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| | | published Friday, February 12, 2010 | 350 Views :: 0 Comments |
Op-Ed from Dan Yoken
On February 4, 2010, Secretary of Energy Chu testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to discuss the President’s FY2011 budget request. While we agree with many of Chu’s commitments to clean energy and environmental cleanup, the focus on nuclear energy projects, the imbalance of the Nuclear Waste Panel and the hefty commitment to MOX in the Nonproliferation budget present problems that could lead to debilitating results in coming years.
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| | | published Friday, January 29, 2010 | 672 Views :: 0 Comments |
By Patrick Oppmann, CNN
January 29, 2010 8:02 a.m. EST
Hanford Nuclear Site, Washington (CNN) -- The federal government has set aside nearly $2 billion in stimulus funds to clean up Washington State's decommissioned Hanford nuclear site, once the center of the country's Cold War plutonium production.
That is more stimulus funding than some entire states have received, which has triggered a debate as to whether the money is being properly spent.
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| | | published Wednesday, January 27, 2010 | 1422 Views :: 2 Comments |
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability a national network of organizations working to address issues of nuclear weapons production and waste cleanup
http://www.ananuclear.org
for further information, contact:
Nickolas Roth 914-673-6666
Susan Gordon 505-577-8438
or local contacts listed at end of advisory
for immediate release Wednesday, January 27, 2010
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN THE U.S. DEPT. OF ENERGY FY 2011
NUCLEAR WEAPONS BUDGET REQUEST
The FY 2011 budget request will be released on Monday, February 1,
2010. The Obama administration has laid out an aggressive
nonproliferation agenda that includes deep reductions in nuclear
stockpiles, ratification of a nuclear test ban, and decreased
prominence for nuclear weapons in US defense policy. Despite this
agenda, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) budget request will ask
Congress to significantly increase nuclear weapons activities,
including funding for construction of new facilities that will expand
U.S. warhead production capacity. The DOE request will not reflect
recent independent scientific conclusions that existing nuclear weapons
can be reliably maintained for decades under current, well-established
programs.
The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA), a
national network representing communities downwind and downstream from
U.S. nuclear weapons facilities, is concerned that increased funding
for nuclear energy and weapons research and production will rob
precious resources for needed environmental cleanup and clean,
sustainable energy solutions.
Items of interest:
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| | | published Friday, January 22, 2010 | 340 Views :: 0 Comments |
Beyond Nuclear Bulletin
January 21, 2010
“The Hidden and Not-So-Hidden Costs
of Entergy’s Vermont Yankee”
Background:
Despite assuring the State of Vermont for more than a year that it had
no buried pipes carrying radioactivity, Entergy Nuclear’s Vermont
Yankee reactor has revealed it is leaking radioactive tritium, almost
certainly from underground pipes that it now admits do exist. In fact,
Vermont Yankee has even announced the discovery of “highly radioactive
water,” 50 times more radioactive than would be allowed in drinking
water by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Nuclear expert Arnie
Gundersen has made clear that Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee has indeed
lied about the existence of buried pipes over the course of many months.
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| | | published Monday, November 09, 2009 | 1263 Views :: 0 Comments |
Seventy Nine Truckloads from Huntington’s Nickel Plant Buried
Once Radioactivity Released, You Can’t Put This 'Genie' Back in Bottle; Former Worker Alleges Plutonium Contamination
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Editor’s
Note: Vina Colley, a former worker at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion
Plant, has been one of the most outspoken workers suffering cancer and
other illnesses from their years working at the facility near
Portsmouth, Ohio. Although the interview is in a Q and A format, it
should be noted that Ms. Colley often had to stop speaking to get her
breath. Occasionally, her thoughts were completed by a member of the
clean up panel.
HNN: You worked as an electrician at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant?
VINA COLLEY: As a Second Class Electrician I worked in every building on the plant site and many of the buildings off site.
HNN: Right now, like other employees , you suffer from multiple aliments attributed to your years at the plant.
VINA
COLLEY: I have 57% lung impairment due to the chronic bronchitis. A low
immune system where I had to take gamma glammas? Before. Memory lapses.
