uranium to weapons grade levels’.

From day one, India’s nuclear programme has been dual-use oriented. Nehru never ruled out the nuclear option for India . He wrote to Homi Bhabha `Apart from building power stations and developing electricity there is always a built-in advantage of defence use [of nuclear enrichment] if the need should arise’. According to Srinivasan, former head of Indian Atomic Energy Commission, `Nuclear technology was developed by a country for its own benefit, whether for peaceful purposes or military applications’.
https://nation.com.pk/11-Feb-2018/unmasking-india-s-secret-nuclear-capability

February 14, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

Uranium miner Cameco reports yet another loss

Uranium miner Cameco Corp. reports $62-million Q4 loss, revenue down,  SASKATOON — Cameco Corp. lost $62 million in its latest quarter, an improvement from the year-earlier loss of $144 million…… Revenue in what was its fourth-quarter totalled $809 million compared with $887 million in the year-earlier quarter. http://business.financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/uranium-miner-cameco-corp-reports-62-million-q4-loss-revenue-down

February 11, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

The quiet diplomacy that brought South and North Korean athletes together for the Winter Olympics

The Quiet Diplomacy to Save the Olympics in a Nuclear Standoff, NYT. By JANE PERLEZ, CHOE SANG-HUN and REBECCA R. RUIZ, 

BEIJING — In late December, a group of teenagers from North Korea traveled to the Chinese city of Kunming to play in an obscure under-15 soccer tournament. On the field, under a wintry sun, they faced teams from China and South Korea. Off the field, there was an unusual spectator: Choi Moon-soon, the governor of the province in South Korea hosting the Winter Olympics.

Mr. Choi had flown more than 1,000 miles to meet the North Korean officials accompanying the young players — and to make the case for North Korea to attend the Olympics. “We were looking for any contact with North Korea, and the youth soccer teams were the only inter-Korean exchange still going on,” he later recalled.

Even before Mr. Choi returned to South Korea, his government sent another signal: In a television interview, the South’s president, Moon Jae-in, said he favored postponing annual joint military exercises with the United States — an unmistakable overture to North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, who had long condemned the exercises.

Mr. Kim soon reciprocated, declaring at the start of the year that he was sending his athletes to the Olympics. There, they will march in the opening ceremony on Friday under a unified Korean flag with the South Koreans — a historic moment for the divided Korean Peninsula. Continue reading →

February 10, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

USA now producing medical radioisotopes without nuclear reactor (no need to import them from Lucas Heights)

U.S. FDA Approves NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes’ RadioGenixTMSystem (Technetium Tc 99m Generator) for Non-uranium Sourced Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) Production of Imaging Isotope Technetium-99m (Tc-99m)

– Enables domestic Mo-99 supply produced without uranium for U.S. healthcare –

– First U.S. source of medical radioisotope Mo-99 in more than 25 years –

BELOIT, Wis.–(BUSINESS WIRE)--NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC, (NorthStar) a company involved in the production and distribution of radioisotopes used for medical imaging, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the RadioGenixTM System, an innovative, high tech radioisotope separation platform indicated for use in producing the widely used medical radioisotope technetium-99 (Tc-99m) from NorthStar’s non-uranium based molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). The RadioGenixTM System is indicated as “a technetium Tc 99m generator used to produce sterile, non-pyrogenic Sodium Pertechnate Tc 99m Injection.”There has been no U.S. production of Mo-99, the parent isotope of Tc-99m, for more than 25 years. The supply of Mo-99 has been subject to frequent and sometimes prolonged interruptions, disrupting and often delaying the diagnosis and treatment of patients in need of medically important diagnostic tests that require the use of this radioisotope. Furthermore, current bulk production of Mo-99 is based on enriched uranium which poses significant environmental concerns.

“With the FDA’s approval of the RadioGenix System, NorthStar can begin providing its customers with a reliable and environmentally friendly supply of the Mo-99 radioisotope for the United States,” said George P. Messina, Chairman and CEO of NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes. “As the first, and thus far only company to achieve the objective of being the first U.S. producer of Mo-99 in more than 25 years, we are extremely proud to pioneer domestic production of Mo-99 that is independent of uranium-based product. The approval by the FDA will reduce the U.S. healthcare system’s reliance on fragile foreign supply of Mo-99 and the use of enriched uranium target material.  The RadioGenix System allows for automated, on-site separation and preparation of U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m Injection from Mo-99. The RadioGenix is also a platform technology that has the potential ability to apply its separation capabilities at the point-of-care to other radioisotopes in the future, including therapeutic isotopes such as actinium-225/bismuth-213 (which will require FDA approval). ……….

