Magnitude 7.3 Quake Hits Northeast Japan 12/07/12
The Agency says the latest quake took place on the east side of the Japan Trench, where two plates collide and one slides under the other.Utilities: Quake did not affect nuclear plants
Nuclear power plant operators in areas hit by Friday's earthquake say they have received no reports of danger at their facilities.Tohoku Electric Power Company says all three of the reactors at its Onagawa plant in Miyagi Prefecture were offline before the quake.The company also says monitoring posts near the plant show no abnormal levels of radiation.1-meter high tsunami wave observed in Ishinomaki, The Meteorological Agency says a 1-meter high tsunami wave was recorded at 6:02 PM Japan Time in the Ayukawa District in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture.
Miyagi was one of the areas hard-hit last year by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BMJ7l3nURg
Last 24 hours have ‘killed’ French nuclear – analyst
French power utility EDF received a fresh blow on Tuesday after Italy’s biggest utility Enel announced it has pulled out from a project to build a next-generation nuclear reactor in northern France, and five other power plants to be built in France using EPR technology, following last year’s referendum in Italy to prevent nuclear energy from returning into the nation.
The French utility admitted earlier this week that changes in engineering and design due to stricter regulation in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster forced it to hike the construction cost of the European Pressurized Reactor being consctructed in Flamanville, northern France, to 8.5 billion euros ($11.12 billion), more than double the original estimate of 3.3 billion euros which was claimed by EDF in 2005.
Read more at http://enformable.com/2012/12/last-24-hours-have-killed-french-nuclear-analyst/#L6V7K8aeAQQj1KeM.99
SASKATCHEWAN: TOXIC WASTE DUMP?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN18vVr1hpg
Uranium mining focus of AP Capitol forum
Businessweek - 35 minutes ago
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A forum on uranium mining Thursday addressed the thicket of regulatory, environmental and economic issues Virginia will need to address in 2013 and beyond if it ends a 30-year ban on the practice. Four panelists who are among ...
Environment, economy, energy factors in debate over uranium mining in Virginia
Washington Post (blog) - 17 hours ago
The question of whether to allow uranium mining in Virginia could come down to a debate over the environment, energy and the economy. A panel convened to discuss the issue on Wednesday at the annual AP Day at the Capitol in Richmond largely agreed ...
Uranium mining focus of panel discussion Thursday at annual AP Day at the ...
Washington Post - 21 hours ago
RICHMOND, Va. — A forum on uranium mining offered a look at some of the issues the Virginia General Assembly will tackle in 2013. Four panelists laid out some of the issues Thursday at AP Day at the Capitol in Richmond. Loading... Comments · Weigh In ...
Uranium mining in Va. should proceed carefully
Washington Post - Dec 4, 2012
BELOW A PLOT of land in south-central Virginia lies billions of dollars worth of uranium ore, the critical radioactive fuel for America's nuclear reactors. Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to extract it, bringing economic activity to the region. But three decades ago, the ...
Capitol Day recap: uranium and health care debates loom
The Virginian-Pilot - 10 hours ago
For those present, the annual Associated Press Day at the Capitol event held Thursday in Richmond was a primer on the weighty issues on tap for the 46-day General Assembly session that begins next month. Perhaps the most critical one is whether to lift a ...
Pittsylvania Co. delegate says lifting ban on uranium mining is not "right thing to ...
WDBJ7 - 21 hours ago
Create a custom date range. From: To: Home > News. Pittsylvania Co. delegate says lifting ban on uranium mining is not "right thing to do at this time". Merricks represents the 16th District, which includes a property where Virginia Uranium would like to mine.
Uranium mining focus of Virginia AP Capitol forum
WSLS - Dec 6, 2012
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Some of the leading voices on uranium mining in Virginia are heading to the Capitol to discuss one of the biggest issues in the 2013 session of the General Assembly. They'll be part of a panel discussion on uranium mining at AP Day ...
Uranium Working Group delivers report to governor
Chatham Star Tribune - Dec 5, 2012
Virginia's Uranium Working Group presented its report to Gov. Bob McDonnell Friday outlining a regulatory framework for uranium mining if the General Assembly lifts the state's 30-year moratorium. McDonnell sent the 125-page report to lawmakers and ...
Uranium mining: Report details regulations
Chatham Star Tribune - Dec 5, 2012
The Uranium Working Group's 125-page report provides a comprehensive checklist for drafting new laws and regulations if the General Assembly lifts Virginia's 30-year moratorium on uranium mining. The long-awaited report was presented to Gov.
Fraim urges legislators to maintain uranium ban
The Virginian-Pilot - Dec 4, 2012
In a direct appeal to General Assembly members, Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim is asking policy makers not to undo a state ban on uranium mining out of fear waste from that process could contaminate local drinking water and cause public panic. "For the citizens
Click here to read the above reports:
https://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=http://www.nbc12.com/story/20274145/uranium-mining-focus-of-ap-capitol-forum&hl=en&geo=us
Keep Virginia uranium-free
Having moved to Northern Virginia from Franklin County, which is next door to Pittsylvania County, where some groups would like to mine uranium, I understand why many in that area would welcome any commercial activity in a part of the state that is beset with chronic unemployment and all of the related problems that go with it.
However, this seems a classic case of gambling the future safety and welfare of a much larger area surrounding Pittsylvania County for a short-term economic gain.
