Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

GoUpstate.com: Nuclear power can't live up to proponents' hype
‘While nuclear industry lobbyists and their political backers are pushing for new nuclear power plants, is a nuclear resurgence really upon us? Wall Street and the public remain skeptical due to spiraling costs, the continued lack of a solution to the nuclear waste problem and a spectacular boom in the solar and wind industries.’

M&C: Russia's nuclear chief cancels visit to Tehran
‘Russia's nuclear power chief cancelled a Sunday visit to Tehran that was planned to prepare the nuclear fuel operation of the joint Bushehr power plant in southern Iran, ISNA news agency reported.’

Amsterdam News: Iran to share nuclear technology with Nigeria
‘Iran has offered to share its nuclear technology with Nigeria to help boost electricity generation in energy-starved Nigeria. The deal was reached at the end of three days of talks between officials of the two oil-producing nations. Gilbert da Costa has more for VOA in this report from Abuja.’

The Independent: French bid 'is best for BE’
‘British Energy (BE) will not get a better offer than French rival EDF's £12bn for a decade, Whitehall sources have claimed. The Government, which has a 35.5 per cent stake in BE, wants it to accept the 765p-a-share offer. The Government hopes that EDF will use its nuclear expertise to build reactors with BE as part of its power station roll-out plan.’

The Independent: The wind of change is slow to blow through Britain's energy policy
‘In two years' time, the UK seems certain to miss one of the core environmental targets of the Blair-Brown years. The Government pledged that 10 per cent of the country's electricity would be generated from renewable sources, principally from wind farms, but also including tidal and solar power.’

(The Independent links courtesy of No 2 Nuclear Power)

Since we have been following the Nuclear Industry PR spin closely we constantly have to read and listen to some laughable claims about nuclear energy and how they can get placed in newspapers. One of the funniest ones is European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) by AREVA being the world's safest and most powerful reactor. We can only imagine such a claim has been lifted straight from the industry pr handout. A little investigation – which we frequently do in this weblog as you know - would reveal that there are no EPRs in existence and so far only two under construction, Olkiluoto 3, Finland and Flamanville, France.

Both these EPRs have been experiencing problems since groundbreaking began. Even in the very early stages of building, there have already been safety problems reported related to both the concrete and the welding. Only last week, the Finnish Nuclear Safety Authority, STUK, had to admit that the supervision and safety culture of welding in building of Olkiluoto 3 are not up to standards. Similarly, in May this year the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) suspended construction on the concrete base of the EPR at Flamanville. And finally after three years of construction OL3 is more than two years behind schedule and Euro 2.2 billion over budget.

So far rather than being the world's safest or most powerful they are in contention for being the world's latest and most expensive and if they can't even get the welding right perhaps even the most dangerous, although the competition for that is stiff.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

The Guardian: Energy: GDF Suez raises profits and possibility of British invasion
GDF Suez, the new French energy group, yesterday posted a 20% leap in first-half earnings as it reaffirmed it had no interest in buying British Energy, the UK's main nuclear power operator. Gérard Mestrallet, the chief executive, did, however, confirm that GDF Suez was keen to be a player in Britain's nuclear energy market, where the government is courting French rival EDF to buy British Energy.

Semiconductor: Solar Conference Chair Makes Call for Scientists
At the opening session of the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (EU PVSEC) this morning in Valencia, Spain, Daniel Lincot, conference general chairman, urged industry scientists to add their signatures to the list of those already supporting what is being called the Valencia Call for Photovoltaics

News Medical: Atomic bomb's effect results in adult-onset thyroid cancer
Radiation from the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, likely rearranged chromosomes in some survivors who later developed papillary thyroid cancer as adults, according to Japanese researchers.

RTT News: Australia reconsidering deal to sell uranium to Russia over developments in Georgia
Australia is reconsidering a deal to sell uranium to Russia following concerns over Moscow's military actions in Georgia and a possible misuse of the raw material for developing nuclear weapons. Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith, who is also the head of a parliamentary committee examining the deal, told parliament Monday that "the government will take into account not just the merits of the agreement but recent and ongoing events in Georgia and the state of Australia's bilateral relationship with the Russian Federation, while considering ratification."

Energy Daily: Bulgaria to launch construction of new nuclear plant on Sept 3
Bulgaria will begin construction on Wednesday on its new 4.0-billion-euro (5.8-billion-dollar) nuclear power plant near the northern town of Belene, the government announced Monday.

Reuters: Areva applies to seek uranium in northern Finland
France's Areva (CEPFi.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) submitted a claim to the Finnish government on Monday to search for uranium in northern Finland, the company said. Areva Resources Finland said in a statement the exclusive, 5-year exploration claim was for a 108 sq km (41.7 square miles) parcel of land lying mostly in the municipality of Ranua in Lapland, 750 km north of Helsinki.

Maybe it’s just journalists in The Netherlands, but the repetitive headlines on nuclear energy in the Dutch media show either an absence of memory, or a well-orchestrated, repetitive push for nuclear energy. The latter would be quite sad, in view of the media’s desire to be unbiased and factual. So let’s assume it’s an absence of memory on nuclear issues.

Yesterday headlines on the main news program:
CDA: “Nuclear energy is inevitable” (NOS-Journaal, 1 September 2008)

Within one hour, more than 150 Dutch websites had copied this so-called ‘news’. While the CDA, the Christian-Democrat party, has announced their support for nuclear energy already for several years now. What exactly is news-worthy with this?

The Christian Democrats together with the Labour Party and the much smaller Christian Union form the current Dutch government. A government that has been split about nuclear energy from the date of their marriage, resulting in a rather meaningless sentence in the government agreement:
“During the term of this government no new nuclear power plants will be built.” (Government Agreement, February 2007)

It is obvious that no new nuclear power plants will be built within the four years of this government’s term – even if a company would want to, and would be able to find investors and suppliers, and gain government support, even than it would not be feasible to start building a nuclear power plant before 2011.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

AFP: Russia will complete Iran nuclear plant
‘The Russian company building Iran's first nuclear power plant has renewed a commitment to complete the project, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday. Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, is building the plant at Bushehr on the Gulf coast of Iran despite a long-running standoff over Tehran's controversial nuclear drive.’

Chattanooga Times Free Press: Tennessee Valley Authority cuts contract for nuclear security
‘The Tennessee Valley Authority announced today that it will end its contract with a private security firm that has provided guards at TVA nuclear plants since 1997.’

World Nuclear News: Sanmen excavation completed early
‘Excavations for the nuclear island of Sanmen 1 are complete, China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNTPC) told World Nuclear News. The quality of the pit was passed by the National Nuclear Safety Agency, some 67 days ahead of schedule SNTPC said, marking the official end of excavation. Excavation started about one month early too, according to Xinhua reports from the time.’

World Nuclear News: Graphite production for PBMR set to start
‘South Africa's National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) has given the go-ahead for the start of production of graphite feedstock for the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) demonstration unit.’

Bernama: Japan, China, Korea To Set Up Nuclear Accident Hotline
‘Japan, China and the Republic of Korea (RoK) have agreed to set up an inter-governmental hotline for alerts on disasters or accidents at the three countries' nuclear-related facilities, local media reported.’

Guardian: Environment: Solar plant yields water and crops from the desert
‘Vast greenhouses that use sea water for crop cultivation could be combined with solar power plants to provide food, fresh water and clean energy in deserts, under an ambitious proposal from a team of architects and engineers.’

Renewable Energy World: The Elephant Under the Rug: Denial and Failed Energy Projects
‘At the World Renewable Energy Conference in Glasgow I recently witnessed the strange phenomenon of group denial first hand. After a paper about hydrogen-fueled cars, some embarrassing questions were asked about the practicalities of storing and delivering hydrogen to the cars. The questions were dismissed and the questioners meekly backed down. I wanted to jump in and set them straight but keenly felt the group pressure to not ruin the party. I couldn't do it!’

Bloomberg: Germany May Sue Atomic Waste Site Operators Over Negligence
‘Germany may sue the operators of an experimental atomic waste site for negligence after a report showed that safety regulations were flouted for decades.’

Fox 44 News: Nuclear plant owner accused of consumer fraud
‘The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is being targeted in a consumer fraud complaint with the state that says the plant's owners have been engaging in deceptive advertising.’

Dangerous accidents, poor economics, deadly waste, and hazards of proliferation – four issues that even the nuclear industry indicated as obstacles for a nuclear boom. Its strategy is now to claim all four have been technically solved, and only irrational public concerns remain that need to be addressed.

Fortunately, we are not blind. We can see quite clearly on the EPR failures in Finland and France how successfully the industry improved its safety and economics. But also on the issue of nuclear waste, three important news make it crystal clear that it has not been solved, on the contrary getting worse despite decades of desperate research and billions spent.
Every year, additional ten thousand tons of spent fuel is generated on our planet. It contains a deadly mix of isotopes, including one percent of plutonium-239 with half-life of 24,000 years. It is deadly for its radioactivity, toxicity and risk of military use. This one percent of plutonium translates into hundred tons every year - enough for many thousands crude nuclear weapons, and it will remain around for dozens thousands years. There is no guaranteed way to keep it isolated from biosphere and humans in such a time scale.

What industry and politicians suggest as a fix are “temporary storages”, that can hold this waste for anything between 50 and 150 years. The only thing it guarantees is that people who made money on it and who allowed it to be done will not be here to handle the consequences when the full bill arrives..

Plus, there is quite a lot of talk about final repositories. Now lets have a look at three pieces of news of this summer showing the real face of these final repositories:

WIBA: Florida Governor Doyle got money from nuclear power company, then softened his stance
A new study has found executives of a Florida utility gave Gov. Jim Doyle almost $24,000 weeks before Doyle softened his stance against nuclear power. Florida Power & Light Co. owns the Point Beach nuclear power plant near Two Rivers.

Telegraph: Why the Government's nuclear energy policy will fail
The Government is committed to a new generation of nuclear power stations to fill Britain's energy gap. But Tom Burke says the new nuclear policy is fundamentally flawed and is based on a misunderstanding of nuclear power's economics.