The RadioGenix System is an innovative, high tech system that is approved for processing non-uranium/non highly enriched uranium molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) for the production of the important medical radioisotope, technetium-99m (Tc-99m). Prior to availability of RadioGenix technology, the U.S. supply chain for Mo-99 has been subject to frequent and sometimes severe interruptions which negatively impact patient healthcare. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in February 2018, the RadioGenix System is the first and only on-site, automated isotope separation system of its kind for use with non-uranium/non-highly enriched uranium based Mo-99. ………..   https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180208005961/en/U.S.-FDA-Approves-NorthStar-Medical-Radioisotopes%E2%80%99-RadioGenixTM#.Wnzqgpg9SWY.facebook

February 10, 2018 Posted by | General News | 6 Comments

Netherlands project to produce medical isotopes with no need of a nuclear reactor

Steve Dale No Nuclear Waste Dump Anywhere in South Australia, 10 Feb 18  There is also a promising electron accelerator approach too (started in the Netherlands) . Search for “Lighthouse” and you may have to translate the pages. Here is snippet “Lighthouse: next phase production of medical isotopes without a reactor
January 23, 2018
Chip machine manufacturer ASML has found a partner in the Belgian National Institute for Radio Elements (IRE) for the further development of LightHouse, a technology that makes it possible to make medical isotopes in an easy way without the release of radioactive waste. LightHouse was declared the (Dutch) National Icon last year, but is now being further developed by a Belgian company. With this, the phase of feasibility research seems to have been completed and the development is entering a new phase. First production of medical isotopes is expected in 2020.” https://www.facebook.com/groups/1314655315214929/

February 10, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

Arriums saviour Sanjeev Gupta says his power plans will transform the South Australian energy market 

  Man of Steel vows to power up the state
Arrium saviour Sanjeev Gupta believes the nation’s energy costs are “the biggest debacle in Australian history” — but the good news is he’s here to help fix the problem. The British billionaire has revealed more about his extraordinarily ambitious plans to transform our state… [subscribers only] 
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/arriums-saviour-sanjeev-gupta-says-his-power-plans-will-transform-the-south-australian-energy-market/news-story/e910378d68c43f17f90800810dd6aefe

February 10, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

Nuclear industry was rampantly misogynist from the start

The atomic age bears America’s original sin, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 6 FEBRUARY 2018, Yangyang Cheng

“……..The invention of nuclear weapons was in itself a process of creation conflated with the ultimate destructive power. Upon the success of Fermi’s experiment, the nuclear physicist Ernest Lawrence telegraphed his colleagues in Chicago, “Congratulations to the new parents.” The Manhattan Project scientists chose phrases of male progeny, “it’s a boy”, to describe successful bomb tests, while “a girl” would mean the bomb was a dud. The misogynistic convention carried on in the names of “Little Boy” and “Fat Man.”

With only one woman, and everyone of European heritage, the scientific team at the creation of the Bomb shared the same gender and racial makeup as the American military and political leadership. The American Bomb was the white men’s bomb. As with many of the ugliest episodes in the history of America, the groups absent from the decision-making process bore the consequences of choices made by people who deemed themselves superior by birth……” https://thebulletin.org/atomic-age-bears-americas-original-sin11487

February 9, 2018 Posted by | General News | 1 Comment

City Council says “NO”to nuclear waste dump (as Kimba Council should do)

City Council: Members oppose construction of a Piketon nuclear waste facility, The Post Taylor Heddleson, 6 Feb 18

Athens City Council passed a resolution Monday night opposing the construction of a nuclear waste disposal facility in Piketon.

The Village of Piketon conducted an independent survey of the 10-acre site and found that there are fractures in the bedrock that the Department of Energy didn’t include in its report. The site is also 8,000 feet from a school.

“This is a David vs. Goliath fight we’re in here,” Piketon Mayor Billy Spencer said.

Piketon officials also approached various other cities and municipalities, including Waverly and Chillicothe, asking for support.………http://www.thepostathens.com/article/2018/02/athens-nuclear-waste-carbon-fee

February 9, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

USA community stuck for decades with stranded nuclear wastes (like Kimba might be)

Oyster Creek’s Spent Nuclear Fuel Casks Aren’t Going Anywhere
Almost 50 years of spent nuclear fuel dry casks are stored at the Route 9 plant in Lacey Township. Lacey Patch By Patricia A. Miller, Patch Staff | 

LACEY TOWNSHIP, NJ – The Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant may be closing in October, but the spent nuclear fuel stored at the plant off Route 9 here for nearly 50 years isn’t going anywhere.

Why? There is no place in the United States to store them.

