February 16, 2010
Thursday Feb. 18, 10 p.m. ET/PT in CBC News Network
Imagine that one morning you wake up to find out your nearest neighbour may be a nuclear power plant. This is the story about two women who travel from their farms in Peace River, Alberta to Kincardine, Ontario searching for answers to questions that are devastating their families and threatening their once harmonious community.
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2010/mynuclearneighbour/
Pickering's nuclear power plant would get a "tune-up" and close in a decade, while the 20-year-old Darlington nuclear operation is slated for a refurbishment that would extend its lifespan to around 2050 under a proposal now being finalized, the Star has learned.
News reports indicating Ontario Power Generation (OPG) will not rebuild the four Pickering B nuclear reactors is another blow to the future of the Canadian nuclear industry and could provide an opportunity for expanding green energy, if the McGuinty government allows it, says Greenpeace.
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/closure_pickering
http://www.assnat.qc.ca/petition/SignerFr.aspx?idPetition=95
Unofficial Translation:
WHEREAS Quebec's Law on Mines is currently being revised;
WHEREAS the National Assembly has adopted a resolution prohibiting radioactive wastes from outside the province to be buried on Quebec territory;
WHEREAS Hydro-Quebec intends to proceed with the reconstruction of the Gentilly-2 nuclear reactor in Quebec, and the acquisition of the Pointe Lepreau reactor in New Brunswick -- both of them CANDU-6 reactors -- without any public hearings;
WHEREAS the outdated CANDU-6 technology emits radioactive tritium which is linked to an increased risk of leukemia and congenital illnesses;
WHEREAS the exploration for and mining of uranium contaminates sources of drinking water and gives off a radioactive gas (radon), which is the second largest cause of lung cancer after tobacco;
WHEREAS the nuclear wastes from reactors and from uranium mines remain radioactive for millions of years, contaminate the environment and pose elevated health risks for the population;
WHEREAS the export of uranium may contravene the international Non-Proliferation Treaty and, if the case arises, may contribute to war crimes and crimes against humanity;
WHEREAS the costs and the risks of nuclear energy make it undesirable in comparison with other types of energy: hydroelectric, wind power, geothermal, and solar energy;
THEREFORE the undersigned urge the government:
• To abandon the purchase of the Pointe Lepreau reactor;
• To close and dismantle the Gentilly-2 nuclear reactor;
• To declare a moratorium on all exploration and mining of uranium in Quebec; and
• To develop an expertise in nuclear demolition which would make Quebec a world leader in this emerging field of technology.
(1) Click on the link and fill in the form as follows:
NOM : your family name
PRENOM: your first name
VILLE: your city or town
PROVINCE: your province or state
PAYS: your country of residence
CODE POSTALE: your postal code
COURRIEL: your e-mail address
CONFIRMER: your e-mail address again
J'ACCEPTE: click this box, then copy the characters you see into the space below
ENVOYER: send the form
(2) You will shortly receive an e-mail in reply, with a hot-link. Click on the link in order to confirm that your signature of the petition is legitimate.
(3) So as to track the no. of signatures, please send a note to CCNR@web.ca indicating that you have been able to complete this process satisfactorily.
Many Thanks.
Cameco Corp., the world’s second- largest uranium producer, said crews safely re-entered the main working level of the Cigar Lake mine in Canada’s Saskatchewan province yesterday after the site was fully drained of water.
Cigar Lake, which sits atop the world’s richest untapped uranium deposit, flooded in October 2006 and again in August 2008.
Make Energy Efficiency Cornerstone of Federal Budget
Advocates for energy efficiency should have one of the easiest jobs in the world. Considering the direct and indirect economic benefits, this energy resource practically sells itself. The abundant energy savings can also cost-effectively put a dent in our greenhouse gas emissions, making energy efficiency a choice policy target that everyone can get behind.
http://www.zerocarboncanada.ca/2010/01/28/make-energy-efficiency-cornerstone-of-federal-budget/
All Americans better get informed soon, for a resurgent atomic power lobby wants the taxpayers to pick up the tab for relaunching this industry. Unless you get Congress to stop this insanely dirty and complex way to boil water to generate steam for electricity, you'll be paying for the industry's research, the industry's loan guarantees and the estimated trillion dollars (inflation-adjusted) cost of just one meltdown, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, plus vast immediate and
long-range casualties.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/13
"The last thing Americans want is another government bailout for a failing industry, but that's exactly what they're getting from the Obama administration," said Friends of the Earth Climate and Energy Tax Analyst Ben Schreiber. "The Department of Energy is putting taxpayers on the hook for bailing out costly and dangerous nuclear reactor projects when the loans used to finance those projects default." In the absence of the loan guarantees, argues Friends of the Earth, the nuclear industry is unable to secure private sector financing for new projects, due to high risk of default.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/loan-guarantees-a-nuclear-bailout.phpSome radioactive contaminants at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the state of Washingtonwill threaten the Columbia River for thousands of years, a new analysis projects, despite the multibillion-dollar cleanup efforts by the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Energy projections come from a new analysis of how best to clean up leaking storage tanks and manage waste at Hanford, a former nuclear weapons production site on 586 square miles next to the Columbia in southeastern Washington.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/despite_billions_spent_on_clea.html16 minute radio interview
Premier Ed Stelmach says his government will consider proposals for nuclear power plants on a case-by-case basis. Critics says that the public process leading up to this decision was deeply flawed. We speak with Elena Schacherl of the Coalition for a Nuclear Free Alberta.
http://www.rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2010/01/alberta-government-gives-go-ahead-nuclear-powerEnvironmental regulators for the office of the Supervising Scientist admitted to a Senate Estimates committee today that water with uranium concentrations 5400 times background and a cocktail of other radionuclides are seeping from beneath the tailings dam at the Ranger Uranium Mine in Kakadu National Park, Australia.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/09/2814665.htm
Scientific American recently published, in its January, 2010 edition, an important article on the environmental consequences of nuclear war.
It focuses upon a war fought between India and Pakistan in which 100 nuclear weapons are detonated in their mega cities, and makes it clear that deadly climate change and massive ozone destruction following such a war could kill up to 1 billion people from nuclear famine. It also discusses the consequences of a larger war fought with strategic nuclear weapons, which would likely end human history.
For the complete PDF file, please go to
http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/RobockToonSciAmJan2010.pdf
I highly recommend this story.
This information should be used to create a sense of urgency in the general discussion of nuclear abolition.
-- Steven Starr
The face of nuclear terror has changed since the Cold War, but disaster-medicine expert Irwin Redlener reminds us the threat is still real. He looks at some of history's farcical countermeasures and offers practical advice on how to survive an attack.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/irwin_redlener_warns_of_nuclear_terrorism.html
Interesting story, a piece of anti-nuke history from the ‘50s and ‘60s.
http://www.truthout.org/preserving-golden-rule-a-piece-anti-nuclear-history56895
The enormous technical and financial risks involved in the construction and operation of new nuclear power plants make them prohibitive for private investors, rebutting the thesis of a renaissance in nuclear energy, say several independent European studies.
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20100214021312961
Working for a world free from nuclear power and nuclear weapons
Beyond Nuclear aims to educate and activate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abandon both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an energy future that is sustainable, benign and democratic.
An on-line archive of articles and commentary primarily--but not solely--on wind energy, Feed-in Tariffs, and Advanced Renewable Tariffs.