Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

"More than 60 countries are examining how to include nuclear power into their energy plans. During a meeting of approximately 100 representatives from 47 countries opening today in Vienna, Austria, some of the 60 countries will explain just how they plan to accomplish this. The workshop includes representatives from almost 35 Member States which are considering or already launching a nuclear power programme. Six of the major vendor countries - Canada, France, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the USA - are also in attendance. Participants are also set to discuss ways to integrate security and safeguards considerations into the design and planning for nuclear power."

Whose responsibility is it to notify prospective homebuyers when there is radioactive uranium mill tailings on a property? Erin Toll, director of Colorado's Division of Real Estate, said it's the responsibility of real estate agents. The Division of Real Estate is the licensing, regulation and enforcement agency for the real estate industry in Colorado. Mill tailings are "absolutely an adverse material fact that brokers would be required to disclose if they knew about it," Toll said. And if they don't know they should, Toll said. "Most brokers are aware of environmental impacts of the region they serve, even without the training," that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is currently conducting, Toll said.

Whose responsibility is it to notify prospective homebuyers when there is radioactive uranium mill tailings on a property? Erin Toll, director of Colorado's Division of Real Estate, said it's the responsibility of real estate agents. The Division of Real Estate is the licensing, regulation and enforcement agency for the real estate industry in Colorado. Mill tailings are "absolutely an adverse material fact that brokers would be required to disclose if they knew about it," Toll said. And if they don't know they should, Toll said. "Most brokers are aware of environmental impacts of the region they serve, even without the training," that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is currently conducting, Toll said.

"Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment. Dr Ahmad Hardan, who served as a special scientific adviser to the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, says that there is scientific evidence linking depleted uranium to cancer and birth defects. He told Al Jazeera English [3], "Children with congenital anomalies are subjected to karyotyping and chromosomal studies with complete genetic back-grounding and clinical assessment. Family and obstetrical histories are taken too. These international studies have produced ample evidence to show that depleted uranium has disastrous consequences." Iraqi doctors say cancer cases increased after both the 1991 war and the 2003 invasion. Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of "Uranium in Iraq" told Al Jazeera English [4] that the incubation period for depleted uranium is five to six years, which is consistent with the spike in cancer rates in 1996-1997 and 2008-2009."

"The use of nuclear power to generate electricity is growing worldwide. More than 100 nuclear power plants are under construction or in various stages of planning, and many existing plants are expanding. [See the figure.] nuclear reactors under constructionPresident Obama recently announced an $8.33 billion federal loan guarantee for the construction of a pair of nuclear reactors in Georgia. The president also said he wants to triple the amount of loans the federal government guarantees in order to jumpstart seven to 10 new nuclear power projects over the next decade. The guarantees should lower borrowing costs and make financing easier to obtain. However, until the government meets its legal obligation to provide storage for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, only a few new nuclear reactors are likely to be built. Fortunately, solutions are available if the government is willing to embrace them."

"Raise your hand if US taxpayers are responsible to pay for the most expensive mistakes you make in your business. Chances are, the only hands that just went up are attached to nuclear power executives and, if that unfair advantage were removed we would see the end of nuclear power in this country. Nuclear Power Plant The five decades old Price-Anderson Act sets a cap on liability by power plants and their insurers for damages arising from nuclear accidents. After $300 million in damages are paid by insurance, the US taxpayer takes over to address catastrophic liabilities, including cleanups, property damage, health care, and lives lost. Including some other payments made into accident funds, the utility industry is on the hook for no more than $10 billion for all accidents that could ever occur at all nuclear plants in the nation. Raise your hand if you think just one major accident would result in far more damage claims than that. In England, the system works about the same, with each nuclear plant responsible for no more than £140 million and similar systems exist in Europe, Japan, and Canada. "

Where are all the Indian workers suffering from radioactive radiation? How is occupational exposure recorded, how are victims diagnosed, provided legal remedy and compensated. A metal scrap dealer and four workers are being treated in Delhi for exposure to radioactive material, identified as Cobalt-60. They are in a serious condition. The radiation exposure happened in the Mayapuri locality of West Delhi in the last fortnight. A 1-kilometre radius around the shop was cordoned off as a precautionary measure. Experts from the Atomic Centre as well as National Security Guards have told police that the radiation is only in a limited area. This needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. A team was requisitioned from Mumbai-based Atomic Energy Regulatory Board which found during screening that radio-active emissions were coming from the scrap. The workers were exposed to a radioactive isotope under mysterious circumstances at a scrap market in West Delhi. The police suspect that the scrap consignment containing the metal piece was brought from neighboring Faridabad and that it originated from abroad. "