World Nuclear News: Most German businesses support nuclear extension
A survey conducted by the German association of Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) indicates that almost 80% of businesses are in favour of extending the operating lives of country's nuclear power plants beyond current phase-out dates.
The online survey of more than 1150 businesses (46% in the industrial and construction sector; 21% traders; and 33% in the services sector) was conducted in mid July to gauge the opinion of companies on the country's climate and environmental protection measures.

Arms Control: Revised U.S. Proposal for India-Specific Exemption from Nuclear Suppliers Group Is Inadequate and Irresponsible
Today, the Arms Control Association (ACA) obtained a copy of the revised U.S. proposal to exempt India from existing nuclear trade restrictions maintained by the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). The proposed rule change would allow India to acquire nuclear technology and material previously off limits to it because of India's misuse of past nuclear imports designated for peaceful purposes to conduct a nuclear explosion in 1974 and refusal to allow full-scope international safeguards on its nuclear complex.

Reuters: Lack of power and water cap Namibian uranium output
A shortage of energy and water will cap future uranium mine expansion in Namibia, but the country hopes to ease the bottlenecks through desalination and a new coal-fired power plant, an industry body said on Wednesday.

Freep: North Korea accused of nuclear moves
South Korea said Wednesday that North Korea has started work to restore its nuclear facilities after the communist country suspended operations to disable them last week.

News 24: South Africa - Nuclear contamination feared
Representatives from Namaqualand communities living near the Vaalputs national nuclear waste facility in the Northern Cape told Parliament's minerals and energy portfolio committee on Tuesday they feared their water supply was being radioactively contaminated. "We appeal urgently to Parliament to test the water in our area. There is one community at Kamassies who complain that their water has already been contaminated," community leader Tony Coetzee told MPs.

Finland’s nuclear safety watchdog; STUK had to face a tough decision last week. Greenpeace had published evidence that basic construction standards had been violated in the welding of the reactor building of the European Pressurized Reactor prototype in Olkiluoto. STUK had first categorically denied the claims but then had to give up and conduct a special inspection at the site.

The inspection showed that work had been started before required tests and paperwork were done, revealed inadequate use of welding guidelines, unveiled examples of employees being coerced not to speak to inspectors about safety problems and insufficient knowledge of how to report the problems, lack of competent welding oversight and a serious language problem, just as we had told.

You would think that a watchdog would be proud to announce they have detected and started to address all these problems. STUK, however, reacted more like a nuclear industry PR agency, choosing not to mention any of these problems before being asked and even then dodging the issues. They went on complaining that their 3-day inspection was far too time-consuming and costly, setting the companies back by EUR100.000, according to the head of STUK.

I cannot say I feel bad for forcing them to do their job, if only for three days.

By the way; on the very same day of STUK’s press conference; Areva released its half-year results. The presentation included long quotes from the STUK including the love letter from STUK to Areva.

(This a guest post by Lauri Myllyvirta, nuclear campaigner based in Finland for Greenpeace Nordic. You can find out more about Olkiluoto 3 at olkiluoto.info.)

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

icLiverpool: French fuel prices 'subsidised by us'
‘A MERSEY MP yesterday accused a French-owned energy firm of stinging British families with sky-high prices rises - to keep bills down on the other side of the Channel. Birkenhead MP Frank Field launched a furious attack on EDF Energy after it hiked gas tariffs in Britain by 22% and electricity charges by 17%. In sharp contrast, price rises in France have been strictly capped at just 5% - something that is possible because EDF is state-owned.’

Helsingin Sanomat: Government promises to secure sufficient electricity for industry
‘The government hopes to make sure in its new energy and climate strategy that Finnish industry will get the electricity it needs. Helsingin Sanomat has learned that a ministerial working group estimates that the need for electricity in 2020 will be about 103 terawatt hours (TWh). After that year, demand for electricity is expected to decline slowly. The estimate means that in addition to the fifth Finnish nuclear reactor currently being built in Olkiluoto, only one more such installation would be built in Finland.’

Reuters: Bush likely to scrap nuclear deal with Russia
‘The United States is likely to scrap a civilian nuclear pact with Russia soon as punishment for its war against Georgia last month, a U.S. official said on Thursday. While the U.S. government has announced plans to give U.S. ally Georgia over $1 billion in reconstruction aid, it has yet to hit Moscow with any concrete sanctions for the military incursion deep into Georgian territory last month. But the Bush administration is preparing to scuttle the civilian nuclear deal, which was intended to lift Cold War restrictions on trade and open up the U.S. nuclear market and Russia's uranium fields to companies from both countries.’

Express India: If N-deal against India's interest, we'll walk out: Kakodkar
‘Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar appeared to suggest that India would walk out of the nuclear deal with the US if it goes against its interest. "If it is going to cause harm to our health, what should we do? You don't eat something just because it is served to you," he told a TV channel.’

Take a look at this rather amazing animated advertisement from everyone’s favourite nuclear incompetent, Areva:

Beautiful, isn’t it? Everything’s so green. Nuclear power stations aren’t grey, foreboding monsters. Oh no, they’re cool science-fiction constructions that you can build in a meadow with no ill effects on the environment. It’s Funky Town, y’all! Won’t you take me to Funky Town?

Did you notice the cute little wind farm next to the reactor? Nuclear is as safe, cheap and clean as wind you know! Why else put them together in an industry propaganda film? There obviously wasn’t time to include tiny little animated local people being told not to fish in the river.

And who knew nuclear power could help people in Shanghai bars to fall in love? Another miraculous side effect of fission. Truly, nuclear is all things to all men and women.

The UK has a famous satire and investigative journalism magazine called Private Eye.

In the current edition, it has the following to say about the construction of the EPR reactors at Olkiluoto in Finland and Flamanville in France:

Companies building and running nuclear power stations find it impossible to get insurance to cover them in the even of a nuclear accident. They are uninsurable. The costs of containing and clearing up are unimaginably huge and would surely bankrupt any insurance company foolhardy enough to offer cover.

So what do the nuclear companies do? They hold their hands out and the tax payer empties their wallet. As UK Energy Minister and nuclear cheerleader Malcolm Wicks puts it:

The impossibility of quantifying the monetary value of the indemnity is the main reason that there is no commercially available insurance, and the reason an indemnity is needed.

So, they might as well pick a figure from out of the air. It’s nothing more than a huge, uneducated guess. It’s like doing the grocery shopping with only twenty dollars in your pocket but being heedless of the price of the things you’re buying. So, some fillet of beef. A Simpsons DVD box set. A big bottle of champagne. You get to the checkout and of course you don’t have enough money. With a queue of people peering over your shoulder, one by one your little extravagances are knocked off your bill.

Not so with they nuclear industry however. They hit the store and go berserk. Truffle oil. A case of bourbon. Cakes, loads of cakes. The finest wines. All the Simpsons DVD box sets. They get to the checkout and on finding they don’t have enough money, instead of putting back what they can’t afford, they telephone their friend.

He’s put upon this friend - he works long hours and he’s dog tired. But he never fails to turn up and empty his wallet. And he never complains. He’s never once said ‘no’. You know who this doormat is? This poor little character that can be relied upon to always do what he’s told? The little guy of the gang who’s always pushed around?

It’s you.

A radioactive waste site is leaking in the mountains of Lower Saxony, Germany. Groundwater from the site is radioactive. The facility – formerly a salt and potash mine - is in danger of collapse. Have you got your wallet handy?

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

Statesman Journal: Nuclear power doesn't benefit Britain, other nations
‘I write from London, England. I cannot speak for France, Japan or Russia, but can enlighten your readers that the chemical separation of plutonium from uranium and fission products in irradiated nuclear fuel through the process called nuclear reprocessing has not proved a great benefit to Britain. It has resulted in significant radiological pollution of the Irish Sea, angering our neighbors, Ireland, for several decades, as well as Nordic neighbors, Norway, concerned over radiological pollution of their pristine fishing waters.’

Reuters: High costs to underpin uranium, spot price volatile
‘Long-term contract prices of uranium are expected to remain firm on higher production costs, but the thin spot market will be volatile for at least three years, participants at an industry conference said this week.’

The Economic Times: Russia building floating nuclear power plant
‘In a couple of years, a new kind of vessel will appear on the sea - the floating nuclear power plant (FNPP). The Academician Lomonosov, currently under construction in Russia, is only one project of the several FNPP being developed.’

The London Times: Vladimir Putin set to bait US with nuclear aid for Tehran
‘Russia is considering increasing its assistance to Iran’s nuclear programme in response to America’s calls for Nato expansion eastwards and the presence of US Navy vessels in the Black Sea delivering aid to Georgia.’

The West: No Aust uranium for non-NPT nations: Crean
‘Countries that are not signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will not be supplied with uranium by Australia, Trade Minister Simon Crean says. Mr Crean said in Melbourne today Australia does not supply yellowcake to countries that were not NPT signatories.’

DNA: Exposed: China’s nuclear double-talk
‘China’s attempts to take the moral high ground at the Vienna meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group by giving voice to nuclear non-proliferation concerns in the context of the Indo-US nuclear agreement have unwittingly drawn attention to its own abysmal record of nuclear proliferation over the decades.’

Over at OpEdNews, John Peebles has an excellent article outlining the many drawbacks and failings of nuclear power. Well worth a read.

So, India and the US got exactly what they wanted at the weekend. The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) gave India permission to join the nuclear club without all the fuss of having to first sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The scramble is now on to sell India nuclear technology. Despite the many instances of nuclear energy’s leaks, accidents, cost and schedule overruns, and failures to live up to its promises to be cheap, safe and clean, India is intent on repeating the nuclear mistakes made all over the world. The US government must now hurry to ratify the NSG’s decision in Congress in order that American companies can join the gold rush. France’s Areva and Russia’s Rosatom are already in the lead and with the Bush Administration in its last days time is tight.

