Group items tagged

Aftenposten has revealed that Norwegian fisheries minister Helga Pedersen admitted knowing that the Russian submarine wreck Murmansk likely contained radioactive chemicals, despite earlier claims to the contrary. She denies charges that she lied about her knowledge, even when shown a letter she received in 2005 warning her about the dangers.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has granted Russia more than 70 million euros for disposing of scrapped nuclear ships and submarines moored at naval bases in Russia's northwest. Russia's state nuclear corporation -- Rosatom -- and the EBRD signed four relevant agreements on June 5.

Hundreds of protesters have formed a "peace chain" at the Faslane submarine base - to mark the 40th anniversary of nuclear missiles being based there. About 500 campaigners assembled at Faslane Peace Camp on the Clyde before hearing deliveries from SNP, Labour and Green MSPs.

Rio de Janeiro, May 8 (IANS) Brazil plans to move ahead over the next few years with an ambitious nuclear programme that includes power plants and a nuclear submarine, EFE news agency reported Thursday quoting a minister. Speaking to foreign reporters Wednesday, science and technology minister Sergio Rezende said that the government had been discussing the entire programme and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva "is close to signing an executive order to create a committee to look after the programme."

FIFTEEN fires or coolant leaks have been reported in Cumbrian nuclear installations - accounting for almost 10 per cent of the total across the country, according to the government. Information released by the Department for Energy and Climate Change shows there have been 81 coolant leaks and 80 fires recorded at UK nuclear installations since 2001 - with almost one in ten in Cumbria. Four fires are listed for Barrow, including two from earlier this year when there was a fire on the submarine Ambush during welding/grinding operations and another on the bridge fin of Astute.

India's status as a nuclear power has been described as a "myth" by the scientist who carried out its controversial hydrogen bomb tests in 1998. He said the device had only "fizzled". The claims by the test director K Santhanam have provoked an outcry in India which treasures its nuclear status as a symbol of its power in Asia where it has been locked in an arms race with both Pakistan and China. The Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh recently unveiled India's first nuclear submarine as a statement of its naval ambitions. But according to K. Santhanam, who directed the secret detonations of five Shakt' nuclear devices at their nuclear test site at Pokhran, in the Rajasthan desert, the true test results were covered up and falsely hailed as a success by the Hindu nationalist BJP government.

THE cost of a replacement for Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent could reach £97 billion, environmentalist group Greenpeace has warned. In a new report, Greenpeace suggested the procurement of submarines and missiles could reach about £34bn - around double the £15-£20bn estimate cited by ministers - while running costs could eat up as much as 6 per cent of the Ministry of Defence budget. The report also predicted the Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers would cost £5bn to build, compared to the latest official estimate of £3.9bn.

Britain is prepared to scale back its nuclear capability as part of global disarmament efforts, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday ahead of an address to the UN General Assembly. He told BBC radio that Britain was prepared to reduce the number of submarines that can launch nuclear missiles, but said there were no plans to cut the number of warheads. "Just as America and Russia are making those reductions, we are prepared to consider that, but only as part of an agreement," Brown said.

All local authorities should have plans drawn up for considering applications for radioactive waste in landfills. That's the view of the authority set up to get local government and the nuclear industry talking. Nuleaf's executive director, Fred Barker, said some people were 'willing to stick their head above the parapet' but they were shouted down by political leaders in local government. He went onto explain, at RWM in Birmingham last, that there were many contracts available for dealing with local level radioactive waste from industries such as hospitals. And the Ministry of Defence (MoD) which is due to start decommissioning its fleet of cold war era nuclear submarines in the near future.

A new system for monitoring the storage for the highly problematic liquid metal cooled reactors is taken into use. The old cores of the liquid metal cooled Alfa-class submarine reactors have been stored in Gremikha for decades and posed a radiation threat both to the environment and local residents. The new monitoring system is financed by the European Union's Northern Dimension Environ Environmental Program (NDEP) and administrated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The new computer-based monitoring system will be incorporated in the Murmansk regional system for radiation monitoring.

For years, the Hunters Point Shipyard Restoration Advisory Board has served as the Bayview-Hunters Point community's main voice in the U.S. Navy's environmental cleanup plans for the toxic former naval station. But the committee is suddenly being disbanded just as the cleanup enters a crucial phase. Used for shipbuilding and submarine maintenance and repair, and the decontamination, storage, and disposal of radioactive and atomic weapons testing materials, the shipyard was added to the Superfund national toxic site cleanup list in 1989. But it is also at the heart of where Mayor Gavin Newsom has partnered with Lennar Corp. on the city's biggest development proposal, involving 10,500 homes and a new stadium for the 49ers. As the Navy prepares to release a series of important studies and reports concerning the cleanup of the dirtiest parcels on the former shipyard, community members were outraged by the Navy's announcement in late May that it is preparing to dissolve the RAB in the next 30 days.

