Nuclear News: Workers at Former Huntington Plants Exposed to Plutonium, Neptunium
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Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:
Workers at Former Huntington Plants Exposed to Plutonium, Neptunium
HNN has confirmed through publicly available, unclassified documents that the workers at the formerly ‘secret’ Huntington Pilot Plant/Reduction Pilot Plant (HPP/RPP) on the INCO campus were exposed to [at least] “trace quantities” of Neptunium and Plutonium. The Huntington
facility received nickel from reactors at Hansford and Savannah River, as well as the Paducah and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants. The Portsmouth, Ohio, plant is located in Piketon, Ohio. Vina Colley, a compensated Portsmouth (Piketon) Diffusion Plant former atomic worker and activist for compensation of workers, believes that plutonium and other residue on
materials sent to Huntington for recycling and decontamination eventually made the Huntington plant contaminated beyond clean up. The material that the Huntington plant received had been used at these various atomic energy plants as part of the chemical flow. Huntington’s job was to reduce/remove the radioactivity and separate the compounds. For instance, once process
separated nickel carbonyl and enriched uranium.
Singapore to Consider Nuclear Power, Fewer Foreigners
Singapore should consider using nuclear power and depend less on foreign workers in its efforts to transform the economy in the next decade, a government- appointed panel said. The city state must double its productivity rate in the next 10 years and encourage companies to expand abroad after last year’s recession, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who heads the Economic Strategies Committee, said today. The recommendations have been accepted by the government and will be addressed in the budget to be unveiled on Feb. 22, he said. “It’s a very delicate balancing act,” said Kit Wei Zheng, an economist at Citigroup Inc. in Singapore. “There is a danger they could go overboard on this and the potential pitfalls would include a slower growth rate and inflation if productivity cannot go up fast enough.”
Campbell due in Seoul to discuss allied ties, N.K.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is due to arrive in Seoul today for a three-day visit to discuss pressing bilateral and regional issues including North Korea's denuclearization and allied relations, Foreign Ministry officials said yesterday. "The talks are to touch on a wide range of bilateral issues centering on efforts for further promoting the alliance between South Korea and the United States," said Kim Young-sun, the ministry spokesman. Campbell is to meet his counterpart Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon and other top officials such as Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, Unification Minister Hyun In-taek and Kim Sung-hwan, President
Lee Myung-bak's chief security aide. In a separate meeting with Wi Sung-lac, Seoul's negotiator for the six-nation talks aimed at North Korea's denuclearization, Campbell is expected to discuss ways for resuming the negotiations as soon as possible, sources said.
War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery" and...Nuclear is Clean and Safe
What a bizarre presentation it was! President Obama's State of the Union speech, that is. After carefully building the case the necessity, even for the green economy and energy innovation, President Obama chose to launch them using four of the energy resources that historically have prevented such an economy from happening. While gently chiding those who "doubt the evidence" that global warming and destructive climate change is real, the first four energy resources the President extolled were the four most responsible for its happening, and most likely to guarantee it continues The President has already decided that war is peace in Afghanistan. And even though we still have to take off our shoes at the airport, and wonder if "someone" is reading this before I even send it, we all will soon have the freedom to choose as much political advertising from the corporate-person of our choice as we can stomach. But I digress.... I suppose then, this is allpossible -- when ignorance is strength. And the Congress demonstrated how pervasive this ignorance is by their applause of such an Orwellian program. It is the Big-Energy lobbyist's wet dream. In sequential order, the President's "clean" energy innovation called for: "...building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. (Applause.) ..... making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. (Applause.) " continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies. (Applause.)." Oh yes, and eventually, somewhere, sometime wind, solar and energy efficiency.
AREVA Reorganizes To Better Compete In The nuclear market
AREVA announces the implementation of a new organization for its nuclear and renewable activities, with the aim of strengthening synergies between the group's professions and enhancing customer satisfaction. The new operational structure, composed of six Business Groups (Mining, Front End, Reactors & Services, Back End, Renewable Energies and T&D*), will enable AREVA to further its lead by building on its unique integrated model, which has been a resounding success among customers and often imitated by its competitors. The simpler operating mode will notably make it possible to: Further align the group's organization with its strategy; Better position the group to capitalize on the nuclear renaissance and the development of renewable energies; Improve the group's commercial effectiveness by easing the creation of integrated offers required by the market. In addition, the cross-company Engineering and Projects Organization has been created to cover all nuclear activities, including all our current skills in design. project management, inspection and construction/commissioning. The group is also strengthening its sales and marketing function, to better coordinate its offer for large-scale projects and deploy its business activities worldwide.
