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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.

BRATTLEBORO - Entergy Nuclear can resume discharging heated water into the Connecticut River this summer, according to a decision by Environmental Court Judge Merideth Wright released Friday. However, Wright imposed conditions on the discharge and didn't grant the nuclear company its full request. She said Entergy couldn't discharge the 105-degree water until July, and ordered that the company install temperature sensors at the Vernon hydroelectric dam, which is downstream from the Vernon reactor.

The Tennessee Valley Authority controlled an unruly river and spread electricity into the remote hollows of the region, but to its critics, the agency has a 75-year history of insensitivity to the problem of air pollution. And when it comes to responding to the public, the agency is viewed as being as sluggish as the waters trapped behind its dams.

An effort in the Legislature that would redefine "renewable energy" to include nuclear power could do irreparable harm to the state's budding clean-energy industries and deserves to be thrown onto the trash heap of non-recyclable ideas. House Bill 2623, sponsored by Lucy Mason, R-Prescott, has several problems. First, it would include nuclear and hydroelectric power (dams) in the definition of "renewable energy," which is generally considered power derived from natural sources - such as the sun, wind, biomass, tides and geothermal heat.

A week after a dam collapsed at the Kingston power plant in eastern Tennessee and dumped more than a billion gallons of toxic coal ash waste into the nearby community of Harriman and the Emory River, the Tennessee Valley Authority collected samples of the ash and tested them for radioactivity. The summary of results [pdf] released by the company suggested the risk was minimal, stating that the total radioactivity in the ash was "less than that found in low sodium salt available to consumers on the shelves of grocery stores."

Patna, (BiharTimes): Water-shortage is coming in the way of Bihar's first nuclear power plant at Rajauli block in Nawada district. The region is almost at the border with Jharkhand and very near to the northern extent of Chotanagpur plateau; thus faces perennial water-scarcity. As per the guidelines of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), at least 32,000 cubic metre water will be required per hour for running the proposed 4x700 MW plant. The water available at Phulwaria dam at Rajauli will fulfil only one-third of the requirement.

Labour in the Dutch parliament wants the US to remove its nuclear weapons from the Netherlands. The presence of American nuclear arsenal at the Volkel airfield has never been officially admitted. A Dutch poster from the 1970s protested the deployment of nuclear weapons in Europe. A Dutch poster from the 1970s protested the deployment of nuclear weapons in Europe. Labour member of parliament Martijn van Dam on Thursday asked defence minister Maxime Verhagen, a Christian democrat, to officially call on Washington to remove its nuclear weapons from Dutch soil. Labour and the Christian democrats are coalition partners in the Dutch government, but Verhagen told parliament that he is not keen on following up on Van Dam's request. Verhagen said he opposes unilateral nuclear disarmament as long as international disarmament talks between the big powers are still ongoing.

Buddhist monks will lead a prayer walk from Richland to the Hanford reservation on Tuesday to promote peace and abolition of nuclear weapons. The monks, from the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Temple on Bainbridge Island, will arrive in the Tri-Cities on Monday to lead a short walk in Richland from Christ the King Church, 1111 Stevens Drive, to John Dam Plaza on George Washington Way at 3:30 p.m. An opening ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. at the plaza, followed by an interfaith evensong service at 7 p.m. at Shalom United Church of Christ, 505 McMurray St., Richland.

Elmore County Commissioner Connie Cruser recalls her days at Boise High School to explain how she feels about a proposed nuclear power plant near Hammett. In high school debate class, Cruser said, she argued in favor of building Idaho Power Co.'s Hells Canyon dams in the 1950s. And because of the decisions made then, "we've had years of low electricity prices," Cruser said. So she is hesitant to declare that the Alternative Energy Holdings Inc. nuclear plant - proposed in the middle of farmland along the Snake River - is in conflict with the county's comprehensive plan. The plan is supposed to encourage economic development and job creation, she said.

The leader of the Navajo Nation marked the 30th anniversary of a massive uranium tailings spill by reaffirming the tribe's ban on future uranium mining. Speaking in Navajo and English, President Joe Shirley Jr. addressed about 100 people who made a seven-mile walk to the site of the July 16, 1979 spill and to the land of Navajo ranchers who live near another contaminated site. What Shirley called "the largest peacetime accidental release of radioactive contaminated materials in the history of the United States" occurred when 94 million gallons of acidic water poured into the north fork of the Rio Puerco after an earthen uranium tailings dam failed. Within days, contaminated tailings liquid was found 50 miles downstream in Arizona.

Mining giant BHP Billiton says plans to increase the amount of radioactive material it sends to Darwin by rail will not be a risk to public health. The company wants to freight about 1.6 million tonnes of radioactive copper concentrate to Darwin each year if its proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam in South Australia gets the green light.

A plan to transport more radioactive material on the Northern Territory's rail network is a recipe for disaster, a Darwin-based anti-uranium campaigner says. BHP Billiton will hold a public meeting in Darwin tonight to outline the environmental impacts of its plans to expand the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia. The company wants to freight 1.6 million tonnes of concentrate to Darwin each year, while also increasing the amount of uranium oxide it already sends north by rail.

Wednesday is Earth Day and in its honour I propose that you stop thinking about compost pots and swapping out incandescent light-bulbs for a moment and devote a hour of the day to thinking about the concept of energy density. It may be new to you (it was to me until I became engaged to a energy writer and got a crash course in this stuff) but once you understand energy density - how much space a medium, given its physical makeup, needs to generate a given amount of power - you're well on your way to sorting out the relative merits of wind, solar, bio-fuels, tide-pools, hydro-electric dams, sea algae, and whatever else someone has been given a billion dollar government subsidy to call The Next Big Thing.

Friends of the Earth says it has known about a radioactive leak at Olympic Dam for three months, but only released the information to the media yesterday. The group found out about the leak after a worker passed on photos showing the radioactive liquid collecting in unlined trenches. Dr Jim Green, from Friends of the Earth, says the State Government has known about the problem since last April, but did not make the information public. "We only became aware of the problem in December and we hear that BHP reported the problem to the State Government last April, as to why that was not made public earlier, you'd really have to put that to the State Government representative," he said.

"State utility regulators have set three night hearings on a proposed rate increase for South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. The Public Service Commission said Wednesday the 6 p.m. hearings will be conducted in Summerville, Charleston and Columbia. SCE&G, a subsidiary of Scana Corp., is seeking 9.5 percent increase in electricity rates to pay for federally mandated environmental improvements to its plants and for its backup dam near Columbia."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is holding the public meeting to get comments regarding any environmental issues the agency should consider as the addition to Duke Energy's site plan is reviewed. The public will have a chance on June 17 to express concerns over plans to build a pond and dam to provide a back-up water source in case of prolonged drought at the proposed Lee nuclear facility near Gaffney. Duke applied in late 2007 to build and operate two AP1000 reactors at the site and updated the application last September with plans to create an additional water source called Make-Up Pond C, to support the proposed reactors. The NRC is seeking comments specifically regarding the environmental issues associated with creating the pond, said Roger Hannah, an NRC spokesman."