"Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday the U.S. must spend significantly more to ensure the readiness of American nuclear warheads even as the president presses an agenda to rid the world of those weapons.
Biden was making the case for the big jump in spending so that scientists can make certain the aging U.S. nuclear stockpile remains ready for use, if needed, without test explosions.
The new administration budget allocates $7 billion for scientists and laboratories that maintain warhead readiness - an increase of about 13.5 percent and one of the largest in the next spending plan. The 2011 budget also calls for spending an additional $5 billion on those projects over the next five years. "
"Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen predicted on Saturday that Germany would be free of nuclear power by 2030, eight years later than originally planned.
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Röttgen, a member of the conservative Christian Democrats, told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper that even by the most sceptical of forecasts, Germany would reach its goal of getting 40 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, thus allowing the country's remaining nuclear power stations to shut down. Renewable sources currently supply 16 percent of Germany's electricity."
"International Workshop Addresses Seismic Safety of Nuclear Installations
All nuclear power plants around the world, such as the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan (pictured) may be affected, to different degrees, by natural hazards. (Photo: Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO))
There has been a misconception since the early days of nuclear power that human error or mechanical failure, in other words risk factors within the plant itself, are the most significant variables regarding possible radiological release to the environment. In fact, the greatest threat to a plant´s operation may lie outside its walls.
Nuclear power plants all over the world are exposed to natural hazards, such as hurricanes, floods, fires, tsunamis, volcanoes and earthquakes. With safety always a key concern, engineers, safety specialists and architects also have to take extreme natural forces into consideration."
"Nuclear power accounted for nearly 20 percent of the electricity generated in the United States in 2008.
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By the numbers
Nuclear power statistics
* 19.6: Percentage of U.S. electric generation derived from nuclear reactors in 2008
* 14: Percentage of electricity generated by nuclear power worldwide in 2008
* 31: States with operational nuclear reactors
* 6: States that derive the largest percentage of their electricity from nuclear power
* 104: Number of operational nuclear reactors in the U.S.
* 1982: Year Public Service Co. of Oklahoma canceled plans to build a nuclear plant near Inola
Source: Nuclear Energy Institute, Oklahoman archives
Advocates such as the Nuclear Energy Institute claim it is the country's "largest source of clean-air, carbon-free electricity, producing no greenhouse gases or air pollutants."
Nuclear also has the lowest operations and maintenance costs of any fuel source, NEI spokesman Mitch Singer said.
But none of that matters to Oklahoma's two largest power companies.
"We have no plans to build or explore a nuclear option," Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. spokesman Brian Alford said. "It's cost prohibitive for utilities of our size.""
"WHEN news spread in December 2007 that an ageing nuclear reactor in Canada might shut down for much longer than its scheduled two weeks, the world caught its breath. The reactor, at Chalk River in Ontario, is the world's biggest supplier of radioactive isotopes for medical use, and diagnostic tests for cancer and heart disease were put on hold while radiologists scrambled to find alternative supplies. It was called a crisis. All the while, lay people couldn't help but wonder: did no one foresee this? Did no one think that this half-century-old reactor might someday need to be replaced?"
"A propaganda documentary made at the time on the United States operation which led to the accident has now been released
Photos went round the world in 1966 of the then Spanish Minister for Tourism, Manuel Fraga, and the United States ambassador to Spain, Angier Biddle Duke, taking a dip off the coast of Palomares in Almería.
It was a publicity shot taken with the intention of proving that the waters were safe after four atomic bombs fell in the area, two on land and two at sea, following a mid-air collision involving a B52 bomber and a tanker plane based at Morón de la Frontera in Cádiz during a mid-air refuelling operation. "
"Australian aborigines and former servicemen are to sue the British Ministry of Defence over diseases and disabilities that they claim were caused by nuclear testing in the Outback more than 50 years ago.
Maureen Williams 57 from Coober Pedy has joined the class action against the British government over the atomic testing at Maralinga
Maureen Williams 57 from Coober Pedy has joined the class action against the British government over the atomic testing at Maralinga Photo: Mark Brake.
