>From the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

2008 world nuclear industry status report: Western Europe< /h1>

By Mycle Schneider | 19 September 2008

The contribution of nuclear power continues to decline in Europe. As of September, 15 of the 27 countries in the enlarged EU operated 146 reactors (about one-third of the world total), down  from 177 reactors in 1989. The vast majority of these facilities (125 units) are located in eight of the western EU countries. . , Dozens of reactors will go offline in the coming years. And securing financing for future decommissioning and waste management is still a long-term headache. The cost ? Nobody will say

The “Bulletin” ,  keeper of the doomsday clock, has always understood the relationship between nuclear power and the proliferation of nuclear weapon

   The U.S. arsenal peaked at about 30,000 warheads in the mid-1960s and the Soviet arsenal at 40,000 warheads in the 1980s,

Today 10 countries have nuclear weapons,  a gift to the world through the promotion of the “Atom for peace” concept.

• There are  commercial nuclear power reactors operating in 30 countries,   
• 56 countries operate a total of 284 research reactors   

 

…                           Let me assure you Leaks and mishaps are a DAILY occurrence everywhere !!!!

 “Der Spiegel”

German mine used for nuclear waste leaking

Berlin Takes Steps to Address Nuclear Waste Scandal

Responsibility for a leaking radioactive waste site in the mountains of Lower Saxony has been shifted from one office to another in the German government. The scandal has political fallout, but whether -- and how -- the leaking waste can be cleaned up is still not clear……….

Also

Radioactive material leaks from research institute in Belgium

 

Belgian authorities issued a safety alert Friday after a leak of radioactive material from a research institute near the southern city of Charleroi. The Belgian nuclear control agency and the Interior Ministry issued a warning to people living in and near the town of Fleurus not to consume locally grown fruit, vegetables or dairy products as a precaution. The town is 60 kilometers (40 miles) south of the capital, Brussels. http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/106247-radi oactive-0 Time to put an end to this “cheap clean “ nuclear Power McCain  yes to Yucca Mountain not in my back yard J I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlZihwEgqNw Wow, quite funny

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Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 05:49:59 -0400

The future is NOW!

Solar Energy Plant Coming to Philadelphia (click on it, vote and see the result)

A company called Green Energy Capital Partners based in Philadelphia is planning to build what they term as the second largest solar energy plant in the nation, in the Carbon County. The $60 million, 100-megawatt solar energy plant will be built on 100 acres of land near the Green Acres Industrial Park in Nesquehoning. The solar energy plant is predicted to contain 40,000 solar panels on rotating mounts. ….

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 1:49 AM, Harvey Wasserman wrote:

Nuke Power Liabilities Dwarf Bush's Bailout

As you read this, nuclear power liabilities embraced by the federal government could be making small radioactive potatoes of the mere hundreds of billions George W. Bush wants to hand the pirates of Wall Street.

In fact, they could make all the money spent in Iraq, on the defense budget, on social security and on this bailout seem like nickels and dimes.

Why? Because as of this moment the taxpayers of the United States are on the hook for potential catastrophic melt-downs at 104 licensed atomic reactors. Every one of them can kill hundreds of thousands of American citizens. Every one of them can inflict more financial damage than can be reasonably calculated…..(not to mention all the long time care for thousands of sick and wounded)

Mr Wasserman then continues to list all the “near misses” we have experienced so far (ask if you would like to read it) but since 9/11 we must consider the possibility of high- jacked passenger planes targeting any of the 104 nuclear reactor.

DO WE REALLY WANT MORE OF THESE EXPENSIVE, DANGEROUS MONSTERS DARTING OUR LANDSCAPE ? There IS another way !!!

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Subject: Things you wont read in your local paper

Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 11:10:55 -0400

A nuclear renaissance ….I don’t think so.

 

Even the Insiders have had enough with this administrations Energy Policy !!

 

 

In what comes as a surprising move, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Andy Karsner announced his resignation from the Department of Energy on Wednesday. Karsner’s resignation came on the same day as news that Senate Republicans blocked an attempt to extend funding for renewable energy tax credits for the fourth time this summer….this is incomprehensible to me

 

 

With meaningful policy and leadership in place, the United States is now on track to be a global leader in clean energy…….

