Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

The Guardian: Government opens bidding for nuclear sites
‘The government will this week kick off an ebay-style auction of sites on which some of Europe's largest energy companies will build up to six new nuclear reactors.’

Barents Observer: Four more floating nuke-plants
‘Rosatom and the Republic of Yakutia signed an agreement last week for implementing investments to build four floating nuclear power plants for use in the northern coastal areas of the Siberian Republic.’

AFP: France to send huge nuclear fuel shipment to Japan
‘France is set to send recycled nuclear fuel to Japan in what environmentalists say is the biggest ever plutonium shipment and one that increases the chance of nuclear proliferation.’

(This series of blog posts examines the false and dangerous claims of the nuclear industry. The introduction to the series can be found here)

If nuclear power is as clean and safe as the industry and its supporters claim, why is it so dirty and dangerous?

Start with the highly dangerous waste nuclear power stations produce. Before we start producing more with a new fleet of reactors, we simply do not have the capability to store the highly dangerous nuclear waste we have produce in the last 50 years safely or for the length of time – millions of years in the case of some waste – needed until it is safe. Waste produced by the new generation of power stations is going to be even more radioactive and dangerous.

The morality of nuclear waste is also highly questionable. Our producing and storing of nuclear waste in the past and present asks a binding commitment from a group of people we cannot consult or ask permission: namely, future generations. If Neanderthal man had built nuclear reactors, we would still be guarding the waste.

The operation of nuclear power stations is also inherently highly dangerous. The local residents living close to the Triscastin power plant in France were last summer told not to swim or fish in the nearby rivers, or feed their animals and irrigate their crops with river water, after 18,000 litres of a uranium solution were leaked. The French authorities are currently conducting tests of groundwater at the country’s 58 reactors to monitor contamination.

Ask why the British nuclear industry has to employ sharpshooters to cull the seagulls that swim in the water of outdoor nuclear waste storage pools. Or why ships transporting nuclear fuel require armed guards and naval guns. Find out who Hisashi Ouchi was and how he died. The list of questions about the dangers of nuclear power is almost as long as the list of leaks and accidents.

With the Chernobyl disaster fading in some people’s memories, many now question or even deny whether such an accident could ever happen again. Yet Europe found itself within minutes of a similar disaster as recently as 2006 when safety systems failed at Sweden’s Forsmark power station. The Boiling Water Reactors at Forsmark are of a design used around the world.

It’s an irrefutable fact that renewable energy sources are incapable of creating the dangers to human health and the environment that nuclear power does – dangers that extend into the future far further than human experience or expertise has ever known. Nuclear power is neither clean nor safe and presents not just a threat to us in the present but also to the very planet and the lives of future generation.

- Part two
- Part three

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

The Huffington Post: Brazil Flips The Switch On Uranium Enrichment Plant
‘Brazil has become one of just a handful of states to enrich uranium in a controversial bid to boost nuclear power production and ensure future energy independence.’

Idaho Business Review: Areva opens Idaho Falls office, appoints key execs
‘French-owned energy giant Arevasaid on March 2 that it has opened an office in Idaho Falls for its subsidiary, Areva Enrichment Services LLC, and appointed three executives who will oversee construction of the multi-billion dollar Eagle Rock enrichment plant.’

Reuters: Solex to buy remaining stake in uranium project in Peru
‘Solex Resources Corp said it signed a letter of intent with Eldorado Gold Corp to buy the remaining stake in their joint venture, Macusani East uranium project, in Southeastern Peru.’

Barent Observer: Obvious concern
‘The associated risks with the planed floating Nuclear Power Plants are a matter of obvious concern, writes the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authorities in a recent published report.’

Today’s Zaman: Report: Armenia calls on Turkey to join nuclear tender
‘In another sign of the warming atmosphere between Ankara and Yerevan, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarksyan has called on Turkey to join a tender for the construction of a new reactor for his country's sole nuclear power plant, a news report has said.’

Scoop: Constant Vigilance On Nuclear Risks Critical
‘“Vigilance and continuous improvement are key, both at existing nuclear facilities and at new facilities being planned in a growing number of countries, Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said as he opened the Board of Governor’s meeting of the organization today in Vienna.’

Asahi.com: Hiccups causing major delays at nuclear plant
‘ROKKASHO, Aomori Prefecture--A clogged nozzle, a few dislodged bricks and a bent furnace-churning stick might appear minor concerns for a plant being put through its final commissioning test here.’

Preparations by French nuclear group Areva for the biggest plutonium transport in history are on-going.

Here’s the latest news.

• An open letter to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei has been sent from Greenpeace International (The Netherlands), Citizens Nuclear Information Center (Japan) and Green Action (Japan) urgently warning that the French state nuclear company, Areva, is actively denying the proliferation risks posed by reactor-grade plutonium contained in Mixed Oxide Fuel. A copy of the letter can be seen here.

• It will take two nights to transport the plutonium containers as there is a shortage of trucks capable carrying such a heavy payload.

• The first series of transports will be on the night of March 3rd /4th. They will then be guarded during the day on the dockside. The second batch should arrive on the night of March 4th /5th.

• It’s expected that one of the transport ships will arrive in dock on Thursday. It will take an estimate 14 hours to load from departing late Thursday night or early Friday morning.

• The sea-route of the shipment will not be issued by Areva or the Japanese utilities until 24 hours after the ship’s departure.

We’ll bring more news as we get it.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

The Mercury: Call to ban ships carrying nuclear fuel
‘An anti-nuclear group in Cape Town has urged the government to make sure that two vessels carrying what is reportedly the biggest ever shipment of plutonium stay out of its waters.’

The Slovak Spectator: Russians consider Slovakia as site for nuclear fuel plant
‘Russian state corporation Tvel, one of the world's largest producers of nuclear fuel, is interested in building a nuclear fuel production plant in Slovakia, reports the Hospodárske Noviny (HN)economic daily on March 3. The plant would be involved in producing uranium-based fuel cells for nuclear power stations, according information supplied by the company's communication department to HN.’