The proposed Yucca Mountain underground storage facility in Nevada never materialized. So nuclear plants around the country have been storing spent nuclear fuel in dry casks onsite for decades. Oyster Creek’s spent fuel is stored in horizontal dry casks in an area located near the entrance checkpoint off Route 9, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.

“It is in the plant’s Protected Area, which is the fenced-in, highly secured area,” he said.

Spent fuel pools were originally designed as a short-term solution. The fuel would then cool enough so it could be shipped offsite to be reprocessed.

“But reprocessing didn’t end up being an option for nuclear power plants and the pools began to fill up,” according to the NRC.

Janet Tauro, chairman of the environmental group Clean Water Action and other environmental groups are calling for Oyster Creek’s dry casks to be “hardened,” meaning additional reinforcement in the future. They also want the capability for instrumentation, with the amount of heat and radiation inside each cask able to be monitored.

“Lacey Township is going to be a mini-Yucca,” Tauro said.

Sheehan says Oyster Creek’s dry casks consist of stainless steel canisters that hold the spent fuel. The canisters are then loaded into a steel-reinforced concrete vault.

“The vaults certainly qualify as “hardened,” as they weigh more than 100 tons when loaded and must be able to withstand hurricanes, tornadoes and more,” Sheehan said.

Oyster Creek is the oldest nuclear plant in the United States. It went online in December of 1969. The plant has a General Electric Mark I boiling water reactor, the same as the ill-fated Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.

“None of our country’s Fukushima-design reactors should have operated for even one more day
once we saw the catastrophic events publicly unfold worldwide at Fukushima,” said Paul Gunter, of Beyond Nuclear, an anti-nuclear watchdog group…….. https://patch.com/new-jersey/lacey/oyster-creeks-spent-nuclear-fuel-casks-arent-going-anywere

February 8, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

If Asteroids Don’t Destroy Elon Musk’s Space Tesla, Radiation Will, Experts Say

The Drive, BY KYLE CHEROMCHAFEBRUARY 7, 2018   

Space: The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Tesla Roadster. Its billion-year mission: To circle the sun, to hopefully not crash into Mars, to boldly go where no car has gone before.

That is, unless the cosmic radiation eats it first.

Elon Musk’s old Roadster became the first car in history to be blasted into space on Tuesday, riding the successful test launch of the Falcon Heavy mega rocket to an orbital path that’s projected to send it out to Mars—or maybe even further. In a tweet, Musk reported that the “third burn” procedure to push the Roadster out of Earth’s orbit worked a little too well, with the trajectory now slated to reach the edge of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. (Someone didn’t listen to C-3PO.)

But as Live Science reported, big space rocks aren’t really the most significant threat to the spacefaring sports car. No, that would be good ol’ radiation, which has the potential to mostly disintegrate the Tesla Roadster within a year or two, according to William Carroll, an Indiana University chemist and molecular expert. Without the protection afforded by the Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field, the Roadster will be bombarded by radiation that will eventually tear apart anything not made of metal on the car.

“All of the organics will be subjected to degradation by the various kinds of radiation that you will run into there,” Carroll said, noting that the term “organics” in this case includes not only fabric and leather but all plastic components as well as the car’s carbon fiber body. “Those organics, in that environment, I wouldn’t give them a year.”…….http://www.thedrive.com/news/18301/if-asteroids-dont-destroy-elon-musks-space-tesla-radiation-will-experts-say

 

February 8, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

India fired two Nuclear Capable Ballistic Missile in the last Week

India Test Fires Second Nuclear Capable Ballistic Missile in a Week, The nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile was test fired on February 7. The Diplomat, By Franz-Stefan GadyFebruary 09, 2018 

For the second time in just a week, India’s Strategic Forces Command (SFC) has test launched a short-range nuclear capable ballistic missile as part of its annual training cycle to test the combat readiness of the Indian Army’s missile forces.

The Prithvi-II tactical surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile was test fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) on Dr. Abdul Kalam Island in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Odisha on February 7, according to defense sources speaking to local media………

The February 7 missile test follows the test firing of an Agni-I short-range nuclear capable ballistic missile on February 6. According to defense sources, the launch was a “complete success.” The Agni-I has an operational range of 700-900 kilometers and can carry a 1,000-kilogram conventional or nuclear payload.

The Agni-I was last successfully test fired in November 2017.

Both the Agni-I and Prithvi-II are part of the missile arsenal India maintains to uphold its nuclear warfighting doctrine of credible minimum deterrence. As I explained: “India has a No First-Use (NFU) policy and keeps its nuclear warheads de-mated from the actual missiles. India is estimated to possess 120-130 nuclear warheads.”