"Is Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency Director Martha Oswalt an intrepid whistleblower, or is she a "domestic enemy"? At Tuesday's board meeting, former board president Judy Corl-Lorono lambasted Oswalt for activities that could undermine the agency. She called out the director for independently distributing an agency document from the California Department of Public Health and using it to scare customers with unsupported "malicious rumors" about the quality of their drinking water. The report, dated April 14, refers to tests of samples of Wells 2 and 3 that indicate certain levels of naturally occurring radiological materials could be on the rise, and are nearing or have reached state limits for radioactive materials. These wells are off line and not pumping. They normally would serve the Desert View customers in Flamingo Heights, but those users are getting water from Well 8, in which elevated levels are not being detected. The Department of Public Health advised the agency that should the water exceed government-set maximum contaminant levels for the radiologicals, and the agency fail to comply with the federal Radionuclide Rule for monitoring and reducing radioactive material, "the agency will need to complete public notification and investigate treatment options.""

I'm not surprised about this new turn of events but I am stunned that your staff accepted interim GM Steve Bartley's statement that he didn't know about the omission. How could henot know? Ask Bartley what he'd do to any employee who: 1. told him he didn't know about a major element of their business, or 2. flat out lied to him? He would fire him on the spot. What CPS management did was out and out fraud. They lied to us on their application for a rate hike. Treat them the same way any bank would treat an application for a home loan if the financial information was fraudulent. Turn down the application and call the authorities to investigate. We should do the same. City Council would not tolerate any citizen coming before them and lying to their faces, or are they going to condone lying? Hopefully there are not two sets of rules - one for ordinary citizens and one for big shot citizens/companies.

I'm not surprised about this new turn of events but I am stunned that your staff accepted interim GM Steve Bartley's statement that he didn't know about the omission. How could henot know? Ask Bartley what he'd do to any employee who: 1. told him he didn't know about a major element of their business, or 2. flat out lied to him? He would fire him on the spot. What CPS management did was out and out fraud. They lied to us on their application for a rate hike. Treat them the same way any bank would treat an application for a home loan if the financial information was fraudulent. Turn down the application and call the authorities to investigate. We should do the same. City Council would not tolerate any citizen coming before them and lying to their faces, or are they going to condone lying? Hopefully there are not two sets of rules - one for ordinary citizens and one for big shot citizens/companies.

I'm not surprised about this new turn of events but I am stunned that your staff accepted interim GM Steve Bartley's statement that he didn't know about the omission. How could henot know? Ask Bartley what he'd do to any employee who: 1. told him he didn't know about a major element of their business, or 2. flat out lied to him? He would fire him on the spot. What CPS management did was out and out fraud. They lied to us on their application for a rate hike. Treat them the same way any bank would treat an application for a home loan if the financial information was fraudulent. Turn down the application and call the authorities to investigate. We should do the same. City Council would not tolerate any citizen coming before them and lying to their faces, or are they going to condone lying? Hopefully there are not two sets of rules - one for ordinary citizens and one for big shot citizens/companies.

Workers at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are being exposed to levels of radiation so high that monitoring devices are useless, a worker measuring radiation at the plant told NHK television today. No one can enter the Unit 1, 2, and 3 reactor buildings at the power plant because radiation levels are so high, he said, adding that pools and streams of water contaminated by high-level radiation are being found throughout the plant, crippled by a killer earthquake and tsunami March 11.

The thinning ranks of men struggling to tame Japan's nuclear emergency are invoking the spirit of the samurai as they ignore personal radiation limits in their battle to avert disaster. Some are so determined to push on with a task they see as vital to saving Japan they are leaving their dosimetres at home so bosses do not know the true level of their exposure to radiation at the crippled plant. As Japan declared the Fukushima Daiichi disaster a level seven emergency -- the worst on an international scale -- engineer Hiroyuki Kohno was heading back into the leaking plant, fully aware that one day it could make him very ill. "My boss phoned me three days ago. He told me: 'The situation over there is much worse than what the media are reporting. It is beyond our imagination. But, will you still come?'," he told AFP. "It was just that. We didn't need to say anything more because we both knew that the situation is really dreadful," the soft-spoken Kohno said, leaving lengthy pauses between his sentences. The two did not discuss financial reward or compensation for the possible long-term health risks, which could include cancer.