Britain's lack of clarity on the future of the Trident missile system is helping to aid nuclear proliferation, an influential committee of MPs has said. Refusals by Iran to stop its uranium enrichment programme and North Korea's insistence it will weaponise its plutonium stocks are down in part to no commitment from the UK to disarm, the foreign affairs committee said. The committee said the group of five recognised nuclear powers had "failed to live up to its nuclear disarmament commitments". "We commend the steps that the government has taken to scale down and de-escalate the UK's nuclear arsenal," MPs wrote. "We welcome the prime minister's announcement that the new Trident submarines are to carry fewer missiles than the current boats, and we recommend that the government should do more to highlight this and other nuclear disarmament steps which it has taken."

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staffers from Atlanta listened to public complaints about operations at the Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc., plant here for about three hours Thursday night. Located near the Nolichucky River in Erwin, the Nuclear Fuel Services plant for decades has produced fuel for U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarines and surface ships. It also "down-blends" highly-enriched uranium to a low-enriched state suitable for conversion into fuel for Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear-power plants. A number of NFS employees, including at least one vice president, were in the audience during the meeting, but made no comments and took no direct role in the meeting. Efforts to reach NFS spokesman Lauri Turpin for comment on Friday via telephone and e-mail were unsuccessful.

An MP has called for an investigation after it emerged that the Faslane naval base has suffered a series of safety breaches including radioactive leaks. A report, issued under the Freedom of Information Act, showed radioactive coolant leaked from nuclear submarines on three occasions. The Scottish National Party's Angus Robertson called the disclosures "utterly damning". The base on the Clyde is home to Britain's Trident nuclear missiles.

"Police arrested 10 demonstrators on Monday at a nuclear arms site in southern England, where two Nobel Peace Prize winners joined hundreds of protesters, a spokesman said. Five were detained after gaining access to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston, where warheads for Trident submarines are made, and five outside, said the Thames Valley police spokesman. Organisers said around 800 people joined the protests, including Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1997 for campaigning against landmines, and Mairead Maguire, who won in 1976 for her work in Northern Ireland."

"The Murmansk regional parliament last week approved the federal law on radioactive wastes. That could turn the region into a nuclear dump, environmentalists say. The law opens up for the underground storage of radioactive waste materials in the regions and leaves the regional and municipal administrations with a major responsibility for financing the storage facilities. The regional parliament - the Duma - approved the law amid massive protests from environmental organizations in the region. The new legislation is believed to have potentially serious consequences for people in the far northern region. Murmansk Oblast has a number of nuclear installations, both nuclear submarines, icebreakers and the Kola NPP, all of which leaves behind lethal waste materials."

"THE Ministry of Defence should come clean once and for all about whether or not it plans to use the base at Machrihanish to store radioactive waste from old submarines. Alan Reid MP for Argyll and Bute has vowed to campaign to stop the waste ending up at Machrihanish or any of three other sites in Argyll and Bute and he has called on the MoD to go public. Defence Minister Quentin Davies MP has refused to reveal the sites on the secret list but has said Argyll and Bute is one of four regions being considered, along with Devon, Fife and Berkshire. 'This would appear to narrow the shortlist of sites in Argyll and Bute down to Coulport, Faslane, Glen Douglas and Machrihanish,' said Mr Reid, 'and I am disappointed that the Government is still refusing to publish its shortlist. The secrecy will only lead to speculation.' He added that all four in Argyll were unsuitable for the job."

"The Army Corps of Engineers will hold its rescheduled meeting on the cleanup of the BWX Technologies nuclear waste dump along Route 66 in Parks later this month. The much-anticipated public meeting originally was scheduled for Feb. 23 but was canceled by the Corps Pittsburgh District because the agency was preparing for potential flooding from local rivers. The anticipated flooding never materialized. The 44-acre dump site near Kiskimere Road received a variety of contaminated waste from BWXT's predecessors, Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC), and the Atlantic Richfield Co. plant in Apollo from 1960 to 1970. The Apollo plant produced nuclear fuel for submarines and power plants as well as a range of nuclear products for the U.S. government and others."

"A leading Russian expert on North Korea said on Thursday he had serious doubts about Pyongyang's involvement into the sinking of South Korea's Cheonan warship. Relations between the two Koreas soured after Seoul accused North Korea of firing a torpedo from a submarine at the 1,200-ton South Korean Cheonan corvette. The vessel sank near the disputed Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea on March 26 causing the loss of 46 lives. "I personally have serous doubts that it was North Korea that sank the ship. Why do this? For what purpose?... I don't see any logic," said Konstantin Pulikovsky, who maintained official contacts with Pyongyang while serving as presidential envoy to Russia's Far East in 2000-2005."

Scheduling conflicts have pushed back the start of a study of the leak of radioactive water into Apra Harbor. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lorilee Crisostomo says they are hoping federal counterparts will be able to assist both in the sampling of the water in the harbor and the development of a nuclear monitoring program. Although she expects to have a better picture in December, Crisostomo has more questions over the public law that gave them money for the study, especially since it was appropriated last fiscal year.