Nuclear reactors shutting down faster than new ones are built
Last year saw the shutdown of four reactors but the start-up of only two.
Another drop in nuclear generation, World Nuclear News, 05 May 2010 “…Annual generation of nuclear power has continued on a slight downward trend, decreasing 2% last year to 2558 TWh, according to the latest estimates…… Continue reading
Australia follows the big Western powers in walkout from U.N Nuclear Non Proliferation Summit
Other countries who left the meeting were Britain, the United States, France and Germany.
Australia and New Zealand walk out , J Wire, by Henry Benjamin 4 May 2010, The Australian and New Zealand delegations at the United Nations has walked out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Conference…. Continue reading
Ionising radiation risk to pregnant women, in air travel
“Pregnant women are flying through solar storms all the time, and they have no idea,”
Solar storms will make airline radiation hot issue The Province, By Josh Noel, MCT May 2, 2010 Passengers may be suspicious of the low-level radiation doses coming from full-body scanners being deployed at airports, but a far greater threat comes from the radiation that creeps into airliners while in flight. Continue reading
Radioactive incidents at Lucas Heights nuclear reactor
at least one employee had “received a substantial dose of radiation”……The accident was confirmed by a confidential report by the nuclear industry regulator, Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency
Safety breaches at Lucas Heights, Sydney Morning Herald, ELLIE HARVEY, May 6, 2010 New claims of safety breaches have emerged at Australia’s only nuclear facility at Lucas Heights. The allegations were made by an employee of 28 years and backed up by an external safety report by an industry regulator. Continue reading
Oil a visible disaster – ionising radiation an invisible one
If only radiation — which leaks every day at the 104 nuclear reactors in the US — was as visible as the growing BP oil slick in the Gulf Coast
Wake up and smell the oil THE HUFFINGTON POST, John Rosenthal, May 3, 2010 “………..Close your eyes and imagine for a minute that instead of BP’s deepwater offshore well exploding 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, spreading millions of gallons of toxic and visible oil across the Gulf Coast, that one of the 104 nuclear reactors operating in the US, exploded due to a loss of coolant, operator error or a terrorist attack, sending a radioactive plume similar to the recent volcanic ash from Iceland, in whatever direction the wind happens to blow. Continue reading
Central Australian uranium project scrapped – a win for the community!
“It’s an industry with a lot of costs and not many benefits.”
Greens laud uranium deal scrapping ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 6 May 2010, Greens’ Senator Scott Ludlam said scrapping the Napperby uranium project is a win for the people of central Australia. Continue reading
South Australian government – a faithful servant of uranium mining companies
A total of 335 proposals have been received between 2004 to 2009 and 168 successful submissions have shared grants worth $10 million.
Grants for uranium, Whyalla News, 05 May, 2010 PMUranium SA has received a boost to its drilling works at Mullaquana after receiving a State Government grant for its exploration works Continue reading
In California, Areva sneaking nuclear in under the cover of ‘clean’ and solar energy
AREVA, France’s state-owned nuclear company is aggressively pursuing its world-wide business empire. Despite the recent revelations of the degradation AREVA has caused in Niger, AREVA claims this image of being a good global citizen. AREVA aso claims that nuclear is “clean”, and “carbon free ” ( forget the carbon polluting fuel and waste disposal cycle)
AREVA and the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group Move Closer to Clean Energy Park Today AREVA and the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group announced another important step toward building the nation’s most advanced Clean Energy Park to region near Fresno, California. Continue reading
Australia at the Nuclear Non Proliferation Conference
as ever, Australia agrees with promoting nuclear technology. Australia keeps its focus on its own lucrative role, as uranium supplier, in the global nuclear cycle which makes nuclear weapons possible.
The U.N Nuclear Non Proliferation Conference in New York looks like becoming something of a non event. Continue reading
Australia condemns Iran, praises U.S. and Russia on Nuclear Non Proliferation
Only five states are allowed to have the bomb under the treaty,
Iran’s nuclear program of concern: Smith, Sydney Morning Herald, CATHY ALEXANDERMay 4, 2010 – “……As the conference began, outspoken Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the US of threatening to use atomic weapons against other countries.
This triggered a rebuke from the US, and Australia joined in. Mr Smith called on Iran to fully co-operate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN over its nuclear program……Mr Smith said it wasn’t all bad news, praising the US and Russia for recent action to cut back on nuclear weapons…….The non-proliferation treaty, which came into force in 1970, aims to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
Only five states are allowed to have the bomb under the treaty.., Iran’s nuclear program of concern: Smith
President Ahmadinejad of Iran expresses the feelings of the nuclear ‘have nots’
He is not alone in seeing the old nuclear powers as an arrogant club who believe they have the right to rule…….As the US presses for sanctions against Iran, President Ahmadinejad has come to stir up charges of hypocrisy and double standards
An unlikely anti-nuclear campaigner? BBC, Mark Mardell , 3 May 2010 President Ahmadinejad of Iran says nuclear weapons are “disgusting and shameful”, a danger to the countries that have them.We have to assume this is an indirect denial that he is on the verge of developing such a weapon. Continue reading
Australia rejects its own Commission’s call for nuclear disarmament
Mr Smith rejected a key finding of the joint Australia/Japan-sponsored report delivered in December – one that called for reducing the total number of nuclear weapons to 2000 warheads by 2025………
Curb urged on Iranian nukes The Age DANIEL FLITTON, May 5, 2010 AUSTRALIA hit out at Iran’s nuclear ambitions yesterday, backing a chorus of Western countries warning Tehran must be stopped from building an atomic weapon. Continue reading
Arab states concerned that Israel has not signed Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty
they directed their focus to Israel, whose “unacknowledged” nuclear arsenal gets a free pass thanks to US protection in IAEA and the UN Security Council..
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commented over the weekend that more progress must be made world-wide in nuclear disarmament.
Nuclear conference: Arab states say Israel destabilizes the region, Palestine Note 4 May 2010, “………..Jordan’s foreign minister says the world must work harder for a “nuclear-free” Middle East, the Associate Press reports from the second day of the UN nuclear summit. Continue reading
Central Australian uranium project not viable due to low prices
$57m uranium deal falls through in Central Australia, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By Louisa Rebgetz May 4, 2010 Australian uranium producer Toro Energy has pulled out of a project in Central Australia.The company says a drop in uranium prices has made it unviable to go ahead with the Napperby uranium project, 160 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.
Russian solution to oil leaks – nuclear bomb them
Should we drop a nuclear bomb on the leaky oil well? Washington Examiner, By: Mark Hemingway, 05/04/10 Apparently that’s what the Russians have done in similar circumstances:Komsomoloskaya Pravda, the best-selling Russian daily, reports that in Soviet times such leaks were plugged with controlled nuclear blasts underground. Continue reading
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