A group of 250 people, including 150 former servicemen, say they have suffered cancer, skin disease and deformities because of the fallout from blasts.
If they win, the British Government could be faced with a bill for compensation which will run to millions of pounds, according to lawyers for the group, which will be represented by Cherie Booth QC. "
"The moment that Nevadans had awaited for decades arrived in a flash.
There, popping up on computer screens in offices in Washington and Carson City, was the news that a slim, 15-page legal document had been filed, taking the biggest step yet - one in a series of giant leaps this year - in dashing long-running government plans for a nuclear waste dump in the desert 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
"The United States Department of Energy hereby moves ... to withdraw its pending license application for a permanent geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev.," reads the opening line."
"German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen is reportedly considering stripping the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) of its nuclear waste duties to expedite storage at the controversial Gorleben site.
Daily newspaper Die Tageszeitung reported on Tuesday that sources at Röttgen's ministry said he may take away responsibility for the final disposal of nuclear waste from the BfS by creating another government agency or privatising the process.
The potential change resulted from a conflict between Röttgen and BfS President Wolfram König. Whereas Röttgen on Monday announced the Environment Ministry would end a moratorium on exploring possible storage at the controversial underground site at Gorleben in the sate of Lower Saxony, König has said the site fails to meet international safety standards. "
"As noted earlier this year, one of ORNL's oldest facilities was demolished in the first phase of Recovery Act cleanup work. After the wooden superstructure was demolished (by Clauss Construction under a subcontract to UT-Battelle), the World War II-era hot cells were "weather-proofed" to prevent the spread of rad contamination until they can be dismantled and removed.
In the top photo, you can see that the hot cells -- where materials from the historic Graphite Reactor were once processed -- have been encased in a gray protective sealant, awaiting future work. One lab official reportedly referred to them as ORNL's "Stonehenge." "
"Former government leaders from around the world have opened a plenary meeting of the InterAction Council to debate how nuclear weapons can best be eliminated.
Sam Nunn, former chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a guest speech at the Hiroshima venue that the upcoming conference to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty must not repeat the failure of the previous meeting in 2005, when it ended without consensus.
Among participants in the InterAction Council are 14 former heads of state, including former Swedish Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson who serves as cochair with former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, as well as former Japanese prime ministers Yasuo Fukuda and Tomiichi Murayama."
"While disarmament experts and antinuclear campaigners may have heard about atomic-bomb survivors, a pair of documentaries about hibakusha that aim to connect with the younger generation were recently completed by two young directors from Costa Rica and Japan.
Erika Bagnarello's "Flashes of Hope" and Takashi Kunimoto's "Traveling with Hibakusha: Across Generations" take different approaches but both feature a group of more than 100 survivors who cruised around the world in 2008 in a project organized by nongovernmental organization Peace Boat."
"Relatives of Sadako Sasaki, who died a decade after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and families of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. joined together Monday to pledge their utmost efforts to make the world free of war.
Sasaki's older brother, Masahiro, 68, was invited to a dedication ceremony for a paper crane folded by his sister that he donated to the Tribute WTC Visitor Center in 2007.
The ceremony near where the World Trade Center stood coincided with the opening in New York of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference, which runs through May 28."
"President Obama may be pressing for the nation to increase its supply of nuclear power, but the market is pushing in the opposite direction-at least in the view of one of the leading figures in the U.S. nuclear business.
John Rowe, chief executive of Chicago-based Exelon, operator of the nation's largest fleet of nuclear power stations, says the economics of the electricity business have changed sharply in just the past two years, dimming the prospects for a significant number of new nuclear reactors in the United States."
"Then U.S. president Bill Clinton had offered Pakistan a $5 billion package to refrain from conducting tit-for-tat nuclear tests in response to India's in 1998 but the offer was rejected at the cost of sanctions, Nawaz Sharif, who was the prime minister at the time, said on Friday.