AFP: Six powers ready for direct nuclear talks with Iran
‘The five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany said Tuesday in a rare joint statement that they were ready for direct talks with Iran to resolve a long-running nuclear standoff.’

This Day: Don Makes Case for Nuclear Power Generation
‘A Professor in the Division of Applied Nuclear Nuclear Science and Technology, Centre for Energy Research and Development, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State; Prof. Francis Ibitoye has stressed the need for Nigeria to upgrade its education and training capabilities so as to enhance its nuclear power generation.’

Government Executive: Energy scrutinizes Los Alamos bookkeeping problems
‘A senior Energy Department official charged with overseeing operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory said on Monday the government had established specific performance criteria to address shortcomings in the lab's tracking of plutonium and would dock the contractor if it fails to fix the problems.’

Arms Control Association: Arms Experts Correct the Record on Iran Uranium Claims
‘Experts at the nonpartisan Arms Control Association (ACA) urged senior U.S. officials and the media to exhibit greater care to accurately state what is known about Iran's nuclear capabilities. The experts highlighted the confusion created over the weekend by inaccurate portrayals of the type of nuclear material Iran has produced which suggested that Tehran was closer to a nuclear weapon than public U.S. intelligence and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports indicate.’

Reuters: Rosatom to hold majority of Siemens nuclear venture
‘Russia's state nuclear company Rosatom would hold a majority stake in a nuclear joint venture with German industrial conglomerate Siemens, the two companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.’

Los Angeles Times: Little-known U.S. agency hunts down radioactive castoffs
‘The crew from the little-known National Nuclear Security Administration pulled the plutonium up by a rope, examined it to identify its origin and placed it into a specially lined barrel. The operation took only a few minutes, but federal officials were satisfied that they had eliminated a threat to national safety.'

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Sydney Morning Herald: Government buys back radioactive home
‘THE State Government reached an in-principle agreement to pay a Hunters Hill family $3.4 million to buy their radioactive home, built on the site of a uranium dump, in an out-of-court settlement that raises safety and compensation questions for past and current residents of the street.’

Taiwan News: Ukraine asks for French nuclear, budget help
‘Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko asked France for help Wednesday in financing her country's gaping budget and reviving Ukraine's nuclear energy sector to make it less reliant on Russian natural gas.’

The Plymouth Herald: Nuclear reactor being dismantled in Devonport
‘A massive section of the reactor from HMS Vanguard – which was refitted and refuelled at Devonport dockyard between 2002 and 2004 – is being dismantled at the city dockyard.’

World Nuclear News: Japanese toolmaker accused of illegal exports
‘Four employees of Japanese machinery firm Horkos Corp have been arrested on suspicion of knowingly violating national security laws by exporting equipment to China and South Korea which could be used in the enrichment of uranium.’

Reuters: Areva warns Siemens of contract breach in nuclear JV
‘Areva said on Wednesday former partner Siemens would breach a non-competition clause if the German company went ahead with plans to tie up with the French nuclear reactor maker's Russian rival Rosatom.’

Now, far be it from us to lecture people on how to run their nuclear reactors, but if yours has just suffered its eighth fire in two years despite repeated warnings about fire safety - as has happened at the the-dummies-built-it-in-an-earthquake-zone-and-there-was-an-earthquake Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant - might we humbly suggest you’re in the wrong business? Maybe a crematorium might be more your thing?

There’s also more news on French nuclear chumps Areva who, like a boxer long past his prime, seem desperate to fight anybody for money. Not content with going ten rounds with Finnish utility TVO over the increasingly embarrassing construction of the OL3 reactor in Olkiluto, Finland, Areva are now squaring up to erstwhile business partner Siemens. The German company, who announced they were splitting up with their French partner late last year, is now getting cosy with Russian rival Rosatom. Yes, it’s like a really bad soap opera, isn’t it? Who gets custody of the kids? Jealous Areva aren’t happy about this and are threatening to sue Siemens for breach of a ‘non-competition clause’. The French nuclear supervillain wants exclusive rights to destroying the planet and it’s not going to let any upstart Russians steal their moment of glory.

Next we have the imminent and history-making Mixed-Oxide (MOX) plutonium transport from France to Japan. The French army and riot police turned out in force – dozens of military and police vehicles - for the 20-kilometre journey between the La Hague nuclear reprocessing plant and the port of Cherbourg from where the cargo will set sail. It’s a shame the same attention to danger and security isn’t being given to the transport ship which will just have only light naval guns and 42 armed police to protect it during its 9,000-mile voyage. Keep an eye out for those Somali pirates, guys!

Speaking of which, it could be a good time for those guys if they wanted their own nuclear ‘renaissance’. If they fail to get their hands on the 18,000 kilograms of MOX plutonium on its way to Japan (enough for 225 Nagasakis), they could always raise the Jolly Roger and set their sails for one of these babies. That’s right – those crazy kids at Russia’s Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation are about to build four floating nuclear power plants. How many warships will it take to guard one? Who guards it when it’s docked? Are they torpedo-, tsunami-, iceberg- and Somali pirate-proof? Let’s hope these floating reactors don’t become undersea reactors. The power lines won’t reach that far for a start.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Bloomberg: Buffett-Backed Atomic Fuel Bank Founders at UN Agency
‘Billionaire Warren Buffett’s plan to help the United Nations create a safe supply of enriched uranium is foundering because countries fear it will restrict their development of nuclear technology, officials and diplomats say.’

Reuters: Kuwait $10 mln pledge advances atomic fuel bank plan
‘A Kuwaiti offer raised pledged funding for an international nuclear fuel bank over $150 million on Thursday, clearing the way for an action plan to be drawn up by the chief U.N. nuclear monitor, diplomats said.’