It all goes to show how countries are willing to double their standards or throw them away all together at the first smell of hard cash. Why are the US so keen to allow India nuclear technology without it signing the NPT if not in the hope of grabbing a slice of that hugely lucrative market? Iran is a signatory to the NPT and yet the US and the wider global community are determined to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

India has given non-proliferation assurances outside the NPT but questions must be asked just how binding these assurances are and what happens in the event of India electing a less friendly government in the future. One of the reasons India gives for not signing the treaty is that it borders China and its nuclear arsenal.

This looks a lot little like a bunch of kids jealous about each others toys. If only we made our governments behave as well as our children. If we were truly interested in high standards of global behaviour, we’d send China and India - and all other countries with nuclear weapons for that matter - to their rooms without any supper.

The best part of this story is that it was because of India that the NSG was formed in the first place – in 1974 in response to India testing a nuclear weapon that year. And here it is 34 years later giving that same nation the nuclear go ahead without binding international commitments. But that’s nuclear power for you. Treaties are enforced except when they’re not. One country’s word is good enough while another’s isn’t. Money trumps everything else.

So, countries can sell India everything it needs for its own ‘nuclear renaissance’. It says it ‘remains committed to a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing.’ But what happens if India decides to resume nuclear testing or proliferate nuclear technology? Nobody really knows – the agreement passed this weekend has nothing to say on those matters. India isn’t signed up to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty either. The US, France, Russia and others have their fingers crossed as they count the cash.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

AFP: US postpones nuclear pact with Russia amid Georgia tension
‘The agreement aimed to allow US and Russian companies to form joint ventures in the nuclear sector and gives the go-ahead for exchanges of nuclear technology between the two countries, according to officials on both sides. Under the deal, Russia would also be able to reprocess spent nuclear fuel originating in the United States, which accounts for most of the world market, in a move that has raised fears of Russia being turned into a nuclear dump.’

Reuters: U.S. NRC to review Nevada nuclear waste project
‘The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday said it has "docketed" the U.S. Energy Department's license application for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. This means the NRC staff can begin its technical review of the long-delayed Yucca Mountain project. Putting the application on docket is not making a determination whether Yucca Mountain should be built, the NRC said in a press release.’

Greentech Media: Google Sets Sail With Ocean Power Patent
‘Some brilliant minds at Google must have looked out at the vast Pacific Ocean not far from its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. at one time and wondered: How can we harness ocean power to benefit mankind? The answer, apparently, lies in a patent application approved by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office last month. The patent outlines engineering concepts for constructing a giant floating data center offshore that would be cooled and powered by ocean waves and currents.’

News.com.au: Clueless smugglers exposed to uranium
‘They smuggled it into China, evading customs checks but apparently ignorant the interesting metal could be dangerous. One of them hid it in his father-in-law's home in Xinjiang. "They were surprised that at night when the lights went out the treasure sparkled and glittered, and Wang chipped a piece from it and kept it beside his bed, sometimes playing with it," the report said of one of the men.’

The nuclear village idiot, Tricastin is back in the news again after another incident at the site. How many times is that this summer? We’re losing count.

This time the Tricastin 2 reactor had to be evacuated after two fuel units became ‘snagged’ during refuelling operations. Thankfully on this occasion, according to reports, there was no external leak.

Initial reports are never the end of the story where Tricastin is concerned, however. If things run their usual course we can expect a slow trickle of bad news about this incident in the coming days.

Poor Tricastin. What kind of life is it, dribbling all over the place, pathetic and stripped of all dignity? If it was a family pet you’d be considering taking it to the vet to ask him to do the kind and humane thing. Won’t someone put Tricastin out of its misery?

As we said yesterday, the scramble is now on to grab a slice of the £14 billion the Indian government has to spend nuclear technology. Since the Nuclear Suppliers Group gave its blessing at the weekend to India having nuclear power outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, four companies have declared their intentions to compete. Here, Nuclear Reaction takes a look at the runners in this most lucrative of races…

1. Areva
Where to start with the spectacularly incompetent nuclear behemoth, Areva? This French conglomerate is currently overseeing the unbelievably troubled construction of the alleged ‘state of the art’ EPR reactors at Flamanville, France and Olkiluoto, Finland. Both projects are beset with massive cost and schedule overruns as well as extremely concerning safety and construction defects.

2. General Electric
The American multinational has a long record in the energy industry. A long record of failure, that is. In 2002, the company was ranked the fourth largest air polluter in the US. Freedom of Information requests in the US have revealed that General Electric reactors around the world have a design fault that makes it 90 per cent likely that in the event of a meltdown, radioactive material will be released into the environment.

3. Rosatom
Rosatom also has an enriched history in the nuclear history. Despite denials in public, leaked documents suggest that Rosatom is fearful of a nuclear explosion as waste storage tanks continue to decay at the massive nuclear waste dump on Russia’s Kola peninsula. Despite the dangers, Rosatom’s plans for a new reactor on the peninsula are well under way.

4. Westinghouse Electric Co
Half of the reactors in the world use Westinghouse technology. They are the designers of the AP1000 reactor which the Indian government is hoping to buy. However, serious flaws in the reactor’s design are currently delaying its approval and have prompted legal action in the US. The much-troubled EPR reactors under construction in France and Finland are also based on a Westinghouse design.

So there we have it, a little glimpse of what India can look forward to should any of these four win the country’s nuclear contracts. In fact, reports suggest that with so much money to go around, they’re all going to be winners. This is one race, however, we wish they could all lose. And what of the Indian people? Are they going to be winners or losers?

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

New York Times: A bad Deal
‘President Bush has failed to achieve so many of his foreign policy goals, but last weekend he proved that he can still get what he really wants. The administration bullied and wheedled international approval of the president’s ill-conceived nuclear deal with India.’

Market Watch: New Small, Transportable Nuclear "Battery" from Hyperion Power Generation to be presented at International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 52nd General Conference in Vienna, Austria
‘Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will have an opportunity to learn about Hyperion Power Generation's (HPG - http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com) unique, small, nuclear power module firsthand from the company's CEO at the 52nd General Conference September 29-October 3. John R. Grizz Deal, CEO and James Jones, director of business development, will personally staff an exhibit at the IAEA's annual conference in Vienna, Austria.’

The Times of India: We're helping Pak make use of nuke energy: China
‘Chinese foreign ministry has said that it will conduct its dealings with Pakistan on the nuclear issue in a responsible manner and continue to fulfil its international obligations on nuclear non-proliferation.’

Forbes: EDF's American Ambitions Take Quantum Jump
‘The promise of nuclear energy in the United States could lead to another international conquest for French operator Electricite de France, which has more firmly entrenched its existing position in U.S. company Constellation Energy.’

NewsRoom Finland: Finnish builders' union postpones nuclear site strike
‘The Finnish Construction Trade Union on Monday postponed the start of a strike affecting Teollisuuden Voima's Olkiluoto nuclear power station site by a week to 17 September. The union added that Rimec, a Cyprus-registered subcontractor at the site, had until 16 September to come up with an explanation of suspected wage and occupational healthcare irregularities.’

Swissinfo: Assessing risk to children from nuclear power
‘A study has been launched in Switzerland to investigate whether children living near nuclear reactors have a higher risk of cancer. The study - Childhood Cancer and Nuclear Power Plants in Switzerland - follows an analysis by German scientists last year that found a possible link between higher rates of leukaemia in children who live near nuclear power plants.’

Bloomberg: North Korea Faces Diplomatic Costs If Reactor Starts, U.S. Says
‘North Korea will face diplomatic and political costs if the regime restarts its nuclear reactor in breach of an international disarmament accord, the U.S. State Department said.’

IPS: Increased Nuclear Energy Demand Boosts Namibia
‘The worldwide scramble for energy sources due to dwindling fossil fuel reserves has placed renewed emphasis on nuclear energy as solution for future needs. As a result, Namibia in south-western Africa is experiencing a uranium boom.’

The collapse of the Soviet Union nearly 20 years ago obviously put a lot of spies and spooks out of work. With the Cold War at an end, the various superpowers and their allies no longer needed armies of secret agents to gather intelligence and spread disinformation.

So where did all those ex-James Bonds go? How did they adapt to civilian life and use their skills of espionage and propaganda? If you look at what’s going on in countries like Bulgaria right now, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d all joined the nuclear industry.

The misinformation being spread about how fantastic the Belene nuclear reactor in northern Bulgaria is going to be is worthy of the finest Cold War spy thrillers. ‘The Balkan region suffers from systematic shortage of nuclear energy,’ says the Bulgarian prime minister. ‘Without development of nuclear power, it is impossible to halt adverse climate change,’ he goes on. Nuclear power is more financially viable than oil, he says. ‘The project enjoys the full support of the European Union,’ he claims. Energy Minister Dimitrov claims Belene will have a zero risk of failure. ‘I am proud of Bulgarian power engineers, who are capable of developing such a complicated design,’ boasts Prime Minister Stanishev.

And it’s all wrong, wrong, wrong. Misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

The London Times: E.ON to build £4bn British nuclear power station
‘E.ON, the German energy group, is drawing up plans to build a £4 billion nuclear power station beside the River Severn in Gloucestershire. The company has applied to National Grid for a connection that would allow it to build a 1,600 mega-watt nuclear station at Oldbury-on-Severn by April 2020.’

Reuters: UK and Italy to work together on nuclear energy
‘"I'm pleased to announce our two countries will work together in the area of nuclear energy," Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a news conference with visiting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. "We both agreed that nuclear power can play an important part (in achieving) our shared objectives on climate change and energy security," he said.’

Bloomberg: Hitachi Shares Slump After Chubu Sues Over Shutdown
‘Hitachi Ltd. tumbled the most in more than five months in Tokyo trading after Chubu Electric Power Co. said it will sue Japan's third-biggest builder of nuclear plants because a faulty turbine forced the utility to shut down a power plant.’

