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There's still nowhere to put that toxic waste Nuclear electricity is affordable and emission free People opposed to nuclear energy applications point to the high initial price tag of enormous nuclear generating facilities that can … read more provide enough reliable electricity for several million people; they often overlook the resulting low cost per unit of power when spread over that large market. There are 104 nuclear plants operating in the US today. Many of us who are old enough to remember the controversies surrounding their construction can remember how many times we were told that nuclear power plants are frighteningly expensive and that they always cost more than predicted. We even remember that electrical power prices often increased immediately after the plants went into operation due to the effect of adding those big, expensive plants into the utility rate base. What many people who consider "news" media to be their only information sources rarely understand, however, is that the 104 plants currently operating provide the US with 20% of its electric power at an average production cost of about 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour. They also do not understand that after a few decades of operation and revenue production, the initial mortgages on those plants are largely paid off. The best information of all, which is not really "news" and does not get regularly published on the front page, is that the plants still have at least 20 years of life remaining during which they can produce emission free, low cost power. The companies that own the plants and their stock holders understand the economics pretty well; that is why 18 applications for 25 new plants have been turned into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission already with more in the pipeline. All of the used fuel - what some people call waste - is being carefully stored in a tiny corner of the existing sites, just waiting to be recycled into new fuel. It still contains 95% of its initial potential energy, but

There's still nowhere to put that toxic waste Nuclear electricity is affordable and emission free People opposed to nuclear energy applications point to the high initial price tag of enormous nuclear generating facilities that can … read more provide enough reliable electricity for several million people; they often overlook the resulting low cost per unit of power when spread over that large market. There are 104 nuclear plants operating in the US today. Many of us who are old enough to remember the controversies surrounding their construction can remember how many times we were told that nuclear power plants are frighteningly expensive and that they always cost more than predicted. We even remember that electrical power prices often increased immediately after the plants went into operation due to the effect of adding those big, expensive plants into the utility rate base. What many people who consider "news" media to be their only information sources rarely understand, however, is that the 104 plants currently operating provide the US with 20% of its electric power at an average production cost of about 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour. They also do not understand that after a few decades of operation and revenue production, the initial mortgages on those plants are largely paid off. The best information of all, which is not really "news" and does not get regularly published on the front page, is that the plants still have at least 20 years of life remaining during which they can produce emission free, low cost power. The companies that own the plants and their stock holders understand the economics pretty well; that is why 18 applications for 25 new plants have been turned into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission already with more in the pipeline. All of the used fuel - what some people call waste - is being carefully stored in a tiny corner of the existing sites, just waiting to be recycled into new fuel. It still contains 95% of its initial potential energy, but

Vice President Dick Cheney told the FBI he had no idea who leaked to the news media that Valerie Plame, wife of a Bush administration critic, worked for the CIA. An FBI summary of Cheney's interview from 2004 reflects that the vice president had deep concern about Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador in Africa who said the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq. Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI in the probe of who leaked Plame's identity to the news media. At the end of Libby's trial, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said that "there is a cloud over the vice president" in the leaking of Plame's identity.

Vice President Dick Cheney told the FBI he had no idea who leaked to the news media that Valerie Plame, wife of a Bush administration critic, worked for the CIA. An FBI summary of Cheney's interview from 2004 reflects that the vice president had deep concern about Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador in Africa who said the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq. Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI in the probe of who leaked Plame's identity to the news media. At the end of Libby's trial, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said that "there is a cloud over the vice president" in the leaking of Plame's identity.

North Korea has accused US President Barack Obama of plotting a nuclear war on the communist nation by reaffirming a US assurance of security for South Korea, the North's state media said. In a first official response to last week's US-South Korean summit, the state-run weekly Tongil Sinbo said in its Saturday edition Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak "are trying to ignite a nuclear war". "The US-touted provision of 'extended deterrence, including a nuclear umbrella' (for South Korea) is nothing but 'a nuclear war plan,'" Tongil Sinbo said.

In September 2007, Stephen Zunes fell under the spotlight of the mass media following his meeting with the controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York during his third trip to the US to attend the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly. Dr. Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he serves as the chairman of Middle Eastern Studies program. His articles constantly appear in the major media outlets and news websites including Common Dreams, Tikkun Magazine, National Catholic Reporter, Foreign Policy In Focus, Huffington Post, Open Democracy and AlterNet. Zunes also appears on BBC, PBS, NPR and MSNBC as a Middle Eastern studies expert to present his viewpoints, analyses and commentaries on the outstanding issues of conflict in Israel, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iran.