"Most people would agree with Harvey Hughey's proposal to go nuclear ["Follow the Navy -- Go Nuclear"] if they considered only the short term, 50-year design life of nuclear power plants. In that 50-year period, barring accidents, nuclear power is relatively clean. The picture changes dramatically, however, when the long-term, multi-million-year half-life of uranium and many of its derivatives are taken into account. We still have not solved the storage problems associated with highly radioactive materials, including spent fuel rods, and the Yucca Mountain storage project seems to be a no-go. Those materials are now stored in temporary holding tanks at nuclear plants across the country -- which is a major accident waiting to happen. Neither have we solved the problems associated with decommissioning 50-year old nuclear power plants, all of which are so radioactively contaminated they cannot be recycled or bulldozed into a hole in the ground. The costly protocol is to encapsulate each site under a great dome of concrete that naturally fractures and allows water to penetrate and contaminate streams and aquifers."

Britain's nuclear submarines are "completely useless" against modern warfare, and the £20bn spent on renewing them is a waste of money, retired senior military officers said yesterday. The former head of the armed forces Field Marshal Lord Bramall, backed by two senior generals, argued that the huge sums being spent on replacing the delapidated submarines that carry the Trident ballistic missiles could be better used to buy conventional weapons which are badly needed by the armed forces. "Nuclear weapons have shown themselves to be completely useless as a deterrent to the threats and scale of violence we currently face or are likely to face, particularly international terrorism," the group said in a letter to the Times. "Our independent deterrent has become ­virtually irrelevant, except in the context of domestic politics."

I am very concerned about the possible nuclear reactor in Saskatchewan, and scared to death that it could be in the Prince Albert area. It is bad enough that we are mining the uranium out of the ground, but to build a reactor would be insane. There is no safe storage option for uranium products and wastes. Radium, radon gas and polonium are highly radioactive byproducts. Storage methods are at best controversial and at worst responsible for death and a toxic legacy for generations. Mining poses serious health risks. Radon gas is a known cancer-causing agent. Uranium mining can poison water sources. Reactors need a lot of water. They, too, can leak radioactive substances into both watersheds and ground water.

"Hot Town," a 1971 story in Time Magazine, begins this way: "Except on the coldest days of the Colorado winter, the doors of the Pomona Elementary School annex, on the outskirts of Grand Junction, are opened during recess. The reason is that the building is radioactive. "Unless the rooms are aired, radioactive gases and particles seeping through the floors cause radiation in the school rooms to rise dangerously above safe levels." The school, just like 593 other homes and buildings across the city, was built on radioactive fill from a uranium mill on the south side of Grand Junction. Radiation-related illnesses began to appear, spurring a massive federal cleanup project that lasted for more than 15 years. Since cleansed of much of its radioactive waste, Grand Junction's nuclear legacy remains near the heart of Colorado's colorful 139-year uranium mining history, which is full of stories of uranium boom, bust and massive cleanup efforts statewide.

"Hot Town," a 1971 story in Time Magazine, begins this way: "Except on the coldest days of the Colorado winter, the doors of the Pomona Elementary School annex, on the outskirts of Grand Junction, are opened during recess. The reason is that the building is radioactive. "Unless the rooms are aired, radioactive gases and particles seeping through the floors cause radiation in the school rooms to rise dangerously above safe levels." The school, just like 593 other homes and buildings across the city, was built on radioactive fill from a uranium mill on the south side of Grand Junction. Radiation-related illnesses began to appear, spurring a massive federal cleanup project that lasted for more than 15 years. Since cleansed of much of its radioactive waste, Grand Junction's nuclear legacy remains near the heart of Colorado's colorful 139-year uranium mining history, which is full of stories of uranium boom, bust and massive cleanup efforts statewide.

A group of island residents and members of the Pacific Association for Radiation Survivors met yesterday to discuss legislation that proposes to include Guam in the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Advertisement The federal RECA law, passed in 1990, compensates people who have been diagnosed with specific cancers and chronic diseases that could have resulted from exposure to agents associated with nuclear weapons testing, according to a 2005 report published by the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council. The law covers exposure to nuclear tests carried out for more than 20 years during and after World War II. According to the report, both on-site participants of above-ground nuclear tests and "downwinders" in areas designated by RECA are eligible for compensation. areas of Nevada, Utah and arizona are covered in the law as "Downwind Counties," the report states.