The Guardian: Nuclear is the real threat to the fuel-poor, not wind energy
‘Recent allegations that a dash for wind would cause a big increase in fuel poverty crumble when you do the numbers, says Oliver Tickell. Nuclear is the real worry’

Bloomberg: Bush Sends U.S.-India Nuclear Accord to Congress for Approval
‘The Bush administration is racing to win ratification of the agreement before Congress adjourns on Sept. 26, after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh put his government on the line for it. While a group of nuclear-supplier nations last week granted a waiver for India to engage in trade of nuclear fuel and supplies, U.S. companies need congressional approval to participate.’

International Herald Tribune: Police arrest 5 for uranium theft in India
‘Police arrested five people in India's remote northeast for allegedly stealing what is believed to be uranium ore, an official said Wednesday, just days after India won a crucial endorsement from nations that supply nuclear material and technology.’

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

Bloomberg: McCain Nuclear Energy Revival May Cost $315 Billion
‘The Republican presidential nominee wants the plants built in time to help the U.S. meet a 29 percent increase in electricity demand by 2030. Industry estimates put their cost at $7 billion each. Barack Obama, McCain's Democratic opponent, is less specific about his plans, saying he wants to ``find ways to safely harness nuclear power.''’

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Accuses Iran Shipper Of Nuclear Aid
‘The U.S. Treasury Department accused Iran's national maritime carrier of helping the country's nuclear and missile programs, a formal move designed to pressure Iran amid stalled talks over its nuclear work. The Treasury, in designating the carrier as a "proliferator," said the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and 18 of its affiliated entities were secretly "providing logistical services" to Iran's military, falsifying shipping documents and using deceptive terms to describe shipments in order to hide their activities from foreign maritime officials.’

Threats Watch: New Nuclear Materials Detection Technology
‘A major resource of this country is the National Laboratory system. While sometimes the work done at the Labs is “basic research” area, other times, major breakthroughs occur in areas of significant and timely importance. Since September 11, 2001, one of the concerns for Homeland Security has been the tens of thousands of cargo containers entering our 93 maritime ports, and the possibility that one could contain contraband nuclear material.’

oHeraldo: Bush invites PM, may sign deal on Sept 25
‘US President George W Bush today invited Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh to the White House on September 25 when the two may sign the civil nuclear deal if it is approved by then. The Prime Minister, who will go to the United Nations for attending the General Assembly, will travel here for the meeting.’

Jim over at Greenpeace’s No New Nukes blog has a great piece about the state of security at the US’s nuclear power plants.

Even after the 9-11 attacks, the nuclear industry argued that it shouldn’t be required to defend against terrorists since they were “enemies of the state.” And unfortunately the Bush Administration’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed with the industry. As a result, the NRC didn’t set the new security standard based upon the actual threat to nuclear plants. Instead, then NRC Chairman Diaz, who had claimed that nuclear plants were best defended from an airliner attack at the airport, based the new security standard on what a private security force could be expected to defend against.

Unfortunately, the Bush administration’s NRC did not base the new security standard upon on the force, size and capabilities of the terrorists that have threatened U.S. reactors. It based the new security standard upon the capabilities of nuclear industry’s guard force! If this nonsensical approach to defending nuclear power plants wasn’t bad enough, recent revelations of nuclear plant guards sleeping on the job and the lack of NRC oversight only serve to heighten concerns about security.

It’s a must read – go and see.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

Greenville Online: Nuclear reprocessing is risky and impractical
‘A powerful bipartisan duo, Rep. James Clyburn and Sen. Lindsey Graham, recently joined forces to support "nuclear reprocessing." We urge these gentlemen to temper their enthusiasm. For the past year, we served on the Governor's Climate, Energy & Commerce Advisory Committee. CECAC represented a wide range of interests, including utilities, industry and banking. CECAC's final report concluded that nuclear energy is an important part of the state's energy future. However, we adopted an extremely cautious position on reprocessing.‘

The New York Times: We May Miss Kim Jong-il (and Maybe Musharraf)
‘Last week, when the news filtered out of the black hole of North Korea that Kim Jong-il likely suffered a stroke in August, no one in the Bush administration rushed out to buy a get-well-soon card. This is, after all, a man President Bush has described as a “tyrant,” a dictator who starves his own people, and, according to some Senators, a “pygmy” — the biggest insult for a guy who keeps a lot of elevator shoes in the presidential closet in Pyongyang. But whatever names he is called, there was a surprising ambivalence in official Washington about the news — more than a whiff of reluctance, in fact, to lose Mr. Kim at the helm just now. This was true especially among intelligence officials, who wake up every day worried about what happens when states implode, and whether there will be a free-for-all for their weapons.’

AFP: IAEA report on Iran as early as Monday
‘The UN nuclear watchdog IAEA will publish its latest report on Iran's nuclear programme as early as Monday afternoon, sources close to the agency said Sunday. According to those sources, it was "possible but not certain" that the International Atomic Energy Agency would publish the document on Monday.’

Los Angeles Times: Nuclear know-how made easy, report on Libya shows
‘Though Libya was far from obtaining nuclear weapons, a probe into its program showed how easily nuclear secrets could be passed around. Most of the sensitive documents for enriching nuclear material and designing weapons were being put into electronic form, allowing for e-mailing or for transportation on memory sticks, said the report by the IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency.’

In a move of staggering over-optimism the Brazilian government has announced that it plans to build one nuclear reactor a year for fifty years. As far as jaw-dropping announcements go, this is way out there. Can an announcement be far behind that they plan to put a man on Pluto before the end of the decade?

As readers of this blog will already know, building a nuclear reactor is a massively complex, expensive and time consuming enterprise.. The planet is littered with stories of nuclear cost and budget overruns, incompetence and waste.

Can you imagine how much 50 reactors are going to cost once overruns have been factored in? Given the experience of last ten years we can safely say hundred of billions of dollars. Imagine the stunning renewable energy and efficiency programmes that money could buy.

To make Brazil’s aspirations even more unlikely to come to fruition, none other than our favourite nuclear fools Areva are assisting in the completion of Brazil’s third reactor, Angra 3. Having watched the spectacularly bad job industry ‘experts’ Areva are making of building new ‘state of the art’ reactors in Flamanville, France and Olkiluoto, Finland, we wouldn’t bet one cent that Brazil will get anywhere near 50 reactors within 50 years if Areva are involved. We’ll save the money for that ticket to Pluto.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

Reuters: Kenya considers nuclear power plant: minister
‘"We are thinking of a small plant to generate about 1,000 megawatts initially. From very rough castings, initially it will cost us about $1 billion," Kiraitu Murungi told reporters.’

OneWorld.net: Tribal Winds Blowing Strong
‘Around the world indigenous peoples are suffering enormous hardship from climate change, but in the western United States, some Native American tribes are seeing climate change as an opportunity for economic self-sufficiency. Consider the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Reservation in south-central South Dakota, where in 2003 the tribe erected the first Native American owned and operated commercial-utility-scale 750-kilowatt wind turbine project on reservation lands. Producing 2.4 million kilowatt hours per year of renewable, clean electricity (enough to power 240 typical American households), the Rosebud turbine is also connected to the national power grid, offering the tribe the opportunity to sell green power to the federal government at the Ellsworth Air Force Base, and any remaining surplus energy to utility companies.’

The Calcutta Telegraph: French N-deal in the works
‘India is likely to sign a civilian nuclear co-operation pact with France during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Paris at the end of this month.’

The Scotsman: Scientists find more hazardous hotspots on beach
‘SCIENTISTS have pinpointed seven new radioactive hotspots on a public beach in Fife, it emerged yesterday. Close to the site of a former Second World War airfield, Dalgety Bay has long been suspected of being contaminated by parts from planes which were dismantled prior to parts of the coastline being reclaimed.’

Science Daily: Global Shortages Of Radio Isotopes For Cancer Diagnosis May Be A Thing Of The Past
‘Thanks to a newly-developed technology at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, global shortages of radio isotopes for cancer diagnosis could be a thing of the past. This is the message from Prof. Bert Wolterbeek of Delft University of Technology’s Reactor Institute Delft (RID) in an article in university journal Delta.’

Yesterday we brought you the fantastical tale of the Brazilian government announcing their ambition to build 50 new nuclear reactors by 2050. No sooner had the disbelieving laughter died down here at Nuclear Reaction, along came the World Nuclear Association (WNA) with an amazing fantasy of its own. Wait until you see this – it’s amazing. There are comedians who would kill for this ability to make people laugh…

In its Nuclear Century Outlook report, the WNA has an upper ‘outlook projection’ of 11,000 new nuclear reactors being built by the end of the century.

Read that again. The WNA can envisage a scenario in which 11,000 nuclear reactors will be built in the next 92 years.

That means starting to build this October 120 reactors a year…

…which is 10 reactors every month…

…which is one reactor every three days.

Where’s all the waste going to go? Where are the engineers, the materials, the finance, and the technology going to come from? It’s not LEGO we’re talking about here. Currently only one company, in Japan, produces the forgings able to withstand the extraordinary pressures inside a nuclear reactor. That company currently has a three-year backlog. So where is the extra capacity going to come from to build and supply the components for 11,000 new reactors? It’s going to require an expansion in industrial production not seen since the Second World War if at all.

Even half of 11,000 is ludicrous. It makes the IEAE’s own fantasy projection of a doubling of nuclear power production by 2030 look positively reasonable.

Now, we all like ambition – it keeps the human race moving forward. We all like optimism which is, after all, what keeps us going in the face of all life’s adversities. But there’s a difference between ambition and delusion; between optimism and blind faith.

We compared Brazil’s ambition to build 50 new reactors to them announcing a manned mission to Pluto. Compared to the WNA’s announcement, however, Brazil’s ambitions sound like planning a tree house. The WNA’s announcement is like announcing a manned mission to Middle Earth to ask Gandalf to help with electricity generation. All good fun but not a reliable solution to the problems we face.