Star Tribune: Nuclear power is still loaded with problems
‘No solution to global warming is benign, but some solutions are more cost-effective or safer than others. Times may have changed, but the problems with nuclear power have not.’

World Nuclear News: Studsvik to decommission Dessel
‘Studsvik of Sweden has been awarded a contract to coordinate and supervise the project to decommission Belgonucleaire's mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication plant in Dessel, Belgium.’

UPI: Kazakhs boost uranium as oil prices flatline, but waste issues remain unsolved
‘Unlike many other newly emerging oil-rich nations, Kazakhstan is not placing all its hopes on its hydrocarbon resources but seeking to diversify its energy exports to include uranium, adducing an increased demand for the fuel in coming decades from countries interested in nuclear power. Ultimately, however, having the silvery metal underwrite an increased percentage of the national economy might well prove to be a mixed blessing. In a world increasingly conscious of greenhouse gases and global warming, nuclear power has great appeal, but 55 years after the world's first nuclear power plant became operational, no one has yet figured out how to safely dispose of the waste.’

Yesterday we talked about Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant (currently closed because they built it in an earthquake zone and there was an earthquake) and its eight fires in two years.

Well, someone’s given the plant's operators some advice:

Tokyo Electric Power Co was ordered on Friday to stop using flammables and dangerous materials at its huge quake-hit nuclear power plant, which could delay the restart of six of the seven generators there.

It’s a difficult concept, the idea of not using flammables and dangerous materials at a huge quake-hit nuclear power plant, isn’t it? Especially after eight fires. After each one, they must have looked around the place and said: ‘How do these fires start? It can’t be anything to do with all these flammables and dangerous materials we have lying about the place.’

The fact that Tokyo Electric Power Co had to be told not to use ‘using flammables and dangerous materials at its huge quake-hit nuclear power plant’ should tell you all you need to know about the formidable minds that run the nuclear industry.

So, the biggest shipment of plutonium in history has finally begun its 9,000-mile journey to Japan. It left the port of Cherbourg in France yesterday. Anti-nuclear groups in South Africa have already asking the government there to refuse the ships entry to South African territorial waters.

The shipment is travelling via the Cape of Good Hope so as to avoid the pirates that plague other shipping routes. All it has to worry about now is 60-foot waves, potential terrorist hijackings and the fact there are very few places in which to take refuge in on that stretch of coast. Nothing to worry about then. Let’s also hope the ship manages to avoid the terrifying Flying Dutchman.

Meet Patrick Moore. He claims to be one of the founders of Greenpeace but now likes to tell the world that we and those like us ‘are simply gloom and doom prophets and eco loonies, looking to enrich themselves by scaring the general public into believing in threats that don’t exist.’ (It’s true, we’re all incredibly rich here at Greenpeace – wave and say hello if you ever see us flying around in our solid gold helicopters.)

‘I don’t believe there is a global warming problem,’ says Moore. Environmentalists are ‘anti-Christian, anti-God, anti-people and anti-civilization’ and are ‘simply thugs’. Nuclear power is ‘a clean renewable energy source. Science has solved the problem of nuclear waste disposal,’ he says. And ‘when it comes to my derriere, I prefer soft to sandpaper’.

Say that again, Patrick?

‘When it comes to my derriere, I prefer soft to sandpaper.’

That’s what we thought you said. Patrick, really. Is a newspaper article the best place to be discussing your toilet arrangements? We really don’t need to know what you get up to in your bathroom.

Us environmentalists of course prefer sandpaper to soft, don’t we? We find there’s nothing like a really sore derriere to motivate our anti-Christian, anti-God, anti-people and anti-civilization campaigns. Greenpeace, says Moore, want us all to ‘wipe with scratchy paper to rid ourselves of eco-guilt.’

Oh dear. He’s discovered our sinister masterplan. We’d better confess. It is Greenpeace’s top secret aim to force the entire human race into using only scratchy toilet paper. Only when everyone else has bottoms as sore as ours will we end our campaign of terror.

You might have heard about a quite controversial beauty contest in Russia: Miss Atom. Open only to the women working in the nuclear industry in Russia, the aim is to select the most beautiful one. Or according to the Ilya Platonov Nuclear.Ru’s general manager:

"The idea behind the contest is to demonstrate how many beautiful girls and young women work in nuclear, because this industry has been closed from public for a long time and the word "atom" evoked usually negative feelings”

There is all reason in the world to have negative feelings about the nuclear, but how exactly having “beautiful girls and young woman” working in the industry would solve all the problems associated with the nuclear energy. What kind of a logic is it: As long as we have beautiful young people working in the nuclear or toxics or arms manufacture; should we have positive feelings about them? Is it so easy to clean the image of 50 years of economical and environmental failures, by showing the pretty people working for the industry?

Mind you it is not a coincidence to select the Miss Atom on the evening before International Women’s Day (March 8th) which is a major holiday in Russia. Right that is how you should do it. To celebrate the economical, political and social achievements of woman you just go ahead and select the prettiest one of all.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

IndyMedia: Brine also seeping into Gorleben salt
‘Brine is seeping into the salt mine in Gorleben that is the most likely place to become Germany’s final nuclear waste repository despite fierce public opposition. Flooding with brine is threatening to collapse another former potash mine in the wider area, Asse II in Wolfenbüttel, which already holds waste and was supposed to be the model for Gorleben.’

Haaretz: U.S. Army document describes Israel as 'a nuclear power'
‘In a rare breach of official American adherence to Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity, the U.S. military is terming Israel "a nuclear power" on a par with Russia, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea, all of which have declared their nuclear weapon status, and ahead of "nuclear threshold powers" Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and the "emerging" Iran. ’

Zawya: Jordan: US to construct storage facility for radioactive waste
‘Jordan and the United States have signed a contract for the construction of a modern central storage facility (CSF) for radioactive waste at the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission ((JAEC) in Amman.’