Home oxygen. Three tumors, a total hysterectomy and skin cancer.
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| | | published Wednesday, November 04, 2009 | 1683 Views :: 7 Comments |
The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance today released a "white
paper" that analyzes the missions at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and
proposes that the Oak Ridge plant refocus its efforts entirely on
dismantlement.
"Changes in U.S. policy, concern over nuclear proliferation, and global
realities have created an environment in which the power of arguments
for a new production facility has eroded significantly," the report,
titled The Future of Y-12, says.
Posted by Frank Munger on November 3, 2009 at 7:24 PM
The 9-page report is online at:
http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/y12orepa.pdf
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| | | published Tuesday, November 03, 2009 | 1235 Views :: 1 Comments |
The Path to Zero
by Jill Ragar Esfeld
SHAWNEE — Good Shepherd parishioner Ann Suellentrop loves the number
zero. To her, it is the most important number in the world. And she
truly believes, with God’s grace, the world can reach the number zero
in her lifetime – global zero, that is; total nuclear disarmament.
Suellentrop’s dreams may be global, but her focus is local. She is a
member of Physicians for Social Responsibility and a board member of
PeaceWorks Kansas City, the metro area’s leading voice against the
nuclear arms race.
Originally published at www.theleaven.com.
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| | | published Friday, October 30, 2009 | 1295 Views :: 3 Comments |
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has again urged the
Department of Energy (DOE) to take immediate action to reduce the risk
of a release of plutonium from a fire at Technical Area 55 at Los
Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) following a seismic event.
http://www.dnfsb.gov/pub_docs/recommendations/lanl/rec_2009_02_la.pdf
This is the latest in a series of letters, reports and recommendations
to DOE about the potential consequences of a release of plutonium from
the Technical Area 55 Plutonium Facility following a seismic event
resulting in a fire. The Board stated that the consequences to people
living downwind and downstream of LANL have been underestimated by 100
times.
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| | | published Saturday, October 24, 2009 | 900 Views :: 0 Comments |
PLUTONIUM AND PEOPLE DON’T MIX
WHY THE ROCKY FLATS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
SHOULD REMAIN CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC
by LeRoy Moore, PhD, Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center, October 13, 2009
Soon after completion in 2005 of the “cleanup” of the site of the defunct Rocky Flats nuclear bomb plant near Denver, the Department of Energy (DOE) transferred about three-fourths of the nearly 10 square mile Rocky Flats site to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to operate as a wildlife refuge. FWS had already decided to open the future refuge for public recreation. This paper elaborates three reasons why this decision should be reversed:
• The site is contaminated with an unknown quantity of plutonium and americium.
• Standards for permissible exposure to plutonium and americium adopted for the site provide inadequate protection for potential visitors to the refuge because the standards are based on a flawed method of risk assessment and a truncated view of the toxicity of these materials.
• In addition, those responsible for the Rocky Flats “cleanup” did not consider some crucial data regarding environmental conditions at the site.
• Together, these points add up to a great weight of uncertainty that underscores the need for caution. The conclusion to this paper looks at alternatives for dealing with the refuge, including a visionary approach for nuclear guardianship.
To read full paper, click here
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| | | published Tuesday, October 20, 2009 | 1312 Views :: 4 Comments |
NUCLEAR SCARS: TOXIC LEGACY OF THE COLD WAR
Los Angeles Times -- October 20, 2009
By Ralph Vartabedian
Reporting from Fernald Preserve, Ohio
Amid the family farms and rolling terrain of southern Ohio, one hill
stands out for its precise geometry.
The 65-foot-high mound stretching more than half a mile dominates a
tract of northern hardwoods, prairie grasses and swampy ponds, known as
the Fernald Preserve.
Contrary to appearances, there is nothing natural here. The high ground
is filled with radioactive debris, scooped from the soil around a former
uranium foundry that produced crucial parts for the nation's nuclear
weapons program.
Originally published by the Los Angeles Times at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-radiation-fernald20-2009oct20,0,2659447.story
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