A group of island residents and members of the Pacific Association for Radiation Survivors met yesterday to discuss legislation that proposes to include Guam in the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Advertisement The federal RECA law, passed in 1990, compensates people who have been diagnosed with specific cancers and chronic diseases that could have resulted from exposure to agents associated with nuclear weapons testing, according to a 2005 report published by the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council. The law covers exposure to nuclear tests carried out for more than 20 years during and after World War II. According to the report, both on-site participants of above-ground nuclear tests and "downwinders" in areas designated by RECA are eligible for compensation. areas of Nevada, Utah and arizona are covered in the law as "Downwind Counties," the report states.

Nuclear facilities and power plants are contaminating local Canadian food and water with radioactive waste that increases risks of cancer and birth defects, says a new report to be released on Friday. The report, Tritium on Tap, produced by the Sierra Club of Canada, warned that radioactive emissions from various nuclear plants across the country have more than doubled over the past decade. The figures were based on statistics compiled by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission which measured pollution coming from the plants. Although Canadian guidelines have suggested that the existing levels of tritium in the water are safe, the report cites recent peer-reviewed studies, including a recent review by the UK's Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters, that suggest the opposite.

Nuclear facilities and power plants are contaminating local Canadian food and water with radioactive waste that increases risks of cancer and birth defects, says a new report to be released on Friday. The report, Tritium on Tap, produced by the Sierra Club of Canada, warned that radioactive emissions from various nuclear plants across the country have more than doubled over the past decade. The figures were based on statistics compiled by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission which measured pollution coming from the plants. Although Canadian guidelines have suggested that the existing levels of tritium in the water are safe, the report cites recent peer-reviewed studies, including a recent review by the UK's Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters, that suggest the opposite.

Despite a renewed interest in nuclear power around the world [front page, Nov. 24], nuclear power remains a dangerous distraction from real solutions to the climate crisis. The fundamental problems of nuclear power plants have not changed. The plants are risky, expensive and dangerous, and they are vulnerable targets for terrorist attacks. After decades and billions of dollars of public money wasted, there is no solution to the problem of radioactive waste. Instead of pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into subsidizing a mature and dangerous industry that will leave a toxic legacy for future generations, policymakers should stay focused on getting our energy from clean sources that will last forever. Kyle Ash, Washington The writer is senior legislative representative for the Greenpeace USA's Global Warming Program.

Despite a renewed interest in nuclear power around the world [front page, Nov. 24], nuclear power remains a dangerous distraction from real solutions to the climate crisis. The fundamental problems of nuclear power plants have not changed. The plants are risky, expensive and dangerous, and they are vulnerable targets for terrorist attacks. After decades and billions of dollars of public money wasted, there is no solution to the problem of radioactive waste. Instead of pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into subsidizing a mature and dangerous industry that will leave a toxic legacy for future generations, policymakers should stay focused on getting our energy from clean sources that will last forever. Kyle Ash, Washington The writer is senior legislative representative for the Greenpeace USA's Global Warming Program.

"At last, victims of Japan's nuclear crisis can claim compensation. And they are angry. They are furious at the red tape they have to wade through just to receive basic help and in despair they still cannot get on with their lives seven months after the huge quake and tsunami triggered the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years. Shouts fill a room at a temporary housing complex where seven officials, kneeling in their dark suits, face 70 or so tenants who were forced to abandon their homes near the Fukushima nuclear plant after some of its reactors went into meltdown after the March 11 quake struck."

"As the recent national news headlines make clear every day, finding and developing new sources of energy has been and will continue to be a national priority and will encompass both traditional and new energy sources for the foreseeable future. Regrettably, as the headlines from the Gulf of Mexico also make clear, energy development activities are not free either from risk or environmental consequence, particularly if they are pursued without adequate attention to safety. As a regulator, whose job it is to enable commercial energy activities to proceed, provided that safety, environmental, security or other applicable requirements are met, I can assure you that this regulatory role is neither easy nor at times popular, but it is a necessary and vital role that contributes to the ultimate success of energy development activities and, if performed well, diminishes the likelihood of adverse consequences."

"Some links on this page are to documents in our Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), and others are to documents in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). ADAMS documents are provided in either PDF or Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). To obtain free viewers for displaying these formats, see our Plugins, Viewers, and Other Tools page. If you have questions about search techniques or problems with viewing or printing documents from ADAMS, please contact the Public Document Room staff. Date: Wednesday, June 23 and Thursday, June 24, 2010 Location: NRC Headquarters Two White Flint Auditorium"