PressTV: Siemens divorcing Russia over Iran?
‘German engineering giant Siemens, bridled at Moscow's nuclear cooperation with Tehran, moves to limit joint ventures with Russia. ’

Business Line: Australia not to supply uranium to India for now
‘Adelaide, March 8 Will BHP Billiton’s ambitious plans of more than quadrupling its uranium production capacity force the Australian Government to rethink its policy of not supplying the yellow cake to India because of the latter not being a Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory?’

(This series of blog posts examines the false and dangerous claims of the nuclear industry. The introduction to the series can be found here.)

If nuclear power is as cheap as the industry and its supporters claim, why is it so expensive?

Let’s be blunt. The economics of nuclear power are atrocious. The economic risks of nuclear power are carried by governments and taxpayers while urgently needed resources are diverted from renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes.

Nuclear construction costs consistently rocket above forecasts. Finland’s OL3 reactor - under construction since 2005 - is three years behind schedule and 1.5 billion euros over budget. The last ten reactors built in India have on average been 300% over budget. The Czech Republic’s Temelin reactor was finished ten years late and five times over budget. Across the world, the average construction time for nuclear plants has increased from five and half years in the 1970s to nearly ten years between 1995 and 2000.

The UK government’s Stern Report said the costs of energy production have ‘fallen systematically’ since the 1970s - except for those of nuclear power. As few new reactors have been built in recent years, there can be little confidence in the forecasts of future construction costs.

- Part one
- Part three

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

The Raw Story: Report: Slain US Nazi hated Obama, had parts for 'dirty bomb'
‘Trust fund millionaire James G. Cummings, an American Nazi sympathizer from Maine who was slain by his wife Amber in December, allegedly had the radioactive components necessary to construct a "dirty bomb," a newly released threat analysis report states.’

Reuters: Alstom wants to buy former unit from Areva
‘French heavy engineering group Alstom SA wants to buy back activities it formerly owned from Areva now that the possibility of a merger between the two groups is on hold, Les Echos reported.’

Forbes: French president visits Mexico
‘France also was likely to offer Mexico help in reviving its nuclear industry. France is a major nuclear power advocate and nuclear reactor maker.’

The London Times: Spanish windmills tilt country towards cleaner green energy
‘The rolling plains of Castilla-La Mancha are dominated by the windmills that provoked the fevered imagination of Don Quixote. But Spain’s relentless investment in wind power and other renewable energy sources has proved wrong those who thought it was tilting at windmills.’

Global Nation: Lawyer: Protest passage of nuke waste
‘MANILA, Philippines -- A lawyer has urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to place the Philippines among the countries that are protesting the shipment of radioactive waste, supposedly enough to make 225 nuclear bombs, which is intended for reprocessing in Japan.’

Barents Observer: Shipload of spent radioactive fuel from Gremikha arrives Murmansk
‘The specially modernized vessel “Serebryanka” has arrived at Atomflot’s harbor facilities in Murmansk with six containers of spent nuclear submarine fuel from Gremikha.’

World Nuclear News: Compensation the topic for Bulgaria
‘Bulgaria has abandoned efforts to restart its Kozloduy reactors and is instead focused on obtaining greater compensation for their early shutdown.’

Taipei Times: Taipower requires more money for nuclear plant
‘Taipower chairman Chen Kuei-ming told the legislature yesterday an additional NT$40 billion (US$1.15 billion) to NT$50 billion would be needed if the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is to reach a stage where its two generator units can begin operations in 2011 and 2012.’

The Romanian government wants to build two new Candu-6 reactors at Cernovoda. You’d think that the government would have searched out the safest and most technology around, wouldn’t you? After all, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) who designed the reactor say: ‘The CANDU 6 power reactor offers a combination of proven and superior, state-of-the-art technology.’

It’s a shame then that the reality doesn’t match up to the optimism of AECL’s marketing-speak. The Candu-6 has a list of potentially disastrous problems – it simply doesn’t measure up to modern safety standards. It has the same design flaw that contributed to the Chernobyl explosion and to the world’s first nuclear accident in1952 at AECL’s Chalk River laboratories.

Also, the reactor doesn’t meet post-9/11 safety standards making it vulnerable to terrorist attack. Its emergency shut-down systems are untested and unproven. Canadian reactors have a history of helping nuclear proliferation - India used a Canadian reactor to build an atomic bomb.

In fact, so unsure of the Candu-6’s safety, Canadian province of Ontario, the birthplace of the reactor’s design, abandoned its plan to build one of its own in 2006. If Canada is too frightened to use its own reactor design, what is Romania thinking?

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Tehran Times: Bushehr nuclear plant to start operating by Aug 22
‘The 1,000-megawatt Russian-built plant in the southern port city of Bushehr will first generate around 500 megawatts by August 22, Energy Minister Parviz Fattah said, quoted by state television's website.’

In March 1997 a fire broke out at Japan’s Tokaimura nuclear facility exposing 37 plant workers to radiation. Unfortunately, lessons were not learned and there were more accidents at the facility including, in 1999, Japan’s worst nuclear accident when two workers were killed, dying slowly and painfully over months from radiation sickness.

Did you know every day of the year is the anniversary of a nuclear accident? In the coming day, weeks and months we’re going to mark them here on Nuclear Reaction. They shouldn’t be forgotten. The dangers of nuclear power must be remembered.

Three years behind schedule, 1.7 billion euros over budget and its builders and owners locked in a battle over who’s to blame. Things are looking bad at the construction site of Finland’s OL3 EPR reactor in Olkiluoto.

And they’re not getting any better. As reported yesterday by Finnish broadcasting company YLE, problems exposed by Greenpeace last year with the supervision of critical welding and safety procedures at the site have still not been addressed.

Finnish utility TVO, who commissioned French nuclear company Areva to build OL3, have made a third submission to the Finnish nuclear watchdog STUK about the problems. Contractors are still failing to prove that there are competent welding supervisors on all shifts or that managers and workers from different companies speak a common language.