According to the discussion group summary document available on the Uranium Working Group website, “Many participants [at the Warrenton meeting] stated general comments about risk and whether the risk of lifting the moratorium and allowing uranium mining and milling was worth the risk to the economy and public health of the citizens of the commonwealth.
“Speakers expressed concern about what constitutes acceptable risk.”
However, the Working Group has expressed its role as determining the viability of creating regulations for mining and milling to take place in the commonwealth, specifically at the Coles Hill site in Pittsylvania County.
People across Virginia have expressed their concern about lifting the 30-year moratorium both through the public meetings held by the working group, and through petitions collected by the Keep the Ban coalition.
When the General Assembly convenes in January, it will be up to our elected officials to make the final decision, based on the report of the Working Group and also on what they are hearing from their constituents.
The work of the governor’s Working Group came to a close with its final public meeting in Richmond on Nov. 27, and the report goes to the Coal and Energy Commission in December.
But the fight to Keep the Ban will continue to the Capitol until a decision is made to keep Virginia beautiful and uranium-free.
Scott Christian Marshall
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20121207/OPINION/712079708/1065/keep-virginia-uranium-free&template=fairfaxTimes
Wyoming steps into uranium project lawsuit
CASPER, Wyo. — Gov. Matt Mead has asked the state's attorney general to intervene in a lawsuit against a uranium project near Rawlins.
Mead wants to "protect Wyoming's interest," he said in a media release issued Wednesday. The attorney general's office filed a motion this week to intervene in the case in the U.S. District Court in Wyoming.
The Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance filed suit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in early November over Ur-Energy's Lost Creek uranium project, most of which is on federal land.
The group said in its filing that the project is within important core protection areas for sage grouse. It also said that the federal agency failed to ensure protections mandated by the state of Wyoming and a BLM internal memorandum when it approved development plans for the Lost Creek project. The group is asking for a second review of the BLM's approval of the project.
The state's move is significant because it's the primary protector of the sage grouse
Mead wants to "protect Wyoming's interest," he said in a media release issued Wednesday. The attorney general's office filed a motion this week to intervene in the case in the U.S. District Court in Wyoming.
The Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance filed suit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in early November over Ur-Energy's Lost Creek uranium project, most of which is on federal land.
The group said in its filing that the project is within important core protection areas for sage grouse. It also said that the federal agency failed to ensure protections mandated by the state of Wyoming and a BLM internal memorandum when it approved development plans for the Lost Creek project. The group is asking for a second review of the BLM's approval of the project.
The state's move is significant because it's the primary protector of the sage grouse
Feds: Arizona man lied about Peach Bottom repair
Yorkdispatch.com - 13 hours ago
An Arizona businessman pleaded guilty to federal charges that he lied about a part used at Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. Kevin A. Doyle, 47, of Scottsdale, Ariz., pleaded guilty to material false statements in federal district court in Phoenix on Nov.
York Daily Record - 15 hours ago
The owner of a company that repairs and provides equipment for nuclear power plants has pleaded guilty to federal charges of making false statements after the company shipped a steam leak detection monitor to Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.
70 years after first atomic reaction, anti-nuclear movement presses on
CHICAGO — At 3:25 p.m. on Dec. 2, 1942, physicist Enrico Fermi oversaw the first controlled self-sustaining atomic chain reaction on a squash court below the University of Chicago’s Stagg Field.Exactly 70 years later, on an unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon, activists, engineers, doctors and scientists from across the U.S., Canada, Germany and Japan gathered around Henry Moore’s abstract “Nuclear Energy” sculpture on the University of Chicago campus.
Oglala Sioux tribal member Charmaine White Face sang and prayed about the harm nuclear power and nuclear weapons have wrought on Native Americans. Local Buddhists chanted and drummed as people placed sticks of incense around the sculpture, an abstract form which could evoke a skull or a mushroom cloud.
While they still highlight the horrors of nuclear accidents – an angle pushed to the forefront by the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster – and the link between weapons and energy, they also say nuclear energy is inefficient, extremely expensive and logistically unsuited to our modern energy landscape.
Speakers at the two-day conference at the University of Chicago stressed that nuclear power is inefficient compared to coal and natural gas, and that huge construction and indemnification expenses for nuclear plants make them unworkable especially in a time of low energy demand. The conference was organized by the Nuclear Energy Information Service, which opposes nuclear power and weapons.
There have been no new nuclear plants built in the U.S. in the last few decades, but there are several new nuclear plants proposed or in the works in the south, including in Georgia and South Carolina. President Obama has repeatedly voiced support for nuclear power as part of a “clean” energy mix, and his administration recently-announced investment in developing small modular reactors.
Speakers also noted that in the U.S., Native Americans have borne the brunt of devastating health problems and other impacts from the nuclear industry in terms of both weapons and power.
White Face described high incidences of cancer and other health problems on the Oglala Sioux Reservation, including around her South Dakota home, because of historic uranium mining and milling. The region is still dotted with unremediated abandoned uranium mines that provided fodder for both weapons and reactors in decades past. Native Americans were also disproportionately impacted by nuclear weapons testing in the American west in the 1950s.
At the conference, Native American activist Robert Chavez lamented that Native Americans in New Mexico live in the shadow of the Los Alamos National Laboratory which maintains nuclear weapons; and near the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) in Carlsbad that already stores military nuclear waste deep underground and is proposed as a long-term storage site for reactor waste.
