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A Russian political expert has told RIA Novosti that the international community is not paying enough attention to the threat of an imminent nuclear catastrophe. "Today we are rightly worried about problems such as the possible development of the economic crisis, a H1N1 pandemic, and ecological safety. However, humanity is not paying attention to the increasing potential for a nuclear catastrophe," said Vladimir Kulagin, professor of global politics at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He also said that the peaceful use of nuclear energy had increased massively following a fall-off after the Chernobyl disaster, and that its further growth would "invariably" lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

There has been a spate of editorials and articles recently whining about President Barack Obama's decision to kill plans for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. USA Today, for example, published an editorial Tuesday decrying the decision as "political" - noting that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is from Nevada. The newspaper said the decision countered the White House's belief that "politics should not drive science."

U.S. Sen. Jim Risch would back doubling federal loan guarantees for U.S. uranium enrichment projects to $4 billion and awarding half to a proposed new Ohio plant, if that's what it takes to help a competing proposal in Idaho that the first-term Republican fears could fall victim to politics. Risch told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday the political clout of lawmakers in Ohio, an important battleground state in presidential politics, could wind up hurting efforts by French-owned Areva Inc. to secure the $2 billion the Department of Energy currently has set aside for loan guarantees to uranium enrichment projects. USEC Inc. was told by the DOE in late July it wouldn't get the guarantees because its partially built plant near Cincinnati wasn't ready to go forward. Just a week later, however, the agency offered the Bethesda, Md.-based-company another six months before doing a final review of the loan application.

In 2009, the local political sleeper was - drumroll, please - District 8 Councilman Reed Williams. Williams was anything but a brand name when he was elected. He'd worked 35 years in the oil industry but wasn't part of the small clique of local business leaders who regularly influence City Hall. At 62, Williams has an unassuming demeanor and zero political ambitions. Yet when it came to the debate over expansion of the South Texas Project, he played a critical behind-the-scenes role. He offered expertise and common sense that has made him a key voice in charting the city's energy future. He started out inclined to support the nuclear expansion. When he had an interview with the Sierra Club during the campaign, one of the leaders asked where he and the organization would differ.

In 2009, the local political sleeper was - drumroll, please - District 8 Councilman Reed Williams. Williams was anything but a brand name when he was elected. He'd worked 35 years in the oil industry but wasn't part of the small clique of local business leaders who regularly influence City Hall. At 62, Williams has an unassuming demeanor and zero political ambitions. Yet when it came to the debate over expansion of the South Texas Project, he played a critical behind-the-scenes role. He offered expertise and common sense that has made him a key voice in charting the city's energy future. He started out inclined to support the nuclear expansion. When he had an interview with the Sierra Club during the campaign, one of the leaders asked where he and the organization would differ.

Canada's minister of natural resources got an earful Friday from members of the country's nuclear industry who say they want the federal government to make a firm decision on the future of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. While Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt received polite applause when she attended a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Organization of Candu Industries in Oakville, Ont., those in the industry said indecision is hurting everyone in the sector. Last spring, the government announced its plan to break up AECL and possibly sell parts of the Crown corporation, but thus far no details have been announced.

Canada's minister of natural resources got an earful Friday from members of the country's nuclear industry who say they want the federal government to make a firm decision on the future of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. While Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt received polite applause when she attended a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Organization of Candu Industries in Oakville, Ont., those in the industry said indecision is hurting everyone in the sector. Last spring, the government announced its plan to break up AECL and possibly sell parts of the Crown corporation, but thus far no details have been announced.

Canada's minister of natural resources got an earful Friday from members of the country's nuclear industry who say they want the federal government to make a firm decision on the future of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. While Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt received polite applause when she attended a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Organization of Candu Industries in Oakville, Ont., those in the industry said indecision is hurting everyone in the sector. Last spring, the government announced its plan to break up AECL and possibly sell parts of the Crown corporation, but thus far no details have been announced.

President Asif Ali Zardari has handed control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal to his prime minister, in an apparent bid to ease political pressure. The move was a "giant leap" forward that empowered the PM and parliament, Mr Zardari's spokesman said. But analysts said it was an attempt to placate political and military critics, as an amnesty protecting Mr Zardari from possible prosecution expired. The amnesty gave him and several others immunity from corruption charges.