The EPR reactor is supposed to be state-of-the-art third-generation technology but is fast becoming shorthand for nuclear incompetence and cover-up. Areva wants to sell the reactor to countries all over the world and - amazingly, shockingly - these countries seem to be queuing up to be ripped off and treated like idiots.

If that’s what they really want we can do it at a fraction of the cost and faster. Prime Minister Brown, President Hu Jintao, Prime Minister Berlusconi, President Patel, Sheikh Khalifa? You are all idiots. Now, that will be 50,000 euros each, please.

1968 in the USA at the San Onofre nuclear plant in California: A self-ignited cable fire in unit 1.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

LA Times: Greenpeace energy report projects cheap, clean power -- and more jobs
‘An environmentalist-sponsored report claims that by 2050, the United States could sever ties with coal and nuclear power, draw nearly all its electricity from renewable sources and cut its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% –- all with existing technology and with a net gain of 14 million jobs to the domestic economy.’

We see the US arm of French nuclear titans Areva - not wishing to be outdone by us here at Nuclear Reaction - have got themselves a blog. They’ve obviously been inspired by us - they’ve even got a ‘Quote of the Day’ slot just like us! How cute is that? Hey guys, we’re very flattered and if you ever need any advice about blogging just give us a call.

We worry though, after having read one or two of the posts on the blog, whether Areva has the ambition and drive needed to survive in the nuclear industry. They’re just not showing the same level of imagination as some other nuclear players. In one post they cite a study that says if ‘if all 26 reactor projects that have submitted license applications [in the US] are built more than 60,000 new construction jobs will be created.’

Come on guys! Is that the best you can do? Just the other week UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was fantasising about 10,000 new jobs from just one reactor. And he wants ten new ones – that’s 100,000 imaginary jobs. You need to be more ambitious with your dreams! Why not go for half a million new jobs? Ten million? They sound more impressive and are as likely to happen as Gordon Brown’s fantasies.

How many of those 60,000 jobs are going to be for American workers and how many for foreign contractors? How many specialist nuclear engineers does the US have right now? Ask Bulgaria how its boasts of a nuclear jobs boom worked out. These jobs aren’t long term either – once the reactors are finished the construction workers are no longer needed…

And nobody builds nuclear reactors without the taxpayer holding their hand. You of all people should know that. That ‘if’ in ‘if all 26 reactor projects…’? It’s a really big ‘if’.

1980 in France at the Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux nuclear plant: Reactor core cooling is constrained because of a loose piece of metal. The fuel elements fuse.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Financial Times: ‘Madame Non’ in fight to keep Areva post
‘Anne Lauvergeon is used to fighting tough battles, but this time the chief executive of Areva, whose combative style has in the past earned her the soubriquet “Madame Non”, is in danger of facing her final round. The French government is nearing a decision on the future of Areva, its state-owned nuclear champion, and with it the fate of one of France’s most internationally recognised business figures.’

Now, far be it from us criticise the eminent James Lovelock but something about his views on nuclear power expressed in the UK’s Independent newspaper this week deserve examination…

The nuclear fuel industry is tiny compared with the coal, oil and gas industries, and small compared with the renewable energy industry. The small size of the nuclear fuel industry is because one gram of uranium can deliver as much energy as a ton of coal or oil.

So, the size of an industry directly correlates to the volume of the fuel it processes apparently. There was us thinking that the nuclear industry was so small because nuclear power has been massively out of favour in public opinion since the Chernobyl disaster. OL3 in Finland is the first reactor to be built in Europe since then and look how that’s going.

‘It is nonsense to suggest that there is a wealthy nuclear energy lobby,’ says Lovelock. He could be right with this one. Where’s the need for wealthy nuclear energy lobby when politicians can be bought so easily and cheaply? Nicholas Sarkozy seems to do little else than travel the globe as Areva’s top nuclear salesman. His air travel alone must use the equivalent energy of four or five nuclear reactors. Gordon Brown’s pronouncements on nuclear power sound like they’re being read directly from an industry press release. Who needs expensive lobbyists when world leaders are doing the job for free?

It is a fact that supporters of nuclear power must face up to. Large parts of the nuclear industry are built upon the suffering and exploitation of many people around the world. It involves the mining and processing of uranium and we see the same story over and over again. This week it's Nambia’s turn…

The Topnaar Nama people fear for their lives and for their existence. Uranium mining poses considerable health hazards to the people, and the side effects of uranium mining, such as the depletion of the underground and surface water resources make their traditional lifestyles impossible to maintain.

The Topnaar Nama people join those living around the Caetite uranium mine in Brazil, the Native American, Australian aboriginal and Niger's Tuareg communities, and other people living where uranium is mined.

A nuclear ‘renaissance’ means building many new nuclear power stations. That will lead to increased demand for uranium, which will mean more mining. Which will mean more people being poisoned and exploited.

That is the reality of nuclear power. Its supporters need to admit it.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

DEBKAfile: France to help develop Saudi, Egyptian, Gulf nuclear programs
‘After a meeting with French president Nicolas Sarkozy Friday, March 13, the emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber Moubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, said the two leaders discussed the possible purchase of French military materiel and the issue of energy and nuclear reactors. He also referred to Kuwait and other Gulf countries taking a one-to-five percent stake in the world's biggest builder of nuclear reactors.’

My opposition to nuclear is based on the fact that - like letting a big supermarket drive your town's regeneration programme - it is such a distraction when there are so many other, less technically challenging, more job-heavy, cheaper, easier, quicker, etc etc projects out that would balance energy needs with production and cut carbon at the same time. It is emphatically not because I think it is inherently dangerous or filled with dark cunning and evil.

[…]

[T]his rhetoric from the alpha males frames the issue in a ‘practical expert versus excitable hysteric' narrative that is very hard to counteract if you are following one of them in a debate and are young and female. No matter how much science you can quote, you're never going to get people to think you are making sense in that context if you look like an MMR-shy mum.