The WNA tells us that it’s ‘representing the people and organisations of the global nuclear profession’. If ’11,000 reactors by 2100’ is anything to go by, those people and organisations need a new representative. Homer Simpson couldn’t do a worse job.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

World Nuclear News: Iter conductor certified for use
‘Iter will be constructed in Europe, at Cadarache in the South of France. Work to construct new infrastructure or to modify existing infrastructure, such as widening roads and roundabouts, to allow for the delivery of major components to Cadarache began in January. Over the next 18 months, 90 different engineering operations at work sites in and around the sixteen villages between the port of Berre l'Etang and Cadarache will start. During the Iter construction phase, 200 convoys, on average one every two days, will travel along the route. The nine components of the vacuum vessel will each weigh 600 tonnes and the 18 toroidal field coils, aimed at confining the plasma, will weigh 530 tonnes. The cost of the roadworks to enable the transport of such components will be almost €100 million ($146 million) and will be financed by the Bouches-du-Rhône regional government.’

Reuters: EDF says won't pay "any price" for British Energy
‘Pierre Gadonneix also told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in London that he was unaware if a bid for British Energy would be discussed at an EDF board meeting this week. "We are not going to do anything at any price. We as a company are clearly committed to playing a role in nuclear development in Great Britain," he said.’

Star Tribune: If nuclear power is safe, why protect operators from liability?
‘Republicans, from John McCain to congressional candidates, claim that nuclear power is safe and should be expanded in order to solve the energy crisis. But nuclear power would be impossible without the Price Anderson Act, which shields nuclear power plant owners from free market forces.’

Guardian: Energy security 'more important than climate change'
‘Securing the country's supply of electricity is more important than tackling climate change, a new report from energy analysts has claimed. It warned that the UK's economy could be wrecked if there was no action to plug the energy shortfall predicted for the next decade, with businesses going bust and hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs. But the report, led by Ian Fells, emeritus professor at the University of Newcastle and a veteran energy policy analyst, has been dismissed as "naive" by Greenpeace, and "overstated" by the energy secretary John Hutton. Environmentalists argued that the report's recommendation for new coal-fired power stations went against the advice of scientists and that the rest of the world was forging ahead with renewables.’

RTTNews: House Passes Energy Bill; Still Faces Senate And President
‘A Democratic-backed comprehensive energy bill narrowly passed the House late Tuesday, by a vote of 236 to 189, but the measure still must pass the Senate and avoid a presidential veto to become law. The bill allows for some expansion of offshore drilling, opens up federal lands for shale oil exploration and encourages investment in wind and solar energy. The measure cleared the House after three hours of sometimes fiery debate.’

Some people complain about wind turbines from an aesthetic point of view. ‘They’re ugly,’ they’ll proclaim. ‘They ruin beautiful landscapes,’ they’ll exclaim.

Then there are many who find wind turbines majestic, awe-inspiring things. Some of the new designs of vertical-axis wind turbines look like pieces of modern art. Beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder. Aesthetic viewpoints are subjective. We’d like to bet, however, that hardly anybody ever looked at a nuclear power plant…

THORP (thermal oxide reprocessing plant). Sellafield, NW England.
© Greenpeace/Robert Morris

…and said: ‘You know, that’s beautiful.’ (Not unless they were Areva executives drooling over how much money they were going to rip off from the tax payer.)

Then there are those who complain that wind turbines are a threat to wildlife, that birds are being killed. How many birds are killed by wind turbines? Are there any accurate figures? At the Sellafield nuclear plant in the UK they could give you an accurate figure of how many birds have been killed there by sharpshooters. All they’d need to do is go down to the basement and count the hundreds of seagulls and other birds they have stored in the enormous freezer. These are birds sharpshooters have had to kill because the animals have become radioactive after swimming in the water at Sellafield. The bodies can’t be disposed of because they’re classed as nuclear waste.

You can say what you like about wind turbines but at least you won’t need robots to clean up the dangerous sludge they produce either. That’s because, obviously, they don’t produce any dangerous sludge. Unlike at Sellafield where, you guessed it, they need robots to clean up the dangerous sludge, a by-product of nuclear energy, because you can’t send a human in there to clean it up. Sellafield isn’t the only place – robots are in big demand at the most dangerous nuclear sites.

And what about these poor robots? Will they become radioactive in turn? Will we need another army of robots to clean up the army of robots? Will we then need an army of robots to clean up the army of robots who cleaned up the army of robots? This is potentially never-ending…

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

The Guardian: Eco Soundings
‘E.ON, the German energy company that owns Kingsnorth power station, was keeping its head down after the Greenpeace verdict, but it's leaked out that it is now planning to build a nuclear reactor on the banks of the river Severn at Oldbury, Gloucestershire. Nearby communities need not expect anything too soon. The company wants a European pressurised reactor, the kind now under construction at Olkiluoto, Finland, and Flamanville, northern France. Both projects are entangled in construction problems; foundations have been laid with the wrong mix of concrete, and welds have been wrongly applied. Olkiluoto is now two-and-a-half years behind schedule and £1bn overspent. Flamanville is six months behind schedule.’

Your Nuclear News: Islamabad seeks nuclear power deal with China
‘Islamabad is to seek from Beijing fuel technology for the future nuclear power plants during the forthcoming much trumpeted visit of President Asif Ali Zardari to China, a senior government official at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) said yesterday.’

Science Daily: Sophisticated Monitoring Array To Address Mystery Of Uranium Plume
‘Scientists have puzzled for years about why uranium contamination in groundwater continues to exceed drinking water standards in an area located at the south end of the Hanford Site. The Department of Energy wants answers to why the uranium persists.’

World Nuclear News: New institute and products for KazAtomProm
‘Kazakhstan's nuclear company is to set up an atomic energy institute in partnership with Toshiba. With support from other Japanese firms it plans to begin exporting high-tech products from materials that currently go to waste.’

Vermont Yankee is a real little troublemaker. Last year, a large part of one of the US nuclear power plant’s cooling towers collapsed. The collapse was put down to rotting wood in the tower’s construction. Further poor maintenance also led to a ‘reactor scram’ and shutdown in the same year.

Problems have continued for poor Vermont. The reactor has just suffered its third leak of coolant in a year, the last being in July. Vermont wants permission to carry on for another 20 years while a US Senate Finance Committee has called for independent oversight of the plant. We couldn’t agree more. Little Vermont Yankee needs a chaperone.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Managing the global growth of nuclear energy
‘It's inevitable that nuclear power will expand globally, raising the danger of increased proliferation. One controversial plan, GNEP, was pushed by the Bush administration as a way to curtail the risks. In a three-part Bulletin Web-Edition series, Leonor Tomero examined the program and what might happen to its partners and stakeholders if it's no longer funded. With that program looking less and less viable, how will the fuel cycle be managed going forward?’

Institute for Science and International Security: Indian Nuclear Export Controls and Information Security: Important Questions Remain
‘ISIS believes that important questions remain about the adequacy and implementation of India's export control and nuclear classification procedures. In addition, India's illicit procurement of dual-use nuclear-related items for its unsafeguarded nuclear program belies its commitment to the Nuclear Suppliers Group.’

redOrbit: Nuclear Triggers a Mixed Reaction
‘The problem, John Busby [a nuclear fuels expert] argues, is that across the world uranium mining is rapidly running through the easy-to-get-at ore, and is having to go deeper and deeper, and to mine ore of increasingly dubious purity, to meet demand. "In Canada, the leading supplier of uranium, two mines have closed and two of the three operating uranium mines have passed their Hubbert's Peaks." Hubbert's Peak is the point on the graph that marks the apex of world oil production - the oil sector is already beyond that point and so, now, is uranium mining.’

There’s been some fuss at the National Institute of Standards and Technology laboratories in Boulder, US. Three of the laboratories have been closed after a safety audit was conducted.

NIST is a federal agency that conducts ‘research that advances the nation's technology infrastructure and is needed by U.S. industry to continually improve products and services’. A spokesman for NIST said of the laboratory closures they were nothing to do with the plutonium spill at the facility on June 9 this year. Rather, the closures were to do with other safety issues.

Now as reassurances go, how reassured would you feel? ‘It’s ok, everybody, we’re closing the labs not because we dropped some plutonium the other week but because we’ve found some other problems. Don’t panic!’

And what other problems! Plutonium was acquired without adequate safety procedures or management approval. Untrained and inexperienced staff were allowed to work on projects. Staff removed plutonium in a glass bottle from their secondary protection with ungloved hands – the glass bottle broke causing the spill.

The research at NIST is to improve the detection of so-called dirty bombs. Who knew NIST would become a great big one itself?

The UK’s Business Minister John Hutton makes it all sound so easy. He plans to…

…tell the newly-created Nuclear Development Forum's first meeting that new nuclear power plants are also crucial in preventing power cuts as ageing coal and nuclear plants are progressively shut down.

"I'm determined to press all the buttons to get nuclear built in this country at the earliest opportunity - not only because it's a no-brainer for our energy security, but also because it's good for jobs and our economy," he will say.

Moving swiftly on from talking about pressing nuclear buttons not being the best analogy in the circumstances, does nuclear provide energy security? Not when, as the UK is, you are reliant on foreign sources of uranium. Should the ‘nuclear renaissance’ take off across the world, competition for uranium will only increase along with its price. With uranium reserves in countries like the US and France already past their peak, this problem can only get worse. Goodbye oil crisis, hello uranium crisis.

Is nuclear good for jobs? As Bulgaria are finding out while building a new reactor at Belene, a shortage of skilled Bulgarian engineers means foreign workers are having to be recruited to fill the gap. The UK is facing a nuclear skills shortage of its own – that’s why it’s looking to French expertise to build a new fleet of reactors.

Hutton speaks of 100,000 jobs being created but who will train those workers? Will that be expected of the contractors building the reactors? In that case, with the cost of nuclear build rocketing, won’t the contractors save money in training costs by simply importing the skills from abroad as they do elsewhere, rather than create a skills base from scratch in the UK? Almost certainly.