"Oil and gas remain critical sources of power and energy for North African nations. In the medium term, hydrocarbons will remain the predominant sources of energy, whether it is for the OPEC countries of Algeria and Libya or the less-oil-endowed nations of Tunisia and Morocco. But in the longer term, the nuclear option appears interesting to all as oil reserves are depleted and securing new sources of energy is a strategic priority. On the ground, all North African nations have been working somewhat to develop nuclear capabilities for civilian and industrial use. Each country has put in place programs that have been supported or endorsed by a Western super power, notably France, which has obvious economic interest in helping develop such industry. The North Africa Journal Take: * Despite media noise in the region that relay political views instead of depicting the reality, no single North African nation is contemplating the use of the nuclear option for non-civilian purposes. Various media sources and analysts outside of the region have also been raising red flags but we believe their positions are unfounded and without any base, essentially motivated by political reasons"

"A senior parliamentarian in Lithuania has launched an investigation into allegations that stolen parts were installed in the country's only nuclear power plant, the Baltic News Service and other local media reported Tuesday. Rokas Zilinskas, chairman of the Baltic state's parliamentary nuclear energy commission, has asked prosecutors to look into claims that equipment stolen from Russia's Leningrad nuclear power plant was later installed in Lithuania's Ignalina facility. A company called Energetikos Tiekimo Baze allegedly shipped equipment stolen from Russia to Lithuania under false papers in 2003- 2004, media reports claimed. The equipment, described as servo drives used to lower graphite rods into the nuclear reactor, was allegedly later installed at Ingnalina. "If it is found out that the law and order institutions failed to take any (necessary) measures ... this will raise serious doubts as to their competence and ability to safeguard the interests of national security," Zilinskas said in a statement."

"To control the "harmful rumor",Foreign Ministry is inviting SNS (SM) gurus to Japan. Learning from the revolution in the middle east asia,Foreign Ministry is trying to media control by using Facebook and Twitter. Though they force us to decontaminate the kindergarten on our own expense,they are going to invest 1500 million yen into media control. They are trying to make the gurus say Japan is safe,Japanese food is safe,Japanese products are not contaminated ignoring the fact that the low dose symptoms take time to appear."

A federal judge ordered the US Justice Department to release significant portions of statements former vice president Dick Cheney made to the FBI about the Valerie Plame case. The judge dismissed objections brought by the previous George W. Bush administration to the release of records about the leak of Plame's name to the media, which compromised her position as a covert CIA officer. The Bush administration had claimed it could withhold the documents because their release could hamper the cooperation of White House officials in future probes. The public interest group that filed the lawsuit in 2008 stressed "the particular urgency to inform the public about the role vice president Cheney played in the leak of Mrs Wilson's covert identity, and the basis for the decision not to prosecute him."

A federal judge ordered the US Justice Department to release significant portions of statements former vice president Dick Cheney made to the FBI about the Valerie Plame case. The judge dismissed objections brought by the previous George W. Bush administration to the release of records about the leak of Plame's name to the media, which compromised her position as a covert CIA officer. The Bush administration had claimed it could withhold the documents because their release could hamper the cooperation of White House officials in future probes. The public interest group that filed the lawsuit in 2008 stressed "the particular urgency to inform the public about the role vice president Cheney played in the leak of Mrs Wilson's covert identity, and the basis for the decision not to prosecute him."

"In mid-October 2009, Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary of the Security Council, used an interview to discuss Russia's draft military doctrine and highlighted one aspect: the first-use of nuclear weapons in a "preventive nuclear strike against the aggressor" (Izvestiya, October 14). This was not the first such declaration regarding first use by the Russia, but it came in the aftermath of the conflict with Georgia in 2008. In early December, the Russian mass media published several leaks and commentaries concerning the draft military doctrine, which, reportedly President Dmitry Medvedev would soon sign. This addressed the rationale underlying a declaratory policy of nuclear first-use in the current international environment."