Read the rest…

Copyright 2009 Martin Boudreault

Late last week, Canadian Greenpeace activists blocked access to the Pickering nuclear station with a truck topped by a giant billboard reading “Minister: Don’t Nuke Green Energy,” as part of the campaign to convince the McGuinty government to replace Pickering nuclear reactors with green energy.

“Greenpeace is blocking the Pickering reactor station because Nuclear Energy Minister George Smitherman is blocking green energy in Ontario,” said Greenpeace energy campaigner Shawn-Patrick Stensil. “The spin around Smitherman’s proposed Green Energy Act is cynical greenwashing to hide the fact that his nuclear plans will rob green energy of the funding needed for development.”

Read more at Greenpeace Canada…

When did nuclear fuel reprocessing become ‘recycling’?

1994 in Ukraine at the Khmelnitsky nuclear plant: Unit 1 is shut down for five days following a fire in the turbine hall, caused by a short circuit.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Buzzle.com: New Generation of Nuclear Power Stations 'risk Terrorist Anarchy'
‘The new generation of atomic power stations planned for Britain, China and many other parts of the world risks proliferation that could lead to "nuclear anarchy", a security expert warned in a report published today. Governments and multilateral organizations must come up with a strategy to deal the impact of the new nuclear age, which will produce enough plutonium to make 1m nuclear weapons by 2075, argues Frank Barnaby from the Oxford Research Group thinktank in a paper for the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). ’

1994 in Russia: leaks occur at Kola nuclear plant, one in the second unit's auxiliary primary circuit cleanup system after a pipe rupture.

Look, we love technology and science fiction here at Nuclear Reaction – the Aerolatte and Star Wars changed our lives. But when we look at some of the increasingly outlandish suggestions for disposing of nuclear waste, even we have to shout ‘Enough!’

For the second time in two days we find ourselves reading about ‘deep, deep geological storage’. In short, it involves filling ‘Submarine Transport Vehicles’ with nuclear waste and sending them on the long trip into the Earth’s core via deep-sea faults in the planet’s crust.

Moving swiftly over the fact that it sounds like something from The Core, possibly one of the worst films ever made, it’s telling that neither of these articles mention the cost of building a fleet of submarines capable of burrowing their way to the centre of the planet. (We can’t believe we just typed ‘a fleet of submarines capable of burrowing their way to the centre of the planet’.)

The costs and economics of nuclear power are already bad enough without adding to them with this kind of thing. Isn’t there enough fantasy and false hope surrounding the nuclear industry already?

So the UK’s Prime Minister this morning called for a ‘global nuclear bargain for our times’. We like the use of the word ‘bargain’. Since when were the costs of nuclear power a 'bargain'? Here’s no less a figure than Al Gore on the subject of nuclear economics…

The nuclear industry cannot give any reliable cost estimate for how much it will take to build a nuclear plant. When a utility is confronted with the absence of any advances for how much the construction cost is going to be, then that's a problem.

Of course, in reality, Brown isn’t talking about a bargain in the sense of value for money, he’s talking about a bargain as an agreement that maintains the hypocrisy that nuclear countries like the UK perpetuate.

Sure, countries can have their nuclear power, they just can’t have nuclear weapons, says the Prime Minister of a country about to spend '£20 billion'* on a replacement for its Trident nuclear weapons system.

Iran is a danger says Brown. And he’s right – Iran sees a nuclear West and wants a piece of the action. He ignores the fact, however, that Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) while the UK exports nuclear technology to India which hasn’t signed it and has tested nuclear weapons in the past.

‘Any material breach or withdrawal from the Non Proliferation Treaty should automatically lead to reference to the United Nations Security Council,’ says Brown. Well, India can’t breach or withdraw from the NPT, can it?

The fact is, however, we are where we are. Nuclear power and nuclear waste already exist. But the likes of Brown are intent on creating more dangers, more cost and more risk to the planet. As Gore says, ‘For the eight years that I spent in the White House every nuclear weapons proliferation problem we dealt with was connected to a reactor programme.’ Brown is part of the problem.

* The £20 billion figure stated by the Government and repeated by the media hides the real cost of replacing Trident. Using publicly available government figures, including their own running cost estimates, the real cost of replacing Trident is £76 billion.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

BBC: Chernobyl 'shows insect decline'
‘Two decades after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, radiation is still causing a reduction in the numbers of insects and spiders.’

1961 in the USSR, Siberian Chemical Combine at Seversk (formerly Tomsk-7): Self-catalysed reaction between organic liquid and concentrated nitric acid results in explosion.

Eight Greenpeace activists climbed a skyscraper in Kızılay Square in central Ankara, one of Turkey’s highest buildings, yesterday to unfurl banners calling on the Turkish government to ‘Quit (Nuclear) in Time´.

On the ground, other activists informed the public that the government is in violation of its own Nuclear Power Plant Tender Law and Regulations by continuing to pursue its tendering process for a new nuclear power station.

Negotiations are continuing after Atomstroyexport’s ludicrous bid back in September. The bid to build the new reactor is currently 13-15 US cents per KWh of electricity generated. And that’s before adding the cost of waste management and decommissioning and considered. In comparison, the cost of wind power averages four to nine US cents per KWh, and solar is between nine to 15 cents, but continues to decrease.

Copyright Greenpeace

As Greenpeace Mediterranean Energy Campaigner Korol Diker says, ‘The adverse effects of the economic crises are increasing, so now is the time to adopt renewable energy sources, as they can cover our energy consumption needs in a quicker and less expensive way, and create better and more plentiful jobs’

Copyright Greenpeace

A slideshow of the action can be seen here. Find out more information (in Turkish) at Greenpeace Mediterranean.

1984 at the US's Rancho Seco nuclear plant in California: Hydrogen explosion and fire in the turbine building.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

World Nuclear News: High court overturns Shika 2 shutdown order
‘A high court in Japan has overturned a lower court's ruling that unit 2 of Hokuriku Electric Power Co's Shika nuclear power plant in Ishikawa prefecture should be shut down due to safety concerns.’