Just sticking to UK targets for renewables and energy efficiency makes a ‘nuclear renaissance’ unnecessary. Renewable energy technology has the potential to create far more jobs than nuclear and make the UK a world-beater in the field – particularly if the UK government can stick to its promise to generate around 40 per cent of electricity from renewables by 2020.

Which brings us to Hutton’s final claim that nuclear will be good for the UK’s economy. That rather flies in the face of the evidence. The UK tax payer will certainly have to offer sweeteners to attract investment. Nuclear cleanup of existing UK sites is already expected to cost £83 billion with the government picking up the bill. That figure can be expected rise should new reactors be built. The government will also have to underwrite insurance costs. Hutton also speaks of the UK building a ‘vibrant’ nuclear export trade. He fails to mention how this will happen and how soon it will take to build a multinational company able to compete with nuclear giants like Areva, Toshiba and Rosatom.

So on the whole, it sounds like another load of empty rhetoric and promises. We respectfully wonder if it isn’t John Hutton himself who’s the ‘no-brainer’ here.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

Red, Green, and Blue: Italy’s Berlusconi Vows a Return to Nuclear
‘A month after the conservatives and their embattled leader returned to power back in April, the Italian government said it would begin building nuclear power stations to solve the country’s dependence on foreign oil and gas supplies.’

Digital Chosunilbo: Seoul to Suspend Aid If N.Korea Restores Nuke Reactor
‘South Korea and the U.S. are expected to temporarily suspend economic and energy aid to the North which they promised if the North disables its nuclear facilities, it emerged Sunday. The South Korean government has decided to postpone sending 1,500 tons of welded steel pipes to the North, which was scheduled for Thursday, and wait to see what the North will do next.’

Irish Times: No evidence of nuclear reactor found at Syrian site
‘INITIAL TESTS of material from a Syrian site bombed by Israel last September do not support US allegations that the target was a clandestine nuclear reactor, unidentified diplomats said on Saturday.’

The Guardian: EDF takeover of British Energy set to be signed off this week
‘Lawyers for British Energy and EDF of France were completing the final paperwork on a £12.4bn merger last night amid hopes that the formal deal can be fully signed off and announced to the London stockmarket as early as tomorrow.’

On Line Opinion: Treaties Committee rejects Russia uranium agreement
‘The majority report, written by committee chair Kelvin Thompson and other [Australian] Labor members, concludes that the government should not ratify the agreement until a number of onerous conditions have been met, the most important being the implementation of nuclear safeguards inspections in Russia, separation of civilian and military nuclear facilities, demonstrated compliance with disarmament obligations, demonstrated resolution of the problem of nuclear theft and smuggling, and proper consideration of the ramifications of "recent political events affecting Russia" (read: Russia's invasion of Georgia).’

redOrbit: What's Nuking in the Kitchen
‘A New York Times article has revealed that expensive granite countertops, a common fixture in kitchens, could contain more than bargained for.
An igneous rock (formed of magma), granite is the natural source of radiation, as it contains uranium, the mineral used in producing nuclear weapons. What that means is that granite decays, we could be exposed to both radioactivity and radon gas.’

Examiner.com: McCain and Obama Both Wrong on Nuclear Power
‘With due respect for senators Obama and McCain, they both are venting radioactive nonsense. Millions of lives are at stake, so let's dispel the absurd fantasy of "safe and secure" nuclear power. The only thing "green" about nuclear power is the money its backers hope to pocket.’

Is the French nuclear industry in trouble? It’s been a bad year for it – a long run of bad news. This summer’s long list of leaks and accidents at French nuclear sites caused by incompetence, cover up and poor safety standards made the international press.

Bad news continues to leak out of the construction of the ‘state-of-the-art’ nuclear reactor at Flamanville. Nine months behind schedule after only nine months of construction, and featuring substandard concreting and poor welding procedures, the new reactor is hardly the showcase for the ‘nuclear renaissance’ that it’s builders Areva were hoping for.

And the bad news doesn’t stop there. Uranium mines in France are exhausted. This makes the country completely reliant on foreign reserves to fuel its nuclear power stations that provide 80 per cent of the country’s electricity. To make this situation worse, the Niger government has announced that it is breaking Areva’s de facto monopoly in uranium mining in the country. Thirty per cent of France’s uranium comes from Niger but the government has just announced that it is opening up its market to the likes of India, Canada and China. Tuareg rebels opposed to the government have restarted their armed struggle and are demanding 30 per cent of uranium revenues.

Areva has a large share in Canada’s world's largest undeveloped high-grade uranium deposit in Cigar Lake, but that project has been seriously delayed by recurring floodings, postponing the envisioned start up date by years.

With the summer conflict between Russia and Georgia testing relations with the West and showing a worrying fragility of security in Eastern Europe, will France be able to rely on uranium supplies from Russia and Kazakhstan in the future? True, France has reprocessing facilities but that is also a game of diminishing returns.

The top seven uranium suppliers that provided nearly 90 % of world’s production in 2007 were Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Niger, Namibia, Uzbekistan. Five of those seven countries can hardly be considered politically stable and yet they produced half the total uranium in the world last year. Their share of the market is set to rise.

So, the past, present and future of French nuclear policy don’t look so bright. Will anything change? Experience would suggest not. With Areva’s sharpest salesman, President Nicholas Sarkozy, travelling the world peddling the nuclear dream, France isn’t giving up yet. The dangers and the pitfalls are there for the rest of us to see. But like the American gold rushes in the 19th century, the rush for uranium induces a form of madness.

The French government has set itself the target of producing 20 per cent of the country’s energy from renewable sources by 2020. This looks very unambitious when compared to the 40 per cent target announced by the British government. Wind and solar capacities are growing quickly in France. Imagine where those industries could go with a slick salesman backing them across the world.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

Gazette.Net: Bechtel nabs $6B nuclear deal
‘Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp. has snared a $6 billion contract from the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program to operate Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory near Pittsburgh and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in New York.’

The Daily Telegraph: No Plan B for British Energy
‘At a meeting in Paris, EdF is expected to approve formally an increase in its £12bn bid for British Energy. And, given the debacle over the French company's previous offer, which collapsed in July at the eleventh hour after unexpected shareholder opposition, it's a fair bet that EdF will have smoothed over likely opposition.’

Gurufocus: Wind Power: Why This Renewable Energy Could Solve The U.S. Oil Addiction
‘From 2000 to 2007, the size of the wind power industry increased fivefold. Last year, records were shattered with $36 billion in total global wind investments with the United States leading the way with $9 billion. In the next 10 years, the wind industry is expected to quadruple in size. Hands down, wind is the fastest growing source of power. But can such growth continue?’

LoHud.com: Nuclear plant moves waste to tackle leaks
‘BUCHANAN - Workers have removed spent nuclear fuel rods from Indian Point 1 and expect to drain 500,000 gallons of radioactive water from the dead reactor's storage pool by the end of the year. The move should end strontium 90 contamination at the plant, company and regulatory officials say.’

AFP: North Korea wants seals removed at nuclear plant: IAEA
‘The request came three days after North Korea confirmed it was working to restart the Yongbyon reactor and no longer wanted US concessions promised under the landmark agreement in return for its denuclearisation.’

Trading Markets: Callaway application for new reactor available on NRC website
‘The applicant, Ameren, submitted the application and associated information July 28. The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/callaway.html.’

DNA: Singh off to US to raise a toast to nuclear deal
‘Prime minister Manmohan Singh left for the US on Monday with hopes of raising a toast with “good friend” President George Bush to celebrate endorsement of the India-US nuclear agreement by the US Congress. Nobody knows whether the 123 bilateral agreement will be signed while Singh is in Washington on September 25, but the Bush administration is doing its best to ensure that it does. The 123 agreement though negotiated has not been signed because India needed to finalise a safety agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and get a waiver from the Nuclear Supplier Group.’

How about this for a solution to the highly radioactive waste produced by nuclear power stations? Mark Lynas, writing in the UK's New Statesman magazine suggests... fourth-generation nuclear reactors:

This is the solution proposed by Tom Blees, a US-based writer, in his upcoming book Prescription for the Planet. Blees focuses particularly on so-called fourth-generation nuclear technology - better known as fast-breeder reactors. While conventional thermal reactors use less than 1 per cent of the potential energy in their uranium fuel, fast-breeders are 60 times more efficient, and can burn virtually all of the energy available in the uranium ore.

Fourth-generation nuclear reactors? This overlooks the fact that the nuclear industry is currently struggling to build third-generation reactors on time, on budget or to required standards of safety or construction. The building of third-generation reactors in Flamanville, France and Olkiluoto, Finland are becoming a byword for industry incompetence and cover up.

Not only that, fourth-generation reactors currently only exist in theory and as drawing-board plans. They are not expected to begin commercial electricity generation some time into the second half of this century and are likely to be much more expensive. Given the nuclear industry's reputation for missing deadlines by huge margins and poor economics, this could prove to be wildly optimistic.

Climate change needs to be challenged now. Theoretical nuclear reactors that may or may not be available are a distraction. Nuclear energy remains expensive and dangerous. The alternatives exist already - there's no need or time to wait.

Despite their last three tenders for a nuclear power plant in the Akkuyu region of Turkey failing, the country’s government is pressing on with another on September 24. Thirteen companies have expressed an interest in bidding for the contract to build the plant in the southern province of Mersin.

To show opposition to the plans, Greenpeace activists staged a ‘die-in’ in front of Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler. ‘Instead of acting as a spokesperson of the nuclear lobby, Energy Minister Hilmi Guler should focus on real solutions for our energy needs,’ said activist Korol Diker, ‘These solutions are clean, renewable energies and energy efficiency. Altough the government tries to silence the opposition, the voice of reason should be heard. This is why we are here today.’

Back 1998 a earthquake registering 6.0 on the Richter Scale struck Southern Turkey. Dozens of people were killed, hundreds injured and thousands made homeless. Akkuyu is set close to the Ecemis Fault, an active faultline. Thanks to more than 30 years old licence to the area, there is no requirement for a study for faultlines in Akkuyu. It’s the perfect place to put a nuclear reactor, don’t you think?

