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"The Nuclear Review, Issue# 7 : Nuclear Constructions, Waste Management, More, March 29, 2010, by Arn Specter, Phila. 1.Managers Warned Against Bungling Los Alamos Lab Construction project 2.Costs Climb for Los Alamos Research Site 3.Project Estimates Go Up and Up, 4.Secretary Chu, NNSA Administrator and the Tennessee Congressional Delegation Join Local Officials in Dedicating Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility at Y-12 5.A recent uranium mining ruling could lead to NM nuke renaissance 6.Need for an Information Repository in the Española Valley as part of NMED Hazardous Waste Permit for LANL 7.Under the Nuclear Shadow 8.Los Alamos scientists write in Physics Today about enabling largest superfund cleanup to date, 9. Australian Prime Minister's Russia Meltdown, 10. IAEA Could Acquire Russian Uranium for Fuel Bank, 11. House Members Criticize Proposal to Halt work on Yucca Mountain"

"As radiation poured from 3 Mile Island 31 years ago this weekend, utility executives rested easy. They knew that no matter how many people their errant nuke killed, and no matter how much property it destroyed, they would not be held liable. Today this same class of executives demands untold taxpayer billions to build still more TMIs. No matter how many meltdowns they cause, and how much havoc they visit down on the public, they still believe they're above the law. Fueled with more than $600 million public relations slush money, they demand a risk-free "renaissance" financed by you and yours. "

"Tonight in Dana Point, California, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be holding its annual hearing on the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station's recent performance, which has been lousy. They'll give San Onofre an overall "B" where it should be getting a failing grade. San Onofre should never have opened, and should be closed for good immediately. For safety. For economics. Forever. At the hearing, the public will be allowed to speak for two, maybe three minutes each. Nothing said by the public will be considered. Nothing will be under oath. Nothing will be officially recorded. Only a few reporters will show up, who will dutifully interview the spokespeople for San Onofre and the NRC, and perhaps one or two of the most staid activists, and then they'll report whatever platitudes are said as if they are facts. The plant is safe, they'll say."

"Chugoku Electric Power Co. announced March 30 that it failed to conduct routine checks on 123 components of its Shimane nuclear power plant in Matsue - 74 in the No. 1 reactor and 49 in the No. 2 reactor. Some components, such as valves in piping and an emergency diesel power generator, had not been checked since 1988. The omission of these checks is serious negligence on the part of the firm. It is thought more similar cases may emerge. The government classifies nuclear power plant components into four categories, depending on their importance for ensuring safety. Of the 123 components unchecked at the Shimae plant, 57 fall in the "most important" category. It is appalling that the firm failed to check a component in the emergency core cooling system of the No. 1 reactor - a system that would pour a large amount of water into the reactor core to prevent a meltdown. "

"Nearly one million people around the world died from exposure to radiation released by the 1986 nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl reactor, finds a new book from the New York Academy of Sciences published today on the 24th anniversary of the meltdown at the Soviet facility. The book, "Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment," was compiled by authors Alexey Yablokov of the Center for Russian Environmental Policy in Moscow, and Vassily Nesterenko and Alexey Nesterenko of the Institute of Radiation Safety, in Minsk, Belarus. The authors examined more than 5,000 published articles and studies, most written in Slavic languages and never before available in English. The authors said, "For the past 23 years, it has been clear that there is a danger greater than nuclear weapons concealed within nuclear power. Emissions from this one reactor exceeded a hundred-fold the radioactive contamination of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.""

"Last week, a few alternative and environmental news outlets drew attention to a newly published science book that put the cumulative death toll of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident at more than a million-a story that had particular resonance on the 24th anniversary of the reactor meltdown, the book's publication date. But the story did not bleed out into the mainstream media, and even the progressive website Alternet seemed suspicious, calling the 1 million estimate an "astounding allegation" in its headline. The number is dramatically higher than the estimate of 4,000 deaths presented in a 2005 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Development Program-a figure that has often been criticized as being far too low and influenced by the IAEA's pro-nuclear agenda. Where is the truth here? It's an awfully long way from 4,000 to one million-996,000, in fact. If the truth is somewhere in between the two figures, neither one is of much help to people who are trying to decide whether new nuclear plants-such as those President Obama has proposed-are a safe energy source."

