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"A safety culture survey conducted at Vermont Yankee in Vernon is pretty much worthless, said Ray Shadis, technical consultant for the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, which opposes the continued operation of the nuclear power plant. On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a public meeting to discuss an Entergy fleet-wide nuclear safety culture assessment, an opinion poll of its employees conducted by Synergy Consulting Services Co. The survey was primarily used to determine if employees felt that they had adequate safety training and if their safety concerns were handled discreetly, responsibly and without negative repercussion. While it is true that the employees' perception of Yankee's safety culture has been moving upward since 2006, said Shadis, it is still below the levels reached in 2002, prior to Entergy's purchase of the power plant from a consortium of utilities. Before Entergy took over, said Shadis, worker confidence was at its highest. In 2004, it recovered slightly, he said, but then in 2006, it hit "rock bottom." "

"MORE than three quarters of French people believe the country should follow Germany and withdraw from nuclear energy, a new survey has found. The Ifop poll of 1,005 adults commissioned by the Journal du Dimanche found 77% supported a gradual shut-down of France's nuclear power plants within 30 years. A fifth of those in favour said it should happen sooner. Germany announced last month that it would shut down its nuclear plants by 2022 following safety concerns as a result of the Japanese earthquake and the Fukushima radiation leak. Nuclear represents only 22% of German electricity production, whereas France has 58 reactors that produce 73% of the country's electricity supply, making it the world's second-biggest nuclear power behind the United States. Green party Europe Ecologie-Les Verts is campaigning for a complete withdrawal and wants the Socialists to do the same before it considers a potential partnership in next year's elections. "

The first comprehensive survey of soil contamination from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant showed that 33 locations spread over a wide area have been contaminated with long-lasting radioactive cesium, complicating Japan's effort to clean up the disaster-hit region, the government said Tuesday. The survey of 2,200 locations within a 100-km radius of the crippled plant found that those 33 locations had cesium-137 in excess of 1.48 million becquerels per square meter, the level set by the Soviet Union for forced resettlement after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Another 132 locations had combined amount of cesium 137/134 over 555,000 becquerels per square meter, the level at which the Soviet authorities called for voluntary evacuation and imposed a ban on farming.

About half of those who are staying at evacuation shelters after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami have been left with no means to support themselves, a Mainichi survey has revealed. Around two-thirds of respondents said they have no place to stay if they leave makeshift shelters while it is difficult for nearly 60 percent of them to rebuild and repair their damaged homes. The survey was conducted between April 5 and 9 on a total of 100 individuals sheltering at evacuation centers in Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and other prefectures. Those polled had lost their homes in last month's Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami or left their hometowns in the wake of radiation leaks from the disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima Prefecture. The respondents included 40 evacuees in Iwate Prefecture, 30 in Miyagi Prefecture, 20 in Fukushima Prefecture and 10 others who have evacuated from areas near the damaged nuclear facility to refugee shelters outside the prefecture.

A new poll suggests a majority of Australians are against the export of uranium to countries that have nuclear weapons. The Newspoll, commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, surveyed 1200 people nationally last weekend. Sixty-two per cent are against exporting uranium to countries with nuclear weapons and 40 per cent oppose its export for use in electricity generation.

Fifty-nine percent of Americans said the US should "definitely" build more nuclear power plants, according to a survey released April 25 by the Nuclear Energy Institute.

The land in Western Galilee and the Haifa Bay contains the remains of years of pollution from industrial sources and dumps, including radioactive waste, according to a recent report by the Geological Survey of Israel. The report states that land in urban areas, even those distant from industrial facilities, has absorbed pollutants released into the air from smokestacks. Advertisement The team of scientists that wrote the report, led by Dr. Moshe Shirav-Schwartz, chemically analyzed 1,823 soil samples throughout the Western Galilee and the Haifa Bay area - checking for various toxic metals and radioactive materials. Long-term and or high exposure to such materials can lead to cancer, diseases of the central nervous system, impaired development of children and other health conditions.