A panel of US appeal judges Friday dismissed a claim to enforce a billion-dollar compensation settlement for islanders from two former Pacific nuclear test sites, an attorney for the islanders said. But the attorney said the ruling did not exonerate the US government for removing the residents of Bikini and Enewetak from their homes and leaving their atolls uninhabitable after the weapons tests. A three-member panel of judges upheld a lower court ruling which dismissed claims filed in 2006 by the people of Bikini and Enewetak in the Marshall Islands, a former US territory in the Western Pacific. The two atolls, the sites of 67 US nuclear tests from 1946 to 1958, had been awarded more than one billion dollars by the Nuclear Claims Tribunal for hardship, loss of use of the islands and clean up following the tests.

The UN atomic watchdog said Thursday it has no concrete proof that there is or has been a nuclear weapons programme in Iran. The International Atomic Energy Agency rejected a US media report which claimed its experts believed Tehran had the ability to make a nuclear bomb and was on the way to developing a missile system able to carry an atomic warhead. "With respect to a recent media report, the IAEA reiterates that it has no concrete proof that there is or has been a nuclear weapon programme in Iran," a statement said.

" "We, the people must return to our very effective battle that shut down nuclear reactors as an energy source in the 1970s and 1980s. We did it before and we can do it again." - Les Blough In early March, European media outlets picked up a shocking story about nuclear power - a story so horrifying, it seemed as if Halloween had come early this year. This news, in fact, stands to jeopardize the health and safety - the very lives - of Europeans and others throughout the world... including, quite sadly, those living in the US. The mainstream media, long considered the mouthpiece for corporate and government interests, has failed to cover this macabre-yet-real life news. As such, few Americans seem to have any clue about the catastrophic danger now being cooked up from coast to coast - and many points in between. And even though we may not know it yet, Europeans are keenly aware of this clear and undeniable danger. And by danger, we're talking about nothing less than the next Chernobyl-in-the making."

Turkey's plans to buy missile systems from the US should not be interpreted as a willingness to host missile defence shield components on its territory, Turkish daily Today's Zaman said on September 21. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has denied media reports that Turkey is buying missile interceptors against a threat posed by Iran, the daily said. Iran was the main target of the missile defence shield initiative of former US president George W Bush, to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, scrapped by Barack Obama on September 17. Having rebuffed the Bush administration on the plans to put missiles on its soil, Turkey re-inforced its stance that it would host Nato equipment, but not join US initiatives outside the alliance's framework. With reports in the US saying that the department of defence notified congre

A catastrophe like Chernobyl could happen here. It's the radioactive core of the second biggest lie in US industrial history. The atomic pushers say such a disaster is "impossible" at a US reactor. But Chernobyl's explosion spewed radiation all over the world. And Sunday's tragic 23rd anniversary reminds us that any reactor on this planet can kill innumerable people anywhere, at any time, by terror, error and more. It further clarifies why yet another grab at billions of taxpayer dollars for new reactor construction must be stopped NOW! The BIGGEST lie in US industrial history is that "nobody died at Three Mile Island." Just before last month's thirtieth anniversary of the central Pennsylvania melt down, critical new evidence was completely ignored by the corporate media.

Washington and Moscow pledged Friday to uphold the "spirit" of the START nuclear arms treaty and to seek a new agreement as soon as possible, hours before the landmark 1991 pact was to expire. US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said in a joint statement they would keep pushing for nuclear disarmament, despite failing to cut a last-minute deal by the treaty's December 5 expiration date. "We express our commitment, as a matter of principle, to continue to work together in the spirit of the START Treaty following its expiration, as well as our firm intention to ensure that a new treaty on strategic arms enter into force at the earliest possible date," the statement said. The Obama administration had pushed hard for a new START agreement as part of its efforts to improve strained US ties with Russia, but disputes over US monitoring of Russian missiles had bogged down talks in recent weeks.

Washington and Moscow pledged Friday to uphold the "spirit" of the START nuclear arms treaty and to seek a new agreement as soon as possible, hours before the landmark 1991 pact was to expire. US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said in a joint statement they would keep pushing for nuclear disarmament, despite failing to cut a last-minute deal by the treaty's December 5 expiration date. "We express our commitment, as a matter of principle, to continue to work together in the spirit of the START Treaty following its expiration, as well as our firm intention to ensure that a new treaty on strategic arms enter into force at the earliest possible date," the statement said. The Obama administration had pushed hard for a new START agreement as part of its efforts to improve strained US ties with Russia, but disputes over US monitoring of Russian missiles had bogged down talks in recent weeks.