"York County residents aren't sure local nuclear facilities can be linked to cancer. When Teri Barnes, 39, moved to Goldsboro six years ago, she didn't give much thought to the large nuclear power plant just across the river. Three Mile Island is just something that's there, she said, like the tree in the front yard. But a new study requested by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to analyze data about cancer rates of residents around nuclear facilities could cause some residents of Goldsboro and communities around the country to think twice about their neighborhoods. Barnes said it would be hard to say for sure that the two were related. "Smoke causes cancer. Second-hand smoke causes cancer. Eating this causes cancer," Barnes said, gesturing toward the large deep fryer she was cleaning. "And if they do have cancer and they're dying, how can you make that up to them?" The study will look at both TMI and Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. Although it won't deal with the partial meltdown at TMI in March of 1979, the issue brings back unpleasant memories for some residents. Following the accident, several studies were performed on cancer rates in the area with conflicting results."

"A much-awaited report on France's nuclear industry - due out later this week - is understood to offer ways for France's diverse nuclear industry to work together to garner big contracts around the globe. It may succeed. That is, if the government can use it to end, or at least calm, a complex of feuds among the heads of France's biggest energy companies. The stakes are high. Clean nuclear power is enjoying a renaissance and France is home to some of the world's largest players in the nuclear industry. Indeed, it is president Nicolas Sarkozy's dream to streamline the nuclear power sector, from design to operation, working as a team to win high profile contracts around the world."

"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."

The explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant is being described as caused by a "hydrogen build-up" The situation harks back to the "hydrogen bubble" that was feared would explode when the Three Mile Island plant in 1979 underwent a partial meltdown. The hydrogen explosion problem at nuclear power plants involves a story as crazy as can be. As nuts as using nuclear fission to boil water to generate electricity is, the hydrogen problem and its cause cap the lunacy. Eruption of hydrogen gas as a first reaction in a loss-of-coolant accident has been discussed with great worry in U.S. government and nuclear industry literature for decades.

Japan is racing to gain control of the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plan. Where does the most detailed data come from? Updated daily The 9.0 magnitude earthquake and following tsunami last week has seen Japan struggle as it battles to control the nuclear meltdown of power plants in the north-east of the country. Fukushima nuclear power plant in particular has been closely scrutinised as reports flow in on the progress of the plant - Japan's nuclear board raised the nuclear alert level from four to five last week and the latest update this afternoon warns of products such as dairy and spinach being restricted for shipping. Explosions and reports of nuclear fuel rods melting at the power plant have meant progress on the situation has been closely followed.

Some news outlets are reporting that the meltdown was a level 4 which means it will only have local consequences. Whether this level changes remains to be seen. When this article was first posted a picture was used that turned out to be a fake. This was a clear accident and has been fixed. All information on this article is up to date and will be updated as more information comes in. SEE THIS ARTICLE - Japan nuclear fallout map - HOAX - The problem with the hoax is that the map was consistent with actual jet stream maps but was labeled as official when it was not. Multiple alternative medicine specialists have been quoted as saying that the west coast is likely to get hit.

Some news outlets are reporting that the meltdown was a level 4 which means it will only have local consequences. Whether this level changes remains to be seen. When this article was first posted a picture was used that turned out to be a fake. This was a clear accident and has been fixed. All information on this article is up to date and will be updated as more information comes in. SEE THIS ARTICLE - Japan nuclear fallout map - HOAX - The problem with the hoax is that the map was consistent with actual jet stream maps but was labeled as official when it was not. Multiple alternative medicine specialists have been quoted as saying that the west coast is likely to get hit.

Fears of a nuclear meltdown at one of Japan's nuclear installations have gripped the country following a blast at a nuclear installation. Emergency teams were struggling to limit damage following the explosion. The blast was heard at at the Daiichi facility at Fukushima, 150 miles north of Tokyo. The government had placed the facility under a state of emergency. Crisis efforts are under way at urgent pace to cool down an overheating reactor. Radioactivity has been detected outside the plat and thousands evacuated from the area. Japan's reputation as a world leader in disaster management is facing a crucial test as the country scrambles to deal with the massive destruction caused by the strong earthquake on Friday that has left mounting deaths in the densely populated northeast.

