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Nevada GOP Comic

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Over the past decade, more than 7,000 shipments of radioactive nuclear waste have been sent, without any problem, to a government repository in the southwestern United States. This crucial repository is not the ill-fated Yucca Mountain, the Nevada site that has been steeped in controversy since Congress selected it 22 years ago to store the country's civilian nuclear waste. Yucca Mountain, in fact, has gotten so bogged down in legal and political fights that President Barack Obama, in his new budget, is proposing to eliminate almost all of its funding and explore "alternatives," raising serious questions about how the United States will resolve its nuclear waste problems-and, for that matter, whether the nuclear industry will be able to grow in coming decades.

Russia will deploy a new multiple-warhead, nuclear-capable missile after a key US-Russian arms control treaty expires in December, a top general said on Tuesday, quoted by news agencies. "After December 5, that is after the expiration of the START-1 treaty, a regiment with one command centre and one rocket division armed with RS-24 complexes with detachable warheads will be placed on a state of combat readiness," General Nikolai Solovtsov was quoted as saying. At least four warheads would be placed on the RS-24 missiles to be deployed, said Solovtsov, the commander of Russia's strategic missile forces.

Abstract posted below. Download the full article online (PDF, 16 pages). Abstract: Since the dawn of the atomic age, the United States has sought to encourage the use of nuclear energy while minimizing the proliferation risks associated with it. The latest U.S. initiative that sets out to accomplish this is the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), which, in its current form, potentially includes the spread of sensitive nuclear technologies around the globe. This article examines the concerns surrounding the proliferation of these technologies and surveys their history both domestically and internationally. In identifying these concerns, the author argues that GNEP needs to be considered in the context of the Atoms for Peace program; that it erodes the successful thirty-year U.S. position against reprocessing; and that it allows for the spread of technologies that are not proliferation-resistant.

A congressional subcommittee on Thursday rapped a federal regulatory agency for downplaying the risks of uranium exposure to former workers and neighbors of the long-shuttered National Lead Industries munitions plant in Colonie. Democratic lawmakers said the handling of toxic exposures at the defunct plant and other sites nationwide showed that the 29-year-old U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry isn't doing enough to investigate legitimate health concerns. "It's clear ... that the ATSDR failed the people of Colonie and Albany who live near the site," said U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam.

A surprisingly high concentration of deuterium gas discovered in the cooling system at the Point Lepreau nuclear plant could have harmed personnel and damaged equipment last May had it exploded. Deuterium can explode in air if it reaches a concentration of five per cent, and a sample taken at Lepreau on May 23, 2008 was 6.4 per cent. But the gas was in a closed system of tubes and lacked an ignition source as the reactor was offline.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued annual assessment letters to the nation's 104 operating commercial nuclear power plants. All the plants continue to operate safely. "Our ongoing assessment of nuclear power plant performance is at the heart of the agency's mission of protecting people and the environment," said Eric Leeds, director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. "The 2008 year-end results show that about 83 percent of the plants are performing strongly enough that we're satisfied with our basic level of inspections at those sites." If a nuclear power plant's performance declines, the NRC increases the level of inspection to ensure the plant operator is taking the steps necessary to correct the situation. The additional amount of inspection is commensurate with the level of plant performance. At the close of last year, only one reactor, Unit 3 at Palo Verde (Ariz.), required the NRC's highest level of attention. Three reactor units, Cooper (Neb.) and Units 1 and 2 at Palo Verde (Ariz.), required significant NRC attention. And another 14 reactor units, Units 1 and 2 at Byron (Ill.), Unit 1 at Comanche Peak (Texas), Unit 1 at Farley (Ala.), Unit 1 at Grand Gulf ( Miss.), Unit 2 at Hatch (Ga.), Kewaunee (Wis.), Units 1 and 2 at McGuire (N.C.), Unit 2 at Nine Mile Point (N.Y.), Unit 1 at Oconee (S.C.), Palisades (Mich.), Unit 1 at Prairie Island (Minn.), and Unit 2 at San Onofre (Calif.), required additional attention beyond the basic level.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued mid-cycle assessment letters to the nation's 104 operating commercial nuclear power plants. The agency's most recent assessments show that all plants continue to operate safely. "We ensure nuclear power plants are safe, inspecting them and rating their performance regularly, as part of our mission to protect people and the environment," said Bruce A. Boger, associate director for operating reactor oversight and licensing in the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. For this assessment period, all 104 plants are in the two highest performance categories. There are five levels of plant performance based on a detailed assessment of performance indicators (e.g. safety system availability and reliability, control of radiation exposure and unplanned shutdowns) and inspection findings. Levels range from "meeting all safety cornerstone objectives" (highest level) to "unacceptable performance" (lowest level). Additional information on the Reactor Oversight Process is available at : http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1649/r4/.

Italian power company Edison SpA is willing to spend up to 4 billion euros ($5.7 billion) on domestic nuclear plants, Chief Executive Umberto Quadrino said in an interview published on Saturday. Nuclear power is a priority for Edison and when "the first stone for the first plant is laid, we will be there", he told business daily Il Sole 24 Ore. "And, between 2015 and 2025, we are ready to commit up to 4 billion euros," he said.

Where to store Germany's nuclear waste? The issue - decades old and still unresolved - has injected controversy into campaigning ahead of Germany's federal election on 27 September. Farm residents at Gorleben in northern Germany have long opposed a proposal that salt caverns under their feet be used as the nation's long-term underground nuclear waste disposal site. Driving tractors, they have begun a week-long road trek to Berlin to press their anti-nuclear case. Equipped with a rolling kitchen, they aim to spearhead a demonstration in the capital next Saturday. En route, the tractor trekkers plan stopovers at three other sites used variously as nuclear storages and all controversial - the former Konrad iron mine near Salzgitter; Asse, a mine with water leaks near Wolfenbüttel; and Morsleben, an old salt mine near the former East-West-German border. Nuclear industry proponents accuse detractors of exaggerating the risks.

Radiation from x-rays and CT scans can accumulate to substantial doses, according to a study that estimates as many as 4 milion adults have high exposure ATLANTA - Many types of medical imaging procedures, such as x-rays, computed tomography scans, and nuclear medicine scans, expose patients to ionizing radiation, which over time can accumulate to substantial doses, according to a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. "We know that radiation is not benign and some people are getting high exposures," says Reza Fazel, M.D., the lead author of the study and a cardiologist at Emory University.

NEW YORK Yesterday, I explored the decades-long suppression of film footage of the the full effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 64 years ago this week. But that censorship and cover-up of the full impact, and ramifications, of the new weapons began within hours of the first use. On Aug. 6, 1945, President Harry S. Truman faced the task of telling the press, and the world, that America's crusade against fascism had culminated in exploding a revolutionary new weapon of extraordinary destructive power over a Japanese city. It was vital that this event be understood as a reflection of dominant military power and at the same time consistent with American decency and concern for human life.