Quoth Barack Obama, then a candidate for the Presidency, way back in August of 2007: "I think it would be a profound mistake for us to use nuclear weapons in any circumstance involving civilians." Now that Obama is President-Elect, we all hope and pray that he more than thinks that nuking civilians would be a profound mistake. Yea, all of us - except the neocrazies, the Likudniks, their fellow travelers and their media sycophants - hope and pray that Obama sincerely believes that nuking civilians - even threatening to nuke civilians - is actually... immoral!

A bottle discarded at a waste site in the US contains the oldest sample of bomb-grade plutonium made in a nuclear reactor, scientists say. The sample dates to 1944 and is a relic from the infancy of the US nuclear weapons programme. A team from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory used nuclear forensic techniques to date the sample and track down its origins.

Small cracks have again been detected in control rods used to control the fission process at two nuclear reactors in Sweden, media reports said Wednesday. Cracks were detected last year at one reactor at Forsmark, north of Stockholm, and one reactor at the Oskarshamn plant, in south- eastern Sweden. Several control rods were replaced at the end of the year, but some of the new rods appear to have faults. Chief executive Lars Turing of the Oskarshamn plant told Swedish radio news that the new rods may have been damaged at production, but a probe was underway. Reactor 3, one of three at Oskarshamn, is to remain offline due to maintenance work and the new finds were likely to delay the scheduled start-up in June. The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority said it would review the report from the operators, but did not rule out allowing the reactors to be restarted for a limited time. Sweden operated 12 nuclear reactors at the peak of its nuclear activity. Two at the Barseback plant in southern Sweden have been decommissioned, the most recent in May 2005.

Globally, nuclear power has become an increasingly important source of energy, accounting for about 15% of the world's electricity supply. When it comes to Latin America, 3.1% of electricity comes from this source. However, the nettlesome security issues resulting from utilizing nuclear energy sources largely have been ignored. On March 2008, Colombian authorities discovered that the FARC insurgent movement managed to obtain (it was never clarified from where) 9 kilograms of depleted uranium. Then, in early 2009, the Argentine media reported that an employee of the Baker Atlas Company oil-drilling operation in Neuquen had stolen a canister of nuclear substance Caesium-137, demanding up to US$500,000 in ransom payments from Baker Atlas.

Globally, nuclear power has become an increasingly important source of energy, accounting for about 15% of the world's electricity supply. When it comes to Latin America, 3.1% of electricity comes from this source. However, the nettlesome security issues resulting from utilizing nuclear energy sources largely have been ignored. On March 2008, Colombian authorities discovered that the FARC insurgent movement managed to obtain (it was never clarified from where) 9 kilograms of depleted uranium. Then, in early 2009, the Argentine media reported that an employee of the Baker Atlas Company oil-drilling operation in Neuquen had stolen a canister of nuclear substance Caesium-137, demanding up to US$500,000 in ransom payments from Baker Atlas.

CHRONOLOGY (CONTEXT) FOR UNDERSTANDING HOW MORE MONEY WILL BE TRANSFERRED FROM THE GOVERNMENT TO THE NUCLEAR/URANIUM INDUSTRY. THE UNIVERSITY IS THE MIDDLE MAN. The following chronology is an aid to understanding the November 30th decision of the "Expert Review Panel". It creates CONTEXT. It is just a sampling of evidence from the public record. Some of you will add your own information to it. I want to get this chronology out prior to the announcement of the decision of the panel, in case it might be useful. Please consider forwarding it to media people you might know, as background. I will send supporting news reports for the chronology later; don't want to overload you with email today! If you don't hear from me it will be because of computer troubles.

CHRONOLOGY (CONTEXT) FOR UNDERSTANDING HOW MORE MONEY WILL BE TRANSFERRED FROM THE GOVERNMENT TO THE NUCLEAR/URANIUM INDUSTRY. THE UNIVERSITY IS THE MIDDLE MAN. The following chronology is an aid to understanding the November 30th decision of the "Expert Review Panel". It creates CONTEXT. It is just a sampling of evidence from the public record. Some of you will add your own information to it. I want to get this chronology out prior to the announcement of the decision of the panel, in case it might be useful. Please consider forwarding it to media people you might know, as background. I will send supporting news reports for the chronology later; don't want to overload you with email today! If you don't hear from me it will be because of computer troubles.