On Saturday, March 12, a giant human chain, 45 km long was formed between the nuclear plant at Neckarwestheim and the seat of the regional government of Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart . 60 000 people took part in the protest in the run up to regional elections. It was the day of the meltdown of the Fukushima-plant after the earthquake in Japan... A majority against nuclear energy For decades there has been a stable and absolute majority in the polls in Germany against the use of nuclear energy. And in the last year there was a new upturn of the movement with a new generation of young activists: The mobilisations of last year against the transports of nuclear waste had been the biggest for more than 15 years. But the ruling federal government of Conservatives and Liberals ignored the demonstrations and complaints.

17,000 British nationals could be evacuated as last ditch efforts are made to stop nuclear catastrophe Rich scramble to book private jets out the country as fleeing passengers pack Tokyo airport French say Japanese have 'visibly lost essential control' as they urge their citizens to get out Plans are being drawn up to evacuate every British national in Japan amid mounting fears of a nuclear catastrophe. Thousands of Britons were last night warned to leave Tokyo and all other areas under threat of radiation poisoning. The Foreign Office is even chartering additional planes to ensure that all British citizens can leave the country as thousands of terrified passengers cram into Tokyo airport attempting to flee. It comes as the Japanese authorities resorted to dumping water on over-heating reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant from helicopters in a desperate last-ditch attempt to stop a catastrophic meltdown.

Close-up pictures of the devastated No 4 reactor building show the gaping hole through which radiation is escaping into the atmosphere as the rods break down. Last night, the UN's nuclear safety body said it was "too early to say" whether desperate attempts to cool them by spraying water into the building had been a success. The Foreign Office issued an urgent statement advising any Britons within 50 miles of the plant to leave the area immediately, and arranged charter flights to get British citizens out of the country.

"As the world's attention remains focused on the nuclear calamity unfolding in Japan, American nuclear regulators and industry lobbyists have been offering assurances that plants in the United States are designed to withstand major earthquakes. But the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, which sits less than a mile from an offshore fault line, was not required to include earthquakes in its emergency response plan as a condition of being granted its license more than a quarter of a century ago. Though experts warned from the beginning that the plant would be vulnerable to an earthquake, asserting 25 years ago that it required an emergency plan as a condition of its license, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission fought against making such a provision mandatory as it allowed the facility to be built. Officials at Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the utility that operates Diablo Canyon, did not respond to calls seeking comment before the story was published. After publication, a spokesman for the company said the plant does have an earthquake procedure that had been implemented during a 2003 earthquake near the facility, and that staff are trained to respond. The company did not provide further details upon request. As Americans absorb the spectacle of a potential nuclear meltdown in Japan -- one of the world's most proficient engineering powers -- the regulatory review that ultimately enabled Diablo Canyon to be built without an earthquake response plan amplifies a gnawing question: Could the tragedy in Japan happen at home?"

""Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind," Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, told Al Jazeera. Japan's 9.0 earthquake on March 11 caused a massive tsunami that crippled the cooling systems at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan. It also lead to hydrogen explosions and reactor meltdowns that forced evacuations of those living within a 20km radius of the plant. Gundersen, a licensed reactor operator with 39 years of nuclear power engineering experience, managing and coordinating projects at 70 nuclear power plants around the US, says the Fukushima nuclear plant likely has more exposed reactor cores than commonly believed. "Fukushima has three nuclear reactors exposed and four fuel cores exposed," he said, "You probably have the equivalent of 20 nuclear reactor cores because of the fuel cores, and they are all in desperate need of being cooled, and there is no means to cool them effectively."

* Compensation covers damages until Aug 31 * Subsequent claims to be taken quarterly * First round of compensation does not cover property damage By Taiga Uranaka TOKYO, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power unveiled the first details on Tuesday of how it would compensate Fukushima residents for lodging and other costs stemming from their evacuation of areas close to its crippled nuclear plant. The payments, due to reach victims in October, nearly seven months after the start of the nuclear crisis, mark just the first round in a series of state-supported outlays that some analysts estimate could climb as high as $130 billion. About 80,000 people were evacuated from a 20 kilometre radius around Tokyo Electric's Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been leaking radiation since a March 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown of reactor cores.