It’s official – investment in nuclear power blocks investment in renewable energy technology. The proof? It comes straight from the mouth of the nuclear industry itself.

French nuclear giants EDF have declared that a target of 35% of electricity generated by renewable sources in the UK threatens the push for nuclear energy. Instead, in a submission to the UK government’s renewable energy consultation, it advocates a ‘25% electricity target will provide the best platform for further decarbonisation of electricity generation in the period beyond 2020, through a combination of further renewables, new nuclear and coal and gas with carbon capture and storage (CCS)’.

It adds up to little more than a display of blackmail and greed by the nuclear industry, an attempt to bounce government ministers into accepting nuclear power. It’s a show of bad faith – the UK national electricity grid can accept well over 30% of electricity from renewables.

This attitude from the nuclear industry is nothing we didn’t already know – see the likes of Finland spending a massive 85% of its current energy investment budget on the joke that is the OL3 reactor - but at least we now have the admission from the industry itself.

In fact, there was another, quieter, admission last year when EDF chief executive Carlo de Riva, of EDF said: “If you provide incentives for renewables that will displace the incentives built into the carbon market. In effect, carbon gets cheaper. And if carbon gets cheaper, you depress the returns for all other technologies like nuclear power.”

‘The returns for all other technologies like nuclear power’? There’s another admission: it’s all about the money not about the future of us all. The game is up. Nuclear just can’t compete. The industry knows it. And now so do we.

(More at Greenpeace UK)

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Counterpunch: Areva's Money Meltdown - The Crash of France's Nuclear Poster Child
'The myth of a successful nuclear power industry in France has melted into financial chaos. With it dies the corporate-hyped poster child for a "nuclear renaissance" of new reactor construction that is drowning in red ink and radioactive waste.'

March 20 1958 at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant, USA: Eleven workers receive radiation exposure during a routine transfer of radioactive waste material to permanent storage.

Environmentalist and writer Mark Lynas reaches for the clichés...

"The Green lobby doesn’t like the idea that the world can be saved by building nuclear power stations. It wants us to chop wood, go back to nature."

It’s a lazy smear. At least we should be thankful he didn’t say we want everyone to go back to living in caves.

We're not the whole of the Green Lobby, but we, like most of the Green Lobbyists we know prefer our trees standing. We're also quite keen on things like offshore windfarms, concentrated solar power, geo-thermal energy and tidal power. Wind, sun, rock and wave perhaps, but hardly low tech.

Maybe Mr Lynas could provide some evidence for his assertion, but we're inclined to think he's resorted to a different natural product. The straw man.

1973, USA: Idaho National Engineering Laboratory: From March 19 to 24 a worker working on one of the process cells receives a high radiation dose.

1975, USA, Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama: Cable spreading room and reactor building fire. A large number of the damaged cables were safety related.

1979 USSR, Semipalatinsk test site in eastern Kazakstan: Underground nuclear test.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Australian Mining: No uranium mining for QLD
'Uranium mining will not be given the go ahead in Queensland after the Labor government was re-elected for the fifth consecutive term at the state election on Saturday.'

1992 Russia, Leningrad 3 nuclear plant near St Petersburg: Emergency stop and release of radioactivity. Ministry states that the cause of the incident was a faulty valve.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

AlterNet: The French Nuclear Industry Is Bad Enough in France; Let's Not Expand It to the U.Shttp://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3141539.
'Areva, France's nuclear industry, has a solid reputation, but a trail of radioactive waste and deaths in Africa follow its wake.'

1977 Japan, AKW Fukushima Daiichi in Fukushima prefecture: Insufficient protection of fusion work results in sparks dropping on vinyl and scaffold, a fire starts.

Nuclear reaction has been under attack of viruses. We have not been able to update the blog quite as often as we used to. It does not mean that nuclear industry has been doing surprisingly well lately, but that we have the flu. Yes, your ever committed nuclear reaction bloggers got the flu. We are trying to blog the meltdown of the industry with stuffed noses, and occasional sneezes. Our tables are full with glasses of orange juice and tissues.

We are getting desperate, almost to the point to ask help of the miraculous worker; nuclear energy. It has given superpowers to the French president Sarkozy The Salesman; and Jukka Laaksonen the head of Finnish nuclear safety authority, STUK. It had made the seriously ill walk and release the prisoners from the jail in India. Now we wonder whether the mighty nuclear energy can also cure to the flu?

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Business Standard: India lists issues for nuclear deal talks with US
'With India and the US approaching another crucial phase of negotiations over implementing the civilian nuclear agreement, India has flagged key issues that it wants to be addressed.'

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Reuters: Areva chairman quits, to become Wendel CEO-Figaro
'Frederic Lemoine, the chairman at French nuclear energy group Areva who often clashed with chief executive Anne Lauvergeon, is leaving the group to join an investment firm, the Le Figaro paper said.'

1978 USSR, Semipalatinsk test site in eastern Kazakhstan: Underground nuclear test.

Confidence is an important concept. It allows our society to function: business to make deals, people to plan their future, to interact and build relations. Once confidence in something or someone is blown, those things do not work anymore, and eroded confidence is worthless.

Now the collapse of US plan for final repository of spent nuclear fuel brought a classic example of what is behind word "confidence" when the nuclear industry uses it.

The legislation in United States adopted in early days has more common sense and responsible attitude than one can meet today in most countries on nuclear matters. It established a "waste confidence rule" that requires the National Regulatory Comission to evaluate the nation's ability to safely dispose of nuclear waste; only if the Commission's finding of confidence is positive, the agency is allowed to license new reactors and to renew the licenses of existing ones. Makes sense, huh?