President Asif Ali Zardari has handed control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal to his prime minister, in an apparent bid to ease political pressure. The move was a "giant leap" forward that empowered the PM and parliament, Mr Zardari's spokesman said. But analysts said it was an attempt to placate political and military critics, as an amnesty protecting Mr Zardari from possible prosecution expired. The amnesty gave him and several others immunity from corruption charges.

AmerenUE's top Missouri business customer is funding a campaign aimed at defeating a legislative proposal that would pave the way for a new nuclear plant for the investor-owned utility. Noranda Aluminum, a smelter company in New Madrid, made a political contribution of $78,570 on Friday to a political action committee called Missourians Against Higher Utility Rates. That committee is responsible for robo-calls and door-to-door mailers that went out to voters in key Missouri senators' districts this week before a committee vote on the bill.

"Plans to replace worn out reactors postponed after political brawl. The Swedish center-right government has decided to postpone its new strategy on nuclear power - at least until after the general election. The holdup in plans to replace old reactors as they wear out is a response to a key Center Party MP's threat to vote with the opposition on the issue, Swedish Radio News said Wednesday. Nuclear power has for along time been a sensitive political question in Sweden, and maybe even more so today with green energy such as wind and wave power in the swim. In 1980 Sweden voted to phase out nuclear power. But still ten of the country's twelve reactors are still up and running. "

"On May 3, 1969, after hours of bitter debate, the Sierra Club fired David Brower. The organization's first paid staffer, Brower had transformed the Club from an exclusive, politically timid, white male hiking outfit of 2,000 members. But the old guard didn't like the direction that Brower, its executive director, was taking the staid organization: toward political confrontation, grassroots organizing and attacks on industrial pollution, nuclear power and the Pentagon. This kind of green aggressiveness in the face of entrenched power alienated funders, politicians and, eventually, the Internal Revenue Service, which, after Brower's successful international campaign to halt the construction of two mega-dams in the Grand Canyon, moved to strip the group of its tax-deductible status. The IRS action proved to be the final straw and Brower was booted out."

You have been consistent in foisting the problem of radioactive waste off on Nevada, a state that has no nuclear reactors and has given more than enough to the national effort through atomic bomb tests and a landfill for radioactive waste. Based on its past record, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to make a positive licensing decision. As you recognize, a waste repository in Nevada was chosen for political reasons. It will likely die for political reasons. Why wait for the N.R.C.'s verdict? It makes more sense to safely store waste at reactor sites for the indefinite future while the radioactivity declines to safer levels. Marvin Resnikoff

A review of environmental skepticism literature from the past 30 years has found that the vast majority of skeptics, often identified as independent, are directly linked to politically oriented, conservative think tanks. The study, published in this month's issue of Environmental Politics, analyzed books written between 1972 and 2005 that deny the authenticity of environmental problems. The researchers found that more than 92 percent of the skeptical authors were in some way affiliated to conservative think tanks - non-profit research and advocacy organizations that promote core conservative ideals.

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Tatyana Sinitsina) - The last day of Vladimir Putin's presidency, May 6, was crowned with an impressive achievement - Russia and the United States signed an agreement on civilian uses of nuclear energy. This is an extraordinary event - the two sides waited for it for over 18 years. Experts consider this document very important and believe that it can take bilateral energy relations from the political to the economic sphere.

The U.N. nuclear non-proliferation watchdog assiduously guards its impartiality as it monitors and investigates disputed activity in Iran and Syria, with suspicious Western powers impatient for the inspectors to draw conclusions. So the International Atomic Energy Agency typically puts what have become keenly anticipated, quarterly reports on Iran and Syria through many painstaking drafts before they see the light of day, to help ensure that not a single word can be misunderstood, misinterpreted or turned to political advantage.