In addition, the bidding process is already being rigged. In the face of the global economic crisis, companies wanting to bid for the contract are demanding guarantees from the Turkish government that they will be compensated in the event of problems with the new reactor, it needing to be shutdown or whatever.

You have to admit that it’s a brilliant strategy. You wouldn’t let a child cheat at a game of cards but governments all around the world are happy to let nuclear companies try and make sure they never lose. This fear of risk makes you wonder how executives of reactor builders have the courage to get out of bed in a morning. And yet they keep telling us nuclear power is perfectly safe – if it’s so safe, why the need for financial guarantees?

Could the situation get any worse? Yes it could actually. France’s nuclear multinational Areva, the company responsible for the reactor construction nightmares at Flamanville and Olkiluoto is reported to be interested in bidding for the contract.

Turkey, do you know what you’re letting yourself in for? Please stop the tender. Now.

(For more information in Turkish, please visit Greenpeace Turkey. An account of the action in Turkish is here.) More photos available here.

Photographs copyright Greenpeace/Aslihan Tumer

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

The Earth Times: Senate panel approves nuclear deal with India
‘US Senate committee on Tuesday approved the White House's plan for selling nuclear technology and material to India, bringing the agreement one step closer to passage. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 19-2 to approve the nuclear cooperation agreement, but the deal still faces challenges in the House of Representatives and is confronting a closing window of opportunity for passage as Congress nears recess ahead of the November 4 general elections.’

Times of India: Nuke deal caught in US financial storm
‘Hurricanes Gustav and Ike are gone from mainland United States, but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is flying into a perfect financial storm that could make the US-India nuclear deal, a pet project of the Indian leader and the US president, a momentary casualty.’

Monsters & Critics: IAEA Board to discuss North Korea, Iran on Wednesday
‘The debate will come a day after US president George W Bush told the United Nations General Assembly in New York that the world “must remain vigilant against proliferation by fully implementing the terms of Security Council (resolutions) and enforcing sanctions against North Korea and Iran.”’

The Guardian: Independence from the street up
‘Everything must spring from energy efficiency. We have an ocean of electricity and heating profligacy to mine in this country. British Gas ran an interesting experiment recently. Eight British streets were asked to compete in cutting their fuel bills, using only the easiest of efficiency measures. In no time at all, they cut their CO2 by an average 20% and fuel bills by a third.’

Reuters: Spain's 1,000 MW Asco I plant to halt for repairs
‘Spain's 1,000 megawatt Asco I nuclear plant began to step down power output on Tuesday with a view to disconnecting from the grid later in the day to fix an oil leak, a statement from the plant's operators said.’

The China Post: Nuclear plant construction unaffected by Sinlaku: AEC
‘Parts of an emergency safety system for the second reactor unit in the plant in northeastern Kungliao township were flooded during Typhoon Sinlaku, said the Atomic Energy Council (AEC). Rainwater gushing in from an unfinished tunnel leading to the unit reached 2-meter (78-inch) high after the plant's water pumps halted due to a power failure, the council said.’

News.com.au: Shut leaking reactor down – Greens
‘THE Australian Greens have called for Australia's only nuclear reactor to be closed down, following reports a chronic water seepage problem has yet to be fixed.’

The International News: Pakistan to install 10 N-power plants
‘"The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) has selected six sites on the basis of the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)." According to a senior official, the PAEC have selected six sites for installation of more nuclear power plants (NPPs) that include 1) Qadirabad-Bulloki (QB) link canal near Qadirabad Headworks; 2) Dera Ghazi Khan (DG) canal near Tuansa barrage, 3) Taunsa-Punjnad (TP) canal near Multan; 4) Nara canal near Sukkur, 5) Pat Feeder canal near Guddu and 6) Kabul river near Nowshera. These sites are in addition to the Chashma site where four nuclear plants will be installed.’

The Age: BHP positioning to sell uranium to China
‘BHP Billiton Ltd, the world's largest mining company, is positioning itself to supply China with uranium for "decades" as the country ramps up its nuclear plant program in a carbon conscious world.’

A slideshow of photograph’s taken at yesterday’s anti-nuclear action can be seen here. More information on the action and the issues surrounding it can be read here.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

ISIS: Old Nuclear Cash Cows Exposed
‘The “nuclear renaissance” may be a convenient charade to distract people while industry milks the old nuclear cash cows to drain the public coffers and endanger the nation.’

New York Times: Power From the Restless Sea Stirs the Imagination
‘Years of such problems have discouraged ocean-power visionaries, but have not stopped them. Lately, spurred by rising costs for electricity and for the coal and other fossil fuels used to produce it, they are making a new push to overcome the barriers blocking this type of renewable energy.’

New York Times: A Cautious Approach to Nuclear Power
‘Worries about carbon dioxide and galloping demand for electricity might seem to be setting the stage for a renaissance of nuclear power. But reactors, it turns out, are not at the top of the list for stopping global warming, at least in the United States, at least not any time soon.’

CNN: EDF Open To Talks With US Partners Other Than Constellation-CEO
‘Utility Electricite de France SA is open to talks with potential U.S. partners for the building of nuclear plants other than Constellation Energy Group Inc. (CEG), Chief Executive Pierre Gadonneix said Wednesday.’

AFP: US nuclear envoy to meet Chinese, Japanese diplomats
‘The top US negotiator on North Korea's nuclear disarmament is due to meet later Wednesday with a top Chinese diplomat on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the State Department said.’

Congratulations to the French government who now owns the British nuclear industry. Let’s hope they make a better job of it than the British government who’ve made places in Britain some of the most radioactive in the world.

And so Britain marches into its nuclear future. What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot actually. Speaking to a meeting of trade unionists last month, UK finance minister Alistair Darling admitted that higher wages may have to be offered to nuclear inspectors because nobody wants to be one.

You read that right. Britain is launching its nuclear ‘renaissance’ with a shortage of safety inspectors. Does the nuclear industry drive their cars without wearing their seat belts? Get hot dishes out the oven without oven gloves? Go sunbathing without sun lotion? Nothing would surprise us.

Poor Turkey. How would you feel if you threw a party, invited all your friends, and only one turned up? That’s how the Turkish government must be feeling this morning after the bidding closed for the contract to build a nuclear reactor in the south of the country.

They received just one bid.

Thirteen companies expressed their interests but at the end the government received just six replies. Five of them – and we’re not making this up - turned out to be letters saying ‘thanks’ for the invite but declining to bid. The industry big boys didn’t want to come to Turkey’s nuclear party.

Or rather, the Turkish government didn’t make a big enough appeal to the nuclear industry’s greed. Sweeteners in the form of subsidies and credit guarantees just weren’t big enough to attract those for whom profits come first. Polluting your country and setting back progress on renewable energy takes serious money.

Which means the party is over. Turkish competition law means the nuclear build cannot go ahead with just one bidder making proceeding illegal. We hope the Turkish energy minister hadn’t opened the champagne. We have, however, opened ours.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

China View: Russian, Venezuelan presidents to hold talks
‘Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has told Chavez, who is here for a two-day working visit, that Moscow will consider cooperation with Venezuela on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. "We are ready to consider opportunities for cooperating on the use of atomic energy...which could be extended to a third market,"the Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying at a meeting with Chavez late Thursday.’

Bloomberg: British Energy Takeover Clause May Slow New Nuclear, Times Says
‘E.ON AG said that Electricite de France SA's takeover of British Energy Group Plc may slow down other companies' U.K. nuclear development plans, the London-based Times reported, citing an unidentified E.ON spokesman.’

International Herald Tribune: Cambodia eyes nuclear plant for electricity
‘Impoverished Cambodia hopes to build a nuclear power plant to meet its future energy needs and help offset its dependence on imported oil, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced Friday during the first meeting of his new Cabinet.’

The Jamaica Observer: Jamaica going nuclear?
‘The Jamaican government is establishing a panel to determine the feasibility of building small-scale nuclear power plants to help solve the energy crisis.’

Daily Telegraph: Russia forces West to go it alone against Iran nuclear programme
‘Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov used a series of meetings with his Western counterparts, including David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, to signal that Moscow had gone cold on international efforts to reign in the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.’

The Guardian: Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran
‘Israel gave serious thought this spring to launching a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites but was told by President George W Bush that he would not support it and did not expect to revise that view for the rest of his presidency, senior European diplomatic sources have told the Guardian.’

BBC News: India-US in last nuclear push
‘Indian PM Manmohan Singh has met US President George W Bush amid frantic efforts to win US Congressional support for the two countries' nuclear deal.’

(Additional links courtesy of No 2 Nuclear Power)

Yesterday: "I want British companies and British workers to seize the opportunity and lead the world in the transformation to a low carbon economy and I believe that we can create in modern green manufacturing and service one million new jobs" - Gordon Brown.

Today: British Energy is sold to French nuclear company EDF for £12.5 billion, exporting thousands of potential UK jobs to France, dealing a hammer blow to our chances of meeting our legally binding Renewables Obligation.

Read the rest...

Let’s round off the week with some amazing facts from the whacky world of nuclear energy…

• The UK’s 60,000 tonnes of nuclear waste is difficult to visualise. Instead, imagine a pile of 15,000 elephants. That’s around a quarter of the world’s Asian elephant population.

• The Shoreham nuclear power plant in East Shoreham, New York cost $6 billion to build and was closed in 1989 without generating a single watt of electricity. That $6 billion translates as around $7000 for each customer the plant was supposed to serve.

• Iodine-129, a by-product of nuclear fission, has a half-life of 16 million years but is still dangerous after 160 million years. Or to put it another way, if the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period had had nuclear power, we’d still be looking after their waste.

• The Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility being constructed in Nevada, US is 20 years behind schedule at a cost of $90 billion. The facility is permitted to hold 63,000 tonnes of spent commercial nuclear fuel. The US’s nuclear reactors will have collectively produced that amount of waste by 2014.