The confidence, based on which more than hundred US reactors were licensed to operate, was derived from a project of deep underground repository, located in a dry desert at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. When the works on the final storage in Yucca Mountain started in 1983, all institutions were confident that it will start receiving spent fuel in 1997. However, after 10 billion dollars spent, after many original safety criteria were weakened to accommodate complicated realities discovered as research advanced, after severe complications and massive budget increase (it rose from 57 to 96 billion dollars only in past eight years), the project is finally dead. Obama's administration decided to cease further works and look for some other option. As Platts, an industrial press, reported:

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Chairman Dale Klein said March 18 that his agency does not expect the federal government’s decades-old plan to store commercial spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, Nevada will move forward. Testifying before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Klein was responding to a question from Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. "Are you operating under the assumption that Yucca Mountain will become a reality?", McCain twice pressed Klein. "No," Klein said, later adding: "We are not counting on Yucca Mountain being successful."

Under existing waste confidence rule, the Commission said it was confident that a repository would be operational by the end of 2025. That confidence is clearly gone now. One would logically expect that as there is no confidence not even any kind of plan how to handle the waste, no new reactors can be given permission to operate. If that logic applied we would not have to deal with the nuclear industry. So once again, at the moment the industry finds itself not able to follow its own rules, it simply changes the rules. The report also said that:

The revised rule being developed does not contain a specific date by which the commission is confident a repository would be available. But it expresses confidence all spent fuel would be removed from a reactor site within 60 years after the reactorĺs operating license expires.

Read that carefully. The industry kept constantly failing to predict what will happen in 15 years. It is not even able to predict things in the order of years – see the complications and expanding budget of EPR reactors in France and Finland.

Now it says that if there is a problem, there is no need to worry because they are confident what will happen and how the world will look like 60 years after 60 years of reactors’ operation – that is 120 years into the future!

We can be confident that they got it right this time. Or can’t we?

(This is a guest post by Jan Beranek; nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace International)

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

AFP: France's Areva signs uranium deal with DR Congo
'French nuclear giant Areva signed a deal Thursday to develop uranium mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo, during a visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy to Kinshasa.'

In March 2001 Maanshan 1 nuclear plant in Taiwan lost its offsite power supply as a result of short-circuits caused by accumulated salt crystals (from onshore winds) on power lines.

In China, it was just realized that deadly radioactive material was lost or to be exact a lead ball containing the radioactive element Caesium-137 was mistakenly sent for scrap.

Officials said it was most likely that the missing Caesium-137 had already been melted down with the other scrap, advising local people "not to worry" about the missing ball which they said was sealed with lead and fixed in a special container.
"It has very short radioactive range. It will not affect human health. Only when it is within very short distance from people, can it cause recoverable burn damage to human skin. Normally it won't cause permanent damage to human. People should not worry about it," an official added.

This is a very dubious statement by an official, given the fact that if it had been indeed already melted, it would be very likely to have serious health risks. Caesium-137 is a dangerous radioactive isotope with a half-life of 30 years. Improper handling of it can lead to disasters such as the Goiânia accident when the glowing caesium salt removed from a radiation therapy machine from an abandoned clinic and sold to curious buyers. One scrapyard owner liked the material so much that he wanted to make a ring to his wife with it. The whole incident resulted killing several people and injuring many others.

We hope that the ball will be found before its too late.

1979 USA, Three Mile Island nuclear plant, Harrisburg in Pennsylvania: Partial core meltdown - the largest accident in the history of the American nuclear industry so far.

1985 Germany, Obrigheim nuclear plant: Malfunction of a reactor protection system circuit board.

1994 Russia, Mayak nuclear complex near Chelyabinsk: Radioactive gas discharge.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

Africa News: French president visits Niger
‘The French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Niamey, the capital of Niger on his third and final leg of his visit to Africa. Niger has the world third largest uranium deposit, a mineral which is used to produced nuclear power but the tiny west African state still remains one of the poorest nations with over 70% of its population live below $1US a day.’

1994 Usa, Cooper nuclear plant in Nebraska: The Missouri river overpasses the predicted 10,000 years flood level causing in-leakage from groundwater.

Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:

The Independent: The nuclear option: UK's multibillion-pound renaissance moves up a gear
‘As potential atomic reactor sites go under the hammer this week, the battle for the UK's multibillion-pound nuclear renaissance moves up a gear.’

Last year, a proposed deal between the Indian government and the US – which would see India given access to American nuclear technology – almost brought the Indian government to the brink of collapse.

During the debate, Rahul Gandhi, son of former Indian prime minister Rajeev, gave an impassioned speech in the Indian Parliament in support of the deal. In his speech, Mr Gandhi spoke of the life of Kalawati Bandurkar, a poor woman in the village of Jalka. He spoke of how Kalawati and village were without electricity for much of the day and how ‘poverty is directly connected to energy security’.

Kalawati became a media figure in the nuclear debate and a symbol of India’s energy security issues. In October last year, the government won the debate and the deal was signed. But when will Kalawati and her village get their electricity?

They got it this week.

Clean and reliable energy arrived in Jalka in the shape of solar panels that power ten fans and two computer in two of the village’s schools. It took a mere three days to do. Kalawati’s children are amongst the 100 children at the schools.

Centralised energy production has not helped Jalka as called for Mr Gandhi. Despite the Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station being only 70 kilometres from the village, electricity from it arrives sporadically as cities and large towns get a priority for electricity supply. Decentralized electricity generation from renewables such as solar power will give villages like Jalka true energy security.

How Rahul Gandhi’s nuclear ambitions were going to help the likes of Kalawati and how long it was going to take, he didn’t explain.

The spinning fans and working computers in Jalka show that it can be done now, done quickly, and without nuclear power. And this is only the beginning…

(Photos: Right, Kalawati Bandurkar. Left, March 30, 2009, Jalka, Maharashtra, India A young boy is enthralled by one of the fans and several computers, which will now be powered by the solar panels that Greenpeace installed at the Zilla Parishad School, Jalka village. © Peter Caton)

More information is available at Greenpeace India