The land in Western Galilee and the Haifa Bay contains the remains of years of pollution from industrial sources and dumps, including radioactive waste, according to a recent report by the Geological Survey of Israel. The report states that land in urban areas, even those distant from industrial facilities, has absorbed pollutants released into the air from smokestacks. Advertisement The team of scientists that wrote the report, led by Dr. Moshe Shirav-Schwartz, chemically analyzed 1,823 soil samples throughout the Western Galilee and the Haifa Bay area - checking for various toxic metals and radioactive materials. Long-term and or high exposure to such materials can lead to cancer, diseases of the central nervous system, impaired development of children and other health conditions.

"The Environmental Protection Agency has a new weapon in the fight against radioactive contamination at a Los Angeles-area lab: Mules. The EPA will use four mules to carry high-tech scanning equipment to detect radiation on steep and rocky terrain at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. The EPA is conducting a survey of soil and water contamination at the lab near Simi Valley, where rocket engines were tested for years and a partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor took place in 1959. About 500 acres of the lab will be scanned for gamma radiation."

"SCOTS are more in favour of using wind farms than nuclear power stations to produce electricity, a poll commissioned by EDF Energy has shown. * 69% of people polled were in favour of onshore turbines. Picture: Getty When asked in a YouGov survey about their support for different types of power plants, more than eight out of ten Scots backed offshore wind farms and 69 per cent were in favour of onshore turbines. However, fewer than half - 47 per cent - said they supported the idea of replacing existing nuclear plants when they closed in the poll, commissioned by the French nuclear power giant. Similarly, when questioned about their opinion of different energy sources for producing electricity, 74 per cent said their impression of wind farms was favourable, compared to just 43 per cent for nuclear."

The anti-nuclear Snake River Alliance got its start on a bench at Boise's Julia Davis Park The Snake River Alliance has brought a lot of good music to Idaho. Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Carole King gave a benefit concert in 1981 at Boise State. King returned for a benefit at Boise High School in 1984. Browne and Raitt returned in 1996 for a Stop the Shipments benefit concert. Hailey resident Steve Miller performed for the group's 25th anniversary in 2004. When Raitt and Taj Mahal performed this summer at the Idaho Botanical Garden, the Snake River Alliance was invited to set up an information table. Rocky Barker None of its founders can remember the actual date of the Snake River Alliance's first meeting in 1979. It was in the spring, soon after the Three Mile Island Reactor in Pennsylvania partially melted down, raising fears nationwide about nuclear power. A report by U.S. Geological Survey scientist Jack Barraclough had just been made public showing iodine 129 in concentrations more than 25 times the allowable standards for drinking water near a well at the Idaho National Laboratory in eastern Idaho.

The anti-nuclear Snake River Alliance got its start on a bench at Boise's Julia Davis Park The Snake River Alliance has brought a lot of good music to Idaho. Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Carole King gave a benefit concert in 1981 at Boise State. King returned for a benefit at Boise High School in 1984. Browne and Raitt returned in 1996 for a Stop the Shipments benefit concert. Hailey resident Steve Miller performed for the group's 25th anniversary in 2004. When Raitt and Taj Mahal performed this summer at the Idaho Botanical Garden, the Snake River Alliance was invited to set up an information table. Rocky Barker None of its founders can remember the actual date of the Snake River Alliance's first meeting in 1979. It was in the spring, soon after the Three Mile Island Reactor in Pennsylvania partially melted down, raising fears nationwide about nuclear power. A report by U.S. Geological Survey scientist Jack Barraclough had just been made public showing iodine 129 in concentrations more than 25 times the allowable standards for drinking water near a well at the Idaho National Laboratory in eastern Idaho.

A growing number of Carolinians say rising demand for electricity can be met through conservation rather than by building more power plants. That's a key finding of a new poll commissioned by Duke Energy Carolinas. And it reflects a distinct shift in public opinion from two years ago. In the latest poll, 43% of the 1,100 N.C. and S.C. residents surveyed say "people and companies will learn to conserve energy and use significantly less electricity." Only 30% say "government will give permission for more power plants to be built."

