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| | | published Thursday, February 02, 2012 | 188 Views :: 0 Comments |
for immediate release: Thursday, January 26, 2012
for further information, contact: Bob Schaeffer: 239-395-6773 Katherine Fuchs: 202-544-0217, ext. 2503 local contacts listed at end of advisory
The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future report released today received mixed reviews from groups that monitor sites where large quantities of radioactive waste are stored. The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) said major flaws in the report include the Commission’s “failure to advocate prompt removal of commercial spent fuel from reactor cooling pools with placement in hardened On-Site Storage (HOSS) to safeguard commercial spent fuel at nuclear power plants.” ANA and hundreds of community groups had told the Commission that HOSS could protect the heavily reactive material for the decades needed to develop a scientifically sound and publicly acceptable waste disposal program.
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| | | published Tuesday, January 31, 2012 | 174 Views :: 0 Comments |
For immediate release: January 27, 2012
For further information, contact: Dr. Arjun Makhijani (301) 270-5500, cell (301) 509-6843
Commission Recognizes French Style Reprocessing Will Increase Proliferation Risks Without Solving Waste Problem
Progress on Consent-Based Approach to Geologic Repository Siting
Takoma Park, Maryland -- Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D., President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, today commented on some of the recommendations of the final report of the Presidential Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on America’s Nuclear Future, released yesterday. The commission was created to address U.S. nuclear waste issues after the Obama administration cancelled the Yucca Mountain program.
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| | | published Tuesday, January 31, 2012 | 97 Views :: 0 Comments |
31 JANUARY 2012
By: Seth P. Tuler, Eugene A. Rosa, and Thomas Webler
From the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Article Highlights: - The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future endeavored to engage experts and the general public in developing policies for managing spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste.
- Despite an expressed desire to serve as a model of participatory processes, the Commission provided limited opportunities for public input, influence, and involvement.
- To be successful, future decision-making processes for managing spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste will need to be even more transparent, inclusive, and respectful of public participation.
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| | | published Friday, September 09, 2011 | 502 Views :: 0 Comments |
Sept. 9, 2011
The Western Governors' Association (WGA) has compiled a white paper on nuclear waste transportation and storage. This white paper will be presented at the Sept. 13th Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future meeting in Denver, Co.
Highlights from the WGA white paper include:
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| | | published Friday, August 26, 2011 | 392 Views :: 0 Comments |
Aug 26, 2011
By Laura Zuckerman
From Reuters
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Firefighters struggled on Thursday to control a fast-growing 28,000-acre wildfire raging within several miles of spent nuclear fuel stored at a U.S. Energy Department lab in the high desert of eastern Idaho.
The growth and intensity of the blaze, the nation's largest active wildfire, prompted the Idaho National Laboratory to order a key facility on the 890-square-mile site evacuated of all nonessential personnel, lab officials said.
The Materials and Fuels Complex, about 38 miles from Idaho Falls, consists of facilities for handling, processing and examining spent nuclear fuel, irradiated materials and radioactive wastes, according to the lab's website.
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| | | published Wednesday, July 06, 2011 | 356 Views :: 0 Comments |
July 05, 2011
ByAnnette Cary
From the Tri-City Herald
The federalgovernment is asking for the public's opinion as it decides how muchof the soil contaminated by plutonium and other radionuclides andchemicals in the heart of Hanford should be dug up.
TheDepartment of Energy with the Environmental Protection Agency ispreparing to make one of the first decisions about environmentalcleanup in the approximately 10 square miles of central Hanford,where permanent disposal of radioactive waste is planned.
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| | | published Tuesday, April 12, 2011 | 1022 Views :: 0 Comments |
April 4, 2011
From Agence France Presse
WASHINGTON — US anti-nuclear groups Monday condemned a project to build a
plant where plutonium from weapons would be reprocessed into fuel for
nuclear power plants, saying the plan was costly, dangerous and would
benefit mainly the French group, Areva.
A mixed-oxide, or MOX, plutonium reprocessing plant that is being built
in South Carolina has become "an expensive effort that enriches
contractors, led by the French government-owned company Areva," Tom
Clements of Friends of the Earth said at the launch of a report by an
anti-nuclear alliance.
"In my opinion, it is primarily because of Areva's influence inside the
Department of Energy that the US is pursuing a plutonium fuel program
and it's because of Areva's influence that there's a push for the US to
also reprocess commercial spent fuel to remove plutonium, like France
does," he said.
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| | | published Tuesday, April 12, 2011 | 2243 Views :: 1 Comments |
For immediate release: April 7, 2011
Contact: Arjun Makhijani 301-270-5500
Takoma
Park, Maryland - Total releases of radioactive iodine-131 and
cesium-137 from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Japan now
appear to rival Chernobyl. As a result, there is now fallout through the
northern hemisphere, with hot spots appearing due to rain. For
instance, rainwater in Boise, Idaho, on March 22, 2011, was reported by
the Environmental Protection Agency at 242 picocuries per liter, about
80 times the U.S. drinking water standard if the level persisted for a
prolonged time. The drinking water standard is a common reference number
for water purity, even if the water is not used for drinking.
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| | | published Thursday, February 17, 2011 | 1853 Views :: 0 Comments |
February 16, 2011
By Ed Lyman
From the Union of Concerned Scientists Blog, All Things Nuclear
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have turned their budget ax to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) program for nuclear nonproliferation activities, proposing a cut of $602 million below the Obama administration’s fiscal year 2011 (FY 2011) budget request. Many observers in the security community have been rightly incensed about these proposed cuts, which would squeeze vital nonproliferation and counter-terrorism programs that provide direct and near-term benefits for American security, including the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, which works to secure nuclear materials around the world.
However, there is one project within the NNSA’s nonproliferation budget account that does nothing to reduce security threats for the foreseeable future. It is also the single most costly program in the account, receiving over $666 million (over 30% of the total) in FY 2010. Moreover, even if it is completed, it will likely fail to achieve its primary objectives in a reasonable time and at reasonable cost. Worst yet, the project could well increase the risk that plutonium will end up in the hands of terrorists. For this reason, this program should never have been funded out of NNSA’s nonproliferation account in the first place.
The name of this project? The U.S. Plutonium Disposition Program.
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| | | published Tuesday, February 15, 2011 | 1828 Views :: 0 Comments |
Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011
By Annette Cary
From the Tri-City Herald
The Democratic administration's proposed fiscal 2012 budget released Monday would increase funding for the Hanford nuclear reservation.
However, while the budget for work at the tank farms and the vitrification plant under the Department of Energy Office of River Protection would increase, money for the Richland Operations Office would decrease. It is responsible for the rest of Hanford work.
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