 

Just….WOW

 http://www.celsias.com/article/utahs-solar-fired-furn ace-power-california-less-co/

 

http://www.celsias.com/articl e/utahs-solar-fired-furnace-power-california-less-co/#new-comment#new-com ment

 

Play Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h9FLvj2ZJM&eurl=http://www.cels= ias.com/article/utahs-solar-fired-furnace-power-california-less-co

 

 

Solar Power from the Saharan sun could provide Europe’s electricity, says EU

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/23/solarpower.wind power

 

“Speaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Waldau of the European commission's Institute for Energy, said it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle East deserts to meet all of Europe's energy needs……

 

In Germany

Intersolar: Germany’s 40MW Solar PV Project More Than Halfway Done

http://earth2tech.com/2008/07/16/inter solar-germanys-40mw-solar-pv-project-more-than-halfway-done

…….. : the world’s largest solar PV project, which could be completed as soon as the end of the year.

 

And here at home

 

Fresno, CA  – July 16, 2008 – Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FYI), the major air transportation center for the City of Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley, along with WorldWater & Solar Technologies Corp. (OTC BB: WWAT.OB), developer and marketer of proprietary high-power solar systems, announced that a dedication ceremony will be held today, July 16, in celebration of the opening of the largest solar airport installation to date in the U.S. Representatives of the Office of the Governor and Fresno Mayor Alan Autry are scheduled to attend, among other dignitaries……

 

MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BUSINESS WIRE) – July 15, 2008 The City of Palo Alto’s Utilities Department today announced that Roche Palo Alto has applied for the largest solar power system ever to be installed within city limits……    And the good news continues……….

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Nuclear Power kills………….BEFORE IT EVEN STARTS TO RPODUCE ELECTRICITY    The proof was in 30 years ago.

 

Uranium mining leaves behind mountains of mill tailings emitting radioactivity and poisoning  groundwater

 

After all these years, finally a start to clean up ONE mine.

I presented my testimony to the Government on the matter and resulting deaths in 1978 (read my testimony below)

I can only say, with great sorrow, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN for 30 years?

 

DOE confirms it will move contaminated Moab tailings by rail, not truck

By Thomas Burr
The Salt Lake Tribune

Ar ticle Last Updated: 08/05/2008 11:43:36 AM MDT

 

- About 16 million tons of mill tailings abutting the Colorado River near Moab will be moved by rail to a permanent disposal site, the Department of Energy said Tuesday, reaffirming a decision not to ship the contaminated uranium mill tailings by truck along rural roads.

 

The DOE said Tuesday that as determined previously, the oversized shipments were not practical to be transported by truck on U.S. Highway 191. The tailings have leached ammonia, uranium and other contaminants into the Colorado River, which serves some 50 million people in seven states.

 

 

Last October, U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman and members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform heard testimony from representatives of the Navajo Nation about the uranium mining legacy and commanded the five federal agencies to work together with Navajo to devise a cleanup plan

 

We believe that somewhere between 1.3 million and 2.5 million gallons of uranium-contaminated water is leaching out of the Shiprock mill site each year. That's a lot of gallons.

 

The cost ? nobody knows. Aside from Moab in Utah

Other mines are located in Arizona, Colorado. New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming

 

 

   July 11, 2001:

 

>Robert O. Pohl, Cornell University Professor of Physics analyzed the

>direct health effects of thorium 230.  He came up with the estimate of 

>394 deaths per gigawatt-year.  Based on the Atomic Energy Commission's

>scenario  for nuclear power (at that time) this would result in at

>least 5,741,500

deaths.

 

 

A little late Dr. Pohl, the evidence was in long before 2001

 

 

 

Below part of my testimony before President Carters “Interagency Review Group on Nuclear Waste “ in    1978.

Published in the book “Asleep at the Geiger Counter” by Sid Goodman.