This January, the SFC also tested India’s most advanced nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Agni-V, as I reported:

The Agni-V, a three-stage solid fueled missile, has an approximate range of 5,500-5,800 kilometers [the exact range remains classified], and can carry a 1,500-kilogram (3,300-pound) nuclear warhead. India has reportedly also been working on multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV) for the Agni-V in order to ensure a credible second-strike capability.

While shorter range nuclear capable missiles are designed to deter Pakistan, the Agni-V missile is being developed to field a credible nuclear deterrent against China. https://thediplomat.com/2018/02/india-test-fires-second-nuclear-capable-ballistic-missile-in-a-week/

February 8, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

Terrorism: Radical Islamists in the nuclear industry?

RTL 6th Feb 2018,  According to”Mediapart”, the Operational Staff for the Prevention of Terrorism (EMOPT) has identified 59 people in 2017 as radical Islamists who have worked or
worked in nuclear power with “different degrees of radicalization”.
http://www.rtl.fr/actu/societe-faits-divers/terrorisme-des-islamistes-radicaux-dans-la-filiere-nucleaire-7792148539

February 8, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

Fukushima 49.17% thyroid deficiency in the 295 000 young people under 18 years examined between 2011 and 2014 .

Findings of thyroid ultrasound examination within three years after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident: The Fukushima Health Management Survey
Abstract
Context
Childhood thyroid cancer is of great concern after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident. The baseline analytical data on thyroid ultrasound examination in children is quite important for future examination.
Objective
We analyzed the age and sex distribution of findings from the thyroid ultrasound examinations of children and adolescents in the Fukushima Health Management Survey (FHMS).
Design, Setting, and Participants
From October 2011 through March 2014, 294,905 participants aged 18 years or younger at the earthquake voluntarily had thyroid ultrasound examinations in the first round of the FHMS. A secondary confirmatory examination was performed in 2,032 subjects. Age- and sex-dependent prevalence and size of thyroid cysts, nodules, and caners were analyzed.
Main Outcome Measures
Age, sex, and size distribution of findings were analyzed.
Results
Thyroid cysts, nodules, and cytologically suspected cancers were detected in 68,009, 1,415, and 38 subjects in males and 73,014, 2455, and 74 subjects in females, respectively. There was an age-dependent increase in the detection rate of thyroid nodules and cancer, but that of cysts reached a peak at 11–12 years. Sex affected the prevalence of thyroid nodules and cancers after the onset of puberty, but only a small difference was exhibited in that of cysts.
Findings of thyroid ultrasound examination within three years after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident: The Fukushima Health Management Survey
Hiroki Shimura Tomotaka Sobue Hideto Takahashi Seiji Yasumura Tetsuya Ohira Akira Ohtsuru Sanae Midorikawa Satoru Suzuki Toshihiko Fukushima Shinichi Suzuki
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1210/jc.2017-01603/4630428?redirectedFrom=fulltext

February 8, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

Lies and concealment – the French nuclear system over 50 years

Europe1 5th Feb 2018,[Machine translation] French nuclear park: “What we saw is catastrophic and  very disturbing”. For Thierry Gadault, co-author of “Nucléaire Danger immédiate”, the authorities are silencing the reality of the state of the French nuclear fleet, most of whose reactors are about to exceed 40 years.

The French nuclear system has developed a culture of lies and concealment for more than 50 years. Thierry Gadault points out the worrying state according to him of the power stations of Fessenheim, Bugey, Saint-Laurent-of-Waters, Gravelines and Blayais, but also more recent structures.

“On the following generations, we see that there are problems in Civaux, Chouzé-sur-Loire and Flamanville”. For him, the Nuclear Safety Authority contributes to fuel opacity on the state of these structures. “It is part of the French nuclear system that has developed a culture of lying and concealment for more than 50 years, which has resulted in information about what has happened around Chernobyl and about serious nuclear accidents. which took place in Saint-Laurent-des Eaux We had serious
nuclear accidents with the release of plutonium in the environment and in the Loire,

http://www.europe1.fr/societe/parc-nucleaire-francais-ce-que-nous-avons-vu-est-catastrophique-et-tres-inquietant-356528

February 7, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

American diplomat at UN in stunning verbal attack on North Korea, Russia AND China

US attacks North Korea, Russia AND China over nuclear ambitions in STUNNING tirade THE UNITED States has taken aim at North Korea, Russia and China and accused the countries of growing their nuclear stockpiles while “pursuing the development of new nuclear capabilities to threaten other peaceful nations”.   By WILL KIRBY, Express UK Feb 6, 2018

US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood, addressing the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, refused to mince his words as he hit out at Washington’s nuclear rivals and issued a terrifying warning and North Korea’s increasingly sophisticated weapons programme.  Continue reading →

February 7, 2018 Posted by | General News | Leave a comment

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