• The amount of hot air produced by the nuclear industry’s public relations spokespeople each week is enough to heat 500,000 homes.

Have a good weekend.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

Financial Times: Cracks appear in the French nuclear consensus
‘Hopes of new markets have been threatened by a series of low-level incidents at the nearby nuclear installation - Europe's largest. Though the vineyards lie kilometres upriver and there is no evidence of contamination, local vintners are seeking a change in the appellation. "We are all convinced that the image of Tricastin today is so linked to nuclear that it is not possible to continue," says Mr Bour.’

The Economic Times: US House Of Representatives votes for N- Deal, Senate vote likely today
‘The Indo-US civilian nuclear deal remained just one step short of final ratification as the House of Representatives voted in favour of the deal and passed legislation which is set to be the basis of civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the US.’

China Knowledge: New nuclear power plant to be built in Wuhu
‘According to a statement released by Anhui Province Wenergy, the company, along with CGNPG, Shenergy and Shanghai Electric Power will invest RMB 200 million as the registered capital for the company and the four power plants will hold 15%, 51%, 20% and 14% respectively in the new power plant.’

The Herald: 'No threat' from nuclear base lapses
‘The Ministry of Defence yesterday insisted safety lapses at nuclear bases posed no threat to the public or its staff. The Sunday Herald reported that 100 lapses were logged at Faslane and Coulport near Helensburgh between June 2006 and May last year - 40% higher than the previous year.’

AFP: Venezuela wants to work with Russia on nuclear energy: Chavez
‘Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that he was interested in accepting Russia's offer of help in developing a civilian nuclear power program. "We certainly are interested in developing nuclear energy, for peaceful ends of course -- for medical purposes and to generate electricity," he said.’

AZCentral: Radioactive garbage piles up at hospitals
‘Tubes, capsules and pellets of used radioactive material are piling up in the basements and locked closets of hospitals and research installations around the country, stoking fears they could get lost or, worse, stolen by terrorists and turned into dirty bombs.’

AFP: Dispute over Iran requires more negotiations: Chinese PM
‘Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said in an interview aired Sunday that the international approach to Iran's disputed nuclear program should focus on negotiations and avoid piling pressure on Tehran. Wen, in his first interview with the American media in five years, said major powers should pursue peaceful talks with Iran "rather than resort to the willful use of force or the intimidation of force."’

New York Times: The Troubled North Korea Deal
‘The hard-won nuclear deal with North Korea seems to be unraveling after a hopeful period in which the North shuttered its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and dramatically blew up the cooling tower.’

The Economic Times: N-carpet awaits PM in Paris
‘Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday expressed the hope that the nuclear pact between India and France will come up for “possible signature” during his talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.’

On the subject of the law’s of thermodynamics, (beat poet Allen) Ginsberg’s Theorem posits the following rules:

1. You can't win.
2. You can't break even.
3. You can't even quit the game.

Reading the news from the nuclear industry day after day, you have to wonder if those rules don’t apply to the production of electricity using uranium. When American citizens listen to the likes of this from presidential candidates, they must wonder if they can win, break even or quit the nuclear game:

When you’re up against such intransigence, disinformation and propaganda from the man who could be president in a few months, you can see just how the rules of the game have been rigged. McCain’s rules need careful examination because he claims, in contradiction to Ginsberg’s Theorem, that we can all win the game…

Where are McCain’s 700,000 jobs coming from? Who’s going to train those workers? Forty-five new nuclear reactors by 2030? What kind of financial liabilities is the US taxpayer going to have to carry? Where’s the waste going to go? The commercial reactors the US already has will have produced enough waste by 2014 to exceed the capacity of the Yucca Mountain storage facility in Nevada. McCain had better start hollowing out another mountain and fast. Yucca Mountain is 20 years behind schedule which means on that precedent, McCain would have to start digging today to meet the disposal needs of 45 reactors coming online in 2030.

But 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 would cost around $315 billion, or more if we take into account the most recent figures for how much a reactor costs (7 billion USD is the latest official quote for one EPR). Many billions would flow from the state budget (Congress last December authorized $18.5 billion in guarantees that cover as much as 80 percent of nuclear plant construction costs, and McCain wants to multiple this loan guarantee scheme in future).

Yet, when it comes to climate change mitigation, those 45 reactors – even if we consider all to be the world’s biggest EPR units - would only generate 450 TWh, which is just ten percent of today’s US electricity demand and four percent of its total energy consumption.

Spending the same 300 billion on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources would save several times more carbon emissions than spending them on new reactors – and that would come without generating deadly radioactive waste, contamination all along the fuel chain, as well as hazards related to reactor operation and proliferation.

Click on this graph from Amory Lovins' report, The Nuclear Illusion:

McCain mentions ‘wind, tide, solar, natural gas, flex-fuel cars and all that’ almost in passing. He certainly found more time to expound on the so-called benefits of nuclear than those of renewables. Did he come up with these numbers by himself or did a lobbyist from the nuclear industry whisper them in his ear? Have his people crunched the numbers, we wonder? Has he calculated the opportunity cost of pouring billions of dollars into nuclear that could be diverted into renewables?

Nuclear reactors don’t break even. We must quit the nuclear game whatever McCain’s rules say. Nuclear energy is game where we all lose.

Some other stories from the nuclear industry you may have missed:

The Guardian: UK's renewable energy efforts 'ineffective'
‘"We estimate that, in 2005 terms, it [British green power] costs around 13.5 US cents per kilowatt hour over 20 years and registers 3% on our effectiveness indicator. This compares with costs below 10 cents and effectiveness of almost 12% in Germany," said Frankl, author of Deploying Renewables: Principles for Effective Policies.’

The Telegraph: Nuclear plant concerns for local residents
‘Researchers from Cardiff University and the University of East Anglia found 54 per cent of those questioned worried about the risks of living within 10 miles of a power station.’

Oh My Gov!: Nuclear energy is not the answer, no matter how you pronounce the word
‘Every election cycle, many republicans and moderate democrats use their elevated soapbox standing to push a nuclear power agenda. With our "addiction to oil" growing ever less tolerable, rhetoric espousing the need for nuclear power to wean ourselves off of oil is growing faster than China's female gymnasts.The problem is, and always has been, that U.S. dependence on foreign oil has little-to-nothing to do with our use or non-use of nuclear energy.’

It’s Getting Hot In Here: Protester Gets Jail Time for Non-violent Protest of Nuclear Plant in Virginia
‘Three of the six protesters arrested at the Dominion Resources North Anna Nuclear Power Plant were found guilty of trespassing today in the Louisa County Courthouse. The charges stem from conducting an alternative tour and sit-in at the Dominion Power Nuclear Information Center on August 7th. The judge rejected their defense of necessity and sentenced Paxus Calta to 30 day in jail with 15 suspended.’

Gallup Independent: Tribes want action on Tuba City dump site
‘Studies since 1999 have indicated the presence of uranium and other metals in the dump and shallow groundwater exceed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards. The tribes have repeatedly indicated that clean closure — or excavation, removal and off-site disposal of all buried wastes — is the only acceptable option to prevent future contamination.’

New York Times: New Security Organization Will Try to Prevent Nuclear Theft
‘A new organization is being unveiled Monday in Vienna that seeks to bolster security at thousands of nuclear sites around the world in an effort to block atomic theft and terrorism. Its aim is to promote the best security practices, eliminate weak links in the global security chain and, ultimately, keep terrorists from getting the bomb.’

There’s a scene in The Simpsons Movie where Homer, on his way to empty the silo full of his pet pig’s poo, gets a call from his friend Lennie telling him that the local doughnut store is giving away free doughnuts. Weak, weak Homer, unable to wait in the queue for the town dump, drops the silo in the lake instead and heads off for free doughnuts.

Remind you of anybody? Replace Homer for the nuclear industry. Replace the doughnut store with India. Replace the silo full of pig poo for the nuclear industry’s already heavy responsibilities – the waste, the expense, the safety issues. Instead of clearing up the mess they’ve already made, the nuclear industry is falling over itself to get to India to create more trouble. Anybody laughing?

The latest Homer to go tearing off to the doughnut store leaving a mess behind him is French president Nicholas Sarkozy. He’s been frantically trying to grab a piece of India’s nuclear action before another Homer, the US, can rubber stamp its own nuclear deal with India in Congress so American companies can compete. With the Indian nuclear industry worth $80 billion, there are going to be a lot of Homers yelling ‘woohoo!’

India wants to quadruple its electricity generation by 2032 to 700 gigawatts and yet nuclear energy is expected to fulfil less than 10 per cent (63 GW) of that total. And yet $15 billion will build enough renewable energy plants to produce 15 GW of electricity. Factor that up by five to $75 billion and you have renewables producing 75 GW and outperforming the projected 63GW of nuclear.

Wind power is exceeding output projections and expectations in India. A 2002-2007 projection of a 3 GW electricity output was actually doubled by 2006. Wind is expected to provide an extra 10GW of capacity by 2012. All with a planned subsidy of a tiny $1 billion from the Indian government. Can any of the 40 nuclear reactors that India wants be expected to do the same?

And have the Indian government and the industry crunched the numbers? Eighty billion dollars just isn’t enough to build 40 reactors and generate 63 GW of electricity. The French disastrously over-budget and behind-schedule EPR reactor that India wants to buy costs $6.5 billion meaning you can only buy 12 with India’s budget. Twelve reactors generating 1600MW only gives 19 GW, not the 63 required.

So why the push for nuclear in India when renewable alternatives are so much more attractive? Why were so many countries willing to allow the country access to nuclear technology without it signing the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty? Vested interests? Aggressive lobbying from the nuclear industry? The charms of the industry’s sharpest salesman, Mr Sarkozy? It’s something of a mystery.

Which leaves us with Homer, tearing across town, a mess in his wake, on his way to get his hands on something that is bad for him. Life imitates art once more.