 

Hearings were held in San Francisco, St Louis and Boston. I traveled to Boston

 

 Frieda Berryhill, Chairperson of the Coalition for Nuclear Power Postponement delivered the following testimony at the Nuclear Waste Management Forum:

U.S. Department of Energy, August 6, 1978.  The Nuremberg Principles were very much in her mind

 

 

 

She introduced findings by Radiation Chemist  Dr. Chauncey Kepford which pertained to the issue of extensive poisoning from uranium tailings.

 

 

 

Her testimony says it all.  I quote.

 

 

 

" On July 5, 1977 during the Operating Licensing Hearing for Three Mile Island Unit 2, Dr. Chauncey Kepford, intervener, had testified that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had grossly underestimated the health effects from radon 222.  Using an EPA model and NRC data, Dr. Kepford calculated that 1.2 million people will die for every reactor year of operation.  Dr.

Reginald Gotchy, of the NRC, in sworn testimony agreed with Dr. Kepford's figures.  The transcript reveals the following exchange:

 

 

 

Dr. Gotchy: Yes. I think that what he has got here. I can't argue with these numbers.  I can come up with approximately the same numbers. The only question is what to do with that number. *fight started between Gotchy and myself *

 

Chairman: Peace, peace.  I was only inquiring whether or not you had a quarrel with these numbers, not what to do with them.

 

 

 

What to do with them --- the most important question was never asked.

 

 

 

A memorandum of September 21, 1977, from Dr. Walter H Jordan of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to James R. Yore, Chairman of the ASLBP, states as follows:

 

 

 

"In summary, the values given in Table S-3 for the amount of radium 222 emitted per annual fuel requirement is grossly in error.  So also is the dose to offsite population from milling due to one annual fuel requirement."

 

 

 

Again, the question of what to do about it was ignored.  It was not until March, 1978 that the NRC released the news to the public that the health effects (death by cancer) was in error by a factor of 100,000.

 

 

 

The NRC news release of July 18th informs me that the NRC has accepted for review applications for more nuclear plants.  Gentlemen, in view of the above, minimum morality demands that all such activity be stopped.

 

In a letter to NRC Chairman Joseph Hendrie, on March 16, 1978, Dr. Marvin Resnikoff states as follows: "Though the Commission has been made aware for some time that the Radon emissions from mill tailings were grossly underestimated by the Commission, it has refused to face the issue squarely.

The Commission's delay in this matter has made a mockery of the National Environmental Protection Act."

 

 

 

While waiting with anticipation to see what my government is going to do about it, I was stunned and insulted when I received, this week, a packet from the Department of Energy which included a report by George L. Gleason, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the American Nuclear Energy Council, which states as follows:

"Mill tailings are the residue which is left over from the process of refining raw ore uranium. Although they contain some radioactive elements, the tailings are relatively harmless, corresponding closely to those naturally present in nearby rock formations."

 

 

 

How many hundreds or thousands of copies of this fraudulent report are being circulated by this department?

 

 

 

I concur with the statement made before this body by Dr. John W. Gofman in San Francisco on July 21, 1978:

 

"There already exists a body of principles which the USA has on an historic occasion acted upon in an international court.  I refer to the Nuremberg Principles.  We shall all look forward at the earliest possible moment to the implementation of these principles in our own government in evaluating the personal responsibility of and the meting out of justice to those who insist upon conducting random pre-meditated murder in the planning and execution of the nuclear power program."

 

 

 

I also concur with the statement of the Union of Concerned Scientists:

 

 

 

"We therefore recommend that Congress request the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Davison of the U.S. Department of Justice to carry out an investigation of the conduct of former AEC officials, now NRC officials, to determine any role they may have had in a nuclear safety cover-up."

 

 

 

Thirty years ago, I became a citizen of this great and glorious country.  I have lived through the rise and fall of the German Reich.  I heard the murderers' resounding defense of "I was only following orders."  It did not wash.  Neither will the excuse, "I was only following policy"

 

 

 

I have been lied to for the last time.  Now that we know, what are we going to do about it?"

 

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