The Obama administration should ensure that science informs the US strategy on nuclear waste. The fall from grace of Yucca Mountain as the site for a giant government nuclear-waste repository has been a long time coming. Ever since it was named as the sole site for the final disposal of high-level waste in 1987, political opposition has been growing, as has the population of nearby Las Vegas. That opposition found strength in the weakness of the scientific case for the repository. Lawmakers originally chose Yucca Mountain on the basis of Nevada's low population and political vulnerability, leaving scientists to find a justification after the fact. But much of what the researchers found undercut the decision. The seemingly quiet desert around the mountain went through a spate of volcanic activity as recently as 75,000 years ago, and although the region seems dry, rain seeps surprisingly quickly through fissures in the rock.

The proposed Calvert Cliffs 3 reactor in southern Maryland has been considered a leader in the nuclear power industry's hopes for a U.S. renaissance. It is a finalist for a multibillion-dollar Energy Department construction loan guarantee, and for months, the political and financial signals facing it have been green lights. Its developer, Baltimore-based Constellation Energy, would share the deep pockets of its French partner, Électricité de France International (EDF), the largest nuclear power provider in the world. EDF has offered Constellation $4.5 billion for a 49.99 percent share in the Maryland company's nuclear power projects, including the proposed new reactor.

Watching the US political drama the West Wing one night, Ed Miliband found he had something in common with Josh Lyman, who plays the deputy White House chief of staff. Both, Miliband says, have been exasperated by the infighting within the energy industry. The energy and climate change secretary recounts the episode in which Lyman crashes his SUV into a Prius, symbol of the environmentally conscious. As penance for such sacrilege, the White House staffer has to attend an industry summit where people are promoting different low-carbon technologies. "They end up having a big fall-out with each other," Miliband says. "Sometimes the UK debate feels a bit like that: the renewables lot say you should only do renewables and shouldn't do nuclear or coal. Nuclear people say all this wind will lead to big problems. Coal people say, 'Why are you going on about renewables and nuclear?'"

A Washington State University Press book by former Hanford regulator Max S. Power has been chosen one of the "Best of the Best from the University Presses" by the American Library Association. America's Nuclear Wastelands: Politics, Accountability, and Cleanup, looks at the legacy of waste left at Hanford and other nuclear sites from decades of nuclear weapons production. The book also covers the current institutional and political environment as it affects waste cleanup and the critical role of public involvement in making decisions about cleanup.

On May 13, 2009, President Obama has turned to Gregory B. Jaczko, a PhD physicist with critical views of the nuclear power industry to chair the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which is the foremost agency overseeing atomic energy. Senate confirmation was not required because Jaczko was already a member of the commission. At present, he is the only Democrat on the NRC, but that is expected to change soon. Former Chairman Dale Klein and Kristine Svinicki are Republicans, but two seats on the five-member commission are vacant. Although no more than three members of any one political party can be appointed to the commission, it is expected that President Obama will name two additional Democrats, creating a 3-2 majority. Born October 29, 1970, in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and raised in Albany, New York, Dr. Jaczko earned a bachelor's degree in physics and philosophy from Cornell University in 1993, and a doctorate in theoretical particle physics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1999. Always interested in politics as well as science, while still at graduate school Jaczko applied for an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, which paid him to work with Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) as a Congressional Science Fellow. At the same time, he worked as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University teaching science and policy.

The new leader of the Green Party of Saskatchewan says the nuclear power debate prompted her to seek the position. "Definitely for the short-term future our role is pretty clear," Larissa Shasko said of her party. "We are the only political party in Saskatchewan that stands united against nuclear power and uranium in Saskatchewan." The 27-year-old, a Moose Jaw resident who studies political science at the University of Regina, said she expects the Green party to be active in the coming months as members oppose the idea of a nuclear power plant in the province.

"Political attacks and pressure from governmental structures against Russian environmental organizations has significantly increased during the last months, according to a report issued by Friends of the Earth Norway. - We are seriously worried over the latest development. The environment in the north is facing increased pressure with climate changes and more resource exploitation. Therefore it is essential to have a strong Russian environmental movement able to influence the politics and development in Russia's northern regions, says Yngvild Lorentzen, head of International project department in Norges Naturvernforbund, the Norwegian branch of Friends of the Earth. The Norwegian organization has actively cooperated with several Russian environmental NGOs since the establishment of the Barents cooperation in the early 90ties. - We don't need an environmental movement that are kept silent in important issues, says Lorentzen to BarentsObserver."