A growing number of Carolinians say rising demand for electricity can be met through conservation rather than by building more power plants. That's a key finding of a new poll commissioned by Duke Energy Carolinas. And it reflects a distinct shift in public opinion from two years ago. In the latest poll, 43% of the 1,100 N.C. and S.C. residents surveyed say "people and companies will learn to conserve energy and use significantly less electricity." Only 30% say "government will give permission for more power plants to be built."

Utility officials and regulators next week will review an analysis of what caused a crack in the concrete wall of the Crystal River nuclear plant's containment building. Progress Energy will also present repair plans for the crack, which was discovered Oct. 2 as the utility was cutting a hole in the containment building wall to replace two generators. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will also share its findings of what caused the concrete in the 42-inch-thick wall that surrounds the nuclear reactor to crack. The NRC sent its own team of inspectors to survey the plant.

Utility officials and regulators next week will review an analysis of what caused a crack in the concrete wall of the Crystal River nuclear plant's containment building. Progress Energy will also present repair plans for the crack, which was discovered Oct. 2 as the utility was cutting a hole in the containment building wall to replace two generators. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will also share its findings of what caused the concrete in the 42-inch-thick wall that surrounds the nuclear reactor to crack. The NRC sent its own team of inspectors to survey the plant.

"The majority of Russians (60 percent) are against further nuclear disarmament, with numbers in favor dropping significantly since the end of the Soviet era, the Russia Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) said on Thursday. Half of Russians believe the country needs nuclear weapons to assure its security in case of war, according to VTsIOM's latest survey. A quarter said nuclear weapons should be preserved to demonstrate Russia's political power, with only 4 percent saying the stockpile is needed to counter U.S. military potential."

A BEACH may have to be partially covered in concrete to seal dangerous material that could give children a dose of radiation. The move could stop the area being officially designated as contaminated land, which residents fear would devastate the community. The news follows the discovery of 39 radioactive radium items in the latest survey of the foreshore at Dalgety Bay, Fife, which is close to a former airfield used in the Second World War. The largest of them was 4in across and weighed 8oz.

Questionnaires will soon be sent to thousands of men who donated their baby teeth half a century ago to scientists seeking to learn whether radioactive fallout in milk the donors drank as children affected their health later in life. It's the latest step in a study that began in the 1950s and 1960s at Washington University, but then stalled for decades. Fifty years ago, concern about atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons spurred a group of local scientists and other area residents to begin the project, then called the St. Louis Baby Tooth Survey.

A Newspoll survey conducted by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has revealed that 40% of Australians are against the export of Australian uranium to any country for use in nuclear power plants for electricity generation. A further 22% were found to be against the export of uranium to countries that possess nuclear weapons, even if those countries have signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

A recent Corporate Watch Australia survey reveals that many so-called ethical investment funds invest in uranium mining. The number has risen significantly in recent years. Some fund managers justify investment in uranium with questionable arguments about nuclear power and climate change, but the primary reason for the shift is probably BHP Billiton's entry into the uranium industry with its 2005 acquisition of WMC Resources, which owns the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia.

Nuclear energy provides Switzerland with 40 per cent of its power but more than half of the public oppose the technology to some degree, a survey has revealed. The study, released on Tuesday by the Federal Energy Office, found that just seven per cent of respondents were totally in favour of energy production by nuclear power stations. Double that percentage were fully opposed.

Over 47% of Poles in a survey by the portal Money.pl opposed plans to build a nuclear power plant in Poland. According to latest government reports a nuclear plant will not be built in Poland before 2020. 42% were in favour of a nuclear plant, the remainder could not say, Money.pl wrote. 72% of the plant supporters had nothing against its siting within 100 kilometres of their place of residence, 18 % did not want a nuclear plant in their vicinity. According to experts the main argument for a nuclear plant in Poland is low-cost energy. A 2003 report by Finnish scientists quoted by Money.pl states that uranium, which is most frequently used in nuclear reactors, constitutes only 13% of nuclear energy costs (respectively 40% and 75% in coal- and gas-fuelled plants.

Since when is nuclear an "alternative energy source"? Nuclear power has been around for decades. It's second only to coal for electricity production in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. And yet in its recent public survey, Three Mile Island repeatedly refers to nuclear power as an "alternative energy source."