"I told him (Clinton) that we are not among those people who are sold for a few dollars, not now and in future too. Thus we successfully carried out our nuclear tests," Online news agency quoted Mr. Sharif as telling party activists on the 12th anniversary of the May 28, 1998 nuclear tests. "
10 years later, couple still fights in court while village grapples with how to move forward
On Sept. 30, 1999, Shoichi Oizumi and his wife Keiko couldn't figure out why helicopters were hovering over their auto parts factory in the village of Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture.
"Firefighters came to our factory to tell us to close the windows as an accident took place at JCO Co.," a nuclear fuel processor across the street, the 81-year-old Oizumi said. "But they did not know precisely what happened.
"I looked out the window, but I did not see any abnormal signs, such as smoke. I called the village office, but the officials did not know what really happened either," he said.
10 years later, couple still fights in court while village grapples with how to move forward
On Sept. 30, 1999, Shoichi Oizumi and his wife Keiko couldn't figure out why helicopters were hovering over their auto parts factory in the village of Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture.
"Firefighters came to our factory to tell us to close the windows as an accident took place at JCO Co.," a nuclear fuel processor across the street, the 81-year-old Oizumi said. "But they did not know precisely what happened.
"I looked out the window, but I did not see any abnormal signs, such as smoke. I called the village office, but the officials did not know what really happened either," he said.
Nearly 10,000 barrels of nuclear waste will be moved again in the Woomera prohibited area, to a more suitable storage facility.
The Defence Department is planning to move the barrels a few kilometres from where they are stored in an old aircraft hangar, to an explosives storage building.
David Noonan from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) says the Federal Government needs to find a permanent site for the waste.
Nearly 10,000 barrels of nuclear waste will be moved again in the Woomera prohibited area, to a more suitable storage facility.
The Defence Department is planning to move the barrels a few kilometres from where they are stored in an old aircraft hangar, to an explosives storage building.
David Noonan from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) says the Federal Government needs to find a permanent site for the waste.
Retreat from nuclear energy can no longer be halted, Germany's new Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen told daily Bild on Wednesday.
"One can use atomic energy in the long run only when the majority of the people accept it," he said. "This hasn't been the case for years and in my estimation it's not going to change."
The statement from Röttgen, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, would appear to draw a line under the new centre-right government's decision to abandon a total phaseout of nuclear power by 2020. Merkel has said that the life of some reactors should be extended to use nuclear energy as a "transition energy" until renewables like solar and wind can produce more power.
Retreat from nuclear energy can no longer be halted, Germany's new Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen told daily Bild on Wednesday.
"One can use atomic energy in the long run only when the majority of the people accept it," he said. "This hasn't been the case for years and in my estimation it's not going to change."
The statement from Röttgen, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, would appear to draw a line under the new centre-right government's decision to abandon a total phaseout of nuclear power by 2020. Merkel has said that the life of some reactors should be extended to use nuclear energy as a "transition energy" until renewables like solar and wind can produce more power.
70 percent of fuel rods in reactor core at Fukushima nuke plant damaged
The pool for spent fuel at the No. 4 reactor of TEPCO's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is pictured in this Feb. 1, 2005, file photo. (Mainichi )
About 70 percent of the 400 fuel rods in the No. 1 reactor at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant are damaged, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has revealed.
In addition, some 30 percent of the 548 fuel rods in the No. 2 reactor core and 25 percent of those in the No. 3 reactor core are also thought to be damaged, the power company stated on April 6. The figures are based on analysis of radiation data collected from the side of the reactor pressure vessel between the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and March 15.
Just after the earthquake hit, the No. 1-3 reactors were successfully shut down when control rods were inserted into the cores. However, the plant operators soon lost the ability to adequately cool the cores, and TEPCO believes it possible some of the nuclear fuel pellets inside the fuel rods may have melted and leaked from their metal sheathes.
At the time of the quake the plant's No. 4 reactor was undergoing a routine inspection and had no fuel rods in its core, while reactors No. 5 and 6 were not operating.
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